Army Group South Headquarters, Las Pegasus
Three days later...
"Larynx explain to me what's going on," the Hivesmarshall said as he looked on the map displayed on the table.
"Well, General Uptrich's West Army had lost half of its strength after an Equestrian counterattack in Horston. They are requesting to fall back. We can send a message to Admiral Mimic to give naval support while they retreat. General Zellix's East Army had achieved their objective to secure Dodge Junction and are awaiting further orders. Though we received reports of large amounts of equipment being transferred on that front by the Equestrians, we should expect a counterattack," Larynx explained.
"How about the Center?" the Hivesmarshall glared at the map.
Larynx sighed and took a deep breath, "General Murx's Center Army is encircled at Appleloosa three days ago. They are requesting help. From what information we could get before the communications were cut was that they lost 75% of their strength. Though, General Elvir is requesting permission to relieve them. What do we do?"
The Hivesmarshall stared at the map for a full minute before he asked, "Are the railways still busted?"
"Uh... yes sir," Larynx blinked at the question before he replied, "Every railway throughout our portion of Equestria is still unusable. With the rising temperatures, the railways buckled under the heat and bent, because of that, a lot of our supply trains derailed or are suffering from mechanical problems. The Queen had ordered the Logistics Corps and the Royal Engineers to focus on Army Group Center's rail network over us after they failed to take Canterlot." Larynx explained.
"That complicates things," the Hivesmarshall mumbled before he continued, "Send a message to Admiral Mimic to support General Uptrich, order General Zellix to retreat and tell him to burn everything. Without trains our retreat will be sluggish. I want him to destroy every bridge and block every road as he withdraws."
"How about General Murx?" he heard one of the generals asked.
The Hivesmarshall took of his cap and put it on the table before saying, "Tell Elvir that he did not have the permission to engage. Tell him to burn down Rockville and pull back to Las Pegasus. I cannot send three Panzer Divisions to death. They're too valuable." The room went quiet as the staff process the order before the he broke it, "As for General Murx, I can only offer him and his army prayers." A moment of silence passed before he put on his cap and continued, "Pack up, HQ will be relocated to Vanhoover. Larynx, get me Hivesmarshall Trimmel. Dismissed."
"Hivesmarshall Trimmel," he heard him spoke on his telephone.
"It's Pharynx, how bad is your front that you somehow convinced the Queen to prioritise your rails over mine?" Pharynx asked.
"Oh, it's you. Everything's going south. Everything's collapsing. We were stopped right at the gates of Canterlot when she came out of the blue," Trimmel hissed.
"Who?"
"Don't know, Vaspier is sending agents to collect more information. Reports say she's an alicorn made of fire and straight up burnt all our lings to crisp. Ponies really like her. I thought there's only four of them," Trimmel replied.
"You're pulling my leg," said Pharynx in disbelief.
"I would love to but now is not the time, I'm serious. Chrysalis is prioritising my rails because I personally talked to her that we need to get away from her and entrench fast." Trimmel replied.
"What about Synovial then, how's Crystal City doing?"
"Synovial lifted the siege and pulled back because his southern flank was exposed when my army was shattered," Trimmel bluntly replied.
"Oh," said Pharynx before he went silent for half a minute before asking his last question as he is forming his words, "Do you think all this has something to do with the sun?"
"Impossible. Celestia wouldn't let that alicorn take her sun. It's just some heatwave, an annoying one at that. One that might cost us this war," snorted Trimmel.
"What if she's her?"
"What, are you crazy? Celestia is a goody four-hooves, she's not that alicorn," said Trimmel incredulously.
"What if she's not as 'goody four-hooves' as we thought?" Pharynx quickly replied. "Her sister was Nightmare Moon once." He let the sentence hang.
The line went silent for a full minute before he finally replied.
"I don't know,"
Down in the dark sewers of Appleloosa, Cimex stopped and bandaged his wound. Thankfully, the bullet only hit his right hoof rather than any critical parts. However, he was tired. He had not drank in two days. He knew that the sewage water around him would kill him if he drank it. It was unsanitary. But he needed to be hydrated as of now. He needed as much energy as he could get. So, he submerged his head and started to guzzle the murky water.
After a few minutes, he laid back on the wall as his breathing slowed down. Suddenly, he saw a ray of flashlight around a corner about a hundred meters away from him. "He's near us, I can tell. I swear when I get that bug, I'll get him good," a voice said.
"Please, not now. Give me some time to rest. I just want to go home," he lamented. He took his rifle and turned off his flashlight before retreating deeper into the sewers. Away from the light, away from the enemy and away from the Sun.