The Alicorn and the Griffon
Flurry Heart brushed a wing against one wall of the interior. Her other wing easily touched the far side. She shuffled backwards, bumping up against the small seat and closed hatch for the driver.
Grover twisted a bar clockwise above her, barely four hooves from the alicorn. He folded his wings tight against his sides when he reared to the right and grabbed a console, using it to pull himself into a higher seat. A talon pressed a switch with a click.
Several lights flickered on inside the interior, small bulbs running the length of the chassis. It was still very dark and very cramped. Grover wriggled in the seat and his tail slipped out between the seat and back cushion, laying over a few cords. He stared forward.
“The commander sits here,” Grover said in smooth Herzlander. Katerin was less than a day’s flight south from Griffenheim, but Katherine sounded nothing like the Kaiser. He rolled vowels rather than clip them.
“It’s very dark,” Flurry commented in her own Herzlander. She was reminded of the difference between Canterlonian Equestrian compared to the frontier dialect she spent years with. The alicorn bent her wings inward, scuffing her hooves as she fell back onto her flank and used the back of the driver’s seat to hold herself upright.
“This is auxiliary lighting,” Grover replied tonelessly. “There is a battery so the engine does not need to be run for the crew to make repairs.”
“I asked Bronzetail once,” Flurry grumbled, “but how exactly did a species with wings decide it was a good idea to shove themselves into a metal box with a cannon attached to it?” Her right wing flared out and slapped into the wall as she slouched back down against the back of the chair. Her muzzle curled. “This isn’t even a me problem.”
“Our knights carried the day many times in battle,” Grover’s tone took the quality of a detached lecture. “With the advent of vehicles, griffons looked for an equivalent of a hard-hitting armored force capable of quick maneuvers.”
Flurry twisted her horn and glanced over the gray upholstery she leaned against. She was sitting on the cold metal floor, and the air was stale. There was a small hatch directly in front of the seat; she could see the latches where it could be opened with an even smaller porthole available inside the hatch.
A donut hole inside a donut. It was the best comparison she could think of. The alicorn eyed the incredibly narrow space between the pedals and levers, then glanced at the seat. “I can’t fit in there.”
“The seats are not built for a pony,” Grover said, “nor are the pedals or levers. It requires a retrofit.”
Flurry’s mind wandered. “I asked for tanks to be sent to the ELF…” she began.
“We did not retrofit them, and I doubt that your rebellion had the time or resources to do it themselves.” Grover waved a claw. “Bronzetail’s report was damning when he arrived in Manehattan. The Equestrian Liberation Front was a lost cause.”
“Yeah,” Flurry sighed. “Thanks for sending them anyway.”
“They were not our best models,” Grover shrugged a claw. “And they were set to be scrapped for parts. Chrysalis learned nothing from them.”
“How many crewmembers?”
“Count the seats,” Grover scoffed. There was a piece of machinery in-between them, and Flurry shuffled to the side. Her horn flared and an orb of golden light blinked into existence just above her horn point. It drifted up to the ceiling and stuck there, vibrating slightly.
It cast pale light across the interior and framed Grover’s beak in shadow. Deep blue irises studied the orb above him. “It does not emit heat,” he remarked.
“It’s magelight,” Flurry said quietly. “It’s powered by magic.”
“Your spells have heat to them,” Grover stated. “Or cold.”
“Most say it feels electric,” Flurry moved to the side, further folding her wings against her jumpsuit. “Everypony has a unique aura.”
“How often does it change color?” Grover leaned back in the chair. He looked at the golden ball of light rather than her. “Your magic was blue in Aquileia. It matched your eyes.”
“It was gold when I was born, then it shifted. I don’t remember when. It changed back in the Empire.” Flurry could not stand inside the interior without punching her horn through the chassis. Even sitting, she slouched. After a moment, she tucked her hooves against her barrel and partially rolled to her side. A hind hoof clanged into the metal grating, but she had more room to stretch out.
“More pedals and less levers,” Grover said absently. “That is the difference between a tank made for a pony versus a tank made for a griffon. The Changelings copied our designs with minimal adjustments. I suppose having a horn helps.”
Flurry remembered the tank she ripped through and rubbed a few feathers against the driver’s seat behind her. She laid on her side and looked up at Grover. He still studied the orb of light.
“You did not answer the question,” Grover said flatly. “Is it common for magic to change color?”
“No.”
Grover’s beak ground together. “How special.” He glanced at the contraption below him next to another seat. “The gunner sits there.” The griffon waved a claw at it. “You are near the driver and machine gunner.”
“This is a scout tank, right?” Flurry asked.
“It is a light tank,” Grover corrected, “designed for flanking and suppression of unarmored targets and infantry. You rode a Grendel, not a Gunnhildur.”
“Have you driven one of these?”
“Yes.” Grover squinted at the orb of light. “I have commanded a crew for test drives of every model in service in my Reichsarmee.”
“How fast does it go?” Flurry asked. She stared over his head towards a patch of gray paint that did not match the rest of the interior. It was noticeable in her pale magelight, but not with only the interior lights.
“I am not requisitioning a crew to take you for a drive,” Grover said bluntly. “You would not even be able to fit inside the tank with all four griffons in position.”
Flurry pursed her muzzle. “Rude. Are you calling me fat?”
Grover finally looked down at her and made eye contact. “Just teleport it,” he scoffed. “Or lift it. You can lift a heavy panzer; you can surely lift this model.”
Flurry took a deep breath and kneaded her hooves against the sleek fabric of her jumpsuit. She leaned her head back until her horn brushed the top of the seat behind her. “I remember Aquileia.”
“They tried to design tanks for their pony minority,” Grover squawked. “They wasted time iterating and debating in their parliament as their frontline fell. We expected a harder fight.” He crossed his arms; talons tapped against an elbow.
Flurry studied Grover’s arms. They were dark gray, almost black, and contrasted with the rich tan of his fur and head feathers, but blended well with his brown wingtips and matched his beak. Without his coat or dress shirts or sashes, the Kaiser was lean.
Grover stared at her severely behind his glasses. The frames were thin and pinched back into his tan head feathers. His feathers were straight and swept back away from his eyes and beak, giving his face a narrow, hawkish look.
“I remember,” Flurry took a breath, “that griffons could leave if they wished.”
Grover did not respond with words. A rumbling growl reverberated in his beak after a heavy inhale. He stopped drumming talons on his arm. The griffon’s left wing wasn’t flush against his sleeveless shirt; the holster’s outline was visible through clenched feathers.
Flurry Heart worked her jaw. Her ears flicked above the stubble of her mane. “What happened?” she asked once the growl faded.
“No,” Grover answered.
Flurry’s ears pressed back and she looked away.
One of Grover’s bare paws swung against the console and he shuffled out of the chair. He swallowed and his feathers visibly relaxed back against his head as his fur settled. “No,” he repeated in a flat voice.
The Kaiser worked his way back to the hatch next to him and reached up, placing a claw on the bar. He looked down his beak at the alicorn laying below him. “You want to know that badly?” the griffon hissed. “Are you going to kill me? Like you said you would?”
“Is the story still that Kemerskai worked with Chrysalis?” Flurry whickered from the side of her muzzle. “It’s a lie.”
“It is enough for the Reich.”
“Not for me,” Flurry answered.
“That is not my concern.” Grover placed his other claw on the bar above his head. “Are you going to seize me like Benito? Demand it? Threats?” He took a short breath. “I said no. What do you say to that, Princess?” He drew the title out with a growl.
Flurry Heart bit her lip. “Okay.”
Grover twisted the bar clockwise and the hatch unlocked with a dull clunk. His beak twitched as he pushed upwards with both claws; the hinges squeaked. He looked back down at Flurry, glaring at her through the lenses that made his eyes look owlish.
Flurry chewed on the inside of her cheek and looked away. She focused on the loading rack and noticed the stains in the basket that caught the spent casings after the shell had been fired. It looked like the crew needed to scrub it.
The hinges creaked and the hatch abruptly slammed shut.
Grover flumped back down in the commander’s seat. He stared forward, looking somewhere above Flurry. Tannish-brown wings rustled against the upholstery. Grover placed both claws on the center console. He breathed in stale air with a whistle.
Flurry brushed her head back and waited. The golden orb of light pulsed above both of them. Grover continued to stare forward.
“You have lived with griffons,” Grover began in Equestrian. He picked through his words carefully in a received accent, Upper Canterlot from a professional tutor. “If you put two griffons in a room, you get three opinions.”
“If you put three griffons in a room, only two leave,” Flurry provided.
“Do not-” Grover cut himself off mid-snarl. He breathed in. “Do not interrupt me.”
Flurry nodded slowly, not that Grover seemed to notice her horn bob.
“I invited fourteen griffons to the palace,” Grover continued. “All of them the…leaders of the regional protests. All of them were professors and philosophers before they were politicians.”
The griffon suddenly took off his glasses and held them tightly in a clenched claw. “It was planned. For my coronation. Organized. Eros died three days later and they seized their chance. The schools shut down with the universities as students walked out with professors to speak out about the future of my Reich.”
He blinked rapidly. “We expected regional protests. But not in Herzland. Not from students who never tasted war in their lives. The Reichsarmee was caught with clipped wings for a time, and the redeployments were hasty. My advisors urged to crush them.”
Flurry held her tongue.
“I invited them instead. Only a few arrived at first. They expected me to kill them. Others followed. And I gave those idiots what they asked for.” Grover clacked his beak. “Religious reform? They got it, all variants of Trinity worship were accepted. I rolled back nearly everything Eros ever signed into law.”
He closed his eyes. “Eros knew I would. He wanted me to. But he died before he could see it.” The griffon took another deep breath, and his voice hitched. “Gabriela and Erion…” he hesitated for a moment, then continued in a darker voice.
“They both told me what would happen. And I should have known. I gave griffons what they screeched for, and they screeched for more. They raided the Archon’s tomb and killed three guards. I forbid the Reichsarmee from entering the city. Every griffon was watching Griffenheim, waiting to see…” he trailed off.
“I invited them in,” he repeated. “I invited them in and sat down and listened while my empire was breaking apart outside my walls.” He turned down to her. “Do you know what they wanted?”
Flurry was quiet for a moment, then realized Grover wanted an actual answer. “Votes?” she offered in a soft voice. “You said they wanted to vote.”
Grover laughed, descending into a harsh, screeching chuckle. “Yes. Votes. But none of them could agree on how to vote. Or who should vote. Or if the votes should be balanced or weighted or how a parliament should be divided.” He pinched his beak. “They drafted five constitutions,” Grover scoffed. “Do you know what that is?”
“Document summarizing how the government should work,” Flurry answered.
Grover rolled his eyes and glanced down at her. “Does Equestria even have one of those?”
“The Concordat of the Three Tribes,” Flurry said easily. “It’s…vague. Celestia wrote everything afterwards.”
Grover laughed again at the mention of Celestia. “They spent their time arguing with each other instead of arguing with me. While the rioting spread across the Reich and every single one of my advisors begged me to do something. So I did.”
Flurry waited.
Grover snorted and replaced his glasses. “Now you know,” he said shortly.
“What happened with Frederick?” Flurry asked. “With Katherine?”
“No,” Grover shook his head. “You have your answer, alicorn.”
“Please?” Flurry whispered.
Grover glared down at her, then clacked his beak. “We are done.”
Flurry’s horn glowed above her cold eyes.
Grover leaned back in the chair. “I see,” he said slowly. “Shall you pluck out my feathers? Force me to kill myself? Punch your way through the tank?”
“Do you know why I picked this tank?” Flurry asked.
“Because it is from Griffenheim,” Grover waved a claw. “All of them were there. You did not need this farce.”
“The roads to Griffenheim Square are narrow,” Flurry said. “The tanks had to move single file, out from the Temple of Boreas where they cordoned the students away after the Archon’s tomb was attacked.”
“You clearly know what happened. Which of my deserters told you?”
Flurry Heart gave Grover one last look, then closed her eyes. She breathed slowly. “The order came out before dawn, radioed straight from the palace to move towards the square. The crew was tired and out of coffee. The commander…” Flurry paused.
“I don’t know his name; he was a veteran. He served in the Wingbardian front, commanded two tanks before this one. His crew worked well with him. The tanks moved in to assist the standard Reichsarmee around the square, but they had been recalled when the armor arrived.
“The tanks lined up and took hits from bottles and stones. A lot of the protestors were young; they had signs. They waved them in front of the hatches. The commander was making a joke when the radio ordered them to open fire into the crowd.”
Grover snorted above her. Flurry ignored him.
“The commander radioed back to confirm it. Asked if they meant to fire above the crowd and scare them, make them fly. High Command repeated to fire into the 'rebels.' One of the other tanks opened up. Griffons screamed.”
“I do not need to hear your fiction.”
“The machine gunner hesitated; the commander took over, shoved him out of the seat and fired into the crowd. This tank was brand new; it hadn’t seen battle before. It killed thirty-seven. It hasn’t killed anyone here.”
Grover chuckled. “How morbid.”
“After the Reichsarmee moved into the square and the order came to stop, the commander returned to his seat. He didn’t say a thing as they regrouped and moved through the city back to the Temple of Boreas. And he didn’t say a thing when he drew his pistol and shot himself in front of his crew, but he was thinking of his daughter protesting in Yale.”
Flurry opened her eyes and blinked. Her horn snuffed out.
Grover stared down at her. His beak twitched, then he raised his claws up. “Very maudlin,” he commented as he gave her a soft clap. “Truly, tugs on the heartstrings.”
“You don’t care at all,” Flurry snorted. Her muzzle curled in disgust.
“Why should I care for fiction?” Grover remarked. “You should have told me about Katherine’s peasant family in Katerin, and how unjust it was they were mildly inconvenienced for a few weeks.”
“You shoved them in a camp,” she accused.
“Most were released months ago,” Grover squawked. “The Reichsarmee was overzealous, I admit, but I am not Chrysalis. Those that remain work off their labor; they are not sucked dry and discarded to die.”
Flurry inhaled. “The bullet went through his head.”
Grover rolled his eyes.
“It’s in the wall behind you.”
Mid-roll, Grover glanced over a wing. His eyes stopped at the discolored patch of paint on the chassis. His eyes drifted back to her.
“They just painted over it,” Flurry provided. “New crew. They have no idea. The old crew was scattered, I guess, but I’m not sure.”
Grover swallowed thickly. “You saw a patch of paint and invented an entire story?”
“It’s still there,” Flurry said in a soft voice. “It got lodged in the plate.”
Grover twisted his head around in the seat and looked up at the discolored patch of paint. He raised a claw up and poked at it, then pressed his palm flat and felt around.
“More to the left,” Flurry offered.
Grover stopped, then followed her instruction. His palm abruptly stopped and the griffon’s cheeks pulled into a frown. He slowly withdrew his claw to a talon and scratched at the paint.
The tank was quiet except for the scratches of a single talon. Grover continued to pick at the gray paint, scraping down a rough, hasty paintjob done in a rush. Twisted around in the chair, his tail curled around a hind leg.
Something clattered to the floor, falling from his talon. It bounced once.
Grover looked down in the seat, then twisted around back to Flurry. She hadn’t moved from the base of the driver’s seat. Her hooves rubbed against the metal grating and the alicorn looked away with pinched eyes.
Grover chuckled, then the noise faded. He shuffled down from the chair and bumped his head against the console when he tried to turn around. His glasses were knocked askew atop his beak; Grover unhooked them and held the frame in his left claw while he felt around behind the chair with his right.
He looked over a wing several times back to the alicorn, staring above her muzzle at her horn. The pink spiral rested against the back of the chair as Flurry waited. Grover stretched out and talons tapped against the metal, feeling blindly while the golden magelight cast shadows across the interior.
The sound suddenly stopped. He pulled his arm back and scooched on the floor away from the commander’s seat and away from the alicorn, sitting directly under the hatch on the metal grating. Grover did not put his glasses back on. He raised his right claw up to his beak and stared down at his palm.
A flattened bullet rolled around, flecked with gray paint. He rolled it forward and pinched it between two talons, holding it up to the lights above him. Flurry’s magelight made a shadow over his beak.
“I know exactly what happened,” Flurry stated. “I just wanted to hear it from you.”
Grover opened his beak, then closed it. “What in Maar’s Hell is this?” His voice cracked, returning to a higher, reedier pitch. “You planted this? For what? To mock me?”
“You think I shoved a bullet into a random tank and painted over it?”
“You…” Grover paused. “You can teleport. You could have done this.”
“I can do a lot of things,” Flurry admitted. She licked her lips. “With weapons.”
Grover was quiet. He stared at the flattened bullet he held between them. His wings fluttered as the feathers spaced out, and Flurry glimpsed the holstered pistol under his left wing.
“I know that pistol-”
“Enough!” Grover snarled. “What is this meant to prove? Some magic trick? As if you needed more?”
“You sent a terrified student to me,” Flurry growled back, “and you can’t even tell me-”
“They told me I wasn’t good enough!” Grover roared. He flung the bullet at Flurry Heart. It was a perfect throw and bounced off her muzzle mid-sentence.
It did not hurt at all, but Flurry stopped speaking at the roar.
“You fucking horse,” Grover strangled out in Herzlander. “I gave them everything they asked for, and they still said I needed to give them more. I wanted to listen to them, but they wanted to force me to listen to them, to sign away the powers I used to pass their fucking reforms in the first place!
“There wasn’t a single voice in the palace on their side except mine…” Grover stammered and breathed in raggedly, “and they said I had no idea what it was like to live in the Reich. That I had no idea what it was like to have choices made for me.” His left claw still held his glasses and squeezed; a faint cracking sound rippled under his harder exhales.
“Like I hadn’t spent my entire life being told what books to read, being told who to talk to, how to talk to them, how to dress and act and fight and a million other things.” He blinked again, and Flurry saw tears under his eyes. “The only fucking thing I had was those stupid letters, and even you said no.”
Flurry closed her mouth and her ears wilted.
“I wanted to be different,” Grover mumbled. “I had it all drafted on my desk, spent an entire year on a huge list, but I needed time to roll them out. I worked on it so hard.” He exhaled shakily. “It was just a week, not even four days. Eros died. Suddenly, they’re out in the street screeching and I rushed everything through but it was all just ‘weak little Grover giving into them’ or ‘the iron-clawed Kaiser trying to placate us.’ I didn’t…” Grover stopped.
He leaned forward into the magelight and his beak was wet with tears.
“What did I even do?” he asked aloud in a lost voice. "I hadn't even done anything yet."
Flurry Heart did not have an answer. “If…” she started, “if you had told me…”
“How could I explain weakness to you?” Grover sighed. He stared over at her with shimmering blue eyes. “You don’t understand.”
Flurry shook her head. “I’ve felt weak. Ponies are dying right now and-”
“Look at yourself,” Grover said listlessly.
Flurry stared down at her left hoof. The jumpsuit’s sleeve had pulled up slightly, and she could see the bottom of the figure-eight swirl on her foreleg. The fur had grown back white over the scar tissue, a pearl white that matched her father’s coat. She leaned her horn back against the seat. “I’m not smarter or cleverer or better than anypony else.”
“You are better,” Grover mumbled. “Stop lying to yourself.”
Flurry exhaled. “My life isn’t worth theirs.”
Grover stared at the wall of the tank. “I hate you.”
Flurry’s eyes widened.
“I hate that you truly mean that,” Grover continued. “You truly, earnestly, naively believe that. You are better than them. You are stronger, faster, and taller. You are an alicorn. You were born one. You were born to rule them.”
“The ELF disagrees,” Flurry retorted. “Ponies don’t even know my name, or they just remember ‘Cadance’s daughter.’”
“You shelled Canterlot and they welcomed you,” Grover answered. “All of them know exactly what you are the moment they see you, denial or not.” He unclenched his left claw and a crinkle of glass shards fell to the floor. The griffon dropped the bare frames.
Grover looked at her; he squinted slightly. “What kind of griffon blessed by the Gods needs glasses? What kind of noble bloodline is that?”
Flurry did not reply.
“My father was ill his entire life,” Grover said. He scrubbed the back of a claw against his beak and eyes. “It was a miracle I was even born, and the effort killed my mother. If the Gods exist, we are cursed. Cursed to rule over a species of squabbling fools.”
Flurry scrunched her muzzle. “If the Gods exist?”
“Of course Celestia raises the fucking sun,” Grover spat. “You think I am an idiot? ‘The Light of Boreas shines down on Griffonia…’ Griffons could not stomach the truth.”
“The war against the Changelings,” Flurry stumbled over her tongue. “It’s the Second Grand Crusade.”
“And the first was over territory in the Riverlands and control of Griffonia,” Grover dismissed. “The Gods belong to us, not the other way around. I had no reason not to declare it. I was already ruined if I lost.”
“Grover the Great had the Idol of Boreas,” Flurry tried. “It helped unify the griffons.”
“What did it do?” Grover asked her.
Flurry bit her tongue. “It…helped? On the battlefield?”
“You think it shot lasers?” Grover chuckled. “Or was it just charisma? The Reichstone is supposed to be magical, you know. Do you sense any spells on it?”
Flurry grimaced.
Grover emitted another rumbling growl. “My ancestor won his crown on the battlefield, not some magical artifact. War has always been our strength. The earliest tales say Boreas spoke to him through the Idol, but only he could hear the voice.” His eyes shifted away and he shook his beak. “Does that sound like the Gods or madness?”
Flurry thought about the Crystal Heart and her wings fluttered.
“Look at me,” Grover said quietly. “What do you see?”
The alicorn refocused on the griffon slumped across from her. Grover was tan with brown accents in his feathers, with dark gray claws. He had the colors of most griffons. The most striking feature was the wide beak and deep blue eyes set in a narrow face, inherited from his father and his father before him.
Wearing a t-shirt and slacks, he looked like any other griffon. That’s unfair, Flurry thought. I can tell changelings apart. “You look fine,” she said aloud.
“I look like one of the students this tank killed,” Grover responded. “I could have wandered out into that square without them noticing.” He flicked a claw out. “It took a decade to reunify my empire, millions of dead griffons. And on my sixteenth birthday, I walked out onto a balcony to thank them for their sacrifices. Of course I was a disappointment.”
“I am too,” Flurry offered. “The ELF wanted Twilight. Not me. You’ve seen their flag.”
“You proved them wrong yourself,” Grover scoffed. “You could have gone out to that crowd and shouted them down.”
Flurry shook her head and opened her mouth. She remembered the armory in the Crystal City, and closed her jaw with a clack. Her ears flicked against the stubble of her mane.
“If I signed away my power into a parliament, we would have never landed on Equus,” Grover finally said. “Griffons would never have voted for this war, no matter how the votes were tallied.”
Flurry closed her eyes. “Did you do this for me?”
“I did it for me,” Grover admitted. “You know griffons. The nobles still have their wealth, if not their power. Votes would have been bought. And can you imagine an Aquileian helping a Vedinan? Building a coalition for some bill? Aquileia could not build a functioning parliament out of just Aquileians.”
“That’s kind of on brand for Aquileia,” Flurry attempted to quip.
Grover did not laugh. “A parliament would have been a disaster, and I would not have the power to intervene.” He stared up at the hatch above him. “I saw the future of the Griffonian Reich in that room of fourteen griffons,” he said in a tired voice. “We would have scored chunks of flesh off ourselves piece by piece until only a skeleton remained. When my father reigned, the Reich was ‘The Sick Bird of Griffonia.’”
Flurry thought of the old rhyme to remember the Grovers: Grover One used his guns. Grover Two beat you black and blue. Grover Three made fees. Grover Four ate more. Grover Five is alive.
“The Reichsarmee hated the protestors,” Grover shrugged a claw. His eyes wandered back to the discolored patch of paint. “Most of them, I suppose,” he amended. “They bled for the Reich, and a bunch of foppish university students called them thugs. It got out of control beyond Griffenheim.”
“Katherine’s brothers fought for you,” Flurry said. “They were arrested with her family.”
“It got out of control,” Grover repeated bleakly. “My spymaster believed the story about Kemerskai and the Changelings. Or that the River Federation had funded communist sympathizers in the Herzland.” His beak twitched. “I think that one is actually true.”
Flurry looked up, imagining the city hanging above them. “Too soft for war.” My ponies…my soldiers, they hate my civilians. For not fighting.
“I didn’t have anyone else to send,” Grover suddenly said.
Flurry blinked and stared at him. “W-what?”
“Frederick.” Grover said the name slowly. “If I sent it with a spy, it would have never reached you. It was Eros’ government, not mine, and they did not care about an alicorn across an ocean. I had to make sure he would follow through. The war needed to be a surprise.”
“I…” Flurry trailed off.
“Can’t be blank. Please.”
She took a deep breath. “You…you could have said something. Anything.”
Grover hummed to himself. His tail’s bob swished in-between his paws and he batted at it with an errant claw. “He was ordered not to say anything to you.”
“That doesn’t make it okay!” Flurry snorted. “You said you wanted to be different! That you were going to change things! I listened to the radio and made excuses for weeks!”
“I do not have to explain myself to you,” Grover snarled. His voice rumbled.
“I thought we were friends,” Flurry answered quietly.
The snarl cut itself off and Grover’s beak ground together. He stared past her for a minute. “I did not think you would refuse,” he said sullenly, then slowly closed his eyes. “I hoped you would not refuse,” he rephrased. “You wrote about how badly the Nova Griffonians treated you.”
“I wrote about the Aquileians as well,” Flurry replied. “And the Frontier Griffs. Yeah, some of them were jerks, but…” she nibbled on her lower lip. “Would you have pardoned them?”
Grover raised a feathered brow and sniffled. “What?”
“If I asked, would you have pardoned them?”
“Would it have mattered?” Grover questioned tonelessly.
“It would have mattered to me,” Flurry whispered.
“That is not what I meant.” Grover shook his head. “Would it have mattered to them? They are your griffons far more than they are mine. You know them better.”
Flurry took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
Duskcrest and the militias…they fought for me, but they would never fight for Grover. The Aquileians would have rather died; they would never trust him after Griffenheim. The Herzlanders…
“Forgive me, my lord.”
Flurry would have rallied everyone to Evergreen, out in the frontier to plan an assault on the coast to support the Reich’s landings. It would have meant a major fight against Kemerskai and Blackpeak’s forces. They would have been outnumbered on their own; they would have to strike as hard as possible, then whirl around to the border with the Reichsarmee.
Flurry imagined a meeting in the hotel’s ballroom. The Aquileians screeching at the betrayal, Duskcrest shaking his head as his griffons seized weapons. Ponies with no stake in the future of Nova Griffonia whinnying in anger at the best chance to save their home burning away for stupid pride. Katherine and Edvald abandoned out in the frozen wilds, scattering into the tundra with nowhere left to fly.
“We would have drowned the frontier in blood.”
And it was true.
Unless somepony did something to prevent it from ever starting.
In her mind, the hotel vanished with the sound of a soap bubble popping.
Flurry opened her eyes. Grover was staring at her, and nodded at her expression. “It would have been a hard push to link up the frontlines from Manehattan and Fillydelphia,” he summarized. “No time for caution. Or negotiation. I needed your distraction.”
“Was that all?” Flurry felt her heart sink.
“I needed your legitimacy to take Equestria and the Empire,” Grover answered. He licked his beak and rubbed a claw on his knee as he pulled his legs in. “I needed your help to win.”
Flurry breathed in. Her muzzle trembled.
“Did you really refuse for them?” Grover asked her before she could say anything. “Griffons? You had to have known it was the best chance-”
“Yes,” Flurry interrupted.
Grover was quiet for a time, visibly lost in thought. “What made you change your mind?” Cheeks deepened into a frown that creased his beak.
“I…” Flurry hesitated, trying to put months of thoughts into words. She shuffled against the grating and laid her head down, spiraled horn aiming at the side of the tank. “My mother and father made the right choice. They did the right thing even when it was hard, and they carried it.”
“Protecting griffons from the Kaiser of Griffonkind was the right choice?” Grover’s voice was sardonic, but his eyes lacked the heat of true anger.
Flurry nodded from the floor and Grover’s claws balled into fists before unclenching. She waited to swallow before continuing, “Blackpeak cut a deal with Chrysalis.”
“Was that a surprise?” Grover asked incredulously. “Why wouldn’t he if they were both fighting the Reich?”
“He was an asshole but I didn’t think he was that much of an asshole!” Flurry defended with pinned ears. “I…we were all going to die. That’s where that road led. We were all going to die like my mother died or my father died and…” the alicorn stopped.
Grover waited.
Flurry blinked on the floor and felt a tear roll down her muzzle. “I couldn’t do it,” she said harshly. “I’m not dying like they died, and I'm not running. Thorax told me to run. Spike told me to run.” She turned a baleful, cold eye back to Grover. “Ponies see an alicorn, but they don’t know what they’re really looking at." She suddenly rammed her head forward and punched a hole in the side of the chassis with her horn.
“Ponies see whatever they want,” Flurry whickered. “The Miracle of the North saved the Empire. The Princess of Hope can lead them. But hope doesn’t win wars. And the shield that saved my home burns every changeling that ever touched it. My uncle never tried; they tunneled under the shield like our equipment.
“And I have other titles,” she continued. “The communists see the Red Princess, and the ponies that lost everything see the Princess of Rope.” Flurry choked out a laugh. “Chrysalis calls me the Alicorn of Death; she’s the most accurate. How pathetic is that?”
“Maar’s Daughter,” Grover added quietly. His beak twitched and he looked regretful. “Sorry.”
Flurry snorted. “What even is Maar, anyway? A Nightmare?”
“The Trinity gave us wings and claws and spirit, but Maar gave us right and wrong,” Grover answered.
“Doesn’t sound that bad,” Flurry commented. “He’s evil?”
“Orthodoxy says he wished us to choose death while Boreas gave us light and life.” Grover rolled his eyes. “It is more likely Maar was rolled into the old gods before the Archons were established centuries ago. We needed a villain.” His eyes turned sly. “A Nightmare Moon of our own, I suppose.”
Flurry’s muzzle turned downwards. “The God of Death, huh?” The ghost of a grin slipped across her lips. “I guess that’s appropriate. You prayed to him?”
“Words are wind,” Grover dismissed. “Words to a nonexistent god do nothing.”
“Did you ever believe?” Flurry asked. “You sounded sincere in the letters.”
“I am very good at pretending,” Grover chuckled. A claw drummed on the chassis and his eyes wandered. “I believed.”
“What happened?”
“You.”
Flurry’s eyes widened. Grover, even without his glasses, caught the look. He stopped drumming his talons and waved vaguely at her. “Not you, but…” the griffon trailed off.
“None of my family ever met an alicorn, you know?” he picked up after a moment. “Not even Twilight. You stayed on Equus. It is easy to believe in something when you never have to see the alternative. Celestia recognized the Griffonian Reich but she never attended anything herself. Griffons mocked her for it, but my family never invited her either.”
“I’m not a god,” Flurry nickered. “That’s…” she stumbled over her tongue before shaking her head. “That’s dumb.”
“You are the only natural born alicorn in the known history of the world,” Grover responded bluntly. “Celestia and Luna all but confirmed it.”
“That’s dumb,” Flurry snorted. She brushed a sleeve back and exposed the swirling figure-eight of white fur on her pink foreleg. “I scar.” She raised her scarred hoof up to her nose and waved it front of her muzzle. “I get nosebleeds. Half my army has seen me stumble around. You think Celestia was ever seen like that?”
“Why do you think they love you so much?” Grover questioned back. “And they do love you, no matter what you say to yourself.”
Flurry laughed ruefully. “The ELF-”
“Everypony in that city knows it was your command to shell their homes,” Grover interrupted. “Ponies died from it. But they can’t hate you when they see that, not like they could hate Celestia in her crown and carcanet.”
Grover clacked his beak. “I was paraded through Aquileia, Cloudbury, and the Evi Valley. Through Wingbardy at the end and Griffonstone. I saw areas that had been controlled by glorified bandits for thirty years. They cheered for me only because of the guns of the Reichsarmee.”
Flurry shifted her hooves. “I was always jealous of your palace,” she admitted.
“A gilded cage is still a cage,” Grover dismissed.
“I would have liked a cage with hot water,” Flurry retorted, “and a cloud bed.”
“I thought you hated the Crystal Palace.”
“Doesn’t mean I can’t be jealous,” Flurry giggled. “Would’ve liked it if the pipes worked more than twice a month in Ponyville. Or the hot water. Weter was awful.”
“I invited you to come,” Grover reminded her.
“I couldn’t leave.” Flurry’s head moved slowly back and forth. “I couldn’t fly away to a gilded palace. And I couldn’t leave when they told me about Blackpeak.”
Silence descended.
“I killed him myself,” Flurry said suddenly.
“If I understood you several days ago,” Grover deadpanned, “you forced him to kill himself.”
“Yeah,” Flurry flailed a wing from the floor in an aborted shrug. “He went for a gun. I knew he would. I knew where it was. I knew if he died as the attacks began, his militias would break once word spread.”
“Clever,” Grover commented.
“That wasn’t the plan,” Flurry stated. “That wasn’t what I told everyone, wasn’t what we agreed to. They agreed to fight for Flurry Heart, the Princess of Soup Kitchens. Not an assassin that crept into someone’s mansion and killed them to stop a fight before it ever started.”
Grover hummed. “Kemerskai?”
“Didn’t tell them that either,” Flurry admitted. “Or about the letter to you. I did it all on my own.” Her eyes shifted around the tank. “Because I could. Because I don’t need an army.”
“You certainly need my army right now,” Grover chuckled.
“Yeah,” Flurry agreed with a small laugh of her own. She brushed her jaw against the floor. “I used to think they were cowards.”
Grover frowned. “Who?”
“Auntie Celestia and Luna,” the alicorn answered in a soft voice. “They’re stronger than me. But I get it now. No one really wants to see an alicorn fight. There’s no going back from it.”
“Twilight Sparkle fought Tirek,” Grover offered.
“Not for very long,” Flurry retorted. “I always wondered about that. I never asked my mother. Tirek never killed anypony. He could have killed the sisters and my mother, but he banished them to Tartarus after they gave up their magic.” She looked at Grover. “Do you think Celestia knew that? That he wouldn’t kill them?”
Grover shrugged a claw. “I can believe that.”
“He was evil enough to be defeated by the Elements of Harmony,” Flurry said angrily, “but he wasn’t a murderer. What does that say about me? Discord never killed anypony.”
“I highly doubt that,” Grover scoffed. “Maybe not himself, but the chaos of his reign nearly destroyed all historical records and left a dark age.”
“Celestia wouldn’t have risked letting him out if he was a killer,” Flurry denied. Grover tapped a claw on his lower beak. There was a low, purring hum as he thought. The alicorn rolled her eyes. “What?”
“It was after your parents' wedding, right?” Grover asked in confirmation. “And the Crystal Empire came back. It was a lot of new land and territory that caused quite a stir in Griffonia. Put borders closer to Nova Griffonia as well. Chrysalis was to the northwest-”
Flurry burst out laughing. She laughed hard enough Grover flinched from the choir of bells reverberating through the interior of the tank. The alicorn pounded a forehoof into the grating and left a severe dent. She blinked back a mix of tears from laughing and at the realization.
“Oh!” Flurry heaved. “No need to budget for the army! We’ll just let that fucker out and ask nicely!” She didn’t have room to roll over, so teleported with a crack and reappeared in the same spot with her legs flailing in the air on her back. “No wonder she kept him around after Tirek! Bet she hoped that was a one-off!”
“What happened to him?” Grover shouted over her whinnies. “We should probably be concerned that basically an incarnate of Maar is-”
“Who fucking cares?” Flurry laughed. She snorted back snot from her muzzle and slowly quieted down. After she gave one last gasping wheeze of laughter, the alicorn stared up at the roof blankly. “Blessed Boreas nerdbird, we were fucked from the start.”
Grover did not offer a response.
“Equestria wouldn’t have been able to take it,” Flurry said in a lower voice. “If they strapped on armor like me and went out there. Ponies couldn’t take it, not then.” She gulped. “Not now, either. They were all terrified after Weter. They’re still afraid.”
“They follow you,” Grover said, “and they love you.”
“But they’re still afraid,” Flurry responded. “I can see it in their eyes. It’s a love born out of fear; it would make my mother sick to her stomach.” She bent her hooves in against her barrel. “What about you?”
Grover blinked. “What about me?”
“How are you right now?” Flurry asked. “You are sitting in a tank with the deadliest single person on the continent. You are alone with her. I could snap your neck with my brain. I’ve done that.”
Grover stared down at her. He squinted. “I would be more intimidated if you still didn’t have snot hanging out of your left nostril.”
Flurry snorted.
“My left, not yours.”
She snorted again and laughed. The alicorn wriggled around and peered up at him, upside down. “You said you have a tally of how many griffons you lost to me,” she prompted.
“Not off the top of my head,” Grover said.
“What about the Duskwood? How many changelings were in there?”
Grover clicked his tongue. He sighed. “It is not as if there are bodies to count.”
“Best guess.”
“237,000 to 312,000,” he offered immediately. “General Elvir’s armored brigade, support units, supply lines…” The Kaiser ticked them down on his talons. “Several motorized divisions in reserve and on-hooves sheltered from our close air support. I had plans to encircle it.”
Flurry’s muzzle scrunched. “Sorry,” she said sincerely.
Grover stared down at her unblinkingly for a long breath. She saw his lean chest pull in, then the griffon deflated and leaned his head back with a clank. “We were winning,” he sighed.
“Didn’t look like it on the ground.”
“You were riding a tank through the thick of the fighting,” Grover dismissed. “It is hardly a full view of the battlefield.” He caught himself. “You turned a narrow victory into a decisive rout that broke the seasoned veterans of the Heer,” the griffon admitted slowly. “Army Group North would have been unable to press the attack against the shield wall if they were spent encircling the Duskwood.”
Flurry closed her eyes.
“I am sorry about your griffons,” Grover said suddenly. Flurry opened her eyes in surprise. The Kaiser was fiddling with his claws. “I know that the Aquileians took heavy losses because of Thundertail’s folly.”
“I lost Eagleheart and Altiert,” Flurry said. Grover shook his head with a wince, not recognizing the names. “Eagleheart wanted a pardon before all this so she could go home.”
“I can arrange that,” Grover offered in a soft voice.
“She was a Discret loyalist and turned tail.”
Grover chuckled mirthlessly. “So are nearly all of my Aquileians. Those that truly love the Reich are a minority. What about the other?”
“Altiert’s on me,” Flurry said. Her muzzle twitched. “She fell back from Flowena during the war and stranded my father. She has a husband and cub back in Nova Griffonia.”
Grover looked down.
Flurry took a breath and pressed her legs tighter against herself. “How did my father die?”
Grover inhaled. “Artillery round. Shrapnel to the back of the head, just under the helmet.”
“It was quick then?”
“Severed the spinal cord,” Grover answered. “I don’t think he knew-” he stopped.
Flurry rubbed her forelegs together.
“I am so sorry,” the griffon whispered.
“You didn’t kill him,” Flurry huffed. “Bad look, apologizing to the pony that’s killed your griffons.”
“Is that why you fought in Nova?”
“Nah,” Flurry denied. “I wanted to fly a plane and they needed the help.”
Grover stretched his hind paws out with a pop. He rolled back onto all fours and slunk to the commander’s seat, leaning against it to look down at her. Flurry peered up at him.
“I ordered my air force to treat you as any other combatant once it was clear you were flying against us,” Grover revealed.
Flurry grimaced. “I don’t think that was smart.”
“In retrospect,” Grover admitted, “it was not. Whose idea was it for you to fly an unpainted, normal plane?”
“Mine.”
Grover clicked his tongue. “Clever. Pilots learned to look for the Element of Loyalty’s horrific rainbow paintjob.”
“I wasn’t always with her.”
“Nouveau Aquila,” Grover agreed. “We did not expect our shore bombardment to be cut off by a single pilot. There is not a page in the flight manual on how to dogfight a pilot that can teleport or shield their plane.”
“The Republicans owned the air force for Nova Griffonia,” Flurry explained. “My commander was an asshole. I’m pretty sure they wanted to get me killed.”
Grover bobbed his head. “I ordered the bombing runs on your shield until the deadline.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to see if it would break,” Grover answered. “May I ask you something?”
“We’ve been asking each other questions the whole time,” Flurry waved a hoof. She squinted up at him, still upside down. “Is it an embarrassing question?”
“Would you have killed me?”
Flurry’s slight smile fell and her lips pressed into a line.
Grover waited above her, leaning against the seat. They were less than a body length apart now in the light tank. The air was stale and stuffy. The griffon gazed down his beak at the alicorn, cheeks neutral and head feathers flat.
“If I did not call off the attack,” Grover prompted her. “How would you have done it? Flown as far as you could towards Griffenheim and…” he raised a claw and clenched it into a fist. “Boom?” He splayed his talons out.
“That would have taken too long,” Flurry mumbled. “I need to charge the shield. Probably just a…fireball or something to the palace, then go along the border.”
“To the Riverlands?” Grover lowered his claw. His eyes visibly lit up. “Ah, to open another front and force a response. Clever. What if I met you?”
“What?”
“What if I met you at the palace?” Grover repeated. “What if I was there? Could you look me in the eye and kill me?”
Flurry shifted her stare away from him for several heartbeats. She nibbled on her lower lip, then looked back. Grover’s eyes were unreadable.
“Yes.”
Grover clacked his beak. “Good.”
Flurry blinked. “W-what?”
“Good,” Grover said again. “Killing me would have plunged the Reich into chaos and relieved pressure off your subjects. I waited until the last possible moment to call off the bombing runs because I was not sure if you were capable of fulfilling your threat.” His beak turned. “I decided you would not have given that threat if you were not prepared to carry it out.”
“That’s why?” Flurry snorted.
“Your offer was also unexpected.”
“We’re alone, nerdbird,” Flurry rolled her eyes.
“What in Maar’s name made you offer marriage?” Grover squawked in a half-laugh. “I read that letter on the dock while Hellcrest foamed over in front of photographers. Do you know how hard that was to censor?” The griffon’s brow furrowed. “You truly did not curse him?”
“No!” Flurry exclaimed. “There’s not a spell like that! I was bluffing!”
“Coroner said he pushed his heart too hard,” Grover mumbled. “Not that my spymaster believed it. Thought it was magic. I had to replace him with Grimwing. She is my third.” He abruptly shook his head. “Seriously? Marriage?”
“What?”
Grover glared at her, flabbergasted. “…why?”
“It worked for Guinevere.”
“Blessed Boreas,” the griffon laughed. “The Aquileians hold her memory up with both wings. Grover II beat her father to death and had the Reichsarmee staged to raze Aquila after they rebelled. Do you truly think he was intimidated by some waif seizing a fire poker and waving it at him?”
“From everything I’ve ever read about him,” Flurry retorted, “he seemed the type to find that charming enough to not destroy everything she held dear.”
Grover stopped laughing and his feathers flushed. He shrunk down. “I would have never asked you to do that.”
“If I accepted from the start,” Flurry guessed. “What about afterwards?”
Grover said nothing.
“I wasn’t getting out of that situation with everything,” Flurry scoffed. “Something had to give.”
“Why-”
“Guess I was thinking of my country matters,” Flurry interrupted with a whicker. “Most valuable thing I own, really. Said it yourself. I’m the only natural-born alicorn.”
“Equestria’s and the Empire’s resources are valuable,” Grover mumbled.
Flurry gave him a hooded glare, but the griffon had shrunk away from the chair and did not meet her eyes. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
“A political marriage,” Grover stressed. “Yes, the Princess of Ponies marrying the Kaiser of Griffonkind is a statement, especially if it is a marriage in our tradition. It is also an utter nightmare on succession and inheritance.”
“Marrying me doesn’t make up for it?”
“It does,” Grover conceded, “and it solidifies the relationship between the Reich and Equestria. Everyone can see it will be a puppet state. A marriage softens the blow on both ends and promises long-lasting ties.”
He ran a claw over his head feathers. “That still leaves the religious aspects. Herzlanders are not Aquileians. Marrying a pony is not illegal or immoral by any stretch, even Eros preached that, but…”
“I’m that ugly?” Flurry huffed.
“You make stumbling through a snowdrift graceful,” Grover replied absently. Flurry’s pink muzzle pinkened under her magelight. “That is not the point,” the griffon continued. “Religious hardliners will screech in dismay, especially if I later father a bastard and legitimize him. My grandfather had several, but, well, the revolution and Kemerskai Senior took care of that.”
“How bad enough of a concern is that?”
“If I win this war I can do whatever I wish,” Grover dismissed. “I will have succeeded where my ancestor failed and claimed an entire continent for the Reich.” He made eye contact again. “Through a marriage to the last Princess of Ponies that matters.”
“Seems like it was a good idea,” Flurry commented.
“Surprised you offered it,” Grover answered. “I suppose we did not really know each other.”
“We’ll make a great couple,” Flurry quipped. Her horn glowed and she popped back upright, slowly standing in a slouch.
“We see each other once or twice a year,” Grover shrugged a claw. Leaned against the commander’s chair above, he was eye level with the slouching alicorn. They stared at each other for a long, awkward moment.
Flurry opened her muzzle. “I-”
“I almost killed you,” Grover interrupted in a strained rush.
Flurry blinked. “You said that.”
“After the battle,” he elaborated. “When the changeling came down from Canterlot to try and surrender.”
“Alcippe,” Flurry provided.
“I had her brought to me. You were going to assault the city half-dead.”
“Not my best plan,” Flurry chuckled.
“She told me about Twilight,” Grover said slowly, forcing the words past his beak. "And she was right. With Twilight Sparkle I did not need you. She didn't even realize what she was really saying. You asked for help; I could have...I…” he stopped for a breath. “I thought about it.”
“Oh,” Flurry puffed her cheeks. “She said all that after your knights beat the shit out of her?”
“I did that,” Grover admitted. "After I refused."
Flurry assessed him, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “Why didn’t you go for it?”
“Because I remembered when we were still friends!” Grover snarled. “What the fuck is wrong with you? I just confessed to nearly having you assassinated less than a month ago!”
“What?” Flurry snorted. “Should I be mad?” She pitched her voice high and faux sobbed. “How could you, Grover!? I trusted you!” Rolling her eyes, her voice shifted back. “I’ve been surprised your army hasn’t tried it. I killed thousands of your griffons.”
Grover gaped at her and slid back on his paws.
“Bronzetail shot at me and we’re friends,” Flurry continued. “If I was mad at everyone that thought about killing me I wouldn’t have a war council at all.”
“Ancestors above,” the griffon swore.
Flurry caught his look and wilted. “Guess I should be mad, but…” she tossed her head. “300,000 changelings?” The alicorn paused. “I should care about that too, right? Or all those ships I sank off the coast. I never saw that many griffons make it out to fly back.”
“Many did not,” Grover said quietly.
Flurry glanced at the pistol under his wing. “Have you ever killed anyone? Yourself?”
“No,” the griffon admitted. He shifted his eyes around the tank and sagged against the seat. “Not much difference between giving the order or carrying it out as far as sin goes. Learned that from Eros.”
Flurry bared her teeth at the chassis. “I should care. I know I should. Rainbow pretends killing doesn’t bother her, but she drinks. Dusty has nightmares. Hooves shake or ponies get this far-eyed, glassy look.”
“Shellshock,” Grover explained. “Or Spellshock. Yale is working on a study about it with veterans from the unification wars. I think it is called ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’ now.”
Flurry shuffled to the basket and the loader for the turret. She raised her left foreleg and stared at it for a long moment, then stretched it out atop the basket. It was perfectly still.
“It doesn’t bother me,” Flurry said softly. “It never did. Ponies can tell, and it scares them. I don’t like killing, but I…I just…” she stopped and tried to gather her thoughts.
“My mother couldn’t have done what I can,” she picked up. “Twilight couldn’t. Luna and Celestia…I don’t know.” She gave Grover a side-eye. “I enjoyed tricking those changelings. I lured them through the forest, faked my shield almost collapsing a few times, yelled and screamed so they knew where I was and diverted more of them towards me while I poured magic into it. It smarted like Tartarus…but it was fun.”
“Archon Proteus enjoys combat,” Grover offered.
“He’s a griffon,” Flurry retorted. “I’m a pony. I killed 300,000 people in the blink of an eye. Most didn’t even have the time to realize they were dead. Princesses don’t do that.”
“Equestria lost the war,” Grover answered.
Flurry shook her head. “I’m not a Princess. I said ponies see what they want to see.” Her stare turned rueful. “You’ve seen my cutie mark, right?” When Grover took a moment too long to reply, she unzipped her jumpsuit with a flash of her horn and peeled it back.
“Ancestors above.” Grover averted his eyes. “I’ve seen your mark on the banners.”
“The awful banners,” Flurry added. She shuffled the jumpsuit down to her rear hooves, then leaned against the side of the loader. “It’s a cutie mark. Look at it.”
“I have no desire-”
“Look at my ass, Grover,” the alicorn snorted. “You think you’re never going to see it?”
Grover looked at the ceiling. “You shaved your tail.”
“Do griffons have no self-control?” Flurry nickered. “Just don’t look! Ponies show off their cutie marks all the time with no problem.”
“There’s a theory that Equestrians' penchant for nudity comes from Discord’s reign,” Grover lectured. He finally glanced down for approximately three seconds before looking away. His feathers twitched.
Flurry waited.
Grover did not say anything.
“And?” the alicorn prompted.
“It’s your shield spell,” Grover waved a claw.
Flurry laughed despairingly. “You came to that quick. What gave it away?” She twisted her neck to inspect the bright blue Crystal Heart surrounded by a darker blue shield and wreathed in blue fire. It stuck out on her light pink fur, seeming to pop out and catch the eye. She laughed again and it came out in a squeak.
“It seems rather obvious,” Grover retorted, still looking up at the ceiling. He risked another look at the alicorn and froze.
Flurry felt the tears roll down her muzzle. “My mother’s mark was the Crystal Heart and a golden frame,” she stuttered. “My mark isn’t on the Tree of Harmony. My father had a shield; he used it to protect people. My shield doesn’t protect people. It kills them.”
“There’s a shield over the entire north,” Grover offered.
“It burns them all,” Flurry dismissed. “Every changeling. I got my mark dying in the basement of my home.”
Grover rubbed his beak together. “Is that why you had leg braces?”
“My heart stopped for a couple minutes.”
“Well,” Grover squawked unconvincingly, “I was going to say you looked like shit, but considering those circumstances you looked great.”
Flurry didn’t react to the joke. She looked away from her flank. “Ponies see what they want. I was born an alicorn and all the others earned it. It took me a long time to know why.”
“Your mother was an alicorn,” Grover said with a slow blink.
“My mother,” Flurry stopped to take a breath. “She wouldn’t have made it this far. Twilight wouldn’t have made it either. They were good ponies. They didn’t kill anyone. They…they wouldn’t make the decisions I made.”
Grover waited.
“The changelings enslaved us as they tore across Equestria,” Flurry continued, remembering Thorax’s stories. “They drained our towns, rounded up ponies as labor brigades and disguised themselves as fallen soldiers needing medical attention.”
“They are monsters,” Grover stated in a cold voice. “Gods or not, this is a Crusade.”
“Can you imagine Celestia ordering the shelling of Canterlot?” Flurry asked. “What about luring a griffon and his high command into a trap before killing them all? Do you think she could do that?”
“The story of Nightmare Moon is clearly sanitized,” Grover claimed. Flurry glanced at him. He had apparently gotten over the exposed cutie mark, looking at her muzzle with a sad frown. Beak, Flurry considered. I think he’s frowning.
“Nightmare Moon let six civilians kick her ass,” Flurry denied. “She wasn’t a killer either.” The alicorn swallowed. “You know the story: Luna was jealous of her sister.”
“Just so,” Grover said, “but words are wind.”
“She was jealous,” Flurry repeated. She looked north, sensing the direction even inside the tank. “Trimmel carried a foal out of the Crystal Palace to prevent me from killing him.”
The alicorn heard the griffon rustle his wings against the chassis. “I think he truly believed I wouldn’t do it,” she said in a pained whisper. “That I couldn’t do it.” She ran her tongue over flat teeth and looked back at her flank with wet, round eyes. “But I did it. And I’m still me.”
“What do you think your mark is?” Grover asked.
“What you said it was,” Flurry responded. “It’s not a crown. No laurels. Ponies are desperate to believe I’m a Princess.”
“You are a Princess.”
“I am an alicorn,” Flurry countered. “I was born one. I was born the day after Chrysalis starting building her tower.” Her muzzle stretched into a tight smile under her tears. “I can sense weapons. I can tell how many they’ve killed and the imprints of their wielders. They’re alive. They have souls, or the souls of their wielders live on through them.”
Grover’s deep blue eyes wandered around the tank. His wing pressed against the holstered pistol. “I have never heard about this.”
“I never told anyone,” Flurry revealed. Grover blinked at her in surprise. “It’s just me,” she continued. “Earliest memory is seeing wisps of magic on the rifles in New Mareland as we stepped off the ship. My father didn’t see them.” She looked away. “I never told him.”
Grover sat back down under the hatch and pulled at his undershirt with a talon. “I don’t understand,” he admitted.
“Please don’t tell anyone.”
“I promise,” Grover said immediately, “but I don’t understand. Why keep it a secret?”
“They need to believe I’m a Princess,” Flurry said bleakly. “Not that I’m a weapon pretending to be one.” She gave one last look at her flank. “I was born an alicorn to kill Chrysalis. None of the others could do it. Celestia and Luna are going to wait her out on the far side of the world. My mother and aunt were good ponies.”
Flurry gulped. “But I’m not a good pony. I am a very, very awful pony and everypony can tell. They’re afraid enough.” She scrubbed her muzzle with the loose sleeve of her jumpsuit. “At least you don’t have a mark on your ass telling you what you should be, but you have to be something else.”
Grover fiddled with his claws, squinting over at her while the magelight began to fade above them. Flurry let it burn out. “Weapons?” he said aloud. “Guns and tanks, what else?”
“Planes,” Flurry whickered. “I never tried a battleship or something, too many moving parts. I can get…” she paused, “…lost in the memory. The Crystal Heart is old.”
“It’s a weapon?” Grover assumed.
“You know,” Flurry choked, “I can hear things from it. Maybe Grover the Great wasn’t insane? Or maybe I’m crazy too,” she puffed her cheeks out. "Amore called me a fraud."
"Amore?" Grover's voice was clearly confused.
"Or something acting like her," Flurry admitted. "I saw her, and Sombra, and..." she shook her head. "I was just thinking about fixing the Heart. I wanted it to work and stop the storm. It did, but the shield burns. You've seen it. It didn't do that before."
"Perhaps," Grover acknowledged, "but you said yourself it was old. Can you sense knives?”
“Yeah, and swords,” Flurry said. “Benito’s sword has an aura. It’s a family heirloom, right?”
“Yes,” Grover confirmed. His eyes furrowed. “What about a shovel?”
Flurry scrunched her muzzle. “What?”
“A shovel,” Grover repeated. He shrugged a claw. “Or a rock. Does it just have to have killed someone?”
“A shovel isn’t a weapon,” Flurry protested with a shake of her head.
“It can be,” the griffon retorted with absolute confidence. “Can you tell if it was?”
Flurry gave him a flat stare. “I don’t know!”
“I thought you saw magical wisps or whatever.”
“If I focus,” Flurry huffed. “I’m not wandering around with wide eyes all day, intensely staring at stuff like a weirdo.”
Grover drummed his beak with a talon. “You would make a really good detective.”
Flurry Heart ground her teeth. “I just told you-” she cut herself off when she glared over at him.
Grover stared back with a well-practiced look of absolute calm. “I am just making practical suggestions about alternative careers,” he said neutrally.
“You dick,” Flurry laughed. She laughed harder and stumbled back on the loose sleeves of her jumpsuit, falling onto her flank with a clang. Her wings flared on reflex, but the pratfall made her howl with higher-pitched laughter. She giggle-snorted as she slowed down.
Grover swished his tail. “I am sorry,” he said in Herzlander.
“So am I,” Flurry responded.
The griffon rubbed an elbow. He placed claw down on the floor, then quickly withdrew it at the crunch of glass. He shook his palm with a clack of his beak.
“You broke your glasses,” Flurry stated.
“I brought over a dozen pairs,” Grover replied. “I have my goggles to fly back. I’m not that blind.”
The alicorn’s ears flicked above her head. “Where do we go from here?”
“We need to keep the marriage a secret,” Grover said. “For the time being, at least. The River Federation will panic at a formalized alliance like that.”
“How bad is it over there?” Flurry frowned.
“Griffenheim is only two weeks from the border,” Grover sighed. “If they flung their full standing army at my border, they would overrun us within a few days. Casualties would be high on their side.”
“You think they’ll try it?”
“If we lose here, yes,” Grover answered. “Or if they get desperate. The bigger concern is that the fall of Griffenheim would cause regional revolts to flare back up while my army is trying to make it back. The worst-case scenario is the Reichsarmee is stranded on Equus and left to bleed out.”
Flurry sighed. “They would really do that? They might as well just sign an official deal with Chrysalis.”
“Chrysalis is over here and the Reich is at their border,” Grover pointed out. “Riverlanders think Equestrians are weird nudists. No alicorns over there.”
“Well…” Flurry interrupted.
“By your own metric, Celestia and Luna are Princesses, not alicorns,” Grover said.
Flurry nodded slowly, lost in thought. “Where do we go from here?” she repeated.
Grover furrowed his eyes. “I just said-”
“I mean us,” Flurry waved a hoof between them. “Not the world or the war.”
Grover was quiet for a minute. “I kept your letters.” His voice cracked again and he looked embarrassed before coughing into a claw.
Flurry hissed to herself and winced. “I left them in Weter. I’m sorry.”
Grover accepted the apology with a nod. “We see each other once or twice a year after the war. That’s it.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Do you actually want to marry me?” Grover turned the question around.
Flurry rolled her eyes. “You’re not that ugly.”
Grover sighed. “And I prefer beaks and claws. You will be expected to be friends with my mistress.”
Flurry suppressed a smirk. “Like the Discrets? You going to show her off in court? Have a lucky griffoness in mind, nerdbird?”
“On second thought,” Grover amended, “you two will never meet because you will doubtlessly terrify her.”
“Harsh,” Flurry remarked, but did not dispute it further. “Rude of you to discriminate against hooves.”
“I have seen the travesties necessary to design guns for hooves,” Grover responded. “No trigger guards and giant safety buttons…” he trailed off and his wings shuddered.
“They didn’t catch on for awhile in the Royal Guard because of live-fire accidents,” Flurry partially shrugged a wing. “My father’s shield spell saved a lot of lives; I’m told that every Royal Guard in Canterlot owed him beers for life.”
Grover laughed. His voice cracked into a deeper baritone.
Flurry smiled slightly, then added, “That’s still not what I meant.”
“You are being obtuse,” Grover scoffed good-naturedly.
“Do you want to be friends?” Flurry asked. She tapped her forehooves together, slumped on her flank at the driver’s seat.
Grover blinked in the low battery lights as the magelight finally sputtered out.
“Made a real mess of it,” Flurry continued in a nervous whicker. Her horn glowed, but she didn’t provide another magelight. “We could restart. If you want to.”
“How very Equestrian of you,” Grover said in a short voice. “That’s how you did it, isn’t it? Convinced all those hardheaded, stubborn birds to follow you around? Near suicidal trust masked by absurd violence. No wonder you spared Katherine. And Bronzetail never told me he shot at you.”
Flurry’s ears pinned back. "I broke into his hotel room."
Grover took a deep breath. “You are infuriating.”
“I get that a lot,” Flurry muttered.
There was a long moment where neither said more.
“My name,” Grover began suddenly in Herzlander, “is Grover von Greifenstein. I am named after my father and his father before him, all the way back to Grover of Griffonstone.”
Flurry felt a smile stretch across her muzzle. “My name is Flurry Heart,” she said lightly in Equestrian. “I’m named after the artifact I destroyed as a foal and the resulting storm that nearly consumed my home.”
Grover’s head feathers puffed out, then settled. “One of us was clearly more loved by our family. Are you sure they did not want you to end up as some apocalyptic herald?”
“Never ask about names,” Flurry advised.
“They are oddly prescient.”
“Well, ponies can change their names if they want to.”
“I am sure that makes the census fun.”
Flurry scrunched her muzzle and thickened her frontier accent. “The what?” she trilled. "That some 'guberment' thing?"
Grover gave her a look of absolute disappointment.
“My Kaiser!” a voice howled outside the tank. There was slap on the chassis that rang through the interior. “My Kaiser!”
Benito sounded absolutely out of breath.
Grover rolled his head back and groaned. “Yes?” he shouted in a near-screech. Flurry heard the scrambling up the side of the tank, then thumping on the turret.
“Are you alright!?” Benito barked through the closed hatch.
“We are fine, Benito!” Grover called back.
Flurry watched the lock on the hatch rotate as the dog tested it. Grover unlocked it earlier. The griffon below the hatch raised a brow, realizing it himself. His eyes suddenly rocketed across the tank to Flurry. The alicorn stared back in confusion, then felt the rush of fresh air on her flank as Benito hauled the hatch open.
“My Kaiser,” Benito panted. He stuck his head down through the hatch. The graying dog was absolutely lathered and his collar was soaked. “Your guards told me…”
He stopped and took in the scene.
Grover stared up at him without his glasses, in only his sleeveless undershirt and slacks. Flurry stared at the dog blankly from a few hooves away, sitting on her flank with her jumpsuit loosely pooled around her rear legs, but otherwise completely naked. Both were disheveled and flushed from being in the stale air of the tank and crying.
Benito slowly closed his muzzle, then withdrew his head at a snail’s pace. The dog’s brown eyes were wide, seeing everything and somehow nothing. A paw fumbled at the hatch, then gently shut it above them.
Flurry’s ears pricked at the shuffling atop the turret, then the hard landing as the dog hopped off the top of the tank. There was a faint, muffled conversation, then a chorus of clanking metal and retreating steps.
Flurry and Grover stared at each other in absolute silence.
Grover burst out laughing first.
Flurry followed him.
When they finally recovered, Flurry asked, “He knows, right?”
“Yes,” Grover chortled. “Gods, I should tell him nothing happened.”
“Is he going to freak out?”
“That was him freaking out,” Grover replied. “I am not going to get a word out of him for a week.” The griffon smiled to himself. “I guess this makes us even for him not telling me in Aquileia.”
“Glad that worked out,” Flurry snorted.
Grover nodded and shuffled up to the hatch. He gripped the latch and tested it, then looked back down at Flurry.
“Are we okay?” she asked.
“I do not think either of us can be described as ‘okay’ in any regard,” Grover said dryly.
“Fine.” Flurry rolled her eyes. “Are we okay with each other?”
Grover lowered one of his claws from the hatch. “Yes.”
“Good,” Flurry nodded. She remained sitting.
“Are you coming?” Grover asked.
“I’ll teleport back up to the garden,” Flurry waved a hoof. “I have a meeting,” she winked, “plus it’s funnier if I’m not here.”
Grover flicked his talons at her.
Flurry stuck her tongue out.
“Would you like to come to my birthday party?” Grover offered.
“The feast in my own castle?” Flurry nickered. “The last one I went to wasn’t very fun. Do you have clowns?”
“No. It is unbearable.”
Flurry considered it. “I can bring guests? I got it covered.”
“Please do not bring a clown,” Grover requested, “and dress appropriately.”
“I’ll wear my fancy outfit,” Flurry promised, “and I won’t bring an actual clown, just Rainbow Dash. Will Gilda be there?”
“I can arrange it, but she won’t be seated at the high table.”
“Eh,” Flurry waved a hoof. “I have a backup.”
Grover made a keening noise in the back of his throat.
Flurry’s muzzle scrunched. “I’ll come,” she promised, “and I do actually know table etiquette and what all the forks and spoons are for. Aquileia’s big on that. There’s not much I can do about the accent if I sound like a peasant.”
Grover pushed the hatch open. Sunlight illuminated his beak and made his eyes pop. He placed his claws on the lip and began to climb out, then chuckled to himself. “Just be yourself,” the griffon said in Equestrian.
“You are going to regret that,” Flurry promised in Herzlander. Her horn glowed. “That’s the worst possible option.”
Somehow I do not think I will, Grover thought to himself as he stretched out on the turret. His ear cocked at a zipper from below, then a flash of magic that caused sparks of blue electricity to race across the chassis of the Gunnhildur.
Grover raised a claw to his eyes and squinted as he scanned the camp. Benito and a team of knights were obvious guards, fanned out atop several of the surrounding tanks, but at a surprising distance. The Kaiser spotted the dog’s blurry head begin to turn, then twist back to keeping watch.
Grover ran a claw down his sweaty undershirt. Gods, he felt a smile pull at his cheeks, there is nothing I can say to convince him otherwise. Grover judged the position of the sun with a quick glance upwards.
Wandered off with my secret fiancée and disappeared for several hours. He shook his head. Rumors could fly with wings, but it was too stupid to believe. Flurry gave no indication she was going to chat about it.
Grover moved to shut the hatch, then caught the faint hum of the lighting. He rolled the hatch back. Idiot, cut the lights. He doubted any of the crew would ever know it was their Kaiser that did it, but the Reichsarmee was his army. The griffon dropped back into the hatch and shuffled over to the control panel, flicking through the switches with a quick talon. The lights cut off.
The only light was from the open hatch now, and Grover shuffled back. His bare paw kicked something and it skittered forward into the shaft of exposed sunlight. The griffon frowned and squinted.
The flattened, paint-flecked bullet laid in the sunlight. Grover palmed it before he climbed back out, keeping it in his left claw as he shut the hatch. The griffon sat down atop the tank and held his claw up to his eyes, rolling the bullet back between two talons while his wings flared out and his tail lashed.
It looked like any other spent bullet. There was no brain matter or stain on it, just paint. Grover’s left wing tightened against the holstered pistol. He tossed the bullet up and caught it with a flick of his wrist, then cocked his arm back to fling it into the grass.
He hesitated.
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I'm not calling you a liar...just don't lie to me.
Since I don't really do author's notes on The Princess and the Kaiser, consider this the official announcement that I am shifting gears towards A Wraith in Winter for the months of June/July, in addition to other works since I've been recruited onto the Equestria at War team out of sheer annoyance.
Fuck, i loved this chapter, exactly what i've been looking forward to between Flurry and Grover.
Poor Flurry. Poor Grover.
But also: Yay.
Friends again. Confidants again.
They need nothing else right now.
That makes the ship teasing, though expected, a delightful and much-enjoyed bonus.
I wonder how secret they will manage to keep this little encounter. It's almost funnier if Benito is the only one who ends up drawing that canoodling conclusion. How will his behavior be described the next time we see him?
Thanks for this one, author.
Since this chapter didn't make my heart ache the only opnion I have is:
Oh yeah boy the sex tag is in full effect, and it is as hilarious as I thought it would be
Poor Benito. He's not going to sleep tonight. And when Thorax here's about this he's gonna be having a long talk with flurry.
11599203
Yay more great writing in my favorite mod for HoI4.
There's gonna be some serious complications if Flurry bore a child from this union.
11599371
I mean it's not really compatible for a griffon and a pony to make a child but
Nothing's impossible with the power of Love
good chapter
11599288
I think he is playing it up, there would be a smell, and dogs have good noses
Great, GREAT chapter. Finally Grover and Flurry stopped hatinv each others. Maybe in a hundred chapters they'll fall in love.
Joke aside, this is just perfect. All the build up that has been made during the previous chapters just explode as the masks falls and they finally have an honest talk together. Both are just childs doing their best in a cruel world and knowing they now at least have each other feels relieving.
It's sad to see how none of them wanted to become what they became. I now really feel bad for Grover. All he wanted was be a good ruler and prove everyone that Grovers are not just iron clawed emperors and help Flurry. Grover the kind reformer became Grover the crusader and Flurry the princess of hope became Flurry the princess of death.
And Benito panicking because Grover suddenly left with the princess and just blue screening at the seen is pure gold.
Very glad she got this chance to decompress. They both really needed this. Im sure that twice a will quickly turn into more
11599381
There wasn’t supposed to be a natural born alicorn either, and yet THE POWER OF LOVE makes all things possible. Dear god what would it even look like?
Great chapter as always wordsmith.
11599203
Perhaps it’s just me being dumb but does that mean that you are taking a break for two months to work on other stuff?
11599203
Wow you've been recruited to the eaw team? Looking forward to the 200k word event chains you make lol
Bravo the interaction between these two this chapter has been fanfucking tastic. Tanks really are the best place to air out your dirty laundry
My new favorite chapter and it's not even close. So happy to see that Grover and Flurry are finally reconciling.
11599203
Wow, congratulations on being recruited. Bit sad we won't be getting any updates till August, but you left it on a good note.
These two needed this. Air the laundry, dirty and otherwise. I think there friendship is more than a Alliance. Plus the rumor mill is gonna be awesome!
11599203
Let me be clear here. if the next eaw update does'nt expand on the crystal empire i will be asking many questions.
p.s congrats on the promotion.
p.s.s great chapter
p.s.s.s my offer of a few rounds of hoi is still on the table
What a phenomenal chapter. Very excited to see where this goes in the future.
11599403
Interesting reflection on "masks." One day I will do a proper blog on Grover's characterization in Equestria at War, since he can really be anything and end up with every ideology depending on his regent. It makes him a great character, but not exactly a consistent one.
When the mask falls, Grover is very different from Kaiser Grover VI.
When the mask falls, Flurry is...still Princess Flurry Heart, just more open about her self-perception.
Both pretend, but the way they pretend is radically different. There is a vast gulf between Grover and the Kaiser, but Flurry is more like a deeper section in an ocean. Grover finally says it outright: He resents that, that she can get away with it and make it work because alicorn. He's supposed to be "Chosen by the Gods" and "Blessed by Boreas," and the poor griffon is sitting in a tank with someone that was very obviously chosen for something. She's everything he is supposed to be.
And for Flurry, that sucks because she needs to be something else. Flurry's cutie mark is her shield spell and the Crystal Heart. It's the spell she designed expressly to kill people, and her subjects try to ignore that. She's at her best (or worst) on the battlefield. Destiny is a choice. Flurry accepted being a Princess because she needed to be one, but that doesn't mean she was supposed to be a Princess in her mind.
11599381
Well you know the hippogiiffs exist somehow.
11599702
The next update are polar bears and alderat.
Tho I guess you know it since you seem to be a active member of the community longer than me.
Also I guess he (?) is jus going to do the writing and like coders and artists are still needed.
11599896
Okay polar bears do sound interesting. Will it be another olenia type situation of being forced to defend or a different situation of unifying the north
11599943
From what I have seen they are going to be very diffrent than Olenia.
11599203
Could you please explain the "out of sheer annoyance" part?
11599981
I have a feeling that one of the focuses is going to be named the new polar order based Purley on the fact that is the type of thing that the team would do. Considering the fact that the previous update has grover V become the bird emperor of griffion knd it is probaly not that far fetched.
11600087
Have you seen the teasers on discord?
Or the gameplay preview? (Cuz I missed it)
11599895
I concur. Likely looks similar to a hippogriff, and honestly if any creature could do it it would be an alicorn.
I first read this Fic for the War politics and now all I can think about after reading this chapter is….JUST KISS ALREADY YOU TWO, how does a story about war, genocide and how the minds of people are destroyed by war somehow make me more focused on the relationship of two rulers who holds the fact of the millions in their claws/hoofs?!
11604563
Now that sounds more promising
11604563
https://youtu.be/caYF0GZ8j6Y?t=17
11605371
Flurry's offensive power is meant to match the defensive power. She has to drop the OP shield to fire the OP laser. (She furthermore has to charge her shot to do that level of damage, which isn't practical in many scenarios outside of punching through battleships.) Her being a "support unit" would be a good compromise to keep tension in battle sequences...except that was Shining Armor and it's a deliberate contrast between father and daughter. Flurry's signature nova-shield spell is the synthesis, something she came up with on her own and only she can do. It's also something people have no frame of reference for because magical shield protect. Her being the way she is and fighting the way she fights ends up central to her character. I'd be interested to know your thoughts later.
Love the story. Curious when it’s being updated.
11604563
Okay
We definitely can do alicorn hero units, though I think we shouldn't and it'd also take away the uniqueness that Leopold in Barrad has.
The issue is that they'd be insanely overpowered, but still get rekt by sufficiently good air just like he does.
Cas lmao.
Guys, how nuke option works in the game,I wanna know if grover is at point that can surprise us?
What about next chapter?
11615309
"Since I don't really do author's notes on The Princess and the Kaiser, consider this the official announcement that I am shifting gears towards A Wraith in Winter for the months of June/July, in addition to other works since I've been recruited onto the Equestria at War team out of sheer annoyance."
The author said this.
So after having read through this thing in about a week, first off, this is very good and I am really invested in seeing how this continues going forward even as someone who has never played Equestria at war.
Second, am I correct if I say that you have not read The Changeling of the Guard? I get the feeling you haven't considering you have not made any mention of Idol Hooves, despite the fact that he actually made it into Equestria at war. Make no mistake, this is not me claiming "this character should be in this story" because knowing him, he would have died in the defense of the Crystal Empire and not matter to this story. But if you had read The Changeling of the Guard I don't think you would have been able to resist at least mentioning what happened to Idol. Because while Flurry might only have vague memories of Idol, he would have mattered to Thorax.
So again, this is not me telling you to change your story, this is me giving you a reading recommendation.
Read The Changeling of the Guard by vdrake77. It will at least give you the backstory for one of the Political Advisors/Chief of Army units in Equestria at war.
11615571
Similar to Flash Sentry, Idol Hooves was effectively written out to keep the cast condensed. I have read The Changeling of the Guard, but Idol Hooves isn't really a character in Equestria at War, nor am I interested in cameoing such a well-known character. Thorax's role expanded significantly since he's currently "thin" in terms of content if he doesn't win the civil war. No need for two "token good changelings" in the Crystal Empire.
11615738
Entirely fair, I love the story nonetheless. I just don't think I would have been able to resist throwing in a line about how he "went out in a blaze of glory" early in the Great War as a one-off line.
Going forward, I am very excited to see where this goes. I love how you introduced Cozy Glow into the mix, I am interested to see how you will handle Applejack (eventually) and the latest chapter gave me hope for Grover and Flurry actually having more discussions with each other.
I also love the many moral dilemmas you have in this story. Correct answers are in short supply during peace. In war, even those need to be rationed.
welp. i blinked and went from chapter 1 to 52
i think i may have missed saturday...did that day disappear?
jking aside, been unable to stop reading this thus far. heck i skipped most of my sleep to keep reading xD
story is really good and the focus on the fact that doing what is morally right isn't actually going to be good long term is a nice change. its hard to stomach yes, we're conditioned to not want to kill hostages. but long term its the difference between winning and losing. something that makes me respect Flurry despite being scared of what she does, only agreeing with it when i look at the larger picture like how holding ponies as shields has lost all effectiveness now.
the politics with the Kaiser, is deliciously complex. its not as simple as a disney "love fixes all" or a modern movie "happy allies", but a real push and pull where both sides are giving up stuff to gain other.
favorite part so far, is the description of Trixie's end. the ELF fought hard with the morale's of equestria...and it cost them everything. still don't know for sure if Starlight is dead, but from Rainbow's account, i have this mental image of trixie holding a dead or dying starlight. in the center of the city, before the entire city goes up in a giant chain of millions of fireworks expanding out from the center to cover the entire city that shakes the ground for miles and when done, leaves nothing but a glassed crater. idk if its accurate, but it feels a fitting last hurrah.
thank you for the story! and i look forward to more to come (to be fair i only half way through xD but i need to eat so typing this as i do)
11619869
Trixie died before Starlight went missing in the last stand. Rainbow's chapter has a slight hint about it.
Starlight might be alive, but all evidence points to a mare with nothing left to lose as the ELF fell apart. The Changelings absolutely would have made a show of taking her prisoner. And she would have popped back up during the war if she survived the last stand.
11619925
ah
ah well, i still like imagining trixie going off with an earthquake sized giant cluster bomb of fireworks xD
I wonder what happened to the Bears and penguins. It would be interesting hear what the remnants of their races are doing.
ok, finally caught up fully
theres a saying that a light shines brightest in the dark, and this does support that.
its dark, realistic in a way that our real life morales struggle to accept as alot of humans have grown up sheltered or in good places. and yet i love how i can still look back at all that has happened till now, and see that if they went with the morally good option, it wouldnt have ended well.
it also makes the light hearted or joyous moments really stand out as special, not just a standard moment but a special one.
looking forward to more, this is amazing
11599203
Were they annoyed with you? Or you annoyed with them?
P.S. is there a discord for your novels or such?
11599203
Please don't tell me it's over!
Ill pray that there is there's more of this for these two characters, this was the first fic I've ever actually read fully and I've loved every paragraph of your story. also I'm a bit confused about why there was a sex tag on this, was it because of all the jokes?
11632223
It's the longest EaW fic in existence. And it's not over by a good margin.
11632346
Thank god for that! Again great work on this, form somebody who has studies sociology and psychology its fun reading into these characters.