Dash gripped the wheel tightly. She could feel the massive bird struggling to stay in flight. She scanned the ground which was by now frighteningly close. Her biggest fear was of the the towering rock spirals shooting out of the sandy desert ground into the night sky. She could only see about 100 feet in front of the plane's nose but decided to take her chances with the 5000 feet in front of that. So she put down the landing gear and lowered the throttle.

She picked up her radio with a shaking hand and spoke softly. "This is your captain speaking. We are about to begin our decent; please fasten you seat belts." She put down the radio in the seat next to her and turned the flaps to landing position. She took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, but as she lightly pulled back on the accelerator her heart rate only sped up.

Within a few seconds she could see the ground passing underneath her. The C-17 was known for being able to land on hostile terrains, but the rocky land below still scared Dash. However she held the plane steady. Or at least as steady as she could with it trying to pull to the left. After what felt like an hour of heavy breathing the plane shook from its own impact with the ground. Now all she had to do was stop. If only it was the easy.

Out of the dark came one of those huge rock structures. It neared the plane like a predator. Finally, it struck the left wing which exploded violently as Dash lost what little control she had. The steering Column whipped to the left with enough force to throw dash from her chair.

Now the massive aircraft rocketed down its make-shift runway, lighting the sky with its burning wing. Just before Dash vomited on the floor of the cockpit, the plane skidded to a stop. The sand storm that the landing had created engulfed the plane and cut off the little moonlight that was previously coming into the windshield.

Dash opened her eyes to the darkness. She collected her strength and stood. The world was spinning around her and a sharp pain pinched the left side of her forehead. She began to climb down the latter to the cargo hold but found herself clinging to it about three quarters of the way down. Suddenly she lost her grip and fell.

Two strong hands caught her after a split second of falling. "Whoa, nelly!" Dash's savior exclaimed. She recognized the voice and was glad to hear it. Dash was obviously discombobulated so AJ just kept her hands around her waist and waited. After about a minute of this, Dash spoke against Applejack's shoulder.

"I crashed the plane."

"I know. I know. It's alright Dash."

"Then I threw up in it."

"Oh... Well, that's ok too. Everything's ok."

Dash began to regain her senses and supported her own weight. "What do we do now?" She asked shivering slightly in the cool desert night.

"Uh.. I don't really know."

Twilight however, was close by to answer the question. "We leave. I don't know where, but I don't doubt those jets reported us, and search parties were probably sent out. So we need to go."

"Where did those jets come from?" Pinkie asked from her seated position on one of the tanks.

"Fort pony." Twilight's response stunned the entire squad. "I don't know when. I don't know how. But they've taken Fort Pony."

"Well where do we go know?" Rarity asked with a frightened tone.

Applejack spoke next. "Appleloosa. We can take a tank to Appleloosa."

"Well that beats waiting here for a search party to find us." Twilight said. "You got any idea which way to go?"

"East I guess. We can't be far away." Applejack's response was a long ways from being reassuring. But it would have to do for now.

"Ok." Twilight said pulling a compass out of her satchel. "We need to be out of here by sunrise. Load up the end tank that we didn't use; it'll be full on ammo, gas, etcetera. We'll be off and hopefully reach the town by breakfast time. Cool?"

"10-4" AJ said beginning to walk toward the tail. "It could be about 20% cooler." Dash said before jogging to catch up to AJ. Twilight shook her head deciding it was best to ignore Dash's precise coolness measurements and began her own trek as the other girls followed behind except for pinkie who leaped from tank to tank gleefully.

At the end of the line, the girls crowded into the battle tank sitting beside the one they already had experience with. The tank was meant to hold four soldiers, so it was a bit cramped inside with six, however the team made it work without complaints.

The tank roared to life as the other one had and tore its way out of the crippled transport plane. The sky outside of the plane was tinted orange from the rising sun. In any other scenario the girls all would of notice the beauty surrounding them. Instead they sat stone face as the tank began to to speed across the desert.