On Wings of Steel

Chapter 7

During the days of the journey towards the east, something like a routine became established. However, that changed on the last day.
The whole ship was in an uproar, unicorns went to station, the two squadrons were ordered to the deck, the shrill of the alarm horns was deafening.
All signs pointed to a fight.
When the squadrons had started, Commander Rainbow Dash stormed out of the ship's superstructure and shouted: "ATTENTION!"
Everypony let the rear hooves click on the deck and stood at attention.
"We just received a radio message from Manehattan! The city is under attack from the sea. The Crystal Empire has launched an invasion and has already invaded the city a few blocks. Civilians are evacuated by train, but they need more time. Every airship has immediate action been ordered, including our ship. " Commander Dash roared over the din of the alarm, "Our two squadrons will fly into town for direct hoof-to-hoof combat, while our airship is also helping with the evacuation by securing the airspace around the train station."
She stood in front of everpony else at the first starting position, shouted: "Attention, ready, GO!"
Everyone galloped towards the end of the airship, then across the edge, and rose into the air.

Swift flew around the airship once for the others to rally, with him at the head of the squadron.
A salute to the ship, especially in the direction of Electric from him, and they flew in the direction of Manehattan.
"Okay Stormbreakers, let's show the wonderbolts what we can do. I know we don't have a lot of practice together, so I'm relying on you to show me what you can do! Let's clear the Skys and save some Ponies!" Swift called over his shoulder
The city was in front of them and they could see the thick black columns of smoke from fires raging everywhere. Airships on both sides fought each other, every now and then one of them crashed when the unicorns on one side had overpowered the other.
It was a real exchange of blows, sometimes two or three ships against one, others were alone, no battle formations, no order, just chaos.
"Hey, sergeant!" Commander Dash called and flew alongside him, "We're going north of the station, you take south. Any target that can be fought may be attacked. Free hunt!"
Swift saluted, then gave a hoof sign pointing everyone to follow, and turned the Stormbreakers slightly so they would come out south.

Electric went to work and immediately began getting the ship ready for action, even if she was not trained. She knew how the machines worked, so she would make sure they gave as much power as possible.
"To all stations, this is the captain" came the PA system alive, "We're going in. Damage control to your stations! We'll have to punch our way through to the train station."
Twilight came to Electric in the engine room and said, "What are you doing here? We have to get off the ship, this is going to be dangerous!"
"I can't." Electric said and opened a valve, "Swift is out there fighting. I have to do this for him." She looked over her shoulder, began to smile, "Besides ... I think we're almost safer up here in the air than on the ground."
Another earth pony pushed his way past Twilight with a: "Sorry, ma'am", and also came into the machine room. He just nodded to Electric and then began working on his part of the machines.
"This is insane!" Twilight said, "We don't have combat training!"
"You can create this shield, right?" Electric asked, "Why don't you help with that? It just takes concentration and will, and you have both." She smiled encouragingly
"Fine! But woe to anyone complain if something happens!" Twilight said and left.
"She'll be fine." said the earth pony from earlier, "Anyone who worries so much does their best."

Swift waved a hoof and gave the order to form a line behind him. The others obeyed and together they followed him between two enemy airships that could not shoot because otherwise they would only hit each other. Behind it, Swift took a dive to fly under a crashing airship below. He could see ponies falling, others clinging desperately to the burning airship.
This was a real battle.
Further ahead he could see an enemy airship approaching quickly.
"Sharp, Arctic, follow me!" he called over his shoulder, "Lucky, Ruby, stay back a little. Private Amethyst, Night you tou stay with them and give them cover!"
a common: "Yes Sir!" rang out and the group split up.
"What's the plan, sir?" Arctic asked next to Swift.
"We fly so that we are a difficult target. Then I try to damage the ropes of the enemy ship with the edge of my wing, so that it crashes." Swift replied, "If that doesn't work, I'll need some help."
"Yes Sir!" both said and began to fly a complicated path, sometimes up, sometimes down, sometimes left and right. both of them had practiced this very well and Swift tried to adjust when enemy spells came flying towards them. They made it close and the metal wings actually cut through the ropes holding the balloon. One approach and the airship fell to the ground.
"Kill!" Swift said with a grim grin,
"Kill Confirmed!" the other two reported, while Sharp said with a grin: "Does that still count as one or is it more?"

The three flew back to the other four. and continue together. The narrow streets of the city were a problem and only provided safety for enemy airships.
"Enemy Squadron, behind us and higher than us!" reported specialist Night, "They saw us!"
"Break!" Swift called and turned left, into a cross street, followed by Specialist Night and Private Amethyst. the other four flew right into the same cross street. The entire enemy squadron followed the three to the left, who turned right again in the next street.
"They're on our necks!" Private Amethyst called a little panicked.
"Stay calm, private. Fear and despair accompany death." Swift said, hoping Death wouldn't hate him for saying, "Just do it like Specialist Night. Keep calm." a spear flew through between the three and Private Amethyst dodged a little too much. Her wing touched a building and with a small crack Swift could hear the wing break. Specialist Night and sergeant Swift saw this and both immediately plummeted to catch the falling mare. Only Swift had an advantage over Night. Its wings were harder to break, so it could go a little faster. He managed to catch the mare, but now it was very deep and very slow.
Horse feathers ...
"Go find the rest of the squadron!" Swift called to Night, "We need reinforcements!"
"Yes, Sir!" Night called back.

"Sir, leave me behind!" Private Amethyst said with a sob, "I'm just slowing you down."
"No, I won't, and now move your hooves, private!" Swift landed next to one of the tall skyscrapers. and pushed her in, ran with her towards the basement. to his surprise, the two found civilians there. Without waiting, Swift pointed to two pegasias: "You and you, take care of the private here. I'll guard the door. Should anything happen, who can fight here?"
Two earth ponies and a unicorn emerged from the group of several civilians.
Swift nodded, saying, "I hope it doesn't come to that, but if it does, be ready to defend this door." he galloped out into the hallway, just in time to see enemy soldiers coming down the stairs.
with his wings, which he held in front of him like a shield, he was able to repel attacks with the spears relatively easily.

"FIRE ON DECK!" shouted an earth pony when the airship was shaken, "We need extinguishing agents here!"
"Hit aft! Several wounded!"
"We're losing altitude!"
Electric worked hard on the machine and kept it running as well as it could. It only stopped when one of the bridge officers ran into the engine room below.
"You!" He pointed to Electric, "The PA system has failed. You have to start the experimental drive! Otherwise we won't be able to keep the ship in the air for much longer."
"I understand." Electric galloped down the aisle, jumped against a wall to get around the curve faster, and landed in a full gallop near the stairwell. There she jumped one deck down, into another room, and began to power up the EDS. It didn't take long for the energy to arrive where it was needed.
"Come on ... come on ..." she muttered to herself, as with a soft bang all systems jumped around to ready, then norminal. The ship jumped forward and for a moment it felt like they hit the ground, but it wasn't.
They were flying relatively stable and faster than before.
"Done!" Electric exclaimed with joy and relief, "Let's take care of the rest of the ship then."

Swift had taken a couple of hits, but nothing wild. Scratches where spears had come through his defense. These wings proved more and more practical in hoof-to-hoof combat. That just didn't help against the number of foes coming down the stairs. Nor had Swift considered how the others should find the private one and him ..
That had been extremely stupid.
But at Celestia he wouldn't go without a fight.
One of the enemies charged at him. This ran into the wing that Swift extended forward. He lost his spear and was hit hard on the head of Swift with his hoof,
"Buck off!" Swift roared, breathing hard. Adrenaline could only keep him going that long and he knew it.
this time a group of enemies tried. And they didn't run either, but tried to bypass him, which was difficult in this narrow basement. But Swift only had two wings and four hooves. He couldn't be everywhere so at some point he found himself surrounded.

That was the moment when Amethyst, whose wing was now bandaged, broke out of the door and drove one of the spears lying on the ground into one of the opponents. This screamed briefly before he went to the floor.
"Nice to see you on your hooves, private." said Swift.
"I can't let you do it all alone, coporal." said Amethyst, but you could hear that she was afraid.
"Don't worry private. I firmly believe that we can do it. I promised my Marefriend." Swift said with a grim grin and a goal in front of his eyes. Together it was easier to keep the enemy on one side of the hallway, but Swift had to keep fending off a spear that was meant for Amethyst.
At the rate, either or both of them would carry worse injuries.
Fighting noises could be heard from the stairwell.
The soldiers of the Crystal Empire turned around except for the one in front of Swift and Amethyst and began walking back down the stairs.
"This is your last chance to surrender." Swift said with a cheeky grin.
The enemy soldiers said nothing, but charged them one last time.

"Attack!" called a white unicorn with a blue mane. He himself kept up a very impressive shield with his magic and prevented the enemies from getting reinforcements.
"I hope they are here." Night said, while specialists Lucky and Ruby provided first aid.
"Hand me the bandages, please." Lucky said to Ruby.
The mare searched briefly and then passed the bandages on to the stallion and said: "There aren't many left."
"We didn’t expect us to treat the field units either. If I had known, I would have suggested leaving the camping equipment behind."
"I would have been fine with it, then I wouldn't have had to carry it around with me." said the mare with a laugh.
Even if her appearance alone did not suggest that she noticed what and what was not in the big backpack and the saddlebags on her, Ruby was a gem of a mare.
Her partner and the group's doctor, Lucky, was also very savvy and had a lucky hoof with ponies and their wounds.

A little later the civilians, Amethyst and Swift came out of the building and looked at the combat unit in amazement. In the middle stood the rest of the squadron.
"I see you brought everything you could find, Night. Thanks." said Swift, really grateful and supported Amethyst, who had been kicked on one of the front legs during the last attack, "specialist Lucky, please take care of the private."
"to order sir." Lucky said and looked at the wounds of the young mare, "It'll be fine. But it looks like a month's home vacation, maybe two. And a Purple Heart."
Swift smiled when he heard this and went to find the leader of the group.

To his surprise, he found a captain's purple armor in the middle of the perimeter. A white unicorn with a blue mane barked commands.
Swift stood in such a way that he was seen, went into attention position and waited patiently until he was addressed.
"sergeant." said the captain with a nod, "your specialist said that you needed help. We came as soon as we could."
"Thanks sir!" He saluted, "I hereby report: Stormbreaker Squadron is fully operational except for one man. Private Amethyst Fire is incapable of fighting. Civilians in the basement of this building were defended as well as possible. We have a total of 23 civilians, 6 of them injured and two seriously injured. "
The captain nodded, "Good to know. Can the injured walk?"
"No sir."
"I thought so. We'll take a couple of the cabs standing around here for the injured." the captain took a closer look at Swift, then grinned: "I didn't even know that earth ponies could join the air force. I'm impressed."
Swift drew in a sharp breath. The one before him was a Royal Guard captain, not Commander Dash, who understood his suffering.
"Sir, I'm a Pegasus. A mission cost me both wings. But thanks to the two mares Electric Swing and Twilight Sparkle I can fly again."

The captain's eyes widened and he began to shine: "So you know Twily! Ha, the world is so small!" the captain simply pulled Swift to his chest, "I haven't spoken to my little sister anymore. How is she? Is she still in canterlot at the academy?"
Swift was surprised at the suddenly informal tone the captain had used.
"So ... Twilight is on the airship we arrived on." Swift said and rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof, "If I got that right, it put it on the train station after our departure course because it had the order to keep the airspace clean there."
"How was the sergeant?" the captain asked and his grip tightened until Swift could barely breathe
"Sir! Sir please ... Air ...!" Swift waved, then pushed the metal wings apart to free me from the grip, "Sir, please, I can't chance it that we got this order. If it had been up to me the airship would have flown home after we dropped off."
"Is that so, sergeant? Why?" the captain asked with anger in his voice
"Because my Marefriend is on the airship too," said Swift deadpan.
That made the captain pause before he said: "Affiliations within the military ..."
"She is a civilian." Swift said, interupting the captain quit rude.
"Then what is she doing on a military airship?" the captain asked with a raised eyebrow.
"If you ask me?i think, At the moment, she's holding the airship in the air. Usually she repairs my or Commander Dash's wings." replied Swift.
"Ah ... I see ..." said the captain.
"Sir. It's getting late. We should get moving." Swift said and pointed up. In terms of time it wasn't that late, but the tall buildings made it quite dark. "I can send three of my Wing on patrol if you wish, sir."
"Good idea, sergeant. Do it." replied the captain.
Swift saluted and turned to his squadron, shouting: "Specialists Night, Sharp and Arctic. You three go on patrol. A maximum of 2 blocks. Stay together, avoid fighting and report any enemy movement."
"Yes, sir!" said the three and saluted, then started straight away.

It took longer than expected to make enough caps move and it got very dark.
"It's useless, we have to go through the night." said Captain Armor.
Everyone was preparing to spend the night here if necessary and to set up an outpost.
"How are you doing private?" Swift asked Amethyst, one wing of which was still lost, but at least the hobbling had stopped.
"Lucky said I was ... lucky ... with the leg. Just a bruise. But the wing is broken. Sorry sir, that I became such a burden." said Amethyst and hung his head low.
"You are not a burden." Swift said and put his hoof on her shoulder, "You were just unlucky. Be glad that you got to keep your two wings. And now off to bed, soldier, we have a long way to go if we want to cover him on the streets. "

Day 01 in the Manehattan siege ends