At first glance it would appear as if Flight Lieutenant Scootaloo was frantically getting her gear on for a combat mission. However, those that knew her could tell she was “in the zone”, so to speak, and that her seemingly hasty approach to donning her flight suit and helmet were just how she did things. The orange pegasus practically flew down the hallways to the internal hangar bay where her squadron had just begun gathering, all three of them pegasi like their squadron leader. Vapor Trail and her husband, Sky Stinger, were veteran Wonderbolts by the time the War had kicked off, but their third member, a yellow pegasus with an orange mane named Sunshine Beam, was a bit new to the team. She’d enlisted when the War began but managed to prove herself early on during the Spike Incident as an ORCA pilot.

“Helmets on, ponies! Canterlot needs our help and Stalliongrad is the only Kodiak in range that hasn’t engaged the Noddies yet!” Scootaloo barked as she trotted along towards the flight line. Given the position of the Kodiak they were stationed on, all boarding and armament of aircraft happened in an airtight hangar bay with the experimental Firehawks being lifted via elevators to the launch deck once the area was cleared. The air was thin in low orbit and the oxygen masks that ponies wore during high altitude operations only lasted so long. The four of them clambered into the aircraft, the first combat-ready models of the Firehawk fighter-bomber. Carrying air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions, as well as an integrated 30mm nose gun behind aerodynamic panelling, this fighter was the GDI answer to the Venom VTOL fighter and the newer model SAM sites that Nod favored. Canterlot was going to be their first warzone deployment, but Scootaloo was more than ready to put her bird through the flames.

They weren’t Phoenix Squadron for nothing. Each Firehawk had the fiery bird painted on their noses or on the wings, and while the fighter could perform atmospheric re-entry, the magical shielding along the hull kept any nose art intact through the heat of coming through the atmosphere at top speed.

“Be advised;” the squadron EVA announced, “The Captain has ordered a Combat Descent of the Stalliongrad upon launch of Squadrons Phoenix, Onyx, and Iron. Squadron Howitzer will launch after descent as reactionary force. All squadrons will descend alongside the Stalliongrad and break from formation upon entry into the area of operation. Please confirm orders.”

“Confirmed, Phoenix will escort on the way down.” Scootaloo replied, with a similar reply coming from both Onyx and Iron Leaders a few seconds later. Howitzer Lead added in his confirmation a moment after the other two, grumbling slightly at what was often considered babysitting detail.

“Orders Confirmed…. Squadrons… ready. EVA can confirm launch prep. Phoenix, Onyx, Iron, prepare for launch.” the synthesized mare’s voice dictated. No sooner had she said this, the elevator holding 12 of the Stalliongrad’s 16 Firehawks started moving up. Magical shields surrounded the large platform as it ascended, keeping the air pressure inside the hangar from meeting that of outside, and only shutting off when the seals extended and closed off the bay from the flight deck.

“Phoenix Squadron, prepped and ready.” Scootaloo announced.

“Onyx Squadron, ready to swat some flies.” Onyx Lead retorted.

“Iron Squadron prepped and ready. Let’s fly.” the last squadron leader added, giving a salute to the other two squadron heads.

EVA confirmed their announcements, and the automated system started the staggered countdown. Each squadron would launch as one, given the deck was wide enough for them to launch four across, wingtip to wingtip. Scootaloo let out a small sigh as the timer approached zero, steadying herself once it reached 10 seconds. Phoenix was first, as always, courtesy of her recommendation from Sky Admiral Dash and the fast advancement through flight school that followed. They were the best and everypony knew it.

“Launch!” Scootaloo barked once the counter hit zero. All four Firehawks punched their thrusters, shooting forward like a round from a railgun. The acceleration always took some getting used to, even with the inertial dampeners, but it was never more than the four pegasi could handle. With helmets on tight and oxygen masks secured, the team scattered upon leaving the flight deck, only to reconstitute in a proper V formation. In less than a minute, the other two squadrons joined them, taking a tri-formation around the aerial carrier.

“Descending in five.” came another announcement, this one from a real pony on the ship’s bridge, and shortly after his message was heard all engine functions on the Stalliongrad ceased. The Kodiak dropped like a rock with the Firehawks keeping pace easily, pushing through clouds with impunity as the hulls of the fighters started to glow as their shielding easily withstood the heat of re-entry from the stratosphere. Heat pooled around the Kodiak’s hull and spilled off of the Firehawks, boiling away the clouds as they got closer and closer to the battlefield below, and while Scootaloo had heard the reports, nothing could have fully prepared her for what she saw when they finally peeled away from their dive.

With a grandiose and resounding boom, the Stalliongrad started hovering again, holding position at optimal engagement range on the edge of the massive battleground that Canterlot had devolved into. As luck would have it, a trio of dragons bearing the Black Hand emblem were in the way and were promptly sent tumbling to the ground with broken wings and shattered spines after the sheer bulk of a GDI Kodiak landed on them. All three Firehawk squadrons pulled away, engaging anything that came into sight or reacting to calls for help, all while trying to dodge Nod AAA. Seconds in, Onyx Lead was hit, his cockpit blown out by a missile from the Barricade after her flak turrets softened up her shields. Shortly after, Sky Stinger’s wing was clipped by debris from a Venom he had hunted down and blown to hell with the 30mm.

“I’m ok! Superficial at worst, diagnostics say I’m fine, no leaks in fuel or hydraulics.” the blue stallion announced, getting a sigh of relief from Vapor Trail as they dived right back into the fray.

Both Nod airships were in the AO, as well as 4 Kodiaks, Scootaloo’s ride included. Had it been a battle of ships, the fight would have been over in minutes, but with the presence of every dragon that Nod had at its command, the situation was evened out. Railguns targeted boogies in the air and positions on the ground, only to be pulled off target by a passing dragon or be disabled by gryphons with demolitions charges. Weaving between the 6 massive vessels, the Nod and GDI Air Forces were dueling for superiority, with the only relatively safe areas being within point defense range of their host ships. Even then, larger dragons could shrug off flak and had no trouble catching up to Orcas and ripping into them with their tiberium-enriched claws.
__________

On the ground, the situation was just as bad. Just as the battle had begun, the Everfree had dropped off four new toys, a present from Princess Twilight Sparkle to GDI’s grunts. Shaped like dragons, walking on two legs with a free claw to grab and manipulate items, and with an Obelisk-class laser attached to the right wrist and inside the ‘mouth’ of these false dragons, these massive mechs stomped around the battlefield with near impunity as even Mammoth rounds glanced their shielded armor. These monstrous mechanized units, piloted by a single faithful Nod officer, were Twilight’s newest addition to Nod’s armory.

The Avatar.

“Clear a path!” one of them ordered, both over the communications network and over the large speakers placed along the hull for the sake of demoralizing the enemy. Nod units did as instructed, moving out of the Avatar’s path as it charged forward and stepped on a Predator tank that had been harassing the line. Its partner fired off a round that bounced off the armor protecting its legs and got a laser through the turret for its trouble. The tank was cored, magazine cooking off in an instant and vaporizing anything that might have survived the laser blast.

As the behemoth began laughing at the carnage, an explosion rippled across its hull, tearing its left arm off and making the pilot howl. Seconds later, three more detonations impacted it and a quartet of Firehawks rocketed past. However, despite the loss of limb, the massive mech continued to fight. With the pilot barking obscenities at the pilots responsible for such an impromptu amputation, he aimed his main weapon after them, firing in a rage and filling the crowded sky with more laser fire.
__________

“Good hit Phoenix 2!” Scootaloo exclaimed as they peeled away from the ground. Those Avatars were the biggest trouble for the ground troops, shrugging off rounds from Mammoth Tanks and Guardian emplacements placed around the city. Luckily, they had moved outside of the city after nearly getting pinned in by the Canterlot Defense Reserve and an enraged Celestia. Her once calm demeanor had been replaced with pure fiery rage at her sister’s betrayal and with how badly Kane had managed to dig under her skin, on top of her already questionable sanity as the war continued on. Some historians would say it was the first nuke that caused it, other say the war as a whole just weighed on her more than even a goddess ever thought possible. For now though, it was safe to say that her wrath was the only reason that Nod wasn’t fighting solely in the streets of the Equestrian capital.

But while most of the battle was contained on the outskirts of Canterlot, plenty of it was still tearing up the once-pristine streets. Carnage found its way into the untouched Blue Zone, the “safest place in Equestria” with impunity as Tiberium-tipped missiles and lasers alike tore into the streets, businesses, and homes of Equestria’s elite. Above her spires Venoms and Orcas played lethal games of cat-and-mouse, and among her streets tanks fought for supremacy amongst cratered roads and blown out storefronts. In the thick of it all, one family continued to prove that there was one name you never engaged if you wanted to win against GDI.

Apple.
__________

“Target acquired, sights on target!” Button Mash announced.

“Fire!” Big Mac barked back, barely moving as both cannons on his Mammoth opened up on the legs of an injured Avatar. Whatever those new aircraft were, they packed a punch, and taking the arm off of one of these metal monstrosities was just the shot in the arm that the armor needed. Celestia had only been able to drive them out of the city and barely scuffed their thick armor.

“Good hit!” Applejack interjected over the comm channel, causing Big Mac to jolt, if only so slightly, “I saw that one from inside the city!”

“Speaking of, how bad?” the red stallion asked with a grunt as his tank was rocked by another rocket impact. Shortly after, the gentle staccato of machine-gun fire passed from one side of the turret to the other. Some idiot in a Harpy thought they could take out a Mammoth.

“It’s not pretty.” his sister replied, “We pushed’em back to the outskirts, even ran a couple off the mountain, but now we gotta get’em out of the Blue Zone and that doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen.”

“And The General?”

“Docs woke him up about 5 minutes ago, none too happy with how the Noddies left the castle and I hear with a mighty nasty migraine. He should be assuming direct EVA control any moment now. Hopefully that changes this clusterfu-” she answered before the connection cut.

“EVA! Status on Predator Tank, ID 01-A.” Big Mac ordered frantically. Enough friends had died in this war and he wasn’t about to lose family.

“Predator Tank, 01-A, Granny Smith, Status: Disabled, Mission Killed in friendly territory while providing close fire support for Zone Trooper Platoon Alpha-001, Wolverines.”

“And Applejack?”

“Vitals in the green, but non-responsive. Recovery team on site currently extracting surviving crew..”

“Visu- Mash, get that Ursa before it wipes out that squad! EVA, visual on Lieutenant General Applejack.” Mac ordered again as yet two more thumps resounded through his Mammoth. Seconds later, he was greeted with a helmet camera of a combat medic. Unicorn, given the way that the medkit being used on his sister was levitating enveloped in a purple aura. With a sigh of relief, Big Mac allowed himself a weary smile, she was ok, if a little beat up. Few bruises, lots of cuts, and a lot of shrapnel embedded in her front legs, but nothing surgery couldn’t patch up.

Despite seeing via the feed that she was ok, he couldn’t help but wince when the medic looked back at Granny Smith. The treads on the side facing them were completely wrecked, and the barrel had blown making it look like some macabre flower or one of those cartoon where the hero clogged up a villain’s gun. Either the barrel had overheated and caused a round to detonate in the barrel, or someone got a very lucky shot with a laser. Given the blackened and cracked armor leading to the barrel, it was safe to say that an Ursa with laser weaponry instead of a ballistic cannon had managed to make the lucky shot.

“EVA, is the offending Ursa out of commission?”

“Mammoth Tank Adeptus Astartes rolled over it.”

“Adept… wait, Genera-”

“Correct, Colonel Macintosh.” another EVA interjected, this one a bit more expressive than his, almost as if there was another mare on the other side of the channel, ”General Stalwart Shield has taken the field.”
__________

Rolling Thunder was a name normally associated with only two things in the GDI arsenal. One was when Kodiaks “walked fire” across a broad area with railgun bombardment, destroying everything along the span of a mile or more. The second was when a Mammoth, or group of them, was given a single command that filled any tank commander’s heart with glee.

Weapons free.

She may have been a unicorn, but Stalwart Shield never quite felt at home in Canterlot. She’d devoted her life to the UEP and following its dissolution, GDI. For her, the battlefield was home and the decadent lifestyle that native Canterlot inhabitants seemed to enjoy was more than a bit distasteful. So when she was given authorization by Ironsides himself to disregard collateral damage, she had a very clear conscience about firing through mansions and high-class clubs to take out Nod forces.

“Target destroyed… as well as half the building that was shielding us.” the weapons chief announced.

“Whose mansion was that anyway?” Shield asked idly as the mechanisms reloaded the cannons.

“Residence belongs to Admiral of the Fleets, Jet Set.” EVA replied, getting a smirk from the unicorn mare with four golden stars emblazoned on her helmet.

“He can bill the Princess when this is all over. Prioritize targets, keep working our way up the chain until those Avatars don’t have any Ursas to cover them. I want pods to keep knocking birds out of the sky until we only have two reloads left, no point in getting caught without a safety net.”

“Weapons answering, aye.”

“And somepony get me a channel with the Wolverines, I want to know where my Zone Troopers are in this Celestia-damn mess.”
_____

Two Ursas detonated in spectacular twin fireballs, interrupted solely by a quartet of vapor trails punching through them. Once the explosions regressed to being little more than smoke and fire, Zone Troopers punched through it as well, jetting through with the two lead troopers slamming into a third tank and cratering the armor. Armored hooves punched into the weakened plates until finally punching through. Once through the armor, the trooper who had managed to breach it hit the arming charge on an incendiary grenade and threw it inside.

Flames spouted from the turret and through the small hole that the trooper had made until metal started melting and Jet Deck let off a harsh laugh. That was the fire team’s 19th armor kill since the battle started, nearly 50 for the entire platoon. Regrettably, that number seemed almost pointless given the amount of tanks the Avatars were taking out.

“They injured one but if we can’t take those down completely, we’re screwed…” Apple Bloom muttered, panting slightly. They’d been fighting tooth and nail since an Avatar punched its claws through the windows of the throne room, and while they had been able to push the Black Hand from the castle, they all had scorched, scuffed, and dented armor to show for it.

That and three suits with dead operators.

“Gotta take the legs, or at least try to. Should be like taking out a tank’s treads.” Jet Deck replied as they started moving again, taking cover behind a Mammoth that had been stepped on.

“Target designators, Gunny?” one of the troopers asked.

“Either that or one hell of an explosive…. EVA, got anything on those new fighters we have up there? Maybe some armaments?”

“Firehawk-class Fighter-bomber attack craft, single-pilot, armaments include 30mm cannon, air-to-gro-”

“Air-to-ground munitions, specs on those so we can take out an Avatar or two, EVA.”

“Processing…. Accessing files…” the synthetic voice answered, pausing a moment before continuing on, “Security clearance confirmed; Defender-class missiles, anti-armor bunker buster. Full specifications are restricted given nature of current combat.”

“So AP dialed up to 11? We’d just need to keep a targeter on the knees and hope one of those Firehawks is listening.” Jet Deck said, rubbing his chin.

“EVA.” Apple Bloom ordered, “Get me a link to one of the squadron leaders. Jetty, I’ll link up and get us a squadron.”

“Got it. Windy Leaf, get the whole platoon updated and make sure laser sights are on every rifle we have... EVA, contact General Shield. Tell her Gunny Jet Deck is going to help her take down some Avatars.”
__________

From above the carnage, things seemed so miniscule. Even as flak bursts peppered across the armored hull of the Everfree, Kane couldn’t help but smile as he kept enjoying the sight of Canterlot burning from his position at the front viewport. Death and destruction, raining from above like he was the god his more devout followers believed him to be.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked, causing Luna and Twilight to look over at him.

“The destruction of my home?” Twilight inquired in return.

“Your former home, but yes… seeing the very heart of the most corrupt government on the planet burn with holy fire is… a wondrous sight indeed. I must say, Princess, I am very satisfied with the performance of the Discord-class ships, no matter how ironic this all is.”

“Ironic, Kane? You find our crusade… ironic?” Luna asked quietly.

“Of course… if you look across the way, towards the center of the city, you’ll see the GDA Discord, a Generation 2 Kodiak. Under our hooves is the hull of the of a class of airship sharing the same name. Two sides paying homage to the same being with a troubled past, who eventually gave himself up for the greater good. In my book that’s at least a small bit ironic, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I.. can see why you would think that, yes.” the Queen of the Night murmured, taking in the sight of the carnage as she did so.

“Do you ever wonder whose side he would have picked?” Kane quipped with a grin, the fires of Canterlot casting a hellish aura about his face as he looked back at his queen, “Adaptation or tradition… such a hard choice for the Lord of Chaos.”

“Humor? At this time? You surprise me, Messiah.” a male voice interjected. Its owner, a familiar earth pony that Kane knew all too well.

“Hyperion, I’m more surprised that you’re not on the ground partaking in such a glorious fight.”

“Usually you’d be right, Messiah, but given that the Everfree doesn’t have shielding like kodiaks, Sister-Battle Commander Pie requested I hold at least 75% of the garrison aboard in the event of a boarding action… Barricade has also repelled two boarding parties since the battle began so if GDI grows the stones to try it with Everfree, we’ll be ready.”

“Oh I’m sure they’ll try, the Messiah himself is aboard with Queen Luna, and the most brilliant scientist our planet has ever known. Such a prize would be a worthy target for any ambitious GDI officer hoping to step on their comrades for glory. If they try, please make sure to aim for their face when you kick them back down.”

“Of course, Messiah. It would be my pleasure.”
__________

“Ok, just one more time so everyone gets it…. Phoenix Squadron hits its knee while we’re running around. Make sure you don’t stay in one place for more than a few seconds, last thing we need is anyone to get caught by a beam or an Ursa. Once the armor is weakened or cracked, we hit the damn thing with everything we have until it stops moving.” Jet Deck stated, a diagram of the battle plan appearing on everypony’s HUD, “Any questions?”

“Yeah, when do we get to take this bastard down?” came a reply, one that was met with laughter from the surviving troopers.

“Soon as Phoenix is ready… EVA?”

“Squadron Leader Scootaloo has requested that you begin the assault now, ETA until air strike is 5 minutes.”

“You heard the lady! Let’s go, troopers!” Jet Deck barked as he initiated his jump jets.

“Punch it!” Apple Bloom added. Behind her, the entire platoon leaped, flew, and jumped into action.

For the past 30 minutes, the Zone Troopers had tried to “sneak” up on the Avatar, moving from cover to cover and occasionally wiping out any Nod unit that stumbled across them. All the while, the Avatar that had caught their attention by taking out a Mammoth continued its rampage. Now however, they all burst from a blown out building, formerly an apartment complex that had luckily been evacuated shortly after the battle began. The smoke screen created from the building collapsing, along with the surprise of 42 Zone Troopers bursting out from the flank, kept anyone from firing on them at first. It wasn’t until targeting beams started training themselves on the Avatar’s knees that rounds and lasers began lancing out to meet them.

Railguns answered the call of the Brotherhood, smiting tank and soldier alike as the platoon was keeping constantly on the move. The Avatar ignored them, viewing the Jet Deck’s platoon as nothing more than a nuisance that was knocking out lesser Nod vehicles. What truly had the mech’s attention was the incoming Firehawks. A group of Venoms had marked them before getting blown out of the sky, and it was the same squadron that had wounded the other Avatar. Now, they were heading this way and not engaging any of the tanks.

“Full power!” the pilot announced, the laser mounted on his warmech’s wrist preparing to fire, but at the last moment, an explosion hit the armor and threw his aim off, causing the beam to bypass the four fighters speeding towards the Avatar.

“What in the..?” Apple Bloom muttered to herself as she followed the vapor trail. The owner of the rounds that kept Phoenix Squadron in one piece was none other than the Mammoth Apple Pie, “Big brother?”

“Go get’em sis! 2nd Heavy Armor will back you up!”

“Aye aye, sir!”

“Incoming!” Jet Deck shouted, and not a moment too soon. 7 missiles, all the same class that had knocked the arm off the Avatar now limping towards Nod lines, slammed into the right knee. The first trio cracked the armor along the joint, weakening it moments before the remaining quartet slammed into it. When the smoke faded, the knee was unarmored and exposed. With a primal fury, Jet Deck issued a single order.

“Put’em down!”

Designator sights were replaced with railgun fire as the Zone Troopers swarmed around the behemoth, unloading everything they had into its knee as fast as they could. Supersonic rounds tore into the machinery, weakening it further as the Avatar started swatting at the offending GDI soldiers but never managing to strike a single one. Every time it tried to get a shot off with its arm or mouth lasers, Apple Pie threw off its aim with well-aimed shots from her own cannons.

After nearly 10 minutes of constant movement and fire, the Troopers were all reaching critically low ammunition levels, but the mech was still standing.

“This thing just won’t go down!” one of the fireteam leaders exclaimed.

“We gotta throw it off balance! Make it favor its injured leg!” Jet Deck answered.

“How!?”

“We deck the bastard! Right on the jaw!” Apple Bloom shouted back. “First Squad, with me to the shoulder, we’ll sock this thing right in the kisser!”

“Gunny?” another team leader asked, sounding a bit incredulous about the idea.

“She’s right! First Squad, with me and AB, everyone else keep annoying this thing and hitting its legs! Move out!”

“Moving!” Apple Bloom answered, and Jet Deck could practically hear her smile.

Five troopers joined Apple Bloom and Jet Deck as they kept bounding up the back of the Avatar with their jump jets, taking care to keep clear of its grasper before finally settling in on its left shoulder.

“Get his attention!” Jet barked, and his answer was his platoon sergeant firing off a railgun round right into the Avatars chin. Like clockwork, it turned its head to face the seven soldiers and got a wave in reply. Had it been able, the pilot would have made his machine raise an eyebrow before blasting these pests fright off his shoulders.

He never got the chance. Seven of the finest Zone Troopers GDI ever knew rocketed forward and slammed into the Avatar’s head, knocking it off balance. To compensate, it put its weight on its damaged leg, and right when the foot made contact with the ground the remaining troopers unloaded their remaining ammo into the cracked and failing joint. The result was spectacular as the knee finally failed and the servos broke apart. The calf and foot fell in one direction, the Avatar fell in the other, and First Squad rode its shoulder all the way down to the ground.

Dust, dirt, debris, and Nod soldiers were all thrown about as the behemoth finally hit the ground. The Zone Troopers who remained out of cover were blown back as well, slamming into ruined buildings and blown out tanks but not taking too much damage to their already well-worn suits. The team on the Avatar on the other hand was cheering all the way down, leaping at the last second and letting their jets land them safely on the back of the ruined hulk. Apple Bloom would have made a comment, maybe a cheer or clever quip, but a blue light lit up the sky. A beam of pure energy pierced the heavens and lanced towards Nod lines.
__________

The blue light only got brighter and brighter before pulsing for a second, nearly tripling in diameter before disappearing. At the end of the beam where it hit the ground, the obvious signs of an ion cannon blast created a sterile field nearly 500 meters wide.

The origin point of the ion cannon wasn’t from space, though. The trajectory put it in the clouds above Canterlot, surprisingly close to the ground, and everyone knew that it couldn’t be an Ion Cannon Satellite. Had it been, Kane would order a nuclear strike upon the city. Luckily for GDI High Command, while they were busy working on tech capable of taking down a nuclear missile before it hit its target, the eggheads in R&D and the Royal College of Naval Aviation had managed to create a new weapon, implementing Ion Projection technology into GDI’s behemoths of the sky.

The battlefield quickly became silent as the biggest Kodiak anyone had ever seen descended from cloud cover. Railguns of all shapes and sizes dotted her considerably armored hull, to the point that even the pilots flying by her couldn’t pick out windows along her bulkheads. Because of this, she looked heavier than her counterparts, and along the center of the ship where there’d usually be auxiliary launch bays, the familiar antennae and prongs of an Ion Cannon’s projections array were found.

Before Hyperion could let out a swear, lightning lit up between the focusing arrays and another ion blast shot forth from the Kodiak, causing a string of detonations as any Nod aircraft unfortunate enough to be between the Barricade and Everfree were vaporized. Soon after, every GDI soldier, officer, pilot, and commander received a pleasant surprise as their EVAs all transmitted a single message.

“This is Acting Sky Admiral Spitfire of the GDA Crystal Fury, ready to provide support. Let’s push these bastards out of our Blue Zone!”

The greatest Wonderbolt of them all had announced her return.
_________

“What the Tartarus was that!?” Hyperion barked angrily as he pushed himself back to his hooves. The overpressure of that ion cannon had caused both Brotherhood airships to veer violently, sending almost everyone on both bridges to the deck before the ships corrected and steadied themselves.

“Looks like a new Kodiak…” Twilight Sparkle answered, rubbing her head, “But… that was a spinal-lance mounted Ion Projection Array… they shouldn’t have been able to miniaturize the ion cannon tech for at least another year though!”

“It would appear they have surpassed your expectations… and before we could get the tactical missiles ready for use. Battle Commander Pie?”

“Yes, Kane?” Maud answered.

“Evasive maneuvering until we break contact, and inform all commands in this lovely mess that we need to start disengaging. An Avatar has already been lost and with a weapon like that unanswered, the battle is no longer in our favor, all units, pull back.”

“With all due respect my Lord, you aren’t planning on leaving that thing standing, are you?” Hyperion cut in. “Your ultimatum was clear. Superweapon would be answered with superweapon, and that thing’s ion cannon absolutely constitutes as much.”

“This I realize.” replied Kane “And with so much of GDI’s military present, including their command structure, not doing so would be a wasted opportunity. Shame really.” With a single motion, the bald Earth pony raised his hoof and inputted a series of numbers into his gauntlet. A second later, his EVA unit replied with a somber message.

“Launch codes accepted.”
___________

“Holy…” Scootaloo murmured at the sight of the Crystal Fury. She was privy to quite a few secrets that the GDIAF had around but she hadn’t even heard of a new Kodiak class being pushed through R&D, nonetheless built.

“The tartarus is that, Phoenix lead?” Iron leader asked.

“I’m about to find out.” she replied as she banked her fighter. She could learn and fight at the same time, after all, as long as she saved looking at the schematics for after the battle. “EVA, audio only, tell me everything I’m allowed to know about the GDA Crystal Fury.”

“Kodiak GDA Crystal Fury, first active Fourth Generation Kodiak, Retribution-class.” the synthetic mare filtered in, “Armor composition and density, classified. Weapons, Spinal Mounted Ion Cannon, 18-inch railgun artillery, 6 turrets sporting 3 guns, 8 turrets sporting 2 guns. 30mm anti-air batteries, 35. Ship-to-ship, ship-to-ground, and ship-to-air missile banks, 25. Shielding, classified, Complement, classified. Squadron Complement, 40 Firehawk fighter-bombers, 25 carryall transports.”

“I’m not seeing any landing strip on that monster.” Scootaloo commented.

“Firehawks land rear of the ship, take off from launch tubes placed along central armor belt via magnetic catapult. Carryall docking port is located aft ventral.”

“And the Firehawk complement? I thought Stalliongrad was the only bird with our planes aboard.”

“Processing…. Inquiring… All surviving members of Firehawk Complement, Host Ship: Stalliongrad, and all related personnel, are to report to GDA Crystal Fury after conclusion of hostilities in vicinity of GDI Blue Zone 001.”

“Then we better get pushing. Phoenix Squadron, form up! We’re going to break through their lines and Admiral Spitfire is going to help. EVA, see if you can’t ask her to hit one of those Brotherhood ships, we take down their air cover and this battle starts tipping in our favor.”

“Request sent… and answering. Stand clear.”

Another lance of pure, blue energy struck out across the battlefield, moving up slightly as the Crystal Fury corrected as best she could. The EVA aboard was the drydock model, not meant for combat, and the version meant for battleships wouldn’t be ready for another day. This meant that those aboard the bridge were literally eyeballing the ion cannon with minimal help from a barely functioning EVA. Still, they managed to get a glancing hit on the Barricade, detonating her engine pods and slagging half of her armor in a flash of blinding light. Soon after, internal detonations started dotting her hull and she began limping off. Close behind her, the Everfree began following as aircraft by the hundreds pulled back as well.

“Hey Scoots! You seeing what I’m seeing?” Vapor Trail asked, her face popping up in the upper left corner of Scootaloo’s HUD.

“Hell yeah I do! Nod’s running!” Scootaloo whooped back, smiling at the sight of Brotherhood vehicles starting to reverse.

All around the battlefield, Brotherhood units began withdrawing from the fight and their GDI counterparts cheered and jeered as they did. Hours of fighting, surprisingly short for such an important engagement, finished as GDI reminded Nod that they owned the skies, not the Brotherhood. The celebration was short-lived, though. As Nod withdrew, a new star appeared in night sky. A moving star.

“All Firehawk squadrons, you have a new priority target! A nuclear missile has been detected on route to Canterlot, you are to attempt to intercept immediately!” an alarmed mare practically yelled through the mic. “Disengage all retreating Nod aircraft and target the missile!”

“Oh shit shit shit shit shit!” said Scoots as she turned her Firehawk on an intercept course. “Phoenix squadron on me! Shoot that thing down!”

As one, every single Firehawk in the sky broke off and move off to intercept the Brotherhood’s superweapon. Even from high up in the air, Scootaloo could see the launch trails of multiple ground-based AAA sites unloading everything they had at the one target. Normally such a thing would result in disciplinary action for the operator as usually only one missile was needed per enemy aircraft, but in this instance if they missed… well, a few wasted missiles would be the least of their problems.

The greatest difficulty with dealing with this weapon of mass destruction was its speed. Travelling at hypersonic speeds, it was able to strike any GDI position in the world in a matter of minutes soon after launching from its silo in Mareajevo. GDI’s anti-air arsenal was designed for engaging fighters and VTOL aircraft, all usually at close proximity of their launch platforms, and lacked any sort of proper countermeasure to a nuke.

This became painfully evident as every single missile either overshot the target or was blown away by the overpressure caused by the nuke’s complete disregard for the speed of sound.

“Negative impacts! Nuke is still in the air! GET OUT OF THERE!” Scootaloo yelled as she saw the warhead head straight towards the city.

The missile disappeared a second before impact.

There was a sense of paralyzed surprise throughout GDI’s lines. It slowly turned into relief as they all realized they were still alive, resulting in the biggest case of collective nervous laughter the world had ever seen.

__________________

Down in the war room, Ironsides looked at the radar reading in disbelief. “EVA, what in the Princess’s name just happened?!” he demanded.

“Unable to determine. Nuclear missile disappeared from radar. No abnormal signatures detected.” the EVA unit replied, followed by the doors of the War Room slamming open.

“No abnormal signatures my gorgeous, genius ass!” Doctor Moon Dancer announced as she stormed into the room, datapad magically floating besides her.

“Explain Doctor.” Ironsides demanded, more curious as to what the hell had just happened than irate at her disrespectful entry.

“My extraterrestrial monitoring team detected a spatial fluctuation over Canterlot mere moments ago.” she explained excitedly “It formed right in the missile’s trajectory, and seems to have absorbed it into itself right before-” she said before being interrupted.

“Excuse me Doctor, but a spatial what?”

“A wormhole, general!”

Their conversation was cut short as they were thrown to the floor by a sudden earthquake.
____________

“Detonation confirmed Admiral! Foal Mountain was identified as ground zero!” a bridge officer announced.

Sky Admiral Spitfire stayed in her seat due to necessity given her injuries, more confused than alarmed. How in blazes had the nuke not only disappeared, but impacted a target miles away from Canterlot?!

Her train of thought was cut short as distortions started appearing in the sky, almost as if there were cloaked vehicles waiting there. A few seconds later, the distortions managed to stabilize and circles of purple energy took their place. At first, everyone on GDI was confused, but didn’t fire. There was no reason to throw ammunition away at something that nopony could get a reading on. Moments after, every Kodiak captain in the AO wished they had blown the wormholes to oblivion the moment they appeared.

Scores of strange craft poured out of the spatial anomalies and fired on both sides of the battlefield with complete disregard. Everything from strange winged pods the size of Orcas to massive, Kodiak-sized ships that looked like bugs. The weaponry they all used was the same though, white-hot plasma shot out at everything in the sky and on the ground, obliterating tanks and disintegrating soldiers as if they were paper before a flame.
____________

Aboard the Everfree, reports were coming in all over about these strange craft firing on everything indiscriminately. While Luna, Twilight, and even Hyperion were busy trying to figure out just what the hell had happened, Kane alone stood calm, his gaze still being held outside the front viewport. The wait was over and the inevitable had finally come to pass.

The Visitors had finally arrived.

Author's Notes:

A BIG shoutout to Lopoddity for taking this commission of Kane and Luna as seen in this chapter!

(Y'all should head over to her page and give her a follow.)