My Little Pony: Soldier's Side
Chapter 13: No Bullets Fly (Sabaton)
Ask a veteran pilot, and they will tell you the war in the air is as murderous as the war on the ground. Yet from the carnage came an incident that is as much truth as it is legend. Two pilots, Genevieve and Gale, led a squadron to intercept a squadron of Equestrian B-17s looking to bomb the city of Lev, and teach the Kingdom of Orel a lesson.
Of course, the B-17s were not traveling alone, "Breaker, breaker, we got Mustangs, gotta half dozen eggs in this basket," radioed Gale,
"10-4, Gale, watch your tails," said Genevieve, seeing they had been spotted in the air, and the squadron of ten FW-190 DB 609s flew in take on the 'Flying Porcupines'. Half the squadron broke off to distract the bomber escort, while the other moved in on the bombers. The skies began to fill with bullets and the rattle of dozens of aircraft machine guns.
Engines roared. The sound of bullets racing through the cold air five miles above two kingdoms at war. A fight pilot from Gale's squadron had been shot down, and proved to her enemies that she was not out of the fight. The wing of her fighter had been shot off, and the engine burning. As she went down, she crashed her plane into the wing of a B-17.
The bomber turned turtle in the air, and landed on top of another, and they both exploded, "Rest now, sister," radioed Genevieve
There was little time to grieve the loss of a pilot. The FW-190 fighters evaded bullets with skill in handling their aircraft, and agility as the escort was easily tricked into leaving the bombers as sitting ducks. Like a pack of wolves, the Royal Griffon Air Force pilots were picking off the B-17 bombers one by one, with burning wrecks crashing into the fields.
Flak began to fill the skies with puffs of black smoke and shrapnel coming from the exploding shells. Genevieve and Gale each shot down two bombers, yet the squadron was still flying straight to the Griffon Kingdom city of Kingstown. The little village on the River Guto was bombed. The target on the river was one of the Griffon Kingdom's old steel mills.
The griffons had lost three out of ten fighters in their squadron, three too many. Yet by some grace from above, there was a B-17 bomber still flying. The tail had been shredded by 20mm cannons. The bomber seemed out of ammunition to defend itself. The crew were wounded or dead as the pilots could see through the windows and the bullet holes.
"That bomber is still flying? That's a miracle," radioed Gale, seeing the bomber crew were scared to the bone, "what should we do?" she asked,
The B-17, named 'Wing Clipper', looked to see the two enemy fighters escorting them out of harms way. They were shocked to see the chivalry of the pilots helping them even though they are the enemy. One of the pilots in the cockpit was an earth pony named Silver Wing. Once out of harms way, Gale and Genevieve lifted up their goggles to them.
Their breathing masks covered their beaks, and they saluted to them before departing back to their base. If they had shot down the bomber, they both would have earned the Cross of Valor, 'There are things in this world more precious than a medal, go...brave ponies, go tell all of Equestria what you have seen' thought Gale watching the B-17 leave.
These pilots helped an enemy out of the kill zone, and the bomber went back to it's base in Equestria. Their ancestors would have deemed them worthy of the title 'Knights of the Air'. So many pilots, brave pilots, on all sides fought and died for their lands. It is a very common occurrence that your friend is there in the morning, but not the afternoon.
The last thing the pilots did before going back to base was point to Silver Wing the direction toward the Crystal Empire. Once back at the base, their planes were rearmed and refueled after a failed mission to stop the squadron of bombers from bombing Kingstown. Luckily, the civilians in Kingstown made it to the air raid shelters before the bombs fell.
"I just could not do it, Gale," said Genevieve having supper with Gale and the squadron at the base, "I could see the fear in their eyes, their helplessness,"
"Neither could I, you did the right thing, Genevieve," said Gale, the cook was coming around with a pot of kale stew with sausage and potatoes. Gale recalled seeing a pony that couldn't use his hoofs, the other had his unicorn horn shot off, and half the guns were unusable, and all the gunners were dead. It seemed that chivalry was not dead in wartime.
"I hope they made it home," said Genevieve, and the rest of the evening was filled with food, tales from the other pilots. Genevieve looked up at the sky painted with stars, 'If I ever settle down and raise up a family, I will tell this story, I'm sure that pilot will tell this story to his fillies and colts as well, I hope he survives the war,' Genevieve thought,
"Come on, Genevieve, it's almost lights out!" called out Gale from the base barracks. Genevieve looked up at the night sky one last time before going in.
The war was nearing it's end. In Equestria, the war was taking it's toll on Princess Celestia and felt it was time to settle for terms. Her dream of conquering the Griffon Kingdom had all but vanished. Her hooves are stained with the blood of millions, both pony and griffon, soldier and civilian, "Get this message to all commanders in the field...cease fire,"