• Published 20th Jun 2012
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The Gathering Storm - WiskeyMikeOne



The story of the formation of the new Luna republic told through the eyes and words of Whirlwind

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Chapter 2: Inferno

Chapter 2
Inferno

Running late thanks to a hangover, I made my way to the briefing room. Luckily the briefing was running late too and had not started yet. When I entered the room from the rear I saw Dash with an empty seat next to her. I took off into the air and made my way over to the empty seat.

“Hay Dash sorry I’m late,” I said as I sat into the chair

“No problem. Its Jackhammer you have got to apologise to,”

“Why?” I felt a tap on my shoulder; I turned around to see Jackhammer not looking pleased

“Why did you have to turn up? I had a bet with Poppy that you wouldn’t arrive on time!” he said with laughter in his voice
“Well I couldn’t let you have all the fun could I?” I replied

I felt a nudge from Dashie; I looked to the centre of the room where a hologram of the world was projected from the floor. General Skyswim entered through one of the door`s on the left, followed by more chiefs of staff. We had to stand and wait to be told to sit by the General.

“Now, Gentlecolts and filly,” said the General, looking at Dash as he said ‘filly.’

It was only up until now that I realised that Dashie was the only mare in the Dawnguard and the smallest.

“Operation Phoenix is the invasion of Russhire to our north east. The Army, Navy and the Air Force will all be playing a part in this operation. But all of you have an important role in this.”

The globe increased in size to reveal more detail on the surface of the earth; one land mass was highlighted in red pixels - Russhire. The nation covered the North Pole and the north of the world, it was a large county mostly covered in snow. The inhabitants were all earth ponies.

“Why does Celestia want to invade this country? There`s just no point.” I thought to myself.

“In this operation we are trying a new tactic. As you know, the armed forces are made up of volunteers and conscripts with hardly any battle experience. That is why you will all be each assigned a flight of newcomers, you will be their leader and their instructor. Also, having an ace pilot in their squad will be beneficial to their morale.”

Skyswim took a sip of water from the glass on the table.

“Your mission in Operation Phoenix is to provide an escort to your flight. Their job is to take out hostile artillery units that you will encounter inland of the invasion beaches. Intel says that most of their artillery will be stationed within the coastal town of Stalliongrad. The success of your mission will ensure the success of the invasion. Your call signs will be assigned to you when you are preparing for take-off. We leave at 1800 hours. Remember, the first order must not be broken. You are dismissed.”

*

The rest of the day was spent cleaning my equipment and getting prepared for the operation. The First Order, as it was known, was set by the creator of this world to ensure peace between all ponies. For if the order was to be broken, the world as we knew it would be engulfed in fire forever, or as the story goes. The one rule that we must all abide by is “No pony’s life shall be taken by another.” In war that is easy to break but where there’s a will there’s a way. We used the unicorn’s magic as our weapons; stunning and sleeping spells to ensure on fatalities.

It is new technology that only the unicorns, elite soldier’s, artillery, tanks and aircraft weapons have access to. The earth ponies within the army still had to fight with sword and shield. Enchanted swords were used as not to cause injuries. All pilots were issued with a blaster that can fire stun spells if they were to get shot down and were trapped behind enemy lines.

I put my flight suit on that was hanging in my room behind the door. The white and golden flight suit is a bit extravagant, but it did go with my white mane. Not really good camouflage if you’re shot down and hiding from enemy patrols but the top brass think it’s an incentive not to get shot down. I locked my room door, put my flight helmet under my right wing and made my way to the airfield.

The golden nose of Dash’s F/A-18D was sticking out of the hangar doors, as I walked in I could hear a wolf whistle from the cockpit of the F-18.

“Very fetching!”

I looked up to see Dash sat in the cockpit, the canopy open with her flight helmet on and ready to go.

“Thanks Dashie.”

I passed the slogan that she had printed on the nose of the aircraft, “High Speed” in bold red letters. Then I passed Jackhammer’s plane, the pin up of Spitfire, the leader of the Wonderbolts aerobatics flight team on the nose of his F-16C winking at me as I walked passed. My aircraft was third in the queue. I gave the F-16 a visual check, making sure the missiles were secured properly and there was nothing out of place. I brushed my hoof over my nose art, “Low Drag” in red bold letters. That was mine and Dash`s slogan that we came up with when we passed Flight School; so much had changed. With the checks over I put on my flight helmet, flew up into the cockpit and strapped myself in.

“Tower, this is Whirlwind checking in. Over.”

“Roger Whirlwind, your squadron’s call sign is Wildcat. You are Wildcat 3 and the flight you are leading is called Ruby, break. You are to link up with Ruby 1-1 above Ponyville and fly towards the objective Alpha. Over”

“Understood tower. Out”

Dash`s plane screeched into life. The roar of the engines was deafening so I had to close the cockpit roof which drowned out most of the noise. We began to taxi out on to the runway; the white colour of the aircraft lined up on the runway reflected the sun’s rays into my eyes. That was one of our moves; attack with the sun behind you to blind your enemies. It was pointless having white painted aircraft when the mission was going to take place at night, we would stick out like a sore hoof, but it was policy.

“All Wildcat call signs you are cleared for take-off. Over”

“Roger that, Tower. Out”

Dash was the leader of our squadron, as directed by Celestia herself. Taxiing over, it was time to fly.

*

I eventually caught up with the Ruby flight just above Ponyville. To make my presence known I shot pass the lead plane with full throttle.

“This is Wildcat 3 calling Ruby flight. Over”

“Wildcat 3 this is Ruby 1-1. Over”

I could sense the tension in his voice. “A conscripted, I knew it”

“Raise your altitude to 4,000m and then form up on me. Over”

“Yes... Yes sir...at once sir. Over”

Two hours later we could see the explosions from the naval bombardment through the cloud; the clouds were being lit up by the explosions. When the shells hit the ground or target, a shock wave of magic is instantly produced. That magic saves all ponies within the blast radius by transporting them to a safe zone miles away from the combat zone, usually a prison camp. Then the explosives destroy anything in their path. This concept was also used in our aircraft missiles. There were two types of munitions: Non Magical known as hard and Magical known as soft.

We also had a 20mm M61A1 Vulcan Cannon and a 20mm M61A2 Magic Cannon used to disable targets with magic. It was always easier using the Vulcan to shoot targets, targets such as tanks and aircraft's had protective barriers against magic ordinance. All of this technology to create a war with no fatalities and we have never failed.

I was now bored, sure I was flying but it was in a holding pattern and at very slow speeds and at high altitude. Ruby flight and I were waiting around for orders from the top. My radio cracked into life.

“Wildcat 3 this is Wildcat 1 with Garnet flight coming up on your starboard side. Over”

“Wildcat 3, roger that.”

Dash’s F-18 pulled up alongside me, she looked over. I could barely recognise her. Her flight helmet covered her face and mane and the only thing that gave her away was her dark red eyes.

“Well this is exciting.” I said with as much sarcasm as I could.

“Don`t get your mane in a tangle Whirl. I`m sure there is going to be some action soon.”

Barely a second later the voice of General Skyswim came over the radio.

“Skyswim to Wildcat 1 and 3, we have a target for you. Ground forces are taking stuns from an artillery battery located in Red Square. Location is 3-9-7-2 by 5-10-6-6. Get there ASAP. Over”

“This is Wildcat 1, understood sir, we’re Oscar Mike to the target. Out. Hay Whirl, High speed...”

“Low drag.” I replied.

We put our aircraft afterburners on, the acceleration was unbelievable. We would be there in no time. Ruby and Garnet flight were in A – 10s, slow and unmemorable aircraft, not good in a dog fight that’s why me and Dashie were there to support them. When we were a mile from the target, Ruby and Garnet flight descended below the cloud cover to start their attack run. Dashie and I would stay above the cloud until Ruby and Garnet called for assistance.

“I wouldn’t want to be doing what they’re doing” I said to Dashie over the radio.

“Are you kidding, that would be so awesome. Dropping bombs, dodging bullets getting into the thick of it.”

“Go and join them then,”

“I'm tempted, I’ll give you that...”

“Remember that time over Le Mare when you were caught in the bombing run of the B-52’s flying overhead. I nearly died laughing”

“...”

“...It’s been a while. I’ll call my flight. Ruby flight this is Wildcat 3, sit rep over.”

No response, I tried again and still nothing. Suddenly Dash`s aircraft went into a steep dive.

“Rainbow what the buck are you doing?!”

“Getting in the thick of it, you coming or what?”

“But... but Dash”

I had no choice but to follow; if I was not on her wing and she flew into trouble she could get shot down and it would be all my fault. I pitched the nose of the aircraft down and went after her.

*

The anti-aircraft fire was unbelievable: the artillery was set up in the middle of a city converted into a fortress by the locals. All the tall concrete skyscrapers had SAM sites and AA guns on the rooftops. Rainbow caught the attention of the AA guns, she was flying too high, that was the same mistake that Ruby flight made. Looking down at the streets of the city, I could see the wrecks of A-10s, one was even buried in the side of a building.

Dash was at roof level darting left and right to avoid the AA guns, I was a thousand feet above her. The night sky was lit up by the AA fire and the fires caused by the shelling. Dash was taking out AA and SAM sites with her missiles, if she kept doing that she would run out of ordinance soon, my radar bleeped.

Four enemy MiG-27s were below me and giving chase to Rainbow Dash. I rolled my aircraft and descended to their level and engaged. I locked on to the lead aircraft and fired.

The missile whizzed past the lead aircraft wingmen and buried itself into the tail of the leader. The wingmen scattered, two going left and two going right. I flew to the two going right, I aimed and fired my cannon. The wing of one of the aircraft was shot clean off and hit his wing man. “Two birds with one stone” I said to myself.

I caught up with Rainbow Dash, she had lowered her altitude to street level. I pulled up alongside her and looked at her under carriage, she was out of missiles.

“Dash come on now, you’ve have had your fun.”

“No I’m not done yet! Some artillery guns are still active, look.”

She pointed with her hoof straight ahead. I could see artillery guns in the distance firing on the invasion beaches to our left about a click away, Dash pulled away.

“Dash you`ve got no missiles, what are you doing?”

“I’ve still got my cannon, haven’t I?”

“Rainbow! They’re only to be used against aircraft, you will kill ponies if you use your guns!”

“I DON’T CARE!”

Dash put her afterburners on and shot off into the inferno of fire- twisted metal and concrete. I had to stop her. I put my afterburners on, armed my missiles and gave chase. I would not let Dashie go down in history as the pony that unleashed hell on the world forever by breaking the First Order. Dash was in my cross hair, the tone of the missile lock-on was screaming in my ears.

“This is your final warning Dash, break off from your attack run or I’ll be forced to shoot you down!”

“You wouldn’t...”

The artillery battery was now in sight and Dash was not going to break away. I had no choice, I pulled the trigger and a missile shot forward. It dug itself into Dash’s plane’s wing. The wing broke off and flew towards me, I pulled up in time to see the wing go under me and Dash`s plane bury itself into the ground. I let out a scream for my friend, instead of stopping the order from being broken, did I break it?

I looked around and I saw her floating to the earth, her parachute fully deployed. She was looking at me but not with an expression of sorrow as I anticipated but with one of anger, I looked away and contacted base.

“Base this is wildcat 3; I had to instigate protocol 6 on Wildcat 1. She went down at coordinates 1-5-0-9-0-4-3-3. Over”

“Wildcat 1 this is Skyswim, good work we have scrambled SAR assets to retrieve her. Head back to base and be prepared for a lot of paperwork. Over”

“Roger that base. Out”

I turned my aircraft around and took out the remaining artillery guns with the last of my soft missiles and then headed towards Equestria. The invasion was a success.

Protocol 6 was created to prevent the First Order from being broken. It allowed a pony to fire on a friendly aircraft, pony, tank or anything else if they were going to break the order. Under Protocol 6 I was protected from accusation of treason if evidence could be found to support my innocence. The built in gun cam recorded the whole event and was saved in the black box. I was in the clear but I still had to face Dashie when I got back to the base, which was the part I was dreading the most.