//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Ace Combat Equestria: Shattered Clouds 
// by Cpt Celti 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 5

Though I lacked the courage to speak, I still remained by Meteor Six’s side. I often listened to her speak with the other pilots of her squadron, which she seemed to be the matriarch of, and she often scolded the flight crews who did a bad job with repairs on their planes. One day I found myself at their base. I had more or less followed Six all the way there, and the guards didn’t really see me as a threat. As long as I was close to Six, the other gryphons would leave me be, as if they knew I was trusted by her.
I had more or less become her second shadow.
Their base wasn’t so much a building as it was an abandoned street that was under construction. It was half built, the asphalt and lines already in place. The unfinished tunnels nearby were used as their hangars. Nearby were some trailers they used as their own barracks’. 
Six let me follow her all the way to the flight line, where I got to watch a pilot land his plane. It was so precise, so perfectly executed it was almost beautiful as the chute out the back deployed. When the pilot jumped out, he was saluted by everypony around, including Six herself. He then looked over just as Meteor Eight ran up and embraced him.
They shared a few jests as Six walked up and shook his hand, calling him ‘Your Majesty’ as well. When I tilted my head, they looked at me, curiously. The two gryphons must have been brothers by the similarities, and they equally had a look of confusion and apprehension in their golden eyes. Suddenly, before I could move, the brothers were standing in front of me and the eldest knelt down. He asked who I was, but I couldn’t reply. He was big and scary, but I didn’t shy away.
Six told him that I was a friend, to which they merely laughed. The eldest, whose number I managed to glimpse was Seven, reached his hand behind my head, then swiftly brought it back. Between his two claws was a cookie, oatmeal raisin. My mother made those cookies for me when I was good. I slowly took it and looked up at him as he stood and ruffled my mane. He and his brother then headed off into town.
Six then knelt next to me, asking, “Do you recognize them?” I shook my head as I took a bite, my full attention on her. She then smiled and looked back at them, sighing. 
“That’s Tyr and Carde. They’re the Prince’s of Gryphnia.”



Rhapsody shook her mane out of her helmet and climbed out of the cockpit. She grinned and Ditzy met her on the ground, the two sharing a fist bump. They were ecstatic; finally bagging their number twelve kill. They had scored three kills during the fight they had just returned from and now officially were double aces. One of the flight crew ponies was already coming up and marking the nose of the Tomcat with the appropriate decals just as they walked by. Sprig slapped them on the back. “Nice work you two,” she exclaimed. “You’re both now, officially, dogfighters.”
Being the more veteran of the group, Sprig had already been titled a triple ace. While she was flying against Gryphnia when they began pushing into Hibern, she had flown with the Hibernian Republic Air Corps before her transfer to the 14th. The only one close to her record was Mythic, who was the last to transfer in to Ghost Wing, yet still had more than enough kills on his belt. But Rhapsody and Ditzy now felt kindred to them, knowing full well that they had earned their combat wings now. The only one with the fewest kills was Amethyst, only three.
“Why don’t we get some chow?” Rhapsody asked. “I could hear Amethyst’s stomach growling over the turbines.”
While not exactly at home here, High Arch air force base in south western Hibern was still a good place to sleep at least. The hippogriffs were one of Equestria’s most stanch allies, second only to the Saddle Arabians, so they wished to provide the best for their new visitors. And it was especially so if a particular group had a hippogriff in their midst, and Rhapsody’s group had one. The crisp mountain air was clean and refreshing, almost as if the war hadn’t even dared to touch it, but just a few dozen miles to the east was intense fighting between AEGIS and Gryphnian forces. 
Still, it didn’t give Rhapsody pause to relax at a new location. She had always wanted to visit Hibern, with her family of course, but this was a close second choice; being with her closest friends. Her only complaint was that the cheap hangars were almost too small for her Tomcat. She had to close her wings in as tight as they could go, and still keep watch on the hangar walls.
“It’s an old fighter, ma’am,” the flight crew chief had said. He removed his cap and brushed a few feathers back. A quick breeze wafted in and caused both he and the pegasus mare to expand their wings around themselves to shield from it. Rhapsody’s tail wrapped closer to her leg, seeking warmth. Her other complaint? It was too damn cold when the breezes hit. “It’s still flown, but it’s just an old design and growing outdated. Hell there's still a squadron in the Navy that has fought tooth and hoof to keep theirs.”
Rhapsody had patted the nose of her fighter and smirked at the crew chief. “This old war bird has gotten me to every sortie and brought me home safe and sound. She even made me a double ace. I look after her in battle and she performs the best she's got.” Still, she had to admit that the F-14A was an old design. It was still being produced, but the technical systems and inner workings were just indeed growing outdated. Rhapsody was lucky enough to have been assigned a Tomcat that could still be upgraded.
Once the five had their fighters secured, they headed inside to get some food. They gathered up that day’s dinner; apple salads, cherry tarts, and buttered crescent rolls, and headed for their usual table. While Sprig enjoyed the faire of Equestria, she was home now, and enjoyed their particular cuisine. Like Gryphons, Hippogriffs were indeed carnivores, so Sprig grabbed a hold of a couple tarts, along with a couple pieces of pork bacon and a beef patty she slid between two pieces of toasted bread. It had bothered Rhapsody at first, but she learned to grow accustomed to it after a few weeks of serving with the hippogriff mare. They sat down and started eating, quietly at first, before Ditzy broke the silence. “Anypony know when our next big sortie is?”
Amethyst prodded at her salad, shrugging. “Apparently, rumor has it we’re going to be heading south in a few days. Into the oilfields near Habun.”
Mythic’s ears perked and he turned his head to her after downing some light cider. “That’s a pretty deep in strike.”
Amethyst shrugged, replying, “The Gryphnian fleet relies on their oil for fuel. And according to the recent radio chatter and intelligence reports, if their fleet weighs anchor, our offensive is toast.”
“I like toast,” Ditzy suddenly commented. Everypony that heard their conversation looked at her. The gray pegasus was chomping away merrily at a piece of bread she had toasted on her way back to the table after getting another salad. Her face was one of glee, but she lost her smile when the four other members of her wing were looking at her. “What?”
“You haven’t been paying attention, have you?” Sprig asked nonchalantly.
Ditzy blinked for a moment, tilted her head up, and then shook it curtly. “Nope!” She then returned to her toast.
Rhapsody chuckled and looked back at the others. “So,” she started. “They’re gonna have us make a swipe at it?”
Amethyst shook her head as she buttered another crescent roll and spread some grape jelly on the other side. “We’re not just swiping and leaving, Rhapsody,” she said lowly. She took a bite and chewed, as if letting that information simmer for a bit in front of them. She then swallowed the bite and turned back to her friends. “We’re going to be utterly destroying it.”
If she hadn’t been paying attention before, Ditzy Do was now. Amethyst had the attention of all four other ponies in her wing. Rhapsody’s eyes bulged, Sprig dropped the tart halfway to her beak, Mythic stopped with his mug halfway to his lips. The words hung in the air for a long time before the leader of Ghost Wing finally spoke up. “Y-you’re kidding… right? This… you’ve got to be joking. Destroying an entire oil reserve?”
“The Habun oil reserve produces hundreds of thousands of barrels a week!” Mythic exclaimed. “They want us to destroy it all? Do they understand the pollution it would cause? Not to mention how many tons of fuel would be wasted?”
“Well we couldn’t possibly capture it.” Everyone now turned to Ditzy, who swallowed a bite of her toast. Rhapsody was amazed she was eating something other than a muffin, but she knew the grey mare wanted one right now. “All the gryphons need to do to retake the oil fields and the offshore rigs is to send in a battle group of a few ships and a few dozen fighters. Bam, it’s theirs again.”
Rhapsody shrugged and prodded her salad for a bite. “Point proven.”
“So we’re bombing it to kingdom come? How many on the assault?”
“Just about twelve of you.” The wing turned to see Spitfire standing just above Sprig, the golden pegasus mare smirking at them. She then looked down at the resident hippogriff. “You gonna let me sit or not?”
Sprig stared for a moment before she was elbowed by Mythic. “Ow- huh- oh- uh… Yes ma’am,” she jabbered swiftly. She then grabbed her tray and mug and moved down, allowing the Major to sit. The golden pegasus sitting with them? They would have though their commanding officer would eat in her office, or her quarters. But sitting with the pilots and their flight crews? That was unheard of.
“The attack is gonna be this Friday,” she said calmly. “Lieutenant, your wing is being paired up with Windigo and Rapier. The Windigos need some experience, and Rapier needs to be let loose on something.” The Major prodded at her salad and took a big bite with a swig of cider. “Ah Sweet Apple Cider. Good for the soul,” she sighed happily.
Mythic looked at his mug. “I think it could use some pear juice.” Now he was the one with the mare’s turned to him. He looked at the five set of eyes staring intently into his. He then smirked and held the mug up. “It’s a joke, fillies.” 
Spitfire aimed her fork at him. “I know an Equestrian Tank Commander who would ride your flank up and down Canterlot if she heard what you just said.”
Mythic grinned. “Another mare for my ‘harem’?”
Rhapsody groaned and smacked her forehead.



Friday came faster than the four pilots thought. And before she knew it, Rhapsody was in the air with her Tomcat laden with bombs. The three Fighting Falcons with her were loaded with the same, as were the four Eagles of Rapier. Windigo squadron was loaded a little differently; all four Phantoms with napalm bombs. The Rapier leader suddenly pulled ahead of Rhapsody.
“Alright everypony, you have your orders. Windigo, you split off for the refining facility on the beach. Wraith, you’re splitting off in pairs to cover us both while we drop our bomb loads. Rapier, we’re going for the oilrigs.” The four eagles peeled off, as did the Phantoms. “All wings engage immediately.”
Rhapsody banked with Sprig after Rapier wing. She found herself groaning. “Never did like stallions from Trottingham,” she muttered.
Ditzy tilted her head and leaned forward a bit. “You like Time Turner just fine, though. I find the accent very alluring.” She added the last with a giggle, as if saying what she wanted to say would make everyone flying laugh at her. And if Rhapsody knew her best friend well enough, she knew it wasn’t ‘alluring’ she wanted to say.
Unfortunately, Sprig beat her to it. “Alluring? I think it’s sexy. Very exotic, almost like mine. So nice to hear another species say it, makes it that much more enticing and… seductive.”
Rhapsody, Mythic, and Amethyst laughed, as well as a few of the other pilots. Wraith could almost feel the deep blush on Ditzy’s face. Of course, it was all followed by the lead plane’s heavy and indignant groan. “Cut the chatter,” Rapier One hollered. “And Banshee, I’ll make sure to write up your reprimand when we land.”
“Yes sir, Lieutenant Colonel Sir!” Sprig replied stoically.
He huffed and continued on his course. “All wings engage.”
Rhapsody needed no further urging. She pushed the nose of her Tomcat down, bearing herself towards a tanker ship. “Wraith here, I’m engaging a nearby tanker.” When she was in range, she flipped the switch and pulled up, dropping a pair of bombs into the side of the ship. The bombs struck hard, causing it burst into flames, exploding promptly after enough barrels caught fire and began to sink.
“Tanker down,” Sky Gazer called. “Good drop Wraith.”
“Yes, spectacular,” Rapier One agreed, obviously dripping with an undertone of ‘whatever’. Rhapsody huffed, deciding to ignore the incompetent officer and pulled up. She throttled up her turbines and made a path to the oil rigs. Two of the Strike Eagles had already made it there and they both dropped a pair of cluster bombs. Several dozen bomblets rained down, and while they were small, the explosions they caused were enough for havoc on the rigs.
There were helipads on them as well, right next to the control rooms. Rhapsody pulled herself up into a steep climb, before hitting the breaks hard, causing the Tomcat to shudder violently from the sudden stop and stall. From her angle, the fighter flopped backwards and went nose first towards the water. Rhapsody pushed her engines back into gear and opened up with her cannon after dropped two more bombs from the undercarriage of her fighter.
It was another solid impact just as a cluster bomb hit. The rig burst into flames, sending cranes, hunks of metal, and gryphons into the sea as they tried to save themselves. As a result, several of the oil stockpiles on the rigs themselves were ignited and many fell into the water itself, where the very sea itself was alight with oil fire. Rhapsody frowned behind her mask as she did a quick flyby of the engulfed rig.
“All this oil being burned and dumped,” Ditzy murmured. “Those poor sea animals… I don't know if this bay will recover.”
Mythic chimed in. "Believe me when I say those fish or seals or whatever have all but vacated this place. The second they heard us coming, they took off."
“I know, Specter,” Rhapsody replied softly. She tried to ease the grey mare, but it was a losing struggle. “We don’t have much of a choice. Damn gryphons had to push the war to this-“ Her console blared all of a sudden. Missile warning. Rhapsody pushed her throttle up and began to climb. “Hang on Specter!”
Ditzy pressed her hands against the canopy. “Believe me, I’m hanging on!”
The missile shot out underneath, followed by a Mirage F2000 that banked under her and to the right. Rhapsody pushed down and gave chase.



The gryphon pilot banked left and right, but this Tomcat pilot was good and kept a good solid pace with him. He growled behind his mask and began to dive towards the sea. Being a delta-wing fighter, the Mirage could maneuver better at low speeds. Tomcat's, however, were more bulky and couldn’t pull up as fast. All he needed to do was pull a little trick of such maneuverability, and this AEGIS pilot would plunge into the ocean. He looked back to see that the pilot was already pulling off. Maybe they did see through his ploy – 
His alarm blared and he began to climb, right into a burst of cannon fire.



“Splash one!” Rhapsody cried. She looked around to see a good number of enemy MiG-29s, F2000s, and F-16s joining the fray. “Everypony be advised, they’ve sent interceptors!”
“Bit late to the draw on that, Wraith!” Mythic cried. “I’ve got one on my tail!”
“I’ve got you Shade, hang in there,” Amethyst announced. Rhapsody saw their two fighters engaging a single F2000.
Rhapsody then banked back to bombing the oil rigs. One of the Rapier fighters as she saw aimed two missiles for the supports to a rig. They struck and the support buckled, and the rig tipped violently. And then what she feared happened; the pipe burst and sprayed oil into the air… high into the air. The strike eagle was maneuverable, but the pilot reacted too slowly. Oil sprayed her fighter as she pulled up, sending the black liquid into her engine intakes and even all over her canopy.
“Damnit, I can’t see!” She shouted. “It’s all over me! I can’t – “
“Rapier three pull up!” Rapier One shouted. “Pull up before you crash into the rig!”
The Strike Eagle began climbing, but the oil that got into the engine began damaging it from within because of the added speed and stress on the turbines. They caught fire and the fighter shuddered, bursting into flames that enveloped all around the canopy, and it fell, belly-first, onto the rig and sent up a geyser of flame. Rhapsody turned away from the final impact, but grit her teeth when she saw that same rig buckle under another missile strike at its supports. It rocked heavily and then fell on its side into the ocean.
“Alright… we're still in this! Keep on the attack, everypony!" Rapier One announced, causing Rhapsody to frown and shake her head. It was as if he didn’t give a damn he lost a pilot because he ordered her to do the one thing that would kill her. “Sky Gazer, what’s the status on the refinery attack?”
She replied simply, “Facility is forty percent destroyed. Massive loss of stockpiles has been confirmed.”
“Everypony here that?” Rapier One asked, not exactly waiting for a response. “Continue with the attack.”
“Copy that flight lead!” one of the Windigos called. Rhapsody craned her head to the west. She could just barely make out the silhouettes of the rookie Phantom pilots. Even in this failing light, Rhapsody could see the telltale signs off the firestorm being caused by the napalm bombs they were dropping. She couldn’t help but feel the least bit sorry for the gryphons. Not only were they losing a huge stockpile of oil, but many of their troops occupying the oil refinery and the rigs were dying horrible deaths, whether by explosions or being burned alive.
She let out a sigh and returned to the fight, trying to find a new target to occupy her mind.
It didn’t take long. Sprig soared by with a pair of MiG-29s on her six o’clock. Grimacing that they were taking a single fighter two-on-one, she pulled up her Tomcat to follow. Ditzy craned her head around to keep watch on their surroundings as usual. The wings of her fighter slid back, accommodating for the speed and agility needed, and the reticule on her heads-up-display followed the further back MiGs. The pilot mare narrowed her eyes, the g-forces of the turns causing her vision to tunnel just a bit, but she kept close pace with them.
The reticule suddenly locked, and Rhapsody hesitated for but a second to make sure she had a lock. "Fox two!" The missile flew off the rail, missing the fuselage, but not the wing. The missile detonated upon clipping the tip, which tore off half the wing and sent the MiG into a furious spin to the water below. The lead most broke off and made a b-line for the north. Rhapsody throttled up to meet him halfway and the MiG increased speed to try and shake her off, the larger jet was gaining too fast.



He panted heavily, knowing full well he couldn’t get away.
“Where are the reinforcements?! We’re getting killed up here!” he shouted, not caring what rank was replying. “We need help over here!”
“Cloud Burst here,” their AWACS called. “Calm yourself down. They’re on their way.”
The gryphon exhaled heavily, before his reverie was cut short by a hail of bullets. They tore into the frame of his fighter, causing it to shake and start smoking. Wasting no time, he grabbed the ring under his seat and yanked. His canopy blew, and his seat violently shoved him into the air. After a few seconds, his chair halted at the maximum height and deployed its chute. Being that he was still intact, he leapt from the chair and flared his wings. Just then, his eyes caught something on the horizon heading his way. He narrowed them and focused. Five planes heading to the combat zone. 
He only knew one group that flew that formation, and the realization made him grin.



Rhapsody banked east back towards the rig attack. Two of the rigs were sinking, three were burning, and the last one was just then destroyed by another cluster bomb.
“Sky Gazer here,” the AWACS called. “Oil rigs confirmed destroyed, and the refinery is out of commission. Mission com – … Stand by." Rhapsody tilted her head as she waited for her to return to speaking. “All fighters, heavy group rolling in hot. Looks like five in the formation. Anypony got a visual?”
“Specter here, I think I see…” she trailed off. Rhapsody looked back her and then followed her eyes to the north. “Confirmed! Tally ho on the bandits… wait… I think…”
Rapier One groaned heavily, “For the love of Celestia, Lieutenant, do you see them or – “
"Those are Terminators!" Ditzy screamed.
Rhapsody's eyes bulged wide. "What!?"
“All fighters! Confirmed visual! Su-37s closing fast! It’s Meteor Squadron!” Sky Gazer shouted.
“Meteor Squadron?!” Mythic cried.
Sprig yelled incredulously, “I thought they were guarding the Sky Breaker!” 
Rhapsody banked hard, hurting her wings from her body being jerked hard like that, and pushed her throttle to full. The afterburners kicked in afterwards and she made a break for the south. “Doesn’t matter right now! All wings, let’s get the hell out of here!”
“No argument here!” Windigo One called. Within seconds, the remaining  ten fighters of the attack were heading due south.
“Confirmed, enemy aircraft are Meteors. All aircraft, disengage and RTB!” Sky Gazer ordered. “Break for the south immediately.”



“Meteor Six here, we’re clear to engage and splash all hostile aircraft.”
“Roger Six,” Eight replied. “Moving to engage hostiles.”
The five SU-37s broke formation and pursued the AEGIS fighters.



"Do not engage the Meteors! Retreat south at once!" Sky Gazer cried out once more.
Ditzy continued turning her head left and right and behind to make sure they weren’t being followed. The rest of the fighters flew to her tail to join, but just then, Rhapsody realized they were in deep trouble. She may have been flying the largest plane in the formation, maybe the fastest, but the Meteors were still faster and much more nimble.
She gasped in surprise as an Su-37, the underside painted a fiery red, tore through the sky right over her and kept flying. The pilot suddenly banked sharply, more so than she would’ve thought possible, and let out a large burst of gunfire that missed, before launching a missile at them. It struck one of the F-4s dead on.
“Windigo Two is down! Never seen moves like that!” Amethyst cried, sounding terrified.
As if to intensify the terror, two more Meteors broke through above them, just as the last one circled around behind them. “We’re surrounded!” Ditzy cried. She huddled down in her seat, as if trying to hide herself from them. Another missile suddenly struck a strike eagle trying to pull up and away. It struck dead-on and no chute followed.
"Shite! We lost Rapier Four!" Sprig cried out.
Rhapsody’s rose eyes widened as she realized they were indeed surrounded. It took the downing of one of the Rapier Strike Eagles to make her snap from her shocked trance. Before she knew it, she shouted a new order.
“Everypony turn and engage!” Rhapsody grabbed her stick and yanked it back, hard. Her tomcat suddenly lurched to a halt as she slammed her hooves into the brake and cut off the engines. In the process, she banked, nearly colliding with a Rapier and turned into one of the Meteors, the fighter's wing's flaring to accommodate the lack of lift.
“Are you insane Rhapsody!?” Mythic shouted. “They’ll kill us!”
“Then we’re going down fighting!” she countered angrily, "You don't have to join me!" Her tomcat regained its speed and she fired a few bullets at the enemy Su-37 Terminator. It missed of course, the smaller fighter proving too agile and fast for her. Before Rhapsody knew it, she had one on her tail. She turned violently, trying to shake him when Mythic trailed him instead and got him off her tail. The Fighting Falcon was now chasing the Terminator.
“Rhapsody!” Mythic cried. “If we make it through this, I’m going to kill you!”
Though the AEGIS had them outnumbered nine to five, they were no match for the elite pilots. “So this is Meteor Squadron,” Sprig muttered to herself. “I always wanted to meet them myself.”
“Well you’re about to be shot down by them if you don’t focus, Lieutenant Sprig Root,” Rapier One barked. He took up a lead position beside Rhapsody as they chased one of the Terminators through the sky, only to have it suddenly halt in midair and let them both fly right under. The pilot then turned his fighter forward and pursued Rapier One. Rhapsody’s eyes bulged as she watched the gryphon elite pilot whiz right by their canopies and now tail the two AEGIS fighters.
“He just pulled a cobra!” Ditzy cried in awe. “That was amazing!”
“Shut up and get him off of me!” Rapier One cried. But before Rhapsody could move, the Terminator launched a missile. The Trottingham pilot climbed, letting the missile fly under him. He shouted in glee. “Ha! It’ll take more than a missile to… oh damn…” The missile suddenly curved sharply downwards and came right back for him. “Oh no. No no no no - !” 
Rhapsody gasped as the missile slammed right into the Strike Eagle’s cockpit. “Sweet mother mare, they’re packing QAAM missiles!”
“A what?” One of the Windigos called.
“A quick maneuvering air-to-air missile! Focus on the briefings of munitions next time!” Sprig chided.
“Sorry! I’ll do bet – “ He suddenly shouted in surprise. “He’s got me! He’s got – “ The F-4 suddenly turned into a fireball as a QAAM rammed him right in the turbines.
Sprig suddenly huffed. “And the last thing he heard was me chastising him…”
“Focus Sprig!” Mythic cried. “We need to get out of this somehow.”
“But they’re too good!” Amethyst countered as she banked hard left and then right, a Terminator bearing down on her. One of the remaining Rapiers got him off, allowing Amethyst to turn hard to the right and head south, but that one also pulled a cobra. The Strike Eagle flew underneath and was nearly shot down by a burst of bullets when the gryphon pilot regained control. The Strike Eagle pilot tore through the air, just barely able to keep the Meteor from downing him.
“There can’t be any way those are being flown by mortals!” Windigo two cried. “We’re totally screwed!”
Rhapsody grit her teeth, keeping her gun reticule on what appeared to be the lead plane.



Six craned her head left and right, snarling into her oxygen mask.
“Son of a bitch, this one’s good,” she snarled. “Meteor Eight, delouse my six!”
“Copy that lead, on my way.” Suddenly, Six’s console blared for a missile locked and fired. She grunted and pulled up, hitting the brakes at the same time. The Terminator lurched and shuddered to a near stall. She almost lost her composure when the missiles shrieked right by her canopy. “Holy hell… they almost hit me!”
They almost hit her. This pilot almost hit her.
Meteor Eight suddenly flew by, pursing the F-14A that fired the two missiles. The AEGIS pilot banked, making sure to keep him off of their tail, but it was only a matter of time before – 
“AWACS Cloud Burst to Meteor Six. Formation of five fighters heading your way. They’re closing fast.”
Six regained herself and turned away from the fray. “Visual confirmation on incoming bandits?”
Seven whooped as he fired a missile at an F-4, the pilot nearly getting destroyed. Since it missed, he lost his jubilant attitude. "Whoever's commanding these pilots is good. Has anyone gotten a kill besides Six?"
"Negative on that," Eight piped up, and then looked towards the south. He then growled. “Five F-15Ss incoming… it’s the Wonderbolts!”
“Then it looks like our work here is done, nothing more we can do. All Meteor’s RTB,” Six ordered. “I’ll inform the General that the AEGIS moved faster than expected, and the Habun Oil Fields have been destroyed.”
Forgoing returning to formation, the five Terminators turned due north.



Rhapsody pulled back into a formation with the remaining AEGIS fighters. She did a quick tally of those that had managed to survive. Two from Windigo, two from Rapier, and all three of her friends had made it. She let out a soft sigh, thanking Celestia they had made it out safely. On the other hand, they had lost four in less than a quarter of an hour. Windigo Wing was a bunch of rookies, so they couldn’t be expected to hold their own against a superior opponent like Meteor, but the Rapiers were one of the top wings in the 14th Tactical. The fact they had taken such hits was unheard of.
“Sky Gazer,” Major Spitfire called. “Meteor Squadron is bugging out. I need a SITREP and tally of our losses.”
“Yes Bolt One,” the melancholy voice of Sky Gazer replied. “The oilrigs have all been destroyed, as has the refining facility to the west. But… Windigo’s Two, and Four are down, as are Rapier One, Three, and Four.” 
“Damn,” one of the Wonderbolt pilots exclaimed. “Well… we got here in time to save this group.”
“Speaking of which, Dash,” the Major suddenly murmured. Rhapsody turned her eyes to the left, seeing the Major’s blue and yellow lightning streaked F-15S pull up right beside her. Painted on the nose was her cutie mark. Almost at the same time, another Wonderbolt pulled up to her other side, sporting a cloud and polychromatic lightning bolt on the nose. “Lieutenant, I would like to see you when we land at the base.”
The pegasus mare nodded and looked around. “I’d like to check on the rest of my squad and I’ll be right-“
“Oh no, Lieutenant, you don’t understand,” Spitfire snapped, cutting her off immediately. Rhapsody looked at the Major's fighter and saw the golden mare staring right at her. If looks could kill… “That wasn’t a request, it was an order. When your wheels hit the ground, you better already be at my office door. Understood?” 
Rhapsody grimaced and then swallowed, but she saluted sharply towards the Major’s plane. “Yes ma’am.” With those final words, the Major pulled her visor down and the Wonderbolt fighters pulled on ahead. Rhapsody pushed her throttle up, leading the surviving fighters to catch up with them. The sea green pegasus shook her head, sighing heavily. 
Ditzy leaned forward in her seat, pulling off her mask. “Well, we survived,” she said softly.
Rhapsody shook her head again kept her eyes forward. “Not enough of us.”