On the soft, pure-white foundations of Cloudsdale, a sturdy, well-built Pegasus stood gazing out across a drill square lined with ranks of Pegasi performing harsh exercises and battle drills. In three days the amount of recruits posted to the Cloudsdale Home-Guard had increased ten fold, merchants and civilians unable to fight flying south as their homes were turned into Barracks and numerous military structures. Anti-Unicorn propaganda had popped up across the floating city and scouts were sent down to Canterlot and the Spiral Palace to judge defences and relay information to the Marshals and Captains in the Cloudsdale Wing Headquarters. Intelligence personnel restlessly sketched detailed designs and determined the best tactically procedures required to capture or destroy their enemies cities. As he aimlessly stared at a small group of troops sparring with one another, Major Markus of the 12th Royal Wing went through the last few days in his head. It just didn't seem to make any sense to him – one minute everyone was getting on flawlessly, the next some weird beast dropped into Canterlot. Now the three rulers of Equestria were incapacitated and everyone seemed to be blaming each other. He trotted away from the training grounds as the sun began to sink into the Western sea and headed for the Officer's Mess.
“We can't do anything until we receive orders from Los Pegasus! General Flood is the only person who can order an attack on another city and you know it.”
“General Flood may not be alive tomorrow. The Unicorns are readying their own armies and if they strike before we do, we face the danger of loosing Cloudsdale!”
Two high-ranking officers stood arguing with each other as Markus passed through the bar and into a small corridor that led to his quarters. On the hard, compressed cloud that made up his desk lay a small pile of papers – mainly Quarter-Master notices about acquiring new battle-dress and a long-winded invitation to an emergency Officer's Summit to decide upon who should take command should the worst happen to the General. Markus sighed and was about to tuck the papers into a hard-backed leather folder when a small slip of paper fell out between the sheets. He recognised the scrawled writing immediately – it was from his closest and – truthfully – only real friend who had been with one of the few military regiments flying South from Cloudsdale to scout of the Eastern Pegasus borders. In the letter, Windston described the situation and stated he wouldn't be coming back to Cloudsdale for a while as his regiment was being posted near Los Pegasus. This made Markus sad – it meant he'd have to spend the next few months surrounded by red-faced Sergeants and angry propaganda describing how somehow the Unicorns and Earth Ponies were the cause of all their problems. Markus could see he wasn't going to be able to get any sleep so, tucking the letter into a draw, he instead headed out to watch his Company perform some night-based training manoeuvres.