Before I begin, I wish to express my gratitude (such as it is) to the council—who has twice before convened to hear my case—for permitting me this parchment and quill to present for the record, and in greater purity than in session, the particulars of the matters which concern me.

This statement, which I do enscribe of mine own free will, I write not to garner sympathy, nor to sway minds to doctrine or submission, but to explain the events that have lead to my captivity and the nature of my present situation. The squalor of the setting of these lodgings notwithstanding (for indeed, in an atmosphere of war such as this, better is not to be expected by the likes of myself, regardless of prior standing), I request a third time that an adjustment be made. My cellmate is dozing, snoring in a most distracting manner, and it is only to the best of mine ability that I concentrate to transcribe my thoughts.

In addition, it has become my purpose in this statement to lay to rest the rumors I have overheard from the guards surrounding the fall of the High Gates. To answer the insult upon mine honor I must settle for no less, and doing so shall shine unwavering light on the nature of my primary request. The two aspects, you shall see, are inseparable and necessarily codependent.

In this statement, which I address to the council, the Hetairoi at large, the guards and rank and file, and otherwise the whole of the pegasi (for indeed, mine own kin shall not hear me in such disgrace), I assert that the fall of the High Gates was no fault of strategic positioning, lack of valor, intrinsic weakness, or any other failing on the part of the followers of Her Highness Platinum; rather, the fall of the Gates and subsequent surrender is owed only and sufficiently to the inferior capabilities of our opponents. I say again, the inferiority of the Pegasaan forces.

Upon the declaration of an armed conflict, victory for mine own side was assured. Our ability to muster forces significantly outstripped that of our foes; our supply lines were more robust and higher capacity; our stores of food, medicine, and other raw materials were greater by nearly a factor of two, and our ties to the sources thereof were stronger and more reliable. In Her wisdom, Platinum eagerly signed the declaration of war; a swift conclusion to the matter in our favor was all but certain.

In the early days, struggles were great and legendary. Both sides, eager to confront the other with the fullest of their might, amassed and joined the fray with apparent abandon. Champions dueled surrounded by a battalion or more to decide the fate of an entire field. Heroes were sung to the stars in the taverns, and friends of the defeated swore quick and righteous answers to the injury. Dreams were bright, and not even the dark spectre of death on the field could snuff them, from the waterfilly to the general alike. Even I, so above the rank and file of my company, was not immune to the spectacle and the illusion of glory. The Sickle Plains, Ford of Three Banks, and the Capture of Posey (or equivalent names used by the Pegasaan) speak to the scope and wonder surrounding the young war.

However, Her Highness Platinum is not a patient mare. Even as the victories for Unicornia mounted, they came at greater cost in time and resource than was her wish. The trend of the battle remained without question, but that information was inadequate to placate our shining star, Her Highness Platinum.

It is no secret and I am free to detail as to be no traitor: heretofore, the extent of a Cavalier’s gear consisted only of plate armor and a spear (the kit being a matter in its own right and not directly applicable to the field). Accordingly, our training centered around the phalanx—maneuvering in formation to provide cover and offense as a unit, utilizing these two elements for attack and defense. The plate of the pony to the side to shield the joints and row after perfect row of spears to fend away diving Hetairoi. Supporting these were skilled magi, using their field to hurl missiles against those foes who remained aloft with their weaponized weather. Individually, taken on the average case, the capacity of a Unicornian Cavalier was far outstripped by a Pegasaan Hetairoi, but as a unit the reverse was true.

It came, then, that a young magus of the court, unschooled in the matter of combat such as I, proposed a solution to the matter at hoof. Our spears and phalanxes lacked reach and maneuverability. By doctrine and necessity we were limited to bulk deployments pitting formations against the enemy. The magus, one Clover the Clever, inferred that, were the they more capable outside of formation, the Cavalier could be deployed individually or as more flexible units than the rigid formations of the Phalanx. Her solution was to re-engineer the weapon from a long, single-ended spear to a shorter, stockier, double-ended weapon not unlike a staff to be wielded telekinetically.

Despite even mine own initial reluctance, a demonstration of the principle—Miss Clover manufactured a prototype weapon and quickly bested a captured Pegasaan champion in single combat—ensured a swift adoption. To be effective and prevent the lighter, airborne Hetairoi from repurposing the weapons for themselves upon the field, the spear-staves were to be made of solid metal. Manufacturing lines were devised and slowly put into motion; supplies of metal were redirected from plate armor, mess pots, and other utensils to their manufacture. Scores of troops were pulled from the front lines to private training camps where they underwent the arduous process of re-learning the order of battle—as an individual instead of a unit in formation.

During this time, the momentum of the campaign in our favor abated to nearly a standstill. As parts and tools became more scarce with the redirection of resources, as companies diminished as their numbers were pulled away for training, the Hetairoi became adequate to dam the tide of our progress. An example of a field where I lead during this time, the Sorghum Siege stands as testament, where an advancing line was held by Pegasaan forces for well a full and heavy three months.

In due course, however, the new weapons and re-trained Cavalier companies began to take to the field. In those few arenas where the battle was joined, the Hetairoi were soundly beaten back. Clover the Clever’s genius triumphed where the old phalanx merely held. Though our new champions were few in number, we began to remember the taste of victory.

So did it happen, then, that Her Highness Platinum again perceived that the campaign was progressing too slowly. Yet again she demanded from her generals a means to expedite the conclusion of the war. For a solution, we had none—I myself pledged a victory, citing the remarkable product of Clover’s tools. But Her Highness Platinum remained impatient, and Clover once again answered the call.

Where our spears had been cumbersome, the spear-staves were more maneuverable and satisfactory in the matter of individual combat. With them, a trained common soldier became an elite, able to stand against the most skilled of Hetairoi. Clover took her imagination one step further: compressing the spear into a collection of metal shot ranging in size from shoe to marble. Wielded in the field, they became utensils of perfect offense with commanding range, power, precision, and speed. Gone was the need for separate divisions of phalanx and archer. The weapons became portable in a saddlebag, a single Cavalier’s outfit being comparable in mass to that of the previously-superior spear-staff. A demonstration was never called for, the nature already understood and trusted implicitly.

Again our foundries were re-tooled for the production of shot. Again soldiers were recalled from the front lines to learn the new mode of combat. So eager were we to employ our new technique, and so crafty and perspicacious were the Hetairoi in their opportunistic strikes, that as we took to training did we see our battle lines recede. The tactics utilized by the Pegasaan generals remained largely unchanged, with their reliance on speed and number to overwhelm a weak point in the line demonstrating its effectiveness time and again. Morale on our side, however, remained high—the prior use of spear-staves had met with tremendous success and this shot-technique promised to be even more effective. The phalanxes remaining in the field hunkered down themselves and fought bitterly for each league surrendered, buying time for their brothers and sisters in arms.

By this time our war stores were becoming low. Metal in particular was becoming scarce among the quartermasters. The shot was difficult to recover, and the slag from the reforging of previous tools amounted to waste. Doubt began to enter the minds of the more experienced generals. Clover herself took to the field at Rout of Half-Arch, demonstrating the power soon to be wielded by every Unicornian Cavalier.

Perhaps it would have been better had she not, for two things happened then. First, turned away, the Hetairoi companies retreated and regrouped, striking at another point in the lines and overwhelming the garrison there. Her Highness Platinum was appalled at the defeat, so near on the heels of a sound victory, and demanded a means to end the war once and for all.

Second, Clover discovered nearly by accident a means to secure a perfect technique: using magic alone for attack as well as an impenetrable defense. No more was the need of reliance on cumbersome physical material—a trained unicorn could use thought alone to strike at an enemy. If distracted or fallen under overwhelming force, it was now possible to become invulnerable.

The former technique quickly became understood to be beyond the ability of most unicorn Cavalier. The need of raw power and concentration was simply too demanding. Still, it was of minor concern. The shot technique remained highly effective, and the number of the Cavalier were knowledgeable in its grew every day. The defense, however, proved distinctly trivial. I cannot explain its magical components (for that none of mine audience can understand, nor do even I fully comprehend its exact nature) beyond that it involved capturing time and turning the pony casting it into an untouchable statue.

Mine own company, so overcome by count of fallen and captured, did I eagerly commit to this new training. Clover’s defense seemed the perfect answer to wade through the battle lines and conclude the matter decisively. I observed the technique myself, hurling missile after missile at her ensconced form to no effect. My troops committed and trained, did our vanguard take defense of the High Gates.

For during this time, the Hetairoi had not been idle. As we turned ourselves inward to training did the Pegasaan forces sweep across the countryside. Everywhere our forces fell back in retreat. What had once seemed certain victory was now a bitter pill. The last fortification before the Star City, the High Gates were my bastion and charge to hold.

When the battle cry was raised we did cast the defense upon ourselves. None would be able to touch us.

What we had failed to realize, for all our training and observation, was that time within the ensconcement was indeterminate and relative. What seemed one second to one defended Cavalier may be five minutes to another. The instant we defended ourselves, the order of battle was lost. As we emerged, one by one from our ensconcement, did the Hetairoi swoop down en masse and force a surrender. So thorough was our defeat that, despite days of defense, none of my company was felled; we were captured, prisoners, to a pony.

It is clear, then, as I stated in the first place, that our defeat is owed to the inferiority of Pegasaan capabilities. In their use of known, effective techniques they overwhelmed our lofty ambitions. Had that we Unicornians trusted ourselves at the onset of the campaign, the standing situation would be vastly different indeed.

To the council, then, in conclusion and finality, I plead again that alternate impoundment be found for myself or my co-captive. If I am forced to endure much longer in the company of one Clover the Too-Clever-For-Her-Own-Good, I cannot be held responsible for mine actions.