(Lol, You just had to make me feel guilty, do you?Aboard the flagship of the 3rd fleet holding position high in the air, Sky Marshal Rolling Thunder watched with dispassionately as the once prestigious Wonderbolt Academy, or rather the hive that had now intergrated it into, burn following the relentless barrage from the aerial fleet. The missiles aboard the vessel had long since left the tubes, the old warship having begun the bombardment, and so Thunder contend himself to wait for the others to finish.The TMS Barracuda was over sixty years old, a zeppelin-shaped-Class aerial battleship powered by four internal anti-grav generators, which fought in two great wars, armed with some of the most powerful arcane beam cannons and later magitech missiles ever designed, served by crews who did their duty with distinction. Who would had thought that the last action of this old workhorse before decommissioning would be to destroy one of their own airbases, taken over by Changeling infiltrators?That angered him deep inside, though he hid it under his mask of professionalism; he was a Wonderbolt, once, before the Griffons from that old skirmish took off one of his wings and he transferred himself to officer school. Oh well, at least he had done his colleagues a measure of justice, avenging them after the Changelings had assimilated them into their swarm."All ships are reporting in, sir." The commander of the ship (but not the fleet), Captain Red Wing, said as she approached him on the bridge, "Incendiary salvos complete. Bunker buster salvos complete. Standing by for orders."The sky marshal took one more look at the carnage below, "Good." He said, gruffly, "Take us down to 1000 metres. Order all ships to do the same, and deploy the Pegasus Guards. Initiate Phase II, and remind them to screen the whole area thoroughly, down to the tunnels those bugs had dug.""Aye aye, sir." She barked orders back to the crew behind them at their stations, before turning back to look at the burning base below. "Sir, do you think any of those bugs would had survived that?""Likely. These bastards are persistent if anything. Wouldn't be surprised if some of them survived in the tunnels they built beneath the base." The marshal replied bluntly, "And devious. These bugs were planning to ambush us when we land, claiming to surrender, and take over the fleet, turning it on Equestria once they finish converting the Wonderbolt Academy into a forward base for another invasion. We almost fallen for it, had it not for our unicorn guard captain and Crystal-regent interrogating that Changeling Alpha we wouldn't even had known.""Trickery after trickery, is there no end to their schemes?" Cpt Red Wing wondered aloud next to her superior and friend."We just had to deal with them when they come up, Red, it's what we do." Thunder declared, pausing to take a sip of coffee from the mug hooked on one of his hooves, "How many Wonderbolts do you think are still alive? Unconverted? Had they all been accounted for?""Most of them, yes. Save one; HQ haven't been able to reach Corporal Rainbow Dash."Rolling Thunder eyes widen. He felt his heart almost skipped a beat "And..." he muttered, slowly, "She hasn't been briefed of the situation?""No, sir. Is... that a problem?" Red Wing asked, alarmed."Big one." the sky marshal affirmed, "She... is a prodigy, immensely powerful with pegasi magic. She is also one of our most capable fliers, and most powerful soldier we ever seen as a Wonderbolt, especially once Princess Luna offered to train her and unlock the use of her pegasi abilities to their full potential. Do you remember what she did last year? During that skirmish with the Gryphus Dominion airforce?""She.." Red Wing stuttered as the realization sank in, "She took down an entire flotilla by herself. With two Sonic Rainbooms.""Exactly." The sky marshal confirmed, "She and her friends knows the Wonderbolts had been turned into Changelings, they were the ones who exposed them, after all... but they didn't know that the 'surrender' they pulled were part of a trap. If she comes back to the base now, seeing what we had done...""... and one of the survivors tricks her into thinking we massacred helpless POWs." Red Wing sweated, and gulped, "Oh no.""Contact!" One of the bridge crew at the radar station suddenly declared, "Unidentified object at 11 O'Clock, coming in from below, designated as Class B Tango! 400 km per hour, closing in fast!" He pointed to the closing blip on the blue magitech screen of his console.Cpt. Red Wing and Mrsh. Rolling Thunder looked at each other, momentarily, as they realize just what this could mean. Red Wing leapt into action, propelled by training and fear, "Contact vector?"The crew punched a few keys on her hoof-designed keyboard. "Twenty seconds, already passed the outer and inner screens... Trajectory..." Then gasped with shock, "RIGHT AT THE BRIDGE!""Get us out of here!" Rolling Thunder ordered, for the first time in years showing fear in his voice."Too late," Captain Red Wing deduced, "Max power to bridge barrier shields, everypony, brace for impact!"Reckoning has come for 3rd Fleet, destroyers of Wonderbolt Academy Changeling Hive and killers of countless Changelings.= = =