Long-Range, And Beyond Other Weaponry
A heavy thundering roar can be heard in the clear skies. White trails are crossing them, like arrows, forming perfect lines. Those are the sounds and the trails of two hundred Tu-4 heavy long-range bombers, being escorted by three hundred La-11 fighters. Never before the Soviet Union had thrown such a force towards its enemy. Each bomber is fully-packed with bombs, carrying twelve tons of explosives per machine.
"Kaluga-main to all machines! Increase the power to the maximum, reaching the target in fifteen minutes!"
After recieving the command from the leading machine, I push the engines control rod to its maximum. My heavy bomber starts to gain up speed, as well as the escort fighters.
"You've heard that, people. Be on guard."
The radio chatter becomes filled with information -- the flying parameters of the groups, the armament status, approximate time to the targets... Everyone can feel the great tension on the way to the Canterlot.
Noone can really tell, why this war has started in the first place. However, everyone knows about a few really nasty incidents, that took place during the end of the Korean war. Those so-called ponies just murdured everyone, using the element of a surprise attack to kill everyone on the 38'th parallel. They were destroyed by a massive attack of Il-10 ground attackers, however, the deed has been done. And while the Americans just shrugged and never tried to solve the mistery, our Soviet government started to dig. As it turned out, those ponies came out from a portal, that has opened near Pyongyang, and used their "magic" to do a stealth approach. They were worshipping a force, known as "The Magic of Friendship", and were murdering us in order to prevent ourselves from killing each other. Really stupid idea, if you ask me...
"Smoke trails, on our ten!"
As I hear one of my gunmen's shout, I turn my head in the said direction. I can see a big number of smoky trails in the distance, that was coming in an intercepting course. I understood, that those were the Wonderbolts, that were guarding the capital.
"This is the bomber number 30616 to all planes -- enemy spotted, approximate course ten-zero-zero, distance ten."
"Copy that. Kaluga-main to all bombers -- ready your guns and prepare for attack. Brest-leader -- intercept the enemy. Karakum-leader, Kirov-leader -- stay in reserve."
After recieving the command, the group of one hundred fighters leaves our combat box, and heads to intercept the enemy. Those Wonderbolts are tough, I must admit -- despite the fact that they're basically ponies with wings, they can fly quite fast. They have no weaponry, however, they can use the force of their own bodies to take down a plane. However, they are not as fast as our fighters...
I can see, how the traces begin to tear the sky apart far in the distance. White trails from our fighters and black ones from the Wonderbolts start to form different figures, being torn by cannon shells and lightning bolts. And while the battle rages on our left side, everyone else proceeds to our targets.
"This is Kaluga-main! Ten minutes before the drop!"
Right after the commander finishes his speech, I notice a red glint on our right. As I turn my head, I notice one bomber going down in flames. After that, I can finally see that the air is being ripped apart by unknown energy blasts. They are inaccurate, however, there are so many planes in the air that this is a tough task to miss.
"Machine 62323 is going down!"
"Hit the bomb's emergency drop and bail out!"
"11105 to all machines -- enemy right below us!"
Right after another pilot's phrase, a few ponies zap in front of my bomber, gaining altitude.
"Having visual on the enemy, open fire!"
Right after my shout, the air explodes with a booming sound of hundreds of guns. They rip the air apart in order to take the new group of Wonderbolts down. The fighter escort doesn't sleep, too -- they immidiately push their engines to the limit, and start to chase the ponies. Ponies, on their side, start to hit the bombers with their bodies at incredible speeds, damaging their hull and equipment. Pretty soon, a few more machines are going down. However, our gunfire manages to hit a few ponies, too, as they literally explode with blood. The rest are trying to form a circle around our planes, despite suffering a heavy gunfire upon themselves. They are moving copletely synchronised with our horisontal speed. I notice that their leading pony has a multicolored trail after it, and moves faster and faster with each lap. After that, I can feel how the strong wind tries to move my heavy bomber from our course.
"30616 to all machines -- be careful, strong wind up ahead."
"This is 11105, be careful, flight is unstable."
"This is Kaluga-main, watch out the airflows! They're being formed by those creatures!"
The circular formation of ponies up ahead becomes a blur. They are moving so fast, that the wind around them compresses -- it's literally visible. I can see how one unfortunate fighter is being sucked in the airflow, and how its wings are being literally being ripped from its main body. After a short while, the rest of the plane explodes, and the blastwave from it hits us, sending a great vibration to our bomber. Meanwhile, the airflow in the middle of our group starts to form into a literal storm in a small size, with quite real lightning bolts and airflows. As it expands quite quickly, soon all our combat box becomes covered with it.
"This is 30616, can anyone hear me?!"
"It's on my si... *pssshhh*"
"Sascha, dive! I'll cove... *pssshhh**pssshhh* TAKE THAT, BASTARD, HA-HA!"
"This is 44545, engines one and four... *pssshhht*"
"DIMA, DROP THE LOAD AND RUN, WE WILL COVER!"
"This... *pssshhh* ...aluga-main... Five minu... *pssshhh* ...ore the drop..."
In a mess that the radio chatter has become, I manage to hear, that we have just five minutes before the drop. The tension is great -- no matter what, your plane must push forward. Through the darkness of the storm, through the lightning bolts, through the blood of these ponies, through the magic blasts from the ground, through all these shell traces and explosions. No bomber shall be destroyed mid-air -- each machine is filled with four 3000-kg bombs, and if any of them explodes, that can ruin everything.
Suddenly, I feel a few heavy hits from the sides of my bomber. I immidiately understand, what that means.
"Gunmen, for fuck's sake, concentrate your fire, or someone's not going home today!"
No matter how rapidly the gunmen are shooting, no matter how agressively the fighter pilots are attacking the hostiles, planes just keep going down. Slowly, but surely. Of course, nothing can stop a flying armada of five hundred machines in total, but there was a saying, that one man's death is a tragedy, but the massive murder is just a documentation for history books. And noone of us wants to die. My plane keeps receiving heavy hits, but it stays strong. One of disoriented ponies hits the hull just above the cockpit, becoming a bloody mess of flying limbs. Due to impact, the co-pilot hits the control panel, smashing it with his head. He's not moving, and I can see how blood trails come from undeneath his breathing mask. But... No time for condolances. We need to push forward...
"This is Kaluga-main, thirty seconds before the drop!"
As I hear the commander's voice, I harden my grip on the controls. The situation is becoming worse and worse with each second -- my plane recieves a few magic blasts. As my plane starts to bank on its right wing, I understand, that its hull was damaged. However, with all my strenght, I keep the plane flying straight...
"Fifteen seconds! Open your bomb bays!"
With a loud whizzing sound, I open the bomb bay of my airplane. The situation becomes absolutely hot -- any magic blast, any wrong hit can trigger the load, and all of us will become just an enormous blazing fireball. I don't feel sorry about the ponies -- they had their chance. However, I am worried about my crew. I am worried about my comrades.
I can see, how a pony with multicolored trail emerges in front of the cockpit. She turns her head, and I can see, how she drills me with her eyes. I grin on that, though she can't see it behind my breathing mask. She can do ANYTHING, but I won't let my crew down. Soon it will see it for itself...
"Five! Four! Three! TWO! ONE! DROP-OFF!"
Our leader screams into the radio, and I drop my load. Four 3-ton bombs fall out from the body of my plane in a few seconds, and the lightened machine immidiately starts to gain altitude. Now I don't care anymore about the load -- we need to get out from the storm, and quickly!
As other bombers get rid of their load, we start to turn around, and head back home. Lightened machines gain speed quickly, and one after another, lay on their course. However, one lucky magic blast from the ground hits our plane. I notice, how the speed started to drop. A few lamps ignited.
"This is 30616, engine number two is out, losing speed. Having an oil leak, but we can keep the machine in the air."
"Get out from the storm, NOW! Descend and fly to the base, we'll cover!"
As I recieve an order, I pull the power control rod, and start do descend, executing the maneuver. The controls are heavy, however, we gain up speed for another time, losing altutude quite quickly. The G-force pushes me back into my seat, but I don't ease the grip. And eventually, our damaged machine pushes through the black clouds and becomes free.
As I can finally see what's going on on our course, I see how the battle is raging in front and above us. The first group of fighters still does its job, keeping the most of ponies at distance from the combat box, however, they can't catch up on everyone. Flaming and torn machines keep falling and gliding from the massive black cloud. Guess that the third glass will be drunk without a speech...
But I need to make sure that my crew won't be in the death list.
The gunmen keep shooting in all directions, keeping away the ponies that noticed the damaged machine. We keep accelerating, pretty soon exceeding the limit of 600 kilometers per hour. The plane vibrates violently, and I start to level it out carefully. Both the machine's structure and the crew suffer the great G-force, however, we finally level out at a height of five kilometers, so I push the throttle to its maximum again. Now we're moving so fast, that the magic blasts from the ground and the most of ponies can't catch up on us. Except the particular rainbow one, that keeps flying around our machine. After finishing a steep dive, we start to lose speed again. At some point, she overtakes the bomber, and after a sharp turn, aims her hit straight to our cabin.
"Well, was nice knowing you, bastard... At least I'll take you to hell with myself."
However, an unexpected thing happens -- red traces pierce her body, and rer torn body falls. After a short while, a lone fighter overtakes us, and after waving its wings, turns away. Our damaged bomber is finally alone.
"That was hell of a ride... We owe this guy a drink."
I don't really listen to anything what the radio operator says. I just hear a mighty roar of our engines, and loud far-away explosions of our heavy bombs. I'm tired, as well as the rest of our crew. Later, we'll deal with the co-pilot, a young man, that passed away too early for his years. But for now... Everything has ended.
