LOCATION: TYBRISS MILITARY BASE, CURRENTLY OCCUPIED BY ARMY TENTH MOUNTAIN DIVISION

TIME OF DAY: PRESENT DAY, 1300 HOURS

OPERATIONAL ORDERS: TMB IS TO PROTECT AND FACILITATE TRADE MOVEMENT AND REGULATE GROUND TRAFFIC FROM YAKYAKISTAN INTO THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE.

OPERATIONAL HISTORY: 2 PRIOR ENGAGEMENTS, 19 CASUALTIES.

Nothern Star had just gotten into the National guard and was very quickly deployed to assist the tenth army division in their effort to regulate the flow of immigrants from Yakyakistan. It was a hasty move, but not unexpected with the birth of an alicorn. Royalty in town meant that now all the guards were on edge, and Tybriss was no exception.

'Just after two months, and here I am.' He thought to himself, eager to get into a fight.

In the beginning a fight is the last thing anypony wants, but as they train and train they learn to crave conflict. They learn to bask in it's every swing, as that was what they were born to do. However, most of the ponies in the Equestrian military had no place in a fight, as there wasn't much fighting unless it was a wartime. The Tenth Mountain Division had just gotten back from fighting in Whinnyapolis, where they were deployed to hold the line and eliminate artillery positions alongside the 30th Armored Calvary Brigade.

The national guard was envious, but they knew it just wasn't their job. They were in not just to guard, but to look good. They were showponies. Most of them were right out of high school and hadn't seen bloodshed in their lives. The tenth mountain division was similar, but a little more experienced, although they had sorted out the friendly fire issue they encountered in Whinny.

Northern Was, ironically, placed on the southern border of the camp, overlooking the empty road that led to the base. Nopony in Equestria would even dare go to Yakyakistan so there was no reason to even have a guard on there. With that thought Northern Star turned around, looking at the battered camp. There were spots of discolored sand and concrete where the first attack had happened roughly eight years ago. They fixed it to the best of their abilities, but it still didn't look natural. It gave an eerie reminder to all stationed there that they could be a kilometer away from death.

He knew plenty of ponies had made their name here, whether it was etched into the casualty list or during the last two fights in Tybriss's short history. He didn't think he'd be one, nor would he want to. To him having your name on a wall is fine and dandy but when you think about it your name is in a casualty list, you're either dead or wounded.

The traffic was minimal today, Yaks had no interest in the birth of an alicorn from what they were concerned. All it meant was publicity for the parents, although the parents were already royalty the fact remained that their personal image could always be put in question. Through all the thinking, he started to realize that things had turned to an eerie silence. It was as if it were about to storm.

He turned around, to stare at the quiet rumble of the Yakistani engines, they were waiting for access to Equestria. It was probable that they were refugees, but one by one they were all turned away. There was a road that now went from one side of the base all the way back to the gate that led to Equestria, where another inspection was to take place. The road was covered in both sides with razor-wire and concrete to prevent anypony from running into the base while they passed through.

Northern stared down that road, that is until the silence was broken.

"IED!"

As soon as he yelled it the explosion erupted across the base, easily taking out the whole northern wall. He was unsure through all the dust that had been kicked into the air, so he waited for it to settle. He hadn't had his goggles on so his eyes took the shitstorm head on. He wiped them down and slid his goggles onto his face so he could slowly open his eyes.

The dust turned the world into a thick brown and white fog, but without sight he bolted his rifle and got into a firing stance, he waited for his target.

"This can't be real, this just has to be a dream!" He said to himself, but this was when he regained his vision and hearing. He knew all to well then that this was reality.

The IED had much more effects on the base then he'd predicted, he thought it'd take the north wall but they'd reestablish control and start rebuilding within the day, this was ruled out. Half the base had become a crater, the streets littered with bodies of both Equestrian soldiers and Yaks. Rubble still fell from the sky, but Northern was protected by the roof above his head. He heard cinder blocks clunking off the metal overhead roof and plummet to the ground, where they'd break on impact.

The reality had finally kicked in. He could hear the screams of ponies all over the ground. There was a massive convoy of trucks moving towards their position, but the radio building was still intact. That was their only hope of help.

LOCATION: OMEGA 3 COMMAND CENTER. 15 MILES WEST OF TYBRISS MILITARY BASE

TIME OF DAY: PRESENT DAY, 1308 HOURS

OPERATIONAL ORDERS: OMEGA 3 (Call-Sign 'Beaver 3') IS TO BE THE CENTRAL VEHICLE AND GROUND COMMAND CENTER FOR THE NORTHERN DEFENSIVE UNITS OF THE EQUESTRIAN EMPIRE AND THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE. OMEGA 3 IS TO HOUSE THE C2 (Command and Control) UNITS AND ELSSEC 1-3 (Equetsrian Legionary Squad Sections) AS WELL AS AIR AND ARMOR SUPPORT AND AUXILIARY UNITS.

OPERATIONAL HISTORY: 360 YEARS OF PREVIOUS USE, MODERNIZED 8 TIMES. 0 CASUALTIES 156 IN MEDICAL BAY. 3 UNITS IN METAL WARD, 1 ON SUICIDE WATCH.

Things had kicked up a storm as soon as this happened. It'd only been reported a minute ago and we'd already sent a C2 blackhawk to the area to try and get radio comms and commander visuals up. things were getting dirty real fast. Iron Brigade's appointed first sergeant wasted no time getting air and ground support units mobilized. They were little over 15 miles away so it would take them 10 minutes normally to get there, but this was an emergency. They didn't care about wasting gas so they moved as fast as they could.

The base had brought in the big guns, 8 AH-6 little birds armed with two rocket pods and two minigun racks, a paladin artillery unit and 5 M1 Abrams tank units. The helicopters would arrive first, their primary role was to destroy bridges and some of the lighter armored trucks. The artillery had orders to pound away at heavier targets and possible stationary units if they were given the coordnates by the air units. The tanks were there to deal with possible heavily armored units and to maintain security after it was over. Trailing behind was an UH-1 Huey carrying a 16 stallion ELSSEC squad which would deal with infantry units and clear the excursion zone. The whole force was put together in a matter of minutes.

The plan went smoothly in the beginning, the AH-6s arrived roughly 6 minutes after they were deployed. The Yak trucks were having a difficult time getting through the battered checkpoint since the IED had ruined the road and made it uneven. Some of the larger five ton trucks looked close to tipping, one having had its two front wheels off the ground. That was the first target for the AH-6s.

The AH-6 leading the team was piloted by one of the few mare pilots the base had, Staff Sergeant Crystal Haze. She was methodical about her runs, slowly approaching the target at too high an altitude for the small arms to reach her. Once she was over the signaled the initial strike.

"All air attack units, bump one."

The group of units threw their cockpits up about 45 degrees and then dipped them directly downwards, this tactic was called the 'Bump'. The bump put their helicopters into vertical flight so that they could attack units directly below them. All of the eight AH-6s opened up into the middle of the convoy with a rocket barrage. The dust kicked up high enough that the fireteam had to stop the barrage early.

"All air attack units, resume level flight." Crystal said into her microphone.

The units followed orders to a tee. They were still in their delta formation when they were level with the ground, they advanced forwards as bullets ripped from the dustbowl. After a ten second level flight she ordered the team to go for another pass. The C2 blackhawk caught it all on camera and streamed it back to base.

At the first strike, the command team was in awe. Their unit effectiveness had been vastly underestimated by even them, which is what caught them off guard the most. There was some cheers, but the most of the command was still barking orders.

"Good run Omega Unit 52, go for another pass in on a salvo. Use evasive maneuvers how copy?" Knightly Daze said into his microphone, he was assigned to be in charge of the base while Iron Brigade was out and this was what he'd trained for all his life.

"Roger that Omega HQ, we're headed in for another pass at the ground convoy, we have minimal anti-aircraft weapons in sight and shouldn't take any losses over." Crystal's voice came through clear in the intercom.

"Roger that Omega Unit 52, keep up the good work, over."

"Solid copy Omega HQ. Beginning strafe run."

The microphone broke off contact for a second.

The paladin team had stopped three or so miles away from the target location. They loaded HE ammunition into the 155mm gun. The ammunition could be used up to 18.5 miles away and was computer guided/assisted. The first round was already loaded into the weapon and the fireteam was ready for orders. The first ones came in from Crystal's co-pilot.

"Fireteam Omega Unit 99, load HE. Launch full artillery salvo on gridmap coordnates 'Alpha, 2-8-9-0-8, Delta 6-8-9-2-5' how copy?"

The fireteam used the computer in the vehicle to see on GPS where that was through the C2 Blackhawk. It was smack dab in the front of the convoy on a technical that was hiding between two buildings. The strafe runs could get the technical so they needed something guided.

"Roger that Omega Unit 52, firing full salvo on target. Impact ETA is 5 seconds over."

The gunner rotated the turret to 49 degrees north-east and angled the barrel at an 140 degree angle, this was supposed to lob right on top of the target, if it was off the gunner could change it's course on the computer. He gave it a two second count and then fired the round. The shot made everypony in the vehicle's ears ring, but he wasted no time jumping to the computer, the shell had already surpassed 2000 feet and was getting ready to begin dropping. Once the round tilted downwards, the gunner clicked on the target. This sent a laser from a satellite in space down onto the target, which the artillery shell would pick up and follow the light trail. The only downfall was the laser could be seen with NODs. The gunner, however, had a serious doubt that anypony would be wearing Night Optic Devices in the middle of the day or that a militia in the middle of nowhere had the money for them.

The shell's camera adjusted it's view and began rocket assisted propulsion to speed up contact time. It slammed right onto the truck with an ear cracking TWABAM.

Crystal watched the shell fall, it was right next to her helicopter as it started using it's jet propulsion and it made her deaf for a few minutes. The helicopters were zooming by at an incredible speed, cutting down forces that tried to move out of the vehicles. They were low on rockets and started resorting to the miniguns. They had a fast paced sound that was pleasing to their ears, but not to anypony on the wrong end. The minigun shot what looked like a laser at the ground convoy, tearing vehicles to shreds. Technicals that had taken days to build were being turned into Swiss cheese by the auto-cannon. Some would explode after enough rounds ran through the engine block.

The miniguns, however, had a serious downfall when mounted on the little bird attack helicopters. It was ammo capacity. They were running dry fast and had to fall back, that was when the message went to Crystal from her co-pilot.

"They have AA Rockets on the 3 o'clock!" He shouted at her.

They were turning to the right, meaning he would be in their guns in a second, but she couldn't spot them.

"Could you give me a landmark? I do-" Just then the rocket ripped right through cockpit of the aircraft. It exploded on impact. The helicopter spun wildly without a pilot or copilot until it slammed against a hillside. The helicopter did a role as all the rudders were being thrown in the air.

They were both killed instantly.

All went silent in the command center when that happened. They were in awe, it was as if their worst nightmare had come true. Then the second of silence was broken.

"We have a little bird down in the Yakazail Mountains!"

"Roger that, which little bird?"

"Crystal, come in Crystal! We can't get Crystal on the line!"

"It was Unit 52, we lost Crystal."

The air blew up around them.

"Open fire with all you got, make em pay."

"Roger that, with pleasure!"

Crystal was an idol, it hadn't gotten through that the happiest and most cheerful person in the base had just gone down in a blaze of fire.

The helicopters regrouped in a now 7 unit delta formation and went right down the main road. The rockets flew in the air at the helicopters, but they used flares which redirected the lockon guided missiles to them. There was AA Guns as well, but they were in too heavy of a mist to be noticed. The helicopters opened fire, a blaze of orange lines went right into the base, there was explosions, screaming, and blood in the air.

They flew past right into Yakyakistan, where they caught a glimpse of a retreating five ton truck. They showed no mercy. It was gunned down with hundreds of rounds of ammunition from the helicopters until it was a mess of burning metal. The helicopters went back around, only to make an awful discovery: they had only attacked half of the convoy. They got tunnel vision on the bottom half they started with that the other half passed right through the road unharmed.

Jafeer stared at the mist that the Equestrian helicopters brought onto the base, he was sure it was nothing but a pile of rubble now. That was when they saw the explosion in the air and the helicopter fall. Most of them got up and cheered, but not Jafeer. He whispered something to himself.

"We've awoken the sleeping bear... my god."

He knew the gravity of this situation, now it wasn't up to god it was up to Equestrian what happened to them. The kept moving unscathed, then they heard the sirens. Equestria was evacuating the Crystal Empire and moving them back. They weren't going to let that happen. Jafeer sat in the last truck, looking back at home as he thought of what he'd just become part of.

I ran back to get Twilight, she was already packing.

"Just leave the stuff! We gotta go now!" I screamed, the sirens said it was severe weather but I knew exactly what was happening. They were moving APCs into the city streets, it was obvious that another attack had taken place. This one was big, and they planned to kill the royalty.

"It's just a blizzard, what do you mean?"

"Don't you see! It's an attack, just get going!"

I grabbed her and her stuff and shoved the whole group in a car, some were dumped on top of each-other, there was smoke coming in the distance from where Tybriss was. I had a flashback, remembering that NCO that saved my life. He died later in that war, I'm not letting that happen in vain.

"Whats that?" Twilight and her group asked.

"That's an airstrike, war's coming and you gotta get out of here."

"What do you mean an 'airstrike'?" Rainbow Dash was the least in the loop about the military, whereas Applejack instantly understood.

"When an enemy brings in armor or a large number of units, we bring in aircraft to cut them down."

Rainbow Dash laughed, then stopped to think.

"Wait, you mean to tell me there's an army coming here?"

"Army isn't the right word, more like a group of really pissed and religious church boys."

They all stopped laughing, Applejack broke the silence.

"He's not kidding, I think I saw an explosion in the sky."

I looked in the rear view mirror, a puff of smoke was being trailed to earth. It was, without a doubt, a downed helicopter.

"You need to get out fast, Twilight I'm taking you to the train station, you'll be able to get out."

Twilight was emotionless, she had never seen bloodshed. We had already gotten to the train station, but it was smoke.

'You've gotta be fucking kidding me...'

They'd detonated an IED at the train station, there were bodies of ponies strewed about the area. Everypony in the car but me and Octavia stared in awe. Me and her were used to this by now.

Twilight and Pinkie threw up out the window when a truck emerged from the smoke, it had an old Prussian heavy machine gun mounted on it.

I threw the car in reverse and slammed it. The technical fired it's slow machine gun, who's rounds bounced off the ground and went just over the car. I swerved into a corner and kept moving backwards.

"Octavia take the wheel!"

"Roger that!"

She stepped over me while I drew the mac and grabbed the wheel as we switched seats. I was now in the passenger seat and Octavia swerved the car around so we were driving forwards.

The technical rounded the corner and slammed on it's gas. It was faster than our car so it was catching up. The gunner was angling the gun down.

"Everypony get down!"

They all followed my order, dropping to the ground. The technical drummed up fire into the rear window, which went in all directions. We were lucky to have no been hit. I leaned out the window with the mac and opened up a full magazine in full auto. The rounds bounced off the hood of the car and eventually hit the windshield. Nopony in the vehicle died and the HMG was about to open fire again when we swerved onto the main road. The National Guard Bradley APC was in the road, we swerved around it, which caught the crews attention.

Then the truck swerved out to be greeted by a mass of 25mm Auto-Cannon rounds from the Bradley, which caused the car to loose both it's right wheels. The Machine gunner was thrown off of the car and into a brick wall. He broke through the building and landed face first into the other side. The car crashed through and flipped over.

We drove back through backroads until we were safe.

Author's Notes:

And here comes a new act in this story:

Cloud Dasher and the Equestrian military VS the TJY. Time to grab popcorn .

Also: I like military vehicles. If you haven't noticed yet.