//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Ace Combat Equestria: Shattered Clouds 
// by Cpt Celti 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 2

I remember a time when our town was at peace with everyone and everything around it. There were no bombs dropping from the sky, and no Gryphnian fighters soaring over head, making sure the skies stay clean of anyone they deemed a threat.
There were times when I would look up and see those fighters doing air patrols, sometimes solo, other times in pairs. I don’t know why, but they fascinated me to no end. I would often sit in the town square, or just on the edge of town and watch them fly in a sort of delicate and lethal ballet.
It was only a few days after the bombs dropped, and the fires cleared that the bombers were followed by these fighters, and then they were followed by columns and columns of soldiers and tanks. It wasn’t too much longer that my little village had changed drastically. Our town marshal was removed from office, replaced by the lead MP officer. Soldiers were placed on streets instead of police officers and night watch. Our school was even adjusted, teaching new languages and history. Anything speaking bad about the Gryphnian Kingdom was burned and destroyed.
While I was living with my aunt, who mostly stayed home and complained and swore about the gryphons, I noticed that nopony was really walking the streets anymore as much as they used to. Before, the roads were bustling with ponies of the Empire. Whether it was just for a walk, buying groceries, or maybe even just going to work, there were always enough to pack the streets. That was all over now, as the ponies were replaced by soldiers, and the carriages were replaced by tanks and jeeps.
I still couldn’t believe that just yesterday, the fires were being put out, and our radios were picking up signals from the allied forces that there were mass retreats away from our own borders, and the Gryphons were invading in bulk. It was just a day or so afterwards that they had completely taken over my home town. I kept walking down the street, getting wary glances from the posted soldiers, but they kept their words to themselves, seeing me as a just a little colt who couldn’t hurt a fly.
I was too young to understand just how dire things really were for us, or how drastically my life would change because of all of this…




The tomcat secure in the hangar with the rest of the squad’s respective planes, Rhapsody and company headed back to the mess hall. Their race still held though, and they made their way quickly there, still in their flight gear. Unfortunately, the doors had been closed, and a note hung on the door that read “Closed for Special Meeting. All personnel may use the secondary mess hall for meals”. The five friends groaned and moved off to go about their business elsewhere. Sprig boasted that she would’ve won, but that was shoved aside as everyone went to their respective quarters.
Rhapsody and Ditzy Do headed down the hall, coming up to a vending machine they frequently used. “So how about that sortie? Think we did alright?” Ditzy asked.
Her sea green friend shrugged as she ran her hands along the front of the machine, feeling the cool surface of the soda machine. “We earned our ace wings a while back, Ditz,” she replied. Her tail flicked warily as she looked around the hall for anypony watching her. Finally, she clenched her fist and made a light punch against the front of the machine. There was a heavy whirring sound and a can of grape soda clattered into the collection tray, another clanking sound was followed by four bits falling into a tinier tray nearby. Rhapsody scooped them up, counting them with her thumb while they rested in her palm.
Ditzy frowned, but smirked after a moment. “That’s called stealing you know,” she murmured. Rhapsody smirked back and pushed the bits into the slot on the snack machine. She pressed the button for a particular snack, and then smacked the machine on the side. The first treat fell to the tray, followed by another of the same. She reached down and into the tray, plucking out the two blueberry and chocolate chip muffins. She tossed one to Ditzy, who caught it, albeit just barely.
“I prefer the term frugal,” Rhapsody replied, grinning. They made their way to their quarters, heading inside with their bounty and resting on their bunks. The sea green Lieutenant groaned and took a bite of her muffin before grabbing the book she had been reading for the past few weeks, Love of the Vine. Whilst she came across as a rough and ready fighter pilot and stern officer, Rhapsody enjoyed a well written romance now and then.
She checked her page and found where she left off. Clover was running as fast as his hooves could carry him, pushing his way through the crowd, excusing himself whenever he found a moment. She was here, he knew it. Grape Vine was almost on board the train to Las Pegasus. If he lost her here in Manehatten, he’d never seen the mare of his life again. How could have been so stupid and push her away like that.
That’s when he saw it, her familiar purple tail. “Grape Vine!” he called. “Grape V-“ he fell backwards suddenly after colliding with a massive earth pony stallion. Clover looked up, and his lips curled back into a snarl, his horn alighting.
“How ya doin’ Clove?” Double Barrel growled, ending it with a smile. Rhapsody grit her teeth. These two had been after Grape Vine’s heart for so long and they were finally going to go at it right here in the train station. Would Grape Vine see it and keep riding the train? Would she jump off and make them stop? Rhapsody’s eyes glued to the page-
Four sharp knocks echoed through the room. Rhapsody slammed her book shut, grunting a swear and walked to the door. Sprig was waiting on the other side. The mare decided to take advantage of her bite during their race to get pancakes and leaned on the doorframe. “’Sup, featherhead?”
Sprig narrowed her eyes and clicked her beak a little. “I got word from the Major. We’re going on an offensive tomorrow morning. Those bombers we took down came from Fisher Air Base a few hundred miles away.”
Rhapsody raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? That’s good news.”
“Not entirely,” Sprig added. Ditzy had moved up beside Rhapsody and listened in. “They’re expecting a large turn-out of enemy fighters. Probably a whole squadron’s worth. We’re being paired up with Captain Fluttershy for this one, so it’s bound to be a big attack.”
Ditzy grinned. “We’re finally on the offensive?”
Sprig shrugged, brushing a few feathers out of her face. “It wasn’t much work, but it was dangerous to gather the intelligence on it. One of our scouts was captured and… they…” Sprig covered her beak for a moment. “They tortured and fed him to their dogs.”
Rhapsody hissed violently and shook her head. Gryphons were vicious if not cruel to prisoners; everypony in the world knew that. They took prisoners only if there was decent profit or strategic value in it. They must not have seen this as one of those cases. “Why not today? We should go now before more enemies show up.”
“Major says the fighters need to be adjusted for ground attacks. You know how hard it is to fit air superiority fighters with bombs?”
The two mares in front of the hippogriff nodded their understanding. If every fighter needed to be retrofitted with ground attack munitions, it’d have to wait till tomorrow, but it’d be an early morning flight like today’s was. Of course, Rhapsody’s Tomcat had adjustable rails on the belly for standard unguided bombs, same with the Falcons. Whilst the Tomcat and their three Fighting Falcons could launch with bombs in just a few hours, it was a joint attack that was needed, and they’d have to wait until the rest of the squadron could be outfitted.
“I think we’re going to be in for a rough ride tomorrow morning,” Ditzy said after a moment of silence.
Sprig merely shrugged and started walking away. She waved her hand up for a half-hearted goodbye. “In the meantime, Major says we’re off duty, but don’t stray too far in case we’re needed.”
Rhapsody and Ditzy turned to each other. The latter mare grinned and her wings fluttered a little in the air, causing her to rise up a few inches. Rhapsody knew that look all too well. Whenever they had a few hours of off duty, they always got to go to Ditzy Do’s most favorite place in Canterlot, the one place she loved more than her work. A small little place in Canterlot, but to her, it was better than the very palace.
Home.
The two Lieutenants shared a moment of a staring contest, before the senior most nodded. Ditzy made a quick cheer and went to grab her wallet. She shoved it into her trouser pockets as Rhapsody grabbed her garrison cap and they headed out the door for the main gate. Showing their ID badges, they were allowed to exit and head into town. Ditzy looked almost giddy, being able to see her family again. They had been active duty on base for months, unable to leave the premises for fear of an imminent attack on the Equestrian capital.
Rhapsody wasn’t permitted to have that sort of luxury, as her family was way in Fillydelphia. She used to play the harp in the orchestra, under the conduction of Miss Octavia, but decided that it was about time she did something more for her country. Her little brother, Bolero, was a spritely little colt, who was almost on par with his older sister when it came to string instruments. She even caught him a couple times practicing with her prized harp, which she left to him in case something ever happened to her during the war.
Speaking of which, Rhapsody had to ask something to her friend and wingpony. “How are Dinky and Time Turner handling this?”
Ditzy’s face fell considerably, which made Rhapsody feel a little guilty that she had been so blunt with her question. But her face brightened back up as they walked down the street she lived on. It was a quiet little neighborhood. More than one military family lived here, so it was a closely knit community. Everypony looked after everypony else.  “Turner is almost always worried sick, but knows this is something I really want to do. Dinky… bless her heart she has no idea I could be gone at any second.”
“Well that puts pressure on me,” Rhapsody replied with a smirk. “I’m the pilot, so I need to make sure she has a mom to return.”
“You ever considered starting a family Rhapsody?” The question caught the sea green mare off guard, nearly making her stumble on her hooves. A hand reached back and scratched the back of her neck. The thought had crossed her mind more than once, but with her career, a family, let alone a coltfriend, would only slow her down. And like Ditzy said, at any second, one errant twitch of the wrist, banking left instead of right, pulling up not soon enough, and you were only a memory.
“Well-“ she started.
“Mommy!”
The two mares looked up the street. Dinky Do, the light purple unicorn foal of Ditzy Do, was running like her life depended on it and practically leapt into her mother’s arms. Ditzy’s wings flared outwards for balance, but managed to wrap her arms around her daughter to hold her steady. Rhapsody laughed at the heart warming scene just as Time Turner came outside of the house. He was grinning ear to ear, the brown stallion wearing that dorky tie he loved so much. Ditzy smiled back and jerked her head for Rhapsody to follow.
“C’mon in, I think he’s got tea.”



The missile shot of the Su-37’s wing rail, streaking out and blowing the AEGIS Tornado IDS to smithereens, turning it into a burning hulk that rocketed towards the desert sand. The pilot leered, smiling wide as it impacted the retreating column of Saddle Arabian soldiers, oblivious that a fiery wreck was hurtling towards them. This was almost too easy, more like target practice.
The King of Gryphnia had sent the Meteor squadron to Cider Valley to reinforce the lines around the capital to the point where it’d be suicide to try and punch through the lines. Massive, possibly whole battalions of tanks were sent to the valley to push back the Saddle Arabians and their AEGIS allies. Hundreds of bodies of Equestrians, Hippogriffs, Crystal Ponies, and the Saddle Arabians were strewn across the battlefield. The burning hulks of Leopard and Challenger tanks dotted the landscape around them.
Meteor six banked, surveying the scene. “Looks like they’ve had enough,” she called, pulling her visor up. “I say these dweebs are done for.”
“Maybe we should call command,” her wing gryphon called. “I think they wanted us to wipe them out.” 
Six shook her head. “I don’t think so eight.” She gave a quick fly over of a column of Leopard tanks speeding from the battlefield and noticed a few were carrying wounded troops on top of them. They looked up, terrified and holding their arms up, showing no weapons. They then returned to hauling their wounded comrades into APCs with red crosses on the top. Those same APCs then rocketed out of the battle zone once those AEGIS troops loaded up inside. “Nah, they’re leaving. They’ve had enough.”
“If you say so,” Eight replied. “Let’s head back to Glacier. I’m starved,”
Six grinned, her beak curling back far. “No arguments there. Race ya!” Her terminator’s engines roared as her afterburners kicked in and propelled her through the sky. Eight was close behind, he may have been good, and royalty good at that, but she was still better.
Yes, things were definitely going Gryphnia’s way.



“Wraith, you are clear for takeoff!”
Rhapsody gripped the control stick and pushed the throttle up. The F-14A lurched forward, the engines roaring as she and Ditzy, callsign Specter, were sent down the runway and into the cool September morning air of Equestria. Sprig and the others had already launched and were heading off towards the rendezvous point. Once Rhapsody had taken the lead position, their wing headed due southeast where they would meet up with Captain Fluttershy’s, or rather Jay One’s, group.
“Everypony armed?” Rhapsody called.
“Banshee here,” Sprig replied. “Armed and ready.”
“Phantom,” Amethyst said after, “Not used to being this heavy.”
“Well next time, don’t eat so many of the muffins in the mess hall,” Mythic teased.
“Let’s cut the chatter, if-if you don’t mind that is,” came Jay One’s voice over the radio. Rhapsody craned her head over to see her familiar F-15E Strike Eagle being followed by a pair of MiG-29s and a Tornado IDS. They all looked like they specialized in ground attacking, in spite of the shy Captain’s disposition. Rhapsody had to wonder why the yellow pegasus was a pilot. Probably was convinced to enlist by her friend in Spitfire’s squadron.
Wraith and her wing took up positions alongside the Captain’s fighters and they kept pace. “The target is fifty miles away, everypony arm yourselves, if… it’s not too early.” Rhapsody groaned to herself. Seriously, for a Captain of her own squadron, she needed to be a bit more assertive. But they did as instructed and soon, they were close. “There’s a substation nearby that channels power to the air base. If we destroy it, we can delay their chance for a counter attack. Does… anypony want to blow it up, b-besides me?”
The Tornado in the group began to dive to do just that, but Mythic propelled forward, angling his attack. “Careful Shade!” Rhapsody called.
“Who are you talking to?” he replied, sounding smug.
Rhapsody shook her head. “My point exactly.”
She watched the F-16C dart towards the ground. Suddenly, it banked up, a pair of bombs striking it on either side. They weren’t dead on hits, but it was enough to destroy the entire station. The explosion that resulted set a good portion of the crater it was settled in ablaze and sent bricks at least sixty feet into the air. Even though she didn’t appreciate the aggressive approach of her wing mate, she couldn’t argue the results at times.
“Good drop, Shade.”
“Sky Gazer here!” their AWACS suddenly called. “Fisher Air Base must’ve spotted you on radar. Six fighters closing in fast.”
Captain Fluttershy squeaked, which would’ve been considered adorable by Rhapsody had the situation been different, and called, “A-all wings engage!”
The fighters split off from each other. Rhapsody gripped the stick hard and flicked the cover off of her missile trigger and banked up to engage a MiG-21. The delta-winged fighter craned itself left and right, but the smaller fighter was no match against the more advanced jet of the AEGIS air force. “Wraith, fox two!” she called. The missile flew off the rail, striking the MiG right in the cockpit. “Scratch one!”
“I can’t shake him!” one of the MiG-29s of the other wing was turning hard, almost too hard, to try and get away. Mythic took up a chase position behind the lower class MiG-21 and chased him off. This succeeded and the enemy was promptly shot down by the grey pegasi’s cannons. It was then Rhapsody noticed Amethyst not responding. Her falcon was flying a simple straight line, right towards an enemy fighter that was screeching right for her.
Rhapsody pulled in front of Amethyst and fired a missile, striking the MiG-21 dead on. It went right by Amethyst, who still didn’t move. “Damnit, Phantom! Wake up!”
The fighter suddenly jerked, as if Amethyst had just woken from a nap. “S-sorry!”
Sprig banked after destroying one of her own. “This is ridiculous,” she yelled. “Are they even trying?”
“Can’t be, mate!” the Tornado pilot called, his hippogriff accent clear enough. “They’re too pesky to be a bunch of rookie pilots.” 
Mythic flew over the wreckage of the fourth enemy MiG kill. “I think I’m with Banshee on this one. They’re still engaging and we’ve taken down four so far- “
“Make that six!” Rhapsody called. Two explosions rang out almost simultaneously. She had been able to destroy two MiG’s with two missiles. “Oh man that’ll never happen again.” Mythic went silent for a few moments. “Shade? What is it?” His F-16C flew straight ahead, as if nothing was wrong – 
“The bombers are already taking off! This was a decoy!” He suddenly banked sharply to the north, his fighter shrieking as his engines took in more fuel to accommodate the increased speed. The rest of the fighters banked after him, throttling up to catch up with his. Rhapsody swore violently; seriously, how could they have been this stupid? Just as her Tomcat was catching up with Mythic was when the anti-air guns began firing.
Explosions of burst shells began pelting them from all sides. Rhapsody heard Fluttershy squeak sharply in terror, her Strike Eagle turning sharply to the left and right to avoid the enemy fire. The flak was intense, and the sea green mare managed to look down at catch sight of a few more fighters taking off.
To rendezvous with three bear bombers already in the air and heading west.
“All fighters, this is Wraith!” she cried. “Three bombers have taken off, heading east! Intercept before they reach the edge of the combat zone!” She then flicked the switch on her console. “Everypony else start dropping your payloads!”
Although the flak was thick, it was much lighter than AEGIS command had previously expected. Rhapsody and the rest of her wing were able to strafe the air field and damage enough of the buildings to render them useless. The Tornado pilot even went in close, dropping his bomblets load down the runway. The tiny explosions caused enough holes in the runway to prevent any more planes from taking off.
Even Fluttershy was able to do her own damage, as much as she hated it. Rhapsody could tell that even as the Captain dropped her cluster bomb, she was making noises that sounded like sobbing. She must’ve really hated this war, but why was she here if that was the case?  Her bomb detonated, sending bomblets and shards down onto a trio of bear bombers parked outside the hangars.
Mythic had peeled off, strafing the three bears that managed to get away. One of the MiG pilots from Fluttershy’s group went with him, and the two brought them to the ground. “Sky Gazer here!” AWACS called, “The bombers attempting to escape have been destroyed. Sanitize the airspace and destroy the rest of the parked bombers. Turn this base into a junkyard!” 
Rhapsody had no time to do such. She pulled into a steep climb, an F-5 on her tail. “He’s climbing fast, and picking up speed!” Ditzy called, craning her head back. A distant sound like humming was the preamble to a hail of gunfire shooting around the Tomcat. Rhapsody kept climbing, higher and higher. But still, the gryphon F-5 kept pace. They were small and thinly armored, but damn were they quick and nimble. However, they were not meant for extended, straight-up climbs like the tomcat.



The Tiger began sputtering, until finally it stalled. The pilot growled, shoving his throttle forward all the way. “C’mon you piece of-“ He kicked his clawed foot into the floor of the fighter, but this did as one would think: nothing. The fighter arched back, its turbines choked, and it tumbled to the ground nose first.
The gryphon managed to regain control, gripping the stick and pulling his throttle back, giving the engines just a little bit of sustenance to get them started. Slowly, they kicked back on, which gave him the power needed to get out of the dive and leveled out. He then turned back in time to see the Tomcat pulling out of its own dive and pull away. Though she was dropping bombs, he could turn around and – 



Steer right into the missiles of a Fighting Falcon.
“I got one!” Sprig cheered. Finally, with one more bomb dropped from Amethyst’s fighter, the last bomber at Fisher air Base was destroyed. The entire field was filled with the burning hulks of fighters and bombers alike, marking a victory for the AEGIS fighters. All bombers were destroyed, their escorts were taken out of commission, and the base facilities were in flames. Rhapsody could see the remaining gryphon personnel trying to put out the flames with buckets and what appeared to be garden hoses. The fire crews must’ve been hit too.
Unfortunately, their lone Tornado pilot was pelted by the AA guns perfectly. He had been in the middle of another bombing run when they hit him, and the hippogriff pilot couldn’t pull up in time. The bullets raked his engines just as a burst from another AA gun shattered his cockpit. He was dead before he hit the ground.
“Poor Cutter…” one of the MiG pilots murmured. “His wife’s gonna be heartbroken.”
“I’ll let her know,” the other MiG pilot replied, his accent marking a Saddle Arabian. "We went to school together."
“I’m sorry to hear about the fallen pilot, but the air base has been shut down. So he didn’t die in a pointless raid,” Sky Gazer said. “Those bombers were on their way to destroy a retreating group of AEGIS soldiers heading for a rendezvous point in southern Hibern at Windbreak Point. That’s the staging area for our offensive.”
“So command is really going to start making a push?” Mythic asked.
“Affirmative to that. And you all are being pushed to the front.”
Rhapsody clapped her hands together as a few cheers rang up. “Finally! You know how to bring out the good news Sky Gazer!”
“That’s what I’m here for,” Sky Gazer chuckled. “It won’t be for but a few weeks from now, though, so you’ll have some time to get ready for the air force’s offensive. For now, everypony RTB.” With that, the fighters formed up with Fluttershy leading the group back to Canterlot air base. A few days, and the war would truly begin. AEGIS would begin its offensive to retake lost territory. 



“Checkmate.”
Amethyst glared at the board and growled. “Rematch!”
Mythic shrugged and crossed a leg over the other. The lounge was quiet this time of night. Most of the base personnel calling it quits and heading for their quarters before light’s out. Of course, there were those that were night owls, like the late night fighter crews. Tonight, there was only Rhapsody, Mythic, Ditzy, Sprig, Amethyst, and three others; a unicorn playing a hippogriff in cards, and an earth pony playing the nearby piano.
“Does anypony know what our next assignment will be like?” Sprig asked as she sat down at their usual table. She set the cranberry-grape juice in front of Rhapsody, her favorite late night drink, and handed Ditzy a blueberry smoothie. Sprig sat down, crossing her legs as she sipped a cactus juice and rum. Rhapsody grimaced, wondering how in Celestia’s name she could drink that swill.
“No idea,” Mythic replied. “Sky Gazer said it was a few weeks from now, so I’m not worried. The radio said the Saddle Arabians made a huge push forward, lost a lot of troops, but gained a large amount of ground. They even captured a few Gryphon spies.” He turned back to the chess board and pushed his rook two spaces to the right. “Checkmate.” He looked back at the three others. “What I want to know is how bad the Crystal Empire is being hit.”
Amethyst hissed again and started resetting her pieces. “Rematch!”
Ditzy shook her head, looking to the north. Beyond was the battleground being waged on the soil of the crystal ponies, who were putting up a desperate fight to retake their home. They literally had no true air force left. The Crystal Princess had to draft subjects with flight experience into what was left of their air force, borrow planes from allies, and use them for defense. “Apparently they’re doing good enough. There’s been no word that the capital has fallen, and the princess is still broadcasting.”
“But how long will that last,” Rhapsody muttered, taking a sip.
Sprig scoffed. “Don’t be such a pessimist, Rhap. As long as their capital doesn’t fall, then they still have a fighting chance.”
“But without an air force – “ the pegasus mare started.
“But nothing Rhapsody,” Amethyst snapped. “We don’t go down without a fight. Crystal Heart or not, we still fight for what’s ours. We may have been gone for a thousand years, but we still know what it means to fight for what we have. Sombra disheartened us, but that didn’t mean we didn’t have the courage to face our national enemies.” She pushed her bishop three spaces up the board, where Mythic then placed his knight, taking her bishop. She then rammed her rook into it, taking his knight. “Haha!” she cheered.
Mythic slid his queen over, taking the rook. “Haha,” he replied, less enthusiastically. Amethyst stared at the board, before letting her head fall on the table. “If this offensive operation works, and we punch a deep enough hole, we can probably fly all the way to the Crystal Empire and retake the ground they lost.”
“And a few hundred miles is the border to Gryphnia,” Rhapsody added. She took another sip and looked towards the window where Ditzy looked mesmerized by Luna’s moon. “How much of a chance do we have?” Ditzy placed a calming hand on Rhapsody’s shoulder. The sea green mare looked at her friend, and then the rest of her squadron. They all locked eyes with each other. Rhapsody observed all their eyes, mentally cursing herself. It may have been the two battles in a row talking, but she was thinking a bit negatively.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered. Ditzy wrapped her arm fully around her friend, flexing her right wing to drape around her as well.
“Think nothing of it, Rhap,” Mythic replied calmly. He grabbed his coffee cup and held it up. “We’ll get through this, one way or another. And the gryphons will know that it’s a bad idea to play with ghosts.”
“But we’re not ghosts yet,” Ditzy responded cheerfully. Rhapsody smiled at her vigor. This mare could be fighting the legions of King Sombra himself, with only a toothpick and a cardboard box for weapons, and still be thinking of which muffin to eat first when she got back home. She raised up her glass of cranberry-grape juice.
“No better group I’d rather fly with,” she said.
“Here here,” Sprig replied.
“I second that,” Amethyst agreed. Mythic grunted a response, and once Ditzy had gathered up her smoothie cup, they clinked their drinks together. Time soon came for them to pack it in and head for their bunks, but not before the crystal mare grabbed Mythic’s arm and pointed at the board. “Your move,” she said coolly.
Mythic smirked, looking down at the board. He then reached down, moving his queen diagonally to the far end of the board. “Checkmate,” he murmured.
Amethyst’s face fell as she looked at the board. She had moved her pawns just right to leave him a b-line right for her king. She growled and spun away from him, muttering angrily to herself. Three moves and she’d been beaten! Mythic chuckled as she stomped out of the lounge, then turned his attention to the window. The smile on his muzzle fell a bit and he folded his arms. His tail flicked a bit and his wings rustled their feathers. 
In just mere days, their war would have to turn.
Something told him the turn would be a hazardous one.