Mission 6: The Arell Fleet
A railroad was under construction, just at the bottom of the mountain, outside of our city. I remember how some of the elite ponies use to brag about it, even though it would completely bypass our city.
The railroad became the occupation force's makeshift runway, and the tunnels their bunkers.
This was their base.
They were the elite griffon flight squadron, chosen to protect the cannon being constructed outside of Ponyville. Ironically, it was the same cannon that was created to shoot down the asteroids. It became a catalyst for the war.
But when the allied attacks no longer came in, the Squadron was assigned long-range missions that took them to distant battlefields.
•••
I thought of the words I'd use to confront him and bided my time. Although I harbored these feelings within me, I could never get close to him. His wingpony was always by his side, despite having a gentle demeanor. I could tell that the wingpony would never allow danger to get near Red Blood One, even on land. The pillar of their group, One exuded an air of invincibility. He always chose to fly a five-griffon formation. He was a griffon who prided himself not on his kill record, but on his record of never losing a squadron member.
It's difficult to describe just how good One's flying was. But I witnessed it once from the ground. The lead griffon of the five-griffon formation should have turned at the same arc with the same timing as the others, yet only he drew sharp contrails with his wings. His heart felt compassionate towards the weaker enemies he downed. Some day, if an equal appeared and challenged the limits of his skills in a fight, he would bear no resentment about being shot down. He said this himself. And so as time passed, I found a goodness of a home in their company.
Leaving them was in fact, no longer an option for me now.
***
Packing up my necessities, I finally gained the courage I need to escape Ponyville. I leave late at night so that I may use the darkness for cover. It was a good thing I picked up a few set of skills in self-defense if I ever came across a threat.
Using a flashlight, map, and compass, I navigate through the nearby forests on route to Canterlot. That's when I hear nearby voices!
Ducking behind a nearby bush, carefully listening, as the voices grow louder. Peeking through the leaves, I see a griffon patrol passing right by me. I hear them talk about how it was easy taking over our country. Oh, how it burned inside me to hear them.
I quickly take out a knife from my side. With their backs turned on each other, I grabbed the one on the right, stabbing the knife in his throat while covering his beak so as to not alert his comrade. As I laid his lifeless body down, I do the same to the other.
I move on through the woods, but as I approach a bridge that crossed the stream, I noticed the something nearby. I slowly move towards it to get a closer look. It almost looked like a body! It laid lifeless much like the griffon patrol from earlier, lying there with its face in the bush. As I approached it, I turned the body around face to face, and with that, my heart stopped.
Lying before me was the deceased body of my husband.
I fell to the ground next to him. My mind was racing. I wanted to scream, to cry, to do something, but instead, I just lie there next to him.
It seemed like an eternity passed before I finally found the strength to get up. Removing his dog tags, I used whatever I had available to make a premature grave for him. I pushed a heavy boulder next to him and placed some flowers I picked, that way when this war was all over, I would come back so that he may receive a proper burial.
With one final look, I blow a kiss goodbye before I trudge on.
•••
Mission Briefing
"We will launch a surprise attack on The Arell Fleet while it lies immobilized in Vanhoover Harbor."
"About time!" Everyone glared at Rainbow Dash after uttering that out.
"This large-scale air strike will be the largest and most strategic operation since the transfer of HQ to North Pony."
"You may need to resupply along the way, but it may not even have to come to that since this will be a quick hit and run mission."
"Remember, it is imperative that you complete the mission objective and return to base safely."
"You expect the four of us to take out an entire fleet?" Rainbow Dash asked with a bit of sarcasm.
"You will be accompanied by a lot of pegasus fighters." The general stated.
"Ok, that makes me feel a little better, I guess?"
After a quick view of the deployment map, the squadron was ready to go.
•••
Mission Start
Flying in at high speeds in the early morning hours, The Wonderbolt Squadron, along with several other pegasi fighters, were closing in on the harbor.
"Initiate attack, all units cleared to engage any and all targets," Twilight commanded over their radios. "Sink the 'invincible' Arell Fleet while they're at anchor. Good luck!"
"Time to kick some griffin butt!" Rainbow Dash said excitedly. "
"That sea looks uninviting," one the fighters nervously remarked as looked down at the ocean floor.
"No kidding, the leveling can mess your day up if you're not careful," Rapid Fire informed.
The ships were coming into view just above the horizon. "Enemies entering harbor airspace," a griffon announced, after an order to engage targets. Rainbow Dash shot up into the sky before diving down towards the ships. There were roughly about seven ships in the water: four battleships, two destroyers, and a carrier.
This however frustrated the griffon leadership that was on the scene. "These are the only ships that made it outside the harbor?" one of them asked.
"Quit worrying, the ships won't sink," another griffon said.
"Are we cleared to shoot? This isn't an exercise?"
"This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill. All units report to battle stations."
Rainbow didn't hesitate to drop some bombs over the first ship closest to her, leaving behind a cloud of flames.
"Battleship sunk!" Twilight announced.
Two friendly fighters flew beside her to go give her cover while one of the gunships below fired away at them in an attempt to shoot them out of the sky. Rainbow Dash repeated the process to the other ships in the vicinity. "This is just too easy!" She quipped.
"Get those fighters in the air now!" a griffon commanded on a nearby carrier. Multiple griffons came pouring out onto the runway, but before any of them could take off, Rainbow Dash carpet-bombed the carrier with the pegasus fighters providing support, leaving only two to make it off the runway.
"Evacuate everyone. No use staying on a crippled ship, evacuate!" a griffon commanded.
"Well handle those birds, you keep attacking the fleet," one of the fighters advised.
"Roger that," Rainbow responded.
"Shoot them down!" a griffon yelled at the gunner on one of the destroyers. "Just a bit more," he said, trying to align his sights. Behind them, a pegasus fighter took quick at the two griffons heads before either of them had time to react. "Rainbow One, gun emplacement is taken out, your clear fire."
Rainbow took notice of the boat before sinking it to the bottom of the ocean. "Another one of our ships went down," the griffons called out. "Forget it, most of us never had a chance."
At last, the final ship that was out of the harbor was blown to bits, leaving Rainbow Dash to link up with the rest of her squadron. Up ahead were the hangers where most of their aircraft was stored. Fortunately, they were all still on the ground.
"Why haven't these damn blimps made it out of here?!" a griffon leader scolded at his subordinates.
"We have no power, sir, and the attacks from above have caused serious damage, and even if we could get them out, the enemy would bomb this place before we can get any aircraft out."
"... Alright fine, evacuate the facility." the commander ordered. "Yes, sir."
There, she saw Rapid Fire pinned down behind a crumbled wall, with five or six griffons slowly approaching her. Rainbow Dash descended casually next to her.
"So how you've been?"
"I've seen better days than this," Rapid replied with immense sarcasm. "Are you going to stand there or are you going to lend me a hoof?"
"Oh right," Rainbow Dash snapped back to reality as she and Rapid Fire fired back at the enemy. Many were closing in, however.
"This Rapid Two, I'm here with Rainbow One. We are pinned down near the hangers. We need support!" she called out through the radio.
In no time, several pegasus fighters came to their aid and killed off all the oppressing griffons.
"Get to the hangers, we'll cover you, GO!" one of the pegasi told the wonderbolts. Both got out and hurried towards the hangers. "Suppressing fire!" another pegasus yelled.
Rainbow and Rapid approached a nearby blimp. "I brought a bunch of C4 with me just for this occasion. Help me wire these packs onto the blimps."
While Rainbow Dash attached a C4 pack to a blimp or some other form of aircraft, Rapid Fire would wire them all to a single detonator.
Many came at them to stop them from completing their task, only to be shot by the aiding pegasi.
At last blimp, Rapid Fire was finishing wiring the charges. "Okay, that should do it. Let's get out of here." Both wonderbolts meet up with the pegasi before flying to a safe distance. "I put a little present in their fuel storage room," Rapid remarked. "Okay, in 3... 2... 1... FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!"
One by one, all of the hangers erupted into flames. Everyone was amazed at the scenery.
"I can't believe it. The Arell fleet is sinking!" one of the griffons remarked. "Our harbor facilities are being wiped out."
"Alright, let's move out," the pegasus commanded the others. Both Rainbow Das and Rapid Fire flew to another part of the harbor where there still some docked ships.
"Don't let any of those ships leave the harbor," Rapid advised. Rainbow nodded while using her remaining bombs and chucking them at the ships, destroying them on impact.
"Bull’s-eye!" Rainbow cheered.
"All able ships, attack!" the griffons were getting frantic as they kept firing at the oncoming attacks on their ships. "Hang in there, don't give up!"
Some ships that still functioned could not move due to the fact that the destroyed ones were blockading the others. "It's no use, sink it!" the griffons fired upon it, but it didn't budge. Instead, the oncoming bombs attacked them from above. "We still can't move?!" It wasn't long before the ordered to abandon ship.
"All able ships, evacuate the harbor." a commander of the griffons announced to everyone. “We've got to get out of the harbor, our ships have taken heavy casualties."
"Don't let any of the ships get out to sea," Twilight ordered to all fighting forces.
While finishing an air battle with two griffons, with her bullets pumped into them, she went back to her old business of blowing up the ships.
"Don't let 'em escape, make them fish food," Soarin called out while dropping a few grenades onto a small gunboat.
"Forget the small fry, concentrate on the larger ships," Spitfire counter remarked. Soarin smirked at that.
"Alright, the ships are sinking!" a young pegasus fighter said excitingly.
"Give 'em all you got!" Soarin remarked.
"This is bad, where are our fighters?" some griffon asked hysterically. "They're all getting shot out of the sky, now go get some ammo from the weapons bay," another griffon responded.
Everything was almost wrapped up before something rose up out of the water. Rainbow Dash took a good look before she realized what it was.
"Uh-oh. Twilight, we got a submarine hear, I am on route to destroy it, over."
"Copy that Rainbow One, you are clear to engage."
Rainbow Dash quickly acted by dropping a bomb on the submarine, destroying it.
"Rainbow One, we have confirmed reports of a submarine dock half a mile north. Proceed to deal with them.”
"Roger that Twilight."
Rainbow Dash took off to find the dock, where she found several submarines docked underneath concrete hangers. Looking at her ammo load out, she still had six bombs left. Taking in deep breaths, she whispered: "Let's hope this works." With that, she flew over the hangers and dropped her bombs. Just like before, the hangers blew up with their contents inside.
She took several deep breaths before seeing griffon fighters with their talons over their heads, taken prisoner by the pegasi fighters.
"Twilight here, enemy fleet and harbor facilities confirmed destroyed. Mission complete, all fighters RTB."
Rainbow Dash chuckled to herself, knowing she just took out nearly an entire fleet. She heard cheering coming from the other pegasi. She regrouped with both Spitfire and Rapid Fire before noticing something wrong.
"Hey, where's Soarin?" Spitfire asked. Nearby, they saw Soarin glide happily through the sky singing.
"Oh great blue skies
And emerald plains
Where freedom and justice prevail
With courage and strength
We'll fight to the end
For liberty in our land."/i]
"YAHOO!!!" Rainbow cheered happily as the four of them flew back to base.
•••
Mission Debriefing
"The Griffon's so-called "invincible fleet" has been destroyed. Their plans for delaying North Pony have been delayed indefinitely."
"Although we are still far from triumphant, this victory gave our troops a much-needed boost in morale."
•••
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