Chapter 9 - Decisions

Twilight slowly turned to face the table wide-eyed. If she were to allow the knowledge of a once possible rescue for Solar get to her, she would never be able to focus for the rest of the meeting. Solar could have been rescued, if only Shining had allotted enough time. Depression threatened to flood her heart. Knowing there was a way he could have lived, had averted the cruel pain of death, brought about emotions so intense, Twilight's chest physically began to hurt.

Noticing the sudden heavy breaths that her lungs struggled to obtain, Twilight forced herself to relax. At least, as much as she could for now. Breathing slowly, Twilight forced her mind to focus on the conversation that had developed at the table.

"What about going to a city, or even a small town?" Rarity proposed, scanning the room for reactions.

"It's better than the badlands, but, which city?" Cadence asked, as she once again, passed behind her empty chair. "It needs to be some place that's close to the Crystal Empire, or, at least north of Canterlot. We need the support of the Crystal Army, if we're to fortify ourselves anywhere."

"That eliminates Fillydelphia, and Las Pegasus. As well as Apple Loosa, and Dodge Junction." Twilight speculated out loud.

"What about Manehattan, or Baltimare?" Fluttershy asked, rather quietly.

"Fluttershy," Rainbow answered, "Baltimare is further south than Fillydelphia."

"Oh." Was the only response, from the unusually sorrowful, yellow mare.

"Manehattan or Vanhoover seem to be our two best options." Shining announced.

"Which is closer to Canterlot?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking specifically towards Twilight.

"I'm pretty sure Manehattan is closer to Canterlot. Isn't Canterlot right in the middle of the country though?"

"Not exactly." Cadence stated, walking the fifth revolution around the table. "Canterlot is a few miles more to the east than it would be if it were centralized."

"Will that even matter?" Rarity asked.

"It will, and I'll explain why." Cadence answered, stealing a moment of the silence, to allow herself to sit in her chair. "Celestia knows that she outnumbers us. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that we would need to strike fast and hard, at the heart of the country, Canterlot." Cadence paused to permit the obvious, to sink into everypony in the room.

"However, I can almost guarantee, that Celestia would expect that. It would be the only way to end this whole ordeal swiftly, with as little damage inflicted as possible. That is why, we need to wait. I don't just mean for a day, or a week. What we need to do, is go to any fortifiable location, that would be as far away as Canterlot as possible, dig in, and prepare ourselves for a relentless beating, that is sure to come sooner or later."

"We can use the Crystal Army to help us take any location we see fit. They'll also be there to help defend our position, and fight the...well...inevitable war. Like I said before, if I know anything from my time under Celestia, she will not just stand down. She will do everything in her power to crush us into submission. However, like I said, we have the power to strike first. However, I agree with Cadence. If we do anything too soon, we'll be outmaneuvered, and caught in the open. The only thing that I'm worried about now, is the fact that, once Celestia realizes we've moved, she'll be after us. I just hope we're prepared for what she's going to dish out." Shining Armor said to the room, sitting up.

A silence, once again, took hold of the room, choking out any proposals that may have been thought of. The thought of a war, had been shoved into the shadows of the room. It was the one subject everypony wanted to evade. The odds of an all out civil war steadily rose, with each passing hour.

The tension in the room lived vicariously through everypony's mind. Twilight shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "What are we going to do about our families?"

A few pairs of eyes were widened in response. Applejack swallowed hard, clearing her throat. "I...I-I didn't think o' that."

Rarity looked at the tabletop in despair, searching for answers in its worn, wooden image. "I left Sweetie Belle at home."

Silence, once more, took hold of the room. The personal risks of a rebellion, weighing in.

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Shining consoled. "They'll know what to do. I trust them to be smart."

"Yea." Pinkie Pie chimed in for the first time that night. "It'll be hard, but I'm more than super sure that they'll be fine." The words that came out of the pink mate's mouth felt off. It wasn't bubbly or hyperactive. It was lethargic, and simply saddening.

"I hate to add to the mood, but, what are we gonna do? We haven't guaranteed any plan yet." Rainbow reminded everypony.

Cadence was the first to speak. "Well, we all agree that we can't stay in this forest, right?"

A slow wave of nods rounded the table.

"Okay, so we all agree with that. Does everypony agree that we need to go to a city, or a town?" Another wave of nods passed around the table. Although, it contained a few gaps.

Cadence let a quiet sigh slip past her lips. "Look this is going to have to be a majority rule. Therefore, we are by vote, going to hold out in a city. Which city though? Can we all agree that Manehattan and Vanhoover are our two best options?"

A series of quiet words of approval trudged through the room. "Okay then. Who votes for Manehattan? Raise your hooves, I want to be certain about this."

Rarity, Fluttershy, Shining, and Applejack all voted for Manehattan.

"That's four then, who votes for Vanhoover?"

Discord, Cadence, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, all voted for Vanhoover.

"That's four too. Who didn't vote?" Cadence said, as all eyes fell upon Twilight, who proceeded to stare at the table, evidence of thought plastered on her face.

Both cities had similar advantages and disadvantages. Vanhoover was further away, and resided on the other end of a much more dangerous journey. They would have to cross the Unicorn Mountain Range, or go around it, and pass by Smokey Mountain. To get to Manehattan, they could easily go around Foal Mountain, and pass by Fillydelphia. Either way, they could follow railroad lines to their destinations.

Vanhoover was a much more secluded city, unlike Manehattan. Also, being closer to Canterlot, with a much higher population count, Manehattan seemed like the perfect city to initiate a revolution. Manehattan, was too obvious a choice. Although they'd be further away from Ponyville, and Canterlot, in Vanhoover, it was a much better option for digging in, and fortifying, both logistically, and geographically. Being on the opposite side of a mountain range, would make any movement of a large scale army toward Vanhoover difficult, and would surely slow Celestia if she were to strike.

Another reason, is that having less of a constrained population, would make any attempts of besieging, or infiltration much easier, due to a lower guard count. With the Crystal Army only miles away, they would be well within range of the city to fortify it. To Twilight, the choice was clear.

"We need to go to Vanhoover. It's the best option we have right now."

"Then it's settled." Cadence announced to the room. "We will head to Vanhoover."

"When will we be going?" Rarity asked, with slight doses of energy added to her audible mood.

"Hopefully, as soon as possible." Shining answered, shifting in his chair. "The longer we stay here doing nothing, the higher the chance will be of Celestia attacking us first."

"The only way we can even hope to get out of the forest, is to punch a hole through Celestia's surrounding forces. They'll be in our way every step of the way. We'll have to be careful." Cadence added.

"What will we do if we are attacked before we get to Vanhoover? We don't have any...well...weapons." Rainbow Dash asked hesitantly.

"We'll have to find supplies in the castle before we leave." Shining responded.

"I think we all have enough on our minds as it is. Let's call it a night. Tomorrow, we'll begin looking for supplies, and packing. We can only bring what we can carry, so we'll have to pack light. Goodnight everypony."

Everypony in the room continued to sit, as Cadence left the room, followed closely by Shining Armor. A few moments later, Rainbow Dash got up and left the room, along with Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. Another minute passed, bringing the departures of Rarity, and Applejack.

Twilight was left sitting at the table with Discord. She looked up, catching him staring at her inquisitively. They stared into each others eyes, for what seemed like an eternity. Both passing mutual fear and angst, to the other.

Discord said nothing, instead, standing, and slowly walking out of the room, hands clasped behind his back. He looked disturbed by something, but Twilight couldn't pin it down.

She took a deep breath, inhaling the musky night air. She sat back in her chair, staring up, and into the night sky. Never in her life, could she had ever thought that a war would come to bear. Let alone, with her being one of the many causes.

She looked at the twinkling stars, in the cloudless black of night. She sighed. This isn't what she wanted, this isn't anything like how she assumed her life would be like. Becoming Celestia's student, becoming an alicorn princess, being at the forefront of a revolution, none of it was what she once thought her future was.

This war would be long and gruesome. Even if it only lasts a week, it will be devastating to Equestria. Devastating, for so many ponies. It didn't wait for ruining its first victim's life, Luna.

Luna had only just come back from the moon a few years ago. Struggling to cope with society. The one pony who she sought forgiveness from, sentenced her to death. Essentially ruining the rest of her immortal life.

"Oh Luna," Twilight sighed, finding the moon, through one of the many holes in the ceiling and roof, "please keep yourself safe. We need you. I don't know if we're doing the right thing. I don't know if any of this is worth the pain it will cause. Please don't bring more punishment to those who need you. Don't abandon us, Luna."

Author's Note

I apologize for the shorter than normal chapter. This chapter was a struggle to write, but I hope you all enjoy it just as much. To figure out the locations I reference in this chapter, I used the mlp wiki map of Equestria.

I hope you all enjoy,
~BattleMaestro~