//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13 
// Story: Ace Combat Equestria: Shattered Clouds 
// by Cpt Celti 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 13

"Found the bloody thing!" Sprig cried as she entered the showers.
The three mares turned and saw their hippogriff companion re-enter the shower. Rhapsody smirked and tilted her head, stretching out a wing so the flow of water could get right at the joint so she could work in the special soap she used for her feathers. Being gentle with the cloth, she asked, "Where was it?"
Sprig turned her respective nozzle back on and doused her face for a few moments, replying simply, "Was in the locker room on the floor. Few of the boys from Rapier got it for me."
"Wait they... saw you?" Amethyst murmured, partially trying to hide herself from her friends behind the shower column.
"Of course they didn't. I had a towel on," Sprig muttered. "I do have standards... but gave them a good tail flip for their trouble."
"You're such a tease," Rhapsody prodded, good-naturedly.
It had been going rather easy for the 14th Tactical since moving to a base captured a few days ago in the northern Minotaur Principality. Having been liberated by the Royal Canterlot Dragoon armored forces, the Minotaur were more than happy to provide lodging for their great rescuers. Though they still spoke on how they were getting ready to start their offensive on the Gryphons in a matter of weeks; the Minotaur were known for their bombastic declarations and often went to great lengths to display and maintain their strength.
Rhapsody and the rest of Ghost Wing had been gaining a reputation as of late as fierce fighter pilots, but much of the praise was on the leader. She didn't know why, but the sea green pegasus mare was relayed several messages from battlefield commanders giving their sincerest thanks to the "Tomcat pilot with the Ghost insignia". It made her blush a little, but Rhapsody for the most part just returned the gratitude with a "you're welcome" and got on with life. Sometimes fame just wasn't good for people.
And Rhapsody didn't like attention focused on her.
A sponge suddenly was whipped at her head, making her wince in surprise. "Quit zoning out, mate. You'll use all the hot water again." 
Sprig turned out to be the culprit, and earned a good splash of water Rhapsody accumulated on her wing before flinging it at the hippogriff. She squawked and did the same. They shared a few splashes before a pair of sponges were thrown at them both, making them both shout in surprise. Turning, they spotted Ditzy and Amethyst staring back at them, wide-eyed. With a quick glance at each other, they pointed fingers. "She did it!" they cried in unison. 
Rhapsody and Sprig shared a gaze and grinned, giving a subtle nod before they pounced.


"No kidding?"
Soarin nodded at Mythic. "The whole damn thing! I swear, those pies were the best."
The grey stallion stared incredulously at the sky blue stallion. "A whole pie. The whole thing, you enjoyed it, and you didn't try to take this mare to bed?"
Soarin shrugged. "I'm a pilot. She became a tank commander. Besides, after meeting Dash at the wedding, I found out who I really wanted to be with," the now Major Soarin replied.
Mythic shifted his towel over to the other shoulder, the soft cotton slapping his wing with a light smack. He chuckled to himself as they headed for the showers. It was the two stallions' first real time to bathe since taking the air base a couple weeks ago. Every other time had been a couple minutes in and out. This time, they can actually - 
"Hear that?" Soarin suddenly said.
Mythic pulled himself from his musings and stopped. They had just entered the bathing room. Inside were their lockers for their flight uniforms and helmets, as well as a number of first aid boxes. But the noises, something was going on. Soarin and Mythic took a look where it was coming from, quickly analyzing the situation. There was a fight going on. Needing no further instruction, the Major and the Lieutenant shoved open the door ready to - 
Flare their wings at the sight.
The four mares immediately ceased their actions, looking at the two newcomers. Rhapsody's rose eyes had bulged as she held Ditzy's arm in a light lock as she was pinned to the floor, straddling her waist, whilst the grey mare was reaching back with her arms tugging at Rhapsody's soaked mane. Sprig and Amethyst were in a similar position, except the crystal pony was blushing furiously to the point where her cheeks were darker than her namesake coat. The hippogriff had her quarry in a leg lock that was... much wider than it should have been. All four were soaked, with the shower water still spraying their bodies.
The six exchanged glances and silence rang as the two stallions stared. Their wings were outstretched almost painfully as Sprig began to laugh. Rhapsody bit her lip, failing to stop herself. "It's exactly what it looks like," the sea-green mare announced.
"What!?" Ditzy cried.
Nothing else was said as the door slammed shut. 
Mythic and Soarin stared at the doorknob, their expressions blank. They had just seen... they had just - 
"I need a drink," Soarin announced, nonchalantly, already moving away from the door.
"I'll join you, sir."


Twilight looked over the maps once again. And once again, she ran a hand through her mane. She could swear it was getting greyer. "You're sure?" she asked her second.
Trixie nodded and tapped her finger on a few points. "This is the fastest route through, but the amount of power Gryphnia has in the area is unfathomable. It's... literally a fortress. They have a naval station, an air base just twenty miles away from a VTOL plateau. You can see here and here," she thrust her finger at a number of mountain spots, "They've hollowed out the plateaus to create hangars."
"What could they be housing? Or... should I even ask?" Twilight inquired.
Trixie stuck her tongue into her cheek. "Gunships, utility choppers, maybe even VTOL fighters. If we tried to move our forces through it, those aircraft would destroy us completely. We'd be set back for weeks."
"And we'll lose a huge number of troops we can't replace soon enough," Twilight added.
A yeoman entered with some tea, giving them some respite to their planning that, while Twilight was under the impression that even with Trixie's help would only take a couple hours, had begun to take up the better half of the day. Before them was a map a U-2 spy plane had managed to take pictures of. It depicted a large plateau, four major areas that were highlighted and circled as high value targets; a naval base, a resupply base, a VTOL airfield, and a standard air force base. All of which were armed and defended to the teeth.
They needed to formulate a plan to get through it, and armored forces would take too long. And the casualties would escalate too quickly. They could do it, with precise timing and even more precise execution, but in the end they would still be outmatched and outgunned while they tried to get troops to reinforce the positions.
But Trixie had a plan of her own.
"What about a full blown air assault," the powder blue unicorn mare asked. "A massive attack around, say... twenty strong. Send them in to soften up the opposition and then send in the army to mop up any further resistance."
Twilight nodded, but still held her frown. Trixie grimaced, but before she could say a word, Twilight confirmed her fears. "That was a plan I thought of, which is, despite how it sounds, our best course of action, but..." She then brought up a transparent map of the Equis continent, and then another slide with a large, red circle. Within the said circle, was the plateau, and the focal point of it was right in the middle of Gryphnia.
"Our biggest problem with that plan..."


"... Is the fact that Sky Breaker is in effective range of this plateau."
Murmurs of doubt and fear took hold of the two dozen pilots that had assembled in the room. In front of them was a map of the intended battlefield, however, there was a red, curved line going just beyond it to the west. This entire airspace was under the guard of Sky Breaker, the Gryphnia super weapon that had been tearing AEGIS air power to shreds.
Soarin and Rainbow Dash managed to get things under control though, and the cyan mare continued. "The thing is we know how to avoid it. It's dangerous, but Sky Breaker can be avoided by flying at two-thousand feet."
"That makes us vulnerable to small arms fire and anyone on the ground feeling bold enough to take us out," Shavul of Timberwolf protested.
"Not to mention enemy fighters since our maneuvering options will be limited," Rhapsody added.
Soarin shrugged heavily. "Look, this is our best and fastest option to carve a major path into Gryphnian held territories, and the brass is calling in a major air raid on this fortress. We can't try bombings, they're too dug in for that, and bombers move to slow to get away from Sky Breaker. And their fortified enough that we can't fly our troops over it and it'd take too long to go around."
"We could try going underneath them. Tunnel our way through like in that one mov-" Mythic stopped mid-sentence when all eyes suddenly turned to him. The grey pegasus stallion looked around and smiled good-humoredly and shrugged. "Just offering a suggestion."
Sprig huffed. "Not even going to tell you to shut up, mate."
"At any rate-" Soarin tried to continue.
"Hey that rhymes!"
"Shut up Mythic! We're going to be flying to this fortress and knocking out as many of their installations as we can. There're enough of you that you can individually target one area, but take time to flow to other areas that need assistance." Soarin switched off the projector and raised the screen while Dash flipped the lights back on. "And for Celestia's sake, do everything in your power to avoid Sky Breaker. Don't think they won't fire because they have aircraft up as well. Dismissed."


"Shame they cancelled the World Series game," the first gryphon said as he read the morning paper he managed to snatch from one of the grounds crew. Being squadron commander though allowed such sneaky tactics to go unpunished.
His wingman kicked the pinball machine as he lost another pair of bits to the damnable contraption, but he'd try again later. The hippogriffs may have been huge rivals to the Gryphons, but damn it if they didn't make an addictive game like pinball! "Can you blame them?" he asked. "War engulfing the whole continent, and the game was supposed to be held in Sahurma, which we control, do you think they want to play a game held in the grip of conflict?"
The first frowned, his beak clacking. "No I suppose not." He continued reading the sports section. It wasn't large. Ever since the war broke out, sports games, save for local teams competing, have since been cancelled. International games were on hold until the war was over, which made many a fan depressed, him included. And he'd been stationed in this blasted plateau for the better half of the year, barely having taken off on a sortie.
He flipped to the local defense pages and tilted his head. An F-14A Tomcat was pitched over, revealing a ghostly horse insignia on the tail as it was dropping bombs on a beach head... a beach head that was only a couple days from them. He leaned his head back and frowned deeply. "Take a look at this."
His wingman trudged over, losing another four bits to the blasted machine and looked over his flight lead's shoulder. "Hey, that looks like the ghost fighter that took down the Admiral's ship. Also one that, rumor has it, damaged a Meteor."
"Ghost fighter... seems appropriate, somehow."
The air raid siren blared. Both gryphons looked at each other and the newspaper was quickly thrown to the side as then bolted out the door and took flight to the airfield.


"AWACS Sky Gazer to all AEGIS aircraft. Be advised we are in Sky Breaker's effective range. Be careful, everypony, they may fire."
"Noted, Sky Gazer," Rhapsody replied as she locked her oxygen mask. "Ready Specter?"
Ditzy grinned behind her mask and rubbed her hands together. "Always, Wraith."
"Alright, orders are to split up and cause as much damage to the fortress structure as possible to lighten up resistance to our ground forces."
With nothing further to say, the attacking fighters split off. Rhapsody watched as three A-10s and a pair of F-15Cs broke to the left, possibly to assault the naval base and supply depot. To her right, two F-117s and four F/A-18s peeled in the direction of the airfield. She guessed that left ghost with the VTOL air base. All but Mythic were laden down with ground attack munitions, the grey stallion keeping his long-range anti-air missiles.
Coming over the VTOL base, she heard a gasp from the other side of the battlefield. "No wonder bombing raids wouldn't work. This place is a natural fortress!"
The lone Tomcat, her two Hornets, and single Typhoon banked and headed north by northeast to the plateau. There was oddly light resistance, only a pair of MiG-29s that Mythic took out from a distance. Going to full afterburner, Rhapsody and her friends soon made it to the designated area. But as she looked, there hardly even seemed to be any enemy structures, let alone aircraft.
"Shade here," Mythic called. "I don't see anything."
"Shade, they see you!" Amethyst cried.
Rhapsody watched and her eyes widened. An AV-8B Harrier was lifting off from a giant hole in the ground, it had locked onto Mythic and fired. Mythic yelped shrilly and banked to the right. The missiles flew by, and the harrier pilot picked up the pace behind him. But while versatile, Harriers were only subsonic. Sprig was able to rake the side with her cannon, hitting the thrust vents and sending the fighter into a deadly spiral to the ground. The pilot ejected however and took wing towards the air base to the south.
"Heads up! More are coming out of the plateau!" Ditzy yelled.
Rhapsody banked a couple times, avoiding cannons and missiles as more and more AV-8Bs sprung from seemingly nowhere and took off after them. But from the few times they were able to look inside the depressions in the plateau, not all of the fighters, and several gunships, had taken off. Rhapsody had a plan, but she needed to shake this harrier off her flanks. She dove into the canyon, the harrier keeping pace. Wraith was unable to outrun the pilot, since going too fast meant smacking into the side of the mountain.
But when she saw an opening, she throttled up and banked hard to the right, circling the plateau. "He's raising altitude!" Ditzy announced from behind her.


It was a serious risk, but this time it should be fine.
The gryphon pilot had adjusted his harrier to a stationary position above the short plateau, slowly spinning to keep the F-14 in his crosshairs. Already, he had gotten a missile lock and wasted no time pulling the trigger. It flew off the rail, yet it was too wide. He swore at failing to remember, a Harrier can't target accurately standing still! But just as he was about to push back into flight, the Tomcat charged right for him, letting a missile fly. He shrieked and pulled back - 
Exposing the belly to a direct missile strike.


Ditzy winced when the Harrier exploded in midair and fell back to the ground in a fireball. "That had to hurt," she muttered.
"It's why I don't like VTOLs," Rhapsody commented.
"All planes! Four rounds from Sky Breaker! ETA thirty seconds!" Sky Gazer cried. "Drop below two-thousand feet to avoid being hit."
"Dive for the deck!" Shavul called. "One hit from one of those and you're toast!"
"How are we supposed to avoid that? Fly through the mountains?" Wheatfield asked incredulously. 
Rhapsody didn't listen to the conversation further, pushing down towards the ground. Her altimeter showed fourteen-hundred feet, so she kept her altitude and looked up high. "Here they come!" Sky Gazer called after a bit. "Ten seconds to impact!"
"I'm still on my attack run! I can't make it!" Wheatfield cried.
"Eight!"
Shavul screamed, "Forget your attack run! You'll get killed!"
"Five!"
"Bombs away! Diving for the river!"
"... Two, impact NOW!"
The sky tore open, shattered by a beautiful display of colors before shaking the very air to a near earthquake in the sky. Rhapsody grit her teeth as the sky around her shook violently, her heart sinking as several clouds, the innocent wisps shattered with Sky Breaker's fury. The air was completely clear of clouds now, and with a sigh after all four rounds had passed, Rhapsody pulled up back into an attack run.
"Everypony okay?" Amethyst asked.
"Shade here, I'm okay."
"Banshee, good to go."
"Wraith and Specter, we're still here."
Sky Gazer then announced, "Gryphnia ended up downing three of their own aircraft. But they took down a couple of ours."
"Windigo One here. I think they learned a new trick. They come up from below and try to force us up and stay up so we can't avoid Sky Breaker."
Rhapsody frowned, remembering Lightning Dust and how she was forced upwards and was struck dead on by the Gryphnian super weapon. But now she knew the tactic, and shelved it in her mind as she pulled up and locked her eyes on one of the holes in the plateau. "Specter, hold on to something."
"What're you- whoa!"
The Tomcat turned straight up, Rhapsody pushing into full power until she reached ten thousand feet and then braked. The fighter flipped over till it was nose first towards the ground. Reusing a trick she had initiated when sinking that battleship, she angled herself till she was level enough. Her reticule encompassed the hole and she let two bombs fall. She didn't stay to watch the impact, immediately pulling her stick to level out. The g-forces strained her body and hurt her wings, but she managed to get straightened out.
Looking to her left, she saw Sprig and Amethyst launching their anti-ship missiles. While deadly against ships, they were especially useful here. They flew straight until they were over the target and then curved downward to strike their targets on the top. The two hornets pulled up and Rhapsody saw a fierce glow from where the missiles struck. One of them must've ignited an ammo dump.
This lasted a few more minutes, Rhapsody performing her nose dive attack while the two others coordinated a joint attack. Mythic continued to fly top cover, shooting down Harriers and the gunships that got bold enough to shoot at his "harem". At last, the VTOL air base was taken down, and Gryphnia lost all of their harriers and gunships in the area. That should lighten the hassle for ground forces.
"Wraith to Sky Gazer, could I get -"
"All planes!" Sky Gazer suddenly shouted. "Another wave from Sky Breaker. Same as before, but don't pull up for anything!"
Rhapsody saved her question for later and dove down. Same as before, Sky Gazer counted down to impact of the four rounds. Rhapsody turned and saw her friends joining up beside her. There were a few scattered gunboats and watch towers they dispatched easily, but they kept their altitude to avoid the blasts. Finally, with an ear-shattering roar, the massive attack impacted where the fighting was heavy.
When it had finally subsided, Ghost Wing pulled back up and formed up. "Sky Gazer, Wraith here. Could I get a sit rep?"
"Acknowledged." Sky Gazer was silent for a few moments. "The VTOL airbase is confirmed destroyed. That should ease our ground forces' advance. The Resupply Base is also down. I can see the flames from here."
"Got Timberwolf to thank for that!" Shavul cried. A few cheers rang up in agreement.
"Ghost Wing, the Submarine pens are giving Windigo and Saber a hard time. Head on over to back them up."
"Copy that," Wraith pulled the stick to the west and jammed her throttle forward. "Ghost Wing, let's punch it!"


"C'mon! Get those fires out!"
Gryphons flew like mad around the submarine base. AEGIS fighters were laying waste to the area, and they had only managed to bring down a few. No prisoners though; they were either exploding into fireballs into the ground, the mountainsides, or simply crashing into the rivers. The Sergeant ground his beak and he flew towards a nearby AA gun, the operator had been killed by a hail of gunfire that had managed to only knock-out the driver. He grabbed the seat and angled the sights up. A Nighthawk was making an attack run, but dove behind a mountain just as he opened fire. He turned and caught sight of an F-15E beginning its own strafing run.
He opened fire, the gun spewing its heavy lead bullets at the Strike Fighter. They struck hard tearing open the fuselage and sending the AEGIS plane down in flames. He yelled his triumph, throwing a fist into the air and began firing on a pair of F/A-18Cs heading in from the east. Narrowing his eyes, he opened fire, sending the two splitting off - 
Revealing an F-14A that began to bear down on him. His shoulders slumped.
"Just... everything. Fu-"


Rhapsody pulled the trigger and sent a hail of gunfire at the AA gun. Sparks and chunks of the ground tore up the area around it. She didn't let up until she saw the gun itself burst into flames. Pulling up, she locked a missile onto a nearby building and let loose. It flew true and impacted the structure, but did no damage.
"We tried that before, Wraith," Shavul suddenly announced. "You have to strike it from the front."
"Copy that," Rhapsody replied. She banked, narrowly clipping a SAM site and curved around the mountain side. Diving low, and sending a missile into a gunboat, she kept her altitude low and angled her attack on one of the sub pens. When she had a good angle, she switched to her bombs and pulled up, sending one directly into the pen. The explosion enveloped the pen and tore a hole into the submarine. Curving around, she angled herself down and sent her last bomb into the deck of a container ship trying to leave the base.
Her missile alert suddenly blared and she pulled up. An enemy hornet had taken her into his sights, forcing her up into the air. Past the clouds, she resumed her climb and flipped back, the hornet letting a torrent of cannon fire erupt from the nose. She narrowly avoided it, but earned a few grazes along the wings of her Tomcat. Rhapsody pulled back into a level path, she and Ditzy craning their necks to see where the pilot was. Another alarm blared just then.
"Incoming from Sky Breaker! You know the drill. Dive for the deck!"
Rhapsody was about to do just that when a pang on her right wing forced her to look back. The Hornet pilot had angled himself directly under her. Forcing her to pull up. But she then looked down at her altimeter.
Ten-thousand feet.
Her sea green fur turned white as the clouds around her. The warning alarms blared and she couldn't do anything. "Fifteen seconds to impact!" Sky Gazer called. Rhapsody grit her teeth hard, to the point she thought they would shatter.
"Wraith..?" Ditzy called, as if asking for a plan. Rhapsody looked left and right, narrowly avoiding another barrage before the missile warning erupted in the cockpit.
"Ten seconds to impact!"
"Wraith! Dive!"
"Get out of there!"
Rhapsody exhaled heavily. She had an idea, but if she was going to have even a slight chance, she'd have to go now. An alarm blared for a missile fired - Rhapsody flipped the stick so the Tomcat was on its back and pulled hard, kicking in her throttle. The engines roared as Rhapsody and Ditzy were sent nose first towards the ground. The g-forces began to push.
Eight thousand feet.
"Wraith..?" Amethyst started.
The hornet followed behind. "Ten seconds!"
Rhapsody grit her teeth. This was going to require serious timing. One error would send her hurtling into the ground.
"Wraith..?" Mythic called.
Six thousand feet.
Another missile warning. "Five seconds!"
Three thousand feet. The missile fired. "WRAITH!" Ditzy screamed.
Rhapsody pulled the stick back with all her strength. The Tomcat shrieked as it desperately tried to level out. She pulled back her throttle and threw her brakes into action. Her flaps pushed the fighter hard to a near stall. The g-forces pushed both she and Ditzy back into their seats; Rhapsody feared her wings would snap. Gritting her teeth harder, she kept pulling. The airframe shuddered but her sturdy fighter pulled out of its steep dive.
Three hundred feet.
"Impact, NOW!"
Sky Breaker's explosions rocketed from beyond and hit the area. The F/A-18C behind her was gone when she looked behind. But when she turned her eyes forward, she yelped and pulled her left. The same hornet was a fireball on its way to the ground, slamming into the river Rhapsody was now flying along while heading south.
Finally, the explosions subsided and both Wraith and Specter were allowed to breathe. Heaving a sigh, Rhapsody looked back to check on her co-pilot. Ditzy huffed hard and shook her head. "Rhapsody... never – ever – do that again."
Rhapsody smirked behind her mask and pulled up, seeing her friends join up beside her. "Fancy flying, Wraith," Shavul commented. "Maneuvers like that are a good way to get you both killed."
"It worked, didn't it?" the pegasus mare asked snidely. There was an uncomfortable silence from her wing, so she sighed. "Alright, it won't happen again."
"Sky Gazer here," Scootaloo called. "All enemy bases have been neutralized. Our ground forces should have an easier time getting through here. Mission accomplished. All aircraft RTB."
Mythic soared next to Rhapsody's cockpit just as the latter removed her oxygen mask. He looked towards her and held up three numbers with his fingers. Rhapsody held up her thumb and changed her radio frequency so that only her Wing could hear. "You ladies think that something really big is about to happen?" he said after he was sure they were the only ones speaking on the channel.
Rhapsody looked back at Ditzy, who gave a light shrug. The nose of Sprig's Hornet soon came into view as Wraith looked at Mythic. "I know for a fact something is about to happen, and it'll be big."
"How do you know, Sprig?" Amethyst asked.
"The base of my tail itches when I got a vibe something is going on. And it's usually something beneficial."
Mythic suddenly giggled. "Need some help with that itch?"
Sprig scoffed. "Oh please..."
"Ah c'mon! You said you get vibes. I can really make those - "
"Mythic!" Rhapsody cried with a laugh.
"What? You getting the itch too, Captain?" Mythic inquired. Rhapsody could almost see the coy smirk from the cockpit of the Typhoon.
"You're not going anywhere near my tail!" she called.
"I think he's still excited about the view he got earlier. Admit it, Mythic! You liked seeing me more than her," Sprig teased.
"I can take you both, you know. I've seen it before that you don't like to be held down." Rhapsody blushed a little, remembering when Mythic and Soarin had walked into the wrong showers back at the base. He had seen their "compromising" position. "Unless of course... the itch is something else..."
Before Rhapsody could respond, Sprig's hornet had taken up position directly behind Mythic. "Captain, permission to fire."
Rhapsody grinned and pulled up, forcing Sprig to squawk and pull up. "I outrank you. I get to shoot first."
"I can shoot both of you, if you'd like. If you know what I mean." Mythic laughed. Rhapsody blushed furiously again. Sprig waved at her and had a grin coursing her beak.
"On five?" She asked.
"On three," Rhapsody corrected.
Mythic suddenly thrust forward, his afterburners burning bright. "I was kidding! I was kidding! I WAS KIDDING!"
"Get him!"
Rhapsody and Sprig shot forward, the Tomcat and the Hornet vying for a position. Amethyst sighed and shook her head.
"I should've been a baker..."