Equestria: World War II (1939-1941)

19TH SEPTEMBER 1940

--------------------------------------------------8,000 FEET ABOVE MERSA MATRUH, EGYPT------------------------------------------------
It was now 9:00am here, and a very good day today in the city of Mersa Matruh. Today was the day that the British militaries, along with help from the Equestrian and Crystal Empirean militaries, would finally kick the invading Italian Army out of Egypt. They had been relentlessly bombing the Italian militaries and shooting down their planes to prevent them from gaining a stronghold in Egypt. So far, it was all going to plan, and the Italians had begun retreating. However, there were still some left. Today was all about finishing off those little buggers.

As a group of some of the planes tasked to this, in this case, a group of REAF Hawker Hurricanes, cruised above Mersa Matruh, got ready for the first part of the final major strikes against the Italians, they got the go message. "Alright, all aircraft, begin your strikes! The Italian 10th Army is around 50 kilometers west of your position, multiple tanks are visible, go get them!" came the message from their commander.

"This is Timberwolf 1, roger that, we're going in!" replied the squadron leader. "Alright, Timberwolf Squadron! Here we go, let's get those bucking Italians!"

"Roger that, Timberwolf 1!" replied the pegasus High Winds, who was flying the Hurricane that was Timberwolf 8. There were a total of 25 planes in this squadron, and all of them were now heading west of the city at high speed. Formerly a performer for the Wonderbolts, High Winds was now a Hurricane pilot for the Royal Equestrian Air Force, and she was quite a good pilot. She already had shot down three planes in combat, but today, they wouldn't be facing any enemy aircraft today, it would be air-to-ground combat today.

As they headed towards the location of the Italian forces, they all primed their weapons and got ready to fly some strafing runs against the Italians. Soon, they reached the location where the Italian forces were located, and began the strafing runs. The Italians attempted to fire back with their anti-aircraft guns, but the ponies flying the Hurricanes destroyed those first, and focused their efforts on the remaining troops, who were taken quite easily by the Hurricanes. Just as the last Hurricane levelled off after climbing following its strafing run, they got a distress call on their radios. "This is Sepoy Dilip Chandekar of the 4th Indian Division! We are getting attacked by Italian troops, yaar! Please, help us! We are being surrounded!"

The pony pilots knew that the British had sent troops from their colony of India to fight in the war, and they had a division of the British Indian Army in Egypt. They didn't know they had been fighting in the war, and honestly, they were surprised at that. "Sepoy, uh, Chandeh-kar, this is Timberwolf 1, of the Timberwolf Squadron of the Royal Equestrian Air Force. Give us your location, we will give you air support." said Timberwolf 1.

"Thank Mahadeva, you are there, Timberwolf! We are near Siddi Barani, can you give air support? The Italians have Panzer, yes, Panzers! They are on us and going to kill us all! Help us!" shouted Sepoy Chandekar over the radio.

"Hang on, we're on our way!" said Timberwolf 1, as all 25 Hurricanes began heading towards Siddi Barani at high speed. This was new. The Italians had German-made Panzer tanks. If what the Indian Army Sepoy had said was true, then they had to be faster, else those soldiers wouldn't last too long. As they headed towards Siddi Barani, High Winds began priming her guns once more, to destroy the tanks. She would need a bit to deal with Panzers.

As the Hurricanes approached Siddi Barani, they could see the gunfire being exchanged between the Indian soldiers and the Italians. The Indians didn't seem to have any heavy infantry or artillery with them, so they were probably getting pummelled by the Panzers, if that was even a thing. The things that High Winds had read about India, its natives seemed quite illiterate, and she wondered if they would even be able to distinguish between a light Italian tank and a Panzer. As they got closer, they could see the tanks, but were too high to make out the exact type, but they seemed quite big.

As the planes began closing in on the site of the battle, they could see that the Indian soldier had indeed been telling the truth. The tanks were indeed German-made Panzer IIIs, but these had Italian markings instead of German ones. They instantly swooped down to destroy the tanks, which instantly began firing at the planes. The first five Hurricanes quickly tried to dodge the shells being fired by climbing away at high speed, but one of them unfortunately hit the left wing of a Hurricane, which began to spiral down in flames. Thankfully, the pilot, a Pegasus, was able to open the canopy and fly away from the plane before it hit the ground, but the Equestrian pilots got so angry at seeing one of their comrades get shot down, that they went for the tanks with all they had.

Despite the best efforts of the tanks to try and shoot them down, High Winds and her other comrades were not hit by any of the shells, except for a couple of their fragments. Winds was firing multiple bullets at the Panzers, and she destroyed two of them within 30 seconds. The other planes also fired at them, and soon, all of the Panzers lay in ruins, burning on the Sahara. "Thanks for the help, Timberwolf Squadron, we can deal with the remaining guys on our own! The Italians have stopped advancing, uh, looks like they are trying to retreat! Also, we've picked up your pilot who ejected, he's alive, just some small cuts that can be fixed." said Sepoy Chandekar.

"Anytime, Sepoy Chandekar. Anyways, we're going to stay on patrol for a little bit, we don't have much else to do. Looks like the Italians will soon be out of here." said Timberwolf 1, as the other pilots climbed to around 5,000 feet to continue an airborne patrol. The Italian invasion of Egypt was over. That was good, thought the pilots, as they watched the Italians run away like scared kittens.

-----------------------------------------------------------------CANTERLOT CASTLE------------------------------------------------------------------
It was now 1:00pm in Canterlot Castle, where the cheering had finally stopped. The Italian invasion of Egypt had just ended, after the Italians had retreated, but they had not left the country. However, they had stopped fighting the Allied forces, and the current situation had made it look like they were going to try again later. That was not going to happen, not if the Allies had something to say about it. If the Italians were going to try again, they would be prepared, as they were planning a huge operation to deal with the Italians in Africa once and for all.

The Princesses were pleased with the latest developments, but they were still having a hard time looking for the HNA and Slick Shady. The December date which was when the Rift Gate would be completed was fast approaching, and they still had no clue on where Shady was. They had the motive, which was the assumed death of Shady's brother, Clumsy Honest, on the frontlines, but since then, there had been no new breakthroughs in the case. The CBI had been working hard, and so had the Princesses, but so far, nothing new. At this rate, it would take a miracle to find Shady and stop the HNA.