Prologue: My Country Calling
The Great War ended with a deafening silence...
The world moved on...
The year is 1039, many years after the Great War. The city of Canterlot seemed peaceful as usual, but the fact is; it's not. The news just reached Canterlot, the Changelings. led by Chrysalis herself, attacked Equestria. Griffonian Empire and the Hippogriffian Kingdom already declared war on the unchanged changelings. But the result is, Griffionian Empire is getting defeated, each day Chrysalis's army is getting closer to Griffon Stone; they needed support right away. Equestria had no choice... but to fight....
"This is Canterlot. You will know hear a statement from the Princess herself." The speaker spoke through the radio, as everypony and every creature were listening throughout the world.
"I'm speaking to you, from the castle in Canterlot." Celestia began her statement in the radio, "This morning, the Equestrian Ambassador in the Badlands, handed the Changeling Government a final note. I have to tell you now, this country, is at war with the Changelings..."
(The scene changed to an unknown stallion soldier, as he told his perspective of this war)
My father asked me if I was truly ready for the war. He told me that a good soldier kill, without thinking his enemy as a living creature. In the moment he sees his enemy as a fellow stallion he's no longer a good soldier. And I was a good soldier.
Celestia help me.
Within each of us lie the seeds of an undefined greatness, we are the fathers of our own future. That future must be chosen, nurtured, and guided. It must be driven with conviction. Lest our lesser nature stray into the shadow.
(Perspective Ended)
The war would throughly explore stallion's potential.
Finest Moment, Darkest Hour.
Summits of Courage, Depths of Hatred.
Hope. Endurance. Atrocity. Death.
(Perspective Began again)
We fought everywhere, in every conditions, using weapons we've never dreamed of. But death is death, no matter where you are, and suffering is the same in any language.
Technology moved faster than you could think how to use it. Yours, theirs, it doesn't matter. This war can prove that from ocean beds, to mountain top, that the greatest killing machine, is stallions.
We came from all over the world. So many of us thinking this war would be our right of passage–our great adventure. Let me tell you: It was no adventure.
New killing machines, like the tank, changed the shape of the war overnight. Luckily they were mostly on our side. Mostly.
Instead of adventure, we found fear and in war, the only true equalizer was death.
They push… We push… Every once in awhile, we pushed hard enough that the light breaks through the clouds - so a world beyond the war glimmers. Just out of reach....
The war is the world. And the world is the war.
But behind every gunsight is a stallion.
We are those stallions.
We are the jaded. And we are the naive.
We are the honorable. And the criminal.
We are the bound for Legend. And the lost to history.
We are the knights of the sky. The ghosts in the desert. And the rats in the mud.
These are our stories.
Chapter 1: Under No Flag (Part 1)
Author's Note
Chapter summery: Rainbow Dash. a criminal, was suppose to spend her life in the prison. Until she was picked into this special unit. Her new job is to sneak behind the enemy line and cause she trouble lie she usually do. But this isn't Canterlot, can the ex-criminal handle herself?
Chapter 1: Under No Flag (Part 1)
Canterlot, Equestria
Spring, 1042
As the Equestrian Forces fled the blood-soaked beaches of Horesshoe Bay, Celestia issued an order that would reinvent the fighting men: Prepare Hunter troops for a butcher-and-blt reign of terror.
The Equestrian military would create a force unlike any other. A force that'll rewrite the rules of warfare.
Those who succeed under this model were not the type who flourished in the conventional military. Among them were troublemakers, cutthroats, and buccaneers.
They were not the type who volunteered for military service.
(Scene starts)
In the prisons below the castle of Canterlot, where many criminals were kept, they muttered, cussed, banged, and argued. But mostly walked in their cells uncomfortably, wondering what would happen to them. These bad-stallions and mares were mostly troublemakers, thief, murderers, and cutthroats. What they're afraid of is that they're captured not by police forces, but by the military.
The entrance gate flew open, revealing two royal guards who were holding a struggling cyan mare with rainbow colored manes. behind them was a female griffon officer. To be specific, a veteran of the Great War.
The guards pushed the mare onto the floor, pressing onto hr back, making the mare crunched her tooth, while still trying to struggle. The guards pull out a handcuffs and snatched it onto the mare's hooves, while the mare on the ground snarled.
The Griffon officer walked towards the struggling mare, a smug smile on her face, she bend down until she's looking at her face, "Are you Rainbow Dash?" she asked.
Seeing that the mare didn't answer, Gilda pull out a pad from his waist and checked it. On the pad were Rainbow Dash's ID, criminal records, and some of her info.
"Says on my pad here: Criminal use of explosives, assault, attempted armed robbery, arson, attempted armed robbery..." she let out a small laugh at the repeated words, "Did you tried to rob the same bank three times?"
"No." Rainbow Dash growled, immediately he was pulled up standing buy the guards. Gilda stood up, not breaking eye contact with the mare.
"Oh yes you did." she said, "Because you're Rainbow Dash, the daughter of the big, bad, horrible Bow Hothoof." she said while leaning close the Rainbow's face. Then she leaned back and formed a pose of holding a gun, while mocking, (Here comes the funny part) "I'm Bow fucking Hothoof, gimme the fucking money!"
The guards then slammed her against the wall, while Gilda, returned to her normal tone, and again leaned close the struggling Rainbow Dash. The same smug smile on her face, "Now that's your dad innit?" she asked, "SO how come he didn't sent down with you then?"
"Cause I did all the job my own." Rainbow Dash answered.
"Oh yeah," Gilda scoffed as she continue walking forward, towards the cell a the end of the hallway, the guards seized Rainbow Dash and followed.
"I've got a little deal with ya," she said, without looking at her, "I'm putting together a unit. You're gonna fucking love it. Its right up your street, your sort of thing."
She then opened the cell door, while signaling the guards to let him in. The guards pushed her into the cell with Rainbow Dash hitting the floor with a grunt. Gilda continued, "And its gonna be better than in here."
"I'll be fine." Rainbow said, getting up from the floor.
The guards shut the door behind her, leaving Rainbow Dash in the dark cell room with only a small window to peek outside.
Gilda looked back at the cell one more time before walking away, behind her, the gap opened, a pair of violet eyes peeked through, "What sort of unit?" Dash asked.
Gilda turned back, showing yet another smug grin on her face, "Tell me Dash, do you like seaside?" she asked sarcastically.
(~)
(The scene then switched to a massive cruiser in the middle of the windy ocean, near a beach. A canoe was released from the cruiser, on it were Rainbow Dash and Gilda, both armed. They're heading straight towards the beach.)
The canoe hit the beach, Gilda stepped out as if nothing had happened, a Sten SMG in her grip. But Rainbow Dash isn't so lucky. She rolled onto the beach, throwing up and spitting out liquid from her stomach.
"Do you fucking like the seaside..." she muttered.
She saw Gilda ignored her while advancing, "Oi! I'm sick! I'm chuckin my gut up over here and you're just strolling off!" she protested.
Gilda stopped and turned her head at Dash, while speaking in full sarcasm, "Oh Dash liven yourself up, com' on!" then she continue to advance, leaving a whining mare behind her as Dash followed.
"There's a lovely little ice cream shop down 'ere and I'm treating you to a cornet." She said while advancing, Rainbow Dash followed, but unwilling. If she knew this is her new job, she'd be rather sitting in the cell.
"AAARGOOH!" Rainbow Dash threw up once more, Gilda just rolled her eyes, "Aren't you just a piece of work Dash?"
"Give me a sec, will you? I can barely move without spilling over!" Rainbow Dash protested, while adjusting herself to keep up with Gilda.
"Heh heh, what do you want me to do? Tuck you in and hand you a teddy?" she snorted, "Now com' on, get moving!"
Dash have to try really hard not to trip on the stony and slippery trail, especially after it rained. Up ahead, she heard Gilda.
"Did you still have the explosives?"
"Yeah, I modified them and that's all." Dash answered.
They saw a boulder in front of them, and the only way to get pass them is to pull up. Gilda pulled herself up and continue advancing in a swift move, "Get your hooves out and pull yourself up." She said to the newbie Dash.
Dash did what she's told, cuz she had no choice. This isn't the street at Canterlot, their behind the enemy lines, his enemies were not police forces nor royal guards; his enemies were the Nazis. Yup, cold blooded, merciless changelings led by the mad-mare Chrysalis.
Suddenly, Gilda stopped, she halted the walking Pegasus. On top of them, an airplane; a Changeling Stuka Dive-Bomber flew by, they're lucky this bad-boy didn't see them, the machine guns mounted on it; not to mention the 37mm auto-cannon on that big bird. (It's a Ju-87 Stuka G), can easily shred them to pieces.
"That's a Stuka coming." said Gilda as Dash looked up in surprise, she'd never seen a warplane before, not even a Spitfire. Since he spend most of his time in the prison.
"Them the planes we're meant to blow up?" Dash asked.
"Yeah, yeah that's them alright." Gilda answered, continue to sprint forward, Dash is wondering how can Gilda do such things such as calm when the most terrifying war machine just flew up top of you.
Gilda turned back to check on Dash to see whether she's following or what. In the plot second Dash saw the worries in her eyes, but it vanished a brief moment later.
They arrived under a bend stone, the only way is to crawl under it. Dash hated the dirts, it was stuck between her feathers and was making her uncomfortable. Again she had no choice.
"Head down, you know the drill." Gilda said while crawling through the mud.
Dash carefully crawled through the mud without letting her Tommy Gun haven contact on the ground with the mud. She's not gonna get her new toy dirty before spraying stuff at the changelings, cuz that's the fun part.
"Have you been here before? Do you know where we're heading?" Dash asked.
"Oh yeah I come here all the time," Gilda replied, "I bring the missus along sometimes."
"So that's a no is it?" Dash sighed, she hated sarcasm, "You have no idea where we're going?"
"Listen, this job requires a certain amount of think on your hooves, do you understand?" Gilda said, a bit annoyed this time.
"Yeah, right. Great." Rainbow Dash said sarcastically, only this time in her life.
They stopped behind a boulder, what Dash saw surprised her: Below them was a massive Changeling junkyard, with hundred of changeling guards, armed, circling around.
"Right. This a good area." Gilda said, while giving Rainbow Dash her binocular, "Let's survey this area, tell me what you see."
"Changelings, on the other ridge here," Dash reported, "looks like a load of barrels."
"You know, I wouldn't try to use them as cover, who knows what's inside." Gilda said, thinking the exact same thought as Dash.
"Looks like rubbish, maybe an alarm?" dash asked, what she saw was the junks and wasted bombers.
"Yeah, probably a radio too," Gilda said, "Now, maybe it's gonna be the best to watch out for both because we don't need more enemy showing up."
"Might be an airstrip off in the distant." Dash said as she checked the hill over this junkyard, that's where the Stuka bombers came from.
"The hanger there is most likely to be secured," Gilda suggested, "so once your down there pull your fingers out of your ass and find a way inside."
After surveying the junkyard, Dash returned the binocular and took out his modified explosive. Gilda snatched the explosive and frowned, "Are you sure about these bombs of yours?" she asked.
"My safecracker specials?" Dash said confidently, "They'll blow this place to shreds, mate, don't ya worry."
She then asked the biggest question in her mind, "What if I get caught though? You're just gonna piss off and leave me here? Get all the glory yourself?"
"Glory?" Gilda let out a small, yet sarcastic laugh, "There's aren't any fucking glory here Crash. Now listen to me, carefully."
Dash sighed and perked her ears up.
"I'm gonna put my bombs on the planes over there and you're gonna put your bombs in the hanger over at the airstrip." she said, "And don't get caught. I'll be meeting you at the meeting point"
"Yeah alright alright..." Dash muttered, then quickly slid down towards his destination, "I'm on it."
Watching the young mare slid down to her mission, Gilda sighed before heading off to hers. Welp I just hope she's ready, Gilda thought as she went towards the planes down below.
Chapter 3: Under No Flag (Part 3)
"Crash! Go get that Flak and take down those Stukas!" Gilda yelled. Rainbow Dash immediately sprang into action, she fired off a few burst at the incoming changelings, knocking few of them down. He saw a 20mm Flak 38 anti-air auto cannon sitting behind a cover built with simple sand bags, she have to do this fast and fierce, cuz the sand bags aren't gonna hold that long.
She got on the seat and started to aim at the closest Stuka, she tiled the auto cannon a bit in front of the plane, matching its speed, then she stepped on the trigger.
POM! POM! POM! POM!
The Flak fired sown burst, some missed the Stuka badly, but as time went on, the shots were getting more accurate. Rainbow have to watch out for two things; incoming Stuka firing at her and not to overheat the auto cannon by pressing the trigger too long. Luckily, the shots did not hit her nor the cannon's overheat rate. She kept a steady pattern, firing bursts at the Stuka. Finally, a few rounds hit the left wing of the dive-bomber and turned it into a flying torch. It crashed onto the ridge next by with a huge "BOOM!".
"Got one." Dash murmured, now rotating the cannon towards the other Stuka, which is coming at him. It fired a rain of bullets at him, but was blocked by the gun shield in front of the cannon. Due to that burst Dash missed the chance, letting the Stuka flew right by.
"Sonnava Bitch!" Dash gritted her tooth, lining up on the escaping Stuka. Once the iron site is in the right place, she set off the burst again. Small explosions and black clouds of smoke erupted around the Stuka, one shard went right through the cockpit and killed the pilot instantly. The Stuka begins to wobble before ramming the mountain side nose-first.
"Yees!" Dash had a confident smirk on her face as she searched for the last remaining Stuka, but it's nowhere to be spotted.
"God damn-it!" She murmured, "Where the hell did you go..."
Suddenly, she heard propeller noises, it's coming from her 6 o'clock. Immediately she levered the Flak 38 towards the Stuka who just flew upward from the valley below.
"Holy cow! Bitch tries to sneak on me!" Rainbow Dash did not waste a second, she continued to fire 3-rounds burst at the enemy dive-bomber. After almost using up two mags, the dive-bomber finally ignited in flames and crashed into the valley below.
Rainbow Dash is sweating hell a lot. However, the moment of peace was interrupted when she heard Gilda's furious scream, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GET THE FUCK OUTTA THERE!"
Rainbow jerked up and grabbed her Tommy gun, sprinting towards where the angry Griffon is. They scrambled off the base and hid in the bushes until the Changelings ran passed them, cursing and kicking everything in their path. After 10 minutes of passing Death side-by-side. Gilda managed to find a safe spot to have a little "Talk" with the hot-headed Pegasus.
“'Sweet Celestia that was incredible Dash!' 'Yeah thanks, your welcome.'" Dash said, hoping Gilda had the same thought, unfortunately Gilda has other ideas.
"You're a fucking disaster." She spat.
"Me? You're the one who's gone and got herself shot full of holes ain't ya?" Rainbow replied.
"Yeah because of you, you tit." Gilda grunted.
"Listen, I'm sitin' pretty in prison, mate." Rainbow Dash fought back, "I was bothering nopony and gettin' shot at, til' you came along. This is your fucking fault!"
Gilda stopped dead in the track and looked Dash dead in the eyes, "Listen to me! You took the fucking deal, you want start paying off on your end then you need to fucking livin' yourself up Crash. You understand me?"
Rainbow Dash tiled her head away, Gilda looked to her direction. A Changeling armored car stopped in front of them. A Changeling came out, pointing his MP-40 at them. But he's probably a newbie, they knew by the fear in his voice, "Halt! Wer bist du?! (Stop! Who are you?!)"
Dash and Gilda shared a knowing look, then turned back to the Changeling, a smug smile on their faces.
(~)
Rainbow Dash is driving the car, with Gilda next to her. She had that smug grin on her face, behind them, in the trunk, a muffled scream of anger can be heard, "Pfui! Gottverdammt!"
They continued driving until they reached another Changeling HQ, stopping a few miles from it. Gilda handed Dash her Tommy Gun ammo and some bombs, of course it wasn't Dash's.
"You're gonna have to do this your own, just like what you did to the banks. Take it real smooth, don't want any of those shit-holes behind our flanks again." Gilda said.
"Alright no problem." Dash said, getting off the car.
"Good, now go do your job, I'm gonna have a little kip in this shit-hole." Gilda said, laying herself in the car.
She closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again, seeing Dash still standing there looking at her, "Don't just stand their staring at me you lesbian." She snapped, "Go! Move it! Move it!"
Dash went down hill without a word.
(~)
Dash checked her binocular, this base is a supplies station. And she'll have to set it all on fire with the bombs she received from Gilda.
"Need to make sure non of these supplies makes it outta here." She murmured before bending low and began to trespass the base's defense section. Her Tommy Gun loaded, but the last thing she wanted to do is to fire it. Don't want Gilda yelling the shit outta her with dozens of Changelings shooting at them again.
"Hmm... I wonder if I can call for the Navy to pick us up using the radio in the HQ." She said to herself while sneaking into the HQ. Passing a few guards unnoticed.
After having to sneak through the airbase from last tike, Dash was more stealthy comparing to her last mission, but her hooves were sweating like hell after she made it into the building of the supplies room. Luckily, there's only four guards in the room, two smoking, one napping, and another one daydreaming. Easy targets, no pressure.
Dash hid her Tommy Gun behind her as she pulled her battle knife out. She slowly approached to the napping guard, with a single swift slice across the throat, she put that lucky guard into an endless sleep.
She then went for the daydreaming one, putting him down and throat-sliced him before he could react. Now two has been taken care of, the smokers are all that's left. Dash sneaked behind the smoking one and covered his nuzzle with one swift move and then stabbing her knife through the guard's heart. he let out a muffled scream before dying, unfortunately, the other smoker heard the muffled scream. He looked towards the dead guard and saw a cyan Pegasus with a bloody knife.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Dash had no choice but to fire at the guard. The guard is dead, but it set off the entire base filled with Changelings. Cursing under her breath, Dash had to move onto her last part of objective one, plant and set off the bombs.
She quickly placed the bombs in the supplies before running off. She ran into a few lucky guards, but they all went to their deserved endless sleep by some knife slices on their throats. Now Dash's next objective is to disable the enemy radio, and to also call the Royal Navy.
What could possibly go wrong?
