Princess Luna looked out over the tarmac of Doolittle Aerodrome, watching as a fire crew sprayed a B-17 that had crashed when the surviving crew had been forced to bail out. That wasn’t why she had been called to the base though, neither was the sound of fighting in the distance. No, the Ruler of the Night had come to see what had to be one of the strangest migrations she had ever seen. It wasn’t so much a migration as it was a mass exodus of thestrals, many of them had carried their young with them while others had done their best to carry their armor and weaponry.

The base commander was clearing space in an aircraft hangar for the six hundred or so thestrals to get out of sun, for the moment though they had started setting up tents for the younger ones to sit under. Luna was being escorted towards them from the plane she had just stepped off of by a pair of thestrals in American uniforms, the princess looked at them quietly, hoping that there would be some sort of familiar face. The thestrals that were in the Lunar guard snapped to salutes while the civilians bowed as she passed by them, seeing how tired and hot they were, Luna was almost brought to tears for the second time that day.

She came to a full stop when she had reached the center of the group, the thestrals stared at her silently, waiting for her to say something. Luna’s horn glowed with magic, she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as she fired off a blast of magic into the sky. The spell drew a lot of energy out of her, but it was well worth it to see a light blue dome form over the crowd. The air began to cool off considerably, Luna panted heavily as her head began to ache. One of the thestrals escorting her was quick to help her keep her balance while the immigrants mumbled among themselves.

“M-My dear subjects…” Luna said as loudly as she could, shaking her head several times before forcing herself to stand up straight. She was glad that so many had made it to her, and yet, there were still so few. Of the ten thousand thestrals still living in Equestria, only six hundred seemed to have escaped. “It… It brings me such joy to see you here safely, and yet… There are so few.” The mare looked at the ground and wiped her eyes. “I have failed so many of you… All I can hope to do is offer you shelter in this new land…”

“We came to fight for you, my queen!” A voice called out from the air, Luna’s eyes widened as she looked up to spot who had spoken. Moving above the crowd of thestrals was the familiar sight of Field Marshal Eventide, he looked like he’d just jumped out of an aircraft. Though, judging by the burning aircraft that was now under control, that would explain why he hadn’t come to her sooner. The stallion landed in front of her and saluted, Luna’s heart fluttered at the sight of the familiar face. She had feared she had lost one of the few ponies that she called friend, nearly family. “Isn’t that right?!”

“A’oo! A’oo! A’oo!” The thestrals gathered around Luna chanted dutifully, Luna watched as Eventide took to hovering off the ground once again.

“We have flown this far to aid you, my Queen! We have come to serve as your soldiers! Three hundred Lunar Legionaries and their families, ready to fight for the glory of you and your nation!” Eventide shouted, there were numerous cheers from the tired looking crowd. Luna felt a bit of pride welling up in her chest, despite all that had happened that day, she still held the hearts and minds of the ponies she had sworn to care for and protect. Even though she had failed them so many times, they still stood with her. “For the glory of the night! For the glory of our fallen homeland, and our new home! We stand as one to serve you, your majesty!”

Luna stood up straighter as she heard the impassioned speech of her most faithful officer, there had been a reason she had chosen him to lead her army beyond his skill on the battlefield. War with her sister was unavoidable now, and if she had learned anything from her time with the humans, it was to roll with the punches and make do with what she could. Dominic had given her the authority to form her own military divisions, so long as they answered to the NUS Government. It was part of her authority as a provisional government official.

“And so you shall, my children of the night.” Luna said with a nod. “And so you shall…” The mare looked to the two thestrals that had escorted her across the base, they were standing at attention and looking at her with waiting expressions. “Please, see to it the civilians are given shelter until we can find them somewhere in New Liberty.” The thestrals nodded quietly. “Those of you who are going to fight, I know you have flown far, but you will need to fly further. Eat, drink, and prepare yourselves!”

“A’oo!” Three hundred of the six hundred refugees shouted, thrusting their hooves into the air as a form of salute. The other military personnel on the base began escorting the warriors towards the mess hall while the civilians chose to stay within the doom of cool air that Luna had summoned for them. The Princess of the night gestured for Eventide to follow her as she began walking towards the edge of the base, the thestral dutifully fell in step beside her. In silence they approached one of the gates that was closest to the sound of fighting in the distance, clouds of smoke were visible in the distance.

“How bad was it…?” Luna asked quietly, Eventide looked at her with an uncertain expression. “How many were lost trying to get here…?” Eventide looked at her for several seconds, his expression becoming a frown as he rubbed the back of his neck and tried to think of a way to answer his Queen. He didn’t like hiding things from her, but he wasn’t sure he could tell her just how many had been killed or captured.

“Not nearly as many as-” He began.

“How. Many.” Luna said sternly, not taking her eyes off the horizon. In the distance she could see a humvee driving towards the base, she assumed it had to be some sort of messenger or something along those lines. Eventide sighed and looked at the ground.

“Four hundred… Most of them died fighting off the Solar goons, protecting the mares and foals…” Eventide admitted, he watched as Luna closed her eyes. The Field Marshal was stunned to see a couple tears run down her cheeks, in all his time in her service he had never seen her break down in tears.

“My sister is a fool…” Luna said bitterly as she kept her eyes closed, listening as the distant sound of artillery subsided. “So used to the rule of Equestria above all others, she thinks that by taking over this land it will maintain her position in the spotlight of the global spotlight… With the intention of maintaining peace…” Eventide jumped back as he watched Luna slam her hoof against the concrete tarmac they stood on, the impact left cracks in its wake. “What a cruel irony this is… Now it is I that must stop her. All the while lives will be lost…”

The humvee driving towards the base slowed as it approached the gate, Luna looked towards it and noticed that Maria was sitting in the passenger seat. The guards in the guard house opened the gate, allowing the humvee to pass through. It stopped as it passed through the gate, Maria stepped out of the vehicle and said a quick word to someone in the back before patting the side. The humvee drove off, leaving Maria to turn and start walking towards Luna. Eventide raised an eyebrow at the newcomer, watching as the woman removed the scarf from her head and slipped it into her backpack. Luna flinched as she noticed a couple bruises and scratches, especially around the woman’s throat.

“Maria… Are you alright?! Your neck!” Luna said as Maria got closer, the woman nodded quietly as she stopped and looked at Eventide. The thestral was more muscular than most, and he had an almost aristocratic nose. Eventide had heard stories that ponies found human female’s marginally attractive, he was still on the fence about it, though he had to admit the woman’s apparent ruggedness was appealing.

“I’m fine, Luna… Just a little scuffle.” Maria replied as she got closer to Luna, Eventide was surprised to watch as the woman and the alicorn embraced before sharing a kiss. “Dominic’s fine too, word came through on the radio that they just took the fort.”

“Good…” Luna said before she stepped back from Maria to gesture to Eventide. “Maria, this is my friend, Field Marshal Eventide. Commander of my private guard.” Maria turned and looked at him with a bit more appraisal, then nodded as if satisfied with whatever she had found. “Eventide, this is Maria, one of my herd mates…” Eventide nodded quietly and bowed his head, as it was customary. When he rose he decided to take a closer look at the woman, she had an odd human weapon over her shoulder, and she was covered in dust. “What are you doing back here? Aren’t you advancing with Dominic?”

“He sent me back here to catch my breath… In about an hour Melissa and I are moving back to the front.” Maria explained, the woman rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly as she looked at Eventide, then at Luna. The Field Marshal quickly picked up on the cue.

“I’m going to see to the soldiers preparing to go to New Liberty…” Eventide said before clicking his hooves together and bowing to Luna, then opened his wings and took off. Maria and Luna were left alone as the wind began to pick up, the sand of the desert started blow across the tarmac.

“I killed at least five ponies today…” Maria said quietly as she walked over to Luna and stood next to her, looking out towards where the fighting had taken place. “Five years ago I thought they were the cutest things on the planet, and now I’m killing them…” The woman wiped her eyes tiredly, the sand on her cheeks made it evident that there were tear streaks. “What’s worse, I don’t feel anything… I used to feel something when I’d take out the EOL, but… Now it’s all numb. Am I some sort of monster for that?”

“No, my dear sweet Maria…” Luna said as she opened her wing and draped it over the woman’s shoulder. “You’re just in shock, in time you’ll feel something… I can tell you I’m having that same feeling right now…” Maria sighed and hugged Luna tightly, rubbing her head against the mare’s fur. “You should get some food and water if you’re going back to the front… Come on, I’ll join you.”

“Okay…” Maria replied softly, the two of them began walking towards the Mess hall. Luna cast a brief look over her shoulder at the clearing cloud of smoke in the distance, she didn’t want to say goodbye to either of the ones she loved, but she knew that they had to go and fight. She would join them soon enough, with her loyal subjects at her side, she would do her part.

[♠]

“Suppressing fire! Suppressing fire!” Dominic shouted as he fired away from the machine gun of the turret, the ground offensive to take Appleloosa was just beginning and the royal guards garrisoned there were putting up just as much a bitter fight as their comrades had in the fort. The commander watched as his soldiers advanced on foot, feeling upset with himself that he was armored in a tank while they were taking a far greater risk. “Keep those fuckers suppressed, goddamn it!”

Arrows deflected off the tank’s armor as the guards gave it everything they had, more than a few soldiers were being carted off the field on stretchers as a result of their lack of armor. The Equestrians had learned to combine their spells against the tanks, making it significantly harder for the tanks to advance. Appleloosa was an earth pony town, but their guard force was comprised mostly of unicorns. Speaking of the residents of the town, they too were taking part in the battle. Ineffectively tossing pies and apples at the soldiers or building up barricades, the order had been given that if they threw in the enemy they would be treated as the enemy.

“Gear! Get this hunk of steel moving, damn it! Support our men on the ground!” Dominic ordered, the tank lurched forwards and began to charge the town, leading an example for the other tanks that had stopped to suppress the city from a distance. “Move your asses! Get the lead out, come on!” The tank began passing troops that had taken cover on the ground, they quickly stood up and began following the tank as it moved in.

”Unicorn team in the bell tower! Put some rounds up there, chief!” Someone shouted over the radio, Dominic turned the aim of the fifty cal to the bell tower in question. He depressed the trigger, sending tracers and other rounds into the bell tower, knocking brick and glass away as best he could until the weapon clicked empty.

“Reloading!” He shouted as he grabbed a fresh box of munitions and began to slip it into the heavy machine gun.

”Firing!” Announced the voice of Jen from the tank next to his, she was on the turret and began to fire on the bell tower while Dominic’s turret swiveled. The hyrdaulics whined as it moved, the tracks of the tank clanking like the bells of the almighty come to reap the souls of the enemy.

”Target locked in! Weapon set!” Fire Breeze announced over the intercom as the cannon’s elevation rose.

”On the way!” Avos quickly followed up, the cannon roared as it sent a shell towards the clock tower. There was a massive ringing noise as the shell exploded, sending twisted wreckage of a brass bell and brick debris to the ground around the base of the tower. ”Fire mechanism reset! Load it!”

“Target destroyed!” Dominic announced as the tank got even closer to the town, arrows were still pinging off the armor. He finished loading the fifty and focussed his aim on a block house on the furthest edge of town. “Echo Company! Set up a foot hold on that block house! Follow my tracers!” The man fired several rounds towards the house in question, the soldiers behind the tank prepared themselves to leave the safety of the armored shield that had spearheaded their advance across a field of sand and dust with hardly any cover. “Keep that defensive line suppressed!” Dominic gritted his teeth, the sound of popping rounds was dragging him back to his time on Earth, and the battle for Denver.

He began firing on the defenses of the western themed town, hay bales did little against fifty caliber rounds, especially tracer rounds. One of the bales of hay burst into flames, choking black smoke began to rise from it as the ponies behind it rushed to find new cover. The soldiers behind the tank moved and took cover behind the blockhouse, unfortunately they hadn’t been able to use APCs as they were being filled with supplies to continue the advance. Once the American’s set up a foothold in Appleloosa, they could air drop supplies there and use the Equestrian road system for supplies. That kept running through Dominic’s mind, at the same time, if a couple roads had to be cratered to take the town it was alright.

The tanks were advancing once again, helping to cover the advance of the infantry, even as unicorns began to fire spells out of windows. Dominic watched a mare in guard armor poke her head out the window of the sheriff’s office and turned his aim towards the building, however he held his finger over the trigger as he watched a white flag appear from the doorway. It was rapidly being waved, frantically trying to get the attention of the American’s.

“Cease fire!” Dominic shouted into the radio, he could hear the order being echoed through the units behind him as he examined the pony mare that poked her head out of the office again. “Gear, advance on the Sherrif’s office. Avos…”

”One false move and it’ll be rubble, sir!” The griffon replied rapidly, Dominic nodded as an eerie silence fell over the town. The tank rolled passed buildings, some had been reduced to splinters in the fight, others were almost completely untouched. The howling wind began to carry smoke away from the burning bale of hay, as well as several other small fires that had sprouted up during the fighting. The cannon lowered towards the door of the sheriff’s office, the tank stopped just a couple feet from it. Dominic quietly climbed out of the turret as other tanks moved into the town, capitalizing on the cease fire.

The man climbed down from the tank and approached the mare, the engine of his vehicle rumbling as his boots left noticeable imprints in the sandy soil. The mare’s helmet was missing, but she was wearing the armor of the royal guard, Dominic could see numerous dead guards and ponies lying about the street, and he could hear pained groaning from inside the sheriff’s office. The mare’s mane was long and disheveled from her helmet.

“As highest ranking officer of the remaining royal guard in this town… I… I…” The mare began, quietly looking over her shoulder, then back at Dominic. The man’s face was stoic and unyielding, his right hand rested on his hip, near his side arm, while his left was used to lean against the tank. All he lacked was a cowboy hat and a duster, he would’ve been a dead ringer for a cowboy of a spaghetti western. Fitting, considering the setting they found themselves standing in. “I surrender the town, and our forces… On the condition they get proper medical care…” The mare quietly levitated her sword from her belt and held it horrizontally, presenting it to the commander with a scowl.

“I accept your surrender.” Dominic said as he took the sword from her and set it on the tank beside him. “Have your wounded brought here, they’ll be tended to.” The mare nodded quietly and turned to walk back inside, Dominic took the sword and climbed back up to the turret. With a sigh he set it down next to the machine gun and took the radio from inside. “Alright, they’re giving up. Move in, secure the town, have a couple pony doctors brought up for their wounded.” The commander looked to the sky, watching as the sun began to set. It had been twelve hours since the war had begun, and nearly two days since he had had a good night sleep. “Pass the word along that we’re going to fortify here for the night.”

Dominic quietly sighed as the town came under American control, soldiers rushed about as they cleared buildings of Royal Guards. American pegasi soldiers pushed a couple nearby clouds over the town and began using them to douse the fires that had started, American tanks began setting up positions around the northern part of the town as soldiers began digging foxholes and constructing tents. Dominic adjusted his helmet and climbed back into the tank, resting quietly in the chair as he looked over the sword that he had taken from the mare.

“What a fucking day…” He muttered softly as he looked at the crew of his tank, they looked at him with similar expressions of exhaustion. “Let’s form up on the defensive line, after that…” The man leaned his head back against the metal turret of the tank and pulled the hatch closed. “One quarter watch, I’ll take the first shift…”

“I’ll take it, sir.” Gear Grinder said over the intercom, Dominic was going to refuse, but decided to nod his head simply as he felt his eyelids were starting to get heavier. The tank started moving once again as Dominic had already closed his eyes, he was going on nearly forty eight hours without sleep. The bumps of the tank felt like gentle rocking as he rested his weary eyes, smiling softly even though he couldn’t fall asleep with the sound of the engine running. The tank eventually joined its twenty other compatriots on the ring of steel that was surrounding the town, night was quickly starting to settle over the land. For some it was the end of the day, but for others, it was only the beginning.

[♠]

Rainbow Dash adjusted her black fatigues as she clung to the wing of the biplane, her weapon was cocked and loaded, her helmet was ready for the coming night operation. The stars shined brightly overhead as the plane flew over the Equestrian border. It was at a high altitude with its engine in idle, gliding quietly over the landscape as the four soldiers prepared for their first actual combat mission. Their objective was a railroad bridge over the Ghastly Gorge, it was strong enough for tanks to cross and would be critical to taking Ponyville as rapidly as possible.

The mare sighed softly as she watched the ground beneath her, it had been lit up by a dim moon that had been specially provided by Luna to give them the best chance of success. Rainbow was unsure she’d be able to face off against Equestrian soldiers, but at the same time, she knew that it would likely be inevitable. To take her mind off of the issue, she instead tried to focus her attention on getting herself ready for the mission. She had a feeling her team had been chosen for the mission because of her familiarity with the area, which made sense to her. Her officer training course had taught her the importance of intelligence, she just hoped that she remembered enough about the area to be of any help.

”Two minutes to drop.” Boris announced over the radio as he watched the sky around him, in the distance he could make out three more biplanes. They were carrying FAST Bravo, FAST Charlie, and FAST Delta, the squads that would be taking the bridge with FAST Alpha. Eight sixteen soldiers dropped deep into enemy lines with no real way of knowing when relief would come, Boris honestly could say he didn’t envy them. Unlike so many missions that they had trained for, he wouldn’t be there to provide extraction for them, he’d have to leave them behind.

”Alright, last chance to check your magazines, keep your head on a swivel and hoof on the trigger.” Gilda said commandingly as she looked at Rainbow Dash, Rainbow nodded quietly and looked back to the ground. ”Let’s go over the objective one last time, so we’re all clear.” Rainbow turned her attention back to her commander, her mind sharpening and focussing on what was about to be said. ”We drop in, take out any security present at the bridge, and hold it until the main force arrives. Under no circumstances do we let the bridge be destroyed. We all clear on that?”

”Yes, ma’am.” Wolfgang and Hans said from the other side of the aircraft, they sounded just about as ready as Gilda was. Rainbow Dash nodded her agreement, doing her best to clear her mind of thoughts about what she was doing. She had defected to stop the war, and yet it had still started. Part of her wished she’d stayed with the Wonderbolts, but the rest of her knew that her place was with the ones she had killed for.

”Dash…” Gilda’s voice grabbed Rainbow out of her thoughts, she looked over at the griffon and adjusted her helmet to see her better. ”I know this is gonna be tough on you, but think about all the lives we’re saving by bringing this war to a quicker end.” Rainbow Dash nodded silently once more, having trouble coming up with anything to say at the moment other than simple acknowledgment.

”Thirty seconds!” Boris stated quickly as he started to push the throttle forwards, Rainbow Dash felt the wind begin to brush against her wings. The mare opened them and began gliding on the air coming over the wings, the others followed suit as Rainbow’s heart began to beat faster in her chest. She could see faint lights in the distance, Ponyville was so close, and yet so far away. ”Go! Go! Go!” Rainbow Dash and the others unhooked from the wings of the biplanes, gliding silently away as the engine began to pick up speed.

Boris watched them fall away, then turned his gaze back towards the town ahead. To his surprise he saw a burst of light come from that direction, seconds later his wing was clipped by a burst of energy. It caught fire and the aircraft began to shudder, the man gritted his teeth and pushed the throttle forwards. If he bailed out so close to the drop zone he could blow the entire operation, he’d have to take the aircraft at least as far as the town ahead before he could think about getting out of the aircraft.

Rainbow Dash and the others watched in horror as the aircraft started to lose altitude, burning more and more out of control as bursts of magic began to fill the sky to try and down the damaged aircraft once and for all. On instinct Rainbow started to fly towards the aircraft, but she stopped as she realized she had a mission to carry out. The aircraft got within a hundred yards of Ponyville, and was completely engulfed in flames as it slammed into a grassy field and exploded.

“Wolfgang! Hans! Did you see a chute?!” Gilda asked, no longer speaking over the radio, she was relying on her two thestral teammates for aid as they had much better night vision than she did. The two thestrals looked at one another, then at the burning wreckage in the distance. “Answer me, damn it!”

“I didn’t…” Wolfgang said quietly.

“Neither did I.” Hans added, Gilda hissed through her teeth before she shook her head rapidly and gritted her beak.

“Fuck…” She muttered angrily, looking towards the bridge that was below them, barely lit by the light of a guard house. “This fucking bridge had better be worth it. Let’s move.” Rainbow Dash stared at the flaming wreckage for a couple more seconds before she began diving on the bridge with her team, tears ran down her cheek as it finally set in on her. It was war, and people she cared about were going to die. The team landed on the southern side of the bridge as quiet as the night, their weapons fitted with the appropriate silencers. Rainbow Dash quietly flicked a switch on her helmet, activating the on screen retical. She couldn’t see hide or hair of FAST Delta, but they would have to move on without them.

The guard house on the south side of the bridge was dimly lit with oil lamps, two unicorns and an earth pony were pointing towards the sky. The four Americans moved into the bushes along the railway tracks, using the foliage to cover their advance on the guard house. As they got closer to the building Rainbow Dash could hear the guards talking amongst themselves, one of them began laughing before they all went back to talking at a normal volume. The four stopped just behind the guard house and looked through the bushes at the relatively simple, small, two roomed structure. There was a window facing the south, the inside was lit by more oil lanterns.

Gilda quietly tapped Rainbow Dash on the shoulder and gestured for her to move up and take cover behind the outer wall, then cupped a hand to her ear to simulate listening. Rainbow Dash nodded and used her wings to give her a boost over the rocky railway grading, she landed delicately next to the guardhouse and leaned her ear out just a tad.

“...we’ll have those apes beat before the month is out, no doubt about it!” One of the guards inside said, he sounded nasally and fresh out of college. “Biggest army in the world, we’ll clobber the pipsqueaks!”

“Yeah, I mean they can’t even fly properly at night. Did you see that loser that crashed and burned just now?” Rainbow gritted her teeth at the sound of the second guard that was bad mouthing Boris, she wanted to unload into them as they called the man a loser. He hadn’t been the most social person, but he had been a part of her team.

“Sucks we won’t get to see any action though. ‘What did you do in the great human war?’ ‘I stood on a bridge, freezing my ass off waiting for winter.’.” The third guard quipped, Rainbow was thoroughly convinced that they had no idea the American teams had landed. She glanced down at Gilda and the others and signalled that it was okay to go, the others nodded and used the same wing boost trick to get up onto her level. Rainbow watched Gilda reach to her combat vest and withdraw a metal item that almost looked like a pineapple, Rainbow quickly shook her head and gestured to their ‘Silenced’ weapons. Gilda paused, then nodded and held up a claw. The three others watched as she counted down to one, when she did she moved out into the open with her gun ready. “What the-!?”

“Waste the motherfuckers!” Gilda ordered as she fired her rifle, the others moved up beside her and fired several controlled bursts at the three surprised guards. “Clear!” She announced, on the other end of the bridge she could see a few flashes of light, indicating the other teams had taken their side of the bridge. “Alright, get rid of the bodies, look around for any sort of code book or documents… If they’re half as smart as us they have shout outs.” Rainbow and the others nodded, as Hans and Wolfgang began pushing the bodies off the bridge and into the abyss Rainbow began looking through the guard house for information. The sound of hooves to the side of the bridge put the griffon on edge, until she heard a voice call out quietly.

“Star!”

“Texas!” Gilda replied, she watched as two changelings and two griffons emerged from the brush on the other side of the railway track. “Where the hell were you!?” She said in a quiet yell, one of the changelings pointed over to a particularly rough portion of the forest.

“We dropped too low, got hung up in the trees over there! Plan caught the tree tops and got caught in the thick of it, pilot killed the engine before it could explode thankfully. So they won’t come looking.” The changeling explained, Gilda raised an eyebrow at the mention of a pilot. One of the griffons whistled, Gilda could hear rustling from the other side of the tracks as a woman poked her head out of the plants with a gun in her hand. She was asian and had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, her expression was stoic despite having just survived a plane crash. If Gilda had been more well versed in human history, and not under an immense amount of pressure, she would’ve made a joke there. “Wanted to make sure it was safe before we brought her up.”

“Whatever… Help Bravo and Charlie get set up on the other side of the bridge.” Gilda ordered before looking at the human. “You, pick up one of the dead guard’s swords for now.” The woman nodded wordlessly as the others moved to reinforce the other side of the bridge. The woman picked up a sword that had been left on the ground and looked it over before slipping it through her belt and adjusting her flight jacket. Gilda shook her head, it wasn’t like she could do anything about it, and truth be told she was glad to have an extra set of hands. The commander moved to the center of the bridge, listening to the peaceful sounds of an Equestrian night as the stars twinkled in the sky.

Gilda quietly sighed as she looked over the bridge, she looked out over it at the north side, knowing that not too far away was Ponyville. They were deep in Equestrian territory, the odds of their survival was small, but Gilda had volunteered them anyway. She knew she had the best team out there, and as she thought about the memory of the burning wreckage she felt a hollowness fill her chest. Boris had been the only one that spoke Griffish with, he’d been the only one that enjoyed a good game of checkers, and he was the only one that could drink her under the table. She chuckled briefly as she thought of a time the two of them had drunk Hans’ schnapps on accident, the thestral still hadn’t forgiven them for it.

Her chuckle quickly fell silent as she frowned, the griffon turned and looked to the city of Canterlot on the side of the mountain in the distance. It was arrogantly lit, even despite the bombings it had taken earlier that day, as if daring the American’s to bomb it again. Gilda desperately wished to hear the sound of B-17s overhead, to hear the sound of Equestria’s reckoning for Boris and for every other life they had taken. To her surprise, that’s what she began to hear after a couple of minutes. The droning sound of engines, lots of them, she had to guess at least eight hundred of them. It was as if the entire American Air Force was flying overhead, she couldn’t wait to watch the fireworks.

[♠]

Canterlot was picking up the pieces from the earlier bombing, but many ponies were still hopeful that the war was going to be quick and that the attack had been a one off. After all, the American’s had lost many planes in the attack, the ponies were sure that they wouldn’t risk another attack after one had been so costly. It was for that reason that the sound of bombers overhead was almost completely ignored, at least, until the air raid sirens began to blare loudly. Ponies in the streets rushed and ran for cover as unicorns began to fire upwards, trying to take out some of the enemy planes.

It worked in some cases, there were at least ten bombers that started to burn, but surprisingly only two of them actually spiraled out of control. The unicorn guards had been so drained by their defense earlier that day that their spells were barely strong enough to reach the planes, let alone damage them. The pegasi were too few in number to risk sending them up, and it was for that reason that a wounded Princess Celestia was forced to watch yet again as her city devolved into panic. She had been lucky enough to be only wounded in the wing and fore hooves, anywhere else would’ve likely ended her life. Unfortunately, that made it impossible for her to defend the city from the tormentors in the sky.

She could hear the screams of falling bombs mixing with the screams of her terrified subjects as the ground began to shake, explosion after explosion rocked the city, warehouses were set ablaze, businesses reduced to rubble. Housing complexes, mansions, schools, all were laid to waste under the might of a wrathful American Air Force. Even the castle grounds were not untouched as explosions tore through the front entry way, smashing brick and concrete walkways and destroying the hard work of generations of groundskeepers. It was all more evidence that she had made a horrible mistake, and as she watched her city crumbling and burning she had no one else to blame but herself.

Her armies on the borders had been utterly wiped out, news was coming in that they had taken Appleloosa. Part of Celestia thought that perhaps that was a message from Dominic, he had told her that the town laid within American territory, and now he had taken it as American territory. As much as it hurt though, Celestia had seen death and destruction before, even if not on such a grand scale. What was worming its way around her mind more than the sound of exploding bombs was the sound of Twilight’s voice, the betrayed confidence in her tone had cut Celestia far more than any sword or bullet could.

As the city began to burn before her, she felt explosions begin rocking the main part of the castle. Windows in hallways that had stood for hundreds of centuries were shattered, roofs caved in on maids, guards, and nobles alike. All Celestia could think of was Twilight, all she could ponder over was where she had gone wrong, what had she done that had brought her to such a low point in her life? What could she have done differently?

“You could’ve stopped trying to control everything.” A familiar male voice echoed from behind her, the mare turned and saw none other than Discord floating above the floor with a flat expression on his face. Celestia scowled at him as he floated up next to her and sat on the floor beside her, staring out the window of her office. “Instead of letting things go naturally, you decided you had to control the world.”

“Go away, Discord.” Celestia said bitterly as she watched the chaos god quietly watch the destruction through the window. “You’re probably loving this right now! All this death and chaos is what you’ve always wanted!”

“No, it isn’t.” Discord said with that same flat expression, his tone was a hundred percent serious. “I play jokes, Celestia. I trick ponies, I cause mischief and social unrest to cause change peacefully.” The castle shuddered as a bomb exploded relatively close to the Princess’ room. “Does this look like a joke to you?” Celestia remained quiet, as much as she wanted to argue with him, she couldn’t. He had never killed anyone as a result of his pranks, they were often better for ponies than she thought. “This, Celestia…. This is what complacency gets you.”

“What would you have me do to stop this then, Discord? What scheme have you hatched?” Celestia asked, Discord remained quiet as he watched the city burning for a bit longer, then he turned to look at her.

“I’m not going to do anything… You started this, you’re going to see the consequences through to the end.” Discord said simply, Celestia was about to speak again but the chaos god snapped his fingers and vanished. The Princess looked out the window as the sound of bombers began to fade, bomb explosions became less and less common. It was Celestia’s fault and she knew it, all she could do was try to win, and failing that… Take the consequences of her actions. She looked towards the moon as it was starting to become obscured by smoke, finally she realized how her sister had felt all those centuries ago.

As she watched ponies rushing to put fires out she narrowed her eyes and looked to the south, never before had she felt so angry, and yet she knew that anger was directed at herself. She needed to cast off that doubt, Equestria could still win the war, it had only been a day and nothing was set in stone. Soon reinforcements from the Crystal Empire would arrive, then she would have more than enough soldiers to throw into an invasion of the NUS. The Zebras would soon be sending troops and supplies as well. Celestia just needed to hold out until they could arrive, and since the NUS had no seafaring navy to stop them, she knew the would arrive on schedule. .

[♠]

The sounds of the Everfree Forest were surprisingly calming, nothing like ponies in New Liberty had described. That was the first thing that Boris realized as he awoke, hanging from the branches of a large tree in the harness of his parachute. The man rubbed his head and looked around in an attempt to get his bearings, he could hear explosions in the distance and through the tree branches he could see a glow of fire on the mountain. It could only be Canterlot, meaning that had to be north of him.

The man reached to the harness release as he grabbed hold of a nearby branch, with a grunt he pulled the release and nearly fell. He would’ve hit the ground like a stone if he hadn’t grabbed the branch, but thankfully he was able to control his descent and land with only a mild burst of pain in his ankle. Boris reached to his belt and withdrew his side arm, his mother's Soviet made Tokarev. He began walking west, knowing that was the closest way to get out of the forest. From there he would need to sneak back to the American lines, but for the moment his goal was to simply get out of the oddly normal looking forest.

Boris unzipped his flight jacket as he continued moving through the woods, his boots snapping twigs as he looked around him cautiously. Normal forest or not, there were still animals out there, and Equestrian patrols undoubtedly looking for him. The stars and moon were hidden by the dense forest canopy, making navigation almost impossible. The only light he had was given off by a town in the distance that silhouetted the trees in front of him enough so he could void walking into them. That had to mean he was getting close to the edge, but he wasn’t sure if that was such a good thing.

The sound of voices in the distance was another reminder that he had to hurry, Boris could see beams of light roving around through the forest a hundred yards away. His first thought was to try to make his way to the railway bridge that he knew had friendly forces guarding it, but if the Equestrian’s employed dogs they would follow his scent right to the bridge and blow the entire operation. The man figured his best bet would be to move towards the town, at least that way of he was captured they wouldn’t have any reason to search the bridge.

Boris stepped out of the bushes and began moving towards a house sitting on the outskirts of town, the lights were dim and it seemed that no one was home or the owners were asleep. He kept his breathing slow and measured, occasionally looking over his shoulder at the forest to see the progress of the beams of light that were searching for him. The pilot stopped outside the fence of the cottage and looked around, there were odd animals sleeping in the backyard that made him wonder what sort of laws existed in Equestria to allow someone to own a bear. The man did a double take and quietly backed away from the fence, instead moving around the side of the house and peeking around to see the front.

Thankfully there weren’t any attack dogs sleeping on the porch, just a simple white bunny. Boris quietly sighed and creeped around the front of the house, his goal was to follow the path to the town and move from there. Guards wouldn’t expect him to use a main thoroughfare, and if they were he could leap into the lush bushes that seemed to line the path. The man began walking towards the past, doing his best to step lightly and quietly. Boris stopped as he felt something hit his back, like a rock that had been tossed lazily. The man turned around and looked for someone, but all he could see was the bunny sleeping on the porch.

The man sighed and began walking again, he only managed to get about five feet before he felt another rock hit his back. The man looked back again, this time the bunny was missing from the porch and was instead standing on the ground with its little bunny arms crossed while it tapped its foot. Boris stared at it for a second before it picked up a tiny rock and kicked it at him, it actually stung a bit. The man growled and leveled his handgun at the rabbit.

“Eto vredno chtoby podtolknut' menya, tovarishch.” Boris muttered quietly in his native tongue, the rabbit seemed to understand him well enough as it scampered off. The pilot turned and began walking down the path again, keeping his ears and eyes open for any sign of activity on the road. Minutes passed in silence before he actually heard something, Boris hopped down into the bushes and did his best to hide himself as he listened. Footsteps, he counted two separate pairs of bipedal steps.

Unlike ponies, the steps were spaced out more, and they sounded like they were coming up the path in front of him. He paused as he heard a quadruped among them, Boris peaked out of the bushes and watched as two humans were being lead up the road by a unicorn. A man and a woman in bomber jackets with patches that indicated they were part of a bomber crew as well as backpacks over their shoulders, the unicorn wasn’t wearing armor and was looking around quietly. Boris gritted his teeth, he wasn’t about to let two of his fellow flyers be captured.

As the three of them passed he stood up out of the bush and drew back the hammer on the handgun, the noise was enough to get the three of them to stop. All three of them turned nervously as Boris leveled the Tokarev at the unicorn, his expression barely readable in the darkness.

“Wait!” The woman said quickly, Boris held his fire and watched with a bit of surprise as the unicorn was enveloped in a flash of fire. A changeling appeared in its place, Boris lowered the hammer on the gun and holstered it. He looked around quietly before approaching the group. “Bomber or fighter?”

“FAST Deployment.” Boris replied quietly, the revelation was a bit of a surprise to the three other fliers in front of him. “Damn bastards took out my wing, had to bail out way too close to the ground…”

“We managed to survive an attack from Celestia herself earlier today, they gave us a new crew and a new airplane and we end up having to bail because one of them hit our fuel tank.” The woman replied as she extended her hand to the man, Boris shook it gently. “I’m Athena, this is Insecta and Mike.”

“Boris.” Boris replied before looking at the changeling. “Sneaky trick you were pulling.” The changeling nodded quietly, its horn glowing faintly as it resumed its disguise as a unicorn. “You just walk out of here with this one pretending he’s our escort, da?”

“That’s the plan, you’re welcome to tag along.” Athena said, Boris nodded quietly. “Saw a railroad bridge not too far from here, figure we can make it there before the dogs catch our scent.” Boris quickly shook his head, causing the woman to look annoyed.

“Bridge is being taken by FAST in preparation for the invasion, if we lead dogs to it the Equestrians will attempt to destroy it.” Boris explained, the others looked at him for a couple seconds, then at the burning ruins on the mountain side. “We just have to hide until our forces arrive, da?”

“Right…” Mike said hesitantly, looking towards the town of Ponyville in the distance. There were beams of light searching high and low there was no way they’d be able to get in and hide in plain sight.

“There’s a cottage down this road, but it has a bear in the backyard, no joke!” Boris exclaimed, Athena and the others seemed to believe his claim. “Forest is crawling with ponies looking for me, and I assume people like you…” The man paused quietly, looking at the group as he rubbed the back of his head. “Perhaps Sweet Apple Acres?” The others looked at him with raised eyebrows. “What, you never watched the show in training? They stressed using the show as a sort of guide!”

“We kinda… Skipped that part. Ponies aren’t our thing, especially now.” Athena said sheepishly, Boris sighed and pointed to the east.

“There’s a massive apple orchard to the west of here, you couldn’t have missed it from the air.” Boris said with a bit of exasperation, the others looked at one another for a couple seconds and nodded as if they were understanding without speaking. “It would take them forever to search for us there, we just need to get there and get as deep as we can.”

He had studied the show rather well, even beyond the mandatory viewing for training purposes. Boris knew the mannerisms of the ponies living in the orchard, he was confident he could outsmart them. Athena, Insecta, and Mike looked at one another and began whispering in a sort of huddle, Boris rolled his eyes and went back to watching their surroundings. They chatted for a tense minute before breaking from their huddle and looking at Boris.

“Alright, let’s go.” Athena stated, Boris nodded and began walking up a hill that lined the eastern side of the path, the others began following him into the dark unknown. To the south he could hear the distant sound of artillery, it was likely that the Equestrians were attempting some sort of counter attack, but Boris knew they wouldn’t fare very long. It hadn’t even been twenty four hours since the war had begun, already it seemed like it would be finished. If there was one thing that Boris had learned from humanity however, it was that nothing was over until it was truly over.

[♠]

Throughout the city of New Liberty there was fear, fear of what was happening, of what the next day would bring. The human refugees had turned their refugee center into a virtual fortress in a matter of hours, aircraft patrolled the sky as the two battleships ‘Colossus’ and ‘Cyclops’ waited for a possible enemy air attack. The USS Reliant was at anchor on the military base, repair crews were rapidly working to get her back into shape. Equestrians that had been captured during the air battle and the battles for other bases along the border were gradually being marched to the POW camp on the edge of town. Search lights roved the night sky as families sat huddled around radios, listening to music and hoping for any sort of news. A peaceful sounding melody tapered off into silence, there was a static sounding noise of a microphone being plugged in. Families turned up their radios in preparation.

”Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the New United States.” An unfamiliar voice spoke over the radio, seconds later the citizens of New Liberty could hear someone clear their throat.

”My fellow Americans… In this dark hour I speak to you far from the peaceful streets of New Liberty, far from the warmth of home. Today has been spoken of and spoken of, and yet nothing new is known… Well, I’m here to change that.” The voice of President Occisor’s voice said over the radio, groups of people who hadn’t been paying attention were starting to move to their radios, even some soldiers who were watching the sky. ”This morning the Equestrians hurled the might of their airships at us. They failed. They tried to stop our forces crossing the border. They failed. They tried to demand our surrender. They failed.”

”What we must do now is show them the true spirit of our nation, that we will not be pushed around by anyone simply because of their size or their so called seniority on the world stage.” In Equestria, Celestia and countless others had tuned in to listen to the static laced broadcast out of curiosity, or in Twilight Sparkle’s case, hope for a peaceful tomorrow. ”Through our strength as a nation, we will overcome the so called superior enemy force. We will dictate the terms of peace in Canterlot Castle, or not at all! We shall never surrender!” Celestia could hear the sound of artillery in the background of the broadcast. The booming sound was becoming like a bell, tolling away to mark yet another bloody chapter in the world’s recent history.

Author's Notes:

Here's another chapter for you guys. I'm a bit too tired to write more than that... And that... And that... and this...

Here's you clip of the day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3ovvLS-YpA