***

“Celestia was a Princess. But she’s declared herself Empress of Equestria - under the name Astra Solamina Maxima. Her intent is to invade this island and subjugate what remains of humanity.”
Doctor Hooves, The Avatar of Albion.

***

Scotland, Great Britain, March 20th, 2024.

Deep within the emergency bunker where increasing amounts of supplies and equipment (as well as key personnel) were being moved, several figures sat around a table. Two were ponies: one was a tan Earth Pony with a brown mane, a blue neckerchief on, and tired eyes, full of what might have been sadness, or might have been something else entirely. His name, according to the register, was Doctor Hooves, though most simply called him the Doctor. The other pony was a purple mare whose cutie mark consisted of three smiling daisies, a pink mane tied back to keep it out of her face. She looked like she might have had laugh lines once, though it seemed like she wouldn't smile again judging from her dour expression. This was Cheerilee.

There were also two humans: one was a Japanese man named Hiroto Sato - a larger man, despite time working in the camps with his fellows. He had a thin moustache and goatee on his face and a threadbare silver suit on. The other was a cropped haired, heavy muscled military man named Paul Anderson, now General in charge of the newly incorporated "British Defence Forces", after the resignation (and subsequent suicide) of General Lewis Grant.

This group had assembled here to discuss in more depth the troubling news that the Doctor had brought with him from the land of Equestria.

“War,” the brown Earth Pony said softly. “Celestia… Solamina… is preparing to wage war on this island, to attack and destroy the last remnants of humanity.”

“War,” Sato repeated, a thoughtful frown on his face. “Are you certain of this?”

“Absolutely,” replied the Doctor. “I’ve seen her preparing forces already, riling up the population. Guard recruitment has gone through the roof so far that it's practically hitting the stratosphere. This can only mean war.”

“She's been building up the military for months,” Cheerilee said softly. “More Guards, including a massive influx of the Converted to their ranks - and then there's the Militia that Sol Invictus headed up…”

“And there’s no doubt that we are her targets?” Sato asked.

“Not the only one, judging by the rumoured buildup on the borders of Equestria, but it seems like she sees the human race as an affront to her rule,” the Doctor said quietly. “Her inaugural speech was a war cry to the ponies of Equestria, a call for them to join up and -”

“Attack us,” Anderson said quietly, putting a hand over his face in irritation. “Fucking hell, this is not news we needed.”

“This is a war we can ill afford,” Sato said softly. He sighed. “The forces we have are depleted from the Barrier, and there will not be enough food to feed the people, especially if war shortages start.” He looked to his colleague. “General, may I ask your assessment?”

General Anderson scratched his chin. “A war on that scale with the resources we have now… it's crazy.”

“Crazy?” Cheerilee repeated. “That's a bit… vague.”

“It would be utterly catastrophic for Earth,” Anderson clarified, scowling. “We're just not ready for this.”

He paused. Silence filled the room as the others waited for him to continue. Anderson groaned and shook his head.

“What is her reason for doing this?” he asked after a moment.

“She's gone insane,” Cheerilee put in, her expression almost mournful. “I mean, we've had the feeling there was something off for a while - little things, you know? But now…”

“She’s declared herself Empress,” the Doctor stepped in, “and changed her name to Astra Solamina Maxima.”

“What does that mean?” Anderson asked.

“‘The Sun, resplendent and supreme’,” the Doctor said quietly. “It’s a whole different mentality. That, coupled with the buildup and the militarism, implies some serious mental issues of some sort.”

“What happened?” Sato asked.

“Why does it matter?” Cheerilee countered. “She’s going to attack. She wants to convert every person into a pony, using her potion, and if you won’t convert, she’ll destroy you.”

“The potion… if she should attempt to deploy it as a weapon,” Sato began quietly, “it would…”

“It would give her more workers, more soldiers, more bodies for her war effort with each battle she wins,” Anderson finished. “And she already has a warm body advantage.”

“That she does,” the Doctor noted. “With the Converted being part of her war effort…”

“We’ll be overrun,” Anderson cut him off, scowling. He pounded the desk, suddenly angry. “We cannot let a war like that begin!”

“It's already begun, General,” Cheerilee said mournfully. “The best we can all do is prepare the fight it, and hope.”

Anderson raised an eyebrow. “We?”

“What, you don't think we came here just to look at the scenery, do you?” Cheerilee asked with a raised eyebrow, chuckling slightly. “We came here to help you, any way we can.”

“There's a lot of ponies amongst our group who are willing to do whatever it takes to free Equestria from Celestia's - Solamina's - madness,” the Doctor said quietly. “Ourselves included.”

“Free Equestria?” Sato asked. “Do you believe that is possible?”

“At this stage? What is possible?” the Doctor asked, shrugging. “We can’t win a battle through force of arms, she just has more resources. We can’t win a war with superior weapons, your weapons have no way of reaching through the Barrier, let alone going through the portal and reaching Canterlot!” He sighed. “A lot of the ponies who came with us want to go home. They want to free their home, make it better if they can.”

“It’s a good objective,” Anderson said softly. “If it was remotely possible.”

“At this point,” Cheerilee said quietly, smiling at him, “I think hoping for anything other than our immediate survival to be possible is a pipe dream. Having hope for a future where we can go home… might be the only thing keeping some of our ponies fighting.”

There was a pause as everyone considered this.

“We can arrange housing and training,” Sato said quietly.

“We brought some ex-Guards with us,” the Doctor said. “They can help train ponies to fight, though we’ve precious little to give them to fight with.”

“Join the club,” Anderson said with a wry grin.

“What resources do you have?” asked the Doctor, sounding less than confident, like he didn’t want to know the answer.

“In terms of food and other basic amenities, we've come up very short,” Sato said quietly. “The civilian population have been worked to the bone setting up enough food production facilities to allow for substantial, sustainable food growth, and even then, we’re… tight.”

“We can help,” Cheerilee said. “We brought a lot of farmers with us when we came.”

“What about your military?” the Doctor asked quietly.

“That is not my area,” Sato said quietly. “General Anderson, what would you say our disposition is?”

Anderson remained silent. His lips mouthed but no words came out.

“General?” Sato prompted quietly.

General Anderson gasped, caught off guard. It took him only a second to compose himself. “I'd say, if we count militias and HLF and other smaller groups as well as the major military contingents, we’ve got close to six million fighting men and weapons to keep 'em, though ammo for most of those weapons is gonna run short real fast. We’ve got stockpiles of weapons, but very little capacity to produce that many more, not right away.”

“That’s problematic,” the Doctor said quietly. “But there must be reserve weapons, foundries…”

“A lot of people brought their own weapons,” Sato said quietly. “The HLF, other militaries, militiamen, even armed civilians. It is far from unfeasible that they might be persuaded to join the fight - especially given the fact that this is a fight for our survival.”

Anderson nodded slowly, thinking things through. His military mind was already drawing battle plans, choosing locations for defensive positions, deciding who would go where - who would live, and who would die.

“Even then, this is going to be difficult,” he said quietly as he drew the lines in his head.

“No doubt,” Sato said, “but I do not see any alternative.”

“Neither do I,” the Doctor added quietly, looking forlorn.

“There's no way to stop her armies from passing through your Barrier, is there?” Cheerilee asked.

“I have an acquaintance, one of the top members of the Watcher’s Council,” Anderson said distractedly. He leaned back in his chair and began to tap on the table. “His name is Rupert Giles - he might know something that could work - but I can’t guarantee anything.”

“In the meantime is there anything that we can do to slow her down?” the Doctor asked.

Anderson said nothing. He got up out of his chair and paced the room.

“The Council might have something,” Sato said, speaking more to Anderson than the ponies. “Or there might be some weapon…”

“There's no weapon that'll get through that Barrier,” Cheerilee put in. “You tried. I heard Austrailia’s army was -.”

“I know,” Anderson cut her off. He sighed. “I was there.”

“What is stopping us from destroying the Barrier itself?” Sato asked quietly.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if the barrier is somehow connected to Celestia - to Solamina herself,” the Doctor said, correcting himself quickly. “It would make sense, something on that scale would need a physical anchor to stabilize it - and she’s impossibly powerful.” His eyes widened. “It would also explain why she took the barrier halting so personally; she would have thought it would just continue.” The Doctor chuckled sadly. “You wouldn’t happen to have a magical entity on the same level as Solamina would you?”

“No,” Sato said mournfully.

“Not yet,” Anderson said grimly. Sato glanced at him, and even Cheerilee and the Doctor glanced at him, surprised. His face was grim-set, but determined. “We’ve got a whole bunch of people who supposedly know magic like the back of their hands. If we don’t have a way to make something powerful to counteract Solamina yet, we will have soon. It’s our best option. Hell, it's an option, which is enough.”

He stood up and turned to look at a map of Britain on a wall. The map showed locations of troops, strongpoints, all sorts of other things. Anderson had already run the possibility of war with Equestria - as a worst case scenario he thought grimly, not something I ever expected - or wanted - to face - but even then, he hadn’t done everything he could have.

That was about to change.

“No more playing around,” he said grimly, turning to the others. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this right.”

***

A few days later, a large group of soldiers, scientists, and more than a few members of the “Watcher’s Council” (an organisation of men and women who were supposedly experts on magic) were gathered in the heart of the underground complex. Joining them were dozens of ponies - including Doctor Hooves, Cheerilee, and a good few dozen others.

At the head of the room stood General Anderson, staring out at the people gathered before him.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said grimly. “You know the score. We’re at war. Princess Celestia of Equestria has gone mad - she's renamed herself Astra Solamina Maxima, and it’s been made very clear that her objective is to destroy the human race.”

There was a sudden shocked hush over the room. To hear it stated so boldly was unnerving at best.

“As of right now,” Anderson continued, “this complex is dedicated to one goal. Ensuring the survival of the human race and the defeat of Astra Solamina. To that end, I am declaring the beginning of Project Terminus. This is it. If any of you are hiding the secret to winning this war, it can't be a secret anymore. We need it. We need you.”

Everyone and Everypony looked at each other, uneasy glances and determined expressions present in equal measure.

“We might have lost almost everything,” Anderson continued. “But fuck that. We’re not gonna sit here like ducks. We’re going to pull back - we’re going to win. No half measures. No joking around. Together, we’re going to stand up to the might of the Equestrian war machine - and tell them to go fuck themselves!”

A cheer went up at that, echoing throughout the room. They were good words, strong words.

All that was left was to put them into action.

***

Author's Notes:

Hello once again, everyone :-) Apologies that this has taken forever to get out there. I've had a lot of stuff on.

With thanks to my co-authors and friends for their support.

Jed.