//------------------------------//
// Catching Up 
// Story: Shattered Skies 
// by The card holder 
//------------------------------//

When the plane started pulling into the hangar, Twilight got up from her seat, seeing Sunset do the same. They waited until the craft came to a complete stop, before opening the door and exiting the plane.

The hangar was filled with noise. Jet engines winding down, conversations among pilots, and the sounds of several cockpits lifting open. Twilight spotted Dash as she was getting out of her own plane, and once she got her flight mask off, she waved at them.

Suddenly, Twilight's stomach growled, which thankfully wasn't heard over the cacophony of noise around her.

Sunset seemed to notice her discomfort, however. "Hungry?"

"Well, I never really had any breakfast..." Twilight sheepishly laughed.

"Don't worry, we can get some in the mess hall. We gotta go debrief, first, though."

She started leading her back towards the situation room, a crowd of pilots and others heading the same way. Soon, they once again found themselves gathered in front of a set of monitors. Unlike this morning, however, the air was much more lively, filled with excited conversations between the pilots.

Someone stepped up to the front of the room- the base commander, Twilight presumed- and cleared their throat, sending the room into silence.

"We've successfully averted the bomber strike on our base." This got a short round of cheering from the crowd. "Now, don't get too cocky. We gotta follow this victory up with others, so I'll need you all to be sharp for your next sortie."

He smiled. "In other news, I hear one of you rookies already made ace on your first flight."

There was another round of cheering, and Twilight could see Dash smirking at a man who was still wearing his flight mask.

"Now, you know who you are, so I'm not gonna make a celebration of it." He stood up straight. "Alright, dismissed."

With that, the crowd exited the room and went their separate ways. Once Twilight and Sunset reunited with Dash, the three started walking down the hallway, towards the smell of still-mostly-warm food.

The mess hall, despite the name, was actually quite clean. Not only that, but it appeared that the rest of the pilots had eaten earlier that morning before the mission, as the place was completely deserted, save for the three girls.

They walked up to the food counter, and Sunset knocked twice. Soon after, the door leading to the kitchen opened up, and none other than Pinkie Pie strode through.

Twilight almost didn't recognize her, despite her distinctive color and hairstyle. She was wearing the same basic fatigues that everyone else on base wore, though with the addition of an apron. She was already smiling, but it tripled in size when she saw Twilight.

"Heya Twilight!" she said, as she almost leaped clear over the counter to pull her into a hug. Though caught off guard, Twilight quickly reciprocated the motion.

When they broke off from each other, Pinkie immediately began speaking. "Oh man, I got so much to tell you about! But first-" She suddenly raced back into the kitchen, before returning with a set of three trays, filled with generic looking (though good smelling) breakfast food. One of them even lacked any meat products, instead containing only bread and eggs.

"Eat up!" The three gladly accepted the trays, and went to the nearest table to sit down. "I gotta get food out to the last few stragglers," Pinkie continued, "so I'll be with you girls in just a bit!"

She once again went into the kitchen, and the three wasted no time in digging into their food. Twilight noted that it honestly didn't taste any better than the lunch food at Canterlot High, but it still managed to have that signature Pinkie pastry quality, despite not being anywhere close to a pastry.

As a few other soldiers came in to get their own food from Pinkie, Twilight nearly jumped when she felt an arm fall onto her shoulder. "Well, ain't this a nice surprise!"

Twilight turned to come face to face with that familiar stetson. "Good to see you too, Applejack!"

As she joined them at the table, Twilight noted that, despite her uniform, apparently the people in charge were fine with her wearing her usual hat. That, or they simply didn't care enough to make her not wear it.

"How you been, Twi?" she asked, breaking Twilight out of her thoughts.

"Oh, pretty good. Well, besides the whole..." her demeanor fell a bit. "...war."

"Shoot, that ain't your fault," Applejack said. "But I 'preciate you stayin' to help us out."

"Don't tell me you're all getting along without us!"

The four of them turned to see Rarity and Fluttershy walking towards them. While Rarity was in the usual uniform, Fluttershy's was unique in that it had a red cross across the back, which Twilight saw when she sat down next to her.

"Ah was wonderin' when you'd make it here," Applejack said, smirking.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "A lot of the fresher pilots keep trying to get me to paint garish emblems onto their fighters, and then not very subtly hitting on me while I do it."

Dash winced sympathetically, but still laughed. 

"So good to see you again, Twilight," Fluttershy beamed, hugging her.

"Good to see you too," Twilight replied, returning the hug.

"Whee! The gang's all here!" 

The sudden addition of Pinkie to the table shocked none of them, though it did make Fluttershy jump slightly.

Once they were all settled in, Applejack was the first to speak. "So, Twi, I know you have more than a few questions for us, so shoot."

Twilight was unsure what to say at first, but soon came up with something to start with. "So... why did you all join the military?"

"Better than getting drafted," Dash shrugged.

"Those uncouth Eruseans have to be stopped by someone, in any case," Rarity added.

"And who better than the best flyer in all of ISAF?" Dash said, leaning back in her chair.

Applejack laughed. "Ah dunno, RD, word goin' round is that Mobius fella's better than even you."

Dash snorted. "Beginner's luck."

"Dash, he was flyin' a Phantom, an' he got more splashes than you in your Eagle."

"Maybe I felt like giving the new guy a taste of glory, you know?"

"Suuuure you did, Dashie!" Pinkie said, trying not to break into laughter.

The others didn't do so well, and started chuckling at their friend's expense. Dash just threw her hands up and sighed.

Once the laughing died down, Twilight spoke again. "So, tell me... are wars like this... common?"

Dash quirked an eyebrow. "Well, yeah, wars break out every so often, this time it happened to us. Why?"

Sunset gave her a blank stare. "The last major conflict involving Equestria was nearly a thousand years ago."

"Oh, right, forgot, alternate dimension or something."

"But yes, war is not unheard of here," Rarity spoke. "In fact, if I recall correctly, I believe there was another large war only... ten years ago?"

"Nine," Dash corrected.

"Oh, that's right."

Twilight's eyes widened. "You guys had already seen a war back then?"

"Well, not like this one," Dash clarified. "It was over on Osea, but we still heard plenty about it over here."

Twilight tilted her head. "Osea?"

"Another continent east of our own, Usea," Fluttershy explained.

"But if it was so far away, how did you hear so much about it?"

"TV, for one," Applejack said. "Back then, couldn't go a day without at least some mention of the war."

Twilight paused as she thought. "What was the war about, exactly?"

"It was kinda like the one we're in now, actually," Sunset said. "Apparently, a country known as Belka had started invading its neighbors for resources, almost the same thing Erusea is doing now."

Twilight thought over this. "So how did the war end?"

"Belka got their butts kicked, that's what," Dash boasted, as if she was personally responsible for it. "Just when it looked like they were gonna win, boom! Everyone else teams up, and pushes Belka back to their country, then follows them in!"

"And then they surrendered?"

Dash's boisterous attitude faltered, and the others looked a bit uneasy.

This concerned Twilight. "Girls...?"

"Belka detonated six nuclear bombs on their own land in an attempt to stop the advancing armies," Fluttershy said, her voice unusually calm as she stared into the distance. "After that, a ceasefire was quickly enacted, and Belka was defeated."

"Nuclear bombs?"

"Twilight, you know what a supernova is, right?" Sunset asked.

She nodded. "A massive, immensely powerful explosion triggered by a dying star."

"Imagine that, but held within a single bomb, which can be dropped or used almost anywhere. Six times. On their own cities."

Twilight thought about it, and a horrified expression grew on her face. "B- But... That's...!"

"Absolutely dreadful, I agree," Rarity finished for her. "But, that is the past, and as terrible as it is, it ensured that no one would ever again let a war get that far."

Despite the suddenly solemn air, Twilight couldn't help but keep asking questions. "It sounds like the war really affected all of you, even if it wasn't close."

"It helps that they had family involved in the war," Sunset added.

Twilight's eyes widened. "You did?"

Rarity nodded. "We all had some family who wanted to go over and help with the war effort."

"Except me," Applejack said. "But not for lack of tryin'. Pa's eyesight was just too bad for th' Osean military to accept him, so he helped with a project to send care packages to th' soldiers from here, instead."

"My dad was a pilot in a bomber squadron," Pinkie said, her usual self noticeably slightly deflated. "He says that the war wasn't too bad, but whenever a documentary or something mentions some place called 'Hoffnung,' he gets real quiet."

A few thoughtful murmurs were traded throughout the group. Soon, though, Twilight's eyes fell on Fluttershy.

"Even you had family go to war, Fluttershy?" she asked.

"This I wanna hear," Dash added. "Because I've met your dad, Shy, and I know he's not the kinda guy to go help out in a war overseas."

"It was... my uncle," Fluttershy continued. "And you're right about my dad, but my uncle... he was a little more action-focused. He served as a pilot during the war, and even found a girlfriend for himself."

Rarity giggled. "Oh, how romantic. Even on the battlefield, love can bloom!"

Fluttershy's eyes cast down. "Unfortunately, he was shot down before he could propose to her."

"Oh..." Rarity put an arm around her friend. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy."

"It's okay. That was... a while ago." The rest could see her eyes starting to slightly tear up, though she fought them back.

The conversation drifted into silence after that, until Sunset awkwardly coughed. "So, Rarity, what about you?"

"Oh, right..." She sat up straight, almost as if addressing a classroom. "My father served in a tank battalion during the Belkan War."

Applejack couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry, but I didn't expect anyone related to Rarity of all people to be doing something so 'uncouth'," she finished with an imitation of Rarity's voice, getting a laugh from the others.

"Oh ha ha, Applejack. Regardless, he earned a few medals, and he even fought during the Battle of Directus."

"Isn't that the capital of Ustio?" Dash asked.

"The very same." A strange look entered her face. "Actually, I remember something he told me about that battle... He remembered being saved from enemy aircraft by a friendly squadron, and then near the end of the battle he saw those same fighters dueling with a pair of enemy aces. He couldn't get a good look, but he swore that one of them was a blue-winged Eagle."

Applejack snorted. "Oh really, now?"

"That is what he told me. He also said that he was convinced that same Eagle was none other than him, as well."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "You don't really believe that 'Demon Lord' nonsense, do ya, Rares?" she asked. "That's just one o' them battlefield fables!"

Pinkie twitched slightly, but it went unnoticed by the others.

Rarity huffed. "I am not saying anything on the matter, I am just telling you what my father said."

Once again, the table drifted into silence, before all eyes fell on Dash. "What?"

"Well, you're the ace pilot here," Applejack started. "Surely you have someone in th' family who did the same back then."

Dash shrugged. "My dad was a pilot during the war."

There was a pause. "That's it?"

"That's all he says about it," Dash continued. "I always guessed he had some bad memories, so I never pushed the issue."

Before another topic of conversation could come up, Applejack looked at the clock, before shooting up to her feet. "Ah, hell, I gotta get back to the hangar now. Later, y'all!"

A series of farewells met her as she left the mess hall, followed by Rarity also getting up. "I suppose that is my cue to leave, as well. Ciao, darlings!"

Soon after she left, Fluttershy also took her leave, saying that some of the people in the sick bay might need some help. 

Pinkie was the next to leave, since she had to start making lunch for the whole base soon. Once again, the only people in the room were Twilight, Sunset, and Dash, now-empty trays in front of them.

"So, I was wondering, how did you all get caught up in this, anyway?" Twilight asked.

Dash shrugged. "Erusea started getting all aggressive a little bit after we graduated. I was the first one to sign up to join ISAF, and it didn't take long for the others to follow."

As Twilight let out a thoughtful hum, Dash got up and stretched. "Well, I'm gonna go swing by the hangar, too. Heck, I wonder if I can catch that Mobius guy." She waved behind her as she left. "Later!"

Twilight and Sunset said their own goodbyes, before turning to each other. "Don't worry too much about her," Sunset finally said, "she can handle herself. You saw that for yourself today."

"I know, it's just... well, this is war. I can't help but feel worried for my friends."

Sunset nodded sympathetically. "I understand. But we're gonna survive this." She pulled Twilight into a brief hug. "All of us."

As Twilight accepted the gesture, she could only hope that she was right.