September 24th, 2005
Canterlot, Equestria
Pixy had been really stunned by the regality of the castle, even if the atmosphere was rather gloomy. Everything seemed to be very royal in appearance, and a bit over-the-top; right down to his well-furnished guest room. The golden armor of the Royal Guards in the large meeting room with him was where he drew the line as overly-ostentatious.
He doubted that gold could actually stop any modern weapon, and their spears weren’t really very threatening as compared to what he had seen before; if this was what they were fighting, then it was no wonder that they were losing. He was the only human in the room, but the Princesses and the Elements were also present, along with the guards. He slouched back is comfortable meeting chair and waited anxiously.
“How did you find them?” he kept asking nervously.
“I told you already,” Twilight responded in an irritated tone, “All we had to do was go through-”
“I know, I’m just talking to myself,” he replied. “Just a little anxious to see them all again, y’know?”
“I thought you would be happy to see such close friends again,” Celestia said.
“Ex-friends turned enemies, remember? You’re a lot more forgiving than us humans.”
“Well, if you feel like your life is in danger, my guards will defend you with theirs.”
Pixy actually wanted to laugh at this.
“I can handle myself, thanks; that’s why I brought this,” he said, holding up his AK. “But you’re missing the point.”
“And what would that be?”
“That I can’t do it on my own; if he walks out, so do I.”
“You cannot fly without him?”
“I don’t think so; at least, not as good as I used to.”
The sound of voices approaching the door halted the conversation.
“Oh, it would seem some of the others have arrived.”
Pixy’s eyes widened and he sat up straight in his chair, holding his rifle close to his chest. He was surprised, and a little relieved, to see PJ and Crow Team walk into the room. They were already in a deep conversation, and didn’t notice him a first.
“Mr. Beckett, I’m glad to see you and your friends agreed to our offer,” Celestia said.
“Hey, we’ve got to make money some way,” Crow One replied. “Now what’s this I heard about finding Cipher, or is that just PJ pulling our legs?”
“We did find Cipher,” she said, and then motioned over to Pixy. “We also found his former wingman.”
“Pixy!” PJ yelled.
“Hey, Patrick,” he replied. “It’s nice to see you’re good after our last fight.”
“You nearly killed me, you turncoat bastard!” PJ yelled back. “Damn it, you didn’t say he’d be here!”
“I thought you might not consider coming if we did,” Celestia admitted.
“You were right!” PJ replied, venom in his voice. “Do you have any idea what this guy did?”
“We do, Patrick; but we still need all of your help.”
“Forget it,” PJ said. “He’ll probably just end up shooting down your own fliers.”
“You haven’t changed, PJ,” Pixy chimed in. “You used to talk a lot about ideals; fighting for what you think is right and everything. I was just listening to you.”
“You know what, Pixy!?”
“Silence!” Luna yelled, effectively silencing the room. “Our final guest has arrived.”
At the door stood a male fighter pilot, still in his flight suit. He had been watching the argument between the two with interest. All eyes in the room now turned to him; and his eyes alone told a long story. Pixy was the first one he looked directly at, showing a slight grin.
“Hey, Cipher,” Pixy replied in a cool tone, trying to stay calm.
“Wow, look like time hasn’t aged you at all,” PJ added.
“So, you would be the famous ace that we have all heard of?” Celestia asked.
Cipher nodded is response.
“Rule one about Cipher; he doesn’t talk unless he needs to,” Pixy said.
“I am sure he has his reasons,” Celestia said. “But, let’s not waste any more time; if you follow me-”
“Hang on, you still didn’t tell me why you need this backstabbing prick,” PJ interrupted.
“We need all the help we can get, Mr. Patrick.”
“You’ll have to do without mine; I’m not taking my chances up there with him.”
“Please, we truly do need all of you,” Celestia said. “Would you really just leave us here to die?”
PJ stared at her for a moment, her sad eyes overpowering him with guilt.
“Only if Cipher goes.”
September 25th, 2005
West of Canterlot
Any ground attack is usually preceded by a preemptive bombardment, partially from the air. The bigger the campaign is, the heavier it will be. Prior to the final assault on the city, Canterlot was to be flattened by a wave of strategic bombers, flying in from the west through a snow storm.
It wasn’t a very big storm; just a few clouds that had been left there by weather ponies that were, understandably, caught up in more important matters. The storm might have caused some trouble for normal pegasi; restricting visibility and making flying harder.
This wasn’t the case for the jets that were flying through it now. Two of them pulled ahead from the rest of the group; both F-15Cs fighters. The wing of one was painted in red, while the other had both wings painted in blue.
“It’s startin’ to come down!,” Pixy said over the radio. “This scene look familiar to any of you?”
“I can’t believe he said yes,” PJ sighed from his F-16.
“Believe it, kid; you made a promise, and now you’re sticking to it.”
“Just remember that Cipher can shoot you down if you try anything funny.”
“Huh, keep saying things like that and I might start cryin’.”
“Uh, hello?” a voice came over the radio. “Can um, can you hear me?”
“And who are you?”
“I’m going to be helping you with your mission as the Airborne…Warning and, uh…Counting…”
“Airborne Warning and Control System,” Pixy corrected. “And you can just say AWACS.”
“Ah, ok.”
“I’m glad the Princess thought ahead and got one of those. Wait; do you know how to use that thing?”
“For the most part, yes,” the male voice responded. “I’m still learning some parts, but I know the important stuff.”
Pixy sighed to himself; a rookie AWACS could easily get them all killed.
“What do we call you?”
“My name is look-”
“Refer to all units by their personal callsigns,” Pixy interrupted.
“My what? Oh, uh…hang on.”
“You don’t know your callsign?”
“Wait…Redeye, it’s Redeye.”
“Ok then, Redeye; give us some directions to that bomber formation.”
“Uh, keep going the same way,” he said.
Pixy got a little irritated by this; but, a rookie AWACS was better than no AWACS.
“I do hope his inexperience will not interfere much,” Celestia said over the radio from the city. “It was difficult enough just to get the aircraft.”
“Doesn’t matter; we’ll take them down all the same,” PJ replied.
“Yep, just like we used to,” Pixy added. “Of course, that’s only if you’ve got that pay that you promised.”
“Well, I cannot pay you if we are dead, obviously.”
Pixy laughed a bit.
“Be ready to pay up; we’ll be back before you know it!”
The jets continued flying through the snow, and quickly spotted some large dots edging along the horizon slowly; heavy bombers, about ten of them. Smaller dots were soon spotted with them, probably a fighter escort. However, as they got closer, they noticed the escort was made of Sphinx with guns rather than fighters.
“They don’t have fighters?” PJ asked aloud.
“Why not; they’ve just been fighting unarmored pegasi, not fighters.”
“And the bombers can carry more heavy ordinance than any one of them,” PJ added. “What’s the plan?”
“Shock; go in quick and shoot ‘em down,” Crow One said.
“Ok, let’s see if we’ve got what it takes,” Pixy said. “Galm is engaging!”
Pixy shot forward, closely followed by Cipher. Both struck the side of the formation with a flurry of missiles. Pixy shot down two fighters and Cipher got another two, followed by a bomber with his guns. The two shot back above the clouds before the enemy knew what was happening.
“B-52s; still go down easy as I remember them to.”
“I counted fifteen escorts and ten bombers,” Redeye reported late.
“Make that eleven and nine,” Pixy reported. “Just let us know if anything else is headed our way.”
“Crow Team, follow me,” Crow One ordered. “Crows Three and Two get after the escorts; I’ll grab a bomber.”
As Crow Team maneuvered above the clouds into position, they could hear a confused enemy’s voice on the radio.
“What was that!? Some of ours went down!?”
“Is it the Equestrians?”
“I couldn’t tell, they were going too fast!?”
As if to answer them, Crow Team’s Fighter Falcons dived in to take down their individual targets.
“Jets! The Equestrians have jets!”
“What!? When did they-just keep them off the bombers.”
“I-I can’t; they’re going too fast for me to aim!”
A good number of the formation was down now, and the chances of the rest making it through were slim. The escorts fired their weapons wildly at the planes, doing no real damage. The last one took off after Cipher, and was able to get a glance at the cockpit.
“Humans!” he yelled. “It’s human pilots!”
“What!? Who!? None of the human nations were supposed to be aiding them!” one of the bomber pilots panicked. “Can you see any flags or markings?”
“I-I can see some kind of squad logo on the side with a dog; I think it says ‘Galm’ on it-”
His voice was cut off as Pixy brought down the final escort.
“Alright, that’s the last of the escort fighters; now for those bombers,” Pixy announced.
The fighters began to dive into the formation like birds swooping to the water to catch fish. There was no chance any of them could make it. Each one went down, little by little. The final one was able to get a quick glimpse of his targeted city before a missile from Cipher blew off his wing.
“That’s it,” Pixy reported over the radio, followed by a short whistle. “I forgot how much fun this was. Not too bad, PJ; but you’ve still got some stuff to learn.”
PJ decided to ignore the comment.
“Let’s get back home and grab a drink-”
“Warning, another formation is coming!” Redeye yelled over the radio. “They’re going a lot faster this time!”
“Why now? Do they think they stand a chance?”
“They’re too fast to be natural-flyers; they have to be fighters.”
Pixy breathed in deep.
“Ok, let’s do this; I can see five coming in fast. That’s one for each of us, guys.”
“Yes, that means we can each have our first jet kill,” the enemy flight’s lead replied. “You won’t escape us.”
“You have no idea what you’re up against; I’ve killed plenty of those Flankers that you’re driving.”
“What nation are you from?” the enemy demanded. “Or is this some sort of black operation?”
“We’re only here money, pal; and they’ll be paying extra today once you’re in the dirt.”
“Mercenaries?” the enemy commander said. “The mighty sun goddess and her beloved nation, reduced to mercenaries.”
The rest of squad laughed insultingly.
“Finish these selfish humans and avenge our comrades!”
Each plane went after another in five individual dogfights. Each member of Crow squadron got one of them on their tails, along with Pixy. Cipher was the only one to get on the tail of his opponent first.
“Whoa, these guys are a step up!” PJ said. “Someone shoot this guy off me!”
“I’m busy, Three,” Crow One responded, dodging a missile shot at him.
Cipher’s duel with the enemy commander was short. He banked to the right and Cipher followed. As he stopped and banked to the left, he passed by Cipher’s sights; in turn, the human sent a missile into the body of the aircraft.
“The captain’s down!” one of them cried.
“What!? No! That’s impossible!” another said. “They’re just some wardogs!”
In response, Cipher shot the Sphinx off of Pixy’s tale.
“Four’s down!”
“Not so big and bad now,” Pixy commented.
Both Cipher and Pixy flew over to assist Crows One and Two; shooting down their attackers with ease. PJ was able to turn the tables on his, drastically cutting his speed and causing the Flanker to overshoot his plane. Returning to normal speed, PJ fired a sidewinder into the rear of the last plane, ending the engagement.
“No more targets,” Redeye reported. “You can head back now.”
“Hey, Cipher; you still alive?” Pixy asked. “Looks like we’ve still got it; huh buddy?”