This story is a sequel to And I Hope You Die
The world has been at war for six years, and the conflict has almost reached its bitter end. One last push into enemy territory will win the war for the Alliance between Equestria and the Crystal Empire — but only if Flurry Heart and the forces she commands are willing to bear the cost, and Twilight Sparkle will allow them to bear it.
Artificer's Guildmaster Spike wasn't there when they made their decision, and it's too late to change what happened afterwards. All he can do now is piece together what led up to the fateful last days of the Second War, and do what little he can to protect the creatures who survived it.
A dual sequel to my short story "And I Hope You Die" and GaPJaxie's novel Around the World in 81 Days (And Other Problems Caused by Leap Years), written to be understandable for people who have read neither. My entry for the Imposing Sovereigns IV contest, using the prompt "Flurry Heart/Strength."
I'll admit that not having read one of two previous works made me realize I hadn't grasped the expected political tone. The prologue was appreciated.
The way you write Flurry is awe-inspiring, a perfect villain at a home game. You've dragged these characters through the worst circumstances, taken me by the collar and forced me to see that this is how it must be. You can't deny the ending because any other would be a betrayal of ideals. God, the terror of witnessing the princesses together is going to burn itself in my memory.
I was terrified that a follow-up to your previous fic would have compromised some character building for the sake of a sequel. Thankfully that was not the case, and far from it.
I was initially going to mention how striking the accounts and their real parallels are, but I think the author's note ties it up in a much better, much heavier way. Thank you for that.
You wrote this on my birthday!
And, we're off!
I'll be commenting on every chapter as I go, so you can see where I stop reading for the night.
Good start so far, mostly a recap of the critical events of 81 Days and And I Hope You Die. Good character establishment for uncle spike, and we'll see what comes of Flurry.
Okay, if the chapters are this short maybe I won't comment on every single one, but you've certainly got my attention with this hook. We get the sense of the disaster and you've introduced Garnet as a soldier.
Nice references to spikes attire :D
This chapter is where you really establish the feel that this is all leading up to something.
You're nailing the vibe here.
You're really good.
Holy shit you went hard.
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Well, that was, hm, quite a story! Pair of stories, since I did this and the one by you it's a sequel to back to back tonight (81 Days I went through some time ago).
For one thing, it so happens that I recently finished Dan Carlin's Supernova in the East and Logical Insanity. Wasn't really expecting them to be relevant to ponyfic in this way! :D
...Hm. I'd someone like to comment on the story in more depth, but am not sure I should, partly because of the nature of the subject matter... buuut also just from the hour, and fortunately for my decisionmaking, the latter's enough of an influence to at the very least make not commenting in more depth now seem the best choice.
Thanks for writing, though!
A single person will always have failings. Nor can they understand everyone.
Haunting and horrifying, and I mean that in the best way possible. Possibly drawing too much from real-world history—how many of Twilight and Flurry’s failings are truly their own, and how many are necessary to maintain the parallels?—but this was still an incredible read. Thank you for it, and best of luck in the judging.
Ahh, even in desperation people are full of spite and prejudice. Alas...
Well, I guess that fully establishes our Germany and Japan analogues here.
Is Mizuma meant to mean anything specific? Water-something?
Welp, Twilight becoming a Chamberlain analogue I can see and not see. It does feel like post-80-days she'd have been more...well, less naive about the world.
Flurry as fusion of Truman and FDR, mm~? With it sounds like perhaps a little MacArthur in the mix. Makes sense after the 'gift' Cozy gave her, back when.
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And the funny bit, at least to me, is the answer is 'Yes, easily, it would have been better'
If we could just shove the warmongers onto the front lines on day one, but of course that is not how power works. Not yet, at least.
I agreed with Flurry through most of this - save one bit. It's not /whatever/ will do it. You don't accept the Kobayashi Maru, you fight until the last moment to find a way to cheat.
Hello, Dresden~
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Though given the beginning, the real question to me : Which of them sets us up the bomb
Can't disagree with Twilight here. Some folks just need killin'
Even kept the radio code, lots of little history throwbacks here
An interesting choice. And, I think, a foolish one.
I get the why of it. But the flaw I see isn't within power, it is within...people. All power does is free them to reveal the truth of who they are that much more.
The dangling question I have, more than any other, is what happened to the other 3? If Flurry is the last, it implies the others died in the war before she Hiroshima'd something.
Is that a portrait of Starlight Glimmer on his wall, by any chance?