Part Forty-Six
“You do not deserve the Heart, Usurper,” a high-pitched voice said behind her.
Flurry turned around, squinting through the wind. The storm darkened the sky and snow blew past her muzzle. The alicorn concentrated and tried to form a shield, but her horn failed to even spark.
Princess Amore glared back at Flurry Heart.
The tall pink unicorn stood unbothered by the storm, wearing blue crystal raiment around her barrel. Her rosy pink mane blew softly around her head and long horn, in direct contrast to the howling wind. Amore’s lips were pursed thin while she stared the alicorn down with golden eyes.
The effect was ruined somewhat by Amore’s need to slightly look up at Flurry. The alicorn was already taller than most stallions, but Amore was long-legged. The snow bent and blew around the unicorn, but Flurry raised her wings to shield her muzzle.
“You do not deserve the Heart,” Amore repeated. Her voice cut through the wind.
“What?” Flurry asked. She looked over her withers back towards the glowing Crystal Heart in the distance. I remember pain. She only felt cold. There were shapes passing the two Princesses in the storm, but Flurry couldn’t make out any details. “Where am I?”
“Does it matter?” Amore laughed, light and airy. “You are everywhere and nowhere, before and after. You stand where the Empire started. And ended, a thousand years ago.”
Flurry recognized the mare, though she had never heard her voice. There was one etching left behind in the Crystal Palace that Sombra never destroyed, hidden in a small room behind a banister. It depicted Amore, the last Crystal Empress and first Princess, standing below the Crystal Heart and celebrating her crystal ponies with a radiant smile. After her parents freed the city from Sombra, artistic ponies recreated Amore’s image in paintings and statues. Sombra supposedly turned her to crystal and shattered her into a thousand pieces, but Flurry always suspected he simply lobbed off her head and was done with it. Amore had always smiled in every depiction.
Amore snarled at Flurry, baring her teeth at the alicorn. “Your line is false, Usurper.”
“You’re dead,” Flurry replied, unsure of what else to say.
“And you are dying,” Amore spat. “Rejected by the Heart, as you should be.”
No. Flurry closed her eyes. “Why?” she said in a small voice, lost to the wind.
Amore laughed bitterly. “Why? You dare ask that? The Crystal Heart is powered by joy, by love, by hope!” She snorted. “You have given it nothing but fire and blood.”
“I have given them hope,” Flurry answered.
“Corpses and rope.” Amore tossed her head back. “The Crystal Heart is not a weapon.”
“What else is a shield,” Flurry asked, “but a weapon that protects?”
“It does not kill,” Amore said. “You cannot nourish it with blood.”
“It killed Sombra,” Flurry said stubbornly. “What's left for them? There is no joy, only grief. No love, only loss. Your ponies have nothing but hope! Hope that their families and friends didn’t die for nothing! That the ones that took them away will answer for it!”
“You’ve given them revenge,” Amore sneered.
“Hope of revenge,” Flurry corrected. “Justice. Fire and blood. How else can I lead them, after all they’ve lost?”
“You do not deserve to lead them.”
“On that, we agree, but there’s nopony else left.” Flurry looked behind her, back at the Crystal Heart providing a light in the darkness of the snow and wind. Voices carried on the wind, but Flurry couldn’t pick out any words. She turned back to Amore, thinking of what she saw.
It will be up to you, my Amore.
“You abdicated your title,” Flurry began. “You named yourself Princess, not Empress. Your mother told you to retake the Empire.”
“My mother was a decrepit foal,” Amore snorted, “dreaming of past glories. That patchwork monster weakened the Heart with all his madness and panic. Only the Crystal City remained.”
“You left it like that!” Flurry accused.
“Ponies needed stability, peace, joy, and love!” Amore shouted back. “My mother died thinking of nothing but frigid borders and frozen outposts. The Sisters offered love to every tribe!”
“The crystal ponies could’ve had joy in retaking their homes, in reclaiming the north.” Flurry shook her head. “You could’ve led them.”
“Why should I?” Amore sniffed.
Flurry paused. “You didn’t want to lead them,” she realized. “You just wanted festivals and parties.”
Amore gestured to a blue, glittering crystal tiara atop her rosy mane. “I opened my heart to all of them,” the unicorn stated. “I gave them love and peace and happiness. Not a single crystal pony can deny that.”
“You gave them Sombra,” Flurry said. “You died and gave them a thousand years of torment.”
“What will you give them?” Amore responded. “The Heart will kill you.”
Flurry shut her eyes to a burst of snow. “I have to try.”
“You will fail, Usurper,” Amore answered. “I bore no foals. Your line is false, as wicked as Sombra. You do not deserve the Crystal Heart.”
“No,” Flurry agreed, “I don’t.” She opened her eyes. “But there’s nopony else. The Sisters never came. The city will be lost to the snow, and your ponies will die.”
“And that is your fault,” Amore accused. She stomped her hoof into the snow, but it left no imprint. “The Heart is not powered by hatred.”
“It is mine," Flurry said, "and I am asking for your help. What would you do, Empress Amore? How would you save them?”
“They are not yours to save,” Amore snarled and ignored the question. “They do not belong to you.”
“I belong to them,” Flurry said quietly. She had no answer, only empty parties. “At least I tried.”
The alicorn turned away from the unicorn and marched towards the Crystal Heart.
“You will fail!” Amore promised, then disappeared into the wind.
Flurry Heart pressed forward. Her hooves were numb and sank fetlock deep into the snow. She pulled them out with effort and moved forward, towards the faint shining light in the distance. She flared her wings out for balance; ice and frost weighed down her primary feathers. Her curls began to freeze against the fur around her horn.
As she got closer to the Crystal Heart, the figures in the storm around her solidified. Ponies clad in purple crystal barding marched through the snowstorm, plowing forward with spears at their side. Ghostly, swirling horses whirled above the armored ponies, eyes glowing white with frost as they howled.
Windigos. The creatures howled and dove towards the ponies, repelled by spear and magic. Flares of magic from a unicorn combined with lightning from a storm cloud, lightning up the darkness in the storm. Thousands of ponies surrounded Flurry, spreading out in every direction. A strong contralto echoed in the wind.
We will face them together! All of us!
Flurry pressed forward, squinting as frost accumulated on her muzzle. The Crystal Heart seemed no closer, and her legs were tired. She tried to summon a shield to block the snow.
“I’m afraid your magic is currently occupied, Princess,” a harsh stallion laughed in the wind. A dark shadow swirled in the snowflakes pouring down in front of Flurry Heart. She stopped as the shadow obscured the Crystal Heart in the distance.
King Sombra waltzed through the storm, clad in an iron crown and red, silky cape. His heavy greaves left no hoofprints in the snow while his cape blew gently in the howling storm. His eyes flashed green and purple, oozing with dark magic.
Flurry inhaled, feeling the cold air sting her lungs, and lowered her horn.
Sombra smiled, baring his fangs. “No need, Princess.”
“Afraid to fight me?” Flurry challenged.
“No sport in fighting a dying mare,” Sombra quipped. “I knew better than to trifle with the Heart.”
“You’re a coward. You banished everypony.”
“I knew how to pick my battles.”
“You died to a baby dragon,” Flurry retorted.
Sombra scowled at her for a moment, then relented and laughed in a surprisingly warm baritone. “A mare after my own heart!”
Flurry shook her head. “I’m nothing like you.”
“You’ve killed far more than I did, Princess,” Sombra answered dryly. “Amore was weak, clutching to the south to avoid her duty. Her line deserved to end.”
“I don’t care about lineage.”
“Nor should you,” Sombra responded. “The Heart does not. The Heart is greedy, like the ponies that power it. The crystal ponies have always been more trouble than they’re worth.”
“Shut up. You were a slaver and a monster.”
“What do you think you are?” Sombra laughed. “Ponies may say they want friendship and harmony, but the strong of the herd have always ruled over the weak.”
“That’s just an excuse to justify cruelty,” Flurry snapped at the twisted unicorn. Sombra’s horn, gnarled and crooked, glowed blood red in the snowstorm.
“You don’t need excuses,” Sombra replied. “Look at you.” He pointed a greave at her forehead and then her wings. “You were born to rule over them. Celestia and Luna weren’t born alicorns. They had to beg the sun and moon.”
“They earned it.”
Sombra scoffed. “Waving a horn doesn’t make one a King. Or an Empress. History is violence, no matter how hard Celestia scrubs against the ink.” He smiled again, mouth full of unnatural fangs. “You understand. It is your birthright soaked in blood.”
“I never wanted violence,” Flurry denied.
“Yet you are so good at it,” Sombra replied. “Yet you keep your ponies in line with fear and blood, as you should. They would turn on you in an instant if you showed weakness.”
“Not my friends.”
“Your friends,” Sombra laughed. “The ones that plot against you, question your choices, and have always underestimated you? You have no friends, only quivering subjects fearful of your power.”
“Get out of my way,” Flurry growled.
Surprisingly, Sombra stepped aside and swept a foreleg to the Crystal Heart in the distance. It was half-buried in the snow. “It will kill you,” he warned.
“I don’t care. They’ll die otherwise.”
“They are not worth it,” Sombra stated. “You think you will win their love? You think they will respect your sacrifice?” He shook his head. “Let them die. You only need fear. The herd will follow.”
“I don’t care what they think of me.” Flurry shoved her way past Sombra, extending a wing to knock the grin off his muzzle. The unicorn melted into shadows and reformed outside her reach.
Flurry trudged past him. “I don’t care if they call me a monster. I don’t care if they love me or call me a Princess,” the alicorn continued. “They’ve died for me. I can die for them.”
Sombra laughter melded with the wind as Flurry continued towards the Heart.
She sank up to her barrel in the snowdrifts. Every step was ponderous. Her teeth chattered in the storm, and ice collected around her lips. Flurry held her head down, trying to shield her eyes, and icicles weighed down her tail. Her mane was blown back, curls frozen solid with frost. Every breath hurt her lungs; the air was too cold and bitter.
The voices in the wind became clearer.
It’ll take out the Palace! Get a demolitions team! Collapse the roof!
You’ll kill her!
She’s killing herself!
Flurry grit her teeth. The crystal ponies in the storm around her shifted direction, moving parallel to the struggling alicorn. The armored ponies had no problem moving through the snow, stepping lightly despite the crystal armor. They moved towards the Crystal Heart, marching in unison.
Flurry Heart fell into a deep pocket of snow and couldn’t pull her legs out fully. She began to dig with frozen hooves and crawl forward. She used her cold, useless horn to scoop snow away from her head. The Crystal Heart had nearly disappeared; only the very top of the blue crystal was still visible.
“Little Wings,” a soft, tired voice cut through the wind.
Flurry stopped, then ground her teeth and resumed digging her way through the snow. She made slow progress. Her legs were shaking too badly.
“What are you doing, Little Wings?” the voice said sadly, closer now.
“You have no right,” Flurry managed between chattering teeth. “I don’t know what you are, but you are not my mother.”
The wind and snow abruptly stopped. Sunlight struggled to peak through roiling storm clouds, but Flurry raised her head and blinked with ice crusting her eyelids. The constant snowstorm and the ponies inside it had retreated, forming a small pocket. Only the very top of the Crystal Heart peeked through a pile of snow, several body lengths from Flurry Heart. The alicorn struggled to pull herself free from the neck-deep snow.
“I am not,” the voice answered. “I may be a Nightmare to tempt you, or a hallucination as your magic exhausts itself. Perhaps I am the Crystal Heart itself, speaking to you.”
Flurry heaved herself free on trembling forelegs, refusing to look behind her.
The voice sounded impossibly sad. “Or I am all that remains of Mi Amore Cadenza, an imprint of a long dead mare upon an ancient artifact. A shadow on the wall. There is nothing I can say that will convince you, Little Wings.”
Flurry Heart slowly turned around.
It was not the Cadance in the cocoon, shaved and mutilated. Nor was it the false mother that had come for her in Aquileia, wearing her mother’s muzzle but with Chrysalis’ smile. This Cadance slouched in the snow, looking weary and tired. Her bloodshot eyes had bags under them. Her mane, once purple and gold and swirly, looked brittle and flaky. It hung loosely behind her head, matched by her tail. The pink fur was matted around her purple barding, and her wings hung raggedly by her side.
Flurry’s mother stood as she did when she said goodbye.
The younger alicorn’s muzzle shook with anger and grief. “Why are you here?” she asked. “To stop me?” she guessed.
“I cannot stop you, Flurry,” Cadance responded. “The Heart is yours, should you wish it, but it will kill you.”
“You made that choice,” Flurry tried to spit, but her tongue was too frozen.
“I never wanted to,” Cadance answered.
“Then why did you stay?”
“I never asked to be a Princess,” Cadance said longingly. “I was happy in my little village. Canterlot was too large and miserable. I was taught to walk with poise, to greet petitioners, to offer a kind smile. Celestia always said a Princess must be an example to their ponies.”
“Useless,” Flurry retorted.
“I was not taught how to fight,” Cadance said, ignoring her daughter’s remark. “Shining did not want me on the front, and I never asked. Celestia did not even want Luna in the logistics tent. ‘Our lives are too precious,’ she said.”
“It’s an excuse,” Flurry whispered painfully. The cold air stung her lungs.
“I was never taught how to comfort an orphan,” Cadance continued, “or to look a pony in the eye as I sent their daughter away to a war.” She looked into the snow, staring at the marching figures. “I sat in my crystal castle and spoke into the radio as I felt the bonds break between lovers, families, and friends. I wrote empty letters to the loved ones they left behind.”
She stared back at Flurry with wet violet eyes. “Twilight believed that friendship held ponies together, no matter the cost, but what use is love in war?”
Flurry Heart didn’t have an answer.
Cadance paused and swallowed. “Do you hate me for not fighting?”
“No,” Flurry replied immediately. “You stayed. You stayed and gave everything.”
“Is that what you think you’re doing?” Cadance asked without judgement.
“Ponies have died for me,” Flurry cried. “Griffons have died for me. Changelings. What kind of Princess am I if I won’t die for them?”
“What about your friends? Do you think they want you to die for them? Do you think any of them want this?”
“It’s my choice.”
“Your death will break them, Flurry,” Cadance said bluntly, but in a kind, quiet tone. “Spike and Thorax, Duskcrest and Dusty, Jadis and Heartsong, all of them love you. It will ruin them.”
Without the howling wind, the voices echoed around mother and daughter.
I can reach her!
If you go in there, the magic will tear you apart!
Let go!
“You are dying as I died,” Cadance said softly. “Celestia begged me to leave. She said my staying would destroy my family.”
“Dad died a hero.” Flurry tried to stomp her hoof, but her foreleg only shook.
“And now you are here, repeating my decisions.”
“Where else could I be?” Flurry asked. “In the River Federation, watching ponies suffer and die a world away?”
“I did not want this for you,” Cadance wept. She dug through the snow around her hooves and pulled a clump of snow free, shaking it between her forelegs. Her hooves left furrows in the snow.
The bright yellow snail toy was weathered and beaten, and a button was missing from an eye. Cadance clutched it between her legs.
“Whammy,” Flurry stuttered.
“I held it as I died,” Cadance said. “As I poured my love for you and Shining and Twilight into the Crystal Heart, but it wasn’t enough. I prayed and begged that you would find happiness.”
Tears trailed down the icicles hanging from Flurry’s muzzle. “W-what am I supposed to do? What else can I do?”
“You don’t have to be a Princess, Flurry,” Cadance responded. “You've tried so hard. Nopony would ever blame you."
“I would! Look at me!” Flurry tried to extend her wings, but they were frozen to her side. “What else can I be?”
Cadance smiled. It stretched the bags around her eyes. “You were born an alicorn, but you are your own mare. I’m proud of you.”
“H-how?” Flurry sobbed. “I killed Sunburst. I killed Quartz. I killed Falx. Nothing I do is good enough!”
“You’re the only one that thinks that,” Cadance responded. “War is monstrous, Flurry.”
“I sense weapons,” Flurry admitted through her tears. “I never told you or dad. I can tell how many they’ve killed. I can feel their owners. I was always meant to be this.”
“It’s not your fault,” Cadance assured her. “You were born on the eve of war. Do you think I love you less?” She smiled sadly. “You have a good, strong heart. Destiny is a choice, Flurry.” She moved to the side to show her cutie mark of the Crystal Heart, partially obscured by her barding. “I did not have to rule, nor do you.”
Flurry collapsed into the snow and sobbed ugly, bitter tears. “I miss you so much. I miss Dad. I miss Twilight.”
Cadance did not move towards her. “I love you, Flurry. Now and always.”
“I love you,” Flurry sniffled and slowly crawled towards her mother.
“Do you remember what I told you when I said goodbye?” Cadance asked quietly. The weary pink alicorn clutched Whammy to her barrel and looked down at Flurry with tears trailing down her muzzle.
My family or my throne.
Flurry Heart stopped.
Love is the death of duty, Flurry.
She looked over her shoulder.
I will always love you, but I cannot leave them, not again, not after so much loss.
The Crystal Heart was nearly buried in the snow.
Flurry looked back at her mother. Cadance stared with love in her eyes, waiting with Whammy clutched between her forelegs. “I love you,” she repeated. “No matter what you choose.”
“I love you,” Flurry answered. “Forever.”
And she turned away from her mother and dragged herself towards the Crystal Heart.
The wind and snow returned, howling against her muzzle and battering her down into the snow. Flurry pulled herself forward on ice-caked hooves. Her eyes were blinded by the snow, and her rigid mane and tail were frozen solid. Her wings stuck to her sides, frozen into her fur. Still, Flurry crawled up the snowdrift toward the one remaining piece of exposed crystal, digging troughs into the snow with her legs.
Cadance did not say anything, and Flurry did not turn around to look.
The voices echoed around her, whirling above her in the wind.
He did what he could, when it counted, Thorax said.
I’m going to try, Flurry, Shining promised.
Love is the death of duty, Flurry, Cadance swore.
One life for the city, Spike said.
Flurry Heart pressed a frigid, numb hoof against the exposed crystal.
In the basement of the Crystal Palace, Flurry Heart held onto the Crystal Heart, suspended together off the floor in a maelstrom of blue flames and lightning. Blood poured from her ears, mixing with the golden streaks from her melted crown. Her eyes wept blood, and her mouth spilled over with bloody foam. Her mane and tail burned with blue, purple, and gold flames as the magic roiled over the alicorn. Her horn burned bright, flaring with golden light as bright as the sun.
Flurry forced the Crystal Heart back together. The flames and lightning that scoured the room were sucked back into the cracks along the Heart, fusing it solid. The two halves seared together. The last tendril of fire was from Flurry’s horn, connected to the center of the Crystal Heart. Her mouth was locked open in a wail, but no sound came forth.
Bright white fire erupted from her flanks and spread across her body, merging with the flames from her mane and tail. The fire consumed her utterly, then was sucked up into the cone of flame erupting from her horn. Flurry’s mane and tail burned away, but her pink fur was untouched.
Her horn poured gold fire across the Crystal Heart, and the Heart erupted with light. A wave of magic blasted through the room and the city beyond. A pink beam crashed through the ceiling and every floor above until it reached the sky. The creatures in the doorway flung themselves to the ground and shielded their eyes on reflex. The dragon and the changeling were the last to do so.
Flurry’s horn snuffed out. The Heart remained suspended in the air by faint blue magic, pulsing like a heartbeat. The crystal surface flickered with inner blue flames. There were no cracks.
Flurry Heart fell to the crystal floor with limp wings, covered in her own blood.
She landed beside her mother.
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So Flurry passed her test
She... She was able to do it... There is hope.
My guesses are:
1. Flurry fucking killed herself trying.
2. She got her cutie mark.
3. Both.
However, it's probably just #2.
Cutie mark time!
Another option: she started to get her cutie mark, but the heart took even that bit of magic, and she will be forever bereft. Seems to me like that would work better with the whole Cadence speech, her disappointment at not having it yet, and the imagery of the flash quickly joining the magic pouring into the heart. Plus, in a way, it would be the death of her. But we shall see.
Absolutely. Amazing.
What a scene, enhanced by chapters of great build.up. Incredible.
One of the most beautiful and impactful scenes in the fic so far
Oh, I see that Tempest was put on babysitting duty back when Flurry was little.
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Thanks for the praise! I've had this scene in my notes for a while, and I knew I really had to nail it. Flurry's never really had to prove herself like the other alicorns, and this is her moment. It's intended to be ambiguous what is really happening; Cadance runs through some options. The one hint is that Cadance does leave furrows in the snow, unlike Sombra and Amore, suggesting that Flurry's mother is physically present and it is truly her. Cadance's reminder could be read as her subtly encouraging her daughter to keep going.
At the beginning of this I thought this was a Mary Sue story, boy was I wrong. This was a very emotional story of heartbreak, moral nuance, political intrigue and perseverance. She started off as an optimist then in the civil war arc developed a Ends justify the means mindset which made her do some very horrible actions in oder for her side to win, which she did reflected on and hated her self for those actions
We also see that her arrogance hurt her loved ones that were like a family to her, and at times she regretted those actions. Is she over idealistic at times? Yes she is, but dose she get her head straight? YES
I love this story and how emotional and action packed it is. Love and duty are a duality and there is an in between, which is the main theme of the story. But it’s one or the other, fight for love or die for the greater good
Interestingly from what I have seen the heart chooses its owner no matter how bad the person is as it still points the empire toward a good future even if there is caltrops on the long road.
And this story is bloody amazing 👏
You have a good way of understanding the value of self-sacrifice.
I'm still playing catch-up after putting this story off for over a year.
But this chapter alone has catapulted this fic into the top ten best stories I've read on this site. This is something special.
And this just became one of the top 3 fics I’ve read on this site. It was already in the top 10 but this seals it. I rarely find myself genuinely not knowing what lies ahead in a fic, usually there are clues and while there are clues in this fic they’re not obvious. And it’s not plot twists for the sake of plot twists, they all make sense as soon as I read them.
Literal baptism by fire
wow... just wow...
i have nothing to really say, besides this is some good fucking writing.
I really don't know what to say. This story is breaking me. I've felt myself physically grow weak the past few chapters as I kept reading.
And then you shot at me. With this.
I can feel it, staring down the barrel of hundreds of thousands of words still left to go. I'm never going to recover after this.
I cried....