Two days later the Zathura was floating in Havoc’s pink and purple ethereal void, docked with the Maelstrom as it proceeded through its recharge cycle. Their next stop would be the Lameduck System. While they were here, additional material and supplies would be shuttled aboard from Havoc Station in order to help them to get the various fortresses that had been built on Lameduck I prepared to properly receive their anticipated guests. It had apparently been a few decades since the last visit had been made there by the Timberwolf’s Dragoons, so a decent amount of cleaning up and restocking was expected.

There wasn’t really much that Slipshod specifically was going to be able to do to help while they were in Havoc. At least, not with the supply transfer. Havoc Station’s and Mig’s personnel had that all well in hoof. So, the changeling decided that his time would be better spent laying some of the groundwork for the planning that would be needed regarding the invasion of Equus. Specifically, he was compiling an expansive list of all the planet’s defenses and garrison sizes. At least, what had been present when he’d last been there over three years ago. There was obviously no way that he could be sure it would match up exactly with what was there now, but it would at least give Twilight and the other primary mission planners a firm foundation to build upon when brainstorming their invasion strategy.

The purple alicorn had already passed on a scroll to both Cinder and Spike containing a detailed listing of ComSpark’s WarShip fleet, as compiled by Slipshod. While the changeling had, by no means, been in a position during his tenure on Equus that would have justified his knowing that information, he had managed to get a peak at the plotter on the DropShip that was taking him off planet after graduating from the academy. It hadn’t been for very long, but his natural ability to recall specific details about things he’d seen meant that the changeling was able to extrapolate that data into useful information even now.

Twilight had approached him later after getting a response from Spike. Apparently the dragon had asked for some clarification about the number of occupied slipways at the Royal Shipyards. Slipshod had indicated that he’d never seen any of them empty for a significant amount of time, and the dragon had apparently found that quite puzzling. The changeling stallion wasn’t exactly certain why that would be the case though. He assured Twilight and Spike that there wasn’t any new WarShip construction going on. Being limited to the resources and factories present on Equus, ComSpark didn’t have the capability to construct and properly outfit new hulls for anything larger than a Princess-class DropShip. The shipyard’s slipways were utilized exclusively for performing regular maintenance of the existing fleet, nothing more.

It turned out that that was the specific point which was perplexing Spike the most. According to the dragon, as relayed to Slipshod through Twilight, the number of WarShips that were present in the Faust System should have been adequately supported by less than half of the shipyard’s slipways. So, either the changeling stallion had been woefully off on his estimate of the number of ships in the system―to which Slipshod had reiterated that it had been a count, not an ‘estimate’―or Chrysalis was having her ships overhauled at least twice as often as was necessary for some reason.

Slipshod hadn’t been able to offer the purple dragon any worthwhile explanation for the apparent discrepancy that might have put Spike at ease though. Knowing specific facts, and understanding the significance of those facts, weren’t the same thing. The changeling could only articulate what he’d actually seen going on. If those things existed outside his own narrow focus of expertise―piloting BattleSteeds―then there was very little that he could offer in terms of explanation as to why something might be considered ‘abnormal’ by another creature who did possess a more detailed understanding about the matter.

As far as the changeling knew, the fleet of WarShips guarding Equus had always utilized all of the available slipways for their regular upkeep. If that struck the dragon as excessive, then Slipshod could only suspect that the advanced age of the WarShips in question had to be the cause. Unlike the Clans, ComSpark hadn’t built any new vessels in the intervening centuries. Everything in their armada was over five hundred years old. Perhaps such ancient vessels needed more work done on them than the newer WarShip’s used by the Dragon Clans?

To which Mayhem had pointed out that the Maelstrom was at least as old as every WarShip the changelings had, and it was holding up just fine compared to even the newest designs built by the Dragon Clans. Slipshod could only shrug in response. He had no concrete explanation for the apparent discrepancy.

Twilight had elected to drop the issue, as her own expertise also lay outside of the realm of WarShip operations and logistics. She would leave such matters in the more knowledgeable and capable claws of her number one assistant and his daughter. It would be up to the two of them to decide what the alleged ‘overuse’ of the shipyard’s slipways signified, and how it might impact their invasion plans.

The alicorn chose instead to direct her focus on matters which she did profess some significant level of understanding―and for which Slipshod too was able to explain in more specific detail―such as why the changeling stallion was suddenly looking a lot less ‘shiny’ than had been the case when Twilight had last seen him before leaving for Clan territory.

The tongue-lashing that he’d received from the mare had been almost as bad as the indigestion he’d suffered for the next few days after his efforts to ‘help’ Blood Chit get over his grief.

The berating had been made all the worse by the fact that Squelch had turned out to be quite correct where the consequences of Slipshod’s actions had been concerned. While Blood Chit had indeed been in much higher spirits for the rest of the day, the crimson pegasus had quickly backslid into a much deeper depression the following morning. Specifically for the reason that the sage unicorn had predicted as well: the flier had felt terribly guilty for not feeling ‘sad enough’ the previous day. He’d believed that he'd betrayed his dead coltfriend’s memory by being ‘unmoved’ by the knowledge of his passing. Xanadu and Mig had been slowly coaxing the pegasus back from the pit of despair that he’d sunk into, as both of them were able to empathize with the loss of loved ones.

However, Twilight’s objection to what Slipshod had done was not entirely in regards to the consequences which it had held for Blood Chit. The alicorn seemed to be equally―if not more―concerned with the implications those actions had for himself.

“I thought we were past this,” Twilight sighed, sounding exasperated, “We’ve already talked about your self-destructive tendencies; and I thought we’d come to an understanding.”

Slipshod squirmed uneasily, feeling somewhat like a colt who’d just been found out sneaking oat cakes by his mother. Somehow the changeling found it difficult to meet the taller mare’s eyes. He didn’t like seeing her disappointed in him. A year ago the changeling he’d been wouldn’t have given two fucks about what Twilight’s opinion was of him―about what anycreature thought of him. Now though, it bothered him. Thinking that he’d disappointed any of his friends bothered him.

What was worse was that he did feel like he’d betrayed the alicorn a little. They had talked about his earlier negative perception of himself, and he had agreed to try and think of himself in a better light. In fact, he did! Truth be told, he hadn’t been trying to harm himself by taking on Blood Chit’s negative emotions like that. He’d been motivated exclusively by a desire to help his friend. Any thought to the potential consequences for himself hadn’t entered into his thought process.

He’d honestly believed he’d be able to weather the effects without much issue.

He explained as much to the alicorn, “I wasn’t trying to punish myself,” the changeling insisted, “I just wanted to help Blood Chit! He was full of so many awful emotions and I thought I could help by...taking on some of them myself…” He idly pawed at the deck.

Twilight released a beleaguered sigh, but at least there was a trace of a warm smile on her face, “And that’s commendable, Slip. It really is. Generosity―giving something of yourself to help another―is one of the core Elements of Harmony; and the galaxy would be a much better place if more creatures practiced selflessness like that.

“However,” Twilight stressed in a far more cautionary tone, “there is a fine line between helping your friends, and hurting yourself. Never give more than you can afford to; because all that accomplishes is to diminish yourself. You could have seriously hurt yourself doing what you did, and you know that,” the mare pointed out, evoking a wince from the changeling.

“How much help would you have been to your friends in the infirmary? How bad would Blood Chit have felt if he thought he was responsible for putting you there? How much stress would the rest of the crew be under if they started to think that ‘feeling bad’ around you was enough to make you seriously ill?”

“That’s not how it works though,” Slipshod protested.

“Do they know that?” The other mare countered, “Most of them know you survive off positive emotions, and that’s about it. If they heard you got ‘sick’ after being with a very depressed Blood Chit for just a few minutes, I’m sure they’d draw all kinds of conclusions about it.”

The changeling was skeptical, but not entirely unconvinced. When all that existed was third-hoof rumors and imaginations, Slipshod suspected that all sorts of erroneous conclusions could have been drawn from the hypothetical series of events that Twilight had just outlined; and if he was unconscious in the infirmary, then it would have been difficult for him to correct any misconceptions. Finally the stallion sighed, “Fine. You’ve made your point.”

“I hope I have,” Twilight said, “Because I don’t want to see you hurting yourself like this again. Or others.

“I know that it can be tempting to want to solve the problems our friends are having as quickly and as easily as possible,” the alicorn conceded with a knowing smile, “Trust me; I’ve been there! As a changeling, your ability to affect the emotional states of others puts an incredibly potent tool at your disposal.

“You can remove a friend’s suffering with the clack of a hoof. Turn a frown upside down with little more than a thought! Do you know what a younger me would have given to be able to cheer up my friends in an instant?! To take away their pain and sadness and perpetually fill them with all the joy and laughter that I knew they deserved?”

The purple mare’s grin was as broad as Slipshod had ever seen, and her amethyst eyes sparkled at the memory of her adventures with her bygone comrades. Though the changeling could sense the simmering mote of heartache that lingered deep within the alicorn as she recalled those same memories. Those moments were wondrous, yes; but they had also been shared with close friends who were more than a thousand years dead.

Hers was a lingering, resigned, pain. Every close friend that she had ever made in her life had been a bond forged with the knowledge that it would inevitably lead to sorrow. Yet, Twilight had not even once shied away from an opportunity to make a new friend. Because while their inescapable death would bring those feelings of sadness and loss; it was a price well worth paying for the lifetime of pleasant memories shared with a dear companion that would be hers forever.

“However,” Twilight continued, “just because a problem can be solved in an instant, doesn’t mean that it should be. The quick and easy solution is rarely the right one; or even the best one,” she said, flashing the changeling a wry smile, “You don’t know, but that’s a pretty rich admission coming from me, of all ponies!

“And it’s an even more true statement when it comes to the feelings of others. As commendable as it is that you want to take away Blood Chit’s pain, you can’t do that by, quite literally, taking away his pain. Which isn’t to say that there wasn’t a way for you to use your changeling powers in that situation.

“Except, insead of removing his grief, you should have tried giving your love,” she stressed, “That’s what he needed more than anything in that moment: to know that there were still creatures in the galaxy to whom he mattered, and who mattered to him. To know that he had their help and support, no matter what.”

Slipshod sighed and finally nodded his assent. The alicorn did have a point, he acknowledged, “I guess I’m still getting used to this whole ‘being empathetic’...thing. I mean, being genuinely concerned with how my friends feel. I’ve always wanted other creatures around me to be in generally high spirits, but only because that’s how I knew I could stay reliably fed. I wasn’t really concerned with how it affected them long-term.”

The changeling winced, “Looking back…I don’t like how manipulative I was. I want to make up for it, if I can.”

“And it’s wonderful that you do,” Twilight assured the stallion, beaming at him, “But don’t punish yourself as a form of contrition,” she insisted, “That doesn’t help anycreature. Not your friends, and certainly not yourself. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good!”

The changeling’s mood lightened somewhat and he flashed the alicorn and wry smirk, “And besides, it’s not like I screwed up everything that day,” he pointed out, his expression becoming slightly more smug, “I hear that Xanadu and Mig are getting on like a house on fire!”

“Insufferably so,” Twilight agreed with a lopsided smile of her own, “I don’t know what the changeling equivalent of diabetes is, but I’m pretty sure you’d get it if you hung around them for too long.

“But, yes, they are an example of how changelings can help others,” she acknowledged, adding, “And it didn’t involve you drawing out or pumping in emotions. Just helping to mediate between two creatures who hadn’t been honest with each other with how they really felt. Like I’ve mentioned before: Reformed Changelings thrived as counselors and therapists in the Celestia League.

“I’ve no doubt that you’d do well in that role too, when all of this is over.”

The changeling paused to mull over the mare’s words. While he wasn’t convinced that mediating between creatures was specifically something that he’d aspire to make a career out of later in life, it was the first time he’d even considered the notion about pursuing a vocation outside a ‘Steed cockpit. Being a pilot was all he’d ever known. It was what he’d trained for. Well, that and espionage.

His talents and abilities as a changeling had always been a means for survival. Using them for the benefit of others, and even making a career out of using them, wasn’t a notion that he’d thought to entertain. He was thinking about it now though, and he’d already come up with quite a few things that a shapeshifting empath with perfect recall might be able to excel at doing. Perhaps his post-Chrysalis prospects weren’t quite as bleak as he’d previously thought.

Twilight, satisfied that her latest 'Friendship Lesson’ had been effectively dispensed to her latest pupil, turned her attention now to checking on Slipshod’s progress with his other assignment, “So, how is the tally of Equus’ garrison coming along?”

“Slowly but surely,” the stallion announced, passing the alicorn a datapad with his latest figures, “I’ve gotten down most of what I know regarding the western continent. I’m working on the eastern one now; should have it done by the end of the week. Then I’ll do the southern continent.”

Most of Twilight’s earlier lifted spirits had diminished as the mare looked over the pad’s contents. “...That’s a lot of divisions,” she murmured, uneasy, “And you said this was only the Equestrian continent?” Upon seeing the changeling nod, Twilight let out a long, heavy, breath. She’d known that the invasion wasn’t going to be easy, of course; but the alicorn hadn’t anticipated quite the level of resistance that she was seeing written out here. At present―assuming that the force estimates for the other two major continents on the planet proved comparable―it was looking like they were going to be outnumbered more than a dozen to one.

She started to wonder if their plan was even actually feasible after all…

Sensing the alicorn’s doubt, Slipshod chimed in helpfully, “It’s not like we’re going to be fighting them all at once,” he pointed out, “The planet only has so many DropShips. It’ll take ComSpark time transport divisions from other areas to reinforce their lines where we make our landing. As long as we hit them harder and faster than they can summon their reserves, we should be okay.

“Besides, we’ll have control of the orbital space around Equus, as well as plenty of aerospace fighters for air superiority. If we take out enough of their DropShips, then we may not even have to worry about what’s on the other continents; just what they already have in Equestria.”

That was a fair point, the alicorn acknowledged. Their predicament might not be quite as untenable as the raw numbers made it seem. Which, of course, wasn’t to say that they were likely to have an easy time of it. They’d still be outnumbered about four-to-one; and that was only in terms of dedicated military forces. There would be hundreds of millions of changelings on the continent, each one a potential combatant. If Chrysalis was willing to sustain the losses―and Twilight had every reason to believe the changeling queen would―the changelings might be able to push them off Equus through no other means than by simply running them out of munitions by giving them tens of millions of drones to slaughter…

The purple mare shuddered at the prospect of inflicting that number of casualties, even if they were changelings. After all, the changelings were only trying to survive as Chrysalis had taught them they must. Those drones didn’t know that there was a better way for their kind to live―to thrive! The thought that so many of them might perish in ignorance beyond their own control genuinely troubled her.

For a moment, Twilight entertained the notion of calling the whole thing off―of trying to find a better way to address the ‘changeling problem’. After all, any solution had to be better than one which entailed slaughtering their way through the population of a planetary continent, right? That thought was a fleeting one though. While Chrysalis―and not the drones themselves―might have been the real source of the issue; the fact remained that, in order to get at Chrysalis, they would have to first make their way through her manipulated defenders.

Ideally, Twilight would have liked the chance to confront a group of drones with the truth of the nature of their existence―a chance to prove to them that Reformed Changelings, like Slipshod, were better off―in isolation. However, the only place in the galaxy that had changeling populations large enough to make the effort worthwhile was Equus. And the alicorn was doubtful that a lot of drones would be willing to have a ‘productive chat’ any time soon after Cinder and the other Clan admirals had just finished battering the changeling WarShip fleet into floating debris…

Once Chrysalis was defeated, then maybe a dialogue could be opened. Surely the bulk of changeling resistance would abate once their leader was removed. While those drones might be willing to sell their lives in the defense of their queen, Twilight desperately hoped that they weren’t quite so brainwashed that they’d be willing to follow her into death as well.

Unfortunately, even finding out if that was the case would first require them to carve their way through tens of millions of zealous defenders. The alicorn found herself wondering if, at that point, avenging their fallen brethren wouldn’t be enough of a reason for the rest to continue fighting on.

No matter how they went about things, it was difficult for Twilight to see any simple solution to the problem. She hid a wan smile as she considered that fact, given the subject of the conversation that she’d just had with Slipshod. One way or the other, the ‘changeling problem’ was going to take years―perhaps even decades―to ultimately ‘solve’. A lot of them were likely to die along the way.

The best that she could hope for was that, in time, the benefits of saving their species would make up for the losses that had been suffered thus far. The alicorn fervently believed that would be the case. She needed to.

The Princess-class DropShip, Selene, hung motionless in space just off the nadir of the Lameduck System’s primary. The First Prince’s personal flagship had been among the first of the Federated Moon’s forces to arrive at the designated assembly point. The five other DropShips which had arrived with them had already made planetfall on the system’s only inhabitable planet. First Prince Nacht Belle had elected to have his vessel remain near the arrival point in the system so that he could personally account for the rest of the forces which he had managed to rally. Thus far anyway.

His path to Lameduck had been far from ‘direct’. Without access to functional HyperSpark Generators, the only means of communication was to physically jump ships to other systems. This meant that Nacht could only summon the forces in star systems which were visited by either himself or the other senior officers which he had directed to do so. Taking a more ‘scenic’ route had allowed for the batpony prince to collect as many forces as was practicable and bring them to the rally point with him.

It frustrated him slightly that, in the end, his estimates were that only about a third of the total military strength which the Federation possessed would end up participating in the invasion of Equus. Strictly speaking, it would have been technically possible to gather nearly the entirety of his available military in this system for the effort. However, that would have taken many years to accomplish, given the expansive size of his princedom and the crippling limitations imposed by the reliance on what was effectively ‘word-of-mouth’ to facilitate communications across millions of cubic lightyears of space.

That would be far longer than the timetable which Timberjack had presented to him, so he’d done the best that he could within the constraints he faced. Hopefully it would prove to be enough.

On the bright side, at least Natch knew that it would not be only his forces participating in the fight. Thera had demonstrated that the Hippogriff Combine truly intended to make good on her own promise of military support. The batpony knew that the Deputy Marshal was going to be running into the same sort of communication and logistical hurdles which he’d encountered. But, even if she managed to mobilize only a quarter of what his intelligence section estimated the Combine’s total military strength to be, it would still represent a respectable showing.

Then there was the Pony Commonwealth as well. Natch anticipated seeing a proportionally larger representation from Victoria’s military arriving in this system in the coming months, since the bulk of the Commonwealth’s forces would have already been gathered along their newfound border with the Dragon Clans. While he certainly doubted that the archon was going to pull everything off of that front, the news that the Clans’ militaries had been recently gutted by their fight with ComSpark should make her and her generals feel a little less reluctant about trimming down their garrisons along border systems.

All in all, that meant that they should be able to assemble significant representations of the militaries of three of the Successor States in Lameduck. This would easily be the largest singular gathering of military hardware and personnel since the final confrontation with Tirek five hundred years ago. At least, the batpony amended, as far as that Harmony Sphere was concerned. The invading force assembled by the Dragon Clans last year had probably been about this size.

Natch’s slitted eyes darted to the central holographic plotter on the bridge as another new contact populated. A confirmation of the arrival’s IFF soon after indicated that it was another of his JumpShips. The massive craft began to move away from the star’s nadir point, at the same time it disgorged its docked DropShips. The smaller parasite craft headed in-system towards the planet, while the JumpShip which had ferried them here took up a parking orbit around the star to begin recharging its engines, joining a couple dozen of its brethren.

Normally clearing a star’s zenith or nadir to make room for other potential arrivals wasn’t much of a concern for a JumpShip. The ‘pockets’ of gravitationally neutral space located at the poles of a star, where JumpShips could make reliably safe entries into a solar system, were massive in volume, covering many billions of cubic kilometers. The statistical chances of a JumpShip ‘appearing’ in or on top of another vessel were regarded to be insignificant enough as to not be worth considering. Hypothetically, every single vessel in the whole of the galaxy that was equipped with a jump drive could safely fit within the zenith of a single star with hundreds of kilometers of clearance between them on all sides. Such was the scale of the vastness of space.

However, ‘insignificant’ was not the same thing as ‘impossible’, and few systems saw the amount of jump traffic in a month that Lameduck was going to be seeing over the next few days. With scores of JumpShips from his own gathered forces making the jump to this system from the same origin point, the chances of two of those ships winding up dangerously close to each other was much higher than its usual statistical improbability. This last thing that Nacht wanted to do was risk losing a couple brigades of the relatively few BattleSteeds he’d been able to muster to a random fluke. Especially when all it would take to mitigate that possibility was to just have his JumpShip crews space out their arrival times and move off the jump point a few million kilometers.

It wasn’t as though there was any kind of significant rush. It was still going to be months before they were ready to make their assault. Heck, the promised WarShips hadn’t even arrived yet, from what the batpony could see. At least, not all of them. He hoped.

His DropShip’s sensors had identified one WarShip in orbit of the system’s nearest planet. It was identifying itself as the Maelstrom, and at nearly a million and a half tons in mass, it was the single largest spacefaring vessel that Nacht Belle had ever seen in his life. More than four times the size of the largest dedicated JumpShips that operated in the Harmony Sphere.

He’d seen footage and sensor data collected on similar ships that the Clans had employed during their invasion of the Sphere, but he’d yet to be this close to one personally. Warships were, the batpony decided, an awesomely terrifying weapon. A hit from any one of its primary batteries would be more than enough to completely obliterate his DropShip. Even the Maelstrom’s secondary weapons would have been more than a match for even the most well-protected classes of DropShip operating in space.

The First Prince felt a cold shudder run up his back as he thought about what battles must have been like in the early years of turmoil and wars that followed the collapse of the Celestia League. When states like the Federated Moons, Commonwealth, and others, still retained fleets of such vessels to throw at one another. The carnage in those battles must have been…incomprehensible. Broadside salvos that snuffed out thousands―tens of thousands―of lives in seconds. The modern day practice of using a couple battalions of BattleSteeds to seize a few key strategic points on the surface of a planet and calling it a ‘battle’ felt positively anemic by comparison.

Indeed, when he considered what lay ahead on them in the coming months, Nacht got the impression that he would soon get to learn first-hoof what a real ‘battle’ was actually like when they reached Equus.

“C-Bit for your thoughts, My Prince?”

The batpony monarch was drawn out of his reverie by the sound of the older mare’s voice coming from behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of the commander of his personal DropShip, Captain Enceladus. She’d been the Selene’s captain for the better part of two decades, serving under both Nacht’s father and his elder brother. He’d known her for all of his adult life, and a good chunk of his childhood. Since his brother’s death, Enceladus was honestly just about the closest thing that the First Prince had to a confidant.

He could probably use one of those just about now, “Just thinking about how the last time I was involved in a serious fight, I wound up captured by the enemy,” he pointed out, favoring the older mare with a wry smile, “If that happens this time, I’m doubtful that I’ll get off as easily as I did then.”

“Far be it for me to comment on Your Highnesses taste in mares.”

Enceladus’ impeccable straight face and her response’s even tone left Nacht with a confused expression as he tried to parse out what the DropShip captain had meant by her comment. Then he reviewed how he’d phrased his own words. A mixture of embarrassment and amusement quickly took hold of the First Prince and he broke down into a fit of chortled laughter, “Something tells me I’m not her type anyway. Nor she mine.

“From what I understand, this Queen of the Changelings has more in common with a praying mantis than a pony. In more ways than one.

“But thank you for the distraction.”

The batpony mare inclined her head slightly, “Honored to be of service, Your Highness; as always.

“Though, if I might speak more frankly, Majesty…?” Enceladus refrained from saying more until her sovereign gave her his permission to continue, “Perhaps it would be best if your leadership role in this campaign was one that was less…direct, in nature.”

“You mean stay on the ship and coordinate,” Nacht restated in a tone that wasn’t―quite―glib. The DropShip captain acknowledged the correctness of his interpretation and the prince let out a small sigh, “I’ll admit that I’ve thought about that.”

The wisdom of embroiling the highest ranking military commander of a force in the midst of direct combat with the enemy, precluding him from actually directing the campaign in any meaningful way, aside; there was also a looming political issue: Nacht Belle had no children and was fresh out of siblings. His older brother had likewise died before siring any foals. Their father, grandfather, and even their great grandfather, had all been single children. If he died during the invasion, there wouldn’t be any obvious heirs to the throne. Third, fourth, and maybe even a few fifth cousins would all spring up out of the woodwork. Maybe even a few of his surviving generals. Factoring in the recent collapse of the HSG network, it was a foregone conclusion that the Federated Moons would collapse utterly into a collection of warring System-States if he died before producing an heir.

The most prudent course of action was honestly for him to stay in Lameduck and send his generals off to the Faust System to direct the Federation’s part in the invasion in his stead. If things went well, he’d still be credited by historians as being the First Prince of The Federated Moons during their participation in the liberation of the Harmony Sphere from the changelings. If things went poorly…well, at least the Federated Moons would still have a First Prince.

That being said, for all that the changelings appeared to have been content to manipulate the Harmony Sphere from the shadows all these centuries, Nacht couldn’t see them choosing to continue to do things that way after half the galaxy collaborated to assault their headquarters. They’d pretty much be forced to come out into the open and take a more direct approach to things. Which likely meant a counter-invasion.

Unlike the Dragon Clans, the Harmony Sphere possessed no WarShips. Whatever WarShips ComSpark had that survived the attempt to conquer Equus―even if it was only a hoofful of them―would be more than enough to allow the changeling’s nearly uncontested victories. Especially since Nacht doubted that the changelings were going to be particularly concerned with abiding by the restrictions against civilian casualties prescribed by the Aris Convention. They’d be able to bomb any ressitence into dust while tucked away safely in orbit, and then land their troops to mop up the battered and demoralized survivors.

In the event that they lost this fight, Nacht wasn’t quite sure that he wanted to be around to see the sort of devastation that was launched upon the galaxy. Perhaps that was selfish of him; even cowardly. The batpony couldn’t hide the wry smile winding its way across his lips at the thought of leading a planetary invasion from the cockpit of a BattleSteed as being the ‘cowardly’ route.

“And…?” The DropShip captain asked after the prolonged silence from her prince.

“...And I decided that I won’t,” The Federated Moons’ First Prince quipped, smiling broadly at the none-too-pleased mare, “Victoria won’t be staying in orbit. Neither will Timberjack. I’ll be damned if I’m going to be the only one in a leadership position not there on the ground.”

“So, since everypony else is jumping off the bridge…” The mare said with a sardonic sigh, obviously not particularly caring for her monarch’s decision to insert himself into harm’s way.

“At least I’ll be in good company!”

Cinder leaned on the balcony attached to her temporary quarters. They were far from the most luxuriant that she’d ever experienced but, then again, these fortresses had hardly been built with comfort in mind. Nor had they even been intended to serve as any sort of long-term base of operations. The Lameduck System was―and always had been―designed to serve as a staging area for the push into Faust, nothing more. To that end, it was serving its purpose well. After three months of waiting, roughly ninety percent of their anticipated total forces had arrived. Invasion plans had been laid out and were currently being disseminated so that lower echelon commanders could start drilling.

Like her father, Cinder had been dubious regarding the changeling’s count of Chrysalis’ WarShip fleet and the utilization of the shipyards orbiting Equus. They didn’t line up with CLDF or modern day Clan doctrine; and there was little reason for the changelings to have adopted one of their own that was so dramatically different. It was wasteful in terms of time, material, and marehours. The changeling’s had demonstrated themselves to be too calculating and efficient in their manipulation of galactic politics to also be so inefficient where their navy was concerned. Something else was going on, but even Cinder couldn’t put her claw on what it could be. It wasn’t new construction, at least; that much was obvious.

Other than that little hang-up, everything else lined up pretty well with the estimates put together by the Disciples and the Dragon Clans in terms of Equus’ defenses. Neither group had ever been able to conduct any first-hoof information, obviously; but they had managed to glean bits and pieces from the various interrogations of captured changelings over the centuries. Cinder had little reason to doubt the counts and compositions which Princess Twilight Sparkle’s changeling had provided them.

With it, she and the other senior strategists had devised their plan of attack. It would involve three phases.

Phase One was rather obvious: The WarShip fleet, under her leadership, would subdue the opposing changeling fleet, capitalizing on their greater numbers to achieve a quick and decisive victory. Once the way was clear, a three-pronged invasion would be launched on the cities of Manehattan, Fillydelphia, and Ponyville; each prong of the invasion would be led by Victoria Blueblood, Nacht Belle, and Thera Novo, respectively.

Phase Two involved encircling Canterlot by connecting those three beachheads. The goal was to cut Canterlot off from support and reinforcements while it was assaulted from all sides. The invading force was certainly going to have its hooves full as they assaulted Canterlot while simultaneously securing their rears against counter-attacks from changeling forces trying to reach their queen. Fortunately, the allied forces would enjoy plenty of air support from aerospace fighters, and the WarShips in orbit of the planet should be able to keep changeling DropShips from shifting too many of their forces from other parts of Equus. The invading forces should only have to contend with local defenders for the most part. Ideally.

Phase Three was the push into Canterlot itself, once the encirclement had been complete. The planetary capital was a veritable fortress, according to Twilight’s changeling, and wouldn’t fall easily. However, no fortress could hope to hold out for long against a sustained assault from multiple BattleSteed divisions and flights of aerospace fighters.

If it came down to it, Cinder was ready to employ the terrifying destructive power of her navy’s heavier autocannons. Canterlot castle could always be rebuilt. Not where it once was, obviously, since there wouldn’t be much left of where it stood now except a deep crater after such a bombardment. But a new castle could certainly be built somewhere to the alicorn’s liking…

The thought of rebuilding the castle at the heart of the planetary capital prompted the dragoness’ mind to turn to other matters that would need to be tended to after defeating Chrysalis. Indeed, the star admiral was of the opinion that most of the next year or more would be spent securing the rest of the planet. She found the idea of all of the changelings suddenly dropping their weapons and offering surrender upon the death of their queen to be…unlikely. Even if they did; how exactly would the Dragon Clans and their allies go about sequestering several hundred million POWs? They certainly couldn’t be permitted to roam free!

Twilight would doubtlessly seek to reform as many of them as could be; and that was all well and good, but it was an endeavor that would take decades. At a minimum. In the intervening time, they would have to be imprisoned, or as close as could be considering the monumental scale involved. Perhaps it was easiest just to blockade the whole planet and designate it as a temporary penal colony.

There was also going to be the matter of finding a way to ‘feed’ them. They wouldn’t have the steady stream of academy candidates flowing to the planet any longer. As far as Cinder knew, the alicorn hadn’t given much thought to that matter; or hadn’t said anything to the star admiral if she had. Not that Twilight kept her abreast of everything, of course. Still, Cinder had expected the former ruler of the CLDF to have broached the subject of what was to be done with the changelings after Chrysalis was defeated at least in passing. Without clear guidance from ‘above’, it would fall to Cinder herself to make the call.

She had a good idea of what many of her immediate subordinates would suggest. It would also be a lie to say that she wouldn’t be tempted by the idea either: Blockading the planet and letting the ‘changeling problem’ sort itself out over the course of the next few months would be the most practical, in terms of effort and materials involved. Without a fresh source of victims, the changelings on Equus would quickly starve to death. The planet would be cleared of all resistance in a few months, ready to be completely seized by the Celestia League-in-Exile without any additional shots needing to be fired.

It went without saying that proposing such a plan would be immediately shot down by Twilight. She’d want as many changelings as possible to be saved. The dragoness sorted and amended that hypothetical to be that Twilight would want all of the changelings on the planet to be saved. She’d merely be forced to accept saving as many as was possible; because saving them all simply wouldn’t be, no matter what they did. They simply could not provide the kind of sustenance the population would need. Morally or logistically. Twilight would agree with the former, and have to accept the latter.

Besides, it wasn’t like the loss of the population of Equus would represent any sort of genuine threat to the changeling species. There were still many tens of millions of changelings seeded throughout the galaxy. Twilight would have the next several centuries to soothe her conscience in dedication to converting those changelings still at large to the more desirable ‘reformed’ state for their kind.

Even that would only be the first step, Cinder knew. Converting the changelings themselves was one thing. Converting the mentality of the Harmony Sphere where changelings were concerned would be quite another. The galaxy was going to be in for quite the shock when it was revealed to them that many of their friends and family were actually dead, and that a doppelganger had been masquerading around in their place.

Oh! But don’t worry: we promise the creature who had been deceiving you for all of those years or decades is totally not an empathic parasite anymore, and they will stop manipulating your nations into a perpetual state of war that has claimed the lives of untold trillions over the centuries!

Cinder couldn’t wait to be present in the room where Twilight first tried to sell that to the public at large! There was going to be utter chaos across the Harmony Sphere. For quite a long time too. To say that rebuilding the Celestia League―or some other analogue as a successor―would be ‘challenging’ was quite the understatement, in the star admiral’s opinion.

The immortal purple alicorn would have a considerable amount of time to do it in though. And while dragons weren’t quite as long-lived as alicorns, it was at least conceivable that Cinder might still be around to mark Twilight’s progress.

All of that was assuming that they won the upcoming fight, of course. Losing would make all of this fretting moot.

A tone emitted from her datalink drew the dragoness out of her reverie. She let out a cleansing breath and acknowledged the incoming call from her clerk, “Yes?”

“You asked to be reminded about the conference this morning, Ma’am?” the gruff voice on the other end of the line responded.

“Right; thank you.”

“Of course, Ma’am.”

Cinder turned from the balcony and headed back into her quarters. They were as much a workstation as they were a living area, having been purpose-built for whoever ended up leading the eventual invasion. As a result, the table in the dining room doubled as a holographic projector and plotter. The dragoness turned it on. A few seconds later, a collection of heads were floating above it, some of whom she recognized only from the dossiers that she had been provided through her staff. Others, like General Mayhem and Commander Timberjack, she had at least met a few times in the past.

Princess Twilight Sparkle, of course, needed no introduction. The star admiral bowed and paid her deference to the alicorn all the same, before moving on to thank the other members of the recently created ‘War Council’ for being able to attend, “Lady, Novo, Lady Blueblood, Lord Belle; I appreciate your presence for this meeting,” the cobalt dragoness said, “I hope you have found the accommodations acceptable?”

“These are some of the better ‘field conditions’ I’ve ever experienced,” the ivory pegasus archon of the Pony Commonwealth, Victoria Blueblood, replied with a wry smile, “Certainly a lot better than the bases I was forced to operate out of while in the Periphery…”

“They’ve been quite agreeable, Star Admiral; thank you,” Nacht Belle added with a nod.

“Hard to believe that all of this managed to get set up without anycreature else in the galaxy being the wiser,” the hippogriff noted, “The logistics involved must have been quite impressive,” Thera’s words trailed off into an unasked question as to the means by which the building of these secret bases so far inside the Sphere had been managed.

The dragoness merely smiled, “Indeed.” That was all she said on the matter before moving on, “Let us get down to the purpose of this initial conference: Which is to give each of you an idea of your areas of operation during the invasion. In the coming days, you will each receive more detail information to aid you and your own staff in more specific planning; but I want you to at least have a broad understanding of what is expected.

“The first phase of the invasion will be pretty straightforward: Our WarShip fleet, led by myself, will escort all ground forces to Equus.

“From there, we will break up into four invasion components. Commonwealth forces will take Manehattan. The Federated Moons will take Fillydelphia. The Combine will seize Ponyville. Princess Twilight’s mixed force of former Red Reivers and Disciples, as well as Commander Timberjack’s Dragoons,” Cinder went on with a nod towards the alicorn and the earth pony, “will serve as a Rapid Response Force to help deal with any serious counter-attacks from the changelings.

“General Mayhem’s division will provide cover for the DropShip landings while the rest of the fleet blockades the planet.

“Once all three objectives are secured, we can move on to encircling Canterlot in preparation for the final push into the capital. Are there any reservations with the plan thus far?” She glanced between each projected head in turn.

“What are we looking at in terms of a timetable for this invasion?” Victoria asked.

“Much of that will be determined by how effective we are at slowing down the changelings’ ability to redeploy their ground forces,” Cinder replied, “Depending on how intact our WarShip fleet is by the time we secure the orbital space around Equus, we should be able to at least cripple their ability to move troops around with DropShips. This should effectively prevent them from bringing in forces from the other continents to support Canterlot, but that’ll still leave the forces already in Equestria to deal with.

“While there are sufficient forces present in Equestria to significantly outnumber and maybe even overwhelm our invasion force, even our most pessimistic estimates on their response times leave us with at least three days to secure the perimeter around Canterlot before we can expect any significant efforts to push us back off world.”

There were several expressions from among the gathered holograms that suggested not everypony was feeling particularly optimistic about the time frame involved. It was Nacht who voiced those reservations first though, “Three days to secure our lines isn’t a lot of time, Star Admiral,” the batpony stallion pointed out. “And we have to assume that Canterlot itself will be reinforced with additional units before we manage to make landfall.”

The First Prince was not wrong, Cinder inwardly acknowledged. It would take a little over two days for their fleet to reach Equus from their jump-in point. Plenty of time for Chrysalis to summon additional divisions to the obvious target of the forthcoming invasion. Part of the reason for wanting to hit so many vital cities at once was so that Chrysalis wouldn’t be able to sortie out of Canterlot against any one force directly without leaving the city open to assault from another direction. While it was unlikely that the changeling queen would be able to find a way to squeeze enough troops and BattleSteeds into the city to allow her to both defend it and send out assaults against the invaders, that didn’t mean that those additional defenders wouldn’t still make it tartarus’ own bitch to take.

And the same considerations that would make it strategically difficult for the defenders in Canterlot to do anything against the invaders directly also came into play against their own forces where assaulting the capital was concerned: If they pulled too many forces out of any one of the three cities they took in order to press in on Canterlot, they risked making themselves vulnerable to a counter-attack from the changeling forces that would doubtlessly be doing everything in their power to cut through t their imperiled queen. That was part of the reason for Twilight’s response force; so that they could rapidly deploy their own reinforcements if it looked like their own lines were threatened.

“You’re correct, it’s not a lot of time,” Cinder conceded, “But we will be the ones with DropShip and aerospace fighter support, which should give us a substantial advantage. Based on the anticipated strength of the opposition, we believe that the landing force will be sufficient to secure Canterlot in that time.”

“What about the rest of the planet?” Victoria asked.

“It is our belief,” the dragoness began, casting a brief glance in Twilight Sparkle’s direction, “that the bulk of the resistance from the changelings will abate once Canterlot is taken and Queen Chrysalis is…dealt with.” While it was the opinion of the star admiral that the changeling queen would almost certainly not allow herself to be talked down or taken alive, she elected not to voice that prediction aloud. She knew that the purple alicorn was still harboring some hope that Chrysalis’ death wouldn’t be a requirement for ultimate victory over the changelings.

“Even if that turns out not to be the case, however, there wouldn’t be anything to keep us from pulling our forces back off the planet once Canterlot has fallen,” she pointed out, “We will still be in control of the orbital space around Equus and as long as too many of our DropShips weren’t lost during the assault, we will have little issue withdrawing before the remaining changelings can overwhelm our ground units.

“From there, it wouldn’t be difficult to simply blockade the whole planet and starve the changelings out.”

This earned the dragoness an unhappy look from the alicorn, but Twilight refrained from commenting audibly. There was little doubt in Cinder’s mind that the princess hadn’t already thought about that possibility as well. None of the other members of the council seemed like they found the notion objectionable.

Indeed, Victoria appeared to find this to be a preferable course of action, “Why are we not starving them out in the first place?” The Commonwealth’s archon asked.

“Because Celestia, Luna, and Cadance are still alive down there,” Twilight said, finally speaking up for the first time during the briefing, “If we blockade the planet, and Chrysalis realizes that her situation is hopeless, she’ll kill them.”

“What makes you so sure she won’t kill them anyway once we start our invasion?” Victoria posed.

“Because Chrysalis will want them to see her crush their ‘liberators’,” Twilight said in response. There was an edge to her tone as she acknowledged the changeling queen’s penchant for sadistic emotional torture of her captives, “She’ll also want them alive to see myself finally captured and brought to join them.”

Thera cleared her throat, the hippogriff’s words a little hesitant as she spoke, “My apologies, Miss Sparkle, if this comes across as a little cold,” Cinder felt her lips briefly flicker into a reflexive sneer at the omission of the alicorn’s title. However, she reminded herself that even among the Dragon Clans, Twilight Sparkle's official title was a matter of some ‘dispute’. While Flurry Heart was Princess of the Celestia League-in-Exile, the Disciples had nominally seceded from the League and the Clans and declared their allegiance to Twilight. They’d bestowed the title of ‘Princess’ back onto the purple alicorn for their own purposes, but Cinder doubted that any of the others were aware of any of that internal politicking.

“But,” the eagle-headed equine continued, treading carefully as she spoke, “How does the survival of the other alicorns benefit us?” It wasn’t just Twilight who bristled at this; every other creature who had ties to the Celestia League-in-Exile were also quite put off by the sentiment. The other two leaders from within the Harmony Sphere seemed to be in agreement with the raised point though, “From what the star admiral has just said, it sounds like we can achieve a military victory without setting a single hoof on Equus if we choose. That would perhaps save hundreds of thousands of lives.”

“Are those three really worth that cost?”

Cinder could tell from her expression that Twilight wanted to respond to the patently absurd question in the affirmative. Even the cobalt dragoness felt herself having to bite back an initial impulse to insist that the safety and security of the three imprisoned alicorns was of paramount importance. However, when she forced herself to take a step back and attempt to look at things with a little less bias; she acknowledged that the Deputy’s question was a fair one from her perspective. The galaxy she’d known had managed to survive for centuries without any alicorn influence or leadership. Why then was it so important that they be rescued at such a great cost of life?

Twilight as well seemed to recognize the hippogriff’s position, and that she likely wasn’t intending to antagonize her. As a result, her response was a lot more measured and receptive than it probably could have been, given the purple princess’ close personal ties to the other alicorns, “It is my sincere belief that the three of them will be integral to returning Harmony and Friendship to the galaxy,” she replied, “Whether that goal is worth the cost in lives is not something I can definitively answer. I’d like to believe that the sacrifices it will take to free them are proven worthwhile in the fullness of time.”

“My Dragoons will be going down there no matter what,” Timberjack interjected, “If the three of you want to dither around in orbit, that’s your business.”

“Commander…” Cinder said in a cautioning tone, eyeing the stout earth pony before the dragoness turned to address the other three House members, “While a siege is technically possible, it is not preferable; for several reasons,” she explained.

“It cannot be overlooked that, while certainly crippled, the network of changeling operatives in the galaxy is still present,” the star admiral stressed, “The sabotage of the HSG network isn’t quite ‘total’, either. Replacing certain key pieces of hardware allows them to operate temporarily before they burn out again. However, it is more than long enough for messages to be sent out. If we spend weeks, or even months, just sitting in orbit around Equus, that is time that Chrysalis can spend ordering her spies and saboteurs spread throughout your realms to cause all kinds of destruction.

“Infrastructure could be destroyed, family members could be assassinated, coups could be launched,” Cinder ticked off the list of unpleasant possibilities on her claws, watching the discomfort spread across the faces of all three of the Great House members, “By the time you get back to your homeworlds, you might not have much to go back to.

“It is also worth noting that Chrysalis isn’t without allies of her own in the Sphere. Stellar Nova himself is one of the queen’s agents. If you insist on tying up the forces you have here for months on end, you’re leaving yourselves open to invasion by the Our Worlds League,” the dragoness shared a pointed look with Victoria, whose Commonwealth shared a direct border with the League.

“Waiting around for the changelings to starve is not in the best interests of anycreature here,” Cinder concluded. She studied the expressions of the other three, and was relieved to see that they were nodding in agreement.

“Very well,” Thera conceded, “We’ll get this over with quickly so that we can get home as soon as possible. You’re right in that we don’t want to be out of communication for too long.”

All three of them were perfectly aware of how tumultuous the economic situations were becoming without the communications network overseen by ComSpark. Once Chrysalis and ComSpark were dealt with, Twilight would be able to revert the firmware and fix what she’d ‘broken’ with the code. However, until then it was in their best interest to make it as inconvenient as possible for the changelings to coordinate with one another. Whatever damage their operatives in the Sphere got up to could be addressed later.

“Good,” Star Admiral Cinder breathed a sigh of relief, “I’ll see to it that each of you is given maps and force estimates for your targets as soon as possible so that you can work out your operational planning with your own staff. If there are no other questions…?” The dragoness looked around at the gathered floating heads, but all were shaking in the negative, “Then I’ll let you go. I know we all have a lot of work to do. Cinder, out.”

Thank you so much for reading! As always, a thumbs up and comment are always greatly appreciated

I've set up a Cover Art Fund if you're interested and have any bits lying around!