//------------------------------// // Here Be Dragons // Story: Dragon War - Blood Sacrifice // by Mindrop //------------------------------// Surprise pushed the tent flap out of the way and began to head to her plane. General Fire Ruby followed her out. The 5th Division had arrived later in the night. And they were moving out in an hour after some rest. They had a regiment of ice archers, two regiments of regular archers, a shield regiment, artillery regiment, two sword regiments and two cavalry troops. The archers would flank and work to target the head and wings of the dragon. The artillery regiment was unicorns who were trained to blast Dragons with their horns and other magic. The shields were trained unicorns and there for blocking dragon fire and claws. They spread out and protected the archer and artillery troops. The soldiers and cavalry troops went it with swords, spears and lances. There was nothing that the shields could do to protect them in their job. Surprise had outright shot down General Fire Ruby’s plan. She wanted the Dragons forced to the ground so her troops could combat them. That wasn’t the 45th Squadron’s directive. They were pursuit, not escort fighters. They were to combat the dragons in the sky. If it happened that they forced any to the ground, so be it. Forcing Dragons down was a lot more dangerous. It attacks had to be coordinated and designed to press the Dragon to land. The back and wings were targets, not the head. Dragon Killer Squadrons knew that you targeted the wings. A dragon forced to land was a safer target. But they also knew that you needed to swarm and work together, not coordinate and line up attacks that Dragons could defend against. The General couldn’t argue with the original plan. Surprise looked at the other pilots on their line. The ones that had been at ready. They would be taking off immediately while the others formed up. They would take their time and get every plane in the sky before beginning. But this close, you needed your strongest fighters to be a screen if the Dragons chose to strike while half the planes couldn’t be a threat. As soon as the blocks were removed, Surprise was out onto the airstrip and into the sky. She went high to watch the others take off. She was in charge of them all. Motherboard would be directly in charge of the 126th until she was done with that job. The 126th was out of their hidden lane and took off one right after another. If one failed to take off, it would mean a pile up on the runway and death. The dirt runway had been worked on all night to perfect it. It showed as none of the planes did any extra bouncing. The 129th was right behind them, to pair them up with the other screen pilots and get them rolling as a whole unit. The 128th brought up the rear. In 20 minutes all four had gotten off the ground and formed up. They turned south and prepared for the fight. Colonel Surprise gave out orders for each Squadron. “Yellow, head straight for they cave. I want each of you to put a pair of rockets into it. Red, dive at the forge below. The scouts confirmed it was real, so give it a heavy strafing. Green, hold back to chose your path by how they react. Blue, the west side is unknown, so shift over that way. Play back and pick your plan as they dragons react.” “All of you were shooting fine, but watch it. Its 1800 rounds split between the 6 guns. I would suggest rockets against wings. But remember, bashing them is a valid tactic, even on their hard points. They will feel out enhanced guns.” “We have had a very short time to work together and these planes. But I am confident in all you and your abilities, that these short days have forged a strength that the Dragons have never seen before. I believe we are the best that Equestria has ever seen.” “I do sincerely hope that we have a favorable tactical situation coming up. But if we don’t, and if the worst comes to worst, I want each of us to do his greatest to destroy the enemy. If there is only one plane left to make runs in, I want you to go in an get a hit. And keep hitting them. Lets give them hell!” Surprise ended the radio call so that the others could issue individual orders. Motherboard brought his wing into an aggressive forward position. All four planes would make a buffer so that if things went wrong, they were not together. Surprise had done her fair share of fighting in the lead. It was her turn to stay back and let them be the first in. The sun rose and their planes were glistening in the light. But that wasn’t what awoke the dragons. They were waiting for them to come. The yellow adolescent came out of the cave and clung to the cliffs. She slammed the cliff, breaking rocks and sending them into a long descent. Surprise grinned. It was challenge time. Something she always enjoyed. “I AM SMOLDER! COME TO YOUR DEATHS!” A brown dragon exited. How his body carried him when he was so big and his wings were only those of an adolescent, Surprise never knew. “I AM CLUMP! THE GREATEST FIRE-BELCHER!” “Do not underestimate Clump!” Surprise warned the 45th. “Those fat ones are not easy targets. And don’t try and shoot him down the throat. He breaths too fast and you will melt. Hit him in the wings!” A large column of flame erupted from the area of the forge. Then the old green dragon stood up, over the trees. “ OURS!” Magnet Bolt claimed. “I AM SCINTILLATION! HERE TO CLAIM WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MINE!” The edge of the cave cracked and a giant black dragon popped out. He was a brilliant, black scaled thing, with a white underbelly. Surprise had no idea how he fit in the cave. “SHADOW IS HERE! THE NIGHT SHALL SWALLOW YOU UP! YOU HAVE AWOKE ME, THE GREAT DRAGON, FROM MY SLUMBER!” Surprise flipped the radio to all. “Green has Scintillation. I think she is grounded. At the very least, heR age won’t play well in the sky. Red, try for Smolder. Avoid Clump and Shadow. Yellow has both. Blue, make that flank wider. There is no way they don’t have at least one experienced fighter with them. If nothing, hook in and at the three of them. If we can knock Smolder and Clump to the ground, we will be in good standing. ” Surprise flipped the radio back to only Yellow. Motherboard, rocket clump, we need him distracted. The rest of us will roll in and work on that giant Shadow dragon. Don’t shoot and soar over. Make your shots and evade.” Surprise did a aileron and picked up her radio’s receiver. She flipped on the ‘D’ switch. A new piece they had installed with her Radio. It took the Unicorns a while to figure out. It was a projection spell that allowed her to challenge the dragons back. “Dragon’s, this is Colonel Surprise! The Equestrian Dragon! I have downed five of you by myself. I know you know my name. I am a phantom, a shade, who is back to haunt your lives. There is no killing me!” “EQUESTRIA WILL NOT BOW TO YOU!” Off to their west came a mighty roar. A brilliant blue dragon in golden armor arose from the forest. Standing on her hind legs, the top of the trees didn’t come halfway up her belly. And her face mask was thick armor. It would be difficult to down her. “I AM EMBER! SLAYER OF THE DRAGON LADY! IT CAN NOT BE!” Surprise smiled. She had drawn one out with her challenge. And it was the Ember she had drawn out. They had clashed over three dozen times. And she was huge. At least twice the size since their last meeting. Ember was a real fighting dragon. She came only to fight, not conquest. And she was the best at it. Ember know what Surprise looked like. Surprise slid the glass top back and unbuckled herself. She stood in her seat, presenting herself. Surprise dropped back down and did a nice, wide S turn, showing off her kill markers. They were close enough the dragons could see them. Ember knew Surprise was back. Surprise buckled back in as Motherboard and his wing launched their rockets. They rolled in different direction. One followed Motherboard and then sent another set of rockets into the cave. The fire that erupted from inside wasn’t the rockets. It was a dragon in pain. The injured one they had planned on poked his head out. He was Lava. And he had taken down almost 80 planes. Surprise’s wing rolled with her out so they launched rockets and guns at Lava. Most rang home. The other three wings in Yellow opened up on Shadow and successfully evaded. Shadow was clearly new at this. Red tore into Smolder. Smolder was ready, tucking her face away and pulling her wings in to protect them. But she didn’t plan on rockets intentionally striking above her to drop rocks on her head. She had to dive and get out of the way. She began to chase one of Red’s wings. Green split and dove on Scintillation. She shot fire at them, but their wide pattern allowed them to easily roll out of the way. Rockets and lead were released. She could do little to avoid it. Magnet Bolt went into a climb right above her. He rolled back and dove. He was looking for damage dealt, not an attack. A wing was torn off and she was bleeding from it. Otherwise, her old hide protected her. There was evidence of their battle over Appleloosa on her hide. Scintillation roared at Magnet Bolt. She called fire to to her throat but a rocket slammed into her neck, sending it shooting off to the side. Magnet bolt drilled a long, angry burst at her head. He had wanted to do that for years, he was not being denied. It wasn’t into the mouth, but he saw the rounds pound home, leaver her eyes destroyed and more damage behind them. Magnet Bolt pulled up and away, evading any potential follow up attack. He got cheers over the radio as the others confirmed the kill. “Green, go after Clump!” Magnet Bolt ordered. Magnet bolt was going straight at a Red wing. Smolder was chasing them. He launched a short burst at Smolder, right over a plane’s head. Smolder reeled from the attack and took multiple strikes from other Red wings. Smolder was left falling to the ground where she crashed into the trees. Rare Find issued orders. “Red, back up Blue against Ember!” Rare Find looked over at Blue and saw why Ember was able to knock Surprise out of the sky. She forced two planes to break off an attack with her breath, while swiping at another group. He tail destroyed another plane with a swipe, shattering it 5 parts. Each wing went separate directions. The cockpit was compressed into itself where the engine was forced back. The rear fuselage went up as it broke from the impact of the engine and the tail was torn backwards. Rare Fine looked for the tale. He finally saw it falling. 127-EAF-2001. 2001 was the designation for Hearthstone. The first in the second squadron of the 45th. 2 and then 1. And Ember was untouched. She roared in victory as the 127th pulled away to reorganize. The death was reported to Surprise, but it was her job to focus on Shadow. She let a single pull of the trigger go and then climbed. She was trying to distract him. It did, for half a second. But a Yellow wing came up and stuck his underbelly and that ended that chase. He was so big he didn’t need to do anything but swipe, launch trees and breath fire. His wings were pulled in tight. As Surprise flipped down and dove on Shadow, she caught sight of clump. He had his back against the mountain to block attacks and was quickly belching fire in an impressive defense. But he was panicking. Surprise saw a plane get cooked and go down, every piece fused together by the flash of heat. It boosted Clump’s morale to dangerous levels. Surprise turned her mind back to Shadow. She picked out his wings and launched her third set of rocks at them. She let her guns loose, working to poke holes in his wings to make him bleed. A bleeding dragon often second guessed their attacks. Surprise pulled up right before hitting him, hugging his back for a second as she looked for holes. She leveled out to stay above the trees. There were no holes. He hide was as thick as he was big. They had fought large dragons before. Ember was larger by a good deal than many of the rampaging dragons. But she was half his size. He was unresponsive to anything they were throwing at him. Lave lunged. They had thought he was killed. A bad call. And Yellow 8 was destroyed by his jaws. It was the last plane Lava would ever kill as all six rockets exploded in his mouth. Yellow 8 had launched them as it ended for her. Surprise banked around hard. She was coming in hot and fast. Her target was the wings on Shadow. From the angel of the tree line, she might be able to get under them a bit so that the strong scales didn’t reinforce the wings and prevent them from ripping. Surprise let it rip and pulled up. It did absolutely nothing. “Motherboard, talk to me,” Surprise said. “I’ve seen plenty of dragons, but that is a new one. And big. I don’t know. I assume your attempts at the wings proved useless?” “Yeah?” “He is a big boy. I’ll make a pass for his belly.” Clump took down another plane from his fire breath and threw a rock at a pair, taking out the lead plane. They tried to bring rocks down on him, and it worked, but it only gave him a few bumps on his big, stupid head. He still kept burping. Red was down five planes now. Rare Find pulled up and around, breaking away to reform. Two others came up on him and he lead them into a tough attack angle. They came to the cliffs and turned on their sides, hugging them as they sped along. They fired, targeting the wings. They tore into one and he stumbled. Before he could fall, Clump caught himself on the cliff. He launched off it. He caught of the planes with Rare Fine with a swipe of his tail, ripped the wings off a plane coming right at him, and bear hugged a third plane. They crashed to the ground below. He was immediately assaulted with ice arrows as the ground forces had arrived. His time was over. “Colonel,” Rare Find said. “Down 8 planes. The 129th is at 10 strong now.” “Roger that Major. Red, flip down and try and work at Shadow’s belly with us. Yellow will target the back and head while you go low and strike. Shoot long distance. Its dangerous that low.” Rare Find had three on his wing as the skimmed the treetops. They couldn’t risk rockets so close to the trees. They opened up with a solid burst and turned. Shadow’s claws swiped them out of the sky. Rare Find was sitting in his cockpit, unsure why his plane had stopped working and why it was going down. He was lost. He didn’t know the tale had been ripped off. Shadow was that strong. Rare Find gulped as he saw where he was going to land. There was no way for him to warn the soldiers trying to creep up on Shadow. Rare Find slid the glass back and pulled the ejector. He had to sit and watch as he floated there, as the plane exploded into the middle of them. Shadow saw Rare Find floating and laughed. He regretted it as Yellow 17 put several rounds into his open mouth that his his lower jaw and tongue. He retaliated with a long sweep of fire that burned Rare Fine and a large swath of the forest where General Fire Ruby was actively moving troops through. The shields were not strong enough to block ancient dragon fire. He was out for a moment and five in Red got in close where the trees had been crushed or ripped out and launched a volley of rockets into his hidden lower belly. His sharp movements as the pain struck moved his body into the path of a plane, claiming another life. “Surprise,” Motherboard called. “Go! Go high and long. Target his head and go straight for it. We will keep him busy. We need an eye strike Even a single round.” Surprise pulled up and away. She was the lone plane climbing in the open sky. She slowed down and turned. She would slowly increase speed. But she needed to be slow to target correctly and adjust at the last moment. The long necked dragons like Shadow were very difficult to hit in the head. Surprise had a good view of the battle against Ember. She watched as Ember took out another two with a perfect swipe, knowingly sending one into the path of another plane so it slammed right into the falling wreckage. Ember’s armor was legendary. It was gold plated, thick, supported by heavy leather, and her tail spikes were well protected with leather. And she knew how to use the armor and adjust to reduce the incoming bullet’s impact. Surprise force herself to focus on her attack. What Ember was doing in the fight didn’t matter. Not right now. She was being attacked properly and they had to deal with Shadow. Surprise began to move in, watching how Shadow reacted to each attack. She began to see how he moved his neck as he took hits and she began to track it. Surprise guided herself in slowly, keeping track of who was moving in where. They struck. He dodged his head to the side, and Surprise strafed him along the face. He roared with flames and Surprise rolled out of the way. She saw flames tickle her underside. The ammo belts were shielded, and so was the engine. But she knew from experience that her landing gear would not open. Half blinded, Shadow became an easy target. He was more erratic, which down Yellow 11 and another Red, but his belly was more exposed as he shielded his head. Soldiers got beneath him and were harassing him from below. He dealt with most of them by laying down. That new position opened up the wings for assault and five runs from all different directions immediately busted one apart, permanently grounding him. The forest was lit ablaze as Shadow tried to burn every soldier in it. Red stayed to do the final bits to keep Shadow down and out. They didn’t want him healing somewhere and to come tramping back. He was going to die right there. He had killed a lot of pilots, and wiped out at least half of the division. Surprise had no empathy with the ground troops. Over the ages, it was something she couldn’t empathize with. She knew what it was like in the sky. Shee knew how hot dragon fire was even at the tip. She knew the fear of seeing the claws coming and being unable to adjust, having to ride the action out. She knew the adrenaline of barely avoiding an attack. A second life. She couldn’t understand them below. Surprise brought Yellow into a formation and they sounded off. 12. Surprise flipped on the radio to all Squadrons. “All Squadron. Its time to rearm and refuel. Yellow, then when Yellow gets to Ember, Blue. Then Green. Red, you are last. Unless you either confirm the kill or run out of ammo, reload last.” Surprise flipped her radio to just Motherboard. “Motherboard, I think my landing gear is cooked. Opening now. How do I look?” “Uh, the doors are moving a bit. It looks like your doors are the only thing keeping them in.” “Colonel, your landing gear can’t open,” Yellow 17 said. “I know 17. I got cooked.” “Let me blast them off with a big of magic.” Surprise looked at her fuel indicator and then at Ember. She saw another plane go up in flames. “Alright. For the good of this group, try it.” Surprise felt two strong thuds on the bottom of her plane. She tested the landing gear. “Down and looking good,” Motherboard said. “Go ahead. I’ll come in last. In case they fail.” The crews were ready. The planes narrowly avoided each other as they came in and landed right behind each other. It was like a pit stop at the race car tracks. In and out and the crew expertly reloaded and refueled in a matter of minutes. Once the last was up Surprise landed. Glowsticks gave her a full report on her landing gear. “A little singed, but looks good. Shame about their shields. But the shields saved you for this R&R.” Surprise let out a troubled sigh. “I know,” Glowsticks said putting his hoof on her shoulder. “You guys are taking hits out there. Its a bad one. But its what you trained for. Your duty. It was their duty. They went down doing what they loved.” “The army?” Glowsticks raised and eyebrow. “You care about the army?” Surprise shook her head. “I can’t. I don’t know why I can’t empathize. It doesn’t bother me until I know they took a major hit. And then, its all logistics, not compassion.” “You and most pilots. They took a lot of casualties. Most of their force is unresponsive, MIA. And its probably going to stay that way. But they got the forge blown. They confirmed the green dragon’s death. Appleloosa is safe forever.” “Magnet Bolt got a clear final kill.” “Oh nice. Smolder gave them a real fight, finally picked apart. And Clump was heavily iced out and then lanced. That is the reports. You got to get back into the sky.” Glowsticks jumped down and showed he was clear. Surprise took a deep breath in and then slammed the glass shut. She hated reload and refuels. It was flying into battle all over again, and knowing you had lost a lot getting to what felt like the start. She caught up to the 126th and slid into the lead. Her wing mates were gone and Motherboard had reorganized the other 10 members. But that was better for her. Blue pulled out when Yellow was halfway there. Surprised almost yelled at them except she saw the real numbers. They were down to 4. And Ember hadn’t taken a solid hit. Blue 3’s light came on as they passed her. “I’m not a chicken. I know my duty. But must we continue?” “Yes Blue 3. We must. Ember has again presented herself to us. She has claimed a lot of lives. She didn’t get the drop on us though. But yes. We were to kill all of the dragons here. That was our directive.” Surprise flipped on the radio to all. “Listen up 45th. Our job isn’t done until Ember is either dead, or leaves. We were to kill the Dragons at this location. So yes, we will persist. Because we are Dragon Killers! This is what we do! You have been wanting this time to come for a long time! It is upon us now, and we will make it happen!” “Colonel, Red 4 here. We confirm the death of the Dragon, Shadow.” Surprise kept all channels open. “That’s good to hear. The only dragon left is Ember. And we will down her. No matter how many times we have to R&R, we will down her. She has a weakness.” “Have you seen it?” Magnet Bolt asked. “Cause I am not seeing it.” “No, not yet. But I’ve fought her a lot over the years. At least two dozen engagements. She is more and more predictable each time I face her. I haven’t been able to focus on her in this battle, but that changes now. Red, be careful. Its tight for the R&R on that field, but I know you guys are ready to handle it.” Red 4’s light flashed. “Uh, well, we all have done plenty of R&Rs. All six of us are the veteran pursuit pilots. Do you want us to form up with Blue?” Surprise flipped the coms over to Red. “No. I want all six of you two stay hot and fast. I need you to give her veteran hell. Show her that your badges were well earned. Let me guess. All of you have a solo kill?” “Yes,” Red 4 replied. “Then show her that you deserve it. We kill her, we will put a blue one on our planes. That’s why its red for a solo kill. Garble was red and killed first, by me and my trick.” “We will earn that blue dragon!” Surprise pulled herself up and banked. She wasn’t ready to go in yet. She needed to see how Ember responded to Yellow’s swap out. Motherboard had them cross and drop. They all launched rockets at the inside of her knees, where the metal armor connected with the leather. The left knee was left hanging by a single tie. “There we go!” Surprise said. “That’s a hit and she was not expecting it. She doesn’t like it. We can’t pick every piece off, but each one we can, the better.” Magnet Bolt led another plane in and they launched their last rockets, knocking the armor off. “Now she isn’t impregnable!” Magnet Bolt yelled over their coms. He even did a victory roll. Ember saw it and unleashed fire at him. They dodged it easily. It took another fifteen minutes and they knocked the other leg plate off. Green was at their R&R at the time. Motherboard got a few to line up and make a pass at her tale. They knocked one of the spikes off. It became evident that Ember’s tale didn’t have spikes. It was plane. Having her armor picked apart was really getting to her. She downed another Blue in rage. “Red, pull away. I want a full diagnostic done of Ember. None of you have seen her. I think I’m biased, or blocked, or something.” They pulled away and began to circle around. Surprise put them into a more aggressive attack pattern. They fired from longer distances to make sure they were not swiped or blown out of the sky. “Red 7 here. We need to rock her feet. She’s got her wings in. But they are unarmored. She is wearing armored boot things. It will make it harder for her to feel. Its why she isn’t moving much.” “Break her foundation and we force her to fly. That should let us get under her helmet mask thing and shred her wings. If we shred her wings, she won’t be a real problem. Starting attack run at her feet.” Red dove from their various locations. A hail of rockets was unleashed. They tore apart the ground. Red stayed in a tight pattern, shooting above her armored boots. As Ember stepped to adjust for the shaking, a plane blasted at her feet, breaking the ground as she stepped down. Another Blue pilot paid the price of her rage. One member of the 127th was left. “Second Lieutenant Wallflower here. Blue 13. Even if you are the last one, go in and get a hit!” She dove and then pulled up, right along Ember’s belly. She released all three pairs of rockets and killed her engine so she fell. The swipe at her missed because she was in free fall. The rockets harmlessly exploded against the armor and the helmet except one. And Ember reared like she had just gotten an uppercut in the jaw. Second Lieutenant Wallflower got her engine restarted and pushed the limits of the magic dampeners as she pulled out and cruised along the top of the trees, trying to calm her heart. Ember glanced south. And the glance was obvious. She thought about bolting. But Magnet Bolt put a set of rockets right at her eye. They went off against the armor, doing no damage. But Ember was here to stay. Ember shifted her stance and she tore Magnet Bolt’s plane apart with her claws. There was no saving him as the plane was ripped away from him, and he had nothing to eject with. Another skip and she whacked a Red pilot out of the air. Her fire breath got a Green who was more focused on watching Magnet Bolt fall. Yellow 17 dove hard, getting a strafe at her neck, finding that narrow opening. Her head jerked in pain and the plane collided with a giant tooth on the front. The tooth fell with the crumpled bits of the plane. Ember was enraged, past the point of return. If they broke it off now, she would chase them and burn what she could. It was obvious to all of the pilots. “No better way to die,” Motherboard said over all of their coms. “This is what Dragon Killers do. We kill dragons and protect them from rampaging against Equestria. We will fight her to the very end. We all signed up to fight Dragons in the sky. It doesn’t matter where we started, only where we have ended.” “I’m going to keep going in until Ember is dead. Or I am.” Motherboard went in from behind at her ankles, strafing her lower leg, starting at the bottom and working up the to knee. He survived her swipe and the tree she threw. She was opening up in her anger. They got her in her armpit, in between her thighs were the armor stopped, and another good rocket hit at her eye, blinding her for half a second and taking out the other tooth her helmet had. Blue 13 went down while trying to avoid a swipe of the claws. Two Yellows went down from her tail as they dove her her legs from behind. In a matter of minutes, it was Surprise, Motherboard, Yellow 8, Yellow 9, Red 4, Red 8, Green 14, and Green 18. 77 planes reduced to 8. “I’m not going to say goodbye,” Green 14 said. “No. I am not. We are going to end this here and now.” Ember skipped over to the side. Green 14 avoided her claws but slammed into her chest. She wasn’t phased at getting hit in the chest by a 12 ton plane flying at 400 miles per hour. That armor was saving her from everything. “GO IN AND GET A HIT!” Red 8 yelled as she sent everything she had at a folded up wing. She pulled away safely. “Wing is bleeding!” Motherboard reported as he prepared for a run at the wing from the opposite direction. He opened up with rockets and guns. If he had waited another second he might have gotten clear. But Ember focused on the pain in her wing and he was an easy target despite her best effort. Yellow 9 was burned solid and Surprise watched in horror as he tried to eject but was slammed against the solidified glass that would never open again. Surprise dove, avoiding the tailed and came up and around, putting a well placed shot at the neck, in between the hard armor. She pulled around for another run and saw a red wing fluttering in the wind as Ember sliced open Yellow 8. Green 18 had launched rockets to try and protect Yellow 8, but they were too late. It was a solid enough strike and enough that Surprise saw her opening. She grinned and Ember knew she was in trouble. Surprise let a burst go right down the slit for the eye. Surprise had fought so many battles that by now, the best sound in the world was when a dragon roared in agony. Especially if she landed the painful blow. They had slaughtered so many. She had watched so many today go down. All because the Dragons hated the ponies. And now, it was so messed up, that both side’s hatred for the other was more than they could easily mend. Blood was all each side wanted. Surprise did a wide, slow turn, trying to figure out what to do. Green 18 and her were flanking Ember. Ember was trying to figure out who would make the first move. “Colonel,” Green 18 radioed. “Its been an honor this past week, serving under such an accomplished pilot. You taught me a lot, even in such a short time with very little contact. I’m not dying yet, or throwing my life away. I know you are not either. But in case the worst happens, I wanted to let you know. And declare, that I have given it my all. And every time I could, I have gone in to get the hit!” “Thank you,” Surprise said. “It was a pleasure serving with you. Any idea Major…” Surprise searched her sheet. “Major Rivers? Any ideas?” “None Colonel. My thought is, break off and see what Ember does? Perhaps that last strike by you is enough to end this. Maybe not.” “Maybe,” Surprise said. “Keep circling with me, but lets not stay too predictable.” Green 18 dove, staying loose at Surprise’s orders. Surprise made several moves to keep her circling unpredictable. Ember showed signs of their impasse. She wasn’t making any moves. All three of them wanted this to end. The front of Ember’s helmet exploded. Surprise jerked her head to see where it came from. A lone plane came in and pulled up, letting a bomb go. Flash Sentry had given up sitting back at the airstrip as ordered. The bomb exploded on Ember’s shoulder, destroying half of the mask. The other half sipped off, since it had nothing to hold it down. She glared at Surprise. Surprise pulled away and lined up a shot at Flash Sentry. He had gone against orders and he was going to pay. Lancers had ‘come to the rescue’ three times for her. And each time it only aggravated the situation. And they always got the kill because of it. The move crossed her too close to Ember and her fire breath was belted forward. Dragon Shade locked up as it was fused together and Surprise coasted a bit. The P-51 could coast for a while because of it’s design and her trajectory. Green 18 had moved in. Ember was focused on the Surprise and the newly Promoted Major Rivers unleashed every bullet she had left in her aircraft. Surprise couldn’t see the results. She was in a steep dive with two seconds to live. Two long seconds. If only there had been a better way than blood. Blind hatred never solved anything. And no matter who started it, hatred still never solved anything. Surprise smiled. Last time she went down, which Ember had caused, she went down scared. Fighting for her life. But now, she was content. Surprise didn't hate Ember. Surprise didn't hate any of the dragons she had fought, killed, or never seen. Although they had killed thousands, although they had done so much wrong, she didn't hate them. Surprise had started her journey as a Wonderbolt. And she had loved it. And then she became a pilot, and then an Ace. And all of it was for the same reason. She had done it for the land she loved. For the skies she love. For the ponies she loved. She served them in love. And there was no better way to die, and than doing what she loved. And she loved protecting Equestria and soaring through the skies. MEMORIAL INFORMATION I do living history. But what do I know? I had met the pilot, Cowden Ward, who would do fly overs for our program when he could. He was always at airshows and programs honoring our veterans and teaching people, especially our youth, to inspire them to be something more. Aviation fuel and maintenance is expensive. They often needed someone to help cover the costs to seat a veteran in the jump seat he had installed in the back. I had met veterans who had gone up with him. One had even flown P-51s during WW2. Vincent Losada was a B-17 Bombardier who flew missions over Germany during WW2. I was hoping to meet him after the program, but that chance never happened. I've gotten to know a lot of veterans, heard their stories, and done a lot of research. You know what I find? On both sides, the typical view was doing what was right and fighting for their nation. Ideals and taking care of the people often clash with others. That isn't saying atrocities should happen, especially if we can stop them. But usually, the guy shooting at you doesn't hate you or want to be shooting at you. And you don't want to be shooting at him. And when you get to be 90, you see things that way. You don't hate, you respect. And that's the worst part about the crash. Cowden Ward died teaching that to people. He died teaching people the history that can never be forgotten. Because history forgotten will be repeated. And that can not happen. Too many died or lost blood fighting two complicated world wars. In the crash, we lost a WW2 Veteran at the same time. Both were there honoring those who did more than they did. And each day, we are losing veteran after veteran as they are all in their 90s and older. December 7th, 2018 this story was launched. 77 Years before marked the attack on Pearl Harbor, beginning the United States of America’s official involvement in what ended up being 2 wars at the same time. 5 survivors of the U.S.S. Arizona are alive, and none of them were able to attend the memorial this year. I know silver star recipients, and they would do it all again, even knowing why it would entail. They don't see themselves as heroes, but they want to make sure that the younger generations don't have to go through what they went through. The one thing I can say with the crash, both went down doing what the loved. Vincent Lasoda was excited to be going up in the plane and especially over the program. Cowden Ward was a highly accomplished pilot. Both loved what they did, and both were continuing to pass the ideals that give us our freedom today, onto the next generation.