Equestria: World War II (1939-1941)

9TH SEPTEMBER 1940

--------------------------------------------------8,000 FEET ABOVE MERSA MATRUH, EGYPT------------------------------------------------
It was a very hot day in the city of Mersa Matruh, in the British territory of Egypt. The entire area was on edge, ever since the Italians had invaded Somaliland, wrested it away from the British, and annexed it into Italian East Africa. Since then, the Royal Air Force had been flying Hawker Hurricanes, Bristol Blenheims, and even Spitfires into Egypt more frequently than ever, with the threat of an invasion by the Italians or Germans always imminent. In fact, rumours had now emerged that the Italians and Germans were creating a combined military force just for that, using German Panzer tanks crewed by Italian Army members.

In fact, Andersen bomb shelters had been distributed to members of the public, like how it was being done in Britain, to protect members of the public from enemy aerial bombing. Precautions were also being taken to keep the British forces supplied, by reinforcing Malta, which was still under British control despite it being under siege daily by the Italian military. 8,000 feet in the sky above the city, a group of RAF Hawker Hurricanes were soaring, on patrol for Italian planes. Flying one of the Hurricanes was Flight Lieutenant Rainbow Dash, on her first ever deployment outside of Europe.

Rainbow and her squadron, Mage Squadron, had been in Egypt for the last two months, and this deployment was scheduled to last around six months, so they still had four months left before they would be heading back home to Britain. Among the pilots were a few who were allied with Free France. This new political entity was a group of French rebels, led by the French military general, Charles de Gaulle.

Charles de Gaulle and his compatriots had fled France following the formation of Vichy France, as they opposed the idea of France surrendering to the Germans. That had been a good move, following that and the British attacks on the French forces in Algeria, a lot of the French forces who had fled France following their surrender to Germany had joined sides with de Gaulle, and after his famous address on 18th June, Free France was gaining more supporters by the day.

As Rainbow and the other pilots cruised over the desert, Rainbow asked, "Mage 1, do you think we'll be attacked today?"

"I'm not so sure, Mage 5. Doesn't look like we'll be attacked today. So far, there hasn't been any reported Axis movement in the area, and those Italians aren't probably going to make any moves yet. Anyways, we better continue our patrol, you never know." replied the squadron leader, Mage 1. As the planes continued flying over the coastal desert city, they felt that it was calm, too calm for the day. That was when they got a distress call from a Royal Army commander. "This is Commander Rosings of the 7th Support Group. We are under attack! Italian troops are closing on us, they are taking us by surprise! They are invading Egypt! We need air support!"

"Commander Rosings, this is Mage 1, we're on our way! Give us your location, pronto!" replied Mage 1.

"We are now east of Mersa Matruh, near Zawyet Eilet Nuh! We're not going to last too long at this rate, the Italians are coming at us like crazy!"

"On our way right now, Mage 1!" said Mage 1, as he and the Hurricanes began turning east, towards Zawyet Eilet Nuh. They would hopefully reach in time to help Commander Rosings and his division. This was it. The Italian invasion of Egypt had begun. They had to stop it, otherwise Egypt would end up like Somaliland, which was not in a good shape since the Italians had wrested it away from Britain. The Italians had renamed the country from British Somaliland to Italian East Africa, since was under their rule now. Rumours had come that they would also remove Berbera's status as its capital, and shift the capital to some other city.

As the Hurricanes arrived over the scene of the battle, they all began strafing the Italian forces, who were busy trying to deal with the British forces, and were barely taking a glance in the air. They were taken by surprise by the British Hurricanes, and the RAF pilots were all quite surprised at the fact that the Italians hadn't brought any air support or anti-aircraft units with them. However, that was when Rainbow noticed something. "Mage 1, there are multiple aircraft coming towards our position from the sea, at high speed! I can't tell what type they are!"

"I see, Mage 5. Commander Rosings, can your men identify them? We're unable to identify them from our current position." said Mage 1.

"Hold on, one of my scouts is using binoculars to take a look at them right now." said Rosings, and the line went silent for a moment, as Rosings listened to the scout. "Oh no! My scout has reported that the approaching aircraft have Italian markings, get ready for a fight!" said Rosings. The second the RAF pilots heard this message, they instantly began doing flight control checks and checking their ammunition, readying themselves for the dogfight. Not even a minute later, Rainbow Dash could see the Italian planes, Macchis, closing in on Mage Squadron.

Instantly, Rainbow and her fellow pilots began dodging the bullets, and the dogfight between the Macchis and the British planes began. Rainbow instantly got behind the tail of one of the Italian fighters, just as another one started chasing her Hurricane. The second the Macchi in front of her was in her crosshairs, Rainbow fired a burst from her guns, and took out the right wing, causing the Macchi to catch fire and spiral to the desert in flames. Now to deal with the one chasing her.

As Rainbow quickly dodged right to avoid a burst from the Macchi's gun, the pilot anticipated her move. Three of the bullets hit her Hurricane, but they didn't seem to hit anything critical, because Rainbow's plane was still flying, and no alarms popped up on the control panel. Rainbow quickly dived towards the ground to avoid the Macchi, and began to do an outside loop. She just hoped the Hurricane wouldn't break apart, as this was an idea she had just thought of on the moment. As Rainbow entered the first half of the outside loop, descending rapidly, the Macchi began following her.

As the Macchi was about to fire its guns again, in a split second, Rainbow rolled her Hurricane wings level and began climbing at high speed, straining the airframe to its limits. The Macchi pilot was taken by surprise, and before he could react, he plowed into a sand dune, as Rainbow Dash had been only 200 feet above the ground when she pulled up. As the battle raged, within 15 minutes, eight Macchis had been shot down, and none of the Hurricanes had been lost. Soon, all of them had been routed, as had the Italian ground forces. However, they knew that this was only the beginning, and the Italians would keep attempting to take Egypt, until the Allies fully pushed them out.