The Princess and the Kaiser

by UnknownError

Part Sixty-Nine

Flurry gingerly lifted the cupcake with both hooves. The tiny candle atop it flickered from the movement, and the flame nearly disappeared. The alicorn breathed in through her nose, then gently blew out the candle.

“Happy Birthday, Flurry,” Thorax chittered.

“Thank you, uncle,” Flurry Heart answered with a muted smile. She pulled the candle out with her teeth, spitting it out on the large box containing her armor that functioned as a table. The cupcake was pitifully small in her hooves, but she savored all three bites.

The fabric walls of her tent ruffled slightly from the wind. The forward base on the slopes of Mount Canterhorn was exposed to the gales blowing down the mountain, but not the potential artillery fire from Canterlot. The Changeling Heer had dug into the mountain roads and collapsed the rail tunnel, but neither side had engaged.

All eyes were turned towards the Celestial Plain.

“I’m going to walk the camp,” Flurry decided. She zipped her jump suit up in a flash of magic, additionally fetching her crown from its place on her cot. It was too short for her, and her legs dangled off the side if she laid on her stomach.

Flurry could’ve slept back at Twilight’s castle in Ponyville, but she wanted to be close when the fighting started.

“It’s cold today,” Thorax warned.

“Never bothered me,” Flurry retorted and pushed the tent flap back with a wing. Frosty Jadis and three other crystal ponies huddled around the tent in heavy jackets. Jadis saluted with her bad foreleg.

“Happy birthday, Princess.” The greeting was echoed by the other crystal ponies.

Flurry nodded to each of them and trotted through the camp. Her hooves crunched on the fine layer of snow. It was thin enough to expose the grass in some places, and the clear sky was tinged pink to the north.

The Crystal Heart’s shield was three days flight from Canterlot, and the right flank of the Griffonian Reich was somewhere north of the mountain. Flurry flexed her wings as she trotted through the camp; her horn occasionally pulsed with light as she cast the illusion-stripping spell reflexively. So far, the Tzinacatl scouts had intercepted any attempted infiltrators and turned them over to Thorax’s changelings.

Thorax did not tell her what happened to them.

Flurry turned on the slope and looked west. A few planes lazily flew far off in the distance, small enough to be simple black dots on the horizon. The Hegemony and Reich air forces had apparently decided to take the day off, or they were conserving their fuel for the upcoming battle.

The camp was also too far away to see the furrowed trenchwork dug at the base of the mountain, nor the griffon and ponies spending the day in them. Flurry had teleported vast amounts of ammunition and heavy armaments over while the trenches were dug, mostly anti-tank rifles and bazookas.

I hope Hegemony equipment is rated to pierce Hegemony armor, Flurry snorted. Some ponies took pride in the idea of using the ‘lings own equipment against them, but Rainbow always complained that the Changeling planes flew stiffly. The light pink alicorn trotted down the camp towards the artillery pieces. She had also teleported half of those guns to their positions; Spike stopped her from moving the other half after catching her snorting blood into a snowdrift and rubbing her muzzle clean with snow.

Ponies with Imperial Snowflake armbands wished her happy birthday and bowed; ponies with the Elements of Harmony armband nodded, at best. They didn’t scowl at her anymore, not openly. The upcoming battle had created some sense of solidarity.

If we lose, we’re all going to die on this mountain together. Flurry sighed, narrowing her eyes at a large group of ponies and griffons gathered around a small bonfire. A dozen yaks stood the farthest away, naked and completely at ease in the cold. Music drifted up from a radio. The crowd wore a mix of gray and purple uniforms, meaning that the group consisted of both forces.

Tempest Shadow’s tall purple mohawk stuck out near the center of the crowd. Fizzlepop, Flurry scowled to herself. Like the soda. She pondered naming conventions as she walked down to the crowd. Not like I can judge, I’m named after the storm I nearly destroyed the Crystal City with.

The griffons and yaks parted to allow Flurry Heart through to the center, nodding or bowing as best they could in the crowd. The alicorn cast her detection spell one last time, picking up a changeling near the middle of the crowd. She tensed, only for Arex to rear up and wave over the head of an earth pony.

“Hello, Princess! Happy birthday!” The changeling had some cards folded into the holes in her forehooves; her sleeves were rolled up.

Flurry pushed her way up to a card table made out of shell boxes for the artillery pieces. Sunset, Fizzlepop, Arex, Duskcrest, and Edvald sat around the table. They used varying caliber bullets as chips; Duskcrest had the most, a veritable horde of high-caliber ammunition. The radio in the center of the table continued to blare an awkward sounding polka.

“Happy birthday,” Duskcrest nodded. He placed his cards flush against the table to prevent the others from peeking as he bowed. Sunset’s horn glowed and her eyes glowed briefly as she stared at the back of the cards.

Flurry gave the amber unicorn an unimpressed look. Sunset chuckled uneasily and folded, throwing her cards down. “Happy birthday,” she offered. “How old are you? Twenty?”

“Seventeen.”

Sunset pursed her lips and raised her head to stare up at the alicorn. Flurry Heart was taller than everypony in the crowd, except the yaks. And she could look a few of the yaks in the eye. “Woah,” Sunset nickered. “You’re gonna be as tall as Celestia. She always complained about doorways being too small.”

Flurry flexed her wings again. “They’re already too small for my wings.”

“Your wingspan is the envy of every red-blooded griffon,” Duskcrest laughed. “I know griffons that would kill to have wings that size.”

“Males,” Edvald clarified in heavily accented Equestrian, “because of what else it suggests.”

“Don’t talk about that in front of the Princess,” Arex rebuked them.

“About what?” Flurry nickered. “Dicks? I’m not a foal.”

The table cleared their throats in unison and looked down at their cards. The radio continued the jaunty tune. Flurry’s ears twitched as the rhythm sounded familiar. A changeling started singing in dual-toned Herzlander.

There is a house in New Canterlot; they call the Setting Sun…

“What the hay is that?” Flurry asked. Her lips parted in a sneer.

“Lilac sponsored a few groups to record cover songs,” Arex explained.

“Bad songs,” Edvald grunted. “Accent is as bad as mine in Equestrian.”

“Svengallop was happy to give up the rights to Sapphire Shores’ songs,” Sunset huffed.

“Well,” Flurry snorted, “he’s hanging from a crane in Manehattan.”

Fizzlepop glanced at Flurry. She held her cards in her hooves. “Might have been a little excessive, Princess.”

“He deserved it.”

“Some would say I deserved the same.”

Flurry bit down on her tongue and cut herself off. “Why are you listening to a Changeling radio?” she asked instead. “Is this coming from Canterlot?”

“The Changeling Lands,” Sunset clarified.

“According to the announcer this morning,” Arex continued, “Queen Chrysalis has a message for the Changeling Heer. Probably to shore up support for the attack.”

Flurry clicked her tongue. “Huh.”

Haven’t heard her on the radio in months, not since the whole ‘Alicorn of Death’ thing she tried. “Deal me in,” Flurry declared. She pulled a smaller ammo box forward and sat atop it.

“You know how to play Griffonstone Hold ‘Em?” Sunset asked with a smirk.

“Nope,” Flurry lied and spared a quick look at Arex. The changeling hid her own smirk behind a hoof.

“Is easy,” Edvald proclaimed. Duskcrest pushed a few bullets over to Flurry from his own horde. He narrowed his eyes at her and sized her up.

“Let’s see how the Princess plays,” the frontier griff said warily and collected everyone’s cards. He shuffled them quickly, making a show of how fast he could slip a card into his sleeve.

Even with her innocent, wide-eyed persona and some occasional tells from Arex, Flurry couldn’t beat Duskcrest. The group played a half-dozen hands of cards while the smug griffon’s horde of bullets grew larger.

Sunset finally flung her cards down in a huff and rolled Duskcrest’s sleeves back with her horn. The griffon stuck his light brown arms out and clacked his beak. “I don’t need to cheat to beat you,” he said with smirking eyes. “Ponies have too many tells. Ears and muzzles.”

“That doesn’t explain how you can bluff Arex,” Flurry pointed out.

“I was a bandit,” Duskcrest waved a claw. “Bluffing is ninety percent of the job.”

“Banditry isn’t a job,” Sunset snarked.

“It is in Nova Griffonia,” Duskcrest replied.

The radio crackled and the song stopped. The crowd grew quiet and leaned in. A few still seemed more interested in the card game, but the ponies at the table turned their ears to the radio.

“My beloved changelings,” Chrysalis’ smooth voice flowed out of the radio. She spoke in flawless Herzlander. “This is your Queen, the Empress of Equus.”

“Who else would it be?” Sunset muttered.

“The past few years have been hard, my changelings,” Chrysalis said. She sounded genuinely pained. “The world has always been cruel to our kind. We triumphed over Equestrian aggression, only to face greater and greater challenges. My new subjects struggled to accept their rightful place below us.”

“What?” Flurry sniffed.

“Celestia started the war, don’t you know?” Arex hissed.

“And now, the greatest threat to our dear Hegemony has landed upon our shores. The Griffonian Reich, once our loyal ally, has betrayed our trust. They have followed a cub into an unjust war.”

Flurry rolled her eyes.

“The griffons of the Reich cannot imagine what awaits them,” Chrysalis declared. Her voice turned from sweet sugar to poison. “They have fallen into our trap, and we will drive the cub back into the sea. Our Hegemony is fated to last a thousand years. It will outlast the empire of the decrepit Grovers, of the stagnant Sun and the mad Moon.”

Fizzlepop nickered and her horn sparked.

“I have studied Grover,” Chrysalis claimed with a laugh that sounded like a tolling bell. “The cub does not know war. He only knows how to crush unarmed protestors. I will lead you to victory, as I led you before.”

“Trimmel won the war for her,” Flurry interjected.

“And Hive Marshal Synovial is in command,” Arex added.

“Follow your Queen, my beloved changelings. I promise you the world, and I always keep my promises.”

The radio played static for a few moments.

Flurry laughed slightly. “That was awful.”

“I should say,” Chrysalis’ voice returned, “that I have a guest that wants to speak a few words. I’ve hosted her for some time here in Vesalipolis, for her own safety.”

Sunset set her cards down and frowned at the radio.

Flurry stared hard at the radio as it crackled with static.

“Hello,” a tired, sad voice whispered through the background noise. It was barely audible.

“I don’t want to do this,” Twilight Sparkle said in Equestrian. “I’ve been told a lot about the war. I want to believe that it was all lies.”

Fizzlepop clacked her teeth and shook her head. “It’s not her.”

“Of course it isn’t,” Sunset agreed. Despite her proclamation, she didn’t look away from the radio.

“I still wouldn’t believe it,” Twilight’s voice broke, “but I’ve seen the pictures and heard the speeches, far too many for them to fake. What happened to Equestria?”

Flurry exhaled shakily.

“We believed in harmony,” Twilight sniffled. “We believed in peace and friendship. Princesses never ruled by the point of their horn. We never hung ponies from lampposts. We never executed prisoners. We believed in forgiveness, not revenge.”

Twilight was quiet for a moment. “This isn’t Equestria. This isn’t what we fought for. What so many died for.”

Fizzlepop set her cards down. She looked over at Flurry briefly, then returned to the radio.

“My entire family is gone,” Twilight began to cry. “You’re the only one left, Flurry Heart. I love you so much. You know your parents never wanted this.”

Flurry stared blankly at the radio.

“What’s the point of fighting the Hegemony only to become them?” Twilight wept.

She couldn’t breathe.

“Please, Flurry,” Twilight sobbed. “Please stop.”

The radio abruptly switched off in a burst of green magic. Thorax rammed his way through the crowd with an open snarl. Slamming his forelegs onto the table, the changeling knocked the bullets and cards aside.

“It’s not meant for the Heer,” he hissed in a loud voice. “Her speeches are meant for us, for the Reich. She knows we listen.” He climbed atop the table and glared at the crowd with buzzing wings and a wide, fanged snarl. “She wants to break us.”

“Thorax…” Sunset started.

“No,” Thorax openly snarled down at her.

Sunset blinked at the changeling and closed her mouth.

Thorax turned his head to bear his fangs at Fizzlepop, then leapt off the table. The changeling hauled Flurry back to her hooves. She didn’t resist his pull. Spike was waiting at the edge of the crowd with a box under one arm. He was openly puffing smoke with hard eyes.

“She wouldn’t say that,” Spike assured Flurry. “Not for Chrysalis.”

Flurry followed them back to the tent. “I know,” she said listlessly.

“Ignore it,” Thorax hissed up to the alicorn. Jadis frowned at the approach, but recognized Flurry’s downcast expression and teary eyes. The crystal pony quickly stepped to the side.

Flurry’s tent was barely tall enough for Spike. The dragon folded his wings tight and ducked through the tent. “She wouldn’t say that,” he repeated.

“Not for Chrysalis, right?” Flurry echoed. “But Twilight would tell me that, wouldn’t she?”

“No,” Thorax stated. “You think Chrysalis doesn’t know it’s your birthday? You think this wasn’t Vaspier’s idea? VOPS?”

“Half the ELF doesn’t know when my birthday is,” Flurry answered. “Chrysalis was never a good actress.”

“Vaspier,” Thorax replied. “VOPS, Chrysalis’ spies, there’s a dozen changelings that could do Twilight’s voice and play that part.” The changeling frowned, fully exposing his fangs. “I could,” he said in Twilight’s voice.

“I know it’s not her,” Flurry admitted. “It still hurts.”

“Because Chrysalis and all the ‘lings that follow her need to die,” Thorax said flatly.

Spike puffed a small cloud of smoke and set the box down on Flurry’s armor crate.

“You’re helping me destroy your people,” Flurry whickered to the changeling. She sat down heavily on her cot and her legs dangled to the ground.

“My people,” Thorax hissed, “decided to follow a monster that proved the worst stories about us true. And they’ll keep following her until she starts losing.”

“What happens then?” Spike huffed.

“They’ll see her for who she truly is,” Thorax spat through his fangs. He turned and marched out of the tent with buzzing wings. “I have to run the perimeter again. They’ll try something.”

Spike tried to shuffle to the side in the cramped tent. Thorax’s form melted down in green fire and a gray tabby cat slunk between the dragon’s legs. He left his uniform behind. There was a flash outside the tent as the changeling reverted back.

Spike picked up the clothes. "He's gonna need these," the dragon grumbled. "Naked 'ling is suspicious."

Flurry cast an eye at the cardboard box. “What’s in it?” she mumbled into her pillow.

“Happy birthday,” Spike said quietly.

Flurry’s horn glowed with dull gold light as she unfolded the box. A stuffed orange snail with a gray shell floated out. The eyes were brass buttons from an ELF uniform; the stitching was complete, but the snail wasn’t very plush when she dropped it between her wings.

“Whammy,” Flurry said emotionlessly.

“I picked up some skills from helping Rarity,” Spike explained. “I thought you’d like it.”

“I do.”

“I had to use some of the packing straw from your armor,” Spike offered after a moment of silence.

“Sure.”

Spike licked at his fangs and rubbed a scaled arm. “She wouldn’t say that, Flurry.”

“I know I’m a disappointment, Spike,” Flurry bit out. “I destroyed the Crystal Heart when I was born.”

“That wasn’t your fault.”

“I’m not the alicorn anypony wanted,” Flurry continued. “I’m just the one that’s left.”

Spike’s green eyes looked down at her with clear pity. Flurry huffed at the look and waved her wing at him. “I was up late moving ammo crates. Let me sleep.”

The dragon slowly moved out of the tent. “You are not a disappointment.”

“You look at me like I am,” Flurry retorted from the cot. “I’m trying, uncle. I don’t know what else to do.” She paused. “I wish everypony was here.”

“So do I,” Spike admitted. The dragon left. His tail pulled the tent flap closed.

It took Flurry Heart a long time to fall asleep with Whammy nestled between her wings. She awoke abruptly in the middle of the night to muffled movement outside the tent. Flurry extended her magic, feeling Jadis’ long rifle, the dagger under her pillow, and the pistol under the cot. She lit her horn as the crystal pony stuck her head into the tent.

“Princess?” she whispered.

“I’m awake,” Flurry whispered back. “Report.”

“There’s a situation,” Jadis exhaled. “Thorax’s tent. Some of the scouts from the road.”

Flurry rolled of the bed, knocking Whammy to the ground. She picked up the snail and laid it on the bed. “Is the camp alerted?”

“No,” Jadis admitted, “it’s strange.”

“Stay here,” Flurry ordered. Her horn glowed and the alicorn faded from view as she turned invisible. Jadis stepped aside, ears twitching as bodiless hooves crunched against snow and dead grass. The crystal pony readied her rifle with the other three sentries.

At night, the camp was patrolled with Thestrals. Flurry avoided them as she trotted quickly toward Thorax’s tent; the bat ponies had sensitive hearing and noses. They’d shriek an alarm at an invisible pony sneaking through the camp, even if the only viable option was an alicorn.

Thorax and the other changelings were near the center of the camp, close to Flurry’s tent. It limited the opportunities for friendly fire incidents; there had already been two close calls with returning patrols from the road. Thorax’s tent was smaller than her own; a few changelings and bat ponies stood outside.

Flurry dropped the invisibility spell as she approached; the four Thestrals were too close. “It’s me,” she declared. “What’s wrong?”

The changelings reacted with jittering gossamer wings, but the Thestrals blinked slowly. Flurry narrowed her eyes at the youngest mare; she swayed on her hooves.

“Amoxtli?” Flurry asked warily, casting the detection spell. It swept over the immediate area. The Thestrals didn’t react to the magic washing over their leathery wings.

“P-Princess,” a changeling, Deimos, stammered. He pointed a holed hoof at the tent. “Thorax is i-inside.”

Flurry traded glares between Amoxtli and the male changeling. The Thestral’s golden eyes were glassy and unfocused. She didn’t react to Flurry waving her wing in front of her face. “What’s wrong with her?”

“S-she’s fine,” Deimos insisted.

Flurry’s horn sparked with a golden flame.

“J-just a simple draining,” Deimos whispered quickly with wide eyes. “T-they’ll be fine before dawn.”

Flurry stared up the mountain. “Were they ambushed?”

Deimos didn’t reply.

Flurry ground her teeth. “You did it,” she connected.

“Thorax o-ordered it.”

Flurry stomped her way into the tent. She nearly tore the tent flap off with a curled wing when she shoved her way inside. The alicorn’s horn burned.

Thorax, Arex, and an unknown changeling stallion bound in rope with green slime smeared across his horn were in the middle of the sparse tent. The cot had been flipped on its side and pushed away for extra standing room, along with a crate of glowing pink potions that functioned as a table. Condensed love.

Flurry Heart had several years of experience reading changeling expressions. Despite all the bigoted beliefs ponies held, they were just as expressive, only without fur and pupils.

Arex was afraid; she clutched a saddlebag tighter to her barrel. The bound changeling smiled viciously through a gag. And Thorax’s expression was totally blank.

“Princess,” Thorax sighed.

“What did you do to the Thestrals?” Flurry asked, choosing her ponies' health as the first issue to scream at him about.

“A combative draining inhibits short-term memory,” Thorax explained. “They won’t remember the events of the past hour clearly.”

“Why?” Flurry asked louder.

“Keep your voice down,” Thorax hissed. “Or make a shield.”

Flurry opened her mouth.

Thorax actually hissed at her, complete with extended tongue and exposed fangs.

The Princess summoned a bubble shield that stretched the tent walls. The fabric crackled slightly where it was pressed tightly against the shield. Thorax observed it with narrowed eyes. “Good enough.”

“What are you doing, Thorax?” Flurry snarled.

“The Thestrals were ambushed,” Thorax said bluntly. “My scouts saved them, beat back the Changelings, then returned to camp.”

Flurry shook her head.

“That’s what we’ll tell them,” Thorax shrugged.

“Why?”

“Because they learned dangerous information.”

The gagged changeling mumbled something. Thorax turned to him with a glowing horn and a snarl, but Flurry pulled her uncle back, seizing him in her magic. “Who is he?”

“No one important.”

Flurry clamped Thorax’s mouth closed and held him still. “Arex?” she asked dangerously.

Arex traded fearful stares between the magic-restrained changeling, the rope-restrained changeling, and the furious alicorn. “P-princess?” she stammered.

“Who is he?”

“A member of the Queen’s Guard from Canterlot,” Arex admitted with a wince at Thorax.

“You captured him?”

Arex tried to look at Thorax. Flurry pulled him behind her and blocked him from view with a wing. “Look at me,” she ordered.

“He came down the mountain alone, with a white flag.”

“The Hegemony doesn’t surrender,” Flurry snorted, “or negotiate.”

Arex clutched the saddlebag tighter. Judging from the slack in the bag, it was empty.

“What did he want to say?”

Arex didn’t respond. She shook her head mutely.

Flurry bared her teeth and pulled the rope gag down from the stallion’s muzzle. Thorax strained against Flurry’s magic behind her. She raised a rear leg and swung it at the struggling changeling as a warning.

The stallion worked his jaw for a moment. “Princess,” he rasped. His lips were bloody. “I came in good faith.”

“I doubt that.”

“My name is Opteris,” the stallion coughed in Equestrian. “I serve Lord Commander Lacin Cardo and Generalmajor Actia Pagala.”

“I thought the Queen’s Guard served Chrysalis,” Flurry snorted. “You should change the name, changeling.”

“I’ll inform them of your suggestion,” Opteris smirked.

“Bold assumption that you are leaving this tent alive.”

“It is in your best interest that I do.”

“Why?” Flurry asked. She breathed deeply. That slime on his horn probably doesn’t block his emotion-sense. Thorax still struggled behind her, hard enough that he was going to break a leg trying to pull himself free from her telekinesis.

“If you make any attempt to attack Canterlot,” Opteris stated, “we will fire upon the civilian population. Nearly one million ponies.”

Flurry shook her head. “That won’t work on me.”

“Twilight Sparkle will die first.”

Flurry stared at him with pale blue eyes, then her muzzle spasmed with rage and the flame around her horn intensified. “She’s dead.”

“I assure you,” Opteris said with false kindness, “your aunt is alive.”

“Didn’t hear the radio?” Flurry growled. “She’s in Vesalipolis. You calling Queen Chrysalis a liar?”

“The Queen always keeps her promises,” Opteris deflected, “and we strive to serve her will. Twilight Sparkle will die.”

“This is pathetic.” Flurry released Thorax. She looked over her wings at the changeling. “Were you trying to keep this from me?”

“I have proof,” Opteris hissed quickly. “In the bag.”

A bolt of green magic slammed into his muzzle and knocked out several of his teeth, including both fangs. The bound changeling fell over. Thorax approached with a snarl and tore the saddlebag from Arex’s hooves. “Enough.”

Opteris spat blood and laughed.

He knows what’s in the bag. “What did he bring?” Flurry asked.

Thorax kicked the downed changeling savagely. The bag floated in his magic above his head. “Nothing.”

“Show me or I’ll take it from you.”

Thorax turned back to Flurry. The alicorn and the changeling stared each other down for over a minute. Thorax blinked first and sighed. He muttered something in his native, lilting language and upended the bag.

Three large purple feathers floated down.

“A traitor to the Queen and to the Princess,” Opteris rasped.

“Keep up with her lies,” Thorax hissed back. “I’m a pony with a skin condition.”

Flurry stared at the feathers. Her ears pressed against her skull. The alicorn carefully levitated them up to her muzzle while Thorax stared at her. “Those could come from any pegasus or griffon,” the changeling claimed.

Flurry felt the residual magic still in the feathers. She raised her right wing and compared the size. Her feathers were larger, but the shape was the same. “You claimed my mother was alive for years while you cut her body apart.” Flurry shook her head at the fallen changeling. “You’re lying.”

“The Princess never left Canterlot,” Opteris promised. “She has remained there, as a guest.”

“As what?” Flurry snarled. “A corpse on marionette strings for Chrysalis’ amusement? My mother’s body is preserved in one of your wretched cocoons. You could have pulled these from her body.”

“She is alive,” Opteris repeated. “Your aunt will only remain that way if you withdraw.”

“Where is she?” Flurry asked. “Where are you keeping her?”

“You’ll never reach her.”

“He doesn’t know,” Thorax chittered. “He was given a bundle of feathers and sent down the mountain as a distraction. He’s never even seen Twilight.”

“I have,” Opteris disagreed. “She’s in good health.”

“I know that’s a lie,” Flurry spat.

“She’ll be in worse health very soon,” Opteris laughed. Thorax punched him across the muzzle. The Queen’s Guard screeched as his eye was caved in from the blow.

Flurry winced.

Thorax did not react and calmly wiped his bloody hoof on the ropes binding the stallion’s wings together.

“Every injury on me will be repaid onto her a thousand times!” Opteris lisped. His mouth was a jumble of broken teeth.

“Is Twilight alive?” Flurry asked quietly.

“No,” Thorax immediately answered.

“How do you know?”

The tent was silent except for the ragged breaths of the Queen’s Guard.

“If I do not return to Canterlot,” Opteris gagged, “The Princess will die.”

“You believe that,” Thorax said calmly, “but that doesn’t make it true. You’re not a high-ranking Queen’s Guard; you aren’t even part of the inner circle. Lacin knew you weren’t coming back from this. He gave you those feathers and your orders, and you marched down here like a good little ‘ling.”

Opteris glared at him with his remaining eye.

“And now you die like a good little ‘ling,” Thorax sighed. His right foreleg turned into a draconic claw and he tore out Opteris’ throat in one quick motion. He died within seconds. Flurry blinked. Arex did not.

Flurry Heart held the feathers between her hooves as Thorax trotted up to her. He stared at her blankly. “You’ve done this before,” Flurry accused him. “In Nova Griffonia.”

“Yes.”

“Was he lying about Twilight?”

“Queen’s Guard aren’t chosen for their intelligence,” Thorax scoffed. “They’re fanatics. It never crossed his mind that he was disposable.”

“You could’ve questioned him about Twilight.”

“Like you had me question Sunglider?” Thorax asked mirthlessly. “I don’t have several days to work him over. He wasn’t high-ranking. He believed Twilight was alive because they told him she was. She might not even be in Canterlot.”

Flurry held the feathers to her chest protectively.

“Burn the feathers,” Thorax ordered. “Now.”

“We need to tell ponies.”

“No,” Thorax shook his head. “We don’t.”

Flurry bared her teeth. “You were never going to tell me about this.”

“Yes,” Thorax agreed shamelessly. He turned back to glare at Arex. “This should’ve been dealt with on the road, but my agents panicked when the Thestrals moved to wake the camp. Opteris was quite open about his mission. He was sent down here as a distraction. Others might follow.”

“If Twilight’s alive up there-”

“She’s already dead,” Thorax interrupted. “She’s dead the moment the battle turns against the Hegemony, the moment we breach the walls, the moment they see you anywhere near the city.”

Flurry scuffed a hoof on the ground. “Is she alive, Thorax?”

Thorax took a deep breath and gave a long, heavy exhale. “I don’t know.”

“How am I supposed to believe you?” Flurry stomped a hoof. “I had to learn from Grover that there was a plot in Nova Griffonia. Gallus told you.”

“He did,” Thorax confirmed, “and Josette and Gold Muffin dealt with it.”

“I should’ve been told.”

“I don’t want to talk to you about every horrible thing I’ve ever done to keep you safe,” Thorax chittered. “I sent poison along to Light Narrative. Three Moonspeakers are dead. Are you happier knowing that?”

“I don’t care about being happy,” Flurry mumbled. “Spike should know. He’s her brother.”

“Don’t make him choose between you or Twilight,” Thorax replied. “Burn the feathers.”

“He won’t do that.”

“He will tell the ELF, and if you tell the ELF, they’re going to charge up that mountain,” Thorax warned. “They’re going to smash themselves against Canterlot’s defenses, or worse, try to launch a surprise attack directly into an ambush. They’ll do it without you.”

“I could go in.”

“This is a trap,” Thorax emphasized. He reared up and placed his hooves on her shoulders. The bloody hoof smeared her pink fur. “Fizzlepop owes her life to Twilight Sparkle. Half the countries in Zebrica would dangle her from a rope. I don’t even know what Sunset did or where she went, but she swears Twilight saved her. Just like Starlight.”

Thorax pressed the bridge of his muzzle against Flurry’s. His solid blue eyes bore into her. “We don’t have the ponies or the equipment. We’re already outnumbered. We don’t know if she’s even there, and there are a thousand places they could have hidden her. The Reich can’t help us; they’re already in enough trouble. There are millions of ponies still to the west, still enslaved. This is bigger than the life of one pony.”

Flurry swallowed. “Twilight gave everything to save her friends from Tirek. I have to try.”

“And you know that was a mistake,” Thorax said bluntly. Flurry pushed the changeling away without any true force. Thorax landed on all four hooves.

“This is how we fight,” he said sadly. “Anything to make you hesitate, to sow doubt. We disguised our reserve units heading to the front as enslaved pony labor battalions. We hid the guns and uniforms in the carts. Air support hesitated to fire on other ponies. They always did, even after it was a known tactic.”

Arex shifted uncomfortably. “Sometimes we mixed real ponies in, just in case,” she whispered. “Sometimes we made real friends while wearing false fur, and watched them get drained by some general and left to die in a ditch.”

“I thought you were with Thorax from the start,” Flurry muttered to her.

“Korporal Arex Argynnis,” the mare snapped her right hoof into the air. She licked her fangs at Flurry’s stare, then looked down at the ground.

“Trimmel didn’t win with just tanks,” Thorax stated. He pointed his bloody hoof at the feathers. “This is how we won. If the battle goes badly, they will try to break out. And ponies will hesitate to stop them if they believe the fate of Twilight Sparkle rests in their hooves.”

Flurry Heart held the trio of feathers out. Her horn glowed, and the feathers ignited with gold flames. The magical tongues of fire licked at her hooves, caressing them with mild warmth. The three feathers burned quickly, discharging little sparks of lightning that made them true pegasus feathers. When it was over, Flurry stared at the ashes coating her hooves.

“I’m so sorry,” Thorax apologized. “Please believe me.”

“What’ll you do with the body?” Flurry asked with a half-shake of her head. She didn’t have the energy to do more. The shield collapsed, and the camp outside was silent.

Arex kicked the small rug aside in the corner, revealing the entrance to a tunnel. “We’ll take care of it,” she said quietly.

Thorax pulled the thin sheet off his cot and gently wiped down Flurry’s shoulder fur, then the ashes off her hooves. The alicorn stared off into space. “What if she was alive?”

“They killed her,” Thorax answered, “not you. Kill them all.”

“That’s not what Twilight would’ve wanted.”

“The ELF doesn’t take prisoners anymore,” Thorax chittered quietly. “Rainbow’s scouts don’t either. I don’t blame them. This will get worse once Chrysalis starts to lose.”

Arex began dragging the body down into the tunnel.

“Aunt Twilight used to read me the dictionary between chapters of Daring Do,” Flurry remembered. Thorax set the soiled bedsheet down. “I would fall asleep.”

“Twilight Sparkle was a good pony,” Thorax said.

“Better than me.” Flurry teleported back to her tent.

Jadis saw the flash and lifted the tent flap. “Princess?”

“Security issue,” Flurry answered. “We dealt with it.” She did not light her horn. The tent was almost pitch-black, and the crystal pony couldn’t see the tears sliding down the alicorn’s muzzle.

“Is everything alright?” Jadis asked.

Flurry nodded, then said, “Fine.” Her voice almost broke as she climbed back into bed. This time, she wrapped her forelegs around the small snail and held it to her chest.

Jadis slowly closed the tent. “Good night, Princess. Happy birthday.”

Flurry buried her muzzle into the thin pillow. She didn't sob.

Comments

[PearlyDoesStuff]

So they confirmed Twiggles is dead?

But given that the feathers were real, and there really aren't that many purple pegasi that explicitly match Twilight's coat, this could just as well be proof she's alive. Real nice birthday gift, Chryssi.

[dragonknight]

Whether she is alive or not does not matter, what matters is what everyone else thinks. Thorax is right the last thing we need to do is rush headlong into a trap. But on the other hand we have a MILLION ponies on the line whose rescue will improve Flurry's reputation among her subjects. If Grover os right about the federation than we can't afford to take our time either.

We need a miracle or I see a bleak future.

[juan_pablo1098]

What a beautifully sad chapter.
I have no words, I was looking forward to the Canterlot arc, I want things to happen, if they are good, bad or neutral, let it be the will of Harmony, Discord or Boreas. Whatever the outcome, I'll support Little Flurry.

[DaLintyMan]

As Flurry says, and as has been shown, this proves nothing as the Hegemony has the capability and willingness to preserve the bodies of their enemies.

And, well, Thorax is right: they can't throw away lives based on a long shot.

[Red_Snuffy]

Congratulations on 300K words!

[Ruckythunder]

Well, shi....

[Tobig]

“I’m not the alicorn anypony wanted,” Flurry continued. “I’m just the one that’s left.”

No you are the one whois needed, like when a hurtful truth is revealed it is a necessity to go forward

[AdamHilt]

There is a house in New Canterlot; they call the Setting Sun…

Wolfenstein... Im proud of myself for remembering that song.

[ThePeer]

One Million Ponies being shot: "Done that been there"

Purple Nerd get shot: "REAL SHIT!"

I really hope Twi comes out of this okay, physically at least.