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."