Slugga'

by SONBoomer

Stingray rocketeer

"Boooooring!"

The pilot sighed.

She was ordered to patrol the distant surroundings of Ponyville, an area with a circumference that was a hundredfold of the town's size and spread. She had been given this order, and to repeat it, three times during the day, and in a double-shift during the night. She wasn't alone with this task, of course, but that didn't stop the whole thing from quickly landing in the doldrums. Day in and night out, she would roam the skies in this rocket-propelled winged bullet, just gazing at the radar, and hoping that SOMEPONY would eventually attack while she's on guard.

A large part of her boredom was due to loneliness. Her only company, or something resembling that, was the occasionally shrill order from Ground Control, whenever she decided to use the military aircraft for stunts. She would always proclaim that she was testing, but that didn't help the fact that she was carrying highly volatile torpedo missiles, that were meant to be dropped down from the bottom of her oversized metal stingray, and the munitions deck wasn't exactly designed for stunt flights. Well, not until she "pepped it up" a bit.

Still, the loneliness remained.

The only sense of thrill piloting this large machine gave has been reduced to a few minutes of tense annoyance - those brief moments she spent, flying over the Everfree... The roar of the nozzle, reduced to one, continuous humm, sided with the occasional rattle of the body when hitting turbulence, and her heavy sighs.

Today, though, it was going to be different.

"Slug Stealth Bomber, reporting for duty!" she droned into the radio.

She signed in over the forest, sort of hoping that the radio chatter in the ether above the enchanted grounds would cause SOME sort of reaction. But no, it seemed like it'll be just another boring day, like all the other days were, ever since the "Protection Campaign" was announced by Princess (now Task Commander) Twilight Sparkle. She felt that the whole thing was overbloated in terms of importance from the get-go, and the repeated, monotonous task of circling around town only seemed to prove her point further.

"Stay focused, pilot!" Ground Control snapped at her "The enemy could appear at any second! You have to be prepared to respond immediately in case of an attack!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" she replied, putting down the mic "As if anything ever happens during my run..."

Tilting the rod back, she raised the aircraft just below the cloud layer. She had been doing numerous twists and turns, just to avoid the vertigo of flying in constant circles. A quick check of the radar told her that she was all alone. Again. For the thousandth time.

"Oh, brother..."

Instead of breaking the cloud layer, the green and white rocketship began a steep nosedive, the hollow roar of the machine's drop echoing above the forest. A routine move by now, all the pilot could do was sigh again, staring at the lush canopy beneath her.

A couple of weeks ago, the sensation of a constant subsonic flight was thrilling, empowering, even. But by now, the cockpit was nothing more, than a half-glass, half-metal dome of--

The enemy fighters zoomed pass her, scorching the tip of her plane's wings, as they broke the cloud layer behind her, before presumably doing a vertical twist to realign themselves.

"Buh-WHA'?!"

With a jerk of the control stick, the Slug Bomber turns sharply upwards, singeing some of the taller trees. The rattling was unbearable, and the plane was shaking fiercely. Going into a roll, she went on to pierce the heavens, flying straight upwards. Bursting trough the sparse cloudlayer, she turned the Bomber into a horizontal position once more, and finally caught her breath.

"Who-WHAT the hay was THAT?!"

Glancing at the radar, she could see three other aircrafts, far faster than hers, moving north, towards the town, slipping out of her range.

"Oh NO you don't...!"

Gritting her teeth, she dived beneath the clouds once more, steadily increasing speed, until they were in her sight once more. They appeared to be jet fighters with swept wings, and bodies with an ovoid cross-section. She couldn't make out what weapons they had, but their presence is what all she needed. She caught herself grinning, her hooves itching to touch the trigger, but she steadied herself, and reached for the radio first.

"Rainbow Dash! You mustn't turn of your radio like that! I told you a thousand times, keep it on for--"

"Can it, G.C.!" she hissed "I'm currently chasing three enemy fighters, and they're heading straight towards you guys!"

"...WHAT?!"

Rainbow groaned.

"I said, there are three enemy aircrafts heading towards Ponyville. I'm right on their tail! Shall I engage them?"

"..."

"Ground Control?"

"JUST BUCKING SHOOT 'EM DOWN!"

Dash grinned.

"Affirmative!"

Flying ahead of her, in a wing formation, were the three fighters. Their jet flame left no smoke, but their glow was easy to trace. The pegasus' grin grew sharper, as the crosshair contracted on one of the aircrafts.

Finally, the circle stopped shrinking.

With an euphoric exhale, she pressed down hard on the trigger. With a whirl, the vulcan guns, hidden in the portholes that both hid them from damage and restricted their range, flared up, with the same, repetitive, high-speed thumping. A rain of 12.6mm cartridges rained behind the diving bomber, as it's guns tore the jet apart.

Originally designed to be a recon aircraft, the Slug Bomber, or Jet, as Discord called it, received a number of modifications, one of which increased its size, allowing it to carry multiple payloads. The vulcans were an instant addition the moment the prototype was declared a success. Now, five times it's original size, and still being capable of easily breaking the sound barrier, the Jet was the gem of the Ponyville Council's air force.

The bullets ripped trough the thin armor, shredding the fighter's tail into smithereens. Quite a few of the hit INSIDE the jet turbine itself, causing the blades to break and jam. The explosion that followed engulfed the plane in flames, sending it tumbling out of the sky. It appeared that the pilot hadn't survived the attack, but the cyan pegasus was too engrossed in taking down the tiny squadron to notice.

The two other jet pilots, however, were quite aware of the demise of their colleague, and decided to split, one diving down, the other shooting straight up. Smirking at their attempt, Dash merely pressed the OTHER trigger, releasing one of the eight torpedo-missiles, before pulling the stick back, and ascending after the former lead fighter.

She couldn't see, but hear, as the bomb hit it's target, the missile reacting like a torpedo: dropping down limp, before it's pneumatic turborotor propeller kicked in, beating the jet in it's own game, pile-driving into it's rear and exploding as it hit the turbine, blasting the aircraft apart.

The last one wasn't going down so easily. Spiraling well above the clouds, it tipped over, falling back, and beginning a vertical drive downwards. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was using the rocket-plane at it's maximum power output, literally rocketing straight upwards. They noticed one another quite early on, and began to aim. Whilst the Bomber was taking the pressure well, the lighter jet fighter was shuddering violently, the turbulence threatening to obliterate it any second.

They were closing in on each other, the point of collision being the cloud layer itself. The Slug Bomber was beginning to feel the strain of it's ascend, as the aim was getting off with it's random spasms. At this point, the fighter's pilot clutch fired, giving up aiming for immediate assault. The bullets - incineary ones - flew past the right wing, a few then ricocheting off the nose cone of the aircraft, but a couple of them hit the left wing, tearing burnt holes into it. It remained intact, but the Jet was now shaking just as much as the fighter was.

"Oh, you want to do this the hard way?" Dash sneered, pushing her machine even further. Taking as careful of an aim as the constant shuddering allowed her, she fired back, blasting off the horizontal stabilizer wing of the tail.

The next second, the two aircrafts passed one another.

Staring upwards, Dash could just about make out the silhouette of another pony in the bullet-hole-ridden cockpit, staring back down at her, wide-eyed. But it couldn't see with them anymore.

It was dead.

The jet fighter kept falling downwards, it's wings ripped off by the sheer pressure, and it's engine overheating. Catching on fire, it plummeted down, colliding with the ground in a deafening explosion.

Coming out of the shaky climb, the pegasus dipped her craft into the clouds, observing the damage report displayed on the cockpit's dashboard screem. Her left wing was badly damaged, but still stable, though her fuel supply had been considerably drained by the stunts she pulled off, especially the climb. Reaching for the radio, she spoke with a certain glee...

"Enemies dispatched, G.C.! Anything else?"

There was no reply.

"...G.C.? Ground Control?"

Silence.

"...Come on, Twilight, this isn't funny! Ground Control, respond!"

"...Rainbow Dash! Sorry, I was engaged in battle!"

Finally...

"WHAT? Battle? Where?"

"Over at Sweet Apple Acres! The enemy is attacking. From all fronts, it seems!"

A short pause.

"Are you alright?"

"Eh, a damaged wing, but I'll be fine." Dash replied "Shall I come over and help?"

"Check if there are any other incoming enemy aircrafts!"

"BAH! "Check for enemy aircraft!" Ugh! And then she'll complain that I wasn't there to--"

Another squadron, this time composed of over fifteen jet fighters, appeared over the horizon. Heading straight towards her.

"...help..."

The radio crackled to life.

"Rainbow Dash! RAINBOW DASH!" the feed was briefly interrupted by what sounded like an explosion "They're everywhere! The inner circle has fallen! We need backup! I need backup! Please, report immediately! Rainbow Da--" another explosion turns the feed into static, before going silent.

The mare stares, long and silent, as the jet fighters begin to adjust into a formation.

"...Oh, horseapples!

Comments

[Slash and Burn]

......... The pun in the description....... just.... why?

[SONBoomer]

Feel the burn.

[Slash and Burn]

Yep. That's real punny of you.
Just too bad your story doesn't kick off with a boom.

[SONBoomer]

Can't please everyone.

What's your deal, then?

[Slash and Burn]

Eh not much of a deal. Just a thought i had pop into my head while reading. When Twilight was announced in the first chapter i just imagined an explosion going off.

The story is good though.

[SONBoomer]

Thanks. I'm trying to write this in action-story-mashup kind of way, you know, to have the pace of the original games, but I'm not really used to fast-paced action in writing.

[Slash and Burn]

Yeah fast paced is typically a difficult way to write. So far it's not too far off.

[SONBoomer]

Glad to hear that.