They had expected some ponies to come and assist, but they certainly hadn't expected all the ponies to come. All they could do was stare and watch as Princess Luna marched in at the head of a massive column of ponies. At least not until Limestone shook it off and stopped right in front of Luna, blocking her way.

"You've brought the entire army here? What about Las Pegasus? What about places near it? Did you warn them you were leaving?"

Luna raised an eyebrow at the obstinate little pony in front of her. "It was not a decision made lightly, I assure you, but when fifteen thousand Mareitanians are coming to attack you, and you lack the ability to stop them, there is little else to do."

"But what about our parents?"

"Your parents?"

"Yeah! Did they get a warning?"

Luna wasn't sure what to say next, and was saved as Shining Armour took over the conversation.

"We passed by her parents' rock farm on the way here Princess, and we did give them a warning." Shining gave Limestone and her sisters a weak and apologetic smile, "I'm afraid they refused to leave, and insisted that providence will see them to safety. I'm sorry Sergeant, but we told them that as long as they do nothing to impede the Mareitanians, they should be safe."

Limestone sighed and closed her eyes. She wasn't surprised by her parents reaction, and doubted anything short of the farm dropping into a sink hole would ever make them leave. "Understood. Thank you for trying."

"I am sorry Sergeant," Luna emphasised. "There'll be many more such occurrences before this is over, and I wish I could prevent them all, but I cannot. From what we've seen though, Faust doesn't wish to harm innocents, so they should be quite safe, along with those in Las Pegasus." Limestone nodded and stepped aside, letting the Princess continue while she went to her sisters, pulling them into a group hug.

Luna carried on her path, and swallowed hard as she headed over towards a field of bodies. The pegasi that had fallen in the battle had been lined up next to each other, covering far too large an area. A significant number of other pegasi walked amongst the dead, mourning the dead and comforting each other. Captains Spitfire and Greywhisker were among them, as well as Windy Rush of the Exiles.

"How many lost?" Luna asked General Stormguard, who had trotted over to her as she approached.

"Near eight hundred Princess. Those Golden Claws were a force to be reckoned with, and I doubt any future engagements with them will end too differently. It's safe to say we've lost our air superiority."

"And in the space of a day, we've lost the two advantages we had," Luna sighed. "Our defensive position, and now our ability to strike from the air. Where are the griffons now?"

"Heading north we believe, likely to protect the tank convoy travelling to Manehattan."

"So we are no longer able to stop them." Luna breathed out harshly through her nose. Things had totally come apart now, and she couldn't see many ways in which to stop the Mareitanians. They could possibly try to cut the Mareitanians off at Ghastly Gorge, but they could go south to circumvent the Equestrians defences, or head north to Ponyville, which they might do anyway. They had no feasible way to stop the Mareitanians in the north, and... Luna simply didn't know what to do.

"Shining Armour, Stormguard, gather your captains and bring them to the town hall. We need to discuss strategy, and I'd like to have some more opinions, rather than just our own."

"Yes ma'am," Shining replied as Stormguard saluted. "With your permission, I'd like to bring Sergeant Limestone as well. I'm told she has some new intelligence on the griffons we'd all like to hear."

"By all means then, bring her."

There wasn't much chatter in the town hall as the requested ponies were gathered. The ponies making up Equestria's air forces had lost much, and didn't feel like talking, and the rest of them knew enough of the truth to draw the one conclusion they didn't want. In a matter of mere hours, they had gone from holding the Mareitanians off, to losing ground rapidly. If they didn't find a way to stop it, the war was effectively lost.

That was the atmosphere Luna walked into, and she made no effort to correct it, as it was very much the truth. They were losing now, and that was unlikely to change.

"Thank you all for coming," Luna said to the room at large, grabbing their attention. "I'm sure I don't need to explain to you what has happened, or why you're here. Faust has us severely on the back hoof, and we need a way to turn this around. First though, Sergeant Limestone, I'm told you have something important for us."

Limestone stood and moved to Luna, placing the paper Pinkie had wrote the details of the conversation they'd overhead on. "It's all there Princess. What we heard getting discussed between Commander Theron of the Bloodfeathers, and the leader of the Golden Claws."

Luna thanked Limestone and picked up the paper, reading through it quickly. "Commander Theron? But we were told that the Emperor's son was killed. Seems news of his death was greatly exaggerated." Luna grunted in irritation and read a little further. "Griffonstone? That was agreed price for fighting for Faust? What could he possibly hope to achieve by possessing there of all places?"

"We don't know, but it involves his uncle, who's been arrested for treason, or something." Limestone shrugged, "I don't know enough of what's going on in Griffonia to say much more."

"Theron is the disowned son of the Emperor. If he's plotting something with his uncle..." Luna folded the paper back up, "Stormguard, I need you to get this to Canterlot immediately, and into the hooves of Equis. I know it is not our immediate concern, but Griffon Intelligence will need to know of all this. The last thing we need is the Emperor getting replaced with somepony willing to attack Equestria, even if we should survive the war with Mareitania."

"I'll have one of our fastest fliers deliver it immediately."

"Thank you." Luna paused to draw in a deep breath, then released it in one big explosive sigh. "I don't even know where to begin. You've all seen what's happening, how Faust has hired a further, and more effective force of griffons. How she's put us into retreat from our most defensive position through the threat of totally outnumbering us. How she currently moves on our east coast through the north. I hate to say it, but this war can no longer be fought on our terms. If we lose the east coast, our defence becomes almost impossible to sustain, and if we lose Canterlot we've lost the war. I had hoped we could keep the fear of losses as a deterrent to Faust, but instead she has placed that fear in us. Frankly, I'm open to suggestions."

"We should relocate our training facilities to Canterlot," Shining suggested. "It won't be as effective as a true garrison, but it should put Faust off from attacking Canterlot, while keeping our more recent recruits safer."

"Is it even worth recruiting ponies at this point?" said Spitfire. "Begging your pardon, but throwing a load of newbies into the war isn't going to help us do anything."

Luna nodded, "I agree actually. All recruitment shall be suspended for now. For all we know, we could be faced with the loss of all of the east coast in a matter of weeks, so more recruits would be pointless."

"And relocating our current recruits?" Shining questioned. "I feel it would be for the best, in the event we're forced to hold onto our most secure location at least."

"Also approved." Luna growled under her breath. None of these two plans so far suggested a bold attitude to turning their losses around, if that was even possible. "Anything else to suggest? Mayhaps a device to assist us in running around with our tails between our legs?"

"Mistress?" Greywhisker said unsurely.

Luna waved him off. "Ignore me. I suppose it is foolish to think that perhaps this war might be won by us. The entire point was to slow Faust down until Twilight Sparkle could find a solution to defeat Faust herself." Luna grimaced as several ponies gasped. "Yes, we have deceived you into thinking this war could be won through strength of arms alone, but evidently it cannot. Buying time and defeating Faust directly was always the key, so that is what we shall have to continue doing."

Luna stood patiently as the ponies in the room rapidly whispered to each other. Thankfully her generals weren't partaking in it, nor was Captain Greywhisker. Captain Spitfire sat quietly with a sad yet thoughtful expression on her face, and Sergeant Limestone, the lowest ranking pony in the room, was looking at all the others, seemingly annoyed at their surprise. Luna could only assume that Pinkie had explained the situation to her.

"Do you all have nothing else to say at all?"

"If we continue to fight back, we'll be throwing lives away as we practically burn our country in front of the Mareitanians. There's no shame in defeat, or surrender."

Luna raised an eyebrow at the stallion who spoke. He wore the uniform of a Mage Corps unicorn, and had attained the stripes of a captain, but beyond that Luna knew nothing of him, other than he was apparently a coward. "Perhaps I should explain this fully. Faust despises my sister and I, and would see us imprisoned horribly for the rest of time, along with the other princesses, of which one is only a child. That's only a personal issue though, as the main problem is that she wishes to subjugate the rest of the world. If she only wished to conquer Equestria, so be it, but are we really going to be the ponies that let the world burn to save our own skins?"

"But you said yourself that we can't win!"

"We can win, and Equestria will survive, but only if we can buy enough time for Princess Twilight to find what we need to defeat Faust."

"And what might that be?" another captain asked, an earth pony mare of the Earth Corps.

"She knows that far better than I," Luna lied, suspecting that Twilight had no more of an idea than anypony else seeing as they were yet to find Starswirl's retreat. "Another month, or maybe even less, and she shall have what we need."

"Well we can't keep fighting for that time," said the same earth pony captain. "They outnumber us near three to one, and we have no easily defensive places save Canterlot. I say we hole up there and invite those dang Mareitanians to try and get us out."

"Oh please," said the captain in the Mage Corps. "They'll place us under siege and starve us out. That's not going to get us anywhere."

"I thought the idea was to buy time?" the mare said back. "A couple of months long siege sounds perfect to me. The less ponies we lose before then, the more we have to defend Canterlot with, making it even harder for the enemy to take."

"Until we're all starving!"

"There are large underground caves in the Canterhorn mountain," said Shining. "We could store months worth of food for the entire city. If we sabotage everything useful to Faust and hold up in Canterlot, we could keep Faust occupied for some time."

"And throw the rest of Equestria to the timberwolves?" Greywhisker argued. "What kind of plan is that?"

"We'll need the time to secure the kind of supplies needed to survive a months long siege," Stormguard said to Luna. "I do believe this is our best chance of prolonging the war with the least losses though. When Princess Twilight finds the weapon we need, we'll have won."

"Perhaps we should put it to a vote," said Luna, who wasn't sure herself. The idea sounded attractive, but that didn't mean it was the best idea, as it did mean sacrificing the rest of Equestria. And yet, they faced losing Equestria anyway, so at least those ponies living along the east coast would be spared the ravages of war.

"All in favour of defending Canterlot, raise your hooves." More than half the ponies in the room raised their hooves. "Those wishing to continue fighting?" A few raised their hooves, including Greywhisker, stirring a modicum of annoyance in Luna, although she couldn't say why. Two had abstained from voting, Spitfire and Limestone, meaning the Canterlot plan had won.

"Very well, we shall have to begin preparations for a siege. Shining Armour, I shall put it to you to begin securing food and munitions to store within Canterlot. Stormguard, move the trainees to Canterlot post-haste, and start laying plans for a prolonged defence of the city. The rest of you are dismissed. Go inform your units of the plan, and prepare for direction from myself or my generals."

"I think you're making a mistake," Limestone said as the others began to file out, although they stopped as the grey pony spoke. "Going to Canterlot like this, we'll all be trapped like rats."

"And what would you have us do?"

"I don't know, but not this."

"Helpful," Luna deadpanned. "Thank you for that stunning insight Sergeant. Return to your unit and inform them of our new plan, then await orders."

"But what about the refugees? And the Appleloosans?"

"I said return to your unit and await further orders."

Limestone grit her teeth. Objectively she knew that there were a lot more than the refugees and Appleloosans getting screwed over in this plan, but it seemed to her that it was more about keeping the princesses and the Canterlot ponies safe. If she was honest with herself, she was fuming about it.

"Yes ma'am," she said anyway.

"I can't believe this!" Limestone growled. "We're all just going to go and hide in Canterlot? That's the stupidest plan I've ever heard!"

"Sounds okay to me," said Pinkie. "If we have a big ole Palominan stand off where nopony gets hurt until Twilight gets back, then that has to be a good plan. Doesn't it?"

"No Pinkie, it doesn't. We'll be trapped there, and when Faust comes it'll be like- like... like we're all sat there as easy targets," Limestone finished lamely.

"I can't believe they're just abandoning everywhere else," Lyra said quietly. "We all fought to protect these places, and now we're giving up on them."

"Exactly!" Limestone blurted.

"But we'd lose them anyway," Pinkie whined, getting a nod of agreement from Marble. "Only we'd have a lot of ponies getting killed failing to protect them."

"Really Pinkie? Is that your concern? You do realise that the reason we all signed up, to save your friends, is totally impossible?"

"It won't be once Twilight gets back."

Limestone snarled and reared up, stomping her two front hoofs onto the ground, kicking up small puffs of dirt. "You're just as bad as Luna! We can't seriously be putting all our faith in one pony to win this for us? What if she fails?"

"She won't," Pinkie replied firmly, jumping to her hooves to defend her friend. It seemed to make little difference to Limestone as she walked up to Pinkie and pressed their faces together to growl at her.

"What if she does?"

Azure pushed between them, shoving them apart. "Guys, will you chill out? If Princess Luna thinks it's a good plan, then it's a good plan. If we can keep on getting Pegasi out to strike the Mareitanians, then we can whittle them down to the point that they couldn't possibly conquer Canterlot."

"The Crystal Heart is there too," Maud pointed out.

Azure pointed a hoof at Maud, "That's right! That makes Canterlot even easier to defend! If we can hold on long enough for Princess Twilight to get back and kick Faust's butt, then it'll all have been worth it. Top Spin's death won't have been for nothing."

"You're basing that on if we succeed," Limestone said to Azure. "If Princess Twilight fails, we all fail, and Top Spin's, and so many others' deaths will have been for nothing."

"Somepony's coming," Marble said quietly as a pony none of them recognised walked up to them, a heavy bag on his back.

"Here's your gear you left behind," he said to the now seven ponies of the Hard Corps. "I also have your deployment orders. You're to head to Fillydelphia with a number of our forces to assist in sabotaging any industrial centres that Faust might want to acquire. You're moving out in an hour, so you might want to get yourself ready."

Limestone nodded at the pony, and pulled her combat suit out of the bag as he left. "Oh yes, this will be ever so useful in those fights we're desperately trying to avoid."

Pinkie frowned at Limestone, "I don't get it. What are you so upset about? This plan's great! Why are you so against it?"

"Because it means we're giving up," Limestone answered in a calmer, more reasonable tone of voice. "We can't really win, so we're giving up in the hopes that your buddy Twilight can ass-pull a magic solution to this whole thing, and win the war in one move, and I find that to be a really stupid idea."

"I wish there was something we could do for her," Rainbow said to Lightning as the two sat watching Vapor. She was laying down at the foot of Sky's covered body, her cheeks wet with a near constant stream of tears, and the corners or her mouth pulled back in a rictus of anguish.

"She's not the only one," Lightning said back miserably. "We lost hundreds in that fight."

"Yeah..." Rainbow sighed and looked up. The sky was mostly empty now, save for a few patrols. It was hard to imagine what the fight with the griffons would look like in the daylight. It had looked bad enough at night, where the griffons had the advantage of being able to see in the dark.

"Look alive you two."

Rainbow brought her attention back down, finding that Spitfire was walking up to them. Rainbow would have saluted, but her hoof felt too heavy to even make the effort. Spitfire had lost a few of her friends and teammates last night, and Rainbow couldn't begin to guess at how she kept going.

"How is she doing?" Spitfire asked, nudging her head towards Vapor.

"I don't think you need us to tell you it isn't great," Rainbow answered. "All she does is sit there and cry. If you want to know if she's good to keep fighting, you'll have to ask her yourself."

"Not my biggest priority. As I'm sure you're well aware, we lost Fast Clip last night, along with seven other Wonderbolts, bringing us down to three squadrons. Considering what's happening, I doubt we'll be getting any replacements any time soon. This also means I'm putting you back in charge of B squadron, Lightning." Spitfire jabbed a hoof against Lightning's chest, "Screw up and go AWOL again, and I'll nail your hooves to the ground so I don't have to see you in my airspace ever again, you got that?"

Lightning swallowed nervously and nodded, "Yes ma'am."

"Good. Now let's talk about your newly acquired skills." Spitfire cleared her throat in preparation to speak bluntly, "How the fuck did you figure that one out?"

"It's the contrails we use for shows," said Rainbow. "You do that, then hold it on your wings, and direct it. It was Vapor that figured out how to do that last bit though."

"Huh." Spitfire shrugged, "Can you teach it to the rest of us?"

"Sure, I guess."

"Good. Soarin and Spitfire should be gathering the rest of the Wonderbolts, and you'll have an hour to teach us how to do it before we move out to Manehattan."

"Manehattan? Why're we going there?"

"It's our new strategy. It's been decided that we can't hold off the Mareitanians like this, so we're basically retreating fully to Canterlot to trap ourselves in a months long siege, to buy the time Princess Twilight needs. Before we do that though, we need to destroy anything of use to Faust."

"But that means we're abandoning millions of ponies!"

Spitfire nodded at Rainbow, "In the short term yes, but it's been decided that if we keep fighting like we are, we'll lose, and the Mareitanians will capture those territories anyway, while also making it easier to capture Canterlot. It also means those ponies won't be attacked, and won't be made homeless. The only other place we're keeping is Cloudsdale, which is to be moved over to Canterlot. The Air Corps will be taking care of that."

"I guess that means the Night Guard and Exiles are with us?" Lightning asked.

"The Night Guard are. The Exiles will join our ground units in Fillydelphia, while there'll be no fliers in Baltimare. I did request the Exiles come with us, but with Faust moving on Manehattan, speed is of the essence."

"What about the refugees? And the prisoners we took the other day?"

Spitfire shrugged, "I honestly don't know. This... plan... has some major oversights, but you know as well as anypony that we're going to get destroyed if we try to fight Faust and her army head on. They outnumber us, have plenty of experience at fighting, and-"

"And we should all go to Manehattan and stop them there!" Rainbow shouted. "There's, what, ten thousand ponies up there? We outnumber them!"

Spitfire shook her head and snorted a laugh. "Reckless as always. Even if we won that battle, with the heavy losses that would incur we wouldn't stand a chance against the rest of the Mareitanian army. We need to face them from a position of strength, and Canterlot is the only place providing that. I'm not exactly happy about this either, Rainbow, but I sure as hell can't think of a better plan."

"I can't believe this," Rainbow grumbled. "A week ago we were fucking winning this!"

"No we weren't," said Spitfire. "Winning this would be pushing them back, and there was no chance of us doing that. Especially now."

"Ugh." Rainbow glanced across at Lightning to see what she thought, but she was staring at Vapor as she walked towards them. She was no longer crying, but the hollow look in her eyes seemed so much worse.

"Reporting for duty," Vapor said, crisply saluting Spitfire, who had the decency to not comment on how Vapor was creeping her out a little.

"Good! That's... that's good. I'm sorry about Sky Stinger, and you don't have to push yourself if you're not up to it."

"Begging your pardon ma'am, but being in the Wonderbolts was Sky's dream, and I hate to think how disappointed he'd be if I quit now. I also think you need every pony you can get."

Spitfire didn't reply immediately, instead taking a moment to observe the trembling in Vapor's legs. "Alright, but I'll reiterate that you don't need to push yourself if you don't think you can handle it."

"I can handle it ma'am."

All of Vapor was shaking now, and Spitfire was ready to refuse her, but it was true that they needed every pony available, and Vapor was a pony who had managed to come this far with a courage that often failed her. Perhaps there was more to her than met the eye.

"Alright. Rainbow, find your wingmates and all of you get ready for an intensive training session, and a long flight north."

Shining remained stoic as the ponies around him jumped at the boom of nearby thunder that had somehow come from a clear sky. He knew it was the Wonderbolts learning how to throw lightning, and wasn't too concerned otherwise. His worries lay elsewhere.

Gathering the necessary supplies was easy enough in theory, as was storing them, but what of the civilian population of Canterlot? Was nopony going to consider that they'd just been put in the firing line? Then there was the refugees, and who was going to see to their needs? And what of the prisoners of war? It seemed to Shining that they were likely to wind up back in the hooves of the Mareitanians, bolstering their forces.

At the same time though, he agreed with the plan, if only because there didn't seem to any better. If Canterlot could be kept secure they could keep Faust and the Mareitanians occupied for quite some time. It was a fairly sizeable if though, as who knew what Faust could cook up to defeat them. Her current plan had them on the run in a matter of hours.

At the very least he could be thankful about being back with Cadence and Flurry. It had been weeks, if not months, since he'd seen either of them, and he felt he was owed some quality time.

"General Armour?"

Shining blinked his daydream away, and looked up as Luna stood before him. "Sorry Princess, I was lost in my thoughts. Can I help you?"

"Have the units heading to sabotage our infrastructure have been deployed, and the rest of our forces made ready to move to Canterlot?"

"The Wonderbolts are making some last minute preparations, but they should be away shortly. Why? Is there something you wish to add to their orders?"

"Not at all. I've decided to take General Stormguard's place in preparing Canterlot's defence, while he oversees the relocation of Cloudsdale towards Canterlot. I'm leaving you in charge of moving our troops, if that's not too much bother?"

"I need to head back to Canterlot anyway. I've sent out some requests for a large stockpile of food to be gathered, so I won't be able to do much more until I return to Canterlot anyway. I do have some questions for you before you go though."

Luna gestured with a hoof, "Proceed."

"What's going to happen to the refugees and the p.o.w's? Are we warning anywhere about us retreating to Canterlot? And will we be warning the cities of the impending occupation they face?"

Luna sighed deeply, having been asked some things she hoped would be forgotten. "I honestly don't know the answer to the first two, and yes I intend to have our demolition teams warn the mayor of each city, but there's little more we can do to help them."

"So we're just abandoning the refugees, and letting Faust reclaim her captured soldiers. Wow."

"If there were room in Canterlot, I'd shelter the refugees there, but there isn't. Not to be too blunt about it, but with barely a push, Equestria is on the verge of falling, and we have not the strength to push back. The refugees are simply the biggest victim of that."

Shining nodded, accepting that perhaps his sister might have been onto something when she decided that alicornhood wasn't a qualification to rule. "So that's it then. We hide in Canterlot and pray for the best outcome, leaving the rest of Equestria hung out to dry."

Luna wilted under the accusation in Shining's voice. "It is as much as we can do against a threat of the magnitude Faust and her army presents. Perhaps it was foolish to think we could ever hope to have held them off to begin with."

"At least we tried though."

"Indeed. All our hopes lie with Twilight now."

"And if she fails? Or Faust defeats us?"

"Then we can only hope the rest of the world puts up a better fight than the rest of us."

Shining nodded and ran a hoof back over his head. He could see there was no point in pushing Luna over this, as she seemed determined that they'd practically lost, whereas what they'd really done is give up. Perhaps rightly so.

"Once Cloudsdale is relocated, I'll need the Air Corps to provide protection for the supply convoys we'll have moving to Canterlot. I imagine the griffons will be all over those once they hear about them."

"I'll pass the message on," said Luna. "See you soon Shining Armour."

"Of course, Princess."

Celestia laid a hoof on Cadence's back as her fellow princess cried, much as she had since finding out that her peace rally had been attacked by griffons and turned into a warzone. Flurry was there too, trying her best to help in that uniquely unhelpful way of children everywhere. Cadence had settled for hugging Flurry like a teddy bear.

"This was supposed to be a peace rally Celestia, a peace rally! How could they do that?"

"I don't know," Celestia replied, simply and earnestly.

"So many dead..."

Celestia nodded vaguely. Anypony dying there was a terrible event, but she knew the focus would end up on Sapphire Shores as the news got out. Very unfair really, but that seemed to be how the press worked. Celestia couldn't argue that Sapphire Shores had meant a lot to so many through her music, but her death shouldn't overpower the deaths of all the other ponies that had died there.

"Did I do something wrong?"

The question caught Celestia off-guard, and it took her a moment to muster a "what?" in reply.

"Did I do something wrong?" Cadence repeated with emphasis. "All I wanted was to get the idea that fighting wasn't the best thing we could do, but all that happened was that we got attacked by griffons, and used to launch an even bigger invasion of Equestria!" Cadence tried to wipe her eyes on her leg, and accidentally wiped her nose on the back of Flurry's head, not impressing the foal.

"You did nothing wrong Cadence," Celestia said soothingly. "And I really hope that this doesn't lead you to giving up your pursuit of peace, in this conflict or others."

"But what's the point when this sort of thing happens? Why try and make peace with an enemy that has no interest in it?"

"Because peace is a goal worth aspiring to," said Celestia. She smiled at Cadence, but it drifted off her face as Cadence started sobbing again.

"Am I interrupting?"

Celestia jumped at the sound of her sister's voice, and whipped her head around to find the navy blue alicorn standing in the doorway of Cadence's room, the door having been opened quietly enough to be missed over the sound of Cadence crying. "Luna? What are you doing here?"

Luna entered and closed the door behind her. "Looking for you actually. I have bad news, although I'm sure you know much of it already." Luna stepped into the room and closed the door behind her, then sat next to the bed to speak to both Celestia and Cadence. "I'm pulling all our forces back to Canterlot."

"You are? Why?"

"Because we can't stop Faust's new advances. Her forces are simply too numerous for us to effectively engage. Even if our forces took out two of her ponies for every one of ours, the Mareitanians would still have us beaten. Instead we hope to fortify Canterlot in the hopes that we can hold them off long enough for Twilight to return."

"You're bringing the war here?" Cadence shrieked.

"And sparing our forces a hopeless fight, and much of Equestria along with it. Forgive me if I cannot either win this war, or take it elsewhere."

"But what about the rest of Equestria? Are you just going to let Faust have it all?"

"We're sabotaging anything of use to her, but otherwise yes. Having to occupy several cities will distract much of her forces, giving us a better chance of holding out here. We're collecting as much food as we can to last a months long siege, and... yes, that's our plan as of now. If ponies don't resist the occupation of their cities, Faust is unlikely to do much to harm them."

"B-but what about the refugees? What about my people?"

Luna looked away, her face ridden with guilt. "I'm sorry Cadence. If I could bring them here to protect them, I would, but there simply isn't enough room."

"So you're just leaving them?"

Luna nodded once, unable to look Cadence in the eye, which might have been a mistake as a second later a blast of pale blue magic smacked into her chest and threw her through the door, without making the effort of opening it first. She slid across the hallway, stopping when she hit the wall opposite.

She rolled onto her belly, dazed at having been thrown backwards through a rather solid object, and equally stunned that it had been Cadence that had thrown her. She also seriously regretted removing her armour upon arriving at Canterlot.

She was about to experiment with standing, when a vision of pink, incandescent rage stomped through the now shattered door, and Luna quickly shifted from attempting to stand, to running for her immortal life as bolts of magic sizzled through the air towards her. A maid was standing in the hall ahead, staring wide-eyed at what was happening. Luna shoved her against a wall and placed a shield over her to protect her from Cadence's terrible aim as she kept on running.

"Cadence! Stop!" Celestia shouted, but was ignored as her niece lost herself to a wave of anger. She looked to her left at Flurry as the young alicorn kept pace with her on her wings, and briefly wondered for a moment how intelligent Flurry really was, being quicker on the uptake than the average 9 month old. She also said a quick apology to the maid as she passed, releasing her from Luna's shield.

Luna's hooves skidded on the marble floor as she tried to turn a corner, and she quickly corrected herself with a teleport as she slid past the way she wanted to go. She hoped to make it to the throne room, where the presence of guards and others might make Cadence consider stopping.

Unfortunately there was quite a bit of distance between them and the throne room, and Luna's wings were telling her that getting thrown around through doors like she had been was ill conducive to flight. Hopefully a lengthy chase would tire Cadence out instead as she blasted everything except Luna with her magic. Thankfully Celestia wasn't too far behind to put out the fires, although not even she could easily fix the chunks blown out of the floors and walls.

"Open the doors!" Luna shouted at the guards outside the throne room as she sprinted towards it. They quickly jumped into action and pulled the doors open, then jumped aside as a spray of magical beams came from Cadence. Luna was already past them though, and ran into the aggravatingly empty throne room.

"Shit," Luna swore, sliding to a stop and turning back to face Cadence as she flew into the throne room. A shield popped up around her just in time to block another round of magical attacks that were much more accurate now she was no longer moving. "Cadence! Stop this!"

"You've killed my people!" Cadence screamed, punctuating each word with an ever stronger blast of magic.

"What? No I haven't!"

"How are they going to survive without us helping them?"

"I pretty sure that if they can survive Sombra's reign, they can survive having to forage for food! If anything, I'm sparing them from having to suffer through more fighting and loss!"

Cadence spun and bucked Luna's shield as hard as she could, surprising the mare inside as the shield cracked. Another buck cracked it further, and a third destroyed it completely. Cadence then threw herself at Luna, bowling her over and pinning her down as her horn blazed with the power to deliver a deadly strike.

"Why aren't you fighting back?" Cadence asked Luna, as the alicorn stared apprehensively up at her, silently awaiting the next strike.

"I would never harm a mother in front of their child," Luna said softly. "Nor do I actually wish to fight you Cadence. Believe me though, this would be going differently otherwise."

Cadence took her eyes off Luna, and looked back at Celestia, seeing Flurry hiding behind Celestia's mane, what little could be seen of her face awash with fear. The magic on her horn died as the fight was sucked out of her, and she released Luna to sag into a sitting position, her front legs barely keeping her high enough to stop her hitting her chin on the floor.

Luna got up and flexed her neck, her body already setting to work repairing the not unsubstantial damage Cadence had done to it. Luna was tempted to ask Cadence where she learnt to fight as such, but knew the mare was in no mood to field such questions. Instead she walked over to Celestia, and the foal hidden behind her mane, giving her a gentle smile.

"I'm sorry you had to see that little one," she said to Flurry. The little alicorn still seemed unsure, but slowly drifted over to Cadence who grabbed hold of her and cried into her mane, giving Luna the opportunity to grimace and lower herself to the floor as something went pop in her back.

"I think you don't realise something Cadence," Luna said after a minute. "Choosing to make Canterlot our last stand isn't something I chose lightly. Put simply, we do not have the strength to fight the Mareitanians on even terms. They could wipe out our forces, conquer Equestria, and destroy so much doing so, all in a matter of weeks. By that time we wouldn't have the strength to defend Canterlot, whereas right now we could hold the city for quite some time. Or so I hope. Time enough for Twilight to succeed, provided she is not distracted by further catastrophes."

"I thought you intended to make the Mareitanians pay for every inch of Equestria they took," Cadence said to Luna. "Were those not your words?"

"Yes, and foolishly so. Put simply, however we choose to fight now, Equestria has fallen. We cannot hope to hold the Mareitanians back, let alone remove them from our lands. There's little point in destroying our army trying and failing to do so."

"So we just sit here and wait?"

Luna nodded, "We do, but that's not to say we won't put up a fight. With the right strategy, Canterlot will prove difficult for them to capture."

"Unless they starve us out," said Celestia. "What shall we do in such a situation?"

"We surrender, because by then it should be very clear that Twilight isn't coming back."

Celestia closed her eyes and sighed, "This is a terrible idea Luna."

"It's the least terrible idea we have." Luna quirked the corner of her mouth up in a tiny smile, "Perhaps now would be a good time to pull Solaris out of retirement as a central heater?"

Celestia sighed at the idea. She'd sworn to never take her weapon back up, but in a situation so dire as this one, who was she to deny them any advantage? A great many ponies had taken up arms to defend Equestria, so why should she be any different?

"Perhaps it is," Celestia said softly.

"You can't be serious?" said Cadence, surprised that Celestia was willing to do such a thing.

"I am. We need to buy Twilight the time she needs, and I would be remiss if I didn't do my part." Celestia sighed again and turned to leave, Luna following her out. A moment later Cadence followed as well, her curiosity overriding her objections.
Celestia led them into the bowels of Canterlot Castle, to a place just above the dungeons. She stopped at a blank wall and studied it for a moment until she found the brick she wanted and pulled at it with her magic. The wall swung open, revealing a dark hallway beyond that the four alicorns entered into.

Barely a dozen meters into the hallway the temperature started to rise, but never seemed to rise above a certain point, even as they wound their way ever further along the winding path that lay between them and their destination, getting ever closer to the destination Celestia sought.

A final turn brought them into a small circular chamber, in the middle of which was a coil of pipes that occasionally leaked steam. A cylinder of shields lay around the pipes, powered by concentric rings of spell work that reached the outside of the chamber. Celestia lit her horn and dispelled the shields, the temperature jumping a couple of degrees with each one removed, until all but Celestia was sweating as she stood before the coil of pipes.

She lit her horn, lifting a mass of fire and white hot metal out of the coil. Luna grinned at the sight, but Celestia was remarkably, yet unsurprisingly sombre as the line of heat drifted towards her in her own magic. She touched a hoof to it, and the flames died, along with the heat, leaving an ornate golden spear behind, its wavy blade sat above an ornate sun similar to Celestia's cutie mark, appearing to shimmer with a heat that wasn't there.

"Hello Solaris," Celestia said to the spear, her voice quiet like she were attending a funeral. "Equestria needs you once more."

"I would not think you so out of practice," Luna said as Celestia waved Solaris like a foal pretending their stick was a sword. She slapped Solaris away as he swung closer, her borrowed sword ringing from the collision.

"It's been over a millennia, Luna," Celestia retorted, a hard edge in her voice. "Forgive me if I've grown a little rusty."

"The same way that you've grown out of your armour? Nay, I think not. Too much cake and complacency has ruined you."

Celestia ignited Solaris and cut through Luna's sword, sending its end tumbling away. Luna sighed softly and discarded the part she still held, picking up another near identical sword from a pile nearby.

"You're letting your anger at having to wield your weapon again get the best of you."

"You have no idea what this weapon means to me!"

"Plenty, seeing as how your Royal Guard still use golden spears in its honour." Luna stepped aside and parried a well advertised strike. "You see reminders of Solaris every day, so why act like you were desperate to forget it?"

"Because it was another way with which to remember you! Of the times we stood side by side against terrible odds, yet won the day by fighting together. I never wanted to forget Solaris, because that was tantamount to forgetting all that we fought for."

Luna didn't move as Celestia swung Solaris towards her, stopping with his point barely grazing her throat, a waft of heat tickling her chin. "Sometimes, I feel you are too hung up on the past Celestia. I know and understand why you put him aside, but I doubt you could ever forget one of the weapons that forged Equestria into what it is today."

"That's all you have to say about that?"

Luna batted Solaris away. "Don't misunderstand sister, I'm flattered, but your need of constant reminders of the past is baffling, especially when you let the biggest reminder of all fall to ruin in the Everfree forest."

Celestia snorted harshly, "Perhaps your memory of that night is different to mine, but I have no wish to remember your banishment."

"And yet you cannot forget it because you cling so needily to the past." Luna frowned as the tip of Solaris clattered to the ground.

"My memories were all I had of you Luna! My memories, and the image of a mare imprinted into the moon. Excuse me if I wanted things to remind me of our time together, even if some of that time was spent doing things I despise!"

Luna growled in irritation as half of another ruined sword clattered to the ground. "You need to watch yourself with that weapon Celestia. Even now I have no idea why you tied your emotions to it."

"No, it wasn't my best idea," Celestia sighed. "It was supposed to be a lesson in not letting your emotions dictate your actions, but all I ever did was hide my feelings behind a mask while setting fire to everything."

"I did used to look at what Solaris was doing to know what you were really thinking," Luna tittered. "You may as well have had a parrot on your shoulder squawking your every thought."

"You were always far harder to read," Celestia murmured.

"Yes, well, perhaps a little less of burying my emotions away might have done me good," Luna said quickly, sensing where that line of thought was going. "Perhaps we should take a break from this. I do still have to survey Canterlot's defences."

Celestia shrugged at Luna, "There's three ways into Canterlot. By road, by train, and by air. Two of those share the same route practically. All you need to do is stop them getting through the front gate, and Canterlot remains largely secure."

"Easier said than done, but don't think I hadn't surveyed Canterlot's defensiveness before now. I'm just wondering more about where to put the cannons."

"And Cloudsdale being here as well? How does that help?"

"You'll see," Luna said cryptically. "You'll see. In the meantime, I'm going to go survey the defences, and make ready for the future, may it be so long and prosperous."

"Luna!"

Luna stopped on her way out of the castle at the sound of her name being shouted, and turned to find a small yellow filly running towards her.

"Ah, greetings filly!" Luna smiled as the filly jogged to a stop in front of her, but her smile soon shifted to amazement as she saw the large yellow wings at the filly's sides. "Goodness filly, your wings are recovered!"

"I know right? Just finished my last treatment today, apart from physio to strengthen them, and actually learning to fly, but yeah! Wings!"

"I'm very happy for you filly."

The filly nodded sadly, "I wish I could say that for everypony. I was about to go tell Fleur, but I doubt she'll care much. She's always too busy."

"Ah." Luna winced guiltily, "I'm afraid that might be more my fault than hers since I did place her in charge. Apologies."

"Nah, I get it. She was the best pony for the job."

Luna wasn't going to correct the filly by saying Fleur was the best pony for the job out of those still living after the bomb. She was pretty good yes, but... Luna had no idea where she was going with this.

"What're you doing anyway? Shouldn't you be off fighting?"

"Uh, things here required my attention," Luna lied, although she didn't feel particularly convincing. "I was about to get back to it, so if you'll excu-"

"Luna!"

Luna sighed as a different pony shouted her name this time, although she knew it was Fleur that had done it. "Yes Fleur?"

"I just got word from- Oh, hey Filly."

"Hey Fleur..."

"Anyway, I just got word from..." Fleur trailed off as Luna raised an eyebrow at her. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"Notice anything about the filly?"

"About Swift?" Fleur screwed her face up as she scrutinised the filly, then unscrewed it as she remembered something. "Wasn't today your last day of treatment?"

"Oh hooray!" the filly cheered mockingly. "She remembered!" The filly's expression went flat as Fleur blushed with embarrassment. "Seriously, she knows what ponies are doing halfway around the world, but can barely remember a thing about the ponies she lives with."

"I know Swift, and I'm sorry, but we have a bit of a situation going on. Luna, I just spoke to Bon Bon, and she said that another four thousand soldiers have just been dispatched from Puddingarde, and are probably on their way to, well, here."

Luna cursed under her breath, but tried to hide the way her heart had sank a little lower. "I suppose that even with Bon Bon's team sabotaging them it was only a matter of time. Blast it." Luna tried to think of something, but couldn't. As far as she knew, not even Equis was aware of the new plan, so there wasn't much else to say without giving it away in full public. "Keep an eye on them as best you can."

"Of course Luna. Is there anything you need of me right now?"

Luna almost said no, but caught herself as she knew something nice needed to happen for the two ponies by her, before the really bad stuff happened.

"There is something actually. In lieu of recent news, I feel it only appropriate that you take a couple of hours off and go celebrate the good news with the filly."

"I- What?"

"You heard me."

"Yes, but I-" Fleur almost said that she didn't have time for that, and was immensely relieved she'd stopped herself. That didn't make it less true of course, but saying it in front of the filly was almost as bad as rejecting her.

"Consider it an order," Luna added, seeing the doubt Fleur was experiencing.

"As you wish Princess."

"Good. Now I really must away. Have fun you two." Her minor mission accomplished, Luna spread her wings and took flight, leaving Fleur alone with the filly.

"The overlook café?" Fleur suggested.

"You read my mind."

"I can't wait to see you up in that sky," Fleur said as she gazed up at the sky, her hooves supporting a well fed belly. "It's going to be amazing."

"And you're telling me this? For fuck sake Fleur, I've been waiting for this my entire life! I thought I'd never be able to fly, but here we are." The filly picked up her spoon and stuck it in her mouth, slowly sucking the ice cream off it as she thought. "I seriously owe Twilight big time for this."

"I don't think she's looking to collect. You know her, always happy to help."

"Not sure you can convincingly say happy, but she'd always willing to help at least. I wonder how she is? And Trixie."

"They're in Saddle Arabia, heading for the Circen Desert," Fleur told her. "Celestia received a letter from her the other day."

"And now you tell me! For fuck sake Fleur!"

"It may have slipped my mind a little," Fleur said sheepishly. "I have far too much stuff to remember these days. Far too much."

"Fine, although I would have enjoyed finding out what they were doing first hoof, if you know what I mean. I mean Saddle Arabia. Wow. I've only ever heard of that place thanks to that doctor from there. Amy, or whatever her name was."

"Amal."

"Right, her. I should probably learn it since she's doing my physio and stuff."

"That might help." Fleur bit her lip, "I guess you haven't heard about the attack on Saddle Arabia by someone called the Storm King?"

The filly sighed bitterly, "Something else I should have heard of from you?"

"Actually it was in the papers, so no, not really. What the papers don't know is that Twilight might have gotten a little involved."

"Hah! I bet she kicked ass!"

Fleur wilted a little, unsure of whether to say which side of events Twilight had been on. In the end she decided to say nothing. She was about to try and change the subject when the ponies around her caught her attention as they ran to the edge of the overlook.

"What's going on?" the filly asked, having noticed it herself.

"No idea, but it's probably something I should know about. Come on!"

Fleur squeezed herself through the throng of ponies, trying to get to the front. Frightened and panicked whispers spread through the crowd, and she tried to pick up on as much as she could, but only made out a few snippets that made little sense to her.

Eventually they reached the edge, and Fleur let the filly jump up onto her back so they could both see. They looked south, where everypony else was looking, towards Ponyville. A grey mass surrounded the south of the town, slowly filtering into it.

Fleur gasped as she worked out what she was looking at. The Mareitanians had reached Ponyville. Ponyville was under attack.

Author's Notes:

I'm sure you'll have things to say on the strategy, like often happens and is great tbh, but I'm going to be honest here. Prolonging the war adds nothing to the story, and I'm dragging things out when things were pretty fucked for the Equestrians anyway, so I'm changing my tactics to this, where before I was putting off other parts of the story just to cover the war. That's not working for me, and is actually a little boring to write since it really doesn't add anything, and is a unrealistic representation of how the war would go with such uneven forces anyway. What I write has always tried to be about the story, even if it doesn't always succeed.