The Great Extraterrestrial War, 1023-1027

by The Blue EM2

As a Nation we Stand

"What does this letter contain, I wonder?" a general asked.

An aide then arrived with the letter, and placed it under a projector, meaning that the contents of said letter were now clearly on display on the board above them. It even came with some diagrams on it, which was certainly helpful.

The faces of the officers in the room more than made clear their views on the plan they were looking at. "They'd be pretty bold to try and pull that off!" said one.

"And yet I don't see us as having much of a choice in this matter," said another. "Now is the time to call for decisive action to slow the enemy down."

Goldie raised an eyebrow. "Gentlemen, I hope I'm not interrupting, but could somebody explain to me the importance of these markings? I'm assuming it's a battle plan of some description, but I'm not sure what all the markings mean."

"Well, as plans go it's positively brilliant," said the first general. "The letter calls it the Starlight Maneuvre. The idea is that their troops swing through our lands and then proceed to reinforce our lines as we push forward our offensive. The earth ponies will be pulling off a similar offensive at the same time to reinforce on the other side. With this extra influx of troops our offensive is certain to succeed!"

"We'll need to get all the equipment into position first," said another General. "Our forces are still not fully mobilised. We should be ready to launch our attack in about 48 hours."

"Should we send the Expeditionary Force in first?" a third General ventured. "If we have them to hold the line for a bit it will buy us time to finish our troop movements and prepare for an assault."

"That should work," said the first General. "Notify their officers that they are to prepare for active deployment."

Goldie, listening to all this talk, then chose to speak up again. "If I may, I wish to volunteer to join the Expeditionary Force. I believe my skills will be invaluable for combating the enemy, and that you need every last bit of firepower you can get in order to effectively counter them. After all, waves of bodies will only get you so far."

There was some more discussion amongst them, before the Generals turned back to her. "Permission approved," said one of them (Goldie was starting to struggle to tell them all apart- with their uniforms they all looked very similar). "You'd best be finding your way to a shuttle that will convey you to the front lines. Best of luck."

Goldie nodded. "Thank you, sir." As she exited the room, she checked her gear was entirely in check and ready for combat deployment. She continued to make her way along the corridors, seeing civil servants running up and down and dropping off paperwork and similar all up and down the corridor.

Make no mistake, this place was on a war footing. And the shower could wait- they had more important things to deal with, after all.

---

The relentless thunder of the artillery wasn't so bad once you had gotten used to it.

Goldie and several other soldiers sat in a dugout, hearing loud explosions overhead as more of the shells roared through the air, hopefully softening up the lines in preparation for an assault.

An officer checked her watch. "Coming up on Ten," she said. "We'll need to move forward into the trench." A network of shelter trenches had been hastily built in order to shelter the troops from enemy weaponry. They stopped in the position, knowing the enemy wasn't too far in front of them.

A soldier looked over, as he saw other soldiers filing into the trench. "We're actually going on the offensive," he said, the weight of the actions in which he was about to partake finally dawning upon him.

"Ready weapons!" called a voice.

Goldie glanced over. "Just follow your training, and you should be fine. If we can pull this off we'll all be home by Wishentide."

"Brace!" called another voice down the line.

"Good luck, everypony," said the captain. Seconds later, she blasted a whistle.

With a roar, an entire line of soldiers charged out of the trench lines and into the fields beyond. No sooner had their heads emerged from above the ramparts than a hail of energy fire started up. The blasts were indiscriminate, focused on inflicting as much damage as possible on the ground. Shells from allied guns continued to slam into the ground all around them, blowing huge craters in the surface of the land and scarring the once green fields with eternal reminders of war.

Goldie looked over, lining up an energy shot on a Spider as it rampaged toward their lines. The blast struck it, causing it to stagger before another explosion finished it off.

The shot had come from a nearby Landship, which was rolling forward. Although slow, the thick armour was holding up. Energy weapons bounced off the hull as it crawled slowly forward, cannon shot after cannon shot inflicting damage on the lighter units.

Goldie stopped in a small pit as she saw a Heron march forward, training its guns on a group of Landships. "If they don't get fire support they'll be slaughtered," she thought to herself. She activated her radio. "Battery Three, request fire mission, over?"

"Battery Three, order understood, fire mission approved. Nominate target with smoke, over?"

Goldie pulled a smoke grenade off her belt and tossed it at the nearby target. "Battery Three, target has been marked with purple smoke. Focus fire, over?"

"Copy, purple smoke on display. Battery Three, Focus Fire, Out."

Moments later, the familiar pattern of fire changed as a massive storm of shells arced through the air. The lighter whizz bangs slammed into the machine first, the shield lighting up in different patterns as the shells impacted and eventually broke through the shielding.

A massive smoke cloud poured from the Heron as the shield blew out, followed by several much bigger shells finding their mark. The smoke was soon followed by red and orange flames as something onboard the machine exploded, throwing pieces everywhere.

Goldie looked up as the smoke cleared to see nothing was there. "Battery Three, fire mission succesful. Target destroyed. I repeat, target destroyed, over?"

"Understood. Confirmation of target destruction. Keep feeding us data, out."

Goldie began to move up, positioning herself behind the Landships as they absorbed most of the fire. More Spiders were blown apart by focused fire, the enemy apparently stunned at such a massive offensive being conducted.

They stopped at a treeline to regroup, and Goldie looked back to see wounded were already being carried from the field, as well as some other casualties. "How far forward have we moved?" she asked.

A soldier checked his map. "About twenty yards."

Goldie looked concerned. "That many casualties, and in twenty yards," she said to herself. "Let's hope the other offensives can keep up."

---

The same sense of concern was not shared in Zephyr Heights, where the throne room had been transformed into a command and control centre for the war effort.

"Reports coming in from the front!" called an aide. "Tripods succesfully cleared from the Whistling Woods! Casualty levels are below projections!"

"Extra reports from the unicorn and earth pony advances," said another. "Lines are stable. The tripods are rapidly falling back!"

"Splendid!" said one of the Generals. "Hopefully we can get the Tripods into a barrel and out for a duck frogside!"

"I beg your pardon?" said another.

"This should push them to sue for peace! They've seen our weapons can effortlessly beat them. Now for the final push!"

As the officers were celebrating (despite the fact the offensive was yet to finish), Queen Haven looked to Zipp and Argyle. "Something in me suspects that there is something we have missed," she said to them. "The advance is going too well, but our enemies no doubt have a trick up their sleeves." She indicated to another section of the palace. "By Royal Decree, you are both assigned to decoding the alien language to see if it can give us any clues about our invaders. I will be assigning the Intelligence branch to assist you in this matter. I, in the meantime, will try and ensure the military does not interfere with your efforts."

"Understood, Your Majesty," Argyle replied.

"Got it, mom," Zipp replied. The pair left the room to start their work whilst the officers continued to converse.

"The war will be over at Wishentide," said a General, confidently. "True, we have suffered some losses-"

"Casualty report just in," said another aide. "Heavy fighting in and around Barravale, above average casualties. They need reinforcement."

"Dispatch Landships to assist." The General then turned back. "I imagine the troops are looking forward to the victory dinner when the war is over. Red or white wine?"

Overall, there was a spirit of optimism that victory was at hand. Unfortunately, it would not hold.

Author's Note:

The military plan in this chapter is loosely based on the Von Schlieffen Plan, the German offensive operation to conquer France by going through Belgium. Unlike the historic plan on which it is based, the Starlight Maneuvre ends up saving rather than conquering the area.

The combat itself is inspired by descriptions of early WW1 offensives, before the trench system began to really set in. The remarks about Wishentide are based on confident predictions that WW1 would be over before Christmas. It would be over before Christmas- 1918.

Comments

[The Blue EM2]

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Fresh marching orders: new chapter has arrived at the front.

[shining paladin]

great chapter mate keep it up can't wait for the next chapter there are reasons the Von Schlieffen Plan failed

[The Blue EM2]

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Much as in the work its based on, a plan designed to conquer a country ends up saving it.

[Exotic Butter]

"If one wave fails, send another!"
-Average Trench German Officer

Zephyr Hights don't have a...let's call it a Führerbunker [bunker built for H!tler in World War 2]???
She would be in safer places, than...little modified Throne room...just saying.

Also, i am expecting a quick rest from the side of invanders, before another attack from their 'hideout'.

If I were the invader commander, I would try to take all the roads, meadows, rivers and mountains first, just surround the entire Zephyr Hights castle, and wait for the ponies to run out of ammo, just like in HoI4. But if their supply is...large, I would focus on the biggest obstacle on the battlefield, which is the tank, until the big guns arrive. Finally, I would give the order to attack and, to the big machines, the order to shell the castle. Victory within a week, even a month!

But hey, it's your story and your idea to decide, if Aliens will win, or Ponies!

[The Blue EM2]

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Your plan is rather dependant on the Tripods being able to outflank the enemy. WW1 battles often saw horrific losses due to the lines being impossible to flank due to their length. On top of this, Equestria has a key advantage over the aliens-numbers.