Target: Gryphus

The ponies jumped from their beds and were still half asleep when their C/O strode into their barracks. "All right today you will begin training in howto fly some of Equestria's greatest aircraft. You will go up with an instructor and they will teach you the basics. After we evaluate your flying we will decide whether you will fly a fighter, bomber, or if your better off as a member of the ground crew. Any questions?" Immedietly a hoof few up and caught Colnel's attention. "Yes, private Dash?" "Sir, what if i were to know im already a good enough flyer to fly a fighter?" A few snickers from the group were quikly hushed by a glare from the Colonel. "Priate Dash you will go through the same training as everypony else in this group. Just because you and your five friends represent the Elements of Harmony and are freinds with Princess Celestia does not mean you'll get special treatment." After a lecture from the Colonel the cadets trotted towards their airplanes, AT-6's and PT-22's, parked at the end of the runway. Shouts of "CONTACT" and "CLEAR PROP" could be heard by everypony on the base. Soon the sky was full of looping and rolling aircraft. Of the six freinds who signed up together cause "it looked fun", Rainbow Dash showed the most promise of becoming a fighter pilot. Twilight kept looking at the map and the plane's manuel and nearly crashed at least twice, she was declaired to be a better navigaitor then pilot,Pinke Pie just kept doing loops till the instuctor threw up, Applejack seemed to learn faster but had trouble controling such a high proformance plane and was assigned to pilot a B-24 Liberaitor, Fluttershy was to upset after her plane's wing struck a bird that the instuctor had to land the plane since Fluttershy's vision was blurred by tears, and Rarity was complaining about her uniform so much the instructor bailed out. When all the cadets had landed they were graded and told their assignments. Rainbow Dash was assigned to a fighter squadren on a tropical island where the Equestrian navy anchored half of their fleet. Applejack was shiped out to Manehatten with the 96th Bomb Squadren. Pinke Pie was assigned the position of waist gunner in a B-17 Flying Fortress with the 303rd Bomb group. Rarity was assigned the job of co-pilot of a B-25 on the same island as Dash. As for Fluttershy, she was made the care-giver of the search and rescue dogs at the base. Soon the friends were seperaited by thousands of miles. But one calm Sunday morning something happened that would shake all of Equestria to its very core.

December 7

As Rainbow Dash and Rarity strolled along the side walk by the little shops near the base it seemed nothing was out of the ordenary. But soon the tanquility of the morning was shattered by an enomous explosion. One of the battleship's had exploded. Soon they noticed airplanes swooping so low you could see the pilots faces. They were griffins! The aircraft bore a red dot on the side and wings. These were the markings of the griffin military to the east. AsRainbow Dash scambled to get to her P-40 Warhawk she saw wounded and dead ponies being carried to the hospital. When Dash arrived at her airplane she saw it had a few bullet holes in it but it would fly. She pushed the ignition and the engine roared to life. As soon as she got off the runway she meet up with with another pilot who had gotten airborne. "I got a bogey on my six!" shouted the flyer and soon Dash shotdown the Griffin. When the attack was over the ponies landed at the airbase. "Just what in the hell was that!" shouted the flyer as he climbed out of his cockpit. "I'd say we just got a suprise visit from those bastards north of us." said Rainbow in response. "Well they just destroyed half of this base and the naval fleet" said the black earth pony. "Well at least we're alive." said Rainbow. "True. Say will you help me find my brother?" asked the earth pony. "Sure. Name's Rainbow Dash by the way." "Nice to meet you Rainbow Dash. My name's Crow." replyed the black earth pony. "Well we wont find your brother chating." said Dash. So off they went looking for Crow's brother. "Was he on one of the ships?" asked Dash. "Yea, the battleship Fillydelphia." replied Crow. As they neared the harbor they saw sunken ships and some that were on fire and the verge of capsizing. They looked and saw the Fillydelphia sunk to the bottom with her superstucture juting from the water. The Fillydelphia took a bomb to the forward ammo stores and was blown in two. Crow turned and rushed for the hospital hoping his brother wasn't one of the dead. When they reached the hospital Crow began his frantic search but it was all in vein. He found his brother on a cot with shrapnel in his neck. As Crow walked towards his brother he noticed that he seemed to strugle just to turn his head to look at his brother due to the amount of blood he lost. They talked for a few minutes befor his brother said "pay those bastards back." and let out his last breath. Crow broke down and began to cry so hard that Dash had to guide him out of the hospital." I'll make those sons a bitches pay for this!" said Crow as they headed back towards the airfield. Soon news was flashed all over Equestria that the griffins had bombed the naval fleet. Equestria was now at war with the Griffin Kingdom

April 18

All the friends were reunited but not under the conditions they would have liked. All talking was silenced when the commander of the mission showed up to breif them. "All right since we left that hell-hole of an island, I can now tell you our target. It is the wepons manufacturing facilitys in Gryphus." A loud roar of cheers went up from the eighty ponies who volunteered for the mission. Normaly most of the ponies were the type to stay quiet and not talk but they felt the need to celibrate since the target after all was in the enemy's capitol city. For years the griffins hadfbenrled by an evil dictator who brainwashed his people into beliving they were the master race, that the world belonged to the griffens and the ponies were the enemy. He told them their land would not see a single enemy bomb touch their soil. The ponies were about to prove him wrong. One by one the B-25 mitchell's lifted off the deck of the aircraft carrier. Soon all sixteen were winging towards the enemy capitol. The planes stayed low to the ground to avoid being detected by the enemy's radar and they maintained radio silence. Soon the enemy capitol was i sight. Radio silence was broken for the bombing run. "Open bomb bay doors, open bomb bay doors!" came the shout from the lead plane. Bomb bay doors swund open on all the aircraft. Soon the bombadeir's had the target in their sights. They flipped a switch and the planes lurched up with the sudden dropping of thr bombs. A few seconds later the planes shook with the force of the explosion. "We hit out target, good job raiders!" came the announcement. The factories were blown to bits and smoke could be seen twenty miles away. Seconds later griffin's were maning 37mm and 88mm Anti-Aircraft guns and firing at the bombers. Black puffs surrounded the planes as the 88 shell's exploded. After every nearby burst the ponies could hear the shrapnal pinging off the planes. After a few minutes they were out of firing range but there were still problems for the crew's. First they had to treat the wounded that were hit by shrapnal. Then there was the matter of their dwindling fuel. In plane number five Twilight radioed they had about and hour and a half worth of fuel that, if nursed, would get them to Equestria. As the clock on the instrament panel slowly wound up the hour the pilots caught sight of an Equestrian airfield directly ahead. They all landed with ten minutes of fuel left in their tanks. When they climbed out of the planes there were cheers from all the ponies on the base. The crew's were treated like heroes. A dinner was hosted in their honor at the palace in Canterlot the next day and all were awarded medals for their bravery on the mission, eventhough more then a few admitted that they were scared out of their minds. When the dinner was over they were all supposed to go back to their original bases and wait for word if they were going to the front or staying put.