Part Fifty-Four
The prison lobby was stereotypically Equestrian, despite the near decade of Changeling rule. The faded wallpaper was of a bright, sunny field with tall grass and flowers. There was a welcome booth, staffed by a Reich soldier that seemed to be in a state of perpetual confusion and torment by the wallpaper.
Bronzetail sat next to him with two knights, straightening his uniform. Each knight held a sheet of paper. Duty Price and the Crusaders stood from them, frowning. “Right,” Price chuckled, “that was a bit bracing.”
“Thank you, Elias,” Flurry apologized. “I’m sorry.”
“It is absurd to risk everything for one griffon,” Bronzetail scoffed. “Is that how you won over the Nova Griffonians?”
“Some of them,” Flurry shrugged. “I killed a lot, too.”
“We heard reports,” Bronzetail said. “Conflicting reports, but I suppose all of them are true. Boreas preserve us.”
“What do you want me to do?” Flurry asked.
“We’ll do a repeat broadcast after the release,” Bronzetail replied after a second, surprised at Flurry’s deference. “Reinforce your order to stop fighting with us, and the consequences of ignoring it.”
“I’m not going to give the go ahead for Reich soldiers to execute my subjects,” Flurry countered. “I’ll look like your puppet.”
“I have no wish to look like yours,” Bronzetail answered flatly. “Find a wording that suits you.”
“We’ll take care of it ourselves,” Price sighed. “Right. We got the lists. Let’s get the soldiers released, then the others.”
“You mean the ones you want dead,” Bronzetail retorted.
“We’ll do it,” Price repeated. “Looks better, anyway. Plenty of Manehattanites will look forward to it. How do you want it done, Princess? Like Wind Rider?”
“If you think that will be most effective,” Flurry answered evenly.
“We’ll make a big show all over Manehattan,” Price nodded. “Clears out the prison and sends a message. We're here to right wrongs.”
“It’ll free up the soldiers here,” Bronzetail added.
“Come on, ponies,” Price ordered. “Lot of happy muzzles to see us. Some, far less so.” He sat on his flank for a moment and retrieved a new cigar. Sweetie hesitated, looking at Flurry. Her purple and pink mane bounced while she stared at the alicorn with desperate green eyes.
Flurry looked away. “Where’s Rarity?” she asked Bronzetail.
“I’ll lead you to her,” Bronzetail offered. He glanced at Price. “I am extending trust to you.”
“I walked in here,” Price countered.
Bronzetail scoffed, but he walked down a hallway. “Collaborators were separated from the partisans. Too much violence otherwise.” He stopped and waited for Flurry. She followed with Rainbow trailing behind her.
Sweetie stepped forward. “Belle,” Price ordered. “With us.”
“My sister-”
“Come along,” Price said softly. “Princess will talk to her, right?”
“We’ll talk to her,” Flurry promised. "That's it."
Sweetie stared at Flurry Heart, then slowly limped over to Duty Price. They trotted through a checkpoint and disappeared down the opposite hallway. Flurry, Bronzetail, and Rainbow moved down a very full cell block. Several Reich soldiers patrolled the upper walkways and stole looks down at the trio. Flurry stared straight ahead; Rainbow followed behind her with pinned ears and a slow, plodding gait.
Bronzetail looked over his shoulder. “The Element of Loyalty is a poor actor,” he said in Herzlander to Flurry. “My cub can beg better.”
“I’m sorry that you did not get to kill Gilda to reestablish dominance or whatever,” Flurry sneered back in the same language. “She lived by less than a hoof. It was stupid. She was stupid. Rainbow’s stupid. I’m stupid, and I’m sorry.”
Bronzetail stopped and turned around. His tail swung in agitation. “I have lost soldiers to Duty Price. My soldiers will see the release of these ponies as a betrayal. They will try to be violent, and I will have to order more executions to keep them in line. The veterans are at the front, not here. These are fresh-feathered soldiers that have lost friends for nothing.”
“I have killed more.”
“Do you think I have only had to kill one griffon for you?” Bronzetail asked with hard eyes. “The Kaiser is on his third spymaster. The Admiralty is gutted, whoever you did not kill has been replaced or imprisoned. Our navy suffers. Lieutenant Gilda is possibly the only griffon in a plane that has not sworn vengeance upon you. You have killed families and friends all over the Herzland.”
“I have executed my soldiers as well,” Flurry stated in a harsh whisper. “Never for lack of decorum.”
Bronzetail narrowed his eyes. “The Reichsarmee is not a militia; it is a professional army millions strong, dependent on chain of command. You have not been shot because the Kaiser’s subjects fear the consequences.”
“I did not want the war,” Flurry whickered.
“I saw where you lived,” Bronzetail said, tapping a claw on the floor in thought. “It was a hovel. Why did you even bother flying for Blackpeak? Just to take over later? You didn't need to fight.”
He doesn’t know, Flurry realized. He doesn’t know about Frederick and the message. “My griffons are terrified they are all going to be shot by the Kaiser,” Flurry deflected. “Will you tell me that would not have happened if the Reich landed in Nova Griffonia?”
“The army follows the will of the Kaiser,” Bronzetail said evasively.
“I heard you ran down students quite well,” Flurry continued. “I heard a lot about the protests, from the griffons that fled them. I heard about soldiers dragging families out of homes.”
“I heard there is a crater in Weter.”
“Kemerskai was armed.” Flurry stared him down. “What would’ve happened if the Kaiser’s army landed in Nova Griffonia?”
Bronzetail did not tell her. He turned back around in a whirl of feathers and led Rainbow and Flurry to a cell on the ground floor. There were two ponies inside, laying on opposite bunk beds. They hadn’t gotten up, but their neighboring cell mates did.
“Princess!” a thin gray unicorn cried from the cell to the left. “Please, let us out of here!”
“Svengallop,” Rainbow growled. “You had fun stage managing the bugs. They sing as badly as I do.”
“They forced me!”
“They forced you to make a profit?” Rainbow asked angrily.
“Please, Princess,” Svengallop begged, staring at Flurry with tears on his narrow muzzle. “I can explain everything!”
“He’s on the list,” Bronzetail commented.
Flurry nodded and looked away. She stepped up to the other cell. The two ponies inside had difficulty getting out of the beds, but for wildly different reasons. Spike had told Flurry Heart about Rarity, often going into concerning levels of detail. Flurry didn’t remember her, and she had only seen pictures from before the war. She was a beautiful pearl unicorn with dazzling blue eyes and a coiffed purple mane.
Was beautiful, Flurry thought. The unicorn in the cell was thin and disheveled. Her purple mane had been pulled into a tight, short ponytail; her tail was frayed at the ends. Rarity’s pearly coat was matted, and her fetlocks had grown out. Her sleeves on her gray jumpsuit were rolled up and exposed chipped hooves. She was not as thin as some, but her legs were all lean, corded muscle.
Her eyes still matched Spike’s description. Fierce and intelligent, the blue pupils bore into Flurry. “Princess Flurry Heart.” Her voice was raspy, but she still sounded elegant. Rarity bowed; Flurry heard her knees pop from the motion. Her horn had an inhibitor ring upon it.
“Sweet Celestia, Rares!” Rainbow exclaimed. “You look worse than I do.”
“My grooming habits have slipped, darling,” Rarity answered with a rasp. Her eyes widened at Rainbow’s metal wing, then to the scar running down her muzzle. “Gracious! Are you all right?”
“Yeah, Canterlot was rough,” Rainbow shrugged. “Got a cooler wing now.”
Rarity clicked her tongue. “It clashes terribly with your coat.”
“I can make anything look good.” Rainbow fluffed up her mohawk with her good wing.
“Princess,” the other occupant of the cell wheezed. Flurry turned to her and blinked in shock. She did not know Suri Polomare. The pink earth pony had rolled off the bed during the discussion. Her belly strained the drab blue jumpsuit nearly down to her hooves.
Suri was fat. She was the first fat pony that Flurry could ever remember seeing. Ponies had always been thin in Nova Griffonia, and the Empire was far worse. The alicorn stood there mutely, trying to remember if there were fat ponies in Aquileia. Surely, she thought, but couldn’t remember any. It was actually startling. Flurry had gotten used to seeing the outlines of skulls under stretched fur and sunken eyes.
Suri stood up. Simply by girth, she forced Rarity to step to the side and back up against her bed. The earth pony had flaps of skin under her muzzle, suggesting she had been even heavier at one point. Her muzzle wobbled and tears sprang to her grayish-brown eyes. “Princess,” Suri sobbed. “Please, let me go! This was all a dreadful mistake!”
Flurry slowly gave Bronzetail a side-eye. “How did you get her in a cell?”
“Lots of shoving,” Bronzetail answered. “It was quite difficult.”
“They put you in a cell with a pig, Rares,” Rainbow chuckled. “Farm life finally found you.”
“Princess, please!” Suri wheezed. She trudged forward to the bars in the cell door. “This is all a misunderstanding! The bugs forced me to do it!”
“They forced you to eat pies?” Flurry asked. “This city is starving.”
Bronzetail coughed into a claw, suppressing a laugh.
“T-that wasn’t my fault!” Suri sputtered. “I tried to keep my workers safe from her!” She raised a flabby hoof and shoved Rarity. “The bugs made me work with her!”
“I worked under Suri before the uprising, amongst other things,” Rarity admitted.
“I heard about the uniforms,” Flurry replied. “They were awful?”
“I had substandard material,” Rarity nickered. “Hardly my fault they were prone to falling apart in strenuous exercise. I’m sure some poor Jaeger lost their life because of it.”
“After the failure, it was so much worse!” Suri continued. “I can’t be held responsible for what happened in my factories!”
“Sweatshops,” Rarity clarified with a nod. “I dealt with a great deal of Suri’s bookkeeping, and some management of the factory floor.” She gave Suri a glance. “She wasn’t willing to walk the floor, as it were. She watched sometimes.”
“She admits it!” The hoof shoved Rarity again. “I wined and dined Lilac, I confess, but I did so to keep ponies safe! Rarity was in charge of everything, all the whippings and beatings!”
Rainbow’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “Rares?” she asked.
“I was not in charge of them,” Rarity defended. She laid back down on the bed to give Suri more room. “The Changelings set harsh quotas, not Suri, and I was usually brought in to…observe punishments.”
Rarity hesitated. “They liked doing that, making me watch.” Her eyes were bitter and she glanced to the earth pony. “They liked making me single out ponies that failed to meet quotas.”
Flurry glanced at Suri. I’m sure she was part of ‘They.’ “You whipped and beat ponies?” she asked.
“I did not,” Rarity answered. “The Changelings did, or sometimes a floor manager that Suri appointed.” She looked around the cell. “Very few of them are in here. I suspect most of them are dead in ditches.”
“She was part of everything, all the operations,” Suri said rapidly. The earth pony stamped a hoof and jiggled like jelly.
“I was.”
“Rarity,” Flurry said slowly. “I have executed ponies for less than what you just confessed to.”
“I’m afraid I haven’t gotten much news for quite a while, Princess,” Rarity apologized.
“Grover said you refused to speak for his invasion,” Flurry pointed out.
“The Kaiser? I am tired of being a piece of art to be propped up on a wall,” Rarity spat. “Lilac did not even realize I was working for Suri. The Changelings didn’t know where I was until after Starlight lost.”
“Why didn’t you fight with us?” Rainbow asked angrily. “You could have fought!”
“I am not a soldier,” Rarity replied with a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry, darling, but I don’t have it in me to kill. I thought I could do more good where I was." She looked to the side. "I was making some good progress in Canterlot before the uprising.”
“Rarity,” Flurry began with a snarl. “Everypony in this cell block is going to die. They are all being executed.”
Svengallop was listening and burst into harsh sobs. Flurry turned and bucked the cell door with one hoof, bending the metal bars inward. “Quiet!” Flurry shouted. Svengallop screamed and backed up, scurrying like a rat. The alicorn turned back to Rarity and Suri. “You have confessed to being a Changeling puppet and Suri’s pawn. What good did you do?”
Rarity met the Princess’ eyes fearlessly. “They will never love me for it, but I kept thousands of ponies alive; they were given rations when they would have gotten nothing. The Love Harvests hurt many, but none died. I put orphans in the factories. I played my part as best I could.”
“You used foals?” Rainbow said despairingly. Her muzzle was twisted between anger and grief.
“Yes!” Suri whinnied. “It was all her idea!”
“Yes,” Rarity replied. “I needed their little hooves to clean the gears and thread needles. It was quite necessary. No Love Harvests for them, and far too many to count.” The flippant remark hung in the air.
Flurry sighed. “Rarity, I am not Twilight Sparkle. I am a deeply stupid mare. If there was some plot to save ponies, say it.”
Rarity blinked. “I cooked the books. Suri was too busy gorging herself and the Changelings were too overstretched after Starlight’s rebellion. There were several hundred more ponies working and eating than the Changelings ever knew about, and they did very little.”
Suri turned and gaped at Rarity. The earth pony quickly recovered and shoved her back on the bed. “She’s lying! It was my idea!”
“Can that be verified at all?” Flurry asked Rainbow. “Get with Price.”
“Suri offered her help during the early days of the invasion,” Bronzetail interrupted in Herzlander. “Unlike Equestria, the Reich has an appreciation for wearing clothes. We didn’t need uniforms.”
“I disagree, darling,” Rarity replied in smooth Herzlander. “Your hat is quite garish.”
Bronzetail put a claw on his hat protectively. “I am about to save your life!” he squawked. “There were several hundred more slaves in Suri’s factories than she claimed, particularly foals. It was a surprise to the soldiers. Several of her managers were killed before we reopened the prison.”
“How long did you think that would work?” Flurry asked the unicorn.
“As long as I could make it work,” Rarity answered. “They would have shot me once they found out.”
“You’re okay with dying?” Flurry narrowed her eyes.
“For foals? Yes. They would have died otherwise. They had nopony left to look out for them.”
“You let the Changelings use you.”
“I tried to use them back.” Rarity sighed. She laid on the bed. “I do not fear death, Princess, not anymore. Death is easy. Life is difficult.”
Flurry stood up straight and stared down her muzzle at Rarity. “You’re out on parole.”
“Pardon?” Rarity asked, lifting her head from her hooves.
“You’re not pardoned,” Flurry quipped. “You are on parole. Despite my best efforts, my army keeps trying to make purple uniforms a reality, and we have many orphans. You will help them.”
“Your uniform looks quite nice, Princess.”
“Thanks," Flurry said, amused. "I hate it. You will help Manehattan, and my army. Price will verify your story; I suspect he will also keep you from being lynched.”
Flurry sneered down at Suri. The fat mare stood in the cell with a wobbling muzzle, sniffling. “I would say you would hang, but there’s not a lamppost in Manehattan that could bear your weight.”
“Please,” Suri sobbed. “It was all her idea!”
“To try and save ponies?” Flurry asked. “Or work with Lilac? She makes a convenient scapegoat, doesn’t she? Who set up the factories in the first place?”
“I had to do it! Lilac would’ve killed me!”
“The Changelings didn’t even know who you were until you waddled up to them,” Rainbow snarled. She raised her metal wing and slashed it against the bars. Sparks flew into Suri’s flabby chins and she stumbled back.
Suri shrank back as best she could, raising her hooves over her head and laying on the floor in the back of the cell. “Please, Princess! Mercy!”
“I do not enjoy ordering her dragged out of the cell,” Bronzetail remarked, “nor will Duty Price.” He signaled with a wing for the cell door to be unlocked. The door clicked open after a moment and the bars rolled back.
“You’re right,” Flurry agreed. “Can I borrow your pistol? I'd prefer to reserve my magic."
Bronzetail unholstered his pistol and offered it to Flurry. She plucked it out of his claw in a golden aura, flicking the safety off. “Come on, Rares,” Rainbow said softly. She helped Rarity off the bed and tugged her away from the open door.
“Princess, I must protest!” Rarity pleaded. She stumbled against Rainbow on unsteady hooves.
“Please!” Suri sobbed. “It’s not my fault! It’s not fair!" The earth pony jabbed a hoof towards Rarity. "She helped! She did everything!”
“She confessed,” Flurry said lowly. “I’m tired of hearing excuses.” The pistol floated in front of Flurry's muzzle and she lined up Suri’s head with the sights. The earth pony was in the very back of the cell, laying on the ground and sobbing wretchedly. Squealing like a pink pig. Flurry chuckled at the image.
Rarity stepped in front of the barrel just as Flurry pulled the trigger. “Prin-”
Rainbow reacted quicker than Flurry, flaring out her metal wing in front of the pistol. The bullet ricocheted off the feathers and back at the Princess. Flurry felt a sharp pain in her left foreleg as the bullet tore her navy sleeve and grazed her leg. Flurry snarled in pain and hobbled back, holding her hoof up. Bronzetail flinched as the alicorn’s horn erupted in bright golden light. She nearly crushed the pistol in her magical grip.
“What the hay?” Rainbow screamed and shoved Rarity into the hallway. The guards on the walkways above tensed and looked down. Bronzetail waved a claw for them to back up, hat askew. Ponies in the cell blocks started whinnying, calling out to Flurry.
“Princess!”
“Let us out!”
“Please, Princess!”
“I didn’t do anything!”
Flurry Heart inhaled and Bronzetail clapped his claws over his ears.
“Shut up!” Flurry screamed and blew out the windows in the hallway. Glass shards rained down; everyone took cover while snowflakes poured in from outside. “Talk and you die!” The shouting stopped as the cell bars rattled. The guards on the upper walkways braced themselves on the floor with paws and claws.
The cell block was silent, only a slight wind brushed broken glass from the windows. Flurry limped forward to Rarity with a feral grimace. The gun floated wildly about her and she felt blood stick to her sleeve. “You think she’d stand in front of a gun for you?” Flurry spat.
“I’m sorry, Princess,” Rarity apologized, looking down at the sleeve and the blood trickling from it. Her muzzle scrunched in regret.
Flurry set the pistol on the floor, rolled up her sleeve in her magic, and looked at the gash through her pink fur. The injury was shallow and the ricochet skipped along the ground after hitting her. Flurry cast a blood clotting spell and tore the sleeve off, binding it around the wound messily with her muzzle. “Despite everything, this is the first time I’ve been shot,” she ground out with venom when she was finished. “Thank you, truly generous.”
“I’m sorry, Flurry,” Rainbow apologized rapidly. “She just rushed forward. It’s my fault.”
“It’s hers,” Flurry corrected, glaring at Rarity. “I just spared your life and you rush to get killed for that pig?”
Rarity swallowed, looking slightly up into Flurry’s angry blue eyes. “Suri is a horrid, horrid mare, but I don’t wish her dead.”
“I do,” Flurry countered. “A lot of ponies do.”
“A lot of ponies wish me dead, I’m sure,” Rarity replied. “Despite the Reich’s reputation for cruelty, they are not executing ponies in the street. These ponies can reform, Princess. They can work and be better, learn better.”
Flurry looked to Rainbow. “Wind Rider watched with a smile as Rainbow’s father died. Tell me one thing that Suri did that helped anypony other than herself.”
“Employ me,” Rarity answered readily. “She gave me a chance to help ponies, intended or not.” Rarity bowed before Flurry; blood trickled down onto one of the alicorn’s white boots from the gash. “Please, Princess. Forgiveness is an aspect of generosity. I can take Suri as an assistant and she can help me. I will need the help.”
“I’ll do it!” Suri screamed from the back of the cell. “Please! I’ll do anything! I swear it, Princess!”
“Forgiveness,” Flurry echoed, staring up at the cells and the cowering ponies inside them. Even after months of being in prison, they still looked healthier than the ones outside. The griffon guards stared down at her with wide, fearful eyes. Bronzetail adjusted his officer's cap.
“Celestia forgave her sister. We forgave Discord. The hardest thing to do can be reaching out a hoof,” Rarity said.
“Very generous of you,” Flurry remarked, “to extend such faith in them. In Equestria’s darkest hours, they turned on my subjects.”
“I try to be generous,” Rarity answered. “I don’t always succeed. Where would we be without it?"
Flurry nodded. Without breaking eye contact with Rarity, she grabbed the pistol in her magic, raised it up, and shot Suri Polomare though the head. The earth pony died mid-shriek, sounding more like a pig than a pony.
“Celestia risked the fate of the world to save her mad sister,” Flurry replied down to the stunned mare. “She cares for Luna more than her crown. Discord should’ve been killed after he sided with Tirek. Letting him out at all was a mistake. Where is he now? He abandoned us.”
Flurry’s wings trembled in anger. “Chrysalis stands atop a mountain of corpses. She would laugh and knock away your outstretched hoof. Do you imagine her earning forgiveness?” Flurry clicked her tongue. “Sometimes, generosity is wasted.”
“Why would you spare me, then?” Rarity asked blankly.
“You were an Element of Harmony and a national hero,” Flurry replied. “I will not kill Sweetie Belle’s last remaining family and alienate half of my subjects, though the other half might approve. If your story is true, you’ve done enough to earn a chance.”
She narrowed her eyes and lowered her muzzle to Rarity. “Never step in front of my gun again.” Flurry stood straight and extended her wings, ignoring the pain in her foreleg. “Rainbow, please bring Rarity to her little sister. They have a happy reunion.”
“Uh, yeah,” Rainbow nodded. She hauled Rarity up, despite the unicorn being taller than her, and dragged her down the hallway, stumbling away from the pooling blood in her cell. Flurry Heart flicked the safety on and offered the pistol back to Bronzetail. He delicately grabbed it out of her magical field.
“If I had insisted on Gilda being shot,” he asked quietly, “would you have killed me over it?”
Flurry didn’t reply and watched Rainbow leave. “I’m glad it didn’t come to that,” she deflected.
Bronzetail holstered the pistol. “Griffenheim was a hard day,” he sighed and rubbed his beak. His wings twitched. “The protestors were burning flags; they stormed the Temple of Boreas and defiled the statues. Some of the guards died around the Archon's tomb. The first revolution started that way, you know.”
“Do you regret it?” Flurry asked softly.
“I would have nothing but regrets if the Reich fell apart again while I could have stopped it,” Bronzetail answered with a painful sigh. “I’m sure the Kaiser feels the same.”
“Do you speak with Grover often?”
“Updates,” he shrugged a wing. “Nothing else. I am simply one of his Field Marshals.”
“Having friends and subjects is hard,” Flurry sighed. “You warned me.”
“There is always a price,” Bronzetail said. “Griffons know this well.”
There really is. Flurry grimaced and limped forward, favoring her left foreleg.
“I can have a medical officer look at that here,” Bronzetail offered. He followed behind the Princess.
“Just give me a medical bag,” Flurry muttered in Herzlander. “It needs some stitches. I can do it myself.”
“Just so,” Bronzetail agreed. Flurry and the Field Marshal returned to the lobby, finding a large group of disheveled and thin ponies in jumpsuits with Duty Price. Rarity and Rainbow stood with the Crusaders. Sweetie was clutching to Rarity and weeping; her left foreleg bent stiffly in the leg brace. Rarity whispered into her ears with her own tears streaming from her muzzle.
Everypony stopped what they were doing to look at the Princess beside Bronzetail.
“Listen up!” Price shouted. “The Princess and her big pink shield cut a deal with the Reich. The birds need our help to win their little war. We’re going to fight the bugs together!” He walked up to the Princess and stood beside her. “That means no more attacks! You can go back to your families, say your loves, then spread the word!” Nopony refused, but Flurry could see pinned ears and lashing tails.
“This is the way forward,” Flurry called out. “Together. Chrysalis will kill us all. We will not lose to infighting. I will not allow my ponies to die because we couldn’t put aside our differences.”
“We can restore the power stations and share supplies,” Bronzetail added in Equestrian. A few in the crowd glared at him.
“You heard the Princess!” Price shouted. “Trucks are outside. Birds are awful drivers, but we’re going home, everypony. Thank the Princess.” He chewed on an unlit cigarette as ponies began to file out into the snowy yard. A few did thank her with tired nods, but most just shuffled out into the snow, enjoying the sky.
“How’d it go?” Flurry asked the earth pony.
“Better than whatever you were doing,” Price muttered. “We heard your shout over in the other cell block. Half the city probably heard that.” He glanced down at her leg and whistled. “Some bird take a shot at you?”
“I shot myself in the leg,” Flurry shrugged a wing. She stared at the reunion with the Crusaders, Rainbow, and Rarity. There was less roughhousing and more crying this time. “Can I borrow the Cutie Mark Crusaders for a moment?” she asked.
“They’re a bundle of trouble,” Price admitted. “Just go by Crusaders now. If you want them as guards, they’ll get you into more trouble than get you out.”
“I’ll give them back in a second,” Flurry said. “Mare stuff,” she added.
Price’s eyes widened. “Crusaders! Up front!” he shouted brusquely. “Stop the weeping and hugs, you’re making us look bad in front of the Princess! She has need of your sorry flanks!”
“Medical kit and the nearest bathroom, please,” Flurry requested to Bronzetail.
“For, uh, mare stuff?” Bronzetail asked lamely, clearly uncomfortable.
“For my leg,” Flurry clarified with a scrunched muzzle. “Gross.”
“Of course, just so,” Bronzetail said quickly. He looked around the room, but didn’t see any griffons. He quickly ran to the hallway with flapping wings. “Grizelda! Escort the Princess to the bathrooms. Bring a medical kit!” he screeched in Herzlander.
Grizelda squawked something back that Flurry didn’t hear.
“Just do it!” Bronzetail ordered and disappeared down the hallway.
“You want to see us, Princess?” Scootaloo asked with an easy grin. “Rainbow said you’re a pretty good pilot.”
“Pretty good?” Flurry replied with mock offense. “I’m better than her.”
“You cheat with that horn,” Scootaloo retorted.
Sweetie Belle sniffled. “Thank you, Princess.” She tried to bow again.
“Stop,” Flurry ordered.
“Whatcha need us for?” Babs asked in a thick Bronclyn accent. “Princesh,” she tacked on at the end.
“Advice,” Flurry said vaguely.
Grizelda, a black, owl-like griffon exited the hallway with a large medical bag between her claws and a rifle on her back. Flurry levitated the bag over and flung it on withers, balancing it with her wings. “Thanks.”
The griffon blinked at her empty claws.
“Bathroom?” Flurry prompted.
“Y-Yes,” Grizelda stammered. “This way.”
Flurry limped after the griffon until she reached a large shower room; the four mares followed her. Flurry entered through the single door and brushed past Grizelda, followed by the Crusaders. The tile was moldy and the room had clearly not been used for months. The lights flickered. Flurry dragged a bench up to a row of sinks and tested the faucets, finding that they worked. She set the medical bag down. “You can leave,” she said to Grizelda. “Shut the door behind you, please.”
Grizelda practically slammed the door shut.
“If you’re hurt, Princess, I’m a medic,” Sweetie offered eagerly.
“A pretty good one,” Apple Bloom added. The yellow earth pony set her submachine gun down and looked around the room.
“You're not here for that,” Flurry said. “I got it.” She unbound the strip of cloth and tossed it into the sink. Flurry unbuttoned her collar and shirt. She slowly undressed with her horn while the water heated up. “You offered fillies advice on their cutie marks, right?” She rolled the sleeve back as far as she could, nearly up to her barrel.
“Before the war,” Apple Bloom answered with a drawl.
“I got my cutie mark late,” Flurry replied.
“That’s pretty common, Princess,” Scootaloo said. “Since the war, a lot of colts and fillies are struggling to find their talents.”
“Most are more concerned with surviving,” Sweetie added sadly. “We’ve seen a lot of younger soldiers with guns and grenades. Crosshairs, explosions, a lot of things.”
Flurry hummed. “You don’t approve?” She set her boots below the bench, beside her long-sleeved jacket and flank skirt. She was only wearing her navy pants around her flank. Give a Herzlander a heart attack right now, she chuckled quietly.
“Well, it’s not exactly their choice,” Babs said languidly. “Not like they have a say about what appears on their flank. Grow up fighting and get a mark about fighting.”
“It’s not fair,” Sweetie countered. “Somepony so young shouldn’t have to deal with that.”
“War ain’t fair,” Babs snapped back.
Flurry set her foreleg on the bench. She retrieved a razor from the bag and alcohol wipes, shaving off the fur around the gash and wiping it down. Her spell stopped the bleeding. Flurry frowned while she worked; her tongue stuck out between bared teeth. Her audience watched the Princess quietly.
Flurry glanced at her reflection in the mirrors above the sink. Her mane looked like a haphazard buzzcut, matched by the obvious pink patches where her fur was still filling in. Flurry retrieved a needle and thread from the bag, biting off the loose thread and holding the needle in her magic.
“I could use your interpretation,” Flurry Heart said. She used her other foreleg to push her pants down and expose her flank. “I got my cutie mark in the Crystal Empire.”
“You shaved your tail, Princess?” Babs blushed.
“Burned it off getting the mark,” Flurry answered.
“We’re all mares here,” Apple Bloom shrugged. “Nothing we ain’t seen before.”
Sweetie squinted at the cutie mark critically. “It’s the Crystal Heart, right?”
“Just tell me what you think,” Flurry said. She jabbed the needle into her leg and began to close the gash. Her eye twitched, but she was otherwise expressionless.
Sweetie and Scootaloo shared a concerned look.
“Well, it’s the Crystal Heart,” the pegasus began. “With a shield around it. There’s the largest shield, like ever, up around the Crystal Empire. You're good with shield spells, right? Just like your dad.”
“There’s flames around the shield,” Apple Bloom pointed out. “The shield’s protecting the Heart.”
“The shield and the flames are the same color,” Babs retorted. “Doesn’t the shield burn the bugs?”
“How’d you get the mark, Princess?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Same way I lost my mane and tail,” Flurry answered with a slight hiss of pain. She pulled the thread through and closed the wound. She tossed the needle and thread in the sink with the rag. Flurry wiped down her leg again and wrapped a bandage around it. Shouldn’t scar. Mending spell will close it up in a few days.
The alicorn looked up at the Crusaders. “The Crystal Heart was broken,” Flurry summarized. “I fixed it, forced it together to banish the storm. It nearly killed me.”
“Getting a cutie mark should be a happy moment,” Sweetie replied.
“My heart stopped. Magical Depletion.”
“Ain’t that fatal?” Babs asked, seeing Sweetie’s horrified open muzzle.
“Usually,” Flurry replied.
“What were you thinking about?” Scootaloo asked warily. “When the cutie mark manifested. That’s usually a big hint.”
“Dying,” Flurry answered quietly.
Sweetie shook her head, distressed. “No need to overthink it,” she said quickly. “Your father’s talent was shield spells, and your mother had the Crystal Heart. You have both.”
“Yeah, uh, you’re protecting the Crystal Heart from the fire,” Scootaloo added.
“Nothing wrong with protecting ponies,” Apple Bloom finished.
Babs was quiet. She looked away rather than argue with the others.
Flurry looked them over. They got their marks before the war, before Equestria fell. She decided not to mention anything else. “Thanks.”
“Course,” Apple Bloom nodded. “Was that it?”
“I just wanted an expert opinion,” Flurry lied. “I don’t remember getting my cutie mark.” The alicorn pulled her uniform back on, one piece at a time. Sweetie bundled up the medical bag with her green magic and slung it on her back, turning off the sink.
“Princess,” Apple Bloom hesitated. “Can I ask about Applejack?”
“I’ll talk to her,” Flurry promised. She slipped her boots back on and turned the sink off.
“Might not even make it to that,” Babs muttered under her breath.
Apple Bloom didn’t hear her cousin. She was too focused on smoothing out her gray ELF uniform. The gems of the Elements of Harmony on the armband was faded. “Please,” the stocky earth pony pleaded, “if Applejack didn’t pull back during the uprising, the ‘lings woulda shot every Apple they ever saw. My sister did her best to keep ponies healthy and safe in the orchard.” Apple Bloom’s rosy red mane was clipped short and pulled into a ponytail. She looked like Applejack did in Rainbow’s old pictures.
“I’ll talk to her,” Flurry promised. Apple Bloom looked like she wanted to say far more, and opened her mouth.
“Lemme give ya a hoof,” Babs offered and interrupted her cousin. She hauled Flurry upright with her earth pony strength and steadied the larger mare. “How’s putting weight on that leg?”
Flurry tested it. “I can deal with it.”
“You’re one tough mare,” Babs complimented. “Sweetie whined for days.”
“Shut up, Babs,” Sweetie nickered.
“Go check on that griffon outside,” Babs said over her shoulder to the others. “You’ve seen how these birds get about clothes. Probably think we're doing some slumber party in here. I'll give the Princess a hoof.”
Flurry picked up on the hint. “Babs will help me. I’ll be right out. Thanks.” Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie trotted out, bumping into each other and jostling their slung submachine guns. Flurry waited until the door closed again. “What did you want to say about my mark?” she asked softly.
“I figure you got a better idea than any of us,” Babs responded, “and you were hoping we’d say something else.” Her hazel eyes looked sympathetic. “Wanted to talk about my cousin’s sister.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Flurry repeated.
“Kill ‘er quick,” Babs said bluntly.
Please, kill Sunburst quickly.
“What?” Flurry asked.
“Look,” Babs sighed, “Rarity might be able to walk around Manehattan without gettin’ her head caved in with a pipe, but we had no idea she was workin’ with Suri until she surrendered during the uprising. Applejack was on that orchard and yuckin' it up with the bugs since the beginning. There’s no Suri. It’s all her.”
“Apple Bloom says it was to protect her family.”
“Apple Bloom is fighting with us,” Babs countered. “Her sister had the chance when the Everfree swallowed Ponyville, and she went with the bugs to Appleoosa. She’s got an even bigger orchard now, and more slaves. Maybe she treats ‘em better than most, but I’m not going to be an excuse for her. A lot of Apples would rather have died to the bugs than be used like that.”
“Including you?” Flurry asked.
“Damn right,” Babs nodded. “A lot of family hates her, Princess. And there’s a lot of Apples.”
“Rarity was in the same situation.” Flurry waved her wings and refolded them.
“Rarity ain’t wearing a bug outfit like some old earth pony show the unicorns would put on,” Babs snorted. “She didn’t stamp her mark onto bottles and ship ‘em to the bugs. She sure as shit didn’t make money. You walk up to an Apple and say AJ did everything to keep ponies safe, and you’re picking one Tartarus of a fight.”
“She’s an Element of Harmony. She was a general,” Flurry said evenly. “You want me to string her up in a tree? Half my ponies don’t even know who I am.”
“Don’t worry ‘bout that,” Babs replied. “You don’t have to kill her. We’ll do it. Apples take care of our own.”
Flurry narrowed her eyes. “You tell your cousin that?”
“Many times,” Babs said unashamed, “and it always starts a fight. The bugs wiped out the damn buffalo to get to the oil and clear more room. That’s all Appleoosa is now, orchards and oil fields.” She walked with Flurry towards the door. “She should’ve hung herself from a tree branch in Appleoosa,” Babs finished. “Saved us all the trouble. Family’s going to tear itself apart over it if you let her live.”
Flurry stopped Babs Seed with a wing and held her back. Despite Bab’s stockiness, the alicorn held her in place easily. “I decide.” Flurry glared down at her. “Not you.”
“Princess,” Babs bowed on the moldy tile. Her stolen gun bumped against her flank.
“Rise,” Flurry ordered. She stepped through the door with a slight limp. The other Crusaders were apparently interrogating various Reich soldiers for the whereabouts of somegriff named Gabby, and getting nowhere. Part of the reason was their atrocious Herzlander. “Let’s go,” Flurry shouted. “Don’t test their patience.” The griffons looked very grateful for the reprieve.
The remaining Crusaders broke off and formed a loose group around Flurry Heart. “My sister can fix that sleeve for you,” Sweetie gestured with her horn to Flurry’s torn pant leg. "It's a very nice uniform, Princess." Flurry just nodded.
The lobby was nearly empty. Price and Bronzetail were still shooting each other vaguely frenemy-level glares, but they were smoking together. Progress. Rarity and Rainbow were waiting at the door, arguing quietly. Rainbow’s metal wing twitched as she bared her teeth at Rarity. Flurry couldn't hear the conversation, but Rarity kept shaking her head mutely.
“Are we ready to go?” Flurry asked in Herzlander.
“I convinced ‘Bronzebird’ to set up in Carneighie Hall,” Price responded. “New headquarters. Crystaller building has too much baggage from Lilac.”
“It will take time,” Bronzetail tacked on. “We can do a radio broadcast tomorrow. Loop it for a few days.”
“I’ll visit the boroughs then while the power stations are repaired. Help smooth things over,” Flurry decided.
“You going somewhere?” Price asked.
“Baltimare,” Flurry replied. “Rainbow, make sure Nightshade and her siblings are ready to go in a week.” Rainbow broke away from the conversation with a huff and nodded to Flurry decisively. The pegasus left Rarity by the doors.
Price frowned around the cigar. “You know that Baltimare’s full of insane communists, right? Call themselves syndicalists or something.”
“I’m fine with communists,” Flurry said honestly.
“They aren’t fine with you,” Price retorted.
“Golden Delicious is in charge,” Apple Bloom added. “He’s part of the Apples.”
Babs glanced at Flurry with a weary eye and scuffed a hoof on the floor. “He ain’t gonna like you,” she warned.
“Duty Price didn’t like me either,” Flurry replied. She took her hat off with a wing and scrubbed at her stubble. “I won him over.”
“I don’t like making little fillies cry,” Price coughed into a hoof with a slight blush. “What’s your plan if you can’t win him over?”
“Same plan I had with you,” Flurry said flippantly. “For Baltimare’s sake, I hope that’s not necessary. The Reich just needs the port.”
“Right,” Price swallowed nervously. “We’re ready to go.”
“Duty Price will ride with the Princess, as will I,” Bronzetail announced.
“Crusaders, get with the others, fourth truck,” Price ordered. Flurry watched them leave together. Apple Bloom and Babs walked together, but their legs moved stiffly. They didn’t walk like friends or family.
“Miss Rarity, you may accompany the Princess and myself,” Bronzetail offered in Equestrian. “I apologize for your detainment.” He removed his cap and preformed a half-bow.
Rarity took a moment to respond. “That’s alright, darling,” she said absently. The pearl unicorn looked over her shoulder down the hallway to her cell block. Flurry followed her look. The hallway was cluttered with guards.
“The executions will begin shortly,” Bronzetail said to Flurry in Herzlander. “Ponies will do it; Price selected a few to begin that he trusts. The bodies will be strung up publicly for a few days in designated areas around the city, so Manehattan will know they are truly dead and not changelings.”
“Changelings make a lot of things difficult,” Flurry sighed in Equestrian. “I’m sure Rarity wants to spend time with her sister."
“Whatever you command, Princess,” Rarity responded icily. She did not look at Flurry.
Flurry bit her lip to stop a snarl. She walked with Bronzetail outside, and Rarity followed with an escort of Reich knights. The snowfall had stopped. A faint pink tint was in the sky to the north. The canvas tops of the military trucks had a thin layer of snow, and a few guards flapped their wings and bushed it off with gloved claws.
Flurry flapped her wings and settled into the truck guarded by a squad of armored knights. Bronzetail followed. Duty Price was already inside, waiting in the middle. Bronzetail and Price sat across from each other, puffing smoke rings. It seemed to be a contest on who could blow a bigger ring. Stallions. The truck’s engine started with the others.
A guard squawked angrily and Rainbow appeared, flapping her wings from above. “Can I ride with you, Princess?” she asked nervously. “And, uh, Field Marshal Bronzetail?”
“Thought you wanted to be with the Crusaders?” Price asked.
Rainbow wrung her hooves as she hovered. “I, uh, don’t wanna start a fight with Rares.”
Flurry Heart sighed. “It’s up to Elias,” she told the pegasus. She gestured to Bronzetail with a hoof.
Bronzetail gave the floating pegasus a long, severe look, then sighed and pinched his beak with a claw. “Get in the Maar-damned truck,” he squawked.
He swore in Herzlander, so Rainbow just floated awkwardly.
“He said get in,” Flurry translated.
Rainbow sat in the very back and carefully brushed snow from her metal feathers. The convoy made slow progress through the city due to the snowfall. The four creatures sat tiredly in the back of the truck. No one spoke. Flurry Heart idly watched and counted the lampposts and balconies on the streets they drove through.
By the time she left for Baltimare, the lights were on in most of the city. The attacks had stopped on the garrisons. Bronzetail moved the headquarters to Carneighie Hall, and Duty Price began patrols through the outer boroughs. A few Reich trucks dropped off excess winter clothes in Bronclyn. They were too large for ponies, but the Manehattanites made do. The public fires ceased.
The prison was empty. Bodies swung from lampposts in the cold winter air. Svengallop and Suri were hauled up to an unused crane at the Manehattan docks next to a warehouse. Suri took an entire squad by herself, and needed an industrial-grade wire instead of rope. They dangled over a large crowd of dock workers, mostly earth ponies, that helped unload the incoming ships flying the flag of the Griffonian Reich. Beside the crane, the warehouse wall had a large, faded poster of Celestia stuffing her muzzle with cake.
Is this your Princess? the poster asked, but the words had been painted over.
THIS IS was splattered across the words, with an arrow pointing at the bodies.
Below it, there was more writing on the wall.
LONG LIVE THE PRINCESS OF HOPE ROPE
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Suri is a fat fuck.
Also, fuck Babs for even remotely mentioning killing Applejack.
Yeah uh, how old is she again?
Flurry is a relentless warrior and I'm sure she can lead Equestria to victory, but each passing chapter makes me not want her to be in charge once the war is over more. She's just so bitter and hateful that she would not make a good peace-time ruler.
11423098
With her event in the ELF, I think Applejack agrees with babs. On a unrelated note I now want a meme where it's got milk but flurry and it's got rope
This just keeps getting better and better
Chapter 10/10.
I like the relationship between Bronzetail and Price, they are good friends.
Thank you, Mr. Writer, for not making Flurry fall for Rarity's sweet words, I hate it when she considers giving Suri a second chance despite everything they've done.
As a Japanese proverb says: Responsibility is heavy like iron, but death is as light as a feather. Rarity earned a second, if she really regrets it, let her actions speak for her, now that she is free, she can really help those orphans.
I'm curious about Discord, just like in the movie he has to be a scene scared because of how mighty he is, it's strange that he's not around.
It is strange that the Crusaders, after living through a war, are still somewhat childish, except for Babs. I think Babs is right about Applejack.
Postscript: I love the conversations that write, Mr. Writer, I feel that they are very realistic with respect to the universe.
11423129
Flurry Heart and Grover are sixteen. Her birthday is barely ahead of Grover's, just before Spring, so 17th birthday is coming up. Yay.
The cutie mark crusaders are young adults; Flurry's a teenager. She's a big teenager because alicorn, but she's very young.
11423148
Flurry Heart sits atop a throne of skulls in an iron crown. Above her, the empty nooses sway in the breeze. "Sure, of course the orphanage can have more money!" she chirps in her high-pitched voice. Her eyes narrow. "Don't embezzle it."
...She'll do great.
11423183
As for the Crusaders, keep in mind there's an age gap between Flurry Heart and them. They're talking to an overgrown teenager as young adults, and they pick up that she's got a lot of issues, so they try to reassure her. Doesn't work.
Jacques randomly starts sweating and looks at the Crystal Heart nervously.
11423098
From Bab's perspective, it makes sense. the Apple family doesn't know much of what happened only that one of their own surrendered to the bugs and started providing food using slave labor for them. Apples are stubborn and like Bab's said
Rarity made uniforms under the threat of death and did everything she could to make sure the ponies under her care didn't work themselves to death. Applejack from what we've seen has been pretty much doing the opposite.
11423209
Oh, mister writer. I was going to write in that part that I suspected that Jacques is Discord, didn't know if he was going to be more important in the future. My reasons are that Spike said he reminded him of an annoying old friend and the fact that he insisted other griffins get through the shield just in case.
11423191
What a joyful childhood, all hail the Princess of Rope!
Damn, I'm really curious what they were saying.
Also, how does Bronzetail blow smoke rings with a beak?
11423372
Lots of practice. That's why it's a competition.
So Rarity spent any fortune she made getting extra workers to make shitty uniforms for a totalitarian regime so none of her workers gets shot and ends up imprisoned for collaboration.
She’s basically Oskar Schindler if the Germans won. I can see that.
Flurry gives me the impression she would do the opposite, for herself only, to prove she is doing what she wants and isn't blindly following advices from ponies as if they were orders. Its spite and desire to be the executive body; to have the initiative, to be free.
So Rarity was Schindler's Mare, eh?
The Princess of Rope...
This chapter is a good contrast between old Equestria, and the new Equestria Flurry is building. Rarity stepped in front of a gun to save a pony she hated, she pled and begged for her life to be spared. The cutie mark crusaders only talked about how the kids deserve more then the cutie marks they were given, and were reminiscent on when it was given from happy moments.
Flurry Heart is going to make it to Canterlot, but she'll make it with a trail of bodies, both pony and changeling.
For a second there I thought Flurry was legimentaly going to consider Rarity's side of things, but it is not to be.
Considering that Flurry once referred to herself as the Princess of Rope I doubt she'd see it as an insult. Justice is sometimes hard. It's harder in war. Hardest when you're losing the war.
I am super behind, so I know I have nothing to say of worth except as an in-the-moment thing.
But I had, for a brief moment, thought Flurry would be getting a character arc where she moves more and more towards Harmony and more away from Supremacy as she collects the Elements of Harmony. Then she shot Suri.
Not saying that's out of the question still, but if it does I do believe that the Elements will definitely be tempered by War.
And when they get to AJ, I do hope Flurry let's her live like Rarity.
If she doesn't go free, I hope she lives in House Arrest or in a prison.
And if she isn't destined by the author to get that much, I am hoping that AJ simply walks up to Flurry, hat in hand, freed slaves behind her, and asks for permission to put a bullet in her head herself.
But that's me.
Wait hang on. She was fat before the changelings met her??