Crystal Empire Air Force training area
West of Gracemareia, Crystal Empire
July 21 2023
15:27 hours.
The hills and mountains around the training area echoed with the sound of jets. Looking up at the sky revealed a large dogfight taking place.
"Confirmed kill on Garuda Three."
"Aw' really Sky Eye?"
"Yep. You're out Flare."
"I've got you now Ace of Spades! Revenge time!" Rover yelled.
"That's a negative," replied Maverick. He did a simple cobra, and caused the dog to overshoot. He then got on his tail and got tone.
"K-Dog is out," announced Sky Eye.
"Damn not again!"
Serana got behind Tornado and tried to get a lock.
"Not gonna' work," he said, hitting the brakes and performing a short loop to get behind her.
"Rats!" Serana tried to get away, but the S- Eagle was more maneuverable than the Mirage.
"Another one for me," he commented.
Meanwhile Sunset and Nightshade were finally getting a chance to face off.
"Hold still," Nightshade said as she tried to get tone.
"I was expecting you to be using your Flanker, not a Super Eagle!" cracked Sunset.
"That would've made it even. They wanted it to lean in our favor", replied the purple pegasus.
Sunset rolled over like she was going to dive. As soon as Nightshade did it she rolled back, hit the brakes, and rolled down again, causing her to overshoot.
"Shit!" Yelled Nightshade as a lock warning sounded.
"Gotcha' Venom," announced Sunset.
"Grrrrrr." Then she laughed a bit. "Yeah you did."
An hour later both Garuda and Wolfpack were back at Gracemareia AFB. Ice Crystal went over the results of the mock engagement in the situation room. Also present were a couple of military commanders and Shining Armor.
"And the results are in. The winner of the engagement is Garuda, but only by two kills," he announced.
"Not bad," replied Shining Armor.
"I'm glad you were secretly on our side during the war," commented Kiwi Tart.
"I can only imagine how much ass we would have kicked if we were flying together," added Black widow.
"Hey now I have a friend who's an ass, in two ways," cracked Helia, and everyone laughed.
Shining Armor looked over the results, and spoke again.
"Well after looking at the results and everything else, I'd say you qualify. So how would you like to work for us for training and combat situations? You can still hire out to other countries, unless of course they're fighting against us. You will be paid a monthly retainer 5 percent more than the average rate," he announced.
The group conversed briefly before Sunset spoke.
"We accept it," she replied.
"Alright then. Welcome to the team..."
"ASSHOLES!" cracked Tornado at the end of Shining's sentence, again causing some laughs.
"And that concludes the meeting. Feel free to go out and get smashed," Shining announced.
"Hell yeah!" cracked Nightglider. And the groups left.
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Crystal Bar and Grill
Gracemareia
20:10 hours.
Wolfpack and Garuda had been joined by a few members of the Diamnondbacks, including Maverick's now other half Glory to trade war stories and events.
"...yeah so here's laser beams seemingly coming out of thin air, and Spade tells us to get out of there. Like we needed to be told that," Heart Throb said, getting a few laughs.
"That is amazing the princess allowed a wedding like that," Sunset said to Maverick.
"It surprised me too. Along with what Nightshade showed up in," he replied, smirking at Nightshade.
"What did she show up in?" she asked.
"A gown."
"You don't have proof Spade," replied Nightshade.
"I do!" replied Surprise as she pulled a picture out of her saddle bag.
"Don't you dare!" She got up and tried to grab it, but Glory took it with her magic and put it in front of Sunset.
"Ho-ly shit, she replied. I'm remembering that!"
"GRRRRRRRR." Nightshade sat back down.
"Oh wow I want a version of that gown," commented Serana.
"You can have it. That fashion unicorn in Ponyville is holding onto it," replied Nightshade.
"So when did you finally meet your match?" asked Glory.
The second to last mission we did," replied Sunset. "Going against fellow mercenaries is something no one wants to do, but it happens."
"Well let's hear the details!" replied Stormy.
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Chrysalis's palace
Changeling Kingdom
May 21 2023
13:20 hours.
Sombra was holding a meeting with someone in his chambers.
"So that's it. We want you to be on alert status at Midoro, and when we get reports of that mercenary group, go to them and take them out. If your group happens to lose a plane or two we've got plenty for replacements."
"That's not going to happen, but thanks for the offer. I know a little bit about Sunset, and will be glad to send her to the ground along with her rag tag group," replied a pale purple unicorn.
"Oh yeah. We'll give a bonus if you kill her because we have her marked for death for her betrayal of us," added Sombra.
"Consider it done."
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Hangar 2
Gryphus AFB
May 22 2023
07:00 hours.
The group had once again assembled for the day's mission briefing by Harpy and Candymare. Harpy spoke first.
"OK this one is a little different. Instead of ground targets, you will be focusing on air ones.The allied forces are ready to take back Cantlin, which is the final step before the re-taking of Gracemareia. The Changelings will be throwing every aircraft they have available at them to try and prevent this. So to ease the burden on the allied forces, you will fly into the now radar less area of their kingdom to intercept as many aircraft heading for the empire as you can."
"Sweet! Time to rack up some kills!" yelled Shadow.
"Aw' yeah. Double ace here I come!," added Rover. Candymare then spoke.
"You will orbit at low altitude at this location until targets come within range. To aid you we've secured clearance with the Griffon Empire to operate an AWACS along the border. Their callsign will be Sentry Two."
"Nice. That will be a huge help," replied Redwing.
"Let's do it. I'm ready," Sunset said.
----------------------
South of Dunlap
Changeling Kingdom
11:01 hours.
With the radars down, the group was able to orbit inside the Changeling airspace while waiting for the to go signal.
"Pretty quiet so far," Alvinar said.
"It's nice to have a larger set of eyes watching over us," added Helia.
"How's the engine Spot?" Redwing asked.
"It's good so far. Hope it stays that way," he replied.
Then the AWACS came on.
"Sentry Two to all planes: Operation has started so be on alert."
"Roger Sentry," replied Sunset.
"Understood Carrot Head," replied Shadow.
"It's Carrot Top! Wait who is this?" The others giggled a bit.
"Nobody," he replied.
"Shadow is that you?" Sentry Two asked.
"Aaaw you remembered me," he cracked.
"Mother of Luna. What's the odds?" she replied sarcastically.
"You know her?" Sunset asked.
"Everyone in the NLR Air Force knew her," he replied. "A member of Lunar squadron loved to give her hell, and often called her that. Others started calling her that too."
"And I still get called that! Including by former Solar Empire pilots!" And everyone laughed.
17 minutes later she came back on.
"Sentry Two to Wolfpack: : 16 bandits approaching from the East. 80 miles out at Angels 15. Flight profile suggests bombers escorted by fighters."
"Roger Sentry. Let's get em' pack!" replied Sunset. And they headed for the intercept.
"Are your big ones within range yet Helia?" Sunset asked, referring to her six Phoenix missiles.
"Yep. I can only target the front planes though," she replied.
"Go ahead and use them."
"You've got it." Helia locked up the six lead planes and fired them one after another.
"They're scattering so we alerted them," announced Redwing. Despite attempts to evade, five missiles found their targets. The 6th dodged it with chaff, but the missile hit one of the bombers instead.
"Nice one! Let's finish it!" yelled Sunset. The group fired more missiles, taking down four more fighters at long range, leaving three fighters and three bombers.
"Piece of cake," commented Fido.
Redwing, Serana, Shadow, and Sunset engaged the remaining fighters, while the rest of the group pounced on the bombers. Alvinar and Spot dived on one of the Tu-22's and raked it with cannon fire, sending it down.
Fido came up behind the 2nd bomber, but was soon dodging fire from the Backfire's defense guns, so he backed off and fired an Adder, sending it down.
Meanwhile Serana was on the tail of one of the MiG-29's when it pulled a cobra and got behind her. Shadow was waiting though and took him out before he could even get a lock.
"Glad you were there," she said.
Nightglider got the last bomber, while Sunset and Redwing got the last two fighters.
"Sentry Two to all planes: Scope is clear for now."
"That was easy," Rover said.
"Yeah let's see some more!," added Alvinar. It wasn't long before they got their wish.
"Sentry Two to all planes: Eight more bandits approaching from the East at angels nine. Definitely fighters."
"We're on em'" replied Sunset. and the group formed up and headed for them.
"So do we do a long range attack again or go for close range?" Serana asked.
"We're a bit low on radar guideds after that last engagement, so fire a couple of long range missiles to break them up, then we'll go close in," replied Sunset.
15 minutes later they were within range, and Sunset and Shadow each fire one missile. As expected the bandits split up to dodge them, but then got back together and fired their own salvo.
"EVADE!" yelled Sunset. The group barely managed to dodge it.
"Something tells me these aren't noobs," Rover said. Just then they got fired on again, and were forced to break apart for the second time. Soon the formation of bandits blew by them.
"Those aren't Changelings! Those are the Knights!" yelled Helia.
"Wait who?" Spot asked.
"One of the top mercenary groups around. They're only known by the colors on their wing tips. Their leader is the Black Knight", replied Redwing.
"That's Miss Black Knight to you," said a voice over the radio.
"Oh great. And they know or frequency," Nightglider said in a disgusted voice.
"I've been hearing a lot about your little rag tag group you've assembled Sunset. Also heard how you let your feelings impair you're judgement, and are now marked for death because of it," Black Knight said.
"Impair judgement? she prevented the death of innocent civilians!" yelled Helia.
"QUIET! I wasn't talking to you!" snapped the unicorn. "A true mercenary doesn't let their conscience interfere with their job."
"You heartless bitch!" yelled Serana.
"I've heard enough of your shit Starlight! If you think you can take us try it! The two of us are going one on one though!" snapped Sunset.
"Ooooh calling me by my real name, how edgey. Fine by me because it means I get the bounty on your head," she replied. "Knights engage!"
"Even though there's more of us those MiG-35's and her Typhoon aren't going to be easy, especially for those of you with weaker planes, so get ready for a tough fight," Sunset announced.
"Lovely," replied Spot.
Redwing got on the tail of Blue Knight, but with a simple move blue got behind him instead, forcing him to go defensive. The scenario happened again and again with the group.
"Your number's up Blaze," Starlight said as she got tone on her.
"Sorry it isn't," she replied, performing a cobra and rolling downward to escape her.
"Not bad. You're just delaying the the inevitable though," she replied.
Shadow and Nightglider did their best to stay behind two of them, but they couldn't get a lock. Shadow fired a burst from his cannon but it missed. It did succeed in breaking the two Knights apart.
Alvinar was on the tail of Red Knight when one of those dived on him.
"Get him off me!" he yelled.
"I'm on him, replied Fido. Before he could do anything though the Knight fired his cannon, shredding the tail of Alvinar's Harrier.
"I'm hit! I've lost my tail control!"
"Bail out!," yelled Serana.
"I'm gonna try setting it down," he replied.
"Cocksucker!" growled Fido, opening up with his cannon and hitting the MiG in it's right engine, setting it on fire.
"this is Red Knight I'm hit."
"How bad?" Starlight asked.
"I've gotta' return. I'm down an engine and losing fuel," he replied.
"Roger go ahead," she replied.
"One's bugging out," shadow announced.
"Has anyone seen Alvinar?" Sunset asked.
"Haven't seen any smoke so he must have set it down," replied Serana.
"All planes switch to winchester," Sunset announced. And everyone changed their radio frequencies.
"What do we do?" Spot asked.
"If one get's on your tail, try to lure them in front of someone else. It may be our only shot," replied Blaze.
It worked when Serana got one on her tail, and she led her in front of Shadow, who had one on his. He managed to get a lock and fire a Sidewinder, then dodge a missile from the other MiG, bringing him down.
"Blue Knight is down!"
"Shit! Double time it everyone!" yelled Starlight.
Meanwhile Spot had picked up a tail and was trying his best to lose it.
"Lead him my way Rot," Helia said. He pushed his throttle forward and banked right, breaking the sound barrier. Suddenly his engine began sputtering.
"Oh not now!" he exclaimed.
"What's wrong?" asked Sunset.
"My engine's sputtering again. I'm losing power!"
"Get out of there!" she replied. He tried to evade but his plane's handling was getting worse.
"You're gone," Gray Knight said as he fired an Adder.
"SPOT!"
The rear of his plane exploded.
"DAMMIT!" screamed Rover.
"Did he get out? Anyone see a chute?" yelled Sunset with panic in her voice.
"I see a chute, he got out!" replied Nightglider.
"Told you it would only be a matter of time," commented Starlight.
"We'll see about that bitch," snarled Sunset, who was behind her again.
Now Nightglider was trying to dodge one. He dived for the deck, hoping to cause the MiG to hit the ground. The mercenary caught on though and slowed enough to pull out of the dive and get tone.
"Dammit," he said. Suddenly the MiG broke off, and shortly afterwards exploded.
"What the..."
"Black Knight, Silver just got taken out by a SAM!"
"What? That's impossible the Changelings wouldn't shoot at us!" she replied.
"What's going on?" Redwing said over the radio.
"It's me. Go to winchester."
"Alvinar!" relied Sunset. And they changed back to their alternate frequency.
"Are you alright Cobra?" Serana asked.
"Yes. I've turned my Harrier into an impromptu SAM site. Lure them past the large pond we keep passing over."
"Roger. You heard him pack," announced Sunset.
Shadow rolled and dived for the pond, bringing Cyan Knight with him. Alvinar got a lock and fired, but Cyan managed to dodge the missile.
"Where are those damn SAMs coming from?" he said.
"It can't be a SAM. It's gotta' be one of them," replied Starlight.
"But there's nothing on radar!"
"Then use your eyes for fucks sake!" she growled.
Helia led Gold Knight past the pond, and before he knew what happened Alvinar got tone and fired, blowing him out of the sky.
While that was going on, Sunset was again behind Starlight, but not for long as she hit the brakes and pulled a snap roll to get behind her again.
"Grrrrrrr."
"Give it up. You can't beat me," Starlight said arrogantly.
"I never give up," replied Sunset as she turned and dived for the pond.
"Oh that's an impressive move. Not," Black Knight replied as she gave chase.
"Gold Knight is down!"
"WHAT? What is going on with all of you?" she snapped. Then she got a lock warning from Alvinar.
"Damn." She broke right and dropped chaff, losing the missile. Suddenly she saw Fido off to her left.
"You're gone." Seeing an easy kill she went for him, got tone, and fired a Meteor. He dropped chaff and dodged it though.
"Rats. Now where are you Sunset?"
"Behind you bitch."
She looked behind to see the yellow Flanker on her tail.
"Dammit!" She turned, but Blaze had already fired her gun, and cannon rounds hit her right engine, forcing her to shut it down.
"Leader you're hit! What do we do?" one of the remaining Knights asked. Starlight growled.
"Retreat." She switched back to Wolfpack's channel.
"This isn't over Sunset," she snarled as they retreated.
"Anytime you want," replied Sunset.
"Sentry Two to Wolfpack: Bandits are bugging out. Picking up 20 more 130 miles out at angels 12 closing fast."
"We can't handle that many!" yelled Fido.
"Sentry have you located Spot's beacon?" asked Sunset.
"Yes he's not far from...." Sentry was cut off.
"He's coming towards me right now," announced Alvinar, who had set his harrier down in a small field. Spot ran up to him.
"How are we going to get out of here?" Spot asked him.
"I can still maneuver this plane in vertical mode, so get up here, hold onto the canopy edge for your life, and let's get out of here," replied Alvinar.
"That sounds dangerous."
"Or would you like the Changelings to get you?."
"No," Spot replied weakly. He jumped up and held onto the canopy edge, and the Harrier lifted off and slowly begin heading South.
"We're on the move Blaze. What now?"
"We won't make it to the canyons. We have to head straight into the Empire," she replied.
"That will expose where we came from though," commented Helia.
"We don't have a choice, especially with Alvinar the way he is," replied Sunset. "Stay as low as you can Cobra." So as he limped his Harrier home, the others circled him.
"Bandits are 87 miles out. 17 miles to the border," announced Sky Eye.
Alvinar had to jink his plane left and right to get around some obstacles due to not having a rudder, while others required throttling up and down.
"I feel like I'm in one of those old top down view video games," cracked Spot. "It's getting hard to hold on."
"If we can even get a half mile inside the border we can land. Just do your best. If you can't you may have to sit on my back," he replied.
"Sentry Two to all planes: Bandits are 59 miles out and closing. You're eight miles from the border."
"Dammit they're going to be well within missile range before we get there," Redwing said.
"Alvinar can you speed it up a little?" Sunset asked.
"I'll try," he replied. He rotated the exhaust up a bit, but he was still only making about 90 knots. He had to climb higher though because he didn't have as much time to dodge obstacles, which would make him visible to the approaching bandits.
Soon the bandits were within missile range.
"They're getting tone!" yelled Shadow.
"We've got one shot. On my mark split S, get tone, and fire. Then turn back," replied Sunset. The group got ready.
"3-2-1- NOW!"
They reversed their course and headed for the bandits, getting tone just as the Changelings launched missiles at them. They split S again and gunned it, dropping chaff along the way. It worked as the bandits had to break away to dodge the missiles. Serana and Shadow even managed to hit a couple. They managed to lose all of the Changeling missiles.
"Sentry Two to all planes: You've crossed the border."
Sunset let out a sigh of relief. "Are you two going to make it back?" she asked Alvinar.
"I think we'll be fine. If not we'll just find a highway and call a tow truck," the griffon cracked.
"Thanks for the support, Carrot Head," Sunset said.
"Ngggh. You're welcome," she replied.
----------------------
Hangar 2
Gryphus AFB
17:10 hours.
The group was chatting as they waited for Harpy and Candymare to show up. Soon Alvinar walked in.
"So what's Jaffa's verdict on your Harrier?" Redwing asked.
"The earliest he can have it repaired is evening tomorrow," he replied. "How about you Spot? What did Harpy say?"
"She said they'd come up with something," he replied.
The two mares showed up and began the debriefing.
"Well you had a rough one this time," opened Candymane. "First we'll take care of that. What's the status of your plane Alvinar?"
"He'll have it fixed by evening tomorrow," he replied.
"OK we'll cover the bill for you," she replied. "Now Spot was there any certain plane you were saving for?"
"Not really. Just something better than that Fishbed, but around the same size. I had my eyes on a Kfir and an F-5, but I don't have enough yet," he replied.
"How much do you have?" asked Harpy.
"A little over 31,000 bits right now," he replied. The two mares talked between each other briefly before Candymane spoke again.
"We'll take care of it. I'll give you an account number to wire the bits to, an we should be able to get it here tomorrow also," she replied.
Harpy then started the debriefing.
"As for your mission: You did pretty good until those mercenaries appeared. That first wave of planes you shot down hampered the Changeling's efforts to stop the assault quite a bit. Unfortunately as of now, all military operations have been suspended."
"WHAT?" The group couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"Why?" asked Sunset.
"Because the Changelings have threatened to use chemical weapons on Gracemareia should the attacks continue. We've confirmed they have some." The hangar fell silent.
"Those, worthless, pieces of SHIT!" yelled Sunset, throwing her cider bottle against the wall and smashing it, which made the two mares jump. The group was disgusted.
"That is a direct violation of the Gryphus convention! Even just threatening the use of them!" yelled Serana.
"So which of those two maggots gave the order?" Helia asked.
"We don't know. We're trying to find out," replied Candymare.
"I can't see Chrysalis doing it. Her mother's signature is on the treaty and she completely respected her. She knows the ramifications of violating it like that," commented Redwing. Sunset looked like she was going to burst into flames.
"If you do a mission to take care of the problem we want to be a part of it," replied Sunset. Everyone agreed immediately.
"We'll definitely have you in mind if we do," replied Harpy. and the mares left.
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Crystal Bar and Grill
Gracemareia, Crystal Empire
20:11 hours.
"And that's how we finally got knocked down a peg," Sunset said to the others.
"Wow. That Starlight sounds pretty cold hearted," commented Glory.
"Plus she has a knack of not following orders, which is why she got booted out of the NLR Air force," added Shadow.
"Whoa. Did you know about her Maverick? Nightshade asked.
"Oh yeah," he replied. "She was the commander of the Snow Leopard Squadron during the big war, and she did it often, but they weren't serious violations so she got away with it, until she almost caused a blue on blue."
"Oh shit," replied Nightshade.
"What did she do?" Serana asked.
An army platoon was surrounded and getting closed in on by Legion of Discord forces near the border with the Griffon Empire, and her squadron was on CAP in the area. She was told not to try bombing them because of the close proximity to our troops, and the rest of the squadron backed off because all they had were clusters, but she did it anyway. It worked, but she almost took out the platoon also. Instant bounce."
"She'd be in prison if she did that in our country," commented Alvinar.
"She should've been thrown in prison, but our air force was so caught up in the war they just kicked her out, replied Maverick.
"So was she always cold hearted?" Fido asked.
"Yes. About the only emotion she ever showed was anger. and she holds grudges for a long time," he replied.
"Well that's good news for me. Guess I can expect to keep seeing her," Sunset said.
"So what was your last mission like?" Black Widow asked.
"Well if you want to hear it, we've got time," she replied. Everyone agreed.
"Well OK then."