//------------------------------// // Blinding the Northern Eye // Story: Equestrian Skies: The Bearers of the Ribbon Insignia // by Shattered Skies //------------------------------// Blinding the Northern Eye “Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Daaaaash!” Twilight called out, her voice echoing down the empty corridors of the Cloudsdale. After waiting for a few moments for a response that never came, she muttered to herself “Where is that pony?” Twilight had not seen the pilot all day and was beginning to worry for the pegasus’s well being. An aircraft carrier was an easy ship to get lost in, this Twilight knew from experience. “I’m sure she’s fine. She has been on the ship longer than I have.” -------------------------------------------------- “Where in Equestria could she be?!” Twilight exclaimed, stomping her hoof on the metal floor, resulting in a resounding clang. She had checked the galley, the hanger, back at the room, all of the places she thought the rainbow maned pegasus could be and all in vain. One last place popped into her head, and its obviousness warranted a facehoof. “Of course! She’d be in the ready room!” With the sudden epiphany out of the way, Twilight began galloping full speed towards her new destination. Upon reaching the door, she threw open the door, hope in her violet eyes. “Rainbow Dash I’ve…” She stopped in mid-sentence, the hope in her eyes extinguished, and instead replaced by a sheepish blush on her cheeks. Instead of a polychromatic pony greeting her, several pairs of unfamiliar eyes bore into her, all belonging to equally unfamiliar pegasi and unicorns. They sat at the far end of the room, near the screen most often used for briefings, and the occasional movie. There was an after action report on the screen. The white arrow, labeled Halo 10, was paused in mid turn, due to the fact that the unicorn controlling it had been interrupted. Several models of F-4’s, Mig-21’s, and F-5’s were floating or otherwise being held by the members of the group. With a moment to actually see who she had interrupted, and the hint on screen, she recognized these ponies as the members of Halo and Vapor flights; the pilots and WSO’s who flew with her and Dash five days ago. Unfortunately she knew them as a group rather than ponies, and couldn’t put names or call signs to faces. An awkward silence reigned over the room, at least until a deep green pegasus stallion with a black mane decided that it had gone on long enough. “Sooo… You’re looking for Rainbow Dash?” he asked with unnecessary caution. “Yeah…” Twilight replied. She regonized his voice from the radio. ‘He might be Halo 10 or Halo 2.’ She thought to herself. Deciding to hazard a guess in an attempt to improve relations, she asked “You’re Halo 10 right?” The stallion looked incredulously at her, as if waiting for her to continue a joke. When everypony realized she was being serious, the other members of the group started to snicker. He turned and gave them a quick glare. One of the unicorns responded by saying “Hey it’s not our fault you sound like a mare over the radio.” The green stallion responded with a very indignant “I do not!” Now Twilight was thoroughly confused and she let everypony know with a “Huh?” The stallion returned his attention to the confused unicorn in front of him and began to explain. “I am Camouflage Ripple, or Camo for short, and I am Vapor 6. That pegasus over there” he pointed to a silver mare with a white mane who gave a friendly wave “is Slipstream, and Halo 10. My ‘friends’ say that I sound like a mare when I talk over the radio, and unfortunately you added further support to their claims.” “Oh. I’m sorry. I didn't mean too.” Twilight responded meekly. Camo gave a friendly smile “Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault my friends are jerks.” Twilight was confused for a moment but shook it off. Other ponies were weird and it was best simply not to question it, though there was one question nagging her. “Why are you all playing with toy planes?” Today was the day of indignity for Camo “Were not playing and they’re not toys. We are practicing our dogfighting by reviewing our performance during our last mission and acting out different responses.” Twilight opened her mouth to apologize again, but Camo cut her off. “Nope, no more of that. You’re new and you’re learning. Anyways, you wanted to know where Rainbow Dash is right?” Twilight nodded her head. “Well she was here helping us by giving us suggestions.” Slipstream rolled her eyes’ “More like bragging” “She became an ace on her first sortie. She’s earned some bragging rights.” Camo replied. He returned his attention to Twilight “She left a little while ago. I think she went topside.” Seeing that Twilight was about to ask another question, he responded “The flight deck.” Twilight nodded her head in understanding, and quickly left the briefing room to continue her pursuit. -------------------------------------------------- Upon reaching the flight deck, the first thing she noticed was the cold. It was far colder than she remembered it being a few days ago. A quick check of the sun revealed it to be high in the sky, but sinking towards the left. Since it was about two o’clock that meant that the ship was heading north. A strong gust of wind brought her back to the task at hoof with a fur penetrating chill. A quick check of the surrounding area showed several F-4’s placed around the edges of the flight deck, one of each member of the 118th. These planes were on standby, ready to be launched in the event of a Prench attack on the fleet. One of the fighters stood out, since it had a few ponies standing in front of it, one of which was cyan and had a rainbow mane. “Rainbow Dash! Hey Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called out, shivering as she approached. “Oh hey Twilight.” Rainbow replied. She waited for the violet unicorn to join the group around the plane before continuing. “I was just speaking with the mechanics about our plane. They said that I put a lot of stress on the airframe. Oh well, you can’t curtail the awesomeness of my maneuvers.” “Curtailed? That’s a pretty big word for you Rainbow.” Twilight said with mild surprise. “Don’t be so shocked with my elevated dictionary. You’re going to hurt my feelings.” “I think you mean diction.” Twilight replied, her surprise replaced with amusement. “Diction, dictionary. They’re close enough.” Rainbow said, waving her hoof dismissively. “Anyways, what brings you here Twilight?” “Well, when I woke up, I didn’t see you in the room. I waited for you awhile, but you never returned, so I thought you might have gotten lost.” Twilight could help but notice how silly her reasoning sounded when spoken aloud. “As you can see, I’m not lost. I mean come on Twilight, we’ve been on this ship for almost a month. I think I can manage to not get lost at this poi…” Rainbow stopped and gave the unicorn a worried look. The mare next to her was not just visibly shivering, she was shaking uncontrollably. “Uh… Are you OK?” “Jjjuusstt a lllllittle coldddd.” Twilight responded as sarcastically as she could through chattering teeth. Rainbow Dash looked around as if she had just noticed that the air wasn’t at room temperature. “Yeah I guess it is a little cold.” “Hhhow are youuu nnoot bottheredd by thisss?” Twilight asked with disbelief, her shivering getting worse. “Well, where I am from, this would be dangerously warm.” “Whu whu where in Eeequestria dddid youu lllive? A glacier?” “No, Cyrricuse, and don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little. It’s not even below freezing.” “Iii am nottt over reacting. Iiitt never gettts this colddd in Comona.” “Where?” “Comona. Youuu kkknow. Southern mosttt parrrt of Usea. Dirrrectly soutttth of Commberth Haaarborr.” “ Doesn't ring a bell” “Home to Riass Space Center, the facility that sent the first pony into orbit, and Comona University, the place that discovered Ulysses and calculated its impact time and location.” Rainbow just shook her head. Twilight let out a heavy sigh. Her excitement had made her temporarily forget the cold, but now it returned in full force. Luckily neither of them would be standing outside for much longer. A call came over the ship’s intercom. “All members of the 118th report to the briefing room immediately.” “Anything to gettt out of thissss collddd.” Came Twilight’s relieved reply. “Ah, you’re just a wuss.” Rainbow said as she jumped ahead of Twilight in her eagerness to get back in the air. “And you’re just a freak.” Twilight’s mouth moved before her brain had processed the thought. Upon realizing what she had just said, Twilight instantly regretted her choice of words. Regret quickly became worry. ‘What if I hurt Rainbow’s feelings? What if she decides to hurt me?’ Rainbow’s reply quickly washed away her unreasonable fears. “Ha! If by freak you mean freaking awesome.” Twilight couldn’t help but think back to what Slipstream had said. Maybe that mare was on to something. Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed that Rainbow had asked her something. She could only thing of one response to a question she hadn't heard. “What?” “I said: How did you know about Cyrricuse?” Rainbow Dash repeated her question, sounding slightly annoyed. “Oh, I read about it.” Twilight’s shivering had stopped upon entering the heated corridors of the Cloudsdale, of which she was incredibly thankful for. “You just read about it?” Rainbow asked, her muzzle twisted in confusion in an attempt to comprehend such a foreign concept. “Well yeah, it holds the world records for highest elevation of any city and the coldest average temperature. I suppose it makes sense that you’re used to the cold since you lived there.” “Why would anypony want to read about something like that?” “Because reading is fun.” Twilight replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Rainbow Dash looked at the purple unicorn with a look of complete bewilderment; reading and fun were two words that had absolutely no relation to each other. “And you thought I was a freak.” The cyan mare muttered just loud enough for Twilight to hear. “And what’s that supposed to mean?!” Twilight responded, sounding more offended than she actually was. It was well known that Rainbow didn’t like to be associated with anything related to intelligence that wasn’t somehow related to flying. “When you grow up at Comona University, books tend to be a major part of your life.” “You actually lived at a university?” Rainbow asked with completely genuine shock. Who had ever heard of a pony living their entire lives at school? “Yep” the unicorn responded with a certain air of smugness. “My fath…” Twilight began to explain before she was cut off by a shout from behind her and her pilot. “Hey! Where do you two think you’re going?!” The pair turned around to find that a light grey pegasus stallion with a white mane was the cause of the commotion. Twilight recognized him as the pegasus who had interrupted Spotlight after their first mission, and the one who had suggested that they launch a hoofball of the carrier. ‘I should probably ask Rainbow Dash how that went’ Twilight thought to herself. “Hey Cloud Striker! What’s up?” Rainbow asked. The stallion replied with a smirk on his face “What’s up? You two just waltz by the ready room as if nothing’s going on is what’s up. Where are you two going?” “If you must know…” Twilight began, obvioiusly annoyed at having been interrupted. “… we were going to get our flight suits on.” “Psssh, don’t worry about that. You can get them after the briefing. Now come on, everypony is waiting on you two.” Without waiting for a response, Cloud Striker darted back inside. Twilight rolled her eyes at the Cloud Striker’s impatient behavior, but Rainbow’s eagerness got the better of her. “Let’s go Twilight! We’ll get the suits later.” The purple pony responded with a heavy sigh. She hated being be late, but she despised being unprepared. -------------------------------------------------- “Ok, everypony present and accounted for?” Came the booming voice of Spotlight. He had taken up his normal position in front of the crowd of aviators. The ponies before him looked around at each other before giving nods of confirmation. “Good let’s get this briefing underway.” His horn flared brightly, causing the screen to come to life with its normal intro sequence of the ISAF symbol. There was one addition though. Spotlight had noticed that ponies, one prismatic pony in particular, would nod off or otherwise become distracted. To help combat this, he had asked permission to play music over the speakers, which were normally used for movies. The change of pace had the desired effect, and the entire room became noticeably more alert. Spotlight grinned inwardly at the success of his plan but maintained his stoic expression. After all, appearances are everything. “I’m afraid that I have some bad news. The remaining allied forces on the mainland are retreating.” He waited a moment to let the news sink in. Thought the pilots remained silent, they had also become noticeably grimmer. “The survivors are gathering at the northern port of St. Ark.” With a quick though, Spotlight made the date and time appear, highlighting the location while doing so. 1620hrs. 10 October 2004 appeared on screen, just as it should. “However the radar facilities atop Mt. Shezna…” recalling the strategic map he had memorized a few short hours ago, he made a new red square appear, labeled Mt. Shezna Radar Base with a ring around it, symbolizing the radar’s range. “…Provide tactical support to the enemy. As a result, our evac mission is in jeopardy. If we can successfully evacuate our troops to North Point, they will become a fearsome fighting force in future battles. In order to accomplish this it we have created operation White Out. It has been decided that the 118th will be split into two groups. The first will join up with forces from the Ark Angel. From there they will launch a feint attack on the forces pressuring our retreating units. The hope is that this will draw fighters away from Mt. Shezna and make it easier for the second group to knock out the radar facilities. Omega, Rapier, Halo, and Vapor will make up group one. Mobius and Viper, you will make up group two.” A cyan hoof shot up immediately after he finished his sentence, just has the yellow unicorn had predicted. Before he could acknowledge her, Rainbow Dash began to voice the complaint he knew she would have. “How come we have to go on the boring mission?! I mean a strike mission?! Really! Who came up with that stu…” Rainbow’s rant came to an abrupt end when a haze of purple magic snapped her mouth shut. “Sir, I think what Rainbow is trying to say…” Twilight began in a far more diplomatic tone while her pilot glared at her “is that her talents would probably be more useful in an air to air intercept rather than an air to ground strike mission.” Spotlight couldn’t help but blink in surprise at the impressive recovery, but he quickly composed himself and replied tactfully “Your concern is duly noted Lieutenant Sparkle, but the objective of the first strike group to lure the enemy away; not to engage them.” His words were directed more towards the cause of the disturbance. “It is more likely that the second strike force will encounter aerial threats that require engagement, and we cannot send a large escort force since it will increase the chance of detection by the radar facility. A small force with one very effective escort will have a higher chance of success.” Rainbow nodded approvingly despite the magic encasing her muzzle. “That, and we don’t need a hot headed pilot getting caught up in a dogfight and forcing the rest of the squadron to engage as well.” Rainbow was understandably less pleased with this reason. “Oh and Lieutenant Sparkle, I believe you can relieve Lieutenant Dash of her restraints now.” The unicorn nodded, allowing her horn to cease glowing and the magic to dissipate. Rainbow used her new found freedom to stretch her mouth as if she had been muzzled for days causing Twilight to roll her eyes at Rainbow’s exaggerated antics. Spotlight allowed himself a small smile before he reminded himself of the possible severity of the situation. “I believe she has learned her lesson, isn’t that correct Lieutenant Dash? There is no room for insubordination when our situation is in such a desperate state.” “I have learned my lesson sir!” Rainbow Dash obediently responded with a salute. “I'll do whatever it takes to ensure ISAF's victory.” “Good to hear Lieutenant. Are there any other questions or concerns?” Spotlight looked around the room but nopony moved. “Good. You are all dismissed.” -------------------------------------------------- From the cockpit of his brown and green F-4 Phantom he could see the beautiful snow capped mountains of the Shezna mountain range. The valleys and peaks that surrounded him were covered with a perpetual blanket of white snow only broken up by the dark grey crag of the steeper slopes. The sun cast enormous shadows across the eastern side of the peaks, giving entire slopes a bluish tint. To the south, he could see a small fountain of steam rising from Ephemeris Crater, though it was only small because of the distance. Up close both the fountain of steam and the crater were massive. Though there was no precedent of the Shezna mountain range being volcanically active, the amount of steam that came out of the crater combined with the fact that there was no snow in it would suggest otherwise. The scenery never failed to leave him in awe, even though he saw it every day while on duty. His radio suddenly sparked to life, surprising the Prench fighter pilot. “Red 9, this is Shezna Radar One. Do you read?” The pilot recognized the voice of one of the Shezna radar facility's many operators. He had been stationed here for three months to ensure that it could continue to monitor the retreating ISAF forces, and provide his own with important strategic and tactical information along with early warning capabilities for the forces on the ground and in the air. “Red 9 here, I copy.” He replied has he had many time before. “We have five unidentified bogies on radar. They’re approaching on vector 135 about twelve miles out. Go out there and get a visual I.D. We don’t want to cause a panic with a false alarm. Our forces are still chasing the ISAF aircraft that attacked further south” “Roger Shezna Radar One. Vectoring in.” the Prench pilot answered, though only questions occupied his mind. ‘The ISAFAF was launching an assault on the troops to the south so it was unlikely to be the enemy…’ The pilot thought to himself ‘…but any Prench formation should have at least one aircraft with an operational IFF. Even more confusing was the fact that it was a five plane formation. He could only think of one group that chose to fly a five plane formation, Prench or ISAF, and that was Aquila squadron, better known as Yellow squadron. That had to be it. Yellow Squadron had to be on a secret mission, and perhaps they were returning for ammo or fuel. It would certainly explain why their IFF’s were off. Having convinced himself that the approaching force was friendly, he quickly closed the distance, eager to see the Yellow squadron. As the distance between him and the unknown force diminished, so too did his hopes. While he couldn’t make out the markings on the planes yet, the HUD had put up the green targeting squares around the five aircraft, and it was easy to see that they were not flying a five plane formation. In fact, the bogeys had divided themselves into three groups. Two groups had two planes and the third was just a single aircraft. Whoever it was, it was most certainly not Yellow squadron, though he couldn’t shake the feeling that he recognized the formation from somewhere. Somepony had recently spoken to him about it, but who was it and where were they from? He thought hard for a few seconds while the distance continued to close, desperately trying to remember. Somehow he knew it was critical. The epiphany hit him at the same time the aircraft’s systems detected the missile lock. Rigley was the last thought that passed through his head before the warning became an alert and thought gave way to fear, instinct, and training. His Phantom was moving too fast and was not nearly maneuverable enough even attempt to evade the missile, which only left one option. He looked down at the red handle between his outstretched forelegs, grabbed it with his teeth, and pulled. The calmness of a pressurized cockpit gave way to the roar of 500 knot winds as the canopy was blown away from the fuselage. The pilot felt the control cradle around him force his legs out of flight position and back into the normal standing position before he too was ejected from his doomed F-4, along with his WSO, who had remained as unresponsive as ever. The now pilotless Phantom continued diligently on it course as drag chutes built into the control cradle and ejection chair increased the distance between pony and plane. Moments later the green and brown fighter was consumed in a ball of fire that immediately began to plummet towards the mountains below. The pilot was sad to see his plane go, but he was happier to be alive. The drag chute on the ejection seat immediately opened the parachute for the WSO, but the control cradle containing the pilot continued to slow down to a safer speed before it suddenly fell to pieces, releasing the pegasus and allowing him the freedom of flight. Had he been injured, he could have activated a parachute, but in this case there was no need. The roar of jet engines brought the Prench pony’s eyes to the sky above him. He could now clearly the customary blue fuselage and white underbelly of an ISAF Phantom as it rolled on its side to rejoin the rest of its squadron. As it rolled, he could just barely see the symbol on its tail. From his brief glance, it looked like a ribbon being twirled. “Great.” he thought to himself “I got shot down by a ribbon.” -------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash was smiling to herself within her F-4’s cockpit. That marked her 9th kill if she didn’t count the three fighters and several bombers she’d bombed at Rigley. In order to take out the lone fighter, she had shot ahead of Viper flight, much to the chagrin of its flight leader, and now she had to slow down to fall back into formation. A voice came over the radio as she rejoined the rest of her squadron. “This is Shezna Radar 1. Bandits approaching, vector 135. All fighters engage hostile aircraft and keep them from the radar.” “Well, there goes the element of surprise.” A mare’s voice came over the radio with obvious malice. Rainbow rolled her eyes at the sound of Viper 3’s voice. As soon as the briefing ended, Viper’s flight leader did little to hide that she was upset by the fact that she was being “foalsat by some upstart filly.” From that point on, Dash had known that flying with her was going to be a pain in the flank and so far her suspicions had been correct. “Was it really necessary to shoot down that insignificant fighter?” “Well you see Viper 3, that insignificant fighter is one less fighter I have to keep from shooting you down.” Rainbow Dash shot back. “Maybe, if we flew lower and used the terrain to hide us from the radar, we could have it hit the first radar facility before they knew what was happening.” Viper 3 snapped back. “Besides, I wouldn’t trust you to keep a balloon in the air and I most certainly wouldn’t trust you with my plane.” “If we tried to fly in low, we’d get bounced from above by the patrols as soon as we attacked, and then my hooves would be tied trying to shoot down all of those insignificant fighters. Betcha didn’t think of that.” Dash retorted smugly. Viper 3, known as Bricktough on the ground, frowned to herself. She had not thought of that and it bothered her that some new pilot did. It bothered her even more that this filly just out of flight school who acted like a naive airhead half the time had such amazing tactical sense, right before entering battle no less. It infuriated her when Rainbow though she could give her, a veteran of over four years of combat and countless sorties, advice. Bricktough could feel rage bubbling up, but before she could unleash a scathing remark, another pony who really ruffled her feathers spoke, one under her command. “Mares, mares, chill out. If you don’t now, I’m sure the snow will later after you both get shot down.” Said an overly relaxed voice said over the radio. Only one pony had the audacity to speak to superiors in such a manner. “I believe Spotlight has already spoken to you about you tone when speaking to superior officers Viper 7.” “Everypony cut the chatter now! This combat area is within enemy airspace, so keep an eye out for bandits.” Sky Eye intervened, bringing the argument to an end. “Yes sir.” Viper 3 responded, and immediately switched into command mode. She opened up the strategic radar map and glanced over it, forming a plan. There were two separate clusters of red which representing the radar facilities along with several yellow dots representing the enemy fighters. There were more fighters located in-between the two facilities ready to add additional protection to either. “Viper 4 you’re with me. We’ll sanitize the airspace above the farther radar stations. 7 and 9, go and attack the closer one. Once that is destroyed, join up with me and 4 and we’ll mop up the rest. We’ll split the defenders. They won’t know who to attack until it’s too late. Mobius 1, I expect both of my squadron mates to join back up with me after they’re done.” Even though Brick out ranked Rainbow, her escort had not been placed under her command, so she couldn’t give her a direct order in the presence of Sky Eye. However, Viper 3 could imply threateningly. “Alright sheesh, don’t get your tail in a knot.” Came the disrespectful reply of the cyan pegasus. Her fellow pilot’s disrespectful tone made her want to shove a hoof through the radio set. Fortunately for the radio, the control cradle prevented any movement, so Brick was forced to only glare at it. After a few moments, she took a deep breath. Getting angry wasn’t going to get the mission accomplished, and no matter how much she wanted to throw Rainbow over the side of the carrier, a small part of her would always remind her that Storm Surge might just be right. Dash was certainly better than any rookie should be. -------------------------------------------------- “So what’s the plan Mobius 1? You’ve got a plan right?” “Of course I do Viper 7.” Rainbow Dash reassured Cloud Striker, who was now on her right wing. Viper 7 and 9 had formed up around her and now they were vectoring in towards the first radar station. “It’s a simple plan. I’ll go in first and engage the enemy fighters. Once I have them tied up, you and Viper 9 swoop in and destroy the radar facilities. After that, you two can help me mop up the fighters if there are any left.” “Sounds good to me. Any idea where the arrays will be at? I’d hate to attack the wrong side of the mountain.” Dash didn’t reply, mostly because she didn’t have a clue as to where the arrays would actually be located. Sure the radar gave a general location, but it didn’t help with topography, or in the case of aircraft, elevation. Fortunately for her somepony else did have a clue. “The arrays will be on top of the ridge. They’d have to be there to get the best coverage.” Twilight answered as if it was to most obvious thing in the world. “Roger that. It’s good to have somepony who knows there stuff. Hey, Viper 9, looks like we should attack from above. That sound good to you?” “Yeah.” Came a bored voice over the radio that Rainbow didn’t recognized. “Ya know, I'm really glad we can have these chats Viper 9. Go get 'em Mobius 1. We’ll be ready.” Rainbow looked to her left and watched Viper 7’s aircraft pitch up and start climbing. The blue F-4 quickly passed out of her field of view. Satisfied that everything was prepared, she increased her throttle. Her fighter responded, accelerating towards the radar station at near supersonic speed. “Hey Twilight, what are we up against?” The WSO quickly looked down and checked the radar display. “Two bandits at twelve o’clock, 8 miles out. It looks like there moving to engage us. There is also another bandit above the radar station 12 miles away.” As soon as Twilight finished, two green squares appeared on her HUD, identifying the bandits as a pair of F-5E’s. “Got it, I see them now. Mobius 1, engaging.” Rainbow armed her Sidewinders and waited for the two aircraft to come into ranger. The two fighters rapidly closed the distance until suddenly one was highlighted red. Simultaneously, her HUD began to give a warning, alerting her to the enemy’s radar lock. “Mobuis 1, fox 2!” Rainbow Dash declared as she launched a pair of missiles towards one of the F-5’s, while pulling back and rolling over, avoiding any return fire that her opponents might send her way. Her Phantom sailed over the F-5’s as one of the two burst into flames. “Blue 5, eject!” came a shout over the radio, confirming her kill, but there was no time to bask in her success. Her eyes continued to track the other Tiger until it was too far behind her to see. Rainbow stopped her roll and preformed a Split-S, once again bringing the enemy into view. The F-5 was breaking left in an attempted to face her again. She wouldn’t give it the chance. With her added speed from the loss in altitude and a little more throttle she quickly closed the distance before her opponent could come all the way around. She fired another pair of missiles, forcing the enemy to either slow down and turn harder or join his companion. Just as she thought he slowed down allowing Rainbow the quickly close in. With the distance rapidly closing, she angled her wings backwards, causing her aircraft to throttle down and deploy its air breaks, lest she overshoot the enemy. Now Rainbow was right on top of him. “Bandit’s in gun range.” Skyeye’s voice sounded over the radio. Sure enough the circular pipper had appeared on her HUD. Dash continued to decelerate as she matched, opponent’s turning radius. As soon as the pipper encompassed the enemy aircraft, she lit it up with her gun. A good two second burst and the enemy plane caught fire. “Damn! It’s no use. I’m hit!” A voice sounded over the radio. Now Rainbow Dash could take a moment to smile smugly to herself before moving on to destroy the final fighter. “Hey Twilight, where’s the last one?” “Ten o’clock high, 7 miles away.” Twilight responded after a quick look at her radar screen. “It looks like he’s moving to intercept Viper 7 and 9.” “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” Rainbow Dash replied as her aircraft banked left until it faced the desired direction. Rainbow’s wings tilted backwards and the F-4’s elevators mimicked the pilot’s movements. With a healthy dose of afterburner the Phantom started to climb up towards its new target. As Dash closed in, the HUD identified the plane as another F-4. “He’s probably that lone fighter’s wingmate.” She idly though to herself. A moment passed before she realized what she had thought of and quickly banished the notion with a shake of her head. The aircraft in front of here was the enemy. There was no room for any other thoughts otherwise she would end up like Twilight; afraid to do what had to be done. With the moral dilemma out of the way, Rainbow Dash returned her focus to the aircraft. It had not yet made any move in response to the cyan pilot’s presence. Dash passed under the opposing plane, pulled back until she was inverted and rolled over, positioning herself right behind the enemy F-4. It had still not made any move to evade her. Dash almost started to wonder why until she reminded herself that it didn’t really matter. She would never be certain as to why it acted like the way it did, but she was certain that if she shot at it, she’d destroy it. A few moments and two missiles later, Rainbow Dash proved that certainty correct once again, marking her fourth kill of the day. “Thanks for clearing the skies Mobius 1. Now it’s our turn.” Viper 7 announced over the radio. Rainbow began to scan the skies around her, look for a blue fighter or a blue box that marked it as a friendly. Her eyes picked up on two blue boxes, both rocketing downwards in a steep dive towards the mountain ridge. A few seconds later, both fighters pulled out of their dives, and banked left leaving several black specks careening towards the ground. The domes of the radar stations were enveloped in fiery death as the 1000lb bombs impacted their intended targets. “Radar, do you copy?” “Shezna Radar 1 has gone silent!” “Alright Viper 9, we got ‘em. Sky Eye, this is Viper 7 we are moving to engage the second radar station.” Before Sky Eye could respond, Viper 3’s voice cut in. “That’s a negative Viper 7, we haven’t cleared the skies yet.” Now Sky Eye chose to speak. “Viper 3, be advised, you’ve got four more bandits on vector 050, 12 miles. They’re moving to engage you.” “My hooves are tied at the moment Sky Eye. We can’t handle anymore fighters over here.” Viper 3 replied. Rainbow decided that it was time to speak up. “Mobius 1 here, I’ll intercept the bandits. Viper 7 and 9, go help Viper 3." “That’s crazy! Even you can’t take on four fighters by yourself!” Viper 7 protested. “There is no point trying to prove you’re the best if it’s going to get you killed.” Viper 3 stated with a coldness that could rival the mountains around her. “This isn’t about proving myself.” Rainbow countered. “If we fail here, then he ground forces will get wiped out and ISAF will have nothing to counter attack with. Sky Eye, give me an intercept vector.” “Roger Mobius 1. Changing you’re heading to 285 and move to intercept. Good luck.” “Uhh, Rainbow? are you sure this is a good idea?” Twilight asked with a quiver of fear in her voice. “No. I’m not sure. But that doesn’t matter. The mission comes first.” Rainbow Dash replied with a surprising amount of maturity. Unfortunately, it did little to alleviate Twilight’s growing fear. A fear that Rainbow Dash shared. While she tried to sound calm, Rainbow Dash could feel her stomach tie itself into knots as she turned her aircraft to intercept the enemy. As her F-4 closed in, Rainbow realized just how unafraid she had felt compared to the way she felt now. Her HUD now indicated that the four bandits were all F-16’s. For once in her short military career, Rainbow Dash had absolutely no hope. The Fighting Falcon was faster, more maneuverable, and overall better in every way compared to her meager F-4. The coming dogfight would be more of a test of the enemy’s lack of skill rather than a test of her own.