Chapters Finally! Flight Lieutenant Rainbow Dash thought to herself as the instructions came from the eggheads. She was flying her F/A-18F Hornet at the head of her flight in formation with the rest of her squadron. A glance left revealed a E-17 AWACS. She knew that somewhere on the other side was another flight of four Hornets, while beyond them was a KC-130 Tanker, a C-130 Transport and the final flight of Hornets. They had just finished refueling from the KC-130 for the third time in ten hours. During that time they had repeatedly flew low over a section of the Scoltish coast where a large group of eggheads were testing a long-range multiple-target teleport spell.
They had started with single aircraft, slowly moving up to larger and larger 'subjects'. The last test had teleported the formation about a hundred kilometers north. Now after all the successes the eggheads wanted to go for broke. All the test subjects had been slated for transfer to the Pacific. As such, the unicorns had decided to kill two birds with one stone by testing the spell and teleporting them all the way to Haywaii. In all it didn't really surprise Rainbow that it would take over a hundred unicorns to power the spell.
"All aircraft, banking left...Now. " Came the voice of Squadron Leader Fleetfoot, the squadron commander as the formation made a left bank. They then pitched down and descended until they were only four hundred feet above the waves.
"Overlord, Striker Actual, ETA thirty seconds. " Fleetfoot told the test commander.
"Overlord copies. Out. " Came the reply.
Rainbow looked out ahead, quickly making out the shapes of the ships taking part in the test ahead. Although she could only see the back ends of them as they approached, she had had enough opportunity to get good looks over the course of the days tests.
"Teleporting. " squawked her radio. As the formation passed over the ships there was a bright flash as the spell activated.
Lieutenant-Commander Spitfire hit the rudder pedals as she taxied her F/A-18E Hornet over to the carrier's catapults. She was aboard the Prench built aircraft carrier HMS Midnight . She was the lead ship in the Midnight -class aircraft carriers. The largest mobile vehicles ever made, each ship carried a carrier air wing of four fighter squadrons flying F/A-18s of different variants, a electronic attack squadron with EA-18 Growlers, the EW variant of the Hornet. Also along was a helicopter anti-submarine squadron, and a AWACS squadron with their E-2 Hawkeyes.
Spitfire continued to follow the hoof signals of one of the flight deck crew as he guided her to lock into the catapult. The airwing CO wanted a Combat Air Patrol and an AWACS up as soon as the teleport finished. As the Commander in charge of 405 Naval Fighter Squadron, she had been chosen with her wingpony, Lieutenant 'Silly' Soarin, who was currently hooking into a catapult on her right. As a F/A-18E pilot, behind her was her Weapons Systems Officer, Lieutenant Commander Vinyl 'DJ' Scratch. Off to their left on the third catapult on the 'slanted' part of the deck was the E-2 AWACS getting ready to launch as well.
The crewpony out on the deck signaled she was hooked into the catapult and Spitfire stomped on the brakes. She quickly began doing her last minute checks. "Teleporting. " Came Overlord's voice just as there was a bright flash.
Captain Twilight Sparkle glanced around the dim interior of her Leopard 2 Main Battle Tank. It was minimally lit with the glow from the screens. She turned again and looked through her commander's periscope. The tank was sitting with another Leopard in a LCAC, or a Landing Craft Air Cushion. A hovercraft landing craft as it were. Another seven LCACs nearby carried the other fourteen tanks of her Panzer Company. Another eight carried a company form the marines in their Leopard 2s. They were all sitting between the Carrier and the large battleship beside them.
As a Captain she was in charge of 1st Company, consisting of twelve tanks. Beside her sat her gunner Sergeant Deadeye, a navy blue peagasus. She was seasick almost to the point of vomiting. If Twilight was honest with herself she wasn't feeling too great either, but she'd be damned if it stopped her from doing her job.
The plan was that they would be teleported just off the coast of Haywaii. From there the LCACs would take them to the island. "Teleporting ."
As the craft pitched up in a wave again there was a bright flash.
Captain Rarity Belle grinned to herself. The white unicorn was looking forward to shore leave in Haywaii. In all her service in the navy she had never gotten a Pacific posting. She ran a hoof through her purple mane as she turned and cantered from the bridge onto one of the outside railings and ran her eyes over her charge.
It was an absolute monster.
The HMS Honesty was one of the Element -class Super Battleships. They were the second largest mobile vehicles ever constructed. Based on the famed Neighpanese Yamareto -class of World War Two, the Element -class were basically cross between Neighpanese and Equestrian battleship designs. She had four main battery turrets. Housed within were twelve 460 mm guns capable of firing two 4000lb shells a minute, 42 kilometres each. Along the port and starboard sides were twelve smaller 127 mm dual purpose guns housed in six turrets on each side. Updates had modernized the ship with Vertical Launch Systems for missiles and four CIWS gatling gun emplacements.
The massive battleship was only eclipsed by the other ship beside it. The aircraft carrier Midnight . Either way, the Honesty was every battleship skipper's dream.
She watched as the formation of aircraft taking part in the test appeared from astern and came towards them at low altitude. As they passed over the Captain braced herself as the teleport activated and whisked them away in a bright flash.
Corporal Fluttershy sat quietly in the Amphibious Assault Vehicle, or Amtrack, as the vehicle bobbed in the waves. The rest of her squad was packed tightly with her into the passenger compartment lit by dim red lights. She glanced over the F88 Austeyr Assault Rifle in her hooves. She didn't know what had possessed her to join the Royal Marine Corps, but here she was: a combat medic.
Thinking back, at least her time in the military had made her more assertive. She wasn't a quiet shut-in anymore. At least she wasn't shy as she had been. After all, she had marine self defense training, why should she be afraid of anypony?
The amtrack rolled again as another wave struck it. Somewhere outside she knew the Amtracks of the rest of A company were rolling and pitching as well. Around them were the LCACs carrying the Leopard tanks, while hovering above were twelve helicopters carrying a Special Air Service Company
She glanced at the front of the passenger compartment where the company CO was sitting. Captain Shining Armour was a skilled leader and a great marine. He was well liked by the company, leading by example and being firm but fair. He wouldn't order them to do anything he wouldn't do himself.
"Teleporting. " Came the voice over her helmet's radio before she felt a tug as the spell activated.
"Oi! Watch it Cap!" One of the ponies in the helicopter's troop compartment exclaimed as Captain Daring Do stumbled into him.
"Sorry mate." The pegasus replied. She was commanding A company, Special Air Service. The unit, including herself, was mostly of Australian origins. At least the flight from Haywii to Sydneigh is relatively short...might even use some of my leave to visit home...
She figured that the rest of the company was probably having similar thoughts. She looked out the left window of the Lynx helicopter at the monstrous HMS Honesty a few hundred meters away. Back to the right was the equally large Midnight .
"Teleporting. "
Author's Note
Short little six chapter story I decided to bang out to get through some writer's block.
So history is slightly different:
Otherwise the war pretty much went the way it did in our world. And if you couldn't guess, Equestria is Britain.
1940: Fast as Lightning, Loud as Thunder
1300 hours Date Unknown Location Unknown
Rainbow Dash shook her head as her sight returned. She felt slightly queasy but she ignored it as she glanced outside her Hornet. The formation was still there.
"All callsigns report in. " Fleetfoot ordered before continuing, "Striker one-one, Misty, green. "
"Striker one-two, Flocho, good to go. " Said the male voice of Misty's wingpony.
"Striker one-three, Loose, I'm good! " Came another mare's voice.
And so it continued through the rest of the squadron.
"Striker three-one, Sonic, ready to rock!" Rainbow reported as her turn came around.
"Striker three-two, Flash, my GPS has no reception but otherwise I'm good. " Rainbow's wingpony, Lightning Dust, reported.
"Uhhh...Striker three-three, Thud, I got the same problem. Everything else is fine though. " At Thunderlane's report Rainbow took a puzzled look at her GPS. She had neglected to before, as the GPS was one of the most reliable things in the plane. To her surprise and confusion it too showed no connection.
"Striker three-four, Ray, Same was the other two. "
"Hauler one-seven, good. " came the tanker pilot.
"Lookout two-seven, GPS is out but everything else is green. " Said the AWACS controller.
"This is one. " Fleetfoot's voice came back, "My GPS is acting up too. If your GPS is working tell me. "
While the silence reigned, Rainbow took a glance at her heading indicator. 090. Due east. She took a look out. What the...
"This is Sonic," She began, "somethings wrong. Take a look at four O'clock."
There was silence for a few seconds before someone muttered, "Woah. That's a lot of smoke. "
Indeed there was. Off in the distance to the south, several columns of inky black smoke rose thousands of feet into the air along a coast.
"Striker one-one, Lookout. Radar contact on one hundred plus bogeys. Please advise. " Came the AWACS.
"Where are they? " Fleetfoot asked.
"One group is twelve plus, ten o'clock, twenty klicks. Rest are spread all over at three o'clock, near the smoke. "
Rainbow glanced over to the south again. Looking closer at the base of the pillars of smoke, her keen pegasus eyes picked out a port town. Probably oil fires. She thought.
"Ok, Lookout. I'm giving you flights two and three. Ones will stay with the bigger planes. " Fleetfoot's voice came again.
"Roger. Striker two-one, steer heading zero-one-zero, angels fifteen. " Ordered the AWACS.
"Copy. " Replied two-one as his flight peeled off to the left and began to climb away.
"Three-one, heading one-seven-zero, angels ten. Buster. "
"Wilco." Rainbow replied before swinging her flight into a climbing right turn and opening her throttle, heading just to the left of the smoke. She kept looking around, and occasionally glancing at her radar. "Hey sonic? " came Lightning Dust's voice over the flight radio channel.
"Yeah Flash?" Rainbow replied, continuing to look around. "I can see boats down there. Looks like a damn exodus. " And indeed there was. Glancing down, she could make out dozens of ships. Some appeared to be older military vessels, while the vast majority were cargo or passenger ships. They seemed to be picking up long lines of ponies off the beach
"Lookout, this is two-one. Visual contact. Noodles, are those what I think they are? " Asked the leader of second flight. Another voice, supposedly 'Noodles' replied, "Yeah, those are Spitfires alright. "
Rainbow raised an eyebrow at that. The old World War Two aircraft was very rare. What was a group of them doing here? "This is Two-One, I'll be on seven-three-decimal-one. "
"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder. " Thunderlane muttered over the flight comms. "Yup." Rainbow replied as they flew along the beach. All was quiet as the four Hornet drivers flew along taking in the view. It was broken moments later by Lightning on the squadron channel. "This is Three-Two. Radar contact. "
Rainbow glanced at her own radar and noticed it had picked up a large formation of aircraft coming down the coast ahead of them. "Lookout, this is Three-One. Moving to intercept."
"This is Two-One to all callsigns. " Cut in the other flight lead, "I've been in contact with the Spits. They say it's 1940, and that smoke is Dunkirk. " Rainbow's eyebrow went up in surprise. That certainly wasn't what she was expecting. A badly aimed teleport sure, but time travel ? How'd the eggheads screw that up?!
In the distance she began to make out the specks that were the aircraft her radar was detecting. "Tally thirty." she reported as the flight flew past and climbed above the formation. She got a good look at the aircraft and quickly reported, "Lookout, Three-One. Visual contact with formation of thirty plus Stukas escorted by twelve 109s."
"Copy Three-one. " Came the reply, before Lookout began speaking again. "One-one. I'm at a loss. You're ranking. Orders? "
There was silence for a few seconds, likely as Fleetfoot figured what to do. A moment later she came back over the radio. "Ok, I see two options. We stay neutral, or we fight for Equestria. I sure as hell aren't taking the Germane side. Flame? " She asked the other flight lead.
"I say we kick some ass. Anything to shorten this war. " He replied. "How about you Sonic? " She asked Rainbow.
"I'm with Flame on this one." Rainbow replied looking down at the Stukas. They were about six thousand feet below the Hornets and were rapidly approaching Dunkirk. In her headphones she heard Fleet asking Lookout.
"I'll go with whatever you decide. " Was his response.
"Alright then " Fleet began "All callsigns, you are clear to engage Germane military forces on sight, weapons free. Repeat weapons free. "
A predatory smile appeared on Rainbow's face. "Right! You heard the lady!" She transmitted, "Threes! Get into the bastards!" And with that, she rolled inverted, threw the throttle wide open and dove straight into the Stukas. She rapidly gained speed easily gaining on the propeller driven dive bombers.
As she approached she keyed up her two sidewinders. Almost instantly she had a lock, the shrill tone filling her ears. "Fox Two!" She exclaimed. She immediately kicked the rudder and brought a second dive bomber into her sights. "Fox two!" The second missile flew off the rail just as her first slammed into a stuka, blowing off its wing and sending it spiraling down in a trail of smoke.
And then she was in among them. Pulling back on the stick she switched on the afterburners. The G-forces slammed her into her seat, going into a near vertical climb. The HUD read six hundred knots. 1,100 Km/h. She left the formation in the dust and rapidly gained altitude. She pulled back on her stick again, looping around and bringing her diving back in behind the formation. She watched as one of the Hornets, probably Sky Dust, as it loosed both it's missiles blowing apart two more aircraft before gunning another down with her gatling. "Wahoo! Splash three for me! "She exclaimed.
Sadly Rainbow only had had two missiles. After all, it was just a ferry flight. Why would the armorers put on more than the two required by protocol? No matter though, she still had a full load of twenty mike-mike cannon rounds for her gatling.
Rainbow watched as her speed built up in the dive. Combined with the thrust from the afterburners the jet easily broke the sound barrier. It was as if someone flipped a switch. One moment the jet was shaking and the next, everything went quiet and the ride became super smooth.
She quickly turned off her afterburners to conserve some fuel, and refocused on the stukas. Lining one up, she took careful aim placing the 'pipper' on her target. The small circle on the outside of the sight then began to disappear counter-clockwise indicating the range. Rainbow pulled the trigger, a satisfying hum filling her ears before she broke off into another vertical climb, the stuka spiralling down below her.
She didn't hit the afterburners this time letting her speed bleed off as she gained altitude. She levelled off at ten thousand feet glancing down at the aerial carnage. a few seconds later, Dust joined on her wing. There were large holes through the formation. There was also inky black smoke trails behind several. While each Hornet had shot down three or four planes each, between the four of them that was at least twelve of the thirty stukas.
A moment later Thunderlane and Sky joined the two. "How's ammo looking?" Rainbow asked. "Winchester missiles. Three hundred twenty mike-mike. " Dust reported. But just before Thunderlane could begin Sky cut in.
"Tally six o'clock!! Break! " Rainbow immediately looked over her shoulder to see the Stuka's escort of Bf 109s diving in from behind. Her years of training immediately kicked in and she broke hard up and right. Over her shoulder she could see the 109's bright yellow nose and muzzle flashes as it rolled to follow. A cheeky idea popped into Rainbow's head.
She rolled back left and reversed her turn. Once again the Germane pilot followed. She kept the throttle at about half as she kept the turn, while keeping her eyes on the enemy fighter. The G-forces crushed her into her seat but still she kept in the turn. Slowly but surely she watched as she began to out turn her opponent. She was almost behind him when the Germane tried to make a run for it.
The Maresserschmitt rolled over and began to dive away. "Oh so thats how you wanna play?" Rainbow grinned under her oxygen mask, "Speed won't save you!"
She slammed open the throttle and gave chase as the two aircraft rapidly lost altitude. But just as Rainbow placed the gunsight over her quarry, he levelled out at less than a hundred feet and began jinking. He turned left, and right, making it as hard as possible to hit him as the two streaked along the waterline at well over two hundred knots. Rainbow had to throttle back to stay behind and avoid overshooting.
Rainbow had to admit, the enemy pilot knew how to make a difficult target. She kept after him trying to line up a shot, before an opportunity presented itself. A quick burst of cannon fire ripped off the plane's wing sending it spiralling into the beach surf.
Pulling around and looking at her surroundings for the first time, Rainbow realized she was over the evacuation beaches. Looking at the wreckage Rainbow let out a relived sigh that no soldiers were near. Grinning she flew back along the beach and waggled her wings at the soldiers below.
"This is Sonic. Everypony ok?" She asked as she turned and began to climb. Lightning was the first to report, "This is Flash. Shook and shot down the pair after me. "
"Thud here. " Came Thunderlane's voice, "Me and Ray outran 'em over the channel. Bingo fuel. " Rainbow nodded and glanced at her own fuel. It read just over four thousand pounds. Enough to make it back across the Channel.
"Copy, out." She said before changing to the squadron freq. "Lookout, this is Three-One."
"Send traffic. " The AWACS replied. "Threes are bingo fuel. Requesting instructions." Rainbow replied, as she used her radar to find LD's IFF transponder.
She quickly found it and made her way over. Lightning saw her and pulled over onto her wing. A minute later, Thud and Ray came winging in. "Three-one, I've been in contact with several controllers over on Equestria. They have made arrangements for your arrival. Switch to seventy-five decimal eight, and contact Blackout when you come into sight of the coast. They will give further instructions. "
"Copy. Three-one out."
0930 Hours August 18, 1940 RAF Biggin Hill
Rainbow yawned as she woke from her nap. She rubbed her eyes and glanced around. She was on a cloud hovering a few feet off the ground outside by a dispersal hut. All around her were ponies, mostly pegasi, who were trying to stave off boredom. Most wore the mish-mash flying gear of Royal Air Force fighter pilots, while the green of her modern flight suit stood out. Some were playing board games like chess, some read, and some, like Rainbow, napped. Off to her right Thunderlane and Sky Dust were chatting about something or other. Lightning slept nearby.
A nostalgic smile crossed Rainbow's face as she thought about her wingpony. The two had met as kids back in their hometown of Vanhoover. They had become fast friends when they learned they both wanted to be fighter pilots, not to mention they were the only two to be able to keep up with one another. They had stuck together, even being lucky enough to be assigned the same squadron, and flight. The only reason Dust wasn't commanding her own flight right now was because of her recklessness.
Glancing around at the pilots around them Rainbow couldn't help but think they came straight out of a Battle of Equestria movie. Most wore the navy blue uniform of the RAF with 'Mane West' life jackets and other assorted bits and bobs. A little ways away were their Spitfires, warmed up and ready to take off. Beyond them were her flight's Hornets.
After their arrival, the squadron had been split up in flights over southern Equestria. Given specialists, they had taken the load of the C-130, a cache of at least one of each weapon minus the nukes for the Hornets. The specialists were in duplication magic, which kept the flights armed with missiles. The ground crew that was riding in the 'Herc' had also trained several more in maintaining the Jet fighters. This had kept the Squadron in fighting condition, if split up.
And that's when Rainbow was shook from her reverie.
Her ears perked up as she heard a phone ring in the hut. All the others did as well, tensing. A few seconds passed before one of the ponies in the hut poked his head out the window. "Squadron scramble!" He bellowed. Everypony took off running.
Rainbow flapped her wings and shot off to her jet. She could see the ground crew already starting it up for her. As soon as she got there the pegasus in the cockpit hopped out and began to strap her in as she slipped on her helmet. The jet was already spinning up as she finished. She quickly finished the startup and rolled off the grass onto the runway. She could already see the Spitfires taking off on the grass. Lightning pulled up on her wing beside her ready to go.
Once on the runway she glanced behind her to make sure she wouldn't kill anyone with her jet-wash before hitting the afterburners. The jet leaped forward. Faster and faster it went before finally she pulled back on the stick and the huge jet took to the air. Behind her she could see Thunderlane and Sky taking to the air as well. Satisfied Rainbow quickly turned her attention to her radio.
"Blackout, Savage Leader, squadron is airborne. " Came the call from the Spitfires. "Copy Savage Leader. " Came the reply a few seconds later. "Sixty plus bandits over Dover, angels two. Steer heading one-one-zero, angels four. "
"Savage Lead copies. " Rainbow watched as the twelve Spitfires peeled off and began climbing south. Now the radio was clear it was her turn. Since the squadron had split up over southern Equestria, each flight had changed its callsign to make the controllers jobs easier.
"Blackout, Thunder one-one, Squads airborne." She said already vectoring to follow the Spitfires, as she shut off her afterburners. "Thunder, do you copy last to Savage? " Blackout asked.
"Affirm." Rainbow said, while Thunderlane and Sky came up on her wing opposite Dust. "Want us to do the same?"
Five minutes later the four Hornets were still twenty kilometers from the small port. Flying at five thousand feet the view of the Equestrian country side would be beautiful, if it weren't for the ugly black smoke coming from several Germane He 111 bombers. At least two squadrons of Hurricane fighters were tearing into the formation, as another of Spitfires engaged the Maresserschmidt escort. Rainbow grinned. Each of the Hornets carried eight AIM-9X Heatseekers and two AIM-120 AMRAAMs. Considering our targets...ten missiles, ten or more kills. She thought with a smile.
"Alright! Let's rock and roll!" Rainbow exclaimed opening the throttle and diving in from ahead of the formation. She grinned as she leveled off a few kilometers ahead of the bombers and began shooting.
Deflection Shooting was in his element. He may have been the squadron newbie, but he was doing what he was meant to. His Hurricane shuddered as he fired into one of the Germane He 111s. Peeling off he climbed up above the formation. Just as he rolled back in to make another run several rockets came hurtling from ahead. A bunch of the bombers fell away in pieces. More of the strange rockets quickly followed, and more bombers exploded. Deflection watched in awe as they were followed by four aircraft moving unbelievably fast.
Everypony in Equestria had seen the pictures, and the video, of these amazing machines and their pilots. They had earned many nicknames but most called them by only one. It was easily the most popular.
"Hey! The cavalry has arrived! Its the Steel Angels! " Somepony exclaimed. "Sit back and watch the fireworks chaps! "
Rainbow grinned as she pulled through the formation. She had already bagged four with her AMRAAMs and Sidewinders. Bombers whipped by, and Rainbow watched a Spitfire lay into a bomber as she streaked past. Another two missiles left their rails. As they flew she switched to guns and blew another He 111 out of the sky.
She had no idea how many she had bagged in the last two months. Last she checked it was in the hundreds. Most of the squadron had similar kill counts. It was just what happened when you had a seventy year tech advantage over your opponent. She grinned again as three more Germane planes went spiraling to the ground.
Rainbow flew among the clouds. It felt like years since the last time she had just...flown. No jets, no planes, no combat...no killing. Just Rainbow, her wings, and the clouds.
She wasn't far from the airbase. In fact she carried a small radio in case they were scrambled. But it was early October. The Germane attacks had been petering out. They had only scrambled twice in the last week.
Rainbow flew at a sedate pace, gliding along. She flew over and alighted on a nearby cloud. She turned around and lay down looking over the edge, just taking in the view of Equestria. Sure, technically she was Caneighdian, but she felt a fierce loyalty to Equestria and the Princesses. She sighed, and just…thought.
She heard the sound of flapping wings a bit later. "Hey." She said, as Lighting Dust landed beside her. "Hey."
The two sat in silence for a while, simply enjoying the view and musing their own thoughts.
"We're in for the long haul I guess." Piped up Lighting.
"Yup." Was all Rainbow said. There was silence for another few moments.
"You know we have no way back right?" Lighting muttered, almost a whisper.
"Yeah." Replied Rainbow, "The way I see it, there's nothing we can do Flash." She said using the other pegasi's nickname, "So we fly on, and end this war."
Lightning just looked away. "I...It's..." She tryed, "It's just that it's starting to get to me..."
"What is?" Rainbow asked looking at her puzzled.
Lightning looked back, a depressed look on her face, "The killing." She muttered before looking Rainbow in the eye, "Dash. We are some of the highest scoring fighter pilots of all time. I have shot down over three hundred planes. Don't tell me you don't think about those inside." She began to tear up a bit, "I'm responsible for killing them. Fathers, sons, Mothers, daughters, siblings. I killed them. WE killed them!" She burst out, before sobbing, "I know that its ours or theirs, I know that I have to! But I doesn't make me feel any better."
Dash simply looked away, unsure what to do. She had a small mental battle with herself, before muttering, "Fuck it." She turned and hugged Lighting. "It's OK LD. I know we've taken lives. But we're heroes." She said before pulling back and looking Lightning in the eye, "Don't think about those we've killed, think about those lives we've saved! We saved hundreds of ponies Dust. Hundreds!"
This brought a small smile to Lightnings face, "Yeah I guess we did didn't we."
Rainbow continued, "The two of us are the most skilled pilots in history! We can change the course of it Dust! Think about how many lives we can save! Bomber crews, tankers, and infantry!"
"Yeah!" Lighting said, brightening a bit.
"Who's the two best fighter pilots in history?" Rainbow said with a grin.
"We are!" Said Lightning.
"Damn right!" Rainbow exclaimed with a huge grin on her face, "Now lets head back. I hear their serving Pizza in the mess."
Lightning just grinned. "Race ya!" She exclaimed before flapping her wings and shooting off.
Rainbow just grinned at her friend's antics. "Hey no fair!" She exclaimed before shooting off after her wingpony.
Author's Note
Two and a half reasons in my headconon which is how the world works in this fic.
Oh and yes I realize the Radio Discipline is not NATO standard. I'm doing that on purpose to make it slightly easier for everyone else. For instance: "Bolt 2-1 flight, this is Render 2-3. Bandits bullseye 243 for 60. Move to intercept."
Unless you are a huge wannabe fighter pilot like me, or a real fighter pilot, you probably aren't going to understand a thing of that. So I simplified things but kept it sounding professional: "Bolt two-one, Render. Bandits heading 243 at sixty kilometres, move to intercept."
Also the nice thing is instead of using the Imperial system like we do in real aviation (I still don't really know how far to look when tower tells me there's another plane 3 miles away) I can use metric. :P
And that last scene. I wrote it six times and it's still shit. Oh well. Can't get better at writing the occasional emotional scene without practice.
1941: 'Bolts
Spitfire shook her head and blinked as her vision came back. She looked to see all around the controlled chaos of the carriers deck resume as everypony got their bearings. She turned to look over her shoulder and spoke, "You good back there DJ?"
"I'm good !" Vinyl's voice came over the intercom. Satisfied her backseater was ready she next looked over to Soarin' and Octavia's jet. Soarin spotted her looking and gave a quick salute to signify they were ready. Spitfire gave a quick nod back and ran her eyes over the Hornet's cockpit one last time before turning and giving a salute to the yellow garbed 'shooter.' She threw the throttle wide open as he gave several more hoof signals before setting down and pointing off the bow.
Just as Spitfire felt herself be thrown into her seat as the catapult launched them, a beat started up. It was something Vinyl did every time they launched or got into a dogfight. She had installed a few extra bits on the intercom, making it so that she could play music over it. It was against regs' and Spitfire would have ordered her to remove it, but Vinyl had installed a useful feature where the volume would go down when somepony spoke making so that they could hear the radio and each other. It hadn't caused any issues so she left it.
Three seconds later the jet was off the end of the ship. She took the control column and eased back putting the jet into a climb. Glancing over her shoulder revealed Soarin's jet off her wing, having launched a second after.
"Render, this is Bolt one-one. Bolt flight airborne." She reported to the AWACS.
"Bolt one-one, this is Render. Orbit carrier at five thousand feet. Will provide further instructions when airborne. " Came the reply from the E-2 controller. They would likely be up shortly Spitfire surmised. She complied with the order and climbed up to five thousand feet. Once there she began flying a large slow orbit. She began looking around. Off to the north she could see an island, likely Haywii. But what was surprising was the lack of other aircraft or ships. The Honesty was nowhere to be found, as were the Hornets that had been flying overhead.
"Hey DJ? Where the hay'd the Honesty and our Air Force friends go?" She asked Vinyl.
"I dunno. Maybe the eggheads screwed up their spell. " Came her response, "I don't see em either. There's the island though. "
Sure enough the hills of Oahu rose a little ways off to the north-west. Down below Spitfire could see the carrier and the AWACS lunch. They continued circling as the E-2 climbed up to altitude. A minute later the controller came back on.
"Bolt one-one, Render. I have sixty plus unidentified contacts. Heading zero-five, forty klicks. Looks like they're over Pearl. " Spitfire's eyebrow raised.
"Copy, moving to intercept." She muttered, turning her jet around and accelerating, setting a course for Pearl Harbor. It was a moment later that the contacts appeared on her Hornet's radar. "Got 'em DJ?" she inquired.
"Yeah I see them. " Vinyl responded, "That's a lot of contacts. No IFFs though. We're gonna have to visually ID them. "
That's when Render spoke up sounding much more energetic than his normal calm collected self, "Bolt, Render. Be advised I have got Lots of radio chatter from Pearl. They say they're under attack. You are hereby cleared hot. Repeat weapons hot. Visually ID the attackers if you can. "
"Bolt one-one, copy." Spitfire confirmed pushing the throttle all the way open, though not afterburning.
"Holy shit. " muttered Vinyl. Spitfire felt a burst of Adrenalin fill her at the prospect of combat. She watched as the shore came rapidly past the bottom of her plane, rising up out of the ocean. She could see the harbor now. Black columns of smoke rose into the air and dozens of small dots of aircraft flew around. But Spitfire felt a sense of wrongness. That's when she realized what it was. The ships in the harbor. They weren't the modern missile destroyers and carriers. Instead there were old battleships, long scrapped, and dozens of smaller gun armed destroyers. They got closer and DJ muttered to herself, "Is that...? "
Spitfire felt the Adrenalin kick back with a vengeance. She knew exactly where she was. It was where her grandfather had died, trying to get his plane in the air. It was where dozens of Equestian sailors and serviceponies died. The Neighpanese attack on Pearl Harbor. And right in front of her plane was one of the attackers. A white Zero, gleaming in the sun. She reacted in a split second, flipping on the master arm and depressing the trigger.
And then she was past, the Zero missing a wing and beginning its long plummet to Earth. She rolled over and dove into the fray. "Render! hostiles are Neighpanese! " Vinyl yelled over the radio, "I think we got sent back in time! The fleet is under attack by Zeros and other Neighpanese World War Two fighters! We are engaging! "
Spitfire keyed her Sidewinders and let one fly at a distant B5N Kate bomber as she crossed the west side of the harbour. She lit full afterburner and lined up another Kate firing another Sidewinder. "Bolt one, Render copies, " Came the AWACS as a Zero cut across her nose and she rolled hard right to follow. "We are scrambling the two more, callsigns Bolt Two-One and Bolt Two-Two. " She chopped her throttle to stay behind it and fired a quick burst that went wide. Lining up again she fired, this time tearing the tail to pieces. "Good Hunting. Render out. "
"On our six! Break! " DJ yelled on the intercom. Spitfire quickly complied hitting the afterburners and going vertical as several cannon shells whizzed past the plane. There was a dull thud but she kept going, the Zero losing its airspeed behind and stalling. Spitfire looked back just in time to see several tracers strike it before Soarin's F-18 went hurtling past. She let grin appear beneath her oxygen mask. She pulled around an Immelmann and levelled off to apprise the situation.
From what she could tell the Arizona had already blown up. She had visited the memorial on a trip once and could see the ship in battleship row writhed in flames. Neighpanese aircraft were everywhere, shooting up the fleet. She looked over to Hickam Field to the west of the Harbour. Equestrian aircraft were burning all around. She knew that down there was where her Grandfather Rapidfire had died. It was hard to forget that. Her grandma would talk about him all the time. Hell, her brother, Rapidfire was named after him.
Spitfire looked back towards Ford Island. It was in much the same shape. She took a deep breath and was about to roll back in when DJ piped up, "Hey! There's a P-40 trying to take off from Hickam! " Spitfire's head turned so fast Vinyl would later swear that it should have given her whiplash. Spitfire immediately look to see far below a P-40 trying to take off. Her heart leapt into her throat when she saw a Zero approaching it from behind, intending to strife the poor pilot. She know there was a good to fair chance that it was her Grandfather.
And she could save him.
She didn't give it a second thought. The opened the afterburner and pulled as hard as she could, fighting to not blackout. As soon as she had the nose pointed down and in the direction of the Zero she locked and fired a Sidewinder. She knew it was a horrible shot. She was a kilometre and a half ahead and above the white fighter. The missile would have to track the heat signature of the Zero against all the fires and ground clutter. And the simple angle the missile was coming from made the onboard computer's job even harder. If Spitfire was a math wiz she would have figured out that the missiles hit chances were below forty percent. Even then she knew the chances of the missile hitting were low.
So that's why she fired three more.
It proved to be a smart decision as two of the Sidewinders lost the target and went on to detonate on the ground. A third tracked the Zero but ended up flying past behind and suffering the same fate as the other two. But the fourth tracked beautifully, leading the Neighpanese fighter and detonating right on target sending the plane to earth a burning wreck.
"Nice shot! " Vinyl exclaimed.
The P-40 finally lurched into the air and Spitfire gave herself a new objective: Keep him alive. She turned into a trailing position above and behind the Tomahawk. Almost immediately a Zero came winging in and the P-40 went into a turn to try and avoid the enemy fighter's cannon fire. Spitfire quickly pulled up behind the Zero and pumped him full of cannon rounds.
And so went the next fifteen minutes. Zeros coming in to try and take down the Equestrian fighter while Spitfire kept mowing them down either with cannon fire or missiles. A few times the Neighpanese pilots decided the Hornet was a juicier target and Spifire had to shake them, but twice Soarin came flying over to knock them off her.
"Phoenix! Break right! " Came Soarin using her callsign. Spitfire quickly rolled right and threw open the throttle just as Zero began shooting. A few seconds later Soarin blew it out of the sky. She looked around and again before her eyebrow raised. "Hey! Where'd all the planes go? " Vinyl asked. They had been in a whirling mass of planes attacking, bombing and strafing. And suddenly the only planes in the sky were the two Hornets and the P-40 they had been protecting. Spitfire glanced at her radar. Her jet was facing north and she could see dozens of contacts off in that direction.
She let out a sigh of relief and slumped back in her seat. She only had fifty cannon rounds left, and a thousand of the thirteen thousand pounds of fuel she had taken off with. "Render, Bolt one-one. Its over. Winchester weapons, Bingo fuel." She muttered.
"Copy Bolt. Head back. Two more Hornets are on their way to take over CAP of the Harbour. " said the AWACS.
"Wilco. Bolt out." Spitfire replied. She pulled up beside the P-40 and looked over to see the pilot looking her way. She flipped up her visor and gave him a salute which was returned. She then peeled off and set a course for the Midnight .
It was two days after the attack and Spitfire was in a Hornet again. This time a spare single seat F variant. She watched as a pair of Hornets launched off the bow catapults and roared off into the midday sky. Technically she wasn't supposed to be flying right now, but what the air wing CO didn't know wouldn't hurt her. The back blast shields lowered and one of the deck crew began signalling her forward. She taxied up and slowed as she came up on the catapult. Working the rudder pedals as per the hoof signals given by the yellow garbed shooter directing her. he crossed his leg and she stopped.
Then all she could do was her last minute checks. A minute later found her looking at the shooter off her left. A few seconds later and he crouched and pointed off the bow. Spitfire threw the throttle wide open, sat back in her seat and placed her head on the headrest.
She felt herself shoved back in her seat as the Hornet leapt forward. And she was off. She grabbed the stick and flipped up the landing gear, easing into a slight climb. She levelled off at only a thousand feet and throttled back.
She wasn't going very far today. The Midnight was sailing only six kilometres outside Pearl Harbour. She was heading to Hickam to take care of some personal business. A minute later she pulled into the circuit over Hickam. She asked for and received clearance from the tower and brought the plane down.
"Hickam Ground, Phoenix holding at Charlie, request taxi and parking instructions." She spoke into the radio. She opened her canopy, flipped her visor up and undid her oxygen mask. Imedately she we greeted by a blast of hot tropical air.
"Phoenix, Hickam Ground. Cleared taxi for the apron. Go ahead and park by hanger four. " Came the reply.
"Phoenix." She muttered as she began taxiing along the apron. All along her path to the right were burned out and damaged aircraft. Lots of ponies were working, salvaging parts and fixing up those that weren't to badly shot up. They all looked up as she passed, many with looks of surprise or amazement. She kept going until she came upon a hangar with a large 4 on it. She spun the jet fighter and parked facing away. She shut down the engines and went over her shut down procedures.
Satisfied, the golden pegasus unstrapped herself and pulled off her helmet. She climbed out of the cockpit, and flapped her wings to hover down to the ground. A pair of rifle toting soldiers came trotting over. One of them, a unicorn wearing the stripes of a sergeant, came up to her and snapped of a salute. "Lieutenant-Commander. I'm Sergeant Greener. We have been assigned to keep your aircraft secure."
Spitfire returned the salute, "Much appreciated Sergeant. Carry on." He nodded to her and the two trotted over to guard the Hornet. "Oh Sergeant?" Spitfire asked looking back over her shoulder.
"Yes Ma'am?" He asked.
"Do you know a Flying Officer Rapidfire?" She asked.
"Yes Ma'am. Last I checked he was in the briefing room. That building over there." He pointed to building adjacent to the hanger she had parked outside.
"Thank you Sergeant." Spitfire replied while taking to the air.
Spitfire made her way towards the building the Sergeant had pointed out. Just as she approached two ponies stepped out. One was a stallion wearing the blue uniform of the Royal Air Force while the second was wearing a black naval officers uniform. As Spitfire got closer she could see the officers rank insignia of a Rear-Admiral. She immediately snapped to attention and snapped off a salute. "Ma'am!"
The Admiral looked her over and spotted the rank on her flight suit before returning the salute. "Lieutenant-Commander. Where is your cover? And get that hideous uniform pressed." She said with a look of disgust. She seemed to shudder, "Carry on."
The Admiral trotted off and Spitfire looked after her stunned. She finally recovered her wits and muttered, "What crawled up her plot and died?"
The airpony beside her chuckled, "Yeah I know. Even bearing good news I can barely stand her." He turned to look at her, "Where are my manners." The grey pegasus snapped to attention and saluted, "I'm Flying Officer Rapid Fire."
Spitfire returned the salute and shook his hoof as she introduced herself, "Good to meet you Flying Officer. I'm Lieutenant-Commander Spitfire. Are you busy at the moment?"
He shook his head, "No ma'am."
"Oh please. I'm the one who should be calling you sir. Come with me." She answered as she began trotting towards her Jet.
Rapid Fire stood in confusion for a couple of seconds before he gave his wings a flap to catch up. "What do you mean by that?"
Spitfire just grinned at her grandpa's confusion, "You'll find out."
The two pegasi trotted over the apron towards her Hornet. When Rapidfire spotted it his eyes widened in realization. "You were the one in the plane that covered me!"
"Yup." Spitfire grinned, "I saw you taking off and that Zero coming after you. I figured you could use some help, and you were a absolute bullet magnet once you where in the air."
"Yeah well…Thanks to you I'm alive to receive a Celestial Cross for getting those kills." He grinned earnestly."There's been rumours that you guys are from the future."
"Yeah." Spitfire muttered absentmindedly. She sighed and cracked a grin. "I have something to tell you."
"What?" He asked.
"There's another reason I came to find you today." She looked him in the eye, "I'm your Granddaughter. In the normal timeline, you died. That Zero shot up your plane on takeoff."
Rapidfire froze up. Spitfire couldn't blame him. She has just told him he was supposed to have died. He seemed to take a moment to process this. "But I have no kids…" He muttered. Then he seemed to have a revelation, "Oh." Rapidfire turned to look at her, "Rainy's pregnant isn't she?"
Spitfire nodded. Rapidfire grinned and began moving again, "Well lets take a look at this plane of yours! Then we can go to my place and meet your Grandma and give the good news!"
"Sure…Gramps!" Spitfire said a huge smile splitting her face.
Author's Note
Midnight appeared about where the 5 is on the distance scale.
Now before anyone starts saying anything along the lines of why aren't they being careful of the space time thingamajig let me stop you right there. They have just decided heck with it, who cares how much it changes the future.
1942: Devil Dogs
2058 HOURS 13 SEPTEMBER, 1942 JUST SOUTH OF HELLDIVER FIELD, GUADALCANAL
Fluttershy sat in her foxhole. The sounds of the jungle surrounded her. It was dark, too dark to see more than a hundred meters. She was in position in her foxhole on the slopes of Lunga Ridge, a grassy ridge that ran North-South from Helldiver Field into the jungle. Around her were other Marines, both from the future like her, and the ones already here. Beside her a few meters away was her friend Flitter resting her F89 Minimi on the lip of her own foxhole.
The two pegasi exchanged a glance. They both knew what was going to happen. Everypony in the 1st Marine Division, past and present, knew what had happened on this fateful night. They didn't call it Bloody Ridge for nothing. Everypony in the entire company had been dreading this night. Through all the fighting following their appearance and the landings, it had loomed over their heads.
But they had kept going. They knew what the future held. And in Fluttershy's opinion, if fighting for the Allies even had the slightest chance of bringing the most destructive conflict in history to a close even a day early…well that would be lives saved, and that was good enough for her. Even if she had to take lives to do it.
The previous night had been mostly probing attacks by the Neighpanese. Testing the defences for weak points. Tonight…that was when everything would go to hell.
As the minutes ticked by Fluttershy felt fear creeping in. She stood a much better chance of surviving than most of the marines thanks to her standard issue magical shield projector. But that really didn't help much with her anxiety.
And that's when she heard it. The distinct shriek of an artillery shell every soldier dreaded. She had a second to dive down into her hole before the loud blasts rocked the area. It was followed by more, throwing up dust and smoke into the air as the rounds exploded all over. Fluttershy faintly remembered one of the veterans of the battle mentioning a destroyer bombardment prior to the attack. Now she was in it. The explosions lasted another five or so minutes. Then everything was silent.
And then there was the crack of a rifle. The Battle of Bloody Ridge had begun.
0327 HOURS
Fluttershy felt adrenaline coursing through her as she sighted down her Austeyr and fired three rapid semi-auto shots into a charging Neighpanese unicorn. She swivelled and fired more dropping another as several bullets smacked into her shield. "RELOADED!" Yelled Flitter over the loud din of battle as she popped back up and began firing her machine gun full-auto into the large group of charging ponies.
Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief that they weren't going to be overrun and ducked back down before her shield could be drained further. The Marine beside her in the trench nodded his thanks before going back to firing his rifle. Putting her rifle aside Fluttershy quickly went back to tending the wounds of one of the Marines. The unfortunate Earth Pony had taken a bullet through her right lung. Fluttershy had made her way to the Pony's foxhole as quickly as possible and had been helping her before a large attack had forced her to help prevent them getting overrun.
The pegasus grabbed a syringe of Morphine from her pack and quickly administered it to the Private. She then finished bandaging the wound. She pulled out a piece of paper, quickly scribbled a description of the pony's wounds, and attached it to the pony. Then Fluttershy pulled out a small beacon from her combat webbing and placed it off to the side. A few seconds later and a unicorn appeared in a flash of teleportation. He turned and nodded to her before he teleported again with the wounded Earth Pony in tow, taking them to the nearby field hospital.
Fluttershy quickly picked up and switched off her beacon. The last three hours had been hell. Constant Neighpanese attacks had slowly pushed the Marines back North up the ridge. Constantly showered by grenades and rifle fire, they had slowly retreated. Fluttershy herself had been going from foxhole to foxhole. Those who could still fight she would bandage and give some morphine, while others she would do her best for before using her beacon to get them evacuated.
All around her she could hear the sounds of rifle and machine gun fire, with occasional grenade and artillery detonations mixed in. It was so loud she could barely hear herself think. It was absolute chaos.
She quickly poked her head up and looked around to make sure nopony nearby needed her assistance. Satisfied there weren't, took a deep breath and flipped off her rifle's safety. She steeled herself and stood up. Her eyes immediately picked out movement and she locked her gaze on a Neighpanese soldier. She was hiding behind a tree missing its top half, taking potshots with her rifle. Fluttershy brought up her rifle and looked through the ACOG. She waited a second, then fired as the pony leaned out to shoot. The bullet slammed into her neck gruesomely ripping out her throat. Fluttershy grimaced at her handiwork.
That's when the chaotic firefight got even more chaotic. Every Marine knew how their predecessors had fought the Neighpanese In brutal combat, with the 'Nips' often fighting to the death. That's why a feeling of terror filled every Royal Marine as the loud sound of hundreds of voices yelling, "BANZAI!!" could be heard over the din.
A few seconds later, hundreds of Neighpanese came charging out of the jungle, hellbent on killing every Equestrian that stood in their way. Fluttershy felt her pulse pounding in her ears, and would later swear she didn't lose control of her bowels in sheer terror. She didn't even bother aiming, simply flicking to full auto and spraying into the charging mass. Beside her in the trench the Marine fired his Garand as fast as he could. The two ducked down to reload at the same time, Fluttershy pulling out a fresh mag for her rifle while he inserted a new clip into his. They glanced at each other. Both seeing their reflection of terror mirrored by the other. The two nodded to each other and stood up simultaneously.
The 'Hoard,' as it were, had come even closer in the meantime. Bullets criss-crossed the air. Dozens fell but they kept coming. Their return fire had also began to take it toll as Fluttershy soon found out. Just as her Aug clicked empty she felt something wet land on the left side of her face. She swivelled to look only to see the other Marine had taken a bullet to the skull. Her first instinct was to help, before she realized it had caught him right between the eyes. He was dead.
Fluttershy shuddered. She felt herself begin to panic. Her timid roots taking hold. She took a deep calming breath. No. She wouldn't panic. Panicking was the fastest way to get herself killed.
"MEDIC!""CORPSPONY!"
Her well trained ears picked up the simultaneous yells over the sounds of battle. A second yell from one of them allowed her to narrow in on their location. Grateful for the distraction she slung her rifle and leapt from the trench. Sprinting and staying as low to the ground as possible, she ran for the trench. Before she could get there she felt twin impacts on her right as a pair of bullets found their mark. Her shields absorbed both rounds but a flash told her it was down and another would actually hurt. Luckily she made it to the trench and jumped in. "I'm here! Who's been hit!" She shouted to be heard.
"Him!" Replied a unicorn waving her over. She was standing over a second unicorn. "He took some shrapnel to the chest!"
Fluttershy immediately went over. She pulled her combat knife and cut away the blood-soaked battledress and assessed the unconscious Lieutenant's wounds. She injected him with some morphine and began bandaging the wounds. He would have to be evacuated. Repeating a process she had done many times already, she wrote down her diagnosis and activated her beacon. A few seconds later and he was safe behind the lines.
Getting her gear packed up again Fluttershy glanced around, trying to get her bearings. She quickly realized she was much further back. In fact, she was in one of the command trenches. It was much bigger than the fighting positions and foxholes further forward. She could actually see Captain Shining Armour, as well as the Company Joint Terminal Attack Controller, or JTAC, nearby.
She was about to make a dash forward to look for more wounded when there was a loud 'bang ' and bits of shrapnel bounced off her now replenished shield.
Fluttershy snapped to look to where the explosion was. She didn't know whether it was a grenade or artillery, but something had just exploded in the opposite end of the trench. Almost every occupant was wounded or dead except for her, thanks to her distance from the blast and her shields. Not even Captain Armour had been spared. The explosion had broken his shields and peppered him with shrapnel.
Thinking quickly Fluttershy pulled her beacon out. The unicorn appeared a second later. "Get help!" Fluttershy yelled over the sounds of battle, "This trench just got hit hard!" A quick glance around was all he needed before he nodded to her and was gone again. She left her beacon where it was and ran over to the Captain. He was badly wounded and thankfully unconscious, with his left side absolutely shredded by shrapnel. She quickly began tending to him as several unicorns teleported in from her beacon, with other non-unicorn medics in tow. The group rapidly began helping the wounded occupants of the trench.
But just as she handed off the Captain to a unicorn to take to the field hospital something bought her attention. She barely heard over the din of battle. The Captain's radio was miraculously undamaged, likely shielded by his body. She heard a voice from the headset. Assuming it to be one of the Platoon commanders she made her way to the radio to tell them what happened. But as she took the headset what she heard was unexpected.
"Devil Dog Actual, this is Dynamo one. We are a flight of four F-18 Super Hornets with laser-guided bombs. How copy? " Came a male voice. Fluttershy felt relief rush through her body. Looking down at the battle the Nips had pushed right up to the forward trenches, officers swinging katanas and rifles firing. Several hand-to-hand fights had broken out. Her heart began to speed up again when she realized she didn't do something soon, they would be overrun.
Trying to remember the proper radio discipline, she responded. "Dynamo, Devil Dog!" she all but shouted beginning to panic, "Devil Dog Actual and JayTack are down! We are being overrun! Danger really fucking close!"
"Copy. " The fighter pilot responded. "Where do you want our bombs? "
Fluttershy began formulating her response as she took another glance down the ridge. The forward trenches were almost completely overrun with fierce hand to hand fighting taking place. She gulped before speaking. What she was about to say terrified her. "Target slopes and the forward trenches!" She paused and steeled herself. "Danger Close! Repeat, Danger Close! Drop those bombs as close as you can!"
"Copy. Thirty seconds. " Was the reply. Fluttershy rapidly began working the radio again while mentally counting down. A mortar's parachute flare appeared high in the sky illuminating the battlefield in white light. At fifteen seconds she got the frequency she was looking for.
"All stations this net! Airstrike hitting the forward trenches in ten seconds danger close!" She yelled. Looking over the lip of the trench revealed a good amount of marines immediately begin retreating from the forward trenches. Some fell to enemy gunfire and some got back to the next layer. That's when there was the roar of Jets overhead in the drakness. And then the world exploded.
Fluttershy ducked down and rolled into a ball as the bombs fell, one after another. But one thing was burned into her retinas. The sight of Flitter staying behind in the trenches firing her MG. Sacrificing herself so the others could retreat. A Neighpanese officer jumping into the trench with her. Flitter tackling him and disappearing below the lip of the trench. And then she was gone, a blast from one of the bombs cratering where she had been.
Fluttershy whimpered as blast after blast shook the ground and a rain of dirt began cascading down. And then it was quiet. Fluttershy stood up and looked around. Other Marines were doing the same poking their heads above their cover as the flare above continued to light the area, slowly drifting down.
Fluttershy head a loud clunk behind her and instantly spun ready for trouble. What greeted her was a broken and worn Minimi LMG. The stock was missing along with the scope, and the barrel was bent out of shape. She trotted over and sat, picking it up in her hooves. A tear came to her eye as she wiped off the dirt. On the side was the word Cloudy . It was Flitter's, named after her dear sister. Fluttershy couldn't help herself as she began sobbing. She cried for Flitter. She cried for the Captain. She cried letting out all her pent up emotions.
And when she finally stopped she heard something else. The moans of pain and suffering that only the wounded could make. The small pegasus sniffled and wiped her eyes. She had a job to do and lives to save. She stood up and began trotting off to do her job.
She would fight. She would save lives.
For Flitter.
Author's Note
0743 HOURS 9 SEPTEMBER, 1943 17 KILOMETERS SOUTH OF NAPLES
Daring Do sat with her legs hanging off the edge of the Lynx Helicopter as it skimmed across the waves of the Meditrotanean. She cradled her Austeyr as the wind whipped around her. She looked to see several other Lynxes flying in formation carrying the remainder of her SAS company. At the head of the formation were two Equestrian Apache Mk.1 Gunships. The big ugly helicopters were a godsend for Daring. They had destroyed entire armoured columns on multiple occasions and saved her company more than once.
The company had originally appeared in North Zebrica in the Sahara. That had been three years ago in 1940. They had fought all the way back and forth across the desert with the Equestrian Eighth Army. Then after victory there they had joined the force invading Sicily. Now they were invading Trotily itself. She had no doubt that they would soon be pulled out to take part in the D-day landings. But until then they had to fight.
Her orders were to move in as the first wave landed and secure the important road junctions at Castell Ammare and Nocera, just north of the landing beaches to stall expected Germane counterattacks. The mountainous terrain made these roads even more important. She had decided to split up her four platoons, two to each objective. She would be joining the troops at Castell Ammare di Stabia while her second in command Sergeant Major Sunset Shimmer would have command of the two platoons at Nocera. Sunset was a good leader, and had one of the most brilliant tactical minds Captain Do had ever seen. She trusted her 2IC to get the job done.
"Five minutes! " bellowed the Co-pilot over the radio. Daring nodded to herself and looked back to see the other nine soldiers crammed into the helicopter. They all had serious looks on their faces, ready for the fight that was to come. Down below the shore rose from the waves taking the shape of a large mountainous peninsula. Soon after the formation passed low over a few small villages, and one much larger town. Daring looked at her Tacpad she wore on her left foreleg and pulled up the map. A few seconds of looking over it revealed a name. Sorrento. That meant they were very close to their objective.
At that point half the formation, five Lynxes including Daring's and one of the Apaches, peeled off to head for Castell Ammare along the coast. Then Gunship sped off ahead to clear the landing zone.
"Thirty seconds! " Came the Co-pilot again. Daring did her last checks making sure her gear was secure and her weapon loaded. She flicked off the safety. She had chosen one of the most risky plans she could have.
She could have had them land outside the town and enter from there, but that risked alerting any defenders and giving them time to prepare. So Daring had decided to have the choppers drop them off directly onto several roofs and the town square, and take any Germanes completely by surprise. The downside was that if there was even a single AA in the area they would lose at least one helicopter. Intel had said there were no AA guns in the area, and that the nearest Germane unit was at least thirty kilometers north so Daring had taken that risk. As the Lynxes began to fly over the small town it seemed to have paid off.
"Ten seconds! Pegasi go go go! " The Co-pilot yelled. It was standard procedure for any pegasi to glide down as a chopper landed to take up defensive positions, just in case. Daring pushed herself out of the Lynx as the pilot flared in for landing in the town square. She extended her wings and glided down to take a position to cover the area. She took cover behind a merchant's stall. Daring was greeted by a dozen Trotalian Ponies staring in awe at her and the helicopter.
The Lynx settled down and the rest of the squad disembarked. "Private Script! Get your arse over here!" Daring ordered, using her short range radio to be heard over the Lynx' spinning blades. A second later a green earth pony came running over, "What do you need Captain?"
Daring pointed to the civilians nearby, "Ask them were Jerry is would you?"
"Yes Captain." He said before turning and speaking to the ponies in their native language, "Mi scusi. Potrebbe dirmi dove i tedeschi sono?"
One of them seemed to think for a second before she began to reply. The Script began conversing with her. Daring looked around, knowing her translator would do his job. The squad had taken positions around the square while the Lynx had already taken off beginning its long flight back to Sicily. Deciding now would be a good time to check in she activated her radio.
"Havoc one-six and two-six, this is Havoc six. Status?" She said.
"Six, this is one-six, good to go. " Came the voice of Lieutenant Gilda Stormwing, the griffon leader of first platoon. Another voice, that of Lieutenant Night Glider piped up, "Six, two-six. Ready to rock! "
Satisfied her platoons were in good working order, Daring turned back to Script who was waiting for her to finish. "Ma'am," He started, "The townsponies say the Germanes haven't been by for a while. Last they heard there was a Panzer Grenadier Regiment just to the North in Naples. Just like intel said."
"Good." Nodded Daring before she keyed her mike, "Two-six and one-six, this is six. Get your ponies together and head to the North edge of town. Set up defensive positions covering any likely approaches." She turned off her mike and turned to Script, "And I want you to tell the villagers to find somewhere safe. This town is about to become a war zone."
Script nodded and galloped off. The other SAS soldiers were being directed by her two EllTees. A few minutes later found most of the SAS troops set up in buildings overlooking the highway that ran into town from the North.
A minute later found Daring on a rooftop on the edge of town looking North. The only landmark was the road, the rest was literally just ashes. Prior to the landings the Air Force had dropped napalm on seven locations up and down Trotily. Five were at random locations simply to make sure that the Germanes weren't tipped off. The other two were to make the towns of Castell Ammare and Nocera better defensive positions. Fifty meters out of town the devastation began. It stretched almost a kilometer north all around the edge of town. Where there had once been rich farmland and vineyards was now a black burnt landscape. Daring felt bad for the Trotalians lost crops but the fact in the matter was that any Germane moving on the town would be spotted easily.
Daring looked back see the two platoon's Javelin anti-tank teams set up, ready to engage any hostile armour, while a sniper team had set up in the church spire off town square. Satisfied her troops were ready Daring set out to find Sergeant Wavelength, her radio pony.
She had a fairly beefy radio on her back already, but it was more of a medium power meant for shorter range communication with her Platoons. Wavelength's was for keeping in touch with other units much further away. She found him with the other four ponies of her command squad in a nearby house she had chosen as her command post. He was listening in to the chatter from the landing force.
"Oi! Wavelength!" She shouted to get his attention. He pulled off the radio's headphones as she approached. "G'day Cap! What d'ya need?"
"Get in touch with Tallmare," she ordered using High Command's chosen Callsign, "Tell them we have taken Objective Alpha. Negative contact."
"Yes Ma'am!" He replied before slipping his headphones back on and setting to work.
Daring began heading out again when her radio crackled to life, "Havoc Six, this is Vulture. " Vulture was the callsign for the Apache that was supporting them. She could see the chopper actually sitting on the ground atop one of the peaks five or so kilometers to the South. They had landed to conserve fuel until they were needed. She had no doubt that the Apache's high powered infrared surveillance systems could spot anypony advancing on them from kilometers away.
"Go ahead Vulture." She replied.
"Six I have eyes on a column of vehicles moving down Stranglehold to your position. " It took daring a second to remember what 'Stranglehold' was code for. Then she realized that it was the highway that came from the North. "Shit." She muttered to herself.
"Got it Vulture. Stay where you are. Wait for my go." She ordered even as she began jogging towards the forward positions.
"Wilco. Vulture out. "
Daring flapped her wings and shot off even as she began talking on her radio, "All stations this net be advised, hostiles are moving on our position. Prep for contact." She flew up to the tall church spire and slipped in through a window. Two ponies lay prone inside looking north. One was a female unicorn levitating AW50F anti-materiel rifle while the other was a male earth pony. As Daring entered he turned to look, "'ello Captain."
"Crosswind, Surefire." Daring addressed the two. She trotted over and lay down off to Crosswind's right, "Mind if I join you?"
"Not at all." He replied turning back around and bringing a pair of electronic binoculars, or EBinos to his eyes, "Essy here thinks she spotted a Jerry. Won't take her eye off her scope."
"Shut up Cross! I'm trying to concentrate." Surefire muttered.
Crosswind let out a good natured chuckle at his partner. Daring meanwhile slipped off her Austyer's strap and lay the assault rifle beside her. She pulled a pair of EBinos out. They were an extremely useful tool, able to display from ten times to a hundred times zoom, infrared, night vision, and act as a laser designator and rangefinder.
Daring brought them up to her eyes. In the center was a small red reticle, while a red set of numbers on the right side showed her the range. She quickly looked down to the first layer of buildings in town. A quick glance at the range and a mental estimation gave her a distance of about a hundred meters behind where the firing line was. With that in mind she began running her rangefinder down the road until she came to a point that was about seven hundred meters outside town. That would be her killzone. When the enemy reached there she'd order them to open fire. Not too far that the rifleponies with their Austyers couldn't hit, but not too close to minimize the enemy threat.
The best part was that they kitted out depending on the mission. If they were infiltrating, SMGs were the name of the game. For assault, Daring usually had them kit out mostly with Austyers. But if she knew it was going to be a mostly defensive operation she made sure every fireteam of four had at least one F89 Minimi Light Machine Gun. Many fireteam leaders had opted for two.
Crosswind was obviously having similar thoughts as he surveyed the troops below. "Holy Hay Cap. Isn't a dozen LMGs a bit overkill?"
Daring smirked and lowered her binoculars to look over at him, "Corporal, a very wise pony once told me that 'Nothing says, 'Fuck you!' like over a dozen LMGs spitting supersonic lead at over one thousand rounds per minute.' And you know what? He was bloody well right!"
Crosswind chuckled as he went back to looking through his EBinos. Daring grinned to herself. Her short range radio squawked into her ear, "Six, Wavelength ."
Daring quickly replied, "Send it Wavelength."
"Six, we just got a message from Tallmare. Radio intercepts indicate the 3rd battalion of the 34th Panzergrenadier Regiment is moving on our position with a company of panzers, with the remainder of the Regiment following in an hours time. They also indicate there has been no mention of us yet. They are moving to combat the landings but have no idea we are here. "
"Got it." Daring answered, "Six out."
She turned back and flipped her EBinos into infrared and scanned the road again. This time she spotted something. She zoomed in to reveal the enemy column. The district white silhouettes of two Germane Panzer IVs were leading. "Havoc one-six and two-six, this is six." She began.
"One-six here. " Came Gilda. "And two-six, send it. " Night Glider checked in a second later.
Daring's plan formulated in her head and she quickly began issuing orders, "One-six, two-six. Tell everypony to hold fire as the enemy approaches. They are not to fire until the javelins impact. Two, I want your Jav team hitting the front Panzer. One you take the second one. The Javelin teams are not to fire until you give the order and you aren't to give the order until I give you orders to engage. Copy?"
"One copies. ""Two copies. " The two Lieutenants reported. Satisfied Daring turned to Crosswind, "Crosswind, Surefire." The two looked to her, "I need you to put a nice little fifty cal surprise through the last truck's engine block when the javelins fire. Got it?"
"You can count on us Ma'am." Nodded Surefire.
And then all she could do was wait. Daring tracked the convoy as it snaked down the coast road. She had initially spotted it three kilometers out according to her rangefinder. As they closed to less than fifteen hundred meters she switched the infrared off. The grey panzers kept motoring down the road. Now that they were closer she could see the entire column. As she had already seen, two Panzer IVs lead. Behind them were four half-tracks followed by twelve trucks.
Daring felt herself begin to sweat with anticipation. She watched as the first tank passed the rock beside the road she'd chosen as the outer boundary. Then the next and the next. "Anytime Daring…" Muttered Crosswind. As the sixth vehicle passed the rock she activated her radio, "Fire!"
It took a good seven seconds for Gilda and Night to relay her orders, but Daring had known there would be a delay. After those seconds there were the loud sounds of two Javelins firing. She watched as the ATGMs flew up about a hundred feet before curving back down and slamming through the weak top armour of the tanks. One simply exploded while the other drove off the road and ground to a halt. Just after the impacts there was the crack of a high powered rifle as Surefire fired into the last truck's engine block, and somehow managed to kill the driver in the process. Likely with shrapnel Daring mused as she watched the carnage unfold through her binoculars.
The convoy had been moving at a good thirty kilometers an hour. The stricken driver of the truck slumped over on the wheel and apparently jammed the steering hard right. The truck flipped on its side and slid a bit, completely blocking the road. And then all hell broke loose. Seventeen LMGs opened up spraying down the convoy, accompanied by two dozen assault rifles. Daring could see Germane soldiers trying to clamber from the trucks only to be cut down. Another ATGM flew from the Equestrian lines and blew up one of the half-tracks. She spotted a Germane pegasus fly out from one of the trucks and dive behind the only cover available: a charred tree trunk.
Just as she was about to point him out to Crosswind, Surefire's rifle barked. Still looking at the trunk Daring watched in morbid fascination as it splintered. Then the Germane fell around the side, dead. She shook her head in amazement at the huge rifle's power.
Soon after the firing petered out. The entire convoy lay silent. It had been only a minute and thirty seconds from her order to the destruction before her. She blew out a breath. "Holy shit." Muttered Crosswind, "Now that was a bloody curb stomp."
"Yeah." Was all Daring could say.
"Vulture! This is Havoc six!" Daring yelled as she watched eight Panzer IVs accompanied by infantry charged across the blackened no-pony's-land.
"Send it Havoc ." It had been four hours since the first convoy had been ambushed. The Germanes were trying their damnedest to get into the town and force them out. Surefire's rifle barked again beside her.
"I need Hellfires on those Panzers on my right flank ASAP! I'm designating one for you!" She transmitted as one of the tanks took a javelin and stopped. Seven left. More gunfire came out of the town and drove most of the infantry into what cover they could find. The Panzers however kept coming. She kept her EBinos trained on one of the tanks.
"Copy, " Was the reply followed by a short pause, "On the way! Ten seconds! "
Daring watched as the tanks kept coming. She watched another blow up from a javelin in her peripherals. Six left. Then there was the sound of a rocket as the Hellfire whizzed past the church spire and smashed into the Panzer, easily punching through its armour. The tank ground to a halt smoking. Five left.
"Vulture inbound hot. " Daring looked off to her right to see the Apache winging in on the tanks. The Hydra rockets flew off the aircraft rapid fire. One panzer was hit, then a second and a third, and a fourth. One left. Then the tank disappeared behind the buildings of the town accompanied by a small group of infantry.
"SHIT!" Exclaimed Daring smashing her hoof into the floor. She was about to get on the radio to order a squad to hunt them down when the tank, still barreling trough town pulled up to the square below with its infantry riding. Daring immediately grabbed her rifle from where it lay and leaned out to start shooting. She fired five quick semi auto shots at one of the Germanes below, dropping her as they scattered for cover. And then help arrived.
A big green Leopard 2 came hauling ass down the road from the beaches. It crushed two of the running infantry before slamming on the breaks as the Panzer IV fired at it. The round simply bounced off the Leopard before it spun its turret and returned the favor, pumping a round straight through the Panzers frontal armour. A moment later a bunch of Equestrian infantry came galloping up. A brief firefight followed with most of the Germanes quickly surrendering.
Daring let out a sigh of relief and spread her wings. She glided down to the square and landed atop the Leopard's turret. A second later the hatch opened and the tank commander popped out. The purple unicorn smirked at her friend, "'Not one will get past our lines,' my ass!"
"Oh shut up Twilight!" Daring said to her fellow Captain. Then the two burst out laughing. When they calmed down Daring opened up one of her pouches on her combat webbing and handed over some money, "You win this bet Twi." Chuckled Daring, "Thanks for the save by the way."
"No problem." Twilight grinned back, "Now lets move! The Colonel wants us in Naples by sun down!"
"Right behind you mate!"
Author's Note
I'll be honest. I don't know shit about the modern day SAS. Why? Because its all bloody classified! duh! There is precious little I could find so I just went 'Fuck it!' and made my own version. Fiction is a great thing isn't it! I can do whatever I want! I have UNLIMITED POWER! MUAHAHAH--! Uhhhhh…Oh…hi Pinki-
*SLAP*
…Owwww. Bloody hell I probably deserved that…
0819 HOURS 6 JUNE, 1944 KING SECTOR, GOLD BEACH
Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself. A quick glance around told her the rest of her Leopard 2's crew were just as jittery. She felt the tank rock again as a wave hit the LCAC. It had been a long time since the company had popped up in North Zebrica. They had fought their way across the Sahara, and up through Sicily and Trotily. Now they were about to take part in the biggest amphibious invasion in history. D-day.
She had spread out the tanks between beaches, two per beach, while the remaining two had been dropped from the C-130 with special parachutes to help the paratroopers.
Twilight saw Gold beach and the beachfront town of Le Hamel coming up in her displays. A few seconds later her radio crackled. "Ten seconds !" the LCAC operator yelled. True to his words, ten seconds later the ramp fell. "Driver! Forward! Get us off the beach!" She ordered. She quickly went to her targeting monitor. She spun the little para-scoped camera in a quick sweep along the beachfront. Almost immediately she spotted a machine gun's muzzle flashes in a second story window.
"Hold!" She ordered. The tank quickly stopped. "Loader! Load H.E!" The sound of her loader, one Private Slammer, loading the large 120mm shell filled the turret. She quickly continued, "Gunner. Identify target. Bearing, one-seven-three. Range, seventy meters. Machine gun, second story." Twilight felt herself move as Deadeye, her gunner, swiveled the turret to the bearing. "Loaded !" Came Slammer. "On target !" Deadeye said.
Twilight gave the order, "Fire!" Almost immediately Deadeye replied with, "On the way!" followed by a dull BANG as the gun released its deadly payload. Twi watched on her monitor as the shell slammed into the house just below the window, completely blowing the wall away, and likely taking the gunner with it.
Almost immediately after she spotted a bunker off to her left a ways down the beach. Twilight rapidly began repeating instructions. "Loader! Load HE! Gunner, Identify target, bearing one-zero-niner. Range one hundred and fifty meters. Bunker, twin MGs."
"Loaded !"
"On target !"
"Fire!"
BANG!
Masterfully aimed by Deadeye, her round slipped through the firing slit in the bunker detonating inside. Satisfied that the bunker was taken care of Twilight gave the order to move forward again. She was quickly faced with a dilemma. The seawall was six feet tall, much too high for the Leo to get over. Looking around for a solution Twi quickly found one in the form of a Church Hill AVRE. The large tank was trundling up off to the left carrying a extendable bridge. The crew obviously intended to prop it up against the seawall to allow the tanks to exit the beach.
But before she could give the diver orders to follow the Church Hill a loud thud could be heard and the tank lurched. "Fuck !" Yelled Corporal Sun Speeder, the driver.
Twilight quickly spun her scope to look around, trying to figure what just happened. Then a new female voice piped up over the intercom.
"Oi. Can you hear me? " It asked.
"Yes." Replied Twilight. She glanced at her small monitor that showed the back of the tank. Several infantryponies of the Green Howards were taking cover behind the tank, while one had a telephone up to their ear.
It was a feature they'd added to the tank while in Equestria before the invasion. A small telephone receiver that was connected to the tanks intercom was mounted on the back of the tank's engine deck. It was so the infantry could communicate with them without having to climb on top and bang on the hatch.
"If'n you're wonderin' what just hit ya lass, there's a AT gun in a strongpoint off te' the right. "
Twilight quickly scanned the seawall off to the right she quickly spotted the gun. It was a smaller gun, something around a 75mm. She saw it flash and a second later there was another thud and the tanks shook again as the round ricocheted off the thick armour. Deadeye was already swiveling the turret that way. "Loader load HE." She ordered, "Deadeye, two-three-two!"
"Loaded! "
"On target! "
"Fire!"
BANG
The round flew, sailing through the air. For once though Deadeye's aim was a bit off. Instead of hitting the gun itself her shot went past and detonated against the concrete wall of the bunker behind the gun. Either way, the gun crew was showered with shrapnel making the gun as good as destroyed.
"Nice shot. Sun! You see that Church Hill laying the bridge?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah. I'll get us over. " Came Sun's reply. The tank lurched into motion as he guided it to the newly laid ramp over the seawall. The Church Hill in the meantime had rolled up its own ramp and began trundling into town. Twilight watched as infantryponies huddling against the seawall off to her left placed several ladders against it and began climbing. Just as the Leopard started up the ramp the first few crested the wall. Twilight grimaced as several were thrown back as the Germane's gunfire caught them. That's when an Idea came to Twilight.
As they crested the seawall she quickly gave new orders, "Deadeye, weapons free on any target you see. Slammer listen to Deadeye for Ammo orders. Sun, bring us left. Make us cover for the ponies trying to get over the wall." There was a chorus of affirmative answers. Twilight continued looking around as Sun brought the tank to a halt and placed the Tank's thick frontal armour between the enemy and the poor Howards. Several machine gun bursts went skittering off the front. It's only effect was to get Deadeye's attention. A few seconds later the gun barked a HE shell blowing apart a building that had been spitting fire at the Infantry.
"Load HE! " Deadeye barked. The sounds of Slammer grabbing another round could be heard. Twilight heard more dull thumps, likely her pegasus gunner unloading the coaxial MG. Looking behind the tank a large group of Green Howards, at least a platoon, had taken cover behind the tank. "Driver, forward walking pace." She ordered.
The Leopard began creeping forward, acting as mobile cover. Off to her right, Twilight could see a pair of Shermare tanks doing the same. The whole time Deadeye kept swivelling the turret back and forth, firing the 'co-ax' at 'soft' targets while the '120' fired HE shells at anything warranting more firepower.
That's when there was a loud BANG and the tank shook. Twilight looked through her optics trying to figure out what happened. Sun Speeder actually came up with the answer first though. "SHIT! Fucking-fucking-fuck-fuck-fuck!!... " He burst out. He took a moment to calm down before reporting "Ma'am. Left track's busted. We're immobilized. I think we hit a mine. "
It had been a full hour before the fighting had died down around them and it was safe to dismount to repair the track. They had finally gotten the track fixed six hours later. All they had time to do at that point was zip up the the front and find the other tank that had landed on Gold Beach. It had gotten dark by then so the Leopard crews had gone to sleep while a company of infantry set up camp with the tanks. Since then they had been ordered to support the Caneighdians in their push for Caen.
D+3 found Twilight commanding a task force consisting of two Leopard 2s, including hers, a squadron of four Caneighdian Shermares, two Shermare Fireflys, and a company of Princess Cadance's Caneighdian Light Infantry. The tanks advanced at a walking pace with the Leos leading. In among them the Infantry trotted along. Twilight herself was standing with her head out of her hatch. Beside her on the left Slammer was behind his Machine Gun mounted beside his hatch. The earth pony was taking in the sights of the Normane fields.
"Beautiful isn't it?" He said, "I'd love to vacation here after the war." Twilight had to agree. The rolling landscape and farmers fields was very pretty. She levitated a pair of binoculars to her eyes and scanned around. She knew the Germanes were out there. They were all tense waiting for an ambush.
As Twilight scanned her binoculars over a nearby rail embankment ahead and off to the left she spotted movement. Quickly focusing in her eyes widened. Tigers. Six of them came climbing up the opposite side of the embankment to perch atop it. Before she could yell a warning they fired. One of the Shermares took a '88' round and blew up with a loud roar while a second took two and fell silent, likely with a dead crew.
"Button up!" Twilight yelled ducking down and shutting her hatch. Slammer did the same. "Sun! Full ahead! Come slightly left! They're on the rail embankment!"
She then quickly got on her radio. "All Steel stations this net, this is Steel Actual! Six Tigers on the rail embankment to the south-east! Engage!"
She felt the tank bounce and shake as Sun took them tearing towards the Tigers at almost seventy Kilometers an hour. "Load HEAT! Fire at will!" Twilight ordered. A few seconds later Slammer reported the gun was loaded and Deadeye let fly. While the pegasus normally didn't use the Leopard's firing computer in close quarters, when they were on the move she had to rely on it. Thanks to the computers calculations and stabilization on the gun, the round flew true flying six hundred meters in a split second. It slammed into one of the Tigers, easily punching through it's armour. Twilight watched as another round flew past and punched through the same tank's gun mantlet. It was followed by a flurry of fire from the Shermares.
Twilight took a look over her shoulder to see the other Leopard just behind them. She turned back to the front in time to see the remaining Tigers return fire. There was a pair of loud thuds and a pair of 88mm rounds went ricocheting off the Leopard's armour. Twilight grinned as she imagined the looks of horror on the Germane's faces. Sensibly the Tigers rapidly retreated back over the embankment chased by the Shermare's fire, most of which bounced off ineffectively.
"Steel one-two." Twilight asked the other Leopard commander over the radio, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"If you are thinking we should rush them then yes Actual ." Came the response. Twilight grinned. "Sun. Take us over!"
"Yes ma'am! " Was the reply. The daredevil driver didn't even slow down. The tank lurched as Sun ramped off the embankment. There was a moment of weightlessness as they flew over the tracks followed by a huge bang and lurch and they slammed down the other side. The tank kept moving and drove right between two of the surprised Tigers.
"Circle left!" Twilight yelled, "Light 'em up!"
The turret swiveled and the gun barked as the tank zoomed around behind the enemy. Deadeye put a round through the back of a Tiger's turret. Slammer struggled to load as Sun threw the tank around like it was a race car. A short distance away the other Leopard was doing the same, circling the Tigers and shrugging off return fire while dishing out more. Twilight's tank took a round to the turret which bounced off before returning the favor, promptly detonating the offending tank's ammunition stores. Another Tiger tried to hit the fast moving tank only to miss. It too received a round through the turret. A second shot finished it off.
Sun began to slow down the tank. Deadeye kept the gun ready in case a Tiger was still active. Twilight popped the hatch and stood up looking at the five wrecked steel monsters. "Sun, take us to the rail embankment and park facing the Tigers." Twilight ordered. He complied parking them with their back to the rails. A minute later they were joined my the Shermares and infantry.
"Sergeant!" Twilight yelled to the nearest NCO climbing down the embankment, "Tell your CO that I want your ponies to form a perimeter, have some search the Tigers and make sure they are knocked out!"
"Yes Ma'am!" He yelled back before hustling off to find the infantry Captain.
The second Leopard 2 came rolling over to a stop beside them. The hatch on top opened to reveal the tank's commander, Lieutenant Lyra Heartstrings. She took off her helmet and ran a hoof through her mane as she placed it down in front of her. "So Twi," She began with a large grin, "How many is that?"
Twilight made a show of thinking for a second before she grinned. Levitating a small paint brush from inside the turret she cast a quick spell and painted two more tally marks on the side of the turret before crossing four lines to make a five. "Three hundred and thirty."
Lyra just shook her head bemusedly, "Celestia that's ridiculous." She muttered, "Anyway I'm gonna do a quick recon up ahead ok?"
"Sure go ahead." Twilight replied. Lyra gave a quick salute before ducking down and shutting he hatch as the Leopard 2 drove off.
Twilight awoke early the next morning. She yawned and stretched taking in the dim interior of her tank. It was surprisingly comfortable. It was warm inside, and all the crew really needed was to find a small flat spot to lay down their sleeping mats. Twilight stood up and began climbing up to her seat. She opened the hatch and climbed out onto the turret, quietly shutting the hatch behind her. She sat down on the edge of the turret. Around her were the other Shermares and Lyra's Leopard. In and among them were slit trenches where the infantry sheltered and slept. Here and there a infantry pony stood watch.
Around them were the wrecked Tigers, siting silently like ancient guardians. Everything was quiet. Peaceful. For the first time in months she could remember, Twilight felt relaxed. She watched silently as the sun slowly rose above the horizon. She took a deep breath of the crisp morning air.
"Some day," she muttered to herself. She cracked a small hopeful smile, "Some day the killing will stop. Some day we wont have to kill to survive. Some day we will have peace..."
"Some day..."
Author's Note
1945: Clash of the Titans
1150 HOURS 7 APRIL, 1945 SOUTH OF KYUSHU
Rarity stood as the cool sea air blew around her. She was standing just outside of the Honesty 's bridge as she steamed at her cruising twenty knots. Rarity turned and trotted back inside. "Range?" The unicorn captain asked her nearby gunnery officer as she entred. The female pegasus glanced down at her screen before replying, "Six kilometers ma'am!"
Rarity nodded and looked ahead through a pair of binoculars. A small fleet greeted her. At last count there were eight destroyers accompanied by a Agano-class light cruiser and the Yamareto . The battleship looked monstrous.
Many would have called Rarity's tactics 'suicide.' After all she was negating many of her advantages by closing the range. Such as the superior Equestrian fire control radar. But those who said so were simply unfamiliar with the technologies of the future.
The Honesty had been fully modernized since she was built in 1950. Modern firing computers and radars allowed her main battery of 460 mm guns to hit targets with amazing accuracy from over forty kilometers away. She had four Phalanx Close In Weapons Systems, and twelve radar controlled secondary turrets along the ship's sides that held two dual-purpose 127 mm guns each. The Phalanxes were originally designed to intercept low flying aircraft and missiles. The 127s on the other hoof were good for blowing apart smaller ships like destroyers and putting up a veritable wall of proximity-fused anti-aircraft shells.
Her firepower was augmented by a dozen Vertical Launch Systems just behind the superstructure that were capable of launching anything from Harpoon anti-ship missiles and Sea Sparrow anti-aircraft missiles, to Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TALMs).
And then there was the Magical Amplification and Direction System, or the MADS. It was a useful gadget designed to amplify a unicorns magic abilities. It was a large dish mounted atop the superstructure. I had a crew below inside the bowels of the ship of ten unicorns. Most of the time it was used to produce small shields to stop incoming projectiles. Today though Rarity had them casting a good sized illusion spell in front of the ship. They couldn't produce one powerful enough to hide the entire ship, but it could hide them from view in one direction. It wasn't a often used spell, as radar and infrared could see right through it. But the Yamareto had no radar.
Rarity lowered her binoculars and turned to her gunnery officer, "All main battery face starboard. And tell me when we have closed to three kilometers." The Lieutenant nodded to her and began issuing orders over her headset. With a loud whir the huge main turrets began rotating, swinging their massive guns to face the right side. The massive turrets were slow, and it took almost thirty seconds for them to rotate the full ninety degrees.
When they were done Rarity turned back to the gunnery officer. "Now would you be a dear and get the Harpoons locked on seven of the eight destroyers?"
"Aye ma'am." She nodded back, "Three klicks ma'am!"
Rarity absorbed this information and set the next part of her plan into motion: "Helm. Hard to port!"
"Aye Captain!" The helmspony replied, throwing the ship into a hard left turn. Rarity braced herself as the ship listed heavily to the right as she turned. "Switch MADS to defensive mode!" Rarity barked once more. She raised her binoculars again. The Neighpanese worked fast as her ship seemed to appear out of thin air. She could see figures running around on the enemy ships. And the Yamareto 's main battery was already rotating to bear on them.
The Honesty continued to pull around. "Midships!" Rarity ordered and the ship straightened out broadside on on a parallel course with the enemy fleet. Rarity began issuing rapid fire orders, "Helm flank speed! Main battery, two salvos fire on the cruiser. Fire Harpoons. Secondaries target the destroyer that isn't receiving a Harpoon."
"Aye Captain!""Yes Ma'am!" A chorus of affirmative answers rang through the bridge.
A second later there were several loud roars as the Harpoon missiles flew off their launchers. Next there was a over dozen gunshots as the 127 mm secondaries opened up. Then Rarity had a couple seconds to cover her ears before the world exploded.
Being on a Element -class battleship as its main battery fired a broadside was an experience in itself. There was the flash and roar of the twelve 460 mm guns. The concussion from the guns shook the entire ship. It was like getting bucked in the chest, even inside the closed in bridge. The huge shells flew covering the distance between the fleet and the ship in seconds in a slow arc.
They crashed down straddling the Cruiser. Two rounds landed short but the other ten smashed into the ship. Massive shells wreaked havoc blasting and blackening the superstructure, punching holes through the hull and detonating inside. In an instant the once proud cruiser was reduced to a burning blackened shell of it former self, slowing and listing heavily.
At the same time the Harpoon missiles found their mark punching through most of the destroyers. Rarity spotted one as it skimmed the waves and smashed into one of the Neighpanese ships. It impacted the small destroyer midships just above the waterline punching a huge hole in the side and detonating. She watched as the ship was blown in two, it's back broken. The other destroyers suffered much the same fate. All that were hit by Harpoons were completely out of action.
The last destroyer was taking a beating as well. The twelve secondaries were peppering it with rapid accurate fire. Each barrel could put out a round every four seconds. The small destroyer managed to get off two rounds from it guns before it succumbed. They both were deflected by the MADS as it projected a shield to deflect both rounds into the water in short of the Honesty . The destroyer was burning stem to stern and covered in shell strikes. She slowly lost steam and began to list. "Hold secondaries." Rarity ordered.
Just then the main battery fired a second salvo at the cruiser. Once again they were perfectly aimed, nine of the twelve rounds impacting. The Cruiser began to list even more heavily and by then was completely dead in the water. Rarity could see ponies leaping from the doomed ship through her binoculars.
"INCOMING!" One of the nearby officers yelled. Rarity just had time to look and see nine orange projectiles soaring through the air. At the last second semi-transparent meter square golden shields appeared. Each shell was tracked by radar as it came in and fed to a computer. The computer the calculated the most efficient way to redirect the shell.
Two shells struck angled shields and were sent down into the water before they could hit the ship. Another five went skittering off over top the super structure. But the last was close enough to one of the others as to have its radar signature blocked. No shield appeared to deflect it and it plowed into the ship. The whole ship shook and there was a roar as the huge shell detonated.
"Get me a damage report!" Rarity ordered once the shaking had stopped, "Main and secondary battery fire at will! Helm five degrees to starboard!"
The ship turned slightly as the guns quickly started up again, the rapid patter of the secondaries followed by a roar as the main battery fired a salvo. Small flashes began appearing as the smaller shells began detonating along the huge Yamareto . They were followed by the main guns as they smashed into the battleship. Small flashes began appearing as the Neighpanese secondaries began firing back.
"Ma'am!" A nearby Ensign yelled over the din, "Reports say the shell impacted the VLS. It is currently offline. Minor fires have been brought under control."
Rarity cursed under her breath. The VLS was their main advantage over the enemy. Without it they would be much more vulnerable to massed attacks by enemy ships and Kamikazes. She needed to sink the enemy battleship as fast as possible and get moving south to where the friendly carriers near Okineighwa could cover them more effectively from Kamikazes.
The Neighpanese secondary rounds began to land around the ship as they closed the range even further. The MADs began creating shields to deflect them. Then came the big 460 mm main battery of the Yamareto . Once again one or two landed short while the majority were redirected. The Honesty 's guns returned the favor firing another broadside straight into the other ship with no shields to stop them.
"Ma'am!" Yelled one of the bridge crew, "MADs reports they are at fifty percent! They can't take much more."
Another one of the bridge crew piped up. "Ma'am. A CAP of Corsairs and Four Harpoon armed Hornets off the Midnight are overhead asking for orders."
"Well what are they waiting for? Blow that damn ship out of the water!" Rarity replied.
"Aye aye!" Was the reply. She turned back and took a good look at the opposing battleship. She was listing slightly towards them but still maintaining a good 27 knots. Gaping holes covered her side from the Honesty 's accurate gunfire, but she stubbornly refused to go down.
Then there was a familiar roar. Eight missiles streaked past the bow of the Honesty as the four fighter jets that launched them peeled off behind. They flew true and smashed into the battleship at the waterline spread from stem to stern. Huge holes were blasted in the side, sealing the monster battleship's fate. It took less than a minute for her to take on water and capsize.
But before she went down her forward turrets fired one last defiant salvo, forcing the MADs to once again deflect four of the six projectiles.
Soon the upside down hull fell behind the ship. Rarity had a sad smile on her face as the last of the enemy fleet slipped beneath the waves.
Author's Note
Honesty , while the black is the Yamato , or Yamareto as it were.
And done! That's all sh-...Scratch that, that's all I wrote folks. This is technically completed. But that won't stop me from coming and adding chapters when I feel like it. For instance, Spitfire at the Battle of Midway. That's one thing I feel like writing. Or Twilight's Leopard 2s in the North Zebracain Desert. In other words, this is where I'm going to come when I need to break some writers block or I just feel like it.
Anyway hope you enjoyed.
If you like reading highly detailed and realistic-as-I-can-possibly-make-it combat scenes...you've come to the right place.