Whitemare AFB
27 September 2017
20:13 hours.
The skies over the base were cloudy with a drizzle falling when the squadron returned. The planes taxied to their spots on the tarmac, leaving the spot where Angel's plane would have been empty.
Inside the barracks few words were said between the group and others on the base. It wasn't the first time it happened, but it did seem to hurt more this time.
There was still several things to remind them of her around the barracks. In her room they looked at her collection of Angel figurines. In particular one of an Angel of Remembrance finally caused tears to break loose.
After a few more minutes of silence Ice finally spoke up.
"We can't let this affect our mission though."
"But we've lost so many. First Galaxy, then the others..." Dahlia said in a broken voice.
"We've only lost 2. Those others are sitting in a POW camp somewhere waiting for us to rescue them," he replied.
"It's my fault. Sunfire said. "I made that turn wrong which let the LoD plane get behind me. If i hadn't..."
"That's enough."
Maverick spoke up.
"We have to keep on with what we're doing. If we let Angel's death cloud our judgement we'll be the next ones to get shot down. Ending this war is the ultimate way to honor her and the other ponies who have lost their lives in this war."
They looked up at her angels again. They focused on another one that seemed to radiate what Maverick meant. It was a large sculpture of an Archangel Alicorn clutching a sword in it's mouth, getting ready to slay a Windigo.
"OK guys. Command took you off the schedule for a couple of days, so try and get some rest. There will be a memorial service for her tomorrow at 15:00." And the group left Angel's room.
_____________________
Canterlot Castle
20:42 hours.
Twilight entered Celestia's chamber.
"What is it my faithful student?"
"We just got word the NLR engaged in a major air battle over the mountain range where we lost our squadrons. From what we can gather the LoD had a complex trap set up involving jammer and stealth aircraft, and possibly a decoy. All of the LoD planes have been shot down."
Celestia's eyes widened.
"Get several search and rescue crews in there at first light. We still have a chance at recovering some of our pilots."
"Right away your highness!" And Twilight left.
Celestia thought to herself: "How does my sister's Air Force always succeed where ours fail?"
_____________________
Discord's palace
20:45 hours.
"Uh, your excellency?" Discord's 2nd in command said as he peeked around the door.
"Good or bad?" Discord said.
"Bad."
"If you tell me our trap over the mountains has failed..."
"You said it I didn't."
"GAAAAAHHH!" he yelled as he shot a ball of energy from his claw at him. The minotaur closed the door, but it destroyed it. Leaving the door handle in his hand.
"What the hell is with everyone lately?" Discord yelled. "So what's the details?"
"We lost the jammers and all of the fighters. And it was that Lunar squadron once again." Discord's face started to turn red.
"What about the Windigo squadron leader?"
"We've located her, but we won't be able to get a rescue crew there until morning. Provided the Empire and Republic don't have theirs in there too."
"That's it. Dedicate one each of the two missiles to that squadron's base in the upcoming attack," Discord said.
"Yes your excellency. Oh, reports indicate that they lost a plane during the battle."
"Well at least one of those parasprites is gone," Discord replied.
________________________
Whitemare AFB
28 September 2017
15:00 hours.
The skies were still cloudy when the memorial began, but the drizzle had finally stopped a couple of hours before. It featured the usual words spoken by officers and the like, a 21 gun salute, and a flyover of the 4th TBS in the missing pony formation. After Tex read her eulogy, a song from her favorite movie was played, as she always told the group that was the song she wanted to play during hers. Few ponies could hold back their emotions during it, especially Derpy who had shown up with Dash to attend. She was given a posthumous
raise in rank and a medal.
Afterwards the group briefly chatted with the others before leaving.
"At least it quit raining for this," Ice said.
"It's still raining in my heart though," replied Derpy.
"Oh Derpy." Dahlia went over and hugged her.
"Like the song said. It will end. Just let it turn into something else," Maverick said, who's eyes were still glassy looking.
"Well we've gotta' get back to our bases. Dash said. "Take care guys. And hopefully we will be able to avenge Angel together."
See you later," replied Glory as the two took off.
"So now what?" Sunfire asked.
"I'm going to the Emerald Coast. There's a bottle of hard cider with my name on it," replied Ice.
"Why not." Glory said as they left.
_________________
Las Pegasus, NLR Equestria
16:02 hours.
As they got closer to the bar, which was located near the harbor, they saw something unexpected sitting at the harbor's freight dock.
"Is that the Eclipse tied up at the freight dock?" Dahlia said.
"It sure is," Maverick replied with a stunned look. "Two cases of cider to the tugboat crews that got it parked there." The Las Pegasus dock was long enough for 3 freighters to park at it, but it was still a tight fit for a carrier. Not to mention it couldn't park next to it due to it's flight deck. The dock cranes were still able to access the starboard side of the deck though.
"But there isn't even a naval base here. It's home is Tenabry," Ice said as he flew up to try and get a better look before coming back down.
"Well it's on the way there, might as well see what's up," replied Maverick, and they headed off.
As they got closer they could see the tails of a couple of Hornets on the deck and no other planes. One elevator was jammed between decks, and it's radar tower was leaning.
"Not good," Sunfire said as they got to the harbor. There were a few MP's, and workers on the dock along with a couple of officers. One saw the group and walked over to them. He saw the squadron patches on their jackets.
"Hey you're Lunar Squadron," he said.
"Yep that's us," Maverick replied. The pony identified himself as Commander Salty, the XO of the Eclipse.
"Never thought I'd meet you here," he replied. "Isn't there six of you?"
All of them started to get long faces. Salty knew what it meant.
"Oh. When did that happen?"
"Last night," Glory replied.
"Sorry to hear that. We've lost 6 so far, plus we lost several crewponies in last night's raid.
"Raid? What happened to her?" Maverick asked.
" Last night, while our planes were assisting in softening up the Empire forces along the border near Hollow Shades, our battle group got jumped by three squadrons of SEAF planes. One of which was Mirage 2000's armed with Exocets."
"Oh shit," Ice said.
"Yeah. They fired all of them off, and though our new integrated defense system kept them away from us, we lost a destroyer and a frigate, and another destroyer was damaged severely. While that was going on, F-2's started dropping bombs, and we took a few."
"How bad is it?" Sunfire asked.
"Take a look." All of them except Glory flew up to look at the flight deck. The two sets of Hornet tails they saw were just that. The rest of the planes were burned out hulks. There were 3 large holes in the deck and one through the elevator that was jammed. There was also evidence of strafing by fighters.
"Damn how long is it going to take to repair it?"
"We're not sure if we can repair the flight deck enough to make it usable here. We'll probably have to take it back to Tenabry," Salty replied.
"So how did you get through it?" Maverick asked.
"We had an AEGIS cruiser, but it got overwhelmed. And our defense system got damaged. We might have been in trouble if the Razgriz hadn't shown up."
"OOOOH, Whirlwind's squadron," Glory said.
"Yeah. I wish I could have seen the looks on the faces of those Empire pilots when one of their Typhoons started shooting at them," Salty said with a devious smile.
"Well we're off. Good luck. Tell Geoffrey hi for us," she said.
"Oh he's not with us anymore."
"What? Not him?"
"No no he was selected to be the captain of that new battleship we just finished."
"Wow. Talk about a step up from being a pilot," Maverick replied.
"I know, the lucky dog." And the group left.
____________________
Emerald Coast Bar and Grill
16:25 hours.
The group received condolences from everypony in the bar as soon as they walked in. They sat at their usual two tables. Maverick and Glory sat at one. All of them went for hard cider except for Sunfire who went for Applejack Daniels.
After talking about a few things, Glory finally asked the big question.
"So who is this Nightshade?" she asked.
Maverick looked down at his mug. He paused for a second before speaking, and continued to do it as he talked.
"Someone I knew many years ago. We were both in the same Gracemareia Air Force squadron. She was a new recruit, and I wound up becoming a mentor to her. She was pretty slow at first, but as I showed her the ropes she got better and better. It wasn't long before she was kicking everypony's flanks in training fights. She seemed to look up to the squadron as an extended family."
"So why is she so mad at you?" Maverick continued to stare into his mug.
"It stems from an incident during our war with the Griffins that happened seven months before Discord took over. We were on patrol when we got word of Bombers entering our airspace."
West of Cantlin, Gracemareia
Crystal Empire
February 11th, 2012
16:23 hours.
"Sky Eye to Garuda Squadron. We have 16 inbound aircraft from the Southeast. Heading three one zero ,angels fifteen thousand. Flight profile suggests bombers escorted by fighters. Intercept immediately."
"Garuda one to Sky Eye, Roger. Let's go get em' guys. Try to hit the bombers first."
"Spade wouldn't that put them on a path towards Cantlin?" Nightshade asked.
"Yes. They could be targeting the airbase there, but after Prairie City we know those damn Griffins aren't above bombing civilians so we've gotta' get them."
"Roger Spade," she replied as the squadron of 8 F-15S/MTD's continued Southeast.
"Talon one to all planes: We've got some dweebs coming to greet us. Put them back on the ground," The leader of the Griffin squadron said to the others. Soon both sides were within firing range and the missiles flew. One Griffin bomber was shot down in the exchange.
"TU-160's with MiG-35 escorts," Maverick announced.
"S Eagles, this won't be a cake walk," the Griffin commander said to her squadron.
Garuda six tried to get behind a bomber, but soon had a MIG on his tail.
"I need help!" the pilot said.
"I'm on him Thumper," replied Nightshade. She dived down and got on the MIG's tail, causing it to break off. Thumper was able to turn back and get the bomber before getting another tail.
"Two down, four to go!" he announced. Meanwhile Nightshade was all over the MIG.
"That's it come on..." she said as she tried to get a lock on it. Soon she got it.
"Thank you," she said as she pulled the trigger and sent the Sidewinder on it's way, taking it out.
"Garuda two splash one," she said.
Then Maverick shot one off of Garuda eight's tail, and before long another fighter and two more bombers were down as well.
"We're down to two bombers!" a Griffin pilot yelled.
"Keep concentrating on the fighters. Let the last ones slip away while they're occupied," replied the commander.
Garuda five suddenly had two MIG's on her tail.
"Get these two off me!" she yelled.
"I'm coming Boxmare!" Maverick replied. He got behind the two MIG's, only to have the Griffin commander get behind him.
"Gotcha' dweeb!" she said as she fired her cannon. Maverick rolled and dodged it and managed to level off long enough to get one of the bandits, but it was too late as the other shot down Boxmare.
"Garuda five is down!" Maverick yelled. He was relieved to see a parachute.
"You're dead you damn pony," the commander said as she tried to get a missile lock. He was saved when Nightshade and Thumper rolled in behind her.
"See how you like getting double teamed featherbrains!" yelled Thumper.
"DAMN." She broke off of Maverick, which allowed him to get the other MIG.
While this was going on, Garuda 3 had nailed a 5th bomber. The 6th had slipped away.
"Garuda one to Sky Eye where's the last bomber?"
"9 miles from Cantlin. Hurry up!"
"Roger I'm on him. Nightshade follow me."
"Roger Spade." and the two planes hit the afterburners and sped off after it.
"Guys take care of the rest, I'm going after those two," Talon one said as she broke off from the furball.
Soon Maverick had it within range. It was now six miles from the city. He was down to two Sidewinders.
"I've got it locked," he said. Then he heard something unexpected.
"Wait. If you hit it now you might not completely destroy it, and the wreckage could fall on my village!" Nightshade said. The little village of Kiro, her birthplace, was located two miles Southeast of Cantlin, and was in the path of the bomber.
"I have to do it Nightshade. I've got two missiles, one for each pair of engines," he replied.
"Well wait until I catch up and we'll double team it. I'm a mile behind you," It was too late though as he fired a missile. It struck the left pair of engines on the bomber. Almost instantly both him and Nightshade got a missile warnings. It was Talon one.
"Nightshade break!" he yelled. They dodged the missiles and the purple Pegasus did a sharp loop and got behind the her as she drew a bead on Maverick again.
She managed to crank off a burst of cannon fire which put a few holes in Talon one's plane.
"Damn you," she said as she broke off.
"Spade the bomber!" Nightshade yelled.
He turned back and tried to catch the bomber, but failed. And Nightshade's worst fear came true. Knowing they couldn't make it to the base or Cantlin, the bomber crew saw Kiro and aimed the bomber right for it.
It hit dead center. It's load of incendeary and regular bombs exploded, engulfing the village in fire and leveling it. Killing everypony including her parents instantly.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" she yelled..
"Well at least something got bombed. Let's get out of here guys," Talon one said. The Griffin fighters broke off and headed back to their country.
______________________
"When we headed back for home we tried to fly away from the village, but she broke off and flew over it. All that could be seen was burning wreckage," Maverick said as he continued to stare at his mug. "As soon as we got back to base she jumped me, and the others had to pull her off. She blamed me for her parent's and friend's deaths, but a board of inquiry held afterwards declared I had did the right thing, which infuriated her."
"It was pretty much one of those lose lose situations. If you hadn't tried to shoot it down it would have hit Cantlin or the base before she could catch up to you," Glory replied.
"Exactly. I could have gotten it if that Griffin pilot hadn't shown up. After we got into a scuffle a couple more times she got booted from the Air Force. She pretty much disappeared, but not before vowing to get revenge on me someday. And now here we are."
"Do you think she will be back?" Glory asked. Maverick looked towards her.
"Yes. You can count on it. She will not give up on something once she's focused on it. And she's not one to mess around with. she was in the top 10 of Gracemareia Air Force aces." He looked back down at his mug. "I wish she would learn to let stuff go."
Sunfire chimed in.
"We'll don't worry about her. You've got us for backup".
"How could she betray her country like that?" Dahlia asked.
"Not to mention very few ponies are in the LoD's military because Discord was worried it would affect a war with other pony countries," added Ice.
Maverick just sighed.
"I wish I knew."
They spent the next 4 hours at the bar and hanging around Las Pegasus before returning home.