The Last Cutie Mark Crusader

by Jatheus

34 - Gathering, Part 2 of 6

Sparklefly considered the possibilities. The changeling queen had been captured; perhaps this was a sort of backup plan. Maybe something else had changed that required a shift in strategy. The enemy had been probing for weaknesses for months without finding one. Any of these alternatives were preferable to thinking that they were reacting to things she had said to Ash Eater.

"Maybe they're just trying something new," Pacer said. "They haven't actually sacked a city since they were defeated at Ponyville."

“Possibly,” Charging Lance conceded.

“I’m not sure,” Masher was more skeptical. “There has got to be something we’ve missed. There’s always a pattern; there’s always a reason.”

The oldest stallion in the group smiled at Masher, but then his gaze fell on Sparklefly, who felt incredibly uncomfortable under it. Fear welled up inside that he knew her secret. It was impossible, but she couldn’t shake the feeling.

"Food," Flittergear said. All eyes turned to her, but she remained silent.

"Food," Sparklefly began speaking as her thoughts turned back to the problem. "Winter is coming, and we never did identify how they are supplying themselves."

Both Skyflame and Charging Lance began to grimace as if they realized something that they should have known all along.

"They let us grow our crops intentionally," he said.

"But not for us," Skyflame added. "They wanted us to have food so they can take it."

That was a disturbing thought. While Sparklefly didn't like to think the changelings were capable of such a devious plan, she had underestimated them before. If it were true, it proved them a far more intelligent and capable foe than anypony had credited them to be thus far. Misdirection certainly was in their nature.

The door burst open and several royal guards entered the room and magically scanned the members of the Taskforce. Prince Shining Armor strode in after that procedure was completed. He looked weary, as though he hadn't slept for several days.

"What I'm about to say does not leave this room.”

All eyes turned to the prince, and nopony made so much as a sound.

“I know some of you suspected as much, but it is time for me to explain,” he began.

The prince removed a red cloak he was wearing to reveal an amulet about his neck. It had the form of a winged ebony unicorn with red settings.

“This is the Alicorn Amulet.”

There were some quiet gasps, but Sparklefly didn’t know anything about the magical artifact that the prince just announced. Fear tempered her curiosity.

“I have been its guardian since the war began, and when the changelings were revealed, Princess Celestia asked me to wear it. It has a magical lock, and can only be removed by the will of the wearer. For any of you who don’t know, it is one of the most powerful and dangerous artifacts in Equestria. We cannot allow it to fall into the hooves of the changelings.”

Sparklefly was amazed by the new information, though she expected a “but” to be interjected at any moment.

“However, it also corrupts the user, bringing out their darker, more evil tendencies. This is why I have been unable to join in any of the fighting that has taken place. I have become aware that it is affecting me,” the prince nodded at Scootaloo, the pair of them locking gaze for a moment. “The contamination increases through use, and so I will be unable to use any more magic in an effort to slow the effect.” He looked around the silent room before saying, "Report."

Charging Lance spoke up, "Scouts’ reports are confirmed. A force of no less than five-hundred thousand timberwolves have gathered at Apple Loosa already, and we expect their numbers to be nearly a million by the end of the week.”

Sparklefly’s stomach sank and tightened up.

“It has also been observed that significant numbers are still near our cities and farms, poised to strike if we let our guard down. We believe that their strategy to survive the winter is to keep us pinned down while using this gathered strength to run over any target of their choice for food and supplies. It could be that this has been planned for some time, and that is why the attacks lessened throughout the growing season. We suspect that they wanted us to have food so they could steal it.”

Shining Armor looked at the map on the table and nodded slowly, "How do you recommend we counter this threat?"

Charging Lance stared back at him, almost blankly. "With respect, Your Majesty, I'm not certain that counter is the proper term. With their full strength gathered, the best we may be able to hope for is mitigating some of the damage, perhaps slowing them down a little.”

“We could put all of the food in Cloudsdale,” Scootaloo offered. “The timberwolves won’t be able to get at us there, so we’d just have the changelings to deal with.”

Sparklefly felt unsettled about the Alicorn Amulet, but was trying to focus on one problem at a time.

Masher reminded, “That’s a start, but no doubt the changelings have thought of that already. They’ll be working on a plan to intercept the food on its way in. And that doesn’t negate the fact that we need to deal with a million timberwolves. We can’t put everypony up in the clouds.”

"Misdirection," Flittergear said softly.

"What was that?" Shining Armor asked.

Flittergear shrank away, but her statement gave Sparklefly an idea. "If I may," she began, "I believe she means we should misdirect them." Her heart started pounding as she tried to work through how this could be a viable strategy.

"I'm listening," the prince said impatiently.

"Well, our total strength is much smaller than theirs, and they know it," Sparklefly continued. "So we take a force," she stepped up to the map and started moving half of the EUP pieces down near Apple Loosa, "as large as we dare send on a hit and run campaign."

Charging Lance shook his head, "We'd be impossibly outnumbered."

"Even with half our army... it’d be what, ten to one in their favor?“ Scootaloo added.

"I know that," Sparklefly argued, positioning their smaller force west of Apple Loosa. "We don't have to defeat them. We just have to pull them away from our cities. With a little luck, maybe we'll even draw down their numbers some."

They all stared at her in skeptical silence.

“Look, I know we can’t defeat them head to head. There’s just too many, but if we can keep them occupied, we can buy ourselves more time to get the food into a more secure location and come up with a better plan.”

Directly to Sparklefly, Prince Shining Armor asked, "And would you lead this campaign?"

Her mouth went dry as she stumbled to answer, her own treachery foremost on her mind. Her stomach knotted even tighter. A foul taste was in her mouth already from the half-truths, omissions, and lies she’d spoken to this point. Yet, there was a sense of attainable relief ahead if she pressed on. Perhaps this was a way in which she could atone.

"Me? Oh, no. I mean, I’ll go face them. I’m fair with strategy, but you'd want somepony more seasoned in command. I can plan attacks, but there's a lot of logistics with moving and maintaining a force that large, and I just don't have the experience."

The prince nodded.

“It sounds like a one-way trip,” Charging Lance added grimly.

Pacer interjected, “Are you kidding? We’d just have to stay one step ahead of them. We have air superiority.”

“In case you had forgotten, the changelings also can fly,” Skyflame pointed out.

“Yeah, but they’ve never come out in significant numbers. If they do, we’ll mop them right out of the sky.”

“If we do this, organization and communication are going to be even more critical than usual,” Scootaloo said. “Attack, retreat, attack, retreat. If... well... when things go wrong, everypony will have to know the fall-back plan.”

“Agreed,” Charging Lance nodded. “We’ll be far too vulnerable to let any mistakes get out of hoof.”

"Very well,” the prince spoke decisively, “General Brax will have the command, but I want this Taskforce serving directly under him. I have seen how determined and intelligent each of you are, and you have my complete confidence."

He paused a moment and looked at each of them in turn. Sparklefly felt vulnerable as his regarded her. She instinctively had pulled her body into a small stance again. She could feel guilt filling her, but then he looked away, apparently unaware of her angst.

Shining Armor continued, "I have already sent word to rally our forces to Ponyville, and an arrangement has been reached with the griffins, who will be sending an army of their own to assist us in the coming week. By this time tomorrow we'll have almost eighty-thousand EUP soldiers assembled, but we dare not take any more from our defenses. It will take another two days to establish supply lines, so take care how you move in on the enemy." He looked over each of them again, "This could be the end of us all if you fail.”

Sparklefly felt a lump in her throat. That final statement hung in the air like a weight pressing down on all of them. Nopony spoke before the prince and his guards left the room. They all stood in silence for a long moment.

Sparklefly hadn’t been to Apple Loosa since she’d fled during the first attack of the war, before anypony knew what was going on. She had rounded up the others that day. Deep down, she longed for those simpler days, before all the war and death, fear and terror, killing and dying had filled her life.

She became lost in her reverie, ignoring the conversation that had begun. Moving to Apple Loosa when she was just a filly, the world had felt much safer. She smiled to herself as she recalled exploring all around town with Duster and Glitterdust tagging along behind her. Her mind snapped back to the present as an idea was sparked.

"Hide and seek!" she interrupted the others.

"We're a little old for that, don't you think?" Scootaloo said.

"That just depends on how you play," Pacer boasted.

"No," Sparklefly said, shaking her head and trying to bring her thoughts out. "When I was a filly, my brother and I used to play hide and seek here, southwest of town." She pointed on the map to the location, "You can't really see it on here, but there's a range of small steep hills that start here, and they run for miles back this way. It’s really more of a plateau. The edge is almost too steep to walk up, and it goes back in a zig-zag this way. If we can draw them to this position, we could hold them there for days, maybe weeks."

The others looked at the map where she was pointing.

"That's assuming that it hasn't been overrun by timberwolves already," Charging Lance said.

"If not, we need to secure that area immediately," Sparklefly continued. "It is very good ground, easily defendable."

"What about the flanks and the rear?" Masher asked.

"Farther south there is a range of mountains; I doubt they could come at us from that side. To the west it eventually levels out, but it would take them some time to get there. We can hold the east and north until they work their way around and then fall back to a different position."

Scootaloo shrugged, "It could buy us some time."

Flittergear said nothing, but began eating from a small pouch some food that she had stashed away.

Pacer looked at the others, "Anypony have a better idea?"

The room was silent. Skyflame looked skeptical.

Charging Lance spoke up, "It looks solid. If they already occupy that area, we can try to pull them east first, fall back and outflank from the west."

Skyflame smiled, "It might just keep them off balance. The only trick will be getting them to commit."

Scootaloo grinned, "We could always let Pacer tell them how great he is. I know that's usually enough to get me riled up." It seemed that she liked this plan.

"Jokes aside," Sparklefly said before Pacer had a chance to respond, "It's just a matter of working them. Hit, retreat, hit, retreat. We keep that up until they pursue. Then we draw them where we want them. Their only alternative will be to let us eat away at their numbers while they run away."

"True," Masher said, "but we'll still be outnumbered ten to one or worse. They can easily leave some of their force behind to deal with us while the others go on a rampage."

"Perhaps," Skyflame said, "Mobility is our greatest advantage. We can ignore any part of their force that doesn't cooperate. I think this plan is our best option."

"Sounds easy enough," Pacer agreed, "We drag them over to this high ground and rain death on them. I like it."

"Me too," Scootaloo said.

Flittergear nodded.

Charging Lance said, "Then it is decided. Insane as it sounds, we are going to go on the offensive against a force that has us outmatched in almost every way."

Sparklefly smiled uneasily. She did believe it was a good plan, but the odds were not going to be in their favor. One false step could be the end of more than their campaign. She had to do everything she could to ensure their victory. She needed a mind that was better at strategy than was hers.

"Let's get our gear together," Skyflame said. "I'll have the cloud ready to depart for Ponyville within the hour."

As the others began disbursing, Scootaloo turned to Sparklefly and said, "You're family has already settled at Sweet Apple Acres, haven't they?"

Sparklefly nodded.

"You should probably take an hour or two to visit them."

With a sigh, she replied, "I wish I could. I have a small matter up north to attend to before I go to Ponyville."

"The Crystal Empire?"

"Yes," Sparklefly answered. "There is a life I saved up there, and it's time for him to repay the favor."

Author's Note:

I know it's no mystery who she's going to get, but I couldn't help but feel the need to state it as enigmatically as possible.

Comments

[Blaster M]

Sparky needs to do her loyalty mission if she wants to survive the suicide mission.

[Jatheus]

8552733
She’s certainly had a hard couple of days.

[OmalleyCaboose5]

"Yes," Sparklefly answered. "There is a life I saved up there, and it's time for him to repay the favor."

I don't remember who she...
Oh general #$%&wad

[Jatheus]

8746482
The one and only! You know I couldn't let him live if we'd never see him again.

[Emperor]

Seems Shining Armor at least has enough intelligence to let everypony know about the Alicorn Amulet. If Sparklefly were in a higher-up position, she might have the confidence to do the same about her blabbing about the winter strategy...Still, seems like she'll be returning to Appleloosa, so I guess she'll have to confront at least one spectre of her past.

Also, a million timberwolves? Sounds like a good time for Scoots to be grounded with two injured wings and surrounded by at least a tenth of that force

[Jatheus]

8783640
Hahaha! Poor Scoots! You wish such a bad day for her... I’ll see what I can do.