Secrets of a Lunar Princess

Chapter 8

Unveiling

“Dashie, this is Luna. Lunar Contingency has regrouped and we’re pressing forward into the pocket. We intend to meet the enemy head on.”

“Copy that, Princess. Beginning our attack runs now,” Rainbow Dash replied cool-headedly, pushing her thrusters to maximum on her fighter. She double checked all her instruments and everything read green across the dashboard. All weapons were loaded to maximum capacity with eight Vortex Missiles and thousands of rounds of Armor Piercing crystalline ammunition. Dash banked her aircraft in low to get a view of the Greifen corps, consisting of both armor and infantry, before pulling up towards the sky once more.

“This one’s mine!” Spitfire shouted as she zoomed in towards the ground, finding her target: a heavy tank.

“All yours, Spitfire!” Rainbow Dash confirmed. A confirmatory beeping sound resonated in Spitfire’s console, confirming a target lock.

“Vortex Missile away!” she shouted as she pushed the button on her stick. The armament sped off her wing in a very noticeable clockwise spin with the resounding clockwise trail (hence the name) before slamming into the tank, easily penetrating the armor and detonating the armored vehicle from the inside.

“That’s a confirmed kill!” Snowflake stated over the com. Spitfire nodded with a grin on her face. She strafed enemy troops with her eight 20 millimeters before pulling off into the sky once more. Dash banked her craft back towards the fight, witnessing another one of her squad-mates destroy an SPG. She fancied another look elsewhere and watched two more of her warplanes wreak havoc on several squads of heavy armor. She pushed a lock of her hair out of her vision and chose her target: Fixed Artillery emplacement.

“Luna, this is Dash.  Be advised: the enemy’s got fixed gun artillery deployed. They’ll surely open up as you advance, over.”

“Acknowledged, Rainbow. Dost thou think you can do the ‘softening up?’” Luna asked in return. Dashie only smiled.

“With pleasure, Princess.”

The proper reticles lined up with the first gun in the artillery line. Dash closed in fast.

“Missile away!” she confirmed, firing at the enemy cannon. As she watched the armament speed away, she quickly recalled her first combat training missions in the Air Force. She was the only pilot to hit all of her targets with 100 percent precision… the first one to do so in decades. Dash was promoted on the spot and sent to officer’s training so she could lead a squadron.

Dash was brought out of her stupor when the projectile collided with the gun, completely annihilating it, and also taking the one next to it by sheer luck.

“Nice one, Lieutenant!”

“Thanks, but I’m not done here yet!” Dash responded. She banked around in a wide turn and lined herself up with the artillery line once more. She then pushed her thrusters to maximum capacity and armed the cannons. Pulling the trigger, she flew overhead of the enemy in a deadly strafing run, obliterating the remaining guns and cutting down enemy infantry instantly. They didn’t even stand a chance. Rainbow banked the aircraft high once more when she was barely thirty feet off the ground, shooting off into the sky.

“Shadow 4, confirming kills for Shadow 1.”

Rainbow pumped her fist in the air before taking another look around. Her squadron was relentlessly attacking the enemy division and leaving naught but destruction in their wake. Their attempts to return fire at them were rather useless at best. It had barely been ten minutes into combat and a good chunk of the enemy’s long range capabilities were wiped out. If they could finish heavy artillery off, Luna’s division would be in good shape to combat the Greifen corps. As the proper nomenclature implied, Luna’s personal division indeed numbered less than the enemy corps, but, as Luna felt, it was an even fight.

“Excellent work, squad! Let’s keep up the pressure and keep kicking ass!” Dash said in a commanding tone, her warplane speeding off to find another target.

Three Self Propelled Guns were repositioning against Luna’s advancing forces. Dash spied the movement but before she could act, the three exploded when the center took a direct hit from an unguided bomb, being carried by Shadow 3, known colloquially as Lightning Dust. The remaining two pieces of artillery were rendered inoperable. Rainbow witnessed Dust’s fighter bank off to the right and barrel roll into the air.

“Nice drop, Dust!” Dashie stated, giving a thumbs-up to the aircraft that fell into formation with her.

“Nothing to it, Lieutenant!”

“Always unorthodox to your ways, Dust. You haven’t changed a bit since the academy.”

*Back on the ground: 3rd Person POV*

Princess Luna and Phaze had decided to hitch a ride on one of their heavy tanks, riding on the back but holding onto one of the railings on the turret. Currently, they were aboard the rather large PC-5 heavy tank; PC being an initialism for “Princess Celestia,” to which Luna found it ironic and hilarious that this particular tank they jumped on was nicknamed “Fat Ass.” The PC-5 was a very mobile and, relatively speaking, lightly armored Heavy Tank. It had only about 90mm of armor all around, but its saving grace was that the armor was very sloped and rounded, especially on the turret which was even more armored with about 140mm of armor.  The armor, however, was not what the tank was known for. Combined with the unusually high speed for a Heavy Tank, the PC-5 carried a frightening and feared armament: the 122mm TC-11, which had a decently high penetration and fair accuracy at ranges over 200 meters using conventional AP rounds, and could deal catastrophic damage to enemy armor in close range.

Luna cleared her mind of the technical specs as the large Greifen corps came into view. She looked up and watched the elegantly deadly dance that the fighter planes from Dash’s squadron performed, raining destruction on the enemy force. Looking back down, they were less than two miles away from the Greifens, with artillery fire significantly decreased since Dash began her attack run. No more casualties were being reported from indirect fire, but as they got closer, they would need to be vigilant about cover with the hills that populated the field in between the two advancing forces. The Greifen guns on their heavy tanks lacked overall ‘kill-power,’ but made up for the deficiency in sheer penetration power and pinpoint accuracy. At close range, the balance would tip in the favor of the Equestrians. At range, however, if left out in the open, the Greifens would literally tear Equestrian armor to pieces.

“Phaze?”

“Hmm?” Phaze turned and faced Luna after he heard his name being called, shifting his rifle in his grip to better face her without falling off the moving piece of armor.

“We’re going to be in range in a few minutes. Things will most definitely become the… ‘shit-fight?’” Luna said, double checking her vocabulary. Phaze nodded in acknowledgement.

“Alright. You should probably give the update to the rest of the division as well as Rainbow Dash up there.”

Luna nodded and picked up her radio:

“All units and Shadow Squadron, we are now less than two miles from the enemy line and force. Engage tactfully when in range and use the hills to your advantage, as the Greifen guns will tear you apart at range. Copy, we cannot compete with the enemy armaments at extreme ranges. We need to advance smartly with the help of Shadow Squadron,” Luna gave the update to her division; hearing dozens of confirmations come in immediately.

“Solid copy, Princess. Attacking targets and diverting attention, over and out,” Rainbow Dash’s voice chimed in over the radio. Luna hardened her gaze as they pushed forward. Several seconds later, the first tracer shells were passing the tanks and landing short of their armor. She witnessed two warplanes fly directly over her and launch missiles, striking a target beyond her view before they banked off into the sky. A shell was heard being dinged off the medium tank speeding ahead of their ride. The first line of enemy armor was positioning and easily within view and consequently, in range.

“Uhhh… Luna? You sure it’s safe to be riding this close?” Phaze asked her in a slightly concerned manner; hunkering over a bit more while Luna still kept her head high. She smirked a bit.

“My dear Phaze… where is thy sense of adventure?”

“Back in bed where I left it,” he replied sarcastically. The tanks were weaving in between the hills and dunes as shells were being traded back and forth from both belligerents. Most of the range disadvantage had been negated, at least for the front line of the Lunar Contingency. Luna looked back at him with an incredulous gaze and a half smirk before, literally, her world was rocked.

KABLAM!

“WOAH shit!”

The tank got dealt an enormous hit in the front and (luckily) swerved behind a large hill for cover as the rest of the division continued to advance. Phaze quickly grabbed Luna’s arm before she was thrown off by the enormous force of the swerving tank. He pulled her back and she slammed into him, forcing them both off their feet and prone on the tank’s slightly raised back as it came to rest, Luna landing on top of Phaze.

“Damn, Luna. I knew you cared but…”

“Shut up!” Luna shot back, quickly getting off of him and righting her helmet on her head. She then knocked on the top of the hatch, having it open shortly after, revealing one of the crew.

“Princess!?”

“Why hast thou stopped this armored vehicle? It has not been knocked out.”

“The round was a High Explosive shell. The commander and gunner are dead. We wouldn’t be able to cover their positions well,” the brown-haired crewman replied regretfully. Luna sighed and quickly glanced back to Phaze.

“Let us pass. We shall replace your fallen crew,” Luna replied, not giving the soldier a chance to move before forcing him aside. Phaze quickly followed suit. Luna retrieved a headset and binoculars from the fallen commander while Phaze cozied himself in the gunners seat. The crew all stared in awe at the Princess of the night commanding their tank but their star struck-ness diffused immediately when she gave out her first orders.

“All crew report in!”

“Driver here, view port has taken a bit of a hit but I have full range. Views and engine power are nominal.

“Loader reporting in, ammunition stored to maximum capacity and gun is ready to load.”

“Radio Op here, Signal is crystal clear and ready to transmit.”

“Gun looks to be working and sights are calibrated,” Phaze added. Luna nodded and adjusted the headband.

“Excellent. The Greifens are only a few hundred feet away, let us help the division. Move out of the hill cover!” Luna commanded, looking out the commander’s cupola. The tank roared to life and they were soon moving. Phaze turned the massive turret towards the enemy force. Their tank immediately came under heavy machine gun fire as well as a shell ricocheting off the solid turret. Luna studied the situation in front of her.

“Loader: Load Armor Piercing. Phaze: enemy medium tank engaging an armored personnel carrier.”

“Shell loaded!”

“Target Acquired!”

“Drop him!”

The tank’s enormous gun shattered the sound around it as the shell was propelled straight into the medium tank, the shell piercing through the orthogonally oriented armor like gelatin and destroying said tank in a large explosion. Luna grinned.

“Advance!”

The vehicle turned on its treads and pushed forward, more shells bouncing off the turret as they pushed forward, assisting the direct front line in pushing back the Greifen tanks and troops. Luna continued to bark out orders and commands, her mouth incessantly moving. It was a wonder to Phaze how she didn’t lose her voice… or her hearing from the cannon firing. The division slowly made progress with surprisingly minimal losses. The close quarters had negated the range advantage of the Greifen troops. Luna had deduced that they were facing only a modestly experienced corps, as if they were facing any elite Stosstruppen, the outcome could have been much different.

A loud clanging sound resonated through the fighting cabin.

“Cougar Tank! He dinged us!” Luna shouted.

“HEAT round loaded!”

“FIRE!”

The gun roared to life once more, completely obliterating the enemy tank’s left side and track. Though immobilized, it was far from out.

“Move the tank back! Reverse! Reverse!” Luna shouted as the Loader was reloading as fast as he could. It wasn’t good enough and the downed heavy shot right through the cabin, the shot piercing through their armor and exiting out the other side, taking equipment with it.

“AAAHHH!”

The ringing in Luna’s ears subsided as she righted herself, only for said ringing to be replaced with the cries of bloody agony from one of the crew. She frantically looked and found the driver’s compartment completely opened up, with the Driver on the tank floor behind the seat… missing his entire arm.

“CELESTIA WHAT THE FUCK!! AAAHHH!”

The roar of the gun once more silenced his cries as the offending tank was removed from existence.

“Phaze!! Take the driver’s seat and retreat!”

He did that without an answer as he quickly rushed into the remnants of the drivers port (the transmission and controls were surprisingly intact) and essentially limped the tank behind the burning corpse of another heavy. Luna continued to streamline her thoughts of next course of action through the agonizing cries of the mortally wounded tank driver as she threw the hatch open and carefully looked out to the outside world, watching her tanks and troops continue forward.

“I require a medic and field surgeon immediately!” she yelled out in her royal voice. Several troops with giant red crosses on their uniforms sprinted to the tank and helped hoist the profusely bleeding soldier out of the carcass and onto a stretcher so they could bandage and wrap what remained of his arm, as well as tend to his other shrapnel wounds. In all honesty, Luna didn’t think he would make it, much to her sadness. Phaze hopped out of the tank next to her to follow her lead.

There was success in pushing the enemy back, but Luna spotted something as she had a glance upwards. Her eyes widened and she made immediate contact with Rainbow Dash.

*In the sky: 3rd person POV*

 “Seventh tank destroyed!” Dash announced as she gingerly banked her plane up and to the left. Just as she was about to celebrate another inevitable victory, communications came in:

“Rainbow Dash, this is Luna. I’m uh… I’m looking at about eight new objects making haste for your position in the sky. Enemy interceptors!”

Rainbow shot a glance northward and indeed found two squads of Jagdflugzeuge Model 245’s, or JgFz-245’s speeding right in their direction. These were the most advanced interceptors Greifenraum produced, so they meant business. Dash only smirked with her exuding confidence and ordered her squad:

“Close up formation.”

The entire Shadow Squadron formed up perfectly in a matter of thirty seconds, right as the two lines of belligerent fighters flew into each other.

“Looks like we’ve got challengers. Whaddya say we rip each of them eight new assholes?” There were seven other collective cheers and agreements before they broke off and began a fierce dogfight. This was the type of combat and thrill that Dashie lived for!

She dropped her thrusters to low and executed an expert turn in order to get the drop on the enemy fighter, although this particular one proved to be elusive, mostly in part to the fact that the JgFz was a fair deal smaller than Dash’s own EQ-192 and as a result, much more nimble. The Greifens could definitely design warplanes.

The fighter crossed her crosshairs for a split second and Dashie took the shot, squeezing a burst of machine gun fire from her aircraft’s cannons and managed to score a hit as she flew right past him orthogonally. At first, nothing happened, but observing the enemy plane, it caught fire after three agonizingly long seconds.

“He’s cookin’ now!” she exclaimed as the plane slowly went down. She banked her craft left and chased after Lightning Dust, who was being attacked by two of the aircraft.

“Hey there, Dust! Need a hand?”

“These fuckers are persistent and accurate! I’ve already been dinged too many times and I can’t shake ‘em!”

“He’s gone!” Snowflake shouted. Dash peeled her vision away in time to see a wingless JgFz barreling to the ground. She also noticed that the Greifen armor was being systematically overrun. Only Luna could pull of overwhelming a numerically superior force in such little time.

“I’m coming!”

Dash kicked her thrusters to maximum and sped towards the three aircraft. Dash felt relieved when she checked her inventory and found a single Vortex Missile in stock.

“Keep ‘em busy, Dust, I’m getting a lock now!”

“SHIT I’m locked on!” Lightning notified in a semi-panicked state, the blaring ‘lock-on’ alarm able to be heard through her communications.

“Calm down Dust, bank low!”

Come… on… FIND HIM!

LOCK ON!

*TARGET-LOCK*

Gotcha…

A split millisecond before Dash pressed the launch button, a missile shot out from under the lead interceptor and flew directly into Dust’s plane, completely obliterating it where it flew.

“DUST!”

The rear plane had been destroyed by Dash’s missile and the lead interceptor flew through the fiery remains of Lightning Dust’s jet.

“Lieutenant, Shadow 3’s craft has been destroyed. Confirmed KIA.”

Dash slammed her fist down on her cockpit mantle in enormous rage before chasing after that one aircraft in pure bloodlust. During that engagement, two more of the enemy planes were downed. However, the interceptor proved faster and took the cowards way out: it was able to form up with one of its comrades and escape the battlefield… something Dash took as an ENORMOUS “fuck you,” as she wasn’t authorized to engage from that airspace. She helped finish off the remaining two interceptors who couldn’t escape, with extreme prejudice.

*Back on the ground: 3rd person POV*

“Princess, the interceptors have been dealt with and our ammunition is running low,” Dash informed in a more stoic attitude. Luna easily inferred that she lost one of her squad mates. Now was not the time to bring it up, however. She beckoned Phaze as they continued to slowly advance several hundred meters on foot behind the tanks.

“A solid copy, Rainbow Dash. You may return to base. I hope to see you soon,” Luna replied cautiously.

“You got it Princess. Shadow Squadron, over and out.”

The Princess of the Night watched the seven planes leave in formation, a distinct gap between Rainbow’s Lead plane and the third one on the left. This easily confirmed Luna’s suspicions. She’d be sure to see Rainbow when she undoubtedly was given leave to return to Ponyville for a couple of days.

“Princess?” Phaze asked, rifle in hand, curious as to what they were to do next. Luna only looked at him with sad eyes before she beckoned him to follow her. The two fell in step easily as they advanced farther, ready to aid in mopping up any resistance left, as well as take care of wounded and prisoners.

The battle on the ground and air had been won… but the victors weren’t the only ones that observed. Several miles behind the retreating Greifen corps stood two large hills… almost mountains in terms of height. Standing on the ridge were six personnel of the Greifen Military: Four soldiers and two officers. One of these officers, looking through a set of high powered binocular telescopes, was more adorned than the other and he carried a more commanding aura with his posture and figure.

His gloved hands lowered the viewing device, revealing a softly tanned, perfectly groomed, and a gaze so stoic it screamed “Greifen Military.” The black and grey dress was adorned with several medals and the insignia of Oberst, Colonel, in the Greifen Heer, Army.  His facial expression could not be read, leaving a nigh trapezoidal shape with his mouth and light brown eyes surveying the field. He wiped his cleft-chin with his left hand and sighed audibly. The second officer, with the lesser rank of Stabsfeldwebel, Warrant Officer, stood next to him before addressing them in their language:

“Are you alright, Sir?”

The Colonel merely crossed his hands behind his back, binoculars still in hand, and raising them to his eyes again again.

“And so, Equestria’s Guardian of the Night rears her head. Luna leads the troops in battle. Admirable,” he replied, not answering the question.

“…Sir? You seem to be taking a defeat in stride.”

“That is assuming I was the one who ordered the advance of troops this far into Equestrian territory. That was the job of Oberfeldmarschal Königsohn. I was put in charge of supervision. His plan was doomed to fail regardless,” the Colonel explained. “He believed he could get so close to Canterlot with little resistance. It is readily apparent that he did not take the lessons that history wrought from the First Global Conflict… And as a result of his overzealous behavior, a high ranking Corps Commander is dead and several other Commissioned Officers captured… and eight soon-to-be Ace Pilots have been lost. The Kaiser will certainly dismiss him.”

“And the Kaiser will most certainly promote you. Shall we divert another force to rout the Equestrians here?” the Stabsfeldwebel asked.

“Nein. We have nothing to gain from that course of action. With the Princess of the Night leading that division, they are nearly unbreakable by anything but a field army. And we need all our troops spread across the line.” The Colonel spoke.

“Then, what shall we do now?”

“Leave the Corps to their fate. They’ll both retreat and entrench themselves, or get destroyed… most likely the former. For what we do now… we wait for the opportune moment to strike.” He unraveled a map from his pocket and opened it for the two to see. “If things fall into place ideally, two heavily fortified lines will be formed, essentially stagnating into trench warfare. However, the Equestrians will be mobilizing against the Draconians and Crystallians as well as us, so their concentration of forces will not be as heavy. Using a diversionary strike, we can break out through… here… and deliver a quick thrust with about eighty-thousand troops here.” He placed his finger around the town, which had been growing and expanding into a small city, of Ponyville.

“Forgive me for not being informed, Colonel Schwert, but why use such overwhelming force against a small city?”

The Colonel only grinned at his ignorance.

“Ponyville is the lebensraum of six very important figures of the Equestrian population: The Elements of Harmony: Six young women who have the ability to channel enormous power through their respective… well, Element. Taking the six as prisoners of war would be a Public Relations disaster for Equestria and morale would plummet across all fronts,” Stahl Schwert explained. He lowered the viewing device once more before putting on a malicious looking, full toothed smile. The Warrant Officer shuddered internally.

“You take pride in knowing your enemy, don’t you, Colonel?”

“Nein. I know not what I know now due to my research.” He closed his binoculars. “Merely I was a witness to their raw power. And Ponyville, as well as Equestria…” his hand flared in a blood red aura and floated the binoculars into his coat. “… used to be my home.”  Schwert turned away from the battlefield, adjusted his cap, and walked off, the dumbfounded Warrant Officer following close and finally the soldiers escorting them.