//------------------------------// // Mission 5: Miner Pain // Story: Ace Combat: Equestria // by TasteTheSun //------------------------------// Mission 5: Miner Pain North Pony's armory was in full swing. Guards kept going in and out of there. Whether it was for some armor, or weapons, or just plain old ammunition. To Applejack, it was like another day at the market. To Rarity, it was the last place she'd ever wanted to be. They were both busy helping out the guards with anything they needed, and right now, they have to fix some damaged barding a guard brought in. Even though they had no experience with fixing armor, they gave it their best shot. While Applejack was busy adding a plate of metal to the armor, she noticed that Rarity was doing something a bit different. "Rarity, what the hayseed are you doin'?" she confusedly, and yet curiously asked. "Oh, I'm just adding a bit of dazzle to this tacky piece of barding," she said, revealing a piece of armor adorned with gems, fabric, and sequins. "Rarity, we're here ta help, not turn their armor inta targets." "Well, call it what you want, but I'm sure that those griffons will fall for such an elegant and lovely piece of clothing." "Don't remind me of them griffons. It just makes me real worried knowin that ma family are trapped by them. I sure hope they're alright." "Yes, I know how you feel. I just hate knowing that those griffons are probably ransacking through my boutique and destroying all my hard work." Applejack gave the mare a dirty look when she said that. One like daggers. "Oh, and Sweetie Belle as well. Oh poor thing. I can only imagine the kind of pain, torture, and fear she is going through right now." "Yea, that's the same way ah feel about Applebloom." Soon after, Pinkie Pie came in, bouncing up to the two. Several of the guards there came to attention and saluted. "At ease," the pink foney captain saluted back. The guards did what they were told and went on with their business. Applejack approached her and kept her close so that no one would hear them. "Pinkie Pie, why are ya wearin that outfit?" Applejack critically asked in a hushed voice. "Oh, well since I'm helping Twilight, I wanted to 'look-the-part.' At least that's what Rarity always says." Rarity blushed at that, but Applejack ignored it and continued pressing further. "Pinkie, don't ya know that you'll get in trouble for wearin' those duds." "Strange, I feel like every pony has been telling me that, but don't worry, no pony seems to notice!" "Well jus' be careful. I don't want em to do somethin' awful to ya if they found out." "Okie dokie lokie! Oh yea, I almost forgot why I came here. I need help in making something to help Rainbow Dash. Would you be so kind if you could help me!" "Sure thing Pinkie Pie! What do ya need help with?" "Oh, you'll see!" Applejack got a worried look when Pinkie said that in a suspicious tone. ••• Mission Briefing: "Vanhoover Harbor, home of the Arell Fleet, is completely dependent on two things for its power supply. Gems and magic." "We know where they're getting they're magic, but the gems are a different story. You see, the gems help amplify the magic needed to power the fleet." "Now, we've discovered that they have been mining for gems here at galloping gorge, which is fairly close to the harbor. The mine itself consists of a several storage warehouses where they keep the gems, and a network of underground tunnels, all filled with griffons, pony slaves, and even the diamond dogs." "Whoa wait, they got those guys too?!" Rainbow Dash said, astonished by what she just heard. The general simply continued on. "Yes, but our scouts have managed to get in contact with the slaves and have planned to rise up against the griffons and escape the mine once you four arrive." "Your mission is to go out and destroy, or at least damage these sights. Our objective is to reduce production output of this mine to twenty percent or less." "By cutting of the port's power supply, we will delay and disrupt the combat deployment of the Arell Fleet." Ironhoof then showed the deployment map of both the outside and inside of the mine. "Ok, the way you're going to bring down this mine is to blow up several support beams at the very bottom. That way the rest of the mine will cave in and crumble and will no longer be of use." "Well, no problem there," Rainbow sarcastically replied. "But how are we going to blow them up? I mean, I don't think our bombs will do a great job." "We got that covered. You will be using satchel charges, which will only explode on your mark. Just place them at the designated targets, keep a safe distance away from them, and then BOOM!!! Get the picture?" Rainbow Dash winced and nodded nervously at that. "Excellent. Now, Captain Pie has something to give you all." Ironhoof said as he went to his seat, and Pinkie Pie got up to make her presentation. "Thanks Ironhoof! Ok Wonderbolts, I have been tinkering around with Applejack and Rarity at the armory, and we've made something that will hopefully help you guys!" Pinkie took off her saddle bags and took out a pink colored tin can with her cutie mark on it and handed it to Rainbow Dash. "Pinkie Pie, what in Equestria is this wired tin can?" Rainbow asked as she starred at the object, in hopes that this was a joke. "It's my special party bombs! They really give you quite the surprise when they go off. Just twist the top, throw it at some enemy guy, and then run away and watch them work their magic, as long as you're at a safe distance," the pink pony giggled. "Uh-huh" was all the rainbow mare could get out as she continued examining the pink party bombs. "I was hoping you could try them out so that I can make more." "Sure Pinkie." Rainbow Dash replied as she placed a bomb in her bag. "Ooh goodie!!!" Pinkie Pie cheered as she bounced out of the room. "Uhm captain?!..., and she's gone," General Ironhoof said as he slumped back down in his seat. ••• Mission Start: "Ok, commence operation. Split into two groups and destroy targets. Inflict as much damage as possible to the complex, and reduce their output." The sun was peaking over the eastern horizon, but it was still pretty dark outside. The four pegasi followed what they were instructed to do. Spitfire and Rapid Fire went to destroy the warehouses and other storage facilities while Rainbow Dash and Soarin went to take care of the mine. "Lets wrap this up before dawn," Rapid Fire commented. "You sure this is smart? We're over the bad guys," Soarin replied to Twilight's command. "Trust me, Twilight's very smart, she hasn't stood us wrong yet, although sometimes I wonder?" Rainbow Dash added. "Hey?!" Rainbow chuckled as the two landed behind a large boulder just outside the mine entrance. Soarin peeked over to see if there were any guards, and sure enough, there were at least two of them. "Ok, here's the situation. There are two guards over there, which means that we should be able to take them out at the same time," "Alright then," replied Rainbow Dash as they took their weapons out. "Clear to engage," "On my mark, and... Now!" With that they both took out the two unaware griffons at the same time. Leaving the safety of their cover, the two approached the mine. Soarin looked at it and whistled in astonishment. "Dang. Well, we better get a move on." As they entered the cavern, Soarin then swapped his LMG with a shotgun while giving Dash a concerned look. "For close encounters." Even though there were lamps lighting up the caves, it was still very dark. Soarin and Rainbow switched on their night vision goggles as they dove in deeper. Eventually they arrived at a room filled with light, and the sound of someone talking. Soarin placed his ear on the door to listen in. He couldn't hear much since the door muffled the conversation on the other side, but what he could hear was radio static. He took his ear off the door and stood next to it, shotgun at the ready as he turned to face the rainbow mare. "They got a radio in there. We will use it to contact our spec. ops." Soarin said in a whisper tone. "Don't you have a radio?" Rainbow asked. "Well, I uh..." "Let me guess, you broke it?" "Wow! For a newby, you sure do know me well. Listen, were gunna breach in and clear out any hostiles. Got it?" "Got it." Rainbow then stood up against the wall on the other end of the door, waiting for Soarin's mark. "On my mark, and... NOW, BREACH!!!" Soarin broke through the door and instantly blew away three enemies with his shotgun before they could even have time to react. Rainbow Dash followed his example and shot the remaining griffons in the room until it was clear. Stepping over the dead bodies, Soarin made his way towards the radio at the other end of the room, and tuned it to their friendly channel. "Spitfire One, we've infiltrated the mine, moving on with the next objective." "Well done you two, I'll report your progress to Twilight. Also Soarin, what happened to your radio?" Spitfire responded. "Oh uh, well-" "Enough, I get it." After that, the radio went silent. Rainbow Dash smirked at what just happened while Soarin simply rolled his eyes at her as he went back to the radio. After a few seconds of tuning, he managed to reach the special agents. "Black Op five, this Soarin Two, come in," "I read you loud and clear Soarin Two," someone on the other end whispered into their radio. "Commence Operation: Jailbreak. I repeat, commence Operation Jailbreak!" "Roger that Soarin Two." After that, Soarin aimed his shotgun at the radio and shot it. He then went to grab another small, portable radio from a dead griffon's body. Once they left the room, Soarin gave an evil grin at Rainbow Dash. "Watch this, in three... two... one..." Right on cue, sounds of gunfire and screams could be heard deep within the cave. Rainbow Dash was stunned at the timing of that. "Alright, enough dilly dally, we need to set the charges and get the hell out of here!" The two quickly sped down the cave until they made it to an elevator shaft. Moving inside, Soarin pressed the switch to take them down to the lower levels. While they went down, they were passing several levels. What they saw were ponies and diamond dogs either shooting, stabbing, or simply beating up the griffon guards. They also saw them make their way towards the other nearby elevator shafts. Only the dogs dug their way out. At last, they made it to the lower level of the mine. Exiting the shaft, the two moved slowly through the cavern. It was pretty dark, but it didn't matter to them since they had their NVG. It was also deserted, like no one has been in there for quite a while. Rainbow Dash kept close to Soarin, never leaving his side. They moved on until they made it to the first position. "Alright, I'll plant the first satchel here. You go and plant the other two further down," Soarin commanded. Rainbow winced, but nods and grabs the bag with the explosives and headed on, further down. She trotted slowly through the rock cavern, steadily breathing to try to keep herself calm. Its alright Rainbow, I mean, what are you worried about? Something coming out and attacking you? This place looks abandoned and plus, Soarin is standing guard back there. I'm totally fine." With that, she got the boost she needed and quickly arrived to the next target. She set the next satchel down on the ground and moved on. In moments, she made it to the third and the last target area. Once she laid the final charge, something hit her in the back of the head. She collapsed, vision blurry, head hurting. She tried seeing what had hit her until she spotted a rock in front of her. She gave a sigh of relief that it was just a rock that hit her. Just then, a bullet shot straight through one of Rainbow's front legs. "AAAAAAHHHH!" cried the rainbow mare. She looked around and saw a griffon come out of the darkness. He was approaching her slowly, with a pistol in his talons and a smirk on his face. "Big mistake pony, now you're gunna die here, and no one will ever find you," he said evilly. "Rainbow One?" Soarin called out from the other end of the cavern. Rainbow Dash tried to scoot away, but the pain from the open hole in her leg prevented her to do so. She was losing a lot of blood. The griffon only found amusement at that and was about to pull the trigger. Rainbow clutched her eyes shut, waiting for her horrible fate. She heard the gunfire, but nothing happened. Opening her eye just a hair, she saw the griffon standing with a blank expression on his face, replacing the smirk he once had. He immediately fell face first to the ground with a bullet hole in his head. Behind him revealed to be a diamond dog holding another pistol with his paw. "That's for treating us like pack-mules!" he exclaimed as he spat at the dead griffon. "Are you alright pony?" he asked. "No, it hurts really bad!" Rainbow Dash replied with tears forming in her eyes. Just then, Soarin arrived to where his friend was, wheezing from all the running he did. "Rainbow... are... you... ok?" he said in between breaths. "I think... we already... covered this." she replied. "She's badly hurt, we need to get her out of here," Soarin ordered. "I can carry her on my shoulder," the dog said as he did so. "Perfect, now let's go!" With that, they sped down the cavern, with Soarin flying this time, and Rainbow Dash being carried by the diamond dog. They made it into the shaft. After reactivating it, it took them back up to the surface. Soarin quickly took out his radio as they went up. "Black Op Five, this is Soarin Two, are all the prisoners out of the mine?" "All ponies and dogs are out, mine is clear for detonation." "Perfect. Now report to Spitfire One that we got an injured pony with us, and are in need of immediate medical attention!" "Roger that Soarin Two." After that, the radio fell silent. "Don't worry Rainbow One, well get you out of here." Soarin said to his injured teammate. They finally made it to the surface. In no time, the three made it outside of the mine. The diamond dog lowered Rainbow Dash to the ground as several ponies with medical bags came to assist her. Spitfire, Rapid Fire, and as well as all the captive ponies and dogs surrounded around them, watching to see if she was going to be ok. After a while, Rainbow's leg was bandaged up and well treated. The crowd cheered as she got up, reclined on her three good legs. "Damn, we were really worried about you there newby," Spitfire said. "Yea well, it takes more than one bullet to take me down! Although it does still hurt." Rainbow replied. "Well now that the charges are set, would you like to do the honors?" Rapid Fire asked. Rainbow Dash grinned at that. "Aw yea!" "Every pony get back," Soarin alerted. Everyone did as they were told and headed back until they were all at a safe distance. Once she was given the all clear, Rainbow flew up into the air with the detonator. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!!!" With a press of a button, the warehouses went up into large fireballs. The mine itself shot fire out from its entrance until large boulders covered it up. After being amazed by this, Rainbow Dash flew back down as everyone cheered. "We'll done Rainbow One!" Soarin gloated. "Yea, now come on, we need to get these civilians out of here and back to North Pony," Spitfire went on to announce. "Good idea," Rainbow replied. She looked around until she spotted a large mine cart. She got a brilliant idea. "Hey, why don't we put the civies in that mine cart over there? It looks like it's big enough to hold all of them." "Great idea Rainbow One. Alright, every pony, into that mine cart," Spitfire commanded. Every one did so. Once they all settled in, only the four remained with one question. "So, who's going to pull it?" Soarin asked. The three mares looked at him with smug faces. He knew where this was going. "Oh hell no!" "Soarin, you just volunteered. Go and hook yourself to that harness over there," Spitfire ordered. "But-" "That's not a suggestion, that is a direct order, now GO!!!" Soarin simply snickered and grumbled to himself as he went to hook himself up to the mine car. The other three flew up around him. "Don't worry Soarin, well give you aerial support," Spitfire advised. Soarin simply rolled his eyes as he effortlessly pulled the car with all his might. "It's... too... HEAVY!!!" he complained. "Come on Soarin, it's only about 100 miles away from North Pony," Rapid Fire giggled. Soarin in response moaned loudly and obnoxiously. Just then, Twilight came up on their radios. "Wonderbolt Squadron, we have confirmed conformation that the mine has been destroyed. Well done." "Wait a minute, what's that?!" "Aw hell, Wonderbolt Squadron, heavy group coming in hot! It appears to be five targets in the group!" "Tally ho on the bogies! Wait... There's five Red Bloods!" Soarin said in a panicked tone. "What the...?" Rapid Fire exclaimed in the same tone. In the distance, Rainbow Dash saw five small objects in a V shape formation in the air, approaching them at high speeds. "What's a Red Blood?!" Rainbow frantically asked. "No time to explain Rainbow One. Soarin Two, you keep hauling that mine cart as much as you can. Rapid Two, help him pull while we provide covering fire," Spitfire ordered. The two replied with a salute as they did what they were told to do. "Rainbow One, you think you can handle a little more combat?" Spitfire asked. "Oh, you know it!" Rainbow replied with a determined expression. Spitfire nodded at that as they took to the skies. "Wonderbolt Squadron, disengage and return to base! Head south immediately!" "Twilight, we have a problem. We got a mine cart here filled with the captive slaves from the mine, and it's not moving fast enough. We're going to try to keep the squadron away from them long enough so that they can get out of the combat zone!" Spitfire reported. "Well be careful, and DO NOT ENGAGE!!! We don't want to add any more oil to the fire," "Copy that Twilight," Spitfire replied. The two were flying right in front of the squadron, until they made a quick turn the other direction, away from the civilians. The squadron of coarse followed right behind. They were fast, but weren't as fast as those two. "Attention all fighters, you are clear to engage." A masculine voice announced over the radio. This was bad. "Roger. Initiate attack on all hostile fighters," another announced. "Oh crud, quick, try flying around as crazy as you can. Don't give them an easy target, oh and don't fly in a straight line!" Spitfire advised. Rainbow Dash nodded and did just that, which was perfect, considering that the squadron had open fired on them. She managed to dodge the endless stream of bullets, although some did lodge their way into her armor. ••• "Rapid Two, how far are you from the combat exit zone?" Spitfire asked as she narrowly dodged a sniper's bullet. "We're actually just a few feet away! Trust me, once you two left, Soarin took off down the tracks in a flash out of pure fear!" She reported. "THAT'S NOT TRUE!!!" Soarin shouted out of pure rage and denial in the background. "Ok good, Rainbow One and I will be heading that way," Spitfire said as the two turned and headed south. The five griffons were hot on their tails, but the two mares managed to out fly them. They were all traveling at unpredictable high speeds. If Rainbow Dash had gone any faster, she'd probably would have created a sonic rainboom. It wasn't long until the two saw the mine cart below. They checked their radar and noticed they were real close to the return line on their map. After a few moments, they made it across. As for the squadron, they stopped, turned, and flew in the opposite direction. "Picture is clear. Bandits are down or no factor. Everyone return to base." With that, both pegasi finally had a moment to catch their breaths. "Woo... oh my... that was... intense," Spitfire said in between breaths as they lowered back towards the ground. There, they met up with the rest of the gang. "You two alright?" Rapid Fire asked. "Yea... just... tired... and... shot up, that's all," Rainbow replied. "Who were those guys?" she asked. "We'll tell you on the way Rainbow One, but right now, I need to rest up a bit," replied Spitfire as she hopped into the mine cart. The other two pegasi entered the cart as well. "Alright Soarin, mush!" Spitfire commanded. "Don't push me!" he responded annoyedly. "I'm not pushing. You however are pulling, now get going!" Soarin grumbled to himself as he pulled the cart filled with ponies. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a sign in the distance that read: North Pony Island. Next 500 miles South This made Soarin furious. "Rapid, you said North Pony is like a hundred miles away, not FIVE HUNDRED!!!" "Oops," Rapid replied in a soft, hushed, sympathetic tone. Soarin simply ignored it and kept on pulling under the hot mid morning sun. ••• Mission Debriefing: "The enemy lost five million tons of reserves and the ability to mine out two hundred fifty tons of gems daily." "The Arell Fleet is currently and effectively immobilized and are no longer a threat." "Unfortunately, our losses were a bit high as well. We now rely on your skill more than ever to compensate for our losses. ••• Questions, Comments, Complements Any errors are accepted. There's always room for improvements. Leave a comment below to let your words be heard! Be sure to follow me here or on Twitter(@Pony3T). Thanks