One of the doors of the overly large conference room swung open silently. The first pony to notice someone entering immediately cut off her current conversation and quickly stood with a rigid salute. The rest of the officers on both sides of the table hastily followed suit, ending the murmur of suppositional conversation and allowing the room to fall deathly quiet.

Celestia casually wandered into the room and made her way silently around the long table to one of the two chairs at the head and slowly sat without a sound. The officers continued to stand stock-still, each holding a hoof above their right eye. This stretched on for tens of seconds as the tension in the room mounted. These officers were the absolute best that the Equestrian military had to offer, and they knew that something big had happened to warrant gathering them all in one place with so little notice.

Finally, General Falx came through the doorway, stopping just short of entering the room fully. He glanced around his surroundings, taking in the sight of the various generals and corps commanders gathered around the table still dutifully holding their perfect full-attention stances and salutes. Squinting slightly at the bright light of the early afternoon pouring in through the wall of westerly facing windows across from the doorway, he made his way to the seat directly to the right of Celestia.

“At ease,” he stated gruffly as he took his seat. A muted shuffle of ponies sitting down and sliding their chairs back into place echoed softly through the conference room. Complete silence once again permeated the space.

The princess wore a mask of indifference, doing her best to cover her emotions before the military leaders of her armies. Meanwhile, all eyes were on the general, who—in stark contrast to the princess—had nothing but anger drawn across his tired features.

Falx leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table with his hooves in front of his mouth. He sat in this position for a few moments, staring at the center of the huge table, before sighing and taking a large breath.

“By now, I’m sure all of you have been made aware of an... incident that transpired in the lower areas of the castle two hours ago.” He paused shortly in case any of his subordinates had questions. This also gave him time to collect his thoughts. “Before we begin, I must make it abundantly clear that the missions we are going to be planning concerning this incident are classified and information concerning them will be on a need-to-know.”

Pausing once again to give the others a chance to respond, he dropped his hooves to the table and carried on. “Now then, Captain Silver Shine, what is the status of the border closure?”

A small unicorn stallion stood about halfway down the table and looked to Falx. “Sir, all official border crossings have been locked-down as of approximately thirty minutes ago, and the patrols have been increased by eighty percent. All available hooves are on the ground, so to speak.” Silver Shine paused for a moment and shifted uncomfortably before continuing. “It is still possible, albeit unlikely, that someone could make it through some of the more remote areas of the border. If I could get a regimental detachment to bolster my forces, we could have much better coverage.”

Falx nodded slowly. “Understood. If that’s the best we’ve got right now, it’ll have to do. At this time, we have no reason to believe that our target is planning on leaving Equestria just yet, so carry on with your standing orders.”

“Sir,” replied the stallion quickly as he sat down.

“General Onyx Star. General Thunder Charge,” Falx stated, continuing down his mental list of topics.

The black mare and orange stallion in question swiftly stood. “Sir!”

“Deployment status, Onyx?”

“Sir, the First Army of the Equestrian Royal Military reports operational readiness status at seventy-eight percent and will be reporting full battle readiness within the next twelve hours, Sir,” replied the army commander so quickly that it was difficult to discern where one word ended and the next began. “Commander Wintersong asked that I relay her apologies for not being here, Sir. She felt that it would be more useful for her to stay and manage the mustering of the Third Army’s forces, and asked that I speak for her in her place.”

“Very well, what is the status of the Third?”

“As a reserve force, they are still gathering their troops, Sir. Current expectation is to have the full force available within a week’s time, Sir.”

The tan earth pony at the head of the table sighed deeply. “Not fast enough. With any luck, this will be over well before the week is out.” Falx began tapping a hoof on the table as he glanced up to the ceiling. “We’ll make do with the currently available forces. Commander Azure Moon.”

“Sir?” came the reply as a violet pegasus stood.

“Relay an order to Commander Wintersong when you leave here.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Continuing to look at the ceiling in thought, he stopped tapping, and then looked to the pegasus. “Her new orders are to cancel the Third’s call to arms and return to Canterlot to resume her regular duties immediately. Officers attached to the Third Army are dismissed at this time.”

With that, Azure Moon and two other uniformed ponies filed out of the room.

“Anything else for me, Sir?” asked Onyx Star.

“Not yet... Thank you, Onyx. That is all.”

The mare quickly returned to her chair and smiled to the stallion still standing next to her. If he had noticed, he didn’t show it.

“And your situation, General?” Falx asked, tilting his head briefly towards Thunder Charge.

“The Second Army is currently reporting operational readiness at approximately ninety percent and will attain full battle-readiness within the next four hours, Sir.”

“Very good, Thunder Charge, that is all.”

“Show off,” Onyx whispered under her breath with a huff.

“Thank you, Sir,” replied the commanding general as he took his seat with a quick smirk towards Onyx.

“Commander Nightbreeze, what is the status of the 38th?”

Nightbreeze stood, ruffling her blue feathers slightly. “The 38th Recon Group has one battalion at full operational readiness and two battalions on standby that can be deployed within two hours of an order to activate, Sir.”

“Good. That is all, Commander.” Nightbreeze sat as Falx rose from his chair slowly, looking to the military officers ahead of him. “Alright, now that that’s out of the way. We have a very delicate situation on our hooves, ladies and gentlecolts. As I said, this information is of a very sensitive nature and will be on a need-to-know.

“The Royal Guard and several Royal Army squads attempted to apprehend two rogue mages this morning. It did not go well. There have been scores of casualties already; so when I say that these two individuals are extremely dangerous, I want you to take that warning extremely seriously. They are not to be approached without backup of at least a full company. These two are very powerful and between the two of them were able to best a squad of battle mages, two light infantry fire crews, both princesses, and myself. This situation is not to be taken lightly.”

Falx paused for a brief moment before continuing. “Onyx, Thundercharge, and corps commanders; you are to split your forces and position the divisions for optimal coverage for fast response anywhere in Equestria. Once they are in place, they are to be placed on priority one alert status. They must be ready to mobilize at a moment’s notice, and be damned sure the Mage Corps understands that they will be the frontline on these maneuvers. They’ll be our best defense against the rogues.

“Nightbreeze, place a recon crew with each division and activate your standby battalions. I want every available recon team looking for these ponies. We’ve already contacted local authorities, so villages and cities already have eyes on them. Stick to the more rural and remote areas. We expect them to stay clear of urban areas out of fear of being recognized.”

“Any questions so far?” Falx asked.

No one moved to say anything.

“Good.” Falx began walking slowly around the table. “The unicorns in question are Twilight Sparkle and Fireshade. I’m sure you are all familiar with them, so I’ll spare you those details.

“Fireshade specializes in fire magics; which makes it incredibly difficult to approach her unless she allows you to. If she does allow a pony that is attempting to capture her within fifteen meters of herself, that pony is very likely going to be dead in short manner. In fact, we have verification of her using this luring technique, so be ready for it.

“Twilight Sparkle specializes in general arcane magics and can create barriers that can counter almost any attack. Her skills and power as a mage outclass most unicorns I've ever seen by orders of magnitude. Safety in numbers, everyone. It will likely take ten of our best battle mages to come even close to presenting a challenge for Twilight Sparkle.

“Captain Silver, make sure your patrols know to specifically watch for these two subjects. If any pony attempts to cross the border outside of a checkpoint, only detain them long enough to ascertain identity and let them go. Twilight Sparkle and Fireshade are our priority here. If one of your patrols do locate the targets, they are to immediately make their way to the nearest divisional detachment to report the location. Any questions, Captain?”

“No, Sir,” replied the unicorn.

“Good, in that case you are dismissed. Good luck, Captain.”

“Thank you, Sir,” Silver Shine said as he moved towards the door.

A yellow hoof rose slowly. “Yes, Commander?” said Falx, recognizing one of the corps leaders.

“Uhm, I’m sorry Sir, but isn’t Twilight Sparkle the grand magus? Why would she abandon that and do whatever it is she’s doing? And what exactly is she doing?”

“Was the grand magus, and need-to-know,” Falx stated firmly. “Now then. They have stolen books that contain knowledge of banned magic, making their offensive and defensive capabilities mostly unknown. So I will reiterate: Do. Not. Approach. Them. The element of surprise and overwhelming numbers will be key in their capture. The shorter amount time they have to prepare for us, the better off we will all be.”

“What kind of banned magic, Sir?” sounded a voice from the table.

Not answering immediately, Falx thought through his answer and how much to give them. “Truthfully, Commander, we’re not completely sure. There is confirmation of a technique called sigil magic, wherein combinations of runes are used to create powerful spell-like effects. These, in particular, have been devastatingly effective as booby-traps and there is very little we can do to counteract them besides attempting to avoid them. Also, we have confirmed their use of temporal manipulation and possible—but thus far unconfirmed—combat oriented telepathy, but there could be any number of things, so expect to be surprised by what spells are in their current repertoire. Anything else, before I move on?”

The room remained silent.

“When a recon team makes contact, they are to leave one member to observe while the other returns to relay the location. Once they are located, all divisions are to hold until Princess Celestia or myself relay new orders. Until then...”

Falx looked to his left. “Is there anything you would like to add, Milady?”

“Yes, thank you, General.” Celestia slowly stood and surveyed the group before her. “I must request that there is at least an attempt to capture Twilight Sparkle alive. I have many questions—as I am sure Luna does as well—for her that I would very much like answered. That being said, I understand the difficulty of fulfilling such a request and that is why I will personally make the first contact with her wh—”

“Princess, I must protest,” Falx exclaimed, turning his body to face the princess.

Celestia smiled gently to her general. “I know you must. It is your job, afterall, to make sure that Equestria is kept safe, and that also entails keeping me safe. However, I must be the one to confront Twilight, because I am likely the only one that would have any chance to contain her without killing her. As I said, I want her apprehended, not executed.”

Falx sighed with defeat. “Very well, Milady. I will be sending Fireteam One of the Mage Corps with you, though.”

“I would expect no less, General,” Celestia replied, still wearing the motherly smile.

Turning back to the officers at the table, Falx cleared his throat. “Alright then, does everyone understand the current orders?”

No response was heard from the group in front of him.

“Excellent. You are all dismissed, and good hunting.”