Equestrian Air Guard

**Chapter Two:

Baptism by Fire**

The next morning, Dash’s alarm clock got her up at Six am sharp. The weary rainbow haired woman rose out of bed slowly. Yesterday her parents had been so excited at her admission to the Wonderbolts, they raced over to her. Good thing too as Dash had forgotten to pack a good amount of clothes and bed sheets. Thankfully her parents didn’t stay long, just enough to take her to a celebratory dinner. When they left, Maggie was so emotionally drained that she fell asleep the moment she hit the bed.

This morning, she got out of her bed before making it, shedding her clothes and wrapping herself in a towel, then grabbed her toiletries and a towel before heading towards the shower. The base’s designers forgot to put showers in the officers and recruits rooms, instead deciding to combine them into two showers for each squadron. The ground crews, who stayed in a separate building complex, got the same treatment. Thankfully the two showers were divided by sex so Dash didn’t have to shower with the guys.

She wasn’t shy by any means, as her high school had a similar make up. And she was so tired that morning she didn’t really care. Once she reached the locker room outside the showers, she put her towel and shoes in the locker with her name on it and then walked into the showers with the rest of her toiletries. The whole showers were one room with five shower heads and drains. Dash walked up to one of the heads and placed her shampoo and body wash on a small ledge right in front of her. Then she turned on the shower which thankfully sprayed warm water.

As she began to wash herself, Dash heard the rest of her female squad mate’s walk in. Cassie walked in first, letting her hair down. “Morning kid,” she yawned.

Dash nodded, “Morning Cassie.”

Cassandra took the far shower head while Tasha and Michelle took the two next to her. Then Alice took the one next to Dash, which made Dash a little peeved.

“Morning Rainbow,” Alice nodded.

“Lightning,” Dash hissed as she ran shampoo through her hair.

“Are you two going to remain cynical to each other throughout your tour here?” Cassandra asked sternly.

“No mam,” Rainbow answered. She knew the comment was directed at her, “Sorry Lightning…I’m just tired.”

“Welcome to the club,” Alice smiled.

Dash returned the smile and continued. It wasn’t just that she was tired; she still was a little sore about Lightning actually being a Wonderbolt. There was another thing too; Alice was bigger than Dash, in fact she was the biggest in the shower, and surprisingly natural too. But Dash put that aside, she was just going to have to accept that too.

“Yo Cassie,” Michelle said between applying soap to her body, “What’s the story about today?”

“Command’s got us running on a patrol to the Foal Mountains and Shady Hills. Then back to base. Just to ease in the newbies,” Cassie laughed.

The other two girls shared a laugh at Alice’s and Dash’s expense.

“You think we’ll be seeing anything today?” Tasha asked.

“Why do you say that?” Alice asked her.

“Word is the Wardogs Squadron over by Lord Solaris base ran into a spy plane just outside of Hayseed Swamps.” Tasha answered.

“Really,” Dash asked as she grabbed her soap bar.

“Yea, someone also told me they got jumped by bogies too.” Michelle added.

“Speculation, all of it, and I don’t want you guys to continue. Nothing of this scuttlebutt is confirmed and you two should know better than to listen to rumors.” Cassie said, “Any who wheels up at nine sharp.”

Dash nodded, “Yes mam.”

“See, the kid gets it easily.” Cassie said with a smile, turning to look at Dash, “Not bad kid, little lacking on the chest but not bad.”

Dash blushed, “Doesn’t mean I’m any less awesome.”

“You go girl,” Tasha said. Dash nodded at Tasha with an arrogant smile. She saw that Tasha was flat chested.

Alice giggled, “Well no one can complain about these.”

“Don’t they hurt your back carrying them?” Michelle asked innocently enough.

“Sometimes, but I got used to it.” Alice explained.

Michelle nodded.

Dash shook her head, “If this is what life is going to be like,”

“Oh ease off kid we’re just teasing.” Cassie smiled.

This made the five women laugh as they finished up.

After Dash left the shower, she dried herself off and returned to her room to put on a pair of clothes. Once she had a fitting outfit, Dash made her way to the mess hall for breakfast. Despite most of the barracks being separated according to Squadron, the mess hall was one building. Dash walked with the line through the cafeteria as the servers dished out food. After getting a good breakfast of eggs and bacon, Dash began to look for a table to sit at. She didn’t have to look long.

“Maggie over here!” she heard Jon shout. She looked and saw Jon waving at her. He was sitting with Cassandra, Michelle, Alex, and Tasha.

Smiling, Dash hurried over to their table just as Alice spotted Soarin as well. When the two sat down, they noticed General Johnson was sitting with them. “Good morning you two.” He greeted.

“Good morning sir,” Dash returned.

“Morning, sir,” Alice returned.

“I trust yesterday wasn’t too bad,” He said to Cassandra.

Cassie shook her head, “Some glaring and shouting but nothing bad.”

“Wait you knew?” Dash asked the General.

“Of course I did,” the general answered faking shock, “I know everything.”

Jon and Alex chuckled at that. After that Dash began taking bites of her eggs. “These are good,” she nodded.

“Yea, much better than that shitty boot camp food,” Alice agreed.

General Johnson laughed, “Well command spares no expense in treating their troops well.”

“By the way, when’s briefing?” Cassandra asked.

The general looked at his watch, “Well wheels up at Nine and its seven right now. So…now.” The two looked at each other with some discomfort at this.

“Twenty minutes,” Cassie asked.

The General nodded, “Twenty minutes.”

Ten minutes later, Dash had finished her breakfast and returned to her room. She changed out of her morning civvies and was now putting on a sports bra and panties. Despite the early morning she had missed her morning run and now it was too late to pull one off. She was cursing herself over that, but she accepted that she was just going to have to get up earlier to pull that off.

Once her undergarments were on, Dash opened her closet and pulled out her flight suit. It was exactly the same as the rest of the Bolts, except on both of her hips it had her cutie mark just like her. The white cloud with a red, yellow, and blue lightning bolt matched hers perfectly. As she slid into it and zipped it up, it felt like putting on pure joy. The jumpsuit was comfortable and very practical. After getting a feel for it, Dash began to pocket her essentials. On her left sleeve she put three pens and one pencil, and in her right sleeve pocket she put a small note pad. Then she put strapped her kneeboard to her left thigh, tied up her flight boots, and headed out to the briefing room.

Like the living room, the briefing room had one black couch and grey rug. However the briefing room also had seven folding chairs stacked into three rows of two and one solo one for Cassandra at the front. On the front wall was a pull down screen that was lit by a project hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room. To the wall opposite the entrance door, there was another door that exited out onto the ramp. Dash took her seat in the sixth chair and pulled out her note pad as well as a pen. Alice sat next to her while Michelle and Alex sat in front. The General walked into the room and to the projection screen.

“Good morning pilots, today we got a simple mission for you. Command would want you to patrol the region of space east of the Foal mountains and over Shady hills. We don’t expect anything to surprise you today. However with the recent altercation over Lord Solaris airbase still being investigated, command isn’t taking any chances.” The General briefed, “Your route will start at the base of the mountains and take you over Shady hills. Don’t expect to be airborne for more than five hours. Maintain your squadron teams, and good luck out there. If you run into anything, do not fire upon it unless fired upon. Are there any questions?”

No one raised their hands.

“Very good, Dismissed.” He ordered.

The seven pilots got up and exited the briefing room. Dash and Alice followed the veteran five towards Hanger Five. They walked into the changing rooms built into the right side of the hanger building. Dash walked over to her locker, denoted with a number Six over it, she found her G-suit and her HMD, or Helmet Mounted Display, helmet. The helmet and G-suit had her cutie mark on them as well, confirming they were hers.

A small window looked out on to the hangers and the seven strapped themselves into their suits. Dash looked out and saw the ground crew loading missiles on to her plane. On the wings, the closest hard point to the tip was loaded with three of the small, short ranged, blue colored Aim-21 Blue bird Missile. An two medium ranged Aim-9X Sidewinders loaded onto two rails filled the middle hard point. On the closest hard point was a drop tank to extend the range of the Reaper. Under the planes belly, four long ranged Aim-75 Stinger missiles were loaded.

“They’re arming us for real.” Dash said softly.

“Yes they did, the General did brief us on that.” Alice answered; she wasn’t calling Dash out, as she was just as shocked as Dash was.

Dash steeled herself, she knew Vertania wasn’t going to try anything again and Waldreich was neutral despite their distrust of Equestria. She then said to Alice, “Well then make sure you remember combat training.”

“Make sure you do,” Alice shot back, grabbing her helmet and walking out to the hanger.

Dash was about to respond when she remember that Alice was reminding her that she had been out for about a year. Still she had taken a refresher course and was now a Wonderbolt; things were going to be okay. With that determination and self-assurance, Dash grabbed her helmet and began to walk to her jet. As she did, the hanger was alive as ground crew members finished arming and fueling the Reapers and were now helping the pilots into their planes.

As Dash walked up to hers, her ground crew saluted her. “Welcome to the party Rainbow.” Her chief shouted as Cassandra and Soarin were powering up their jets, “Mah name’s Albert and Ah’ll be helping yer out.”

“I’d shake your hand and introduce myself to your team but I think we gotta hop so I’ll take a rain check.” She shouted back.

“No problem there Miss Dash,” Albert answered as Dash reached the ladder and climbed up.

Placing her helmet on the dashboard, Dash climbed into the cockpit, tied her hair into a flat bun, and put her helmet on before strapping herself in. Albert helped putting on her harness and seatbelts before going over the planes weight. “Alright she’s loaded up with full tanks, fifty one gallons that’s around a hundred and ninety one gallons plus the two tanks which is another hundred gallons between the two of them. You also got a full complement of bullets and missiles that’s another two hundred pounds of equipment.” He explained.

Dash did the math on her knee board note pad, factoring in the planes gross weight to its empty weight. It was simple addition plus the fact she had her checklist booklet on her other knee, something she picked up from the locker in the changing room. When she finished her calculations, she said, “Okay I’m good.”

“Alright happy trails,” Albert nodded slapping her right shoulder.

Dash waited until he was down on the ground before beginning start up sequence. Once Albert gave her the all clear, she fired up the engines. The Ferrari A2116 engines roared to life for the first time in their life, sucking in all air they could. Dash gave the throttle a little push to make sure they were operating okay, before throttling back and turning on the cockpit avionics. The ground crew removed the safeties from her weapons as she closed the canopy.

Dash then pushed her mask to her face, “Wonderbolt Six radio check. Check, check, boom?”

“Pow, pow, bam Wonderbolt Six.” Spitfire answered.

Rainbow nodded and gave Albert a thumbs up. Albert then began to move to the nose of the plane to direct Rainbow out. He waved hands to denote the chocks being removed and Rainbow rested on the breaks. Already Spitfire, Soarin, Fleetfoot, and Fire Streak had taxied out of the hanger and towards the runway. Rainbow waited until Cloud Kicker started began to taxi out before she began moving.

Once she did, Albert began to guide her out with the use of his hands and arms, backing up as she moved out. Once she got to the yellow line that ran down the center of the hanger, Albert motioned for her to turn left. Rainbow depressed the left rudder pedal and her Reaper turned left slowly. As she moved down the centerline, she gave Albert a salute to which he returned with one of his own before running outside. As Rainbow taxied out, she followed Cloud Kicker. She then tuned in Greenhill ground just as Cloud Kicker radioed in.

“This is Wonderbolt Five to Greenhill ground checking in.” she said.

“Wonderbolt Five this is ground control cleared to taxi runway two seven via bravo and delta with company squadron.” The ground controller told her.

“Roger, taxi to active via bravo delta, Wonderbolt Five.” Cloud Kicker said easing her plane into a faster taxi to catch up with the others.

Rainbow kept her roll to a crawl as she called in, “Greenhill ground this is Wonderbolt Six checking in.”

“Wonderbolt Six, good morning, this is ground. Cleared to taxi to runway two seven via bravo and delta with company squadron.” The controller responded.

“Roger, taxi to two seven via bravo delta, company insight Wonderbolt Six.” Rainbow responded.

“Ground this is Wonderbolt Seven, checking in.” Lightning said.

Rainbow turned to see Lightning’s Reaper taxiing right behind her. She had improved. Back at training, she’d usually be way ahead by now when she requested clearance. Rainbow smiled as she eased more juice into the engines. As Lightning got her clearance, she too throttled up to join the team.

Soon the seven pilots had taxied over the taxiways and were holding position just off the runway at entrance Delta Five. They were waiting for clearance to take the runway. The moment Dash got there; she switched over to Tower frequency and waited for Spitfire to call in for the team.

“Tower, this is Wonderbolt One, with you at Delta five with company requesting clearance to take off and right downwind.” Spitfire said over the radio.

“Wonderbolt One this is tower, cleared for squadron to take off and depart right downwind departure. Wind Two, two seven at twelve, clear skies to the coast.” The tower controller responded.

“Roger wind’s two, two, seven at twelve, right downwind approved, squadron cleared for takeoff, Wonderbolt one.” Spitfire said, and then she said to the squadron, “In sequence guys.”

Rainbow nodded and clicked her mask twice in response. The first three Wonderbolts of Spitfire’s team took the runway in a V formation before all three throttled down the runway and lifted off.  And then went Fire Streak and Cloud kicker in a pair formation. When it was Rainbow’s and Lightning’s turn, Rainbow took one side of the runway and Lightning the other. The moment they were on the runway and pointed down it, the two pilots pushed their throttles to full and headed off down the runway. Rainbow watched the airspeed indicator come alive, pilot lingo for start moving, and waited until the takeoff speed of one hundred and fifty knots.

When that speed was reached, the Reaper began to rise. Rainbow leaned the joystick back and tilted it to the left while depressing the right pedal to correct for the wind. The noise came up and soon the plane was in the air and flying straight with her other six comrades. After clearing one hundred feet, Rainbow then banked the aircraft right to the base leg, and then after reaching two hundred, she turned right again to join the downwind leg. Lightning followed Rainbow perfectly as the duo followed the Squadron with ease.

After leveling out, Rainbow brought the gear up as the airspeed hit two hundred and twenty knots. General Johnson was right, treat the Reaper well and it will treat you well. Rainbow’s adrenaline was pumping as she linked up with the other five and the squadron formed a V formation.

“Rainbow to Spitfire, Lightning and I are marking your tails.” Rainbow said.

“Good to hear Rainbow,” Spitfire answered, “Wonderbolt one to tower, we’re departing your airspace enroute to Foal Mountain airspace. Good day guys.”

“Safe travels Wonderbolts, see you when you get back.” The tower responded.

The seven pilots then switched over to the Wonderbolt Unicom frequency as the seven began to climb higher.

“Alright team, our cruising altitude is twenty thousand feet. Let’s not waste any time getting up there.” Spitfire ordered.

The seven all gently pitched up and rocketed their planes to full power. Within no time, the Wonderbolts were supersonic and gliding to Twenty thousand feet. Thanks to supercruise technology, the Reapers could cruise and operate above the speed of sound without using afterburners or burning a lot of fuel in the process. When they finally reached altitude, the seven leveled off and eased back on the throttles. Trimming out her planes to cruise evenly, Rainbow found the perfect flight level and eased back in her seat.

For the first time in a long time, she looked out at the world below. With much of the surrounding sky clear, she could see all the way to Cloudsdale and the Capital city of Canterlot. It was a very beautiful sight.

“Hey kid,” Spitfire said, “Enjoying the view?”

“Yes mam,” Rainbow answered.

Lightning laughed, “I’ll bet you are, just remember to keep your eyes locked forward.”

“Got nothing to talk about rookie,” Soarin jumped in, “You gotta do the same.”

Rainbow laughed, “Guess we ain’t getting any help this time Lightning.”

“When are we ever?” Lightning laughed in response.

“Just some rookie hazing guys relax,” Cloud Kicker soothed.

This made the two rookies laugh even harder. Soon the group reached the Foal Mountains and began their patrol.

After about an hour of flight, nothing interesting was happening and the radio was pretty quiet. Rainbow however was enjoying it. Her first sortie with the Wonderbolts was a quiet one. The lands below her and the skies around her were equally peaceful. It was pure bliss. Even the noise cancellers within her headset were calming the roar of the engines. She was about to call it out when she decided not to break the stillness of this flight.

However, all that peace and quiet was shattered when the coms came alive. “ALERT, ALERT, GRADE A ALERT WONDERBOLTS CALL IN!” shouted a voice.

Spitfire switched to the EAG’s main frequency, “This is Wonderbolt One responding what’s going on.”

“Wonderbolts your current mission is an abort, I said again abort your mission!” General Blaze responded, “Head south immediately to Baltimare, the city is under attack by naval and air forces!”

Rainbow’s heart sank when she heard that, as did the rest of the pilots. A strange sense of panic set in within Rainbow’s mind, and she tried to calm it with no avail.

She heard Spitfire take a deep breath, “Do we know who’s behind it.”

“Negative Wonderbolt Leader, head south immediately,” The General ordered.

“Roger that sir,” Spitfire said.

Rainbow took a deep breath to calm her and prepare her for battle.

“Alright guys alert status, put on your masks we’re going in.” Spitfire said.

Rainbow gripped her mask and hooked it on to her helmet, “Please Celestia let this be a false alarm.”

Then, with Lightning starting the roll, the seven planes rolled right and banked south. They rocketed their throttles and raced off to war.

About a half hour later, the pilots were approaching the city. Smoke and contrails could already be seen and sounds from the combat could be heard.

“More enemy planes coming in!”

“They’re Transport planes, they’re carrying paratroopers, and they’re invading the city!”

“Bombers, bombers incoming as well!”

“Get an ambulance over here we got a shit ton of civilian casualties too!”

“Who are these guys?”

Rainbow could hear every call on the radio and could see the battle raging. It made her nervous. Equestria was actually under attack and at war with an unknown enemy. However as they approached, her bravery and loyalty kicked in calming her nerves. Spitfire then signaled over the radio, “This is Wonderbolt One calling AWACS, we’re inbound to the battle zone bearing heading one seven five. We’re supersonic and should be there in a few minutes.”

“This is Airborne Warning and Control System callsign Eagle Eye reporting to Wonderbolt one. I’ll be your commander from here on out. Bogies of unknown origin have launched an attack upon Baltimare and Horseshoe Bay. We’ve got bombers, fighters, and transport planes in this scrum. You are cleared to engage all targets, defend the city!” Eagle Eye called back.

“Roger that, Wonderbolt One to all Wonderbolts you are weapons free. Time to earn our stripes team!” Spitfire said.

“Wonderbolt Two roger engaging,” Soarin said.

“Wonderbolt Three roger engaging.” Fleetfoot responded.

“Wonderbolt Four roger engaging.” Fire Streak agreed.

“Wonderbolt Five engaging,” Cloud Kicker said.

“Wonderbolt Six engaging,” Rainbow responded.

“Wonderbolt Seven engaging,” Lightning responded.

“Roger that, all teams split up and engage. May Celestia smile on us,” Spitfire ordered.

In unison, the seven Wonderbolts detached their now empty drop tanks. With that, Spitfire and her trio climbed out of the formation to engage the bombers. Fire Streak and Cloud Kicker banked left to move on the fighters entering the battle. Rainbow and Lightning banked right to take on the forces already over the city. As they approached, the real scale of the battle hit home. The sky was full of enemy and friendly planes, Dash counted up to nine hundred fighters, bombers, and transport planes total. The enemy planes were denoted with a green box on her helmet display, while friendlies were blue.

“Let’s do this Lightning.” Rainbow said evenly. She was now in total control of her emotions and ready for battle. Her blood was pumping with anger at this faceless enemy’s bold statement to declare war.

“Yea, I’m with you.” Lightning responded. Rainbow could hear the shakiness in her voice, Lightning was nervous. As she should be, they were going to war.

“You okay?” Rainbow asked.

“Yea, just settling my nerves.” Lightning answered, evenness returning to her voice.

“Well just make sure you don’t leave me.” Rainbow told her.

“I ain’t leaving ya Dash, not this time.” Lightning answered.

“Good, now let’s take these fucking bastards out.” Rainbow said switching on her missile tracking. The long ranged Stingers came to live as the radar tracked the planes. Soon the Reapers got close enough so that their X-Radar could detect the aircraft types. The Fighters were MiG-29s and Su-35s while the attackers were Su-32s. The Bombers were the Tu-95 bears, while the transports were An-225s. All these aircraft had been built by the Federation, the southernmost nation on the planet Equis. However they couldn’t be the nation behind the attack as they supplied their weapons to Zebronia, Vertania, and Waldreich.

Undeterred, Rainbow waited until all four missiles got good tones before firing. “Wonderbolt Six Fox-Three!” she shouted as she pressed the firing button. The four missiles under her belly detached from the Reaper and zoomed off to their targets.

“Wonderbolt Seven Fox-Three!” Lightning shouted as she fired her own four.

The eight missiles cut through the air and impacted eight different targets. Within seconds a wing of fighters raced in front of Rainbow chasing another Reaper. Rainbow winged over and slid on their tails as four more Stingers regenerated beneath her. Thanks to Equestrian technology and magic, the Reapers were able to regenerate missiles and bombs they carried allowing them to carry far more weapons. In total Rainbow had fifty Blue Jays, twenty Sidewinders, and ten Stingers not counting the four she fired. The same was true for the rest of the Wonderbolts now engaged in combat.

As Rainbow rolled in on the aggressing planes, she switched her weapons to the short ranged Blue Jays and fired. Two small missiles detached from both wings and rocketed towards two of the MiGs. Both missiles impacted destroying the targets. A vengeful Sukhoi swung in trying to get on Rainbow’s tail, but Lightning bagged him with a Blue Jay. Instantly the duo broke off to engage other craft.

“The City’s going up in flames!” Cloud Kicker shouted.

“Keep it together guys, we gotta defend Baltimare!” Soarin shot back.

“Warning, warning, enemy threat level still high!” Eagle eye reported.

Rainbow and Lightning dodged missiles and gun fire as they engaged a group of bombers moving in on the city. Using their guns, they made mincemeat of the bomber formation before turning on the transports that were already dropping troops. Over the bay, Fire Streak and Cloud Kicker were in the thick of a tight engagement with Sukhois and MiGs. Suddenly huge balls of fire began flying by their cockpits from below. They failed to notice a large fleet moving into the bay.

“Fucking A, they got a navy! They’re bringing in ground troops!” Fire Streak shouted when the ships opened fire on them.

“Attackers take out those ships; clear them before they sink our fleet!” Eagle Eye shouted.

Equestria’s Second fleet was stationed in Baltimare’s Horseshoe Bay, and now was in the sights of the enemy fleet.  Rainbow wanted to help the fleet out, but her battle was over the city trying to clear the skies. Then the radio picked up the enemy calls.

“Fighters clear the way for the troop transports and the naval craft. Sweep the sky of enemy planes.” The Enemy commander ordered.

“Make sure no new group joins this fray!” an enemy pilot shouted.

“Get out of my country!” Rainbow shouted as she fired upon another attacking fighter wing. All around the two of them planes were being blown out of the sky left and right. All of the Wonderbolt pilots had to dodge burning wrecks as well as enemy and friendly fire.

“This is Spitfire to Eagle Eye, another group of Bombers down. Gimmie another target.” Spitfire called in.

Rainbow looked up to see the trio diving in on another group of engaging fighters.

“DASH LOOK OUT!” Lightning screamed.

Rainbow looked just in time to see a MiG-29 diving on her, missiles locked and fired. She snapped to the right just in time and deployed countermeasures. Lightning quickly jumped on the fighter and shot him out of the sky.

“Thanks Lightning.” Rainbow said.

“No problem.” Lightning responded.

Rainbow then rolled back into battle, moving on a stray transport before blasting it out of the sky. More Equestrian F-95s were joining the fray all over the burning Baltimare, but it seemed like they were doing little against this unending force. Just then a new blimp appeared on Radar.

“Attention all Aircraft, I’ve got a soft blimp on Radar approaching the city. A group of Stealth fighters are in bound. And I don’t think they’re friendly.” Eagle Eye said.

Rainbow looked to the east and spotted the aircraft. They were compact fighters, with one engine and one intake at the nose. They had trapezoid wings and two tails. The body was made with sharp angles and ridges that deflected Radar. Rainbow could make out a single cockpit and the greyish color of the planes. But neither her radar nor Rainbow herself could make out what they were.

“I got a visual on them!” she shouted, “Definitely Stealth aircraft of some kind.”

Just then the fighters opened bays underneath them and fired missiles right at the Equestrian planes. Dash watched in horror as one of them made her missile alert alarms go off. She and Lightning instantly broke to the left and deployed countermeasures. It just barely made the missile go off course. As they turned back towards the planes, the mysterious aircraft had already raced into the city and were pecking off the Reapers with ease.

With new found rage, Rainbow pitched up and moved in upon one of those aircraft. She soon discovered as she lined up on their tails, that they lacked the maneuverability of the Reapers. “They may be quick but they ain’t good in turns.” She shouted over the radio. She switched over to her Sidewinders and locked up a tone, “Fox Two Fox two!”

The Sidewinder slid off its rail and fired its rocket. The missile flew at Mach two right up the tail of the mysterious plane causing it to explode right there. “Bulls-eye mother fucker!” Rainbow shouted as it fell. The rest of the Wonderbolts engaged these new craft with marginal success.

Rainbow was right, they weren't as maneuverable as the Reapers, but they were just as deadly. And the pilots who flew them were extremely skilled far beyond even the Wonderbolts skill. Everyone found extreme difficulty trying to get a kill on these aircraft. Soon even Rainbow’s frustration was at a boiling point. A fighter had gotten on her tail and wouldn’t break. Rainbow banked, jinked, and weaved through the sky to dodge his cannon fire.

“Lightning where are you I got a trailer!” Rainbow shouted.

“Stuck in my own fight Dash I’m sorry!” Lightning responded.

Rainbow cursed the sky as she broke into a dive. The mysterious plane hung with her as she dove. She pulled out of her dive just above the city. But the plane stuck with her despite her best efforts to shake him. Finally she had enough. She chopped the throttle and pulled back hard on the stick. The nose shot up as the Reaper instantly went vertical and lost all its airspeed. As the nose went up, Rainbow put some power back in to hold the plane there as the mysterious plane raced by.

When he passed, she lowered the nose and charged after him, “My turn asshole!”

The moment her Sidewinder’s gave her good tone, she fired it and blew the plane out of the sky. Just then another mysterious plane rocketed in guns blazing. But before it could line up on Rainbow, Lightning swooped in and knocked it out of the sky.

“Thanks, it’s about time you showed.” Rainbow thanked.

“Sorry I had to take care of one of my own.” Lightning responded as the two turned back.

Then Fleetfoot came over the radio, “Eagle Eye this is Wonderbolt three. These planes, these ships, they’ve all got Vertainian markings.”

“Are you sure?” Eagle eye responded.

“Yes sir, this force is definitely Vertainian.” Fleetfoot answered.

Rainbow swallowed hard, that meant the pilots of these aircraft were Changelings. Creatures that could change their form to impersonate others to feed off their love. Two years ago they attempted to take over Equestria by impersonating Princess Cadence during her wedding and invading Canterlot. But the real Cadence and Major General Bradley Sparkle, also known as Shining Armor, turned them back.

“Well it seems they’ve abandoned the subtle approach,” Lightning sighed.

Just then a series of massive explosions rocked the city and sky. The explosions were airburst that destroyed any Equestrian plane near it. Rainbow held on for dear life as her Reaper shook violently. Thankfully though, the Reaper remained airborne.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!” a pilot shouted.

“All Wonderbolts report in!” Eagle eye shouted.

“We’re all airborne.” Spitfire said after taking a quick check of her display.

“What the hell was that attack, it was like a nuclear bomb went off!” Fire Streak shouted.

“I don’t know, but we just lost half our fighting force. I’m picking up cruise missiles inbound, three of them! They’re more of those weapons, everyone get out of their range. I’ve marked their impact points on your radars!”

Rainbow and Lightning pulled hard left to escape a missile explosion that took out half the city and several aircraft. More explosions occurred across Baltimare.

“What the hell AWACS we can’t fight that.” Soarin shouted.

“No we can’t,” Eagle eye said somberly, “Words just come in from Canterlot. By order of Princess Celestia, all forces are to abandon Baltimare.”

“We can’t just leave!” Lightning shouted.

“We have no choice, more enemies are in bound.” Spitfire said just as disappointed, “Wonderbolts Retreat now while we still can.”

Rainbow swore to herself as she and the rest of the Wonderbolts turned north and away from the fallen city.

About an hour later, with barely enough fuel remaining, the Wonderbolts touched down at Greenhill Airbase. The base was now on full alert with every aircraft waiting for scramble orders. Guard now patrolled all of the base and were stationed outside the hangers. The once relaxed feel Greenhill had before the day began, was now long gone.

When Dash shut down her Reaper and opened her canopy, she discovered her legs couldn’t stop shaking. The battle had scared her so much she was shaking. After taking some deep breaths, she took Albert’s hand as he helped her out of the canopy. Pretty soon she went to locker room to put her flight gear back in with the rest of the Wonderbolts. Still dressed in her flight suit, Dash made her way back to the lounge where she and the rest of the Wonderbolts watched the news.

“And we now have confirmed,” The reporter said, “that the force that has invaded Baltimare is indeed part of the Changeling empire of Vertania. At exactly one thirteen today, September Ninth 2013, Princess Celestia issued a declaration of War against the nation of Vertania.”