Cloudsdale hovered in orbit over Montgomery, with pegasi looking down below in concern at the shield covering the city. It would prove to be a tough nut to crack, but thankfully Cloudsdale's human allies were more than ready to help them in that regard. In the Imperial Palace, Emperor Hurricane took a glance at the control table and guidance systems that helped keep Cloudsdale aloft. Due to its status as a floating city, Cloudsdale had to navigate very carefully to avoid getting caught up in storms. At the same time, this meant that the city could simply move if the enemy moved to attack it. As he looked closely at the display, Hurricane glanced to Praetor Ironhead.
"Praetor, will this plan of yours work?" he asked.
"I am certain that it will, your Majesty," Ironhead replied. "We cannot deploy normally owing to the nature of the enemy's anti aircraft defences. However, if we can drop in and surprise them, they won't be able to shoot our forces out of the sky like they did in the desert."
An aide sprinted over with a tablet and handed it to Ironhead. "Thank you," he said. "According to this, the missiles should be hitting the target any moment now."
Suddenly, two bright flashes materialised on the control table's holographic map, one above the other. The map then shifted to show a massive cloud and a large quantity of spectral energy being thrown upwards, past Cloudsdale, and into outer space, well above an altitude that Cloudsdale could possibly reach.
"This is the USS Nautilus, missiles hit and confirmed effect on target. You are clear to commence the attack."
"Nautilus, this is Hurricane Alpha, message received and understood. Lay down a barrage on the enemy and prepare for our attack coordinates."
"Hurricane Alpha, message received and understood. Out."
Technicians had taken up position around the tables and were at the controls of the vast floating city. They glanced back to the control table, which now had a new image on it, showing the area below, and anti aircraft batteries below. Luckily, aircraft were stored on the numerous runways and hangers that had been built during Cloudsdale's extensive refit over the last few months, and so they were all ready to go.
Hurricane raised his hoof. "Disable all orbital engines," he said. "Increase central weight and prepare to active STORMCLOUD anti missile defence system."
The technicians obeyed, hitting several buttons and throwing switches in preparation for the plan. One by one, Cloudsdale's mighty engines switched off in preparation for the move, and in the centre additional rainwater was produced to increase the amount of ballast in the station. On the edges of Cloudsdale, lights and laser trackers switched on and off, looking for objects to find and potentially destroy.
"Central weight now at maximum. Gravity axiators are struggling to maintain current orbit. We await your word, Your Majesty."
Emperor Hurricane glanced to the assembled Praetors. "I hope the legionaries haven't eaten too much," he said. "This is going to get bumpy. Disable gravity axiators and prepare to drop."
With a single throw of the switch, the gravity axiators were disabled. With nothing to hold the station in the sky, Cloudsdale began to fall towards the ground like a stone.
Flash Magnus always knew that the plan would lead to a sudden loss of altitude, but he had never anticipated that it would be this sudden. Cloudsdale was falling towards the ground at incredible speed, speeds faster than the enemy anti aircraft defences were built to cope with based on the missiles flying wildly into the air. Bullets tried to pierce the station, but a city made of clouds is a target that is notoriously hard to shoot down.
"This is bumpy!" shouted one Legionary, as a missile flew through the clouds and high into the sky.
"GET READY BOYS!" shouted a Tribuna. "WE'RE ABOUT TO DEPLOY! REMEMBER YOUR TRAINING, AND YOU WILL MAKE IT BACK ALIVE!"
That didn't help my friends, Flash thought to himself.
All across the station, helicopters and aircraft from the United States were taking off as best they could in the circumstances, as the pilots had not been trained for takeoff on a moving runway that was falling rapidly. Most of them had to climb to avoid getting caught by the massive updraft produced by Cloudsdale's descent, and helicopters were flying as fast as they could to avoid the massive storm that was brewing.
"BOMBERS WILL BE CLEARING OUR LANDING ZONES BEFOREHAND, AND INFANTRY WILL BE ON THE GROUND TO HOLD POSITIONS! REMEMBER YOUR ROCKET PODS!"
Flash adjusted his. It consisted of a pair of rocket batteries and missiles, which could be set to target airborne and ground targets. It also featured an area of effect rocket launcher, perfect for clearing clusters. "We could have done with these during the desert war!" he said to his Centurion.
"You can thank the boys in the labs for those." The Centurion's face was serious. "The US was kind enough to share some technology with us. I imagine the napalm rockets will be especially useful given the heavily forested terrain we'll be fighting in."
Green lights came up in the drop chamber. "All units, drop sequence commencing in sixty seconds," said a distant voice.
Flash Magnus gripped his harness and prepared for the worst. He was always more comfortable when diving himself, and this idea of focused combat drops was an untested combat strategy.
The lights turned yellow, and abruptly the floor opened beneath them. The harnesses opened, and each pegasus began to drop towards the ground like a stone.
"GET CLEAR OF THE UNDERDRAFT, THEN OPEN WINGS!" shouted the Tribuna. "FORM UP WITH YOUR UNIT WHEN CLEAR!"
Flash dropped for as long as he fared, and then opened his wings. The sudden updraft from this act broke his fall, and allowed him to fly directly forward and into formation. Cloudsdale had completed the combat drop, and suddenly dumped the excess weight to regain height. Rain began to pour from the skies, rendering the area below, which had was a mess of shell craters, a massive nightmare of slough and mud. Flash could see infantry trying to push across fields as they came under heavy fire. It seemed as though every single building was filled with soldiers. The infantry were doing their best with limited tank support, but it proved to be tough going.
Flash flew onwards and soon linked up with his squad. Anti aircraft guns finally spotted and began to fire, but this time they were prepared.
"Fly low and split apart! Those guns can't track below a certain height!"
The pegasi dived and flew as low as they dared. The enemy target closed in.
"Load ordnance! Flame ordnance."
There was a whirr and click as the missile pods loaded the napalm missiles. It turned out the Americans had massive stockpiles of this stuff, just in case they got invaded. And what did it matter if another nation used it? Cloudsdale had never signed the Geneva Convention, so they could use it with impunity.
"Prepare to fire!"
The pegasi had the weapons loaded.
"FIRE!"
Flash grimaced as he triggered the missiles. The rockets flew out of their launchers and rapidly gained speed, thundering towards the ground. They each exploded on the ground, roaring with the force of a thunderclap as the onboard incendiary ordance activated. Virtually everything in range was set ablaze by the flames. Guns burned and ordnance exploded as they cooked off and burned, and enemy soldiers ran for their lives, their armour on fire from the napalm that was covering them.
Several warthogs roared overhead, their powerful gatling guns putting the enemy out of their misery, before releasing their entire payloads into a nearby building, demolishing it utterly and eliminating a major block to their advance.
"You should have just let them burn," one of the legionaries commented on the radio.
Flash shook his head. He despised Project 722 as much as the next creature, but now was not the time to give in to petty emotions. They had a job to do, and it needed doing. They flew on, seeing precision airstrikes and bombing runs hitting their mark, clearing enemy anti aircraft positions and armour formations. Tanks rattled forward, their machine guns cutting enemy infantry to ribbons and cannons letting loose volleys of shells that destroyed all before them. Artillery and rocket batteries continued to fire, providing crucial support. Flash had no idea how any of these batteries had any ammunition left, but it seemed as though there would not be much left of this city by the time the offensive was over.
As he turned over the city and flew towards the forest, he suddenly heard the whizzing of bullets fly past his ears.
"SHIT! WE GOT BOUNCED!" he shouted. A fighter aircraft was flying after them, trying to get its single gun tracked onto them. "EVADE!"
The pegasi scattered as the fighter chose to chase Flash. "You don't get away that easily," the pilot said. "The Sphynx may have been careless, but I'm not."
Flash gritted his teeth. He turned and flew down a street, trying to shake off the fighter jet. The jet, in return, simply turned and was able to hold his turning circle with terrifying accuracy. Bullets continued to fly through the air as Flash tried to shake the fighter. But he could not. It was simply too agile. He turned down a side street and saw the fighter turn down another one, clearly trying to predict where he was going to fly.
He then had an idea. He knew that if it emerged at the end of that street, he would be unable to get his weapons loaded in time. He smiled. "This is so crazy it might just work." He primed the launched, and then flared his wings out. The sudden drop in velocity allowed him to swing them down, and then launch himself into the air. He rolled in midair, executed a loop, pulled of an Immelmann Turn, and then dived back down. Just then, the fighter emerged down the street- right into the tracking gear of his missiles.
"What the-?"
"This is for my friends, motherfucker," Flash replied, and discharged a pair of homing missiles. Both of them slammed into the fighter and caused it to explode. Flash roared through the flames and fire and out the other side. But cool stallions don't look at explosions, and he flew onwards into the air, seeing the chaos and devastation below him.
As he climbed to get a clearer view of the enemy positions, he suddenly saw a familiar sight from several months ago. A group of chariots were racing through boggy ground. Their mounted crossbows were still firing furiously, explosive bolts flying through the air and impacting enemy targets. These bolts, as their names imply, exploded on target and blew things into many pieces.
"Finally decided to drop in?" asked a familiar voice, as a Neighyptian pegasus wing formed up next to Flash. Flying at the front of the formation was Somnambula. "I was wondering when Cloudsdale would remember there was a battle going on."
"I was occupied," Flash replied. A flash from glowpaz powered weaponry later, and a tank was ripped to smithereens. "So, any news?"
"We have a confirmed lock on the Sphynx," Somnambula replied. "We're moving in to take him out, and I guessed you would want to come, given your history with the Sphynx."
"Let's go kill that bitch," Flash said, a satisfied look on his face. "For the Third Legion!"
As the flew away, whizzing over a formation of unicorns bombarding the treeline near Pike Road, they suddenly sighted their target. The Sphynx, big, ugly, and angry as ever, crushed a tank under her paws, and screeched in a high voice as aircraft smashed to the ground around her.
"Are you ready for round three?" she asked, with a laugh. "Because I can assure you that you will not survive."