“Barbed wire?” Repeater asked in disbelief. The squad stood up peering over the edge of their trench at the Royal engineers, who were busy spooling out the wire from a cart that they slowly pulled out around twenty yards from where they were. “Ya’ll know that they use barbed wire ta stop farm animals, like pigs and chickens, right?”

736 chimed in. “Well, they are chickens, so this should end the war right here.” Some ponies chuckled at this, but Manifest didn’t look to see who. The wire was at least four strands thick, and curled wildly around from the end of the cart. The engineers grabbed wooden planks from the back of a second cart, jammed them into the dirt, and carefully wrapped the wire around each subsequent plank.

“What’s it supposed to do though?” 382 asked as they watched the cart slowly make its way across the field. Manifest turned over to Cold Blooded; generally he had the answers to any and all questions concerning warfare. Everypony else did as well. Cold finally noticed the expectant eyes looking to him and faced the ponies.

“I dunno.”

Everypony shrugged, and then turned back to face the cart as it squeaked along. Manifest looked up and down the trench after a moment. A few ponies from 4th squad were still putting up wood planks along the sides of their portion of the trench. Manifest looked at 5th squad’s portion; the wood in place with no gaps, and their artillery cover dugout behind them was deep and well kept. Just behind Cold and Joe was the entrance to the tunnel to their machine gun nest. Manifest nodded in approval. ‘The miracle squad digs a pretty good trench.’

In the 9 days since they had arrived at the field, the trench system that they made had grown from one strip into a labyrinth maze of bunkers, machine gun nests, and artillery and mortar pits. All of it looked like it was ready for war, except the singular barbed wire fence that was being strung out across the field.

“Well, Ah guess that puttin’ that fence up can’t hurt us any.” Repeater finally concluded. Everypony nodded in agreement, and with that the squad dispersed. Repeater looked over to Manifest. “Hey partner, ya got any paper?”

“Yeah, give me a minute,” Manifest said as he dropped down from the trench ledge. He turned and ducked his head as he trotted into the low dugout behind them. The artillery cover dugout was a small room under 6 feet of earth, with just enough floor space for the eight ponies of the squad to sleep. At the end of Manifest’s plot of earth was a footlocker. He kicked it open. Inside was a box of 100 rounds, gun oil, and most importantly the paper and a single pen with a small ink cauldron next to it. Manifest levitated up a sheet, then carefully turned and trotted out, being sure to keep his head down.

“Here you go Sergeant,” He said as he handed it off to Repeater. He hopped up next to him and looked back out west across the field as repeater grabbed his pen out of his saddlebags. “What are you gonna write about?” Manifest asked as he looked off into the distance.

“Ya know Ah can’t really talk while Ah write, right?” Repeater mumbled past the pen in his mouth.

“Oh, sorry.”

Repeater shook his head. “Naw, its fine. Anyways, ya notice how it’s hot and the suns always shinin’ and asides from Cloudsdale”- he pointed a hoove straight up at the city above them-“there ain’t any clouds?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Ah’m used ta that ‘cause it’s always like that in Appleloosa, but in Appleloosa Ah had somethin’ that Ah don’t got here.”

“What?”

Repeater motioned to the top of his head. “Ah want mah hat back. Ah’ve been missin’ it for a while now.”

“Oh,” Manifest said. Repeater adjusted the pen in his mouth and began writing again. Manifest kept looking out west. He had heard that the Unicornians had pushed to within 20 miles of them, but from their position on the field he couldn’t see them. He looked out west regardless; they could attack at any time.

“Have you read the paper?” Manifest looked over at the questioner, 736 sat at the bottom of the trench, reading last week’s edition of The Canterlot Crusader. “Our story made the front page!”

“Yeah, Amber sent it to me a few days ago.”

“They really loved Cold Blooded, quoted him a lot.” Manifest nodded. He still didn’t know 736 that well, not as well as the other ponies anyway, so he didn’t quite know what to say. Repeater stopped writing for a moment.

“Ah didn’t like it much at all, they were quotin’ me wrong the whole time.”

736’s eyes widened slightly. “They misquoted you?” Repeater shook his head.

“Ah don’t talk like how they wrote me, like, they wrote what Ah said, but not how Ah said it.”

Manifest looked over, “What, without the accent?”

“Yessir.”

736 chuckled, “Do you know how annoying it would be to write everything that you say with an accent?”

“Well, it wouldn’t be all that bad, and it would help them ta know me more.”
736 waved a hoof dismissively and went back to reading the paper. For a moment there was quiet in the trench, and then 736 spoke up again, “Who’s on our side?”

Manifest turned over to 736 in confusion, “What do you mean, who’s on our side?”

“I mean, who’s helping us in the war?” 736 answered, not quite looking at Manifest so much as staring down the length of the trench in though, head propped up by hoof.

Manifest thought about it. “Well, the Zebras don’t have the capability to get involved. The Minotaur’s don’t care. The Crystal Empire is sitting this one out, I guess they’ve had enough conflict for a thousand years. The Griffons are making weapons, but that’s it.” He paused, thinking if he had missed any kingdoms or countries. “I guess it’s just the Griffons.”

“Why aren’t they fighting though? I thought that the Griffons lived for war?” 736 asked. Manifest shrugged.

“I guess that they don’t think of this as their fight.”

“So you’re saying that we are on our own?” 736 asked.

“Yeah, we’re on our own.”

“But there’s got to be somepony or thing that will help us.” 736 paused and rubbed his temple for a minute as he looked back at The Canterlot Crusader. “Wait, how about Discord? Send him over there and the war’s up in ten minutes!”

Manifest looked at 736 in disbelief. “No! Dear Celestia No! You want to let him out to do his chaos? What if he didn’t stop? That cure is worse than the sickness, believe me.”

736 looked down in dejection. “What about the elements of harmony?”

“What would that even do?” Manifest asked.

“I don’t know, something?” 736 thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know,” he finally admitted in defeat. He perked up again. “Wait a minute, you know that princess, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yeah,” Manifest said.

“Doesn’t she have a dragon, her own personal dragon?” 736 said in excitement, leaning forward.

“Yeah, yeah she does,” Manifest said. “It defeated King Sombra about a year ago, right?”

736 stamped at the ground once in excitement. “Yes! We could use that. Attack them with a dragon and we’ll win this war tomorrow.” Behind them, Manifest could hear Repeater chuckling. “Hey, what’s so funny?” 736 asked in dejection.

Repeater shook his head as he finished writing his letter, then replaced his pen in his saddlebags. He looked over at 736 and Manifest. “Ah’ve seen that dragon. Ya’ll know how big it is?”

“It’s got to be pretty large; I heard that it almost destroyed Ponyville once!” 736 said defiantly. Repeater shook his head as his grin grew all the wider. Finally he raised a hoove to about chest height.

“Your dragons’ ‘bout that tall.” 736 and Manifest looked at Repater in disbelief.

“No way, you’re messing with us,” 736 said with less conviction that he had before.

“Yeah way, Ah’m right.” Repeater leaned in towards the pony sitting at the bottom of the ditch. “If this dragon wasn’t just chest height, why the hay haven’t they used him ta light a barbeque?”

736 sat and considered this for a second. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Manifest looked over at Repeater.

“You’ve seen the princess’s dragon?”

“Yessir partner, and Ah saw the princess,” Repeater beamed.

“Really?” Manifest asked.

“Yessir partner, remember how ah told ya about us fightin’ the buffalo?” Manifest nodded. “She was there. She’s good friends of mah cousin Applejack.”

Manifests eyes widened slightly. “Really?”

“Yeah, mah cousin’s one a’ the elements a’ harmony. Loyalty.”

736 threw up a hoove. “You’re telling me that your cousin is one of the six defenders of friendship, and personally knows one of the princesses? You’re pulling my leg, you can’t back that up.”

Repeater smiled some more, this time a sure and confident grin. “Ya sure Ah can’t?” 736 nodded. Repeater casually looked over to Manifest. “Partner, have ya seen the twins about lately?”

Manifest looked around. “They were here just a minute ago,” he said in confusion, reaching up and scratching his head as he said it. “I don’t know, Sergeant.”

Repeater sighed, and then shook off the disappointing news. “It don’t matter, when the twins come back they’ll tell ya ah’m right.” 736 nodded slowly, clearly still not a believer in Repeater’s claims.

“Yeah, sure they will.”

Manifest looked back west again. The field looked the same as it always did, shimmering in the summer heat. Watching the field before him ripple under the gaze of the sun reminded him of the parched feeling in his throat. Manifest popped open his saddlebags and levitated out a small canteen, looking west the whole time. Nothing changed in the 10 or so seconds that he drank from the canteen. The field still fluttered green, the cart with the barbed wire still continued its slow advance north, and the sky was still cloudless, stretching into a hazy grey in the distance.

As he put his canteen down he thought that he saw something, a glint of light in the sky in the far distance. Quickly he looked over to where it was, focusing as best as he could at the patch of sky that he saw it at. Now there was nothing, if there was ever anything at all. ‘Still though,’ he thought, ‘it might be something.’ He turned over to Repeater.

“Do any of you fine gentlecolts have a mirror we can borrow?” Manifest glanced over to see the twins trotting down the trench, one of them carrying a wooden footlocker. It was Bloody who spoke, his voice being slightly deeper that his brothers, and that being the only defining characteristic between the two. Repeater perked up a bit.

“Ah was waiting on ya’ll!” he quickly pointed to 736. “Would ya kindly tell that pony there who my cousin is?” the twins instantly snapped out of their joyful mood at the mention of Repeaters cousin. They stood quiet for a moment. “Well come on, ya’ll can tell him,” Repeater said beaming.

“His cousin’s name is Applejack,” Muddy finally said. Repeater grinned toward 736, whose mouth dropped agape at the confirmation.

“And who is Applejack’s good friend?” Repeater asked, still grinning like crazy at the shocked unicorn ahead of him.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Bloody said, looking at the ground in dejection.

“Ya see!” Repeater said in triumph, “Ah am tellin’ ya that mah cousin is one of the six defenders of friendship, and personally knows one of the princesses! And Ah backed it up!” 736 shook his head slowly in disbelief. “Believe it!” said Repeater. He looked over toward the twins, who still seemed put out after being reminded of their time in Ponyville. “Aw, don’t worry about it ya’ll, Ah didn’t tell him how ya know mah cousin. What did ya want?”

Muddy looked up, the enthusiasm that he had when he came over long gone. “My brother and I just wanted to know if anypony had a mirror that they didn’t need.”

“What for?” Manifest asked. Bloody nodded to the footlocker on his back.

“We had an idea.”

“Well come on ya’ll, spit it out!” Repeater said enthusiastically. “Ah told ya ta tell me about any ideas that ya had!”

Muddy spoke up. “Well Sergeant, when the unicornians arrive we’ll need to be able to see over the trench without exposing ourselves, that’s what this’ll do.” He pointed to the footlocker on Bloody’s back. Manifest looked at it, there was a decently sized slit cut into the top of it, but apart from that it looked like a footlocker.

“It looks like a footlocker with a mailhole cut into it.” Manifest said. Even as he said it he knew what was going to happen next.

Muddy looked over to Manifest with a hint of contempt. “No, the contraption you see before you is prototype for the Pony-Portable-Pack-Periscope.”

Manifest grinned, content to egg the twins on. “It looks like a footlocker with a mailhole cut in it.”

Muddy looked annoyed, as though he had to explain to a filly why she couldn’t have cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner. “I did say it was a prototype, didn’t I?”

“What does it do?” Repeater asked.

Bloody swung the footlocker off of his back and opened it up. “The Pony-Portable-Pack-Periscope is just a modification of the footlocker that everypony is issued. You can put all of your valuables in it like a regular footlocker.” He pointed to the slit cut in the lid of the footlocker, and at another one on the far end of the opposite side. “If you take out all of the items that you put in it and set up the mirriors like so”-he levitated a mirror out of the box, and slid it into a small groove just behind the slit-“you can use this to see over the trench without having to pop your head out.”

“Does it work?” Manifest asked.

“We need another mirror.” Muddy said. Repeater pointed into the dugout.

“Mah locker, go get it.” Muddy leaned down low to get his tall frame to fit into the dugout, then returned with a small mirror levitated before him. Quickly he slid the mirror into the remaining groove of the footlocker, closed the door, and then looked through the bottom slot.

“It works,” he said, passing the box off over to Repeater. Repeater held the box in his forehooves, and propped himself up against the trench wall. The top of the box jutted up just above the lip of the trench as Repeater looked into the bottom slit.

“It sure does. Try it out Manifest.” Manifest levitated the periscope from him and peered though. Reflected through two mirrors, Manifest could see the field shimmering in the heat out in front of him. It did work. He started to look away and put the periscope up when he saw it again. Through the mirrors, a glint of light in the sky to the west. Manifest quickly brought the periscope back up and looked again.

“What’s wrong?” Repeater asked.

“I think that I saw something in the sky out west, something reflective.”

“Aw hayseeds,” Repeater muttered. Manifest heard the rustling of saddlebags to his right as he kept looking for the glint off in the distance. The rustling stopped, and the two ponys looked out west. After a moment Repeater spoke. “Ya did see something out there Manifest.” Manifest looked over to Repeater, who had propped himself up against the lip of the trench and was looking through a set of binoculars. “Ah count… 7 airships.”

Manifest looked back through the periscope, looking for what Repeater could see, but the airships were too far off to be seen without magnification. Repeater spoke calmly, not looking away from the airships in the far distance. “736, ah want ya ta run ta company command and tell them that we’ve spotted 10 plus airships out west. Tell them that we don’t know exact numbers, or intentions. Go.”

736 scrambled to his hooves and went running off down the trenches. Manifest kept searching for the suspect airships, but couldn’t see them. “You have any orders, Sergeant?” he asked as he continued scanning the sky. In his periphery, he could see Repeater nod.

“Ah want ya ta get the rest a the squad, and tell them ta be ready for fightin’ orders. Go ta Joe, get his binoculars, and then ah want ya ta scan the ground. The Unicornians may be goin’ all at once.”

Manifest handed the makeshift periscope off to the twins, pausing for a second as Muddy and Bloody received it. “It’s good,” he said motioning to the periscope, then he turned off and ran down the trench toward the MG tunnel. As he rounded a slight corner he saw 382 leaning into the hole that would lead to Cold and Joe’s nest. 382 glanced over at Manifest.

“What’s happening?”

“Tell them to be ready for orders. We saw Unicornian airships out west, so they may be attacking soon.”

Just as soon as Manifest finished his sentence, he heard Cold’s voice emanate from the hole. “Don’t worry about us, Manifest. We’re always ready.”

‘Of course they are,’ Manifest thought briefly as he trotted over to the opening of the tunnel. “Does Joe have his binos?” he yelled down the hole.

The response came echoing back, “Yeah, I’ll run them out.” The interior of the tunnel was dark, save for a small flicker of light at the end. Manifest could see the light get blocked by a body as Cold began to crawl through the low tunnel. Manifest looked nervously back west as Cold crawled closer. He could now see a few black dots with his naked eyes, all slowly moving toward Cloudsdale.

Cold popped out of the end of the tunnel, binoculars in his mouth. Manifest levitated them up. “Hey, if you could get the twins over here, I got some ideas that I think need working on,” Cold said. Manifest nodded hurriedly, hardly concerned with Cold’s ideas in the face of the Unicornian threat in the air.

“Just be ready,” Manifest said as he turned to gallop back to Repeater. In a few quick seconds he hopped up next to the Sergeant on the lip of the trench and put the binoculars to his eyes, scanning the plains for movement. The fields danced in the summer heat, their movement magnified by the binoculars. There were no Unicornians to be seen on the ground.

Manifest continued to scan though, the two ponies silently looking out west. “How many airships?” Manifest asked.

“Ah counted at least 30,” Repeater answered as he continued to monitor the enemy’s movement. “They’re all stoppin’ ‘a couple miles off, bunchin’ up so they can all attack at once. Ya tell Cold and all ‘a them ta get ready?”

“Yeah, he said he’s always ready,” said Manifest. Repeater snorted.

“Ah coulda guessed he would.”

“Has 736 come back yet?”

“Naw partner, not yet.”

The two stopped talking, each focused on their prospective tasks. Eventually they heard hoof beats behind them, followed by the crunching of dirt as 736 leap back into their trench.

“Cloudsdale’s tracking over fifty airships, can’t see any ground forces for 20 miles, and those aren’t moving. Company command told us to sit tight, say we can’t do anything to help.” He paused for a second. “It’s all up to them.”

Repeater didn’t break his stance as he asked his question. “So they don’t need me ta keep tabs on them?”

“No Sergeant.” Repeater immediately folded the binoculars shut.

“Ya can stop partner, at ease.” Manifest closed his binos as well, finally allowing him to look up at Cloudsdale. A few Equestrian airships were launching off of the city and beginning to fly west to meet the threat in the distance. Manifest turned and looked behind him. A few miles back more airships were taking off.

“What do we do now?” Manifest asked. Repeater looked at the Equestrian airships taking off from the fields to the rear.

“Ah guess that all we can do is ta just watch.” Repeater said.

The squad stood, lined up against the edge of the trench, looking at the gaggle of airships in the sky west of Cloudsdale. For twenty minutes they had been simply bunching up, the stragglers from each side slowly catching up and joining the main formation. The Unicornian ships had gathered into a large group, and seemed to be waiting only for two final airships to link up. The Equestrian ships had formed a series of 3 lines at different altitudes running parallel to the trenches below, acting as a buffer between the looming fleet and Cloudsdale.

“Anypony know anything about our ships up there?” 382 asked. Everypony continued doing what they had been for the past quarter hour, watching and waiting. “Anypony? Muddy, Bloody?”

The twins were the only ones not completely transfixed by the slow motion setup that was happening thousands of feet above their heads. Muddy and Bloody were busy converting a second footlocker into an impromptu periscope. “Hey!” 382 said forcefully, prompting the twins to look up.

“Yes?”

“Do you know anything about our ships up there?” the twins shrugged.

Manifest spoke up. “They’re the Equestrian air volunteers, just ponies with working airships who slapped 25 pounders onto the decks and said they would fight.”

“Where’d you hear that?”

“The Canterlot Crusader.” Manifest heard the rustling of paper off to his left.

“Where?” 736 asked.

“Page ten,” Manifest said. Ten thousand feet above them and a few miles off it looked like the last of the Unicornian Airships had gotten into position. 382 continued talking.

“Do you think they’ll win?”
This time Cold answered, “Well, we have 37, and they have 55. But we have a good firing line assembled. I don’t know.”

“What if we lose?”

“I don’t know.”

The final Unicornian airship glided into position, and slowly the group began to move forward. The ponies in the trench waited, Manifest quickly glancing around. The entire company had lined up on the lip of the trench to watch the battle that would happen above, and Manifest wagered that everypony beyond that was watching as well.

The Unicornian fleet inched toward the Equestrian ships, which were making no attempt to maneuver, instead waiting for the Unicornians to get within range. The Unicornian fleet continued its slow and purposeful advance. A minute passed, and aside from the Unicornians movement toward Cloudsdale, there was no action. The lead enemy ships where only about a mile away, and still had run into no resistance.

“Why aren’t they shooting?” somepony asked. Nopony answered him, all eyes transfixed on the drama above. The line fell completely silent, only the very faint drone of airship engines in the distance providing sound. A slight breeze blew across the field, but nopony noticed.

“Bom.”

The entire line subconsciously shifted forward, as though the extra foot closer to the battle would help them to see what just happened.

“bom, bom-bom, bom-bom-bom.” The sound of fire, from what side they couldn’t tell, was intensifying. All eyes scanned with intensity, trying to see if any shot were having any effect.

“HIT!” a pony yelled. The line rustled with excitement, looking for the hit. Manifest saw it, one of the lead Unicornian ships was trailing a steady stream of black smoke. Repeater had his binoculars back out, looking at the ship in question. Manifest squinted, trying to see the ship better. A quick puff of smoke emanated from the ship’s hull, then another one.

“ANOTHER ONE!” 736 yelled out. A second and third Unicornian ship had been put alight, and so far it seemed as though the Equestrians hadn’t take a round. Manifest kept his focus on the first ship hit. A few more puffs of smoke erupted from the flaming Unicornian ship.

With a great flash the ship suddenly scattered itself across the sky, the gasbag above it erupting into flames. The line erupted into cheers, the calvary raising hooves in the air. Fifteen seconds passed, then with a groundshaking BOOM the blast reached their lines, the celebrating ponies hardly noticing it. Cold pointed out into the gaggle of Unicornian ships. “THEY”RE DROPPING LIKE FLIES!”

The squad looked, and indeed the Unicornian ships were all losing altitude. Now seven of them were on fire, two of them slowly drifting off to the south. The sound of the Equestrian 25 pounders still echoed through the sky. “CELESTIA, LOOK AT THAT!” another pony yelled, Manifest looked for what the pony mentioned, then saw it. An airship had cut loose from its gasbag, and was now plummeting to the ground. Manifest watched it fall the entire way, all the way until it plowed into the ground with a puff of dirt.

“WE’RE BEATING THEM!” a pony yelled out, and the company cheered in response. Manifest quickly glanced around. Muddy was hugging his brother, Cold slapped Joe on the back, everypony was celebrating except for Repeater. Repeater keep looking through his binoculars, then briefly muttered something.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?” Manifest asked, having to yell over the cheering ponies. Repeater didn’t move, but repeated what he had to say.

“We ain’t hittin’ them anymore.”

The Unicornian ships were all now significantly lower than the Equestrian ones, and as the ponies stopped celebrating, they were able to hear the sounds of the battle again. There were none. “We stopped.” 736 said. He turned to the other ponies in near panic. “Why’d we stop?” Up above the lines of Equestrian ships began to move, the uppermost ones gaining altitude, and the ones closest to the Unicornian ships turning towards Cloudsdale to flee. The Unicornian ships were closing the gap between the first of the Equestrian lines, now only a half mile away at most and gaining.

Suddenly, the air was filled with noise. “Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop.” Six shots in rapid succession, significantly less throaty than the Equestrian twenty-five pounders. The air was silent again. Manifest looked to see if the shots had any effect on the ships above, but he couldn’t see.

Then the air erupted with the sounds of fire, so quick that he couldn’t determine when one shot started and another one ended. The effect on the Equestrian ships was immediate. From this range Manifest could see the puffs of smoke showing where the Equestrian ships were being hit erupting along the bottom defensive line. With a flash an Equestrian ship exploded in the air, then another one, then a third. The others of the line closest to the Unicornians were all aflame, only two which had fled first surviving the barrage. The sounds of the Equestrian ships exploding reached the trenches below, echoing across the plains. It had been less than a minute since the Unicornians fired their first shot.

The Unicornian ships began to climb now, coming up to the second Equestrian line from below. The second Equestrian line was in total disarray, a few ships flying back towards Cloudsdale, a few frantically trying to out climb the approaching threat from below, one even flying down to try and combat the horde. With a cackle the Unicornian guns blazed forth, and within seconds the lone descending ship ripped itself into pieces, caught fire, and exploded.

“COME ON!” a pony yelled up to the clouds above. The Equestrians were getting annihilated, and there was nothing the ponies in the trenches could do but watch. The gunfire halted for a few seconds, then resumed, the rapid fire “pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop” of the Unicornian guns refilling the air. The airships of the second line that were climbing away were now under fire, and just as before they withered away under the mass fire of the Unicornian fleet. Half of the Equestrian ships that were there at the start of the battle were gone, raining down in pieces upon the plains to the west.

The ships from the second line that retreated to Cloudsdale had made it, now flying amongst the city. The ships from the third line were descending to regroup with the remnants of the second. Nothing stood between Cloudsdale and the enemy fleet. The Calvary ponies waited silently, as the Unicornian fleet slowly closed the gap between Cloudsdale. The air was silent again for a moment, but everypony knew that it would be only seconds before the fire resumed.

The Unicornians fired first, the characteristic rapid fire popping of their guns cackling through the sky once more. The Calvary ponies looked to see the damage done, none of the shots having any apparent effect on the surviving Equestrian ships.

“They’re shooting through the clouds, trying to hit our guys,” Cold muttered. Up above the Unicornian ships continued to blindly fire into the city.

“They can’t do that!” 736 exclaimed angrily.

“Yes they can,” Cold said bitterly. “Who’s going to stop them?”

BOOM!

The Calvary line shifted their attention to the sudden noise to the rear as the thunderous roar echoed into the distance. A puff of smoke emanated from one of the 25 pounders that the artillery corps deployed. It fired again, another concussive BOOM! For a few seconds it was quiet. Then every single artillery piece the Equestrians had fired simultaneously.

The earthshaking thunder of the artillery immediately drowned out the distant “pop-pop-pop” of the Unicornian cannons, and it didn’t stop. A thick cloud of smoke had built up around every Equestrian artillery position as the guns fired as fast as they could into the sky above. The Calvary looked back towards the Unicornian fleet, a sense of hope filling the air.

Above in the sky, the Unicornian Fleet remained oblivious, still slowly moving towards Cloudsdale. With a flash, one of the airships exploded. The line cheered again, even as another ship shattered in the skies above. Then another, and another.

As a fifth ship’s gasbag caught on fire, the Unicornian fleet slowly began to turn around. The Calvary cheered even more, “THEY’RE RETREATING!” a pony yelled in triumph. The Unicornian ships were now flying back west, yet another falling victim to the Equestrian artillery. Behind the Calvary the guns fell silent as the Unicornian fleet slowly flew out of range. The Equestrian ships didn’t attempt to follow, still tending to their wounds in Cloudsdale.

Around Manifest everypony was celebrating, hoofs thrown into the air, friends embracing each other. Manifest looked over at Repeater, who simply stared up into the sky, an almost melancholy look in his eyes. Manifest looked up as well. Above him it seemed that Cloudsdale was alright, out toward the Unicornian lines black smoke still lingered from the explosions of airships. A few ships still floated adrift on the wind, burning from bow to stern, only held aloft by the intact gasbags above them.

“Repeater, we won.” Manifest said. He smiled a little as he said it. “We WON!”

Author's Notes:

it's back!.Finally, feels like forever since I've updated this.
Good news bad news time.
Good news is that I have the next three chapters written out already, with a forth being rattled out as fast as i can manage.
Bad news is that my extremely busy editor is proving to be something of a stumbling block, so there's no telling when i'll be able to actually put the damn things up. fingers crossed

For anypony wanting to know about the twenty-five pounder the Equestrians use, look up the Royal Ordnance QF 25 lbr gun. For a taste of how fast these things can fire, start at the 1:40 mark on the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEvYWY7lHO4