The Black Squirrel Brigade

by Lamasioux

Act 4 - Fly High Red Sky

"Everypony loves a good surprise party!"

-General Pinkamena Diane Pie,

Two days before the Changeling invasion in 1011.

January 1st, 1014

The countryside was a beautiful place compared to the gray concrete of the city.

Most of the land was dedicated to farming, from wheat to winter berries, along with the vast amounts of trees that grew in the area. It was also quiet and remote. The perfect place to take off in an experimental aircraft.

Marble Wings had been tasked with a specific job today as she and her crew went down the dirt path in their trucks. Marble was in the second truck of the three truck convoy, which towed the main chassis of the La-5-X14, which was an experimental La-5 designed with removable wings. The front truck towed the two wings and the rear truck towed the required amount of gasoline and ammunition for it. Between all three trucks, they had all the supplies and equipment to assemble a functional fighter.

Thankfully for Marble Wings, it wasn’t her job to assemble the aircraft, but to fly it. She was an exponential pilot that had earned her place within the ranks of top pilots on all of Equus, if not maybe the world. She was one of the best there was, and that’s why she was chosen for this special mission.

She and her crew were driving out to a field that had been flattened out by one of the nearby farmers after a handsome fee was paid to them. Sequentially, for no reason, a robbery happened a few days after the payment came in and the pony, along with their whole family, was killed. Their entire house was burned to the ground to remove all evidence by whatever perpetrator decided to do such an act. It just so happened that the local police department was busy and couldn’t investigate anything else currently whenever the locals reported it in. But oh, what’s that, there’s a harmonist loyalist hiding in your house? We’ll be right over.

Marble didn’t care about any of that, it wasn’t her place or concern. She just likes flying airplanes and being damn good at it. She also REALLY supported the communist party, so when the order came directly from Sinister Serov himself, she damn near ejected out of her fighter over the Kremlin's Palace to thank him personally.

So here she was, with her mechanic crew and some experimental engineers who were driving out to this flattened field in the middle of bum bun nowhere Loshadsk.

Once they got to the field, Marble was the first to get out of the truck and take a good look at the field while the rest of the crews began dismounting and getting the trailers unhitched and unloaded, so they could assemble the aircraft.

A grassy field extended in all directions, which looked near endless, with the only thing nearby being a forest and the burnt remains of a farmhouse. It looked like there was a barn outside and some farm equipment scattered near it. Marble didn’t care as her focus fixated on the make-shift runway.

While the grease hooves started bolting together her aircraft, she took a walk down the strip, looking at the condition it was in.

It had been about a week since it was made, but nothing about it looked out of place. Just some pieces of grass here and there on it, a loose bit of dirt at the sides and in some spots. And a coin?

Marble picked it up with her magic and inspected it.

It was a Equestrian Bit. What was it doing here? There hadn’t been Equestrian forces here in years, nor was it a circulated currency here.

On the front of it was the Sun Alicorn, and on the back was the Canterlot Castle. Marble flipped the coin back to the front and looked for the manufacture date. While the words that encircled the coin were in Equestrian, which she didn’t know, the numbers were. 989 ALB. Interesting. It was five years older than Marble.

After flipping the coin around a few more times to waste time, Marble flung it into the grassy fields on the sides of the dirt runway, that way it was out of the way, but when she did, a freezing gust of wind came by and carried it back onto the airstrip with her. Marble didn’t catch it as a shiver ran up and down her body from the wind.

The wind chill wasn’t making it worth it to be out here. Maybe it would be a good time to start a campfire to heat up the soup they brought.

Marble’s attention was drawn back to the coin after the sunlight glimmered off it, which made her pick the coin back up with her magic.

“You don’t want to be left behind, do you?”

Marble giggled before she pocketed the coin in her flight overalls, “I’ll take you back home.” There was a faint smile that grew on her face at the comment.

There were no concerns Marble had with the runway, so her walk down and back up it was quick.

Once she returned back to the ground crews, they were nearly done with one of the wings, which made her upset. Why couldn’t her crew always work this fast when tinkering with her planes normally. It wasn’t worth fretting over for long as another gust of wind nearly froze her. Soup time!

Because the ground crews were doing all the work on the plane, Marble tasked herself with making the soup. She got some twigs and branches, dug a small hole with a shovel, and then started up a fire with the help of her magic. Once the fire was burning nicely, she got out the pot the crew had brought along, the jugs of water, and ingredients before preparing it.

While she waited for the fire to heat up the potted water, she effortlessly cut vegetables and mixed it into the water, doing everything in one big motion. Her control of magic allowed her to mix, chop, lift, and move items around.

While most unicorns might struggle with it, she did it as second nature. Her control over magic was greater than others, from experience and training. The work brought the attention of some of the engineers, but they were kicked back to attention by their peers when their slack was noticed.

As everything came to a collective mixture of schlop in the pot, Marble began adding what few seasonings they had to it as it all began boiling together.

A little bit of salt. Mmmm.

A little bit of pepper. Mmmm.

A little bit of grease from her overalls. Mmm- Wait, oops.

Marble gave the engineers a quick glance and saw the mess of grease and oil they were dealing with while assembling the plane together. Since they lived in it, there shouldn’t be any harm in consuming a little. It didn’t matter to Marble anyways so she shrugged it off and continued, giving the soup a taste with a spoon.

A little… Normal? That was good enough, it wasn’t like the others were going to make it anyways.

While Marble waited for the soup to finish, she watched the crew put the rest of the plane together. Tools of all types were being used to assemble it, none of which Marble understood.

While Marble might be a pilot, she wasn’t an engineer or mechanic. She was just damn good at flying.

Hey! That’s the propeller! It looked a little funky though. It looked like it had an extra prope on it compared to the normal La-5 she normally flew. Ehh, it didn’t matter either.

Marble just enjoyed the sunlight as she sat there. She had gotten her own bowl of soup once it finished boiling and consumed it down so she could get a second. She removed a few of the burning logs underneath the pot to keep the soup from burning as hot, pushing the coals around to help further.

As each crew member’s job was finished with assembling the plane, they each came over to get their own bowl of soup.

“What’d you make it out of this time?” one of the engineers asked.

“Grease,” Marble answered with a cheerful grin.

“Ahh- Fantastic,” the pony said with a face of regret as he filled his bowl reluctantly.

“Don’t worry, it tastes fantastic!” Marble lied a little as it still tasted meh.

The pony shook his head and took the bowl of soup to one of the trucks to try it. There may have been a blob of grease floating on the top of his soup. Maybe not. Marble didn’t care.

As the hour passed, each crew member finished up a bowl of soup, some in view, some not, before they went back to working on the aircraft.

The plane had come together nicely. Everything on it was assembled at this point and the 20mm ammunition was being loaded into it as it was simultaneously being loaded up with fuel.

By now, the fire beneath the soup pot had burned out and just emitted heat from what coals remained. The chilly wind made what remained of the greasy soup all cold, so Marble decided to dump it after checking with the crew members if they wanted any the remainder. None of them did.

At this point, Marble got out the book she brought and started reading it as the final parts of the plane were finished up.

The book were stories of Prywhen soldiers from 1007 and the experiences they faced. While Prywhen had similar values as hers, it didn’t really pique her interest. It was a recommendation of one of her wingmares a few months ago. The stories from infantry perspectives were just boring though, she thought, so she closed the book and put it back into her bag in the truck.

It was around now that a radio message came in and one of the crew members informed Marble her plane was ready.

Upon hearing this, Marble took a deep breath and looked around the plat planes surrounding themselves and relaxed herself. It really was quite beautiful, and she made sure to soak it in as much as possible. She then exhaled and made her way to the truck with her gear and started putting it on.

After a few minutes of swiftful movements, her gear was on. Some of the experimental engineers watched in wonder as the gear was donned near instantly. They had never seen a pilot put equipment on that fast before.

Just as Marble finished, the sound of the La-5-X14 started up, the roar of its engine purring beautifully in the air. It was the most calming sound in the world, at least for Marble. The vibrations of the engine called for her, so she made her way over to it, just in time for the engineer who started it up to step out of the plane and make way for Marble.

Marble glided into the seat with ease. There were a lot of features and specifications that were different with the plane, but none that were noticeable within the cockpit. From the specifications sheet she was shown before coming out here, it looked like it was all stuff she could tell an instant difference with compared to her normal plane.

First, she had to do her pre-flight checks.

She had the list next to her, which she went down quickly. While she was one of the best pilots there was on the continent, that didn’t mean she skipped procedures, at least not the ones done during the startup. The engineers had to confirm themselves that that portion was good.

Each box was ticked off once it was confirmed it was good.

Fuel, oil, air, flaps, wings, weapons, power. All that fancy plane stuff. It was all good.

Once her pre-flight checks were done, she levitated the checklist to the engineer that stood just behind her wing, who then scurried away. Her flight today didn’t allow for any extra bits besides herself and her flight gear. Bits? Marble tapped the pocket where she left the Equestrian Bit and felt it was still there. Oh bummers, she had changed her mind and was going to leave it, but Marble shrugged it off and spun up her prop and taxied the plane to the start of the makeshift runway, which wasn’t that far given they built the plane right next to it.

In the time she angled her plane down the runway, which looked more like a dirt path from her perspective, the crew members and all their equipment moved out of the way, driving down the path they came from to give Marble some distance.

After talking on the radio with one of the crew members, she was given the go ahead for takeoff, so she increased her engine power and took off.

Even during takeoff, Marble felt the differences of the plane, well, after she was off the ground. The bumpy ground of the runway vibrated the plane too much for her to feel any differences then.

In the air, the plane felt responsive and fast. It felt like she had so much more control of the plane as she flew through the air, so after a single circle of the air strip to get comfortable with the controls, she headed south west and began climbing.

Her location of take off was precisely known, along with the time she did, both of which she communicated constantly over radio to somepony who helped direct her.

Currently, her destination was a river in Cloudy Hills, south of Novochernushsk, and she would have to fly for quite some time before she reached it.

The time passed quickly for Marble, as every second of the flight she was able to enjoy the skies above, flying through clouds, watching the ground pass by below. She occasionally saw the homes and villages of other ponies below, none of which likely saw her.

Marble’s La-5-X14 was painted with Equestrian RAF colors, but the only difference was on her wing. Instead of a big circle, it was a horseshoe and hammer.

Whenever Marble looked at the symbole, she smiled. It’s what allowed her to power through the sky without a care in the world.

Occasionally, she spoke on the radio, indicating her direction, speed, altitude, and time, which always resulted in a reply back with a change of course in some small direction.

After doing that for a few hours, the sun started reaching the horizon. It’s one of the things Marble always hated about winter, was the sun always setting early. Flying at night was never fun, and was one of the few things she was terrible at. Likely, she didn’t have to worry about that today.

Finally, the radio buzzed on in her headset, “Red One, Red One. Wing One is 10-minutes out. How copy?”

Marble clicked her mic on, “Red One, Red One, I copy you five-five.”

“Red One, start climbing to 3,800 meters bearing 2-4 degrees. How copy?”

“Red One, Red One, I copy you five-five,” Marble repeated exactly as before.

When no other order came over the radio, Marble carried out the instructions. She fixed her heading to 2-4 degrees and began climbing even higher. She currently sat at about 3,500 meters above sea level so she didn’t have that far to go before the target altitude.

After two minutes, the radio clicked back on, “Red One, Red One, report altitude, bearing, speed, and time.”

After keying her mic again, Marble answered back with what her gauges told her. After a bit of silence on the radio, the pony on the other end keyed back in.

“Red One, turn Bearing 8-5 degrees, maintain altitude and speed. Wing one should be in view now, please report back once visual is confirmed.”

With the new order, Marble turned her plane in the correct direction before she began scanning across the sky for Wing One.

During the entire flight, Marble never used her magic, which she finally let out with pure ease, forming it into a spell that helped her search for Wing One. She only had a few seconds to use the spell at full strength so she had made sure to check what areas she could without it first.

Almost immediately upon using her spell, she spotted Wing One. It was a transport plane flying below her that bore a massive sun symbol on the tail of it. It was impressive how she needed the magic spell to spot the plane once she saw the symbol due to it sticking out like a sore hoof.

The plane was going north, while she flew east.

Without thinking, Marble clicked her radio and spoke into it.

“This is Red One, Red one. I have confirmed visual on Wing One.”

After a few seconds, the radio clicked back, “Acknowledged Red One. You are clear to engage. I repeat, you are clear to engage. Glory to Stalliongrad!”

“Red One, Red One-” Marble choked on her words while speaking, which prompted her to declick her mic.

Just as she declicked it, her focus regained on her surroundings as the white fog of a cloud began slightly obscuring her vision to Wing One.

Ugh, why’d that have to happen now. She had kept her composure the entire flight. Days. WEEKS! She had known about this for some time now and it was now of all times her mind raced. She tried to shiver out the choke up before she clicked back on the mic, “Red One, Red One, I acknowledge you five-five. I repeat, I acknowledge you five-five. Glory to Stalliongrad!”

After letting go of the key, Marble swallowed again as she took a deep breath through her oxygen mask. For a moment, she closed her eyes and calmed herself. She let her thoughts race through her head and escape through her ears before she reopened her eyes and began looking through the clouds for the transport plane.

After a few seconds, her impeccable skills at spotting came in and helped her see the moving yellow splotch of the tail.

With a calm mind, Marble flipped a switch in her head.

Four spitfires.

Ok.

Dive.

Marble spun her plane around, nearly inverting as she pulled her plane sideways and pulled back on her stick, which sent her nose going upwards and to the left as she raced through the cloud into a dive.

Immediately as she began her dive towards Wing One, another spitfire came in from above the cloud she was in, diving down onto her with open guns. Her plane rattled in vibration as it was struck a few times in the volley of tracers.

OH FOR HAY BALES SAKE MARBLE, PAY ATTENTION! DON’T LET SOME DUMB HARMONIC CUCKFUCKERS GET THE JUMP ON YOU NOW!

Marble beat herself up for losing her concentration like that.

Marble didn’t hold back with maneuvering out of the volley after the few hits landed, which saved her as the rest of the tracers zipped past the tip of her left wing, followed by the spitfire they belonged to.

At this point, the transport plane began banking to the side as it started taking evasive maneuvers. Three of the spitfires that followed it broke off, each in their own direction as they turned to face Marble.

Marble had already picked up speed by this point after she had slammed forward the throttle for full power. While the spitfire that dove first would take a moment to get back, the first one from the transport was already blazing away at her with its guns.

Without losing her speed drastically, Marble flicked her stick and adjusted her throttle in one fell swoop and pushed on her pedals to aim her plane at the spitfire and unleash a short burst of 20mm at it.

With her accuracy the spitfire took every round directly, which resulted in it catching fire from the front as its engine blew, causing it to plummet towards the ground. Marble never saw if the pilot ejected or not.

Since the transport plane was her priority and maneuvering to shoot at the other two spitfires as they closed in would slow her down, she went back to full throttle and went for the transport.

Once Marble was in range of the transport, she unleashed her cannons on its left wing.

For the first two seconds of her burst, every round exploded in small flashes as they slammed into a magical shield that surrounded the plane, but as her 20mm’s kept impacting, the shield weakened quickly until it finally exploded into a fine mist.

With only another second, Marble ran her gun down the length of the plane, getting as many hits on the two engines this side had before she pulled hard on her stick and braced herself for the massive amount of G’s, which came just in time as the two other spitfires began spraying at her.

With perfect breaths, Marble was able to hold through the maneuver and stabilize momentarily as she looked around for the two spitfires. She found them, but there was still another second before they were a problem, so she looked to her right to see if the first spitfire was finally back on her.

Marble pulled on her stick immediately as she saw the incoming tracers from the first spitfire.

DAMNIT, YOU AREN’T MY PRIORITY RIGHT NOW!

Marble had to regain sight on the transport, and when she did, the last spitfire had finally made its move and was going right for her. It unleashed its own tracers on her plane, many of which ended up connecting with her.

The rattle as they littered her plane was loud, even over the sound of the engine, but that didn’t stop Marble from returning her own fire.

Both fighters landed hits on one another, but Marble seemed to fare just fine through it unlike the spitfire as it ended up spitting gas from its tanks as it blew past, but that didn’t stop Marble from ignoring her target.

With the transport in site again, she went for it, but not before the other two spitfires began unleashing hell on her.

It seemed as if every round they fired hit her plane, causing it to jolt and rattle. The sounds of the wind tearing away at her canopy as some of the bullets broke through it.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

This was it. There was no turning back as Marble dove towards the transport. As she squeezed the gun's trigger, she thought it would snap off the flight stick with how much her adrenaline rushed through her body.

As her 20mm’s connected with the transport again, a new but stronger looking shield was absorbing the rounds. Her rounds were having no effect, no matter how many she sent into it, but at this point, with the two spitfires, no, three now, trying to take her down, it didn’t matter. Once she failed to take the plane down the first time around, there was no turning back.

Marble never felt this high before as her red blooded spirit coursed through her body in full strength, causing her to scream out in time for a stream of blood to trickle into one of her eyes from some unknown wound.

“FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING HARMONIC PIECES OF SHIT! THE RED ARMY IS GOING TO TURN YOUR STUPID PRINCESSES INTO FUCKING BREEDING SLAVES AS THEY STEAMROLL YOUR STUPID FRIENDSHIP!”

Marble shifted her stick, aiming her guns at the rear of the transport plane, sending her rounds directly in the shield, which still did nothing, but she no longer registered the spitfires behind her or the clouds above her, nor the ground below her, nor the plane she flew. Just herself in the open sky as she barreled towards the transport. The bullet holes in her canopy let the wind flow into her face, which allowed her to fully immerse in what it might be like to be a pegasus for one split moment.

Full. Ultimate. Freedom.

And Marble let her voice sing one last time to convey her feelings as loud as her little unicorn voice could.

“SO YOU KNOW WHAT?! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!”

For however strong an alicorn's shield might be, not even it could stop a 3.5 ton plane going nearly 350 mph from crashing through it and into the very plane it protected.

Comments

[Triglavian1]

Whot have you done marble?

[Lamasioux]

12085194
What no creature dared before; Try.

[Mr Unidentified]

Oh goddamn, this just got me hooked now.

[Lamasioux]

12110730
Good to know!

It’s hard to know if what i am writing is engaging or not since im the writer and not a reader. I just gotta put everything in words and out if my head and hope for the best! :)