Stormriders: Luna's Own

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 2: On the Road and Settling in
Intermission 1: A Letter from Cousin Clanky
Chapter 3 A Royal Word, To the Front
Chapter 4: To the Skies
Chapter 5: At All Costs
Chapter 6: Shop Talk
Chapter 7: Striker Dawn
Chapter 8: The Freezing Season
Intermission 3: Last Letter?
Chapter 9: Tundra
Chapter 12: Clear Blue Skies
About the Author, Credits and Chapter Track Listings
Fanart!
Glossary of Terms
Chapter 1: On a New Wing
Intermission 2: Another letter home
Chapter 10: In Chains
Chapter 11: The Gryphon Behind The Curtain

Prologue

Prologue: Background Music
The world is at peace. It's been 150 years since the border disputes with the Northern Griffon Kingdom. Since then the only contact has been from Equestrian Aerospace Defense Force (EADF) Combat Airspace Patrol (C.A.P) sighting their fighters patrolling on their half of the no-fly zone. Recent land disputes between civilian mining groups in the mountains, however, may have the border between the two kingdoms heating up again and with diplomatic relations practically non-existent; the fires of war may be on the horizon…

Northern Equestrian Border
Griffin No Fly Zone C.A.P
370th Night Fighter Wing - Nighthawks
0100 hours

"Nighthawk 3, Lead, tighten up to the formation".

"Copy that Lead, closing the gap".

"No need to be nervous Flight Officer, I know it's your first flight with the squadron out of the academy, but the no-fly zone tends to be pretty quiet most ni-"

"Lead! Seven here. Flash report coming in. One of our mountain radar stations just went off-air with no explanation. Northern Command wants a flyover with all speed."

"Guess I spoke too soon, Three. Nighthawks, Lead, time to shake the lead out, fillies. Break to wing pairs and spread out into combat formation. Three, you're with me."

A chorus of wilcos and the tight chatter of wing pairs forming up was all the speaking the three squadrons of aircraft had to do. They were well trained and this is what they were waiting for. Flight Officer Cloud Burst, also known as Nighthawk 3, quickly maneuvered his F/A-29 Thunderhoof fighter back and to the left of his commanding officer.

The night air was cold and crisp as a little of it slipped past his flight helmet and high altitude breathing system. The moon was light was bright and clear as it lit the mountain ranges below. A night that had started out as a fam flight for him with the squadron and the no fly zone had suddenly turned in to something much more. Somepony might be in big trouble down there... It made him think about his sister, Cloud Dancer, who was with the 368th south west of here. Was she okay tonight?

"Three!"

"Three here, Lead"

"You were drifting off. Get your head in the game."

"Roger, Sir".

"Northern Command, this is Nighthawk Lead. We're approaching visual range of Radar Post 3-9"

"Lead this is 5. I have visual and- Celestia's hooves, it's on fire!"

"Five, Lead, get a hold of yourself and give me an assessment."

"Roger Lead, taking a closer sweep... Luna's mane, bodies everywhere, the post has been completely destroyed. Looks like by aerial attack, no sign of ground forces in the area."

"Copy, NorComm this Nighthaw-"

"Nighthawk Lead, this is AWACS Stormwatch. You have multiple bandits inbound."

"Luna dammit! Nighthawks, break off and engage incoming fighters. Try to get a visual ID!"

The battle was joined…and then the dying started. The sky was filled with missiles, gunfire and explosions as the thirty-two aircraft of the 370th struggled to get clear of the sudden onslaught of the aggressors. Cloud Burster had been trained in basic air combat maneuvering but this... he wasn't ready for this. It sounded like half the wing had already been wiped out and they had barely broken to engage! His surroundings whipped past him as he followed Nighthawk lead, pulling their wing pair in to a hard-G rolling turn, trying to get clear of the ambush. A quick look off to his right and he saw and heard as Nighthawk five, still shaken from her over flight of the radar post, got boxed in by cannon fire from two of the enemy flyers and shot down with close-range missile shots. There was no sign of Nighthawk four any where near her. He refocused, the Major took them up and into an inverted loop that nearly had him blacking out.

"Three, when we come out of this loop, pick a target and hit them with a radar-guided missile as soon as you get a lock."

"Aye, sir."

His voice was shaky. He hoped the major didn't notice how nervous he was. They pulled out of the loop tight and hard, in perfect formation, like the Wonderbolts doing a stunt. He got his targeting pod searching for an enemy and got a clear tone off of a fighter pulling through the smoke cloud that had once been Nighthawk seven.

"Nighthawk three, Fox three!"

The missile raced off its pylon and closed the gap between him and the enemy plane in a heartbeat. He wanted to shout, to celebrate avenging the deaths of his comrades, but training kept him professional.

"Lead, three here. Splash one bandit."

Nothing but static answered him, nothing at all. Cloud Burster went evasive, scanning, trying to find any friendly fighters in the area. Trying to find the Major. His radio transmissions were getting more and more frantic, but it was obvious he was alone. He jumped up frequencies to Battlespace Tactical as he started racing away from the area, knowing that the enemy fighters weren't going to leave him alive and that they were hunting him already.

"Nighthawk three to Stormwatch. I think I'm the only one left. Going supersonic to evade the enemy."

The words died in his mouth as the sound of first one, then two, then three missile lock warnings started screaming in his ears. There was no chance for chaff or flares and fancy flying, not with three missiles closing fast. A quick glance to his rear and he could see the rockets burning towards him, faster then the eye could track. He had just enough time for one final thought; a final whisper.

"Cloud Dancer..."

100 miles away
EADF AWACS aircraft
call sign "Stormwatch"

"This is Stormwatch to Nighthawk 3, is anypony out there? Repeat, Stormwatch to Nighthawks, any call sign respond". Staff Sergeant Aria "Ears" Roughhoof was one of the few earth ponies in the EADF, but also one of the most exceptional Radar and communications technicians in the force. Aboard her E-321 Skyeye AWACS aircraft, with her crew of seven, they were the best at what they did - and they had just failed.

Aria turned to the flight control officer, Captain Aurora Starheart.

"Ma'am, we've lost all radar and radio contact with the 370th. The last radio contact with friendly forces indicates that the entire wing, as well as the outpost has been completely destroyed. We've also lost radar contact with the bandit aircraft." Captain Starheart felt her heart drop a couple inches in her chest. Whatever had started tonight didn't bode well at all.

"Thank you, Staff Sergeant. I'll make the call to NorCom. Thirty two fighters...an entire Celestia-cursed wing!"

She shook her head softly, her sky-blue mane shaking like the flag of a defeated army.

"In the meantime, Staff Sergeant, contact Mareimar Aerospace Defense Force Base. Ask them to scramble CSAR assets with escorts; there may be survivors on the ground."

"Tell them the area is hostile?"

"Yes, Staff Sergeant, until units from Mareimar can tell us otherwise."

"Aye ma'am, I'll get right on it."

Chapter 2: On the Road and Settling in

Stormriders: Luna's Own
Chapter 2: On the road and settling in
Near Ponyville Airspace
1430 Local time
Background Music

Mostly clear skies, a few light puffy clouds, and a soft, gentle breeze. Objectively speaking, it was the perfect day to fly. Flare and Zephyr were making the most of the long flight from the EADF Academy to Canterlot AFB. It was their first day of unaugmented, unregimented flying in a long time. No flight helmet in your face, no cockpit glass and flight suit keeping the wind off you, no engine hurling you through the air; just you, your wings and good company.

Flare banked right, away from Zephyr, and let a soft thermal carry him up and back, to the left, rolling as he went so he dropped in on top of her inverted.

"Hey Zeph, got a question for you."

Zeph snorted, used to her old friend's aerial antics.

"Hey pony-feathers-for-brains, you were flying right next to me. Couldn't you have asked me from there?"

"I could’ve...but this is so much more fun!"

Zeph rolled her eyes.

"You're insufferable sometimes"

Flare started grinning like a maniac.

"It's part of my charm as you well know."

"Uh huh, you keep saying that, but you have to have charm for it to be part of your charm."

Flare rolled back to the right, settling back in to his original position at Zephs side.

"Ach my ego! What a grievous emotional wound from my dearest friend!"

Zeph tossed a mock kick at her flying partner.

"Alright, what was your question?"

"Well, I've been thinking it over, and I'm honored the Princess selected us for her squadron and everything, but why exactly does she have a personal fighter squadron anyway? She can fly, and if what ponies say about the magic the Princesses can do are true, she can teleport."

Zephyr sighed, "You really are a bird brain, aren't you? I guess those high academic marks you somehow managed to pull off were just a front."

Zephyr talked right over Flare's stammered attempts at a retort.

"She's royalty, for one, so her going anywhere with out an escort is extremely unlikely. So I'd guess most of the squadron's job is ceremonial in nature. From what the Princess said in the speech yesterday, the 368th has been her personal squadron for a long time, so I'd say there's a hefty dose of tradition involved too..."

Flare was staring off on the horizon to their left, obviously watching something intently.

"Care to listen to the answer to question you asked, or am I interrupting your contemplation of the world at large?"

The sarcasm dripping from Zephyr's voice was thick enough to count as a solid object. Flare shook his head a little.

"Sorry got distracted. There's a rainbow-colored contrail over there! And we're close to Ponyville! I bet it's Rainbow Dash!"

Zeph chortled in amusement.

"Flare you are such a fancolt!"

"She's one of the top fliers alive, Zeph! She shattered the sound barrier AND managed to do something to break known physics and distort the visible light spectrum!"

Zeph snorted, obviously holding back laughter.

"Uh huh, sure thing lover colt. Whatever you say. I think you just like the shape of her flank!"

Flare gave a half-laugh, half-outraged noise and took a swipe at Zeph in response; and the two friends dashed off through the clouds, alternately smacking at each other, play fighting as they flew.

A short flight later, the pair entered Canterlot airspace and received clearance to land at Canterlot Air Force Base. A ground crewpony ran out and directed them to a hangar off to the left of the main flight line, it's own compound really, over which Princess Luna's dark purple standard fluttered in the soft, mid-afternoon breeze. A large stallion with a dark blue beret marking him as a Royal Equestrian Marine quickly checked their orders and ID cards, then passed them off to a younger and smaller Royal Marine who escorted them to the Commanding Officer's office, which is where they were waiting now...

background music

"Get in here!" The bark was crisp, sharp and powerful, biting the air like a sword striking a blow. The two ponies rushed in to the office.

"Sir, Flight Officers Flare and Zephyr, reporting for duty pending flight orders with the 368th Night Fighter Wing!"

The older stallion grunted as he took the orders from their outstretched hooves and inspected them briefly.

"Very well, everything looks to be in order. At ease flight officers, I am Major Windsheer, your new commanding officer. I want you to understand one thing very clearly coming here. Look out my window."

The Major gestured at his window overlooking the hangar bay of the 368th where rows of gleaming fighters and a large transport aircraft sat gleaming. They looked brand new. The Major snorted.

"I know what you're thinking, ‘pretty swank rides’ right?"

The flight officers nodded, obviously confused as to where the Major was going with this.

"That's because it's all brand new. For the last thousand years while, Her Highness Princess Luna was in exile, this unit was shit on. Nothing was official, nothing was in orders, but because we and the 13th Company, 5th Battalion of Royal Marines maintained our loyalty and designation to the Lady of the Night, we received horrible treatment and the bare minimum of equipment to survive as units. Until a month ago, we were stationed at an out of the way posthole of a base with barely enough fighters and equipment to maintain flight qualifications. Despite all that, I demand the absolute best from my ponies and I will demand the same from you; you will work harder and fly harder then you ever have in your entire lives. CAN YOU HANDLE THAT!?"

Only years of being screamed at and drilled at the academy saved the stunned ponies

"SIR! Yes sir!"

The Major leaned back on his haunches and grinned malevolently.

"Excellent." He pushed a button on his desk intercom, "Captain Cloud Dancer, if you'd join us please."

No sooner had the Major finished speaking than a very pissed off mare stormed in. She came to attention and saluted the Major

"Sir, reporting as ordered."

"Excellent, Captain. This is Flight Officer Zephyr and Flight Officer Flare. They’re all yours."

"Aye Sir."

With that the mare with a dark blue coat and shocking white mane rounded on them, turning her molten gold eyes on the pair of flight officers.

"ALL RIGHT YOU RUNTS, GET THE HELL OUT OF THE MAJOR'S OFFICE, DOUBLE TIME! COME ON, SHAKE A FLANK!"

The Major waited until his office door slammed before he let himself start laughing. He always enjoyed this part of breaking in fresh boots.

The running torrent of abuse from Captain Cloud Dancer was impressive. Not just for its length and volume, but its sheer variety of insults as she lead them through the hangar. She insulted every fiber of their being: moral, emotional, physical and genetic, right down to the very last detail. She could have made the best of the Drill and Flight Instructors at the Academy look like amateurs. The Captain took them on a whirlwind tour, ending in the hangar where a young grey and blonde pegasus mare was getting a similar verbal tour de force from an older looking enlisted stallion. Seeing them distracted at the sight of someone else getting chewed out, Captain Cloud Dancer stopped short with an evil grin on her face.

"So I'm not good enough to pay attention to, eh? Well maybe Master Sergeant Ironheart will take time out of his busy schedule to handle you along with his favorite airpony over there."

Before either flight officer could say a word, the Captain jumped over to the large stallion and took him aside for a moment and then walked off, obviously pleased with her new arrangements. The large steel-colored stallion strode over to the pair; staring at them with so much rage the Captain's face would have been a welcome sight. He snorted at them with derision.

"You lot are what the academy is putting out as excuses for aviators these days? I am Master Sergeant Ironheart, the Chief Mechanic of the 368th. The Captain has placed you under my care for half the day, every day till she says otherwise. You will be training with Senior Airman Clanky Doo, the worst mechanic I've seen in twenty-five years of service. I suspect you lot will match up to her nicely- Celestia dammit DOO! Get over here and quit standing around with your horn polisher hanging open!"

The gray mare cantered towards the group and promptly tripped over her own hooves, ending up in a pile with Flare and Zephyr.

She whispered softly, "Sorry about this, it's my fault."

The big Master Sergeant eyed the pile of younger ponies on the floor in front of him.

"Yup, you three are definitely pegasi of a feather."

As the three ponies tried to pick themselves up, Zephyr couldn't help but notice Cloud Dancer walking away as if on a death march. Her head was down and she looked...depressed. The thought was quickly chased away, however, as the enraged Master Sergeant began to hand out toothbrushes for toilet cleaning detail.

Intermission 1: A Letter from Cousin Clanky

A Letter from Cousin Clanky
Background music
english version

Dear Ditzy and Dinky,

Hi girls, it's cousin Clanky again. I thought I'd send you a quick letter back to thank you again for the great care package! The muffins were delicious and me and my new friends really enjoyed them. A new mare and stallion joined the squadron last month so they're super new like me! Captain Cloud Dancer and Master Sergeant Ironheart are as mean to them as they are to me which isn't so good. Their officers so technically we're not supposed to hang out or be friends, but old Rustheart apparently said something to the Major about the three of us being "cut from the same cloth" and "the same kind of idiot" so the Major ordered us billeted together which means we share a living quarters, Zephyr the mare and I get a seperate room because of some segregation rule but the stallion, Flare is close by still. The Major also says that it's ok for us to spend time together off duty. It makes sense because we sure do work together alot on duty!

Albeit alot of that work is peeling potatoes and cleaning but Rustheart made me the lead mechanic for their wing pair, so I get to work on Flare and Zeph's planes exclusively! I'm not much of a lead mechanic though... more the only mechanic. I'm the only one who does maintenance on their fighters. There's plenty of that to do, they were assigned the junkiest pair of birds I've ever seen, I've done what I could short of sending them to the depot for a full overhaul, but to be honest they need to be scrapped, not overhauled. Cap'n Cloud Dancer is still pushing them hard, on top of all the scut work they do with me their getting flown hard every day, makes for some long hours for me too, but Flare and Zeph will stay and help work on their fighters with me, even though I can tell their exhausted, till the work's finally done.

Rustheart also said with any luck the three of us working together would result in us dying in a mishap of some sort, answering his prayers and saving the unit a whole heap of trouble but I don't think he meant it. On a positive note, Flare, Zeph and I are having lots of fun during the scant liberty we manage to get. We even managed to get a weekend pass (not sure how that got past Rustheart) and went up to Canterlot last weekend!

Things have gotten a lot rougher in general since Flare and Zeph got here though, the unit is being even colder to us and the work load has at least tripled, constant midnight alerts and scramble flights, tools in my kit going missing and somehow ending up in the freezer, the fuel tanks on the strikers being mysteriously empty. The Captain is just drilling us in to the ground with work outs too, running harder, faster and longer then either of the three of us had before, strenuous flight drills (even for me!), ground fighting and lots of weapons training with the Marines too, they sure like doing ground fighting with us Cous, almost knocked my shoulder out of joint last time and we always come out so bruised it can be hard to move! We're pulling together though, the three of us made a pact to not let them or any one else beat us. We just have to keep fighting, we'll show them exactly what kind of steel we're made of.

I'll write again soon!

Lots of love,
Clanky Doo

P.S.
If Flare, Zeph and I can get another weekend pass I'll try to talk them in to coming with me to see you and Dinky! Ponyville would be a nice change of pace from the squadron that's for sure.

Chapter 3 A Royal Word, To the Front

A month has passed....
Canterlot Palace, Princess Celestia's Chambers
0930 Local time
background music

Luna had known this talk wasn't going to go over well with Celestia, but all the same, she thought her big sister was over reacting just a teensy bit... Well, at least she's not thrown anything in addition to shouting. Celestia took that precise second to launch a particularly well-aimed pillow that caught Luna right on the nose. So much for that.

"CELESTIA! Sister, please!"

The sharp tone in Luna's voice silenced her ranting and riled older sister almost immediately. Celestia dropped the second pillow she had just taken up and a sad tone was evident in her voice instead of anger.

"Luna...little sister, it's been so long. I just don't understand why you want to leave me again."

Luna walked over to her older sibling and put a hoof around her neck.

"Tia, I don't want to leave you at all! You know I don't, but we're the leaders of this country and sometimes, that means more important things have to be taken in to consideration than what we want. You heard the same intelligence and strategic briefings I did about the situation that's developing on the Northern border. They need one of us there to ensure the defense of our country while the other stays here in Canterlot and tries to find a diplomatic solution and prevent an all out war.

Celestia sniffed a little bit, obviously close to tears.

"I...but there's generals and all sorts of..."

Luna gently cut her big sister off.

"No, Tia. You know as well as I do that stakes this high mean we should both be involved. You've always been the born diplomat big sister. Your place is in Canterlot, ensuring that what looks like storm clouds become sunshine."

"What then is your place, little sister?"

"My place is to hold back the storm should it come. To defend and watch over our ponies just as you will from Canterlot."

"Your safety...."

"I'll be safe big sister. Remember? I have the 368th and a whole company of Royal Marines just to make sure I'll be protected and we'll be on Mareimar Aerospace Defense Force Base. I'm sure everypony on that base will make sure not a single equestrian, including me, comes to harm. This is the way it should be now that I've resumed my duties and titles Tia. Ruling together as equals, just like back then, before...before the curse."

Now it was Luna's turn to have her eyes start to water as memories of the blackness and evil magic that had enveloped her and forced her sister to banish her to the moon to allow the dark spell to be weakened over a thousand years; but Tia knew and pulled her younger sister into a tight embrace.

"You're right. You're right as always little sister. I'm just scared of losing you again."

"You won't; but you still have to let me do this."

"I know...."

The two sisters stayed like that for a long time, wrapped in a long embrace as only the closest of siblings can share, each willing the pain the other felt to heal just a little bit faster.

368th Night Fighter Wing and 13/5 Royal Marines Company Compound
368th Wing Barracks
0127 local time

Flare was having trouble sleeping. He'd been tossing and turning for a few hours now and was finally giving up. The stallion shook his mane out to at least an attempt at being presentable and pulled his flight suit on. As he walked to the door, he thought 'Zeph and Clanky both keep odd hours at times. Maybe one of them will be up and go to the chow hall with me for a late night snack or somethi-’ Flare's train of thought was derailed abruptly as his door burst inward and two large stallions dressed in all black rushed in to the room. The last conscious thought he had as a hoof rocketed towards his temple was 'oh Celestia now what?' then blackness.

When Flare awoke, he was bound, gagged and had a sack over his head. He was semi aware of what felt like other ponies on either side of him as his mind struggled towards full consciousness. Flare's training came back to him quickly and he took quick stock of his surroundings. They were moving in what sounded like a large diesel truck, like the kinds the Marines used to haul troops and equipment. A quick test of his bonds showed them to be sturdy and with no hope of slipping them; Flare sighed through his gag and worked to get comfortable. He was just going to have to sit back and enjoy the ride for now.

A short while later, the trucks came to a halt and Flare found himself being tossed out of the bed. Just as he was getting his breath back, two ponies, whom he assumed were Zeph and Clanky, landed on top of him with muffled swearing and what sounded like a gagged attempt at an apology respectively. They didn't stay on the ground for long and Flare found himself being dragged along the ground to the sound of drumbeats and...was that bagpipes? (background music)

Flare was dropped quickly and his blindfold and gag were torn away, revealing Zeph and Clanky next to him in similar circumstances on the cobblestone floor of what appeared to be an old ruin, it's roof torn away exposing a brilliant night sky. The three were between two large formations of ponies. The Marine company formed up directly across from the EADF unit, distinguished by their dark green berets but all were in the immaculate, unique, jet-black with blue trim, dress uniforms worn only by the personal unit of Princess Luna. To the rear was a massive bon fire, as well as the squadron pipe and drum band, which explained the music. Directly to the front of them was the entire unit command staff of both units, with the major presiding over the whole affair like a Lord reviewing his assembled knights, and in a way that's exactly what was happening.

Major Windsheer stepped forward.

“Executive Officer, Captain Cloud Dancer, REPORT!"
The Captain snapped to and with mechanical precision, moved in front of the Major and offered a crisp salute.

"Sir, Captain Cloud Dancer, 368th Night Fighter Wing reporting!"

"Excellent. Captain, what is the status of the boots who have been given to Luna's celestial grace in defense of crown and country? Are these fledglings that you bring before this assembled unit prepared to stand forward as defenders of the realm and Her Royal Highness, Our Lady of the Night?"

"Sir, it is my belief and the belief of Master Sergeant Ironheart that these three are prepared."

Only discipline and bearing kept Flare, Zeph and Clanky's jaws from collectively hitting the floor. Captain Cloud Dancer and Master Sergeant Ironheart were the ultimate villains as far as they were concerned, with never anything approximating a kind word or positive phrase, just more insults, criticism and punishment details. Yet here was the Captain, vouching for them in front of everypony! The Major considered her words carefully and with a steely tone in his voice said,
"Very well Captain, take your post."

The Captain saluted and returned to her position in the command staff formation, taking the time to shoot the three awaiting the Major a venomous glare that spelled out exactly what would happen to Flare, Zeph and Clanky if they somehow managed to screw up whatever was about to happen.

The Major stepped up a few paces until he was right in front of the company.

"One thousand years, fillies and gentlecolts, one thousand years. This, the 368th Wing, the 98th and 99th Night Fighter Squadrons and the 13th Company, 5th Battalion of the Equestrian Royal Marine Corps, have stayed loyal in the absence of the Princess for ONE THOUSAND YEARS. We, above all, are her most faithful servants. We above all knew that she would return to us. As history became legend and legend became myth, we kept our place, waiting for the Lady's return. We, and the Marines and Air Ponies that came before us have suffered for that loyalty; but now, with the Princess's honorable return and the balance restored, we have been vindicated. All of us have made the pledge to forsake the day, and to walk in darkness. We do this to defend our loved ones and our beloved homeland from all that would stalk that darkness and prey on the weak and innocent. We are warriors of air and darkness, pledged personally to the defense the Lady of the Night. If there is one pony here that would not give their lives in defense of the crown, the country, and her people, let them depart from us now! We shall not judge them; merely pity their lack of resolve, loyalty and courage."

The Major paused and took a breath, waiting to see if there were any takers for his offer to leave. Not a single pony moved a hair. It was dead silent, except for the crackle of the fire. After a sufficient pause the Major roared at his troops,

"UNBENT! UNBOWED! UNBROKEN!"

To which the entire assembled unit responded:

"NO SURRENDER! NO RETREAT, UNTIL THE MOON FALLS FROM THE SKY!"

The Major smiled a tight, fierce grin. It would have looked more in place on some kind of predator, like a wolf or dragon. He started speaking again in a more normal tone.

"Airponies, Marines, tonight is a special night. The three before us have been sent to us not knowing our ways. We have ostracized them and isolated them. We have hurt them and run them ragged. They have stuck together, supported one another and have shown us fighting spirit, determination and courage. They have shown themselves to be worthy to join us. Flight Officers Flare and Zephyr, Senior Airpony Doo, ATTEN-HUT!"

The three snapped up to attention, their hooves clicking in perfect unison on the cold stone of the old ruin. The Major paced before them, a perfect cadence between his hooves as he walked.

"Are you prepared, with all your heart and all your soul, to fight for Equestria, Their Royal Highnesses and their people? To give your youth, your health, your mind and indeed your very life in their defense?"

They needed no prompting. "Yes Sir!"

The Major nodded and continued, "Are you prepared to take on special duty to Her Royal Highness, Princess Luna of Equestria, the Lady of the Night and the Bringer of the Moon, to forsake the light of the sun and ever walk in darkness, a silent guardian of Her Highness and the people as they slumber? To do everything and everything to defend Her Highness from harm at the cost of your lives, with nary a thought to your own health or safety? Consider this carefully. Once you take this oath, you will always be one of us. You will always be pledged to our Lady of the Night. We are all volunteers. If you have doubts or if your heart might waiver, we do not want you here. Reply individually when you are prepared."

The Major took a few steps back, waiting for their answer, an intense look gracing his dark features. The three took a quick glance at each other, and with a mutual nod of reassurance stepped forward together. Flare took the lead.

"Sir! I am prepared to give anything and everything in defense of Her Highness!"

Zephyr and Clanky’s own statements of assent quickly echoed Flare’s. An approving roar went up amongst the ponies of the assembled unit. As the noise quieted down, the Major spoke again.

"Very well, I hereby name you full members of the 368th Night Fighter Wing, wing pair six of the 98th Night Fighter Squadron, call signs Selene 11 and Selene 12. Senior Airpony Doo! You will continue your duties as their wing pair lead mechanic." This was followed with a wink and chuckle, "We'll see about getting you some proper Strikers instead of those old rust buckets too."

The roaring and cheers of approval went on a lot longer this time and by the end of it, the three ponies were in the rear of the EADF formation. The Major waited patiently to let the noise die down a little again. It was obvious he had something important to say and the unit silenced themselves quickly.

"I have other news for the Wing today. I have received warning orders from Princess Luna herself. In a week's time, we are to head forth, with Her Highness, to Mareimar Aerospace Defense Force Base in the North. The Lady shall be taking charge personally of the base and the defense of the Northern Border. As you may have heard, there is a potential border dispute with the Northern Griffon Kingdom and the 370th Night Fighter Wing was completely destroyed as well as one of our border radar stations. No further attacks have happened since then, but the Princess wishes to be prepared while Princess Celestia continues to attempt to find a diplomatic solution. Fillies, gentlecolts, by order of Her Royal Highness, Princess Luna of Equestria, it is my solemn duty to charge you to PREPARE FOR BATTLE!"

With that and signal from Captain Cloud Dancer, the pipe and drum band started to play the wing battle song and the entire assembled unit began to sing along.

Axes flash and broadswords swing
Shining armor's piercing ring
Horses run with the polished shield
Fight those bastards till they yield

Midnight mare and blood red roan
Fight to keep this land your own
Sound the horn and call the cry
How many of them can we make die?

Chapter 4: To the Skies

368th Night Fighter Wing Compound
Hangar 2, 98th Night Fighter Squadron
0532 - Day of departure for Mareimar AFB
background music

Dawn. The air was crisp, pure, and beautiful as Princess Celestia’s Sun began to peak the horizon and Princess Luna began to draw down the moon. Zephyr considered that she had met the Princess in person and would be flying escort for her in just a few hours more as the unit made the transition to the northland with their Lady. The hangar was nearly empty, just the Thunderhoof sfighter in their rows. The squadron’s two Draft Horse heavy transports were already outside, being loaded with pre-staged gear and equipment by a slightly sleepy-eyed ground crew. Zephyr smiled as she got to the final two strikers in the row. The brand new planes gleamed with the pride and effort she, Flare, and Clanky had put in to them this past week to make sure they were flight and battle ready. Clanky had even snuck into town and bought some paint to do up custom art on their units to surprise her friends with. Flare’s name was beneath a beautiful arc of fire that looked like somepony had captured a bit of Celestia’s sun and her own name was emblazoned under a cherry blossom on the breeze – her favorite flower.

‘Gonna have to pay Clanky back for all that work somehow,’ she thought to herself. A box of blueberry muffins (the blonde mare’s favorite) would probably do the trick, at least to start.

Zeph started her walk around, inspecting the large twin engined, twin tailed, aircraft. She could recall the details of the unit from memory; how it interacted and amplified the natural passive magic of a pegasi, and how the larger jet turbines used on large transport aircraft – like the ones currently being loaded on the pad – were impractical in terms of size and efficiency for the more agilely sized fighters. She finished her inspection with a quick electrical systems check and settled on the ground, lying against her striker, watching the sun come up. Zeph loved mornings like this and was taking in this one as much as she could. In her heart of hearts, she knew this would be the last peaceful morning she got in awhile, maybe one of her last at all. The shiver went long down her spine as a torrent of thoughts and emotions rushed to her, worrying about what might be coming in the next few days. Her thoughts were interrupted by a sunny shout of greeting ringing out from across the hangar. Flare and Clanky were coming over with some covered trays and she caught the scent of hot food wafting from them. She shoved her morbid thoughts aside and got up to go meet her friends. As long as they were together, Zephyr knew things would be all right.

Several hours later

Clanky buckled in to her seat aboard the big transport plane. As odd as it might seem, she was always nervous when flying on anything other then her own wings, and the big jetliner was no exception. With a snap and crackle the intercom came to life:

"Attention all passengers, this is your aircraft commander speaking. The Princess is aboard, and all our final preparations have been made. Please ensure you're strapped in. We should be taxiing in a few minutes. Thank you."

Clanky turned and looked out the window to the right of her, instantly finding Zeph and Flare's strikers in the lineup of the two fighter wings preparing to launch in tight succession. They were loaded down with heavy external fuel tanks and were running with very low loads of munitions for this hop. Mareimar was very far to the North and even with the externals; the fighters would be cutting it close to make it in to the base. She hoped her friends weren't too uncomfortable in their strikers for the long flight.

98th and 99th Night Fighter Squadrons
background music

The fighters were lined up on a side taxiway, ready to make a sharp right and take off on the order. The four planes of the command flight were ahead of the other twenty-four planes of the two squadrons, the CO, XO and their wingponies, ready to take to the skies first and ensure an orderly formation.

"All planes, this is the CO. The command flight will be call sign Nightguard, by the numbers, report status"

"Selene One, flight ready, Nightguard One."

“Selene Two, ready"

The familiar ritual of the ready checks locked Flare's head back in his cockpit and cooled him down a bit. He was nervous, no shame in admitting it. His first mission with the squadron into a combat zone – and with the Princess under their care no less! He didn't want to let Major Windsheer (A.K.A. Nightguard One) down, much less anyone else and especially not the Princess. Hearing Zephyr call off her status shook him out of his thoughts and returned him to the pre-flight routine.

"Selene Twelve, two lit and in the green."

"Copy that. Tower, this is Nightguard One, 368th Night Fighter Wing requesting clearance for takeoffs from run way Three Charlie."

"Roger that Nightguard One, take off clearance is granted. Give 'em hell, sir."

"Thank you, Tower, we'll bring you back a souvenir. Nightguard One to all aircraft, launch by wing pairs and take up defensive positions once the transports are airborne."

The squadron took wing like it was orchestrated with each pair launching down the runway and settling into their pre-assigned positions with ease around the two transports to begin the long flight north.

Three hours later
Mareimar AFB - Air Traffic Control Tower

A timid-looking, young earth pony cantered over to the desk currently being occupied by the base's commanding officer: a very severe looking stallion named Colonel Steelhoof. He had a bit of a reputation as a pony to be avoided, especially since he was a Royal Marine aviator in charge of an EADF base, but it was a joint posting and he was the senior officer.
The Colonel focused a single eye on the young mare in front of him, glaring down at her, and asked with a growl, "can I help you, Airpony, or are you just going to stand there like a carousel horse?"

The mare gasped a little bit, saluted and stammering slightly, gave her report.

"Sir, we just received a radio communication from the 368th Wing. They're about fifty minutes out and are low on fuel. They’ll need immediate clearance to land as soon as they reach the landing pattern."

The Colonel leaned back on his haunches, letting the stub of his cigar roll around in his mouth a little bit.

"Very well, Airpony, return to your post and inform flight control that I want two runways cleared ASAP. If there're any foul-ups with the Princess's arrival to my base, I will personally be bucking every single pony vaguely connected to it into the next life, clear?"

"Aye, sir!"

The now slightly frightened mare sped off with a quickness to perform her assigned tasks. The Colonel watched her go with a half smile on his face. The nervous ones were always the easiest to mess with a little. He’d have to have a word with that particular mare's Staff Sergeant about finding her some kind of combat training or something to help her bearing and self confidence.

"SIR! Radar contact! Multiple contacts bearing northwest of the base, estimating fifty to sixty fighters and six medium bombers, no response to radio hails and no IFF beacons."

The Colonel was out of his chair and rushing over to the screen in a heartbeat.

‘Son of a bitch, of all the Celestia-damned gin joints,’ he thought as he started barking rapid-fire orders ‘this is gonna be one hell of a mess.’

"Alright settle down, the lot of you! Sound battle stations, and power up all anti-air defenses. Non-essential personnel are to move to air raid bunkers at once. I want every fighter on this base that isn't under repairs in the air within the next fifteen minutes. Scramble the Alert Five, and tell them to form up with the CAP. We can't let these scumbags any where near the Princess! NOW, MOVE IT!"

The chilling scream of an air raid siren started to howl across the base. What had once been a relatively tranquil scene became a beehive of activity. Even over the sirens, the roar of the engines of the alert fighters going airborne rippled across the base.

Today had just gotten interesting.

368th Wing formation
Approx. 25 minutes flight time from
Mareimar AFB
background music

"This is AWACS Stormwatch to Nightguard One, please respond, over."

"Stormwatch, this is NightGuard One, what can we do for you today?"

"Nightguard One, Mareimar is currently under aerial attack by unknown enemy forces. Radar has also determined you have bandits on an intercept course.”

"...Horseapples."

"That's about our sentiments on this end, Nightguard One. Stormwatch has taken over battlespace management for the duration of the engagement. You’ll be switched over to tower control on final approach in to the base. One of the local squadrons is breaking off to escort you in but you're going to be in engagement range of the bandits before they can reach you."

"Copy that, Stormwatch, thanks for the heads up. All fighters this is Nightguard One. Siphon the last of the fuel from your external tanks and jettison them. We're going to be under enemy attack shortly. Spread out to battle formations. Weapons are hot. ROE is to engage any enemy fighter on sight. I know we're short on fuel and shorter still on ammunition. Special storm weapons are authorized. We must defend the Princess and the transports at all costs."

Short, tense responses came in from the twenty-seven aircraft listening with bated breaths to the Major’s transmission. If they were authorizing the special storm weapons designed to channel the natural magic of a pegasus, then they were in even deeper shit than the Major was letting on.

Chapter 5: At All Costs

40 Minutes flight time from Mareimar ADFB
background music

"Break right! Break right!"

"Selene Three, you've got one on your tail! Jink left, I'll clear him off!"

"Stardust Six, fox two!"

Combat, as always, was hellfire and chaos at their purest. Aircraft darted this way and that, desperately trying to keep the enemy interceptors away from the two big transports as they screamed toward the airfield, the safety of Mareimar's extensive air defense systems and the armored hangars that would provide shelter for Princess Luna and the 368th during their temporary stay in Mareimar. Those hangars were a long way off, though; no matter how close the navigators said they were. The transports were fitted with special electronic countermeasures and they were operating at full power, filling the air with radar jamming waves so powerful they could almost physically knock missiles out of the air. Unicorn mages on both transports had shielding magic up, but there was only so much they could do against the fusillade of incoming missiles and the sheer volume of cannon fire.

For her own part, Princess Luna was calm, leaving her private state room and joining her subjects in the main passenger compartment, calming them with a soft, steady voice, filled with courage and belief in the pilots dueling in the air around her. A particular blonde-and-grey pegasus was trying to focus on those words as she watched out the window, looking for a glance of her friends flashing by, just to know they were still there, just to know he was still okay...

Flare and Zephyr were doing their training credit. The dodges and sudden turns were more than enough to keep them clear of enemy missiles and gun fire, so with barely a word of communication, they swung out wide from the intense dog fights surrounding the transport, allowing them to dive back into the fray from out of the sun, getting locks on enemy fighters that hadn't yet been engaged. Flare clicked his COM line to his wingmare as they got ready to launch.

"Selene Eleven, Twelve here. This is it for our missiles, so let's make these shots count!"

"Like there was ever any doubt, Twelve."

The tones of confirmed radar locks burned hot in their ears as the heads up displays in their flight helmets started flashing green. In one almost unified action, the two remaining missiles had leapt off their rails in to the blue skies, hunting down the selected enemy fighters like wolves chasing down deer.

"Selene Twelve, fox one!"

“Selene Eleven, fox one!"

Twin balls of flame lit up separate parts of the sky as debris rained down from the enemy fighters that had just been destroyed by their missile fire. They started looking in to re-engage the enemy; they still had a couple cannon rounds apiece that they could donate in the Princess's name but found the skies to be clear of enemy forces for now.

"Tower to all incoming fighters for Dark Crown ferry flight, break off and land. Proceed to ready line 2-7 for immediate refueling and rearm. Repeat; break off immediately. Falcon Squadron and Talon Squadron are engaging the bandits in your location to provide terminal cover."

The Major was fuming in his cockpit, but he knew a command like that was coming from the colonel of the base and he had the full strategic picture in view.

"All planes, this is Nightguard One. Comply with instructions from tower as fast as possible, ponies! I want us back in there, over these transports, yesterday!"

The transition between the 368th and the incoming local squadrons was smooth and the 368th raced towards the ground and the awaiting fuel and munitions. Flare and Zephyr were last in the stack to land when Stormwatch broke in.

"All airborne strikers in Mareimar airspace, the incoming transports have lost their fighter escort! Repeat, Falcon and Talon squadrons are gone, any unengaged fighters should move to cover Dark Crown with all possible speed.”

Flare's eyes snapped wide and he opened a private COM channel to Zephyr.

"We're probably the closest to the transports. We have to go and we have to go now!"

"The bravado is all well and good, Flare, but we're in the pattern, low on fuel and down to a couple hundred cannon rounds a piece."

"The Major authorized special weapons. We can use the Storm Cannons; all we have to do is buy the rest of the squadron some time and hold them off long enough for the rest of the unit to get back to the transports."

"...You're seriously trying to get us killed, I swear."

"So you're in?"

"Yeah I'm in, but we're in the approach pattern. Call a wave off and let's do this."

Flare switched up to the tower's frequency.

"Tower, Selene Twelve. Wave off, wave off, wave off. Runway remains clear, leaving the pattern."

"Selene Twelve, state your intentions."

"Responding to emergency support request from the transports."

The air traffic control operator's voice remained remarkably calm.

"You realize you're violating a direct order to land, refuel and rearm, correct?"

Flare began to mess with some of the COM settings, letting interference and static creep across the channel.

"Tower... having some communications... issues..."

Flare cut the channel and switched back to his channel with Zeph.

"Twelve, do you really have to be such a ham all the time?"

"It's a gift, Eleven. Now let's get to those transports."

Meanwhile aboard the transports

Clanky hated flying when she wasn't on her own wings. Turns out she also really hated flying on airplanes while said airplane was getting shot at. Her window seat provided her a ringside view as the last of the remaining escort strikers got blown out of the sky. The only good news was that of the remaining bandits, there seemed to be the only one left. She took in the design of the aircraft as it flashed past, obviously coming about for a run. It was a mean looking thing, all sharp angles and edges, like a predatory bird. Its air intake cowling was even painted to resemble claws. A single thought went through Clanky's mind as she watched the fighter pull in on the left, coming in slow, taunting and toying with it's prey.

'Screw this!'

The blonde mare got out of her seat and headed to the rear of the aircraft, aware of all the eyes on her. She wasn't just going to sit around and wait for a missile up the tailpipe. She kicked open a weapons locker in the cargo bay and grabbed a medium machinegun. Working quickly, she loaded it and slung the weapon over her shoulder. Afterwards, she punched the intercom panel.

"Attention please, this is your stewardess. The aircraft commander has turned on the fasten seat belt sign. To better facilitate your safety, we will be utilizing small arms fire from the left rear paratrooper door to attempt to drive off any rude strangers that try to interfere with the remaining portion of our flight. Please remain calm and secure all loose items in your immediate vicinity. Everything is under control. Emergency depressurization in five, four, three, two, one-"

And with that, Clanky smacked the open panel for the paratrooper door and braced herself, and her machinegun, in the now-open doorframe of the aircraft. Leveling the large, belt-fed weapon, she sighted in on the enemy fighter, still lazily moving in for a kill shot with its guns on the transport aircraft’s engines, and began peppering it with rounds. Clanky was a mechanic - an expert in her field - and much like a doctor is the deadliest pony you'll ever meet because of his or her knowledge of the body, so too was Clanky when it came to destroying the aircraft threatening the transport. With quick bursts letting her aim her fire with tracer rounds, Clanky adjusted fire until she was pumping rounds straight into the claw-painted air intakes she had noticed earlier. Jet engines, despite their size and power, are delicate systems and anything penetrating that system that shouldn't be there can cause spectacular damage, very quickly. The engine enemy fighter proved to be no exception to this rule. The force of the cavitation literally ripped the plane apart, gouts of flame ripped through the aircraft's skin and shredded the mainstay of the fuselage. As the burning wreckage rained down from the sky, a hoof tapped Clanky's shoulder. Three Royal Marines were behind her, struggling to set up tripod and remove a weapons system from a crate nearby.

"Miss, begging your pardon but this might make your next kill a little bit easier."

The Marines finished their work and started to move the .50 caliber heavy machinegun to the door, tying it in to the plane with some heavy ropes. Clanky rubbed her hooves together a little.

"I don't suppose you mind if I borrow that, do you?"

The first Marine laughed and stuck her hoof out to shake.

"Miss, you just saved all our hides. It'd be an honor. I’m Staff Sergeant Reckless and these clowns are one of my machinegun teams."

Clanky gave the mare's hoof a firm shake and settled in behind the heavy belt-fed weapon.

"Senior Airpony Doo. Staff Sergeant, Gentlecolts, let's buck some flank."

Flare and Zephyr's Strikers

"Twelve, Eleven, here's the plan. We're still receiving telemetry from Stormwatch. We can see another squadron breaking off to come at the transports; we'll hit them high and out of the sun. You're fitted with the “Thunderhead” storm cannon, right?"

"Affirmative. Clanky checked it out back at base and it's functioning perfectly."

"Perfect. I have a "Snow Lancer" ice cannon. You go in first, do a full power wide dispersion shot. You'll only get one at the power levels we're operating at. Try to take down or scramble as many as you can, then go to full throttle and play bait. I'll drop in behind you and nail the remnants with the ice cannon."

Flare wasn't exactly wild about this plan, that's for sure. Diving, practically unarmed, into a squadron of enemy fighters was not his idea of a good time. He complied, though, after all, Zephyr was the tactical genius. He brought his Storm Cannon online and set it up for a single, wide dispersion shot, basically generating a brief lighting storm. He leveled out with Zephyr and waited for her to give the signal.

"Selene Twelve, break and dive!"

"Copy. Tally ho!"

Flare broke and dove hard. Speed and surprise was what this type of attack had been about since the start of air combat, especially when it was one aircraft attacking a twelve aircraft formation – or a suicide mission as it was more commonly called. Flare focused on his positioning. He aimed right for the center of the formation and increased the angle of his dive, going near vertical. A yellow warning flashed on his HUD announced that the enemy fighters were in range for his Storm Cannon system. He started to engage the system.

"Selene Twelve, fox five!"

The sky in front of his fighter erupted in a lightning storm reminiscent of the wrath of an ancient god. The rippling tendrils of electricity smashed the majority of the enemy formation out of the sky, leaving only three enemy machines that had been on the edges of the formation. He cut to afterburner, ripping through their formation like a thunderbolt himself, jinking and dodging as the three aircraft gave chase, determined to avenge themselves on their new foe.

"Selene Eleven, fox five!"

Zephyr used her own Storm Cannon like a surgeon. Giant, icy spears pierced the cockpits of two of the aircraft pursuing Flare. She flashed by herself, unable to break the momentum of her dive as nimbly with the power drain from using her Storm Cannon twice in rapid succession.

"Twelve, Eleven. One more on your tail, going to try to come around for another pass."

"Copy Eleven, I'm going to bring him up on the left side of the transports. Come in over the top."

Flare was sweating in his cockpit. Whoever was behind him, he was good, very good. He was matching Flare pace for pace and move for move. If Zeph couldn't catch him when he brought him up, he had a very good chance of being a very dead pony. Seeing his mental mark in his HUD, he yanked back hard on his stick, leading the bandit up past the transport. The aircraft behind him exploded in a cascade of fire.

"Eleven, was that you?"

"Not me, Twelve... I- I think it was the transport!"

"Eleven... correct me if I'm crazy, but those transports are unarmed, aren't they?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Twelve."

The radios crackled for a second and Stormwatch broke in.

"Stormwatch to all aircraft. Remaining enemy aircraft are in full retreat. Battlespace is clear of hostiles. Turn over to Mareimar tower for landing and recovery instructions. CSAR assets have been launched for recovery."

Mareimar AFB
Secure Hangar 2

God, it felt good it be on solid ground! Flare felt the exhaustion and stress of the past day of flying hit his body all at once after completing his shut down procedure and dropping out of the striker. He moved over to Zephyr, who had just finished pulling herself out of her own striker and were starting to do a damage inspection when they spotted an enraged looking Major Windsheer stalking towards them with Clanky in tow. Princess Luna, however, got to them first, walking up behind them and catching their attention with a soft clearing of her throat. Flare and Zeph jumped about foot in their air, spun, and saluted. Luna smiled warmly.

"Hello again Flight Officers. It seems I have you to thank for my safety today. I'm glad to know I made such a good choice when selecting fliers for my squadron."

With that, she turned and walked away, leaving Flare and Zeph slightly open jawed and flathoofed but not before shooting a little wink and smile to Major Windsheer as if to say 'don't go too hard on them'. The Major didn't seem quite capable of taking that advice at the moment, however. If looks could kill the Major's glare would qualify as a weapon of mass destruction. In a lethal whisper, the Major finally spoke after a few minutes of tense silence.

"As soon as I find out where the hell my office is, you three’d better be in it!"

Legends of the Corps #1: Staff Sergeant Reckless, USMC. Now I don't have to tell you all I sneak references to all sorts of things in to my writing all the time, but occasionally those references are parts of Marine Corps lore and history. In this case the reference is very direct, but the history it references is extremely obscure. SSgt Reckless was a female Marine who served in the brutal combat of the Korean war, Her Military Decorations included two Purple Hearts, Good Conduct Medal, Presidential Unit Citation with star, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, and Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation. Reckless also happened to be a horse. During the battle of Outpost Vegas, Reckless walked on her own through 35 miles of hell between the ammunition supply point and the guns and mortars she was supporting under constant enemy fire. In one day she hauled close to five tons of ammunition. During the same battle she used (She mind, the Marines didn't force her she did this on her own) herself as a living shield to let trapped Marines return safely to the front line. In my personal opinion she is one of the most under decorated Marines in the history of the Corps. She had three foals, Dauntless, Fearless and Chesty and finally reported to her final duty station, passing away 13 May, 1968. SSgt Reckless was buried with full military honors aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California.

Chapter 6: Shop Talk

The Major was furious to say the least. He'd been yelling at the three ponies in front of him for a good thirty minutes now for failing to obey direct orders, endangering themselves and others, and a massive disregard for in-flight safety on the part of a certain mechanic. He’d had to stop and take a breath. They were damn lucky they'd pulled off saving the day instead of fucking up in the slightest in either situation.

"I ought to court martial you both for ignoring direct orders from your commanding officer. Don't think you’re getting off lightly, Doo. You deserve one too for that stunt on the transport. Thank Luna the pilot was able to compensate for the sudden depressurization."

The Major stopped again, took another breath, and tried to calm himself a down.

"But the fact remains, you three came out of this heroes. Without your actions, we would have almost certainly lost both transports and everyone aboard. So, by way of reward and punishment, I'm just gonna hammer medals straight in to your thick skulls. I have a briefing to be at. Get out of my sight...and good work."

The quick barks of affirmatives and the sight of the three ponies turning tail and practically fleeing his office was a good sign. They were heroes and their stunts had worked this time, but Windsheer knew, from long years of experience that nine times out of ten, heroics just got ponies killed. Hopefully that ear blistering would rein them in a little bit. The Major picked up a notepad with pen attached. He had another briefing from the Equestian Military Special Intelligence division. Hopefully, the spooks actually had something useful to tell them about the situation, like whether or not this was a declaration of war by the Northern Griffin Kingdom.

Classified Briefing of Senior Personnel
Marimar ADFB
1745 Local time

The Major shifted uncomfortably in his seat around the large table of the conference room. He hated briefings with a passion and formal briefings like this one were even worse. He was seated to the right of Princess Luna who capped one end of the table. Then, the various squadron commanders and senior officers of the base lined the table to the other head, where Colonel Steelhoof sat, a badly chomped stub of his cigar resting on his lip. He looked as impatient with the briefing process as Major Windsheer felt. The EMSI analyst finally finished his long-winded opening that sounded like it came directly from a manual on how to present things in the most painful manner possible and finally launched in to the meat of the matter.

"Your Highness, Mares and Stallions, thanks to successful negotiations with the Northern Griffin Kingdom by Princess Celestia, as well as intelligence operations along the border by EMSI, we have positively confirmed the aggressor during the present border difficulties. The fighters and bombers attacking us belong to units of the NGK Airforce belonging to their Southern Command Group. The Southern Command Group is lead by a griffin who goes by Lord Claw. His rank in their military is Second Talon, which is equivalent to a four star General by our rankings. EMSI's information and information provided by NGK sources have revealed that Lord Claw's attacks in to Equestria are actually part of a larger plot to overthrow the current griffin royal family. Claw is a war hero and extremely popular with the people. The Southern Command gives him control of massive amounts of troops and aircraft. There's even rumors he's managed to build a mountain command post that no one outside of his forces knows about or can locate."

Colonel Steelhoof smashed his cigar stub into the ashtray sitting near him.

"How exactly has EMSI confirmed this and what benefit does Claw gain from attacking Equestria?"

The door of the conference room opened and a scratchy rasping voice answered the Colonel.

"He makes himself appear strong, to have the best interests of the people at heart, and to be willing to take actions instead of tal. These things are prized in our society, Colonel."

The room was stunned as a large and very regal looking black griffin entered the room, the jeweled collar around his neck marking him as someone very important. The intelligence analyst appeared flustered for a moment and then stammered out an introduction.

"This is First Talon Lord Subotai, the overall commander of their military and the Right Claw of the King of the North; a position of great importance in their culture. The NGK made an offer to Princess Celestia on how to deal with the situation. The King cannot directly move against Lord Claw because he's too popular with the people; but if outsiders defeat him, not only will his standing be lost, but the King can then crush him with out worry of any backlash. Lord Subotai is here at the King's request, as well as the wishes of Her Highness, to prove that this offer for us to eliminate Claw is honest.”

Subotai ruffled his feathers a bit and stepped more to the center of the room.

"When I speak, I speak with His Majesty's voice. I am his Right Claw, most trusted of all his warriors and advisers. The first guardian of His eyrie We have no desire to war with your nation again, especially not over something so trivial as the work of miners. We also have a desire to be rid of Claw, who has betrayed the trust of the throne and committed the highest treason by working against His Majesty and attacking your country. Honor demands that your nation be given redress by taking Claw and those who follow him, draining their blood, smashing their eyries, and burning their lands."

"Don't hurt that it's politically expedient to you all too." Colonel Steelhoof growled out from behind a fresh unlit cigar.

The griffon's eyes narrowed slightly into what would approximate a smirk for an animal with a beak.

"A wise hunter can catch twice the prey with a single talon, Colonel. That does not make our offer any less genuine, which is why your Princess Celestia has accepted it."

The Major's heart sank as the Colonel and the griffin continued their light, verbal sparring. This was gonna be a long briefing.

The next day
Secure Hangar 2
2036 local time
Background Music

It'd been a long day of work. Flare and Zephyr's strikers had each gained some bullet holes here and there and Flare's electrical system had been partially fried from a minor fault in the Storm Cannon system. The day had been spent in companionable silence mostly; the trio mentally rehashing what happened to them the previous day. Questions about certain systems and repairs or requests to pass a certain part or tool were the only conversation as the three ponies focused on their work. Flare let out a long sigh and dropped to the ground by his striker, settling back on his haunches.

"I don't know about you two, but I think it's time we took a break."

Clanky, smudged with grease and a couple unidentifiable chemicals, wiped her hooves off and sat down next to Flare, Zeph following after securing a cowling shut.

"I think that's it for my striker. Thanks for the help, Clanky."

"Heh, what can I say? It is my job to keep these things in the air."

Clanky let out a soft sigh and relaxed back against the support strut of Flare's striker.

"This break was a good idea. I honestly don't remember the last time we stopped."

Zeph laughed softly.

"I seem to recall eating at some point, but I'll be damned if I can remember when we did."

Zephyr breathed in deeply, enjoying the small island of peace with her friends. So much had already changed in the past two days they'd all managed to save each other's lives in combat. All of them had killed. Zephyr wasn't really paying attention to Clanky and Flare now. He was telling the mechanic some story from their foalhood. Zephyr and Flare had grown up together, practically siblings. They'd met early one spring morning, when Flare had landed on top of her after jumping off a roof. Celestia only knew how he'd managed to get up there, but he did, and he took a running jump off it, already struggling to fly and failing in a spectacular manner. He'd actually managed to knock them both through the clouds, he’d hit her so hard, but his dad, who had been watching, dove and grabbed them. Flare had come over the next day to apologize and ask if she wanted to play. They'd been like siblings ever since. The mare shook her head a little; Flare and Clanky were both trying to get her attention.

"Sorry, guys, I zoned out a little."

Flare laughed at his friend.

"Your striker's all closed up, Zeph. You might as well go make an early night of it while Clanky and I finish up here."

Despite Zephyr’s protests that she was fine, her friends quickly chased her from the hangar. She really did need the rest, so she’d let them push her out the door. She took one last look over her shoulder and noticed they’d both sat back down by Flare’s striker, though Clanky was sitting a lot closer to Flare.

‘Flare and Clanky? They have been spending a lot of time together recently… but the Major’s exemption on the fraternization order doesn’t go that far. Flare wouldn’t risk his career like that, would he?’

Background Music*

Zeph shrugged it off. Her friends knew what they were doing, if they were even doing anything at all. She walked back to the barracks. Her room was on the first floor and close to the mare’s locker rooms and showers. This late at night no one was usually in them, but as she passed by, she could have sworn she heard sobbing and… was that pounding? Zephyr rushed in and was greeted by the sight of Captain Cloud Dancer. Her coat streaked with tears and blood, her wild mane contrasting to her normal orderly appearance. She was pounding her locker door with both hooves, the metal buckling under the force. Zephyr swallowed nervously.

"Ca-captain, are you okay?"

Cloud Dancer whirled on Zephyr. Her usually molten eyes were a flame, all the emotion inside was burning her up, tearing her apart, and she had no idea how to deal with the intruder before her. She was a torrent inside, wanting to lash out at the young mare for intruding, wanting to reach to her for help, needing someone when there was truly no one else; not after her brother had been murdered, after he had died just a few months ago, after what was left of her world was shattered.

"Nothing’s wrong. Return to your quarters."

Zephyr gave her a look, almost as if to argue. It was clear she wasn't okay. Even she knew she was lying and badly at that. As she turned to leave, Cloud Dancer heard a voice call out, like a cool breeze across her pained, burning heart and soul. Her brother's voice – Cloud Burster's voice, whispering,

"Sometimes you just need to trust someone."

The path before her cleared and, with a shaky voice, Cloud Dancer lifted her head and called out.

"Flight Officer... Zephyr, please wait. I could really use someone to talk to."

She didn't have to say another word, and the other mare was across the room, pulling her in to a hug.

"It's alright. Whatever it is just let it out."

So she did. She dropped all pretense, all illusions of rank and bearing, and she sobbed into Zephyr's mane, letting all the tears and pain flow out, letting all the loss, the sense of abandonment, the last family she had on the planet had died in the crash. Her brother, who she'd practically raised after their parents had passed in their foalhood. She was alone, cold and frozen; but in the caring hooves of Zephyr, she let it all met away.

After a while, the sobbing subsided, and the talking began. It was all one sided, but she knew Zephyr was paying attention to every word as she told her about her parents dying when she and her brother were foals and her brother's death with the 370th. Eventually, she started to pass out, utterly exhausted and Zephyr helped her back to her quarters on the second deck. As Zephyr slipped out the door, she whispered back in to the room.

"You can always count on me as your friend."

As Cloud Dancer fell in to a deep sleep, the last conscious thought that flashed around her mind was,

‘I... have a friend? It's been so long since I've had one of those... it's nice.’

*Author's note: I just want to make the point that the image in the video for the song "Memories" Vietnam Reflections by Lee Tater is a coincidence, while they all (this part of the fic, the song and the image) have pained emotional tones, and the image certainly goes with the song, I am not implying any connection between that image and my story, any real loss of life, or any real war at all. As a United States Marine such actions are beyond me and dishonorable. This is a work of fiction meant for the amusement and enjoyment of all, there is no connection to any real historical events except for scattered references that I leave around for other history nerds like me

Chapter 7: Striker Dawn

A week later
Mareimar ADFB Mass Briefing Room
0130

The briefing room was packed with ponies, pilots in ready gear literally filled the entire available space with more watching screens in smaller briefing rooms nearby. Except for a defensive squadron on CAP detail around the base, every single pilot who could fly was in this room. Mareimar was going to war. Celestia and Luna's aerial fist was going to strike back hard against the rebel forces of the NGK. Colonel Steelhoof looked sharp enough to cut the air he was standing in. He oozed military precision as he efficiently laid out the plan of attack to the amassed troops. It was mercifully short, however. They had a time table now.

"With this attack, fillies and gentlecolts, we will be striking a decisive blow against Claw and his standing in NGK society. This is the biggest air base they have in their Southern Command and the headquarters of the same. Taking it out will cripple their operations against Equestria for the foreseeable future. We're not going in alone people. Commando raids, Wild Weasel anti-air defense missions, and several other surprises will be hitting the enemy across the entire border, but we're the major blow. Those are knife wounds, ponies. We are the sword strike, and I will be damned to the deepest reaches of hell before we fail to deliver that blow."

The colonel grinned malevolently around his lit cigar.

"Especially after those yolk brained, yellow liver'd sons of a bitch tried to fuck up my base. To your aircraft. Launching begins in fifteen minutes. Individual squadron assignments will be passed over secure comms immediately before take off. Good luck, and Celestia's speed to you all. Dismissed!"

At the Colonel's last word it was practically a stampede to get to the flight line where ordnance technicians were locking racks of missiles and bombs in to place. Cannon shells had long been uploaded. The last of the fuel trucks were pulling away, and squadron mechanics were performing final checks before sending their aviators skyward. Zephyr shot Cloud Dancer a quick wink as they galloped toward their strikers. The other mare had vented to her a lot recently, and it seemed like she was finally pulling out of her emotional nose dive a little bit.

background music

Clanky's heart was pounding like it would rip out of her chest. Flare and Zephi's strikers were ready to go. She'd been done for a good twenty minutes now and was either rechecking the most minor possible details or just standing there and fidgeting.

'Dammit all, Clanky Doo. It's not like your in Summer Flight Camp any more. Just act like a grown up mare and say something to him.'

"Hey Clanky..."

The startled mechanic jumped about a foot in the air, her wings snapping open with surprise. Clanky managed to tangle herself u in mid air and ended up flat on her face. While she was deep in thought Flare had raced up and was waiting for an all clear to mount up in his striker. For his part, Flare reared back at the sudden burst of movement from his friend. He certainly hadn't been expecting THAT reaction from her.

"Clanky... is everything okay?"

Clanky picked herself up off the flight line, face burning red with a blush.

"I... Flare... I need to talk to you about something important when you get back, okay?

"Clank, what's up? I have a second..."

"No! It can wait till you get back. Just come back safe, okay?"

Flare laughed and playfully tapped Clanky's shoulder.

"Hey now, Don't I always?"

The mechanic was obviously upset about something important to her, and there was a wavering tear in the corner of her eye as she leaned in close and whispered,

"Just be extra sure this time"

She planted soft kiss on his cheek, and with a flutter of wings Clanky was gone in a instant, clearing the flight line with the rest of the mechanics and other ground crewponies as the warning orders started echoing across the tarmac from the control tower speaker systems. Not sure what to think about this turn of events with his friend, Flare got buckled in and started his preflight checks, when his comm system went live he already had a private channel request from Zephyr waiting for him.

"What was Clanky talking to you about?"

"It was nothing, Zeph, just something she'd fixed last minute"

"Alright... it didn't seem like nothing is all"

The channel went dead leaving Flare alone with his thoughts. He went through the checks on full autopilot mentally, noting the striker was in perfect condition. He had a anti-air load out but with a single HARM anti-radiation missile designed to hunt and kill ground radar stations and a 500lb guided penetration bomb hanging off his left wing to round out his weapons compliment. His face was still burning hot where the gold-eyed mare's lips had brushed his cheek not moments ago. He let himself enjoy the feeling... Flare was looking forward to getting back now more then he'd ever enjoyed the thought of landing somewhere in his life.

"Selene Twelve, this is Nightguard One, is your comm system out?"

Oh shit! He'd missed his ready check.

"Selene Twelve, two lit and in the green"

"Excellent, Selene Twelve, thank you for joining us. I have just received our operations orders from command. We'll be setting a little surprise for the Griffons and hitting them with a long range AMRAAM hellstorm. Then we'll be released to burn every single flying thing out the sky. If you get tracked by ground defenses or see something juicy that's aching for a bomb, feel free to donate the little ground attack ordnance we've got uploaded. I want everyone coming back with clean rails, not like we get bonus points for reusing these things. Due to the nature of the mission we'll be down to squadrons. Captain Cloud Dancer, Selene is all yours."

The Captain chimed in over the Squadron comm line,

"Okay, ponies, you heard the Major. Nice and simple eh? Keep next to your wingpony, keep your head out of the clouds, and we'll be home in time for dinner. I'll be keeping my callsign as Nightguard Three for the duration of the mission."

"Nightguard Three to Tower, 98th Night Fighter Squadron requesting clearance to depart."

"Copy that, Nightguard Three, you are clear for immediate unassisted launch off of runway 3-7. Good hunting."

"Wilco, squadron is launching"

The strikers quickly screamed in to the skies joining the aerial armada forming up to head north. A solitary pegasus mare watched the skies from a perch atop one of the large hangars closest to the runway, looking for just one more glimpse..

Just out of radar range from NGK Southern Command Airbase
Stormwatch AWACS
Background Music

"This is Stormwatch to all aircraft, we've crossed the final marker. Siphon fuel, jettison external tanks, and prepare to engage. Quarterhorse, you are cleared to kick the hornet's nest."

"Roger, Quarterhorse lining up for our attack run, tally ho!"

The plan was relatively simple, two squadrons of strikers, aka "Quarterhorse," would fly in low and fast hugging the mountainous terrain surrounding the base. They were loaded out with Wild Weasel equipment, powerful radar jammers and weapons designed to tear gaping holes in to ground based defenses. Stormwatch's suggestion to go "kick the hornet's nest" was especially apt with the rest of the plan. After Quarterhorse dropped in and caused as much damage to the base as possible, they'd break contact and haul flank toward the massed formation, luring out the now scrambling enemy fighters. It was a simple plan, a simple ambush, and it worked perfectly.

Staff Sergeant Roughhoof watched with baited breath as the twenty four symbols representing the Quarterhorse raiders danced erratically across the skies of her radar display. Between that and their comm traffic, it was simple to tell the amount of anti-air fire they were under was staggering in it's ferocity. The dying signals of enemy radar units however attested that the Weasels were working to drop that volume of fire significantly. As planned the squadron commanders got their charges together and started to head out the same way they came in. A quick comm call was all Aria Roughhoof needed to confirm that everything was going according to plan. The bait had been set. She turned to her operations officer Captain Starheart,

"Ma'am, hostiles in bound along predicted flight path. Telemetry is ready to transfer to the fighters for Beyond Visual Range missile volley."

"Excellent, Staff Sergeant, transmit the telemetry to the strikers, and have them launch as soon as Quarterhorse brings them in to the kill zone. It's time for some payback."

SSgt Roughhoof smiled at her superior officer. The grin she wore was far more suitable for a predator of some kind then a a pony.

"With pleasure, ma'am."

She turned back to her comm equipment and radar equipment.

"All strikers, this is Stormwatch, targeting data is being transmitted now. Stand by for a BVR missile volley on order. Weapons are hot, fillies and gentlecolts."

A quick chorus of affirmatives from the wing and squadron commanders lit up the comms and lapsed in to a tense silence. Roughhoof tapped her hoof restlessly as she watched the radar screen. The marks representing Quarterhorse were well within the trap at this point; the enemy aerial armada just had to get a little closer... just a little more... there.

"Quarterhorse this is Stormwatch, emergency dive. Hit the deck; missiles are inbound."

A quick frequency change and SSgt Roughhoof with nothing but a radio and a radar dish unleashed hell on the incoming enemy aircraft.

"Stormwatch to all aircraft, you are clear to engage. Weapons free."

The response was a massive chorus of "fox three" as close to two hundred active radar-guided missiles screamed off their rails, burning toward the distant foe at high mach. They closed the gap in seconds. The BVR volley devastated the enemy before they even saw a single EADF fighter. Roughhoof's screen cleared drastically of symbols representing enemy aircraft, close to half of them vanishing from her radar screen. The sheer amount of destruction was breathtaking. She let herself picture it all for a moment after releasing the strikers to their preassigned missions and attack runs: the wave of missiles streaking across the sky, the ripple of blossoming explosions tearing through the enemy formation, shrapnel flying everywhere, shattered machines and their pilots falling from the sky. The cold knot of hate that had formed in her heart from the death of the 370th, the part of her that screamed to the heavens for justice, for vengeance, for those deaths, was appeased. She allowed herself a cold tight smile and a prayer to the Princesses and went back to directing the bombers in to airspace that had been cleared of enemy aircraft so they could form up for attack runs.

Flare and Zephi

The battle roared around Flare and Zeph, chaos at it's finest. The remaining ground defenses were pumping out anti-aircraft fire and surface to air missiles, trying to deter the bombers hammering the base and assist the few NGK fighters remaining in the air. Death danced through the skies as aircraft hammered each other with missiles and cannon fire. The EADF planes deftly switching between air to air combat and strafing runs against ground targets.

Flare spotted a untouched trio of flak cannons nearby and with a deft touch of the controls rolled in on them giving the targeting system a clear look. Another quick manipulation and the large 500lb bomb on his left wing fell away with an audible thunk gliding quickly to it's target. Flare felt a surge of satisfaction as the fire of an explosion tore the weapons emplacement apart, the secondary explosions of the battery's magazines showering the surrounding area with debris.

"Scratch some ground pounders, Eleven"

"Nice lob, Twelve. How are you for ordinance?"

They'd both been busy since the attack began in earnest they were both down to a pair of air to air missiles and Flare still had the HARM radar hunting missile hanging from his wing.

"Down to air to air for all intents and purposes, Eleven. Let's go pluck the feathers off a few more chickens"

"Copy that, Twelve, following your lead"

They formed up and started a tight graceful arc over the mountains lining the base. Zephyr was scanning the skies for targets when her HUD lit up with a radar lock and the screaming tone of a incoming missile sounded in her ears. It was too close and coming in too fast. Even as Flare was yelling at her to evade and fired his HARM at the previously concealed SAM site it was too late. The HARM and the SAM impacted at the same time. The missile battery erupting in a fire ball, and the SAM blasting Zephi's striker with shrapnel. She tugged on the controls. They were very sluggish, and she was feeling woozy from the concussion of the blast.

"Twelve, give me a visual inspection of the damage"

Flare eased his fighter up on Zephi's left side and took a look over her hull.

"Eleven, you're short a good portion of your tail and about half your right wing, smoke coming out of the general fuselage might be some internal damage, but nothing I can detect by sight alone. Are you still flight capable? Ejecting here is really not the best plan."

"Your talent for understatement is incredible as always, Twelve. I think I can hold it together enough to at least get back to friendly airspace."

"Copy, let's take a nice easy loop out of the engagement area, try to get some altitude, and get you out of here"

Flare switched up to the squadron wide comm channel. They could use some help from the rest of Selene for sure.

"Nightguard Three, this is Selene Twelve. Eleven has taken critical damage, and we are out bound from the battlespace, requesting support."

Cloud Dancer's heart caught in her throat and a little part of her mind started screaming.

Not again, not again, oh Celestia please not again, I can't lose everypony again

Her thoughts echoed through her mind over and over again as she responded to Flare's call for help.

"Copy that, Twelve. Nightguard Three and Four are inbound to cover you.”

Cloud Dancer tried to focus, she had a squadron to lead too and couldn’t let herself center on just one pony. Stormwatch had just called in the general withdrawal order moments before Flare had radioed in his mayday for Zephyr, she needed to get all her ponies out of this place in good order, not just focus on her friend at the expense of the lives of those who relied on her.

“ All Selene elements, the signal to begin pulling out of the airspace just came in on the command net from Stormwatch. Burn targets of opportunity nearby and begin to withdrawn. We'll form up when we reach the aerial refuelers."

Cloud Dancer's heart was pounding hard as her squadron moved to comply with her orders. She pulled up in to a hard roll, following Flare's coordinates to close with the wing pair. They came in to view after a couple minutes maneuvering. Even at this long range Cloud Dancer could tell that Zephi was fighting to keep her striker airborne every second of flight time. The aircraft was dying, but she was holding it together. Cloud Dancer opened up the comm line to let Flare and Zephi know they were in sight and that cover was coming up on their right when she caught sight of the enemy fighter. He was coming in high, and wide, his long arch letting him maintain altitude and close the gap towards missile range quickly.

"Twelve, Eleven, evade! Bandit six o'clock high!"

Twelve drifted back from his position by Zephi's wing, placing himself between the enemy fighter and her striker.

"No can do, Lead. Eleven has the maneuverability and grace of a brick right about now. Evasion is impossible for her at this time.”

Flare had his plan neatly outlined in his head, at least in there it didn’t sound entirely too suicidal.

‘ Ok,,,I'm going to try to take the locks for all the missiles he might fire might fire and draw them off at the last second with a hard dive. I'll then go in to a chaff and flares evasion pattern, If I don't pull it off, Zephi's dead in the air.’

"If you fuck up, you're both dead, Twelve"

"It's a risk I have to take, Nightguard Three"

"Twelve, if you live through this I'm going to beat you so hard ponies are going to ask about your ejection seat malfunction."

"Looking forward to it, ma'am"

The comms lapsed in to a tense silence. The bandit made missile range and the twin contrails of the missiles leapt from the enemy fighter, racing towards the two strikers. Cloud Dancer didn't even notice her wingmare breaking off and engaging the bandit with a missile of her own. She only had eyes for the twin missiles racing towards Flare and her only friend. Closer, closer... Flare started to roll and dive beginning the maneuver that would hopefully draw off the two missiles... seconds ticked by and then.... whatever Flare had been trying to do failed. The missiles slammed in to the two strikers, erupting in clouds of flame and smoke. Cloud Dancer's heart fell at terminal velocity. The old depression swallowed her whole as the two strikers fell towards the ground, debris and glass falling off them, no ejection systems igniting to let the two aviators escape certain death.

"Nightguard Three to Stormwatch, I need CSAR assets asap!"

"Nightguard Three, this is Stormwatch. I'm sorry, ma'am but CSAR isn't availible. We just got word that NGK reenforcements are coming with all speed and a massive northern blizzard is hot on their heels. We're pulling out of the airspace now."

"But I have pilots on the ground!"

"There's nothing we can do, Nightguard Three"

Cloud Dancer wanted to scream at the comms operator, to yell and rage at someone, to cry out in pain and frustration. Instead she just acknowledged the order and after getting on the proper southbound vector, Cloud Dancer shut off her comms system and let the tears come.

Mareimar ADFB
Background Music

They had the radar telemetry from the AWACS up on the big screen in the main briefing room, the same room that had housed the fliers now fighting just this morning. An innovative comm tech had also managed to pipe the squadron and command comm nets down in to the room. The entire base that wasn't on duty was crammed in to the briefing chamber, listening and watching, praying for the survival of friends, comrades, and loved ones.

Clanky was no exception, she watched as the two dots representing her friends winked out of the sky, listening as Captain Cloud Dancer's request for CSAR was denied. Then she felt the hot tears start to stream down her face. There was no sobbing to accompany them, no noise at all, though that would come later alone in what would be a very empty barracks room that night. For now it was only the tears and the single echoing thought in her head,

'I never got to tell him.'

Chapter 8: The Freezing Season

Mareimar ADFB
Captain Cloud Dancer's quarters
Background Music

The room was almost entirely dark. The curtains were drawn tight; only the winking red digital clock on the dresser gave an indication of the time of day, not that the room's solitary occupant cared. Winter storms the likes of which hadn't been seen in Equestria in a century were battering the north of the country and Mareimar was in the middle of the worst of it. Besides following the mission and the loss of two of her pilots, the Major had grounded her and the squadron for ninety six hours. So it was just Cloud Dancer and her only the friend, the only thing that had ever really been there for her. A bottle of Buck Daniels she'd bartered away from one of the maintenance ponies. The spirit, a product of the city of Bridlesberg deep in the Equestrian south had once been Cloud Dancer's constant companion as she tried to cope with the pain and responsibility that had been shoved on to her in her foalhood.

She had lost her entire family except Cloud Burster when she'd been about ten, leaving Cloud Burster at six, and too young to really remember the fatal accident that had claimed their parents. He remembered being alone though, the series of cruel foster homes that they had suffered through, almost being separated on more then one occasion. It had been the two of them against all odds, with Cloud Dancer sacrificing everything to shield her brother from the cruel reality they had faced. Blows meant for him landed on her, many nights she would starve to make sure he had enough. Nothing was too much to ask or too much to give.

Volunteering for the EADF flight academy when she was legally able had been the turning point. After she enlisted the Judge Advocate General Corps assisted her in her fight for custody of Cloud Burster. It freed them both from the hell they'd been living in the better part of a decade. The secret drinking stopped--she no longer needed her "coping mechanism". The wounds of the past were finally on their way to being healed as she and Cloud Burster started their new life. Until recently... until it started happening again, until everything good was torn away from her again. Until she lost Cloud Burster in a ball of fire not far from where she was now collapsed, weeping, the happy little world she'd fought so hard for dying along with him.

The sobs were coming fast and hard now. Cloud Dancer alternated between gasping for breath and taking another slug of Buck. She'd finally had someone reach out to her, to look past the mask of professionalism that was Captain Cloud Dancer and see the heart of a mare that had never really stopped hurting, reaching out with simple kindness and concern for her well-being. This was something new for Cloud Dancer, as she had never had friends of her own. She had classmates and colleagues, but all her spare time was consumed with flight practice, studying or taking care of her brother. Everything for her family, her brother, never a thought contrary to that purpose and never, not even now a regret in those choices.

'I've given everything without a selfish thought in my heart, never asking only giving. Why does everything, everypony always get taken from me? Oh, Celestia how do I always manage to fail them all?"

Guttering flames of hope flared and died, a fractured heart shattered, and all the scars reopened and bled crimson, mixing the blood of her pain with her tears. She needed to get out of this room, to walk, to be somewhere, anywhere else. To feel something, anything even if that was just the freezing wind on her face.

Cloud Dancer stumbled and staggered her way out of the barracks, the cold bitter enough to freeze tears to her face. Her stomach rebelled from all the movement and left the better part of the bottle of Buck Daniels in the snow. He head was clearer now and Cloud Dancer felt a bit more stable. She carefully started to walk towards the hangar. The facility would be deserted right now and gave her an end location for her walk. The distance passed quickly. The cold and the alcohol muddled her thoughts and let her focus drift, with flashes of pain--emotional and otherwise--and the ghosts of those she'd lost appearing briefly in the driving snow.

She staggered against the hanger door, momentarily driven to her knees by the welling emotions.

'Luna damnit.... can I at least escape my nightmares when I'm fucking awake? Is that too much to ask?

Cloud Dancer continued on into the hangar proper, the rigid organization and familiar scents of the hanger calming her down slightly as she looked around the massive, darkened room. Everything was in its place.... except the two bare spots marking two missing strikers. A pang of loss echoed out from Cloud Dancer's heart as she stood where Zephyr's striker had once parked, the unit leaving them free of obstruction or use in memory of the fallen fliers, and most likely because of the superstition that haunted every military unit, the places and gear of the fallen becoming "bad luck".

BANG!

The sudden loud noise dumped adrenaline into Cloud Dancer's system, and she found herself unsteadily hovering about three feet off the ground. She sheepishly landed and looked around the hangar for the source of the noise. Her eyes were drawn to one of the doors in to a store room attached to the hangar; it was open and there was a light on inside. She thought it was one of the ones the Marines had claimed for their use but no one should be here this time of night. Cloud Dancer's mouth unconsciously went for her shoulder holster. It wasn’t there, her sidearm was sitting on the desk in her quarters where she'd left it. Cloud Dancer still had her backup. She pulled the long curved combat knife from her right boot and settled it firmly in to her mouth as she crept towards the store room. Right as she made the door, the Buck Daniels decided to make its presence known again and she staggered into the open door with a loud crash.

'Oh yeah... I'm still drunk'.

However,she was rewarded with a distinctly female gasp from within the store room. The element of surprise firmly curb checked into oblivion, Cloud Dancer rushed around the corner to be greeted with the image of several Marines helping a shocked-looking Clanky Doo into cold weather survival gear and an Airborne Booster system. It was the backpack version of a striker engine, pegasi-assigned as airborne infantry used them to get a drastic speed, range and mobility boost over normal winged flight. One of the Marines, a solidly built mare with Staff Sergeant's chevrons on her collar, looked up from the strap she was adjusting.

"Awww horseapples... looks like we're bucked, fillies"

Cloud Dancer sheathed the knife and did her best to look imposing through the alcohol haze she was fighting.

"Somepony better have a hell of a good explanation for what's going on here!"

Cloud Dancer staggered a step in to the room... so much for imposing. However, the young blond airpony she knew as "Doo" and "That Blond Moron" depending on MSgt Ironheart's mood stepped forward to meet her challenge. Her eyes were red, face streaked with the trails of tears, and even to Cloud Dancer it was obvious that she'd been crying recently. Where Cloud Dancer's eyes showed what she thought was defeat and loss, Clanky Doo's eyes were filled with fire, tempered by a cold steely determination.

"They’re alive ma'am, and I'm going to go get them.”

"By stealing military equipment and going AWOL?"

Doo practically whispered her response.

"They... they’'d do the same for me."

Cloud Dancer turned, her gaze focusing in on the Marine SSgt.

"And you SSgt? The hell are you and your Marines doing helping her?"

The big mare shrugged. It was obvious she'd been in trouble before and didn't really care about it anymore.

"She saved all our necks on that transport ma'am, we figured we owed her one. Plus I know the colts and I don't like the idea of leaving ponies on the ground behind enemy lines without help... or hope."

That last word 'hope' practically broke Cloud Dancer where she stood. She knew her duty to the unit--to Equestria--but what about her duty to her ponies? And her friend? Her stomach heaved again; the Buck Daniels was not helping with this at all. Her stomach soon started to settle and her mind and heart followed it’s example.

"Five minutes."

There was a collective confused noise from the ponies in front of her.

"I'm going into my office, you have five minutes to finish gearing her up and getting her the hell out of here, I was drunk and didn't see a damn thing you understand me?"

Cloud Dancer didn't wait for a response. She just turned and staggered back towards the office, walking as straight as her hooves would allow her. A soft smile graced her face as she walked in to her office, slamming the door behind her. She sat down hard and let her thoughts and emotions consume her.

'The hell did I just do? I could have just bought myself a court martial.’

Her office door opened again, interrupting her train of thought. She caught a bark at one of the ponies involved at the operation when the light revealed the figure of MSgt Ironheart stepping through her door. The old mechanic looked tired and more worn-down then he usually did and Cloud Dancer internally braced herself for his accusations.

"You did the right thing."

Cloud Dancer's jaw just about hit her desk--that was not the reaction she'd be anticipating.

"Maybe not the legal thing, but it was the right thing to give those two fliers a shot, leaving a pony behind the lines... abandoning somepony, no matter how good the reasoning... that never sat well with me, Ma'am."

Ironheart took a seat by her desk and offered her a pull from a flask produced from his uniform’s breast pocket.

"Want a swig? Glenhoofitch 18 year, only the best."

"I think I've had more than enough to drink tonight, Top, but I do have a question."

"Shoot, ma'am."

"Why'd you let her go? You obviously saw her and the Marines. Do you really think she has a chance?"

The old master sergeant took another solid slug from his flask and leaned back a little on his haunches, letting a sigh out before continuing to speak.

"You saw Doo's eyes, Ma'am?"

Cloud Dancer simply nodded, not knowing where Ironheart was taking this.

"There was love in those eyes, Ma'am. I haven't seen a more powerful force than that in twenty-five years of service and a good forty-two years of living. That filly will move mountains if it means getting her friends back. She deserves the chance, even if it kills her trying... which it probably will. It is Doo after all, it's just love, not Celestia's divine grace."

Ironheart punctuated the sentence with another pull from the flask as Cloud Dancer mulled his words over.

"Top, I think I'll join you in that drink... I think I've been drinking alone too much recently."

Ironheart passed the flask over.

"You gotta by careful with that Ma'am, easy to drink your life away and forget everything that's good in the world."

Mareimar ADFB
Southern Perimeter
Background Music

The Marines hustled Clanky out to a dead spot in the patrols guarding the base. It had cost SSgt Reckless some chewing tobacco and booze to arrange, but all the Marines in the detail thought they owed Clanky one and the collection to bribe the local Marines had been enthusiastically responded to. Reckless ran a quick eye over Clanky's gear. Survival rations, weapons and ammo for three, a couple grenades, maps that wouldn't do shit for the enemy in the event of capture, and a compass set up for navigation and some other odds and ends.

"Well Clanky, we have you as set up as possible, and in this weather the radar ain't gonna see shit unless you ram the dish. I gotta get the colts here back to the barracks before we're missed, good luck!"

And with a quick round of back-slapping, the Marines vanished into the storm, leaving Clanky alone in the dark.

’Well... you’ve come this far Clanky, time to turn and burn.’

Clanky went through the start-up procedures for the booster now strapped firmly to her back, the magic engine whined softly as it started to spin up. The unit flashed a green light in the small HUD mounted to her helmet, and with a quick whisper to Luna, Clanky took to the sky in a burst of magical fire.

The storm was brutal, even more brutal then Clanky thought it would be as she rose over the base, gale winds lashing at her from every direction, threatening to throw her off course. Ice fought her for purchase on her heated, extreme-cold-weather flight gear, trying to form and lock up her wings as she burned up skyward...she felt more than saw herself burst into a massive cloud bank, fighting all the while. Feeling one of her wing joints lock in place from all the ice, Clanky erupted through the top of the bank with a burst of flames and ice crystals, coming to an exhausted rest on top of the storm.

’No... no time to rest now.’

With a quick consultation of her map and compass to get her bearings, Clanky lept through the skies, burning northward in the strange sky above the storm, watched over by Luna’s full moon.

Reckless watched her go, a flame briefly rising in to the night sky, piercing the storm like a flaming arrow. She tapped her breast pocket making sure the other mare’s possible last letter home was secure in her shirt, she wished her friend luck, but with a heart like hers... Reckless was pretty sure Clanky wouldn’t need it. With a last glance towards the sky Reckless walked back inside, she had a letter to mail.

Intermission 3: Last Letter?

Background Music

It had been a long day on the mail route for Ditzy Doo, she steps in the door and shakes the dust from her hooves and coat. There's only one letter for the Doo household today and it's from her niece Clanky. Ditzy smiles warmly as she pulls the letter from her mailbag and instantly notices something amiss, the envelope is stained, and the return address is different then her usual military one. Ditzy tore the letter open in a slight rush revealing a crumpled, tear stained letter from her sister's eldest daughter.

Dear Ditzy,

Don't read this letter to Dinky... some bad things have happened and I don't want her to hear them. I know she's getting bigger but she doesn't need to hear things like this. Not for a long time with any luck and the Princess's favor.

I'm guessing you caught on that the stallion I was talking about was Flare... I told him... sorta, we were going to talk when he got back from his last flight. He didn't come back Ditzy. Flare and Zephyr didn't come back. There was no confirmation, no fly over, no SAR attempt, but the military's officially got Flare and Zephyr listed as killed in action. It was all I could do to stand there and keep my composure when the Major read the death notices to all of us. I haven't stopped crying since I heard. Not until a little before I started to write this letter.

I don't think they're dead Ditzy, I know in my heart that they're alive and I'm going after them. I might be throwing away my life, I'm almost certainly destroying my career but either of them would do the same for me. I'm going and I'm bringing them back with me. I've called in some favors with... individuals around who think I'm something of a hero, they're willing to help me and one of them is going to smuggle this letter in to the post past the censors. If any one official asks there's another letter with this one that doesn't talk about this that you can show them if it comes to that.

I suppose this comes down to love being something insane, to it making you do foolish things. To me though, love and friendship mean going above and beyond for the ponies you care about no matter what risks that means taking. I won't leave my friends out there, even if going risks my own life. I know you understand, some of the sacrifices you've made to take care of Dinky still pale in comparison to what I'm doing here and I know you'd go to lengths for her that would make this seem like a paltry gesture.

I love you both more then I can ever tell you, and I hope I get to see you both again soon.

Always your loving niece,
Clanky

Ditzy slumped down against the wall tears in her eyes and worry in her heart. 'Oh Clanky.... Celestia please keep her safe.'

Chapter 9: Tundra

Author's note: FINALLY! I'm sorry this took over a month to get to you ponies! Please have patience as we're close to the end. Chapter 10 is in editing now and I'm writing chapter 11 as soon as I finish typing this. Thanks for sticking with me, it's the readers that make this worth it.

Semper fi,
PonyMarine
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enemy Airspace

Flare was in serious trouble. The missile had caught him on the broadside and wrecked.... everything, from what his diagnostics screens were telling him. The stricken striker was essentially a giant brick at this point. Controls were barely responding, the engine was offline, and all the electrical systems had shorted out. A quick tug of the ejection straps proved that the ejection system was offline as well.

"Well... things can't possible get much worse."

The aircraft hit a pocket of turbulence and started to fall in to a spinning tumble.

"Me and my big mouth."

And with a final quip the stallion passed out from the building Gs as the aircraft continued its return into gravity's embrace, picking up speed until finally... impact. An eruption of snow marked the spot where the striker came to its final rest.

Some time later
Location unknown
Background Music

Flare woke up with his head pounding. Given the condition he'd been in when he passed out, waking up was surprising enough. He found himself hanging upside down from the rig that kept him strapped in to the command couch of the striker. From what he could tell all the systems were out, the canopy was blackened, covered in... something. Flare flipped a few switches, trying to get a response from his shattered aircraft, before unstrapping himself and moving back to the ingress/egress port. Normally on the bottom of the striker, it was now facing upwards. Flare yanked hard on a bright yellow lever marked "EMERGENCY EGRESS" and the hatch blew away. Flare pulled the cold weather survival pack from its stowage nearby, checked his sidearm, and ventured in to the bright light streaming in from the emergency hatch.

Screaming winds tore at him as his eyes fought to adjust to the brilliant, frozen landscape. Flare's striker had slammed hard in to the mountainside and as the aircraft cooled was quickly buried in the driving snow. In fact, the aircraft was completely covered, except where Flare had cleared a path by jettisoning the escape hatch with its explosive bolts. The young pegasus quickly augmented his flight suit with the extreme cold weather clothing contained in his kit and pounded a little water from his canteen. Flare remembered that hydration was especially vital in cold climate, because the cold makes it harder to recognize when you were dehydrated and that could easily become a fatal mistake.

He worked quickly, setting the special charges in the designated areas of the aircraft to destroy any remaining sensitive materials, such as the radar package, the secure comms, and other vital systems. No matter what happened to Flare, he couldn't jeopardize his comrades back in the squadron by letting secure materials fall in to enemy hands.

He set the charges for a one hour delay and quickly made his way into the snow. When the blast came, it would be a big one, and he had to be well on his way. Even the thermal scattering camouflage that was part of the survival gear he was wearing wouldn't help him long in the face of a concentrated search.

Flare found a decent vantage point a few miles from the crash site and held up for a brief second, taking more water and part of a ration bar as he observed the area nearby. No jet engines or helicopters screamed towards the crash site and it seemed the only thing moving in this frozen wasteland was him. Flare turned to his second order of business and started to look for Zeph.

The tracking unit was small, a light piece of gear that had a tight band GPS transmitter/receiver of incredible power, amplified by natural pegasi magic through a process well over Flare's head. The tiny little device could punch through the teeth of the fiercest storm. Made in pairs, the tight band units were designed as locators so downed wing pairs could find each other, and when it came time for rescue it could bounce a one off "Signal Flare" transmission broadcasted their exact coordinates to the NORCOM GPS satellite chain. Flare had questioned the limited nature of the device while he was at the academy and had received an hour-long ass-chewing and eight-page paper on communications security behind enemy lines as a result. One thing was sure about the military questions were just not things you asked when it challenged the status quo. But it did its job and shot him a bearing towards the other active beacon in the close area, Flare shot a bearing and took off, moving on foot to avoid the ripping gale-force winds and to be less visible to enemy patrols that were certainly on his tail.

The going was brutal, to say the least. Flare couldn't fly if he had wanted to as the screaming winds ripped and tore at him. The exhausted pegasus stayed hunkered down to the frozen ground, crawling forward in to the teeth of the storm, following the blinking dot on his tracker leading him to Zephyr's final resting...

‘no, can't think like that, mustn't think like that. Just have to keep going...’

Sometime later

'Celestia’s hooves... I made it!'

The site that awaited Flare was not a happy one, and as he found more and more wreckage strewn across the landscape, the exhausted pony's heart sank and his spirits fell like the temperature which was sinking lower and lower as the night arrived.

"Nothing could have survived a wreck like this."

The tears started to fall and froze to his fur almost immediately, the will to continue fighting being sapped from his bones as brutally as the cold was sapping the heat from his body. He continued to half-heartedly trudge forward, looking for the bulk of the striker.

He found the wreckage about a mile on, surrounded by shattered landscape and at the end of a long furrow in the earth. The twisted, shattered wreckage did his heart no better and seemed to confirm what he had already thought. His best friend had passed on to greener pastures. There was no time to mourn. The patrols would be hunting for him as soon as the storm broke and he needed the gear stowed in Zephyr's shattered striker to have a remote chance of survival.

The pegagus went through the process of opening the emergency rescue hatch on the striker. The same type of hatch he had egressed out of a few hours ago had similar controls on the outside to allow rescue crews to get to the striker's pilot in case of a crash. Flare took a deep breath and tried to steady himself. Flare knew in his heart what he was about to see. The hatch fell away... and there she was, just like he'd predicted. Slumped on her controls, she looked like she was just taking a nap or something close to it... that is, except for the blood splattered across the cockpit, the fresh red standing out in sharp contrast to her green flight suit and the few visible patches of blue fur.

Tears filled his eyes and Flare's gorge rose, his mind screaming and not wanting to believe what his heart knew and had known from the first bit of wreckage. Zephyr was dead. Flare groped blindly through the tears, looking for the survival kit.

'Just... just have to get this kit and... oh Celestia's mane...'

A loud coughing noise interrupted Flare's mind breaking and the shocked stallion turned to the body of the mare and looked closer. Breathing. Zephyr was breathing! Flare was too delighted to speak and quickly worked at getting her out of her harness, gently moving her to the ground.

"Zephyr? Zephyr can you hear me?"

The blue pegasus cracked one eyelid.

"F...flare? not so loud... I have one hell of a hangover..."

"Heh yeah, you went on a hell of a bender, but I'm going to fix you up alright? Stay with me!"

"Okay..."

Flare quickly set to work triaging the wounded mare. Most of her wounds were superficial, with a couple cracked ribs and a broken wing being the worst of it. Flare splinted and set those and cleaned the various cuts and scrapes Zephyr had collected. Then he set to work on a sledge for Zephyr and the equipment. Flying was out for obvious reasons and walking in her condition... just wouldn't be happening. Zephyr woke up and watched him work a little.

"How am I Doc?"

"You look like hell."

"Gee thanks asshole, you always say the sweetest things about me."

"Eeyup mister silvertongue that's me."

"Do you say sweet things to her?"

Flare looked up with a start, a blush crossing his face.

"Who?"

"Clanky, come on something's up there, I'm not that stupid flycolt."

"I... maybe... she... she kissed me before we left, said she wanted to talk to me when we got back, I dunno I was hoping..."

Zephyr weakly punched a hoof into the ground in front of her.

"Well that settles it then."

"Settles what?"

"We have to get back to the unit. This could be the only shot your dopey flank ever gets at a decent mare and I'll be damned if I let you miss that chance."

Flare laughs with mock outrage and half heartedly throws a snow ball at Zephyr.

"Zeph?"

"Yeah?"

"It's good to have you back Zeph... I thought I’d lost you."

"Don't get sentimental on me now, I might just die of shock... it's good to be back."

Three Days of Traveling Later
Background Music

They'd made good time today, The sledge was easy enough for Flare to pull, and now that the storm had broken, he could even skim above the clouds and use his wings instead of his legs for easy portions of the journey. They'd holed up in a copse of giant pine trees with a little over hang in it that provided excellent cover. Flare had a small fire running in short order and headed out trying to find more dry wood.

*crack*

'Oh buck me, now what?'

Flare threw himself up in to the boughs of a nearby pine tree and began to observe, waiting to see who else had joined him in the woods. He knew it wasn't Zephyr and that whoever was out there hadn't found her yet. Flare would have heard gunshots and a struggle at this distance. His breath caught in his throat as an individual cloaked in arctic camouflage slowly started to work it's way out of the woods near Flare. It delicately held in it’s mouth what Flare recognized as an EADF pilot recovery tracker, and stopped to catch a bearing and started moving again, coming to a rest under his tree. Flare looked closely at the figure, weighing his options. The figure below his tree didn’t look anything like a griffon..

"Thunder."

The startled figure in white spun around, trying to find the source of the voice, but settled down and responded with the pre-arranged countersign they'd been briefed on.

"Flash"

Flare dropped down from the tree.

"Son of a bitch I could practically kiss you... I... Clanky?"

The floor momentarily dropped out on Flare's reality as he came face-to-face with his rescuer and and found not a special forces pony or a Tactical Recovery team from the Marines, but none other than the mare he wanted to get back to so badly, Technical Corporal Clanky R. Doo, EAD. As their eyes met, her own eyes went wide and she tackled him, driving him back in to the snow and kissing him with the kind of passion that he felt would surely melt the snow around them for a couple yards at least.

"Hi."

"Hi yourself, I missed you."

"I see that, where's the rescue party?"

"You’re looking at her."

"So..."

"You're officially KIA and I'm violating about thirty regulations to be here to save you and Zeph... did she?"

"Broken wing and some cracked ribs. She's in our hide nearby."

Clanky leaned down and kissed him again.

"I'm gonna bail you out this time but don't you ever do something like this to me again... losing you almost killed me!"

"Aye ma'am, I'll never let a pretty mare like you down."

Clanky grinned, blinking away a few tears.

"See that you don't... sir."

The two ponies finish gathering fire wood and headed back to camp for a happy reunion with Zephyr. After small talk and food, the three friends consulted Clanky's map. They laid out a plan for the next day's movement towards the Equestrian border. As Flare settled in to his sleeping bag, he reflected that now for this first time, he truly believes they have a chance of making it--a chance of getting home.

The gun barrel shoved into his cheek the next morning, however, apparently had others plans.

Chapter 12: Clear Blue Skies

Two months have passed
Princess Luna's Office
1300
(Song 1)

The solid thunk of a knock on her office door drives Luna from the sanctity of her fresh cup of tea, mercilessly dragging her back to the world of paperwork she's briefly escaped. A quick check of her clock however reveals that this is an expected and most welcome visit.

"Come."

The recently promoted Colonel Windsheer lets himself in and calmly shuts the door behind him, coming before her desk and kneeling like a knight of the old court. Luna hid the smile from her lips, he was a great warrior, leader and friend. He deserved to be able to choose what set of etiquette he and his ponies followed. Luna rather liked the old court style any way, it reminded her of... before. The princess quickly settled her thoughts from the dark time of her banishment and returned to reality. Windsheer started a formal address and it was just too nice a spring evening for Luna to let him continue.

"Please Windsheer, it's too nice a day and you're too old a friend, rise and sit with me, please talk plainly it is only us today after all."

Windsheer inclines his head, grinning up at his princess and rising at her command.

"As you wish m'lady."

"What have you brought us this fine spring night? Please tell me you have an excuse to get me out of here and into the moonlight instead of this thrice cursed office."

Windsheer chuckles politely. Luna's hatred of being cooped up in her office but love of being cooped up in her library was legendary amongst the palace staff and what she usually meant when she professed her desire to escape into the night.

"Nothing to help you escape m'lady unless you want me to have the duty Marine platoon practice a hostage rescue."

"Hmmm we'll consider it as a last resort."

Windsheer took the heavy load of paper work and separated them into three stacks quickly and efficiently.

"The first pile is the final butcher's bill for the northern campaign and the final assault against Claw, all told the wing lost twenty dead and fifteen wounded, six of those were in critical condition but are showing excellent recovery at this phase in their treatment, four of those should be able to rejoin the unit, the other two are being given full medical discharges with honors. Mostly Marines but a smattering of pilots, three MIA, latter confirmed POW and all three were recovered despite grievous wounds sustained in captivity and during recovery. Lieutenants Flare and Zephyr have already been cleared to active duty and flight status, Tech Corporal Clanky Doo however will not be able to return to us... the loss of her left foreleg puts her past military health standards."

"No to mention her relationship with lieutenant Flare, make sure they know I expect an invitation to the wedding one day... also if they might avoid tumbling into one of my rose bushes next time they take a “walk” in the Royal gardens it would be highly appreciated.”

Windsheer coughs and blushes slightly shooting a glare at Luna, the monarch however continues as if she hadn’t said anything of the ordinary.

“Hmmm... I suppose Ms. Doo’s injury would explain your request to hire a small cadre of civilian maintainers to augment the military ones."

Windsheer does his best to look innocent.

"Well ma'am it could certainly seem that way but I assure you has nothing to do with Ms. Doo, all for the good of the squadron. Though passing up a highly qualified maintainer such as Ms. Doo, should she choose to apply for such a position would be just short of incompetence on my part."

The midnight mare nods not being taken in for a second, but accepting Windsheer's explanation.

"I suppose we can move on to slightly more positive news then Colonel?"

"Yes ma'am. Let's see beyond the large stacks of medals for your approval including Wounded Lion medals for all the injured, and POW/MIA medals for our three escapees. I have recommended Captain now Major Cloud Dancer for the air medal, as well as turned over combat command of the unit to her, it seems as you suspected that I really am getting too old for this Highness. Without the Major's actions and her fantastic combat leadership we well could have lost this entire campaign not just the final battle. I have also recommended a number of other medals for a variety of valorous actions, mostly amongst the Marines but a couple of my airponies as well. Finally I have some leave chits for your personal approval."

Luna looked up, the deaths had been weighing hard on her. Most of the ponies in Equestria found her colder and more distant then her elder sister, like the moon she controlled but she felt the death of everypony in the Royal service just as painfully as the sun goddess. Windsheer bringing something as simple as leave reports to her attention at a time like this...

"Colonel why would you bring leave chits to my attention?"

"Well you've taken an active interest in these four ponies..."

"Ah of course, our dynamic trio and Major Cloud Dancer."

"Yes ma'am, the famous trio have decided to take a break from causing me massive amounts of paperwork and are heading to Ponyville to visit Doo's family there. Cloud Dancer's taking some time off... I think she's looking for closure from her brother if that's at all possible."

"Indeed Colonel... now then back to the paperwork..."

The Next Day
Luna's Chambers
1100

It was not often the Luna turned to her scrying dish to look upon specific ponies, rarer still that she used it's mirror like liquid in the light of day, but this was a special day, and she wished to look upon her four subjects. She cast her magic upon the scrying dish, focusing on the three friends that had done so much for her and their nation, she found them flying, light hearted and almost at play.

Flare was flying close to Clanky, taking a worried glance at her now and then. For her part she seemed to be experiencing no difficulty keeping up in the air though her shining metal prosthetic leg might slow her on the ground. Luna knew just by looking at them that while the wounds were many and deep, these three were already healing from what they had suffered.

Luna turned her gaze to Cloud Dancer, another of her little ponies that she feared was far more damaged then the three friends she looked on now. A quick flick of her horn revealed that Cloud Dancer was sitting next to a grave... her brother's Luna assumed, given the fresh flowers. She was crying but they were not the tears of purest pain from before, tears of despair that froze the life of the ones crying them. These tears were simply loss, and though it flickered in her eyes for just a second, tears of release and forgiveness, for herself if no pony else.

As Cloud Dancer looked towards the skies, eyes seeking an answer to the questions she still bore in her heart in the depths of the blue. A single petal drifting on the breeze alighted on the tombstone for just a second, dragging the eyes of mare and monarch to the simple inscription upon it’s cold, smooth marble surface.

There comes a time
When war's grey clouds
Start to fade and fray
And those left behind
Must carry on without those lost
Under clear blue skies.

The task is always difficult
Those dear and lost to us
Are never far from heart
But in their honor, we must live
Err’ we never been torn apart
Under clear blue skies

A Message from the Author:

Well friends it's been one hell of a ride and personally I'm shocked it got all the way to the end. Taking on a project of this size and magnitude is common for me, I'm a writer and I love writing but the energy, dedication and drive to finish this project came from all of you. This piece has done well enough in my mind I might even try to convert it to humans and let my "normal" friends enjoy it as well. There will potentially be a Stormrider's Sequel written but it might be slow going ponies. Check out Stormriders: Dead Seas here and make sure to give that track button some love! I'll also try to start making regular blog posts which will go out to both lists of Stormriders fans, so when there is an update I will try to make sure everypony from my awesome fanbase (all like 50+ of you which blows my tiny Irish mind) knows about it!

I realize this story and any of the ones that are going to follow it, is about as far from an episode as you can possibly get with out being porn or grimdark but I think there's really only one way for me to end this particular chapter in the Stormriders story.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Over the course of the last few months I rediscovered the joys of writing, of working hard at a big goal and accomplishing it, the joys of giving entertainment and taking pleasure in one's work, of getting to share that with people who appreciate it. I also learned many times over that whatever you can accomplish, you can accomplish so much more with the help, encouragement and support of your friends.

Your faithful student,
PonyMarine

About the Author, Credits and Chapter Track Listings

(Song 1)

IP Disclaimer: Everything to do with Equestria, My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and so forth are copyright Hasbro this is a fan work made for free, provided for free and no infringement is intended in any way shape or form. Any other IP potentially connected to this fic for whatever reason is copyright the respective IP holder and no infringement was intended.

Content Disclaimer: This work of fiction contains graphic depictions of violence and combat in a modern military setting as well as one scene of graphic torture. This work of fiction is not intended for small children and has been rated as such, but it's a free internet and it's not my fault if your child or you for that matter come across content you find disturbing or offensive.

About the Author: PonyMarine is as the name suggests a United States Marine and a Brony, he enjoys guns, shooting, hunting, sleeping, reading, writing, poetry, high fantasy, sci-fi, long walks on the beach and guns. A long time writer and poet Stormriders: Luna's Own is his first novella length project he's actually managed/bothered to complete. Mostly because of the massive support he's received during this project. For more writing and work from PonyMarine check out his deviantart (link's on his profile.)

He also looks like this:

Yeah that guy wrote a 32000 or so word story about pastel ponies from a little girl's cartoon kicking ass and blowing shit up in jet fighters.

Credits:

A special thanks goes out to the men and women of the Naval Aviation Schools Command, the 3rd Marine Air Wing and all my brothers and sisters in the field of military aviation. To those of you who are bronies, this fic's for you.

Respects obviously to Lauren Faust, Studio B and the rest of the MLP crew, you've given us more then we could have ever dreamed of and snuck it to us in a pastel pony format, you clever, wicked things you. Thank you.

My elite team of prereading and editing ninjas, you guys rock.
Mike_Coltfield
Foolonthehillz
ErrantIndy
DJMidli
Eights,(AcesAnd)

Others:
Taggerung
AuroraDawn
DandT
AutumnWind
Bpendragon
SouthernCross
the BFA

If I missed you, I'm sorry, I'm a bone head and you're still awesome <3

Another special thanks goes out to my regular readers who put up with my month long break, a couple small side pieces and all the other madness. You guys kept me writing even when quitting would have been so much easier. Since I'm even working on a sequel now... obviously y'all are good at this whole "inspiration" thing.

Semper Fidelis,
Pony Marine

Chapter Track Listings by song and artist: (In the event of the youtube links going down in the future):

Prologue:
Song 1: Wind Queen - Two Steps From Hell

Chapter 1:
Song 1: Heart of Courage - Two Steps From Hell

Chapter 2:
Song 1: Blue Pirates Ship - Skies of Arcadia Legends OST
Song 2 (listed as Background music): My Grandaddy was a Horse Marine - USMC Running cadence

Intermission 1:
Neko Nikki - Ranka Lee, Macross Frontier
English Version - Fan Dub

Chapter 3:
Song 1: A Hero's Return - Two Steps From Hell
Song 2: The March of the Cameron Men
Song 3: March of Cambreadth - Heather Alexander

Chapter 4:
Song 1: Dash's Empty Sky (Finely tuned edition - Derpidity
Song 2: Protector of the Skies - Two Steps From Hell
Song 3: To Glory - Two Steps From Hell

Chapter 5:
Song 1: Dragon Rider - Two Steps From Hell

Chapter 6:
Song 1: Color the Sky - Two Steps From Hell
Song 2: Memories - Two Steps From Hell

Intermission 2:
Neko Nikki - Ranka Lee

Chapter 7:
Song 1: Kingdom Skies - Two Steps From Hell
Song 2: United We Stand, Divided We Fall - Two Steps From Hell
Song 3: Jackie's Theme - Waking Ned Divine, Sound Track

Chapter 8:
Song 1: Frozen Moment - Two Steps From Hell
Song 2: Undying Love - Two Steps From Hell

Intermission 3:
Song 1: Frozen - Within Temptation

Chapter 9:
Song 1: Friendship to Last - Two Steps From Hell
Song 2: Enigmatic Soul - Two Steps From Hell

Chapter 10:
Song 1: Sidyana - Two Steps From Hell
Song 2: Never Forget - Two Steps From Hell

Chapter 11:
Song 1: God of Lightning - Two Steps From Hell
Song 2: Strength of a Thousand Men - Two Steps From Hell

Chapter 12:
Song 1: Ending Staff Roll - Tales of Symphonia OST

Credits:
Song 1: Mighty Wings - Cheap Trick

Fanart!

Fan Art:

This fic has been blessed with some absolutely awesome fans who have done some incredible fanart, check it out below:
Unit Crest/patch
F/A-29 Thunderhoof Drawing
Another F/A-29

Glossary of Terms

Welcome to Stormriders: Luna's Own, as you can guess this is a military styled fic so a lot of military terminology as well as my own fanon terms will get thrown about a bit, just to make sure nopony gets too confused I've provided this glossary of all the terminology I'll be using in the fic! If I add a new term it'll be added here! Some of this, like the wall of text below is all mental world building for me, so don't worry about reading it if you don't want to, if it's important I'll establish it in the text.

368th Night Fighter Wing: I use Wing in the British/United States Navy term in which the "Wing" is an administrative formation over two or more squadrons and their support staff. A usual EADF Wing is comprised of at least three squadrons for a total of thirty two aircraft. Internal orginization can set these squadrons up with individual designations or callsigns or they can just follow the wing callsign. The 368th is comprised of two squadrons the 98th Night Fighter Squadron (Selene squadron) and the 99th (Stardust squadron) The Wing CO and XO each lead a squadron in combat, but their planes and their wingmen do not not count towards the squadron totals of twelve each. So the wing has a total of twenty eight aircraft. Also under the command of the Wing is the maintenance support unit, and the 13th Company, 5th Royal Marine battalion which comprises of three platoons of infantry and a heavy weapons platoon, it also has a small unit of Marine Scout Snipers to provide special overwatch details for the Princess.

Glossary:
ADFB: Aerospace Defense Force Base, designates an airbase under the control of the EADF
AWACS : Airborne Warning and Control System - An aircraft that provides command and control to a battlespace utilizing power radar systems, also works as an eye in the sky pinpointing threats and really new tactical information to squadron commanders. The E-321 Skyeye is the EADF's AWACS aircraft and it's design is such that even earth ponies and unicorns can cre on it.
Boot: A new or junior pony in a military organization so called originally because they are fresh out of basic training or "boot camp" and they're so new their boots aren't broken in yet.
Bearing: An extension of discipline, keeping one's bearing means not showing emotion in any form of formal/military setting, this can range from public events or formations like the graduation, or getting your ass chewed.
CAP: Combat Airspace Patrol - Regular aerial patrol of an area like a no fly zone, secure airspace, etc.
Colonel: the sixth rank of officer in the equestrian armed forces, and a rank below general. These senior officers are usually found commanding large units and medium sized bases.
CSAR: Combat Search and Rescue, a specialized type of SAR unit that focuses on recovering pilots and personnel in active combat zones or behind enemy lines.
EADF: Equestrian Aerospace Defense Force - the aerial branch of the Equestrian military
F/A-29 Thunderhoof: The EADF's primary multi-role striker and the workhorse (pardon the expression everypony) of the fleet.
Flight Officer (FO): The most junior rank of officer in the pilot corps, equivalent to 2nd Lieutenant in the ground forces.
Fox calls: A fighter pilot radio call to designate firing of aerial weapons to friendly forces. Fox 1 is a semi-active radar guided missile, fox 2 is a heat seeker, fox 3 is a active radar guided missile, fox 4 is guns and in this universe fox 5 is a special weapon such as a lighting discharge.
Captain (Capt): the third rank of officer in the Equestrian Armed Forces, usually found as an XO or other form of unit sub-commander in the EADF and as a Company commander in the army and Marines.
Major (Maj): The fourth rank of officer in the Equestrian Armed Forces, usually found in command of a wing in the EADF or a battalion in the army and Royal Marines.
Master Sergeant (MSgt): Also known as "Tops" these Senior Non-commissioned Officers are placed in places of great trust and responsibility supervising and training numerous ponies, their wrath is legendary and to be avoided at all costs. They hold the eighth position in the enlisted rank structure, the second highest possible as an enlisted pony.
Northern Command: abbreviated to "NorCom" this is the North Sector Military Command of Equestria.
No Fly Zone: (from wikipedia) A no-fly zone (or no-flight zone) is a territory over an area which aircraft are not permitted to fly. Such zones are usually set up in a military context, somewhat like a demilitarized zone in the sky, and usually prohibit military aircraft of a belligerent nation from operating in the region.
Royal Marines: Equestria's Royal Marines aka the ERMC (Equestrian Royal Marine Corps) have an illustrious history as a recon, commando and special security detail and are renowned for having brutal initial training requirements on par with the Royal Guard, by long tradition, the 13th Company, 5th Marine Battalion (13/5) has served as the personal bodyguard of Princess Luna during her travels apart from Princess Celestia and as the security element for the 368th. Successive Company Commanders refused to allow the detail to slip despite offers by multiple Battalion Commanders to return the Company to it's original unit. Equestrian Royal Marines also have a reputation for being extremely prideful and bullheaded.
SAR: Search and Rescue, Teams of ponies trained to seek lost or injured personnel. Usually in the form of helicopters with specially trained flight medics.
Senior Airpony: A junior enlisted member of the EADF this is the third rank an enlisted pony can reach.
Sergeant/Staff Sergeant: Non-commissioned Officers at positions 5 and 6 respectively, these ponies are the leaders on the lines taking and executing orders from Senior NCOs and Officers and directly managing the junior enlisted personnel.
Striker: the wings, engines, weapons and armor a pegasi integrates with for combat use. It straps on more like armor then an actual aircraft you pilot.

Addition Equestrian Military Rank structure: EADF and Royal Marines, I got a comment on DA that was to the effect of wanting the nuts and bolts of this type of thing. So I wrote it up just in case any one wants to reference it.

Equestrian Armed Forces Rank structure:
Enlisted:
EADF/Royal Marines/paygrade
Airpony Recruit/Private/E-1
Airpony/Private First Class/E-2
Senior Airpony/Lance Corporal/E-3
Technical Corporal/Corporal/E-4
Sergeant/Sergeant/E-5
Staff Sergeant/Staff Sergeant/E-6
Wind Sergeant/Gunnery Sergeant/E-7
Master Sergeant/Master Sergeant/E-8
Chief Master Sergeant/Sergeant Major/E-9

Officer:
EADF/Royal Marines/Paygrade
Flight Officer*/2nd Lieutenant/O-1
Senior Flight Officer/1st Lieutenant/O-2
Captain/Captain/O-3
Major/Major/O-4
Lieutenant Colonel/Lieutenant Colonel/O-5
Colonel/Colonel/O-6

General Grades:
EADF/Royal Marines/Paygrade
Brigadier General/Brigadier General/G-1
Major General/Major General/G-2
Lieutenant General/Lieutenant General/G-3
General/General/G-4
General of the Aerospace Defense Force/Commandant of the Royal Marine Corps/G-5 (only one pony holds this rank at any time)

Chapter 1: On a New Wing

EADF Flight Academy
Hoovington Drill Field/Aerial Demonstration Arena
Flight School Class 327 - Graduation
1530 local time
background music

The stadium was filled with ponies. The families of the seven hundred pegasi graduating from the EADF Flight Officer Candidate Course generated a roar that could even drown out a Striker engine at full burn. As the mass formation swooped into the stadium, the roar got even louder, practically shattering Candidate-that is Flight Officer Flare's hearing. The stormcloud grey colt felt the wind causing his bright orange mane and tail to flutter in the wind and sent a chill down his back. A quick glance over at the dark purple and navy blue maned mare beside him, Flight Officer Zephyr, his wing mate and best friend at the academy, told him she was similarly affected. 'Can't let it show though, have to maintain bearing, we're about to get our wings!' The Senior Flight Instructor brought the candidates to a perfect halt-and-hover landing in close order, before the reviewing stand.

"SQUADRON! ATTEN-HUT!"

The old aviation veteran turned to the stand and saluted.

"General, Class 327 prepared for graduation."

The old General returned the salute with the snap and precision of a stallion with half his years.

"Excellent, Major. You may take your post. Fillies and gentlecolts, it is my pleasure to present to you class 327 of the finest fliers Equestria has to offer. These young ponies have volunteered to fight tooth-and-hoof to defend our country and we appreciate their courage, their sacrifice and their heroism. However, I regret to inform you that I am not the colt to send these brave young warriors forth into the blue skies."

The General paused for a moment, enjoying the confusion and murmurs throughout the class and the assembled crowd.

"Fillies and gentlecolts it is my singular honor to introduce to you Her Royal Highness, Princess Luna of Equestria."

As Princess Luna came up the reviewing stand, in that moment, you could have heard a pin drop. Whatever the crowd had been expecting, this was not it; but the moment was immediately over and the audience erupted in applause for the recently returned Princess, who had just resumed her public duties about Equestria.

The Princess's coat was rich and shining, her eyes sharp and clear. When she spoke her voice was soft, but with a timber that implied strength and confidence.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, it is a pleasure to share this day of celebration for these skilled young fliers with you. Flying is my own personal passion and getting to share it with the brave aviators of class 327 is a singular pleasure. It is also my pleasure to inform you all of a change in the EADF. Before my…leave of absence, I was the commander of the EADF; and the 368th Night Fighter Wing was my personal squadron, Princess Luna's Own. They’ve maintained this designation for the last thousand years and are now resuming their duties as my personal squadron at Canterlot Aerospace Defense Force Base. This is especially exciting news for you, the fliers of class 327, as two of your number have been given orders to join the squadron."

That gave the audience and the class a real cause for pause. A slight shiver of motion went through the ranks; each of the seven hundred assembled cadets trying to figure out who had been singled out from amongst them for such an honor.

"Flight Officer Flare and Flight Officer Zephyr, if you could join me on the reviewing stand please?"

Flare and Zeph took a sidelong glance at each other and quickly fell out of the formation, marching up to the reviewing stand with Flare in the lead. The pair of stunned pegasi came to a halt, faced and saluted.

"Your Highness, Flight Officers Flare and Zephyr reporting as ordered!"

The Princess smiled, obviously slightly amused by the formality.
"At ease, flight officers"

The Princess approached, an aide quickly trotted up with a tray on which two sets of flight wings and a pair of unique looking squadron patches sat.

"You are both to be commended. Your skill and passion for flying made you stand out amongst your classmates. Flight Officer Flare, your daring, courage and penchant for aerobatics are of particular note. Similarly Flight Officer Zephyr your intelligence and level head will serve you well as you fly with the 368th."

The rest of the ceremony was a daze for both the young flyers, as was the avalanche of backslapping and congratulations from their classmates after. With no families to separate out and find, Zeph and Flare made a quick exit and celebrated their good fortune. The longtime friends were overjoyed to be able to keep flying together. But having caught the notice of someone as important as Princess Luna? It was almost too good to be true. Early the next morning the young flight officers shouldered their bags and departed in to the dawn for Canterlot AFB.

Intermission 2: Another letter home

Background music
english version

Dear Ditzy and Dinky,

I'm sorry about not being able to make it out for the weekend like I said I was going to, we got orders, I can't tell you where but we had to move fast. There was a bit of excitement intransit, again nothing I can tell you about right now, but Master Sergeant Ironheart told me he was putting me in for the Equestrian Air Medal! Albeit he told the reason he was putting me up for it was for one of the stupidest acts of courage he's seen in twenty five years of service and some other flak and it being so dumb was par for the course but I'm starting to think that's his way of communicating I did a good job... kinda counter intuitive right?

Either way all three of us are safe in [Censored by Military Blackout Order] and it looks like we'll be here for a little while. The food's horrible and the weather sucks, but just another day in the military right? At least Canterlot Field was vaguely comfortable weather wise...

[Three Paragraphs of text Censored by Military Blackout Order]

In other news... I kinda met a stallion, I mean I already know him but things have gotten... interesting. I think I really like him and I think he might like me back. We've been spending a lot of time together recently and... it's just how he looks at me Ditzy! How he pays attention to everything I say and really seems to understand me. I know Dinky is probably making faces and gagging right now, but I promise you'll understand one day little cousin. I haven't talked to him about it but I will soon... for now thought all I know is I'll do everything I can to keep him safe... what little that might be.

Wish me luck, wish us all luck and the grace of the two Princesses... we're going to need it.

Lots of love,
Clanky

Chapter 10: In Chains

Location Unknown
Time Unknown
(Song 1)

Flare's world was pain, he was barely conscious, and he couldn't tell where he was or if anypony was with him. Clanky and Zephyr could have been in the same room and he'd never know. He had been blindfolded since he got to where ever he was he had no idea how long it had been. All he knew was it was dark, cold and damp beyond the pain... the pain was always with him. Another blow landed on the side of his head, scattering his thoughts, desperately trying to find some sort of purchase to continue forming. He was no longer himself, no longer a pony just a sobbing pile of cuts, gashes, bruises, burns, hunger and cold.

He only rested when exhaustion overtook him completely and his body shut down, but a guard was along quickly to beat him and wake him again. They pumped loud sounds, music, and flashing lights in to his cell at random, disorienting him and at times driving him mad with odd sounds and rhythms. Or other... more "directed things" were the worst of it as far as Flare could tell when he could actually process anything. Barbs and hooks designed to tear in to the mind of any one who heard them.

The hook that finally broke him was crying of a little filly asking where her daddy was., wondering why he hadn't come home yet. Telling him things were horrible at home, and that bad ponies had hurt mommy. Flare never had a child and was never married, but deep down his primal instincts stirred, terrorizing him. A foal was being hurt. He could hear her, again and again, crying, explaining the horrible things happening to her and her mother, pleading for help, help Flare could only wish to give, helpless in his binds, far away from home. Flare’s uselessness tore at him, stripping away the last vestiges of his mental stability, until finally all that was left was an empty husk that used to be Flare.

They dragged him from his cell and threw him in to another room. A measured calm voice asked him a couple questions. Flare could barely understand what was going on and he sobbed out.

“I... I don’t know.”

Wrong answer. A brutally sharp set of talons grabbed him by the neck and shoved his head in a trough of ice water, pulling him out as he began to drown. Voices came at him from all sides, demanding that he talk, demanding that he tell them everything but Flare couldn't even process what they wanted. Back in to the water drowning again, the cold tearing at his skin just as brutally as the talons of the guards. Back out, the same demands, the same struggle and inability to comprehend. Back in to the water, again, and again... but this time Flare didn't come out the water, didn’t feel the air return to his lungs. Everything just... faded, to an even darker black.

Cell - Location Unknown
Time Unknown

Clanky was trying to tend to Zephyr's nuemerous wounds. The female pegasus had taken the bulk of the damage for the two of them because she was an officer. They simply assumed Clanky didn't know anything useful and beat her merely to keep themselves amused. Zephyr, on the other hand, was now nursing a second broken wing. and a d half her body was bruised. What wasn't bruised was clawed and stabbed. They'd finally thrown her in with Clanky about what Clanky was thinking of as two days ago. She was trying to keep track by meal rotation but it was the same food every time the guard showed up... when they did actually bother feeding her.

She was starting to wear down even as she worked to dress Zeph's latest wounds with what little she had to hoof. Clanky knew her mental breaking point was coming. It was just one thing after another--the sleep, the food, the cold, the isolation before and now the inability to really do anything for Zephyr. She barely had enough filthy pieces of rag to dress her wounds, much less actually help her recover a little bit. Then there was Flare... what was happening to him? Where was he? Clanky would give anything to know... no matter how bad the news might be...

The key turned in the lock and Clanky's heart hardened. They were coming for Zephyr again, those hook-beaked bastards.

'Not this time.'

Clanky drew the wounded mare behind her and tried to compose herself, setting herself at whatever came through the door. Ready to at least put up a little bit of a struggle, a little bit of a fight. Anything to take some of the pain and focus off her friend, if only for a minute. The door swung open and instead of the expected guard, the broken orange body of a pegasus was flung through the door. A wracked sob caught in her chest as the door slammed closed again.

"Flare!"

Clanky rushed to what appeared to be the corpse of her... friend, her heart falling.

"Oh please be okay, please Flare."

She nuzzled him tenderly but insistently, trying to provoke any kind of response from the shattered stallion. A groan of pain escaped his muzzle and his eyelids fluttered.

"Ugh... Cl...Clanky? Is that... you? My vision’s all fuzzy... they told me you were dead..."

Clanky pulled Flare tight to her.

"Well I'm not... we're here, Zephyr too, we're all..."

The word "safe" or "okay" died on her tongue as she gently rocked the pegasus in her arms. Willing the world to change for the better for them all.

"We're all here... and that's just got to be enough for now."

Cell - Location Unknown
Time Unknown - Two Weeks (estimated) hence

Where Zephyr was shattered mostly in body, as time went on Clanky found that most of the damage to Flare's body was incidental. Perhaps because of how Zephyr had stood up to the purely physical methods of interrogation, they had focused on breaking Flare's mind. The nightmares were terrifying for Flare and for her as she held him, his body writhing and shaking, sobs coming out of nowhere. Zephyr didn't notice, though; she'd been sleeping a lot the past few weeks, whether it was to recover strength or because her body just couldn't support active function any more. Clanky didn't know but she was very worried about her friend.

Another couple days passed with the usual feeding and otherwise being ignored by the guards, who apparently didn't even find beating them as amusing anymore, but then something odd happened. Zephyr and Flare were both asleep huddled next to Clanky, the three of them doing their best to share body heat against the unfeeling northern winters. The guard's talons sounded on the stones outside, which seemed normal enough for a feeding time, but the guard called out for her-- which hadn't happened before.

"Psst... hey pony... come here."

Clanky wearily got up and walked cautiously towards the door.

'Wonder what cruelty they want to inflict on us now?'

A plate loaded with three or four times the usual rations was shoved through the slot, followed by a small, cloth-wrapped packet.

"Pony... you have no reason to trust me, but be ready."

Clanky was really confused now... what the hell was the guard doing?

"Ready for what?"

"You'll see, and soon. The rulers of our respective countries send their regards."

And with that, the griffon peered through the barred window and gave Clanky a little wink, vanishing down the corridor as if nothing out of the ordinary routine had happened. Clanky quickly opened the cloth packet, revealing an Equestrian-styled combat knife, a small SAR burst GPS transmitter like the ones used by ERSI agents in the field, a small bundle of medicines with easily destructible casings and most importantly a Lunar seal burned in to the cloth. Clanky was excited now and quickly roused her companions to apply medicine, inject some small doses of antibiotics, and share out the food. More important, though, was the seal, and the intent of their mysterious benefactor.

Flare was instantly suspicious of the whole thing. The battered pegasus was slowly coming back to himself after the long period of torture he'd been subjected to, but it took this small event to really bring him back. Clanky could tell his spirit was slowly rekindling, even though he was expecting it all to be a horrible trap.

"Clanky, we can't trust this bird brain... we need to escape on our own."

"Flare, he had a cloth with a magically inscribed royal seal-- Princess Luna's no less.Tthere's no possible way he could have gotten ahold of something like that with out being sent by somepony friendly to us..."

Zephyr spoke up from her corner.

"Ugh... he also greeted us for both nations’ monarchs... sounds like he's an intelligence agent or something...."

Flares groaned.”

"Dammnit... but he's a griffon!"

"Don't worry about it for now. We'll just have to wait and see what happens."

Clanky gestured to the cell around them.

"Not that we have much of a choice at the moment right?"

368th Night Fighter Wing - Major Windsheer’s Office
Time: 1800
(Song 2)

The major was pissed off. There was no better way to say it. It'd been awhile since Cloud Dancer has seem him quite this mad... well, not counting Technical Corporal Doo's vanishing act. The intelligence analyst was obviously terrified of the wrath of the large stallion across the desk from him.

"You mean to goddessdamn tell me intelligence has known where two of my pilots as well as one of my airponies, who were previously reported KIA and MIA respectively are not only ALIVE--which their Celestia-blessed families would sure as the fires of hell love to goddessdamn hear about after I had to write their goddessdamned DEATH NOTICES--but that you have been WITHHOLDING THIS INFORMATION FROM ME!?"

Windsheer's hoof hammered the conference table with some serious force and it looked like he was about to come across the table, pummel the analyst, and then work his way up the intelligence chain of command until someone finally managed to stop him. MSgt Ironheart watched as the analyst cringed in fear.

'Damn intel weenies... I knew we couldn't trust them!'

The analyst, for his part, swallowed his terror.

"Major, the decision was made well above my level... it was considered necessary for mission operational security.That's why you're being told now... your wing and it's attached Marine unit are being sent to get them."

Captain Stormhoof, the Marine company commander, punched a hoof on to the desk.

"Outstanding! ‘Bout time we showed you flycolts what real fighting looks like."

The analyst just looked nervous.

"Ah yes... we've located the facility that Lord Claw styles "The Eagle's Nest". NGK Intelligence has one of their best field agents on scene-- he's going to assist our pilots in escaping. Your mission is to cause as much damage to the facility as possible, rescue our ponies on the ground, and effect the extraction of the NGK field agent. Killing Claw wouldn't break anypony's heart either."

The major's eyes sparkled.

"Hot damn! That's what I like to hear! Captain Cloud Dancer, round up the senior staff. Stormhoof do the same with your officers and SNCOs."

The ponies quickly rushed out of the room, grabbing up every bit of intelligence nearby. Ironheart could already be heard down the hallway, screaming at some hapless airpony to get a couple pots of coffee on the burner and go out for some doughnuts or something like that from the mess hall on the double. The intelligence analyst slumped against the wall and breathed a long sigh of relief. His part in this was finally over and he could get out of the way and back to the safety of his office.

"Celestia's hooves, they don't pay me enough for this..."

Marine Corps Barracks
Junior Enlisted Squad bay

Muck raced in to the squad bay at a dead sprint. He had the let the rest of the junior enlisted know what he'd just heard.

"Hey! Hey everypony! They’re alive!"

SSgt Reckless looked up from the military education class she'd been giving the assembled junior Marines and reached out, hooking the young lance corporal by the collar. He was obviously quite surprised that a SNCO was standing in the middle of the squad bay at this time of night

"Aww crap... err good evening, Staff Sergeant! What brings you to the squad bay?"

"A PME course you're half an hour later for Muck, now spill! I already heard you say that the Lance Corporal underground* has some gouge so we all can hear it, and it better be good for once."

Lance Corporal Muck, commonly lengthened to Schmuckatelli** in deference to a legend of the Corps, had a reputation around the wing for being a font of information. It was also estimated that his accuracy with that information was about as good as a weatherpony outside of Equestria's controlled climate.

"Aww darn it, Staff Sergeant..."

"Spill, before I have you cleaning the head with a toothbrush for a month! The rest of you get over here"

"It's straight from the horse’s mouth, Staff Sergeant! The command staff just got a briefing from intel--Clanky and those aviators are alive and we're gonna go buck some flank and get'em out!"

Reckless stomped the deck.

"Hot damn devil! I hope that's legit gouge! Alright fillies, surprise combat gear inspection in an hour, not a word about this to Gunny or the sirs till AFTER they tell us, you got it? Anypony lets on that we know before we'll supposed to and I'll stomp you myself. Everypony got it? Outstanding, now hop to it, I wanna see amphibious green blurs! Move it ponies!"

The squad bay turned into a blur of motion and Reckless quickly got out of their way. She quickly headed upstairs, she had her own gear to prep and check. The grin on her face was wide as could be. Clanky and her friends were alive and they were going to get her.

"Buck me, it's a DAMN good day to be a Marine!"

*Legends of the United States Marine Corps #2: The Lance Corporal Underground: Lance Corporals (E-3) is the most senior junior rank in the Marine Corps and is notoriously difficult to get promoted past. Lance Corporals are literally everywhere and as a result paranoid SNCOs thought up the Underground. The idea that all Lance Corporals everywhere are working together to pass information and rumors (a.k.a “gouge”) to dodge or prepare for surprise inspections, PFTs, piss tests, actual work and just about everything else. Allowing said Lances to skate as much as humanly possible. This paranoid delusion is of course completely true. We are legion, we are watching... when we aren’t napping in the head, checking facebook, or planning an elaborate suicide during a SNCO’s umpteenth story about “The Old Corps”.

**Legends of the United States Marine Corps #3: Lance Corporal Schmuckatelli: This legendary individual is the exact opposite of the “Names of the Corps” men who embody the values of the Corps in every way shape and form, they are remembered as heroes, saints almost to be emulated. Not so for Schmuckatelli, probably originating with an Italian-American recruit or Marine who had a habit of fucking up around the first or second world war. His enduring legacy is being every Drill Instructor and NCO’s go to example of what not to do or how to be a fuck up. “I swear to god if you pull a Recruit Schmuckatelli and go unq (fail to qualify with the M-16A2 service rifle) on my range I will quarterdeck (punitive physical training) you till your heart pops!” or out in the fleet: “Hey yoohoos, it would behoove you to not act like goddamn LCpl Schmuckatelli and go out, get hammered, smoke spice and otherwise set yourself up for me shoving my boot up your ass monday morning good to go?” Both of those are direct quotes.

Chapter 11: The Gryphon Behind The Curtain

Cell - The Eagle's Nest
0430 (estimated)
(Song 1)

The sound of an explosion wakes one up surprisingly fast, and the three inhabitants of the cell were on their hooves in a heart beat. Flare concealed the combat knife into his tattered flight suit, within easy reaching distance as they all watched the door closely.

*Boom*

"Steady and regular... I think we're listening to a bombardment, ladies."

The sounds of the bombardment almost made them miss hearing the rapping at the door of their cell, and the rasping of the key that followed. A griffon in a black harness with a variety of equipment on it rushed in the room and shut the door firmly behind him. Flare had the knife in his mouth and to the throat of the intruder in a flash of steel.

"Give me one good reason not to slit your throat." he growled around the blade of the knife, hate bright in his eyes.

Clanky looked at the griffon with a shock of recognition.

"Flare let him gp! He's the one that helped us!"

Clanky gently pulled the stallion back, knowing after the torture reasoning with Flare when it came to hurting griffons might not be possible. The griffon for his part was rather nonchalant and dusted himself off.

"As she said, I am the one who helped you before, and is helping you now., The name’s Dirk, an agent with the NGK National Aeronautical Navigation Agency... before you ask the question, yes, obviously we don't just do windows."

Flare settled back on his haunches restlessly.

"Well, what's going on?"

"Your military is attacking this base to extract me, along with you and with any luck kill that asshole Claw"

The three ponies just stand there looking slightly shocked.

"What!? Now!?"

"Yes now, if the bombing outside didn't tip you off, sunshine. Come on; I've already disabled the guards and have a way out of here that should lead us to the cliffs over the flight line. That's where your Marines have made their landing."

Dirk pulled a couple of Equestrian small arms out of his pack, two submachine guns and a shotgun which were quickly divided amongst the three ponies. They quickly moved in to the hall after Dirk gave them an all clear. The bodies of about six guards were strewn across various parts of the corridor and the three ponies shared a look, they hadn't even heard a sound. Dirk buffs his talons against his chest.

"These aren't just for show you know."

Without another word, the three ponies took off after Dirk, who quickly lead them in to a maze of maintenance and ventilation shafts.

Marine Beach Head
Heavy Weapons Platoon

"Ramp down! Go go go!"

SSgt Reckless was the first down the ramp of the heavy VTOL assault plane, hauling ass with her portion of her team's heavy machine gun and her heavy weapons platoon's Lieutenant trailing behind her, completely caught up in the wake of his Platoon Sergeant.

"You freaks wanna live forever*? Move it! Get those guns up! Tube strokers, I want those mortars ready to rain day-ruining hate and discontent, NOW!"

The first of the section's heavy machine guns went up and immediately opened up on a enemy observation post that had a stream of heavy weapons fire coming from it, knocking the weapon out the fight and apparently caught something sensitive as the tower erupted in a ball of flame.

"Hot DAMN! The hell are you colts firing from that thing? Keep on the attack, Marines!"

It was a good day to be a Marine.

Marine Beach Head
Company Commander's Command Post

"Captain Stormhoof! First platoon has taken their objective and are moving up; second and third are right behind them. The LAVs are landing now and will be in the game in minutes, light casualties so far."

"Copy that, get those vehicles movomh. 20mm chain guns are gonna ruin a lot of days for the enemy."

"Roger that, skipper!"

The landing team NCO raced off to make sure that the incoming vehicles were being guided into their proper landing zones. Captain Stormhoof was beyond pleased with how his landing operations were going, his Force Recon Marines had given them all sorts of advantages, sniper fire, laser targeting for the flyboys and even found the time to give the local defenders some hidden high explosive "gifts" that had detonated right before the landing craft had come in. He grabbed his radio to report in but was drowned out by a big eight wheeled LAV's engine starting up close by him.

"...I say again, this is Blade Six. the Marines have landed and the situation is well in hoof."**

It was a VERY good day to be a Marine.

Maintenance Shaft 7-B - The Eagle's Nest

They had been very lucky so far, between the Marine assault and bombardment they'd run in to maybe a dozen guards, all quickly dispatched with a combination of silenced weapons, knives and Dirk's talons. They moved silently up the shaft with Clanky on rear security holding the 12 gauge. She had yet to engage with the weapon, the noisy shotgun might be the most lethal weapon at close quarters but it was also incredibly loud, and stealth had been their primary concern so far. She growled softly. despite her attempts to remain calm and level headed she desperately wanted to hurt as many of the individuals she held responsible for Flare's torture as possible.

She whispered to herself softly.

"Nopony hurts MY stallion."

Then Clanky checked her weapon for the eighth or ninth time, ensuring she had a slug chambered and ready to fire- right as a fire team of griffons popped out on to the landing above them opening up with their assault rifles. Dirk dove for the nearest cover, a nearby doorway.

"Contact front!"

The ponies follow suit, throwing themselves in to cover throughout the room under a hail of gun fire from the top of the stairs.

"Gee, you think?"

Clanky took a breath and looked for her companions, she was further up then they were by the time they'd all scrambled for something solid to hide behind and she had a good shot at making the stairs, she quickly formulated a plan and got the attention of her compatriots.

"COVER ME!"

With that the grey mare dashed for the stairs, wings flapping to give her an extra burst of speed as her shotgun came up. Clanky took out the first of the griffons as she barreled up the stairs like a force of nature, the heavy 12 gauge slug caving his chest in like he'd been hit with a sledgehammer. Clanky made the stairs and was on them in a heart beat, had any of the unfortunate griffons survived the onslaught their report would have been a couple paragraphs of babbling about a demon with a shotgun. Two rounds of buckshot quickly finished off two of the three remaining griffons, one of whom was at such close range the shot actually beheaded the soldier in question. The third griffon managed to move back away from Clanky while she was killing his comrades and raised his weapon to fire, only to be dropped by a set of hammer pairs to the chest and head from Flare who was trying to catch up to her.

“Damn, Guess we know who paid attention when the Marines did those basic close quarter combat classes…”

The four escapees quickly reform, reassessing their situation and checking for wounds before confronting the problem of the door in front of them. Dirk quickly spoke out about what he knew,

“This is a guard post, and once we get past here we’ll be on the ridge line above the airfield, then we can signal for extraction. But first, we have to clear that room, so we’ll have to stack up on the door and…”

“We can do that, or we can liberate a couple of frag grenades from these dead griffons, toss them through the door, and not expose our tender fleshy hides to bullets.”

Dirk shrugs after mulling the idea over.

“That works too, Clanky.”

Flare pulled two grenades he’d taken from one of the griffons and primed them as he softly opened the door into the guard post. The pegasus tossed the two grenades through the door and leaped back, slamming the door shut with a kick from one of his rear hooves. A shout of alarm followed the slam, followed just as swiftly by two muffled thumps, the sound was the only indication that the grenades had detonated until the door slowly started to swing open, revealing the grisly scene within. The escapees quickly move through the room, eight griffon bodies strew around the small space, the guards of this post, shredded by the two frag grenades. They raced out onto the ridge, hooves and talons pounding the dirt beneath them, where the battle for the control of the air strip raged on below them.

“Now Zephyr! Hit the Transponder!”

A firm press of a button later and the insistent and urgent beep of a EADF SAR beacon began to pulse aboard Stormwatch, orbiting at standoff distance just out of the combat zone.

Marine Beach Head
Company Commander's Command Post

“SIR! Message from Stormwatch, they have location on our POWs! They’ve signaled for extraction!”

“Haha! Hot DAMN, that’s what I like to hear Lance Corporal! Where are they?”

“Up on the ridge line sir, North-West Edge.”

“And who’s closest?”

“First Sergeant Castle’s recon squad.”

“Perfect. Give me the radio, Marine.” The Captain grabs it from the now visibly excited Marine.

“Blade six to Shadow, priority over, over.”

“Shadow to Blade six, standing by to copy, over.”

“Break cover and move north-west to the ridge for tactical recovery of escaped POW’s. Bring’em home Shadow. Over.”

“Copy, Blade six. Shadow is moving; requesting priority fire support, over.”

“Giving you priority on the mortars, Shadow. I’ll see if I can’t scare up a little close air support for you too. Over.”

“Much appreciated sir. Shadow Out.”

Ridge line - Escapee's Position

The only sign that the escapees had that the recon element was there was when First Sergeant Castle, a massive earth pony stallion, stepped out of nowhere and introduced himself, his squad of eight following swiftly in the wake of the near heart-attacks the escapees had suffered. The salty old 1stSgt offered a hoof to Dirk, who had tensed up noticeably since the Marines had made contact.

“I wager you’re the deep cover operative I was briefed about. Good work getting them out in once piece, son. We’ve grown fond of our flycolts, and we’ve really wanted to have ‘em back.”

The massive earth pony grinned at Dirk. Dirk took the 1st Sgt’s hoof and shook it gladly, pleased he isn't about to be shot by friendly forces. His response is cut off by a sudden rumble as a set of massive blast doors a few hundred yards away on the ridge line start to open, Griffon troops begin to pour out forming up by units.

“Cover.”

The response to the 1stSgt’s terse whisper was instantaneous, the nine marines grabbing their gear and melting into a concealed defensive positions with just a slightly rustle of vegetation to mark their passage. Castle pulled a set of binoculars from a saddlebag and cautiously popped his head around the outcropping of rock he had chosen as his fighting position.

“… Ah shit, we might be humped, ponies. They’re massing for a counter attack and are setting up a patrol our way. Get comm…” He says before something catches his eye. “Wait one… oh shit... we just scored the jackpot!”

The marine grabbed the hoofset from his radio pony and quickly started speaking into the receiver.

“Shadow to Blade six, we’re in it deep and have sighted top priority target preparing to lead enemy counter attack…”

Flare peeked over his own boulder, trying to see what had excited Castle… and was treated to the sight of a massive griffon in heavily jeweled and extremely ornate armor. He dropped back down next to Zephyr.

“It’s Claw! He’s right freaking there!”

“What do we do?” Zephyr asks.

“I think top’s taking care of it…”

Skyhawk One
AC-390 Windingo Gunship
Orbiting above battlespace

“We copy, Blade six. We’re getting the laser telemetry from Shadow now, requesting clearance to go weapons free.”

“Skyhawk, you’re cleared to engage.”

“Roger that, one large order of fried chicken, extra crispy, coming up.”

The pilot taps his crew chief on the shoulder.“Wake the colts in the back up SSgt. We’ve got a mass formation of infantry to splatter.”

Shadow's Postion

“Listen up! We’ve got close air support inbound, and they’re gonna take care of most of this shit. Captain’s gonna run some LAVS in here, but we’re gonna have to hold off that platoon coming our way. We’re gonna ambush ‘em while we can. I want a weapons check; then everypony to get in position! We attack on my signal.”

The ponies quickly spread out and checked their weapons, placing ammo and grenades within hoof's reach to avoid having to fumble around with, the old MSgt himself readying a single shot AT-4 rocket launcher. He watched the sky just making out the shape of the big gunship as it started to pull into it's attack pattern and sighted the rocket carefully, settling on the obvious officer at the center of the advancing platoon. A light caress of the fire button, and the rocket erupted from the tube, exploding in a hail of lethal metal fragments devastating the center of the enemy formation. The rest of Shadow quickly took up the fight, grenades and gunfire shattering the already disorganized and confused enemy while the thunderous echoes and bone rattling whine of the gunship's main weapons sounded as it engaged the enemy's main force.

Claw died in the first barrage of the gunship's howitzer, the high explosive 157mm round impacted about two inches behind his hind leg obliterating the griffon and his command staff in a blaze of fire, the 20mm miniguns and 80mm autocannons tore into the scattering troops and everything became a cloud of blood, dust and feathers as the merciless predator cleansed that part of the ridge of life.

There was no time for the Marines and escapees comprising Shadow squad to appreciate the mass destruction being rained down a scant several hundred yards for them however. The platoon that had been hunting for them had finally recovered from ambush and was fighting back competently, one Marine had taken some grenade shrapnel and another had been shot, both were alive but in critical condition as their battle buddies covered them, Flare was popping up when he could trying to keep an eye on his friends while engaging the enemy, a griffon infantryhawk popped out of cover and popped off an RPG and terror gripped his heart as he tracked it's arc right towards Clanky. A wild scream tore from his throat.

"RPG! GET DOWN!"

The warning came far too late. The RPG impacted just next to Clanky right as spray four bullets tore in to Flare, throwing the colt from his hooves in a spray of blood. Everything else that Flare could remember was a haze, snatches of conversation and movement. Weapons fire. Lots and lots of weapons fire.

".,.Shadow, priority cas... evacu... repeat I've... five woun.. three... crit.. copy... ...t"

Gunfire, explosions, somepony screaming... maybe it was him. Flare fought hard to drag himself towards consciousness, the world of noise and light that was above him, shimmering like he was looking at it from the depths of a murky black pond as he was dragged deeper into it's enveloping depths. Then there was blackness.

Marine Beach Head
Company Commander's Command Post

"Sir! LAVs report that their approaching Shadow's position and beginning the extraction, they have critical casualties!"

"Aww shit. Tell Chief Scalpel to get his corpsponies ready for some priority customers in the medical aircraft! Then tell the platoon leaders to begin falling back, we're getting out of here!"

Captain Steelhoof grabs another hoofset from his Forward Air Controller.

"Blade six to Selene six, We're starting the evac, Captain. We're gonna need some cover to keep any enemy fighters off our backs or this is gonna be a real short trip!"

"This is Selene six. We copy Blade six; you'll have all the air cover you need. Fighters are moving to attack."

Marine Beach Head
Heavy Weapons Platoon

Reckless was in her element, a goddess of battle made flesh. Her ponies thought she was every where at once, fixing weapons, directing fire and engaging the enemy herself with a machine gun that she was running more efficiently alone then the best of the teams in the machine gun section.

"Staff Sergeant! We just got the order to pull out!"

"Copy that, Schmuckatelli! All right, freakshows, let's pack this circus up and get the buck outta here!"

Reckless swept the area mentally making sure any Marines nearby were getting support and spotted the two LAVs retreating back from the ridge line under heavy fire.

'I'm a bucking idiot sometimes.'

"Belay that last order Marines! Back on the guns! Those LAVs on the ridge line need fire support!"

Reckless grabbed Schmuckatelli by the collar.

"Schmuck! Get on the horn, and tell the CO that we're still gonna be on the ground till the LAVs hit the beach head! Make sure our bucking pilot doesn't leave with out us!"

"Aye, SSgt! Weapons to Blade Six, Weapons to Blade Six..."

Company Commander's VTOL

"...Weapons Platoon is still on the ground providing support the to remaining Marines on the ground and the LAVs with Shadow and our package."

Stormhoof hammers the ground with a hoof blow.

"Bucking son of a bitch, when did my orders become vague freaking suggestions? Alright, get those Marines some air support and make sure their transport doesn't go any where..."

"Sir! Priority alert from Stormwatch! We have enemy fighters inbound!"

"Goddessdamnit, this day just gets better. Please tell me the wing's already on it, and we're not about to die a fiery, painful death?"

"Sir, both squadrons are moving to engage now. Captain Cloud Dancer's leading the charge."

"Alright sounds good to me, in the mean time start praying. We're gonna need it."

Selene Six - Captain Cloud Dancer
(Song 2)

"Bogies coming up 3 o'clock high, Six."

"Roger that, all fighters angle for intercept, tally ho!"

Cloud Dancer banked her fighter hard, her wingcolt struggling to keep up with the tight, high G maneuvers she was whipping through at full sub-sonic throttle. A flash on her hud painted several targets in what was a swarm of enemy fighters, and she charged towards them like a shield maiden with sword held high.

"Selene six, fox two."

The missile barely had time to ignite before it slammed in to the enemy fighter, detonating just behind the cockpit and tearing the aircraft from the sky. Cloud Dancer barely had time for brevity codes as she tore through the mass formation of enemy fighters alone, her wingcolt broke off and fell back, unable to keep up with the insane flying of his superior officer. The griffon lead formation was devastated by the guns and missile fire of Captain Cloud Dancer.

"Selenes six, this is Stormwatch. We still have three Marine transports on the ground; they’re going to need some more time."

"Selene six, copy. Wing, this is six. Break into wing pairs and provide high cover. Selene one, two, three and four form up and begin providing close air support to the grunts. I want gun runs, ponies!"

Banking to follow her own orders, Cloud Dancer dropped a snap shot heat seeking missile at a griffon fighter and was rewarded with a ball of fire as the missile quickly tracked then bore down onto the enemy aircraft like wrath personified. It was a text book missile kill.
Cloud Dancer allowed herself a lick of satisfaction as she rolled into the ground attack pattern she'd chosen to fly, lighting the ridge up with her wingcolt in a hail of cannon fire. As she came out of the steep angled attack dive Cloud Dancer caught a glimpse of what appeared to be two enemy fighters away from the main aerial engagement.

"Selene six to Stormwatch, I have two stragglers heading your way, rounding them up."

"We appreciate that, Selene six. This job can be a real pain in the flank when you're getting bothered by rude strangers."

Cloud Dancer did a quick check of her weapons and found she was down to two heat seekers and her cannon. She opened up the throttle to close hard and fast with the enemy planes and flicked her weapons selector switch.

"Selene six, going in for guns...."

Marine Beach Head
Heavy Weapons Platoon

Reckless' Marines were slowly getting pushed back, the enemy was coming out of the mountain in droves now, even the loss of the battalion the gunship had taken out didn't seem to be slowing them down.

"Damn, we really kicked the hornet's nest Staff Sergeant! We need to get the buck outta here!"

"No argument from me but keep on that goddamn gun, private. we need to let those LAVs get clear!"

An RPG detonated a few feet away cutting the conversation off briefly. The crew chief of their assault transport ran up and slapped Reckless on the helmet to get her attention.

"Staff Sergeant! The LAV's are secure and lifting! We need to go NOW!"

"Alright you pukes! Fall back to the bird! Let's get the buck outta here!"

The Marines moved fast, falling back by pairs firing as they moved, the crew chief started up the hydraulics as soon as the last Marine, SSgt Reckless, ws aboard.

"All aboard sir! Get us outta here!"

The pilot complied instantly, a quick jerk of the collective and throttle sending the VTOL skyward.

"Stormwatch, this is Sheath 1-8. We are airborne; all transports are away, repeat all transports are away."

Selene Six - Captain Cloud Dancer

Cloud Dancer's aircraft screamed down out of the sun and into gun range tight on the enemy aircraft's tails before either griffon pilot had any idea what was happening.

"Fox four."

A stream of cannon fire shredded the first plane. His wingbird attempted to break contact and dove for the deck as fast as his engine and gravity would allow, but Cloud Dancer was in hot pursuit. One of her remaining heat seekers leapt from the rail as she rolled out of a tight high g turn, arcing across the sky and snapping the back of the final enemy plane in two.

"Selene six, splash two."

"Copy that, Selene six. The Marines just cleared the LZ and are border bound. Radar shows a large formation of NGK planes coming in hot from the north. It would behoove us to be south of the border before they get any where near us."

"Wilco, all Selene and Stardust elements, time to bug out fillies and colts. RTB with all speed and keep an ear out in case sompony decides to ambush a transport."

A chorus of wilcos answered the captain as the remaining Equestrian fighters took sharp bank southward before going supersonic. The battle of Eagle's Nest and the Northern Border crisis were over.

In the backs of various transports, corpsponies continued the vital work of patching up the wounded, stabilizing the critical for immediate transport to the base hospital once they make it back. Crewponies and passengers alike watched the sky, sweat beading on their necks and foreheads, ears cocked for the sound of a radio call that will tell them the enemy fighters have caught up with them. Finally, the radio crackled and several hundred individuals draw a sharp breath.

“All aircraft this is Stormwatch. We’ve crossed the border and are being covered by EADF relief squadrons. We’re safe ponies. Welcome home.”

There are no cheers or celebration in the formation of aircraft, though their spirits are all lightened. Just a simple sigh of relief as they begin to think about those they lost, their friends and companions who won’t see the next sunset, the ponies fighting for their lives under the care of the medics right now, the war still far from over for those unlucky few. One word reverberates amongst them. Stormwatch’s final word, “home.” They were going home.

Marine Corps Grammar facts: Behoove isn’t a pony pun! It’s a REAL word! Commonly used by Marine NCOs and SNCOs to outline undesirable behavior. “It would behoove you, not to do stupid shit in my barracks this weekend.” “It would behoove you to stop giving my daughter the long eye, cause I’ll kick your ass.”

Fun Reference: There’s a very /blatant/ obvious reference early in the chapter to a very popular series of American fiction that had a lot of influence on my own writing and is /way/ less subtle then my previous shout outs and references. In this case it refers to Clive Cussler’s “Dirk Pitt” series and the National Underwater Marine Agency he works for. They don’t just do windows either. The other major reference (besides Top Gun, Ace Combat, etc for the /entire/ fic) was a shout out to Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allision. Stackpole’s a personal favorite author of mine, and both Authors wrote the “Star Wars X-Wing” series of novels which are also a personal favorite of mine. The reference is in chapter 6 and consists of a direct quote from the X-wing novels, you can’t miss it.... if you’re an incredible nerd like me who’s read that series several times.

*/**Legends of the United States Marine Corps #4/5:
I have two extremely direct quotes in this chapter from Marine Corps history. Modified just slightly to suit the story and of course ponies. I have the originals for you here with a little context for your enjoyment. Remember learning a little more is just a mouse click away and these real stories make my humble little fic seem pretty lame.
*”Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?”
-GySgt. Daniel J. "Dan" Daly, USMC, near Lucy-`le-Bocage as he led the 5th Marines' attack into Belleau Wood, France, 6 June 1918. WW1 for those who don’t know
**”The Marines have landed and the situation is well in hand.”
-Attributed to Richard Harding Davis (1864-1916)
Most folks don’t that Marines have been in Amphibious warfare since our founding. The first Marine amphibious assault was at Fort Nassau in the Bahamas and a smashing success, capturing guns and powder for the struggling colonies. Later we (Marines) literally wrote the book on modern amphibious warfare and the assault of fortified beaches. The gear and the tactics were put to the test during the Island hopping campaign during the Second World War where they succeeded brilliantly. The army then borrowed our book, and our gear to make the Normandy landings during that same time frame.