As the early morning sun gently rose in the east, burning off some of the morning fog, a deep rumbling sound echoing off the mountains. Having been closed for the night, the thick, double blast doors began to creak open, the sound of rusty gears and unoiled joints were drowned out by a blaring alarm and flashing yellow lights. As the doors opened, early morning orange sunlight streamed into the darkened concrete hallway, replacing the dim industrial lights.
Rainbow Dash stood there, hoof covering her eyes as they struggled to adjust to the contrasting brightness of the underground. She blinked a few times, clearing her vision.
A thin layer of snow covered the ground, obscuring ground markings and reflecting the morning sun right into her unprepared eyes. Grimacing, she lifted the pair of tinted goggles around her neck to cover her eyes. Protected from glare, she was able to look over the ground, the base, and the mountains, taking in the scenery as she stood at the mouth of the tunnel.
The whole base was covered in snow, a thin layer of white fluff that kicked up a few loose flakes when she put her hoof in it. With the snow acting as a dampener, the only sound that could be heard was the distant wind, whipping through the mountains.
She spread her wings to her sides, flapping them a bit in the bitter mountain air, stretching them out and feeling the bitter breeze against her fur. She looked up into the orange glow of the morning sky, piercing through the mountaintops and distant scattered clouds. Her breath formed little clouds in front of her every time she breathed, dissipating away just a quickly. It was peaceful.
Her hooves dug into the snow as she dashed forward, sending small tuffs into the air in her wake, leaving hoofprints in the shallow snow. One last step and she kicked and leaped into the air, flapping her wings, tucking her hooves as close to herself as she could.
She simply glided for a moment, her wings still, propelled and kept in the air only by her short run. Barely inches above the ground, she weaved slowly back and forth. She kept her head pointed up toward the mountain peaks and the rising sun, scanning the sky.
It was mostly clear after yesterdays snowstorm, only a few sparse and distant clouds high in the sky. She twirled around, banking hard, her wingtips brushing against the snow. With one hard flap of her wings, she pushed herself faster through the air, dodging between poles and lights poking out of the ground. With another hard flap, she lifted herself higher off the ground, and only went higher with each flap and moving faster as well.
She sped up, pushing herself harder and faster, before going completely vertical and shooting straight up through the clouds, breaking through the thin layer and into the sunlight above. Rising above the height of the mountains, the sun appeared from where it had been hiding behind the rocks, light bouncing off the droplets in the air.
Spotting her first target, she pulled a quick barrel roll and spot off after it, closing rapidly and kicking out her front hooves, striking the poor, unsuspecting, and defenseless cloud with so much force that it exploded with a puff, ripping its body apart and scattering its wispy vapor remains to the wind, returning the cloud to the sky in which it came.
There were ten more, all floating nearby, and Rainbow quickly mapped out the quickest and most efficient route between them, and pulled a sharp turn after disposing of the first cloud, rocketing towards the next one and flying right through it, leaving a pegasus-shaped hole in her wake.
Having done this task every day for as far back as she could remember, it wasn’t even a chore anymore. It was simply routine to wake up before dawn and clear the skies each day. And it made her feel at home, relaxed, something comforting and familiar in this unfamiliar world she had entered.
There were five more clouds scattered across the mountains, and as she streaked across the sky, the water particles in the air scattered the light from the rising sun and forming a shimmering rainbow trail in her wake. She smashed each and every one, flapping harder and faster and pulling shorter and quicker turns, clearing the skies.
Finally, all that remained was one.
It was floating quite a distance away from the rest, barely a cloud at all, little more than a whisp. And it was high, much higher than the rest, a height that would turn most Pegasus away from attempting to reach it, or forcing them to take a long, spiraling path to reach it if they dared to attempt.
But Rainbow, not being most pegasuses, decided to take the more direct route. Already traveling at a blistering speed, she simply pitched up, rocketing straight up towards the cloud, flapping her wings as hard as she could. She coasted the rest of the distance, gravity slowing her down so she was almost hovering in the air by the time she reached the tiny cloud.
“Argh… damn.” She flopped onto the cloud, her wings sore and muscles strained. “What a workout, huh? She asked no one in particular, picking herself up off the damp, spongy ground that was a clouds surface.
Cloud walking was an ancient and uniquely Pegasus art, one that Twilight had attempted to explain to Rainbow many times after she had foolishly asked a long time ago. Something how their inner magic flows throughout their body in ways that other races don’t. The part where she started getting into souls and ley lines was where Rainbow had walked out.
But none of that really mattered.
Because before her and surrounding her lay not only the entire country of Ustio, but the continent of Usea, an entire part of the world that was foreign to her. Before the war, she had only stepped foot in Usea once, a Cutie Map friendship trip to Griffonstone that ended up with her meeting with an old Griffon friend. She was there only three days and never left the city.
Rainbow often wondered what happened to her when the sky fell.
She could see for quite a distance from up here. Visibility was excellent. Seas, lakes, rivers, forests, mountains, farmland.
She could see the whole country and beyond. Back home she couldn’t even see to Manehattan from this height. Canterlot peak only on a clear day.
Shaking her head to clear away the thoughts of home, she instead took a moment to get her bearings with the landmarks. There had been no time for sightseeing on the way in.
Looking north, the highest peaks of the Waiapolo Mountains were visible through the clouds, and the city of Directus just off to the right, sunlight glinting off the river. To the east, Comberth and Expo City, sitting on the coast. To the west, the dense rainforests of Chopinburg. And to the south, more mountains, and what remains of the ISAF forces on Usea, scattered and holed up in the mountains.
It almost seemed peaceful from up here. Almost.
A pillar of smoke rose from the ground. Small flashes of light from distant explosions could still be seen. And high above her head, contrails still twisted and danced in high altitude dogfights.
At this height, Directus seemed like only a short hop away. Like you could reach out and touch it. But most of the entire Griffon army was between them, and, judging from what she had heard about the Griffons, it would be a long fight to get there.
The high altitude wind had slowly begun to seep into her jacket, causing her to start shivering despite the lavers. Looking down at the base below, from here the buildings and runways looked like model toys, small enough to step on and squash with a flick of her hoof. A small vehicle rolled across the snow, headlights lighting up in front of it, leaving tracks in the snow.
She took one step forward. Her hoof met nothing but air, and she plummeted towards the ground like a rock. Adjusting herself in the air, she made a quick descent, sticking out her wings slightly to give herself some semblance of control. She flew straight down, wind whipping past at blistering speed. A distinct and bright rainbow trail appeared behind her, following her down. She was so close, if only she could go fast enough... no. Not enough height, and the concrete was closing fast.
She flared her wings, coming to a soft touchdown just outside the command building. The base was awake now, creatures of all shapes and sizes coming out of the buildings and shadows. Most appeared drowsy, the air raid sirens going off twice last night as Griffon fighters made high speed passes over the base, coupled with an early morning.
She glanced at the watch around her hoof. Eight minutes to Seven.
She spotted Sanka tearing up the snow on her Kettenkrad. They waved to each other as she passed, a trailer loaded with ordnance attached to the back.
She checked her watch again. Five minutes to Seven. Time to get going.
“Alright everyone, listen up!” Saki stood at the front of the room, looking over the assembled faces, most who looked back with drowsy and half awake expressions. Rainbow sat next to Pixy, who had arrived here before and was sitting there, head back, silently snoring.
The screen flashed to life, a soft blue light flooding the darkened room. Several messages and logos flashed across the screen, most simply too fast to read as the system booted up.
I.S.A.F. T.C. SYSTEM
VERSION 4.03
...NOW LOADING
The ISAF logo covered the screen as everyone returned to their seats, the room going quiet, all attention to the screen. The information being presented was of utmost importance. You missed a detail, and you could find yourself dead in the blink of an eye.
A map of Usea replaced the logo, every single detail of the continent visible, every major town, road, rail line, and country border, and outlying island. An ugly red was plastered all over the map, covering most of the continent, from the east to the west, the only areas in blue the few provinces to the south and the large north-eastern island that was North Point.
“Now, before we begin…” Now wielding a laser pointer, Saki gestured towards Rainbow. “We have a new pilot joining our ranks, although I’m sure most of you have met her by now. Regardless, this is her formal introduction to the group. Her callsign is Prism, and she’s already proven herself by shooting down a couple bombers yesterday. So give her a warm welcome. Or, if not, just be glad that there’s another missile target.”
Rainbow watched as most of the faces in the room glanced in her direction. All were familiar, except one. A griffon, entirely grey, almost blending into the wall of the dark room. His yellow eyes stared at her for a moment, before returning to the board.
“Now that that’s done... Let's get started.” The map zoomed in towards a location marked only a few hundred miles north of their airbase. An orange dot marked their mission target, a thin dotted line marking their inbound and outbound flight paths.
“This is Rigley Air Base.” He gestured to the image that had been brought up. “One of the largest airfields this side of the Walapolo Mountains. As I’m sure you’re all aware, most of ISAF has been driven back to the island of North Point. The Griffons have been building up their forces to the north of the continent for a full-scale strike and invasion of our GHQ and forces there. This includes amassing a large fleet of bombers and fighters at various airfields along the coast. However, their recent successes have made them cocky and they’ve let their guard down. Which is good news for us because if they weren’t so sure they could kill North Point, they’d have focused on securing the south, and us along with it. Which brings us back to Rigley.”
Pictures of the surrounding areas were brought up, showing roads, forests, the nearby town, as well of several showing the base defenses and rows of bombers parked in neat rows. “Rigley is one of the main staging areas for their bomber fleet. Taking out the bombers here would deal a serious blow to their striking power against us and likely cause them to put their invasion plans on hold for some time. Plus, we have confirmation that one of the squadrons stationed at Rigley is the same one that has been pestering us over the past several weeks, so I’m sure all of you will be happy to get some revenge for those guys keeping you up at night. Eagle, you’re up.”
The grey Griffon who Rainbow had spotted before stood and made his way to the front of the room, taking the pointer from Saki, and speaking, to Rainbow’s complete and utter surprise, in a heavy Equestrian accent. “The airfield is located around three hundred miles north of our location. Due to the SAM emplacements and fighter patrols along the front lines, in and outbound altitude is going to be restricted to under a thousand feet. The airfield is surrounded by a ring of SAMs and radar guided AA guns. However, we’ve noticed a huge weak point in the design of the base, a rather big oversight.” He pointed to a string of power lines that ran near the base. “These power lines directly power the base. While they do have generators, the moment the power gets cut, it will take a moment for each of their systems to reboot, giving us vital seconds to knock out their defenses before the main attack. Destroying the power substation here…” He pointed. “...will give us that time. After takeoff, we will follow the Tyrann Mountains north…”
Rainbow had stopped listening. Leaning over, she whispered to her wingman. “Hey, Pixy, who’s the Griffon?”
Opening one eye, he glanced up at who was talking. “Him? Oh, his name’s Roost. He’s our representative to ISAF. Basically the guy in charge of giving us orders. He’s also our AWACs.”
“Then what does Saki do?”
“He’s only the base commander. Roost is above him, but they basically do the same job.”
Rainbow grunted. “Things weren't this complicated back in Cloudsdale…”
“Cloudsdale?”
“...Forget I said anything.”
Pixy smirked. “Cloudsdale Air Force Base I presume? Former EAF huh?”
“I said forget it.”
“Fine then. Keep your secrets. No one cares here anyway.”
Rainbow cast a confused glance to the Griffon, who had returned to the pose he had been in. She sighed, silently reprimanding herself on letting that little fact slip.