//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14 
// Story: Ace combat: Shattered Rainbows 
// by Brotato 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 14


Rainbow's and Lightning's jet had been lazily flying across Equestria, enjoying the view of the towns and cities who celebrated their victory. Every settlement they flew over they would lower their speed and waved down at anypony looking up, doing so by tilting their planes left and right. They just passed over Trottingham AFB when they were being hailed over their headset. Cheering could be heard in the background as the pony tried to talk over the noise.

"Hey Rainbow, hey lightning! we received word you would be flying over. I got a request that anyone not having plans to meet in the briefing room. Wondering if you could join after your patrol?"

Lightning let out a groan as he recognized that voice. "No can do Dusk Shine. Already on orders by Princess Celestia and need to head back to Canterlot." Plus I really don't want to meet you right now.

Dusk always had a grudge with him after that cake slice he stole so long ago. Lightning wasn't sure if he still held it, but he rather not deal with the awkwardness about such a silly grudge.

"Mission?" Even from all the noise in the background his laugh was heard clearly. "No way, we're having a party in there." He paused for a moment. "Look, I'm sorry about that silly grudge I've had for so long about the cake you took. I was a foal about it. I hope there's no hard feelings."
Lightning could sense in his tone he was smiling again. "Plus, I was going to ask if pumpkin pie is alright for a dessert? Don't worry, no cake this time." He chuckled a bit at his small joke.

Letting out his own chuckle, Lightning shook his head with a smile on his face. "He doesn't sound like such a bad pony after all, Lightning mused. "I'll take you up on that invitation, Dusk. Maybe I can convince Rainbow to join me."

"You hear that everypony? We just got two pilots from Rainbow Squadron to join in!" The cheering erupted, but was cut off shortly with a flick of Lightning's hoof.

"Glad I got a say in it," grumbled Rainbow.

"Don't be sad, Rainbow." Lightning comforted. "Pumpkin Pie is delicious!"




They continued the flight across their homeland. It was quiet between the both of them, just soaking in the magnificent view from so high in the sky. Technically the war was still going on, but from their view it was clear that no attacks were going to come. When the sun was half-way to its peak did they finally begin their patrol back to Canterlot.

"Been awhile since I've just flown a jet just for the fun of it." Lightning said.

"Or flown with just your wings," Rainbow point out. "You can't believe how long I've waited to just fly carelessly across Equestria. Maybe I'll do another patrol, without the jet this time."

"That sounds like a good idea," he replied enthusiastically. Their conversation was cut short as they were hailed by Canterlot's control tower.

"This is Canterlot control tower, I see you both and you're cleared for landing. Welcome ba-" His instruction was interrupted by shouting behind him. Lightning couldn't understand a word, but it sounded urgent. "Rainboom One and Two we have five small blips showing on our radar, but don't appear to be too small for aircraft. They are due north-northwest, ten miles out and at an altitude of ten-thousand feet. Request that you check it out to be sure of an attack."

"Roger that tower. Checking it out," Rainbow groaned. "Come on Lightning, let's get this over with. Probably some pegasai fooling around."

They both shot up in the direction the tower gave them, coming upon Rainbow's long-time friends. Large puffy clouds dotted sparsely around them as they searched for the strange blips. The only thing they spotted was the land beneath them and the blue sky above them. As they reached half-way to their destination, they spotted five unknown objects in front.

"Those don't look like pegasai," Lightning pointed out. "In fact, I'd say those are..."

"Missiles!" Rainbow blurted out, finishing his sentence. She zoomed ahead of him to intercept the invading armaments. Lightning following close behind while taking little time to warn the control tower.

"Control tower, come in! this is Rainbow Two. We have five fairly large missiles heading straight for Canterlot! I say again. Those five blips are missiles!"

"Roger that Rainbow Two, control replied hastily, with a hint of panic in his voice. "We have more jets getting ready to take off. You are green to shoot down those missiles!"

Lightning half-heard his response, but got the obvious go ahead to shoot down the missiles. Getting behind one of them, he locked onto the heat signature and fired his own missile. "One down!" He saw Rainbow had already taken down two of them, leaving only two left. Moving on to another, he finished it off as well with another missile just as Rainbow used her gun to take out the last one.

"Good job, Lightning," Rainbow's breathing was heavy and Lightning felt his chest fluttering from the sudden rush. Their rest didn't last long as their headset speaker turned on.

"Rainboom one and two, I'm getting three more... no wait. Seven, ten, fifteen more missiles! They're ten miles out and closing. We are doing our best to send jets to assist, but you're on your own for now. Don't let any of them get past you!"

Lightning looked to the north and sure enough, black specks began appearing in the sky. "Rainbow, you work on the left side and work your way right, I'll do the opposite. Go!" He tilted his plane right and flew below the missile at the eastern fringe. As it passed by, he did a flip to get behind it. Rainbow didn't say a response, but followed the order as she was seen at the western edge, starting the process of taking the missiles out.

While the terrifying thought of Canterlot getting hit by the missiles made Lightning's heart race, the fact they were flying in a straight line made them easy to shoot down. Their destination was coming into view as they worked down to five more. Lightning and Rainbow continued to finished off another pair, leaving only three left as the altitude was going down to six-thousand feet. The capital was around five-thousand feet on the side of the mountain. At this point, both pilots were out of missiles and had to rely on their guns to shoot down the last three. Lightning silently cursed to whoever armed their planes with only eight missiles each, when they could have as many as twelve.

Rainbow shot down the one of her side, while Lightning took a bit longer lining his up. Eventually shooting down his,  leaving one left. They were dangerously close to Canterlot that if they fired their gun at the missile, they risked causing casualties. As he saw Rainbow take aim, his face went pale

"Are you crazy, Rainbow? We can't risk hurting somepony!"

"It's better than having the missile impact!" she shot back quickly. Without another word, she spurted out a short burst of bullets. They impacted the fins of the missiles and got it to start spinning uncontrollably. "Buck, that's not good!"

Lightning started to panic and at this point, anything seemed like a good plan if it meant keeping that missiles from hitting its target. He couldn't tell Rainbow his grim idea else she would get in the way. "Rainbow get out of the way, I have an idea!"

"Alright, but do it fast," she yelled while breaking away.

At this point he was so close above Canterlot he could see ponies staring at him, oblivious to what was about to happen if he didn't stop that missile. Time seemed to slow down as he flew lower than the missile, risking his jet to crash into the buildings below. Like how one would catch a egg and try not to break the shell, he slowly brought his plane up until the missile connected with his jet.

He cringed when it finally did. The resounding clash of metal on metal made his teeth jar and he repeatedly thanked the powers at be that kept the missile from landing on its trigger. Panicking, he was forced to increase his thrust and zoom above Canterlot, his plane low enough that it caused strong winds to knock ponies down. Looking frantically for the missile, he found it had bounced off his plane and spiraled back to the sky. Shortly after, it was shot down by Rainbow Dash when she passed over.

Slumping his shoulders and sighing in relief, he looked forward. His eyes went wide as he saw his jet was about to crash into Celestia's castle. Spreading his wings with the wingding controls, his jet tilted up and barely managed to keep himself from crashing into one of the tall glass windows. When he was safely above Canterlot and not risking to crash into the city, he leaned back in his chair. His mouth felt dry as he took in several rapid breaths to calm his fluttering heart. By Celestia, I hope I don't have to do that again.

"What the hay was that, Lightning!" Rainbow yelled over her headset. "You could've gotten yourself killed."

"We were too close to fire our guns and I couldn't allow anypony to get hurt, so I did the first thing that came to mind. I placed my plane between the city and the missile." Rainbow didn't respond and kept silent as they headed back to the airfield. They saw several other silver jets flying around Canterlot as they approached to land.

"Amazing job taking out those missiles you two! Thankfully I'm not seeing any more on radar, but we're not taking any chances. We have birds in the air and have more patrols going. You're done for today and cleared to land."

"Roger tower, Rainboom two coming in to land." Lightning couldn't help feel that Rainbow was going to have a word with him when they landed.




Celestia reared back in shock as a jet zipped by the window she was looking out after hearing several explosions outside. Black dots of smoke trailed from high in the sky and got closer to Canterlot. One of them was right above the city itself.
She had sent one of the guards outside the door after Goldwing mentioned about the superweapon and asked to prepare more patrols for an attack. She was surprised when the guard came back to report the missiles were already near Canterlot airspace. If her magic was still functioning fully, she would gladly flick the missiles away. Sadly, such a feat would require at least several more days of rest. While her body was mostly recovered from the ordeal, her magic would need more time.
The feeling of helplessness Celestia felt as the missiles got closer to her beloved city was terrifying, though she did her best to hide it. She had already warned about an attack and had to rely on any defenses her little ponies could muster. It was quite a surprise when she spotted two lone jets destroy every missile except one.
Her breath was held as the last missile began to tumble toward the city. Then went wide-eyed as one of the jets did something she thought was either completely crazy or amazingly brave. The jet went under the missile and bounced it against its plane.
"Was that the superweapon you were talking about, Goldwing?" She looked down at the gryphon who had joined her side after the jet flew by.

"Yes. I'm actually quite surprised your pilots managed to shoot down all of them. I"m glad they did too. It would've been a shame to destroy such a beautiful city."

A smile spread on Celestia's face that Goldwing was slowly starting to feel comfortable around her. However, it disappeared as she still felt the tension from the attack. "Where is operation kingdom located?"

"It's a fortress located far to the north," Goldwing replied quickly. "If you had a map of the known world I could point it out to you." Upon request and a glow of Celestia's horn, a cloth map popped into existence in front of them. With help from the alicorn to float it in front of Goldwing, she pointed with a talon at the location. "It's located here, on a long island near the polar bear's homeland."

The island was far away from any large land masses and would be the perfect spot for something secret to be built there. Celestia measured the distance to be about several hundreds of miles from Equestria and surrounded by the Bearing sea. "How big is it?"

"As big as the island itself actually" Goldwing said matter-of-factly. "It houses at least several hundreds of gryphons who operate the facility. If under attack it has AA and can launch aircraft to defend itself. To my sparse knowledge of the subject, its considered impenetrable."

Celestia had slightly worry on her face when she heard this. "Several hundreds? I thought the gryphon kingdoms offered peace and wished the war to end after hearing of your defeat."

"I haven't heard much about what has been happening after my... fall, The Gryphon Kingdom doesn't control it. It's the airbase of Feather Squadron and home to tons of scientists, thinkers, and inventors." Goldwing slowly shook her head with a sigh. "And under the watchful gaze of Professor Gilford."

"Its leadership is run by a scientist?" Celestia inquired with a eyebrow raise. "He must be quite the leader."

"More a tyrant then any scientist I've ever known, which is why he was one of my favorite gryphons to look up to if I wanted things done. He wasn't afraid to torture, kill, or terrorize whoever he wanted to get what he wanted. It scares me that I worked with him now that I'm normal. Although an excuse like that doesn't change anything."

Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder, causing her to look up. "You're right, the things you did were horrible." Goldwing flinced at hearing that. "However, its not too late for you to save innocents. If there's anything else you can tell me about Project Kingdom..."

After Celestia took her hoof off Goldwing's shoulder did she put a talon to her chin thoughtfully. Her eyes brightened as she thought of something. "I received word that a Feather Squadron pilot defected sometime after the raid on Stalliongrad's prison. She was stationed at Ponyville. Beforehand I had her settled at the island for a month before transferred to the Gryphon Kingdoms to help with attacks on Equestria. Her name is Gilda. If we could find her, she might know something about it."

"Have you not visited the island once?" Celestia questioned, making Goldwing shake her head.

"I was too busy keeping my kingdom in check. Gilford kept any information, other than what I already told you, close to himself."

Celestia could sense she was telling the truth, her body language and keeping eye contact solidified any suspicions. Wasn't Gilda the gryphon Rainbow Dash was friends with long ago? Their conversation was cut short as a knock came from the door. "Come in," she commanded gently.

The door opened and a guard entered through it. With a quick bow of his head he stated his business. "Princess, Rainbow Dash and Lightning Spark have returned from their patrol. They would like to speak with you. If you wish, they await in the throne room." He stood at attention to wait for Celestia's response.

"I will go see them," Celestia replied to the guard. "Goldwing, I would appreciate if you joined me. They need to hear what they had just prevented." Goldwing responded with a quick nod and they were escorted by the three guards back to the throne room.




Lightning Spark shrank back as Rainbow leaned forward, glaring at him. "You can't believe how lucky you are, Lightning. What if that missile wasn't a dud? You're always doing something stupid and risking your life. You could've-" She was cut short as Lightning pushed her back with both forehooves.

"I could've what? Died? There were innocents at stake if I didn't do something, Rainbow. It was a split second decision. How was I supposed to know the damn thing was a dud?" Lightning shot back. "I joined the air force to not let ponies die. Sure, I can't save everypony, but Luna help me I'm going to do my damnedest to try. If you got a problem with how I act, then maybe I shouldn't even be a part of your squadron anymore!" He snapped, quickly shutting his mouth as he realized he said something stupid.

Rainbow's mouth went ajar in surprise at his outburst. "Yeah? Well maybe I'll do just that!" Her eyes getting teary from a mixture of emotions. "From here on out, you're gone from Rainboom Squadron!" She pointed a hoof in a random direction for emphasis.

"Rainbow... I didn't mean to-"

"I don't want to hear it," Rainbow growled. "What would Mist say if you had gotten yourself killed? Do you think it's funny scaring her every time you risk your life like that? And before you say it, this is completely different from our previous missions. You stupidly put yourself in danger." Rainbow let out a sigh as Lightning just stared at her dumbly, not giving any other responses.
"You're making me do this out of spite, but I also don't want you to lose your future with Mist." Rainbow started to calm down, though her voice was still tinged with annoyance. "You're throwing away your relationship with her because of your actions. I'm sorry, but I can't allow that. You're dismissed, Lightning."

Lightning felt ashamed as he realized Rainbow had a very good point. All he had done to rescue Mist would've been for nothing if he threw his life away so easily. He tried to think of a silver lining to his actions, but the pilot side of him also disagreed. He was one of the best pilots Equestria had and he was going to sacrifice it over a dud missile. It wasn't like he knew it was a dud, but now that he did, it didn't make swallowing the facts any easier.
Without another word, Lightning unceremoniously took off his badge and tossed it casually to the marble floor. It clacked and bounced across, landing in front of Rainbow Dash as he spread his wings and left through the doors leading to the guest rooms. As soon as the door closed, one more opened behind Rainbow. She turned around to find Celestia and Goldwing entering. The Princess had a perplexed look on her face as she stared at Rainbow.

"Where is Lightning Spark?"