“Wake up, Colonel!” Captain Midnight Shadow waved his hoof in front of Crimson’s face to see if the Pegasus would respond. Crimson jerked his head back and recoiled from the perceived threat.
“Wha- I’m up, Sarge!”
“Sir?”
Crimson blinked a couple times. “Sorry. Just a flashback.”
Midnight nodded understanding. “Sir, Lieutenant Comet has checked in from his expedition to the west. He reports that no Changelings had been encountered. And before you ask, yes, we did use the detection spell on his entire troop. They all turned out okay.”
Crimson, bobbing his head distractedly, now fully woke to the present day. He immediately stopped and asked Midnight to repeat himself. The captain did, albeit annoyed, and the colonel had what he needed to know. The Celestial Sea was visible to the east from their campsite, Baltimare to the north, and nopony to the west. That left the enemy camp one location: south. And judging by the now-seen buzz of activity there, it was way too close for comfort. They’d just have to work around it.
As he walked with Midnight to the command tent, the two saw a small escort surrounding a dark blue Crystal pony least expected to be here. The crown atop her head was empty, devoid of the five crystal that powered it to give her abilities to control temperature. Her cutie mark was probably the same crown, only with its gems. The mare’s mane and tail had four colors, and seemed to cover the late-autumn grass with a fresh coat of frost as she walked. Her red eyes searched the camp for the colonel, and they rested on the crimson Pegasus. She said something, and the escort brought her to them. Upon getting to a conversational distance, she saluted.
“Colonel Dawn, I have offered Princess Mi Amore Cadenza my parole, and she has accepted. I was to report to you as soon as I arrived.”
Crimson blinked. Could Crystal Snow really have defected? Returning the salute, he said, “Well, I see no reason to keep you out of the rank you were. Therefore, I’m keeping you a major. However, the troops may see your presence differently, so be careful. Meet me in the command tent in ten. I’ll have to introduce you to the other officers.”
She saluted again and obeyed. The escort dissipated, each pony going back to his or her duties. Crimson glanced at Midnight, who simply shrugged. There wasn’t much he could do.
“Everyone, this is Crystal Snow. she’s shown competence in being an officer, so I’m keeping her rank a major. Crystal Snow, this is Captain Midnight Shadow, Lieutenant Silver Comet, and Midnight’s second-in-command, Lieutenant Solar Flare. Questions?” Crimson gestured to each of the other officers as he said their names.
“No, sir.”
“Good.” Crimson placed his hoof on the map spread out on the table in the middle of the group. “Normally, I wouldn’t trust someone until they’ve proven their worth to me, but these aren’t normal times. Now, according to my arithmetic, the Changeling camp is ten miles south of us. And we need to take it out before long. It’s either a winter war, a late-autumn war, or a spring war. As far south as we are, it’s a lot colder than it should be, most likely because of the magical imbalance or whatnot caused by the deaths of Princess Luna and Princess Twilight. So I want to avoid a winter war.”
“Well, sir, if we know where they are, we can hit them,” mused Silver Comet. “Maybe not necessarily a strategic advantage, but it’s an option.”
Crystal Snow spoke up. “A siege.”
Everypony else arched an eyebrow in question. She continued: “The Crystal Empire laid siege to dozens of cities so far, using the same generic pattern for attack. They show up with superior numbers and whittle away at the defenders. Not that it mattered once we hit the highly organized resistance in Manehattan, of course, but it works for the most part.”
“True.” Crimson moved pieces around the battlemap. “So, if we spread out here, here, and here, we can surround the Changeling camp. We can use the metal fleet to block any escape to the east.”
“Too far,” commented Midnight. “Give them a perceived alleyway of escape at this point,” he said, using his Unicorn magic to point with a stick, “and they’ll go for it. They have to.”
“You want to give them a straight road to Baltimare?”
“No, I want to make it look like there’s one. When they go for it, we swoop from behind and wipe them out.”
Silver Comet nodded. “Hmm.”
“This is a pretty old strategy, if I say so myself.” Crimson said. “I’m not sure Chrysalis’ll fall for it. But it’s worth a shot. Dismissed!”
Queen Chrysalis stared at the Equestrian encampment through a spyglass one of her spies had acquired in Baltimare. He also had news of a defected Crystal commander who arrived as the queen watched. She dismissed him and kept watching. Those steel and copper contraptions that were stationed in the northern section were being maintained, and the process was quite intriguing. The spyglass shifted against her spherical face and she cursed. This damned thing was meant for ponies with a slightly elliptical head, but was useful nonetheless. She shifted it back and continued watching.
Movement to the east caught her eye, and the queen turned to look. The steel vessels were doing something in the aft area. As she watched, a gray machine, obviously made of steel as well, wheeled out of a white door she’d initially assumed was a wall. The top unfolded into several long, thin blades which began to spin around a central box-tube… thingy. Chrysalis had no idea what the thing was. A few bipeds climbed inside the insidious creation, and Chrysalis felt a lump in her throat as she saw the long barrel sticking from the underside of the front when it lifted into the air. She had no doubt it was one of those “quick-fire-spitter” devices that decimated half her army. At first glance, she thought her drones would be protected from their magic, but the battle was a technological one, not magical.
And the bipeds could fly. Every advantage Chrysalis thought she had over the bipedal aliens diminished without a trace. She believed her army’s flight capabilities would help even the playing field, but realized they’d just been hiding their own. Damn. She could hear a thunder-like drone from her position this far away. It was low but persistent.
Chrysalis watched helplessly astonished while the steel monstrosity landed in the Equestrian encampment. Its occupants climbed out and talked with the damned red Pegasus said to have led the defense of Manehattan. If only he’d been defeated, she wouldn’t have this stalemate, with neither side willing to attack the other. Chrysalis vowed to have a word with Sombra about the competence of his soldiers when they hit organized resistance. Harmony damn it. It wasn’t her fault the Crystal Empire’s army fled with their tails between their legs every time they were defeated in a city. True, the Equestrians did it as well, and more often since they normally lost the battle, but they at least did it with dignity. The Crystal army just ran. Speaking of the bastards…
Sombra had told her via communications spell that the army defeated in Manehattan had a special treat. They were ordered to get to Neighagra Falls if they lost, and waiting for them was a group of three full regiments to arrest them for failure and suspected treason, blah, blah, blah. Their commander was given a chance to redeem himself by taking Ponyville, and the remnants were scattered into either the Gem operation or other regiments. Considering how that battle turned out, the commander was promptly executed upon his sullen arrival in the Empire. Oh well. He’d seemed like a nice guy, but being thrust into a position of command from the guy who just does the work without making every critical decision was too much.
Chrysalis stopped brooding and turned to look at the Changeling who’s just said something to her. “Repeat that, will you?”
“Yes, my queen. Since all Changelings in the Hive are subject to your will, even though they have a slightly independent mind for the purpose of generating ideas, a thought had come to my head. What if we simply asked for them to feed us love, like Queen What’s-Her-Name to the west? Wouldn’t we get more out of it than if we outright attacked them?”
“An interesting idea, however unlike us it is. We’d get what we want, but my thirst for conquest wouldn’t be satisfied,” she mumbled. Speaking louder, she said, “My cousin Queen Paradox sees no reason to go to war; however, I do. She is a pacifist, and that is a word unheard of in my kingdom. I would invade her Hive and use it for my own purposes, but she lives on the other side of the South Luna Ocean. It might take weeks out of a time that isn’t very long to begin with. So, as for your question, my answer is no. We cannot imitate our relatives who have no purpose in life other than to do nothing, and we will therefore continue with the plan. My plan.”