Hayden felt the eyes on her at every moment. She moved through the dark space with Achelois strapped across her back and two of the Blackwings flanking her. She wore her own armored uniform as well, though without the rifle. It wasn’t proper for a general commanding an army to also wield common weapons as though she were nothing more than one of the enlisted troops.

This was far from the elegant, courtly dance she had expected. The commanding officers here were all haggard and desperate. She expected to see fear from them, maybe anger. Maybe they’d start shouting accusations at her about how she’d betrayed the realm and she deserved nothing but death for it.

She got nothing like that. One look was all she needed to see that Princess Celestia hadn’t gutted the command structure and replaced it with sycophants. Maybe the military police fawned over her, but not these. These ponies watched Hayden with awe. She realized what it was as she made her way to her seat at the table—beside the raised blue throne. They’re looking at me the way they see Luna.

The princess herself arrived before her older sister, wearing nothing at all and looking haggard from hard travel. So worn and dirty, she seemed almost smaller than Hayden in her dark armor, though she made a show of bowing and saluting to her more crisply than she ever had for Celestia. As she rose, the entire conference room did as well.

Hayden could practically taste their loyalty for her, their eagerness to serve. You’re the one they trust, Luna. Maybe it’s time to stop letting your sister do this. You’re obviously better at it.

Of course she couldn’t say that. Couldn’t say very much at all, not when it would all be overheard, and probably analyzed too. She waited for Luna to sit before she did as well.

“Your efforts are going well?” Hayden asked, voice low, though it would still be heard.

“Nearly complete,” Luna answered. “There aren’t more to find, I don’t think. I will return with you when we’re done here. The city will need me.”

Hayden nodded. “I know ponies will be happy to have you back.”

Hayden smiled as she noticed the general on her other side—the only face in the room she recognized apart from Luna. It was Sunspot, the supply officer she’d met in Harmony over a year ago and made promises to. The one who had put Hayden in Defiance in the first place.

“That was impressive work,” she whispered, once Hayden and Luna had fallen silent. “What kind of magic was that? I’ve never seen a carrier brought down from over a mile away before. Some kind of… new trebuchet?”

“Sort of,” Hayden answered. “They’re called cannons. Mine have a range of about two and a half miles. The most successful rounds were Spellfire—I don’t know if you could see how well they worked from back here.”

“Yeah.” Her voice grew distant, pained. “We saw.”

The room moved again as Celestia entered, still wearing her armor and escorted by a half dozen golden guards. Princess Luna hadn’t even brought one.

“Our options have changed,” Princess Celestia said, as soon as introductions had been taken care of. “I recently returned from the Excellus—its abilities are more impressive than its size suggests. More importantly, I believe we have an opportunity. My sister’s city of Icefalls has become a force to be reckoned with—that is why the Stonebeaks avoided it. They knew they couldn’t stand against its armies. I believe there is a way we could use both armies together. The Stonebeaks are a powerful enemy, but we are powerful too.”

“I am… hesitant to do anything that would put the north in danger,” Princess Luna said. “But the rest of Equestria obviously needs the help. What were you thinking?”

Celestia unrolled a large map onto the empty table before them. “The Grand Fleet is demoralized. They expected an easy victory today, and instead they lost more soldiers than the rest of the war combined. They’re also angry—they failed to bring down the ship that killed so many of them. I believe we can use both of these facts—we can bait them.” She gestured down at the map, making a straight line connecting Seaddle and Icefalls. “The Excellus is fast, and I spoke with its captain. I believe it could keep ahead of the Grand Fleet all the way back to its port of call. The Stonebeaks follow, and the Equestrian navy remains perhaps a day’s travel behind them. Just far enough that their scouts won’t see us.”

She moved a few blocks on the map. “The Excellus returns to Icefalls, with the navy just behind them. We then crush the Grand Fleet between our ships and Icefalls’s fortifications. I know they must be formidable, or else the Stonebeaks would not have avoided them even though it put a substantial force behind them. With armies on both sides, they will surely surrender.”

Hayden saw Luna begin to smile. She had been convinced—and many of the generals looked relieved as well. “I like it,” Sunspot said. “A way to go on the offensive. Not to fight on their terms anymore, or only defending the weakest targets.”

I don’t, Hayden thought. We’ve been abandoned before. I wasn’t sure we were going to survive an invasion before I saw the fleet for myself. She tried to communicate all that to Luna in a glance, though she doubted much would be making it through. Hopefully her discomfort was clear at least.

“General Evening Star, what do you think?” Princess Luna asked. It was more a political question than one of real curiosity, though. She could see it in the princess’s expression. “Can the Excellus keep ahead of the fleet? Can Icefalls hold against an army being crushed from the other side?”

“Yes,” she answered, her voice nervous. “I’m sure we could survive a day. Perhaps longer. But alone, I don’t know. My generals and I hadn’t seen the fleet, and we didn’t think it was going to be this big. Against so many ships, I don’t think Icefalls has enough. We have almost none of our own ships. Once we lose our cannons, that would be it. You can’t fortify against an airborne enemy, and we don’t have shipyards.”

“That won’t be necessary,” said Celestia, speaking over her. “Because we’ll be on the other side. The Equestrian fleet can repair a little, then follow. We wouldn’t be able to stop the Stonebeaks alone, but together… together I think we can. If your city has more weapons like those on the Excellus. I’m sure it must, that would be a good reason for the griffons to avoid it.”

“What happens if they keep avoiding it?” asked another general, one Hayden didn’t recognize. “They still hold Vanhoover. Maybe they realize where the Excellus is going, and they decide they’ll take their revenge out on the civilians there instead. Or maybe they just turn around and head for us. Cities aren’t large. It wouldn’t take them much to go another way.”

“I… I think they’ll know where the Excellus is going after only an hour of travel, maybe less,” Celestia answered. “But I think they’ll keep going anyway. They don’t want revenge against one ship, they want to prevent themselves being flanked again. Once they hold that city, they know there’s no danger of an attack from the north on any of their conquered cities. And maybe they’ll think that Icefalls has more ships like the one that caused them so much trouble. They’ll want to burn its shipyards down before it can make more. They won’t know it doesn’t have any, not after today.”

If they go another way it’s no problem for the ponies I was sent to protect. We can regroup and try something else. The only thing to be afraid of was what would happen if Celestia was right. If they were attacked, Hayden thought they would do alright with a fleet as large as Equestria’s helping them. If not, though…

“You heard her,” Princess Luna said, perking up again. “Icefalls is strong enough, and we have the aid of the fleet from the south. I will go back with the general to Icefalls and rally the defense. Once the Grand Fleet is broken, we can join our forces and retake Vanhoover.”

General agreement moved through the military ponies. Hayden felt sicker by the second, trying to come up with a way to tell Princess Luna what she was thinking without so publicly questioning Princess Celestia. But she couldn’t think of anything, and so she said nothing. Not until they were on their way out along the upper docks.

Hayden had told the Blackwings to walk beside the princess instead of herself—a subtle sign to all who might be watching of who they were actually meant to serve. Hayden spoke in a quiet rush as they made their way back to the Excellus. It was early evening now, the moon only just beginning to rise, and the dock was lit with rows of uneven torches.

The griffons would not attack at night—not with their night vision as bad as it apparently was. For the same reason, they would be waiting until the early morning to leave, to make sure as much of the griffon fleet saw them as possible. They had to play on anger for the plan to work, or else the birds might do the sensible thing and just send a few ships after them.

“This is bad,” Hayden whispered as they walked. “Princess, I know you want to work with your sister… but this is really bad.”

“If you didn’t think Icefalls was up to the task, you wouldn’t have said it was with such confidence.” Luna didn’t even look back at her as she walked. As though she was afraid of whatever Hayden would say if she really looked at her. “You said we can do our part. The Excellus is a mighty vessel, built by the precursors. We will not be caught. Your defenses around Icefalls are strong. I’ve seen them hold before.”

“Yeah, against three ships.” Hayden stopped her with a wing, eyes wide and pleading. “Princess, think for a second about what your sister did. She was going to use the griffons to wipe out all the bats. Now all of us are in one place, and she wants to lead the griffons right at us. Don’t tell me that doesn’t scare you.”

Luna finally stopped. There was no one around them—only her guards, and the watch on station outside the Excellus. Her own soldiers, since she’d refused to allow any of the Equestrians to guard them even though that was the usual protocol. Celestia hadn’t tried to intervene in this—or anything else, for that matter. “If my sister wanted to destroy Icefalls, why not start with you? You came voluntarily into the center of her army. She could’ve had you arrested right here. The trial is already over. Yet not one pony in that meeting even mentioned it. If she intended betrayal, why wait? She could’ve sent her own ponies to drive the Excellus, done this whole thing without us.”

“I… I don’t know,” Hayden admitted, avoiding her eyes. “Your sister is a lot better at this than I am. I don’t understand the rules yet. It looked like she was going to when we met earlier today.” She sighed. “Just… it’s too easy for her. If the birds attack us, all she really has to do is slow the ships down. It even looks better for her. She didn’t abandon the north; her fleet just couldn’t get there in time. A terrible tragedy to be a forgotten footnote in some history book.”

Luna shook her head. “It won’t happen, Hayden. My sister wouldn’t lie to me like that.” She said it with absolute confidence, the confidence of a younger sibling who trusted her older sister implicitly. “She gave me her word. It’s good enough for me, that will have to be enough for you.”

Hayden stiffened, saluting. “Yes, Princess. As you say.” But her heart wasn’t in it, and they both knew. It didn’t matter. Hayden would do as she was told. She couldn’t prance around for months proclaiming she was doing the will of Luna and then ignore the real thing when she was standing in front of her.

Besides, Princess Luna knew her sister much better than Hayden could. She knew Equestria, she knew what its armies were willing to do. If she said her sister’s word was good on this, she had to be right.

Evening Star certainly hoped so. Her city and the lives of everyone who lived there were depending on it.