//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: Plan B 
// Story: MLP: ODST - Hazardous Venture 
// by JO3 
//------------------------------//

	Much later, Joe and all of the remaining ODSTs marched into Canterlot. The princesses, Luna and Celestia, greeted the entourage. “Hello, why are all of you here?” Luna asked.
“Our ship, the Victory, is lost with all hands. A hostile coalition attacked. That enemy force consisted of several opponents that you have fought prior. With the loss of 2324 lives, war has been declared to avenge the fallen. The time for politics is over. Are you with us?” Joe challenged.
“Of course not! We must adhere to the international laws of this world!” Luna replied, royal Canterlot voice in tow.
“From what we've heard, the enemy has acquired the ability to operate exoatmospherically. The only viable staging area, Luna, is the moon. This hostile coalition was found to be between several dragons, defector griffons, defector ponies, Sombra, the Changelings, Queen Chrysalis, and the list goes on. Discord has failed to report in on the subject, against my urgent requests. The few munitions and men we have may not be enough to repel such a coalition on their own. We ask again for your help. We have also intercepted enemy messages hinting at an assault on Equestria. If we don't act now, all may be lost. Will you help us?” Joe pressed forward.
“Sombra, Chrysalis, and Dragons? If they do attack, we will not be able to defend Equestria, nor its ponies. What do you need?” Celestia responded, partly thinking out loud.
Joe laid out the battle plans. “We will need everything and everyone on this counterattack,” Joe said, “Here's the plan. Luna and Celestia will force a full solar eclipse over the Everfree Forest. From there, the pegasi, equipped with modified battle armor, will head skyward. Once they're airborne and in space, the second wave will launch. The unicorns will be flying the Pelican dropships. The earth ponies will be within, and both them and the unicorns will be armored similarly to the pegasi. The pegasi will clear the way for the dropships to make safe landings on the lunar surface. Then, the ODSTs will lead the assault on the hostile base we've pinpointed. Once we push the enemy back to their base, we will launch the Saturn V rocket, which will be armed with our last HAVOK nuke. That should end the war by next week.”
“This hostile coalition still sounds awfully familiar to me...,” Luna said.
“We checked the Forerunner logs, and they said that 'all the good of one universe will be judged by that of another'. We thought it was referring to the Human-Covenant War, but apparently we were mistaken. We lost 23,000,000,000 in that conflict, as well as dozens of planets. All because of cultural convergence and a misunderstanding. Due to how diverse both of our cultures were, we considered them to be what was referenced by the mention of 'universe' in that text. Seeing how the war was already over then, we just ignored this information. Now it is far too late for that prophecy to hold any significance to us. We need to act now. We won the Human-Covenant War largely due to a truce we brokered with an alien race. They proved to be invaluable. Now I am asking you to broker a similar truce with an even more alien race. Will we see you on the battlefield, fighting under the same banner?” Joe proposed.
“Out of necessity, yes. We cannot let them win,” Celestia said.
Twilight walked in, seemingly having overheard the part of the Forerunner prophecy. She carried with her Starswirl's journal. “I thought I heard something like that before. That prophecy is actually stated, almost word for word, in Starswirl's journal,” Twilight informed.
“Maybe that's why we're here, to win this war. Forerunner technology often works in impossible ways. We still have no way home though,” the Rookie said.
“We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but for now we need to plan this out. Celestia, we will need field hospitals for the wounded. Luna, we need you to make some maps of the entire surface of the moon. Twilight, you're our plan B: if the HAVOK fails to detonate, we will need you to use the Elements of Harmony. We will need to send word to Cadence telling her to stay in the hospitals, morale is half the battle when it comes down to surviving injuries. Twilight and her friends will be on the second wave. Luna, Celestia, you two are on the first wave. Once the battle starts, you must end the eclipse, and place the sun at our backs. Once all forces have landed, we will need there to be a lunar eclipse. To do that, Luna, you must place the moon in the shadow of the planet. We still don't know what the enemy has in terms of supplies, so we will assume the worst: a NOVA bomb. One NOVA can destroy an entire planet. We will be using the Tempest as a mobile base during the operation. They may have orbital guns. Once we get Luna's map, we will start searching for fissile materials via the Tempest's long-range scanners. Any questions?” Joe concluded the operation outline.
“What will we do about any orbital guns we find?” Moose asked.
“We have Advanced Reactive Combatant teams on standby for such an occasion. The ARC troopers will be deployed via Pelican on the first wave. Their objective: cause havoc for the enemy. Rookie, you'll be leading them. Remember: stay off the radios until absolutely necessary. Celestia, Luna, you should send word to the other nations around hear about the battle that is to come. We may not be able to survive this alone-” Joe ordered, as some small arms fire interrupted him.
Joe brought down his visor and ran out of the castle. Outside, dragons were seen strafing the ODSTs below. Joe shouldered his M16A10 and opened up on the scaly beasts above. The invaders quickly retreated under the combined fire of the ODSTs below. “Celestia, we need to launch as soon as all forces are ready. The quartermaster has been refitting our remaining combat armor for pony use. We'll divide our forces into two groups: the Lunar Coalition, and the Equestrian Coalition. The Equestrian Coalition (EQC) is to repel all hostile ground forces. The Tempest will be part of this group. The Lunar Coalition will lead the orbital assault of the moon. We need to move as soon as possible, the enemy may have been listening in on our conference. We will refer to these hostiles as The Oppressors. Is that understood?” Joe informed the groups about the impromptu changes. They all nodded.