Luna tapped one hoof on the desk as she thought. She had a lot to think about. The night was quiet, nearly all ponies asleep, excepting those on sentry duty. The moon was halfway across the sky, and Luna knew she should get some sleep, but if she closed her eyes, nothing happened. She would just lay there berating herself for wasting time. Not that there was much to do until she made a decision, but she would be thinking it anyways. The decision itself was one that had been weighing on her mind for a few weeks now, but it was quickly becoming critical that a solution was found.
They were running out of food. The forest around was green and lush, but lacking in anything resembling sustainable food. Several ponies had planted various crops on the edges of the camp, but it would be weeks, if not months, before they would be ready for a harvest of any amount. The limited provisions that had been brought with them from Ponyville were all but depleted. The reports on Luna's desk estimated two weeks before they were eating grass and bark. It would be very difficult to maintain any amount of readiness if the ponies were malnourished.
And so Luna's hoof tapped away. The Zebras had made their position very clear, so Luna couldn't send to them for help, or move the village south the more fertile land. North was Axion, east was the desert, west was ocean. They couldn't leave, they couldn't stay.
Luna's hoof tapped away until it was time to set the moon. Once that was done, Luna forsake her tent for a walk in the dawn gloom. Ponies were stirring, yawning and stretching their way out of their tents. Some were already preparing breakfast, though most that Luna saw were fairly sparse already. Many ponies had hungry looks in their eyes, and some were a bit skinnier than Luna would have liked. Teeth grinding together, Luna went to the Beret's tent, a gloomy black construction on the very edge of camp. Tank was taking his turn to stand watch at the entrance, armour gleaming in the dawn's low glow. He snapped to attention and saluted as the Princess approached.
"Good morning, Princess Luna."
"As you were, Tank."
Instead of heading inside the tent, Luna unceremoniously plopped down to sit beside Tank who, for his merit, didn't seem to react like any odd had happened, barely even sparing her a glance after she sat, eyes roaming the forest around them. Luna had intended on waking Twilight up, having a sparse breakfast, and spending the morning with the Berets. They were all smart and seasoned, and would probably come up with a solution to the problem as soon as she outlined it for them. She hadn't told anyone about the results of the reports just yet, but there were a few that knew that Luna had been inquiring to the subject and were likely to make their own, probably correct, assumptions. But for now, the Princess was content to just sit there and pretend to be on watch with Tank.
"How is the morning, Tank?
"Quiet, Princess."
"When are you to rotate the watch to somepony else?"
"After breakfast, Princess."
"Please, Tank, just 'Luna' will suffice, as I tell you all quite often."
"Aye, Pr... Luna."
Luna smiled. She knew how odd it must feel to address someone of her station with such brevity.
"So, Tank, I have a problem, and I was hoping to hear the Beret's thoughts on the matter."
"We will gladly assist you in any manner necessary. The others should be up and about any minute."
"Well, until then, I'll lay it on you to think about. We're running out of food. Foraging is very thin, and any planted crops will take far too long to grow. The Zebras have been very frank in their position of not helping us. I don't know what to do."
The warrior was silent for a minute, then another. Luna could just behind his eyes, gears were turning. Thoughts, ideas, plans, hypothesis, and guesses were popping up, circulating, sorting, being set off to the side, or dismissed. Finally, he licked his lips and looked to Luna, and she could see that he was actually slightly nervous about what he was about to say, so she preempted him.
"Speak your mind, Beret."
"Princess, what if we took some supplies from the enemy? Just north, at Dodge City. They have to have some supplies coming in from somewhere, probably by train. We go just a few miles before the town, and stop the train, take as much as we can carry, and disappear."
Luna turned the idea over in her head.
"That would put them on very high alert, and let them know we are near. They would search the area diligently."
"So we're not here to be found."
"Are you saying we move again?"
"We have to."
And there it was. The stark truth, staring Luna straight in the face. He was right. They couldn't stay. They couldn't strike at Axion in any important way from here. They couldn't feed the ponies. They had to go, or stay here to die quietly. Luna sat there and thought about it. The decision that had been haunting her, dissolved in seconds. She would wait until the rest of the Berets and Twilight could put their two bits in, but it seemed like the only plausible course of action.
It was only a few minutes later when Nightfury and Hawkeye emerged from the tent. The others were soon after, muttering their greetings as they rubbed the sleep out of their eyes. Twilight was the last, and by the time Luna's purple lover was seen yawning into the morning sun, a campfire had been lit and some hay fries and sandwiches were distributed. Luna accepted some of the fries but declined the sandwich. She saw Violet take the watch from Tank, and as soon as he had joined them, she cleared her throat and stood, the Berets all going silent immediately.
"Good morning, Berets. I came here to put a problem in front of you, and see what happens. To be short, We're running out of food. There's not enough around here to feed a village, and we can't get help form the Zebras, and it will take too long to grow crops. We have, as of reports I received yesterday evening, roughly two weeks of supplies left. Any ideas?"
Luna saw the same look on all their faces that she saw on Tank's, followed by the same barely discernible nervousness.
"Come on, don't be afraid to say anything. We need ideas."
"Princess, Axion's forces, up at Dodge. They are sure to have supplies being brought in on train. We could interrupt one."
Luna smiled at Hawkeye, and Tank started laughing.
"That's what I said a few minutes ago! It'll alert the lot of them, but then we have plenty supplies, we could just leave. It doesn't have to be a hard march like it was to get down here, but we need to go somewhere else anyways. We can't do much from here."
Luna wasn't surprised that the Berets were all over the situation. They were trained to be the best warriors and tacticians. To them, the solution was as clear as day. These kind of problems were what they were trained to solve. At least somewhat. There was once facet that they were overlooking, something that they didn't very often have to worry about.
"It seems like the obvious solution, although I have to say, what about the villagers? Are they up to this? And where will we go after? What will we do? We need a plan. We need to do something, before Axion can get an iron hoof around Equestria."
Silence. The Berets were thinking, but this was not as easy to figure out as the previous question. Luna had already thought of one possibility, but she didn't like it, though she knew the Berets would come to the same solution.
"They're not soldiers."
Everyone turned to look at Winter, who had spoken from the back of the group.
"None of them. They were, and still are, peaceful ponies. They would bring far more harm to themselves and their loved ones than good could be done."
She didn't say that she was speaking about the surviving Ponyville ponies. She didn't have to.
"Maybe the Zebras would shelter them? They aren't a military group, and they don't have any objectives except survive. I can't imagine King Acoreg would be so cruel as to turn them away."
Luna didn't want to agree. She didn't want to, but she had to. It was another harsh fact, a massive and impenetrable thing, right in front of her, undeniable. There were a few that she would take along, but for the most part, the villagers had no place in a war. They might protest a bit, try and argue the point, but Luna felt that they would, deep down, be grateful to leave the fighting behind. The Battle of Ponyville had scarred them all.
Winter had broken the silence, so the other Berets found it easier to chime in. The thoughts and ideas came with more certainty. Luna sat quietly let them do what they do best, and that was solve problems.
"We should send an envoy to speak to the King as soon as possible."
"Who?"
"One of us?"
"No, definitely not. We're warriors, and that would arouse some suspicion. One of the villagers. Their pleas would be heartfelt and hard to deny."
"They'll need an escort."
"I'll go."
"Alright, Rain, go gather some gear. No reason to delay. About a week's worth should be enough. Princess, do you have any ideas as to who would be a good choice to send?"
"Twilight? You're far more familiar with the citizens of Ponyville than I am. Someone courteous, and good with words."
"My first thought is a unicorn named Lyra. She's a bit odd, but quite clever, and very nice."
"Go find her, please. Tell her to bring supplies to last a week, and bring her here as soon as possible. Let her say her goodbyes, but do not dawdle. She'll be back soon enough."
"Okay."
Luna was content to let it happen around her. It was a very refreshing process, working with the Black Berets in this kind of situation. There was a problem, a solution was found, and things immediately started happening. Back in Canterlot, it could take weeks or even months to actually get anything done, even if the solution was obvious and everypony agreed, which was very rare. War was many things, mostly bad and gruesome, but Luna couldn't deny, it was much simpler.