//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Desert Rain // Story: Ace Combat - Battle for Equestria // by Lonewolf78 //------------------------------// Canterlot Castle Solar Empire, Equestria 22 September 2017 18:20 hours. Celestia was sipping tea in her chamber when the head of the intelligence agency came in. "Your highness, I have grave news." "No... No Twilight don't tell me..." "I'm afraid so. We've lost Excalibur." "DAMMIT!" Celestia yelled as she threw her tea cup into the wall. "Didn't any of our squadrons try to go in?" "Yes. Mist Squadron did, and we lost them too." Celestia look liked she was either going to explode or have a break down. "What about the pilots?" "Early reports are 1 dead, 1 injured, and 4 rescued." A look of fear came across her eyes. "What about...." "They're safe. Octavia ejected and Vinyl almost made it back to Mareimar, but had to eject short of it." Celestia turned away from Twilight. Her head lowered. "That weapon was our best defense against Discord. By destroying it my sister may have doomed us all." She turned back towards Twilight. "We will have to double air patrols now. Move more antiaircraft artillery into northern Equestria too." She then turned back around. "I've got a lot to think about, so I wish to remain undisturbed." "Yes your highness," she replied. _____________________ Discord's palace 18:35 hours. Discord's second in command ran into his throne room. "Your excellency. I have great news!" "And what might it be?" he replied. "The Republic has destroyed the Empire's laser defense weapon. Completely!" Discord was actually shocked. "How? Did they have some new missile to hit it or something?" "It appears the same air force squadron that destroyed our bases in the volcano and Windigo Canyon did it." "Wow. I'm starting to wish we had that group of pilots," he replied. "Anything else?" "Oh we did lose our Blackbird spy plane. We're not sure if Excalibur or that squadron got it though." "Oh. Well compared to the good news that's nothing. It might be time to plan some more missions for the Empire. Including the one coming up" "I'll get on them right away!" Meanwhile the squadron had returned to Whitemare. 2 hours later they were watching TV in the lounge when Tex came in. "Hey guys. Moonstone's on the horn. She wants to talk to you." "Did we goof up something?" Asked Angel. "I don't think so," he replied. And they headed to the conference room. When they got there the feed was already up, and Moonstone was on. "Greetings guys. Great job on the mission." She said. "What's up?" Maverick asked. "Your ranks. On behalf of Wigwam I am pleased to inform you you've all received a 1 rank promotion for your mission to destroy Excalibur." "Whoa, nice!" replied Angel. "I take it he's no longer mad at us for that bar fight?" Sunfire asked. "I guess so. Especially since Luna herself recommended it to him." "Well I guess we're gonna' be in the news then," replied Glory. "You've also got 3 days off, so go out and raise some more hell." "Oh yeah! You bet we will!" exclaimed Ice. "Well enjoy it. Again good job." And the feed ended. "You guys are putting this base on the map," Tex said. "Soon you're gonna' be up there with Dash and Trixie's squadrons." "It's OK Dash's has the top spot, but I would like nothing more than to knock Trixie's squadron from the number 2 spot," Angel said. "Well keep it up and it might happen," Tex replied. ______________________ Emerald Coast Bar and Grill 23 September 2017 19:00 hours. (Music) As soon as the squadron walked in the door, all eyes turned towards them, and cheers erupted. Even from Navy pilots. They noticed some traces of the fight remained, but otherwise the place was back to normal. They soon got a surprise. "Hey over here you guys!" "Dash! Derpy!" Angel yelled as they headed over to the table. Her, Dahlia and Ice greeted the gray Pegasus with hugs while Dash did high hoofs all around. "How are you ponies doin?" Ice asked. "Great," replied Dash. "But forget us, what about you guys? What you did was absolutely awesome!" "Congrats on your new ranks too. You deserved it for that," added Derpy. "Just doing our job," replied Glory. "Oh quit being so modest. What you did was one of the best feats the NLRAF has ever done. Every squadron wants to fly with you now. You've even got Trixie jealous!" Dash said. Angel got a big grin from that part. "Now that's what I want to hear," she said. "Where do we stand now anyway?" Maverick asked. "You've cracked the top 5. You knocked the Black Diamonds out," she replied. "I guess we are doing good," Dahlia said. "So why are you here?" "I'm helping Derpy celebrate," replied Dash. "I got a promotion too," Derpy proudly announced. "Hey Congrats! How did it happen?" Angel asked. "I saved a damaged bomber from 3 Empire MiG's," she replied. "Niiiice," Ice said. "You never cease to amaze me Derpster," added Dahlia. "Maybe we should make up a dream squadron or something," Angel said. "Us, you two, Medley, get all of the top ones in it... Except Trixie." Everypony laughed. The bar owner arrived with more cider. "Drink up pilots. It's on the house tonight." Hot damn! This party's goin' all night long then!" replied Ice. And everypony did a toast to the squadron. ______________________ Whitemare AFB 26 September 2017 09:30 hours. As is always the case their days off went by too fast, and it was time to get back to the grind. they filed into the conference room and waited for Moonstone's feed. Soon she was on. "OK pilots. Hope you enjoyed your days off because it's bombing time again." "what do you have for us?" Maverick replied. "The LoD's largest industrial complex West of Tuhn in the Griffin Empire. It's a major producer of weapons, fuel, and aircraft, and destroying it will put a huge dent in their war machine. Unfortunately it won't be that easy to do. The desert around it is completely flat for 30 miles in all directions, and because of this both their radar and air defenses can spot you a long distance away. Which means nap of the earth flying until you reach it. Once you're picked up on radar you'll have 25 minutes to destroy the factories before fighters from the air base Northeast of Tuhn scramble and reach you. Even less if there's already a patrol in the area. Your ingress route will be from the sea. For ordnance you will all get thousand pound guideds. None of the buildings and bunkers are really reinforced so they will do the trick. Once you're within 3 miles, pull up, select your targets, drop them, and get out. All of the buildings should only need one bomb, though drop 2 on the main structures. Any questions?" "So how low is nap of the earth this time?" Dahlia asked. "50 feet." Dahlia gulped. "Oh and try not to be in the near the complex when the ammo dumps go up. We're not sure how much they have stored there but it will create quite a boom. And try to maintain radio silence on the way to the target." "Carrot Top's gonna' get you on that Angel," snapped Glory. "Hey I did it before, I can do it again," she replied. "Good luck pilots." And the feed ended. "I can't wait for this one," Angel said. "I wanna' see some big explosions." "Just try not to be one," replied Ice. ___________________ West of Tuhn LoD Griffin Empire 26 September 2017 12:25 hours. "Lunar 1 to all planes: Let's get down in it." And they dropped down to 25 feet. "I wonder if I could design a bush hog attachment for the Terminator? We could make money mowing ponies hay fields," commented Angel. "Sentry 2 to Lunar 3, can it motormouth. Start radio silence." "Sentry 2 this is Motormouth 3, roger." "What did you just say?" replied Carrot Top. Maverick just shook his head as he checked his weapons. Things went smoothly until they were about 11 miles from the target. A dragon that had stopped at a stream to get a drink flew up right in front of Sunfire. "DAMN!" Her only option was to pull up. She missed it, but went above 50 feet and immediately got a radar spike. "Dammit guys I got a radar spike, they saw me." "Roger. Speed it up everypony!" replied Maverick. "Well since they know we're coming I'm gonna' start talking again," Angel said. Soon the alarm was going off at the airbase, and planes began taking off. And the anti aircraft installations around the complex were readied. 5 miles from the target Maverick got on the radio. "OK guys go ahead and pull up. It'll give us more time," he said. "Roger Mav'," replied Glory, and they began their attack run. Factory workers began evacuating the buildings as the anti aircraft guns opened up. An SA-6 SAM launched 3 missiles at the squadron. "SAM's break!" They did, then dropped chaff and turned back. All 3 missed. Each one of them selected a building and released 1 or 2 bombs. Maverick dropped a couple on the main building of the aircraft plant, while Ice dropped one on the runway to render it useless. Glory dropped 2 on the ammunition plant, and the others dropped them on the fuel depot, and some of the ammo bunkers, causing huge explosions. "Great pass guys!" Maverick said. "Let's turn around and drop the rest." As they were turning, more SAM's were launched at them. They dropped more chaff and dodged them also. "Sentry 2 to all planes: 7 bandits 17 miles out." "Roger Sentry. Let's hurry up," replied Maverick. They were on their final approach to the complex. Again each picked a target and dropped their bombs. Angel hit a bunker that housed two thousand pound bombs. The shockwave from the explosion could be felt in the planes. "Ka-BOOOOOOOOOM! Dominated ya' filthy bastards!" she yelled. "I thought the Sniper was your favorite character?" asked Maverick. "Yeah but I've always wanted to say that on a mission," she replied. "Now that she's said it you're gonna' hear the quotes nonstop," added Ice. On the ground the factories were in chaos. At the main ammunition plant the workers were doing their best to keep the fire from spreading. "Fire is heading for the main storage area! If it reaches it this place is a crater!" a Minotaur yelled. Meanwhile the enemy fighters had arrived. "SU-35's, we're pretty much even," announced Maverick. The 35 and 37 were identical planes. The only difference was the Terminator's thrust vectoring. "SSSSwitchblade One to all aircraft. Ennngage at will," the LoD squadron commander said. "Lunar one fox two!" Maverick announced as he took out the first bandit. Sunfire rolled in behind one and got ready to fire, but another got behind him and he had to break off. "Come back here pony," the pilot said as he tried to get a missile lock. "Time for me to try it," Sunfire said. She hit the brakes and pulled up, executing a perfect Cobra that put her behind him. "I did it!" She fired a missile and took him out. "Nice Sunfire. You're learning," Maverick said. "Thanks to you," she replied. Next Ice got one with a gun kill. Then Angel got one on her tail. She pulled a Cobra also and nailed the bandit. "I'll notify yer' next of kin, that ya' sucked!" She said. "Told you Maverick," commented Ice. Meanwhile more explosions were going off below them as more bunkers and storage tanks ignited. Some could be felt in the air. "Man it must be pretty bad down there. Hope all of them got out," Dahlia commented. Soon she had a bandit in front of her, and got a missile kill. With Glory getting a kill it was now down to Maverick and the squadron commander. "Thisssssss pilot is good, but not good enough," he said as he performed a Cobra. "Sorry pal," Maverick said as he did one also and stayed behind him. This was repeated twice, and soon they were down to four thousand feet as they approached the factory complex. As they got close to it, the fire reached the main explosives storage area of the ammunition plant. The massive explosion completely leveled the complex, and created a shockwave that could be heard and felt as far as 30 miles away due to the flat land around it. "HOLLY GODDAMN SHIT!" Yelled Angel. "That made that explosion in the canyon look like an M-80 in a termite mound!" "Maverick are you okay?" Glory asked over the radio. The shockwave violently shook both Maverick and the LoD plane, which took the brunt of it. Disorienting the commander long enough for Maverick to get the kill. "I'm fine guys. I don't want to go through that again though," he replied. "Sentry 2 to all planes. All targets and bandits destroyed. I even felt that explosion. Return to base." "Let's go home everypony," Maverick said. They flew back over the site. All that could be seen was thick smoke and dust. And through it, the faint image of a giant crater where the ammo plant had been. "Wow. I hope that puts the dent in the LoD's military like Moonstone said it would," Ice said. "With those explosions it had to," replied Glory. "I guess we'll find out when we get home," Maverick added as they headed back to the sea. _____________________ Discord's palace 14:10 hours. "Your excellency. The Republic has struck again!" "Now what did they do?" Discord asked his second in command. "They completely leveled the industrial complex West of Tuhn." "WHAAAAT?" How who..." "It was that Lunar squadron again! They took out Switchblade Squadron also." "ARRRRGH is our air force that incompetent?" "No these pilots just seem to be good." "Damn they're a pain in the ass!" Discord replied. "Do we know where they're stationed at?" "I don't have the info right now but I can get it." "Well do it. We're gonna' include their base in our next plan." "Yes your Excellency." Discord then asked about something else. "Oh how's that little deal up north going?" "That is going good. So far we've taken out 2 Empire Squadrons, and I just got word about 16 minutes ago that they got a Republic one." "Well maybe that Lunar squadron will try it also. If not I may just have to pull Windigo Squadron off and send them after those ponies. I'm sure she can take them out."