//------------------------------//
// Chapter 27 
// Story: Civil War of Harmony 
// by SC_Orion 
//------------------------------//


General Maneuver



The rows of pale gray tents before me were a very familiar sight. I had walked the path many times before, although never with quite so much urgency. Given that General Hoof hadn't been heard from, and that his army was in bad shape, having sustained nearly a thirty percent casualty ratio, my urgency could be understood. But of course that completely ignored the most pressing issue: Princess Luna. The scout that had just returned walked beside me, the pegasus's golden armor had a burn mark from where a spell glanced off of it, and he had a crimson stain running down his neck. He ignored his wound as much as it allowed him to. He was focused. I could see hesitation and fear in his eyes, but I could also see determination in them too. He had followed his orders to the letter despite the fear. He was a good soldier.


According to him, he had seen Princess Luna herself looking over a brigade of unicorns. I had a very bad feeling about that. Hearing him say that caused a red flag to raise in the forefront of my mind. It was only a matter of time before the attack began. We couldn't afford to lose Orange River Valley, and we wouldn't. The valley itself served as a major chokepoint between Princess Luna's forces and Princess Celestia's forces. The valley, which could also be described as a pass, was a fertile strip of land set between two mountain ranges that were rich with resources. The rocky and forested terrain made the mountains difficult to attack by ground forces, which allowed us to bottleneck Princess Luna's forces in the valley even though they outnumbered us in terms of pegasi. Princess Luna's ground forces also outnumbered us, but the valley gave us an advantage by reducing the area that they could attack. Princess Luna's soldiers seemed to have better military 'competency' as General Breaker put it, but our forces weren't incompetent either. Drill sergeants, instructors, and hours of training made sure of that. We also had a few surprises ready for Princess Luna's forces. Of course, if push came to shove and Princess Luna took to the field, there wasn't very much we could do, with the exception of slowing her down.


A soldier's eyes glanced at me while I walked by. The glance was brief, but I could see the fear and morale loss in his eyes. News of General Hoof's defeat hit morale hard, especially considering he outnumbered Princess Twilight's forces two to one. It didn't help that the last battle I had fought was also a loss.


That memory left a bitter taste in my mouth. I forced it away and pressed on. The only way to prevent history from repeating itself was to learn from mistakes. I was not about to make the same mistake as before.


Two unicorns, one on each side of the entrance to the tent that served as headquarters went rigid as I approached. They saluted me and lit their horns, pulling the tent flaps open for me. I returned the salute and continued inside.


"General Maneuver," General Breaker acknowledged.


"General," I replied.


The unicorn glanced at the pegasus scout beside me and grimaced, understanding that the scout had seen something important. "What have you to report?"


The scout went rigid. "I spotted Princess Luna rallying her forces, commander. I counted fifty plus unicorns in heavy armor, sir..."


He continued speaking. I blocked it out. I had already heard his report and I didn't need to hear it again. I walked to the center of the room and glanced over the map. Our positions were marked by yellow pieces, and Princess Luna's positions were marked by blue pieces. There were also pink pieces stationed in reserve, soldiers from the Crystal Empire who would back us up if Princess Luna overcommitted, or joined the battle herself. Princess Luna's forces may have outnumbered General Breaker and my own combined forces, but with an army of soldiers from the Crystal Empire, that balance was tipped in our favor.


It also helped that these soldiers were displaced in time by over one thousand years.


"Seems like only yesterday we were at the academy... and now this," General Breaker commented, coming to a stop beside me. I nodded in agreement. Time had flown by quickly. Perhaps too quickly, now that I thought about it. I had never intended to devote my life to the military, but the time just got away from me. "Everypony's talking about how General Hoof was defeated by Princess Twilight's forces."


"Do we have any idea what caused that pulse?" I asked, thinking back to the report I had read. General Hoof's primary camp had been leveled by high-tier magic. I had never seen anything like it, and I had heard that nopony knew what it was, not even Princess Celestia. It was a scary thought that Princess Celestia, somepony who had lived for thousands of years, had no idea what had happened.


"No, and we haven't been able to get anypony out there to investigate. The place is swarming with Wonderbolts."


I cursed under my breath. "Arrogant traitors..." I added as an afterthought.


Out of the corner of my eye, I saw General Breaker shake his head. "You have to admit, they certainly live up to their reputation."


"They chose the wrong side," I stated forcefully.


"It's a shame, too. We could have used their help in this battle..." he trailed off.


"If Princess Luna commits to the battle, it wouldn't make a difference," I countered.


General Breaker frowned and looked at me. "I've been working on a solution to that problem," he said with an inquisitive voice. "I have a force of artillery unicorns ready to set up here on my command," he pointed at the map position where three unicorns were positioned, then pointed at a position in close proximity to enemy forces. "We'll only get one shot at it, but if we can draw Princess Luna out, we may be able to bombard her position with enough magic to convince her to withdraw. She was banished for a thousand years, and I highly doubt she's been able to go over everything that has changed in her absence." I could almost hear the smirk in his voice.


I scrutinized the grid, securing the zone he wanted to set up in would be a nightmare for artillery unicorns without support. "You'd be contested by pegasi, I don't think that position is-"


"Seconds will count if we're to make this work," he answered seriously. "I will need pegasi support to keep Princess Luna's pegasi preoccupied if we're to get a chance to follow through with this."


I scrutinized his expression. He was deadset on his plan, and the fire in his eyes told me that he believed he could make it work. I looked away from him and looked over the map. "Even if we convince Princess Luna to withdraw, we still have fifty thousand soldiers to deal with and a lot of territory to protect," I said as I looked over the long defensive line.


"If Princess Luna's forces break through, we can do a pincer move with the reinforcements from the Crystal Empire."


I shook my head sharply. "That's risking a lot. If her forces start flanking us..."


General Breaker turned to me. I turned to face him. He looked at me thoughtfully. "I thought you were tactically inclined, Maneuver. You scored top marks for battlefield tactics in the academy. A pincer move would crush any breakthrough that Princess Luna's forces make."


I bobbed my head. He had a point. "But you're not considering the implications of those forces breaking through."


"We don't have many options. Unless you're recommending a full-scale assault."


I shook my head. "We don't have the forces or resources for that."


General Breaker lowered his gaze back to the map and slowly turned away from me. "With the way things are going, we may never..." he mumbled.


"Just because we've lost three major battles does not mean we're going to fail here. You remember the history texts, many great nations who ended up winning wars won because of their major defeats at the start of the war. They learned from their mistakes and adapted, while their enemies arrogance cost them the war."


"We're fighting a war on two fronts, Maneuver. Director Tap is reorganizing General Hoof's surviving forces and our reserve forces. He's been put in command of the surviving forces temporarily until the princess can find somepony to take command."


I gritted my teeth. "Is he going after Princess Twilight?" I asked with caution.


"From what I understand, Princess Celestia is planning to take a more conservative approach to dealing with Princess Twilight."


It wasn't worth it to fight Princess Twilight. I was cautious about the idea at the start of hostilities, and now I with General Hoof missing, I was convinced that it wasn't worth it to fight Princess Twilight. Unfortunately, it seemed that Princess Twilight didn't care what I thought. "Containment?"


General Breaker nodded.


I bobbed my head. "We don't have the resources for this..."


"None of us do," he replied earnestly. "We weren't prepared for anything like this."


I grunted in agreement. I felt like we should have seen this coming. I felt like we should have known and prepared for this. A civil war hadn't been expected, to say nothing of it being a three-way civil war. The fact that Princess Twilight went off on her own and managed to gather enough forces, support and resources to mount a successful defense against General Hoof had taken me by surprise. It had taken everypony by surprise. The fact that Princess Luna had mobilized so quickly left us scrambling to reorganize. One thing was abundantly clear over the past few months since the war had started, Princess Luna was a tactician, and Princess Celestia was not. Princess Luna could mobilize for war, and Princess Celestia could barely keep up with the help of top generals. Princess Luna started with nopony of a higher rank that colonel loyal to her, and now she had highly competent officers coordinating her forces with a precision that rivaled our own.


We were mobilizing too slowly, although once we were mobilized, I knew we could win the war. It had been far too long since the last major conflict where the military was involved. The one advantage we had over Princess Luna was resources. We could win by attrition, but Princess Luna and Princess Twilight were moving quickly. Princess Celestia knew this, and she was adapting to it, but I wasn't sure it would be enough.


I heard a subtle crack of magic and pointed my ears in the direction it came from. Looking up, I saw a unicorn quickly reading over a scroll. He looked up and glanced around the tent, then ran over to me. General Breaker took the scroll in his magic and held it out for both of us. We read the report with baited breath. Almost as soon as I read the last period, several more cracks of magic filled the air. General Breaker put the scroll down on the table and looked around.


"I guess we're about to find out whether or not we've learned from our mistakes, General," General Breaker said as he lit his horn.




Princess Luna



A light yellow pegasus figurine was pushed across the map by a long stick. To most ponies, it looked almost like a simple game. Something that warranted no additional scrutiny, however, to a trained military commander, such a move warranted immediate action, especially since it was a map used to depict the state of the battle currently being waged. "Reroute squadron twenty-eight to grid two-three-two," General Gale said calmly. Almost immediately, a flash of magic from a unicorn sent out an order. In a few seconds, a reply was received, and a dark blue pegasus was pushed across the map to their updated position.


And when the squadrons met, ponies would die, slain because my sister was an impudent foal. Countless lives would be lost this battle, and she would pay for them, along with the rest of her mistakes. I still loved my sister, but she would answer for her crimes. Unfortunately, I had little time to give to considering her mistakes, nor the lives that would be lost in the engagement. A quick glance around the map told tales of far more tragedy than the two squadrons of pegasi that would engage within minutes.


On top of that, I was needed to lead the charge. Equestria had grown soft from centuries of peace. It had been many lifetimes since Equestria had been in anything that I could even liberally call a war. The last so-called 'major conflict' was foals play compared to thousands of years ago. In a way, it was nice. Fewer ponies died from the horrors of war now than before, and for that, I had to thank Celestia, but unfortunately my thanks had to be withheld due to the conflict which she had started.


I looked at the slender blue pegasus that was General Gale. "General, do not disappoint me."


He went rigid and saluted me. "Yes, my Princess!"


I took a deep breath, then gave the room one last glance before turning around and igniting my horn. A quick teleport brought me back to the field I had previously occupied. Ten columns of fifteen rows of unicorns stood up a little straighter as I appeared in a flash of magic. Their dark blue armor barely reflected the sunlight, and each one held a gaze that could outlast steel. Many of them would likely not survive the upcoming battle, but I would do my best to protect them.


Out of the corner of my eye, I saw several bolts of magic arc into the sky. I took a second to watch them. I turned and followed the spells with my eyes. They flew through the air in a parabolic trajectory, then they disappeared beyond the treeline, impacting enemy targets somewhere. Almost as soon as the spells disappeared, two more barrages appeared, heading towards their position from different angles. We were severely outnumbered in terms of unicorns, especially when it came to siege specialists.


Fortunately, there was only so much siege specialists could do against earth ponies, which we had plenty of, although they made up for it in being able to attack without endangering themselves. They were also not very well equipped to deal with pegasi, although they would certainly know more spells than just concussive bombardment spells. Perhaps it was no wonder why Twilight managed to repel an assault from my sister. I had tried to congratulate her the night when I first heard of her success, but it seemed that she had gone back to not trusting me, as I could not access her mind. Perhaps it was for the best, although such actions deeply upset me at the time. If I was honest, it still upset me, although I had other matters to deal with besides Twilight blocking me from her mind.


Still, the fact she was able to repel a force twice her own size proudly displayed her as a tactician. Or at the very least, it made General Hoof's lack of tactical skills apparent. 'How did you manage to pull that off?' I wondered. The information we had concerning her success involved her using the weather as a force multiplier. If that was the case, then General Hoof was indeed a fool. My sister didn't have a lot of pegasi, and Twilight's forces were almost entirely pegasi. It was an interesting outcome.


As much as I wanted to find out more about the curious outcome of the battle, I had urgent matters to attend to. Twilight had won her battle and pushed my sister back. Now I had to win a battle and push my sister back. Victory was one of the sweetest tastes I knew of, and defeat was by far the most bitter, although perhaps it paled to the taste of my turning into Nightmare Moon. That taste made defeat look sweet by comparison.


My sister was being a fool. She was moving far too slowly for the way things were going. Three battles she had lost, and this would be a fourth. She had minor victories and major setbacks. It was only a matter of time before she would succumb to my forces, or, perhaps Twilight would surprise me again. Even if Twilight somehow managed to best my sister, I would best her. She was my friend and I would offer her a chance to surrender. She would still have a position of authority in Equestria once I ruled it, but Equestria would be mine.


I lit my horn, then expanded my magical aura to surround the entire battle group. A teleportation spell was relatively simple, teleporting an inatimate object from one point to another was safe and relatively easy. Teleporting oneself was more complicated. Teleporting another pony with you was a rare feat of magic, save for millennia ago when great unicorns had far more magic than they would now, however, there were a lot more ponies who could teleport themselves now than back then. Teleporting large numbers of ponies along with oneself was a feat that only three unicorns had performed. Fortunately, none of that mattered to me. "Prepare for imminent insertion!" I shouted, then twisted my magic into the spell and released it.


The world warped, colors shifted, and there was absolute silence for what felt like an eternity. And immediately, everything changed and the area was flooded with a bright light blue colored light, the same as my magical aura. Almost as soon as everything changed, the light disappeared. On instinct, I flared my wings and erected a barrier around myself, then I felt a bolt of magic strike my barrier.


I swiveled around on a hoof and leveled my horn on the unicorn squadron. It had taken them only a second to recognize who I was, but that was several seconds too long. I unleashed my magic on them, and a pillar of blue light erupted from my horn. The unicorn group attacking me scattered, and I could hear the hundred and fifty of my soldiers scattering behind me as well. My beam missed my target, but my task was complete. I turned around and glanced over the clearing, making sure none of my ponies were still there, then I cast my teleportation spell, aiming for the sky above me.


I caught the air with my flared wings and immediately stabilized. With my horn still powered, it was a simple task to defend myself from any potential threats, although it proved unnecessary. From my vantage point, I could overlook the battle with greater effectiveness than unicorns who quickly relaid tactical data to my generals. Pegasi scouts would have a similar advantage, although it took longer to get reports back. I surveyed the battle and made notes of what I could see. Even from my height, I could not see all of the battles raging, and because of my height, I could not see all of the details of those battles.


I shook the thought aside, then teleported back to the headquarters. Nopony batted an eye or acknowledged my presence when I appeared, they were all too focused on their tasks. A quick glance on the map revealed that neither General Maneuver nor General Breaker was attempting a counter attack. They were simply holding the line, as it were. Upon further scrutiny, I could see several breaks forming in their lines, along with my own offensive push. The battle had barely been going on for half an hour, so I couldn't make many predictions about what would happen.


"General Sapphire still hasn't committed his forces to the battle," General Gale muttered.


"They are waiting for an opportune moment to counter attack," I said.


General Gale turned and looked at me. After a few seconds, he looked away and stared down at the map again. He looked at the map with disgust. "Deploy group seven-two and squadron forty-six to grid two-three-two, the enemy is pushing us back there."


I walked over to the map and scrutinized that grid. "Delay that order," I said aloud. General Gale glanced at me sideways but said nothing. "I will rally our forces and break through. General, please see to the conquest of grid two-five-one so that we may begin a pincer move."


"Yes, Princess!" he said eagerly.


I turned around and powered my horn again.


"Redirect fire group three onto grid two-five-one..." General Gale said right before I teleported away.


I appeared just outside of what I believed to be the battle taking place in the zone I was in. Either my estimation or my aim was off, I could hear magic whisking through the air a very short distance away. I flapped my wings and took to the sky. As I flew higher, I zeroed in on spells being exchanged. It appeared that my forces were holding the treeline, and that General Breaker's unicorns were attempting to push us back. My attention was drawn back to the treeline when the trunk of a tree exploded, causing the tree to fall towards another tree. The second tree caught the first with it's branches, but the branches weren't strong enough. The sound of breaking treelimbs filled the air as both trees were battered by the assault.


After the tree hit the ground, the volume of spell fire from my forces decreased, and the volume of spell fire from General Breaker's forces aimed at the treeline decreased in half. The other half of that spell fire was directed at me. I flared my horn and protected myself with a barrier. Even just using my unicorn magic, swatting away their spells was a task that was nearly effortless, even as dozens of spells were directed at me. It helped that only a few managed to come close to me, although I would have easily handled their full bombardment.


I readied myself, then teleported to the treeline. "Report!" I ordered, just above the sharp crack of my magic.


"P-Princess Luna!" the closest soldier shouted. I followed the sound of his voice and found the stallion. His eyes were wide with fear, and his armor had been scorched by a spell. He appeared to be in good condition, otherwise.


"How many of you remain?" I asked quickly, formulating a plan while also looking around.


"Just over three fourths," he answered.


I nodded to myself. "Any severe injuries?"


"N-no, Princess!"


"Good..." I said under my breath. "Prepare to rally on me on my signal. I will disrupt their forces."


"What's the sig-"


I teleported before he could finish his question, although I could tell what his question was going to be. They would know it when they saw it. As soon as the teleportation completed, I released a burst of magic directly in front of me. The earth erupted where the spell hit, and two unicorns stumbled away from the blast. They were too far away for the spell to do any lasting harm, although they might have been disorientated, judging from their sluggish reactions. That was the least of their problems.


Before either of them recovered, I leveled my horn on each of them and released a single spell. The spell burned through the enchantments, then punched through their armor and bodies, leaving holes in the ground along the trajectory of the spells. Their bodies were thrown away from me with the spell, but I didn't wait to see what would become of them.


I turned to my left and leveled my horn on another unicorn. It seemed that the group had finally noticed my presence as most of them were turning their attention to me. I released a spell at him, and it killed him instantly. Over the next few seconds, easily two dozen spells impacted my barrier, and six more unicorns were added to my kill count.


I braced myself as five earth ponies charged at me. I lowered my horn on them and managed to release three spells before they reached me. Two of the earth ponies were felled, and the third was merely injured, although I doubted he would be in the fight again for a very long time. I had torn a hole through his armor and chest, although my spell seemed to have not pierced the enchantment as much as it should have.


I pushed the thought aside as the two remaining earth ponies slammed into me with the force of a waterfall, adding to the strain of the bombardment I was already under. I flashed my horn and exploded my barrier outwards, creating a bright light and a pressure wave that threw the closest ponies away from me, potentially with lethal force.


I quickly reformed my barrier and aimed my horn at one of the unicorns still standing, only for a crimson bolt of magic to impact him in the chest. He stumbled and turned towards the source before releasing a counter-attack of his own. Following the crimson bolt of magic, three more bolts of magic impacted him. Each bolt scorched his armor, until finally, the last one pierced it. Although the bolt of magic didn't kill him, it did throw him to the ground and caused him to clutch his side and groan in pain.


I spared a glance at the direction of the treeline and watched as a dozen ponies rushed out. It was good to see that most of the squad was intact, although a little disheartening that I had only found a single squad. It mattered little, I was rallying out forces. The squad leader ran to me and acknowledged me with a salute. "Secure the area and await further orders. Expect reinforcements and orders to involve a pincer attack," I said quickly, then I teleported back into the air before he could reply.




General Quartz



Modern military uniforms weren't comfortable. They were too lightweight and decorative. There wasn't enough weight to the fabric, and even with decades, I doubted I could adapt to it. I shifted my weight. The way the fabric hugged my form was too loose. It had too much air circulation. It was too formal, too. I could find countless flaws with the uniform. Armor had plenty of flaws on its own, but it was more comfortable. Wearing this accursed uniform wasn't comfortable.


Or maybe it was what was about to happen, and I was just trying to distract myself. What was about to happen made me uncomfortable, but it had to stop. There wasn't a soul in the Crystal Empire who didn't care about Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but everypony also noticed that they chose to support Princess Celestia over their own flesh and blood family. Nopony liked that.


I tilted my head to the left and glanced at Mayor Lattice. He looked about as unhappy as me. He was lucky, though. He didn't have to wear a uniform. To his left were four soldiers, and to mine were an additional four soldiers. I hoped they proved unnecessary. Nopony wanted them to be necessary, but if it came down to it we would do our job.


That didn't mean our job was easy by any chance. As we walked along the grand crystal hallways in the Crystal Palace, guards stood up straighter as we passed them in silence, the only sounds coming from our hooves clacking against the crystal. They all knew what was going to happen, and about the only ponies in the Empire that didn't know what was about to happen were the two we were going to visit. How it had been kept from them eluded me, although I could bet it had to do with very few ponies completely supporting them because of their choices.


I knew the guards wouldn't have to do anything other than be there. It was more of a show of unity than anything. If they were actually needed, then there would be problems that I wasn't sure we could deal with, with our army preoccupied. Even though I knew it was unlikely anything would go wrong, there was still that chance, and because of that, it was my job to make sure nothing bad happened. Mostly, though, I was just there to make sure they knew where the army stood.


We slowed as we reached the large double doors to the throne room. As per custom, the two soldiers standing on either side of the door pushed them open. Although the doors were massive and looked heavy, it took minimal effort to open them up thanks to the soldiers' strength and the precisely tuned magic at work in the castle. As the doors were parted, the throne room was revealed. The grand room brought a sense of pride to me, it looked right compared to what it had been under King Sombra's reign. The bastard unicorn enslaved us and used dark magic to take over the Empire. He was lucky that he had been killed by Princess Twilight Sparkle and Sir Spike. If it hadn't been for their victory permanently freeing us from his blight and destroying the usurper in the process, the entire Empire's army would have hunted him down as soon as we recovered.


I shuddered to think about what would have happened if they failed, or if Sombra had regained control.


Princess Cadance looked up from a scroll and smiled warmly as we walked inside, although her gaze along with that of her husband was drawn to the soldiers accompanying us. "Princess," I acknowledged with a courteous bow.


"General Quartz... Mayor Lattice... what brings both of you here?" Princess Cadance asked, sliding off of her throne and walking forward. Shining Armor walked forward right beside her, sparing an occasional loving glance at his wife.


I rose from my bow and turned to Mayor Lattice. He took a deep breath and stepped forward. I could almost see his hooves shaking, his predecessor had been killed by one King Sombra years ago, before the Empire had been locked away, right before he took power. "Princess, Prince." He acknowledged. "The Crystal Empire no longer wishes you two to rule over us."


Princess Cadance frowned, and Shining Armor looked at him like he had been struck. No, worse than that, like the mayor had struck his wife. "Excuse me?" he said.


Cadance glanced at Prince Shining Armor, "Shining..." she said softly. The prince clenched his jaw and looked at her. Cadance looked back toward us. "What... do you mean?" she asked.


I cleared my throat. "The citizens of the empire don't approve of supporting Princess Celestia in this war, Princess Cadance. The soldiers aren't very happy that they were used in such a way as to enable an attack against Princess Twilight Sparkle."


Cadance's expression softened. "I'm not happy about that either, but we have to support Princess Celestia. If Princess Luna wins..."


"Princess," Mayor Lattice sighed. "Nopony asked us who we wanted to rule over us. We happily accepted you because you were among those that liberated us, but Princess Celestia still put you in charge, and you still answer to her. The Empire had been banished for over a thousand years prior to returning, and before that we had been enslaved by a tyrant." I could hear pain in his voice with the words he spoke, and a quick glance confirmed that he had steeled his resolve. "When you've been ruled by a tyrant for your entire lifetime, one learns not to question who gets put in charge, even after the tyrant is killed..." He paused and shifted his weight. "Neither of you are tyrants, and we would happily join Equestria if it were united, but right now we have become a puppet state of Equestria, helping Princess Celestia with whatever she needs."


"The Crystal Empire is not a puppet state of Equestria," Shining Armor argued, his brow furrowing.


"Consider that it was Twilight Sparkle and Sir Spike who actually saved us, Princess. You and Prince Armor held off King Sombra, but in the end, you both failed to protect us. Twilight Sparkle is now a princess, and Princess Celestia is at war with her. We cannot in our right minds abide this, Princess," Mayor Lattice said at length. "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to ask you to leave. We declare fealty to Princess Twilight."


"You can't do that! Princess Celestia has been nothing but good to-"


"Prince," I said. He stopped and looked at me. I turned to Princess Cadance. "May we drop the formalities?" She nodded hesitantly. I turned back to Shining Armor. "Shining, Celestia is at war with your sister. I know you don't like that. I can't understand how you'd still rather support Celestia over your own family! If there is one thing that we value more than the Crystal Heart and love, it's family."


"She doesn't have the experience..." Shining sighed sadly. "If she did, both me and Cadance would be right behind her."


"She may not have experience, but she does have success," I replied. I saw him flex and relax his jaw several times before I continued. "Before she saved the Crystal Empire, how many achievements had she accomplished?" I asked. "And compare that with Princess Celestia as of late. Her age seems to be catching up with her, and I can't help but wonder if alicorns aren't actually immortal." I ended with a glance at Cadance. Her lips were drawn into a pained expression. "It's nothing personal," I added. "And when hostilities end, you will be welcomed back to the Crystal Empire, so long as Princess Twilight allows it."


"Which I'm sure she will," Mayor Lattice added.


"You can't do this, General," Shining argued.


I sighed and shook my head. "You're not in a position to stop us. We have nearly complete backing from the civilian populace, and I doubt many soldiers would disagree with their decision. You would have known about this before now if that was the case." I could see his jaw muscles flexing.


"You... I thought we-"


"Shining..." Cadance said softly, glancing around at all of us. "There's no way we can convince you not to do this?"


Mayor Lattice shook his head sadly. "No, Princess. Not unless you two are willing to support Princess Twilight over Princess Celestia."


"You'll be escorted to the train station. From there, you're free to go anywhere that isn't the Crystal Empire," I said, despite knowing that their destination would be Canterlot. There was a chance they might come to see reason and side with Twilight, but I wasn't sure how big of a chance that was. It frustrated me to know that they'd support Princess Celestia over their own family. I couldn't imagine being in that position, but I never would, so thinking about it was a waste.


"Let's go..." Cadance said softly, looking at Shining Armor. After a few seconds, six of the eight guards started walking beside them, escorting them away.


"I hope you don't come to regret this, Quartz," Shining warned as he approached. I kept an even gaze. Once he was beside me, he stopped and his expression softened. "Keep her safe for me," he said.


I smiled. They weren't completely against Twilight, it seemed. "I will," I replied. For a few seconds, he smiled slightly, then he walked forward again, catching up with his wife in just a few seconds.


We watched them leave. After the door closed behind them, I exhaled sharply and turned to the mayor. "See to it that Princess Twilight is informed of what has happened. I will withdraw our forces from Equestria."


"That went better than I expected," he said. relief evident in his voice.


I shook my head. "That was the easy part. We both knew they wouldn't put up a fight when faced with the entire population wanting them to leave. The hard part is going to be when Princess Celestia finds out about this." We both grimaced.




Princess Luna



It seemed like my presence alone was causing General Breaker's forces to withdraw, however, I had received reports that they were breaking through in other areas. However, those areas were being reinforced and General Breaker's unicorn fire support was being targeted by pegasi. They were taking heavy losses. My forces were too. They had more reserve forces, however. The Crystal Empire army was still in reserve, likely being held until the right moment presented itself.


A spell surged passed me. I squinted at the unicorn and leveled my horn on him. He dived below the spell and rolled. When he found his footing he released another spell at me. He wasn't very accurate, but his spell still managed to hit one of my soldiers, judging from the impact I heard. The spell didn't break through the armor, but it might need to be repaired. As if cued by my targeting that unicorn, a dozen bolts of magic bombarded his position. Most of the spells missed, but a few struck the ground to varying effects. One of them appeared to be a modified concussion spell which exploded the earth beside him. He lost his footing, and before he could regain it, two of my earth ponies were on him.


The downed unicorn knew that struggling was pointless at that point, he lacked the physical strength to fight two earth ponies off. Even with that, he still resisted them and was rewarded with a blow to the back of the head that rendered him unconscious. The two earth ponies proceeded to lift him from the ground, the carry him out of my sight. I kept my gaze leveled with the terrain, scanning for any enemy reinforcements.


It had been a long time since I had seen combat on such a scale, barring the few battles which had recently happened. It was every bit as terrible as I remembered. Ponies' lives were cut short, violently. But there was no choice. Celestia had forced this war upon all of us, and now ponies were paying the price for her mistake.


A glimmer of light in the sky caught my attention. It looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. It took me half a second to realize that it was heading towards us. "Take cover!" I ordered. Immediately following my order, I lit my horn to form a barrier around us. I was too slow. The spell slammed into the ground and erupted the earth, shredding both grass and rock.


The pressure wave knocked me off of my hooves, and I found myself sprawled out on the ground with my ears ringing. Another sharp pressure wave assaulted my body. I clenched my eyes closed as my chest shook, and I fought off a cough. Two more sharp cracks. I saw an earth pony thrown into the air. I didn't know what fate awaited him, or even if he was still alive.


I fought through the chaos and summoned my magic again, then raised a barrier around me. A second later, I expanded the barrier to cover our position. Three concussive spells impacted my barrier almost simultaneously. I shrugged off the attack and rose to my hooves. Sharp cracks echoed through the barrier with each spell that detonated.


For half a minute, the bombardment refused to let up, coming in waves. Each one felt weaker than the last, and after the last spell fell. I lowered my barrier. I took a deep breath and coughed. I covered my mouth and looked at the blood on my dark armor. The sight revolted me. I lowered my hoof back to the ground, knowing that such an injury wasn't a threat to me. "Report!" I called out. Several groans met my call.


I heard a cough and turned to my left. A pegasus limped over to me, clutching his wing. "Princess, heavy-" he coughed, "-casualties. We need to pull ba-ack!"


I gritted my teeth, then turned my attention to the sky, searching for any of Celestia's pegasi. I didn't see any, nor did I see any of my own pegasi. I snorted, then extended my magic and took a hold of every pony who showed the slightest signs of life, then I teleported them to the infirmaries. I took a deep breath and surveyed the field, then I flared my wings out.


I pressed my eyes closed and fell to my knees. "Ah!" I gritted my teeth as pain surged through my body, emanating from my right wing. I turned to find out what had happened. Blood was dripping down my wing. I took a deep breath, I'd have to remember to be careful with my wing for the remainder of the battle. It would take more than that to stop me, although it would slow me down.


It gave me pause, however. With crystal ponies in reserve, their plan might have been to incapacitate me and then attempt to capture me. It was cunning. Something I didn't think Celestia could have come up with. I clenched my jaw and surveyed the field, this time the side that Celestia's forces 'controlled.' I didn't see anything coming, but that didn't mean nothing was coming. Teleporting in combat wasn't easy, and I didn't feel like attempting to find out if I could succeed at doing that, nor did I have any desire to face off against crystal ponies.


I took another deep breath and slowly stood up. I glanced around my immediate area and looked over the bodies surrounding me. Counting them would have to wait. I summoned my magic again and teleported back to my headquarters.




General Maneuver



Ponies darted in and out of the tent. Varying colors of unicorn's magic aura flashed around the tent, almost like a light show that you'd expect to see at a nightclub. The full swing of the battle meant chaos. Chaos was difficult to manage. Managing such a long defensive line was another challenge. Maintaining air superiority, or even protecting unicorn artillery positions from Luna's pegasi was a challenge. We couldn't keep our unicorns in the same spot for very long, and it limited the amount of support we had.


"Scouts report that the barrage was accurate," General Breaker said aloud, lowering the scroll he held in his magic. His muzzle drew into a line. "Princess Luna survived it."


I grimaced. It was an expected outcome, but it would give her something to think about before trying to directly intervene again, which gave us a much-needed advantage.


"I doubt that will work again," General Sapphire stated.


"It might," I reasoned. "At the very least, she will likely be more cautious about pushing now."


Several pieces were moved on the map, and a few were removed. General Breaker turned to me. "Now may be the best time to counterattack," he said.


I stepped forward and scrutinized the map, every piece, every position. "I'll lead the counterattack," I said. I lifted a hoof. I didn't have my blades with me, but I could get them on easily enough. "I'll take three battalions and cut through here," I pointed my hoof at the map and turned to General Sapphire. Sometime amidst the chaos, another crystal pony had come up beside him, carrying a crystal. I paid no attention to it, whatever it was could wait. "If you can cut through here," I pointed my hoof at another section that was vulnerable.


General Sapphire stood up straighter. "That's not going to happen, General."


I frowned at him. "You have a better plan?" I asked.


"Ah, no. I'm afraid my forces will be withdrawing from this battle," he said with a smirk.


I would have sworn the temperature in the tent dropped a few degrees. "What?" General Breaker asked. "You have orders to-"


"Orders that have been overruled. My current orders are to withdraw from Equestria and return to the Crystal Empire," he said in a smooth voice.


"You can't do that," I said evenly. "Princess Cadance would never-"


"Princess Cadance is on a train back to Canterlot right now," he said. "The Empire will no longer be affiliated with Princess Celestia until such time as hostilities against Princess Twilight cease."


I felt my blood run cold, and I heard everything in the tent slow down and grow quiet. "What?" I demanded. "You traitor..."


He looked at me indignantly and snorted. "I am no traitor, General. My allegiance is to the citizens of my nation, who have decided that they would rather follow Princess Twilight, somepony who actually saved them, over a puppet of Princess Celestia."


The two guards inside the tent lit their horns and pointed them at the general and his subordinate. "Take him under arrest," I commanded, struggling to keep my voice in check.


"General, if you do that, you will be fighting more than just Princess Luna's forces." He turned around and headed for the tent exit. The two guards blocked his path but looked at me and General Breaker questioningly.


"Let them go," General Breaker said begrudgingly.


"Wise choice," General Sapphire commented as he left.


A few seconds passed. I turned around and looked at all the ponies who had stopped working, which was most of them. I gave each of them a stern look, and they hesitantly returned to their duties. As soon as I was sure they wouldn't stop again, I turned to general Breaker. His horn violently flared to life, he lifted his hoof, then yanked off his boot and slammed it into the table, muttering a few choice words I hadn't known that he knew. His chest rose and fell with each breath, and I could practically see steam rolling off of his body. I slowly walked away from him and found an unoccupied unicorn. "Send a message to Princess Celestia, informing her what has happened here," I ordered.


"Y-yes, sir."


I turned around, not even bothering to return his salute. I calmly walked over to the table and took in the positions of forces. Noticeably absent were the forces of the Crystal Empire, somepony had decided that removing them from the table was the best course of action. Without them, our reserve forces were dwindling. I took a deep breath and lifted my hoof to my temple. The cold metal bit into my coat, but I ignored it.


Blindsided again. I shook my head. "Signal a retreat. We're pulling back," I relented. We did a lot of damage to Princess Luna's forces, but we suffered a lot of damage too. I doubted Princess Luna would make any major moves in the near future once she found out what happened, although there was the chance she might redouble her effort and push further into Equestria. If that happened, I doubted we could defend against her attack, and if Princess Twilight attacked us on two fronts, we wouldn't have the forces to do anything about it.


I pulled off my helmet and set it on the table, then ran a hoof through my mane.


Retirement looked really tempting.




Princess Luna



The battle was proving more costly than I had anticipated. The reward of victory would be great, but I had to admit that I questioned if it was actually worth it or not. Even if we were forced to pull back and regroup, this battle would give my sister a lot to think about. She wouldn't be able to launch a counter-attack anytime soon, that much was clear from how the battle was going.


Unless she was holding back.


That thought gave me pause. It would be like her to hold back and not play all of her cards until she was assured of a beneficial outcome. They were holding back on the crystal pony soldiers. They weren't making any major efforts to push forward, although they did seem intent of bleeding my forces for every inch of land we took from their control. A few times, my forces broke through their line, but they were summarily crushed by a pincer move before we could start flanking them, rendering most of our attempts to break through failures.


The battle could only last so much longer before my forces would be forced to withdraw. Morale was holding strong, and I had forces to keep up the attack, but I was not willing to keep up the attack if my forces kept getting slaughtered. There were only so many lives I would risk to win this battle before I pulled back. Winning here would give me an advantage by forcing my sister into a defensive war, but if I lost too many soldiers and resources in this battle, it would hamper my ability to keep the pressure on her and defend my own territory.


As if taunting me, several pieces representing my sister's forces were pushed away from the front. I watched with fascination as more and more pieces withdrew. As they pulled back, my forces pushed forward. We still had not seen evidence of the crystal ponies being deployed. As more and more pieces were gradually pulled away from the front, I had a sinking feeling. They still had a lot of siege specialists in their reserve, to say nothing of the crystal ponies.


"Pull back our forces," I ordered in a calm voice. General Gale glanced at me but said nothing. He knew that I had more experience than he did. I wondered if he saw what I saw, because he seemed to share my sentiment that pulling back was wise. Several seconds passed while unicorns relayed the orders. There was a delay of several minutes before my pieces started being pulled back from the front.


"Recall all of our forces and order them to regroup. We must be prepared for any counterattack they launch," I said, stepping closer to the map and scrutinizing artillery positions. I hid my surprise when several of the closest pieces representing artillery unicorns were pulled back, representative of a retreat. They would not draw me or my forces out that easily.




Princess Celestia



Most of General Hoof's forces were being regrouped. The general himself was nowhere to be found. The pulse decimated his main camp, and from what I could gather, nothing survived the pulse. The reports that came in right before the camp was destroyed said that the camp was under attack. Other than that, it was vague. It did not specify anything else, likely because it was an early report and they did not have information.


Twilight did not have many unicorns among her ranks. Of them, only a few were threats, having come from the Royal Guard to aid her. None of them were powerful enough to do something like that. Even if Director Tap said they couldn't confirm anything, I didn't need him to confirm to know it.


Twilight was behind the spell that killed nearly four thousand ponies.


The fact that the casualty count was actually that high was a secret that neither Director Tap nor myself would reveal. It was the last thing we needed to deal with.


I still did not know what spell she used, and that worried me. In my thousands of years of experience, I had never encountered such a spell. I trained her well. Perhaps too well, considering what was going on. I underestimated her. General Hoof underestimated her. He paid for that mistake with his life. I paid for my mistake with the lives of thousands of ponies. Thousands of ponies that would be missed.


She was in the camp, she had to have been with the force assaulting the camp. Her forces were still reorganizing following their victory. We had almost no information about what happened, although we knew she was still alive simply because they were still a force to be reckoned with. I felt relief knowing she was still alive, although at the same time it strained me.


I trained her well, but even then, I had never expected her to use a spell capable of destroying everything within a one-mile radius. She was powerful. She knew she was powerful, but not the full extent of it. And she was young. This war was going to shape her for the rest of her life, and that knowledge weighed heavily upon my heart.


She killed thousands of ponies with a single spell. With all I knew about her, that shouldn't have happened, and that scared me. I could do the same feat, in the same period of time, but it would take time for me to recover. I could kill countless more than Twilight did in a battle over a longer period of time with less effort, but Twilight... She was so young and innocent. 'What happened?' I asked myself. The only way I could conceive of Twilight using such a spell was if something terrible had happened, and that scared me even more than her killing thousands with a single spell.


Part of me wondered if General Hoof didn't do something I specifically ordered him not to. He could be more than a little aggressive when it came to achieving his goals. If he had made the mistake of attacking Twilight, then he would have lost. He had experience Twilight didn't, but Twilight had so many more advantages. But if he did attack Twilight, and was winning... The more I thought about it, the more I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach.


'If you attacked her and somehow were winning...' The repercussions could be disastrous. When Twilight was just a filly, she had a magic surge that put some powerful unicorns I had known to shame. She was now an alicorn, and if General Hoof had tried to kill her, then that would definitely have triggered a magic surge, one more powerful than I could imagine.


If General Hoof had tried to kill Twilight, then even in the best case scenario, she now had access to no small quantity of alicorn magic. And I didn't have the resources to fight a war on two fronts against two alicorns. Cadance wasn't strong enough to match strength with Twilight, so I was on my own there.


My musings were broken by rapid hoofsteps falling on the marble floor. I looked up and watched Director Tap approach me. "We need to mobilize faster, Princess," he said firmly.


I hated to admit it, but he was right. I had expected Twilight to see reason when I sent my forces after her. She was supposed to surrender, both of us would have suffered minimal casualties, and with her and her forces, we could have pushed against Luna and broken the Orange Valley siege.


I nodded in agreement. We spent the next several minutes discussing the plan for mobilization. We had several advantages we could use against both Luna and Twilight. Most of the advantages would better serve us against Luna because she had more forces than Twilight did. Luna also had more ground forces, and since we had devices designed to deliver explosive shells across great distance through use of explosive propellants, it was most useful to deploy them against my sister.


Also of note, he had an idea about creating timed charges in shells. It was a fascinating idea, instead of relying on a spell to detect when the shell impacted the ground, the shell could detonate in the air. Such weapons could decimate pegasi.


The longer we talked, the more dread I felt, and the more I was tempted to bring winter in quicker. Winter would force everyone on the defensive, unless Twilight or Luna were actually insane, in which case they would lose. Winter would give us the time required to mobilize and rearm.


We both fell silent as the doors opened, and a single unicorn walked in. He carried himself with a hurried pace, and his expression was grim. In his magic, he carried a scroll. "Princess," he bowed to me. He rose and then saluted Director Tap. "Director," he acknowledged. He levitated the scroll forward to me, and I took it in my magic, then broke the seal.


I read the report once, each word made my blood grow colder. The second time I read it, I was worried that my blood would freeze. I lowered the scroll, then rolled it up and handed it to Director Tap. I turned to the unicorn soldier. "See to it General Maneuver and General Breaker are back in Canterlot at once." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Director Tap frown. The speed at which he unrolled the scroll doubled, if not tripled. His eyes grew wide as he read the report. When he finished, he stared blankly at it, then rolled it up and handed it back to me.


It appeared that Cadance had been right, the Crystal Empire preferred Twilight over me. I wasn't sure I could blame them.


I welcomed winter with open hooves.