"Lord Commander Violet, reports indicate that the renegade Changeling swarm outnumbers us 6 to 1 at 30,000 warriors and has all but achieved total aerial superiority." Princess Twilight summarized, calmly and firmly as a leader must. But even so, her voice still carried a hint of concern at the odds stacked against them, "Are you certain that our combined ad-hoc force will be able to neutralize it and relief the Crystal Empire?"



"Nothing is for certain in war, your highness, but I am fairly confident." Lord Commander Violet replied, the tone of her voice complementing her words, "The enemy understands the value of superior numbers, but it seems they have not appreciate the value of superior firepower. Our airship fleet has several flotillas of escorts with dedicated anti-air and anti-personnel armaments, fully loaded for battle and ready to fire at a moment's notice. And they will as soon as we can establish a kill-box with our fliers and small-craft, and herd the enemy force into it as they get into range.



"Rest assure, impressive numbers they may have now, by nightfall..." She finished, putting on her helmet, "It won't be as impressive, once our flak cannons and incendiary rockets make short work of them."



Colonel Green Mane hid his wince behind his hard frown next to the commander of their Griffon allies. He would rather not imagine the sort of bloodbath that is coming. It almost made him pity the poor bastards.



Almost.