Is it the incoming doom that has us scared?
Or is it the chaos the doom brings?
If one can survive chaos,
But not peace,
Are they scared of peace,
Or are they bored of it?
Luna sank into her chair as the room erupted into chaos.
Admirals and generals were at each other’s throats as they discussed what course of action to take regarding the western coast. Anything the generals wanted, the admirals were against as it put strain on the navy, while anything the navy wanted to do left the ground forces open to naval bombardment from the Changelings.
“All we can provide is shore bombardments for Mead Lake. Prancisco’s waters have already been breached by U-boats and the Olenian Navy will just about be in range of attacking it. Maybe- Just maybe, some carrier operations to the city, but anything else would put our ships at risk.” Admiral Madoor Stronghammer said above the room.
Tempest Wind, who came to Las Pegasus, joined with Madoor. “After consideration from the Shire Meeting, I am still in belief that we should move back to Mead Lake. Fortify Mead Resort as the main base with a final fallback line behind the river further east. That paired with the narrow northern route around the lake will really solidify the defenses and with the navy pounding the enemy, we can hold out. A solid defense.”
Admiral Dust Hoover was quick to also join in. “I can’t see how leaving behind a city, regardless of what a few cans might do, can justify leaving it for the enemy. You all already know I’m pissed about Vanhoover. We can’t be scared of some antiquated raiding navy of the Olenians at every opportunity. Eventually, THEY ARE GOING TO TAKE THE ENTIRE COASTLINE, and we’ll just be having a nice vacation in Baltimare because you didn’t want to get your ships wet. I can’t go alone against the Olenians with my fleet.”
“Admiral Hoover. Vanhoover was already encircled by land. The aerial raids along with the complete control of the fjords prevented us from getting in. The captains of a few boats scuttled their boats so they couldn’t be captured as Vanhoover fell. It was a lost fight before we could even get there. It made no sense to go in just to be hit from Celestia knows where.” Admiral Evening Squall added in. “Your concerns were already accounted for and known. We DID NOT abandon it.”
“Well, the enemy doesn’t have control over Prancisco yet, by LAND OR SEA. If we don’t start getting our joint task-forces operational, we’ll never get our anti-submarine technology tested, which will only lead us on a downward spiral of failure as the Changelings continue to output better and greater submarines. Eventually they’ll be able to sink entire fleets on their own.” Dust Hoover responded back with. “Submarines don’t control oceans, surface vesicles do.”
“I have to agree with the other Admiral. Prancisco is too much of a loss to hold for long. Strategically speaking, Prancisco doesn’t have any value to us right now. It is best to- frankly speaking- Abandon it for Mead Lake. Let the mountains put in some work. They’re of better value at this moment.” Selenite added.
“I WILL NOT ABANDON A CITY!” Hoover yelled out across the room. The other conversations that were taking place within the room, whether of the same volume, or quieter, died. Hoover continued speaking by slamming his hoof onto a table. “I DO NOT CARE IF THE REST OF YOU REFUSE TO HELP. I WILL TAKE MY FLEET TO PRANCISCO AND DIE WITH EVERY HOOF THAT TROTS A SHIP THAT DAY IF IT MEANS ONE MORE COLT AND FOAL CAN GET OUT!” Hoover nearly spat out his lungs when screaming that.
Upon Hoover’s comments, the room became a mingled mess of shouting and cursing. Nothing could be heard from one another and nothing of value was being gained. It had just become another front line Equestria had to manage.
“GENTLECOLTS AND GENTLEMARES!” Luna spoke out with a royal voice. It was the only way to get the room to quiet down after slamming her hoof down a few times failed to quell the chaos. As the entire room quieted down, a dreaded aura of darkness crept over everycreature near Luna as her stress levels peaked.
Once silence filled the room, evercreature stared at Luna.
The tense air crept out of the room as the silence dragged on and the other creatures began slowly conversing with one another in calmed voices.
Luna was fine with just meditating the meeting this time around if it meant discussions happened.
Even knowing what these meetings entailed sometimes, it still became stressful for Luna to listen to. The last thing she needed was the military high command being at each other’s throats during strategy discussions.
As the other commanders watched as Luna came to peace again, proper strategy talks came back.
Admiral Stronghammer was the first to speak up for the room. “Admiral Hoover. If you insist on Prancisco that much, the most I am willing to do is form a small breakoff attachment from my main fleet to help with the evacuations of Prancisco. A carrier included, but they will not die needlessly for the city. Or yourself. The city’s fall is guaranteed. We need everything we can for future engagements and operations.”
“I might add, if we go through with a proper naval defense for Prancisco, we’ve been developing some new bomber planes, specifically for naval bombing that could get the proper field test.” Fast Clip added to the mix. “Some really good ones. They should be able to help with the U-boat problem. I know not only Rainbow Dash’s Wing, but herself as well would be up for escorting them. It would be a great morale boost for Prancisco if they had an Element of Harmony flying for them.”
Even with the calmer conversation, Selenite was still against the idea of helping Prancisco, but she decided to keep to herself for the moment, hoping for some other idea to pop up later that she could latch onto to help convince the others of her choice.
The rest of the meeting was on and off the same. Sometimes the yelling got so bad again, Luna had to intervene with it to make sure nocreature killed each other, other times she just listened and gave her opinions.
The war was not putting the high command in a good spot. No ideas were working in preventing the advance so evercreature was stressing out, maybe panicking as they tried to come up with ideas.
Finally, though, as the conversations died away and not much else was being said, Luna called the end of the meeting and sat in the room as she waited for whatever conversations the lingering command had. For this meeting, nocreature had anything to directly say to Luna. It had been more of a bicker for the generals and admirals, but in the end, it ended with some plans.
Prancisco was going to be defended for two weeks. Some of the generals focus on the defense was to test out some new tactics and equipment, while others truly wanted to just help the citizens and some just wanting to keep the military alive from suicide missions. For them, it would be enough time to figure out plans regarding Applewood and Mead Lake. Both were hot topics, but with each passing day, it was clear the mountain range would become a positive obstacle in the war.
Once the meeting was all wrapped up and the final commanders left the room, Luna was left to herself. She decided to take the moment of solitude to go out on the balcony for some fresh air.
The smell of Puerto Caballo cigars was very strong, and it was favorite among the high command, so whenever meetings took place, whatever room that was used quickly became filled with the tasteful smell.
Luna herself hated the smell, but it was something she learned to ignore. The last thing she wanted to do was make the commanders lose their minds if a ban on smoking took place. Who knows what kind of bickering and ideas they’d come up with then.
The only downside of being outside though, was the smell wasn’t like Canterlot, or most other cities. Las Pegasus was split between two sections. The clouded city above of gambling and luxury, while the ground below was a near industrial landscape built for economic growth and production.
Luna looked upwards towards the floating city of Las Pegasus, admiring it. It was rare for her to come to Las Pegasus, but it was the only other major floating city in Equestria while differing so much from Cloudsdale that it couldn’t even be compared. It also brought on a unique worry.
How will it fare against air raids?
No known cloud city has ever been under attack by an air raid, but with Las Pegasus being the closest to the front lines, it was something to think about.
Within that industrial landscape of Las Pegasus though, was Equestria’s biggest naval production yards. Since the war started, the keels of many ships had been laid and started for new vessels, but they had since slowed with the fear the city might fall to the Changelings. The only other in-country production of naval ships was on the east coast, Baltimare and Fillydelphia. Baltimore was the smallest of the three, but it was the pinnacle of naval research. Because of fears of Las Pegasus being lost, production has greatly ramped up between the two eastern cities. Some expect Baltimare to catch up and even surpass the production of both Fillydelphia and Las Pegasus.
From the same balcony, Luna was able to look out towards the ocean, where a sizable number of naval ships were. The security for Las Pegasus was heightened for the meeting, but the fleet that guarded the bay was nothing compared to the whole navy.
Between the east and western oceans, the west now had most of the Equestrian Navy for the war. A sizable chunk of it was still based at Manehattan, with a spare carrier, but it wasn’t clear from the war or duties.
With only a few destroyers stationed to the south to patrol for U-boats, the eastern navy had to focus on any potential U-boat that got past, though not likely given how far it was from Changeling ports. That wouldn’t be true for long as SMILE intel indicated that the Changelings were developing long range submarines for such tasks. So not only for the future fear of enemy subs attacking, the escort of merchant ships through Haukland and past Wingbardy required the need of the navy due to pirating and the unpredictability of Wingbardy.
After spending some time on the balcony, Luna was finally interrupted by the personal guards Bipen chose for her. Luna always got carried away with after meeting solitude to enjoy the small moments of life.
Right now, the city of Las Pegasus was normal. Despite everything happening, things here, and for the rest of the country, carried on. Creatures went about their daily lives. For most of them, the war was an afterthought, only interrupted by the occasional draft letter and rare air raid.
The advance of the lines and the advancement of technology would soon disrupt that more and more though. Eventually, the Changelings would get better bombers, which would allow for further bombing runs that they would surely use to cause havoc on the country. Once then, maybe then the ponies of Equestria will truly wake up to what was happening in the west.
That future didn’t matter yet, as Luna had to worry about the present. Her guards had informed her that it was time to head for Canterlot. There had been a slight change of plans since coming to Las Pegasus, so now Luna was to meet with her sister at the Canterlot Castle.
It was Celestia’s idea though, which Luna protested against but eventually caved for. It was rare though, to have Celestia invite her over. In fact, Luna wasn’t even sure when the last time she was directly invited over. Once she thought about it, she remembered it was after the explosion she survived in Manehattan. The whole country was scared for a day when that happened, and massive unrest almost occurred because of the thestrals, but ultimately, once Luna recovered, she was able to quell the unrest.
It was a few days afterwards that Luna was invited to Canterlot by Celestia. It was a simple sister-to-sister conversation regarding some topics, but it was easy to tell Celestia just wanted to check up on Luna. What else is a big sister supposed to do?
The only problem Luna had with the detour was her meeting with Fizzlepop. Depending on what it was she and Celestia would do, she might miss her opportunity to speak with Fizzlepop. The orders she gave Bipen were clear that it would be the day of the Whinnyapolis meeting.
Meeting with the Crystal Empire command was fine to miss. Luna could just go directly to the Crystal City afterwards, but it would delay getting with Fizzlepop, which Luna was against.
It wasn’t like their country was losing a war against little bugs or anything, so what would a few more days do.
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it has a cool looking poster
sweet chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter
