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// Foreward 
// Story: The Kathiawari Mare 
// by AShadowOfCygnus 
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Summary

The Kathiawari Mare is a training exercise administered to command-track cadets at the Royal Equestrian Military Academy, as well as select students of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. At its core, the exercise is designed to test the character of graduates and prospective officers and evaluate their command, combat, and diplomatic performance when faced with a traditional ‘no-win scenario.’ For more than eight-hundred years, various iterations of the Kathiawari Mare have served as a cornerstone of military and magical education, and the exact nature of the test has generally been kept a secret to ensure an even playing field for all takers. 

However, as recent changes to the nature of the test have rendered these concerns obsolete, it is the joint opinion of the Royal Historical Archive, the Equestrian High Command, and their Highnesses the Princesses that the historical and educational value of the test demands it be discussed in greater detail with the students of the schools aforementioned.

This document, and the series of reports attached, is to be provided to select members of faculty at both the Royal Equestrian Military Academy and Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, for the purposes of review and incorporation into relevant aspects of curriculum. 
 
 
Historical Background

The historical event upon which the scenario is based—the Battle of Three-River Pass—touched off the Third Griffonia-Equestria War of 232-246, and is considered one of the greatest military disasters of Equestrian history. Mounting border tensions and the hawkish attitudes of the Griffonian government had worsened relations drastically between the two states, and in the early spring of 232, King Frostfeather of Griffonia sent a battalion of elite skirmishers to the Border Regions in the hope of finally pressing Equestria to war.

The commanders of this force chose Three-River Pass, a narrow, steep-walled gorge very similar in topography to the rocky crags of their homeland, to lay their trap. Their campfires attracted the attention of one of the airships patrolling the border, the Kathiawari Mare, which was subsequently ambushed and brought down by the Griffons. They then proceeded to torture the communications officer of the Mare—a Unicorn telepath, as was standard practise for the time—until her thought-screams echoed out for miles to other forces stationed in the area. 

Within two hours, three additional airships and a Pegasus squadron on manoeuvres—a force totalling some four-hundred regulars—arrived at Three-River Pass, and launched an all-out assault on the estimated six-score Griffons encamped there. Despite the considerable Equestrian numerical advantage, guerrilla tactics and a commanding knowledge of the terrain allowed the Griffon force to ground all three vessels and kill or capture fully two-thirds of the attacking force. Further communications officers were taken and tortured, but subsequent reinforcements were leery of venturing too close to the Pass, opting instead to hold the Griffons in a siege for more than a week. The situation was finally resolved when Princess Celestia herself arrived on the field and scoured the Pass with solar magics, annihilating both the Griffons and the few remaining hostages from the Kathiawari Mare. 

The remainder of the war was a drawn-out and violent affair, but no single engagement drew even a tenth as much blood as was spilled in Three-River Pass. Incensed by the callous slaughter of their brothers and sisters, and spurred on by an attempted coup that rent the Griffon royal family at a critical moment, the Equestrian army eventually pushed the Griffons back to the very gates of their capital, and forced them to sue for peace. 
 
 
Test History and Mechanisms

The first iteration of the Kathiawari Mare scenario, a series of supplemental asymmetric warfare exercises tailored to Equestrian-unfriendly terrain, was formally introduced to the curriculum of the REMA in 254, with a specific focus on methods of disengagement and countertactics relating to subversion of friendly materiel. This generally involved physical manoeuvres by detachments of cadets, and was treated as little more than a field exercise to be drilled, like any other.

Over time, however, the Griffon Empire, suffering from economic collapse and political dissension as a result of the war, became much less of an immediate threat, and tailored counterstrategy became less militarily relevant. Likewise, the academic value of the Kathiawari Mare, as well as the ethical and political ramifications of the actions taken at Three-River, became a subject of significant debate among academicians and military strategists alike. Sensing that the lessons learned in the battle might be lost to history should the test be discontinued, Princess Celestia herself outlined a revised set of guidelines for the Kathiawari Mare, allowing it to be applied to a wider range of potential situations while maintaining the same dilemma of the ‘no-win scenario’.

Using specially-scribed scrolls penned annually in consultation with Princess Celestia herself, the test is administered by way of spell-induced extrasensory stimulation—both proctors and examinee (or ‘candidate’) enter a shared constructed pseudo-reality wherein the examinee is faced with some variation on the original Kathiawari Mare hostage situation. While the spell itself dictates the general parameters of the scenario, the exact details of any given trial are determined by the examinee’s subconscious, with proctors acting as a normalising force against extreme cases. The examinee is then expected to handle a tailored no-win scenario, their results determined on a weighted scale judging strategic and tactical thinking, command capability, moral and ethical considerations, and the military and socio-political ramifications of the outcome as predicted by the simulacrum.

Though the particulars of the exam have evolved significantly over time—and now occupy a broader spectrum than ever before, thanks to the personalised nature of the current iteration—one constant remains: the student has no prior warning as to the nature of the exam, and is obliged to react to a steadily-worsening situation as it unfolds. Any foreknowledge or inherent understanding of the exercise fundamentally subverts any ability to objectively judge the student’s character and command ability.  

This is also the reason for the recent shift to personally-tailored exam materials: students of the Latter Antiquity—particularly those whose studies have focussed on Post-Banishment military history—are likely to be familiar with Three-River Pass and amend their strategy accordingly. 


Formal Notice

This classified information (‘Material’) is being provided to you (‘Recipient’) ‘as-is’ and with certain expectations of confidentiality, as recognised and administrated by the Ministry of Intelligence, the Royal Historical Archives, and the Royal Offices of the Sun and Moon (collectively, ‘the Government’). The Government acknowledges its full faith and trust in Recipient by the dissemination of this Material, and proposes a binding magical contract (‘Contract’) in line with the Statutes Relating to Sensitive Information as Held by the State (E.L.C. 38, §5.A.7).

By close examination, opening, or seal-breaking of any attachment contained herein, Recipient acknowledges their responsibilities under said Contract and assents to their inclusion therein. By acceptance of the Contract, Recipient swears and confirms to the Government that any and all sensitive information contained in the Material (which may be edited, compressed, reconsidered, or otherwise amended by the Government at its sole discretion) will not be shared, disseminated, translated, transmitted, or otherwise reproduced in any form, tangible or intangible, which potentially compromises the names, identities, persons, or records of any individual named herein. Nonidentifying elements of the Material may be reproduced by Recipient for the purposes of lecture planning, in-person and remote instruction, and military exercises. Under no circumstances is the Recipient to share any element of the Material outside of approved channels.

Failure to abide by any or all of these prescriptions will be considered assault with intent to grievous harm by Recipient toward any or all of the individuals whose results appear herein. This will result in the triggering of a primed Tier 0/A magical threat response with effects including, but not limited to: silencing, warding, selective memory wipe, and other forms of magical incapacitation; immediate teleportation to a holding facility of the Government’s choosing; immediate revocation of any relevant security clearances, academic standing, and military rank; and prosecution under the statutes aforementioned.

The Government appreciates Recipient’s understanding in this matter, and wishes to make it known that it undertakes these stringent measures solely for the protection of those named within the original copies that comprise the Material. Questions or concerns may be forwarded to the Office of Secure Scrivenery, Ministry of Intelligence.