A diminutive earth pony sat in the dark of his tent, only the flickering light of a gas lantern providing him illumination of the project he was working on. With his two hooves, he gently aligned the meter stick on the table before picking up a pencil between his teeth and slowly drawing a solid line precisely 40 centimeters from left to right. He had been up for around 7 hours working on this, a design for the modernization of the Clockwork-Canterlot Rifle, the rifle that bore his name.

The room lit up as the front tent flap was hastily thrown open. The pony calmly set the pencil down and turned to face the visitor. A small colt runner stood in the opening of the tent before him, hastily throwing up a salute as he panted. The earth pony graciously returned the salute.

“Sir, the new Field Marshal’s train is approaching,” the runner said breathlessly. The earth pony turned back to the table and grabbed up a pocket watch, swinging the chain under and around his hoof until the closed watch face sprung open. The pony quickly glanced at it before snapping it shut.

“He’s thirteen minutes early,” the pony muttered to himself as replaced the watch on the table. He turned to the runner and nodded curtly. “Thank you, runner; be on your way.” The runner threw another salute, and then trotted away. The earth pony got up and trotted over to his cot, carefully picking up his dress uniform and sliding it on. He grabbed up his black artilleryponys beret and placed it neatly upon his head, right ear out. He looked in the mirror that he set up briefly, nodded in satisfaction, and then turned to leave the tent, grabbing his pocket watch and a satchel as he stepped outside into the evening air.

Outside of his tent he had a good view of all the 25-pounder gun positions, clumped together in groups of five and spread out over the surrounding area. Camouflage nets were in place around the guns, hopefully masking their position from the Unicornians. He looked briefly at the nearest battery, checking to see that each gun had 25 rounds laid out in ready position. They did. The gun crews sat around their guns, talking and laughing at ease. All was fine and quiet here. Satisfied, the pony began to trot toward the rail line.

As he headed on over to the impromptu rail yard, he looked up into the sky at Cloudsdale. It didn’t look like it from here, but Cloudsdale had taken a beating in yesterday’s battle. He hadn’t yet seen the casualties list, mostly because it hadn’t been completed yet. All that he knew was that it had been high.

He trotted onto the hastily assembled wooden platform that had been set up to receive supplies from Canterlot, and looked east. In the light of the setting sun he could see the towers of Canterlot against the cliff faces of the mountain that it clung to. He could also see the smoke of a steam engine in the distance working its way toward where he stood.

The train chuffed closer as he retrieved his pocketwatch, looking at it briefly while it was still closed. Engraved on the watch face was an ornate C.E. He smiled as he looked at it, and then sprung it open. It was 7:53, and the locomotive was just now pulling up. The engine slowly ground to a halt, leaving an ornate white coach before the pony. The door of the coach swung open.

The new Field Marshall stepped out, a young and muscle-bound unicorn in white with a mixed blue mane and tail. Upon his flank the pony could see a shield with a purple six-point star, and three smaller stars above it. He made a quick mental note. ‘The shield is good, it means that he’s meant for this.’

The Field Marshall looked down at the diminutive earth pony, clad in his Equestrian Calvary Earth dye, his olive green dress uniform, and his black beret. The Marshall smiled as the pony snapped into a salute. He saluted back graciously, and then descended from the coach.

“At ease,” the Marshall said with a grin upon his face. “You are General Clockwork Engine?” The pony nodded once. “It’s nice to meet you,” the Marshall said warmly.

“Likewise,” Clockwork answered. He looked down at the watch briefly. “The briefing is in five minutes, if you’ll follow me, Field Marshall.” The unicorn nodded in agreement, and followed the earth pony.

“Aren’t you going to ask me my name?” the Field Marshall asked as they began walking.

“No sir, everypony knows your name.” Clockwork said. “Shining Armor, the Crystal Emperor and former Captain of the Royal Guard, newly promoted to Field Marshall of all Equestrian forces.” Shining nodded.

“You know all about me, but I can do the same thing, General. Clockwork Engine, former watchmaker and inventor, newly promoted to head of the Equestrian artillery branch.”

“Accurate on all counts, Marshall,” Clockwork said. The new Field Marshall seemed relaxed, almost to a point of being unprofessional. Still, he had defeated the changeling surprise attack. He looked off into the setting sun in the west as they continued trotting toward the HQ tent. Out there, only 7 miles off, was the enemy. “Any good news?”

Shining turned and faced Canterlot briefly, the upbeat feel coming off of him now replaced by a heaviness. “Some,” he said. “Not a lot, but some. I’ll tell everypony at the briefing.”

The ponies trotted past some artillery positions, guns still at the ready and all bearing west. Shining Armor contented himself with looking over the positions as they trotted on. Just ahead was the large tent that served as the HQ for the front. Clockwork quickened his pace, and opened up the tent flap for the Field Marshal, who nodded graciously.

Inside the tent a bulky earth pony and a pegasus snapped up from sitting to attention and saluted the Marshall. Shining calmly returned the salute. “At ease, gentlecolts,” Shining said. He looked over to the earth pony and said, “General Calvary Charge, of the Royal Equestrian Calvary?” the bulky pony saluted again.

“Yes Field Marshall Sir!”

“You can stop saluting, general. I don’t want to have to exercise my legs every time I address a pony.” Calvary Charge faltered for a moment, and then put his hooves back down. Shining turned over to the Pegasus. “That makes you Air Marshall Flying Fortress of the air volunteers.”

The Pegasus nodded. He was the only one in the room other than Shining Armor who wasn’t coated in the brown earth dyes, his coat light grey-blue with a white mane. “Alright then,” Shining said, “to business.”

The ponies all sat around a small table in the middle of the tent, a map of Equestria laid out smoothly across the
surface. Shining cleared his throat, and then began. “I’ve been in conference with the princesses, trying to get the best understanding of the situation possible. Right now I can tell you that the Unicornians are in control of all land north of the Unicorn range and west of the Neighagra River. That’s about one quarter of Equestria.” The ponies nodded solemnly. “After that all of my knowledge is second hand, yours is first, so I just want each of you to answer my questions as best as you can. Alright?” the ponies nodded.

Shining turned to Flying Fortress first. “Tell me about the battle of Cloudsdale.”

The pegasus looked around at the others briefly, and then addressed the Field Marshall. “The Unicornians attacked us from the west with 55 airships, prompting us to scramble our 37 to protect Cloudsdale. We formed three defensive lines at 10,000, 14,000 and 18,000 feet respectively and opened fire on the enemy. We downed 8 in the initial firing, but they counter attacked and destroyed 22 of ours. We regrouped in Cloudsdale and repulsed the enemy, downing 6 more.”

As Flying Fortress concluded his statement, Clockwork opened up the satchel that he had and grabbed out two reports his staff had compiled. While nothing that the Pegasus had said was wrong, he was missing important details that the Field Marshall needed to know. Calvary Charge beat him to the punch.

“Marshall, if I may say so, this pegasus is full of it,” Calvary Charge began, not bothering to pause for punctuation. Shining raised his eyebrows, but before he could ask the general continued. “He’s sugar coating this battle, not giving you the real story. From where I was sitting I saw the 8 that he got, then 22 of his ships went down and they didn’t go down fighting. They were running off as fast as they could, not a shot fired from one of them! They hid behind Cloudsdale, which as we all know got shot to pieces, and the only reason that we scrapped a victory out of this was because of him!” He pointed toward Clockwork, who had placed the two files on the table.

Shining looked over to Clockwork with interest. “Really?” he asked. Clockwork opened up the first file and nodded.

“I would have put it more eloquently, but yes. The only reason that we won the battle of Cloudsdale was because of the artillery.”

“Explain.”

“At the outbreak of the battle I calculated the range and height of the enemy formation, and then computed what range my guns would need to fire at in order for the shells flight path to cross the enemy’s.” He slid the first file across the table to Shining as he continued. “In 82 seconds of firing we managed to down 6 enemy airships, prompting them to retreat.”

Shining looked over the report briefly. Clockwork paused for a minute, knowing that his next suggestion may cause controversy. “In light of the effectiveness of artillery against aerial targets, I recommend that we move Cloudsdale.”

Shining looked up from the report. “What was that?”

“I recommend that we move Cloudsdale to behind the Neighagra River.”

Calvary Charge answered first. “Cloudsdale offers us a commanding view of the surrounding area, not to mention supplies that arrive to the front as soon as they are produced, and you want to move it hundreds of miles away?” Calvary looked over to Shining for support. “Field Marshall, that’s mad, you don’t send the greatest asset of the Cloudsdale defensive line halfway across the country.”

Shining Armor continued looking at the report. Without looking up he addressed Clockwork Engine. “Why do you propose we move the city?”

“Very soon the Unicornians are going to have artillery set up, and once they do they will be able to attack Cloudsdale with impunity. Using simple physics they can adjust the shells to collide with the city and with fuses can allow them to detonate in the center of Cloudsdale. The damage would be worse than the previous airship attack.”

While Shining continued poring over the report before him, everypony in the room waited silently for an answer from him. “We move Cloudsdale behind the Neighagra,” He finally said. “Clockwork is right, artillery would just chew up Cloudsdale.” Calvary opened his mouth to protest, but Shining turned to him before he could. “We’ll continue to have pegasus scouts in the area, so we’ll know what they are up to.” Calvary grudgingly nodded once in acceptance.

Shining continued to address Calvary, “Now, General, you said that the air volunteers didn’t fire once after the initial barrage?”

“Not once,” Calvary said, shooting an angry look at Flying Fortress in the room. Clockwork pushed the next file over to the Field Marshall.

“What’s this?” Shining asked.

“An evaluation on the effectiveness of our airships versus theirs,” Clockwork said. “After the first exchange of fire the Unicornian dropped in altitude to roughly 2000 feet below our forces. The Royal Ordinance 25-pounder gun only has 5 degrees of gun depression, so we were unable to get the guns low enough to hit them. That’s why we didn’t fire.” Shining nodded as he looked through the report. “The Unicornian ships used smaller caliber automatic cannons, allowing them to hit us more. The report recommends that we create a new class of airship with automatic cannons able to cover all angles. Designs have already been submitted.”

“Did you submit one?” Calvary asked, looking over to him pointedly.

“Yes.”

“Some may call you a war profiteer, Clockwork. You designed the standard rifle, the standard artillery piece, and now the standard airship. This war is making you very rich.” Calvary continued his piercing stare.

“I’m not doing this for money; I’m doing this so that we can win this war.”

“We don’t have time for arguments like this,” Shining interrupted. The two ponies stopped and looked over to him. “General Clockwork, I appreciate you answering my questions, and I appreciate you trying to improve our forces. General Calvary, I appreciate your concerns, but right now our main focus should be on the Unicornian army that’s parked seven miles away.”

Clockwork already knew what was going to happen next. He had this argument before, and he prayed to Celestia that he would win it now. Calvary Charge looked over to the Field Marshall.

“Concerning them Field Marshall, I believe that we should launch a full scale attack on the Unicornians as soon as possible.”

Shining looked at the general expectantly. “Make your case.”

“Sir, right now they have just arrived at the edge of our artillery’s maximum range, and are going to start consolidating
their forces for an attack on us. Now is the best time to strike. They will not have had time to dig in and make a good defense. They will not expect us to mount an attack, and they may be demoralized by the loss that they sustained at Cloudsdale. Every day we wait they get stronger and dug in better. On top of that, if we win then we can rob them of their momentum. Equestria is begging for a victory, Marshall, and this is our best chance to give them one.

Shining looked over to Clockwork. “What do you think?”

“I think that attacking them right now would incur severe casualties and a minimum gain of land.”

Calvary Charge glared at Clockwork again. Shining didn’t take any notice. “Explain.”

“If we attacked and did win we would not have won against the Unicornians entire force, all troops that they have that have yet to make it to the front lines would be good for battle and would likely be able to halt our advance. Furthermore, I am not certain that we have the numerical advantage to beat them.”

Calvary interjected. “We probably outnumber them two to one, and-”

“-then we don’t have enough by half,” Clockwork countered.

Shining leaned in, “What do you mean?”

Clockwork turned to address the Field Marshall directly. “Have you heard about 5th squad of the Four-Hundred Twenty-Firsts C-company? They have a reputation as being ‘The Miracle Squad’.”

“Yes.”

Clockwork reached into his satchel again and grabbed out yet another file, placing it on the table and sliding it over to the Field Marshal. Calvary shook his head in disgust, but Shining chuckled slightly. “Do you have a report for everything, General?”

“Intelligence is a good ally to have Field Marshall; it helps us to not make mistakes.” Clockwork could feel Calvary’s eyes boring into him, but continued regardless. “This is a report on the battle of the Galloping Gorge, the information that is important here is on page 38.” Shining magically turned to the page, and began reading once more as Clockwork spoke.

“Fifth squad had just arrived the day before; their only defenses were rudimentary foxholes. When the Unicornians attacked they were part of roughly a quarter of Calvary forces that stayed and fought. Two of their members were killed in the opening artillery barrage. With a force of 8 ponies, without any support from artillery, they managed to get in excess of 50 probable kills.” He paused, looking at the Field Marshall’s face to see if the importance of this information was sinking in. Shining was still reading the report, his face seeming bereft of emotion. Clockwork decided to hammer the point home. “If we face a well-disciplined force on open ground, with even the most rudimentary of defenses, we’ll need a five to one advantage to dislodge them.”

“Field Marshall, you can’t listen to him just because he’s drawn up a fancy report. Everyday that we wait they get stronger, and if we don’t attack soon then we may never get Equestria back!”

“If we do attack and fail, which is the most likely outcome, then we will have weakened ourselves to a point where they could defeat our defenses and take Canterlot.”

My ponies are ready Marshall, right now we have the upper hoof! We’re coming off of an victory and we have to strike while we’re still feeling it! Marshall, we may be routed here if we don’t rob the advantage from them.”

Shining Armor held up a hoof, and the bickering generals stopped, waiting for his answer. “If we attack them they will have airship support, correct?”

“Yes, Field Marshall.”

Shining Armor nodded. “In a war you must play to the enemy’s disadvantages, maximize your strengths and minimize his. We wait here, we break their advance, and then we counter.” Clockwork breathed a sigh of relief that he didn’t know he held. Calvary snorted, fuming in his seat, refusing to make eye contact with the other ponies in the room. “This isn’t going to be a problem, is it, General Calvary Charge?”

“No sir.” Calvary said. Shining looked him over for a moment, then leaned back to relax.

“Alright, you have answered all the questions that I have, so now I have good news to bring.” He paused briefly and produced a single sheet of paper. “I was in conference with the princesses earlier today, and we received this. From the griffons.” The ponies in the room perked up slightly. Shining levitated the paper out in front of him and began.

“In response to the unprovoked attack on the sovereign sky of the Republic of Gryphons Embassy in the Equestrian city of Cloudsdale, which spilt the blood of 23 national Gryphon citizens, the Republic has voted to declare war upon the nation of Unicornia. Any attacks made on Gryphon sky cannot go unpunished, and the murder of griffon citizens and refugees will not go without justice. Our country has been at peace for over one hundred and fifty years, but we know that peace is not so important as to allow atrocities to be made against our people unhindered, and we will not allow violence to be made against us without repercussions.”

Shining put the paper down onto the table. For a moment the ponies were quiet, contemplating the news. “The griffons are going to fight with us?” Calvary asked finally, not quite believing it yet.

“Yes, they’ve already committed their Foreign Air fleet to help with defense along the Neighagra, and they wrote the book on airship combat. The Gryphen Airborne is deploying there as well. All of the best trained and outfitted fighting forces in the world on our side.”

Calvary Charge smiled, “We’re gonna win this war.”

“Not yet,” Clockwork said. Calvary deflated slightly as Clockwork looked back to the Field Marshall. “When can we expect them to arrive?”

“Well, one of their generals is due here tomorrow; he seems to think that there are improvements to be made to the Equestrian Calvary.”