Prologue

November 11, 1015

“All rise for Her Majesty, Field Marshal Princess Luna.” Field Marshal Prince Blueblood, clad in an ornate white uniform, called from beside the head of the long table placed in the center of the War Room. As he spoke, the doors to the War Room opened and the aforementioned alicorn entered the room. Lacking was the uniform that every other pony in the room wore, but she still projected an aura of authority to all those gathered.

“Be seated.” The Princess spoke tiredly, taking her seat at the head of the table while everypony else returned to sitting. “Let us begin. While the last three months have been disastrous, it appears we have hope in this darkness.” Her head turned towards the opposite end of the table, where the lowest ranked officers present were sat. “I do believe we have a new addition to thank for this. However, before we might plan for the future, I believe it prudent to ensure everypony understands the situation in full. Field Marshal Shimmer, might I ask you to catch everypony up on the current situation?”

After a moment, another pony near the head of the table stood. The yellow mare clad in a grey dress uniform stood and bowed her head to the Princess quickly. “Yes, your majesty.” She then turned to address the rest of the table with a stack of papers levitating before her. “As we certainly all know, the Changeling’s summer offensive in the south has been a disaster for our forces since June. I’ll begin with the worst news: the fifteenth and thirty second divisions have been completely eradicated in the Whitetail Woods.” Many a pony at the table let out a sigh or grimaced at that particular news. It was the worst single loss since the first months of the war, and the less remembered about those darkest of days the better.

“Several other divisions have taken heavy casualties and have pulled back from the line to regroup.” Shimmer continued. “Las Pegasus is under siege but the Royal Marines are holding out. Admiral, if you would elaborate on the situation a bit for me.” The Field Marshal finished, motioning to the seat beside her for a moment.

“Certainly, Marshal Shimmer.” The Admiral spoke before standing up with a small stack of papers. “The marines are using the harbor facilities to keep supplies and reinforcements coming into the city. The Home Fleet is doing the best they can to support the siege, with our carrier fleet providing air cover and our remaining capital ship force providing escort. Most of our cruiser and destroyer fleet is dedicated to escorting the supply convoys, though two cruiser divisions and a hoof full of destroyer flotillas remain with the fleet.” Admiral Cynosura elaborated.

“Changeling naval and air efforts over the Pegasi Gulf have been escalating, but they have been repulsed thus far. The limited infrastructure of the south has limited the number of aircraft that the Luftwaffe has moved into striking distance of our fleet. Thus far, we have kept the sea lanes to Las Pegasus well and cordoned off, but we expect increased resistance with each passing day.” The Admiral set down her pages, her part concluded. “That is all, Marshal.”

The yellow unicorn nodded as her naval counterpart took her seat once more. “As alluded to by the Admiral, the Changeling advance is gradually stalling due to overextension of their supply lines. This is due in large part to the heroics of the Royal Marines in Las Pegasus as well as the Mountaineers’ Corps.” Several voices began to speak in hushed tones about the table. That many of Equestria’s pre-war veterans made up these units was not lost upon those gathered, with many silently thanking the heavens that there were any brave enough to stay behind. “We briefly touched on the Royal Marines, but the Mountaineers’ Corps has also decided to make their final stand in defense of Equestria. They have dug into their defenses in the Ruby Mountain Pass to the east, and are defending the rail tunnel that connects the Oleander Valley to the south.”

“Thus far we have kept their efforts supplied by air, and the ponies of the Royal Air Force have done excellent work keeping the skies clear for these missions. Unfortunately, with the rapid advance of the Changeling forces, we have lost much of our capability to properly field ground based aircraft in the south.” A third pony chimed in, this time Air Marshal Spitfire, formerly of the Wonderbolts. “The Fleet Air Arm is picking up the slack around Las Pegasus, but the RAF is spread extremely thin contesting the air over the Cloudsdale salient and maintaining security over the heartland.”

“This situation is not exclusive to the RAF. The NMAC has been unable to deploy to the southern deserts due to the underdeveloped infrastructure in place to supply them with fuel and parts to maintain their vehicles.” Shimmer added. “Apologies, continue Air Marshal.”

“Right. The heartland skies remain contested, though we are winning the upper hoof in this fight due to the widespread redeployment of Luftwaffe assets. Deep strike missions from their bombers have nearly ceased over the coastal plains in favor of disrupting the logistics in the south. We are working to counter this, but with limited infrastructure the RAF is suffering heavy losses to disrupt what air traffic we can.” The pegasus concluded, taking her seat once more.

“That brings us to the situation on the ground east of Las Pegasus.” Marshal Shimmer picked up quickly. “The Changeling Panzer Army has advanced to within a hundred kilometers of Cloudsdale. Their advance, although slowed by the efforts of the Wonderbolts as well as the Second Army’s rapid response, continues to grind on and threaten a major lifeline of the war effort.” Everypony at the table nodded in agreement. Cloudsdale was arguably the beating heart of Equestria’s war effort. The weather factory was a decisive factor in Equestria’s survivability, both on the battlefield and the production front.

“Skirmishes outside of Ponyville have escalated into full scale battle between the 24th and 66th Infantry Divisions and the IX Panzer Corps, with the Changelings slowly pushing our forces back to the defenses on the town proper. General Macintosh’s Seventh Army is being deployed there in force, though his III Corps is defending presently. General, please elaborate on the defensive preparations in Ponyville.”

A large red earth pony clad in a grey army uniform stood slowly. “Thank ya, Marshal. So far, the Everfree Forest has been a barrier the Changelings have dared not try and go through, which gives us some reprieve from the eastern advance.” The large pony spoke slowly, in a relatively calming voice that clashed with the dire situation he began to describe. “The Changeling advance south has similarly been slowed by logistics problems, but has effectively ceased entirely due to their focus on Cloudsdale and presumably Canterlot. Ponyville stands in their way, the only attack vector they can reasonably exploit to split Cloudsdale from Canterlot. The engineering battalions of the Seventh Army have been workin’ day and night to prepare adequate defenses for a protracted battle while III Corps stalls on the outskirts as long as they can.” The large pony concluded his piece by sitting down, nodding to Sunset Shimmer so she could continue.

“Thank you, General.” She picked up without missing a beat. “The Everfree Forest has been a blessing and a curse. We cannot risk leaving it undefended, but since it is a large strategic barrier we have been able to station fewer troops than otherwise would have been necessary. RAF patrols are constantly over the area, but the infrastructure around the area of Canterlot and Ponyville is sufficient for rapid redeployment if they attempt a crossing of the Everfree.” The Field Marshal scanned her notes as she reached the last page, ensuring she covered all the details. “As a final point, we have redeployed eleven divisions to the line outside of Las Pegasus to stem the tide against the Changeling advance. Their advances south have effectively stopped outside of Rockville, with fighting in the city itself relatively sporadic.” Shimmer placed her papers down on the table, her magic’s glow fading from them as she nodded to the Princess at the head of the table. “That is all from me, your Majesty.” She finished, before taking her seat.

“Thank you Marshal Shimmer. Quite the dour picture of our current situation, but as I am to understand it we have some ideas on a solution.” Princess Luna said from the head before her eyes scanned down the War Room’s table. “As a matter of fact, it seems as though this problem may have been entirely avoidable if our chain of command passed along information a bit more quickly.” The Princess’ eyes locked onto a pony wearing a pure white Royal Navy uniform at the far end of the table with the most junior officers. “I do believe that is where you come in Commodore Web. If you might quickly introduce yourself to those who do not know who you are, then get on to the brass tacks of the issue.”

As the Princess finished speaking, the white Royal Navy uniformed pony stood from her place at the end of the table. A grey hoof quickly brushed away some misplaced strands of her tricolor mane as she began to speak up. “Thank you, your majesty. As a brief introduction, I am Commodore Inky Web. I am the acting commander of the Wonderbolts Ground Forces and commanding officer of the Combined Special Service Regiment. While I wear a Naval uniform I have had my hooves on the ground for the entire war.” She spoke, before reaching for a stack of papers on the table in front of her. “As the Princess said, I’ll move on to the brass tacks here. During the escalation of the Third Battle of Bales in July of last year, I penned a missive to Lieutenant General Berrytwist regarding the strategic situation of the fronts based on the results of the 1013 summer offensive and the apparent trajectory of the 1014 summer offensive. A simplified version of my conclusion was that the Changelings could not fight on our terms where we are capable of digging in deep and holding the line. The 1013 and 1014 offensives are excellent examples of this, where we have managed to hold the line for two years while inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. The 1014 offensive was a defining moment in both our Doctrine and the Changeling view on the war, as they were repulsed from Bales after a protracted six month battle that ultimately cost both sides up to a combined million casualties.

“This strategic analysis does not include Bales as an example, as it was penned before the conclusion of the battle, but it does prove the point well. As written in October of last year; the Changeling war doctrine did not account for the speed of Equestrian reorganization once the Western Frontier was broken. This shows in their apparent willingness to commit to massed offensives wherein their mobile assets are of dubious use and they have to accept mass casualties for small gain. This, much like our own strategic doctrine, is likely a product of inexperience with modern war, especially as the circumstances continue to evolve. After the failure of the 1013 offensive, they were too late in the planning phase to cancel the 1014 offensive but their objective shifted. Instead of a front-wide offensive, they concentrated their forces on Bales. This forced us to commit significant portions of our mobile strategic reserves to the front, which I believe was the true objective of the 1014 offensive.” The Commodore’s assertion had several higher officers shaking their heads as they flipped through the pages of the dossier in front of them. Despite their disagreement, they allowed her to continue for the time being.

“As we committed more and more resources to holding the line, I noticed something that was rather strange in consideration of the Changeling’s usual strategy; they had not committed significant armored or mechanized forces to the breakthrough and instead opted for a mass infantry assault on a city.” The Commodore continued, not paying mind to the others at the table and keeping her eyes glued to her own notes. “Very counter to their usual massed mechanized assaults. It was thought that it was a change to their strategy, to assault valuable targets in point attacks since their usual breakthrough and encircle tactic was not working. However, we were wrong. Bales was a diversion, one that cost us almost eight months and a third of a million casualties. While they were forced to commit more than they would have ideally liked to lock us into the defense there, they had concentrated their elite armored and mechanized corps in Prancisco for their Spring Offensive.”

“If you were confident at the time, why didn’t you warn the High Command of your concerns?” Marshal Blueblood interrupted, placing his dossier back on the table. Several other officers who were a part of the Marshal’s staff murmured their agreement with the Prince’s inquiry, while Web lowered the papers in her hooves to look down the table towards the Marshal.

“In December of 1014, I tried to pass this warning up the chain of command, Sir. Unfortunately, by that point it was too late. Our lines of communication up the chain of command are awful; so much so that anypony not of flag rank may as well give up on having their ideas reach the High Command in time to be implemented.” The Commodore responded, before lifting the papers into her vision once more.

“By the time any warning would have reached the High Command, our reserves were committed and our infrastructure beyond the heartland was insufficient for a mass redeployment. Thus, they launched their true attack at our exposed underbelly. The rest was touched upon by Marshal Shimmer.” Web finished, placing down the first part of the stack of papers and picking up a second. “At some point in the last three months, my warning was finally received by someone in Princess Luna’s command staff, outside the purview of my Army Group’s chain of command.” The officer elaborated as she flipped to the first page of her papers. “There were numerous operational failings discovered by internal investigation within the High Command that I have been asked to address. Firstly, bureaucracy is still severely slowing down the transfer of information within the military and is hampering our adaptability. Second, we are too reliant on the chain of command, and when we are unprepared in this room, the troops on the ground are unprepared as well. Luckily, this issue seems to be resolving itself in the face of adversity. As Marshal Shimmer noted, the commanding officers of the Mountaineers’ Corps and Royal Marines have potentially saved Equestria due to their decision to break with doctrine and hold the strategic supply routes the Changelings need to press the attack. This is a trend that needs to be encouraged among officers at the regimental level and above going forward.”

“Secondly, the allocation of resources for the war effort has been severely mismanaged. Over eighty percent of our weapons are bound for the heartland, which would be of little concern if the southern front was properly managed.” Web said, before lowering the paper to look down the table. “Unfortunately, the logistics situation was not addressed in the south due to a disproportionate focus on the heartland during times of relative inaction. This has led to massive stockpiles in the north that have taken an egregiously long time to reach the critical front in the south. This supply mismanagement is a leading cause to the slow redeployment in the south.”

Web placed down the second stack of papers, still eying the rest of the table. “While other issues were identified, they are considered secondary and will be addressed internally by the High Command in the coming weeks.” The pegasus picked up a new folder, and motioned to the rest of the table as she held it up. “Now, we move on to the proposal for what to do now. Please refer to the dossier in front of you for a finer presentation of the numbers, but I will run through the overarching plan as devised by myself, Lieutenant General Pie, Lieutenant General Berrytwist and several others who unfortunately could not be here today.” Web said, flipping to the next page of the stack and waiting for others to find their place in the papers in front of them.

“We are currently dealing with a threefold issue. Firstly, we must hold Cloudsdale. Losing the weather facilities there would be devastating to the war effort. Second, holding Las Pegasus will be vital to keeping the Changeling offensive sluggish and vulnerable. Third, supporting the mountaineers.” The officer outlined, leading the others through the outline of the proposal. “The second and third issues will be under the purview of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, respectively. While I can outline the strategic necessities, I cannot assess the tactical situation anywhere but on the ground.”

“Air Marshal Spitfire,” The mare started, turning to the officer in question. “The RAF must keep the air supply lines to the Mountaineers open. The denial of the Ruby Mountain Railroad has made it impossible for the Changelings to circumvent the Las Pegasus Port for supply, and is forcing them to use the underdeveloped coastal rails from Prancisco. I am aware of the current rate of attrition for the pilots flying on this front, but it is a strategic necessity that the sorties continue.” As the naval officer spoke, the orange maned Air Marshal nodded as she read the estimates of attrition rates of pilots and equipment for a protracted air campaign over the Twilight Range.

“Similarly, the Royal Navy must continue to maintain naval superiority in the Pegasi Gulf.” Web continued, turning to Admiral Cynosura. “Current intelligence from SMILES’ signals intel division indicates that Changeling submarine operations in the Celestial Sea are going to be turning down significantly. They interpret that to mean that the Gulf is going to get extremely crowded in the near future. We should have the ability to fly more extensive sorties from ground based aircraft by the end of September, so your capital units should be unshackled from the coast. As of right now, naval forces will have the highest priority to our fuel reserves to keep that sea lane open to shipping. Again, I must leave the specifics of how you handle this up to you.” The Admiral nodded to her junior, keeping her thoughts to herself as the briefing continued.

“On the ground, we’ve been extensively reorganizing our divisions and infrastructure along the frontline to handle the crisis. Ponyville and Cloudsdale are being fortified to the best of our Engineering Corps’ abilities, and the logistics situations in this sector are capable of holding considerably more divisions than is currently projected to be necessary for the defense. All of our best pegasus units, including the Wonderbolts and CSS, will be redeployed to Cloudsdale while many of our veteran units from the line are being rotated to the salient. Approximately thirty six divisions of the Seventh Army and XII Corps will be assigned to the salient under the command of General Macintosh and Brigadier Fon Eisenstadt to contain the Changeling advance into the heartland. While this force holds the line the New Mareland Armored Corps, supported by the Eighth Army under Lieutenant General Applejack that is en route to theater and the Ninth Army under Major General Braeburn of the strategic reserve, will be deployed to the Changelings’ southern line outside of Rockhoof. During this time, we will be relieving the Royal Marines on the Siege of Las Pegasus with the six divisions of IX Corps under Lieutenant and Major Generals Pinkie and Maud Pie that have been recently returned to operational status after Bales.” The Commodore lowered her papers and took a deep breath for a moment, before flipping to the next page of her notes.

“The Royal Marines will be based temporarily in Foaledo in preparation for the next phase of the operation. They will likely require extensive rearmament and retraining of new troops over the winter months ahead of phase two. This will end the buildup phase of this proposed 1016 Spring Counteroffensive.” Web said, placing the next section of her papers on the table.

“Is there not plenty of concern that diverting this many divisions to the southern front will weaken our position in the Heartland? You have assigned seventy-nine divisions to be redeployed which would leave the strategic reserve for the Heartland to less than twenty. Should another Bales happen during the spring or summer I fear we may not have the strength to repulse it.” Prince Blueblood asked, looking over the logistics estimates for the offensive. “With the numbers I’m seeing here, it appears that if this offensive doesn’t succeed we will be on our back hooves in this war for some time to come.”

“I happen to agree with Prince Blueblood. This is a redeployment of most of our ready reserves that have been pivotal on the frontlines in the Heartland. I worry about redeploying such a large amount when we could establish an effective defensive line with much less as we have before. An offensive to reconnect our frontline with Las Pegasus may be necessary, but I believe it far too risky to sacrifice our reserves on a massed offensive to reestablish last year’s frontline.” General Soarin spoke, peering over the documents he was given.

“What would you have us do then?” Brigadier Fon Eisenstadt, one of the officers at the junior end of the room, spoke. “Simply dig in and feed millions more into the grinder to die pointlessly? Our current strategy has done little but stop us from losing, I for one am in favor of trying to win the war. This plan is the first reasonable offensive opportunity we have been presented with. Their offensive is pushing so quickly and with such little supply they haven’t had the opportunity to dig in. We must strike while the iron is hot.”

Similar opinions began to filter in from the junior end of the table, while more senior officers began to voice their agreement with Prince Blueblood. Soon, the room erupted into all out argument while Princess Luna and Commodore Web attempted to calm the situation, to no avail. For a few minutes, the argument continued to get heated, with the moderates giving up on bringing order to the situation. Princess Luna stood from her seat and took in a deep breath, preparing to use her now rarely used Royal Canterlot Voice, before the doors to the War Room slammed open. The room became deathly silent as through the door marched an angry looking Princess Celestia, followed by her secretary who was trying to convince the Princess to stop.

The ponies at the table all stared at the white alicorn, not sure what to do in the presence of the ruler. She was usually completely hooves off with military matters, and her sudden appearance at the meeting came as a complete shock to all present. Perhaps it wasn’t necessarily her presence that was so shocking, but it was the pure rage that radiated from her form as she approached the table. She stood beside her sister at the head of the table, and began to whisper quietly in Luna’s ear. The table maintained its tense silence as the sisters carried on for several minutes, before Luna nodded her head and Celestia stood to address the gathered officers.

“All of you.” Princess Celestia addressed those gathered, her gaze sweeping across the table with barely contained rage. “What is being done to win this war?”

Several officers looked across the table at each other in concern, none daring to speak for several moments as they searched for the right thing to say to their ruler. It was ultimately Prince Blueblood that would speak first, addressing his aunt carefully. “Your Highness, we are currently gathered to plan our response to the developments of this year. We are considering the best strategy to shore up the line around the new salient and carry on the defense.”

“You mean this year’s disaster, Blueblood?” The Princess snapped back, her gaze shifting to her nephew. “I was promised that we had the bugs contained last year, that we would now focus on winning this war and bringing peace back to my ponies. Instead, I am delivered a debacle at Bales and this… This… Absolute fucking dumpster fire that was this summer! We are losing this war, and this asinine plan to ‘bleed the bugs dry’ is doing nothing but spilling our blood in buckets! How were you not prepared for this eventuality?!” The Princess lamented, stomping a hoof to emphasize her question. “And it was inevitable, more than one pony attempted to point out this impending disaster and yet here you were with your head in the mud pushing for your glorious victory at Bales. A glory whose foundation is built upon the bodies of a hundred thousand ponies who died for no gain.” Celestia growled the last sentence, before turning away from her thoroughly cowed nephew to pace down the table behind several officers. “So… Now that my feelings on the matter are made clear, what is being done to fix this? Is there a single pony here with a competent plan to win this war?”

For a moment there was a tense silence as everypony at the table looked between each other nervously. Many were in varying states of shock, only ever knowing the calm and benevolent Princess Celestia. The Princess’ expression became more impatient with each passing second, before a voice spoke up across the table.

“Your Highness, we were gathered here to discuss the merits of a plan that myself and several colleagues who could not be in attendance today made to counter the Changeling summer offensive. I have made plans for a counteroffensive that I believe at worst would result in our repulsing of the Changeling line back to the line in Spring.” Commodore Web spoke, her head raised to keep her nervous gaze on her ruler.

Princess Celestia stopped her pacing and turned her head towards the voice, before beginning to walk around the table towards the officer. “At worst. Those are fairly lofty goals, considering how ineffective these ‘plans’ have been at producing anything but a mountain of bodies.” Celestia stopped her walk behind the seat Web sat in, though the officer dared not turn around to face the monarch. “And what, pray tell, is the best case outcome of the plan?” The Princess asked, her horn glowing faintly for a moment as she spun the officer’s chair to face her. “And please, don’t lie to me.”

Web’s frightened yellow eyes locked with the Princess’ as she found herself lost for words for a brief moment. After a few moments of searching for the words, the Commodore mustered a response to the monarch. “If all goes to plan, and we are correct in our analysis of the available intelligence…” She trailed off, shrinking under the hardening gaze of the Princess. The officer forced herself to close her eyes and take a deep breath, before opening her eyes to meet the gaze of the Princess once more. Gathering all the confidence remaining in her heart, she delivered her honest thoughts to Celestia. “I believe that the same disaster that was inflicted upon us this summer can be brought down tenfold on the bugs.”

The Princess stared at the Navy officer for a moment, before she began to chuckle. The chuckle evolved into a very short laugh, before she suddenly stopped and her glare returned. “You truly believe that, don’t you?” The Princess asked in a much more level tone than her anger before.

The Commodore met the gaze of the Princess, and nodded once. “Yes your Highness, I do. The same weaknesses they exploited to get this far, we can exploit to destroy them. They’ve overextended, undersupplied and vulnerable. Now is our chance, and it may be our last one.”

For what felt like an eternity to those gathered, the Goddess of the Sun stared down the terrified officer in her grasp. The alicorn’s unfaltering gaze seemingly staring deeply into the soul of the pegasus in her grasp before she suddenly turned around to walk back down the length of the table towards the head once more. “Dear Sister, Sunset Shimmer, stay here. Everypony else except the Commodore, get out. I am taking control here and now.”

It took several minutes, but the other generals gathered their things and departed with attitudes ranging from indignity from some and complete obedience from others. Despite the rapidly decreasing population of the room, Commodore Web took her seat at the far end of the table as the pair of Princesses and Field Marshal conversed at the far end of the table. After years of combat the officer had nothing to write home about in terms of her hearing, but she still strained to hear what was being conversed in hushed tones at the far end of the table.

“...Enacted hurt our ponies, not protect them.” The pegasus heard from the Princess of the Night, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths to calm herself after her own conversation with the enraged Princess. “Please, stop for a while and think about this before-” The Princess was abruptly interrupted by what could best be described as a snarl from her sister.

“I am perfectly fine. Do not bother me again with your insulting concerns. If I do not do something, there will be nothing left to protect. In the chaos of this war, I seem to be one of the only ones who can see this madness for what it is. Absolute insanity. Ponies willing to throw away hundreds of thousands of their own, all so that we can die slower. No empathy, no compassion, just a cold war machine willing to spend lives like bits. Look outside, the enemy is on the horizon, grinding relentlessly to the complete and utter destruction of Harmony and Equestria. I have been complacent for centuries, too weak to protect my ponies. Too willing to let evil exist out of my sight. Only now do I see the error of my ways. Now I will stop at nothing until the enemies of Harmony are but ashes and dust. It is the only way to right what I have made wrong.”

As the sisters conversed quietly, Marshal Shimmer appeared to be equally as uncomfortable as Web felt when the Commodore glanced back down the table. She caught the tail end of an angry glare Celestia had been fixing upon her sister, before the Princess looked down the table and motioned a hoof to the officer. “Come down here, Commodore. We have much to discuss between us.”

Dutifully, Web stood from her place at the end of the table. She took a moment to gather up her documents and briefcase before making her way towards the head of the table. She took a seat beside Sunset Shimmer nervously, sitting across from Princess Celestia directly. As she settled in, the Princess began to address the smaller group of ponies.

“Luna, Sunset, I need your honest opinion. Is our current situation tenable?” She asked, looking at the two highest officers in the Equestrian Army.

The yellow unicorn sighed, letting her shoulders slouch slightly as she replied to the inquiry. “Most likely not. While the attrition warfare in the heartland is certainly to our advantage in terms of holding the line, it is certainly unsustainable at its current rate. Our current casualty estimates are at over a million dead and captured and nearly twice that wounded. If we factor in the unknowns in the occupied territories, it’s a grim picture. We cannot afford operations like Bales for much longer if we want any hope of winning this war.”

“Indeed.” Agreed Luna, shaking her head sadly. “While I commend our general staff and soldiers for holding the line as they have, they fail to see the big picture. For all that we have the advantage in both industrial capacity and mobilizable population, we are playing catchup. Even if we can estimate the casualties for the last two years are approximately equal, that would still leave their losses at half ours.”

Web sighed as her superiors summed up the situation, knowing they were right. “If I might chime in…” She said, pausing until she received a nod from all gathered. “It’s not only military lives that we are concerned with here. If we fail now it’s not only us, but every pony that lives in Equestria. If we lose Cloudsdale, it's a famine. No more extended growing seasons to support the war effort, no more perfect weather, no more food. Griffonia and Wingbardy have essentially given their support to Chrysalis, so we have to support ourselves.” The naval officer began to flip pages in her dossier, searching for logistics numbers within the pages. “Our position is extremely tenuous. We must repulse this attack, even damage to the weather factories will be devastating to the war effort. Look at these figures here.”

The group of ponies looked over to the figure that the commodore had placed on the table in front of them. Princess Luna was the first to speak, looking over the figures with a shake of the head. “It’s worse than I imagined. We are barely in the green as it stands, and rationing is in full effect. Loss of fifty percent output would reduce our growing season to unsustainable levels.”

“Then it is imperative that we repulse the Changelings. They’re within a hundred kilometers of the city and still advancing, however slowly.” Sunset Shimmer said with a sigh. “Despite what the Prince says, it does seem like committing to this offensive is the most intelligent option. I simply worry that the Changelings are aware of that fact all too well. Perhaps their own losses in the past two years have been severe enough to push them into desperately pursuing the decisive fight.”

“I’m inclined to believe something close to that, though it may not be complete desperation. It was the last apparent chance for them to implement their more successful strategies before we shored up the line there as well.” Web added. “I think that the desperation didn’t begin to set in until they were unable to secure the Las Pegasus Port or the Ruby Mountain Railroad. They can’t afford to stop their offensive now, else we’d be able to fortify. Their supplies are drying up, and now they’re getting desperate for a decisive battle.”

“Indeed.” Luna continued. “And they can fish for it because they are close enough to Cloudsdale to force us into a confrontation.”

“Not an enviable position.” Celestia spoke, eyes skimming the pages of the dossier in front of her. “Yet, it seems like we might have a response.” The Princess’ eyes raised from the papers and she directed them at Web. “So, Commodore. Please, elaborate on your plan for me. The sooner we figure this out, the sooner we can prepare.”

“Right. I detailed the buildup phase of the operation earlier, I am sure you’ve read through those plans in the logistics sections.” She waited for Celestia to nod before continuing. “Good. Then I’d like to detail the 1016 Summer Offensive, Codename: Sunstrike. The centerpiece of phase one on the ground is the Ruby Mountain Railroad.”

Author's Note

Alright, thanks for making it this far!

I want to just kinda set the expectation here, but the rest of the story is basically nothing like this. This is mostly to set the stage/background information that's being run with in the story at large, but this kind of wider strategic stuff that sounds more like describing how badly we were playing the game isn't going to be present in the rest of the story.

Please, if you have anything to say that could improve the story, leave me a comment! I'm really trying to get better at this writing thing!