”Achtung! Achtung! This is not a drill! General Quarters! General Quarters! All hands man your battle stations!” Eugene bolted upright in his bed as klaxons began blaring through the airship, he swung his legs over the side of his bed and landed right in his boots. He quickly tied them and grabbed his jacket while other crew members rushed through the large crew quarters, some of them wearing nothing more than their pants and a t-shirt as they rushed to get to their battle stations. The alert kept repeating as Eugene rushed towards a nearby stairway that lead to the deck, numerous crew of all races were rushing up that ladder as quickly as they could.

His heart was pounding as he ascended the steps two at a time, the cold morning air hit him like a wall but he didn’t stop for a second. He slipped his uniform jacket on, neglecting the buttons as he charged towards the front of the ship from his position in the middle. As he ran he saw humans, thestrals, griffons, diamond dogs and changelings alike were manning the machine guns and anti-air batteries that lined the side of the ship. The alarm continued ringing through his ears as he finally reached the front turret and climbed inside, the dim red light from his previous visit had been replaced by bright regular lights as the gun crew began readying the four eighty-five millimeters for combat.

Eugene took up his position near a viewport in the front of the turret as his fellow gun crew began loading shells into the cannons. He was a loader as well, but he was also a lookout, and that meant looking through the viewport to try and get an idea what the panic was about.

“Crank it around! Bearing two-seven-zero! Standard elevation!” Shouted one of the weapon’s officers, a woman of Mexican descent with her black hair tied back in a ponytail. Eugene pulled on a radio headset to block out the inevitable noise of the guns while maintaining communication with his fellow gun crew. The turret groaned as it began turning to the port, as it turned Eugene spotted something out of place. A large front of storm clouds was approaching the ship from across the border. The USS Reliant, one of the Kirov’s sister ships, was also briefly visible before it began to descend in altitude, it too had its weapons pointed towards the storm front. “Turret one to bridge! All weapons ready!”

Captain Petra watched the storm front cooly from the bridge of the Kirov, her talons tapping against a metal railing set up near the window. The orders had come through directly from the President himself, engage and destroy any vessel entering American airspace. It had been conveyed that the Equestrians could be using the storm front as a shield against fighter attack, but that wouldn’t discourage the grumpy griffon captain from completing her orders. The airships had taken up positions ten miles from the border, giving them room enough to maneuver if the need arose. For several minutes the American ships remained at the ready, the clouds rumbled closer and closer.

“Weapons control! Set timed fuse on first volley for ten miles!” Petra ordered through the intercom to the two main turrets, the gun crews complied and began adjusting the fuses. With the aid of augmented propellant the shell would fly more than that if it didn’t detonate. If her gut was wrong, the shells would explode harmlessly on the American side of the border rather than landing on the Equestrian side of the border.

”Weapon’s set!” Came the reply from the turrets.

“Fire first volley.” Petra ordered as she raised a pair of binoculars to her eyes and watched the storm clouds. There was a brief delay before the turrets of the Kirov roared to life, firing their first shots in anger. Bright flashes of purple fire exited the barrels as Petra watched the vapor trails of the shells zoom towards the stormfront. The shells detonated right as they entered the clouds, blasting the Equestrian built storm system apart. Petra’s eyes widened in shock as she watched the clouds begin to vanish in a chain reaction of lightning, revealing a fleet of six Equestrian airships.

“Visual contact! Bearing Two-seven-five! Equestrian flags!” Shouted one of the lookouts that had a stronger pair of binoculars. “Mare-of-war class frigates!” Petra watched the vessels through her binoculars, they had officially crossed the border. The hulls were made out of iron and they had flat bottoms, most likely intended for landing on sand. Large gasbags were what suspended them in the air. Large sails were mounted on the sides, as well as a fin on the back to act as a rudder.

“All batteries! Fire at will!” Petra ordered as she watched a swarm of pegasi start to take off from the decks of the airships in the distance. The guns began firing full force, slinging shells at the Equestrian warships like there was no tomorrow. “Ahead flank! Prepare for evasive maneuvers!”

“Ahead flank, aye!” Shouted the stallion at the helm, signalling the engines for more power as they angled forward.

Aboard the Equestrian Airship ‘Sapphire’ there was complete chaos as shells from the American vessels began to strike their ship as well as the other ships in their formation. The captain was trying to get more speed out of his ship’s sails, only to watch in horror as an American shell exploded and blew one of the sails clean off the ship.

“Come on, lads! We can do this! There are only two of them!” He shouted as the fleet of six airships charged onwards towards the two cruisers, he was certain that the boarding parties would be able to subdue any resistance and put the fight to an end before they could sustain too much damage. As the swarm of pegasi got closer to the American ships he started seeing flashes of light streaking across the sky, lots of them. To his horror he could see Royal Guards dropping from the sky like flies to the withering fire.

The animosity for the NUS amongst many of the Equestrian crew was palpable, many of them had let their manes grow long to show support to their nation and princess. That hatred was what was driving them onwards towards the teeth of the American’s frantic defense, little did they know that there problems were only just getting started. After several minutes of struggle the Equestrian ships had closed the gap from ten miles to two, their boarding parties were constantly being picked off by the American defenders who were starting to turn their smaller weapons on the Equestrian airships.

“Prepare for broadside!” The captain of the Sapphire ordered, the helmspony began turning the wheel and turning the ship to bring its weapons to bare. Unlike the Americans, the Equestrians were using large ballista based weapons that fired powerful magic bolts. The captain raised a spyglass to get a look at the target of his ships wrath, he could see the bridge and whom he assumed to be the captain. To his surprise, she was smiling. Through all the confusion he could see her point a talon above him as she barked orders.

The turrets on the American ship began to spin, their cannons going higher in angle as the ship began to circle the Sapphire. The captain was hit with a sudden realization, the broadside had been exactly what the enemy captain had wanted.

“Emergency descend-!” The captain began to yell, but he was drowned out as the cannons roared to life. The gasbag of his ship was hit with a punishing volley, and unlike ballista bolts, the holes that were left behind were massive. The outer skin of the gasbag caught fire as the ship began to fall from the sky, many of the crew were thrown clear as it plummeted to the desert floor below.

“Ura!” Captain Petra shouted as she watched the enemy vessel plummet from the sky and crash to the ground in flames. “The Reliant is drawing the fire from the other five! Let’s give them a hand! Load incendiary rounds!”

Eugene slammed another shell into the breach as the ship turned to engage the other five Equestrian airships that were chasing the USS Reliant. The turret rotated with a whine as it lined up with the gasbag of one of the other ships, the gunnery officers hit the firing mechanism, the guns fired and ejected the shells in the process. A cheer went up through the turret as they watched yet another gasbag burst open and another ship plummet to its demise. The Reliant was taking fire from unicorns and the occasional shot from the Equestrian’s forward facing cannons, but it was holding its own as its rear turret fired on one of its pursuers.

The explosion that filled the sky was extremely bright, and Eugene saw the Equestrian airship splinter into twisted metal whilst its gasbag began to float away on the wind. He didn’t have time to celebrate however, as he went back to ramming more rounds into the gun. The shells continued to fly as the remaining three Equestrian ships did their best to win a losing battle. They had flown far too inland of the American border, and the Kirov was blocking their means of escape.

On the horizon Eugene could see specks zooming towards the battle, from within the American homeland.

“Hey! Our fighters are here! Let’s not let ‘em take the credit!” He shouted, there was a cheer from the crew as the continued with their duties.

[♠]

Jack gritted his teeth as he pushed the throttle forwards on his P-38, the engine was roaring in anger as he closed on the aerial battle ahead. His heart was pounding as the sun began to rise higher and higher into the sky, on his wings were his squadron mates while his wingwoman was Sarah. The radio chatter was already flooding his headset, calling out targets of opportunity like the fleeing ponies from the ships that had already been destroyed. He wasn’t going to go after them, it would be a waste of effort more than an issue of honor.

“Sarah! You set?” He called over the radio, he looked over to Sarah’s P-38 and saw her giving him a thumbs up.

”I’m set.” She said coldly, she had been oddly quiet since they had been scrambled. Jack shook his head softly as he pulled back the throttle, they were close enough that he didn’t need it going as fast. He selected one of the airships that was making an attack run on the Reliant from the starboard side, Jack smirked quietly as he lined up his own attack vector. Slung beneath each P-38 was a single two-hundred-and-fifty pound bomb, and Jack intended to deliver his to that airship’s gasbag.

He depressed the trigger, the aircraft shuddered as the machineguns in the nose boomed and sent streaks of hot lead at the Equestrian aggressor. Jack pulled out of his dive and hit the release on the bomb, it fell away from the plane as he and Sarah banked away from the airship. To his surprise there wasn’t any explosion, at least not at first. The bomb had hit the gasbag and punched clean through it, tumbling down onto the deck of the Equestrian airship before it exploded. Jack looked over his shoulder and chuckled his usual ghoulish chuckle as he watched the airship begin to list, several of the ropes keeping it attached to the gasbag had snapped. The man brought his aircraft around for another pass, firing his guns once again at the deck of the listing vessel. The strain of it all proved too much for the remaining ropes, and the ship completely detached from the gasbag.

The ship fell to the ground like a stone, crumpling into twisted wreckage as it slammed into the sandy desert floor with almost all hands lost. Jack prepared to line up another attack on one of the remaining airships, but the Kirov and Reliant fired at almost the same time. Both enemy ship’s were struck in the gasbags, suffering similar fates to their other fallen comrades as the Equestrian crews attempted to flee over the border. Jack watched a swarm fly off the deck of the Kirov, no doubt they were crew members that were seeking out the survivors to take as prisoners or something along those lines.

“Did you see that? Took out an airship by myself!” Jack said cheerfully over the radio, there were a couple comments from the other pilots congratulating him, one even imitating Gimli from the ‘Lord of the Rings’ by saying ‘It still only counts as one!’. Sarah, however was surprisingly silent. “Alright… Let’s head back to Doolittle.” Jack pushed up the throttle as they squadron got back into formation, for some people it had seemed odd to have their squadron respond to a fight in Sector Two when they were stationed in Sector Four. However, Jack knew it was because they were the best of the best. Even if the airships had been able to keep things under control, he knew the President had chosen his unit to defend America’s sky.

”Reliant here… We’re pretty banged up, but we’re still in the air. Need to return to base.” The radio buzzed, Jack looked out the window at the airship. It looked worse for wear than he had originally thought, the front turret appeared jammed, there were magic burn holes along the side of the vessel, each side had an engine that was either seized up or completely gone, and there were numerous injured or dead crew that he could see on the deck. ”Hell of a fight though, eh Petra?”

”Da.” The captain of the Kirov replied, Jack changed channels to one that only he and Sarah shared, then reduced the speed so that he was flying next to her. The young man looked over at her cockpit, hoping to at least catch a glimpse of her doing what she normally did when she flew. She’d either sway back and forth in her seat, or move her head to some song she was humming, but she wasn’t doing either. She was sitting stock still, her eyes fixated on the instrument panel.

“Sarah… You alright?” Jack asked, the woman looked over at him for a couple seconds, he could hear her breathing heavily over the radio. “Are you hit?”

”No… I’m fine, Jack.” Sarah replied in a distant tone as she leaned back in her seat, Jack frowned quietly and began to speak again. ”Look, not all of us can be excited about killing people like you, okay Ghoul!” Sarah stopped herself, but it was too late. Even from her plane she could see the look of hurt that spread through the young man’s eyes. ”Jack, I’m sorry I called you-”

“We should cut the chatter.” Jack cut her off, doing his best to hide the tremble in his voice. It was very rare that the two of them ever were at odds, but Jack couldn’t let his personal feelings interfere with the mission. They were at war, he had to prove himself to be worthy to himself as well as his country. “Focus on the mission, right Major?”

”Right…” Sarah replied with a sigh before she flipped back over to the normal channel, she could hear more chatter from Doolittle Aerodrome that seemed to say they were holding their own. She just hoped that they could last until the cavalry arrived. Over the radio from the Kirov, she could hear the occasional message to the Reliant. In the background she could hear singing, prompting her to wonder just who could be singing at such a terrible time.

[♠]

Eugene stood on the deck, looking down at the smoldering wreckage on the desert floor. He was smiling from ear to ear, mainly because he was alive and they weren’t. The mood on board was one of victory, music was playing from over the loudspeakers. The Equestrians had six airships, they had sunken six airships. The victory had gotten so many crew members excited they had started singing, it was pretty catchy all things considered. Eugene thought that was just there way of coping with being at war once again, his expression turning dower for a couple seconds before he turned and started walking towards the bridge.

The ship was changing course to continue its patrol, just in case the Equestrians had anything else up their sleeves.

[♠]

Luna stood in silence as she watched Dominic and his generals look at the map on the table, they were pointing things out and talking rapidly, but the Princess couldn’t make any of it out. A great sorrow had formed in her heart, the weight of the world felt like it was pushing down on her chest. The mare knew that what they were discussing would mean the destruction of so much that she loved, and yet she knew that it would need to be done. Tears ran down her cheeks, even as she kept her face as calm as she could, it wasn’t enough to fool the young President. He quietly walked away from the map table and approached her, she wrapped her hooves around him tightly as he patted her neck.

“It’s going to be alright, Luna… I promise.” Dominic said softly as Luna let go of him, she could see that the tired expression was gone, the exhaustion in his eyes had turned to anger. “Why don’t you head on home, okay? I’ll be along soon enough.” Luna nodded, if she had opened her mouth she would’ve lost her composure and broken down on the floor of the War Room. Dominic signaled a thestral to come over and escort the Princess out, the President watched her for a couple moments before turning back to his Generals. He walked back to the map and looked it over.

“Kirov reports six ships destroyed, sir. They were coming down from Baltimare, from the looks of it.” General Bulwark said as he pointed a pin marking the first real battle of the war, Dominic nodded quietly. “Estimates are they were going to try and sneak around the heavily defended areas and move to bombard New Liberty.” Dominic sighed quietly as he looked around, knowing fully well that if he was going to retaliate, it could have a devastating effect on Equestrian civilians. The man shook his head, it was war now, it had to be done.

“Has Doolittle or any of the other Bases come under attack?” Dominic asked, Bulwark shook his head as Dominic rubbed his chin. “Let’s not waste time waiting for them to try. Scramble our long range bombers at Doolittle. Target… Canterlot. Go for military and industrial targets only. Have the rest of our bomber bases on standby.” Bulwark nodded quietly as Dominic watched one of the other generals begin moving a couple pins across the map, one of them he recognized as representing a Sniper team. Sniper Team ‘QD’, or ‘Queen of Death’, had been deployed to the front as per protocol.

Dominic frowned slightly, realizing that Maria was once again in danger. A sense of anger filled him at the thought of her being hurt, there hadn’t even been a formal declaration of war and the Equestrians were already making his life hell. He hoped that the retaliatory bombing raid would be enough to knock some sense into the Equestrians, but he doubted that would be the case. The Equestrians were xenophobes through and through, and though a small amount of them supported the United States he knew the overwhelming majority hated the NUS and his species in general.

“Mister President.” A soldier too the side stated, Dominic looked over with a raised eyebrow. “Radio, sir. It’s Canterlot.” Dominic gritted his teeth and walked away from the map table, adjusting his uniform before he reached the microphone and picked it up. He became aware that a good portion of his generals were watching, as well as other ponies. Bulwark used the moment to deliver the orders for the bombing raid to a radio operator who promptly sent them.

“Celestia.” He said flatly into the radio, listening for the response.

”Dominic… Listen to me. You can’t win this, don’t you understand?” Celestia’s voice came sternly through the radio, Dominic remained quiet. ”The only way to keep the rest of the world at peace is if Equestria is at the helm. Just give up before more lives are lost.”

“Odd hearing nationalist propaganda from you.” Dominic said bitterly, the radio remained quiet for a couple seconds. “If you want a war, I’ll give you a war. You’ve sown the wind, Celestia… Prepare to reap the whirlwind.” The man set the microphone down, ignoring any further words from the Princess of the Sun. “How long until our bombers are in the air?”

“Ten minutes, sir. They’ve been sitting ready on the tarmac as per your orders.” General Labeau replied, Dominic nodded quietly as he looked to the map once more. “It will take them four hours to get over the target. We’re sending them out with P-47s as escorts.” Dominic nodded again, looking back at the map where he saw the Sniper Team marker. It had been moved closer to Doolittle Aerodrome, he knew that he couldn’t call Maria back, even if he could she wouldn’t have come. She was committed to her duty, one of the things that Dominic loved so much about her.

He only wished he had had an opportunity to say goodbye.

Author's Notes:

Here's another chapter for you guys, I've already gotten most of the stuff worked out, so there should be a new chapter tomorrow, or later today... One of the two.

Here's your clip! It's an older video, but still funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guEkrrfDpZI