Chapters Twilight held her sniper rifle next to her head, peering intently through it's scope. She was looking for a target. Her goal was to keep the main road clear for the incoming infantry and vehicles. After all, they couldn't pass by with a whole shit-load of infantry firing at them, could they? She lay prone on the roof of a fifty story building, only the wind daring to move at those heights. Not that she was bothered by heights, of course.
Her class, the scout class, came equipped with a DSR-1 and an EH. The first was a sniper rifle, and a the former was a pistol. Her pistol sat holstered by her hip. On her back, she had a pack with some explosives and a detonator. Also a recon drone.
Other than that, she only had a BDU and some ammo. That was all she needed. She didn't want to carry too much, after all. She was a scout, and scouts had to be fast.
She caught a glimpse of movement in her scope and zoomed in on the location. Sure enough, an enemy soldier was camping up there, LMG ready to fire. She did a quick look around. Several others were positioning themselves to get a good angle at the main road. She briefly wondered at how they knew that her team was coming from that direction, but she didn't think to long on that. She had a job.
She aimed at the nearest enemies head and fired, sending a bullet through his or her brain. She swung her rifle around, popping off several shots, ending several more enemies. Her rifle lacked a silencer, however, so the enemies managed to pinpoint her location. Several snipers brought their scopes up and began to fire away.
She pulled back out of harms way and turned around. Now what? There were still several soldiers on those buildings, and her team would be there any minute. Then she had an idea.
She pulled the drone and the explosives out of her pack. She strapped the explosives to the drone. Sure, it would fly a little slower, and be a little harder to steer, but oh well. She didn't have much other choice.
She tossed it into the air, towards the enemy. Due to it's advanced cloaking mechanism, it was rendered hard to see by anyone. She used the recons remote to steer it around. She went high and a little bit off, just to be careful. She didn't need this thing shot out of the sky.
When she was certain that the enemy was close enough for her to dive the drone at them before they could react, she let it drop. She watched through the camera as it fell out of the sky and hit the her destination.
Without a moments hesitation, she grabbed the detonator and flipped the switch. She risked a peek over the edge of the building to see her handiwork. Sure enough, a large explosion had killed several enemies, injured others, and left a huge hole in the building on which they were standing.
“Twilight! We're on our way! Did ya clear the way?”
Twilight answered Applejack. “Well, sort off. I got attacked, so most of them are still here. I did dent their main force at the front, but you'll have to push through the rest.”
“Damn it Twilight! We can't jus' call this off! See if ya can clear anymore!”
“Roger.”
Twilight glanced around. Now what? She couldn't just pop her head and start sniping again. That would be suicide. She had already used her drone, and she was up to high to do much anything else. So that left only one option.
She'd have to find a better sniping spot. Of course, she didn't exactly have a better sniping spot. So she had to... improvise.
She crawled over to the left for a bit. Then, taking a breath, she popped over the edge and fired at the first enemy she could see. She brought him down, but was instantly fired at. She ducked back as the bullets flew past her position. She had to try something else.
She turned around to see several shadows creeping up through the building. Enemies, no doubt. She pulled out her pistol and took cover. This was not the position she wanted to be in, but she didn't exactly have a choice. She had a parachute, but she'd be easy prey for those snipers. And she had nowhere else to run.
She steeled herself for the attack. Counting to three, she whipped around the corner. Sure enough, five enemy soldiers stood there, guns ready, apparently trying to find her. She fired twice, dropping one of them, then pulled back behind cover.
Several rounds tore through the wall, luckily missing her. She dropped to the floor as more tore away her cover. She fired again, barely dodging the incoming bullet storm. This wall was pretty much gone, so she dove for the nearest table and flipped it over, hiding behind it. More bullets hit the table, but didn't quite penetrate.
Thanking Celestia, she poked around the corner and dropped another enemy. Then she saw five more enemies come into her field of vision. Well, she was fucked.
A helicopter dropped right behind the enemies, outside on the roof top. The enemies turned around only to be mowed down. Twilight looked to the cockpit to see a grinning pink mare. Of course it was Pinkie Pie. Why wouldn't it be?
Once the enemies were neutralized, Pinkie set the chopper on the roof and called to her friend through the comms. “Need a lift?”
Twilight hopped inside the bird and sat down. The two gunners gave her a nod as they took off. She looked down to see the full scale invasion taking place. Her friends charged into the enemy. Tanks, humvees, choppers, and infantry plowed down the street. Twilight wished she had been able to help more beforehand.
“Twilight!” Applejack called again.
“Yeah?”
“Ya coulda taken a few more a them!”
Twilight could here the gunfire through her radio. “What do I do now?”
After a few grunts, Applejack answered. “Ya need ta try and neutralize the enemy artillery at objective B.”
“Done.” She turned to Pinkie. “Pinkie!”
“Yeah?”
Take me to the building, directly south of objective B!”
Pinkie whistled. “That's close to enemy artillery!”
“Yeah, just get me there!”
“Hold on to your hats!”
Pinkie banked right, heading for her destination. After only a mere five seconds, flak began to explode around them. Twilight gripped her seat. The chopper bucked around, almost tossing her out of her seat. She looked outside to see, on top of the cannons firing at them, several enemy helos pursuing them as well.
The gunners fired away, trying their best to hit the enemy amidst Pinkie's crazy maneuvers. One of them slumped down, shot through the head. Twilight stared as his body fell out of the seat and down, to the ground below.
“Twilight!” Pinkie called.
“What?”
“I need you to get on the gunner seat!”
With a second thought, Twilight hopped into the seat and took the gun. Being a sniper, she was a little more skilled at aiming, despite interference. She aimed at the nearest helo and lit it up. Her bullets tore way at the enemies bird until it exploded, sending it's flaming bits to burn as they fell out of the sky.
She turned to the next to see it be attacked by friendly birds. She turned her attention to the cannons that were still flaking them. She couldn't get a good shot, but she fired anyway. Pinkie flew behind a building, obstructing her line of sight but providing cover from the cannons.
“Okay Twilight. After I drop we get to the building, you get out FAST! I won't be able to stay long without being hit.”
“Got it.”
Twilight prepared herself as she neared her destination. The flak resumed, and Pinkie expertly dodged them all. She touched down on the roof of the building, a bit roughly. Twilight lept out as fast as she could, hitting the ground running. She turned back to the chopper, which took off as soon as it's passenger was off.
Twilight turned toward the guns. Each one was manned by an enemy soldier, so all she had to do was kill those soldiers. The soldiers were specially trained to operate those cannons, so she didn't have to worry about replacements. Only problem was, there were a lot of guards.
She shrugged. Oh well. She had to do this or else Applejack and the others wouldn’t make it out alive. She readied her rifle and fired, taking out one of them. She fired again, and again, taking out two more. But once again, she was spotted. She hid behind cover as bullets barraged her position.
Then she had an idea. Screw sniping for this mission. She had something better. She drew her pistol and rushed to the elevator. Getting inside, she pressed the level 1 button. Calm elevator music played as she descended from the top floor.
The elevator doors opened to reveal three enemies. Twilight fired her pistol, hitting one in the head. Before the others could react, she dashed out in between them. One of them lifted his gun to fire. Twilight grabbed the other enemy and spun him around. The bullets tore into the enemy, leaving Twilight unscathed. As the last remaining soldier stood horrified at what he had just done, Twilight put him out of his misery.
With that out of the way, she exited the building. Luckily, while the roof was well guarded, and probably the inside of the building, the streets were mostly empty. She crept closer to the building, using the burned out car husks as cover until she was right next to the building.
She set about her task. Pulling out her explosives, she strapped them to the building's corner. She moved over to the next one and did the same, as well as the third. She got to the forth and placed the charges.
“Twilight!” This time, it was Rainbow Dash.
Twilight was getting tired of hearing her name called out. “What?”
“Where are you? Those guns are tearing up our air and land support!”
“Just about to deal with said cannons. Hold on a sec.”
Rainbow Dash grumbled before shutting her mike off. “We don't have a sec.”
Twilight turned around and headed for the safety of the adjacent building. She pulled out the detonator and flipped the switch.
Instantly, the four supports of the building gave out to the explosions. But the building didn't fall. Twilight cocked her head. What? Why didn't it...
Then the whole base gave out. The building's first floor was crushed. The resulting impact weakened the rest of the structure, causing it to fall apart. She watched with satisfaction as the cannons that once posed a threat were now toppled over. Then she frowned.
The cannon's ammo and fuel were out in the open, and currently heading for the flames caused by her explosives. “Shit.”
The resulting explosion knocked her back into the wall as brick, dirt, and metal flew everywhere. She shut her eyes against the incoming debris. She slumped to the floor as the whole wall around her gave way to the massive blast. Just when she thought she couldn't bear it, the shock waves ceased. She lay there for several minutes, not stirring. Her head hurt terribly, and the rest of her body didn't fare too well either.
But she was a soldier. She had to get through this. For her friends. She rolled over to her stomach and pushed herself into a sitting position. She looked around. This whole side of the building she was in was gone, save the very top.
She keyed her mike. “Apple... cough... Applejack?”
After a moment of silence, she heard a voice. “Yeah?”
“If you didn't know... cough, cough... the cannons are... cough... down.”
“You alright, sugarcube?”
“Just fine.” She let out another cough.
“Alright, objectives A and B have been neutralized. We're en route to your position. ETA, five minutes.”
Twilight sighed. Her job was done. All that was left was wait for the armor to get here then help in capturing point C. She sat against the wall. She would be safe for a little.
Author's Note
This is Twilight's view of what is going on. Next up is Applejack! Stay tuned!
Applejack sat in her tank, smoking a cigarette. She was just burning time until the green light was given, and didn’t have anything else to do. Her tank was armed, polished and fully functional. Inside, with her were two other ponies to load the cannon and man the minigun on top. She knew their names, of course, but didn't spend really any time with them outside of the tank, so she wouldn't call them friends. Lyra and Bon Bon.
She glanced around her tank. It was small, but not too small. There was the seat in which she sat to drive and fire. There was the barrel of the tank so they could load the ammo. There was a hatch on top for the gunner to sit in. Other than that and a bunch of electronics, it was... empty.
Applejack watched as her smoke drifted lazily up and out of the tank, through the open hatch. It was a good day.
Her radio crackled to life. “All units! All units! Green light has been given! I repeat, green light has been given!”
Applejack stomped out the cigarette and sat up straight. As Lyra moved into position to man the gun, Bon Bon crouched next to cannon, ready to reload it once it had been fired.
With that, they were off. Applejack glanced at the many different cameras in her tank, so she could see. She was leading the charge, but behind her was a massive amount of tanks, humvees, and helos. This was it. They were going to take this city, once and for all.
“Yay! Let's go!” Pinkie Pie shouted through the mike.
Applejack called up their scout. “Twilight! We're on our way! Did ya clear the way?”
“Well, sort of. I got attacked, so most of them are still here. I did dent their main force at the front, but you'll have to push through the rest.”
Applejack cursed. “Damn it Twilight! We can't jus' call this off! See if ya can clear more!”
She ended the transmission. They had been counting on Twilight to weaken the enemy so punching a path through them would be easier. Looks like it wasn't going to be that way.
She opened up transmissions to all other units. “Alright, listen up! Twilight wasn't able ta clear a path like we had expected! We'll be met with more resistance than we had expected. So let's kick these bitches back ta hell!”
Everyone cheered. Pinkie Pie's voice could be most heard over the radio. “Alright! Let's party with GUNS!”
Applejack smiled. This was going to be hard, but at least Pinkie was optimistic. Hearing her being so happy was kind of... relaxing.
The whole trip there was uneventful. They plowed through the roads, the tanks crushing anything in their path as the humvees just drove around the destruction and the helos flew over it all. Every time her tank crushed something, it made her more giddy. This was it, it was time.
They approached the beginning of the soon to be battlefield. Instantly, gunfire rained down on them. Applejack pivoted the cannon towards the nearest building and fired. A deafening boom followed the cannon shell flying towards the target. The explosion took out the whole wall and sent many enemies reeling for cover. Bon Bon reloaded another shell and Applejack fired again. She didn't have time to stop, so this time it was at the next building. Then she hit the main resistance. Several enemy tanks came barreling down the street, guns blazing.
She swerved to the right to avoid the cannon fire. She ran over a couple of cars and plowed through the street lamps. She turned and fired again, hitting a tank dead on. The enemy fired and hit her. The whole tank rocked, and Applejack gritted her teeth. The tank couldn't take to much fire or it would become inoperable.
She slowed down her charge. Several friendly tanks and humvees passed her, letting her take a moment to look around. The enemy was dug in, very heavily. Several tanks drove through the streets as the enemy helos flew overhead in a vicious battle with the friendly helos. The buildings were all well fortified as well. Gunners on every floor, raining hell on the EAP. And lastly, a fortification at objective B containing many cannons which were also raining hell.
“Twilight!” Applejack called again. A humvee passing in front of her exploded as a tank shell found its mark. She started moving again.
“Yeah?”
“Ya coulda taken a few more a them!” Several bullets pinged of her tanks hull.
“What do I do now?”
Applejack plowed right over an enemy jeep. “Ya need ta try and neutralize the enemy artillery at objective B.”
“Done.”
Applejack turned her attention to the enemy. There was no way she could plow through all those, even with help. So she took a detour. “Hold on!” she called to her passengers.
She turned left and went around a building. The enemy found her and began to fire. After passing a few more, she turned and ran right into a building. Lyra ducked inside the tank as Applejack whooped. “Yeah!” The building's walls gave way before her tank, allowing her to push through without much resistance.
She burst out of the building, checking for immediate enemies. She noticed, through an alley way, that one particular building was was manned with RPGs and LMGs, both tearing up their forces.
“Rainbow Dash!”
After a moment of static, the mare responded. “Yeah?”
“Ah'm marking a strong point. Take yer team and neutralize it!”
“Okay!”
She took off as more bullets attacked her tank, once again going through the enemy buildings. It was kind of unnecessary, but she did it anyway. At the least, she was damaging enemy fortifications. That always helped.
“Applejack!” It was Rarity. “I've spotted an enemy convoy moving up from the south. Permission to engage?”
“Granted!”
She exploded from the building, landing right on a team of unfortunate enemy soldiers, crushing them all down. Oh well. She turned down the street towards the backs of the enemies. Sure enough, they were all focused on the incoming friendly wave of metal.
“We got hostiles on the roof! Left side!” Lyra shouted.
Applejack saw them. She swiveled her cannon to fire. But heard a dull splat sound. She looked up to see Lyra falling back into the tank, a bullet hole through the chest. Bon Bon cried out. “No! Lyra!”
Applejack could tell she wasn't dead, but she was dying. She'd need medical care, fast.
An RPG came rocketing out of a nearby building. It missed the tank but hit close to it, jerking the tank. Applejack fired at the enemies in the building. One explosion and crumbling wall later, most of them were dead or had taken cover.
She tried to fire again, but nothing happened. “Bon Bon!”
The poor mare was still holding her friends dying body. That was tough. “Come on! If we can't get out of here, then there's no way she'll live!”
Bon Bon gently laid her body on the ground and shoved a shell into the barrel with some agression. Applejack fired again before they could retaliate, blowing what was left to pieces. But that wasn't all of them.
Enemies began to close in on all sides. Helos fired at her position, so she ducked back in between the buildings. But infantry were everywhere. And without a gunner, there wasn't much she could do with only a cannon.
As they began to hoist their RPG's, something began to mow them down. Applejack looked up and saw three friendly helos. Rockets fired from their canisters, shredding into the enemy, knocking them out of the sky and off the ground. Their miniguns mowed down what was left. At least, for now.
“Hey AJ!” A cheery voice commented. “Thought you could use some help.”
“Land now!”
Pinkie landed her helicopter. “Bon Bon, stay here.” She grabbed Lyra and hauled her to the chopper. “Take her back! She needs medical attention, fast!”
“Okie Dokie Lokie!”
Once Lyra was strapped down, Pinkie took off and headed back to their makeshift medic's tent. escorted by her two buddies.
AJ ran back for her tank and hopped inside before she could get shot at. Once she was back in her seat, she saw that her allies were plowing down the street. She joined them in the charge.
“Apple... cough... Applejack?” Twilight.
Applejack tried to find her radio. “Yeah?”
“If you didn't know... cough, cough... the cannons are... cough... down.” She didn't sound too good.
“You alright, sugarcube?”
“Just fine.” She let out another cough.
“Alright, objectives A and B have been neutralized. We're en route to your position. ETA, five minutes.”
Applejack plowed down the street, steamrolling all the cars and unfortunate infantry who were still on the road. Like she cared.
She was just about to get to Twilight's position when something made the ground in front of her give way. As one mass, the whole convoy of armor dropped into the new hole.
“Shit!” Applejack held on tight as she hit the ground below. Once her ears stopped ringing, she looked around. They seemed to be in the... subway? She turned to Bon Bon. Unfortunately, she hadn't braced herself, resulting in her cracking her head open against the wall. Blood dripped down onto the ground below. Applejack checked for a pulse. None.
She gently lifted the dead body out of the tank. She laid her on the ground, careful to avoid sharp debris. While she didn't know her all that well, she mourned the loss of a life.
She looked up. The enemy must have rigged these defenses just in case she had gotten this far. Damn it. She looked around again. Most of the armor had survived, so they should be able to make their way out, but a few were damaged beyond repair. The surviving crew members got out of their tanks and into the still working ones to help out.
AJ found some one who seemed to be looking for someone to help. “Hey! You!”
The stallion turned to her. “Yeah, you! You load cannons?”
He nodded. “Okay, come on!”
The stallion climbed inside. AJ and the others lined up in a single file formation. They slowly crawled through the subway. They had to get up there fast. Without armor, it was losing fight for her friends, AJ knew.
Author's Note
Alright, this is going better than I thought it would. Next up is... *drumroll*... Rainbow Dash! Yay!
Rainbow Dash didn't do much while she was waiting for battle outside of work out. She was currently doing push ups inside of transport helo. What else would she do? Sit still? Yeah right. Rainbow Dash was born to move around, not waste her life sitting on her ass.
Of course, while she was finishing her seventy-sixth push up in a row, her comms opened up. “All units! All units! Green light has been given! I repeat, green light has been given!”
She didn't waste anytime getting to her seat. As much as she hated sitting, she disliked the idea of plummeting out of a helicopter even more. Her squad all took their places. Three of them, not including herself. She knew them by name. She had spent a lot of time on the battlefield together.
One of them was a white unicorn, green and yellow hair, named Silver Drop, or just Drop, as she called him. He was the team engineer, specializing in the repair and destruction of vehicles.
The second was a white unicorn as well, but this one electric blue hair. Vinyl Scratch, the team assault, usually healing and keeping the fight pressing forward.
Then there was, of course, the biggest of their team. Red, muscular, and rather handsome, Big Mac. He was the team support, always laying down suppressive fire.
Of, Rainbow Dash was the team scout, and leader. She specialized in getting in and out fast, while also booby-trapping and sniping unsuspecting enemies.
The helo took off, along with the rest of the air force. Rainbow Dash could hear Pinkie Pie through the mic. “Yay! Let's go!”
Rainbow Dash smiled as she looked upon the city below. Today was a good day to die. Not that she would die. More of, it was a good day for the enemies to die. They didn't stand a chance.
Applejack spoke up. “Alright, listen up! Twilight wasn't able ta clear a path like we had expected! We'll be met with more resistance than we had expected. So let's kick these bitches back ta hell!”
Everyone cheered. Pinkie Pie's voice could be most heard over the radio. “Alright! Let's party with GUNS!”
Rainbow Dash didn't know if that kind of optimism was good for her friend.
She didn't have to wait long for the battle to begin. Flak exploded everywhere as the enemy cannons tried to shoot down their swarm of helos. Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth as the bird she was in shook with a near impact. She saw one right next to them go down in flames, the pour souls aboard gone without a sound.
The gunners fired their miniguns, mowing down the enemy. Of course, there were plenty more to take their place. Her ride turned around began its second strafing run. She looked at her comrades. Each one was waiting, itching to get into battle. It was so boring sitting up here in the transport. Sure, she could fire her gun, but it would be highly inaccurate, and then she would just be wasting ammo.
She noticed a tank, plowing down the street. “Drop!” she called out, pointing to the tank.
He nodded, hefting his RPG. He took aim as the helo dropped down to give him a shot. He fired at the tank. The rocket spun a bit before slamming into the tank's treads. The machine stopped dead in its tracks. It wasn't destroyed, but easy prey now.
Rainbow watched as it's occupants scrambled out only to be shot down by advancing friendlies. Drop smiled with satisfaction.
Just as she thought it couldn't get any more boring, Applejack called out an order. “Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow Dash paused for a bit to view an enemy helo go down in a fiery explosion. “Yeah?”
“Ah'm marking a strong point. Take yer team and neutralize it!”
“Okay!”
Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof. “Pilot! Land us by the waypoint! Marking now!”
“Affirmative!”
The pilot steered toward the waypoint, but was instantly barraged by flak. One of the gunners was caught in an explosion, sending him and the minigun down to the ground.
“Pilot! Take us up high!” Mac shouted.
Rainbow knew where this was leading. A jump.
They reached the max altitude they could. The pilot turned around, guessing their intentions. With a nod of his head, he gave them one last farewell.
“Kick them up the ass!”
Rainbow nodded as she dropped from the helo, as did the rest of her squad. They free fell, a little off from the target. Rainbow Dash pulled her chute, letting it unfurl. She drifted down toward the top of the building as her squad mates followed suit.
She hit the roof and rolled, coming up with her gun ready. She scanned the area as her squad landed behind her.
They found an elevator and took it down to the middle of the building. Applejack had identified that area as having the most enemies. Sure enough, as soon as the doors opened, they were greeted with the enemy, all standing at the windows, all firing rockets with a passion. Seriously, some of them were even singing!
Big Mac laid waste to them as the rest of the squad set out to secure this floor. Rainbow took up a sniping position where the enemy had been standing a few seconds ago. She made popped off a few shots, making sure the roads were mostly clear of any heavy infantry. Until one of them saw her and fired an RPG directly at her. She dove out of the way as the rocket tore through the ceiling above her, detonating in the room above.
The rest of her squad returned to her. Each gave the all clear. Even though this floor was certainly not the only one, it was the most heavily armed one, so she felt as though she had done her job. She spotted some cannons close to objective B.
“Applejack!” She called out. “I have eyes on a heavily armed enemy position near objective B.”
“Yeah, I already sent Twilight to take care of it.”
“I'm heading that way.”
“Roger.”
They exited the south of the building, jumping off and drifting down with their parachutes. They hit the ground running. The open streets was not the place infantry wanted to be. She knew from experience.
She heard the sound of propellers whirring to find a flaming helo coming straight for them. They all dove out of the way, letting the bird crash into the sidewalk. They closed in to see something moving inside.
A pink hoof thrust its self out of the crash, followed by a pink mare. Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash immediately helped her friend out of the wreckage.
“Pinkie, are you alright?”
“Uh... yeah, I think so.” She pointed to the sky. “I don't think the rest of the birds can say the same.”
Rainbow looked up to see that their forces were indeed being torn apart by flak as the cannons fired non-stop.
“Twilight!”
“What?” The mare sounded irritated.
“Where are you? Those guns are tearing up our air and land support!”
“Just about to deal with said cannons. Hold on a sec.”
Rainbow Dash grumbled before shutting her mike off. “We don't have a sec.” She turned to her squad.
“Looks like Twilight might not get her job done. We're movin' in to help her if need be.”
Rainbow Dash led them as they charged down the street ,expecting to encounter heavy resistance. Surprisingly, this far behind enemy lines, there weren’t many enemies. This made her all the more wary. Her attention was drawn to an explosion coming from a nearby building. The supports were all gone. It was strange that building didn't collapse...
It went down in a shower of bricks. Huh. Looked like Twilight could handle herself. Rainbow Dash brought up her map. The armor was moving through the tunnels. How did they get down there? Their air force was now turning the tables as the flak no longer took them down.
She motioned her squad to find Twilight, just to be sure she was alright. Once the armor got to their position, they would press forward. Now, they had to make sure they were ready to do so.
Author's Note
Yay! So now we are half way through the mane 6! Only three more chapters until the big finish! Next up, I dunno. I'm thinking of doing Rarity. Anyone want something else?
Rarity checked her monitor. All clear. She looked around, at the clouds, rolling across the sky. She loved this moment. The calm before the storm. Her helmet kept most of the noise out, all she could hear was the quiet chatter over her comms.
“All units! All units! Green light has been given! I repeat, green light has been given!” Her comms sounded bit garbled, but she understood clear enough.
She fired her jets engines, flying forward at supersonic speeds. It didn't take long for her to get to her destination. The city, buildings tall and ready for anything. Except for an air strike, of course. She set her path so she would pass right over the enemy, drop some bombs, then turn around and repeat.
But before she reached her target, the air around her exploded in flak. She banked away, barely dodging it, as several other friendly jets weren't as lucky. “Damn it...” She turned around and headed back. No way was she going to lose her life trying to fly through some AA turret infested area.
Applejack's voice entered her head. “Alright, listen up! Twilight wasn't able ta clear a path like we had expected! We'll be met with more resistance than we had expected. So let's kick these bitches back ta hell!”
Everyone cheered. Pinkie Pie's voice could be most heard over the radio. “Alright! Let's party with GUNS!”
Rarity rolled her eyes. They could have told her that before she got shot at. Muttering a long line of swear words, she turned around and regrouped with the main force. The plan was Twilight would go in first and soften them up, then the air force would swoop in and weaken them even further, mainly along the back lines where their armor and guns were. Looks like Twilight missed that part.
Now her and the other pilots were headed, once more, to the back, but this time from behind.
“All fighter units, move in and hit 'em hard.” She heard command through her comm.
The short flight there was eventless. Her formation whirled around and began their assault. She grinned to herself. No way they'd be looking back here. They'd get clobbered.
Her warning system flared to life. Missile lock? She fired her flares and swerved to the left. She looked around to see the whole formation in complete disarray. Everypony was diving and rising and turning, it was a miracle they didn't crash into each other.
She turned her attention to avoiding whatever was locked onto her. Her system continued to blare, meaning she hadn't dodged anything. She expected the missile to come from the ground. She turned to the right, trying to shake it.
The missile shot out from underneath her, leaving a smoky trail. Behind? She checked her radar, and sure enough, on the very edge of her radar, was a whole hoard of green dots. Enemies.
She pulled around. Several friendlies exploded as missiles made contact, but most of them didn't. While a small group continued to press on towards the guns, the rest charged towards the enemy.
Rarity steeled herself as the two masses collided. Several exploded from head on collisions, others were sent tumbling down as their wings or tail got cut off. Rarity managed to dodge the enemy fighters, letting a few of her missiles go as her system scrambled to lock onto a target long enough? She knew at least one of her missiles found their targets.
She pulled up and over, chasing after the first enemy she could find. She locked onto one and fired a missile. The enemy banked and fired it's flares, sending the missile off into the ground. She pursued the enemy, dodging the fighters that barreled through the sky, making the whole place look like a massive mess.
She was ready to fire another missile when her target collided with another enemy. The two birds went up in flames, the explosion sending bits of metal everywhere. One of those bits barely missed her cockpit.
What mattered was the massive ball of fire and metal she was heading straight for. She tried to pull to the left, but she wasn't fast enough. Her bird flew through the fire. Rarity shook in her seat as her fighter rattled and shook for that brief second.
She made it out, seemingly unscathed. She did a quick check on her systems. Oxygen, fine. Minigun, fine. Bombs, fine. Missiles, fine. Engines, fine. Targeting systems... down? Great, now how in the hell was she supposed to fire missiles at a moving target if she couldn't lock on?
She looked around. A ball of smoke and fire fell out of the sky, almost clipping her wing. Her friends seemed to be winning, so she decided to check the guns. They were unscathed, still firing away at her friends below. Apparently, the small squad sent earlier had failed. She looked to the roads leading out of the city. One of the bridges down below, spanning a giant lake, was filled with enemy armor, all heading towards the city. That couldn't be good.
“Applejack! I've spotted an enemy convoy moving up from the south. Permission to engage?”
It was outside of her orders, so she needed permission.
“Granted!” her friends voice cackled through the comms.
She called up some friends, including her newbie sister.. “Carmel, Sweetie, Berry, follow me!”
Sweetie called back, through grunts. “Berry's... ung... dead!”
Rarity flew out of the mess and made a beeline for the bridge. She looked back to see two more jets fly out after her.
“So what are we doing?” Carmel asked.
“Taking out that enemy convoy, on the bridge.”
Sweetie spoke up. “I see 'em.”
Normally, Rarity would chastise Sweetie for using... crude language. But this was not the time nor place. “Fire on my mark.” Rarity said.
Rarity lined up her missiles as best as she could. “Mark!” She fired all of her missiles, and Carmel and Sweetie Belle followed suit.
Her missiles mostly missed, but those that hit managed to tear large holes in the road. Sweetie Belle's and Carmel's were able to lock onto the enemy armor, leading to large chunks of them gone a fiery inferno, also blocking some of the rest of the convoy from moving forward.
“Yeah!” Carmel yelled. Then his shout of joy turned to shouts of terror. “AAAAAHHHH!”
Rarity whipped her head around to see his jet get engulfed in flames as he tumbled to the ground. She stared, speechless, before realizing the enemy jet that had killed him heading straight for her.
She dove to the side as his minigun flared to life, narrowly missing her engines, but tearing into her wings. She tried to turn around to fire at him, but his fighter was more agile than hers. He turned faster than she did, slowly gaining on her.
She tried to think of something to do, but nothing came to mind. Her warning system flared to life and she fired her flares. Just in time, as the missile hit the flare and detonated, rocking her jet. She only had one flare cartridge left.
Another system warning. She stopped turning and banked the opposite way, hoping to throw him off. He turned as soon as she did, effortlessly keeping her in his sights. She was out of options.
“I got ya!” Sweetie Belle shouted to her sister. Rarity looked back as the enemy fighter's tail exploded, sending it crashing down towards the lake.
“Thank you Sweetie. That was close.”
“No problem. At least we took out the convoy.”
Rarity turned to see that the bridge had collapsed, sending the entire convoy into the lake.
She turned her attention back to the dogfight she had left moments ago. It had died down. Mostly friendly fighters roamed the sky, and the remaining enemies were being routed. She looked back towards the guns, which were still intact. She decided to fix that.
“Sweetie Belle, follow me!” She dove down from the sky, eyes on the prize. Her missiles were depleted, but she still had her bombs. She set her path straight as she swooped down, ready to deliver her payload. But then the guns exploded, or rather, the building did, sending the guns down with it.
She pulled up and screamed through the city, desperately trying to avoid crashing into a building. At this speed, now way she would survive. Try as she might, she was almost out when her wing clipped a building. As she shot out of the city, her broken wing caused her to spin back around towards the city.
Her bird began to tumble out of the sky as she lost control. She had only one option left. She pulled a lever, sending her flying out of the broken jet.
She fell for a minute, trying to get out of her seat. Once she managed to loosen her straps, she free fell for a few seconds. She looked down to see her jet crash into a building, taking out a good portion of it with the explosion that ensued.
As she neared the ground, she pulled her parachute open, letting herself drift down towards the ground. Most of the army was forward, so she wasn't in danger of being shot. She hit the ground running the came to a stop beside a driver.
“You! Take me to the front line, now!”
The gray stallion held shook his head. “No, I gotta wait for the rest of our convoy.”
“I need to get to the front lines!”
He was about to retort, but stopped suddenly. “Yes sir.” He said to nopony. “Alright, get in. We're leaving.”
Rarity turned around and saw that a few tanks, but mostly infantry transport vehicles, were driving down the road.
“Lady! Get in or I'm leaving without you!”
Rarity hopped inside as he drove off, following the convoy.
“Rarity?!” Sweetie Belle's distressed voice came through her comms.
“I'm fine Sweetie. My bird crashed but I got out. I'm heading to the front lines.”
“Okay, I'm going to keep the skies clear. Good luck.” She sounded relieved.
“You too.”
Rarity focused on the road ahead. The sounds of battle drew close and soon she was in sight of a massive whole in the ground. She peaked down to see a few wrecked tanks. Hopefully one of them wasn't Applejack.
“Heads up!”
She looked forward as a rocket slammed into the ground next to Humvee she was in, sending it rolling.
Author's Note
Alright! Only two ponies left! How about... Fluttershy? Or would you rather have Pinkie Pie?
