Trotter’s Bend,

Central Equestria,

And Carneighie Plains,

Western Equestria

The blackness vanished as the bag was pulled off of Corsair’s head, revealing the wryly smiling face of an older emerald crystal mare. “So how’s it feel to be a dead mare, captain?”

The cobalt pegasus frowned, looking from one direction to the other as one of Lieutenant Whirlwind’s unicorns used their magic to remove her wing bindings. The barn was quite crowded now, playing host to the detachment that she’d left behind in Little Buck. Many of them had only been given word of what had happened to the rest of Bronco Company a day or two ago. Given that their ‘squad’ had been assembled by stripping the wounded from their assigned platoons, there wasn’t a pony among them who hadn’t lost a close friend in Gallopoli. Like herself and the others that had survived the attack, they’d also been given precious little time to process and grieve over that loss before being thrust back into the fray.

There also hadn’t been time to clue those ponies into the details of the attack, or why it appeared that the whole of the Frontier Corps operating in the western half of Equestria was trying to find and arrest their commander. Even Whirlwind had only been given the abbreviated version thus far. Not that Corsair or the others were heavy on details themselves. They were operating under mostly assumptions and connecting the dots of what little information that they did know for sure. Most of which had been provided by ‘Rein Doe’.

Corsair had unwavering faith in her ponies. She’d commanded some of them for years. They weren’t all perfect ponies, but they had good hearts and were loyal to Equestria and its princesses. While it was perfectly natural in the course of commanding a military unit for said commander to not always tell every soldier under their command everything, in the name of ‘operational security’, the pegasus knew that this wasn’t something that she should keep from her ponies. They deserved to know what was going on as best as she knew it. So they’d know what they were going to be up against in the coming days.

“Shoe ‘em up, Top.”

The crystal mare nodded and turned to address all that remained of Bronco Company. “Horseshoe up, everypony!” Her voice boomed in the barn as only an old non-com’s could. Every head in the room whipped up and hooves scraped over wood and straw as Corsair’s ponies gathered around their commander, save for a pair who hung back to watch over a grouchy-looking minotaur and earth pony pair bound in the corner.

The cobalt mare spared a moment to look at her ponies and their expectant faces. “We’re in the shit,” was her blunt opening statement. It earned her more than a few raised eyebrows, but also a smattering wry smirks from her more veteran ponies who exchanged looks with one another. “For anypony who might still think it’s some kind of rumor: Gallopoli was sacked by marauders. They were wearing Equestrian armor.”

Corsair was forced to pause briefly, closing her eyes against the memory of the bodies of her ponies being laid out by those mercenaries to be tallied like crates of inventory. Promising ponies who had been slain through deceit and treachery. The pegasus spared a moment to tamp down her budding rage. “...It’s probably how they got the drop on the others. Any member of Bronco Company that isn’t here right now is dead. We’re what’s left.”

She let the announcement hang in the air for several long seconds, watching the mixture of shock and pain rippling through the crowd of armored ponies. “We don’t know why it happened, not really,” she admitted, her eyes briefly darting to the batpony mare who was once more laying on her cloud cot under Cravat’s care as the dappled earth pony checked to make sure being on her hooves earlier hadn’t aggravated her injuries too much. “But we know the identity of a few ponies who were involved, and I have a guess or two about some others.”

‘Rein Doe’ couldn’t definitively confirm whether or not General Maniple was an active participant in the conspiracy. She only knew for certain about Earl Bitter Creek and the EIS operative who’d lured her into the ambush that nearly killed her. While it was likely that the brigadier was also involved, it was at least conceivable that he was being played by the earl and the operative and didn’t know about Bronco Company being framed. The general was enough of a piece of shit that Corsair would feel comfortable betting on his involvement, but they still didn’t have proof.

Honestly, they didn’t have a lot of ‘proof’ of anything. Even what they did have was based almost entirely upon the batpony’s eyewitness accounts. She’d seen the earl’s aide approach and hire the mercenaries that attacked Gallopoli, sure, but even she had been forced to admit that the letter of introduction she’d read hadn’t specifically mentioned sacking the town—or even going to Saddle Arabia. She reasoned that the mercenaries had received those instructions later, but she’d never personally seen them. It was also only her word that the other EIS operative had shot her. If he denied it…

What Corsair and the others knew wouldn’t be enough to put the ponies involved behind bars on its own, the pegasus ruefully acknowledged to herself. But their testimony should at least be enough to set proper investigators on the right trail to dig up real proof and settle things.

At the very least, it’ll clear the names of my ponies…

“We also know that Bronco Company was framed for what happened to the Arabians. That’s why they’re looking for us—or, at least, us,” Corsair gestured with a hoof between herself and First Sergeant Shillelagh. “It’s likely that whoever is behind this isn’t after any of you,” she looked around at the crowd of ponies. Maniple had asked for a by name and cutie mark roster of her ‘hooves on ground’ in Canterlot prior to catching their train Saddle Arabia, and so that was what she’d given him. That almost certainly had to have been the roster that the mercenaries had been using: the Bronco Company ponies who needed to be dealt with as potential witnesses to the attack on the town. Nopony should be looking in Lieutenant Whirlwind or his squad’s direction. They should all be safe…

…So long as nopony had any cause to believe that they’d become involved.

The pegasus regarded it as no minor irony that, after having spent so long specifically trying to regroup with what remained of her company, the moment that she did, she was about to part ways with them again. However, given what they'd learned about the nature of the threat that they were facing and—her eyes darted again to the crates—the consequences that potentially awaited those whose involvement became known to the wrong ponies...

Circumstances had changed. Her plan needed to change accordingly.

Corsair took a deep breath, easily predicting what the reaction to her next words would be. There's nothing more frustrating than a FRAGO. “...And I want to keep it that way. Lieutenant,” she finally said, looking now at the dusty pegasus officer, “I want you and your ponies to return to Little Buck. Stay there for a few more days and then report to Canterlot. Play dumb. Ask to be forwarded ahead to Gallopoli with the rest of Bronco.

“If they ask why you stayed behind, you tell them the truth: about me electing to leave the wounded and some ponies to watch after them and the village so we wouldn’t be slowed down responding to Maniple’s orders. That I told you to follow after me once everypony was fit to travel.”

There was an unmistakable air of apprehensive and reluctant murmurs from the gathered ponies. The lieutenant eventually couldn’t restrain himself from giving voice to the reservations that they all clearly had regarding their commander's latest orders. “Ma’am, we’re not just going to abandon you!”

“You’re not ‘abandoning’ me, LT,” Corsair sighed, shaking her head. While she was touched by the dedication of her ponies, this wasn’t the time for fidelis. “I’m getting you out of the line of fire. Whoever is behind this probably doesn’t know about you or the others. So they won’t be coming for you. If they spot all of you with me and send more ponies—”

“Then we’ll show them what happens when they mess with a Broncin’ Buck!” cried out a defiant mare, who was followed almost immediately by assenting hoots, hollers, and hoof stomps from the rest of the group.

“Bronco?” a stallion prompted.

“Buck yeah!” came the answering roar.

At any other time, the display of loyalty and bravado might have filled Corsair with a sense of pride in her ponies. They didn’t want to leave their fellows to fend for themselves, even against overwhelming odds, and that was commendable. Indeed, it was the expected response for any pony in Their Majesties’ Royal Cavalry when told that one of their number was under threat. However, in this specific instance, Corsair doubted—hoped—that her ponies had simply gotten overzealous on instinct and hadn’t actually thought through the full implications of what they were offering to do.

Otherwise, the pegasus felt that her heart might break…

“Absolutely not!” Corsair snarled, wheeling around to glare fiercely at her ponies, instantly cowing the confused crowd into uncomprehending silence. “Do any of you even know what you’re saying right now?” she challenged. “Do you understand who you’d be ‘protecting’ us from?” As her questions were rhetorical, the cobalt mare supplied her own answer a moment later.

“Your sisters and brothers in arms!” Corsair jabbed a hoof in the vague direction that Diamond Plate’s squad had left in after delivering her and the other Broncos here. “Those weren’t ‘bad ponies’. They weren’t ‘enemies of Equestria’,” she reminded them. “They were good and loyal soldiers of The Crowns, acting on their orders to bring in the ponies that they were told murdered a town! Told by their commanders, whom they trust the same way that you trust me.

“What exactly is it you’re planning to do the next time they come for me, huh? How would you 'help'?” Corsair glared directly at the mare who’d raised the initial challenge, eying the young pony critically. “Would you really turn your spears on them? Your sisters?” Seeing the mare wince and look away, her gaze shifted to another pony. “Would you buck in the skulls of your fellow cavalrymares?” The crowd had no answers for their captain’s piercing questions.

“Tell me you’d fight—that you’d kill—to protect me from our own!” she dared them, fixing each of her ponies in turn. “...and then get the fuck out of my sight; because I don’t want anypony in my company who’d do that. Not for me, or anypony else.

“I would sooner slit my own throat than watch my cavalry turn on itself like that.”

The barn was quiet now. There was no more cheering, and no further protest. Corsair was relieved to see that everypony she looked at was ashamed to some degree, finally realizing what their situation was. They weren’t going up against bandits, or monsters, or anything like that. This wasn’t flushing out a diamond dog den that had been preying on townsponies. Their ‘adversary’ were their fellow ponies in barding, who simply weren’t aware that they’d been fed a lie. Had any other company in the Frontier Corps been selected for the Gallopoli mission and had ponies that survived, it was entirely conceivable that Bronco Company themselves would currently be involved with the marehunt for those ‘treasonous murderers’. They’d be doing exactly what Diamond Plate’s group had been.

That was the most insidious part of all of this, Corsair decided: good ponies were being pitted against each other in their ignorance of the truth. It was one thing to fight—and maybe even kill—another when you knew—could rationalize—that they were 'bad' in some genuinely meaningful way...

...But when it was other mares and stallions in the Cavalry who had no way of knowing that they were being lied to? Who themselves were convinced that they were doing the 'right thing' and going after the 'bad ponies'?

Corsair had seen the look of utter revulsion in Diamond Plate's expression when the mare had confronted the pegasus—a 'murderer'. The squad sergeant was disgusted with the very idea that ponies who'd worn the uniform could have done what she'd been told Bronco Company had done. If that team had found Corasir's small band already reinforced by Whirlwind's squad—found themselves outnumbered...she might have still attacked. She'd have felt it was her duty to Equestria and the princesses to fight to the death to try and remove the 'stain' from the Cavalry's honor.

As hollow as Corsair had felt when she'd seen the bodies of the citizen's of Gallopoli—the bodies of her own ponies—the pegasus felt a shudder in her core at the thought of a mare in her unit putting a spear through the heart of one of their comrades.

That couldn't be allowed to happen.

The cobalt flier finally let out a heavy sigh. “I’m not going to put any of you in a position where that’s a thing that could happen. You’re all going back to Little Buck.” This time there was no grumbling or protests. She looked back to Whirlwind. “Move them out soon, LT. We’ll hang out here for the day, let word get around that we’ve been ‘caught’. Hopefully nopony’ll be actively looking for us by morning and we’ll have an easy trip to Canterlot.”

While waiting for the ‘heat’ to die down would make traveling to Canterlot easier, she didn’t want to delay too long. The attack on Gallopoli couldn’t have been the ultimate goal of the earl’s plans. There was a ‘phase two’, or whatever, that was as likely as not to threaten the lives of as many or more creatures; and Corsair wanted to get word to the right ponies in time to stop whatever it was before it was too late.

“What about the envoy and the colt?” her subordinate asked, nodding his head the direction of the indicated pair.

Corsair hesitated. She was very tempted to have Whirlwind take both civilians back to Little Buck. Get them out of harm’s way, even as she was mitigating that ‘harm’ as much as possible. On the other hoof…

She finally shook her head, reluctantly. “They come with us.” Like it or not, Autumn Brisk was just as much a witness to what happened in Gallopoli as the rest of them. She was a liability to the earl’s plans—whatever they were—and thus a target. Whoever was found in the unicorn’s company would almost certainly also be considered a threat to their conspiracy too. Sending her to Little Buck…

These ponies had already demonstrated they were willing to slaughter a whole town to get what they wanted. Corsair wasn’t going to trust them not to do it a second time.

While she didn’t believe that the colt would pose the same risk to the townsponies, since nothing suggested that any of the conspirators knew about either his survival, or that he was in Corsair’s company, the pegasus still wasn’t comfortable leaving him in Little Buck. He needed to get back to his own kind. His father might be dead, but surely the pour colt had some family in Saddle Arabia. The surest and most expedient way to find out and get him back where he belonged was to get him to the Saddle Arabian Embassy in Canterlot. The horses there would take him in and find out who his next of kin were.

His added testimony about what had happened in Gallopoli, as a witness who was not also one of the ‘accused’, would prove invaluable as well. Though Corsair would just as soon not put the colt through that if it wasn’t necessary.

Whirlwind nodded. Then there was another brief pause before the tan pegasus stallion glanced in the direction of the bound minotaur and earth pony mare. “...And them?”

Corsair followed her lieutenant’s gaze…and grimaced.

This was a…murkier subject.

Their resident spook had confirmed that there was little to no chance that the minotaur and earth pony mare were part of the Equestrian government, clandestine operations or otherwise. “Contrary to the rumors, EIS doesn’t operate this way,” the batpony had told Corsair, a disgusted eye on the weighted crates. “Not in Equestria, not even a little bit. There’s nothing official—or unofficial—about this.”

Which meant that those two—three including the already dead griffon hen—were just thugs hired to finish what those mercenaries had started. It made sense. ‘Kill on sight’ weren’t orders that any Frontier Corps officer would have been able to justify issuing, especially against one of their own. She and her ponies would have been ordered captured alive—if possible, anyway. At the same time, living witnesses—especially witnesses in the custody of the Equestrian government—weren’t anything the earl or his accomplices could have allowed. Something would need to be arranged to happen to Corsair and the others between their capture and reaching Canterlot. It was obvious the group in this barn was intended to have been that ‘something’.

There was no doubt in the pegasus captain’s mind that those three had been hired by the earl or his accomplices. There was similarly little doubt that, upon being released, they’d report back to their ‘client’ that she and the rest of her group were still very much alive. Worse, they’d be able to tell them about Whirlwind’s group and possibly endanger the very ponies she was hoping to protect.

These were not good creatures. The crates were a testament to that. Corsair had little doubt that the minotaur and pony had a criminal record in a host of other nations as long as her wingspan. Chances were good that they’d get extradited for something if they were given over to the Royal Guard—assuming they weren’t also wanted in Equestria. But the longer they were in Equestria, and the more official records there were of their detention, the more likely it was that the earl and his friends learned that Corsair wasn’t actually ‘dealt with’ and resumed actively searching for her.

Earl Bitter Creek was probably waiting on some sort of confirmation from the minotaur that he’d carried out his orders to dispose of Corsair’s group, but it could be many days before the earl decided that too much time had passed and he needed to follow up on the matter. Corsair might earn herself and the others three or four days of relative safety before another search was organized by keeping these two survivors out of official reports.

There was one definitive way to do that, the pegasus mare thought darkly to herself. She cast a look back at the single closed crate. They were already a third of the way there, too…

Corsair sighed. No. She could spend the rest of her life rationalizing it but, at the end of the day, killing these two while they were bound and helpless would always just be murder. She’d do the ‘right thing’ and turn them over to the authorities.

Which didn’t mean that she couldn’t take her time doing that though. “Take them with you,” she finally told her lieutenant, much to the pegasus stallion’s own surprise.

“Ma’am?”

“Take those two back to Little Buck and turn them into the sheriff there,” Corsair explained. “Tell the truth—mostly: that you caught them in a conspiracy to commit murder. Let Little Buck’s sheriff and mayor figure out how to handle all the indictment and extradition stuff with the provincial authorities from there.

“It’ll probably take a few days to sort out what to do with them,” she said with a shrug. “That’s fine. We’ll be in Canterlot by then anyway.” Hopefully…

“And the bat?” Whirlwind asked, nodding his head in the direction of Cravat’s patient. She was presently being looked over by the dappled medic to see whether her brief stint ahoof had aggravated her wound.

Their resident EIS operative was another good question. She likely wasn’t on the earl’s list of ponies to be on the watch for, though there was surely somepony in the conspiracy that would recognize her and sound the alarm. Certainly whichever traitor in the EIS who’d lured her into the ambush that nearly claimed her life. Sending her to Little Buck with the lieutenant would be safest for her, and help with her recovery in the long run. On the other hoof, having an agent of Equestria’s spy service vouch for them would help their case at least as much as the Saddle Arabian colt’s would. She might even be able to advise them on how to avoid being spotted by anypony they wouldn’t want to catch the attention of.

“We’ll take her with us too,” Corsair finally decided. Honestly, it was probably for the best that they keep the mare in the company of her ‘doctor’ for as long as possible anyway.

“Understood, ma’am.” The dusty brown pegasus saluted his commander, but then hesitated before he turned away. “...It’s been an honor serving under you, captain.”

“I’m not dead yet, LT,” Corsair retorted, flashing the other pony a wry smirk. The junior officer had the good sense to look abashed. “You just look after my ponies while I’m away. I expect them all back in as good or better condition than I left them when this is over, is that understood?”

“Yes, ma’am!” He snapped to attention and rendered a crisper salute this time.

“Then you’re dismissed, lieutenant.” The cobalt mare returned his salute. Then she turned and made her way back to the rest of her little band. If they were going to hole up in the barn for a while, then they might as well use their time productively. Specifically, Corsair wanted to pick her senior non-com’s brain for ideas. If anypony had advice on how to smuggle a small group of ponies into a heavily guarded city without being detected, it would be a former ‘terrorist’/resistance cell leader…

“Somepony fucked up.”

The words came out as a near growl as the older faded blue unicorn mare glanced down at the latest reconnaissance reports that her picket commanders had just delivered to the command tent. Brigadier General Reconnoiter shifted her gaze to the other assembled ponies in the tent. Their expressions were no less dower than her own. The air smelled faintly of smoke, the source of which was a small wad of smoldering parchment in a nearby waste bin. Her orders from Their Majesties.

Not that the brigadier general was in any way seeking to place blame at the hooves of her princesses. Far from it. Clearly there had been a failure elsewhere along the line, because there was no world that existed where Equestria’s diarchs would have put Reconnoiter’s brigade—a force of slightly fewer than four thousand ponies—up against the veritable host of Saddle Arabians that more than doubled her numbers.

Especially not when those orders had assured her that the encroaching militia had been a force totaling a mere two thousand!

However, investigating where the breakdown had occurred and placing the subsequent blame, were both matters to be attended to later. None of the possible answers as to how Reconnoiter’s brigade had ended up in this position would change the facts. And the ‘facts’ are that we’re fucked.

The unicorn looked first to her supply officer, a raspberry earth pony stallion with a lime mane. “No offense, major, but you’re our biggest hurdle to getting turned around.” The pony in charge of her command’s baggage train returned a helpless shrug of his own in acknowledgement of the fact. “If I send you sprinting back down the line now, how soon could you get us turned around?”

“It would take an act of the princesses—all four of them—to get it done in less than six hours,” the major replied through a heavy sigh. “And that’s assuming that absolutely nothing went wrong. No stuck wagons, no cracked spokes, broken straps, nothing.” It didn’t need to be elaborated that something would always 'go wrong' when attempting any sort of large-scale operation. And undertaking what was effectively trying to 'about face' a whole brigade in the field was most definitely a 'large-scale operation.

“I can have my ponies work through the night and we’ll be ready to move out by first light, but then you'll just have exhausted ponies leading your army.”

That wouldn't be very ideal either. “What’s a realistic timetable?” Reconnoiter asked.

“Noon tomorrow.”

The general glanced towards the batpony colonel in charge of her pegasus squadrons. The question she had didn’t need to be asked aloud in order to prompt a response from the ashen-coated mare. “The Saddle Arabians are far enough away that they won’t have caught up to us by then,” she said, though her lips were still pulled back in a fanged scowl. “But they will be close enough that their own vanguard will have finally spotted us. Horses move faster than ponies; that’s just a fact. It’ll only be a matter of time before they run us down.”

Reconnoiter nodded. She’d come to the same conclusion. Having her concerns confirmed by the resident expert on such matters didn’t make her feel any better. “It’s pretty clear they’re heading for Legume anyway.” None of the other ponies in the tent made an effort to argue otherwise. As her forces in the field represented the bulk of the cavalry which had been garrisoned at the fort, simply having her army ‘dodge’ out of the way of the oncoming Arabians would be tantamount to simply giving over the fort to the invading horses.

Not that having her forces crushed out here in the field first would change anything in that regard…

“Delaying actions,” the unicorn stated by way of asking for suggestions from the other officers in her command. “How feasible is it for us to harass the horses until Canterlot can reinforce us?”

Several of her senior officers, the ponies in charge of her downtrace elements, exchanged looks. Most of their expressions were less than optimistic. An earth pony whose muzzle appeared to be mostly mustache answered for the group. “Pegasi and light hoof units are typically best for that.” He hadn’t said anything that wasn’t basic Equestrian warfighting doctrine. “Only Major Phlox and Colonel Tumbledown,” the earth pony nodded to the batpony mare and another pink earth pony mare in turn, “have those sorts of units. Mine and Colonel Demeter’s battalions,” this time he looked to a broad-shouldered golden earth pony mare standing beside him, “are almost entirely cataphracts. ‘Hit-and-run’ isn’t something we’d be able to do well; not against horses.”

“We could ‘hit’ them well enough,” the large golden mare assured Reconnoiter in a gravelly voice, “but the ‘running’ part…” She shook her head. “The horses would catch us.”

“I could organize some night raids. Hit their supply lines; smash a few wagons,” Major Phlox offered, though her tone suggested that she wasn’t holding out much hope for the idea accomplishing much. “But we only have a few dozen batponies. It wouldn’t be enough to hurt them much. Not an army that size.”

Reconnoiter was tiring of hearing what she already knew in her head being put into words by the rest of her officers. Trying not to look too defeated, the faded blue mare looked towards a pale white unicorn stallion. “Captain Wisp? Anything your batteries can do for us?”

The stallion chewed on the inside of his cheek as he pondered the table in front of them and the various reconnaissance reports littering its surface. “We might have decent luck hitting them from range with some fire and lightning spells,” he conceded, though he didn’t sound as sure of that as the general might have otherwise hoped. “I know we have a few ponies who are decent enough with illusion magic. Maybe we can do something with that.

“I have fewer than a hundred and twenty unicorns, ma’am; trying to hold back ten thousand’s a big ask.”

The general nodded. At the end of the day, it all came down to numbers. Colonels Dandy and Demeter were right: her heavy units weren’t suited to harassing actions. They wouldn’t be able to evade pursuit reliably enough to get away. Which meant that the better part of two thirds of her fielded force was impractical for use in sustained delaying actions.

Unless I want to just toss battalions at the horses in the hopes of tripping them up with the bodies…

As sending her brigade at the Arabians piecemeal specifically to be slaughtered to give the rest of her retreating forces time to withdraw was absolutely out of the question, that left it to her pegasi, light hoof units, and mages, to whittle the enemy however they could, in the hopes of keeping the horses moving too slowly to catch her main body before they got back to Legume.

Sending a thousand lightly armored ponies against ten times their number.

It was a daunting prospect; and likewise unsustainable. It would be the height of naivety to believe those raids would be casualty free on her side. They were going to lose ponies with each run they made at the Arabians. Which meant each subsequent raid wouldn’t hit as hard, and likely result in even proportionally heavier casualties.

The horses have the numbers to split themselves up into blocking forces too, Reconnoiter acknowledged. Whoever was in command of the Saddle Arabians possessed the flexibility to just put battalions bigger than her raiding force out as oversized ‘pickets’ to keep her soldiers away from their baggage train, and have their main force not be slowed in the slightest.

We’re not getting away. We’ll have to fight eventually.

Maybe that was even for the best. As bleak as the odds looked, the older unicorn knew that they actually stood a better chance by going to meet the Saddle Arabians in the field head-on. Not a great chance—not even a decent chance, if she was being honest—just a ‘better’ one. Out here her forces would at least have room to maneuver. Even outnumbered like they were, there was the chance of being able to outflank the Arabians. Phlox’s pegasi squadrons would be able to move largely unopposed in the air and get in behind the horses’ lines. Her unicorns could use fire spells with few restrictions, not having to worry about immolating their own fortifications.

Her mind flashed with a half dozen half-remembered instances of various military leaders from antiquity—both within, and from outside Equestria—who had managed to defeat superior forces with those which—on paper—had been patently inferior.

Hannibull did it to the zebras. I think the Purrsians did it to the zebras too.

…Too bad we’re not going up against the zebras.

Reconnoiter let out a resigned breath and shook her head. She wasn’t any kind of brilliant military tactician. Not where this kind of fight was concerned. Sun and Moon, there hadn’t been a bona fide battle like this one in her lifetime! Nopony in Equestria had experience with this sort of thing, let alone knew it well enough to achieve one of the Idol of Boreases of warfare!

Equestrian generals didn’t actually fight battles; they only ever just talked about fighting them, in a theoretical sense.

…Is that an option?

The unicorn finally glanced up from the table and sought out the batpony major. “Phlox, do we happen to know who’s in charge of the Arabian forces?”

Caught briefly off guard, it take the mare a moment to form an answer. “Y-yes, ma’am. Miralay Qasam.”

“What do we know about him?”

The batpony shrugged. “I can ask around the camp, but I doubt anypony here knows much,” she admitted. “I’m sure there’s a more detailed dossier back in Canterlot.” Her tone left little doubt that she thought that fact would be of much help to them. Canterlot was a fair distance away.

“How long would it take your best courier to get there and back?”

“Hypothetically?” The major prompted.

“No, genuinely,” Reconnoiter countered. “I need to know how long it would take a courier to get me our file on their commander.”

“Two days. One there, one back.”

Now the general looked back to her supply officer. “You can have my army moving back towards Legume by morning if your ponies work through the night?” The raspberry earth pony grimaced, but nodded. Her eyes now darted to her other officers. “Can we keep away from the Arabians for two days?”

Her section leaders shared uneasy looks. Colonel Dandy’s mustache gave their answer. “If we ride them hard; yes ma’am. But our ponies will be exhausted by the time the horses catch us,” he warned.

“I know. But I’m hoping I can avoid a fight altogether.”

It was Demeter’s turn to shift on disquieted hooves. “Ma’am, our orders from the princesses are to stop the Saddle Arabian force at any costs.”

“I am aware of what our orders are, colonel,” Brigadier General Reconnoiter shot the larger mare a hard look, “and I fully intend to carry them out.” She looked back at the batpony. “Dispatch a courier immediately. I want everything we know about the miralay as soon as possible.” Her gaze then darted to her supply officer. “Major Beret, I notice that you’re still in my tent and not turning around my baggage train; is there a reason for that?” The raspberry earth pony blanched before issuing a hasty salute and leaving the tent.

“The rest of you: get your ponies ready to move out at dawn.” Most of the ponies in the general’s tent saluted and followed the supply officer out. Except for the batpony, who lingered back a while. Reconnoiter glowered at the commander of her pegasi. “Yes, major?”

“Ma’am,” Phlox began hesitantly, “...are we running away?”

“The Royal Equestrian Cavalry doesn't 'run away', major,” she quipped with a snort. "But it does occasionally relocate to a rearward position." The batpony mare wasn't phased by the general's employment of the old joke. Reconnoiter took a breath before supplying a genuine answer. “We’re buying time to get that dossier. I need to know who I’m dealing with if I’m going to try and talk them out of this,” she waved a hoof at their general surroundings.

“Talk, ma’am? Our orders are to—”

“—To stop the Arabians ‘at any costs’,” Reconnoiter finished for the batpony with an annoyed glare at the mare, “I’m well aware, major. Well, talk is cheap—and not always in a bad way.

“If armies from Equestria and Saddle Arabia cross lances in a genuine battle, it’ll mean a war! Equestria’s first since the Nightmare Rebellion.” The brigadier took another long breath, closing her eyes. “I’ll be damned to Tartarus if I’m going to be the mare to start that war without doing everything I can think of to avoid it first.

“We’ve been friends with the horses for centuries; there’s got to be something I can say that’ll stop this before it gets out of hoof.” It was almost a desperate plea.

“...And if they won’t talk, ma’am?” The batpony tentatively ventured. “If they just want to lure you into an ambush and take you out of the fight with the opening volley?”

Reconnoiter snorted and shook her head. “Well…then I guess that would make me the lucky one then, wouldn’t it?” The other mare tilted her head, not comprehending. The general's smile contained no mirth. “It'll mean that I won’t have to live through the madness that follows…”

Author's Note

Thank you so much for reading! As always, a thumbs up and comment are always greatly appreciated

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