Fjolnir Steelhoof scowled deeply as he stormed down the steps of the Hall of the Conquerors, grumbling faintly under his breath. The damned High Priest was really starting to get under his fur. No messages had come from the Military Governor, or his son, Svoln. There was no reason for Fjolnir to pull troops from the Griffin campaign to criss-cross Equestria for survivors. If there were any, they would be starved by now, and hardly able to mount any kind of resistance to the garrison forces. He had bigger things to worry about, like the breeding camp that had been found completely emptied, and the surgical strikes on supply depots in the Nation itself. Rebels were of more concern to him than foolish rumors of-

The Caribou commander’s train of thought was shattered as something small and furry stumbled into his path. With a warrior’s reflexes, his magic lashed out to grab a hold of the obstacle- a pony mare with ratty fur- and fling her roughly against the statue of Celestia.

“Watch yourself!” he hissed, magic lashing the mare several times, “You fucking slave! Or I’ll flay you alive myself!”

“I-I’m sorry, my lord!” the pony wailed, writhing and sobbing as blood flowed from the severe lashes the magic had cut into her side and hooves, “I-It won’t happen again!”

Fjolnir glared darkly at the mare. Perhaps a good skull-fucking would teach the klutzy little mongrel to- A twitch of magic hissed through his brain, and the Caribou growled again. That fucking PRIEST. Spinning around tensely, Fjolnir marched back up the marble steps, reluctantly planning a small expeditionary force to send to Equestria. He never noticed the crooked smile on the face of the mare, nor how her blood seemed to seep into small cracks at the base of Celestia’s golden-shod hooves.

“Hehehe… tick tock… tick tock…”
*****************************

“Fillydelphia and Manehatten must fall as one, or we risk the Caribou regrouping in a particularly difficult zone to breach.”

Twilight Sparkle stood at the head of the circular tactical table, a purple hoof slowly tracing the path of battle she had set forward, leading from the Ponyville marshaling site, to the split at the Northern Crossroads. Scouts reported that the Caribou had a small garrison at the crossroads, one they would quickly overwhelm with a pegasi strike force. This complete, Twilight would take the Ponyville Scouts and the Magic Corps to Fillydelphia, along with a combined undead and living army of five thousand, while the Countesses Scratch would lead their army of Canterlotian survivors and Los Pegasus Militia, numbering well in the six thousands, to liberate Manehatten. At the same time, Queen Heartstrings, in an alliance with the other newly raised Queens, would attack from the Badlands, retaking Apploosa and Dodge Junction before their garrison commanders could be warned. All in all, it was a lightning strike. In one fell swoop, Twilight would retake most of Equestria. She hoped.

“You’re certain that you don’t want any of the Cloud Cruisers, Empress?”

Spitfire, Duchess of Cloudsdale, frowned as she looked the battle plans over with trained eyes. Unlike many of the new nobles, Spitfire opted for nothing more than her officer’s uniform, which Twilight found refreshing.
Tapping a hoof on Manehatten’s place on the map, Spitfire glanced up at Twilight curiously, “The Caribou rebuilt a lot of the old skyscrapers for their airships.”

Expecting the question, Twilight grinned at her general.

“Quite certain,” she replied slyly, “They’ll be expecting an aerial attack. With the loss of the last airship, they’ll be paranoid, and be expecting an attack from the cloud cities. All their defensive focus will be on those towers.”

She nodded over to Pinkie Pie, who was giving the battle plans a nearly sadistic grin.

“Our cannons will fire from the forest, with spells negating the noise. When the airships explode, they’ll be looking skyward. They won’t expect a ground force to hit the lower camps. Or expect them to dynamite the tower bases.”

A single eyebrow raised a few inches on a fiery face.

“You don’t want to keep them intact for the re-construction?” she asked slowly, tilting her head.

Twilight was silent for several moments, peering down at the Equestrian map with a neutral expression. She was so quiet, that when her hoof slammed onto the solid oak with her full force, every pony but Pinkie Pie jumped back in shock.

“No,” Twilight hissed, magic burning the parchment with a soft hiss, “They built on our dead. The Caribou tried to claim our city as their own. Before a single building goes back up, anything the Caribou built- ANYTHING- will be shattered. The same goes for Manehatten. And Trottingham, and all the ground cities. I won’t have any Caribou taint left. Not. One.”

Closing her eyes, the alicorn sat back on her haunches, taking a few deep breaths.

Heh. Lost my cool, there.

Opening her eyes again, Twilight did her best to hide a sheepish smile. The other generals had edged back a bit, glancing between themselves, but Pinkie Pie and Spitfire nodded in understanding, both ponies glaring at the others till they respectfully moved back to the tables.

War will get back in their blood before too long. I’ve had too long to think of my reasons to hate the beasts.

“Good. You all know your places and positions. Spitfire, you and Cloudsdale’s levy are in charge of taking the rail-line into the Crystal Empire. You’ve gone over the plans I sent you?”

“And memorized, Empress.”

“Excellent. Dismissed.”
********************

Military Governor Karl Redhide had to struggle- very hard- to not throttle the messenger buck kneeling in front of him. A massive specimen among a large species, Karl was used to getting his way with his size. This messenger in particular was practically grovelling at Karl’s hooves. But it was quite… frustrating, not to be able to take out frustrations on his underlings. He needed every single one, unlike back home. If he were back home, well…

“So let me get this straight,” he replied slowly to the shaking Caribou messenger, “The Dominant Eye, our largest and best bombardment airship… was taken down. By ponies.”

The messenger gulped thickly, “W-we… we aren’t e-entirely sure, Governor. I-it could have been b-birds in the engines, or e-errant lightning, or-”

“BIRDS!?”

Karl had been having a rough week. He was allowed an explosion or two. Heaving himself out of his throne, the gargantuan Caribou glared down at the quivering, pathetic excuse for a male. Maybe just a little torture was in order. It wasn’t like he couldn’t fire a rifle with shaved down antlers, right? Karl’s growing grin was obliterated in a fraction of a second by a dull boom. And a second. And a third, which had by then activated the wailing alarm system; something outside was roaring loudly, almost like…

Paling, Karl raced towards the side door leading to the balcony overlook of the base. His magic reached the doors before him, flinging them open with a thunder that paled in comparison to the chaos outside. Burning with a brilliant red flame, and dotted the explosions of cooking off ammunition, the last three airships possessed by the Equestrian Garrison forces burned away, floating slowly towards the ground of the scorched Fillydelphia.
***************************

“Excellent shot, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight whispered; not that the sound would carry beyond the null-sound field.

The barrage had gone off just as planned, with the fire-magic laden shells punching through the protective shields of the airships, and setting their flammable gas-bags alight. The holes had quickly burned out wide, so there was little evidence as to which direction the shots had come from. And, as Twilight predicted, the Caribou searchlights were pointed skyward, Ferse-hoof tracers flashing up into the thundering clouds Twilight had had her undead pegasi set up early. The same undead pegasi who were now hiding in said clouds, waiting for the attack to begin below. Twilight had to work hard to resist a fairly evil-sounding cackle.

This was it. Within a few days, the Empire would consume the major centers of Equestria once more, and push out the biggest force of Caribou left in the country. Twilight would have an open lane into the Crystal Empire and, from there, a clear avenue to her goal. Shining Armor and Cadance would provide her with allies and much-needed infrastructure. ...and possibly counselling. But first…

“Knights.”

“We are here, our Empress,” the three mares replied quietly, taking up positions on each side, and one in front, of Twilight.

All four stared up at the flaming skyline of the city. The thermo magical weapons had obliterated most structures taller than two stories, and the Caribou had only rebuilt a few structures to serve as barracks and depots for their battlewagons. Twilight, who had visited Fillydelphia several times as a filly, sighed faintly. Such a cultural hotbed, reduced to cinders. So many bodies… so many souls in limbo… Red magic began to glow around her horn, creeping out to begin suffusing the closest building.

“Begin your assault, my Knights.”

The Battle for Equestria had begun.

Author's Notes:

Time for action!