The engine in Soarin's Hurricane sputtered to life as he rushed through pre-flight checks. Nine days had passed since entering Olenia, and the combined pressure of New Mareland, the Wonderbolts, and Fast Clip's forces had stopped the Changeling Blitzkrieg. Now, the Wonderbolts sought to cripple the Ostwind region operations of the Luftwaffe- the Changeling air force- in a combined assault beside Olenian and New Mareland aces.

Soarin taxied out of the hangar, and he caught a glance of Rainbow Dash preparing her plane to take off after him. Sure enough, as he throttled up at the runway, pulling up into the air, Dash followed. Soon the rest of the Wonderbolts were flying in formation behind him.

To some miracle, the skies of the southern Ostwind were clear of Changelings. As the Wonderbolts passed over the ground border, Wave Chill swept his gaze around the canopy, hooves tensed in apprehension. The land battle below was barely audible, but a burst of rounds suddenly pinged against Wave Chill's plane.

"Was that a rifle?" he asked incredulously.

Thunderlane dipped his plane, looking up at Wave Chill's. "I would certainly be disappointed if that was the strength of their ack-acks," he said, "They didn't even leave a dent!" He was quickly assured otherwise as the sky lit up with flak.

"Wonderbolts, break formation!" shouted Soarin.

"Where the hell did all these ack-acks come from?" complained Thunderlane.

Wave Chill banked wholly perpendicular, narrowly pulling his plane away from a stream of flak. "Are my eyes playing tricks on me?" he asked, "AA tanks spotted, there's at least a dozen of them!"

"Celestia grant us strength!" plead Blaze, "I've heard rumors about those, but they have a whole company down there!"

"Just take evasive maneuvers," ordered Soarin, "They can't outrun us, all this means is we can't strafe them to Tartarus." He forced his plane into a dive, avoiding a low-angle burst. He changed his frequency to the air base, calling, "Wonderbolt Tw- I mean Wonderbolt Lead here, requesting an anti-tank run, sixty-five miles north bearing twenty-one degrees west of the base, they have heavy anti-air."

A crackling voice answered, "Vaverfront Air Base responds, can't you take out their flak first?"

"The tanks are the flak!" Soarin shouted, "If they're not gone on our return trip, calling our chances grim would be very optimistic."

Silence, then Vaverfront responded, "We can sortie in ten minutes." Soarin cut the radio back to the Wonderbolts, and he nearly jumped at the sudden shouts.

"-didn't see him get out!" called Blaze.

"Those holes went straight through the cockpit," Wave Chill announced, coldly.

"The hell is going on?" asked Soarin.

"They shredded him!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"Clipper, we lost Thunderlane," informed Surprise.

Soarin rolled his Hurricane to find the wreck. There was little left, but something else was mixed in the scrap. Thunderlane had crashed into a flak tank.

"Don't let his sacrifice go in vain!" ordered Soarin, "We're almost out of this kill zone!"

But Thunderlane wasn't. Thunderlane, the youngest in the team. Thunderlane, hoof-picked from the cadets by Soarin.

The firing stopped. Soarin peered out the canopy, two Hurricanes on his left, three on his right.

'Is this how it will be?' lamented Soarin, 'The Wonderbolts, smaller and smaller each week?'

The 1st Pegasus Division was the pride of Celestia's army. Nicknamed the Wonderbolts Land Division, it was almost officially titled such before its commander, then Major General Fast Clip, declined.

Signaller Braeburn found it a heavy mantle to take, most especially because he was an Earth pony. He didn't get there for nothing, though. He was declared a hero after the Canterlot Invasion, warning against a Changeling plan to halt their retreat and seize the less guarded city of Tall Tale. Now he sat, an eighth of a mile above the Changeling Lands, tapping his hoof in boredom at the rack housing the silent radio system. It wasn't like he would get a chance to say anything into it, not so long as he hoped to avoid the wrath of an enemy Sv 110 squadron.

He knew that soon, the plane would go quiet. Any minute and the two dozen pegasi in the cabin behind him would leap out, and he would be left alone, the two other crewponies packed away in the flight deck. Thus it had been the last mission, and there were no signs it would change.

If only war were that predictable. The radio set came to life, his headset blaring with a warning, "Östskog Invasion Force, a Flakpanzer division is operating in the region. Exercise extreme caution."

'Flakpanzer?' wondered Braeburn, but it dawned on him all too quickly the meaning, 'Sweet Celestia, anti-air tanks!' He nearly tore his headset off as he dashed around the divider to the pilot, shouting,

"The Changelings have mobile Anti-" Before he could finish, the floor in front of him exploded in shrapnel. The pilot and copilot burst into a cloud of… Braeburn couldn't finish the thought, and in a sick sense of mercy, the debris blinded him, keeping the visceral sight out from his eyes- but not his mind. One of his forehooves- he couldn't even acknowledge which- seemed to burst open under him, it felt much the way he imagined a mason jar would feel after being used for target practice. He managed to stumble backwards into the cargo compartment, where somepony braced him up.

"We gotta jump, now!" shouted the pony who now held Braeburn, "Sergeant! Help me carry him." Braeburn distinctively recalled a sound of rushing wind and a feeling of weightlessness before an extended period of nothingness.

"Greetings, sister," Princess Luna offered to Celestia. In her waking hours, Daybreaker did not seem to have any control over Princess Celestia, but Luna was cautious. Celestia smiled back, saying,

"Good day, Luna. Have you heard the good news?" Luna was almost taken aback by how cheery Celestia had become, but she kept her surprise to herself. Instead, she only responded,

"I do not seem to be aware of the happening you allude to."

"Velvet is alive, she's okay!" rejoiced Celestia, "In a couple days time, she'll be flying right into Vanhoover!"

"What about our nephew?" wondered Luna. Celestia's face faltered, and Luna knew the answer.

"Still nothing, but he could've washed up anywhere," Celestia tried to keep hope, but a thought loomed silently between the two sisters,

'He could've never washed up, or worse, he could be a captive of the Changelings.'

"We repelled a border raid with no losses yesterday," offered Luna.

"I wouldn't be too proud of that," Celestia said, "The increasing attacks are worrying, all-out war would mean leaving our north-east border open."

"Do you believe Serov would take that opportunity?" asked Luna. Neither sister knew the answer, the new General Secretary of Stalliongrad was an enigma to them both, and it terrified them.

The sisters parted ways, and as Luna trotted through the palace, she stopped next to a glass case, which a servant seemed to have finally snuck a proper polishing to. As Luna gazed into her reflection, thinly slit eyes leered back into her.

Author's Note

I know Flakpanzers were a later development, IRL but it's not the wildest jump in technology so I'm sure nopony would even notice if I hadn't mentioned it, and really in EaW, they can be developed barely over a month into the game.

Can anyone guess why I made Braeburn a radiopony?