The Princess and the Kaiser

by UnknownError

Part Forty

Flurry seized the stick grenade mid-air and flung it back through the window. The Changelings inside had time to scream a curse in Herzlander before the explosion tore through the room. Flurry bucked the crystal door apart and entered the house, sweeping over the destroyed room with her floating revolver. Three Changelings were scattered across the floor.

Two more Changelings leaned out from the opposite doorway, one with a submachine gun braced against his forelegs. Flurry wrenched the gun to the side with a jerk of her horn, and the ‘ling squeezed the trigger on reflex. The gun bucked wildly in his hooves as he fired point-blank into his partner. Flurry thrust her revolver down the hallway and against his forehead before pulling the trigger. The submachine gun went quiet and fell from lifeless hooves.

Flurry moved down the hallway, pulling her revolver back and holding it close by her side. The dead soldiers were holed-up in a small kitchen. She drifted her revolver in front of her while she pulled the submachine gun free from the dead changeling and retrieved two magazines. While she reloaded it, another changeling stuck a short-barreled shotgun out from the cupboard they were hiding in.

Without looking over, Flurry fired the remaining five shots from her revolver into the wooden cupboard while sticking an unused stick clip into the submachine gun. She added a short burst into the other cupboards as a precaution, then knocked the doors open with a burst of magic. The changeling hiding was younger than her. Her mouth flopped open when the body fell out of the cupboard, revealing short, stubby fangs.

Flurry snorted and glanced at the uniformed corpses around her, then slung the strap of the gun around her side and reloaded the revolver with her hooves. Flurry advanced up the stairs to the second floor, horn primed with crackling blue light. Movement came from one of the bedrooms, and Flurry’s horn pulsed with a life detection spell.

Under a bed. Flurry entered the bedroom; the bed was a plush comforter with extra padding to counter the crystal bedframe. Changelings definitely lived here. Gunfire still rang out outside the house from neighboring buildings. Flurry braced her submachine gun. “Come out,” she called in Herzlander, then knocked the bed aside with her horn.

A crystal filly raised her hooves in surrender. “Please!” she screamed in broken Herzlander. “No hurt, no hurt!”

Flurry lowered the submachine gun on reflex, then her mouth pressed into a hard frown. The filly was well-fed, her purple crystal coat shiny with no ribs showing and sandy mane fastened into a bun. The filly lowered her hooves and gave Flurry a watery smile. “Princess!” she exclaimed with tears in her eyes.

Flurry glanced at the discarded rifle and black uniform in the corner of the bedroom, then peppered the filly with a short burst. She collapsed to her side and burst into green fire, revealing an adult male changeling. He rattled out a weak cough and managed to look surprised before dying. Flurry raised a hoof and checked her watch, then concentrated and cast the detection spell again, feeling it pulse through the block. More scattered gunshots rang out as she reset the seven minute timer.

Flurry noticed the second discarded uniform as the vase on the nightstand exploded into a changeling. The mare lunged at the alicorn, knocking the submachine gun aside and trying to bite her throat with sharp fangs. Flurry grunted, then leveraged her larger frame and shoved back, knocking the mare over. The alicorn straddled the naked mare and slammed her left hoof down, crushing the changeling’s skull in a spray of blood.

As Flurry left, she swept the house again and wiped her bloody hoof on one of the dead changeling’s uniforms. The squad she was with regrouped in the street. “Clear,” Flurry announced and lashed her tail against the flight suit. It was still sticky with blood from the previous house.

The two dozen griffons and pegasi scanned the street with rifles and shotguns. A few were perched on the rooftops and looking through long rifles. One griffon fired his rifle and whistled happily.

“This block’s clear, Princess,” Sergeant Gildedwing offered. The blonde griffon reloaded his shotgun while he spoke. “We’ve secured the outskirts up to the trainyard.”

Flurry nodded. “Any prisoners?”

“Nope,” he replied and pumped his shotgun.

The rich changelings lived in the houses around the Crystal Plaza; they hadn’t had time to evacuate. Flurry expected to find servants or slaves kept in the houses, but that wasn’t the case. Every crystal pony she had encountered so far turned out to be a disguised changeling.

“Next block,” Flurry ordered and flared her wings.

“Wait!” a radiomare interrupted. She held a hoof to her headset and balanced the backpack against her flank. “There’s push to retake the plaza!”

Flurry turned an ear to the west, hearing the buzzing of machine guns and scattered gunfire. “Shit,” Flurry cursed. “Keep checking the houses.” She cast the detection spell again and teleported back to the Plaza.

Flurry reappeared above dozens of burning tanks and summoned her shield around herself. Gas mask clad Jaegers, the elite Changeling forces, fired from the rooftops and buildings to the west, pinning several groups of her soldiers amongst the broken war machines. One griffon pointed up at the alicorn and burst into wild laughter. “You’re going to die, bugs!” she screamed and braced her rifle against the side of the tank.

Several bullets pinged off the alicorn’s shield, and Flurry landed behind a nearby tank and kicked over a burnt changeling. She dropped the shield and readied her horn, visualizing where the bulk of the gunfire was coming from. The laser sliced through the tank and punched out the other side, carving through the open plaza and blowing apart a two-story building where the advancing Changelings had just placed a heavy machine gun. Her soldiers gave a ragged cheer as the gunfire ceased.

“For Aquileia!” a griffon screamed and leapt over a tank. Several more followed and rushed the buildings. Flurry galloped under them with a small square shield in front of her. The alicorn caught up to Sophie Altiert in the rubble of the collapsed store. The gray griffon leaned against a large crystal shard; her left wing was bloody and hung loosely by her side, and she braced her shotgun’s stock against the ground and pumped it with one claw. Her other claw clutched her side.

“Princess,” she panted raggedly as Flurry slid next to her and took cover. “Thanks.”

“Get a medic.”

“Later.” Altiert fired around the shard and a changeling shrieked with pain. She pumped the shotgun again with one claw. “We can pin them between Generosity at the mines, but we haven't heard from them.”

Flurry gave an absent nod and vanished in a snap of light. She reappeared above the destroyed building and summoned a shield around herself as a precaution. She flapped over through several smoke clouds, dropping the shield to cast her spell again and resetting her watch. Gunfire sounded from the houses below her as the attack descended into street-to-street fighting.

The alicorn flapped her wings and moved south towards a pillar of green smoke. The mines ran far below the Crystal City, branching into several tunnels wired with nascent electricity and glowing crystals. Before the war, the Crystal City’s main export was rare gems for enchanting.

At the outskirts of the city, the storm loomed outside the shield wall; ripples of ice and lightning crashed against the feeble pink magic. The entire Crystal City was dimly lit; only the very top of the Heart's bubble shield extended beyond the storm. Very little sunlight to passed through, even though it was almost noon.

Flurry Heart landed hard with her shield on a cobblestone street just before the mines. The walls of the buildings were faded and smudged; the windows were boarded-up and doors blocked. The Changelings abandoned the mines? Flurry thought, but shook her head. Gunfire still rang out occasionally.

A mare in a New Marelander uniform peeked her head out from an alleyway and waved. “Princess!” she shouted softly and lowered her rifle. Flurry ran at a trot and stopped at the entrance to the alley; her shield wobbled and shrank around her.

The pink mare’s uniform was bloody around the chest. Another uniformed pegasus was slumped against the wall and clutching his stomach with brown wings. “There’s a sniper!” the mare exclaimed and raised a hoof to a rooftop closer to the city center.

Flurry glanced up at it, spotting a steeple. Her shield flickered. “I’ll have to drop the shield to fire,” Flurry remarked.

“Please,” the amber mare backed up and dripped her head in a bow. “Thank you, Princess.” As the mare shifted her legs, Flurry glimpsed the bullet hole in her jacket.

“You’re wounded,” Flurry said.

“Only a glancing wound,” the mare coughed, waving her left hoof and pointing over Flurry’s shoulder again. Her rifle hung casually at her side, but her right hoof shook and drifted towards it.

Flurry unstrapped her own submachine gun and pressed her hoof against the open trigger. “I’ll drop the shield and cast the spell. It’ll take me a moment.”

The mare gestured for Flurry to lean against the side of the building. “Please, take cover Princess. We’ll keep an eye out." The other pegasus managed a nod and shifted his wings lower.

Flurry turned her back on the two pegasi and dropped her shield. Her horn glowed with light.

After a moment of staring at an empty tower, she glanced over her shoulder. The mare was frozen in Flurry’s magic, but a hoof was reaching towards her rifle. The brown stallion was also frozen; he had unfurled his wings and drew a pistol, making it halfway to Flurry’s head before freezing. Their eyes tracked her, pupils narrowed in obvious terror.

“I could let you two go and cast the detection spell to make sure,” Flurry said conversationally while turning into the alley, “but why bother?” She squeezed the trigger on the submachine gun and put two quick bursts into their heads. Her horn dimmed and the bodies fell into the alleyway, erupting into green fire.

Flurry scanned the alleyway; it was cluttered with rubble, but there weren't any other bodies. Might as well make sure. The alicorn cast her detection spell and waited calmly. She was not prepared for half the chunks of rubble burst into changelings, including two right next to her.

Oh.

Flurry’s submachine gun burst caught three of them deeper in the alley, but the changeling closest to her lunged and forced the alicorn to drop the gun and grapple with the stallion. The other near her tried to grab the pistol from the dead changeling, but Flurry drew her own pistol with a burst of magic and fired into her. The changeling she wrestled with swatted her horn with a heavy hoof and Flurry lost concentration. The revolver clattered to the ground and another changeling rushed for it.

Flurry growled and slammed the stallion against the crystal wall with a sharp crack, then flung him bodily at the changeling holding her revolver in a glow of green magic. They smashed together in a chaotic mix of flailing holed limbs. The only other changeling in the alley pulled the rifle free from the dead mare and fired wildly at the alicorn.

Flurry’s small, flat shield flickered into existence in front of her muzzle. The shot ricocheted back and struck the changeling in the eye. He fell back screaming, clutching the ruined, weeping eye socket. Flurry’s horn blazed and she filled the alleyway with scorching blue fire. Several changelings screams were cut short as the intensity cooked their lungs.

Flurry panted heavily; she almost missed the shotgun pumping behind her. She teleported, appearing just above the alley and dodging a spray of pellets. She dropped on top of a uniformed, gas-masked changeling. Jaeger. Real ambush.

The changeling reacted well; they raised the shotgun in green magic and flung the stock at Flurry’s muzzle. The alicorn was knocked off-balance and the Jaeger rolled, catching the alicorn and pinning a wing to the ground with a hard stomp of a booted hoof, then followed with a heavy strike to the base of her horn. Flurry whickered in pain. The Jaeger’s muzzle was obscured by their mask, and their black uniform was armored and bulky. They were nearly the size of Flurry Heart.

The changeling drew a knife from a sheath on their belly, holding it between their forelegs and thrusted it towards the alicorn's chest. She caught the descending forelegs with her own, but the blade nearly reached her flight suit. Flurry’s magic sparked. The Jaeger’s own horn lit up and attempted to force the blade down; Flurry heard muffled panting coming from underneath the mask. Flurry pushed back against the changeling, but watched the Jaeger's horn spark and try to lift the shotgun discarded on the cobblestones. Her own horn still throbbed with pain from the hit.

The Jaeger’s uniform was loose around the neck; Flurry lowered the hooves and let the Jaeger descend toward her. At the last moment, she used her alicorn strength to bend the knife away and rammed her head forward. The tip of her horn pierced the Jaeger’s neck and mangled the changeling’s throat. Flurry twisted and pulled her horn free at an angle, trailing blood and viscera.

The Jaeger’s grip slackened and they slumped to the side. Flurry heaved the changeling off of her and tore the mask away with a hoof. The Jaeger was a male changeling, maybe a year older than her. His blue eyes gaped up at the shield and the storm outside it as he slowly choked. Flurry grabbed the knife with her hooves, noted the pretentious Herzlander motto etched into the blade, and plunged it into the his eye.

She looked up in time to spot a herd of naked crystal ponies rushing down the street towards her. Flurry ignored the pain in her horn to prepare a laser to slice through their kneecaps, but glimpsed Spike’s broad shoulders appear from around a building and stopped the spell.

The dragon ran heavily with flared wings. At some point, his custom-made uniform had been blown off, all except for his pants. Spike carried a heavy machine gun like it was a wooden rifle, with belts of ammo wrapped around his chest and shoulders. A few of his scales were flecked with pockmarks from bullets.

The herd of crystal ponies stopped in front of Flurry and the dead Jaeger. Flurry scanned over them with tired eyes. They were all malnourished; sunken eyes and knobby hooves. Some carried black rifles and pistols in holsters, but most wore saddlebags with picks, shovels, and axes strapped to them.

The front of the herd stopped a healthy distance from Flurry and stared at her in clear shock. A bit of gore dripped from Flurry’s horn onto her muzzle while she stared back. Spike pushed his way to the front of the crowd and glared at her. “What are you doing here alone?” he asked.

“I was on my way to the mines,” Flurry answered slowly. She cast a detection spell and watched the crowd shuffle as it swept through them. No Changelings. Spike shouldered the machine gun and walked up to her, offering her a free claw. “You good to go Princess?” he asked in a loud voice.

Flurry accepted his hoof and Spike pulled her onto four legs. “We’re gonna talk about this later,” he promised in a low growl, “but right now, show them.”

“Show what?”

“Show them who you are.” Spike moved to the side and stood next to the alicorn. "I am Sir Spike, the Brave and Glorious!" he shouted back to the herd. He gestured to Flurry with a claw. "Flurry Heart, the Princess of the Crystal Empire!"

Flurry raised a foreleg and wiped her bloody horn on the sleeve of her flight suit. The crystal ponies, her subjects, stared at her in clear disbelief with sunken and bloodshot eyes. “P-princess?” a stallion offered, torn between stepping forward or bowing. Flurry’s throat was dry, and she spent a moment ineffectively swallowing. Her mind went blank. What could I possibly tell them? She raised hoof and touched her golden crown. The thin band was sticky with blood from her horn.

A few crystal ponies looked up at Spike, then glanced back at Flurry. Spike nudged her with a wing and swung his tail slowly. Do they even remember me? She flapped her wings and lifted herself up. The crowd stretched to the end of the street, easily several hundred ponies.

“My name is Flurry Heart,” she said automatically and without emotion. Her eyes searched the crowd, looking for somepony familiar, something to jog her memory, but a sea of strange muzzles stared back. “I am the daughter of Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor. I was born here, and I…” Flurry trailed off. Who am I to them?

Her crown rubbed against her pink and blue curls.

“Ponies of the Crystal Empire!” Flurry roared. Her voice echoed across the city and the gunfire and explosions dimmed. “I am Flurry Heart, Princess of Ponies, and I am here for you!” Her horn fired a blue laser into the sky that pierced the shield and the storm beyond it. A burst of sunlight filtered through. “Help me retake your city! Fight for your homes! Fight for your families! Fight for your friends!”

Her voice rang through the city and a hush descended. Flurry looked down at the ocean of upturned muzzles staring up at her with tired, blank eyes. Her heartbeat pulsed in her ears as silence descended and the sunlight disappeared into the storm.

“Princess!” a ragged voice called out in a cheer.

“Princess!” the cry echoed and rippled through the crowd.

Flurry’s ears swiveled.

“Princess!” a chorus of distant voices called from several blocks away.

Underneath the gunfire and grenades, the chant spread thought the city.

“Princess!”

“Princess!”

“PRINCESS!”

Spike roared underneath her, and her subjects roared back.

Above them, Flurry wept with relief. Her tears mixed with the stained blood on her muzzle, and she landed and scrubbed at her eyes with her other sleeve. She turned away from the herd and glanced at Spike with a watery eye. “Let’s take this fucking city.”

Comments

[PearlyDoesStuff]

Waiting for Sunbutt and Moonbutt to start huffing crippling amounts of copium when they see Flurry go full Charles XII on the Changelings.

[K9Thefirst1]

I got to say - That visual of Spike dressed like an 80s Action Hero is amazing, and I thank you for giving it to me.