Within hours, Las Pegasus had readied himself for an all out war. Crimson and the Federation had an enormous advantage over Red Eye in terms of training roughly between a Steel Ranger to a Commando and an impressive technological advantage , but Red Eye had a slight numerical advantage and that his military was made up from Slavers. The Federation and Red Eye were almost sitting on par. Crimson and his military commanders stood around a large holographic map of Equestria, with Red Eye being listed as Red and the Federation listed as Blue discussing their strategies. As soon as they made their plans, they commanded their own regiments as they almost immediately travelled across the waste have to occupy nearby settlements and seek out allies for the fight. As night came, Crimson remained in the city to oversee the beginning of the war before he would leave as Commander of the military the next morning, with his adopted daughter ruling the city in his absence. The lights shined brightly across the city and for many miles as Securitrons hummed across the walls as the cities defenders. Only acting as security and military police, Crimson disliked sending into battle due to the limited number he had. Out of the hundred Securitorns he has patrolling the city, every single one of them had the firepower of an entire battalion. He seen something in the distance due to his perfect night vision. It appeared that Jarri was back with a group of ponies at his side. Upon further inspection, he could tell that they were captured. He watched as they came closer and closer, and upon giving Jarri permanent access, was allowed in the city. Crimson went downstairs and galloped over to see Jarri and the captured ponies. “Surprised to see you back so soon Jarii, I hope that they’re ok.” Crimson then looked at the crowd gathering to see the ponies. “Come back with me to my tower, we can discuss what has happened. I also have hot water for showers and meals for these ponies; I cannot imagine what they have been through.”
Jarii nodded, "Yea, I read through a sick little journal the head of the group I rescued them from kept. Apparently they were captured 4 months ago, and since they've been trying to "break" them by any means necessary before they would get sent off to a place called "Fillydelphia." Jarii informed before turning around and giving each one a fairwell hug before turning back to Crim, "So what is it that you need?"
'Fillydelphia" Crimson muttered quietly. "Occupied by the tyrant named Red Eye. Those ponies would have been sent to Fillydephia and would be forced to work for him. Their conditions are almost unsurvivable, Slavers violently patrol the city and the workers are either worked to death or simply killed. The Steel Rangers did have a regiment there, but they would have been wiped out by now." Crimson looked up at the Glorian before watching the freed family having the time of their lives, seeing joy that he had seen all so often when towns were liberated. "Red Eye has just declared war against me and the Federation. This war will either end Red Eye or end with the destruction of the entire city, our people and everything we hold dear. Gods help us if we lose."
Jarii narrowed his eyes, "Maybe I can help. How fast could you adapt your manufacturing plants to a new set of blueprints?" he asked Crimson
(Regular Federation armor looks like this. http://images.wikia.com/destinypedia/images/6/6e/Human.png) (Guardian armor looks like this: http://www.lightninggamingnews.com/...r-sets-locations-and-much-more-6-1024x640.jpg) "Roughly, we can adapt in about an hour for weapons by the thousands. Transport or a set of artillery however takes much longer, taking at least a month to build. Armor only takes roughly 30 minutes from machine work, but Guardian armor, the armor our very best wears, takes almost a week. What are you proposing?" Crimson said pulling up a map on his pipbuck of his newly occupied manufacturing town, plus the industrial sector of Los Pegasus, which shown ponies happily working on weapons and armor.
Jarii held up his wrist with his PIC-sali watch on it, "This little device contains blueprints to every declassified weapon, armor, vehicle, artillery, technology, and important building ever released on Terra. Tell me, did you ever perfect cold microfusion for example?" Jarii asked, "That's a secret Glory has kept since before the Ciilonii war, and I think that since you are in such desperate times, you need it, along with some of the other best technologies to ever come out of Glory. Point me to a computer, and I can upload them."
“That would not only be a life-saver, but that would also become risky.” Crimson told Jarri. “If Glory were to find out, then the outcome would simply become a repeat of the war 200 years ago. I have my personal computer in my tower if you wanted to upload the files. And we had gotten close, to some extent, to perfecting microfusion cells like Glory did before they decided to try and wipe us out. The Federation has a chance of already winning the war, according to reports since my speech, but not without making grave sacrifices. And even then, not everypony in the wastelands would like to ally under our side. They might make more soldiers for Red Eye.” Crimson then pointed towards the very top of the tower. “It’s up there, if you wish to upload it. Follow me...”
Jarii nodded, "Let's do it then." Meanwhile... It did not take long for Julion to hear about Red Eye and his declaration of war upon the Federation of Las Pegasus, and he knew that this was a power grab, and that would make the Commandos a target. So in moments, he spread word throughout the scattered Commando camps to gather up as many civilians as safely as possible and head to Las Pegasus to assist in its war, after all, an enemy of my enemy is my friend, and Crim and Julion had long been friends. He and his elite Alpha and Beta squads rounded up the residents of Station Town and New Appleloosa and head west to the safety of Las Pegasus...
Crimson and Jarii took the express elevator directly towards Crimson’s penthouse where his terminal sat on his desk besides the window. Crimson went towards the terminal , booted it up, and turned the radio on for reports about the war. Making himself a cup of coffee, he moved back towards the terminal besides Jarii. “Seeing how my pipbuck is like your device on your arm, information gathering or sending should be similar. I really appreciate the thought of you doing this, and I shall thank you properly once this war is finished. Whenever you’re ready.” Crimson smiled as his ears picked up on the radio. Turning his head to focus. “With the Federation of Los Pegasus and the forces of Red Eye expected to clash across the wasteland soon, civilians from settlements such as New Appleloosa and Station Town are being escorted to Los Pegasus for safety in the completely renovated pre-war city. It seems that Red Eye, the leader of his nation has set his sights to not only take Los Pegasus and the rest of the Federation, but has his sights on being the pony to kill the legendary Crimson Lionheart himself. What exactly does Red Eye want with Lionheart? What is he trying to accomplish? We will keep you updated as soon as we can. Now we have Sweetie Bell singing her timeless classic ‘When the world stood still’.” Crimson looked down disappointed as he stood besides Jarii. “Red Eye is the only thing stopping me from creating a unified Equestria. With his death and destruction of his empire, unity will no-longer become the fantasy of broken souls.” The eternal then looked at his silver locket given to him from his adopted mother, Winter Rush, and looked at the old photo inside. “I need to leave soon to take command of the military while my daughter oversees the city. You can feel free to come along if you desire.”
Jarii thought for a bit, "Well, I'm not Elatian, but I'm still a member of one of Terra's most feared military corps, so I'll help." He said as he connected his PIC to wirelessly transfer data to Crimson's database, "And if I must, I could always help train new recruits for you." He added before watching the uploading process, which was getting done speedingly, "Or you could drop me behind Red Eye lines for sabotage and unrest creating mission, after all, that's what I was mainly trained to do."
(Adelneigh is based on Adelaide, my city. It is also known as 'The City of Church's, due to the city having lots and lots of churches dating back hundreds of years. I thought it was a nice touch.) "I don't immediately want to throw you into the fray to risk your safety, but i could send you later when things turn into our favor." Crimson said as he walked to a closet almost half a head taller then him that contained his clothing. After a minute, Crimson reappeared in his Riot Gear and his Maroon duster. "I can command my database through my pipbuck, so when the data has been copied over, i can send it to the manufacturing complexes. The Federation has a camp located just outside the city, we'll arrive by sky-cart." Crimson said as opened the elevator down and left the city. Soon, Jarri and Crimson arrived at a camp which was built upon a relatively large town. It was already heavily fortified due to large concrete walls reinforced old billboards with, had plenty of prewar facilities and homes that served as military barracks and command centers. The center of the town was adorned with a large cathedral, where Crimson and his high military generals called their main command. Crimson knew that this town appeared, with the exception of the church, nothing like it formerly did. But he swore that the town was the pre-war city of Adelneigh. He had one current strategy, take any of the nearby settlements before Red Eye simply burnt them down while protecting the civilians. The Federation were not murderers, Red Eye was. With the sudden power grab orchestrated by the Tyrant from Fillydelphia, he knew that battles would become frequent very soon. While he wanted to take Fillydelphia, he had to take the other cities and towns first. With camp set up, he prepared his weapons to lead an attack.
Jarii simply followed Crim, having no clue what exactly to do, up until he heard a 'PING' from his PIC, which marked the upload was done, "Crimson. The upload is complete. Also, anything you want me to do?"
Crimson paused for a moment until he came up with a solution. "You mentioned that you served in one of the most feared corps, in which training like that could benefit our cause greatly. I could give you your very own squad, which you can train and partake missions on with. If you wish for this, consider yourself promoted."
Jarii nodded, "That sounds good to me, I'ld love to help in anyway possible." Jarii told him, "Just point me where and I can get started ASAP."
Crimson then pointed at a map of the command sprawled out on a table nearby and pointed towards the opposite end of the camp nearby the gate. “There is a squad nearby that seems to be leaderless. You would be the perfect choice for the job. It’s a fair walk, but not too far that would require transport.” Crimson said as he looked in the eyes of Jarii. “You’ll do a fantastic job. I also sent the blueprints to the manufacturing centres in Los Pegasus and Maneington, but I’ll still need to adjust some specs to make it work for ponies. Once again, thank you for doing that for us.” Crimson then levitated his pistols onto their holsters, his combat knife and his Lever Action Rifle/Sniper Rifle hybrid that could repair itself. He then pulled out a device hidden inside of his pipbuck that acted as a mobile phone and began to speak for several moments. All Jarii would have picked up from the call was “It’s time to return”, “Everything has been set” and “Embrace Eternity” before Crimson hung up and faced Jarii again, where the Eternal had the largest smile on his face. “You know that my kinds are known as Eternals. There were only eight of us, but one of them is dead and another...my wife, is presumed dead. Out of the remaining Six during and after The Great War, they received an underground city the size of Los Pegasus that they have been living underneath for almost two hundred years. I talk to them occasionally, but it seems that we believe it’s time. My fellow Eternals and their own faction, known as The Brotherhood of Life, is not only going to be assisting us in the war, but they will return to the surface of Equestria after I have just given them the green light to return and restore order. To simply put, all of them have genetic superpony abilities that are passed down from mother to child, they are super soldiers and possibly the smartest group of ponies on the planet.” “And to prove I’m serious about taking Red Eye down, I'll personally destroy an entire army by myself.”
Jarii held up a hand, "Woah there pal, I know you want to get this over with, but you seem to forget, war is more than about destroying your enemy, it is about breaking their legs, bringing them to edge of hopelessness, then make them think they have the edge, then in the blink of the eye after drawing them in, you destroy that hope. If you want to prove you're serious about this, don't just kill them, make them lose hope, destroy their legs before you take out the body and head, for without the legs, the body is useless, and vulnerable. By attacking them directing, all you know is that can backfire and they'll just use it as a symbol to rally around. Make sure to break their hope, before their bodies, then you'll see just how "loyal" people, ponies, whatever can be. And what's a leader without a loyal army or people? Fear, after all, can only last so long..." He told Crimson, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a squad to drill into Legotium Magnitium shape!" and with that, he left Crimson to mull over what he said.
Crimson thought about what Jarii had said. While he did understand the concept of war, he never had it explained to him like what the glorian had just did. Jarii was right, Crimson was stuck in the moment of fantasizing what he could do to Red Eye and his army. He thought about the fact as he went inside of the cathedral to discuss the war with his generals. Once the remainder of the Eternals arrived with the Brotherhood, they would outrank every personnel in the entire military and deliver them the firepower to utterly wipe entire settlements out. He stood besides two generals. To his left was an elderly stallion with an old receding mane who was confined to a wheelchair while the other was a much younger pegasus mare with a pink coat and a bright green mane who's enthusiasm and skill was impressive in the chain of command. While he was much older then them chronologically, Crimson could not help but feel himself young. As a holographic map was pulled up, the elderly stallion spoke. "Under your orders when you arrived, we have our entire campaign here and a highly detailed map of Equestria. With the Federation and her territories being listed as blue, it only consists of Los Pegasus on the northwestern coastline, Maneington and Adelneigh. However, word of allied forces has allowed us to take New Appaloosa, Station Town, Old Appaloosa, Bucklyn Cross, and Vanhoover. However, Red Eye has occupied whatever's left of Arbu, the ruins of Canterlot, Ponyville, Manehatten and virtually the entire eastern side and the center of the country in a swift power grab." The mare began to speak shortly after the mare. "According to the reports, the Commandos and the Steel Rangers have allied with us against Red Eye alongside dozens of settlements. Even Gawd and her Talons have taken arms against him. But Red Eye has also taken a ludicrous number of new recruits and slaves, so he sits on even ground numerically. We currently have the advantage unless they push us back." "In which they never will...." Crimson replied back to the mare. "I will be assaulting Ponyville by myself, and i need others to start preparing themselves to assault and defend." Crimson replied sharply. "The Commandos are free to do what they do best, the Rangers can assist the main force in their power armor and the Talons are allowed to fight unless given otherwise. Convince them that simple caps are not worth their extermination by Red Eye. Their lives are worth more" Crimson then looked at his generals heads and nodded. "The moment Red Eye assaults us, the gloves will be officially off..."
Jarii went where Crimson said the squad was after a bit of getting his bearing. The sight severely disappointed him, 7 ponies lofting around a small group of tents for the squad. Jarii's eyes narrowed and decided to act as his drill squiidarius did in his training. He approached them, but before they could notice or react to him, he brought up two fingers to the edge of his mouth and whistled loudly and shrilly at them, causing every single one to jump up in surprise, "Rule Number one! Never let your guard down!" He ordered at them, "For if the enemy is smart, they will try to infiltrate your position whenever possible! Had this been an actual battle, I could have killed every last one of you." They all stared wild-eyed at him, silent until one piped up, "Oh? And what makes you such an authority on that? Or on us?" "For one, I have better training for battle with my pinky than any of you have combined! And, you might want to watch your mouth around your commanding officer! Wouldn't want to have to spend some time dangling upside down by your hooves with soap in your mouth, now would we?" the seven looked towards each other with a look that said, "Uh oh, this guy is serious."
Not long after everything was set up, Crimson's prediction that Red Eye taking the first offensive came true. With a small firefight happening in the heartlands between two groups of soldiers and armored Griffons. While the Federation won the battle, they severely underestimated Red Eye's capability for producing quality soldiers and lost almost the entire team. However, the Federation had occupied an impressive amount of land heading towards the centre of the country, with the exposed northern and southern being quickly fortified. With the Generals taking their units for battle, Crimson had no need to oversee the entire Federation's every offensive. He left the camp with an entire battalion of Guardians behind him and headed to the far southeast towards Red Eye's land in neutral territory to occupy the remains of Big Mountain. The ruins being significant to either side due to the technology within. With his mind on restoring the ruins while maintaining control over it, Crimson loved the thought of returning to the home he had called for seven years since he became a Eternal. Once the facility was occupied and the tide was turned for the Federation, Crimson would be assaulting Ponyville. He even considered having his fellow Eternals join him for the mission for old times sake
Jarii treated his new squad to a crash course in Legotium Magniitium training, pushing them harder than they had ever been before over 2 weeks, forcing them to shape up and mash together into a unit. He made them run the same, dress the same, eat the same, sleep the same, and drill the same, all to make them form into a unit. He even requested the ponified Magnitium armor for his unit and exactly the same patches and exactly the same base loadout that he built onto for them depending on how they did on the range. By the end of the two weeks, he had made the closest equilvalent in Equestria to Magniitium Legotiums, even if it meant not seeing action until after the war had gotten well under way, but stalemated. But Magniitiums are meant for that kind of war, and breaking that stalemate...
