Allied Mission 1: Red Sun over Paradise
Location: Canterlot City Suburbs
“What is that?” Rainbow Dash put her hands on the classroom window and voiced what everyone else at Canterlot High was thinking in stunned silence.
The skies above their peaceful town had been blotted out with dark shadows and the roaring of jet engines. Countless Jets streaked across the sky, and from beneath them innumerable white dots had begun to billow and stream out in trails. Sunset Shimmer looked around to her friends, she barely had the context to understand what was going on, but from the confused looks on the faces of the other students it seemed that even her friends who were native to this world were still struggling to understand what they were looking at.
“This is like the biggest surprise party I’ve ever seen!” Pinkie bounced over to dash and pressed her face to the glass.
“It…It’s like something out of a video game.” She muttered to herself. Rainbow and Twilight looked to her with a sudden flash of understanding, but it was Applejack who was the first to stand. “More like Something out of a war movie. This is real bad.”
“Applejacks right!” Pinkie added, suddenly as horrified as everyone else. “There’s no way I could make enough cake for everyone out there! Unless… Twilight, did you ever read my plans for a batter pipeline to canterlot city?”
“What? How would you even...?” twilight started as sirens began to ring out somewhere near the city, growing closer until the school intercom finally joined in.
“All students, please try remain calm.” Principle Celestia’s own voice was wavering a bit as she seemed to take a moment to try to decide what to say next, but spoke clearly once she had decided.
“We are facing an unprecedented emergency. Our Country is under attack. If you have family or friends nearby, please call them to make sure they are ok, and to see if it is safe for you to make your way home. The School will provide shelter for anyone who is unable to make contact or unsure of their own safety.”
To their everlasting credit, the students of CHS did not break into a mass panic, and most had been attempting to call or text friends and family even before the announcement was given. A few had already broken down into tears, Fluttershy included, but for Applejack a phone call just wasn’t fast enough.
“Applejack! Where are you going!?” Rarity shouted as she and the rest of the girls raced through the halls after their friend. Applejack didn’t slow down, throwing the doors of the school’s entrance wide open and rushing down the front stairs. The distant song of gunfire had finally come into focus as the party made their way onto the front terrace.
“At least talk to us!” Rainbow shouted as she appeared in front of Jack in streak of multicolored light. Applejack came to a screeching halt, just narrowly avoiding crashing into her, covering her face before wheeling around on the others, face bitter with tears.
“Where else would I be going!? I’ve got to get to my family before something happens to them!” The crew recoiled a moment at Applejack’s screaming, and she herself winced as she slowly realized they were just as worried as she was, but continued her thoughts as they came to her.
“Then… Then I’m gonna find out who’s doin’ this, and… And I’m gonna make ‘em stop.” She grasped at her necklace, finding some measure of courage for herself, but only heightening the concern of her friends.
“Applej…”
“Darli…” Shimmer and Rarity began simultaneously. With a brief look of empathy Shimmer acquiesced and stepped back to the others.
“Darling. You have to realize that this…” She motioned to the still falling sheets of white that were now coming into clear view as parachutes. “This probably isn’t something we can wash away with rainbow lasers and magic. This is beyond us.”
“We can’t just do nothin’ though.”
“For now let’s just take this one step at a time.” Shimmer interjected, the parachutes were getting closer and she had the distinct feeling they didn’t want to be around wherever they ended up.
“Friends have to stick together, right!” Pinkie jumped forward, hugging both Rarity and Applejack.
“Not to mention our overall odds of survival do drastically increase when we’re all together.” Twilight added, looking to Dash and Fluttershy. Shimmer gave a nod in agreement.
“Let’s go find your family, then we’ll figure out what to do next.”
Within 10 minutes of the invading force arriving the suburbs had turned into a veritable warzone. The girls had stopped to watch as a convoy of military trucks and armored vehicles had blown past them into the growing fray in the city. One of the soldiers had even waved to them as they passed, as if trying to reassure them that everything was going to be ok. Sunset, not knowing what else to do had given a small wave back, but the truck had disappeared around a corner so she had no idea if he’d seen.
“This is insane. Who would even be attacking us?”
“It’s got to be Stalliongrad” Dash kicked a loose rock down the street as they made their way to the Apple Family’s residence. “No one else would be crazy enough to start something like this.”
“Stalliongrad? Who are they?”
“Apparently they’re a problem only our world is unlucky enough to have.” Applejack muttered bitterly. “Used to be part of the Union, Like Canterlot and the other cities. But a long time ago they broke off and started acting all crazy, telling everyone that the Union wasn’t equal enough, that they were gonna make everything fair for everyone. It was honestly all fine and good ‘til they started building all sorts of crazy weapons and pointing them at us. We fought a little back then… My parents both went to help in their own way.” She clenched her fist a bit. “Anyway, it looks like all we did then was slow them down. This must have been their master plan all along.”
“The wonderbolts totally stopped them last time though!” Dash lit up a bit, a welcome change from the cloud of fear that was hanging over the friends. “They totally blew up some crazy laser or something the built last time, so they’re probably on their way to stop them again right now!”
Dash gave an enthusiastic fist pump at the idea of her heroes saving the world all over again, and Shimmer couldn’t help but hope her faith would bear some fruit, but for now they still needed to stay focused on getting out of the crosshairs of the Stalliongradians in their own yard before thinking about who was going to take the fight to theirs.
The sounds of gunfire had gotten closer, and were closing in fast, now followed by the high pitched squeal of tires, and low, thumping sound that reminded Shimmer vaguely of the sound of Pegasus wings, only much louder and faster. A pair of Allied Jeeps wheeled around the corner of a four way stop, roof mounted guns hammering away at their rear. The first made the turn easy enough, but the second was just a hair slower than it should have been, turning only fast enough to show its broadside as it caught a hail of armor piercing rounds, cutting the transport to pieces even before what remained of it ignited into a fireball.
Fluttershy let out a horrified, piercing shriek as the girls caught a glimpse of what remained of the passengers through the flames and ran for the cover a nearby house, most of the girls followed her immediately, but Shimmer and Applejack lingered just long enough to watch as the Stalliongradian Flying machine swooped over the suburban scene and rounded for another pass. The lead jeep let out another short burst, but the flying machine effortlessly avoided it, placing itself between the land and the sun so that only the machine silhouette remained. For a moment Shimmer couldn’t help but notice how much it reminded her of the head of a Timberwolf in shape, not to mention ferocity. The Timberwolf-machine descended upon its prey with ease, tearing it to shreds in another storm of gunfire.
The Girls had taken to hiding in the open garage of the nearest house. Using whatever tables, shelves, or loose cover they could find.
“Why isn’t it leaving?” Fluttershy Whimpered, hands covering her head as she began sobbing again. The Timberwolf was lingering outside, by the sound of it, it had already circled the house twice and was coming for another pass.
“You don’t think it’s looking for us do you?” Twilight asked shimmer, a clear streak of panic in her eyes.
“No way! We didn’t do anything to them! Why would they be-” Dash didn’t get to finish her thought, as the sound of another round of high-powered ammunition began slamming into the house. The girls threw themselves to the concrete floor as a several cut through the garage.
“Darlings! Look out!” Rarity manifested as large a shield as she could over top of them. The cacophony ripped through the supporting walls and finally the entire garage gave way and fell inwards. The Timberwolf lingered a moment longer, seemingly admiring its handywork as the smoke and rubble of the house filtered into the sky before at last turning away to seek more fulfilling targets. After a few moments, the rubble shifted and with a roar Applejack lifted enough of the ruins off that Rarity could let down her shield. The Fashionista fell to her knees, nearly drained from the sheer exertion of stopping an entire building in its tracks.
“That JERK just tried to flatten us!” Pinkie hopped up onto the tallest lump of rubble, seemingly the least fazed by what had happened by still red in the face and screaming at the now long gone enemy.
“It doesn’t make any sense.” Twilight nearly collapsed herself onto a patch of rubble, staring into the distance as she tried to piece together what had happened. “We weren’t any threat to them. Why did they try so hard to murder us? What was the point?”
“I… I don’t think there was one.” Shimmer answered, a feeling of dark nostalgia from when she was a monster herself ringing in her mind. “I think they were just doing it because they could.”
“That’s horrible.” Fluttershy wiped her nose. She was finally running out of tears, and only a dry sadness was left behind. “How could anyone be so cruel?”
Shimmer felt a pang of guilt, but said nothing.
“Just another reason for us to figure out how to stop them as fast as possible.” Applejack chimed in, still attending to Rarity. “Not to mention why we need to find my family. If they’re shooting at normal people, we need to do everything we can to make sure they stop.”
“You keep saying that, but how? Even if we Pony up, I don’t think we can take on a helicopter. Let alone whatever else is out there.” Twilight shook her head. “The smart thing to do would be to find your family and escape before we’re seen again. Staying here is only going to lead to a catastrophe.” Applejack began to protest, but another look at Rarity’s barely conscious form silenced her. Shimmer gave twilight a sad look, but shrugged in agreement. Pinkie wanted to cheer up he friends, but far too much was happening even for her, and the realization that someone had genuinely tried to kill her friends had left her grappling with a lot of emotions she wasn’t used to dealing with.
“We’re heroes.” Dash had been unusually quiet for most of the conversation, staring at the burning wrecks strewn across the street in front of them. With clenched fists she turned suddenly towards twilight. “You can’t honestly be saying we should just let them get away with this! They’re monsters! We! Fight! Monsters!” Dash looked around at her friends, each one in some stage of exhaustion, anger, and despair. “We can’t run away, no matter how bad things look, or how scary the enemy is. That just isn’t what we do.”
“Maybe this time it’s what we need to do.” Applejack replied somberly, but found herself unable to look Dash in the eyes. “Twilight’s right, I don’t think I can have both my family and the fight this time.”
Dash thought for a second, then pointed towards Canterlot city, where plumes of smoke and flak had painted the sky an orange-black mix. “Somebody over there is putting up a real fight, and even if they don’t realize it, they’re counting on us to help them.” She gave a deep breath, then added. “And I’m going to help them even if I have to do it alone.”
The others looked at dash in silent shock, but she didn’t back down. She felt a sudden jolt as Pinkie hugged her from behind.
“Dashie, don’t say that! There’s no way you can go alone! That’s Crazy, even for you!” Dash weakly tried to push her away.
“It’s not crazy, it’s the right thing to do!”
“And…She won’t be alone.” Shimmer interjected. “Because I’m going to.”
“You can’t be serious.” Twilight’s eyes widened. Even Dash herself seemed surprised at getting a volunteer.
“I’m…The only one here who doesn’t have people counting on me to find them. Not just Applejack, you all have families, here or elsewhere who will be looking for you. But you guys are my family. So go find yours, and I promise I’ll keep Dash safe 'til we get back.” She looked to dash with a nod. The soccer star smiled, but was fighting back tears, having realized she hadn’t really been thinking of her own parents out there in the middle of all this.
“Then I’m going too!” Pinkie added, hugging Dash tight enough that she was starting to have trouble breathing. “And you can’t stop me!”
“You realize what you’re walkin’ into Shimmer?” Applejack asked. Rarity was asleep on her back, and Twilight and Fluttershy were making final preparations for their trek to the Apple Family home. “We ain’t seen nothing like this for a long time in this world, and yours seemed much more peaceful. You really think you’re up for what may come?”
“You and Dash were right. We have to find out how to push back against this, just like any other problem we’ve faced, even if this one seems… Much bigger. And besides… Maybe splitting for now will help us figure out the full scope of it.” Sunset shrugged. She didn’t have a real answer, but that was the best she could come up with. Applejack sighed and looked over her shoulder to where Dash and Pinkie were still scoping out the city.
“Take care of them. And yourself. Please.”
Sunset gave a nod, and with that the two groups gave their goodbyes. Unknowing of how long they would be separated, nor what strange destiny lay in store for any of them.
Author's Note
Unit Compendium: Timberwolf Helicopter - The Standard attack helicopter of the Stalliongrad Invasion force. Its ferocious appearance is matched only by the power of its front mounted autocannon, and the inflated egos of their pilots. A powerful and fast attacker, it unfortunately lacks in any serious armor, causing it to either have to fall back or fall apart when faced with any real resistance.
Wings' Notes: Well, this is my first Fan Fic. I always kind of want to give it a try. Hopefully it wasn't too boring! Those of you familiar with the command and conquer brand were probably expecting something wackier in terms of both tone and tech, but I wanted to start off slow and ease into it. Next chapter is going to be the first real battle, and hopefully something crazy will come with it.
