//------------------------------// // Chapter 14: Planning the War // Story: Doctor Hooves: An Unusual Filly // by Anime PJ //------------------------------// Three days had passed since their encounter with the Changelings and the travellers grew weary, the Changelings were not the most friendly creatures even when working with others. Every time they had stopped to rest along the way the Changelings had sat away from the main group and only searched for their own food, even Changelings had to eat something other than love to keep them going. It appeared that after these three days of trekking along a field, to a forest and back onto another field they were finally nearing the camp that they had left behind a week ago. They were glad to be back. They approached the camp and saw that all of the guards that were stationed there were gone, it was strange at first but after a while they all saw the logic. They had been gone for a week after all. They sat down around the remains of a camp fire that had clearly gone out over night, they sat there awaiting the guards' return so that they could finally talk about what they were going to do when they besieged Canterlot. Doctor Hooves sighed when he sat down, he was so glad to be off of his feet and now he could stay there for a prolonged period of time thank Celestia we're finally here he thought to himself as he relaxed. They heard hooves moving along the dirt to the far left of them and turned to see the guards that were stationed here returning, the guards jumped in shock when they saw the ponies sat around the fire but once they had relaxed they began to smile. "Princesses," one of them began, looking wearily at the Changelings "it's so good to see you're alright. May I ask what happened to you?" Princess Celestia explained to them the battle that took place by the Tree of Harmony, the incident in the Crystal Empire and Luna explains their arrangement with the Changelings. The guard nodded, he turned to his men and saw them nod to him to show that they had listened and understood everything the sun princess had said. "You shall meet us in our tent later with Doctor Hooves and his companions to discuss a battle plan. We have a way to defeat Discord." The guard smiled, a smile of relief and said "Understood, you majesty." Celestia nodded back at him as if to say dismissed and turned to the time travellers "You may rest in your tent until you are called in," she said "we have big things to discuss." Doctor Hooves looked at the others, they smiled back at him and he said, rather confidently "Understood, we'll be there you majesty." *** A few hours later they were all in the tent of the princesses, they had gotten a few winks of sleep while they were in their tent and they all felt refreshed for the planning. Even Sugar was there, of course it took Doctor Hooves some convincing to let her in on it. She had bugged him about ten times more to let her accompany them into the Everfree Forest and once again she had talked her way into a place that she really had no business in. He hated getting her involved in war. "Right, now that you're all here we can get down to business." Celestia said, she looked curiously at Sugar. She wondered why a filly was interested in battle planning. She chose to ignore it and just carried on. "We need to form a battle plan for the upcoming attack we will be launching on Discord." "There are a number of variables to consider to turn the tide of this battle to our favour. We must go over all of our forces and decide where in the attack force they will be standing. In our forces are: Unicorns, Pegasi, Changelings and Earth Ponies. First of all I recommend that our four friends here act as advisers and observe the battle." Luna suggested. She had a knack for battle and was the more action-oriented of the two sisters, making her ideal for approving of certain tactical decisions. Doctor Hooves spoke up "Well I suggest that the Unicorns remain at the back of the attack force, they may be good support units with their magic but they don't have the best combat capability." "Agreed." Luna approved. "That's you four and the Unicorns out of the way, what about the Pegasi?" Celestia asked, marking the Unicorns and travellers from her checklist. "I think the Pegasi should be at the front, they would work as a good distraction while the Earth Ponies charged from behind them." Doctor Hooves suggested. "No," Luna disagreed. "the Pegasi would be better swooping down from above while the Earth Ponies attack in the front. That way we have our two strongest attack forces already fighting when we send the Changelings in." Doctor Hooves thought for a moment yes that does sound logical, he nodded to show his agreement. "No doubt Discord will be at the castle and will be expecting an attack once he discovers our defeating of King Sombra, the biggest concentration of guards will be there." Celestia said, marking off more on her checklist "We need to avoid killing his guards as much as possible, they don't know what they're doing. I know we can't help that once the battle begins but he need to spare the ones not protecting the castle." "Agreed," Luna said "there is no need for wasteful bloodshed. Only kill when necessary. After our initial attack, I and Celestia shall enter with the Elements of Harmony, by then Discord will have been forced to join the fight and his defeat should be relatively quick." Celestia nodded "Inform everyone outside of the plan, send messages to our other camps and get all of the soldiers over here, we attack in three days." "It will be done sister." Luna said. She left the tent to inform all of the guards of their plan. "I assume you all understand." Celestia said, they all nodded and she smiled. "Good, because there is no turning back now."