//------------------------------// // Preemptive Strike on an Imminent Threat // Story: Equestrian Skies: The Bearers of the Ribbon Insignia // by Shattered Skies //------------------------------// Preemptive Strike on an Imminent Threat Rainbow Dash stood at the aft edge of the aircraft carrier Cloudsdale, facing towards the sea. The wind blew her rainbow mane against her neck, but she hardly noticed the mild annoyance unless it obstructed her view. She was watching the distant coastline of North Point slowly sink below the horizon, trying to burn it into her memory, for it was likely the last time she would see her home country again in a long time. It had been 16 days since Rainbow’s first sortie, and during that time the Cloudsdale had returned to the naval port at ISAF GHQ on North Point to be refitted and restocked for extended operations. Sadly no pony had been given shore leave, due to the threat of another attack from Prance at any time. Without a way to get off the ship, she had not gotten a chance to visit her home town of Cyrricuse one last time. Cyrricuse was a cloud city in the far north of North Point, and, as the city’s named implied, it was entirely made up of wispy, icy cirrus clouds. Since it was made up of the high altitude clouds rather than the cumulus clouds of most other cloud cities, it had one of the highest elevations of any city in all of Equestria, which also made it one of the coldest cities. In fact the city was so high up that only pegasi could thrive in Cyrricuse. The lack of oxygen would prevent any other races from living there for an extended period of time, provided that they were able to walk on clouds for that long. This incredible altitude was the reason for Rainbow’s fantastic physical condition. Since she had trained in the thin air at such heights, her blood was able absorb large amounts of oxygen when she was lower to the ground, giving her endurance that would rival an earth pony. Cyrricuse’s natural elevation also contributed to Rainbow’s love of flight. While flying was a leisure or a utility for most pegasi, Rainbow had made it to her passion. As a filly, she had been inspired by the many stunt flyers, of both natural and artificial flight, that visited the city to train and practice their routine under the extreme conditions present in the city. The most impressive flyers often came from the city of Cloudsdale, which was the largest and most prestigious pegasus city in all of Equestria. It also had the added benefit of being the world’s center of aviation. Rainbow had always dreamt of visiting Cloudsdale when she was young, but that dream had been thwarted by geography. Cloudsdale was located on the continent of Osea, in the country of Solaria, which was more or less on the other side of the world. If she had traveled east, she would have to cross all of Usea, then the Spring Sea, just to get to Osea. After that, she would have to fly almost all the way across the continent to reach Cloudsdale. Traveling west would have the same problem but with a different continent. After traveling across the Usean Sea, she would need to cross the entire continent of Versusea and the Ceres Ocean to reach Osea. Traveling across such vast distances never proved feasible, so she had never been able to see the capital city of flight for herself. The high pitched whine of an elevator brought Rainbow out of her thoughts. She glanced over her shoulder to see two F-4’s being lifted up from the hangar onto the flight deck. That could mean a few things, all of which involved her flying really soon. Storm Surge had mentioned to her that there was likely to be a briefing today at around 1330. He had even given her a new hoofwatch that he had ordered while in port to prevent her from being late, though since she had been in a hurry to watch the ship leave port, she had slipped it on without taking a good look at it. When she brought it up to check the time she was surprised to find that all the hands of the clock pointed towards where the number 12 would be, and did not move. Another surprising feature of this watch was that there were no numbers, only one word that took the place of the number 12: Late. “One day I am going to get him back for this.” Rainbow thought darkly as she began to gallop across the flight deck in attempt to make it to the briefing on time. -------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash’s hooves pounded on the metal floor of the ship as she raced through the corridors, leaving a short rainbow after image behind her. Anypony who stood in her way had enough sense and reaction time to get out of the way, or was swiftly sidestepped. The only thing that remotely slowed her down was stairs, which she had to slow down just a little to avoid slamming into the bulkhead. After a few seconds of setting speed records for moving around the ship, she reached the final stretch to her room. With an epic sliding stop in mind, she poured on speed as she entered the corridor. Just as she was about to start her slide, the door to her room opened. A purple mare stepped out, and turned to face her. Both ponies’ eyes widened as the two mares spotted each other. Rainbow did the first thing that entered her mind, and jumped. She soared over the surprised mare, landed on all four of her hooves, and did a perfect slide to a stop. “That… Was… Awesome!” she yelled. Rainbow Dash turned her attention to the mare she had just vaulted over, and quickly determined that it was her weapons officer and new roommate, Twilight. “Did you see that Twilight? I just jumped clear over you. It was so cool!” Twilight had, in fact, not seen Rainbow Dash’s amazing feat, for she had immediately hit the ground, and covered her eyes with her hooves. A small whimper was the only indication that Twilight had heard her pilot. “Uh… Twilight, you ok?” Rainbow asked concerned with the fact that the petrified unicorn had yet to respond. When she failed to respond, Rainbow gave her a swift poke to the flank. That finally got a reaction from the purple pony, who jumped to her hooves and spun around to face her aggressor. “Why’d you do th…” she started to say before she realized that the pony poking her had been the same one that had almost body slammed her a few moments ago. “Rainbow? How’d you get behind me?” “I jumped over you. It was sweet! I can’t believe you missed it.” Rainbow Dash explained excitedly, obviously impressed with herself. “You jumped over me?” Twilight asked with confusion written all across her muzzle. “Yeah” Rainbow explained in the tone of one talking to a kindergartner “I jumped over you.” “But how did you…” Twilight began before the confused look Rainbow Dash gave her caused her to stop. The cyan mare couldn’t seem to understand why Twilight was so confused by the simple concept of one pony jumping over another. “Never mind, why were you in such a rush anyways?” “Oh snap! I almost forgot. I came here to get my flight suit on.” “Why?” Twilight asked, more confused than before. “Because, there is a briefing at 1:30. I need to get my flight suit on now so I won’t be late.” Rainbow paused for a moment, and then asked “Hey, how come you don’t have your suit on?” “Why would I have my flight suit on? It’s 12:20. I was just on my way to the galley to get some lunch.” Twilight calmly explained. `“You can’t be serious.” Rainbow replied with a look of disbelief on her face. `“Yeah, look at the clock in the room. It says 12:20.” Rainbow peered into the room through the open doorway. A bunk bed with green sheets was attached to the wall on the left. The bottom bed was nicely made while the top one was a disaster, making it very easy to figure out who slept where. On the right side of the room was a desk that had been recently organized by her new roommate. On the far end of the room there were two white washed wooden cabinets for their flight suits and any other personal belongings. Hanging above that was the clock. Sure enough it read 12:20. “See.” Twilight said as she pointed to the clock with her hoof. “I told you.” “Hmph” Was Rainbow’s only response as she sat down on her hunches with her fore hooves across her chest in frustration. “Hey! Is that a new hoofwatch?” Twilight asked, having spotted it when Rainbow crossed her fore hooves. “I don’t want to talk about it.” Rainbow mumbled angrily. -------------------------------------------------- After a quick lunch and a short walk back to the room to change, Rainbow Dash and Twilight finally reached the ready room. When they entered the room, they saw that the other members of the 118th were already present. Spotlight had already taken up his position next to the screen and Storm Surge was sitting with the other members of his flight in the second row of seats on the left. When he noticed the two mares enter, he gave them a friendly wave. Twilight waved back while Rainbow shot him a glare that he pretended not to notice. “Now that everypony is present, let’s begin the briefing” Spotlight announced as he applied magic to the screen. The blue triangles of ISAF filled the screen before quickly being replaced by the continental map with the date October 5, 2004. A blue dot in the Gulf of North Point represented their carrier, and a red dot on the mainland was labeled Rigley Air Base. “The enemy held Rigley Air Base is located in close proximity of to our front lines, making it the proverbial knife at our throat.” Spotlight began. As he stated this, a dashed circle appeared around Rigley, showing the range of enemy aircraft launched from the base. The circle included all of their territory around St. Ark, the coast of an island to the south of North Point, and, most importantly, about half of North Point. As Spotlight continued speaking, a formation of angry red arrows appeared outside of Rigley. “A large Prench bomber contingent was deployed to Rigley. Their intentions are clear; a full scale strike on our forces at North Point is imminent.” The blue line showing the ISAF fighters would be flight path appeared, and then the map zoomed into the combat area. The mission was titled operation harvest and a cluster of red, yellow, and white dots with a few yellow arrows sprinkled in represented the airfield and enemy aircraft that the pilots would need to destroy. “Operation Harvest?” Rainbow asked Twilight with a whisper. The weapons officer shrugged, and opened her mouth to explain that it had not made much sense to her either, but she was prevented from voicing her thoughts as Spotlight continued with the briefing. “Your mission is to catch these bombers on the ground and destroy them. Halo, Vapor and Mobius flights will be sent to execute the mission. I expect that you all will turn the parking ramp at Rigley into a junkyard. The rest of you will remain here in case they fail. Good luck to you all.” The assemble ponies stood up and began to shuffle out of the room, eager to finally have something to do. Rainbow Dash had other plans though as she glided across the room to confront Storm Surge. “YOU!” “ME!” he replied with a goofy grin on his face. “Don’t you get smart with me.” Rainbow retorted. “You must think that you’re really funny.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Storm Surge said evenly, though the growing smile on his face indicated otherwise. Twilight, who had left with the other’s, peered around the doorway and called out “Come one Rainbow! We need to get going!” “Just a sec.” Rainbow said with a dismissive wave of her hoof in Twilight’s general direction. “The watch?” Rainbow asked as she returned her attention to the red and white pegasus in front of her. “Oh, that. I take it that you didn’t like it?” “No, no I didn’t.” Twilight didn’t fully understand what they were going on about, but was pretty sure that some stupid watch was not more important than the mission they had received just a minute ago. “We need to go NOW Rainbow!” “Fine, fine. Sheesh keep your horn on, I’m coming.” Rainbow said, very annoyed that Twilight had interrupted her discussion. As she began to trot away, she looked over her shoulder at the troublesome pegasus and said “I’ll get you back. You just wait.” “Yeah, I’m sure you will.” Storm Surge replied, not feeling threatened in the slightest. Just before Rainbow was out the door, he called out “Hey! What time is it?” Twilight let out a groan at the further distraction. “Oh, it’s…” Rainbow began to answer reflexively, as she brought her defective watch up to her face. Upon realizing what she had done, she glared at Omega flight’s leader and mouthed “I will get you back” before walking out of the room. “Why do you antagonize her?” Spotlight asked after the two mares had left. “Now she has no choice but to come back alive.” Storm Surge explained. “She owes me.” -------------------------------------------------- Within ten minutes of take off, the flight of ISAF fighters had left the Gulf of North Point behind, and was now over the mainland, quickly approaching Rigley Air Base. Rainbow Dash having been born on the island country, had never seen the mainland, though she wasn’t all that impressed by it. The land was covered with rectangular fields that were bordered by hedgerows, and they were generally various shades of green but the occasional light brown, almost sand colored field was also mixed in. What little land that wasn’t covered by fields was occupied by large hills with dark green forests spread across them. There was little evidence of pony presence except for the occasional house our small town, and the string of power lines that cut through the fields and forests. Rainbow wasn’t in awe of the scenery, but it was nice in a rustic manner. At least it wasn’t as boring as the sky, which was covered by a thin layer of dull grey clouds that stretched on for miles. It was only broken up by the random breaks in the clouds, and the four other blue Phantoms, two on each wing, that were flying in formation with her in the lead. The F-4’s on her right were piloted by Halo 10 and Halo 2, and the others on the left were piloted by Vapors 5 and 6. A beep from the radio indicated that the squadron had reached the combat airspace. This was confirmed when Sky Eye began to speak. “30 miles to Rigley Air Base. Use the power lines to navigate southwest. The bombers should be clumped together on the ground. Take them all out.” “Halo 10 here, copy that. Everypony, don’t be predictable in heading or altitude when the enemy closes in. Also don’t forget wing mate consideration during combat.” “You heard the mare Vapor 5, stick to my wing and you’ll be fine.” Vapor 6 ordered. “Pffft. Wing mates, who needs ‘em.” Rainbow Dash joked. “Not all of us can fly in the insane manner you do Mobius 1. Don’t forget, we’re here for you too.” Halo 10 replied. “Yeah I know. We’re in this together. We’ll nail ‘em and go back in no time flat.” Rainbow stated. Though she didn’t need any wing mates, she wasn’t a one pony air force either. “Hey look down there.” Twilight said, catching the attention of the other pilots. “There’s a substation along the power lines.” Just like Twilight said, there was a substation a few miles ahead of them, just sitting out in the middle of one of the green fields. “So?” Rainbow asked. “Sooo. The power lines run to the base. If we take out the substation, we’ll knock out power to the base. They will be forced to use emergency power, and they won’t be able to respond as effectively.” “Right… So you need me to blow it up?” Twilight gave a loud sigh, before replying “Yes, Rainbow. I need you to blow it up.” “Why didn’t you just say so? Arm the bombs!” Rainbow Dash said with a little too much excitement. “Have you even dropped bombs before?” Twilight asked skeptically, though she suspected that she already knew the answer. “No.” Of course not. “Not any real ones at least. I have trained with them though, and a building doesn’t really move. How hard could it be?” With that said, the pilot dropped the nose of the F-4 and began a shallow dive towards the target. Twilight armed the UGBMs (UnGuided Bombs Medium), causing a circle to appear on Dash’s HUD. The reticule showed the pegasus where the bomb would land after being released allowing her maneuver the plane so that the circle was right over the building. As soon as it was over her target, she twitched her left hoof, causing the bomb to detach from the underside of the aircraft and sail through the air towards its target. “Mobius 1, pickle.” Sky Eye stated, confirming the successful release of the bomb. Just then, the enemy’s radar picked up the incoming fighter squadron. “Bogeys closing in on Rigley A.B. Scramble to intercept. This is not a drill, I repeat thi-sheeeeeeeeeeeeesh” A wave of static washed over the communication as the bomb obliterated the substation. “Man that guy was annoying. See, I told you Twilight, no problem. You worry too much.” Rainbow Dashed boasted. “Yes. Yes.” Twilight said dismissively “Your bomb dropping skills are truly remarkable.” Rainbow was about to retort when a voice over the radio interrupted her. “Repeat this is not a drill. We’ve just lost all power. Backup generators are online, but the radar for the surface to air missiles is inactive. All fighters scramble at once. Intercept immediately.” When the base mentioned fighters, Twilight looked down at her radar screen. She saw two yellow arrows approaching directly in front of them. Twilight looked up, but she didn't see any planes. They couldn't be below her, so that left only on other place. “Dash! We’ve got two bandits, twelve o’clock high.” Rainbow Dash looked up in response to Twilight’s warning. At first all she saw were grey clouds and patches of sky. Then a glint of light caught her eye. Dash’s eyes snapped to the anomaly, and she spotted two fast moving shiny grey triangles moving across the sky. They seemed to ignore the lone fighter beneath them, instead flying to intercept the rest of the squadron. “Vapor, Halo. You’ve got bandits on the nose.” Rainbow told her squadron mates, who were flying far above and slightly behind her. “Vapor 6 copies. All pilots prepare to engage.” “Halo 10 here, No joy. I don’t see anything… Wait, got ‘em. Tally ho on two Prench F-5’s, bearing 225. Go on ahead Mobius 1, we can take them. We’ll join up with you once we splash these suckers.” “Roger Halo 10, moving to attack the air base. Don’t take too long, or there won’t be any base left to attack.” “With you in the skies, I have no doubt. Halo 10 engaging.” The other ISAF fighters repeated Halo 10’s status, as the flight merged with the enemy F-5’s. Meanwhile Rainbow sent her own fighter into afterburner towards the base. Flying at high speed, and low altitude, Rainbow would easily be able to get the jump on any of the base’s remaining defenders. As she flew towards the base, the pilot listened radio chatter from the dogfight, just in case they needed her help. “Halo 10, get him off me.” “Hold on Halo 2, I’m on his six. Break left on three. One… Two… THREE! Break! Halo 10, fox 2! Bandit down.” “Miss! Miss! Miss!” “Calm down Vapor 5. He’s turning too hard. Wait until he’s in gun range.” “Alright, I’m closing in… Got him in my sights… Guns, guns, guns! I got him!” “Great job Vapor 5; you’ll be an ace in no time.” Rainbow said to the victorious pilot. “Rainbow Dash, I’ve got the base on radar.” Twilight said to Rainbow, causing the pilot to refocus on the task at hoof. “There are four bandits defending the airfield. We should probably focus on them first.” “Any targeting radar from AA weapons?” The rainbow mare asked her unicorn weapons officer. She wasn’t too keen on relying on the enemy’s reports, just in case they knew the ISAF aircraft were listening in. “Just four anti-aircraft guns. No SAMs or flak.” “That won’t be a problem. Arm the sidewinders” The pegasus replied as she tilted the nose of the aircraft up to intercept. As the plane increased in altitude, Rainbow Dash was able to get a better view of Rigley A.B. A long back strip of asphalt ran perpendicular to her plane, with a network of white concrete roads branching off of it. The roads led to two slabs of concrete, one on each side of the runway, which had hangers for housing the fighters, though they appeared to be too small for bombers. On the closer, and larger, of the two ramps had a control tower built on top of it, and three Tu-95 bombers parked directly in front of the tower. Two hangers were located next to the left of the control tower, and three more bombers were located further to the left. To the far left, at the end and on the other side of the runway were three more bombers, which were parked in the grass. The last three were located on the far side of the runway all the way to the left, on the other concrete slab, next to three other hangers. A single AA gun was located at each of the four corners of the facility. The four fighters were spread out over the airspace around the field, indicating that they were probably not part of the same flights. As Rainbow continued to climb, she noticed three more fighters emerging from the hangers near the control tower. “Twilight, rearm the bombs.” “Why?” Twilight asked, confused by the odd instruction. “Aren’t we going to engage those fighters?” “Yeah, in a minute. Three more bandits are preparing for takeoff. I’m going to deal with them before they become a problem.” Rainbow Dash replied as she began to pitch the nose down into a dive. “But that will kill them!” Twilight protested. “Well duh… that’s kinda the point.” “No. I mean they’re defenseless. There is absolutely no chance for survival.” “Good, that means they won’t have a chance to come back and bite us in the flank.” “Rainbow! How could you say that! They’re still ponies.” “Ponies that want to kill us! Twilight, you need to arm the bombs. I’m running out of altitude!" Rainbow shouted, growing increasingly annoyed with Twilight's resistance. Twilight didn’t respond, but she begrudgingly armed the UGBs. She saw the ammo counter change from seven to six as Rainbow dropped one on the unsuspecting aircraft. With the COFFIN system, she watched the sinister black oval fall through the air, secretly hoping that Rainbow Dash had missed. To her misfortune, it didn’t, and the resulting explosion turned the airplanes, including the ponies inside them, into flying pieces of shrapnel. -------------------------------------------------- The rest of the mission proceeded smoothly once Rainbow had finished off the rest of the base’s top cover. All the pilots must have been fresh out of flight school because it had been a simple matter of firing missiles at them. They poorly attempted to avoid the heat seeking missiles, but to no avail. With the fighters gone, Rainbow Dash effortlessly placed bombs in the middle of the cluster groups of bombers and air base facilities. The base had been wiped out by the time the rest of the 118th arrived, much to Halo 10’s disappointment. Now the pilots were back in the ready room listening to Spotlight’s debriefing. Rainbow didn’t pay much attention to it, something about how the attack was a success and that the air strike had been averted. She was more concerned with Twilight’s attitude toward her. The unicorn hadn’t spoken a word to her, not since she had destroyed those fighters on the ground. Once the briefing concluded and the two mares returned to their shared room, Rainbow confronted her weapons officer about her new code of silence. “Twilight, what’s the matter with you?” The purple pony didn’t respond. Instead she began organizing random papers on the desk with her magic. “Come on Twilight. Say something.” “You killed them.” Twilight replied in a barely audible voice as she stopped moving the papers around, though she refused to face her roommate. “What?” Twilight spun around to face Rainbow Dash, with anger and tears in her eyes “You killed those ponies! They were defenseless! They didn’t pose a threat to you! How could you do something so inequine?!” Twilight shouted with fury. Rainbow Dash was stunned by the unicorn’s sudden outburst, but only for a moment. Now she could feel her own anger rising as she retorted “Me! Inequine! What about that Prench bomber attacking the city just a few days ago! How’s that for inequine?! The ponies being bombed were pretty defenseless!” “That doesn’t mean you should sink to their level. We need to be the better ponies.” “I didn’t sink to their level. I killed soldiers, who, given the chance, would have just as gladly killed the both of us. The Prench bombed a city full of civilians because it was in the way! How does that make me the villain?!” “I…” Twilight began before faltering. As much as she hated to admit it, Rainbow Dash was right. The fighters would have done the same to them given the chance. If Rainbow hadn’t done what she did, the fighters might have killed them right then and there. Rainbow Dash was good, but seven on one were long odds for most pilots. That didn’t make her actions right, just less wrong than the Prench. “You… your right. I’m sorry.” Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise at this sudden turn of events. “What did you say?” “I said that I’m sorry. I guess I overreacted. It’s just that… this isn’t what I signed up for. I never expected to be on the front lines.” Twilight said solemnly. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, clearing away any remaining anger, before saying. “I don’t enjoy killing other ponies. I realize it isn’t the right thing to do, but neither is war. The Prench chose to attack us, our families, and our freedom. We need to defend these things by destroying their instruments of war, which includes there soldiers. I can’t say I’m sorry for what I did, but I can say that I’m sorry for snapping at you.” Twilight took a moment to process what the cyan pegasus said, before repling with a ghost of a smile “When did you become so profound? Have you been reading?” Rainbow smiled in response “Hah… yeah right, reading. Sooo...friends?” “I guess.” Twilight said skeptically. “As long as you try not to do something like that again.” “I would never do that unless it was absolutely necessary.” Rainbow Dash replied “I swear.” -------------------------------------------------- The colt had continued to play in the bar, night after night, earning just enough money to sustain himself and his uncle. Each night was the same, one after another, until one night… A colt stood in the midst of several army grunts, playing his harmonica for them to help raise their spirits and lighten their pockets. Suddenly the sound of vehicles rolling up to the building could be heard, which was quickly followed by several stallions storming into the bar. They ordered the grunts to get out, to which the grunts complained to one another as they reluctantly followed the command. The colt took cover in a shaded stairwell, far away from the new arrivals. Maybe the barkeeper had done something wrong, and these ponies where here to close down the bar. This proved not to be the case, as the new ponies situated themselves around the tables, and began to order drinks. As they began to settle down, the colt was able to recognize a patch on the vest of one of the ponies. It was the mark of the Prench air force. Now that he looked back, he noticed that most of the new ponies were pegasi. One of the ponies, a unicorn, began to write names on the far wall, followed by symbols that looked like poorly drawn planes. The colt couldn’t get a very good look, as the pegasi pilots began to crowd around the unicorn. Occasionally cheering would erupt from the crowd, which was soon followed by a toast and then heavy drinking. He couldn’t be sure of what they were saying, but one word stood out: Ace. When cheering and drinking had subsided, the unicorn went on to his final announcement. “And now, for our leaders results.” At first the colt thought that everypony had turned to look at him, but when he followed their collective gaze, he noticed a beige pegasus with a blonde mane, sitting in an odd manner, strumming a peculiar instrument. It was peculiar, not because the colt had never seen it before, but because it wasn’t an instrument ponies normally played. The instrument in question was a dark brown griffon made acoustic guitar. The only reason the colt could identify the foreign instrument was because his father had also learned to play it. The difference was that his father had been a unicorn, which, while difficult, allowed him to use magic to play it. This pegasus was using nothing but his hooves, and he was good at it too. “Our Yellow 13 bagged three more today.” That statement washed away any more thoughts about the pegasus’s guitar playing abilities. This stallion, just a few feet away, was the pony responsible for the death of his parents. “Bringing his new tally up to 64 kills.” The stallion looked up and smiled at the colt, seemingly ignoring the unicorn’s praise, and asked “Would you please join me on your harmonica?” The colt was too shocked to decline, and slowly walked out of his sheltered spot, to take his place besides his parents’ murderer. Instinctively he brought the harmonica up to his lips as Yellow 13 started a new song. The colt’s eyes widened with recognition at the sound of his guitar. By some fluke the pony, whom he had searched for day after day, the one who had killed his parents, was now playing his father’s favorite song. -------------------------------------------------- Hello everyone once again. As always I hope you enjoyed the chapter, though, to be honest, I don't feel that it is as good as the previous ones. The mission isn't really all the exciting in the game, and I felt that going into detail about blowing up bombers would be boring, so that is why that part isn't really described. I skipped the debriefing for a similar reason, it didn't having anything to add. Also having the debriefing in every chapter would get repetitive. On the topic of the geography of Equestria, it is the same as the geography of Strangereal, with the same continent names. (for those who don't know, Strangereal is the alternate Earth on which Ace Combat takes place.) The difference is the name of countries. In the case of Solaria and Cloudsdale, they take the place of the country of Osea and November City. A map of Strangereal can be found below. The map is a little hard to read so here is a link to a larger version.