Rainbow Dash, student pilot, gets drunk one night and finds herself shanghai'd into working for a mercenary company in Africa. She can leave...just as soon as she flies one hundred combat missions.
Civil war is well underway, and warlord factions fight to control the gold-rich country of Talongo. Both sides are well supplied, accelerating into an arms race. Rainbow wanted to be a fighter pilot, but not like this, not flying for her life against killers for hire on both sides of the war.
Going home is her goal, but first she has to survive.
Chapters (34)
Is this a crossover of area 88?
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No.
Hm...... interesting I will admit.
I wonder if Rainbow knows she has one of the best planes possible for this kind of environment and role.
So, that ending certainly threw me for a loop. In this AU, did everything with equestria happen? If so, that makes it all that much more interesting.
Anyway, have a like!
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It sort of sounds it since the long description is the plot of Area 88.
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I know. Which is why I put a disclaimer in an author note on the first chapter.
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The light CAS, yes. Most everything else, not so much.
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How so? Wait, is it a Tucano (EMB 312) or a Super Tucano (EMB 314)? If the former, yeah, not that good. Though I doubt they'd have access to a actually modern plane. Even if at "only" 900k.
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A saw MIGs in the picture a 21 and 17(?).
Tolongo? Didn't I say we should do it in a Congo based nation?
Called it!
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The center plane in the picture was supposed to be a -21
The swept wing plane on the right was intended to be the Hawker Hunter
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Regular Tucano. Yeah, the Super has its guns built in and doesn't need pods.
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Whelp, hope she manages to upgrade sooner or later, then being maneuverable and all is nice and dandy, but sometimes you just need to leg it. Or carry an actual payload.
Edit: posted that before reading the new chapter. Tangling with a MiG-21 in a tucano is nuts... As long as they have missiles. What they do. She got damn lucky, she did.
Hope she can get out of this in one piece!
Glad Rainbow realizes that they'll just quietly kill anyone who gets the 100 missions. Smart thing is to get Soarin to start siphoning extra fuel and start looking for a way to steal a map. Only way out is with a full tank and a known destination in range.
SHIT! SO CLOSE DASH!
Well.... drat.
Unrelated to the story, but every time I see the title I read it as "Until Fairer Skies Bacon" for some reason
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The other day I mused that "Bacon and Egghead" would probably be a good title for a Sunset/Twilight ship
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Or just Bacon and Pancakes. Not sure if that joke really lived long enough to bother though
This one got me hanging by a thread the entire chapter. Bravo.
I wonder, was it magic they saved her right now?
Probably a 14.7mm or a 12.7mm...
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Probably.
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hopefully not a 23mm or that would spell SPGAA is bold letter on its side.
.... Lightning sold her out.
8276934 Yeah, well... her plan didn't depend on people not selling her out. No one was supposed to know. So it was still her screw-up and/or bad luck.
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Either way Dust is dead. I don't mean that in that I'm mad I'm just saying Dash is gonna take this chance to kill her I bet.
Great story, I'm really enjoying it!
It's a shame Rainbow Dash doesn't have her super speed, that would have made things so much easier.
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If she had it there'd be no story. But I kinda want to see her vengeance when she gets free. She's Loyalty after all. One cannot represent that and leave treason unpunished.
Of course she would be the one to sell Rainbow out.
Oh dear, Dash is starting to lose it. Hopefully Soarin or someone can straighten her out and make a new plan.
SHIT BALLS.
Don't give up on loyalty, Dash! I know she can escape, she just needs the right plan and the right kind of loyalty.
Now now don't let the tropic thunder get to ya.
Is 'FishBed' another name for MiG? I'm not sure I followed what happened at the end there. Did one of the UTA pilots get shot down or not?
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Yes, Fishbed is the nickname of the MiG-21. Sorry, I thought I had covered that earlier in the story.
Also, yes. To put it bluntly, Rainbow accidentally a teammate.
Damn, this is getting depressing. But then again, it is a war story...
SU-22......Russian hell.
Well, she's skilled with a propeller plane but she's more efficient with a jet plane. I feel bad for Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger, they're just young recruits. I hope both get out of there alive, I don't think one can take it if the other one dies.
No! Not Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger! At least it wasn't Angel Wings...
Also, yes, those are the right thoughts, Rainbow! Believe in the magic of friendship! Now all she needs is to display an act of loyalty and she'll be good to go!
Just read this and caught up before making a comment.
It's a pretty good concept, and is a good way of blending some of the aspects of Area 88 with MLP.
It could use a bit more magic and friendship though, personally. The bleakness is almost OTT in some places. However, I do appreciate the use of aircraft sensibly and in an exciting way too. Happy to keep reading and see what's next.
I really feel bad for Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger, they're just recruits, never flown a real plane before. I really pray both get out of here in one piece
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myenglishworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/meme-going-to-tell-him-dont-you-dare.jpg
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I don't think one can take it if the other one dies.
i.ytimg.com/vi/UKb2C7SzlNc/maxresdefault.jpg
Seriously, Rainbow? You can't put 2 and 2 together? Lion Heart want's you to fight with Lightning! Everyone has been telling you that since day one.
Well, looks like someone wants to rescue them or give them hints for an escape
I'm just curious -- why does Rainbow think she needs to make friends to use her magic? In RR she could access it playing guitar and in FG she got her magic by "being her true self" or whatever so it's not dependant on being friends with everyone... so I don't get why she's thinking that.
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This is Rainbow we're talking about - not exactly a scholar of magic. And friendship might not be what ultimately triggers it.
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It did originally come about as part of her being friends with others though, and she only accessed it and learned it even existed, and was first initiated, by Twilight - the princess of friendship one - educating her and the other girls about friendship magic in the first place.
Also, it does make it more of an MLP story to actually feature the 'friendship is magic' aspect of the show too.
Whether it works or not is another thing, and it'll be interesting finding out.
I suspect they wait for the right moment to strike. And for who could have sent it, I think it could have been the Wonderbolts. A missing memmbe and three recruits won't go unanswered