//------------------------------// // Chapter Two - And Thus They Fell // Story: May the Stars Fall // by Tetravault //------------------------------// April 24th, 1943, somewhere over German occupied territory. Hutton's Holly-Marie jumped and jerked slightly as she encountered some turbulence. Phillip held onto the controls with a firm grip, ensuring the massive aircraft stayed true and straight. One wrong jerk or shift in the flight path, and the bomber could collide with one of the hundreds of others in formation around them. To make it worse, the group had flown into a bank of dark clouds on their way to the target, which reduced their visibility to nearly nothing. The only way anyone could tell they were still surrounded by friendly aircraft were the friend-or-foe recognition lights mounted on the underside of the wingtips. As it stood, Phillip and his crew were still within the formation, for now. Radio silence was top priority for this mission, as the bombers didn't want to alert the Germans that they were coming. Allied bombers were deep into conducting night raids against industrial targets, although it appeared that soon, they'd be able to conduct day-light operations. For now though, the night was their shroud, and their enemy was an invisible force known as radar. Once the formation appeared on German radio scopes, it was only a matter of time until the fighters were scrambled to intercept them. Although, at night, it was a lot tougher to intercept such a large force without radar guidance. Which the Germans had begun doing with their larger aircraft. Bf. 110 and Do. 217 heavy fighters had begun to appear with radar antennae on the front of their aircraft, which would send out signals for them to follow. They had gained a nighttime advantage, and were now able to 'see' in the dark. Phillip hoped dearly that they wouldn't encounter either of the aircraft, as they carried heavy armament that would turn his bomber and crew into fine red mist. Reaching up to his neck, Phillip clicked the throat mic around his neck and spoke. "How are we looking Wiskowski? he asked. "If my timing's right, we're roughly thirty-minutes from the bombing lane." Wiskowski replied flatly. He didn't like to speak much, but it always caught Phillip and the others by surprise with how low and gentle Wiskowski's voice was. It was almost unsettling, but not quite. "Thanks Wisko, I'll want a report when we get closer." Phillip ordered. Wiskowski clicked his mic once in acknowledgement as Phillip called upon their radio operator. "Bush? Anything note worthy?" he asked. "No sir, radio has been silent ever since we got into formation, just as ordered. I've been listening to a station that comes through clear if you want to listen in." Bush offered. Looking to Jason, Phillip and him both gave a slight nod and shrug of "Why not?" "Go for it Bush, keep it low though." Phillip ordered. Without another word, Bush switched the lines of his radio so that the feed he was getting could be heard by his crew mates. A soft, seductive voice came in through the slow jazz, singing softly about how much she wished to see her fighting man again. The atmosphere of Hutton's Holly-Marie became like that of a small blues bar. The music was correct, all that was missing were some drinks and cigarette smoke, plus the woman singing such a lovely song. Phillip imagined she looked like the woman his bomber was named for, his high school flame who awaited his return. He could feel her ruby red lips touching his cheek as she sang to him, and it warmed him to the core. As the song played, some of the crew members hummed or lowly sang along to themselves, each lost in their own fantasies as they kept an eye on the dark world outside their aircraft. The clouds had broken up, spitting the flight out into clear skies. The land below was a darker shade of night, although a few scattered lights from buildings below helped slightly define the landscape. Everything looked so tiny from so high up, one could get lost in trying to just see how far they could see from such altitudes. Without warning, Bush cut the radio feed, much to everyone's displeasure. "Hey, come on Bush! At least give us a warning before you pull the plug!" Jefferson said in protest. "Sorry guys, but I'm picking up new radio traffic." Bush said. Phillip felt his heart skip a beat at these words, and he shared a glance with Jason. "What'cha got?" he asked. Bush was silent for a few moments before speaking again. "I've got German radio chatter. They might've finally picked us up on radar. I say roughly five to six minutes before we start seeing some friends showing up." he said. The bar like atmosphere whipped up by the song was immediately shattered, replaced by the sound of rounds being put into chambers. Phillip and his crew were on high alert, and he told Bush to tell the rest of the flight to get ready. As the word went out, the Holly-Marie jerked and jostled with turbulence again. She then jerked again, rougher this time. A underlaying sound of explosions could be heard. "Flak!" Jason called out just as another flak burst jostled the airframe. Suddenly, powerful searchlights sparked to life and turned skyward, their shafts of light cutting through the nighttime sky as the light crews searched for the bombers. The lights worked in tandem with the flak guns below, helping the gun crews guide their shots into where the light crews think the bombers were. To their left, Phillip and Jason watched in horror as the Hootenanny Hoedown suddenly erupted in flames. The cockpit had taken a direct hit, and the explosion launched the nose away from the bomber. Seconds later, the bomber began to plummet towards the earth below, the flames eating away at the bombers body. Phillip wasn't sure, but he was positive he could see the remaining crew members jumping for their lives, their silhouettes briefly illuminated by the fireball that was their aircraft. "Hold on!" Phillip called as another explosion rocked the bomber. The hit felt rougher this time, and he could hear the sound of rending aluminum. He clicked the throat mic again, his other hand keeping the aircraft as steady as he could. "Are we hit?" "Marin's gone! Flak chewed his waist window out, took him with it!" Woods reported, his voice full of distress at the sudden loss of his pseudo-brother. The flak continued to rock the bomber, fragments of metal chewing into the airframe with each timed explosion. All around them, the flight was gradually being reduced as the flak field tore into the formation. Engines erupted into flames, wings were sheered off from their airframes, while other aircraft lost surface control and began to wander out of formation. Searchlights continued to guide the flak guns below, picking off any stragglers that end up being illuminated. Yet, just as fast as it started, the flak stopped. The jarring rollercoaster lasted only two minutes, yet they felt like an eternity for Phillip and the others. As the others radioed their conditions, further dread began to fill Phillips' core; Now that the flak was done, the fighters were bound to arrive, and soon. Phillip was turning to tell Jason this just as neon green bullets began to fill the air, ricocheting and sparking off various surfaces. The familiar rattling of German machine guns could be heard, accented by the heavy chugging of their auto cannons. To his further horror, Phillip watched as his co-pilot took a 20mm round to the face. The shell ripped open the window next to Jason, bursting against the aluminum frame and into Jason. Glass and sheeting tore into Jason's flesh, as heavier components broke the skull and jaw. Gore splashed the cockpit and Phillip screamed, his hands gripping onto the controls for dear life. His eyes darted around in terror as the situation outside grew worse. He could see the dark outlines of German night fighters swarming the formation, their green and white tracers chewing into the remains of the flak field survivors. Engines erupted into fireballs, surface controls fell away as they were shot off. "We're entering the bombing lane!" Wiskowski yelled from the nose. Phillip could hear the bombers machine guns chattering away, trying to drive off the attacking enemy. O'Hare scrambled to the Norton bomb sight as Wiskowski manned the cheek guns to help defend the aircraft. Woods fought with the fury of retribution from his lone position in the waist, while Haggerty spun around in his turret, his dual fifty-caliber machine guns filling the upper hemisphere of the bomber with red tracers. Edwards pressed himself against the walls of the tail turret to try and get better angles, while Jefferson pivoted and tracked fighters from the belly. Bush did his best to help defend, but his attention was split between his gun and the radio. Overall, the Flying Fortress was living up to its name, filling the air with red tracer death with the other bombers in the formation. Yet, for all of its valiant defense, it wasn't enough. Phillip watched as another night fighter circled in for the shot, the nose opening up with green and white tracers. The stream of bullets and shells shot past the cockpit, chewing into the engine on his immediate left, which promptly erupted into a fireball. The propeller spun into an uncontrolled tizzy, and Phillip moved to flip the switch for the internal fire extinguisher. It was a moment too late, again, as the engine suddenly seized up and exploded into mechanical gore, gutting the mounting. Phillip stared ahead as the realization that he might die began to set in. Time seemed to slow down, the rapid tracers outside becoming elongated as his world slowed to a crawl. And yet, despite the chaos around him, Phillip couldn't help but notice that there were shooting stars streaking across the night sky. The dark form of another enemy fighter was outlined by the shooting stars, the nose mounted weaponry looking like glittering stars themselves. Phillip embraced the inevitability that was coming for him. If he was going to die, at least it was under a curtain of shooting stars. He closed his eyes, waiting for the brief pain to hit him. As he accepted his fate, the world outside his closed eyes flashed a vibrant white. He couldn't have known that his dying aircraft simply vanished from his world, although to others, it appeared as if the Holly-Marie simply imploded. * * * Ponyville The stars twinkled high above, the moonlight illuminating the landscape surrounding Twilight's castle. The Princess and her friends were happily chatting among themselves, sharing snacks and telling stories, when Spike alerted the group to the fact that he started to see some shooting stars. Almost on cue, the group craned their heads skyward just in time to see the first group of stars streak across the sky. They awed and smiled as they watched the event unfold, a few of them counting how many they could see. Twilight occupied herself by looking through her telescope again, trying get a better look at the meteorological event as it unfolded. As she observed, she pulled away again and held a pondering look on her face. Spike noticed the change in Twilight, and took a moment to regard her. "Is everything okay, Twilight?" he asked. Twilight looked up again before speaking. "Does anypony else feel that?" she asked. It was a heavy feeling in her core, one that caused her horn to tingle at its base. "Feel what, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, looking at Twilight too. The princess turned her attention to her friends, hoping that Rarity and Starlight were picking up the sensation too. Her her relief, both of the mares were looking at her too, a curious look on their faces. "I certainly feel a heavy magic presence coming." Starlight said before sitting back on her haunches and holding her stomach a bit. "And it's making me uncomfortable." she added. "I feel it too, almost as if somepony is trying to cast a complicated spell." Rarity said. Starlight and Twilight both agreed with the observation, and the discussion attracted the attention of the non-magically inclined members of the party. Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Spike all shared glances, and Twilight could tell that they were at least feeling the same thing to a degree. Pinkie Pie's tail twitched constantly as her rear left leg began to rapidly tap her hoof against the rooftop. "Ooh! Tappy hoof and itchy tail! Tappy hoof and itchy tail!" she exclaimed, sitting on her haunches to stop her tapping hoof. Rainbow Dash's eyes hardened as she began to look around, her back and shoulders stiff as her alertness grew. Applejack and Fluttershy simply exchanged worried looks as Spike looked back up to the stars. "Hey girls? The star shower's getting heavier. There's more!" he pointed out. Once again, all the ponies looked skyward, gasping softly as they watched a streaking sea of stars cascade overhead. It was more than any of them had seen before in their lives. It was like the sky was falling before them, a trait Pinkie Pie was quick to point out in a panic. Then, just as the star shower and sinking feeling in their cores reached their zeniths, the sky briefly flashed white, blinding them all for a moment. As the blinding effect wore off, Twilight peered back into her telescope, hooking a hoof over the barrel to swivel and pivot the telescope as she investigated the night sky for any changes in the star shower. "What the hay was that?" Rainbow Dash asked grumpily as she rubbed her eyes with a hoof. Rarity had blinked several times to clear the brief blindness, her crystal blue hues regarding the night sky again in worry. As she did, her ears swiveled around to a new sound. Her head immediately turned to look for the source of the new sound. It sounded like a droning of some kind. "I hear something." she declared. The group looked at Rarity, then in the direction she was staring. It was coming from the northwest, towards the peaks of the Unicorn Range. Applejack was the next one to confirm the sound. "Sounds like that cider car the Flim-Flam Brothers had created a while back." she said, squinting her eyes to try and see the source. Twilight pivoted the telescope in the direction they were all looking at. To her surprise, fire filled her scope's view. To her, it looked like a meteor had broken the atmosphere, and was on a path directly for Ponyville. * * * Phillip's eyes snapped open seconds after he closed them. The white light from outside was bright enough to see through his closed eyelids, which alerted him to the fact that he wasn't being riddled with machine gun fire. He looked around as he gripped the controls of the B-17 again, his brain playing with the idea that he just fell asleep at the controls and had a brief nightmare. Unfortunately, as he checked over his left shoulder to look at the nearest engine, his view was filled with a brilliant inferno. The engine fire had begun to eat away at the rest of the wing, and he could feel the aircraft shuddering under the weakening structure. A brief glance to his right, and he was greeted by the crushed skull of Jason Brown, his upper body slumped in the seat. Phillip's ears were filled with the panicked screams of his remaining crew, the cries for help and guidance blending with the roaring wind, fire and groaning aluminum. * * * Twilight watched as the inferno in the sky grew in size with each passing second. It had to have been a meteor, and a large one at that. Her friends watched in awe at the growing sight, yet Applejack looked over to the Princess with worry in her features. "Twilight? Is that coming this way?" she asked. The others connected the dots right then and there, their collective gaze snapping to Twilight. "It'll hit the castle!" Starlight yelled, hopping onto her hooves. "It'll hit Ponyville!" Rainbow Dash proclaimed, her frame leaping into the air. "I'll go and divert it!" she added. She made ready to shoot off, but her tail was snagged by a field of purple magic. "No Rainbow! You'll get hurt! Rarity, Starlight, with me! We're going to divert it!" Twilight ordered. Rarity and Starlight followed the order, and a moment later, the three unicorns began to cast their magic. "Focus on the meteor!" Twilight said as the three mares focused their spells on the meteor. Twilight could see their collective fields embrace the meteor, their translucent glows becoming more vibrant with the fire beneath them. "Do you two have it?" she asked. Rarity grunted as she strained her attention, as she wasn't used to casting her magic on something quite this large. Starlight confirmed that she could feel the meteor's presence. "Push!" Twilight ordered. With a flare of their horns, a second flash of light shot out towards the meteor. The group watched with anticipation as the magical shot impacted the meteor. They could see a visible change in the flight path, but there was no stopping its descent. * * * He pulled and strained at the controls of the bomber. Phillip couldn't be sure of how much surface control he had at the moment, but there was enough to keep control of the falling bomber. As he fought for survival, a strange glow began to mix with the flames. His mind raced to find an answer to this new development, maybe the oxygen was finally being eaten into by the flames. If that was the case, then this wasn't going to be Phillip's problem much longer. It could've also been the ammunition belts for the bomber's defensive guns cooking off, in which case it'll only take a hail of fifty-caliber bullets cooking off to end his worries. A violent jerk suddenly jostled the aircraft. Something fell off, because now he could feel their fall change in direction. A wing? The left one certainly would be the culprit there. He cast one final glance out the forward windows, looking for a place to end the suffering of his aircraft and crew. A riverside town was less than a hundred feet below, the sleepy streets dimly lit by streetlights. A strange structure of immense height raced past his right wing, but it was there and gone before Phillip could register it fully. The lights of the town illuminated an empty stretch of fields just outside the perimeter of the buildings. There, that was where Phillip would finally find respite. * * * In all of their lives, Twilight and her friends had never seen such a strange object as it screamed past the castle. The inferno illuminated the silhouette, but everypony had began to run for safety before anyone could get a good look at it. All of them screamed in terror as the heat of the inferno washed over the rooftop, which had forced them down to the floor below. It was madness in the night skies above Ponyville, made only worse by the sound of a heavy impact, followed by the ear-splitting screeching of twisting metal. Looking out the window, Twilight gasped in horror as the inferno began to consume the fields outside the town, the flames casting an ominous glow against the homes and businesses of Ponyville. * * * He had let go of the controls at the last second, resigning himself to the impact that immediately followed. Phillip was thrown forward, the restraints of his seat catching him painfully. The sudden stop snapped his head forward, which impacted against the control panel before him. The blow was brief, immediately knocking him out. This was a mercy, as it spared the young man the sounds of a dying crew and machine. If he didn't wake up, Phillip had already determined long ago that he was going to ask Saint Peter exactly how bad his death was. * * * Fire alarms and sirens cried out across Ponyville as the fire department sprang into action. Fire fighters raced to the scene of the fire in the backs of pony drawn carts, with confused and concerned citizens looking out of their windows and doors at what caused such a horrible disturbance. Hot on the heels of the fire crews, Twilight and the others raced towards the scene as well. Wanting to get there immediately, Twilight teleported ahead to the scene, with Starlight following only a moment later. The two reappeared at the edge of the fire brigade's perimeter, watching as the crews pumped water from their carts into the hoses. Hose crews kept their distance from the fire, cascading their water streams down to quell the flames. The two mares chipped in, conjuring water spells of their own to directly fight the flames. As Twilight, Starlight and the fire crews made progress, the silhouette of the object before them gradually became revealed. It was massive, whatever it was. A long body laid broken and pockmarked, with horizontal structures branching off from the mid section. These were the source of the flames, and the fire crews concentrated their efforts there to kill the flames. A lone vertical structure loomed over the sight, the base of which was connected to the end of the long body. The letter 'A' was painted within a black square over olive drab paint on the vertical structure, well, what remained of the 'A' could be seen. The structure was torn apart and looked like it was barely hanging onto the rest of the object, which could describe the rest of what the ponies were looking at; Barely hanging on. As the crews fought the last of the flames, the sun had begun to rise on a new day for Equestria. As the situation was taken under control, Twilight and her friends begun to gradually draw closer, although fire crews warned them to keep a distance, as it was still giving off heat in some places. As the morning progressed, most of Ponyville had gathered around the crash site, as it was later determined to be one by the fire crews. Rounding to what she presumed was the front, Twilight spotted a familiar sight painted on the surface. Flames had eaten away at the paint, but Twilight could see the upper shoulder and face of a human female looking down at her. Her pulse quickened at this reveal, her gaze continuing to examine the surface of the object. She spotted more paint beneath the seated backside of the human female. In barely legible script, were the words Hutton's Holly-Marie.