Chapter One: New Orders
Ditzy Doo exited the streamlined silver train with a heavy sigh. The Northern Alps Mountain air chilled her fur, but her uniform protected most of her body from the cold. The same could not be said for her wings, which shuddered. Ditzy was dressed in the standard uniform for captains, a soft cotton outfit that was dark blue with silver seams and golden buttons and cuffs. Her bright yellow mane was covered by her Airman cap, which was color, coated similarly but had the golden wings of the Zeppelin Arm on its front. The former mailmare from Ponyville looked very regal with this outfit on.
All around her, the massive train station was abuzz with activity. But then again, Liberty Square always was busy. It was Constance’s biggest Train terminal that all the Equestrian and Crystal Empire Railroad lines ran to in the far north. Commuter traffic was bustling through the station like cattle being herded into and out of pens. Ditzy kept her head low as she trotted off the platform and towards the stairs that lead to the upper level terminal. As she made her way to the lobby, she could hear ponies having conversations about everything; daily travel, personal wellbeing, and some even spoke of the upcoming Equestria Games in Los Pegasus.
In the background were a sound that no one listened to anymore, Pinkie Pie and the Ministry of Moral’s rally messages. Pinkie essentially had made them to keep ponies spirits up during the hard times of this war. But by know no one paid them any mind, because they knew that the messages were tragically false. Ditsy especially knew this fact; she had been there on the front lines and had lost many friends. However, she did give Pinkie Pie credit as she was trying.
That being said, Ditsy couldn’t hide the displeasure on her face. Despite being spit polish, the once bubbly and upbeat Pegasus was now a bitter, seasoned war veteran. As she trotted through the lobby, she kept her head low and hoped no reporter would stop her. Thankfully none did as she exited the Terminal and out on to the cold. Winter had come to Constance and had blanketed the city in snow. It had also covered the distant mountain range in their famous thick cloud cover. Ditsy stopped only once to look at the mountain range beyond, and nodded. It was perfect hunting season.
“Taxi!” she shouted waving a hoof.
A yellow cab sped up towards the Pegasus and Ditsy entered. “Where to miss,” the driver asked.
“Zeppelin Command,” She answered.
“Right away mam.” The driver answered and then started driving.
Ditsy rested her head on the window as the Taxi began to make its way towards Zeppelin High Command. Constance was a pretty town, untouched by war. Despite it being Saint Ark’s third largest city, it had a very small town feel. A war bound Pony could get lost within its homey personality. Saint Ark was the northern most districts within the Crystal Empire and one of four that bordered the Krasinsky Mountain range, Equis’s polar mountain line. Beyond them were the enemy Equestria and the Crystal Empire had been fighting for five long years.
The cab driver broke Ditsy’s relax, “Excuse me ma’am, but are you a Zeppelin Commander?”
Ditsy didn’t turn to look at the pony in the front seat, but she did answer his question. “Yeah, I Am.” she said, “LZ-712.”
“Can you answer me something?” he asked.
“What is it?” Ditsy answered softly.
“I got a brother in the Zeppelin Arm.” He told her, “I was just wondering, is it as bad as ponies are saying?”
A small knot came into Ditsy’s stomach as she searched for the answer. She knew this cabby wouldn’t believe her answer if she tailored it to what the Ministry of Moral would want, hell she wouldn’t even believe it. But she also didn’t want to create false fear.
“Don’t believe everything you hear.” She sighed.
“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been thinking.” He said. Then he paused for a moment, “Do you….do you know if he’s still airborne?”
“What LZ is he, do you know?” Ditsy asked honestly.
“LZ-331,” he answered.
Ditsy nodded. That Zeppelin fought in the western theater with 3rd Flotilla, she had mostly been a part of the Eastern with 7th, but as far as she knew that Flotilla was faring well. Though she did have apprehensions because 331 was last reported on patrol….six days ago.
But she put those apprehensions behind her, “She’s on patrol, they’re fine.”
The Cabby sighed as he turned a corner, “Ah that’s good to hear ma’am.”
Soon enough the cab arrived at the building that was Zeppelin Command. Ditsy paid the cabby his due plus tip and walked out. Zeppelin was a thirteen story triangle building built in the middle of Goodyear Plaza. On its roof it has a small docking station where Zeppelins could easily dock to unload crew and cargo; however it hadn’t been used in some time.
In front of the massive building was a large stone statue of a zeppelin with a pony standing in front of it, gazing off into the sky towards the south. This was the statue commemorating all those Zeppelin operators who hadn’t come home from flights, built long before the war. The base of it was covered in bouquets of roses. Ditsy’s heart sank when she saw that. Standard tradition was to place one bouquet of roses as the base if a crewmember was lost on a mission. Half of the base filled meant a Zeppelin was lost but there were survivors, even if the rescue team hadn’t found them yet. If the base was full: that signified a loss with all hooves. It had been filled a lot lately.
Swallowing her sorrow, and adding it to the bitterness she felt, Ditsy headed inside. She walked up to the reception pony, “Captain Ditsy Doo reporting as ordered.”
“Ah Captain welcome, please wait and I’ll ring the grand admiral.” She smiled as she reached for a phone. After dialing for a moment, the pony spoke, “Yes Admiral I have Captain Doo here for you.” She paused as the Admiral gave his answer. Then she smiled again and hung up the phone, “He’s sending an elevator down for you.”
Ditsy nodded, “By the way, the roses out front…?”
She didn’t even need to finish the question. The reception pony’s reaction was all she need: first it was shock at the fact that Ditsy would even ask such a question before shifting to understanding at why, and then finally turned to sadness masked with professional stoic-ness.
Ditsy nodded, “Okay thank you.” At that moment the elevator at the far side of the hall dinged. The Pegasus moved across the room and entered the elevator. Pressing the button for the top floor, Ditsy stepped back from the doors as they closed. She began to wonder whose Zeppelin had fallen recently as the elevator climbed. As best this captain was aware, seven Zeppelins were on patrol and only two were unaccounted for, LZ-331 and LZ-157. Both of those ships had a combined crew count of 90 ponies, and if both were lost…
Ditsy shook that thought from her mind; it was bad enough knowing one ship was lost. Besides, she was due to receive new orders for her own Zeppelin: LZ-712. She had been in command of LZ-712 for about three years now, taking over after her previous captain was promoted to Admiral. Ditsy had been in the Equestrian Zeppelin flotilla since she was drafted ten years ago, when the war began.
She never knew how it started; most in the military that weren’t apart of the brass didn’t know exactly. Some think it was a territory dispute, some think that the Northern Tribe, known as Belkans, were Xenophobic and resented Equestria and the Crystal Empire. But at this point, she didn’t care how it started; she just wanted it to end. This whole thing had been going bad for Equestria from the start. The ponies in Canterlot had put all their eggs in the Zeppelin basket, and it wasn’t paying off.
The elevator doors opened and Ditsy made her way towards the briefing room. Opening the door, she was quite surprised to see that she wasn’t alone. Captains Cloud kicker, Bare Long, Rose Gebot, Black Wings, and Buch Wurm were also present. These Zeppelin Captains, along with Ditsy, were all that was left of the Equestrian 7th Zeppelin Flotilla; the Wolfgang. Admiral Wegner Graf stood next to a large table with a model version of the Krasinsky Mountain range, which the other five ponies were centered around. He was dressed in the ice white uniforms with golden finishing, although his cap was tucked under his wing.
“Ah Captain Doo, welcome, you’re just in time too we were about to start the briefing.” Admiral Graf greeted.
“Forgive me Admiral,” Ditsy said, “I was under the impression that I was to receive my patrol orders in private.”
“As was I Admiral,” Buch agreed.
“You’re all here to receive new orders yes, but they are not about a patrol. This is a mission briefing.” The Admiral answered.
Despite no pony saying anything, the mood within the room became very grim and somber.
The Admiral motioned for the ponies to move closer to the table. It was there that Ditsy noticed the model wasn’t of the mountain range as a whole, but of a selective section. This section housed a massive complex that looked like a supplies depot.
“This is the target. It’s called Rigley Base; it’s the main supply center for the entire Western Arm of the Belkan tribe. Command thinks if we can take out this facility and the areal convoys leading from it, than we can effectively halt all operations in the western sector. Your orders are to ingress to the target separately and bomb it. Enroute you primary objective remains unchanged: hunt and down areal transports.” The Admiral briefed his voice barely breaking monotone.
“Who the hell thought this plan up?” Cloud Kicker huffed.
The Admiral glared at Cloud Kicker, “The Royal Pony Sisters and the Princess of Friendship.”
Before Cloud Kicker could respond Black Wing snorted, “Another suicide mission.”
“The Princesses are confident that this will work.” The Admiral snipped.
“They said that about the last fifteen missions and look how well they turned out…” Ditsy muttered.
That comment drew an icy but sympathetic glare from the Admiral. However unlike Cloud Kicker and Black Wing, Ditsy returned the glare with a harsh glare from her own eyes. This drew the Admiral’s ire but he did not wish to vocalize it. Instead he looked at his Captains, “You departure time is afternoon tomorrow. It’s a five day trip to the target and five day back. Good Hunting, dismissed.”
The ponies saluted the Admiral and moved to head out.
“Miss Doo can you remain for a second?” the Admiral asked.
“That’s you Derpy,” Bare Long whispered.
“I figured,” Ditsy responded sarcastically.
She turned and faced the Admiral. The two looked at each other in pure silence until the rest of the flotilla’s captains had exited the room. Once the door closed, Ditsy spoke first.
“Are you going to scold me for speaking the truth Admiral?” she asked.
“I don’t appreciate the comments Ditsy, I’m not saying they aren’t unwarranted…” he started.
“Damn right their warranted, this is a suicide mission and you know it. The only reason the Princesses gave this order is because they think this war is still winnable.” She snapped.
“It can still be won.” The Admiral shot back.
“Bull,” Ditsy shouted, “They don’t know what’s going out there, they sit all comfortable and clean in Canterlot while their little ponies slug it out in a brutal war! Those ponies made a huge mistake thinking this Zeppelin arm would be the war winner! I mean thank Solaris for Shining Armor or we would’ve lost this war many years ago!”
Silence fell over the room. After a moment, the Admiral sighed, “I can’t disagree with that Ditz, you know I can’t.” He took a deep sigh, “The fact is your right. When this war started we went from ninety six Zeppelins in the entire military. Now we’re down to sixteen, six of which are a part of 7th flotilla. Not to mention that we’ve practically run out of trained crews and are running with rookies.”
“And you think we can still win this war? Admiral, in order for us to properly destroy this…Rigley base…we need all six to effectively bomb it. If one fall’s the mission is as good as a failure.” Ditsy continued pointing to the model.
“Maybe that’s all you’ll need.” The Admiral sighed.
Ditsy gave him a funny look.
“Look, this thing goes perfectly it’ll be a miracle even I will admit that. But maybe this is the one mission we need to effectively bring an end to this war. Neither side will admit that this war has gone badly for them, so maybe an attack like this will force the Belkan tribe to the tables. It’s a long shot Ditz, but we’d have to try.” The admiral sighed.
Ditsy was quiet for a moment. Then she gave a brief smile, “Well that’s what you were saying even when you were my captain.”
“And I haven’t steered you wrong yet.” The Admiral smiled. Then his smile turned to a grimace, “Which brings me to another point, I’m assigning a war correspondent to your Zeppelin for the mission.”
Instead of shock, Ditsy sighed with remorse. “Really,” she said, “As if my job wasn’t hard enough, especially with this mission, I gotta babysit a reporter.”
“Well I figured since you know this one personally things might be easier. Rainbow Dash recommends her especially and from what I hear she can handle herself.” The Admiral praised.
“Has she ever been on a Zeppelin before?” Ditsy asked.
That gave the Admiral pause, which gave Ditsy her answer. But she couldn’t say no to it.
“Alright, when do I meet her?” Ditsy asked.
“Tonight, she’ll be meeting your crew at Berry Punch’s party.” The Admiral smiled.
Ditsy sighed, “Alright, thanks.” She then turned to leave but something stopped her. She turned back to the admiral, “Oh Wagner, who’d we lose?”
“I’m sorry,” the Admiral asked.
“The roses, who are they for?” Ditsy asked.
A grim look came upon the Admiral’s face, but he quickly buried it under a guise of professional stoic, “LZ-331: Braeburn’s Zeppelin.”
Ditsy froze in her place for a moment, trying her hardest to hold back a shocked tear. Turns out the Cabbie’s brother, wouldn’t be coming home.
“Whoo hoo,” Sunshower Raindrops cheered before chugging back another mug of cider. All around LZ-712’s main engineer the carting halls party room was jumping in celebration. Crews of LZ-712, LZ-671, LZ-101, and the ship of honor LZ-441 were celebrating at Captain Berry Punch’s commendation for valor. This was a party worthy of Pinkie pie, if she had included alcohol in her party.
The air was slightly foggy from the heat and amount of liquid being flung about. In the background, a lounge singer sang a jaunty tune that very little listened too. By now every pony was either drunk or half way there. Sunshower was no exception, drinking with her crew mates Weather Wind and Blue Arrow; LZ-712’s Radar operator and First mate respectively. Both of them were already far beyond anything describing as drunk.
With a smile on her face, Sunshower reclined back in her chair, “This is a great cider these ponies got.”
“Well….” Weather Wind started, “They know the Apple family so you know that…..that….well…..you’re right this is good brew.”
Blue Arrow snorted, “To the Apple Family, for….for….knowing how to do one things right!”
Sunshower giggled drunkenly as she toasted. Just then a set of doors opened up and in walked Captain Ditsy Doo and a shorter Pegasus with stumpy wings and a gamboge coat. Ditsy had a soft smile on her face, as did the Pegasus. The two made their way over to the table which Sunshower sat.
“Ah Captain, perfect timing, we were just toasting those farming ponies from back home.” Sunshower smiled, “Oh hey I’ve seen you before, you’re that crusader right?”
“Everyone this is Lieutenant Scootaloo, War Correspondent. She’ll be joining us on this trip.” Ditsy said.
“Hi every pony,” Scootaloo greeted.
A set of drunken waves and hellos was her response.
“Anyway,” Ditsy sighed, “It seems you ponies have already sauced yourselves, so we’re gonna get some drinks.”
With a nod, the Captain and newbie left the table to walk over to the bar. As they did so, another drunken party entered the catering hall. Obviously these ponies had been hitting the sauce a lot harder and longer than the rest of the crews there. But that didn’t stop the two senior officers from Ditsy’s boat from commenting.
“Who are those pigs?” Blue Arrow asked.
“Probably from Berry’s ship,” Sunshower asked, “Cuz they looked like they had a really fun time.”
Over by the Bar, Ditsy had just handed Scootaloo a mug of cider before receiving a mug of her own. Joining the duo was LZ-712’s second officer, Amethyst Star, who was half way between tipsy and drunk. However the pinkish violet Pony was still sober enough to give her captain a passing salute.
“Scootaloo, this is my second officer Amethyst Star.” Ditsy introduced, “This is Scootaloo, war correspondent. She’s gonna be sailing with us to report on what’s going on out there.”
Amethyst smiled, “Pleasure to meet you Miss Loo, have…a….you ever been on Zeppelins before?”
Scootaloo shook her head no.
Amethyst nodded and went back to her drink, “Have you seen Berry yet Ditsy?”
“Not yet, but I imagine she’s passed out somewhere.”
A beige color unicorn had walked up to them; his platinum mane was neatly combed and his uniform neat and dry, a far cry from the other ponies in the room aside from Ditsy and Scootaloo. However, his mane and coat were damp, which meant he had been with the party for a while but didn’t partake in any of it.
“Sir,” he said with a voice barely above a whisper, “Do you have a moment?”
Ditsy turned to face the unicorn, “Yes I do speak Saint.”
“Sir, report from Kiel Base, LZ-712 is ready for departure.” He told her.
Ditsy nodded, “Thank you.”
“One more thing ma’am: On my way here….ponies from one of the Zeppelin’s…” his voice trailed off as a look of embarrassment came over his face.
Ditsy smiled, “They pissed on you didn’t they?”
Meekly the unicorn nodded.
Ditsy and Amethyst smiled between each other while Scootaloo remained clueless. Then Ditsy spoke, “You were initiated. They did it to me too, dismissed.” The unicorn walked away with in a bit of disgrace. Ditsy turned to Scootaloo, “That’s our third officer, Saint Dis Lee, Fluer’s son and a graduate of Celestia’s school for the Gifted.”
Scootaloo nodded. Before she could say anything two ponies, one earth and one Pegasus took the stage. The Pegasus was dressed in an officer’s uniform but the Earth pony was the smartest dressed in the room and had a golden medal around her neck. The Earth Pony was also extremely stumbling drunk, with a bottle of champagne in her hoof.
“That’s Berry Punch,” Ditsy told Scootaloo, “One of the old guard.”
The Pegasus tapped on the mike to key it and then shouted, “Quiet in this Whore House!” The catering hall came to a mild silence as the drunken ponies realized someone was about to make a speech. The Pegasus smiled, “I’d like to call up our newest war hero to the stage: Captain Berry Punch, winner of the Award for Valor!”
The crowd cheered and roared as Berry waddled her way up to the mike. “Hello ponies,” she slurred, “I’d like to propose a toast! To our glorious…..stallionless…and abstaining Pony Sisters, who valiantly lead our brave mares and stallions into battle. And to that….other one….from Ponyville, who rose from a nothing unicorn to become an alicorn and Princess of Friendship.”
The ponies looked on with confusion. Only Scootaloo seemed to remotely follow what was going on, but even then she was sure that Berry was talking through the alcohol.
“They are great strategist aren’t they? In the past five years they have….have….well they have shown that fat, cigar chomping, and xenophobic bastard of a Belkan where he can shove his beloved Mountains!” she finished.
Then she popped the champagne bottle’s top and began to chug it while the party roared. Berry stumbled off the stage into the rowdy crowd. Sunshower and Blue Arrow both raised their mugs to the wasted Captain as she made her way past them and towards the bar.
Ditsy gave her friend a warm smile as she stumbled up, “Good Speech Berry.”
“Yeah….yeah….they ate it up.” She smiled. Once she reached the bar, she placed the bottle of champagne on it and began to drink.
Ditsy meanwhile looked out at the crowd of ponies enjoying themselves. “Look at them Berry, the old bunch is gone. These…war ponies…all wind and drink with big mouths, all shining examples for the princesses, with faith and trust in our leaders.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Berry muttered, “Cheeks together and balls in their hooves.”
Ditsy sighed, “They will know soon enough.”
Berry nodded, “So, did you…did you…?”
“Get new orders?” Ditsy finished and then nodded, “We ship out tomorrow.”
“Another…another scrub mission,” Berry slurred.
“No,” Ditsy answered shaking her head, “A last ditch suicide mission.”
Berry nodded, “Well, that’s tomorrow. Let’s drink until we can’t feel any more then get pounded until we can.”
Ditsy smiled and raised her mug, “Alright I’ll drink to that, War hero.”
