Danger Close

by CoyoteXray

...contact with the enemy.

"Chevalier 1-1...this is the Tower....repeat this is the Tower. Come in Chevalier 1-1!"

"Tower....this is Chevalier 1-1.... roger!"

"Chevalier 1-1...this is the Tower. Clear this channel...op order follows immediately!"

"This is Chevaier 1-1...roger. Clearing channel!"

"Chevalier 1-1.... this is the Tower....your orders are as follows. Scramble immediately and vector to 1 3 0 off the bullseye and upon contact engage multiple inbound hostiles last reported at 2 kilometers north-northwest of waypoint Ponyville at angels 2. Upon contact be advised that you are cleared hot. How copy over?"

"Tower...this is Chevalier 1-1...roger wilco!"

---

"It is impressive...isn't it," Sunburst gushed as he studied the huge fountain before him. "It's over a city block long, and about as wide, constructed from some of the finest granite available in the kingdom...and all to celebrate the 500th year of Princess Celestia's reign. And it circulates over a thousand gallons of water through its system every day."

"Borrring," Trixie announced in a way too loud voice, "Can we please move on? I'd really like to grab some food from the street vendors before we have to get back to the castle."

Starlite laughed. "How could you possibly be hungry already? It's only 11 o'clock?" she inquired, "We only ate two hours ago."

"Oh please," came the answer as Trixie assumed her favorite pose, "The Great and Powerful Trixie burns calories very efficiently. It's how she is able to maintain her impressive appearance." She held her pose, and peaked to see her audience, and noticed that everypony had moved past the fountain towards the nearby intersection.

"Hummph," she snorted and quickly moved over to join them.

It took a moment, but she arrived just in time to hear Starlite say, "Now can you hear it?"

The group paused and listened. It took some concentration to separate the strange sound from the noise of rushing water, but it was there.

"Is that a... bugle call?" Sunburst inquired, "It must be coming from the Guard garrison on that next block."

"Whatever it is," Trixie chimed in, "It isn't much of a tune."

The group listened again, and then Starlite came up beside Shining Armor, her ears back and her jaw agape and asked, "Please tell me that that isn't what I think it is."

Shining Armor shook his head. "I wish I could, but I'm betting that it's exactly what you think it is." He then turned to Sunburst and commanded, "Sunburst...get Flurry out of here!! Go with plan Alpha! NOW!!"

Sunburst looked dumbfounded at first, but he quickly recovered. "Ah yeah...got it!" he answered and used his magic to pull Flurry off his back and into her carrier, and immediately began galloping in the direction of the garrison.

"You two make a run for it!" Shining ordered the two mares that remained. "I have to get back to the castle!" And with that, he turned and charged off, quickly disappearing into the confused crowd.

Starlite glanced around quickly as her brain struggled to catch up. But she finally turned to Trixie and commanded, "Come on Trixie, we've got to get back to the castle! We've got to warn Twilight and the others!"

"Starlite..." Trixie replied, obviously dumbfounded by what was happening, "What's going on here? The song isn't THAT bad!"

"Trixie!" Starlite answered, "That's not a song!! That's the call 'TO ARMS'!!"

---

At first, Greybolt wasn't sure just what to do. He knew that if he was too obvious in trying to alert the young unicorn in front of him, he'd probably draw the attention of the nearby invaders. But it was clear that only a matter of time before they spotted her on the opposite bank of the river anyway. In the end...he had no choice.

He noticed a small rock in the dirt next to him, so he scraped up at it with his hoof, balancing it on the edge, and then flicked it at the hereto oblivious stranger. The stone plopped into the water maybe about a foot in front of her, causing her to turn her head in his direction. As their eyes met, he pointed back towards her, mouthing the words, "Look behind you."

She seemed confused at first, so he mouthed it again. This time it apparently worked because she finally turned her head and looked across the stream to the opposite bank, just as the furry invaders happened to look in the opposite direction.

For a moment, the two sides just stared at each other. Greybolt could hear something. It sounded like "D-D-D-D-...". It sounded like the young unicorn just couldn't get whatever word she was saying out.

But finally, she turned and screamed, just as the invaders launched themselves into pursuit, and she ran...straight towards him.

"Oh dammit!" he cursed as he sprung to his hooves and began running himself. He knew even as he did this that he dare not head back towards the grove, as his family was in no position to hold off those creatures. But even as he did so, he saw the strange mare peel off away from him, and straight towards that very same grove.

"THIS WAY DAMMIT!!" he called after her, altering his own course at the same time.

It looked like it may be too late, as the mare continued on her course. But even as he closed in on the stranger, he noticed that she had already skidded to a halt, apparently after spotting the heretofore unsuspecting ponies sheltering amongst the trees. Then she turned back and faced her approaching attackers, lowering her head towards her pursuers as her horn began to glow with steadily increasing intensity. In what seemed like no time at all, her horn was almost blindingly bright and then....

A blinding flash...accompanied by a deafening boom...and a wave of magical energy blowing down everything in its path, stopping only after colliding with the nearby tree line, jarring loose most of the leaves as it hit.

It took a few moments for Greybolt to get past the ringing in his ears. But finally, he straightened up and carefully approached the strange young mare. He noticed that she had pushed backward at least two feet by her magical burst, the green ribbon in her mane now untied and hanging lose. He also caught sight of her cutie mark, which consisted of an unusual pattern of colors and shapes the like of which he had never seen before. As used as he was to more specific marks, he had to admit that hers didn't give any obvious clues that he could see about the pony who bore it. As he approached, she didn't turn to face him, but instead just stared at what her magic had wrought.

"Hey! What the heck was that!?!" Greybolt demanded, "Do you have any damn idea what you're doing!?!"

"Grey!" came a call from behind, "What's going on here?" He turned and saw his father and sister approach.

"Hey Sere," came a call from behind him, and he turned back around to see a young purple pegasus colt appear overhead and home in for a landing next to the dark furred filly, "What's going on? Where's dad? Whoa....", he paused as he noticed the scene in front of him, including the motionless heap that marked where the two attackers ended up. "Did you do that?" he asked, "That is totally cool!"

Greybolt's jaw dropped, and he glanced to his father, who had come up alongside him, and then looked back to the strange pair and protested, "Now...wait a minute! That was not cool! What...what in Tartarus were you trying to do there!?!"

"Hey!" the young pegasus protested, "Leave my sister alone loudmouth!"

"Oh yeah right!" Greybolt fired back, "You tell her to watch it with that damn magic of hers before she gets somepony killed!"

This caused the unicorn mare to turn back towards the strangers behind her, her eyes wide as saucers and her jaw hanging open.

Greybolt tried to approach, but found his way blocked by Bluebelle's outstretched arm.

"Grey," she said in a discreet voice, "Don't...just don't."

He tried to move around her, but stopped when a large shadow passed over him, accompanied by gust of wind as a large bright orange unicorn stallion came in for landing. He landed directly in front of him blocking his path to the two younger ponies and paused to look over to the disturbed scene at the riverbank. He then moved up next to the dark furred filly, and put one arm around her neck, and the pair started a quiet conversation.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Greybolt said to no one in particular, "Now who the heck is that?"

"Grey...calm down," Bluebelle answered, "He's probably her dad."

By now, Greybolt's mom had joined the group, and the party waited as the strangers conversed amongst themselves. Finally, the conversation ended, and the trio turned and moved towards the other ponies, with the older stallion in the lead.

"Young stallion," he said as he approached Greybolt, "My daughter tells me that you were the one that warned her about those Storm Guards. I'm guessing that I owe you one for saving her." He smiled and extended his arm for a hoof shake.

"Now just a minute there," Greybolt objected, avoiding the outstretched arm, "What in Tartarus did she do back there? I've never seen a burst like that from any unicorn before! That kind of thing is going to draw in a lot more of those creatures, and they're going to be out for blood once they find what's left after she fried those two!"

The strange pegasus lowered his arm, his expression hardening, and moved one step closer to Greybolt and said in a measured tone, "Your concern is valid. But I assure you that though they may be damaged, those creatures are still live. And I will grant you that that use of magic may have been extreme. I don't think that it's reasonable though, and I would hope that you would agree, for me to tell my daughter that she can't defend herself when she's under attack. But that said...though I like debates relating to the use of force as much as the next pony, we are all at risk here and I think that it would be best that we vacate this area as fast as we can manage. Do you agree?"

Greybolt didn't respond at first, choosing instead to meet the intense glare of the stranger in front of him with one of his own. Until his father, with one arm extended, pushed him back and faced the strange pegasus and said, "Yes we do agree, don't we Grey?" He looked back over his shoulder to his son, his expression making it clear the response that was expected.

"Yes...indeed," Greybolt answered through gritted teeth.

Grey's father turned back to the stranger and extended his arm and smiled. "Name's Archer by the way. This filly over here" he said gesturing over his shoulder, "...is Bluebelle, back there is her mom Bright Dawn. And this young stallion that you've already met here is Greybolt."

The large pegasus smiled and completed the hoof shake and said, "Glad to meet you. My name's True Wind. This little colt hovering over my shoulder here," he paused and gestured towards his son, "is Ruffian. And this little filly behind me is Serenity." He moved a bit to his right to reveal his daughter, who was busy trying to retie the bow in her mane. She seemed to struggle with it for a moment as the fabric was caught around her hooves, but finally completed her task and looked towards the strangers in front of her warily. "We're on the way to Manechester, and we could certainly use the company."

"Sounds agreeable to me," Archer replied with a smile, "Safety in numbers after all." He then turned towards his son. "Grey...why don't you and your sister go back and get our stuff from the grove, and then we'll get going."

Greybolt just stood there and continued to stare at the new arrivals.

"Son,,," his father continued, "sometime today if you don't mind."

Greybolt looked towards his father, and finally turned and went towards the grove with his sister as the rest of the group came together and began to converse with one another.

---

Blue Breeze saw it, the cloud forming on the horizon. It was distant but intensifying in spite of the warm temperatures and otherwise cloudless skies. And it seemed to be coming closer and closer.

"Sergeant!" he called out to the N.C.O. struggling with the frozen hand crank on the neglected piece of artillery whose platform he stood on, "Are we as screwed as I'm thinking we are?"

The large guardspony didn't respond at first but left his task and climbed down to the ground and moved at a brisk trot to the officer in charge.

"Sir, with all due respect, I would suggest that we watch our language," he said as he got close, "I still have to keep these troops motivated. And as to your question, not one of these weapons are mission capable without a lot of work, which we have no time for. The pods they were encased in were leaking, and it doesn't look like anyone has done routine servicing on these things in at least a year. And were still lacking more than a few rounds of ammo, not to mention sighting equipment."

The young officer pondered the question, noting the tone of the response. There was no time to argue about decorum, especially since he was probably in the wrong anyway. He took another moment to look to the horizon at the approaching threat. He then turned back and met the senior sergeant's stare directly and ordered, "Allright sergeant, here's the plan. Pick one of these guns...just one, whatever one you think is the most serviceable, and concentrate every pony on it. Forget the others for now. what I need is ONE weapon. Can you make that happen?"

The sergeant pondered for a second, and then smiled and answered, "Yeah, I believe I can."

"Then those are my orders," the officer answered.

"Yes sir," the sergeant replied with a salute, which was returned by the officer before both parties went back to the task at hand.

---

How...how did that happen?

They had made that second pass; he had been on her wing...just like they had been trained.

The pod had fired...with that same deafening blast that she had experienced before...followed by her releasing the bulky weapon...and the sight of the drogue chute deploying.

There was no call...no sign of that the plan had changed.

Yet where was Sting?

Did she....?

No...that was impossible. He was right on her left wing. She was sure of it. He couldn't have...

She quickly scanned the skies around her. The scene around her was pure pandemonium, a confused jumble of fliers, airships, and bursts of cannon fire.

"Chevalier 3-3, this is Chevalier 3-4...Sting...where are you!?!" she called out into her throat mic.

There was a burst of static, but she couldn't understand anything over the wind roar and the din of the air battle around her.

And then she saw it...one lone flyer...caught up in some sort of magical spell.

She couldn't decide just what happened. Was it Sting? What exactly was happening?

She couldn't exactly decide. But she saw the motion of that flyers wings slow...and eventually cease.

Oh sweet Celestia!!

She didn't have time to think. She didn't have time to identify that flyer.

She had to act.

She threw herself into a tight rightward spiral and accelerated, trying to reach her stricken comrade. She lost sight for a moment as her tight turn continued, but she quickly spotted her target again as she came around. Something was seriously wrong with the sight in front of her, but there was no time to think. The flyer closed in rapidly, and she reared back to change her angle of attack and lose some airspeed. She reached out as she got close...and grabbed what she could.

And she fell...

She had caught hold around the pod and wrapped her arms up under the wings. But the clash of momentum between her and her target immediately threw her into a flat spin. The alarm bells in her head were almost deafening. She had to break off...every instinct in her knew it. She had less than a minute at this altitude before she would crash. The horizon spinning in front of her...the pony in front of her turning into a solid black hardening mass in front of her...her wings beating furiously, but barely affecting her rate of decent...she had to break off...

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!" she screamed into her microphone.

And then the surface became too slick...and she lost her grip.

She flew off, her sense of direction completely lost. Something hit her on her right side, and a sudden shock of intense pain hit her like a flash. And then...water.

She skipped once on the surface, and then it consumed her. She instinctively twisted around in spite of the pain and finally broke the surface and got a breath. It hurt like hell, but she forced herself to breath as deep as she could. Then she slowly propelled her way forward, the water not too deep thankfully, until she reached the muddy shore...where she immediately collapsed.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw the discolored sleeves of her flight suit. It puzzled her for a second, and she looked back over her shoulder to the muck and mossy growth that covered both her and the water from which she had emerged.

"Oh ewww...," was all that she could say.

She reached up and removed her googles, the pain in her side making the whole process almost unbearable. Then, she looked down at her hooves, and said to herself, "Useless...useless..." She just sat there, for how long she couldn't say. She had never felt so defeated in her entire life.

"Flight officer!" came a call from somewhere behind her. She tried to look back behind her but couldn't manage it.

"Hey somebody!" that same voice called again, "I need help over here." Vapor raised her head and based on the voice was not surprised to see Fair Wind's eyes looking into hers.

"What happened?" Vapor asked as best she could.

Fair Wind didn't answer at first, but instead carefully examined her superior officer before responding, "Uh...a very hard landing is my guess. Your left wing appears to be broken." She paused and carefully probed her fellow flyer, until she reached her barrel, which caused Vapor to clinch up and utter a distinct whine.

"And... I'm guessing that you've got an injury to your ribs," she added, "but it looks like your wing sabers didn't deploy
so, it could have been a lot worse."

Vapor just shook her head, as tears began to flow from her eyes. "I lost Sting. I had a hold of him...and I lost him," she answered, her voice barely audible.

"Uh...that wasn't Sting," Fair Wind answered, "You caught Sky Dancer. And he made it down, a unicorn caught him in her aura. I mean...he got hit with magic, but he'll just need a counter spell. And it wouldn't have happened without you Vapor. You're a hero."

Vapor Trail looked up at Fair Wind, her eyes wide as saucers. She looked up to the skies, and then looked to the other flier and asked, "Fair...where is your wingpony? Where is your wingpony dammit!?! GET BACK UP THERE..." she shouted as loud as pain would allow, "...AND HELP YOUR WINGPONY!!!"

Fair Wind retreated, her ears folded back and her hopeful smile turned into a chastened frown. "Yes...yes ma'am," she answered in a barely audible voice. She then stepped back and flew off to rejoin the fight, as Vapor laid there and watched as the scene of the fight became steadily more obscured by a thick grey smoke.

---

"Major!" General Blackjack called out, "I need a sitrep!"

The guard officer gestured towards the map. Blackjack came closer, and she reported, "Initial intercept was made about ten minutes ago. First reports have two enemy vessels forced down in the midst of the Everfree Forrest with casualties, but it appears that V-P 21 has sustained around 25 percent casualties themselves, and they've pulled back to regroup. V-P 30 is in the air, but the reports are that they're encountering a very thick smoke screen obscuring the targets, bad enough they say that they can't risk engagement, particularly over populated areas."

Blackjack pondered the news for a moment, and then answered with a tired sigh, "Defense of Canterlot Castle at all costs is not an option. That's doctrine. So, what's left...is rescue if possible the biggest target." He then turned to his communications officer and asked, "Captain...how you gotten through to that damn castle yet!?!"

"Sir, I can't get the princess, but the captain of the guard should be on momentarily!" was the reply.

"Let me know when he's on immediately," Blackjack replied, "In the meantime..." he paused and turned to a senior N.C.O. and commanded, "Master Sergeant! Sound the alarm! We're now at alert status 2! And lock down this facility!"

"Yes sir!" he answered, and then turned to the panel with the microphone in front of him, pressed a button on the panel, and called out, "All personnel...all personnel...lock down is in effect! We are now at DEFCON 2!!" He then pressed a button on the panel activating a blaring siren.