• Published 7th May 2012
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Ace Combat: The Equestrian War - PolishValsion



Based on Namco's Ace Combat series of video games. No fighters or missiles, personal close combat.

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Chapter 4: My Resolve

The plan is put in motion by the enemy,

But two brave ponies attempt to oppose it.

One out of love for someone precious to her,

The other purely out of adoration for another.

Chapter 4

"My Resolve”

November 6th, 2018

0800 hrs
Ponyville “Dinky, hurry up, dear! You don’t want to be late for school, do you?”

The voice of a young mare was heard in the front hall of a seemingly regular house. A pegasus pony with a grey coat, yellow mane and slightly crossed-eyes was calling for her little daughter. In a matter of seconds, a violet unicorn filly, whose mane was also yellow, came in running. She was already prepared to leave for what would seem as another normal day in school.

While her pegasus mother was checking if she didn’t forget anything, she then noticed the filly was holding a paper in her mouth.

“What you’ve got in there, Dinky?” the pegasus asked. “Is that a picture for the art class?”

The unicorn responded with a giggle, at first.

“No, Mommy. We don’t even have the art class today to begin with. I just drew this the other day and wanted to show it to you before I go. Here.”

Saying this, she gave the drawing to her mother. Initially, she just seemed to stare into it, but then, her face was lightened up with a big, warm smile. The picture was showing both ponies, cuddling. It also had a words written in its lower right corner: “I love you, mommy.” She looked at Dinky and her eyes were full of joy, even if they seemed a little sad. After all, the pegasus was taking care of her daughter by herself; the unicorn’s father was either deceased or missing.

The mare hugged her child tight.

“You always know how to make me smile, Dinky. I’ll be sure to place it next to your last drawing. Now, run along. When you come back, we’ll make some muffins together.”

The filly responded with a loud “Yay!”, and started to run toward the school. As the pegasus was seeing her daughter off, she couldn’t help but to smile. Although she was viewed by some ponies as “weird”, Dinky saw her as the most wonderful mother in whole Equestria. Yet she wasn’t much troubled on how she was viewed by others. To her, the little filly she just talked with was her most beloved treasure.

The grey mare sighed, putting Dinky’s picture next to some artwork she made earlier. She was just about to return to her daily business, when suddenly...

“MOMMY!”

Dinky’s screaming sounded mere seconds later. Not knowing what was happening, the grey pegasus turned around and quickly ran outside. At first, everything seemed to be in total chaos. She could only grasp an image of griffins swooping from the skies down on the streets. It took her awhile to notice they were trying to grab the fillies that were just sent by their parents to school.

One of the assailants was lying on the ground, frozen to the bone. A blue unicorn with an hourglass as a cutie mark and a wavy mane was shooting beams of cold energy at them, trying to ward them off.

Another pony, an earth one, spotted the pegasus and approached her.

“Derpy! Something horrible is happening. We must protect the fillies! Those griffins are trying to take them away!”

“But, Carrot, why would they...” Derpy started.

The pony cut her short.

“You didn’t hear what the princesses warned us about?”

Derpy was silent. She never thought any serious incidents would happen in Ponyville.

“Well, do what you want, but I’m not going to just sit here and watch as their taking our little ponies away!” Saying this, the blue unicorn, called Colgate, shot an ice beam which hit another griffon, paralyzing him with sheer cold and making him fall. The other griffon had defrosted already and fled the area.

The pegasus looked around in horror, but didn’t noticed Dinky anywhere. She started running forward, shouting the filly’s name. Then, three griffins caught her sight. Each of them carried a little pony in its claws. One of them was Dinky.

Derpy rushed toward them, but they laughed at her attempt to catch her and instantly flew up. The grey pegasus, however, used to such situations, took a leap and flew toward them, slightly surprising the feathered captors. Derpy’s eyes were squinted so much that one would never guess she was cross-eyed. They looked perfectly normal... and furious.

“Give that filly back!” she shouted to the griffins.

“And what if we refuse?” the one on the right asked.

Derpy firstly looked at Dinky. She appeared to be unconscious. This only fueled her rage.

“Release her, or you’ll regret ever coming here!” the grey pegasus yelled.

The griffins looked at each other, and the one in the center flew toward Derpy.

“I can see that you care about her. You must be her mother.”

“Of course I am!” Derpy replied.

The griffon’s face widened with a grin.

“Then, I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I cannot comply to your request. You!”

He motioned to the griffon who was holding Dinky in his claws.

“You go back to Gryphus immediately. We need to make sure she won’t be following us,” the other griffin came closer.

But Derpy didn’t want to let go.

“I’ll say it again: release my daughter! Why would you want to take her anyway?” she asked.

“That’s... classified. Our general’s orders”, the griffon in the middle answered.

It sounded like a cruel joke.

“Go!” he told his companion.

The griffon with Dinky in his claws started to leave the area, but Derpy immediately rushed to him, hitting his rear and making him drop the unicorn filly. Derpy quickly descended, trying to catch Dinky, but she was intercepted by the other two griffins. The third captor quickly recovered the filly, but also made her wake up. She saw Derpy, fighting against the two griffins.

“Mommy!” she shouted to the grey pegasus.

This caught her off-guard, and the two attacked without hesitation. Derpy’s right wing was slashed, and she received a strong hit from the other griffon’s beak. Although wounded, she had no intention of surrendering. The three captors decided that the best option for now would be to retreat, since they already had what they came for. Derpy saw them trying to fly away and tried to give chase, but due to her damaged wing, she was unable to maintain effective speed. She started to lose the sight of Dinky, and her cries for help were growing weaker and weaker.

Finally, exhausted and battered, Derpy could no longer hear or see her daughter. She still tried to fly in the direction the griffins took off, but her sight was blurred by the tears. The gray pegasus kept whispering her daughter’s name, trying to remain conscious despite constantly losing balance and strength.

It was then that Firefly’s team came flying by. Thanks to their defense at Hoofington and several successful sorties they have been officially recognized as a unit of the Equestrian Allied Forces. The five pegasi were now sent to Ponyville to investigate recent reports about enemy movement in the region. They noticed Derpy’s irregular flight and tried to reach her.

“Hey! What’s going on here?” Rainbow Dash asked.

The winged mare didn’t respond at first, but turned her sight to the rainbow pegasus. She appeared to be desperate.

“Those griffins... they took some fillies from Ponyville... and my daughter, too!”

She panted heavily. “Wait, I... remember you”, Fluttershy jumped in. “You’re Derpy, aren’t you? You say the griffins kidnapped the fillies?”

“Yes... I... I tried to stop them, but...”

The gray mare’s voice broke down. She could only cry out of helplessness. Fluttershy and Cloud Kicker tried to comfort her. Firefly looked into the distance.

“So, our reports were correct. See? I told you the griffins were going to kidnap fillies and use them as hostages,” she told the others.

“But Flash, we still don’t know the reason behind those actions,” Lightning Bolt pointed out reasonably.

“Whatever the reason, it’s not important. What matters now is that we need to find out where the griffins are headed and try to intercept them.”

She turned her sight to Derpy.

“Say, do you know anything?”

Derpy calmed down a bit and tried to answer Firefly’s question.

“They... took three fillies with them. Each griffon had one. They said they’re going back to Gryphus... at least, that’s what I heard. All I wanted was to save my little Dinky... but I failed.”

Her eyes filled with tears again. Rainbow Dash got closer to her.

“Get a hold of yourself. You don’t have to worry, we’ll catch up to the griffins in no time! Right, Firefly?”

The pink pegasus was about to reply, but she received new reports through her radio communicator. And she definitely wasn’t pleased with them. She looked at the others.

“We’ve got a little problem. It seems a different group of griffins is trying a similar assault near Trottingham. If we are to recover both the fillies from Ponyville and prevent the other attack, we’ll need to split into two teams. I’ll lead the first one, while Rainbow will lead the second.”

“Hey, no sweat!” Rainbow replied with vigor. “I’ll take Cloud Kicker and Fluttershy with me.”

“Actually...” said Firefly, “I was planning to go with Fluttershy, if that’s OK with you. Like you said, I need to get to know her better.”

Rainbow understood and assured Firefly that even with only Cloud Kicker, they would still recover the fillies. But Derpy didn’t want to be left behind. Her whole life turned upside down.

“Please, let me come with you. I have to save my daughter!”

“Look, I understand how you feel,” Lightning Bolt tried to reason, “but you’ll only slow us down with your damaged wing. Leave everything to us. I promise we’ll bring the fillies back.”

“No!” Derpy opposed. “I must go! I have to redeem myself. My daughter is everything to me! If I don’t get her back...!”

Firefly sighed.

“Give me a break! What’s with all this drama?”

The other pegasi looked at her, shocked, maybe even outraged. Firefly appeared to be completely unmoved by the situation. Her eyesight appeared really cold.

Rainbow once again took point before things got worse.

“Don’t bring up additional issues, Flash. Actually, I’ve got an idea. How about you take Lightning Bolt and Derpy after the griffins, while I’ll lead the others to stop the attack on Trottingham. Trust me, I think that’s a good solution.”

Firefly thought for a moment.

“You know that I trust you completely, Rainbow Dash. Fine, I approve of your suggestion. I just hope that nothing bad will happen.”

She turned to Derpy again.

“By the way... you said there were three griffins... and you took on them by yourself?!

The gray mare looked at her.

“Of course I did! How would you act if your daughter was kidnapped by someone? That is, if you would ever had one. I will not stop until I’ll get Dinky back!”

The pink pegasus approached her and was seemingly looking ashamed. Derpy’s words made her feel respect for her determination.

“Looks like I’ve made another misplaced judgment... You know, you might have what it takes to become one of us. What do you say?”

This sudden proposition shocked the team, but Derpy remained unflinching.

“I’ll help you, if you will help me. Simple as that. There’s no pony dearer to me in entire Equestria. I want to save Dinky... and make those griffins pay.”

“Perfect!” Firefly exclaimed.

“From now on, your callsign shall be “Ditzy”.

She appeared a little different than others to Firefly, but in a positive sense.

“Alright, let’s stop wasting time and get busy!” she motioned to other ponies.

“Rainbow, take Butterfly and Sunny and stop the griffins at Trottingham. I, Thunder and Ditzy will rescue the Ponyville fillies.”

“Roger that! Move out, everypony!” Rainbow called to her wingmates.

The team took off in two different directions.

==========

0927 hrs

Trottingham airspace

As Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Cloud Kicker were approaching Trottingham, they were discussing their newest addition to the team.

“She took on three griffins by herself... can’t tell if she’s brave, or just crazy,” Rainbow muttered.

“Derpy tried to save her daughter... It... must be really hard for her,” said Fluttershy.

“No kidding... Didn’t she hear what the princesses were announcing? Everypony were supposed to be more careful since yesterday.”

Cloud Kicker reached Rainbow through her communicator.

“You think that information didn’t reached her?”

“Dunno. Maybe she thought it was nothing serious. After all, no incidents occurred near Ponyville until now. But, we’ll talk about it later. We’re getting closer to Trottingham.”

Initially, it seemed the griffins were nowhere in sight, but the small radar that Cloud Kicker had with her started to show three pulsing red dots, undoubtedly hinting the approaching enemies.

“Rainbow, are we gonna hide in clouds and wait for them again?” she asked the rainbow pegasus, who shook her head in denial.

“There’s no point. We’ll take them head-on. We shouldn’t be giving them any quarter this time. You understand, Fluttershy?” she asked her friend.

The yellow pegasus nodded.

“What they did and try to do is unforgivable. We must do our best to stop them.”

“Good. That’s what I wanted to hear. Let’s go, team!”

Rainbow led Fluttershy and Cloud Kicker to perform a preemptive attack on the upcoming captors. They were unaware that a young green pegasus was following them, her eyes focused on Rainbow Dash...

Within a short time, Rainbow’s team ran into the three griffins who were approaching Trottingham’s airspace. The looks on their faces suggested that they weren’t expecting anypony to “greet” them like this.

“Going somewhere, boys? Not to kidnap some fillies, I hope?” Rainbow asked the feathered soldiers with a dose of sarcasm.

One of them approached the pegasi.

“I won’t ask how you’ve learned about our plan, but here is no way you can stop us. We have our orders and we will execute them!” he proclaimed, extending his wings and preparing for battle.

“Girls, those on the sides are yours. I’ll deal with this one,” Rainbow told Cloud Kicker and Fluttershy.

They acknowledged and flew toward the griffins, trying to prevent them from advancing. This time, neither of the pegasi were intending to hold back. The assailants saw their determination, but engaged them without any second thoughts troubling them. At first, they were apparently trying to wear Rainbow and her friends out by repeatedly performing air jousting maneuvers. But neither Fluttershy nor Cloud Kicker appeared to be fazed by them. Rainbow was doing fine by herself; the other two fliers cooperated well.

It seemed the situation was under control, until one of the griffins broke out of Cloud Kicker’s range and started descending down at high speeds. Rainbow was busy fighting the third griffon, and although Fluttershy and Cloud tried, they couldn’t catch up to the griffin. It seemed as if he would begin to wreak havoc in Trottingham at any moment, and if the ponies would try to catch him, the other griffins would fly down as well, increasing the havoc.

But, just then, the griffon that was descending was struck hard and staggered away from his course. Everyone stopped fighting for a moment. Rainbow noticed that a green pegasus just entered the combat zone and it was looking at her now.

“Mind if I lend a helping hoof?” the young mare asked.

Her voice was filled with youthful enthusiasm.

“Uh... Yeah, why not,” Rainbow said, as she shoved her opponent aside and approached the new pegasus. She seemed to be staring into Rainbow, who asked:

“Who are you?”

“The name’s Medley. You’re Rainbow Dash, right? I figured you and your friends were on an important mission. So, I decided to seek you out and help you in any way possible.”

As the green pegasus introduced herself, a big grin formed on her face. Rainbow, though slightly uncertain, returned the smile. Cloud Kicker and Fluttershy approached her too, and got acquainted with her rather fast. The griffins tried to use this moment as an attempt to escape the ponies and carry out their plan, but their way was blocked by Rainbow’s team, now supported by Medley. They fought for several minutes, with the green pegasus fighting beside Rainbow all the time.

The griffins ultimately decided to abandon their plan and return back to The Griffin Kingdom. Rainbow immediately contacted Firefly.

“Flash! This is Rainbow, do you read me? We’ve managed to defend Trottingham. No filly was taken by the enemy.”

Firefly’s voice seemed relieved at first, but sounded frustrated moments later.

“That’s good news. We’ve managed to track the griffins, but they hid in an area with strong magnetic resonances. Our tracking devices are useless. We could really use Sunny’s great sight right now. The problem is, that area we’re at is quite large...”

“Hold on a second.”

Rainbow turned to Medley.

“You’re bright-eyed?”

“Sure, I am. Just tell me what to find, and I’ll try my best to locate it,” the green pegasus responded.

“Great. Hey, Firefly, I think I’ve found another member for our team. I’ll introduce her to you once we make it to the rendezvous point. Give us the location,” she told the leader.

“You got it. Transmitting coordinates now.”

In a few seconds, Rainbow and her friends knew where Firefly and her team was waiting. They flew there to meet them.

==========

1319 hrs

Equestrian airspace

Firefly’s team, with a very worried Derpy, was waiting for Rainbow’s squad. Lightning Bolt already bandaged Derpy's wing. They saw the rest of the fliers approaching after a while. The pink pegasus looked closely at the new recruit Rainbow Dash met. After a couple more minutes, she learned that Medley was somewhat idolizing her, similar to the way the pegasus of loyalty looked up to the Wonderbolts.

“It’s true that I think of Rainbow Dash as an awesome pony, but honestly, who wouldn’t say that?” Medley asked when Firefly finished questioning her.

“Yeah, well, if you’ll prove to me that you tell the truth about your great sight, I’ll consider letting you join our team. Sunny, help her in the search,” she told Cloud Kicker.

The two pegasi begun searching around the area. Medley even did a classic espionage tactic, which involved hiding behind trees.

It proved useful, as she managed to locate griffins in the forest within thirty minutes. She overheard them talking:

“I still can’t believe our general approved of that idea. Using kids as hostages? This is outrageous!” one of the kidnappers complained.

His companion, came closer and stared into his eyes.

“Hey, I don’t approve of it either. This entire concept is beyond ridiculous. But some commanders say this might trade Equestria for the fillies’ lives. Basically, when the ponies would find out we’re keeping their children, they would slowly lose the will to resist, fearing for their safety. They would ultimately surrender. At least, that’s what they say in HQ. And yet, I start to think we’re doing the exact opposite,” the griffon in a red vest bearing #1 concluded his statement with a worried tone.

“And what exactly do you mean by that, Edge?” the griffin who was holding Dinky asked.

“It means that instead of draining ponies’ will, we’re actually fueling them. I was one of the many captains speaking against such tactics. But I can’t do anything as long as Black Star and Red Cyclone are in charge. They fail to see that their ideas will backfire at them really soon,” Edge reasoned.

His comrades were thinking about what he said, but it was too late to turn back.

“I’m afraid we’ll have to execute our order anyway. Even if we’d let the fillies go, the ponies would still retaliate out of revenge.”

He saw that the other two griffins were looking at each other in confusion. Edge continued:

“Don’t give me those looks. Sure, the ponies may seem cute and innocent, but that doesn’t mean they can’t fight. I’m especially concerned about that pegasus squadron that the general mentioned... But enough pondering. We’re going back.”

They were trying to fly as low as possible, hoping they will remain hidden. Medley immediately returned to the team and reported everything she heard. Derpy was more than eager to dive in, but Firefly held her off.

“We can’t just crash into them. They might be waiting in for us...”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Medley assured. “They are completely unaware of our presence. While I was following them, hidden between the trees, I even heard some of them were against the whole concept of kidnapping fillies. Maybe they’re not that bad...”

Firefly ignored the last sentence.

“The enemy cannot be trusted. In any case, we must execute our actions quickly. Any ideas?”

Medley gave another suggestion. She mentioned about their low flight altitude, giving the pegasi a great opportunity to appear before them quickly, engage and force to retreat.

“That’s pretty bold, kid,” Rainbow praised her. “So, Firefly, are we gonna let her in?”

The pink pegasus grinned.

“Two scouts are always better than one. You’re in our team, Medley, and from now on, your callsign will be... “Kid”.

Medley, not troubled by the way she was called, responded with a salute.

“You can count on me! Let’s save those fillies!”

The seven pegasi descended into the woods. By following Medley, they tracked the griffins down. Edge was especially surprised and halted the others in place when saw two winged ponies appear before them and the other five started surrounding them. He had no idea how they managed to discover them, but decided to put up a fight rather than flee. After a short confrontation, Lightning Bolt and Fluttershy managed to recover two of the fillies.

Derpy personally took on the griffon who was still holding Dinky. Other pegasi decided to let her deal with him.

Although he seemed to be having an upper hand, due to him trying to use Dinky as a shield from time to time, it only fueled Derpy’s desire to save her. As the fight prolonged, Medley ultimately decided to join in by bucking the griffon from the back, catching him off-guard and allowing Derpy to retrieve her daughter. After another brief skirmish ensued, the ponies finally gained the upper hand and forced the kidnappers to retreat. Some wanted to stay and keep fighting, but Rainbow Dash made them think twice about it.

FFurious, the griffins flew away, with Edge still wondering how the ponies managed to find them in the first place. Derpy embraced her daughter. The others were treating the two other fillies.

“Good job, team,” Firefly praised her friends. “Let’s bring them back.”

==========

1532 hrs

Cloudsdale, Mirage squadron’s base

Derpy and Medley were grateful for letting them stay in the base, each of them explaining the reasons why they decided to stay.

“Now that my daughter is save, I could leave and go back to normal life...” Derpy said at first.

“But I can’t allow those kinds of actions to occur again. This is going to be my resolve. I’ll be fighting the griffins to protect fillies.”

Lightning Bolt patted Derpy on the back.

“TThey might eventually abandon this idea. So far, most of them disagreed with it. And it didn’t seemed to be effective per se. This might be our key in future missions. If they will no longer threaten fillies, they might as well start the actual invasion. If so, we’ll be ready.”

Medley, on the other hand, was motivated by something completely different.

“You see, I always wanted to be a great flier, so that I could protect Equestria from various dangers. I may not be as great fighter as Rainbow Dash, but maybe one day....”

Firefly approved of both new pegasi, knowing that any support will be valuable. Fluttershy decided to visit Rarity later that day and asked her to make two additional vests for new members of their squadron, Derpy and Medley. Hearing about the astounding success of her friends, the white unicorn agreed without hesitation. On the next day, Derpy and Medley were given a grey and green vest, respectively.

When Firefly officially welcomed them to the team, she knew that with proper training, they will become a great part of the Mirage squadron. The pink pegasus also had a reason to prevent griffins from their expansion... although nopony new about these reasons at the moment.

But they would learn...