Cloudships are giant warships used by the Equestrian Defense Force during the Great War and by the Enclave after the war.
History of Use
During the War
It is unknown at what point during the war that the cloudships came into play. All that is known is that they were used by the Pegasus during the war and that they were built using Unicorn magic. This meant that after the Megaspells hit, the cloudships fell out of production.
After the War
After the Megaspells hit and the Pegasi closed the sky, there were only 4 Thunderheads and about 50 Raptor class Cloudships left, without Unicorn magic the Pegasus Enclave was unable to build more.
During the events of Fallout: Equestria, the Pegasus Enclave lost a tremendous number of cloudships. The first of these losses were the four Raptors deployed to Splendid Valley, destroyed by the same balefire bomb that destroyed the Goddess.
Under Operation Cauterize, many more cloudships were sent below the clouds, and they very quickly began suffering losses. During the assault on Friendship City, three Raptors were destroyed. One was shot down by the city's harbor guns, one was destroyed by fratricide for disobeying orders and refusing to fire on civilians, and the last was destroyed when Littlepip and her companions detonated bombs within the Raptor's hangar. Lionheart and Mouse also destroyed one over Stalliongrad, and four more were destroyed over New Appleloosa by Ditzy Doo's sonic rad-boom. Calamity noted that the dozen Raptors lost in that week were more than the Enclave had lost in the past two-hundred years.
Losses accelerated from there. Lionheart and Mouse captured another Raptor (known as The Lenticular) on the way to the cathedral, killing the entire crew aboard with the Pink Cloud. At the battle for the cathedral itself, the Thunderhead Overcast and a group of six Raptors serving as escort detail fought against the Cyberdragon, leading to the destruction of half of the Raptors present, while a fourth was destroyed by Red Eye's artillery on the ground. Near the end of the battle, the Raptor Lenticular returned, full of Pink Cloud, smashing into the Overcast while Lionheart declared revenge for Canterlot, causing the Overcast to crash into the Cathedral and explode, it's unknown what happened to the two remaining Raptors whose fate was not specified.
At Fillydelphia, the Enclave committed "more than a dozen" Raptors and the Thunderhead Glorious Dawn. The Cyberdragon returned, destroying two Raptors before being slain. The final blow was another sonic rad-boom from Ditzy Doo, which destroyed the Glorious Dawn and all remaining Raptors.
In the final engagement, at least three Raptors were lost at Neighvarro, one to Spike, and two to friendly fire, but not before dealing damage to Spike; causing him to lose one of his eyes in the fight.
In all, the Enclave lost two Thunderheads and more than 32 Raptors, more than half their total cloudship force. The surviving Raptors were noted as withdrawing and regrouping with the remaining Thunderheads, presumably ending Operation Cauterize.
Ship Class
There are several types of Cloudship, though only a few are more prominently featured and named.
Raptor Class
Raptor class Cloudships are built for small scale assault on ground forces and ideally built for aerial combat. They are fast and highly maneuverable cloudships and were notably used to take down attacking forces like dragons, earning them the nickname of "Dragon Killers". They are very susceptible to Sonic Rainboom attacks which annihilate the clouds giving them lift, causing them to crash.
Known Raptors - Pyrocumulus, Altostratus, Nimbostratus, Lenticular, Nacreous, Noctilucent, Mammatus
Sky-tank
Sky-tanks are cloudships, built for the purpose of transporting large numbers of troops to various locales. They also contain weapon platforms to fire from and defend the troops inside and are driven by a single pilot. They are armed with plasma cannons.
Known Sky-tanks: Tortoise
Bombing Chariots
Bombing Chariots are cloudships that are similar in design to pre-war sky chariots used by Celestia and Luna. They are built for bombing ground based targets, but can also defend themselves with mounted weaponry.
ThunderHead Class
The largest known class of cloudship. Thunderheads act as moving military bases, deploying troops and vehicles to the battlefield and also wielding its own, very lethal weaponry.
Known Thunderheads: Overcast, Glorious Dawn, Victorious
Cloudships in Side Stories
Various Cloudships have made appearances in other stories.
Sky-tanks
Appearances of Cloudship in Fallout: Equestria Side Stories |
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Rising DawnSky-tanks were used heavily in the evacuation of Poneva city at the close of the Great War. Escorted by vertibucks, sky-tanks would touch down in the streets, load up civilians, take off, and transport them to safety to Stormpeak city. |
Thunderheads
Appearances of Cloudship in Fallout: Equestria Side Stories |
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MisfitsA Thunderhead, along with various other cloudships, flies above Snakebite Tourniquet as they make their way into the Equestrian Wasteland. |
Raptors
Appearances of Cloudship in Fallout: Equestria Side Stories |
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Project HorizonsThe Taurus shaped city of Thunderhead (not to be confused with the Cloudship model) drifts over the Hoofington area and is a key strategic settlement for the Enclave due to it's proximity to Shadowbolt Tower. Following the death of General Harbinger, the risk of civil war between Neighvarro and Thunderhead rapidly ferments due to an information leak by Blackjack that Thunderhead intelligence services have modified a bioweapon to affect pegsi. This leads the Neighvarro fleet to dispatch a large flight of Raptors to subdue the city (mindful of the tower's defenses), initially under the command of General Stormchaser. Named Raptors: Sirocco, Blizzard, Galeforce, Azimuth, Helicity, Hurricane, Perihelion, Sleet, Stratus Fractus, Castellanus The Ditzy Doo ChroniclesA Raptor that crashed some distance outside Stalliongrad, was fixed over several years by a glowing ghoul named Bright Light and her followers. The process was slowed due to the cloud-based technology that they had to circumvent, but thanks to Ditzy Doo, they were able to speed up the process immensely. The ship was later named Renewal, in honor of the journey the ghouls onboard would be making to a new homeland. OutlawThe Cult of Speed are in possession of a Raptor, that a group of Hexhound's managed to damage and crash. The Cult quickly claimed the damaged cloudship and have been working on repairing it. Ardent Vortex tried to steal the cloudship from the Cult, with the help of their former leader, Bruise Cruise. Vortex's forces ultimately failed to claim the cloudship though. The cloudship was later used to travel to Vortex's offshore Oil Rig base, where it was disabled. The Raptor was destroyed, when the oil rig self-detonated. |
Vertibuck
A Vertibuck is a type of Cloudship that acts as a troop transport and a powerful assault craft, depending on the situation.
Appearances of Cloudship in Fallout: Equestria Side Stories |
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HeroesThe Vertibuck is a mix between troop transport and combat cloudship. It is powered by two pegasi, which allows it to deploy and maneuver quickly. The Enclave Remnants possess some of these from when they defected and left the Enclave. Project HorizonsA Vertibuck was used by Operative Lighthooves to try and kill Blackjack. She destroyed it, using Trottenheimer's Folly. OutlawA Vertibuck was used by Ardent Vortex and his followers to attack the Steel Ranger whilst Mach snuck into their base to retrieve important data. Vortex's Vertibuck is later revealed to have been stolen from a group of wasteland pegasi, called the Cult of Speed An Enclave Vertibuck attacked Mach, just outside the settlement of Salt Lick Springs. It was resistant to small arms fire but was destroyed by attacks from a group of Steel Rangers. It had a side door which opened and allowed a gunner to fire from. Mach's sister Astral went looking for Mach in one of these and let him use it to gather allies for his planned attack on Ardent Vortex. Tales of a CourierThe resistance is in possession of Vertibucks. They require two pegasi to power it, but can also use unicorn and earth pony pilots/gunners. MemoriesA Vertibuck was used by Frosty Winds and her squad as a form of transport. They also seem to be treated as emergency evacuation vehicles, sent out to rescue squads who are in combat hot zones. Wings of SteelThe V-2 Vertibuck was originally put into service roughly one year before the outbreak of the Great War, serving as the workhorse for the Equestrian Air Force. They served as transports, gunships, and recon aircraft among others, their versatillity allowing them to fill nearly any role that was needed... Continued... Rising DawnVertibucks were used extensively by the pegasi during the Great War. Rising Dawn's iteration of the Vertibuck functioned as a multi-purpose fire-support aircraft, capable of engaging with strafing runs with its nose mounted autocannons or missile batteries, but providing close fire-support while hovering. |
Notes
- The Sky-tank, Tortoise, is a reference to Tank, Rainbow Dash's pet tortoise.
- The Thunderhead cloudship seems to be based on the Mobile Base Crawler from Fallout 3's expansion, Broken Steel.
- The Raptor class Cloudship replaces the Vertibird from the Fallout series, alongside the Sky-tank, the role of the Vertibird being split between them.
- The Vertibuck featured in various side-stories is based on the Vertibird from the Fallout series.