Field Marshall Stormy Winds

Was the Battle of Stalliongrad the tipping point of the war?

No, that’s incorrect. A lot of history books say it is, but that’s incorrect. Not to depreciate the loss to the dragons from Stalliongrad, but the tipping point really came later at Maresk.

I can understand why the misconception. Stalliongrad was where we made our big stand. The Princess was adamant about that. It seemed a bit strange to me from a strategic standpoint, but obviously she knows more about running a nation than I do. She committed everything we had to its defense.
The dragon forces had taken just about everything north of the river. The battle stretched on for years, of course. City fighting, dragons versus entrenched unicorns. That’s just about the dirtiest sort of fighting that there is. The battle see-sawed back and forth over those years. It drove us nuts. But it must have driven the dragons nuts as well, you see.

They were just as committed to win it as we were. They were sure they were going to win it. We were only ponies after all, an “inferior race.” Their whole master plan centered on taking Stalliongrad. When they couldn’t force us out, they must have been enraged. When we encircled their entire 3rd army? When we captured two whole divisions of dragons intact? It wasn’t just a military disaster for the dragons. It was a total repudiation of their entire ethos. I would have liked to have seen the faces of their high command after our victory at Stalliongrad.

But it wasn’t the tipping point?

No. It was the first major defeat for the dragons. The dragons were still a more powerful force than ours. The war still could have gone in their favor. It was the Battle of Maresk that was the tipping point. After that we had the momentum, the logistic superiority. We would have won the war after that, even without Operation Straight Flush. It would have taken years longer, of course. But I think the die was cast after that.

Could you tell me about Maresk?

Certainly. The proper name was actually Operation Sedna. Maresk was a small farming cooperative near the salient at the beginning of the battle. The actual front was a hundred miles long or more, and would end up moving hundreds of miles forward.

This was some 800 miles west of Stallliongrad, about the same latitude. The 3rd dragon army had been obliterated at Stalliongrad. The dragons couldn’t hope to retake the ground until they had dispatched our Maresk salient. Their goal was a rather straightforward attack by their 4th and 9th armies.

We knew roughly when and where they would attack. We had captured a number of dragon officers, and had used enhanced interrogations.

You mean torture?

Enhanced interrogations. Not that it was too hard to tell when and where they would attack. This was straightforward war of attrition, on a massive scale, mostly open terrain. It’s not about bravery or determination on this scale. It’s about logistics, numbers, statistics. The battle was really fairly simple, just completely massive. It was, and still is, the largest land battle in the history of the world.

Land battle?

Daylight swarming by pegasus ponies was proving less successful, and with a high casualty rate. At Maresk we used them for weather control. We created a hurricane, essentially. It grounded the dragons. They had to march in on foot. That’s just the sort of thing that separates skirmishes from large battles.

We had prepared a solid unicorn defense. Statistically speaking, those are the best odds for ponies versus dragons. A grounded dragon attacking unicorns prepared with anti-dragon defenses, that always works out in our favor, at least more so than offensive operations. Of course, these unicorns were taking on a assault of the 4th and 9th dragon armies. It was only a matter of time before they were overran. I’d like to reiterate my commendation for the 114th telekinesis battalion. They showed particular bravery that day, I was proud to award them decorations posthumously.

The dragons broke through both the outer and inner defenses at the end of the first day. But the unicorns had taken their toll. The dragons had taken excessive casualties, they were exhausted, and they had no hope of reinforcements. I honestly think dragon high command had no idea that we had already prepared a counteroffensive, at least not on that scale.

We had the entire 1st, 2nd, and 5th Equestrian Armies prepared in offensive posture just behind the inner defenses. The dragon’s 4th and 9th were smashed in two more days of fighting. Their rear positions were also annihilated on the 3rd day, when our 6th swung in from the north to outflank them.

After that, as I said, the momentum was with us. They had lost their best soldiers. And too many of them. They would never be able to take Equestria after that. Or even keep the ground that they had gained. So that’s why I say Maresk was the tipping point.

And the war was over not to long after that.

Yes. Weeks, thanks to Operation Straight Flush. The dragons started a full retreat shortly after Maresk. I didn’t know why at the time, of course. But we hassled their rear guard for as long as we could. All the way to the old border, where the cease fire was signed. There was some mopping up to do, but the war was won.

Sweet Leaves

You were at the Battle of Stalliongrad.

That was a unicorn battle. I was there, but I don’t really like to count myself among the ranks of those who take credit.

How do you mean?

I was in the forces that encircled the 3rd dragon army. We only had a few weeks of fighting, and it was fluid. We were fighting already defeated dragons. We had it easy compared to the unicorns.

You were also at Maresk?

Oh, yes. That was a whole different matter. Biggest battle I ever saw, and I saw a lot of it. Of course, I guess it was the biggest battle literally as well.

Could you describe it please?

Well, it was a hurricane. That sound of drowned out everything else. I have lots of memories about that battle, but they all center around the hurricane. Have you ever been in a hurricane, son? You’ll never forget it. It howls. It just plain screams. It’s a horrible, monstrous sound. The stuff of nightmares. And that hurricane didn’t stop for three days. It didn’t let down, and it hardly moved at all.
Most of us were exposed, in trenches. Lucky for us it was at our backs. I suppose luck didn’t have much to do with it. That hurricane was made to order.
We had to sit there and watch during the initial dragon assault. We could see the flares of dragon fire all across the horizon. East to west, everywhere you looked. It glowed orange underneath those near black clouds. We could hear it too, at least through our hooves. The concussions transmitted through the ground, you see. But we couldn’t hear it through the wind. All dragonfire is like that. But none of us had known that much of it. It had a horrible glory to it all.
That night they came. You could see them well enough from the fires and the flares the unicorns were setting off. I say you could see them, but there you could only see a portion of them, because their line stretched over the horizon. There were over 2,500 dragons in that battle. The most ever assembled in combat.
I wasn’t afraid. It was like there was too many of them to be afraid. I was just sort of awestruck. It took them hours of marching forward, against the wind. There were gaps in the line. Some of them were limping. As they got closer it was obviously how bad the unicorn defenses had hurt them. We waited until they were very close before we charged. With the wind at our backs it was incredible. It was a stampede of stampedes. There will never be another like it again. There were hundreds of thousands of us charging, all up and down the line. The whole earth shook.
After that, my memories aren’t so solid. It was combat. Typical combat. Almost a let down after the build up, you know? Well, I made it through that battle. Too many ponies didn’t. But we sure licked the snakes.

The war was soon over after that.

That’s right. It was only a few more weeks. It was just like the start of the war only backwards. It felt good to take so much ground so fast. My unit and I were taken off the front lines, we had already seen so much, and they brought up fresh soldiers. Still, they used us to mop up.

Mop up?

Some of the dragons were holdouts. When they were ordered to retreat some of them refused. Some of them holed up and built nests. They would have stayed in their holes for years causing problems if we hadn’t flushed them all out. It wasn’t easy work, but there was enough of us that it wasn’t the most dangerous of assignments.

Then if you weren’t on the front lines, you weren’t involved in the liberation of interred ponies?

Oh, no. Thank goodness, no.

Dancy Prancer

It was difficult to find the scientist and expatriate. When I arrived at the Neighrobi Airport, I was picked up by several of his hired stallions. I was blindfolded and driven in a circuitous route around the city, before we headed out into the countryside. Dr. Prancer may have good reason to be paranoid. There have been numerous attempts on his life over the years. He says they were assassination attempts by the Crown. The Crown denies this. Those are the only official statements the Crown will make regarding Dr. Prancer. Otherwise they don’t even admit that he even exists.

Why have you left Equestria and gone into seclusion?

It’s not overly complicated. I don’t like following orders. I don’t like secrecy. I don’t like the weight of government pushing me down on my shoulders. I signed up for it of course during the war. We all had to do our part. But after the war? I couldn’t take it anymore. But they don’t let you go easily, you see. I had to sever all my ties completely.

You were involved in the research behind Operation Straight Flush?

That’s correct. It was the biggest scientific project in history. Nearly every scientists in Equestria was recruited to work on it in some way. We developed new magics with every intention of forcing an end to the war. I was a teleportation specialist. I worked directly on the advanced teleportation magic developed for the insertion team.

It’s saved my life, frankly. It’s how I keep getting away from the death squads.

There were other scientists working on other fields?

Yes, there were. They weren’t in my field, but I respected their genius. Given their specialty you could tell what the entire operation was about, even though none of us were supposed to be able to put the pieces together. Outside of my own field, the next largest specialty was reproduction magic. As well as growth and healing.

After Operation Straight Flush, most of the speculation centered around the team having assassinated the Dragon King. That was proved wrong several years later after he made several state appearances. You claim supports one of the leading alternative theories.

That Operation Straight Flush involved the capture of a clutch of dragon eggs, yes.

Thunder Charge

It must have been hard waiting to go on the big mission itself.

Yeah, it was, Doc. We were all chomping on the bit to get it over with. They kept delaying and delaying. They never really told us why. We figured (the Crown) was waiting for some big battle to distract the dragon high command. I personally thought we would have a go during the final days of Stalliongrad, when the dragons’ plans were falling apart. They didn’t use us, you see. There were plenty of operations in that battle where they could have used us for covert ops without calling attention to ourselves, but they passed us by. I thought it was because we were about to get the green light. But Stalliongrad came and went. Nothing.

Never figured out why. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just more incompetence from up top.

Well, then Maresk came, and we finally got out big chance. Dragon high command was certainly pre-occupied with that. We definitely caught them unawares.

Tell me about the mission itself.

Well, as you know, Doc, much of the really juicy business is still classified.

But I’ll tell you what I can.

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