Kurain Village
Crystal Empire
May 12 2023
17:21 hours.
The forces of the Changeling Kingdom had overrun the small, secluded village. The resistance group led by Nightshade had been defeated, and her and one other pony had been captured and taken away. She managed to pull the Changelings away long enough for her friend Sundance to escort the villagers to a hiding spot deep in the woods.
"Have you found them yet?" The Changeling commander asked another.
"No. They could be hiding anywhere in that forest," he replied. Another Changeling showed up.
"Sir do we burn the village?" he asked the commander.
"Yes proceed. And is bomber wing 14 still on standby?"
"Yes, no one has called them in yet."
"Well have them come here and bomb the two square miles West of this village. We'll try and kill the rest of them," he replied.
"Yes sir," and the other two Changelings left.
Ten minutes later the village was burning, and the Changeling army was getting ready to leave. A short distance away Sundance and a unicorn had snuck back and was watching from the woods. They watched one Changeling go over to another that was near them.
"Hey let's go they're going to bomb this entire area," he said to the other, and they left.
"What do we do? We can't move everyone that fast!" the unicorn said.
"I don't know Galaxy. I guess just hope they miss the cave," replied Sundance.
Twelve miles away a squadron of eight SU-25's armed with bombs and napalm was on the approach to the area.
"We are approaching the target. Fan out and prepare to drop. Use your clusters first," the wing commander announced.
Back on the ground the Changelings had gotten back onto some trucks and were ready to leave. Sundance and Galaxy could hear the jets approaching in the distance.One of the jets got louder.
"We're done for," Galaxy said.
Suddenly rockets rained down from the sky, striking the Changelings and killing most of them.
"What was that?" Galaxy said.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" a Changeling yelled to the commander.
"I don't know!" replied the commander. Just then the plane responsible for the attack flew overhead.
"Wasn't that that one..."
"FUCKIN' TURNCOAT!" the commander yelled.
"Destroying a village, then plotting to kill it's inhabitants. I don't know if it was you Chrissy or Sombra who gave the OK for that, but I will not stand for it!" yelled the unicorn piloting the SU-33 as she turned and fired her remaining rockets at the army, killing the rest of them. She then turned towards the approaching bombers and switched to her air to air missiles.
"Aircraft approaching from twelve o' clock," one of the pilots announced.
"Roger. It's one of our mercenaries," the commander replied. Almost instantly they got lock warnings.
"What the... EVADE!"
The changeling pilots started maneuvering, but both missiles found their targets.
"Sidewinder Three and Eight are down!"
"What's going on?" one pilot asked.
"I'm stopping you from killing innocent civilians. That's what."
The commander's eyes got big.
"Sunset?"
"No shit Sherlock," she replied as she raked another with her cannon.
The Changeling squadron tried to run, but the Frogfoots were no match for the Flanker.
"Sidewinder One to control! We have a loose cannon situation! Sunset Shimmer is..AAAAAH!" the radio went dead.
One by one she picked off the bombers. Shortly after gunning the last one down, she got locked onto. A pair of MiG-29's had shown up.
"Not gonna' work," she said as she broke their lock and got behind one of them. His wing Changeling tried to help, but she got him with a heat seeker. She then hit the brakes and got behind the other.
"Why are you doing this Blaze?" the pilot asked.
"I didn't like the idea of this war to begin with, but I went along anyway because I needed the money. Now you decide to kill civilians and burn down their villages. I WILL NOT STAND FOR IT!" she yelled as she got a lock and fired her last heat seeker, bringing him down.
She passed over the village again before turning for the Griffin Empire, where most mercenaries were based including her until she joined the Changeling Kingdom. AA changeling controller got on the radio.
"Sunset! You have betrayed us! You are hereby marked for death!"
"Like I give a rats ass," she replied. "Tell you what. Give this message to your two leaders. I don't know which of you two shits gave the order, but allowing your forces to willfully destroy civilians and their villages is a direct violation of the Gryphus Convention, and is absolutely despicable. Not only have you lost a mercenary, you've gained an enemy. And I will do my best to ruin your plans from now on. And if I hear about more villages being attacked, I will bomb your worthless asses personally!" and she changed frequencies.
She finally entered Griffin airspace and began to relax. She looked at a picture of her and another pony standing next to a red Legion of Discord J-20.
"I wish you were here to help me with this Venom."
Back at the village, Sundance and Galaxy were still shocked by what had happened. A few other villagers had shown up and were collecting whatever Changeling weapons hadn't been destroyed in the attack.
"What country was that plane with?" Galaxy asked.
"That wasn't from a country. It definitely looked like a mercenary," replied Sundance.
"Well whoever it was they saved us. So now what do we do? We're homeless."
"We'll rebuild. We still have the caves for now," replied Sundance. Galaxy asked one more thing.
"You think Nightshade will be OK?"
"She'll be fine. She has more strength than anypony I've known."
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Gryphus
Capital of the Griffin Empire
May 29 2023
12:13 hours.
Sunset Shimmer was having lunch at a restaurant that had the ceremonies going on at the castle of the Crystal Empire. She watched knowing though it was a miniscule amount, she had helped bring the end of the war by foiling some Changeling attacks, and bombing some of thier infrastructure. At first her actions came out of her own pocket, but she soon found some other mercenaries who were receiving funding from Equestria and the displaced Crystal Empire to do clandestine operations, and joined them.
She was almost finished with her eggs when something on the TV caught her ear.
"Nightshade. You may have betrayed your country in......"
She turned suddenly and saw the live feed of Princess Cadance putting medals around the neck of a wheelchair bound Nightshade. She gasped and just watched.
After it was over she paid for her meal, leaving some of it behind, and sprinted out the door. She headed back to her apartment and proceeded to load some belongings in her saddle bag. She then headed for the the portion of the Griffin Empire's main airbase where her plane and those of other mercenaries were stationed. A few other mercenaries watched her put her bags in the plane and have a ground crew come over and prepare it for flight.
"What's the rush?" A Griffin mercenary asked.
"I just saw a ghost in the Crystal Empire, and I need to go meet her," she replied.
"Uh, OK," replied the Griffin.
20 minutes later she was airborne and headed for the Crystal Empire. She registered as a private civilian flight as per the rules for mercenaries. She again looked at the picture.
"I thought you were dead. Everyone did. How did you manage to rejoin their air force? Guess I'll find out soon."
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Main Hospital
Gracemareia
Crystal Empire
May 30 2023
14:25 hours
Though her condition had improved, Nightshade was still staying at the hospital for a few more days, but would soon be moving to a house temporarily while she went through rehab. She had been visited by tons of ponies and others, ranging from friends to reporters and politicians. She had just got done visiting with Black Widow when the nurse announced another friend.
"Send them in," she said to the nurse. The pony walked in, and there was silence. Finally after a minute of staring one of them spoke.
"So you aren't a ghost."
"So that was you."
They stared for a few seconds, then Sunset smiled.
"Looks like we have a lot of catching up to do."