//------------------------------// // Operation Firefly // Story: Fate is a Funny Old Thing // by Steventheman //------------------------------// Sakuya had looked everywhere. She had alerted every possible person in Gensokyo. The tengu had volunteered to fly in search of Flandre. The Human Village was under complete lockdown. Gensokyo, for the first time in many years, had stopped completely on the account of one person. Sakuya blinked her tired eyes, and yawned. "No...you must stay awake...she could be here at any moment..." Sakuya whispered to herself. It was too much. The strain of the night had sapped all energy from Sakuya, and she collapsed, sitting upright against a tree. Rarity tuned the radio with her magic. Reimu still hadn't returned from what she said she needed to do. "...Ponyville Radio 24-hour news. We have breaking news." Rarity settled down next to the radio, watching the sleeping Thunderlane on the sofa. The prescription painkillers she had given had knocked him out. "It is now 12:05 AM Canterlot Standard Time. Ponyville Air Defense Forces have been scrambled from Hoofton AFB," the male newsreader stated. "Fighting has broken out despite the early hour..." Marisa fired a stream of danmaku through the sky at Flandre. The young vampire gasped and flew out of harm's way. Mobius One began pursuing her despite her low altitude. "Mobius! Pull up!" No need. Flandre suddenly flew upwards again, as the sound of another being flew past Marisa and Mobius. "Commence Operation Firefly!" a male voice ordered. "All units are cleared to engage at will!" "Bandit is in my sights!" Mobius heard a friendly pilot say through his own helmet, before there was a sound of heavy gunfire. Mobius watched the tracers fly towards Flandre, who avoided the bullets effortlessly, laughing as she did so. "Don't fly in a straight line!" another ordered. Mobius saw the other pilots. Five pegasi, with hoof mounted guns, and two small missiles attached to their underside. Mobius looked at all five of them in formation. There was a flash of red in the sky, before a scream. "I'm going down!" a pilot yelled, before Mobius saw two missiles fly from a rapidly descending pegasus. Both of them flew towards Flandre, before exploding harmlessly in front of her. The friendly pilots broke formation to attack Flandre. "Mobius!" Marisa shouted. "Brace yourself!" Marisa breathed in, and aimed her mini-Hakkero at Flandre. She adjusted her aim, and waited for the friendly pilots to get out of the way. "Master Spark!" Marisa yelled, as a large multicolored laser cleaved the sky in two towards Flandre. "...Throughout history, Ponyville has been the site of many battles...fighting has broken out in Ponyville again." "Holy- Are you seeing this?!" one pilot yelled down the line, looking at the Master Spark laser. "By Luna, it's glorious!" another pilot whispered, still pursuing Flandre. "Don't get distracted, Rapier 2!" a female voice shouted down the radio. "Where's the Wonderbolts?!" "You can't rely on the Wonderbolts to do everything!" "Die you S.O.B!" the radio cried, the sound of missiles deploying. Flandre turned around and caught the incoming missiles, before throwing them down to earth. She mentally locked onto all the pegasi. She laughed, before splitting into four versions of herself and unleashing a wave of danmaku towards the unprepared pilots. There were two screams down the radio, before silence. "We've lost contact with Rapier 2!" "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! I've been hit!" a pilot shouted desperately. One of the pilots locked onto a Flandre clone, before firing her missiles. The clone turned around too late, and was completely engulfed in the explosion. "Rapier 3 shot one down!" the squadron leader cheered, firing his gun at another Flandre and ripping her into two bloodless pieces. "Heh heh! I got one!" "The only things visible in the dark are the tracers, enemy fire and explosions..." the radio broadcaster continued. Rarity looked back at the guest bedroom. "From the lights and the noise, I estimate there are quite a number of them!" Mobius turned hard right, allowing Marisa to fire at the vampire's clone. The danmaku connected, and vanquished the last clone. "Are you still there!?" Flandre shouted, watching her clone fall, returning fire and strafing the mop. "Flandre! You're hurting more people!" "What?" Flandre gasped. "You're not tricking me again!" "This is Rapier 1! We are down to two ponies! We require air and ground reinforcements!" Flandre's body was illuminated by an eerie red light, before there was a large red beam generated from her hands. "Taste my Lævateinn, Kirisame!" Flandre yelled, before the red blade lunged at the fighters. Mobius barrel-rolled out of harm's way, watching the trail the sword made create bullets. The two remaining pegasi also avoided the blade. "Damn! I hoped that she didn't bring that with her!" Marisa lamented. She tapped Mobius' shoulder. "You're doing great!" She has wounded more. "Maybe they're alright...maybe they're only wounded a little bit." They need help. "What are you, some kinda psychic for flying people?" Radio failure. "Guess I'm not getting an answer outta ya." Marisa grunted, firing more bullets at Flandre. "Hey, if we raise the the other guys on the radio, tell them that they're getting a drink from me!" Rapier 1 laughed, before there was sound of more gunfire. "Rapier 3! Bandit behind you!" Flandre lunged again, the scarlet blade narrowly missing Mobius and Marisa. The witch and PADF pegasi took the chance to fire more at Flandre, some of the bullets actually connecting with the vampire, however, her wounds recovered quickly. "Target hit!" Rapier 1 announced, before seeing Flandre's gunshot wound heal. "Damn, she recovered!" "Keep firing!" Rapier 3 yelled. "One of these bullets will kill her!" "A single fighter has yet to be sighted but wing noise can be heard..." the radio began cutting out. Rarity had not noticed Reimu leaving. "...radio transmissions from the military are occasionally..." "Approaching target from the East. Preparing anti-pegasus guns." a soldier's voice cut into the broadcast. "Dammit!" Marisa cried, intensifying her fire. "Why do you have to be so hard to hit!?" The battle continued in the skies, as the Ponyvillians pointed up and panicked amongst themselves. In the skies, Reimu flew towards the battle as quick as she could. Locating the vampire, she aligned herself to her position. Marisa looked down at the shrine maiden. "Reimu!?" Marisa yelled at her friend. "Hold your fire!" she shouted back, before opening her arms, and firing two amulets at Flandre. "Hey! Flan!" "What?" Flandre turned around, only to get hit by the homing amulets, and to see Reimu bearing down on her. "You're getting a hug!" Reimu collided with the vampire, constricting her with her bear hug. Marisa watched as her colleague then started flying straight at the ground. "Go down! Go down!" Marisa cried out. Mobius did as asked, following the falling duo. "Woah, are you seeing this, Rapier 1?" "Yeah. That biped just flew up outta nowhere!" "Chase her! Make sure they get to ground safely! Ground forces, hold all AP fire!" The ponies who could see the fight cheered as Reimu continued her descent. She felt Flandre struggling against her grasp, but only sped up. "Get off me! What do you think you're doing?!" Flandre shouted, baring her fangs and hissing. "Listen, Scarlet!" Reimu yelled back. "As long as you're here, you're not gonna cause any trouble, alright!?" "But-" "I swear that I will crash us into the ground unless you say yes!" Reimu threatened, speeding up and jerking around to make sure Flandre got the point. "You-" Reimu tightened her grip and began to roll forwards head-over-heels. "Okay, okay!" Flandre submitted. "And you are going to apologise to the nice people you've hurt tonight!" "Okay, I will!" "And you are going to apologise to me for interrupting my sleep!" "I'm sorry! Just don't crash us, please!" Flandre cried, tears spilling from her eyes before being caught in the rapid descent. Reimu looked at the girl, before slowing her descent and landing on the ground before the townsponies. "They've landed!" Marisa shouted, pointing at the ground. "There!" Mobius nodded, and flew towards Reimu and the defeated Flandre. The two remaining Rapier Squadron pilots, flew side by side as they descended. "Well, this isn't the weirdest engagement I've been in..." Rapier One laughed. "What?" his wingmare replied. "Discord." "Oh right." Rapier 3 nodded. "You think the others are alright?" "They better be." Rapier 1 growled. "Or I'm having some choice words with that enemy flier when we land." Rapier 3 looked at the falling bipeds. She saw a barrage of tracers shoot up near Reimu and Flandre. "All ground forces, this is Rapier 3! Hold your fire with the AP guns! You're engaging friendlies!" "Rapier 3, this is Bravo 4, holding fire." "Bravo 5, holding our fire!" "Bravo 2, awaiting order to continue fire!" "That was a Royal Guard tank that just passed by us!" the radio buzzed. Rarity had closed her eyes and let sleep overtake her. "There are tanks gathering on the highway..." Mobius One and Marisa landed next to Reimu and dismounted their broom, watching the Scarlet kneeling on the ground, Reimu's hand firmly planted on the girl's shoulder. "Mobius..." Reimu advanced on the pilot. "...Good job." Mobius looked at his feet. Marisa faced the shrine maiden. "Where's my thanks?!" Marisa asked loudly. "This is your job, Marisa. This is actually expected of you." Reimu smiled, putting her hand on Marisa's shoulder, before looking at the townsponies. All five of them, stumbling and obviously drunk. "As you were!" Reimu ordered, before seeing a tank advancing towards her. "All civilians are required to evacuate!" the tank's loudspeaker boomed. "Royal Guard operations are beginning in this area." "No need!" Reimu shouted at the tank. "We dealt with it!" "...What on Earth is that!?" the tank driver yelled, unaware of the loudspeaker. "You guys can go home, we took her down." Marisa said, waving the tank away. She watched the two Rapier pilots land in front of her. "Were you the extra fliers up there?" the captain asked. "Yeah, that was us." Marisa said. "I'm Marisa Kirisame. That's Mobius One." "Thanks for the support up there." Rapier 3 praised. "We would've been in trouble if you guys weren't there to bail us out..." "So, what are you gonna do with Flandre?" Reimu asked. "Hopefully, have her tried for a terrorist attack." Rapier 1 admitted. "She's looking at forty years in military prison." "Terrorist attack?" "She attacked our pegasi." Rapier 3 added. "She could have well killed them. We only just received word that the Royal Guard found them alive." Marisa approached the two pilots, and leaned down next to them. "The thing is, guys, this is par for the course for Flandre...I've fought her twice now, and where we come from, we never tried her for a 'terrorist attack' or whatever you guys call it." "What?" "She always does this. We just shoot her a few times and she stops. Thing is, her sister really isn't around to take her back into custody." Reimu added. "We're willing to make sure she never does this again." "...Alright, we'll report her as EKIA." Rapier 1 submitted. "But if she does this again, we will take her in." "The issue is that she does have the power to destroy everything," Marisa warned. "She was playing up there. Had she wanted to, she would just clap and you would've exploded. But have fun reporting her as 'EKIA', whatever that is." "Wait, what?" "And she's 495 years old. Forty years would mean nothing to her." Reimu added. Flandre looked up at Marisa, tears forming in her red eyes. "I only...wanted to play..." Your idea of play is what most call war. "Huh?" Flandre whispered, looking up at the pilot. You have managed to shoot down four pilots today. "I did?" Yes. Had you shot one more down, you would've been considered an ace. "Really?" Flandre smiled. She had no idea what an ace was, but being compared to a unique playing card was nice. You have a future ahead of you. Mobius held out his hand for the Scarlet, which she accepted. Marisa stared at Flandre oddly for talking to herself. There was a voice in her head she couldn't shake though... "The fighters that shot down the enemy have just landed now. The evacuation order has been cancelled on the Ponyville Municipal Area. Now we can shout that victory is ours!" the newsreader stated. "This is Air Wave, reporting for community broadcast." Marisa walked into the boutique and clicked the radio off, carrying the defeated and now sleeping Scarlet under her arm. Reimu and Mobius followed after them. "Wow, those crowds...all five of them." Reimu slurred, exhausted. "Are you sure that not turning Flandre over to the Royal Guard was a good idea?" Marisa asked, watching the vampire nibbling fruitlessly on her dress, obviously in the fit of a dream. "Huh. It's kinda hard to stay mad at her." "Really? Because I'm finding it quite easy right now." Reimu grunted, opening the door to the guest bedroom and collapsing onto the bed, taking only her sleeves off. "Oh, you just need your precious sleep." Marisa yawned. She walked to the corner of the room, and placed Flandre gently on the floor. She then noticed Mobius One on the floor, and she took her hat off to use as a blanket, before laying her head on the torso of the pilot. "All in a day's work..." Marisa laughed, before allowing sleep to take her. The boutique was silent, save for Flandre's quiet sleep-talking, and Marisa's snoring. "Uh...Sea monkey stole my money..." Sakuya opened her eyes slowly. She jolted awake and looked around. It was easily late morning. "Damn!" the maid shouted at herself. "I could've missed her...but if she saw me...she would wake me up..." Sakuya looked around, before dusting herself off and hearing her stomach growl. "Guess I should find a shop..." Sakuya whispered to herself, walking on her way.