//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Ace combat: Shattered Rainbows // by Brotato //------------------------------// Chapter 10 Gilda sat on her hind legs with her arms crossed. “I know you probably still hate me, but we have more important things to worry about right now.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. You come out of nowhere and expect us to just trust you? Tough luck, Gilda. “We have your crazed queen trying to take over Equestria. Yeah, I already figured that out. Nevertheless, as leader of this squadron, I still say you aren’t in.” “Why, Dash?” Gilda questioned, her mood turning sour. “Is it because you still see me as the enemy? I didn’t become a traitor to my country just to save my own hide. I plan to fight back and help you win this war, but you need to trust me.” Rainbow peered at Gilda, not believing her. “You haven’t changed at all Gilda. Even if your queen is crazy, you turned your back on your own country and that doesn’t sit well with me.” She pointed a hoof back toward Ponyville. “This conversation is over.” Gilda smacked down Rainbow’s hoof, startling her. “Fine I won’t be a part of your little party. Have fun overthrowing Goldwing without me.” After that being said, she stomped away. Finally, Rainbow sighed, glad she was gone for good. She turned around to find everypony staring at her. Luna didn’t seem very pleased with what happened, but kept her mouth shut and returned to her advisors. Spitfire took a step forward, a furrow on her brow. “Rainbow, why did you turn her down? Even if she’s a gryphon, we need as much help as we can get. Even with all this,” motioning a hoof toward the gathering of troops that had been steadily showing up. “There’s still the chance of defeat.” “Whoa there, Spitfire,” Lightning frowned as he walked up to her.” Don’t need to be pessimistic about it. We got this far didn’t we?” Spitfire scoffed, “when you overhear reports from our scouts reporting in, you try to stay optimistic about this war.” “That’s quite enough!” Luna seethed. She had heard the entire conversation, but finally decided to intervene. She glared at Spitfire as she continued in a low tone for the other troops nearby not to hear. “The last thing we need is doubt to cloud everypony’s mind. You will be silent about those reports. Is that clear?” “Y-Yes your highness,” Spitfire bowed quickly not to see Luna’s penetrating gaze. “Princess... ” Lightning began. “Is it that bad?” Luna turned her gaze toward Lighting, a look of worry now across her visage. Letting out a sigh, she still kept her voice to a whisper. “We apologize for snapping at you, Spitfire. Please understand we hate hiding such information from the others. If they found out the gryphon forces doubled ours in this battle... “ “You would have a demoralized army in your hooves,” Lightning finished. Luna nodded slightly as she looked off in the distance as if thinking about something. The conversation died after that and Luna returned to the huddled officers around a table. Everypony was quiet as they gathered in front of Luna who was flanked by several armed guards. She glanced at the large group of ponies, a troubled look on her face. “My loyal subjects,” she began, slight hesitation as she spoke. “We have come a long way after the gryphons have pushed us from our homes... from our families.” Her voice started to rise in volume. “For too long we have kept the gryphons in our lands. When they first attacked, we didn’t have the force to fight back. Now we have the power to take what is rightfully ours!” Stomping a hoof in emphasis, the crowd did the same and several cheered. “I will not lie to you, my ponies. They are in a corner as this is their strongest foothold they have. If we take this, we will no doubt win this terrible war.” Luna scanned over the crowd, a small smile form on her lips when she spotted Rainbow Dash and her squadron. “I believe in each and every one of you. So make your princess... nay, your nation proud, for today we shall take back Canterlot! For Equestria!” Luna raised a hoof in the air and the crowd followed suit as cheers rang out. Rainbow went the extra mile and flew above the crowd, yelling at the top of her lungs. “Let’s kick some flank!” After Luna gave her plan of attack and a good luck, everypony ran to their stations. Some jumped into their planes while others had vehicles that had large propellers on top, armed to the teeth. One of them, ironically, had teeth on the front and was painted to look like a manticore. Rainbow Dash was already inside her plane before everypony else. . She glanced out the left side of her canopy and watched several more vehicles with twin propellers began loading ground troops. Luna sure isn’t pulling any stops this time, Rainbow thought as she got into the very familiar procedure of take-off. Thoughts of her first mission and how much she’s changed filled her mind. She chuckled at the thought of how she got so excited every take-off. Now there was no sense of giddiness hid in her chest, nor the excitement of flying stuck in her mind. The once adrenaline inducing experience was now no more special than breathing or eating. She hated not feeling that surge of euphoria. How she even managed to survive eluded her. One missile, one volley of bullets, or one mistake could have ended it all. Weather it was pure skill, luck, or the princesses themselves watching over her, she didn’t know. What she did know was this war was about to end, and she would live to see it happen. A determined grin formed on her lips at the thought. An annoyed, static filled voice entered her helmet. “Rainboom One, I say again, you are cleared for take off.” “Oh, right.” Rainbow’s plane shuddered slightly as she throttled forward and into the sky. “Jeeze, hold up the war why don’t you,” Lightning joked and let out a small chuckle. Mist must’ve thought he was serious and being a pain in the flank, so she started berating him. Rainbow couldn’t catch most of it, but it involved something along the lines o “not getting any of this when the war was over.” His response involved muttering, followed by a sincere apology. It took awhile for everypony to get their jets into the air, but once they were, it was a formidable sight. Rainbow counted twenty-five silver-grey planes behind her, along with the four sky-blue jets of Rainboom Squadron. Below her she spotted troop transports being escorted by several attack helicopters. The plan of attack was going to be on two fronts from what Luna said earlier. Ground forces were to focus on the city itself with the attack choppers for support. The jet pilots were to destroy any enemy jets that got in their way and help with priority targets if they appear e.g., Queen Goldwing. Of course, every plan only looked well on paper. The top of the mountainside where Canterlot resided started to come into view. As the horizon slowly started to show the capital itself, Rainbow Dash’s mouth gawked at what she saw. Canterlot had been turned into a fortress on the side of a mountain, instead of the once majestic city it used to be. The once tall white towers were now grey plated and lined with anti-aircraft guns. The outer walls of the city, as well as the walls around the castle itself also had the AA guns. Thankful, yet oddly, no enemy aircraft were seen flying above Canterlot. Something doesn’t feel right, Rainbow Dash thought. Where are their jets? “Rainbow Dash, you seeing what I’m seeing?” Spitfire spoke up over her headset. “Yeah, where is their air forces?” Rainbow thought for a moment and an idea came up. “Spitfire, remember those reports you were told not to speak out loud?” “Yeah, what about them?” “How long ago was that? Do you know who sent them?” There was a brief pause before she responded. “An hour before we started this attack. As for whom sent them, I have no clue.” That was three hours ago since this flight took two hours, Rainbow mused. This changes everything in our favor, but we should be cautious anyway. If they’re not in Canterlot, are they hidden behind the mountain? Where is Stalliongrad’s forces also? “All right everypony, listen up,” Rainbow began speaking to everypony. “We may be flying into a trap. You will all continued with the original plan, but keep your eyes open for enemies. Rainboom Squadron is breaking off to scout ahead as they may be hiding behind the mountain.” Hearing several confirmations from the other squadron leaders, Rainbow Dash tilted her plane slightly left and slowly left formation, the other blue jets following close behind. “What are you planning, Rainbow?” Lightning spoke up, curiosity in his voice. “You don’t find this strange at all? We receive reports of a enemy force twice as large as ours, but all we find is a heavy pinch of double-A guarding Canterlot. Somepony is messing with us and I intend to find out who.” Rainbow Dash lead her squadron around the tall mountain, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. All she saw were patches of fir tree’s and snow capped mountains. Mist decided to break the silence. “With all due respect, Rainbow, I think we’re on a wild goose chase. Maybe they retreated back to their borders?” “Doubt it. They’re stubborn when it comes to their pride and honor. Telling a gryphon to retreat would be like telling Derpy not to eat a muffin.” “Muffin? Where?” Derpy spoke, her plane doing a barrel roll as if her jet was looking around for it. Lightning cleared his throat before somepony could speak. “I’m not an expert on smoke signals, but that large pillar of smoke to the east can’t be a good thing.” Rainbow looked to her left. Sure enough several thick pillars of smoke could be seen coming from the east. “But... the only thing able to make that much smoke would be a large forest. Or... “ “Stalliongrad is burning,” Lightning said grimly. Rainbow’s face blanched at his statement. “On the double ponies! Let’s find out what the hay is going on!” Rainbow Dash turned toward the pillars of smoke and maxed out her throttle. Her squad-mates followed slightly behind from Rainbow’s sudden change of speed. The land below steadily turned from thick firs to flowing glass lands. The pillars of smoke slowly got bigger and started to separate into individual stacks. She followed the smoke until she found the source. “By the godesses,” Mist gasped. Stalliongrad was indeed burning. The only thing remaining were the larger buildings, and they were still collapsing from the fires raging across the city. Rainbow thought she could make out the detention center in the sea of orange. “I don’t understand,” Mist’s voice cracked. “Why... who would do this?” “I don’t know, but there’s nothing we can do now,” Rainbow said glumly as she turned her plane back toward Canterlot. “Come on, let’s head back and help take--” Rainbow was interrupted as a frantic, familiar voice spoke up. “This is Twilight Sparkle of the 3rd Magic brigade. Do not, I repeat, do not liberate Canterlot. You need to get out of here before It’s too late!” Rainbow Dash fumbled a bit to respond, surprised to hear her friend’s voice. “Holy buck Twi, is that you? Where are you?” “Rainbow Dash! Thank goodness-- I’m in canterlot with Rarity and several other unicorns as a resistance force,” she answered quickly. “Look, as much as I’m ecstatic to hear from you, you need to get out of here!” “What are you talking about? We can’t just get up and leave. We’re so close to winning this war.” “Yes, you would’ve won... but it’s too late now,” Twilight mumbled the last set of words. Rainbow pounded a forehoof on her console, “Dangit, Twilight, give me a straight answer. What’s wrong? What’s too late?” Her ears flicked under her helmet as she could hear what sounded like explosions from Twilight’s side of the radio. “Goldwing is already loose! From my calculations, it should’ve taken her at least several more hours for the draining ritual to complete. I managed to stay hidden with an invisibility spell and heard she was going to finish this war once and for all. Who knows where she could be now.” “Twi, We have twenty-five allied aircraft attacking Canterlot’s defenses already. I’m sure we can handle a single gryphon.” “Right, a gryphon who stole the powers of Celestia herself.” Rainbow could picture Twilight rolling her eyes as she said that. They were halfway back to Canterlot, just finishing going around the mountainside. “Look, we’re continuing with the attack. So just--’ A loud explosion that sounded like a sonic Rainboom made her jet shudder. “What the hay was that?” As Canterlot came back into view, Rainbow noticed a gryphon flying above the city. Its wingspan was massive compared to Its body. White feathered wings flapped with as much grace as Celestia herself. The gryphon’s body was also a pure white, standing out from the grey rock of the mountain behind her. “Rainbow Dash, that’s her! That’s Goldwing!” Kinda figured that out on my own. It didn’t take long for her allies to notice the priority target and began firing upon her with everything they had. Goldwing didn’t move as missiles hit dead on. The amount of missiles being fired started to form a sphere of black smoke around the gryphon queen. “Holy your fire, everypony. I’m pretty sure we’ve got her,” one of the squadron leaders said. The smoke around goldwing was shunted away soon as the firing stopped, revealing a purple force field surrounding her. The shield fell as a haughty laugh escaped her beak. She immediately dove like a bullet toward one of the closest airplanes, landing on top of it. Using her talons to keep herself from being tosses off, she dug her left one into the wing of the plane, tearing through the metal like paper mache. She then jumped off and clung to the underside of another plane, repeating the process. “Holy buck she’s on me, get her off!” “Holy your fire, you’re going to hit our own!” “We need to get out of here!” The radio chatter over her headset disturbed Rainbow. Their planes were not meant to take on something so small and fast and she didn’t know what to do. “Lightning, any ideas how to fight this gryphon?” “Not a darn clue, Rainbow, but we better do something, and fast.” Twilight returned over the radio. “Rainbow, you need to bring your team and come down here.” “We’re a little busy up here, Twilight. What is it?” “I may have an idea to stop Goldwing, but I need your help.” Rainbow didn’t like the idea of leaving her allies to fight Goldwing, but she didn’t have any idea how to fight such a foe. “All right, but from here it looks like the air base is destroyed. Is there somewhere else we can land?” “Not that I know of, Rainbow. You would have to eject from your jet and fly to me.” Ditch my jet? Is she out of her mind? Rainbow respected Twilight and her decisions in the past, but this was becoming too much. “Are you sure, Twilight? I don’t want to lose my jet and find out your plan is going to flunk out on us.” “I can’t say for sure, but it’s the best bet we’re got. I’ll gladly explain more when you get down here, but right now my friends and I have fighting of our own.” Gunfire could be heard in the background as a pony yelled in pain. “Please Rainbow, else we lose this war. We're holding out inside the throne room.” Rainbow looked down at the ejection handle below her seat. It showed in yellow lettering ‘pull here’. “Are all of you okay with this?” She asked her squad-mates. “You don’t have to follow me if you wish.” “I will follow you,” Lightning stated simply. “As will I,” said Mist. “This is pretty risky to be doing this... ah what the hay, I always enjoyed danger. I’m in,” Spitfire said. “Yeah, lets go save Equestria! For muffins!” Derpy yelled happily. Smiling at the support her friends gave, Rainbow Dash grabbed the ejection lever without hesitation and pulled. Several things happened at once when she did. The sides of her canopy exploded and was pushed away by the high-speed winds. She grabbed onto a rail above her seat to keep her forehooves out of the way. Then she felt herself shoot out of the jet as the rocket inside her seat activated. “Wheeeeeeeee!” Derpy yelled as she ejected out of her jet as well. Rainbow removed the harness around her chest and spread her wings, jumping away from the ejection seat. She spotted her squad-mates not having any problems with their seats and quickly joined with her in the sky. Lightning shook his head a bit. “Whew, think I got a kink in my neck after that one.” Smirking at his slight discomfort, Rainbow motioned to follow her with a hoof. “Come on, let’s go figure out what Twilight has planned.” Let’s just hope Twilight’s plan is a good one.