User blog comment:Zathronas/Speculative author: The Schnee Company/@comment-16241789-20140824055458

I feel that Ironwood and SDC are working together. I'm not too sure about Cinder working with them, though. I've sort of put together a possible theory of my own regarding all of that. Granted, that theory is based entirely on and derived almost wholly from the lyrics of "Die" (something I've already gone over once in great detail).

Basically, Cinder wants to bring down both the White Fang, probably for some personal reason that no one knows about, but at the same time, she learns of Ironwood and SDC working together and sees corruption in every level of the military and government (including the hunters and huntresses, considering Ironwood is the head of an academy in Atlas).

Ironwood and SDC are working to arm the White Fang and give them some more power so Ironwood can increase the scope of the military and give it more authority by promoting the fact that it is necessary to protect the people and so the SDC can make boatloads of money by jacking up dust prices and selling massive amounts of products as people buy weapons for self-defense as things become more dangerous. Cinder learns of this and somehow gets involved, sort of like how you described. Except she's got her own agenda. Eventually, when she's put the White Fang in a good position, she goes rogue, straying from Ironwood's directives, and rallies the White Fang, steering them towards a major all-out offensive on Vale. At this point, it becomes a massive clash between the Atlesian forces and the White Fang, probably in the city. At the same time as this massive conflict (which could also serve as a distraction), Cinder takes a small team of elite fighters and launches an attack/raid on Beacon, which would act as a "command center" in Vale for the battle, intent on eliminating the "corrupt" (at least in her eyes) leadership.

The result would be the Atlesian forces and White Fang slaughtering each other and Cinder tearing out the corruption in the government and military by destroying it and maybe even somehow assuming the reigns herself to make sure the position of leadership remains in the hands of people who want to lead.

Now, the Cinder bit may be a bit of a stretch, but that's derived from the first portion of "Die". The chorus is the inspiration for the battle. It basically talks about rising tensions that break into a massive conflict that (either figuratively or literally bloodies the sky and shatters the moon). What we know is that it's going to be indescribably big. However, as no plan survives contact with the enemy, so too will Cinder's manipulations fail when the Grimm show up out of nowhere and rampage through Vale in massive force. So, we've got an absolutely massive battle potentially involving the Atlesian military, the White Fang, the hunters and huntresses, Cinder's own forces, and the Grimm. Battle of the Five Armies, anybody?

So yeah, that's one of my many master theories. Sort of similar to yours, in a few ways (regarding Ironwood and SDC). Granted, mine is is derived pretty much entirely from the lyrics of an incomplete (but still amazing) song, but so was the majority of Ruby's backstory when RLRP2 first came out. As an aside, I need to come up with more theories that don't include Cinder, as that's been the focus of the majority of the speculation I've made since Volume 2 started. Still, speculation is pretty fun.