[MLP] Equestria at War - Book 1: The Return of Friendship

Chapter 7: Flying High

(Y/N): "This is ONE way of getting to a frontline, I guess!"

The stallion - now back in his full paratrooper attire - sat within the lower cockpit of a B-25 medium-range bomber, looking through the front windshield of the nose turret.

Airman: "Yup. That view never gets old." A stallion sitting next to (Y/N) commented with a muffled voice. Much like the rest of the bomber's aircrew, the stallion was wearing an olive-green flight suit and a pair of yellow gloves over his fore-hooves. His head was covered with a brown thermal flightcap and a pair of goggles resting on top of his head. He had a pair of boots fastened over his hind-hooves. A bright yellow vest and a parachute were strapped over the stallion's front and back, respectively. His muzzle was covered with an oxygen mask connected to a medium-sized yellow cylinder tied around his waist. The stallion was sitting in front of some kind of aiming scope as he was reading a map.

(Y/N) had a similar oxygen mask and tank connected to his muzzle and waist, given the bomber's high altitude.

Airman: "We're about fifteen minutes out from the frontline. Best get ready."

(Y/N) nodded to the airman as he crawled out from the space, climbing the nearby ladder into the actual cockpit, where he saw two more flight crew ponies - a stallion and a mare - sitting behind the controls. The primary difference in uniform were that the pilots had officer caps and brown leather flight jackets over their suits.

(Y/N): "Hey... I wanted to say thanks again for letting me climb aboard, Captain."

The lead pilot spoke up; evidently, the Captain in question.

Captain: "Not gonna say no to an extra pair of hands up here - or an extra gunner. Thestral fighters are very dangerous for bombers. But so long as we stick in formation... we should be just fine."

The paratrooper's blood briefly ran cold at the thought of getting shot down in a fiery crash. He gave an empty nod and backed out of the cockpit, slowly walking through the bomber itself as he took a mental image of everything.

One pony was sitting at some kind of small radio terminal just behind the cockpit with a pair of headphones on, likely talking to the rest of the bombers and the friendly fighters escorting them.

Above the radio console, a mare was sleeping in an elevated seat in a rotating glass turret fitted with two machine guns; the roof gunner.

Past the narrow walkway where (Y/N) saw rows of aircraft bombs neatly lined up on racks in the bomb bay, two ponies were sitting against the walls of the aircraft talking to each other; the side gunners. On each side of the body was a viewing window with a single machine-gun turret sticking out.

At the tail was another pony reading a book to themselves as they sat in a turret fitted with two machine guns: the tail gunner.

As (Y/N) walked back towards the cockpit, he paused and looked out one of the side windows, spotting several other B-25 bombers - and even some Equestrian P-40 fighter planes - all flying in a tight formation through the semi-cloudy skies.