The Black Squirrel Brigade

What choices do you have,

When you have none left,

But ones that only bring death?

The plane ride to Whinnyapolis was boring.

After being kicked out of the room back in Canterlot, Luna couldn’t do anything but think about the billion reasons as to why Celestia kicked her out of the room once Twilight showed up.

Fluttershy! What did she have to do with anything! Wasn’t she just taking care of animals or something!?!

It was frustrating, but there wasn’t anything Luna could do about it now but hypothesis, but even that gets boring after an hour. The only thing she could do at this point was start preparing for the coming of meetings happening at Whinnyapolis. At least then, she’ll finally meet back up with Bipen and get her personal guard back, not that Luna had a problem with the two Bipen chose.

One thing about the flight that was interesting was how rackety it was. The plane transporting Luna was of an older design, dating back to 1004, but it was a custom designed one. It had been padded with steel plates around the cabin she currently sat in, with beefier engines and enlarged fuel tanks. It was made for transporting important figures of Equestria, and it currently transported Luna.

Paired with the improved plane, there were two spitfires that flew with it as escorts. It was fun watching them through the thick bullet proof glass, or at least it was when they dipped into view. The only thing lacking was heating. They were currently cruising at a higher altitude than normal. Though the princesses were unphased by temperature, the other ponies that crewed the plane, along with the guards, all had to wear thick coats to stay warm.

One of the bad things about the plane though was the food. It wasn’t the best as compared to what was served on trains, but it was still better than what some of the creatures on the front lines were eating and having to make.

Though, even with everything going on, it was quite peaceful up in the air. Besides the escort fighters, the only other stuff that could be watched out of the window was the sky, clouds, and terrain below.

At their height, small hamlets of towns they flew over looked invisible, it was only the few large towns and the city of Umberfoal that were noticeable.

Even the terrain was hard to make out, though that was mostly due to it being flat. Once they had left Canterlot, there were no mountains nearby. Going north, in the direction towards Whinnyaplois, there were no mountains until the northern part of the Crystal Empire, near the yak’s borders.

Here in the middle of Equestria, it was very flat. Just forests and plains that went on forever. The only interesting features that stood out at that height were the rivers. They looked a lot more interesting up in the sky at that height and it helped remind Luna of what it was like to fly up this high.

Suddenly one of the crew ponies interrupted. “Princess Luna!” They said with a salute. “The flight captain says will be on approach for landing in half-an-hour.” That was all they had to say before they waited for Luna to dismiss them.

As the plane began its approach and started to descend, the two escort fighters were replaced with two others in a seamless transition once Luna’s plane neared closer to the city. Luna hadn’t noticed as she had busied herself with some work before landing.

But at last, after a small detour to Canterlot, Luna finally made it to Whinnyapolis.

Whinnyapolis was an interesting city when it came to Equestria. Unlike Canterlot and the other coastal cities, Whinnyapolis was the only major city within Equestria that took on heavy inspiration from the Crystal Empire’s designs. It had the biggest central population of crystal ponies anywhere on the continent outside of the Crystal Empire itself. This was due to a major railway and road connecting the Crystal Empire from the middle, down into Equestria. It was at this location long ago that transportation by the river could effectively begin, allowing bulk goods to be sent downriver, straight into the Eclipse Gulf next to Manehattan.

Because of that, Whinnyapolis formed at that point of the river, where Crystal goods came down and were sent throughout the world, while also allowing for goods to be easily brought in. Because of this, there are major freight yards along the banks of the river around Whinnyapolis that help employ ponies.

Even though Whinnyapolis is a major city, just across the river, is a smaller city called Riverpool. While Whinnyapolis has mixed Equestrian and Crystal Empire designs and has been built up into a sprawling city like many others, with skyscrapers and industrial sections, Riverpool is a simpler place. Riverpool is mostly inhabited by normal Equestrian citizens, with it’s design more similar to other small cities around the country. Most of the residents here are separate from Whinnyapolis, though that doesn’t keep them from visiting constantly.

Before the start of the war, Whinnyapolis had become a central point for crystal research within Equestria due to the abundance of crystals that flowed in from the Crystal Empire, but since the start of the war and the current situation, with fears that the Changelings might take the city in the future, there has been a push to move the research elsewhere throughout the country, mostly towards the south where it’s not expected for the Changelings to make it.

But it was here that the next meeting Luna was having. It was chosen because of its location between the Crystal City, Canterlot, and the front lines, allowing for easy travel for all parties. As all the other commanders arrived in the city, it became closer for the start of the meeting. Because Luna had come in by plane, she was one of the first to arrive, so because she had some downtime before the meeting took place, she decided to meet with some local citizens.

There was no announcement regarding this for safety reasons, though Luna was allowed to go to one of the parks with heavy guard presence and chat with whoever was around. There was an hour or so before the sun set and Luna had to raise the moon, so there weren’t many ponies out. Those she did meet didn’t have much reaction to her presence in the city. For a lot of them, they didn’t hear much about Luna, nor knew what she did outside of her past as being Nightmare Moon and the Princess of the Night. Only the singular thestral that was at the park was ecstatic to meet her.

Overall, it wasn’t that successful of a meet and greet, but that was expected. This was what Celestia’s job was, not hers. Luna did her part in helping the thestrals with her reforms, but now her focus was the war, so making sure the progress she started continued without her direct involvement was hard. At least she was able to make at least one pony happy.

But now that it was about time to start the meeting, Luna left the park and went to the military base within the city where all the generals were gathering.

As all meetings prior to the Whinnyapolis one, it was the same situation. Discussions on what to do and what they should do, what might happen, but this time, it was more centered around the discussion of the northern Equestrian lines and the Crystal Empire lines, as well as integration of their forces. While Equestrian forces were in the south part of the Crystal Empire, they didn’t span the entire border against the Changelings. The Crystal Empire was in charge of defending the northern regions of the line that weren’t filled by Equestria, while also keeping a few divisions at the yak borders.

Because the yaks hadn’t attacked the Changelings or been attacked themselves, the Crystal Empire had worried that the yaks might be siding with the Changelings to invade from the north. Though there was no real evidence of this, Shining Armour still worried about it. Thankfully, the amount of forces needed to defend the north borders was comically small. With only two viable ways for armies to advance down south, it only required a few mountain forts and some defenses for the simulated invasions to fail. While being stationed at these passes might be preferable than the west, they weren’t important. The Changelings advance from the west wasn’t just pushing into Equestria, but also the Crystal Empire, but because the Crystal Ponies were more better suited to the cold, they were able to defend against the invasion better than their southern allies, but because they lacked a sizable air force like Equestria, they were currently losing the air battle.

A big chunk of those attending the meeting were from the Crystal Empire, though Shining Armour wasn’t present, another Field Marshal like him was. Reese. While Shining Armour was taking charge of dealing with the current advance, doing his best to halt it, it was Reese that had been charged with planning all counter assaults for the country. He, along with Dust Ember, Solid Shot, Crystalline, Cloudie, Icy Snow, and Forest Nutmeg were the Crystal Empire high command that were attending the meeting, with more lower ranking commanders and officers with them.

Thankfully for this meeting, Luna didn’t have to intervene as much with the group. The most notable things that came out of the meeting were some radical ideas by some of the Crystal Ponies, which were all shot down by Luna herself. Though finally, as the meeting ended and all the commanders left, Luna finally found herself in quietness again. It allowed her time to empty her mind and relax before her second meeting took place.

Once the time came, Luna reserved the room they were using for a bit more time and had Bipen bring in Fizzlepop, the much awaited pony she desired to meet with since Las Pegasus.

Luna still sat at the table from the meeting, patiently waiting for Fizzlepop. As Fizzlepop entered, Luna kept to her seat. Fizzlepop, who was unsure as to why she was even there, was quick to stand at attention for Luna upon approaching her.

“I was told that we needed to speak Princess?” Was the first question Fizzlepop said after being put to ease. There was a bit of worry for Fizzlepop as she stood there waiting for an answer. She has never personally spoken with Luna since rejoining Equestria, so all of a sudden being called out for some unknown meeting with Luna wasn’t exactly something she was prepared for. “I have to ask Princess, this isn’t related to anything with the Storm King, right?”

“Last to my knowledge, the remains of his army ended up fractured and declared war with one another, but I do not know the outcome of it, but that is not why I called for you.” Luna finally stood up and walked towards Fizzlepop. “Or I stand corrected. It might have some connection to your involvement with the Storm King.”

“The Storm King’s second-in-command and now a general within the Equestrian army. Is it still true that you currently run the eastern recruitment for volunteers and draftees, or have you been reassigned to something else? To my knowledge, you currently don’t have a superior besides Celestia?”

“Yes, I still run that. Bales to Manehattan and everything east of that, but I have to correct you. I currently report to Prince Blueblood, but because he has been busy with the fighting, I have more or less just been given indirect command of my region. Currently, recruitment has increased as more territory is lost, but we also carry out the draft process for my region following standard regulation from Princess Celestia. I hope nothing regarding any of that has caused any issues?” Fizzlepop said.

“Nothing is wrong, but I am interested in the involvement you had with the Storm King.” Luna inspected Fizzlepop for a moment before going back to their seat. “What was training like in the Storm King’s army?”

“About the same as any army’s? Because tactics have changed since then, training has also changed to suit the need.”

Luna sat quietly for a moment as she thought. She sat long enough that Fizzlepop ended up speaking up again.

“I mean, I can’t say too much regarding the training they had, that wasn’t my responsibility then. The only thing was the yeti’s were more aggressive with fighting while under threat of the Storm King and myself, so things progressed a lot differently.”

“How many wonderbolts get training under your command?” Luna asked this suddenly without warning.

“Luna?” The wonderbolts aren’t under my command or responsibility. Anypony that signs up to join as a wonderbolt is sent off to Cloudsdale for training there. We just deal with recruitment for the normal army and navy, well Cynosura’s command is, but we work hoof in hoof.”

“And your direct involvement with training?”

“I will give speeches and be a part of graduation ceremonies for everycreature that completes training, but I have many other responsibilities so I haven’t directly helped train any specific pony.”

Luna sighed as she continued to think some more. This time, Fizzlepop didn’t speak up as she waited for Luna. It was just quiet. But again, as the quietness dragged on, Fizzlepop spoke up again.

“Princess Luna?”

“I have this idea for a new force and need somepony to help with it.” Luna directly looked at Fizzlepop. “Preferably somepony with your experience since you currently already deal with recruitment and training in some capacity. Is this something you can help with?”

“As I said Princess, I’m currently under Prince Blueblood. That isn’t something I can exactly answer.”

“I’ll talk with him if you agree. If anything, you staying under Prince Blueblood’s command will be better in the long run. Given that he’s focused on the front-lines, I’m sure he’d be fine to transfer you under me anyways. Do you want to agree to this?”

“As long as Prince Blueblood agrees to whatever this is. But what do you even want to do Princess?”

“Secrecy Fizzle. Everything about what I want to do is to be kept under secrecy. Anything you learn or do is to be learned by nopony sideways or up besides me. Prince Blueblood will know nothing either. Neither Cadance or Celestia. The less ponies that end up knowing, the better.”

“I don’t know if we can keep something secret from Princess Celestia, Luna.”

Luna shook her head. “Since your promotion, have you met with my sister?”

There was a bit of hesitancy from Fizzlepop. “I have not.”

“She delegated the war to me and Blueblood. As long as reports don’t exist and word of mouth doesn’t get out, she won’t know about anything. And Blueblood, has he bothered you since the start of the war?”

“I get the rare message, but since I’ve been doing perfectly fine on my end, he hasn’t worried about me or called me in.”

“Keep your work up and your mouth shut then.” Luna said with an encouraging smile.

“But what exactly kind of force do you want to make Princess?”

“I will talk with Blueblood first. Once he’s ok with me using you, we’ll talk then. I know our chat didn’t last long, but I just need to get a start somewhere, and this was the first step.”

“Couldn’t you have sent a message instead of meeting?”

“I had the idea when I was leaving for a Las Pegasus meeting before here. That’s why I sent Bipen for you. Word of mouth only. The whole idea of what I want will require the utmost secrecy. That’s why this conversation today didn’t happen. Nothing happened once we leave this room. Once I meet with Blueblood, I will send Bipen for you again for another scheduled in-pony meeting.”

Fizzlepop thought over the request herself now, taking a moment to decide. “I have a single question Princess.”

“Yes?”

“Who would you choose if I don’t agree?”

“Secrecy. The less everypony knows, the better. Do you want to help?”

Fizzlepop stood up straight and responded with attention after coming to their conclusion. “Yes Princess.”

“We will speak of nothing regarding this. Thank you. You are dismissed.”

Once Fizzlepop dismissed herself, Luna relaxed. She finally set in motion a plan she wants to create and now all there is to do is everything else that will be required to make it work. The only question is whether this plan will have any effect on the war. Luna only hoped it would.