Sunset Shimmer's first mission as commander of a mercenary squadron was a success, paving the way for future missions for the group from the exiled Crystal Empire government. The missions would involve attacking Changeling forces, and facilities deep inside the Changeling Kingdom. Though the risks were high, the reward was handsome. That plus the group's confidence in each other would keep them in the game until the war was over or something intervened.
Hangar 2
Gryphus AFB
Gryphus, Griffon Empire
May 18 2023
09:05 hours.
The squadron chatted amongst themselves as they waited for the Equestria Intelligence Agency mares to show up with the mission briefing.
"When you think about it: There are jobs that that pay more than what we're getting for this, but the fact they're covering all of our fuel, weapons, and repair costs means it's all profit for us," Helia said.
"I know. Not even the Dragons were that generous to us," replied Rover.
"And that's good for you considering how much fuel your plane guzzles," cracked Spot.
"It may guzzle it, but I still have the missile with the longest range unlike yours," replied Helia.
"Touche," he replied.
"I'm surprised more didn't want to join," Serana said.
"They probably figured the risks were too high," replied Shadow.
The door opened and the two mares walked in.
"Good morning pilots. Ready for another round?" Candymane asked.
"Bring it," replied Sunset.
"Anytime baby," cracked Helia.
"Well then let's get started," and Harpy set up the laptop and projector and turned it on.
"OK this is the first mission," and Harpy began.
"The Changelings have a weapons factory here South of Dunlap. It's the closest one to the empire so they are relying on it heavily."
"What's that giant crater next to it?" Alvinar asked.
"That's it's old location. It was one of several bombed during Equestria's war with Discord. The crater is the result of the main storage facility going up," replied Candymane.
"There was one near Tuhn in this country that happened to," added Redwing.
"Damn I wish I could've seen that," cracked Nightglider.
Harpy continued.
"The land is flat around it except for this set of hills here. So to beat the radar and have the element of surprise you'll need to fly near ground level until the hills. At that point you have to reveal yourselves so climb up to bombing altitude, drop your bombs, and get out of there."
Candymare took over.
"You'll all have 500 pound bombs except for you two," pointing at Shadow and Nightglider. "You'll have Mavericks and a pair of HARMS to handle any surface threats."
"Fine by us," the two replied.
"What defenses are there i the area?" asked Sunset.
"There's an SA-2 site to the South of the factory, but it should be well out of range. There's always the possibility of mobile SAMS though so stay sharp. Other than that there's a couple of AAG's at the site and that's it," replied Harpy.
"Well I guess we're ready then," replied Sunset.
"Good luck Wolfpack," replied Candymare.
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Near the Crystal Empire border
12:35 hours.
"Griffon control: Wolfpack is on the prowl," Sunset announced.
"Roger. See you later," the Griffon controller replied.
"So now we just announce that to the Griffons?" Rover asked.
"Yeah. They figured it wouldn't stand out as much that way. They will be listening for it," she replied. "now let's turn Northeast and get down."
"Hell yeah let's rock," replied Nightglider. And they headed down to below 200 feet. The terrain was mostly flat, but they still had to dodge a few hills.
"I'm still surprised there isn't any air defenses in this area," Spot said.
"They probably pulled them up and sent them into the Crystal Empire. Not much need for them here if you control the airspace to the West," replied Serana.
"It's a poor move though because if they lose the airspace, there won't be anything to stop the Empire from coming in with bombers," added Redwing. A short time later they passed over what was a SA-2 SAM site.
"You called it," Helia said.
"Damn we're lucky they did. Can you imagine if it was still active?" commented Alvinar.
"I wouldn't even want to think about it," replied Sunset. "Just get ready because the site is just over the next hill line."
The planes climbed over the hill and immediately got radar spikes.
"We've got it," replied Shadow. And him and Nightglider armed their Mavericks and sped ahead. Fortunately the SAM's radar was still in tracking mode. By the time it switched to targeting, the bat ponies had already got locks and fired, destroying the radar and control building.
"You're clear!" yelled Shadow.
"Climb and dive," Sunset announced. The group quick climbed up to 8,000 feet, then dived towards the target.
"Drop em'!"
Sunset dropped hers first, followed by the others. The bombs ripped through the various buildings and tanks, causing dozens of explosions and fires.
"I love it when stuff goes ka-blooey," cracked Nightglider.
"Nice job. Now let's get out of here befo...."
Sunset was interrupted by a huge explosion that shook the planes.
"Before the main stores blow," she said sheepishly. "Anyone damaged?"
The group all announced they were OK.
"That was AWESOME!" yelled Nightglider.
"Let's get out of here before there's more," Redwing said. And the group turned and headed back Southwest.
"Heads up. Seven bandits coming in from one O' clock," announced Helia.
"Damn they snuck up on us while we were bombing," cursed Fido.
"We'll have to take them on," Sunset said. And they turned to engage them.
"I thought Equestria couldn't bomb us?" One of the Changeling pilots asked.
"They can't, and the Empire's air force is bottled up so I don't know who it is," replied the squadron commander.
"Let em' rip!" yelled Sunset. And the group fired a salvo of radar guided missiles.
"BREAK!" yelled the commander. Two of his wing Changelings failed to dodge the missiles though.
"DAMMIT get them!" And the dogfight started.
"J-15's, stay sharp," announced Redwing.
"What a ripoff of the SU-33," cracked Shadow.
"What's with the multi colored planes?" one Changeling pilot asked.
"They're mercenaries. More than likely the Crystal Empire hired them," replied the commander. "How they got in here I don't know."
Just then Sunset blasted by him heading the other direction.
"That's that turncoat one!" snapped the commander. And he turned to chase her.
"Looks like you got the commander's attention Blaze," Rover said.
"That's good," she replied.
Shadow got on the tail of one and stuck to him, despite the Changeling's best efforts to throw him off.
"Nice moves, but not nice enough," Shadow said as his Sidewinder got tone and fired, taking him down.
One got on Spot's tail, but quickly had Serana on his.
"Get ready to break Rot," she said.
"Hurry up!" he replied.
"NOW!"
Spot broke left, and Serana fired her cannon, shredding the Changeling's plane.
"Thanks siren,,,, Helllo what do we have here?" Spot's maneuvering had put him on the tail of another.
"Get him. I'll cover," replied Serana.
Spot didn't have much time before the J-15 put a move on him, so he quickly locked up an Archer and fired, nailing it.
"Nice one," commented Serana.
At the same time Sunset was dogging the commander. He pulled a Cobra in front of her, but she hit the brakes and did a low split S, causing him to lose sight.
"Shit where did she go?" he said to himself. The lock warning he got a short time later answered his question.
"Goodbye," and she fired a heat seeker. Splashing him.
The remaining two bandits tried to run,, but Redwing got one before he could gun it out of there, and Helia chased the other down.
"OK now let's get out of here," announced Sunset. And they headed back for the deck and resumed course for the Crystal Empire.
As they got close to the border, they picked up a formation of aircraft ahead of them.
"Five bogies at angels 15," Helia announced.
"It's safe to say they're probably bandits," replied Alvinar.
"Their flight profile would suggest bombers or transports," commented Redwing.
"What do you think Blaze?" asked Serana.
"I think we should go say hi to them. It's not that far off the track," she replied. So they made a small course change and headed for them.
It didn't take long for them to start gaining on the group of planes.
"Stay low until we're three miles from them then quick climb. Use heat seekers," announced Sunset. Soon the planes were within sight.
"Visual contact. Start climbing," the yellow unicorn announced, and they punched their throttles and headed up.
"They look like IL-86's," commented Alvinar.
"And they're definitely dark gray and blue," added Rover.
"I'll take the leader. The rest of you pair up and each fire one missile at one plane," replied Sunset. She locked her Archers on the lead tanker, and the rest locked onto the others.
"FOX TWO!"
Ten missiles shot from the planes in salvos of five. The tanker pilots tried to drop flares but it was too late, and all five went down in a blaze of fuel.
"Yeah fire fire!" yelled Nightglider.
"Nice little bonus," Rover said.
"Okay we just entered the Empire so head back down and turn left," replied Sunset. And they headed for home.
"So why were they flying that many tankers in a formation?" Spot asked.
"Not sure. They might have been transferring them to a Crystal Empire base they took over," replied Sunset.
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Hangar 2
Gryphus AFB
18:30 hours.
The group had gathered for the mission debriefing.
"Welcome back," Harpy said as the two mares walked in.
"We've looked over the recon and intel of the factory and congrats. You left three more craters there," Candymare announced.
"You should have seen those explosions. One shook us from three miles away," Nightglider said.
"We also came across a bonus target of five tanker planes that were heading into the Empire," added Redwing.
"Oh great. There was a couple of reports of five aircraft being going down at the border, but they didn't say how," replied the green unicorn.
"They were probably heading for Gracemareia. That'll be a blow to them," added Candymare.
"Really they should give you bonuses for doing stuff outside of the missions. We'll talk to the powers to be about it," Announced Harpy, which got some surprised looks from the group.
"Oh thanks!," replied Sunset.
After going over a couple more things the debriefing was complete, and the mares left.
"I probably shouldn't say this, but I hope the war doesn't end soon," Fido said.
"Yeah don't say that," replied Serana. "Just hope they load us with missions.
"This is unprecedented for mercenary work," commented Redwing. "We definitely have to keep tight lipped about this now not only because of the nature of the missions, but because if word about the pay got out every merc' in the country and outside of it would be wanting to join us."
"Excellent point," replied Sunset.
"At this rate I'll be able to get a better plane in no time," Spot said, wagging his tail.
"Well let's get home and rest up for tomorrow," Sunset said.
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Chrysalis's Castle
Tantari, Changeling Kingdom
17:38 hours.
Her cabinet had gathered in her chambers for the nightly briefing.
"There's an unusual situation going on in the Western part of our country," the leader of the Changeling intelligence agency announced.
"And what would that be?" asked Chrysalis.
"As you know, we had a mercenary by the name of Sunset Shimmer turn on our forces during the invasion, and vowed to attack us from now on. Yesterday and today there were attacks on facilities in the area of Dunlap."
"WHAT?" The Changeling queen said with a shocked look.
"Yesterday a supply convoy was strafed and bombed near the Empire border, and today our ammunition factory near Dunlap was bombed. It's a complete loss. Plus a flight of tankers that was going to refuel the Aigaion was shot down. We lost close to 20 fighters also," replied the Changeling.
"Was the Aigaion able to refuel?" a general asked.
"Yes. We pulled every available tanker flying and sent them over to it," he replied.
"So where did these planes come from, and who's are they? We have the Empire's bottled up, Equestria can't do it, and we control the airspace in the Eastern part of the country,"snapped Chrysalis.
"They flew under our radars to their strike points, then ducked back down under radar. It did appear they made an egress towards the Empire. The Aigaion might have picked them up the second time, but they had the radar at low power in preparation for the refueling so they saw nothing."
"What rotten luck," growled the queen.
"As for who it is: It definitely has to be mercenaries hired by the Crystal Empire, and we're pretty sure Sunset is leading them," he replied.
Chrysalis thought to herself for a moment.
"Increase patrols and anti aircraft in that part of the country, and try to dig up info on this operation from our spies," she said.
"Consider it done my queen."
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Main Hospital
Gracemareia
Crystal Empire
June 2 2023
14: 21 hours.
Sunset had returned to Gracemareia to spend more time with Nightshade. The two of them would trade war stories until visiting hours were over.
"Ugh the Aigaion. I'm glad I helped swat that thing out of the sky," Nightshade said. "You're lucky their radar was down. If they had picked you up a couple of their burst missiles would've taken you out just like that."
"I know. When we found out about it it put a little fear into us," replied Sunset. "So how much longer before you can finally get out of here?"
"Two days from now. I've got a house near the air base now, and since they've cleared me to limp around, I can get you into the base to see my plane," she replied.
"Sweet," replied Sunset. "So I might meet the Ace of Spades while there?"
Nightshade looked behind Sunset.
"Doesn't look like you'll have to wait that long."
Sunset turned to see Maverick standing at the doorway.
"Oh."
"Did I interrupt you two?" Maverick asked.
"Nah we were just trading war stories. There he is Sunset," nightshade said, making her blush a bit.
"Hey you're the mercenary that did some dirty work for us and saved the ponies at her village. There's been a lot of talk around the air force about your group. On behalf of the Crystal Empire Air Force; nice work. Sounds like you have a good team."
"Oh, thanks," she replied. "Are we that well known?"
"Oh yeah. Especially you. There's a lot of other ponies that would like to meet you sometime," he said. sunset was shocked.
"Well I'll talk it over with the others when I get back. See if they want to," she said.
"Now what about trading war stories?" Maverick asked Nightshade.
"I was telling one of ours and she was telling me one of theirs," she replied.
"I've got a little time. Deal me in," he said.
"Oh uh, okay," Sunset replied.