Author's Note

Disclaimer: I know absolutely nothing about aviation, much less proper procedures for the Navy and the Air Force. I apologize in advance for the likely numerous errors depicted in this story.

The Search For The Equinox

Some ponies refuse to accept the hoof they've been dealt. The reality of their loss can turn a veteran into a risk factor the moment their nation surrenders. So you arrest them. Crude, but if it was effective, then this entire debacle could have been avoided.

__--Mission Briefing--__

Location: Equestrian Air Force Command Center, Cloudsdale

Date: 18 December 1037, 7:30 AM

The pilots of the Equestrian Air Force snapped to attention as General Rainbow Dash and one of her subordinates entered the room. Adorned with the medals befitting her rank, she allowed herself a smirk, for she commanded the same air of respect that her mentor once held. "Listen up, cadets! As you probably already know, just a few days ago an explosion rocked the port of Moonspeaker Hollow in the Chiropterran Republic. Our friends in the United Kingdom of Aris happened to have a few coastal vessels nearby, but as they were investigating said explosion, they were sunk by something beneath the water."

One mare leaned over to whisper to Scootaloo, "Why does she still call us cadets? We're the best pilots in the Wonderbolts Squadron for Celestia's sake..."

Scootaloo shrugged her off. "Rainbow Dash was a better pilot than all of us when she was in her prime, she can say what she wants."

General Dash did not appear to hear them and continued unabated. "A preliminary report suggested that a submarine might be the cause of these incidents, and a deeper investigation into the port explosion confirmed that suspicion." She paused to press a button on the nearby projector. An image of a warehouse appeared for all to see. "As you are all aware, the Chiropterran Republic used to be a vile hive of scum and lunacy, home to the worst kinds of ponies in Zebrica: Nightmare Moon cultists. They could not stand up to the combined might of the Arisian armed forces and were subsequently crushed, but in defeat, several of them refused to accept their nation's surrender, even as mass arrests went out for countless acts of terrorism." She pressed the button again, switching the image to a variety of mugshots. "Some held onto their ideals so hard that they plotted for decades for a chance at revenge. Many cases ended in life sentences, but that didn't stop the most devoted of them."

The stallion behind Scootaloo, Rumble, raised his hoof.

"Yes, cadet?"

He lowered his hoof. "If this all happened in Hippogriffian air and sea space, then why are we getting involved?"

General Dash grit her teeth at his impatience. "I was getting to that, cadet." She pressed the button once more. A blurry photo of a surfaced submarine appeared. "This vessel high-tailed it through Arisian waters at top speed before their armada could organize a response. It ignored any ships or targets it passed by, and it soon entered international waters. The United Kingdom of Aris was kind enough to share as many details about the vessel as they could find, especially since according to its last known trajectory, it was making a beeline straight for Equestria."

Rumble spoke up again. "Why didn't the hippogriffs turn into seaponies and deal with the sub from underwater?"

General Dash slammed her hoof onto the table housing the projector. "Another word from you and you'll be sitting this mission out, cadet! You haven't even heard why we're taking this so seriously!" She stopped to compose herself, "But to answer your question, sonar wreaks havoc on the eardrums and internal organs, so it's impossible for seaponies to get near the submarine without risking death."

Nopony else spoke up. "In any case, I'll turn the time over to Ms. Sapphire Light, who is more qualified to speak on the technical details of naval vessels than I am." General Dash stepped aside, inviting a much younger mare to address the Wonderbolt Squadron.

She seemed rather flustered, as she skipped introducing herself and dove straight into describing the target. A blueprint for a large submarine appeared on the projector. "There was a small slip-up by one of the ponies who helped engineer this monstrosity of a vessel. The Arisians found these schematics in the wreckage of the warehouse used to construct the submarine. The Equinox, as the terrorists aptly called it, is an advanced nuclear submarine armed with technology decades ahead of anything we've seen elsewhere. Chiropterra had very talented scientists and mages, despite their crimes against equinity, and it shows here. The Equinox is approximately 248 meters in length and 44 meters tall, making it the single largest underwater vessel ever built. In addition to a veritable quantity of main guns, it is armed with a weapon thought to be impossible at this scale: a railgun. The barrel exceeds 45 meters, meaning it can theoretically hit targets over 1,500 kilometers away. We do not know what the Equinox's payload is, but whatever it shoots will almost certainly devastate its target." Sapphire paused, then realized that she was done speaking. "Thank you," she said before excusing herself.

"Right," General Dash stood forward again. Another button press led to the final picture: an aged naval officer. "This is Captain Perfect Shot of the Chiropterran Republic Navy. It is very likely that he is the one commanding the Equinox, as he mysteriously vanished along with several other naval personnel shortly before the explosion in Moonspeaker Hollow. The Chiropterran Republic has sworn up and down that they had no idea he was plotting anything, but if I had a bit for every time a former Legionary caused trouble from that mess of a nation, then I could buy a very nice lunch for each and every one of you. He's mostly an unknown, as details about his war career seemed to have been scrubbed clean by somepony with access to those kinds of files."

General Dash turned off the projector. "Anyways, your mission is primarily reconnaissance. We need to locate the Equinox and if possible ascertain the motives of its captain. We estimate that the Equinox might be heading toward the sea immediately above the Mareiana Trench, as the depths there combined with its max operating depth of 600 meters would allow it to hide and relocate to anywhere in the ocean without being spotted. Before it reaches the trench, it would have to pass through an undersea mountain range in a rather blandly named body of water called 34408XP in the Turquoise Sea." She paused to retrieve a small model jet fighter from her uniform pocket. "To this end, your fighters will be retrofitted with an experimental magical detection device along with several depth charges. With any luck, we'll be able to force it to surface before it gets in range of any Equestrian cities. Then we can hail the vessel and attempt to question it. Depending upon how that goes, we may be forced to destroy it. Why not use bomber pilots, you might ask? Well, that's because there's one last surprise that the lovely engineers of the Equinox left in store for us."

General Dash gestured to Sapphire, who stumbled forward to explain the rest. "In addition to being the world's biggest submarine, it is also a carrier, and is capable of housing roughly 30 planes."

The mare next to Scootaloo raised her hoof. "You've gotta be kidding me. How did they even build this thing in secret?!"

General Dash seemed to forgive the unprofessional tone of her question, "That's another thing we'd like to find out, but we don't have the luxury of time right now. The Equinox will likely reach the trench before the end of the week, so prepare yourselves for transport immediately. You'll be staging out of the ERN Vanhoover, one of the finest carriers in Equestria. Any questions?"

Rumble tentatively raised his hoof. "Who's flying on this op?"

"Everyone here except me and Ms. Sapphire Light."

Scootaloo raised her hoof. "What if we can't find it in time?"

General Dash grimaced, "We're coordinating with the Equestrian Royal Navy on this operation. We'll have several ships stationed around areas where we think it will be. If it does fire a salvo off, it sure as tartarus it won't get a second." She paused, "You're the Wonderbolt Squadron, and that means you're the best pilots in the Equestrian Air Force. I expect a clean mission from you all. Any other questions?" None spoke up. "No? Then you are dismissed!"

The pilots rose from their seats, eagerly chatting to one another about the unusual nature of the mission as they made their way out of the briefing room. Just before Scootaloo left, though, she was stopped by Rainbow Dash. "Scoots," the older mare said with an uncharacteristic worried tone, "Shortwing, I mean. The fate of the world isn't at stake. This is just reconnaissance. So please, nothing crazy, okay?"

Scootaloo internally rolled her eyes but saluted her mentor and superior officer nonetheless. "Yes ma'am. Just reconnaissance. Nothing crazy."

__--Operation: Nightmare Relief Plan--__

Location: ERN Vanhoover, 34408XP, Turquoise Sea

Date: 20 December 1037, 12:10 PM

The day was calm as the fighters launched from the ERN Vanhoover. Some pilots felt uncomfortable with how many weapons were removed from their jets, but they were assured that the numerous depth charges were necessary for the mission at hoof. Thankfully, there were no complications as each plane left the carrier one by one.

A few minutes later, as the fighters traveled toward their destination, their radios crackled to life. The voice was distorted but was still recognizable as General Rainbow Dash's. "All pilots, report in!"

"Blastoff, standing by."

"Egghead, standing by."

Scootaloo excitedly toggled her radio on when it was her turn. "Shortwing, standing by."

"Big House, standing by."

"Iris, standing by."

"..." There was no response from the next pilot in line.

"Rumble, you there?" asked General Dash.

This time, he responded, "...can't I have a different callsign?"

Another voice spoke up, "You don't get to pick your callsign, stupid."

"But it's a filly's name!"

"And yet you keep acting like one!"

"Quiet!" shouted General Dash, "Rumble, please report in."

"...Tumble, standing by."

Scootaloo snickered as she listened to the exchange. She never got tired of hearing Rumble complaining about his callsign.

As the rest of the pilots finished reporting in, General Dash went over the plan one final time. "Each of your fighters is equipped with an MDD, a "Magical Detection Device", that should be able to detect the crystals used in the Equinox's nuclear reactor. If we get enough pings from the MDDs, then we can triangulate its position, and that's where the next stage of the plan comes into play. There are six destroyers from the Equestrian Royal Navy nearby, and each of them is armed with missiles that will drop depth charges into a target area from range. Once you reach your destination, each of you must split up and fly low to the water with your MDDs active. With any luck, we'll find the Equinox, and the depth charges from your fighters combined with the missiles from our destroyers will force it to surface. Once that happens, wait for further instructions."

"Wilco, General," said Iris.

Location: 34408XP, Turquoise Sea

Date: 20 December 1037, 12:43 PM

What started as a very tense half-hour of flying eventually transitioned into boredom as the Wonderbolts flew just above the calm ocean waters. "Any sign yet?" asked Blastoff.

"No," sighed Scootaloo, "Are we sure that the sub is even going to be in this area?"

A new voice popped in on the radio. "It has to pass through here. It's what I would do if I were its captain."

"What? Who are you?" asked Rumble.

The crackle on the radio was noticeably different from General Dash's. Scootaloo surmised that it must have been in a different location. "Sorry, I just got to my station. My name is Aurora Gale, and I'm a former admiral of the Chiropterran Navy. I was brought on to assist with the operation and provide intel."

"Why is a Legionary on our comms?" scoffed Rumble.

General Dash spoke up. "Keep your unhelpful comments to yourself, cadet. Aurora defected to Hippogriffia during the North Zebrica War, and then became a valuable asset to the Equestrian Royal Navy after she immigrated to Manehatten. If she says the submarine is here, then it's here."

"...Fine."

There was a brief silence, then Aurora spoke up again. "If the reports are accurate, and Perfect Shot is commanding the Equinox, then there's something you all need to know about him: He constantly got into arguments with the Legionary Council about how to defeat the mighty Hippogriffian Navy. They wanted to build a fleet of cruisers and battleships, but Perfect Shot wanted them to invest heavily in submarine warfare. He was convinced that it was impossible for Chiropterra to defeat Hippogriffia in traditional naval battles, and as history has shown us, he was right. Chiropterra's fleets were outnumbered four to one, and it only took a single battle for Hippogriffia to completely decimate Chiropterra's naval capabilities." She paused for effect, "Perfect Shot never got over that. He did what he could with his meager amount of submarines, but even with a few minor victories elsewhere, it was nowhere near enough to turn the tide of the war."

"I love a good history lesson!" chimed Egghead.

Scootaloo laughed as she briefly flicked her radio on. "You would."

Aurora continued, "Anyways, my point is: Perfect Shot is a bitter naval officer who is wholly devoted to submarine warfare. The plan you have to catch him is solid, but still, I would advise exercising caution-"

General Dash's voice overrode Aurora's. "Detecting hostiles!"

Scootaloo glanced down at her radar. Sure enough, there were multiple signatures ahead of her. Her heart rate increased as the casual nature of the mission burned away instantaneously. "All Wonderbolts regroup on me!"

Rumble's voice was the first to respond. "You got it, Shortwing."

"Are they confirmed to be from the Equinox?" asked Blastoff.

"They have to be, there's no other ships nearby to launch from," responded Egghead.

"This doesn't make sense, though..." grumbled Iris, "Why would the Equinox give away its position by launching fighters?"

"The Equinox isn't giving away its position," Aurora clarified, "It's trying to hide it by shooting you down before you can locate it."

"How do you know that?" asked Rumble.

"Like I said before, it's what I would do."

Scootaloo glimpsed a few dark blue specks in the distance - the signature color of Chiropterran aircraft.

General Dash spoke up to issue orders. "Destroy all enemy aircraft as fast as you can. We have to locate the Equinox before it escapes into the Mareiana Trench."

Scootaloo took a deep breath as she mentally prepared herself for combat. She'd be lying to herself if she said that she wasn't at least a little bit scared, even though she'd flown nearly a hundred missions by now. But going up against Nightmare Moon fanatics, well, that always unnerved her. She toggled her mic. "Wilco, General."