//------------------------------//
// From The Jaws of Victory 
// Story: The Great Retreat 
// by History Student 
//------------------------------//

1 day later, Canterlot castle


Marshal Blueblood strode into the open gates of the Canterlot castle. In these ivory walls, the toll of was could scarcely be seen. Part of him resented the expense and decadence of the Princess lavish lifestyle, that small part was outweighed by the rest of him which lived that lavish lifestyle before the war, a life he intended to return to if they won.

In years gone by, he would have walked in as Prince Blueblood of Canterlot, twenty third of his name. Now he was here as Field Marshal Blueblood of the equestrian army, supreme commander of allied forces. This wasn’t a social visit like many in the past, this was strictly business.

Striding through the gate, Blueblood noted that security was surprisingly sparse. Only the occasional royal guard at key locations made up the security detail. The royal guard looked quite different now than in the past, they’d been equipped for a modern war. They still wore a chest plate, but now it was a matte green colour instead of shining gold and was draped with various coloured cloths for camouflage. Their heads were donned with a metal helmate, not dissimilar from those his own troops wore. Most importantly, they now only wore a ceremonial sword, the long spears having been replaced with rifles.

Strolling past the new royal guard, Blueblood was approached by another pony. Blueblood recognised his uniform, it was the dress uniform of a royal guard officer. The pony in question was a custard custard coloured Pegasus with a chocolate broke mane and tail. Unusually for a royal guard, this pony had forgone any ceremonial gear and carried two pistols instead of a sword. His red dress uniform was almost completely bare of any medals or citations, past Blueblood would have assumed he was an incompetent prat, but his military self could see that the officer carried himself professionally. 

Reaching the marshal, the guard saluted before extended a hood “Sargent Major Second Wind sir, I’ve been asked to escort you to the throne room.”

Blueblood saluted back, and nodded at the other pony. Second Wind turned around and began leading Blueblood through the various corridors to the throne room. He did know the way, but the company was nice. Now that he thought about it, this Pegasus looked familiar…

“You seem familiar Sargent, but I can’t quite place it.” Blueblood mused.

Rolling his eyes over to Blueblood (who walked alongside him) Second Wind nodded “we’ve met several times before sir.”

Thinking hard for a second, the Bloody Marshal forced memories of the Pegasus to the forefront of his mind “First battle of Canterlot, we met during and after that. We’ve also met at balls and military functions over the years. If I recall you called the guard and army ‘a fucking mess’.”

The Pegasus actually laughed, not a fake one, but a real hearty laugh. “That I did sir. Sharp memory you’ve got there.”

Chucking in reply, Blueblood let out a rare smile. “How’s the army and guard doing now then? Mind, I’ll break your nose if you give me the wrong answer.”

Laughing, Second Wind replied “the army’s much better, a few daft bastards hanging around in Canterlot, but the rest is good. The royal guard however, the ranks have been swelled with nobles and upper class ponies who wanted the clout of enlisting without the responsibilities of enlisting, they’re filled with nepotism and staggering incompetence. The rest are middle class citizens like me, career soldiers and officers who actually know what our jobs even are.”

“I hear that, only about half of the army’s top staff are actually career officers.” Blueblood confessed. It was refreshing to talk to the Pegasus, it was rare to find an officer who treated him like an actually pony. It was good to keep the reputation up among the enlisted soldiers, but officers should really know better.

The two descended into a comfortable silence. Walking through the corridors, they passed blacked-out windows and balconies with AA guns mounted. The serene untouchable image of the great castle had been destroyed, the changelings had only gotten in range just before their retreat and had only hit Canterlot once or twice in force. Single aircraft nuisance attacks had taken place once or twice, but the changelings had very few strategic bombers, and they weren’t throwing them unescorted at the most heavily defended city in Equestria.

Torn from his musings, Blueblood noticed that Second Wind was leading him the longer way around, slightly unusual. With his senses now alerted, he also noticed the total absence of guards along this corridor, no witnesses. The marshal had quietly readied himself for a flash firefight.

Then Second Wind made his move “Don’t trust S.M.I.L.E” he whispered.

“What?” Blueblood let his guard completely drop, that was unexpected.

“Don’t trust them, it started with Still Waters, but now there are barely any agents I’d even trust with the way I like my tea.” Second Wind continued “they’ve bugged the palace, they poke their hooves into guard deployments and allocations. Now they’re starting to get into supply shipments. I can’t prove it, but even a few of my men have recently died under mysterious circumstances.”

Blueblood eyes widened slightly as he flexed his shoulder, the bullet from the day earlier suddenly at the forefront of his mind. Maybe it wasn’t just an isolated traitor wanted to defect, after-all, S.M.I.L.E had been giving him less than stellar information for a while. Blueblood had been on the frontlines for years, away from the central command, the Sargent Major had been right here watching the whole thing.

“No matter what I do, there’s no paper trail leading back to them, nothing that lets me pin them to wall. Be careful sir, they’re swarming all over the castle.” Second Wind warned “if you get in trouble, the men under my direct command wear a black sash.”

Blueblood looked at Second Wind, the Pegasus looked around for a moment before saluting. Taking off at a fast trot, another guard opened a door and let him through. The two quickly departed and left Blueblood alone in the corridor with his intrusive thoughts. That table did look awfully smashable.

After just a moment, a mare appeared on the far side of the corridor. The yellow mare was an earth pony, dressed in a loosely fitting suite and tie. Her hair was folded into a neat ponytail while a pair of small glasses rested ahead of her eyes. Everything about her seemed entirely unremarkable and generic. So that obviously meant she was a spook.

“Marshal Blueblood, I’m sorry we couldn’t get anyone to escort you up here. I must deeply apologise on the guards behalf.” The mare began, trotting towards him.

“No it’s alright, I quite enjoyed being home. Although it has more air defences than I remember.” The bloody marshal joked, he let out a dry chuckle. Honestly, the flak turrets were a brilliant aesthetic improvement.

“Very good sir.” The mare pretended to laugh along “Princess Celestia is waiting for you in the throne room.”

“Thank you agent.” Blueblood started to walk towards the throne room, the agent was following him “I know the way, and I quite preferred being on my own.”

“Of course sir, I’ll let you get on your way.” Still Waters gave a sweet smile before walking away. Spooks always gave him shivers, knowing what that particular one might have been up to, well that gave him a strong desire to punch something.

Deciding not to beat around the bush any longer, Blueblood made double time to the throne room. Pushing all thoughts of traitors and double agents out of his mind, he steeled himself for a meeting with the princess. Celestia would be difficult, she was a wise and charismatic leader, but leagues behind on military strategy. Her trusting nature was also far too easy to exploit.

Reaching the double doors to the throne room, Marshal Blueblood straightened out his uniform and adjusted his cap. This had to go perfect, if Celestia was determined for peace and found some loophole that prevented him from launching an invasion of the Changelings core lands, they would lose.

Pushing open the doors with his magic, the Bloody Marshal walked into the large room he had seen many times before. The throne room seemed exactly the same as it always had, you wouldn’t even be able to tell there was a war going on from here. Celestia sat on her throne, looking radiant as ever, Luna stood bellow, midway through a sentence. The absence of anyone else in the room told him this was a private meeting.

“Blueblood.” Celestia greeted, a smile on her face “good of you to join us.”

“Your highness.” He simply greeted back, pleasantries out of the way, let’s get to work “the changelings are pulling back in a general retreat. At the current level of opposition, we’ll reach the border in a week.”

Her smile faltered, the twitch was so small that Blueblood wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t been staring right at her. “That’s wonderful. Once we reach the border, our best ambassadors will be able to secure the peace we desire in no time.”

“Your highness, they’ll only negotiate in bad faith. A lasting peace can only be secured by the total capitulation of the Changeling lands and a total reorganisation of its government.” Blueblood explained. He looked over to Luna who stood on his right, the other alicorn wouldn’t meet his eye, she’d done something.

“Blueblood” Celestia began gently as she stood up and descended the steps “Luna has already given me a run down of the situation, with their army in retreat, the changelings will soon start to seek peace.”

“Marshal Luna shouldn’t even be here. Tell me Marshal, why have you gone AWOL and appeared at Canterlot castle?” Blueblood pressed, Luna again failed to meet his eyes.

“Don’t trouble yourself with that nephew, we’ve won, take some time off and celebrate.” Celestia urged, her voice becoming more and more strained as she spoke.

“You’re declaring victory before we’ve won. The winner is not victorious if the defeated does not consider himself beaten.” Blueblood spoke, military proverbs were something of a speciality of his “We haven’t won this war as long as Chrysalis is on the throne, the only way this ends is with the total destruction of us or them.”

“Nephew…” Celestia began, her voice low and almost a growl.

“I’m not your nephew in this I’m your FUCKING FIELD MARSHAL!” Blueblood shouted, his sudden burst of anger resonated throughout the room. Luna visibly flinched while Celestia fell back onto her haunches “I am you commander in chief in this matter. You elected me to win this war for you, not for you to dictate how I do and do not conduct a battle. Princess, you are toying with the lives of millions; if we stop now then the changelings will pour across the frontline in a years time and massacre our forces, if we keep going then we’ll liberate millions of changelings and their subjects from Chrysalis oppression.” The Bloody Marshal seethed.

This was it now, all or nothing. Celestias reaction to his next move would decide their fates. “Princess, I captured a report earlier which stated that the Heer is out of manpower and out of petrol. Even with only essential flight taking and their fleet in port, their tanks being mothballed and their motorised infantry dismantled, they’re still facing critical shortages. They don’t have enough guns for all their men, the Heer is now bringing out pre war artillery batteries because they don’t have any modern ones to equip their troops. With every shortage accounted for, Trimmel estimates they can only maintain combat for 5 days. His one and only hope is that we stop when we reach the border, they have nothing left.”

Sighing, Blueblood looked to the ground “This is our one and only chance to push into their core territory and overrun them, they have the manufacturing capabilities to rebuild and surpass their old levels in under a year, they’ve made a breakthrough in synthetic oil and rubber production, in a year they’ll have a full stockpile of fuel. Their empire is hanging on by a thread, Hybearia is ready to defect should we keep going, Olenia’s been on the verge of a civil war for years, and Chrysalis support has plummeted because the drones think that Equestrian tanks could overrun the border any day now.”

Silence reigned in the throne room. Blueblood didn’t want to rank and shout, but it might have been the only way. He could only pray that his words had gotten through, that they had listened for once. For the first time in his life, Blueblood regretted his youth of squandering ponies trust in him, perhaps if he hadn’t cultivated such a reputation as a pathological liar then they’d believe him.

Slowly, Celestia stood up, her eyes closed. When she looked down on him, there was a deadly fire burning in them. Never before had the Bloody Marshal seen their infallible Princess look so pissed off, if he hadn’t been in a literal war a day ago, it probably would have scared him. But in the face of all he’d taken on during the war: fighting for his life in the trenches, beating a changeling infiltrator to death with a shovel when he ran out of ammo, seeing the broken eyes of soldiers in sacrificial counterattacks he’d ordered, string down a pissed off Princess didn’t seem to bad really. Her glare met his frosty blue eyes.

“Marshal Blueblood.” She began, her tone hard “I’ve been appalled by your conduct in the war over these months. Ordering countless soldiers to die in pointless missions, and for what. I invited you here today to extend an olive branch, but I see now that my nephew is well and truly gone. I won’t allow you to have more ponies butchered on the monument of your ego, with the prospect of peace right on the horizon, I can’t let you recklessly throw away more lives.”

Blueblood continued to stare Celestia down, he chose to remain silent and preserve his dignity. People could call him many names and accuse him of many things, but there were two things he would always maintain; no pony could ever call him a coward, and no pony could ever say that he lost his dignity.

Seeing that she was getting no reaction from him, Celestia continued “Earlier today, Princess Luna handed me a file of yours containing plans you’ve drafted for an invasion of Stalliongrad post war. My agents in S.M.I.L.E have also shown me evidence that you have been embezzling money from the military budget and funnelling it into your own private accounts. When this information was presented before the heads of state of the United Ponies Front, it was agreed that if you proved unnameable to peace talks, then you would be sacked as commander in chief and replaced with Princess Luna. I expect your resignation by tonight Marshal, otherwise you will be court marshalled.”

Staying totally neutral in his expression and demeanour, Blueblood calmed his emotions and looked over to Luna. The other alicorn had remained silent this entire time, never meeting his gaze. Blueblood understood now that it was shame, she couldn’t bear to look at the pony she had betrayed so thoroughly. Seconds Winds warning also reverberated through his head, S.M.I.L.E had made up an embezzlement charge against him and fabricated enough evidence that Celestia believed it.

Taking a deep breath to suppress his anger, Blueblood began his reply “I won’t be handing in my resignation Princess. You want my head? Fine, but you can’t afford a public trial because you know that the troops will be on my side. I’m going to tell you this now Celestia, within two years I’m going to have been captured or be lying dead in a field. And it makes me weep for your conscience, you’ll be cursed to know for the rest of your immortal lives that I was right, and you’ll remember this moment for the rest of your lives as the moment we lost.” Turning around, Blueblood began to walk out of the throne room “Goodbye, traitors, decievers, and those who have beaten me. May the gods grant you the forgiveness you seek, for you'll find nothing from me.” Reaching the door, Blueblood stopped and turned around “farewell aunties, we shall never meet again.”

Slamming the doors behind him, Blueblood stood staring out into the corridor. Standing on either side of the door were a pair of royal guards, both of them were wearing a black sash. Calmly walking past them, Blueblood wound through the corridors and passages of the enormous castle. After seemingly hours of walking, he arrived at his old office. Stepping inside, he sighed in content familiarity. Then he jumped onto his hind legs and brought his forelegs down onto a nearby table. The small table broke in half under his show of strength powered by pure anger.

1 hour later, Bluebloods office

Cadance opened the door slowly, not entirely sure what she would find. The guard at the door had told the Princess of the Crystal empire that the banging and crashing had stopped some 15 minutes ago. Judging that now was the moment, she pushed the door open fully and strode inside. Keeping her eyes to the ground, she avoided looking at the carnage and closed the door.

Finally daring to look up, Cadance could see the total destruction which engulfed the room. Her cousin had always his office in pristine condition, nothing could besmirch his pride, not even an out of place pen. The office in front of here was a far cry from that   one in the past. Everything except the drinks cabinet was turned over or smashed, and that drinks cabinet had its crystal windows broken and cracked. Pictures were torn off the wall and desks were turned over. Based on the way the window had been smashed, something heavy had probably been thrown out of it.

Blueblood himself was sitting on the floor, somehow still pristinely dressed in his finest. His uniform wasn’t scuffed, medals were in place, not a wrinkle in sight. His hat rested gently on the leg of an overturned desk he was leaning against, neatly and carefully placed atop it.

The floor surrounding her cousin was littered with open bottles obviously taken from the drinks cabinet. His eyes were staring down at an open book in front of him, it looked to be a photo album of some kind. He didn’t even look up at her when she’d entered, engrossed in whatever he was looking at.

Cadance slowly made her way across the floor towards Blueblood, shards of glass crinkling under her hooves. Reaching him, Cadance sat down next to her cousin and sighed. Taking off her tiara, she placed it on the other table leg. Looking down at the book, the crystal princess saw it was filled with pictures of ponies she didn’t know, sometimes Blueblood was with them. Each and every one of them was wearing a uniform.

“Friends of yours?” Cadance asked. As the Princess of love, she could feel emotions coming off ponies, she could feel sadness coming from her cousin.

“People I trained with, fellow officers. Not many of them are left.” He replied.

Before, Cadance and her cousin couldn’t stand each other. They weren’t close growing up, and their personalities split so radically with their separation. But they somehow conjoined with the changeling threat, both of them recognising the danger to Equestria. Over the years since Blueblood had become a military officer, the two of them had established an amicable working relationship.

The two sat in total silence for a few minutes, Blueblood flipping through his photo album and taking swigs from a battle absently. The unicorn picked up another bottle and offered it over to Cadance, taking it in her magic, she took a sip from the bottle. The wine had a really good year on it, tasted absolutely beautiful. Finally Cadance judged that it was the time to speak.

“I heard what Celestia did, when she put forward the motion to dismiss you, I was the only pony in the room who voted to keep you.” Cadance confessed.

Blueblood stayed silent as he continued to turn the pages in the book. Though the flick of his ears told her that he was listening. Cadance sighed, what had the world come to. Two cousins who hated each other were the only ponies comforting the other.

“Is it true? Did you do those things?” Cadance asked, she already knew the answer, but it would get him talking.

“It’s true I have war plans for invading Stalliongrad, Celestia had me draw them up before the war. Over the years, I’ve edited it to include Nova Griffonia and our depleting resources. As for the embezzlement, S.M.I.L.E pulled that charge right out of their arse.” Blueblood said “when I arrived, Second Wind warned me that S.M.I.L.E had double agents in it, guess he was right.”

“Thought as much.” Cadance confessed, she stayed silent for a few moments and took a sip from the bottle. There was something she had to know, “Blueblood, I want you to be totally honest with me…”

Her cousin snorted and interrupted Cadance “Black dresses make you look fat.”

The unicorn was struck across the face by a flying pink wing. He rubbed his snout and laughed and Cadance shot him a disapproving glare. She sighed and went to start again. “Blueblood, be serious and be honest with me here, hold nothing back. Are we going to win?”

Her cousin sighed, he raised a hoof up to his face and looked at it. A small shard of glass had made a cut down his leg. The blood leaking down his leg was blue. Blueblood wasn’t an alicorn, he wasn’t immortal and he wasn’t a grand ruler, but his blood was blue.

“We won’t win. I’ve been fighting and bleeding time and time again for our opportunity to defeat them. Everything I’ve done has been a holding action, a provision as I stalled for the opportunity to truly win. We’d only get one chance, that chance presented itself yesterday. When Celestia launched her little coup and got the military to stand down, that chance disappeared.” Blueblood confessed, he stayed staring at the blue trickle of blood moving down his leg.

“How long?” Cadance asked, she felt like he was a doctor giving her a terminal diagnosis. It wasn’t too far from the truth really.

“I expect to be dead or captured within two years. Chrysalis won’t take you prisoner, you need to understand that. I’m just a normal unicorn, you’re a super powerful alicorn who’s defeated her once, you are too dangerous to be kept alive.” Blueblood said grimly, he looked over to Cadance.

The crystal princess felt tears begin to fall from her eyes. She’d always held onto the vain hope that they’d somehow pull through. Cadance cried, cried for everything they’d lose. In a rare moment of solidarity between the two cousins, Blueblood leant over and wrapped a leg around his cousin. They stayed like that for a while, Cadance crying into her cousins leg and Blueblood letting her.

“Why do you expect to be taken prisoner and not just executed?” Cadance asked, it was maybe slightly insulting that he expected to be taken prisoner while the rest of them were going to be killed.

“Because I can be humiliated. You, Celestia, Luna and Twilight are all super powerful alicorns who’ve defeated her once before. Chrysalis has a grudge too settle, and you’re all to dangerous to be kept alive. But I’m a regular unicorn, well despite my inexplicably blue blood, who’s no more dangerous or powerful than the rest. Chrysalis can keep me around, beat and humiliate me without any worry of me pulling a force of nature out of my hair, or destroying a whole army with an abstract concept.” The unicorn explained “I’m going to live out the rest of life as a trophy to her victory.” He huffed in annoyance and took a swig from his drink.

“You’re the sort of pony I imagine would commit an ‘honourable suicide’ to avoid capture and humiliation.” Cadance sniffed.

“Suicide is the cowards way out. Ponies can call me many things, but no one can ever call me a coward. I’ll face my fate and accept it.” Blueblood chuckled.

They descended into another easy silence before Cadance spoke up again “you never really got to know Flurry did you? She’s in Canterlot, maybe you could spend some time with her while we’re both here.”

Looking up at here, Blueblood gave a shaky smile “I’d like that.” He replied, his voice cracking slightly.

“All you have to do is promise me that you’ll ask that radio mare you’ve got a crush on out.” Cadance teased. The sudden look of shock on her cousins face said it all. “Don’t look so surprised, I am the princess of love after all.”

Blueblood chose to remain silent, ignoring the uncomfortable truth. He was so used to ponies swooning over him that he had no idea to be the one asking for a date. Tartarus, he was too scared to even ask her name. Having done both before, he’d rather lead a charge against a machine gun position than talk to a woman.

“It’s just a shame, Flurry won’t get to grow up.” Cadance sniffed and let new tears fall.

“Hmmm.” Blueblood agreed absently, internally, an idea had crawled into his mind.