Author's Note
Thanks to the pre-reader of this chapter, didn't expressed interest in being mentioned when asked, so I won't in case this story ends up being a dump.
Changing the approach.
It was calm inside Luna's tent, as calm as it could get on the war front. Her weapons lie aside for now, but they'll be needed soon, so now that she had a break, her thoughts went to what has been, in her opinion, the most concerning matter outside of the war for the last month.
"I'm perfectly fine, don't bother me again."
Luna, even after a couple months, still couldn't believe the words Celestia had spoken, it was so completely out of character that she would have thought they were spoken by a changeling had not the security of the castle against them being so airtight these times after their spy network was destroyed.
She wasn't the same pony she was before the war started, Luna knew that clearly now, at first Celestia wanted to make the most kind choice when deciding how to get Equestria ready to face the war but, Luna convinced her that she needed to be a bit more harsh to help to war end faster.
That worked for a while, until she started to not stop in just being a bit harsh, instead going all the way into taking the harshest option possible, something that made even Luna, the most battle prone of the princesses, think that they were too much.
"Did I pushed her too far? Or was this inevitable?" Luna thought, "something that would happen regardless, thanks to all the pressure Celestia carried during the war."
She got up from her bed, checked her nightstand, where on top of it was the picture Celestia had given her of both of them. Before, it was a source of determination, one of her reasons to win the war, now it was a source of worry and concern.
She thought at first, that by convincing her, Celestia would take a more neutral option. Considering her natural kindness and reluctance to follow Luna's advice, there was no way she'll go further than that, it seems that in the end, she underestimated the effects of leading the nation in war would have on Celestia.
While not the first war she participated in, it was the first in more than a 1000 years of peace. The shock of seeing all her ponies and what she built during these years being either killed or destroyed, must have affected Celestia a lot.
"Maybe I should have anticipated that." Luna shook her head. "No, now is not the time for self blame, I need to be in top form for this battle, more than ever before."
Luna heard planes fly overhead, tensing for a second before calming down. Even with air superiority, her instincts were on high alert, you can never know when an attack will come.
"Hopefully winning here will be the end of this war, once it ends she'll calm down right? Because otherwise…"
Luna had talked to Twilight and Cadance about this and they both shared her concern for Celestia, but with Twilight in Ponyville researching and Cadance ruling the Crystal Empire, it was Luna the one who was in Canterlot the most.
Still, she spent most of her time away from there, busy directing the war front, so Celestia was alone for long periods of time and there was nothing Luna could do about it, it had reached the point where she was scared of what could happen to Celestia.
"Was this how my sister felt before I transformed into Nightmare Moon?" She shook her head, quicker this time and smashed her hooves in the nightstand. "No, that won't happen to her! She's stronger than I was, she'll pull through, she has to."
Taking deep breaths and to get her mind out of such thoughts, Luna checked that her uniform was in order, equipped her pistol and rifle on her while checking their holsters, and stepped out of the tent.
Looking up, she could see the cloudy sky and she guessed that there may be some rain soon. Since pegasi can't control the climate here without getting a bullet in their head, the weather was left natural.
Ponies were coming and going, the happy atmosphere that would have usually accompanied such a scene could not be further gone, in its place there was a gloomy feeling.
Although, now there was also some hope, Luna hadn't felt that since the beginning of the war, hopefully they can make that hope a reality soon.
Turning her head to look into the distance, she could see a big tower signifying the city of Vesapolis, the changeling capital. Knowing that with a victory there, all this would soon be over, Luna went back into her tent.
Once inside, she checked the watch she had left on the nightstand, thankfully not broken, seeing that she still had some hours before the final meeting to decide how to attack Vesapolis.
Her mind went back to all that happened during these three long years that made the course of this war.
Two months into the war (December 1010):
It won't be long before morning comes to Canterlot castle and Luna was in her room reading this era's fighting tactics, it was something she had been doing a lot lately with the war going on, but it still wasn't enough to stop the changeling tide that kept advancing throughout Equestria.
Luna was realizing that she needed to be closer to the front lines if they are going to stop the changelings.
She tried directing the war from Canterlot, to help Celestia with ruling the nation, taking advantage of the radio communications between Canterlot and the front lines.
Luna took one parchment with her magic and opened it, revealing a map of the current situation on the war front and she sighed.
Since the war started, they had already lost the cities of Acornage, Acadia Bay, Whitebell and most importantly Vanhoover, with Tall Tale and Salt Lick City in sight of the changelings.
"We all underestimated the changelings," Luna thought, looking at the staggering advance of the changelings, "I can't rely on radio communications to just direct the war from here, they are too strong for that."
At least the terrain and climate of the Crystal Empire along with Shining Armor's and his generals skill helped stop them there, but still it was not enough to alleviate the defense of the Equestrian border.
The entire United Ponies Alliance, U. P. A for short, composed of the nations of Equestria, the Crystal Empire and New Mareland, was working full time to win this war, Equestria would have been destroyed by now without it.
Closing the parchment, she thought about what some soldiers said before leaving for the front, "They said 'We'll be home for Hearts Warming Eve!' Well, it's mid December, so that's a no."
With another sigh, she put one hoof in her forehead, below her horn, "While I wasn't that optimistic, neither I and everypony else expected to be this far into our own territory so fast."
If they were going to win, Luna needed to see for herself the state of the frontline instead of relying solely on what the generals informed her, less delaying that way, especially with the fast pace that war was going and also, she always did better when seeing things with her own eyes rather than reading it.
She could also be present in some of the battles, while not as effective as 1000 years ago because of all the firepower every species could wield, the magical prowess of an alicorn could be a key factor in battle.
"Maybe if I was closer to the front I could have done more? No, it's not the time to beat myself up, I'll make sure they won't break through us so easily again." Luna thought.
Also, she needed to see what the weapons of this era were truly capable of, training exercises and studying helped but, ultimately field experience will be the better way to help her improve her tactical skills.
Tanks and motorized divisions were Luna's main concern, they were faster than anything she ever experienced and could easily encircle a large number of troops if you were not careful.
Luckily until now, despite a few close calls, they managed to retreat a great part of the troops every time they were at risk of a big encirclement.
The changelings still have a large number of both tanks and motorized units on the field, much more than what Equestria has for now.
To stop them, they need anti-tank artillery, sadly the United Ponies Alliance have only small quantities of them available, they have to make do with normal artillery for now, not the best option for sure but, it's the best they could do for now.
She eyed the report of the R&D department that was on top of a table close to her, "Our researchers have said that they're looking for an infantry weapon against the tanks, hopefully they'll discover something soon."
It was thanks to their tanks that they managed to penetrate Equestria's defense at the start, along with their paratroopers landing behind the front lines, taking advantage of a brief period of panic after the start of the invasion to get that over the watch of the Equestrian air force.
The tanks broke through and connected with the paratroopers to encircle, the ponies barely managed to get most of their troops out, but many still either died or were captured.
For those who retreated, with the motorized divisions just behind the tanks, meant that they had to quickly retreat further or risk getting in a bigger encirclement.
Vanhoover more than anything was a disaster, falling quickly and depriving Equestria of the strategic port city and complicating the naval effort along with the supply lines, not mentioning that it is one of the biggests cities in Equestria, so it's been also a big hit on morale.
"Damn Blueblood." Luna felt anger at that name, after a bit she calmed down and sighed. "Even if no pony could have predicted the number of enemy troops and how far they infiltrated our population, he definitely made some tactical mistakes that worsened our situation."
The air battle was a stalemate, Equestria had the better pilots, but they lacked the number of planes in reserve needed to fight the changelings for long, so they needed to be careful with their operations since too many casualties could mean doom for the ponies.
That's not to mention, it was looking like new planes would take a while to be constructed at the ideal pace, since Equestria's limited production capacity was for now focused on the ground forces, hopefully as production increases they can assign more factories to plane construction.
At least, things were better on the sea, as the combination of Equestria and New Mareland navies managed to stop all activities of the changelings in the Equestrian side of the Lunar Ocean.
This made them focus on their own coastline, making it difficult for the U. P. A to launch missions in that area without leaving their own coast unguarded, especially as the ground forces are retreating.
"The important thing is, they are not overpowering us on all areas, for now, we need to focus on the ground and after that we can see where to next but, first we need to stop their advance before they get to central Equestria if we want to win"
Another problem was, just before they had received the news of the movements the changelings were doing on the border around two months before the war, the Polar Bears had been intimidated to subjugate themselves to the changelings, turning them into a puppet state.
The Polar Bears don't have a lot of divisions, but their resources are surely helping the changeling war machine, stopping that supply line was going to be important going forward.
In contrast, Olenia was under military occupation and while Luna was sad for the population, she was relieved that it meant the changelings needed to use their own troops to maintain order, troops that could have been used to fight against Equestria.
Not to mention that had the deer chosen to surrender without fighting and been puppeted, it would have meant that Equestria would be fighting a lot more troops than now. Luna didn't want to think too much about what would have happened in that scenario, so she focused on something else.
"In hindsight, it was kind of obvious that this war was coming at this time, but me and the few that believed so were outnumbered by my sister and all the others who believed that at worse, it would take a couple more years for them to get ready to attack us."
Luna was also worried about what the element bearers must be going through, while she wasn't what she would call friends with all of them, they had still save her multiple times at her worst, so with three of them going to the front lines they will surely find that war was nothing like they ever face before, friendship alone will no solve this.
Pinkie Pie will probably be the one that's more out of depth here, her tendency to bring smiles and parties could spell doom to her, Luna hoped that would not be the case.
Rainbow Dash will have the problem of not letting her ego get her killed, as good as she is, she needs to remember to not do things that those under her command can't do or she'll lead them to their deaths.
Applejack is the most level-headed of the group, but Luna saw that her brother Big Macintosh is also fighting as a General, which could create a conflict of interests for Applejack.
The others, even if not on the front lines, will have to accommodate for the state of the country in war, especially Twilight with her duties in researching.
"Hopefully all of them will be, at the very least, alive by the end of this, the elements are the best method for beating enemies without much bloodshed, without it Equestria will certainly be a darker place."
Luna then thought of Equestria's industry, she knew that their capacity was severely limited due to the factories being mostly only for civilian use and even then, they focused mostly on common goods instead of construction projects.
She managed, not without a lot of arguing and shouting, to convince Celestia to choose the moderate options of those available to get Equestria ready for war for now, the fact that this war could go on for a long time and the fact that they may even lose managed to convince her.
The ponies weren't ready for war, let alone a long one, after being in peace for so long and while they'll be angry with Luna and Celestia after this, it would be worse if the war dragged on and more ponies got killed.
For Luna, one of the things hurt the most to think about was the thestrals, while they were not directly sabotaging Equestria, they were uncooperative and that was damaging their war effort along with making ponies trying to force them to work, which lead to the thestrals getting angry and making even less cooperative and repeat.
It was a vicious circle that while not violent for now, Luna feared that it would be if it was left unchecked but, with her duties in the war going on, she had no time to deal with it.
She closed her eyes for a minute. "I hope both of them realize that there is a bigger enemy here, and it's going to hurt them both if they win."
She thought back to when they were deciding how to deal with the thestral matter a couple of years ago. "Maybe if I had convinced Celestia back then to be more decisive towards therestal rights, we wouldn't have trouble with them today."
Luna hoped Celestia wasn't too angry about her insistence on the matter of getting Equestria ready for war, she knew how much it hurt her to make decisions that made their subjects unhappy, even if the end result justified it but, in this case they needed to sacrifice their happiness for their safety.
"Our softness with the thestral matter is hurting us now, we can't let that happen again again, with so much more at stake." She looked at the window and the rays of sun that came through it. "Sorry sister, but we need a more firm hoof here."
In the end, for this to be solved and things go back to what they were before (or at least as close as they can be), they needed to win and the fastest way to do so was if Luna went closer to the front lines, so that's what she's going to do. Hopefully Celestia can manage the political side of the nation at war alone at the castle.
Taking a glance at the clock on the wall, Luna put on her uniform and weapons, checked she didn't forget anything, hauled her trunks and headed for the door. It was time to leave, the train was leaving in one hour and she preferred to be early.
Just as she was about to open the door with her magic, Luna heard knocks on it, followed by the voice of Celestia, "Sister, can we talk for a minute before you leave?"
She set her things aside on the floor before opening the door, "Hi sister, I was just about to head out, but I still have time, come in."
After Celestia entered the room, she turned to Luna and said, "I know you want to be early for the train, but I didn't want you to leave without me saying goodbye."
While Celestia was talking, Luna casted a spell on her hoofwatch (the equivalent to a wristwatch), it set an alarm for 30 minutes before the train's departure.
"I could make it in 15, or outright teleport, but doing so will surprise the guards and with them on edge because of the war, better to set it earlier and walk, just in case," she thought.
Looking up to Celestia, Luna said, "Thank you, I did think of going to your room, but I didn't want to wake you up, we had already said our goodbyes yesterday and you need the rest."
Celestia shook her head, "Don't worry Luna, I'll prefer to be a bit tired at the end of day, to miss you leaving when you'll be away for a long time."
Luna waved a hoof dismissively and said, "It'll only be a few months, even if I need to stay away longer, we still can communicate even if we don't see each other."
"Maybe, I know it's better for our ponies if you go closer to the front lines," Celestia got closer and nuzzled Luna, "but I'll always worry about my little sister."
Luna responded by hugging her, "I know, just don't let your worries overwhelm you, we'll be doing our best from our positions and as long as we have hope while believing in each other, we'll never falter."
They stayed hugging for a minute longer, until Celestia let go and spoke, "Do you want me to be there when you leave? I can postpone my first couple of meetings in case I can't make it."
"If you believe that it won't mess with your duties too much, I'll like that," Luna responded.
Celestia nodded. "Ok then, you want to walk around the castle until you have to leave for the train? I can take some of your bags if you want."
"Sure," With that, after Celestia came back from postponing the early part of court, each took half of Luna's bags and left the room.
They spent the time walking and talking, until the moment for Luna to leave came and they ended up on the platform. The train was going to head out in a couple of minutes.
They hugged again, longer this time, before letting go and Luna said, "See you later, sister."
Celestia, with moist eyes responded, "See you, but before you leave," Celestia teleported something that she showed to Luna. "Remember when we took this? I ordered a copy, and just when I was delaying court, they let me know it was ready, so I hope you want to take it with you."
Luna recognized the object as a photo they had taken after the incident where Starlight had exchanged Luna's and Celestia's cutie marks.
The photo itself, framed in wood, showed both sisters in the balcony and one hoof over the other smiling with the night sky in the background, everything in color.
Considering full color pictures were created only a short time ago, it cost a lot more than the average black and white picture.
For Luna, it was one of her happiest moments, being able to reconnect with Celestia on a way that they haven't since long before her banishment, she must have thought so too because she proposed to copy it a month ago, as a way to remember the good times when they knew bad ones were ahead, which Luna was more than happy to accept.
She took the picture with her magic, appreciating the color, it really made her feel like she was living that moment and said, "Thank you! I'll make sure to keep it safe."
Luna smiled and feeling her eyes getting glassy, she gave Celestia another hug, a quick one this time, and entered the train knowing that waiting would just end with both of them crying right there and then.
After setting her things and getting comfortable in her seat, she took a glance at the window, where Celestia was on the empty platform along with the occasional guard, they had planned the trip to be secret so they could avoid any changeling disturbance.
As the train slowly started to depart, they both started waving to each other, while doing so, Luna checked Celestia's eyes and managed to see she had started to cry, this made Luna shed some tears as well, now that she was alone in the train, there was no fear of someone seeing her like that, Celestia clearly had no such fears.
After the station disappeared from view, Luna looked at the picture that she still had in her magical grasp, after a while she put it in one of her bags and thought, "No matter what happens, I'll always have the love of my sister to keep me going."
Author's Note
I don't own any of the OC's, they belong to their respective owners.
Thanks to the two pre-readers of this chapter, like in the last one, since they didn't expressed interest in being mentioned, I won't in case the story is horrible.
Meeting.
As the train was making its way through the countryside, Luna could only hear the sound of the train itself along with the occasional soldier.
In the train there were only a few passenger wagons along with one for dinning, this was so the train could reach its destination faster.
All the wagons were made from metal and on the ones who carried passengers, all rooms were painted white and each one had two beds, though in this case only one was used, while nothing compared to the one in Canterlot, it was still comfortable.
Luna looked at the clock on top of the door that led to the hallway.
"Only an hour left to reach Ponderosa," she grabbed some folders in her magic, "I better go over this again to see who I should give command on the front lines."
The folders were of some of the generals who had taken part in a crash course because they didn't have guard experience, this had the problem of making them late to participate in the fight.
"Better late and more or less prepared, than on time and with no idea of what to do, especially when you'll be leading soldiers in the battlefield."
Setting them on the table in front of her, Luna chose the one labeled 'Applejack', and started reviewing it.
"One of the best when defending while making the most out of supplies, from the quick commanding training she and the other non-guard volunteers got, she also has shown to be especially good at fighting in forests."
Luna went to the pages detailing weaknesses. "Only significant weakness is the fact that her stubborn nature makes her struggle when dealing with situations that require a change of plans."
Having finished her review, she picked the next folder, labeled 'Big Macintosh'.
"The best when defending, even when counting the experienced generals, on the attack he could be useful commanding either the rear, or the place where flanking is most likely."
Looking at the weakness part. "Not recommended for leading offenses, his poor planning abilities along with the usual Apple family stubbornness makes him a bad option."
Next was Pinkie Pie, or as her full name Pinkamena Diana Pie, Luna kept wondering why somepony like her would volunteer for the battlefield, considering how far it was from what she usually does.
Seeing no point in speculating, Luna decided to continue with her revision, she could ask her about it when they meet.
"In short, our best all-around general skillswise. There is also her seemingly reality bending powers that give her even more of an advantage, especially on the defense, she also has a natural ability with artillery. All of this makes her a great choice for almost every situation on the field."
It still surprised her that Pinkie could be so good at being a general, a soldier? Maybe, but a general? She didn't believe at first that Pinkie had the leadership skills for it.
That didn't mean Luna wasn't worried about her, especially with what the report said in the weaknesses section.
"Her only apparent weakness is her personality, as her disposition for parties and making the soldiers happy, along with her tendency to be in the middle of the action, puts both them and her at risk, especially when the opponent can transform into looking like us."
Last, but not least, the file named 'Maud Pie', there were other files of course but, these 4 were for Luna, the better suited in the current situation.
"Maud seems, like the other 3, good defending, also her knowledge of rocks makes her the best we have at doing trenches, an important skill if we are going to stop the changelings."
Checking the weakness side of things, Luna noted that unless she gets better during these defensive battles, she will certainly have to replace her when the counter-attacks comes.
"She's one of the worst suited for offensive operations, lacking attacking skill along with the ability to make plans, the best she could do right now on offense is taking care of the rearguard while a better suited general takes care of the front."
After closing the files and putting it along with all the others on one of her bags, she felt the spell at the wagon's door indicate that someone opened the door.
Each wagon had at the doors a changeling detection spell, it was costly, but necessary if it was transporting one of the princesses.
Moments later, she heard a particular sequence of knocks at her room's door.
A failed sequence meant to detect any possible changeling that could be posing as one of the train's occupants, if they managed to somehow fool all the prior detection measures.
This time though, it was the correct one so Luna opened the door, not without casting an invisible shield on herself first, can't be too careful after all these days.
On the other side of the door, she recognized one of her Lunar guards, couldn't remember the name though, too many things in her mind to memorize all of her guards names.
The guard saluted and said, "Princess, I have information for you."
"At ease, what is it?" She responded.
"We are 1 hour away from Ponderosa, we also received confirmation by radio that the last of the generals that are taking part of the meeting have just arrived." The guard said.
Ponderosa was the city chosen to act as a base for the Equestrian command, at least until the situation stabilized enough that it could be moved to Canterlot.
The city was closer which meant less for the generals to travel, away from possible invasions and protected by the intersection of 2 rivers along with being on the main rail network that led to the front lines.
Las Pegasus was the other city that was proposed, while it's closer to the front than Ponderosa and has a bigger population, there was much more corruption along with the most mob problems of every city in Equestria, so it was ruled out as an option.
"Thanks for the information, you can return to your post." Luna said.
"Yes, my princess." The guard saluted again and left.
She then proceeded to just look outside by the window until the train arrived.
1 hour later:
Luna could see the city throughout the window, it was around average compared to others, last census said there was a population of 240k, which was good as it required less guards to cover the city, unlike Las Pegasus.
After the train stopped, she let some of her trusted guards take her luggage and she stepped into the platform, where the mayor of the city along with some local guards were waiting.
The station was small compared to Las Pegasus or Canterlot, though well maintained, made of concrete and the size of a large 1 floor house. Despite being in a major rail line, it's passengers were mostly just students from the university of Las Pegasus, who decided to still live in Ponderosa instead of the university campus.
The mayor, an average size earth pony stallion, bowed and said, "Welcome to Ponderosa, princess."
"Thank you mayor, no need to bow down," The mayor got up, "I assume that this meeting has been kept a secret to the population?" Luna said.
"Yes, only me and my most trusted secretary along with some select guards have been notified." The mayor responded.
"Good, now we should proceed to our duties, we shouldn't waste any time when there are soldiers still fighting." Luna informed.
"I understand princess, have a good day and thank you for choosing our town as the place of your headquarters." The mayor bowed slightly for a second.
"Thank you mayor, for keeping the secret, if we're going to win the war, we can't risk the changelings knowing about our plans," she nodded to the mayor and he responded with the same gesture before asking his guards to make an illusion spell on them and leave.
Luna and her own guards also casted an illusion spell on themselves, for those who were not unicorns, they were casted by somepony else. When they were all done, she told them to get going.
The illusions were of a mostly earth pony family and their friends because with the war going on, a lot of relatives took the time to see each other knowing it could be their last, so they could avoid suspicion looking like this.
Before going out, Luna checked her disguise, looking down she could see the floor closer to her view, she was still above average but, at least she wasn't the tallest of the group now.
Her eyes focused on her new violet coat. From there, she saw on the edges of her view some white hair strands, signifying her new mane color.
Looking up, there was her horn, of which she checked its illusion by concentrating on her magic, showing her lighter violet, borderline pink, magical aura.
Finally, she looked behind her and saw her lack of wings, making her look like a unicorn, after nodding to herself, she moved forward.
As they stepped outside the station, there were some taxis waiting for her and her escort, the drivers were all part of the local guards in disguise, no need to tip any spy that there could be high profile targets around.
After discreetly casting an anti-changeling spell on the cars and finding no spies among the drivers, she entered one of them while the rest of her guards did the same, after they were all inside, they got going.
Looking out the window, she saw that it was a good day, without clouds, Celestia's sun shining brightly, it let her center herself before the reunion.
A couple turns later, in a high/middle-class part of the city, they stopped in front of a large 2 floor house in which Luna and her escort, after paying with some fake bits, got out of the car and knocked on the house.
Opening the door was an average height, light yellow earth pony mare with a curled light blue hair.
"Hi! Welcome to the party! Make yourself comfortable!" The mare, said.
"Hello, sorry we are late, we should not waste time now, let's get on with it." Luna said.
Just further inside were two green earth ponies with red manes, one of each gender, both larger than the usual, the mare seem to be wearing a cap, while the stallion had multiple bandages along with favoring slightly one side over the other.
"Those two seem like siblings, from the slight limp of the stallion I'm guessing they are the Apples? I was informed that Big Macintosh was injured on his leg recently, so it would add up." She thought.
Luna was going to know if she was right or wrong with that deduction soon, so she decided to move on.
Both nodded to them and went through a door, Luna and the rest followed them.
After going further inside the house, they reach a plain blue room with a table in the middle, around it were the generals that came here, along with some guards in the corners of the room.
Once the illusions were removed from Luna and her group, along with the ones that welcomed them here, it showed that the yellow pony was Pinkie Pie, while the two green ones were, like Luna guessed, Applejack and Big Macintosh.
Something caught her attention on Pinkie. "I remember Pinkie Pie having her mane more curled up, is she trying a new style? No matter, I may ask her later."
"Forgive me for making you all wait," she announced, "since I don't want to make you all stay here more than necessary, let's start with the greetings to get this meeting started."
Like before, she was greeted first by Pinkie, Applejack and Big Macintosh followed, then the rest of the generals did so. They were Maud Pie, Anonfilly, Caltrop Deekay, Orion Star and Sunrise Moonshadow.
"Generals Deekay and Star opinions will be valuable as the only ones who are tank and motorized experts respectively," Luna thought.
Caltrop Deekay is a blue eyes, gray coated, with yellow mane pony. A tank expert whose skill rivals those of the best changeling generals in that department.
Orion Star had green eyes, an orange coat with blue mane. Expert at leading motorized division, which the changelings also used along with the tanks.
She turned her eyes towards the yellow unicorn with red eyes and mane, Sunrise Moonshadow.
"I still remember when I first saw General Moonshadow back when he was living in the jungle, he really has come a long way."
Finally, Luna looks towards the literal filly in the room, a green eyes and coat with black mane earth pony, named Anonfilly.
"I still don't know how this idiot got a spot as a general, guess we'll see how she does."
"Well now that the greetings are done, let's start this meeting," Luna said.
While definitely small for a war meeting, the fast pace of the war and the length of the front line made it so most of the generals and field marshals had to stay fighting to stop the changelings as much as they could.
This was talked with the other nations of the United Ponies Alliance, with even Field Marshal Shining Armor servicing the Crystal Empire, accepting that with the quick pace of the war, at least on the ground, every nation needed to plan separately for now, as long as the result of meeting was informed later to the others, to avoid unintended interference.
Everypony took a spot around the table, on it there was a map showing western Equestria and Crystal Empire, along parts of the eastern side of the Changeling lands and Olenia.
"From what I see," Luna started, looking around at everyone in the room, "it seems the changelings are trying to end this war as fast as possible. In my opinion, they seem to know that Equestria has a great industry and many ponies to draft, so they try to end this before Equestria can get truly ready for war."
Hardening her gaze, she continued, "Sadly, that moment is still far, our nation has not seen war in millennia and the press is already starting to cave, so it will take more months, perhaps even a year, before we are fully ready."
Letting some of her passion slip through her eyes, she upped her volume a bit, "So that means that we need to ensure we don't break in the meantime, we must delay the changelings advance as much as we can," she threw her hoof at the table, making sure she didn't damage anything, "we will show them that Equestria will never give up!"
All the generals stomped their hooves in the ground and the guards present stood a little firmer. Luna knew that a motivational speech was not truly necessary, but she felt that it would be useful before this important meeting.
"Now, General Deekay," Luna looked at the gray pony, "in your opinion, what is the most probable path for the enemy's tanks to take, if they want to quickly reach Canterlot?"
The response came, "Well princess, considering what you said about them having to finish this quickly" – Deekay pointed at the road connecting Vanhoover with Las Pegasus – "I'll say that they'll attack through the main road along the coast.
"This way, not only will their tanks get faster to Canterlot, but they will also be able to transport their supplies quicker, thanks to the rail line there. Also, if they manage to reach Las Pegasus, our naval operations will be hampered, since they'll be taking our only big port left on the western coast."
Luna said, "Thank you, General. Now, General Star, as the motorized expert, anything to add?"
"Not really, princess," Star spoke, "tanks and motorized go side by side most of the time, so it's unlikely that they'll send them alone elsewhere. At most, maybe some small units towards Shire and then Bales but, if they are on the clock, it's unlikely."
"Way to state the obvious, geniu–" Anonfilly was cut off by a glare from Luna.
After a minute, Luna stopped the glare. "Well, does anypony else have anything to add?" she asked, and after a minute of silence, she continued. "In that case we'll focus on defending the road to Las Pegasus.
"As we can see, there are some advantages when defending that road" – she, with her hoof, pointed towards the Unicorn Range – "as long as we control these mountains, they'll be forced into a more compact combat width and supply line than usual.
"My idea is to defend here" – she pointed towards the river that goes north of Applewood and Pranscisco – "the river will allow us to slow the enemy while holding our ground enough to evacuate the two coastal cities behind it."
Applejack frowned and said, "Princess, what about Tall Tale and Seaward Shoals? Are we just going to let them be taken?"
Luna shook her head. "At the speed the enemy is advancing, we won't be able to defend them in time. The best we can do is evacuate as many ponies as we can and destroy what could be useful to the enemy."
Before any retorts could come, she sighed and spoke again, "I know that will damage the population," Luna's face showed sadness, but she strengthened her voice, "but if we are going to stop them, we need to slow them down, that means destroying roads and anything that they could use.
"I'm not saying to damage the cities entirely, just the key industries that will benefit the changelings. I know it's not a good solution but we need to stop them, after this is over I'll personally help the construction efforts."
She saw that most of the room was uncomfortable with that, but they also knew that the alternative was worse, the changelings were sure to make ponies suffer for a long time, if they won.
Luna had thought of this for a while, it would surely leave many people jobless and without homes but, she just couldn't risk the changelings taking the cities and moving on, they needed to be slowed down.
"Just another thing for me to regret doing later, not like it's the first time I do so." Her face scrunched up in a grimace.
"You sure know how to convince the people here huh?" Anonfilly said, only to receive the glares of almost everypony in the room, more than anything, she swore she could see Luna's eyes light up in anger.
"Well, does anypony have anything useful to say?" Luna snapped, not in the mood at all right now for this.
After a minute of silence, she breathed out and continued. "I think that the best we can do is ask for air support, along with reinforcements. I'll also ask Marshal Blueblood to cover the evacuations of Tall Tale and Seaward Shoals."
Most faces frowned at the mentions of Blueblood and Applejack spoke again, "Princess, is it wise to leave that to Marshal Blueblood? I'm not sure he's capable of that…"
Had she said that about anypony else, Luna would have reprimanded her, but since she knew of the reputation he had, she let it go.
"General," she responded, "I know that the Marshal has a bad reputation, but I assure you that when it comes to military skill, he's harsh but adequate. That's why I'll leave the overseeing of the evacuation itself to General Sentinel, to avoid any troubles."
After no objections, she decided to move on to the next problem. "Now, we need to decide who gets to lead the defense and where."
A raised hoof, gave her pause. "Yes? General Maud."
"I'll like to be assigned to the mountains," Maud said, "there are plenty of rocks there."
While the folders talked about Maud's personality, Luna was still a bit unnerved by the monotone way in which she talked, even with all her years of experience, she had trouble finding any emotions on her face.
She was right though, Maud's knowledge of rocks made her the best suited to defend the mountains, only a trained specialist in mountain battles could be better, sadly Equestria didn't have such a specialist.
After looking her in the eyes for a bit more, Luna spoke, "Very well, you'll be in charge of the units in the area around the Unicorn Range. For now you'll be working with the officials that are on site, I'll review and may change them later."
After receiving a nod, she continued. "Does anypony else have a place where they'll like to be assigned?" Luna knew that most in her position would just choose themselves but she liked to hear from her subordinates first.
“I’m just one pony, sometimes the best idea comes from somepony else, even if they have less experience and knowledge.”
The silence that came gave her the answer to say, "In that case, being the place with the most movement, Luna looked at Pinkie, "I'll like General Pinkamena to be leading the defense in the area between the ocean and the mountains. Are you up for it?"
She could just order her to do so, but doing it this way let’s others feel included and that their opinion has value, keeping morale high. Luna preferred to have somepony a bit worse but motivated than the best possible with no motivation to work whatsoever.
"Yes, princess! You can count on me, pinkie promise!" After doing the promise, Deekay, Star, Moonshadow and the guards were looking at her surprised, but the one who knew her allowed various degrees of smiles at her mannerisms.
After wiping her own, Luna told her, "Good to know. Now, General Moonshadow," said pony straightened up, "you are to go with her and help her get the job done. Remember that she'll act as your superior until I say otherwise, alright?"
After he nodded, Luna moved on. "Next, General Applejack, you are going to be leading the troops along this area between the mountains and the center" – Luna pointed at the place where she meant in the map – "there are forests here, I expect you to use them to your advantage."
"Yes, ma'am!" Applejack responded.
"So, I'll leave this part to General Soarin, he's shown to be the best of the pre-war generals, so I expect him to do well." Luna said, indicating the area between Applejack's troops and the borders of the Crystal Empire.
"Now comes this area that is shared with the Crystal Empire," she continued, "for that reason, we don't have as many troops there as in the rest of the frontline, but it's still important to hold our ground if we don't want the troops of the Empire to be encircled.
"General Macintosh," she looked at him, "you will be the one to lead there. I expect you to work with General Sentry of the Empire, or with whoever prince Armor decides to replace him there."
After he nodded at her, she said, "Now, there is my own assignment, while as leading Marshal, my job is helping the entire front line, I'll be mostly present in General Pinkamena's area, at least until the enemy's advance is stopped."
After everyone nodded, she said, "So, unless somepony has anything to add, I think we are done for now."
A minute of silence was the answer. "Those who haven't got new assignments, will return to the ones they had prior to this meeting. We should go to the front as soon as possible."
"Ugh, finally! I was getting bored of this." Anonfilly said, this time to receive the annoyed glares of everypony in the room, including Pinkie's, even if hers was less harsh.
Luna had enough. "You know what? General Anonfilly, I think you should come with me, I'm sure your somepony of your… skill, will be useful," she said with a false smile.
Anonfilly tried to think of a way to get off this, but outside from outright subordination, which even she knew will only make things worse, she couldn't think of anything.
"Umh, sure?" Luna gave her another glare. "I mean, sure, princess! I'll do my best si– I mean ma'am!" She did a clumsy salute, but luckily for her, Luna didn't call her on it.
"Now, this meeting is over, let's get back to our posts! Remember our protocols to ensure this meeting stays secret! Now, head out!" Luna announced.
After everyone left the room, Luna allowed herself to release some of her tension, it always tired her to do these meetings, both now and in the past. In almost every single one, she had to say and do things she didn't like but were necessary.
Everypony took on their disguises as they left the house, not all of them left into the same direction, but they all ended in the same place, the train station, even if most of them had changed their illusions to look different.
It was already time for the night, so when she saw the sun start dropping below the horizon, Luna brought forth her moon. The lights of the city turned on as it happened.
All of them entered the train and Luna used the radio system in one of the wagon, to communicate their meeting to the rest of the military command.
She managed to get priority for air operations in the area where she is going, along with the orders for Marshal Blueblood. While he obviously wasn't happy at being ordered around, he grudgingly accepted.
Just as she finished, she heard the news. "General Soarin's troops have been defeated at Salt Lick, the city has fallen to the enemy! His report stated that the enemy threw refugees with some disguised changelings in the mist in front of their main army, causing disarray in his troops."
"That's concerning, letting the refugees through will also let enemy soldiers do the same and attack from behind, which is what likely happened to Soarin." Luna thought, frowning in worry. "But the opposite could be worse, not letting them pass will put innocent civilians in the line of fire."
Luna settled on making the evacuations all the more important, and relayed this through the radio. The more they evacuated, the less refugees the changelings will have to throw at them.
"Now the changelings will likely be ready to continue south, we need to hurry." She thought.
Luna ordered the train to pick up speed, then went to her room. Once inside, she took the photo of her and Celestia in her hooves and looked at it.
Without letting hold of it, she moved to the window and looked at her moon. "Please, give me the strength to stop them." She whispered, pushing the photo to her chest.
