//------------------------------//
// Cold Crystal Plans 
// Story: The Red Sun Rises: Siege of Manehattan 
// by The Atlantean 
//------------------------------//

	Crimson Dawn asked for a truce with the Crystal Empire for the day so that Princess Luna might receive a proper burial. Their commander, Major Crystal Snow, agreed after some consideration. She needed to rethink her strategy anyway.
The Earth pony initially was suspicious of the message sent to her. Princess Luna dead? The death of an alicorn was unheard of. But when a magical image was generated to show Luna’s lifeless body, she saw truth in Crimson’s words and accepted.
The dark blue mare had a scribe report to Shattered Hope about the current situation and requested to have the gems once buried within her coal-black crown be replaced into it. The request was instantly denied. The general’s reasoning was that the Crystal Empire had enough things to deal with without a magic-wielding Earth pony starting the next Ice Age. Since the gems held the power, Sombra kept the gems locked away like the Crystal Heart.
Crystal Snow’s four-colored mane drooped. Her blood red eyes looked into the vastness of imagination, where she had the gems and could take Sombra head-on. For her sister Lythia Rose, who had to work day in and day out to uncover the Gem. For her alicorn mother, forced to spend a thousand years in despair after Sombra banished the Crystal Empire with her in Canterlot, separating her from her daughter. For her Unicorn father, who died in the third battle of this terrible war.
“Oh, Harmony,” she said to herself, “keep me sustained until the day I might take vengeance against King Sombra. Protect my sister during her waking hours, and guide her to peace during the night. Allow my father to rest in heaven, where there are no troubles to deal. Guide my mother on the path to peace and prosperity during this war, and continue to do so afterwards, regardless who wins it. Bring Princess Luna to Elysium so that she may not know pain and suffering again. Please, hear my prayers this day.”
She had just finished when her top commanders walked into the room. They saluted as they came through the door, and sat around the circular table.
Crystal Snow started the meeting fairly formally. “Alright, I see that everypony’s here, so attendance is done. Next we do reports, battle plans, blah, blah, blah. Let’s get to it. Captain Rocky Road, what’s the estimate on the Equestrian supplies?”
“Food is being rationed; that much is obvious. I believe they have set up boilers and distilleries to purify harbor water, and are ready for most provisions crises. Their ammunition must be getting low. It has to. Unless the Equestrians have set up makeshift factories, we should be able to enter the island in two day’s time.” he replied swiftly.
“I see. But we obviously can’t get on the island by sea. You saw that fiasco, with its white-hot flames that couldn’t be extinguished with water. The bridges may also be out of the question. Remember the Withersburg Bridge?” Seeing the officers nod, she asked, “So, what the hay’s left?”
One of the officers placed his hoof on the map. “Ma’am, this tunnel across the Hubson River is most likely not guarded as well. It has three exits in Kitchen Park, three along Third Street, and one by the New Market, on the eastern end of Second Street.”
“That’s a good suggestion. However, I will point out that it is a rail tunnel, meaning if they want to take out an invasion corridor, all they have to do is drive a train through it at full speed.”
“What if they don’t know, ma’am?” Captain Rocky understood instantly. “There are many ways to infiltrate enemy lines, and this tunnel may be the key. I can assure you that if this succeeds, we will all see those Equestrians in hell while our own selves are safe in heaven.”
Crystal Snow nodded, contemplating that move. It had a definite possibility of working. Her army could go right by all that technology and into the heart of Manehattan. Once she found their headquarters, it would be game over.
“Go ahead with the plan. We start first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Why not now?” asked a particularly rude officer.
“Because,” she snarled, “a princess deserves a proper burial, and I’d like to respect that. Get to your posts.”
The officers hurried out, except for Rocky Road. He had served with Crystal for a year and a half, and knew by now when she needed comfort. He placed his hoof around her neck, in a kind sort of way.
“Major, I can see almost everything that’s going on in your life. You know what you need to do, and giving them a day for mourning was the right thing to do.”
She turned her head to the left to look at him. “Yeah, but that isn’t the whole of it. After the Crystal Empire returned, when I was reunited with my mother, she told me that she’d found her sister. I have an aunt! But then it was bad news, with a war between my aunt’s home country and some Dominion. I learned that my aunt’s descendants and their comrades were holding to the last, especially at this Aquarius River place. And the farthest down the family tree, somepony named Rose Thorn, was a field medic during that battle. She met a stallion who apparently had a heavy concussion and-” she shivered with slight fear- “a severed left wing.”
“You know, that stallion reminds me of the report on Celestia’s commander on that island.” He took his leg off of her. “Crimson coat, scar over his left cutie mark, metal left wing, hazel eyes, black mane and tail with a blue stripe. It all fits.” Rocky’s eyes narrowed as he came to a conclusion. But just to be safe, he wanted to know something. “Did this stallion take Rose Thorn’s hoof in marriage?”
“Yes, in fact. Mother’s story had almost all the details. They- wait a minute! Colonel Crimson Dawn is my cousin?!”