//------------------------------//
// Taking Flight 
// Story: Dragon War - Blood Sacrifice 
// by Mindrop 
//------------------------------//

Colonel Surprise walked down the hall in her khaki uniform poking out from under her brown flight jacket. It was business time, which meant she had to wear the khaki tie. She was a Colonel, so the jacket would stay zipped.

The 45th Flight Wing was all veteran pilots. So it didn’t matter too much. And they knew how to greet their new Colonel. They snapped to attention as she opened the door. All she could do was smile as she entered.

“At ease,” Colonel Surprise ordered. “I am going to keep this simple. The rumors are true. All three of them.”

“Yes, last week, the 8th Squadron went down escorting the 7th Battalion’s retreat. They faced off against four dragons. They died honorably. No dragons were killed, but two were severely injured. Because of them, the transports got all soldiers out. 562 dead with 357 injured. But all bodies were recovered because of them.”

“So yes, we are the last Squadrons left flying. I know, this Flight Wing is only two months old. I hope you all like the brand new P-51s. A pursuit class plane, these things are the latest and greatest. And they are nicknamed the Mustang for a reason. They have it all. The power in the engine is amazing. This is peak aircraft performance. And the guns, Apple Jack herself can’t out buck them.”

“6 Warbird 50 caliber machine guns, enchanted to pack a harder punch and transfer the energy energy past dragon armor and scales. You will be firing a mix of Armor Piercing and High Explosive ammunition, but when those rounds fail, the energy will be transferred, giving them a goo bruising at the very least. And they are, right now, putting on the new HVAR Rockets pods. 5 inch diameters. You get 10 of those and 1880 rounds of the Warbird rounds.”

“I know you all have been flying them in tests. I know you are all veterans. So I know you can shoot. We have almost no time to do live fire tests with them.”

“The second rumor. Yes, there is a new class of air vehicles coming to kill the Dragons. They have finally gotten the airships modified for war. Steel and iron hulls; they are bigger, better, and they will wipe the dragons off the map for their atrocities and the Equestrian blood they have spilled.”

“But they have been delayed, again. We are the last aerial line of defense. We are all Equestria has against the Dragons. And the war is still raging. And not just in the air. Equestrian Troops are making a push at a Dragon Cave. And you know those Dragons will be there to stop them. The Dragon Lord’s choice to assault the ponies of Equestria will be their downfall.”

“Rumor three. Yes. I was shot down and reported dead. I was in a hospital for 38 months, including rehab. But I’m back and they will pay for it. I am trained on the P-51s. I got a nice surprise moving straight from the P-14s to the 51s. They did a lot of innovation over that time.”

“Business. No, we are not going to be escorting the transports for the push. We will be leading it. The soldiers do not know details yet, but the push is against a Dragon Cave, higher up. Recon reports three dragons. One adult male, and two adolescents.”

“This has been planned for a while. Recon believes that the dragons are forging armor there, below the cave. But after last week, I expect there will be a fourth Dragon as well. One of the injured ones departed in that direction, from what we heard.”

“The 51s are dragon killers. The 45th and all four of her Squadrons are an Equestrian Dragon Fighter Squadron. And we will perform our duties as such. Suit up. At 1300 we will be taking to the skies for our live fire exercise. I need to see Major Hearthstone, Major Magnet Bolt, and Captain Rare Find in my office right after this.”

“I want to restate that we are a Squadron of Dragon Killers. Many of you came with Major Hearthstone, from the 12th Squadron. I know your steel. Its tougher than the steel of your Manticores. And you guys flew them back after the blitz against Baltimare.”

“And then many of you are from the 2nd Squadron. I know you guys have been sitting hard for the past five years. They keep giving and then taking away your planes while you sat at Kerry Pippin Field outside of Appleloosa. Your accomplishments with the Battle for Appleloosa, the dragon failed because of you!”

“Each and every day she came, you showed them why they could not take Equestrian Land! For 56 nights you took to the skies and you drove her away! For 56 nights you stopped that beast from burning Appleloosa!”

“Your biplanes may be gone, but your skills and your hearts are not! I know you loved the Royal Aircraft S.E.5.s. That was a beautiful plane. And it was the first military plane Equestria had. But things have changed.”

“This isn’t defense work. But I know you were wanting to take it past just aerial defense each and every battle. I know you wanted to not just drive the dragon away as ordered, but you wanted to follow it and to rip it to shreds, making sure it was more than crippled.”

“This entire Squadron may be tacked together from the bits and pieces left, but its always the strongest metals that survive the fire and the flames. And its always the strongest bullets that pierce dragon hides and rip them to shreds.”

“You will hear me say it a thousand more times: The Dragons are afraid of us. Ponies shouldn’t be in the sky. They do not like us. Steel your hearts and give it to them. You can do it. They will fall.”

“Cause dang it! We are a thousand times more maneuverable than they are, and now we are faster. And we can swarm them. For each one we face, they get to face fifteen or twenty. We may not have dragon fire but we have more than they expect. Our bullets can pierce them! We can stop them!”

Colonel Surprise slammed her hoof down on the table. “WE WILL STOP THEM!”

The room erupted in cheers. The Colonel smirked, letting them all see her pride in them. She was proud to be leading them. An Equestrian “air force.” A decade ago, that was a foreign idea. A decade ago, anypony flying into ‘battle,’ that was what the Wonderbolts were for.

The Wonderbolts were not equipped to deal with dragons. Her old life was gone. Now she flew inside a steel tube, behind an engine with 1500 wingpower, which kept her in the sky using steel wings, and had more firepower than she ever had in the Wonderbolts. Even the engine was able to put out more raw wingpower than she could. But that was raw wingpower.

She was the Wonderbolt who led the change to steel wings. She now led just as skilled Earth Ponies and Unicorns into the sky. All they had needed was the wings. Most Pegasus Ponies shunned the new steel warbirds.

But the evolution to steel wings put more ponies into the sky in a direct combat military roll than the pegasi could ever do. And it added more support roles for other types of aircraft. Aerial recon had opened up and became very important. And often the ground troops needed other types of planes to back them up.

Bombers was an interesting group. They would make runs to bomb caves, nests, and dragon resources, especially the forges that made dragon armor. They were slow because of the payload and always in need of planes that could protect them from the dragons that were there. But they were effective when Equestria couldn’t move ground troops to that location. They died, a lot. They were easy targets with no maneuverability.

Even the S.E.5.’s 140 wingpower engine was more than what most pegasi’s wings could do. And it had guns. And it was more agile than half the pegasi in Equestria. It just didn’t have the magic the pegasi had with clouds and weather.

With everypony released, Colonel Surprise headed to her office. The others were right behind her.

“Wow,” Major Hearthstone said. “I never expected to see so much Wonderbolt equipment in here.”

“I can’t deny my past,” Surprise said. “Its why I am such a good pilot. Its why I survived all of those years behind the engine and bounced back after the crash.”

Colonel Surprise beckoned for the others to sit down.

“To business. I need reports. Major Hearthstone, The 12th is the largest of the 45th. You guys have been out of service and resting for 4 months. Waiting for new planes. The escort fighters you flew, the Manticores, did an amazing job. They got you back after dragon fire tore you up. All of your surviving rear gunners were reassigned. Its just the pilots. How have your pilots been handling the change?”

“Well Colonel, its not been easy. But they have been flying the P-39s. Until they transferred them to the 8th and we now know they went down. We have been rotating aircraft so quickly, its ridiculous. Its made pilots more versatile, but we can’t master them.”

“How are you mastering the 51s?”

“They have got a good grip on them. They could confidently take them into battle now. But I hope we have some more time. Every run we get better. Turns, flips, rolls, we can do it all. The P-51s are the first planes the Unicorns have really helped produce. They put in some nice features that reduce the G-Forces on the tight turns.”

Colonel Surprise nodded slowly. “Yes, that has been an invaluable advancement. And you haven’t gotten a chance to fire the Warbird M2 50s. The 39s did have rockets if I recall the reports correctly.”

“We got some practice in with the rockets with the P-39s.”

Colonel Surprise gave a nod. “Now, Major Magnet Bolt, report on The 2nd Squadron.”

“Uh...” He stammered. “Well, like the 12th, we have gotten a lot of different planes over the years, and then they take them away and give us new ones. So our focus has been all on pursuit planes. Not the escort fighters. That is to our advantage.”

“A general complaint is that they don’t turn like the old girls did. We fly too fast to get that maneuverability. And the planes are a lot heavier than the old girls. But that is a great trade off against dragons. Back then, we had no speed and no armor.”

“All in all, we are a solid flying Squadron and are ready.”

Colonel Surprise nodded. “Major Rare Find?”

“Major? I’m a Captain.”

Colonel Surprised grinned. “Not anymore. I need all of my Squadron Leads at Majors. Besides, you earned it with your track record.”

“Alright. Well, I have the misfits. And I know, I have the same number of planes as two squadrons. I’ve been doing my best, but its a, wreck. I have three types of pilots.”

“I have the 10 pursuit pilots. Their last Warbird was the P-38s, the Lightnings. Duel engine and tail monstrosities. They put a lot of firepower down range. So, the pilots were slow to warm up to the 51s. But now, there is nothing holding them back. They are speed demons. And all of them are Earth Ponies. Their lead was a race car driver, and boy can he let loose.”

“The real bulk, half of them, were bomber pilots from 17 different bomber squadrons. They are the biggest concern. They will floor it and put her at max speed, but they don’t do anything but fly straight. And straight. And then they have slow turns. I can’t get them to even do a simple barrel role. They are treating them like they are bombers, and it will get them killed. They will be useless in a fight.”

“The most annoying ones are my fellow escort fighter pilots. They flew Hellcats and Wildcats. So they have the turns, the roles and the evasive maneuvering down fine, but they won’t floor it. They won’t go faster than their previous planes could.”

“Every time I think they will let loose, they coast, or turn, or something that keeps them at those lower speeds. I know they have an extra 100 miles an hour before she hits max. They know it, but they won’t let loose.”

“But the biggest problem is those bomber pilots. They do not know how to really take evasive action and the dragons will burn them for it. They need to be taught it.”

“Understood,” Colonel Surprise nodded. “Obviously, Major Hearthstone has the 12th Squadron, and Major Magnet Bolt has the 2nd Squadron. Major Rare Fine, I will take the bombers and you take the pursuit and the escort fighter pilots.”

“No,” Rare Find said. “No. We need to balance out our Squadrons. You need some of those fighter pilots.”

“While normally I would agree, I can pull it out of them and inspire them. I have a trick or two tucked under my wings.”

“I have no doubt you can Colonel, but I won’t let you make a stupid, lopsided decision like this. That is my job as a Major over a Squadron in a new Flight Wing. Make sure you don’t screw yourself or the Squadron over.”

“I agree,” Colonel Surprise smiled. “And it's heard. But I’m going to pull rank on you because we don’t have the time to let them settle like we want. I won’t fly two Squadrons into battle that are fragmented. This keeps them more unified.”

“We get this one flying session. I will take my Squadron up first, and I will lead them through a bunch on maneuvers and teach them to role, to dodge, and to climb and dive like pursuit pilots.”

“You can’t lead 20 planes from your one,” Rare Find argued. “If we are doing that, then my pursuit pilots will go up with you and help them learn. The other Squadrons make their live fire runs and then my Squadron hooks up and we do our run. And then you come in.”

“Your escort fighter pilots will learn how to gun it how?”  

“I have that,” Hearthstone said. “Look, the Manticores were the predecessors to the Hellcats and Wildcats. I’ll put my captains on it and they can push them to punch it.”

“I feel useless,” Magnet Bolt said.

They all chuckled.

“The 45th Flight Wing is comprised of the 126th, 127th, 128th, and 129th, Squadrons. I get stuck leading the 126th, since I am the Colonel. What wants what?”

They didn’t know what to do. They had thought they were either in their old Squadrons or it had already been assigned.

“Whatever,” Magnet Bolt said. “Give me the 128th.”

“127th or 129th,” Rare Find asked Hearthstone. “You have seniority. Please, pick.”

“We were the 12th. So this makes it nice. At least our first two numbers are the same. I guess we will be the 127th.”

“Alright,” Colonel Surprise smiled. “Now we are getting somewhere. We have a lot of work. The General will be watching these runs. So, no pressure, but this is it.”

“No other ones?” Rare Find asked.

“Not that I can guarantee,” Colonel Surprise replied. “The ground soldiers are still getting organized. So, that is in our favor. Every chance we get, we will be in the sky working on our flying. While we need some of the pilots to teach the fighter tactics to bombers. We need them all to be more aggressive and instinctual. As soon as we unlock it, well you all are veteran pilots for a reason.”

A knock came at the door.  

“Enter,” Colonel Surprise said.

“Colonel,” A Sergeant said saluting. “The first round of paint schemes are done.”

“Thank you,” Colonel Surprise said. “Take this and begin on round two. 1300 take off.”

She smirked and looked each of them in the eyes. “Shall you be joining me as I check out my fleet?”

They headed out of the building to the airfield. Ponies snapped to attention as they walked by. They were the most important ponies at the airfield, minus the General. But he mostly sat in his office at this point. And he was only here right now because the 45th Flight Wing was being assembled and had to pass his approval.

The airfield was lined with every single P-51 Mustang in the 45th Flight Wing. One row of all 77 planes. Shining silver in the sun as their polished steel exteriors basked in it’s glory. Only the Colonel’s plane was facing them. They walked over towards the first planes.

“You repainted them,” Rare Find stammered.

“Yeah, you painted the noses and tails,” Hearthstone said. “Care to explain why half are unpainted, and then the others are either green or blue?”

“I had them paint the wingtips as well,” Colonel Surprise said. “Each Squadron gets a color. 126th is yellow. My plane has the nose, tail, and wings painted yellow, you just can’t see it from this angle. And the one right past the last blue is also yellow.”

“The green is the old 2nd, so the 128th. ”

“What is the green apple?” Magnet Bolt asked. “The big one below our cockpits on the side.”

Colonel Surprise was beaming. “Kerry Pippin Apples, or they are supposed to be. The airfield for Appleloosa. That’s what they represent and why your color is green. And the apples signifies the blitz. When you fought off the dragon for those 60 nights. You have no kills or raids to your name, but you have that. And you now get to show your skill.”

“Thank you,” Magnet Bolt said. “It means a lot to me, and will to the others.”

“Blue looks like mine,” Hearthstone said as he read his name alongside the cockpit.

“Yes it is. And each X is for a successful mission flown. You were not bombers, but you were close air support and you brought it. You busted up the defenses any cave had installed. And you kept the dragons off the ground troops or pinned on the ground.”

“Its a shame we were halted after our Manticores were ripped apart.”

“Eh,” The Colonel shrugged. “It means I get to have you.”

They all chuckled. No matter how long some of them were held, they knew this was where they belonged. That Equestria needed them here, now.

“Okay, who’s plane is that?” Rare Find asked. “They are preparing the nose to be painted. I can’t see. But its got three rows of bombs from the front of the cockpit all the way to the tail.”

Colonel Surprise chuckled proudly. “That is Major Motherboard. The best bomber pilot Equestria has ever seen. Not only is that every bombing run he has made, he has survived 15 distinct bombing campaigns. As well as other bombing raids.”

“Wait,” Hearthstone said. “I thought they only did 15. 16 was canceled after the 82nd Bomb Squadron was downed.”

“They did. I have the sole survivor of 32 missions where the squadron was destroyed. To the news, he went down with his Squadron 6 times. And now, he is my Squadron Second. The 126th was always going to have him. In case I go down.”

Rare Find was confused. “I don’t recall having him in my training squadron.”

“He came in with me,” Colonel Surprise said. “He is checking on something for me, so he wasn’t at the meeting in the morning.”

“There you are Surprise,” Major Motherboard said as he ducked out from the wing on the Colonel’s plane. “How are the paints looking? The Tail numbers will look great against the colors. I just got the list so each is getting the final numbers put on. Its all going great. Oh, and the HVAR pods are all installed perfectly.”

“Major Motherboard, this Major Hearthstone. She used to lead Squadron 12, but now it is the 127th. Major Magnet –”

“Bolt! It is an honor to meet you Sir!”

“The same Major. I didn’t know we have a bombing veteran of your quality.”

“Yeah, she looks impressive tallied like that. But, 14 of those times I did go down all the way. It just happened to be after I successfully dropped my payloads and confirmed the hits. And the news reported me dead a long time ago. At least 6 times. I kept telling my family to ignore the news, they would get the names wrong with all that was going on.”

“So a survivor as well,” Magnet Bolt said chuckling. They all joined in.

“And then you must be Major Rare Find. We just finished updating the rank on your plane. She will get her full tail number in a minute.”

“Colonel,” Hearthstone said, pointing at the Colonel’s plane. “What do you have?”

“Oh,” Surprise said, straightening herself. “They are in order from when they happened, but its a total of 12 Green Dragons. 9 times the Squadron I led took down a dragon, 3 more kills were with two or more squadrons attacking that dragon. And then 5 Red Dragons. Yes, I personally downed 5 dragons. And no, they were not final killing blow. The final blow is denoted by a silver X in the green dragon. Red is a solo kill.”

The others Squadron Majors, except for Motherboard, were shocked. They hadn’t met a Dragon Ace before. A Dragon Killer, but never a pilot who had killed a dragon solo, a Dragon Hunter. And an Ace with 5 kills was unheard of. Dragon fighting was significantly more dangerous than being a bomber. Even fewer of those pilots made it out of their first battle. Escort fighter squadrons would pick up a kill here or there, but few squadrons had the sole purpose of meeting dragons in the skies.

Rare Find was the first to find his tongue, sort of. “You, you, personally killed five dragons? Alone!”

“I would say luck,” Colonel Surprise shrugged. “But I know each one was downed with skill. And yes, that first red dragon to start the row, that was Garble the Ghastly. The Dragon who personally laid waste to Dodge City, The Castle of the Two Sisters, and Somnambula. The first Dragon to fully rampage across Equestria. And we stopped him outside of Las Pegasus.”

“The Appaloosa Assaulter was an old dragon. We still don’t know her name or where she went. But she was never half as aggressive as Garble the Ghastly. And we still have not confirmed that she was apart of the war, or if she was acting independently, preying on the weak ponies.”

“Obviously, Magnet Bolt knew how to take care of her.”

“Oh please,” Magnet Bolt said, waiving the compliment off. “The 2nd Squadron knows we were just a fly swatter, keeping her away. We also do not think the war began until after she showed up. We think she was acting alone. And yes, we know just how important of a job we did during that blitz. We know our accomplishments. But, it is nice to see the giant apple under our name.”

“It looks phenomenal,” Motherboard said. “They did a great job.”

“Yes, paints,” Colonel Surprise said. “Major Rare Find, your nose and tail colors are red.”

“I still protest the split,” Rare Find said.

“What split?” Motherboard asked.

“The Colonel, and you, are taking all of the bomber pilots. All 18 of them.”

“So?” Motherboard asked. “They all are veteran pilots with great skill. I was finalizing their markers so they got the number of bombs correct on each plane.”

“We will fix it,” Colonel Surprise said. “They have no problem with the the speeds, they just won’t do evasive maneuvers. Only wide turns. Like they were still flying a bomber.”

“Ah,” Motherboard nodded. “I will fix that in my preflight talk and then in some dry runs.”

“Lets talk over an early lunch,” Colonel Surprise said.

After lunch, Surprise walked around her plane, doing the standard preflight visual inspection. It all was perfect. But it wasn't her P-1.

Surprise had flown a lot of planes. She had been with Project Alicorn Wings from the start. It was her job to be the Military Officer in charge. She was the obvious choice being a Wonderbolt. Surprise had flown more planes than any other pilot in Equestrian history. Most were one shot designs. Many were beyond dangerous. Her wings had saved her multiple times.

But while the Royal Aircraft S.E.5.s won the battle for Appleloosa, it only proved they needed something more aggressive to target dragons. Enter, the Pursuit 1 plane, also known as the Flash Magnus. The nickname was for the Legendary Equestrian Pegasus Hero who fought dragons and had a fireproof shield. And it started the nicknaming cycle for all military aircraft; mostly after animals and fearsome things.

The P-1 was painted a bronzed copper like the legendary shield. It was the first monoplane and the F&F engine used was divine. It ran at 172 wingpower, and just barely got the P-1 up into the skies, with a top speed of 155 mph. She could turn on a dime and the engine could not stall. But if it's power decreased, for several reasons, it would stop keeping the aircraft up when it dropped to 166 wingpower.

The first four dragon kills were with P-1s. They solidified the design trend for monoplanes and the need for dragon fighting pursuit planes.  

Escort fighters would be designed once a need for close air support of ground troops arose. And soon they were needed for busting open dragon caves, nests or locations. They carried one or two bombs attached underneath the plane to be dropped on the target.  

And later, as the planes gave Equestria the range to reach far beyond it’s boards, big bombers were designed to obliterate the land below and truly target resources. They held the bombs inside the aircraft in a special bay designed to protect them. The bay would be opened and then they would be dropped out from inside.  

That first dragon kills were not luck. Garble wasn't alone. They would kill his purple accomplice, Fume, an hour later. The 5th Squadron was only 10 Planes and Surprise led them as a Captain.

Grable blindsided them. And he was bigger and nastier than the city before. He was growing with greed. Greed for pony blood.  

He had never seen airplanes before. Surprise had already made an evasive maneuver that pulled her away from the purple dragon. Garble arrived and he chased Surprise, the lone plane and what he thought would be an easy target. Surprise pulled into a steep climb, straight up. The only reason the engine stalled was because she knowingly breached the service ceiling, where the engine couldn't get enough oxygen to run.

As she fell back, Surprise outwitted Garble and was able to put the first burst of bullets straight down his open throat. He closed his mouth in pain before he could chomp her to bits. Surprise had gotten then engine turned over and pulled up, avoiding slamming into him. She still got in the killing blow, sending every last bullet she had in a short strafe at his right eye. The kill was almost instantaneous.

Surprise had to land and speed reload her guns. Every plane in the 5th had to land to reload at least three times during the battle. Some had to change out burned out guns from. They never got a good strafing run at the eyes. But they pecked, and pecked, and pecked until his left eye was more than just bleeding. One final run at him and five planes were able to unleash the last bit of ammo they had down his throat.

They lost two in that battle. Burned alive in their planes.

Losing pilots and crew was always bad. It never got better. All lost lives are equal. But that was a fifth of their squadron and 1/10th of Equestria's trained military pilots. Those statistics were shocking, and bringing to light just how great a sacrifice it was for them to lose those pilots. The dead could not pass on the knowledge they had acquired in the fight.

The P-1 was nostalgia. The P-14 was adrenaline.

Another F&F engine, the P-14 tore it up at 215 mph. It still has a low stall factor with 740 wingpower. And It was the first sealed cockpit airplane. That glass casing had saved her twice on the first mission from the tip of dragon fire. It’s implementation saved many more lives from dragon fire.

It seemed all of the best planes Equestria fielded had F&F engines. It's not that they always made good engines, but the best designs were paired with that engine. The company knew how to take that engine and it's performance, and maximize it for that plane. In reality, they had just as many successes in their engines as any other company. And just as many failed designs as well.

But, they were simply known as F&F engines for a reason. Their designers, the Flim and Flam brothers, were known to be scam artists. And pony's mistrust was well earned. But one of their scams was with cider and it required a cider maker that worked really well, until they overrode the screening process to compensate for higher demand, shooting themselves in the hoof.

They were always good at doing their craft right, with quality materials. It is turned out that the engine they used for that cider machine was almost perfect for the first warplane. Their take over of a chunk of Las Pegasus gave them the bits they needed and F&F Engine Corporation was born.

The P-14 was also the first 'warbird.' The 14 took pursuit to a whole new level. They had developed bombers and escort fighters by the time it was introduced, but the 14 meant business. It had 4 wing mounted machine guns, whereas all previous planes had their guns mounted in front of the cockpit. That development alone made it a better attack plane.

The escort fighters we're excellent turn fighters. They needed that agility to turn and dive on a target to bomb dragon cave and bust resource stocks. And avoid dragon fire when their focus couldn’t be on the dragon.  

That is what the soldiers jobs were, killing dragons. But that required the escort fighters to he lighter, meaning less armor for the plane. When it came to fighting dragons, they were adequate. Their turning ability gave them the edge in evading attacks, but they were slower. Even later models only had 2 guns in the wings. The Hellcats had finally put a 50 cal in each wing alongside a 30 cal.

The P-14 relied on the heavier engine to give it raw power and then big guns and multiple guns to bust up dragons in the initial head on attack. Their speed meant dragons had trouble hitting them with a swipe of their arms or tails before they were gone and setting up another run at the dragon. While the P-14s couldn't carry bombs, each was packed with the heaviest guns and ammo Equestria could put into the design.

Surprise had spent 45 months leading the 5th Squadron. They were apart of the 3rd Flight Wing, which had an escort fighter squadron and a bomb squadron. Most of those missions were running screens for the bombing runs. They would keep the dragons busy while the bombers targeted their homes, forges, and piles.

Dragons came and went as they sought out the best place to strike Equestria. They scored more hits than they ever killed. Dragons often broke off the fight if they felt they were losing. Especially if they came in a group and they were the last alive.

They preferred to come back later and fight again. They knew they were killing a lot of pilots. They often had would challenge squadrons before battle. They kept a close count of each kill they made, and they proudly announced it before known battles.

The other four solo Dragon kills Surprise had were all logistically like killing Garble. A Dragon came at them from a hidden spot, Surprise had just been forced apart, and Surprise was their target. Classic hunter mentality: Pick off the old, sickly, young, or solo prey first. Spend as little energy to get your food.

Each Dragon found her the direct opposite and lost before Surprise could get backup. Every other solo kill was also because a dragon tried to target a single plane that had been forced apart. That didn’t make it any less impressive.

But then it ended. In her last fight, the 5th Squadron brought down 2 dragons, injured 3 and lost almost everypony doing it. Five survived. Three were still ‘recovering’. They would never live a normal life, crippled forever, despite the greatest medial and magical sciences could provide.

And the other, she was done being a pilot. Her spirit was broken. She had 2 solo kills to her name and had been with the 5th from the very beginning.  

Surprise turned to her service crew chief, Glowsticks. The crew chief oversaw the maintenance, logs, and everything to do with that plane and that pilot.

“Lets get me up in the air. I want to watch them take off from a good spot.”

“Alright!” Glowsticks said.

Glowsticks got other service crew members over to remove some stuff and prepare to move the chock blocks from the wheels. He put his ear muffs on to damped the roar as she brought her engine to life in one go.

Surprise didn’t let it idle long. She gave it several good revs, stuck her head out of the cockpit to nod that she was ready. The chock blocks were removed and Surprise floored it.

Surprise was skipping all protocol and wasn’t even taxiing out to the real runway. She was in front of the hangers and buildings with only a quarter of the room. She kept everything down until the last minute when she adjusted the flaps and pulled up. Her wheels barely made it over the administration building.

Surprise did an aileron roll in victory before pulling up into a full climb. She chose her peak, adjusted as she reduced power to the engine, and gently flipped backwards. She floored it and came screaming out of the dive over the row of planes. She had just shown them the peak performance of the Mustang.

The tough turn she did pulling out of the dive was impossible on any other aircraft. Not because the craft was unable to do it at such an angle and such a tight turn, but because the gravity forces on the pilot were too great and she would have blacked out. Most of the planes couldn’t do that tight of a maneuver. But the internal dampeners the Unicorns did for each of the Mustangs was amazing. It was why there were only 87 ever produced. And three had already crashed in tests.

“Leaving me to do all the work?” Motherboard asked over their radio.

“Eh, you can cover it. I needed to let loose and have some fun.”

“You almost destroyed the building. I am sure they have at least one heart attack for that stunt.”

“I would only have damaged my office, which I also would not have needed.”

They both laughed.

“I never would have said you could pull that off. That anypony could have. The designers never would have said it was possible.”

“The designers don’t know a few tricks, that I keep in reserve. They are trusted only to the greatest pilots of Equestria. Now that you have seen it, I will teach my Majors and a few of the other top pilots in the 45th how to do it. We never will have that short of a runway.”

“Don’t get me started on runway lengths. They skimp on a lot of them because of what we at the top can do. Payloads suck and I have had several close calls because they didn’t account for something. Riddle Field has that nickname for a reason. I made five take offs at full loads from that crap shoot, and 3 1/2 landings.”

“All were guesses and intuition to get off the ground and safely land. After the first take off, they had to cut down a lot more trees in front of and behind the runway. And that half came from one of the riddles getting me on the third mission. Tore the wheel right off for no reason.”

“I know my takeoffs and landings.”

Surprise chuckled. “I still have almost five times as you. I have more crashes than you have missions. I have had more half landings than you have had landings. But, I need you to–”

“Make sure the bombers do short take offs.”

“Exactly!”

“We will be with you in ten minutes. I just finished my inspection as you took off.”

Surprise put herself into a wide, slow, circle pattern over the airfield. From above, she could easily tell that every nose and tail was painted, and the wing tips also stood out. Even the yellow stood out against the shining steel.

The 126th Squadron pulled out and taxied to the launch point. Several red tips joined them and formed up. They were the Dragon Killer Pilots. All had at least 2 Squadron kills to their name. They set up with the 126th. There was a guide for every two pilots. 9 groups.

Motherboard launched and gave it everything. As soon as he could, it was up and away at a sharp angle to get clear and be ready to fight. He was about halfway down the runway when he was airborne. Just like it should be for a pursuit plane.

The two planes behind him got similar launches. Every pursuit pilot took off in a similar, but unique manner, but with the same attitude of owning the skies. And the bomber pilots mimicked it very well.

They formed up in the skies. A stack of the 3 x 3, with the other rows slightly behind the row in front. Surprise was the lone plane above.

“Welcome all my Yellows to the 126th Squadron. I didn’t listen to the Major talk to you. I had other things to do. You should know that as of now, you were bomber pilots. Now you are pursuit pilots, to be Dragon Killers.”

“You have a unique advantage few new pursuit pilots ever get. You all are all veteran combat pilots on another type of aircraft. So, the controls are familiar to you and better, so is the adrenaline of combat. I got to really experience the magical dampening system when I launched and pulled my stunts, so tight turns because you can make them.”

“We don’t have time anymore. You have been with these planes for 2 months. I just got here yesterday. There is no time to mess around. You have to be the master of the skies with this Warbird.”

“And I can already tell, you are right on that edge. You took off like a pursuit pilot having to rush off to take on an attacking dragon. You have this. Just believe, fake it till you make it, and trust us that we are not pushing you too far.”

“Ma’am? Or Sir?”

“Yes, Yellow 17, Uhh,”

Surprise was scanning her list for the name. She had a special addition to her cockpit. Her radio had little lights next to that a plane ID. In this case, it was Yellow 17’s light that lit up. She had four displays like that, one for each Squadron. But it didn’t give a name. That was on her paper chart she had taped to the side of her window.

“It’s Captain Eclipse.”

“Ah! There you are on my list! I will have you all down soon enough. But yes, I take both, but prefer Ma’am.”

“How much have you flown this plane if you just got in yesterday? Your take off stunt was… well amazing.”

“I’ve gotten some flying time in,” Surprise replied. “Once I was out of the hospital, I was grounded from entering combat. They put me back in with the aviation project. They never liked me leaving it as it’s military adviser, but they couldn’t complain after I killed Garble alone and then finished off the Fume with my Squadron.”

“I was forced back into that project. I tested six planes, including the D-7 Hellcat and the B-6 Marauder. The P-51 was introduced to me four months ago. I got five test runs, including live fire. I crashed two of them. One was a landing gear defect.”

“We knew we were out of time, and needed more to stall. I got the Mustang into production and took over the new Flight Wing. The A-10 is already in production and pilots are being trained on it. This is probably the last pursuit aircraft. But we will hold her until its over.”

“A-1?” Red 4 asked.

“Assault Aircraft 1. You didn’t think that because of those new airships, that our job was done? No, the direction aviation is being taken is assault. Heavily gunned and armed aircraft that mix between the pursuit and the bombers. Pretty much, taking this and strapping a few bombs and more rockets onto it. But that means this would need to be a bigger plane and a much more powerful engine. And they want to add 20mm auto cannons to the gun list.”

Motherboard chuckled over the radio. “Yes, she isn’t thrilled. Neither am I. And we have extensively tested several models. But, we have a job to do, in the here and now.”

“I hope you all saw my initial take off, because we are not going to start easy. You showed you can take off like a Dragon Killer, now its time to finalize flying like a DK.”

“We will start with the aileron roll. Which is also known as a victory roll. Barrel rolls are great tools to avoid things, especially dragon fire, but the aileron roll serves no combat purpose. We do it after a successful win. When it is safe.”

“This roll is inline. Which means you don’t move, you only roll while flying straight. We will start with the four points. Its a box. Left wing up, upside down, left wing down, right side up. Show me you can do each point for half a second. Later we can do it seamlessly. After this, the rest is easy. You all are already speed demons. I wouldn’t ask you to do anything I know you can’t do. I’ll demonstrate.”

Surprise gunned it, getting in front of them enough to safely do the roll. It was choppy, displaying each point perfectly. Then she did a seamless roll before pulling up and sliding back to the position above them where she could watch.

“First time for everything,” Motherboard said moving out front. “I haven’t ever done this. Bombers don’t have this agility.”

Despite never doing it, he pulled it off well. He pulled away, breaking from the formation. He didn’t need to be there. They would form up on him after. His first pilot came out and performed the roll. There was a lot of shaking, but it worked well enough. The second dove when she tried to go upside down.

“I’ve got this!” Yellow 4 said, zooming back up.

She gave it another go and performed it well. The next one up was a pilot with 4 squad dragon kills, one of them being the final blow. The Aileron roll was demonstrated perfectly. His two did fine.

It was Yellow 12 who had freaked out and ended up diving. He barely saved himself from crashing, nose first. Even with the dampeners, it would have meant death.

“That’s okay,” Surprise said. “You pulled yourself out of that dive perfectly. It was aggressive and confident. At least that’s what we saw. And its what matters. You can freak out in the cockpit, but never show it with the plane. We will give it another go later.”

“I am pushing you hard. This should help you all lose your fear of tight turns by seeing the plane easily handle something that impresses so many. We don’t have the luxury of training any longer. You can do this. You have been flying them for 2 months.”

Yellow 12’s light came on. “Two months, but we have only gotten in 14 runs. 54 flight hours.”

“Huh,” Surprise said. “I thought you had at least 100 flying hours. You should have that for training on a new plane for 2 months.”

Red 3’s light came on. “They dragged in. We only got the last planes in 5 days ago. So, it was really spaced out when we could logistically fly. A lot of the maintenance and basic work on each plane was done overnight.”

“Well, we can’t fix it,” Surprise replied. “We just have to roll with it. You all are doing fine. Let's get back to the rolls.”

The rest finished with various results. Nothing too bad. After some more turn work, the red pilots were released to head back to their Squadron and get to work on their escort fighter squadmates.

Green 1’s light came on, Magnet Bolt. “Colonel. The 128th Squadron is beginning our live fine run.”

“Roger that, good luck!”

Surprise kept pushing the 126th as she began to work them through climbs and dives. They were taught and tested on flipped back after a climb. It wasn’t as extreme as she did in her take off expedition, but it still was a tight turn at the top. A lot of dragons fell prey to the climb and reverse tactic. And it gave the rest of the squadron an amazing target whenever a dragon focused on one plane.

“Colonel, that was amazing work by the 128th.” The message was only to her and it was the General.

Surprise flipped her radio to the tower’s. “Thank you General. That is good to hear.”

Surprise turned her full attention back to her Squadron. Yellow 4 was in a climb. Surprise watched him idle his engine and flip like she did. He slammed it home.

“Showoff,” Surprise said. “But it looked good.”

“A note to you all, the engine’s power is reduced. In this case, it was put in idle. That is fine. Never kill your engine. If it won’t restart, you are in trouble. You need the thrust to maneuver as you fall. You don’t want to slam into the dragon or end up straight into it’s open mouth.”

Blue 1 flashed. “The 127th Barnstormers are going in for the test run.”

“Roger that Blue 1, enjoy.”

Red 1 flashed. “We are not going to be out done. And we are the 129th Red Angels. We are in the air and on the scene. We have a lot of friends who went down. We will be their angels in the sky, watching over their graves, and dealing righteous retribution!”

“Roger. If that makes you happy.”

“And you? Green is still trying to come up with something better than the Angry Apples.”

Surprise made sure her whole Squadron could hear her. “126th Squadron is the Equestrian Dragons.”

“That’s it?” Rare Find asked.

Motherboard laughed over the radio. Over everypony’s radio in the 45th Flight Wing. “That’s it? Its got more power than our planes themselves. The 5th Squadron was retired when they went down. The 5th Squadron has more dragon kills to it’s name than any other Squadron. All of their members had a solo kill. At least one solo kill. The 5th was named the Equestrian Dragon Squadron by Celestia herself after they downed the first Dragons and stopped that rampage. The Colonel is the last flying 5th Squadron member. And she isn’t going to let that name go. Not while she is flying.”

“1 2 9, get ready for your run,” Surprise quietly ordered.

She wasn’t going to explain anything or talk about the name at all. And it wasn’t because Motherboard said it all. There was no way to explain it to everypony. She was The Equestrian Dragon. That was something that could never be taken away. It was one thing to be a Wonderbolt, but it was another to be bestowed the title by Celestia herself.

Surprise did some solo flying while they waited for the test track to be ready. She needed it to clear her head. Motherboard had it all covered. He was just talking tactics as they flew in a basic formation.

When they were up, Surprise slipped into the front position and led them into the track. They were spaced out. It was obvious they knew how to fly in their formations. This was live fire so the targets need a second to pop back up.

And Surprise was immediately pissed off about it. It was the same system that had always used. She had designed the system. It was like flight school for young pegasi; rings to go through as targets presented themselves. It had roles, dives and even more complicated maneuvers to simulate evasive maneuvering by putting rings in places where you had to do something like a barrel roll out to get to it.

That wasn’t the problem. The problem was they were using the same track that was used for the P-14s. Its fine if they recycled tracks and put some together, but she knew the track perfectly. She could fall asleep and still do it perfectly. Even the targets were in the same spot. And it only took a single shot for her to blast them.

The track ended with a harmless cloud wall. Surprise let a pair of rockets go to bust them apart and so she could slip through. That was the only change, right at the end.

“Nicely done Colonel,” The General said.

"No it wasn't! They recycled the P-14 track. I could do it in my sleep. Somepony didn’t think about who was flying.”

Surprise put herself into a tight twist and then shot straight up, letting out her pent up frustration. It also got her above the track as she watched her Squadron zip through it. They had great speed, good accuracy, and fluid movements. They had learned well.

Surprise landed and taxied into the hanger. The others had lined back up outside. She killed the engine and jumped out before the chock blocks were even in place. Glowsticks was right there with her log book.

“Good flight?” He asked.

“Yes,” Surprise smiled. “They know what they are doing. We unlocked their dangerous side. The Equestrian Dragons are ready to fight. They are ready to kill Dragons.”

“No word has come in. We will gas her up and have her ready for a night flight. None of them have flown them at night.”

Surprise nodded. “Get them all ready. We may not have time for a night flight. But if we do, I’ll get us in the sky to do one run.”

“Those 5 hours are the longest they have ever flow since getting here. Its always been in 3 hour blocks.”

“Crap,” Surprise spat. “I found out up there their flight hours. They should have had more. I get why, a bit. But I didn’t realize it took so long for them to get the planes here.”

“Yeah, somepony dropped the ball.”

“Well, I need food. Thanks for all you do. I hate changing crew chiefs.”

“Oh, you won’t be loosing us. We have a transport coming that will be taking us with the planes. The magic in them, they want approved chiefs overseeing it all.”

“Awesome,” Surprise smiled. “But now, food and work on papers and stuff. At least here, its actually less than working on the aviation project.”

They both laughed and headed to do their jobs.