Steep Tail Wind

by Phantom Wing

Steep Tail Wind

MEETING THE WONDERBOLTS

I gazed out the window of my seat on the empty bus. This was my first assignment out of the academy. I rested my cheek on my fist as I watched the scenery pass by.

Four years ago I had entered the Wonderbolts Academy in Cloudsdale. When I moved there from Ponyville, I had high hopes for myself. I wanted to become one of the best, like Wind Rider. Yet, after those fours of classes and flight training, I was assigned as a co-pilot.

“What do you mean I’m being assigned as a co-pilot!?” I raged at the training commander.

“I mean exactly what I said. You’re being assigned to Camp Celestia as a co-pilot.”

“What did I do wrong? I passed all the tests and had the best scores out of anybody here! Why am I being assigned as a co-pilot?”

“You’ve done very well here, but I didn’t make this call. The orders came right from Princess Celestia.” He handed me an envelope and I took it. “Here are your orders. Don’t open it. Give it to the flight commander at Camp Celestia and you’ll be assigned to your new partner.” I stared back at him with a look of disappointment and frustration on my face. “Be glad that you’re being assigned this post, Lieutenant Wing. At least you’re flying with best.”

I was snapped out of my memory when the bus came to a stop inside the compound of the base. I got up and grabbed my bags. I stepped off the bus and got my first look at the place that was to be my new home. Camp Celestia. The Forward Operations Base was on the border between Equestria and Griffonstone. It was also the home of the Wonderbolts when they weren’t traveling and performing shows.

I walked into the headquarters building which was to the left on the main barracks, the hangars, and the runway. At the front desk I asked where I could find the flight commander.

“She’s out on maneuvers,” a man with red hair said. “Are you the new pilot?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir,” I responded giving him the proper response. “I’m Lieutenant Phantom Wing, Royal Equestrian Air Force.”

I stuck out my hand and he shook it. “Commander Firebrand, Royal Equestrian Army. I’ll take you out to the flight line. She should be landing pretty soon.”

We walked outside and began heading back across the busy compound to the flight line and the many hangars that lined it.

The main Pilot Barracks faced the backs of the hangars. The Mess Hall was across the road from them and it had a clear view of the flight line. Behind the Mess Hall was the Marines barracks, motor pool, and armory. Directly next to the Mess Hall what the Wonderbolt Barracks. Only Wonderbolts and their co-pilots stayed there. Behind that building were the maintenance hangars where planes were repaired and tuned up every once and a while.

Commander Firebrand led me through a door on the back of one of the hangars. That was when I got my first look at the plane of a Wonderbolt. The blue hull with the patches of gold made the big plane look amazing. I had flown older planes and simulators in training, but this was amazing. The plane was beautiful. Once I saw the front of the aircraft I couldn’t believe that Wonderbolts were flying these. They were flying in brand new FA-18 Super Hornets.

On the other side of the plane we saw two Wonderbolts sitting at a table playing cards. One of them was a man with dark blue hair and the other was a woman with light crystal blue hair. I remembered seeing them at a show once.

“Soarin! Fleet Foot! We got a new pilot!” Firebrand yelled, nearly startling the two Wonderbolts. “This is Lieutenant Phantom Wing. He’s fresh out of the academy.”

I walked over and shook their hands. I couldn’t believe that I was actually here with two of the best pilots in the history of the Wonderbolts. Suddenly, being a co-pilot didn’t seem all that bad.

“So you’re the new co-pilot, huh?” Soarin said. I nodded. “Great. Where you from?”

“Ponyville, Sir. I moved to Cloudsdale when I joined up,” I answered.

“Really? We’ve all been to Ponyville before. Performed several shows there in fact. Come on. Fleet Foot and I will get you settled in.”

We walked out of the hangar and over to the Wonderbolt Barracks. Even though I was a co-pilot I was considered a full-fledged Wonderbolt. We walked up to the top floor and Soarin showed me to our room. He unlocked it with a key that he then handed to me. “We’ll be sharing quarters. The Flight Commander’s room is at the end of the hall. She’ll be back any minute now.”

“Who is the Flight Commander, by the way? I have my orders that I’m supposed to give to her,” I asked as I set my bags down on the bed.

“Oh, that’s Spitfire!” Soarin said. “She’s out on maneuvers. Last I heard she was about two miles out. Let’s head back to the flight line.”

We left the room and headed back to the flight line. We arrived back in the hangar just in time to hear a sonic boom above us. We looked up to see a blue plane with gold trim fly past us. As it banked towards the end of the runway, I could see that it was an F-14 Tomcat.

“Is that Spitfire’s plane?” I asked.

“Yep. That’s her,” Fleet Foot said.

“Why is she flying an F-14? I thought those came out of service years ago.”

“They did,” Fleet Foot said. “But, Spitfire has always been one for the classic planes. HQ has been trying to get her to upgrade, but she refuses to give up that plane.”

We watched as the old, yet beautiful plane landed and taxied over to our location. It may have been old, yet the engines sounded just as mighty as they did the first time they had started up. The plane came to a stop and powered down before the cockpit glass rose up. As soon as there was enough room the pilot jumped out and headed for Soarin.

“Soarin! Get on the horn and radio damage control! Midnight Strike’s plane is damaged and coming in!”

“How bad is it, Spitfire?”

“She flying on only one tail and half of a wing is gone! Now go! Fleet Foot, call the hospital! She may be injured!”

The two of them ran off and then Spitfire headed for the control tower. Without even thinking, I jumped into Spitfire’s jet and powered it up.

SAVING THE DAY

As I taxied towards the runway, I made sure that all my systems were a go. When I reached the runway though, all protocol went out the window and I gunned the engines. When I reached the end of the runway, I took off and pulled as fast as I could into the clouds.

Once up in the clouds I communicated with the tower.

“Mother Bird. Mother Bird. This is Wonder 1. Do you copy? Over.”

“We read you, Wonder 1. What the hell do you think you’re doing up there in my plane!?” I heard Spitfire say angrily over the radio.

“I may have an idea about how to help your pilot. It’s risky, but I’ve done it before in sims. Over.”

“Wonder1, if you destroy my plane, I swear that I will have you court marshaled. Over.”

“Roger that, Mother Bird.” I saw a plane down to my left. “I got eyes on her. Celestia! It is a miracle that her plane is even flying! What the hell happened out there!?” I yelled into the radio.

I didn’t wait for a reply. I banked the old plane down to the level of the damaged Hornet. I came along side and saw a young woman with black hair that had gold streaks in it. She her head was lying limply and her uniform was stained with blood. I moved my plane down, just a bit to see that the two remaining wheels were down.I moved back up and contacted the tower again.

“Mother Bird, this is Wonder 1. Wonder 5 is not doing too well. She’s lost a wheel and her pilot is unconscious.” I gazed out the corner of my eye to see the engine next to me die out and the plane begin to drop. I sprang into action. “Mother Bird, Wonder 5 just lost her Port engine! I commencing with my plan!”

I moved my plane lower with the falling Hornet and getting a good line up on my Starboard wing and the stump that used to be the other plane’s Port wing. Once they were lined up I closed my eyes and slammed my wing into the hole. I opened them to see that we were now flying as one plane and I began moving us down toward the runway.

***

In the tower, everyone was waiting intensely for word from Wonder 1. They hadn’t heard from him in over 5 minutes. Spitfire was sitting in a chair looking through a pair of binoculars.

“Look! There they are!” Soarin yelled pointing out the west window.

Spitfire moved over to the window and stared at the two planes that were now… locked together. She watched as the planes drew ever closer. As they passed through the safety zone she ran outside to see the two planes start landing on the runway in front of her. She secretly prayed to Celestia that this would work.

***

I concentrated with all my might to keep our two planes stable. The Hornet’s Starboard engine had died just second before I started our descent. As we neared the runway, I put my landing gear down.

“Mother Bird, this Wonder 1. I’m coming in hot. Have a medical team on standby for Wonder 5.”

I watched long and hard as the runway came ever closer and closer. Then as if on auto pilot, the planes touched down with ease. And I began taxiing over to the hangars. Once there I shut the engines off and climbed out of the plane. I jumped across the wing to the Hornet and smashed the glass in. I pulled the pilot out of the cockpit and slowly handed her down to the medics.

I jumped down from the plane and began helping them load her onto a stretcher. I gazed up after they began loading her into an ambulance. Standing under the wing her plane, was Captain Spitfire. I walked over and came to attention.

“Captain Spitfire,” I said in property military fashion. I gave her a salute as she turned around. She didn’t return it. “I realize that my actions were reckless and could have endangered this base. Should you see fit, my actions are punishable by court marshal.”

She just gazed back at me with her fiery gold eyes. “At ease, Lieutenant.” It took me a few seconds to realize what she had said. I dropped the salute and looked back at her. “What’s your name, son?”

“Lieutenant Phantom Wing, Captain,” I pulled out the envelope that contained my orders. “These are my assignment orders. I am assigned as a new co-pilot, ma’am.”

She took the envelope and opened it. She read the letter and looked back up at me. She smiled at me and stuck out her hand. “Welcome to the team, partner. I look forward to flying with you.”

I shock her hand and she walked off. Leaving me both amazed and surprised. Partner? Could I be her...? No. That was impossible. No way would I be the co-pilot of the best Wonderbolt to date. Would I?

Later that night, I headed to the Mess Hall to get some dinner. As I was about to open the door I turned to look at the flight line. The Hornet and the Tomcat were still there, locked together as one plane. I turned back to the door and opened it. When I walked in, I found the all the lights were out.

“Hello?” I called into the darkness.

My answer came with a loud “SURPRISE!!!” from the Wonderbolts of Camp Celestia. I gazed around the room and saw that they had all thrown me a party. I couldn’t figure out why, until I remembered I had saved Midnight Strike earlier that day.

I wondered how they got all this together so fast and then I was face to face with a hyper young girl with bright and puffy pink hair.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie and I helped plan this party just for you!” Pinkie Pie said jumping up and down.

“Um, thanks, Pinkie… AAHHHH!!”

She began pushing me towards a table at the end of the hall. When she finally stopped pushing me I looked up to see that I was sitting next to Spitfire, and she was smiling.

PARTNERS?

The next morning, I had one heck of a hangover. After getting some breakfast in the Mess Hall I checked the roster for the hangar where my partner was. I headed over to the hangar and found an F-14 being checked and prepped. I saw my partner standing at a desk looking over our flying plan. I couldn’t see her head, but I knew my partner was a girl. I began to walk over and then I stopped when she raised her head and waved at me. My partner was Spitfire.

“Morning, LT!” she called as she walked my way. “I hope you’re well rested after last night. We’ve got a big surveillance project this morning. Buckle up.” She slapped me on the shoulder and began jogging toward the plane. I could see that I was in for a wild ride.

My pilot was going to be Spitfire. That was a curve ball that I did not see coming from life. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why I was being assigned to the greatest Wonderbolt that ever lived. What had she done that warranted me being assigned to her? What had I done? There was no time do dwell on the thought because we had a recon mission to run.

I jumped into the copilot seat of Spitfire’s F-14. Now that I wasn’t trying to save a fellow Bolt I got a good feel for the cockpit. It was kind of tight for a person like me, yet there were fewer buttons and switches that I had to worry about hitting. My head was just under the glass when I had my helmet on. Yeah, I’m just shorter than a standard cockpit. When the plane started moving, It was quite smooth. I didn’t even notice it moving until the sun glared in my eyes. I looked out the canopy glass as we rolled out on to the runway. We came to a stop and we began running through a final check. Spitfire’s radio clicked as she got in touch with me.

“Go ahead and let the tower know that were taking off.”

I clicked my radio and got in contact with the tower. “Mother Bird, this is Wonder 1. Requesting permission for departure to perform some reconnaissance. Are we a go? Over.”

“Roger that, Wonder 1. You are in the green and you have a go. Good luck and stay safe out there.”

“Roger that, Mother Bird. Wonder 1 out,” I clicked my radio, “We’re all set, Captain.” She nodded in the mirror she had.

“Alright. Let’s catch some wind. You might want to hang on.” I didn’t know what she meant, until she just gunned the engines of the plane and we shot forward at an amazing speed. While I was pinned to the back of my chair we grew ever closer to the end of the runway. Just before I thought she was going to run the plane off the end, Spitfire pulled up on the stick and we rocketed nearly strait up into the air. I couldn’t help but yell in both fear and excitement. We soon leveled out and Spitfire turned to look at me. “Still alive back there, LT?” she asked.

“Hell yeah, Cap!” I responded.

Spitfire let out a small chuckle. “Alright. Let’s go banjo on the border,” She said. With great ease she turned the plane and we headed off towards the border between Equestria and Griffonstone.

After about an hour of flying, we reached the border of Griffonstone. We flew along the border for a few minutes as Spitfire explained to me that we were going to be going into a portion of Griffonstone.

“Since Griffonstone doesn’t have a king, there have been a lot of issues. Under King Grover, the kingdom was almost as strong and prosperous as Equestria. Now, people can barely scrape by. Several rebel factions have arisen as well. We still have a standing agreement with the country that we will patrol their borders. Think of it as a way to keep any unwanted rebels out.”

“Have there been any firefights between you and the rebels before? I mean, before I showed up?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she said somberly. “And as much as I would like to say otherwise, we have lost several good Bolts in those encounters.” Just then a beeping sound came from the dashboard in front of Spitfire. “This is it. From here, we’re flying over Griffonstone.”

We flew over the border territory of Griffonstone for about another hour and we didn’t see anything. We waited around in the area for about another thirty minutes until we spotted Soarin’s F-18. After that we flew back to the base and logged our report.

I headed back to my quarters and flopped down onto my bed with a book. It was one of the few things that I had brought with me to the base. After that I went back down stairs to check the schedule for the next day. After another six hours of meetings and other stuff I went to bed. It was this way for about another month. Then one night things changed one evening.

I had gone back to my room and picked up my book to start reading it again. I wasn’t there thirty minutes when there was knock on my door. I got up and opened it to see Spitfire standing there her dress uniform.

“Captain. To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?” I asked a little surprised to see her there. As far as I knew, there wasn’t anything special going on that evening.

“How long do you need to get your dress uniform on, LT?” She asked.

“About five minutes. Why?” I was really confused. Why was the captain standing in my door and asking me how long I need to get into my dress uniform.

“You’re coming with me to the Gala this evening.”

That was not what I was expecting. She was talking about the Grand Galloping Gala. It happens to be the biggest event of the year and it is held in our shinning capital city of Canterlot. Anybody who’s anybody is there. Mostly the Gala just a place for the filthy rich of Equestria to come and hobnob together. There was a special treat though. Princess Celestia would send out a few invitations to select individuals that she wanted to attend. Two years ago, she invited her student and her friends. Last year, she invited Discord. This year, she didn’t just invite them, she also invited Spitfire. Spitfire could bring any other person with her and so she decided that she would bring me.

I stood there in the door for a moment. Why would she invite me of all people? I was new and she surely had friends that would love to come. Why would she choose the newest member of the Wonderbolts who damaged her plane? I snapped out of my trance when she started talking again.

“Everyone else got a ticket and so you were the only option of someone that I could invite,” she said.

I looked at her for a minute before answering. “Sure. I’ll meet you down in the lobby.” She smiled and walked for the stairs. I closed my door and quickly ran to my closet. I grabbed my uniform and quickly got it on. I went to the bath room and brushed my hair before heading down the meet Spitfire. There she was.

THE GALA

Standing there in the middle of Wonderbolt seal looking radiant as ever. Her uniform looked like a sky blue dress with how the light reflected on it. I honestly couldn’t believe that she had chosen me as her “plus one” for the Gala.

We walked outside to where a limo was waiting for us. We got in and had about a four hour ride until we reached the gates of Canterlot Palace. The ancient Palace look amazing. There were banners and decorations everywhere. The walls and windows were bathed in light of varying colors. When we stepped out I gave Spitfire my arm and escorted her into the Palace. The inside of the ancient building was just as decorative. The guards were standing at attention in their best dress. The silks they wore were of the finest material and their golden armor glinted in the light.

As I gazed around, I soon saw our great leader and renowned REA veteran, Princess Celestia. I had never met the princess. I had only seen her in pictures and old documentaries. She looked as young as she did when she took the throne of Equestria. That was so many thousands of years ago that nobody remembers. Even Celestia doesn’t remember.

Pretty soon I snapped out of my thoughts when I realized that we next in the greeting line. Then there before us stood our princess. It took all of my will not to faint right then and there. Spitfire and I bowed respectfully to her.

“Spitfire, I’m so glad you could make it,” She said. Her voice was like crystal. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Lieutenant Phantom Wing. He’s our newest member at Camp Celestia. And he’s a pretty darn good pilot too.”

Thanks a lot Spitfire. Now is not the time to be boosting my ego.

“Really? He hasn’t beaten any of my records, has he?” Celestia asked.

“No. But, he has been getting very good. He might just break that fastest dive record that you set all those years ago.”

Thanks a lot again Spitfire. Make her want to keep an eye on me.

“Well, I am glad that you both were able to attend. Please enjoy yourselves. I will be along in bit.” She waved her hand toward the ball room.

Thank you for the dismissal Princess Celestia.

In case you’re all wondering why I am referring to the princess by her first name, she asked me too. So did all the other princesses. I’ll explain why in a bit. Anyways, back to the story.

Spitfire and I walked into the ball room and we were instantly greeted by two faces that we all knew. Soarin was one of them. The girl on his arm was someone I knew from my days in flight school. It took me a minute to recognize who it was. I then realized that it was Rainbow Dash. I had heard that she had just been accepted into the Bolts about a month before I was stationed at Camp Celestia. I have never seen her around though.

“Soarin, glad to see that you made it,” I said as they walked up.

“Are you kidding? No way would I ever miss this. There’s free food, awesome dancing, and great company. What could keep me away?” he said.

That was when Rainbow chimed in. “I know you,” she said pointing at me. “You were just assigned to Camp Celestia last month, right?”

“Yep, that’s me. You don’t remember me do you? We attended flight school together.” I asked.

Rainbow thought for a minute as she stared at my face. Then her eyes lit up. “Oh my gosh! Phantom Wing! I knew that your name sounded familiar. I knew that you were planning on joining up with the Bolts, but I never heard from you after that.”

I smirked. “Yeah, I moved to Fillydelphia after that. Ten years later, I joined the academy and ended up at Camp Celestia about a month ago.”

“Soarin and I will let you get reacquainted,” Spitfire said. She and Soarin left for the dance floor. Rainbow and I walked over to a table and sat down to talk.

“Dash, I’ve been at Celestia for about a month now. How come I never see you around?” I asked.

“Well, I’ve been traveling to a lot of different shows lately. I’ve been in nearly every city in Equestria and I’ve been to a few other different countries. I should be back at CC tomorrow though. I’m tired of traveling. What you all been up to?”

“Border patrol mostly.”

“Griffonstone border?”

“Yep. Sector 4, Areas C through G. The most exciting thing that we see is usually refugees crossing the border illegally. You’d think that some rebel could shoot a few bullets at us once and a while. We’ve haven’t had a single problem since the day I arrived.”

Rainbow raised an eye brow at this. “What happened?”

I explained to her about Spitfire’s fast landing and me stealing and ramming the wing of her plane into Midnight’s so as to stabilize the plane and get it to land.

“Wow. Sounds like that was quit the first day.”

“Yeah, it was. Amazingly, Spitfire wasn’t mad that I damaged her plane. I thought that she would have had me reassigned for sure.”

Rainbow smiled. “No. Compared to me, that’s nothing. You don’t happen to have a nick name yet, do you?”

“No. Why?” I wondered what a nick name had to do with this.

“Well you may have rammed her plane’s wing into another plane, but I had an even worse event. You see at my first show, I changed the routine without consulting her. I ended up crashing my FA-18 and nearly hurting a lot of people because of it. She nearly kicked me out of the Bolts for that. That along with about a dozen mishaps on my first day earned me the name Rainbow Crash. So you had it easy.”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little at that story. But, she was right. I did have it easy.

The rest of the night went on for about 5 hours. It wasn’t long though before our dates had come to pick us up for the dancing time of the night. It was quite an enjoyable evening and I soon found myself smiling and dancing throughout the night. When we left, I knew that I had a good time.

AN INTERESTING FLIGHT

For the next two months we were flying at different shows across the country. We almost didn’t get to go out on patrol at all. Not that I was complaining. Every time that we were out on patrol we saw the same basic things. Trees and refugees. That was it. There was never anything interesting that went on during our patrol flights. During our patrols, Spitfire and I used the time to socialize and become better friends. After a while we grew to be pretty close friends. Yet, we were still bored. That is, until one day we were assigned a new patrol area.

I walked out onto the flight line to find Spitfire sitting by our new plane. Her old F-14 decided that it was going to die on us after we landed three prior. So, the military council ordered the Spitfire and I get a new plane. So we had to upgrade to the FA-18 that everyone else was flying. I was fine with it since that was the plane that I had trained for, yet I missed the old plane. It was fun to fly and I had gotten used to it.

As I walked up to her she looked up from where she was sitting. She turned around and I was not prepared for the beauty that I saw. I thought that Spitfire wore cloths under here suit like all the other Wonderbolts. I was wrong and she wasn’t afraid to make a point of that matter. She had her skin tight flight suit almost completely unzipped. Her breasts were almost completely exposed and I could see the hem of her panties. It took all of my strength not to stare at her body. I forced myself to keep my eyes locked on her face as she spoke.

“Well, what do you think of the new plane?” she asked as I walked up.

I merely shrugged. “It’s like an attack dog with wings. Strong plane and will just about anything that you ask of it. But, hardly a plane worth using in peace time. But, with our kind of work, it is a suitable plane,” I said trying to be honest.

Spitfire let out a smirk that quickly disappeared. She walked over to her chair and leaned over to pick up a clip board. Her breasted nearly fell out of her unzipped flight suit. Why did she have to be so damn sexy? She walked back over with a serious look on her face.

“Good. Because, we have a new patrol route. Sector 10, Areas Q through V.”

My heart nearly jumped out of my mouth at the mention of those areas in Sector 10. Fighter pilots from every air force dreaded that place. It was in to mountains just west of Griffonstone. It was known as Dead Plane Pass. The wrecks of hundreds of planes littered the mountain. For once in my career I was scared to death. I was about to protest, but Spitfire put her hand up.

“I tried to get another route, but they needed a plane to patrol it and all the other routes were taken. Besides, I’ve flown it before and nothing bad has ever happened. Today will be no different. We’re being sent on a recon mission to see if there is any rebel activity up there.”

I simply nodded knowing that there was nothing I could do to change our assignment now. I got into the plane and said a very strong prayer that we would get back alive. Spitfire joined me in the plane a few moments later. We powered up the plane and took off.

We had to make a brief stop on the carrier EDS Regal Moon for fuel and then we were on our own. Soon I spotted the mountains and said another prayer.

Areas Q through T were fine and went off without a hitch. When we started our run over Area U though, I spotted something in video of our camera.

“Hey, Spits. I think that we should turn the plane around here and head west.”

“Why is that? That area is not on our route.”

“Yeah, I know, but I thought I saw something that may be of interest back home. Besides, we may actually get something good on this camera.”
Spitfire, shook her head. “Why do I listen to you?” She said before she pulled the plane around to the west.

We flew over the forest and I watched my camera’s video feed. Suddenly I spotted a group of soldiers that were throwing bodies into a mass grave. “Spits, look down,” I called up to Spitfire.

“Well, you were right. That is interesting. Smile boys, you’re on camera.”

I couldn’t help, but smile at her joke. Spitfire always had a good joke to tell from time to time.

After a second pass we began to head back until one of our alarms started blaring. And I light began to flash on my dashboard. When I saw what it was, I panicked.

“Holy shit, Spits!” I yelled.

“What is it?”

“We’re getting painted!” I yelled to her. I spotted a DM2 Anti-Air missile on our radar.

“What?”

“Shit! They fired! Pull it up now!” Spitfire took our plane into a steep climb away from the missiles and we began flying for the nearest pass that was ahead of us. We flew away as fast as we could from the missiles, but they were keeping up with us. I contacted the carrier that was in the water just off shore. Regal Moon, this is Wonder 1! We have been engaged!”

“Deploy flares!” Spitfire ordered.

“Copy! Deploying flares! I responded as I hit the button. Our flares deployed but the missiles didn’t fall for it. “The flares didn’t work, Spits! We need another idea!”

Suddenly a second missile came up on my radar. I was really panicking. “Celestia! Second missile in the air! Three miles and closing! Pull up! Change your vector!”

“I got it! I got it!” Spitfire yelled as she banked the plane to the left. “We need a bigger heat signature!” Spitfire pulled up through another pass that panned out into a flat valley. She spotted our target and angled us towards it.

“Missiles, one mile and closing! Get ready to drop the tanks and pull up!” A few minutes later she gave the order yelling as loud as she could. “Now drop the tanks! Drop them, drop them, drop them!!!”

“Roger that! Dropping tanks!” I responded as I dropped the tanks from the plane. They landed and exploded with a loud boom as we pulled up. They were soon followed by the fuel reserve exploding. There was a third explosion and one of the missiles disappeared from the radar. Just when I thought we were out of the woods, the other missile came back on the radar.

“Shit! Spits, the other one is still there!”

Spitfire suddenly pulled up around and began flying us toward the missile!”

“I am so done with this!” she yelled.

“Holy shit, Spitfire! What are you doing?”

“I’m ending this! We’re going to fly right past it so hang on!”

We flew towards the missile and I was praying all the way. Suddenly there was a lurch and a burst of flame. The missile was gone. And so was one of our tails. I cursed under my breath as when I saw that damage.

“Hey, Spits. Great job on losing the missile, but what about the tail?” I asked knowing the answer all too well.

Spitfire turned around to look at the tail and saw that it was gone. “We’ll have to ditch,” she said. “I’ll get us as close to the shore as possible. Then we’ll ditch the plane.”

We flew for a few more minutes as we got closer to the coast line. Suddenly, I detected yet another missile careening towards us. “Spits, if we’re going to ditch then we had better ditch now! We got another Charlie headed right for us.”

Spitfire concurred and we both pulled the eject handles on out seats. I closed my eyes and the next thing I knew, I heard a big boom and my shoot had opened. I opened my eyes to see Spitfire slowly falling with her shoot open as well. It was only a brief glimpse though as I soon saw only tree branches.

WONDER 1 DOWN

I stared down at the ground as I tried to disconnect myself from my parachute. I didn’t want to be here when the people that shot at us came around. Odds were stacked against my hope that they hadn’t seen my chute. I continued to struggle with my chute when suddenly a gun shot rang out and I found myself hitting the ground. Hard. I got up to my knees as fast as I could, drawing my .45 and aiming it around at the brush. I stopped when I saw Spitfire in here tattered jumpsuit. My suit wasn’t any better off. It had a few cuts all over it and I couldn’t care less. I pulled my helmet and harness off after I holstered my gun. Spitfire pulled me up and we began running for a small cave that she had spotted on her way over to me. Once we were inside Spitfire pulled a pack off her back that I hadn’t noticed before. She handed me a change of uniform. It was a two piece camouflage uniform. The old kind that my dad used to wear.

“Put this on. And be quick about it. The rebels are close by,” Spitfire said as she began pulling out another uniform for herself. She also pulled out a second pack and began to unpack it and split the supplies between us.

I didn’t waste any time in getting out of my tattered flight suit and into the uniform. Damn my mind for wondering as I put it on because if I didn’t know any better, I could have sworn I saw Spitfire looking at me. I finished tying my boots and began pulling on my jacket. I made the mistake of looking over at Spitfire right at that moment. Man she was a looker. I already that she wasn’t wearing a bra, but even wearing panties she didn’t leave much hidden. She was very tan and her body looked excellent. She was also built like a rock. Suddenly she didn’t look like the woman I saw at the Gala. She was a built soldier.

After my mind came out on fantasy mode, I noticed her mark. It wasn’t a birth mark or a scar. It was her ID mark. Every Bolt had one. Hers looked like an owl that was completely made of fire.

I was snapped out of my trance when I heard the rumble of a tank engine. Spitfire and I ducked down to the ground. We stayed there begin extra quiet as rebel Griffons passed by us. They passed by us without even seeing us. Yet ten feet was as close as I wanted to get to the receiving of one of their rapid burst PPSh-41s and their AK-47s.I also did not want to get close to their T-90 battle tank. After the enemy troop passed, I strapped on the .45 to my leg and through the pack on my back. As we began to move towards the direction of the shore Spitfire tossed me the tape that we had taken from our fly by. I put it in my pack and began following Spitfire towards the shore that was a good two days hike away.

We hiked for about six hours and then sat down to rest near a river. Spitfire reached into her pack and pulled out a walkie-talkie. She turned a few of the dials until she got the frequency that she wanted.

“Regal Moon, this is Wonder 1A. Do you copy? Over.”

“Roger that, Wonder 1A. We read you. What is your status?”

“Our bird has been destroyed and we are being pursued by rebel militants. We also have valuable cargo with us. We’re trying to make our way to the coast. But, I think that we’re kind of lost. Over.”

“Roger that. Can you describe where you are? We may be able to give you a baring. Over.”

Spitfire looked around and decided to focus on the river and the base of the mountains. “Right. We’re at the base of one of the peaks and there is a bend in the river about 50 feet away. I can also see a road on the opposite bank. Over.”

There was a long silence on the other end of the walkie-talkie before we got an answer.

“Alright. You’re headed in the right direction, Wonder 1. Cross the river and follow the road. You should come to an abandoned village on the coast in about a day. Contact us again once you’re there. Regal Moon out.”

With that, the Regal Moon was off the air. I turned to Spitfire as she put the walkie-talkie back in her pack. “So, what now?” I asked already knowing the answer.

“We cross the river and then follow the road until we come to an abandoned village on the coast. Then we’ll contact the Regal Moon for further instructions,” She reached back into her pack and pulled out two tins. She tossed one of them to me. “Here. Put this on.”

“Why?”

“Unless you want your face to stand out against the brush, I suggest that you put it on.”

I couldn’t argue with that. I opened the can and found that it was paint. A dark green paint. I spread it all over my face and hands and then tossed the can back to her. She put it back into her pack. I noticed that she had put in her hair as well. It made sense since it was a bright fire orange. Mine was fine since it was black. We wadded across the river and began following the road towards the coast.

After about four more hours of hiking we pulled off the road and set up a shelter out of wood and branches. All we had in the way of food was the survival rations (aka; the food that last forever and never taste any better). After we had dinner, Spitfire took first watch and I slept. After three hours, I took the rest of the night. I thought that it was peaceful during the night. It was quiet and cool. Little did I know that the next day would be like plunging into Tartarus itself.

LUNAR DAWN

On the bridge of the Regal Moon tensions were high. There hadn’t been any contact with the downed pilots since the night before and the captain was getting nervous. His ship was just sitting off the coast of Griffonstone with a rescue squad sitting on the deck waiting for the order to launch. He didn’t like it at all. After hearing that one of the best planes in Equestria’s air force had been taken down, every hair on the back of his neck was on end. He gazed out the window of the bridge at the mountains that formed part of the natural fortress that was Griffonstone. In the country’s 5,000 year history it had only ever been breached once. And during that war the intruders were defeated because of the same thing that made the country such a fortress. The captain wondered if he was running a fool’s gambit. One of the bridge officers broke him from his thoughts.

“Sir, Princess Celestia is on the horn,” he said holding the phone out to his captain. The captain got up from his chair and took the phone.

“Thank you, LT.,” as he put the phone up to his ear. “Princess Celestia, how can I help you?”

“Captain Iron Hoof, I got your message about our two pilots. Have you had an update on their situation?” Celestia asked.

“Negative, Princess. We haven’t had any contact with them since 2100 hours yesterday.”

“Very well. Let us know right away if you get any news from them.”

“Will do, Princess Celestia. Regal Moon out.”

Captain Iron Hoof handed the phone back to the Lieutenant who put it back on the jack. Iron Hoof stared back out the window at the mountains. He got up and left the bridge to go down to his cabin.

Iron Hoof sat down at his desk and pulled two files of his shelf. He opened the first one and gazed at it for some time. He knew Spitfire well. The two of them had grown up in the same town when they were kids. He smiled as he read through her record again. Spitfire had risen through the ranks so quickly and she had so many commendations, awards, and medals that she had earned the name Steel of Flame. He opened the second file as gazed at the record for Lieutenant Phantom Wing. ‘A distinguished cadet with a straight A report card and an excellent flier,’ is what the record read. Seeing what was written about him in the file made Iron Hoof calm down just a bit. If Phantom Wing was as good as his record said, then Spitfire was in good hands. He closed both files and put them back on the shelf.

“Captain to the bridge. Captain to the bridge,” the speakers suddenly sounded.

Captain Iron Hoof walked out of his cabin and began heading for the route to the bridge. When he got there, most of the officers were staring out towards the shore.

“What do we got?” he asked as he walked over to the starboard side window lifting a pair of binoculars to his eyes.

“We have an unidentified craft bearing down on us. The craft is bearing 232 True, approximately 8,000 yards,” the XO said. “She’s closing fast. I estimate about five minutes before she’s right on top of us.”

Iron Hoof spotted the craft and saw that it was a Griffonstone warship and she was bearing down on them at top speed. Iron hoof started giving his orders as he pulled the binoculars away from his eyes.

“Sound battle stations. I want everyone on alert. Have Squadron 369 ready to fly. Also, contact ECOD and GDM. I want to find out who that ship is.”

“Aye, Aye, Captain,” the XO responded. Within minutes Iron Hoof’s orders were carried out. A few minutes later, the Xo picked up the phone on the bridge and handed it to Captain Iron Hoof.

“Hello, this is Captain Iron Hoof of the Equestrian carrier RES Regal Moon. Is this is the head of GDM?”

The Griffonstone defense minister responded on the other end. “Yes. I am Defense Minister Bronze Talon. I am sorry about the alert that we have put you and your ship under, Captain. But we were unable to get through the communications encryption that your ship has.”

Captain Iron Hoof smiled at that. At least he knew that the new encryption was working. “Sorry about that. Anyhow, why is one of your warships pulling alongside my ship?”

“The GDS Grover was assigned to you as an escort in case of any complications that the rebels may give you. Princess Celestia herself requested it.” Bronze Talon said over the phone.

“If that’s what Princess Celestia requested then their presence is welcome. I’ll need to confirm with ECOD that the request did come from Celestia. But, none the less, thanks for the help.”

“It is our pleasure. It is the least we can do for the nation that has been helping us keep the rebels under control. I hope that you find your pilots soon. Contact me again if you need anything further.”

Bronze Talon hang up his phone. Iron Hoof did the same. He sighed as he slumped back in his chair. “I hope we find them too,” he said under his breath. He stared out the window as the Grover pulled alongside the Regal Moon and began matching their speed. The destroyer was quite imposing. Even though the Regal Moon was Equestria’s best and most up to date carrier, the Grover looked as though it could do considerable damage before it would die.

If the GDM and Princess Celestia thought that a Griffon destroy needed to be sent to escort the Regal Moon then that meant they knew something bad was going to happen very soon. Captain Iron Hoof didn’t know what that thing was, and he didn’t really want to find out. Yet, he knew that sooner or later he would find out what it was. It was not something he was looking forward to. On the bridge of the Regal Moon tensions were high.

THROUGH THE CAVES

Spitfire and I ran as fast as we could through the brush. Having a full squadron of Griffonstone rebels chasing after you makes you find out just how fast you can run. That and the fact that they were shooting at us made me more compliant to run. We had been resting by the edge of the road for a few minutes, when they suddenly started shooting from nowhere. I had a bullet come just inches from my face. That made me run even faster and pretty soon I was running right beside Spitfire.

“I don’t suppose we can shack these creeps any time soon!” I yelled as we ran through the bushed and trees.

“I am right there with you!” Spitfire yelled back at me. She suddenly turned to a denser patch of trees. “This way!” she yelled as she did so. I followed close behind her, not wanting to get left behind.

We ran for another several yards until the forest disappeared and we were running across a field towards what looked like a large lake. Yet, there were no large lakes in Griffonstone. I then realized that what I saw was the ocean. I almost thought that Spitfire was crazy. Running off a cliff to escape our pressures seemed crazy. I would have said so if not for the T-90 battle tank that came bursting out the trees. That made me run even faster for the cliff.

In case you can’t tell, I hate tanks that are determined to kill me. Scratch that. I hate tanks in general. We ran faster than we had before as the tank started shooting at us. Without even thinking, we jumped off the edge of the cliff and fell into the ocean below.

When we hit the water, the first thing I felt was wet. Then I was cold. I soon found myself rising through the water to the surface. When I burst to the surface, I was greeted by a crashing wave that shoved me back down. When I surfaced again, I gasped for air.

I began swimming away from the cliff towards where Spitfire was trying to do the same. I soon got to her and we both began to swim away from the cliff. We made it out into open water and we got a chance to relax. I certainly didn’t like being in the water, much less the open ocean. Spitfire apparently sensed this and we began swimming towards a nearby beach.

We swam as fast as our tired bodies would allow. After about an hour of swimming, we reached the shore and I plopped down on the sand. Spitfire soon joined me and she should no intention of doing otherwise. We lay there for several minutes just gazing at the sun. Believe it or not it, it was I who actually suggested that we get moving.

When we stood up we saw that the beach was nothing more than a stretch of sand along another cliff face. That’s… just… great. But, then I saw an opening in the cliff. It appeared to be large cave. As I examined the entrance, I felt a breeze coming from the inside of the cave. That meant that there was another opening somewhere along the cliff. I looked at Spitfire who had arrived at the same conclusion. We decided that we had nothing to loss and so we stepped inside the cave and began following the breeze.

For what seemed like hours we followed the breeze through the cave. As we walked through we found many more openings and gaps in the rock. Some of them were big rooms while others were small breaks drops into the dark unknown. I certainly didn’t want either of us to find out just what was down there in any of those breaks. Unfortunately, I had to be standing on a shelf that was apparently thin limestone. The last thing that I remembered was crashing through the floor and landing on the ground below me. I hit my head on something because I blacked out.

I came to several minutes later, my head in a dizzy spell. I couldn’t see or hear anything for a few minutes. Then my ears starting ringing and my eyes cleared up. I gazed around me and found that I was in a narrow hole. Thankfully it was enclosed and so there was no way that I would step off of another edge. Finally my ears cleared up as well and I heard Spitfire calling down at me.

“Phantom, are you okay?”

“Yeah. Nothing seems to be broken. I wish it wasn’t so dark though.” As if on cue she dropped a glow stick down to me and instantly the area around me lit up. I was able to actually see where I was and the area in which I was trapped was much smaller than I thought. I had about a foot on either side of me if I was lying on my back. “Thanks,” I called back up to her. “I don’t suppose you have any rope in your pack?”

“Of course I do. Give me one second.” Spitfire disappeared from the ledge for a minute and I heard her rifling through her bag. I then heard her moving around, doing something and then the rope came down to me. I tied it around my waist in a one handed bowline and I walked over to the rock face.

“Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to start climbing, and you will keep the rope tight as I climb. Okay?”

“Got it,” she called back down at me.

I put my both my hands and my right foot on the wall. “Okay. Here I go.” I started climbing the wall at a decent pace. Spitfire was not letting me down because as I climbed, my rope stayed tight as a button. Eventually, after a long and hard climb, I made it back to the top. Spitfire pulled me up on to the other side of the hole and I collapsed on the floor for a minute to catch my breath.

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again,” she scolded me.

“Yes, mother,” I replied with a smile. That got her to smile back at me. I took a lot for Spitfire to genuinely smile. She was all Ms. Serious on the ground. Even though I sensed that in the air, she was always having fun when in the sky. You put her behind the controls of a plane she is completely different person. But, this Spitfire that I saw starring at me like a concerned mother to her hurt child was a completely different woman. Even though her face paint made it hard to see, I thought I saw a tear of joy rolling down her cheek.

Enough of this sappy stuff. Boy my mind can wonder sometimes. After our short little bonding incident, we got back up and began moving again. The breeze was growing stronger and fresher as we continued through the maze of caves and crevices. We continued walking until we finally came to another opening in the ground. I first thought that it was another large room in the caves, but then I realized that caves rooms don’t have stares or grass. Not like this anyway. We both jogged out of the cave to find ourselves in the middle of a brightly lit field. It was beautiful. I never thought I would be so happy to see the sky again. Yet, I was overjoyed.

I turned to where Spitfire was and I saw her standing by the edge of the hill that we had come out on top of. She was clearly starring at something. I walked over and I gazed down at what she saw. My heart briefly leapt for joy because I saw the abandoned village that we needed to get to for rescue. But, then it quickly sank as I saw what stood between us and the village. Down in the valley before us was an entire camp just filled with Griffonstone rebels. There were at least two battalions between us and the village and who knew how many were actually in the village.

I turned my head to Spitfire and instead of seeing the same dread that had taken over me all that I saw was confidence. She was holding her pistol and smiling at me. I grabbed my own and she started down the hill. I followed after her because I did not want to get left there. Yet, I had this sinking feeling that something bad was going to happen.

THE CAMP

I knew that there was going to trouble. I didn’t know what that trouble was going to be, but I just knew that it was going to happen. And happen it did. Not only was the enemy camp between us and the village, but now there were two Griffonstone rebels with PPSh-41s pointed at us. I really didn’t like this country at all right now. I’m sure that it was better than this, but right now I hated it with a burning passion. Having these weapons pointed at me made me even more uncomfortable because I was not one to have weapons pointed me. Turning my head to look at Spitfire I made my annoyance clear.

“I knew this would happen.”

“No you didn’t, LT. Don’t give me that.”

“I did too know that this would happen. You just didn’t give me time to say it. And now look at the mess we’re in.” I tossed my head in the direction of the two soldiers. No. They weren’t soldiers. They were rebels. The fact that they had their own uniforms made them look like soldiers though.

Spitfire shook her head furiously and turned her head to stare at me. “Don’t you blame this on me. I am not to blame here. You’re the one that got us into this mess in the first place.”

Now it was my time to be defensive. “What!? It is not my fault. You were the one flying the plane. You should have dodged the SAM better. I was just along for the ride.”

“Don’t act all innocent. You’re the one that made me take the plane off course. Don’t make me out to be the bad guy here.”

Spitfire was starting to look a little angry. Thankfully one of the guards broke up our little “conversation.”

“Quiet! There are those in this camp that would like us to just arrest you quietly so that they can continue sleeping. Now if you don’t mind coming with us so that I can we can put you in the stockade until morning it would be greatly appreciated.”

He motioned for both of us to go ahead of him. I was surprised when Spitfire did. I was half expecting her to fight so that we both could get away. Yet she didn’t. She just started walking towards the camp. I of course just started following her because I knew that she had a plan in mind. I just didn’t know what it was.

After about a good ten minute walk we came to the stockade. Despite it being on a truck and being half made of wood it looked pretty solid. I can image that it would be hard for somebody to escape from something like that. One of the guards opened the door and motioned for us to get in. Spitfire started to walk towards the door and then she jumped at the guard, grabbing his weapon. I did the same with the guard that was behind me.

I didn’t know just how Spitfire was faring, but I was having fun with the guard that had been behind me. It took me several minutes before I was able to get him on the ground. Instead of trying to wrestle the gun away from him any further, I just keep his one hand away from the trigger and I punched him with my other hand.

It took a few hits, but eventually I knocked him unconscious. I grabbed his gun and stood up. I turned around just in time to see Spitfire with the other guard’s gun slung over her shoulder. I was surprised to see that she was lifting said guard into the stockade. As I thought about it what she was doing actually made sense. I grabbed the guard and lifted him into the stockade. We locked the door and literally threw away the key.

“Let’s go,” Spitfire said to me, unslinging the gun she had just acquired. “We’re much closer to the village now. And we need to contact the Regal Moon. I’ll take point.”

I unslung my gun and began following behind her. Luckily most of the camp had already gone to sleep and so most of the lights were out. The only place that the lights weren’t out was at the commander’s tent, the communications tent, and the motor pool. We crept through the camp and there was absolutely no disturbance as we did so. Eventually we came to the command center and we overheard some of the conversation that was going on. It sounded like attack plans.

“We’ll have the bombers come in from the North side of the city and head over towards the palace,” I heard a voice say. “Then we’ll have infantry head in form the South gate. Once they have breached the city, the first squadron will hit the armories and the second squad will hit Capitol Square. Lastly the third squadron will hit the palace if it hasn’t been destroyed by the bombers. After that, there won’t be anything standing in the way of you taking power.”

“Excellent,” I heard another voice say. “What about the Regal Moon? With that equestrian carrier there, it could foil the entire assault.”

“Not to worry. The Grover is currently escorting the Regal Moon and is standing by for your order to sink her.”

That was all that Spitfire and I needed to hear. We backed away from the edge of the tent and resumed our walk to the village. I knew that it was bad news to hear that the rebels had a destroyer escorting our ship. That was very bad news. We began to double time it for said village and then slowed as we neared the edge of the camp. We stopped at the edge of the tents and made sure that there weren’t any other guards around before we dashed across the field for the row of bushes on the edge of the village. I was relieved to finally be this one step closer to home.

THE VILLAGE

I was relieved to finally be this one step closer to home. Even if that one step closer was a rundown village. Never the less, I was happy to be that much closer. We entered the village and crept quickly to the far edge of the village. We entered a hut and quickly secured a visual perimeter. I admit, being trained at the main academy, I had been greatly impressioned that you need to have more than just a visual perimeter because it could easily be weakened by any man made or natural condition. But, in our current situation, it was better than nothing. Not to saw I was completely throwing my training out the window, but at this point I really didn’t care. I just wanted to get home and have a good month of vacation. I was going to need it. Given that we had it easy compared to some pilots, but this is my experience we’re talking about here.

I kept checking all the windows for signs of enemy activity while Spitfire contacted the Regal Moon.

“Regal Moon, this is Wonder 1A. Do you copy? Over.”

“Roger that, Wonder 1A. We read you. What is your status?”

“We’ve arrived at Extraction Point Alpha. Awaiting extraction.”

The walkie-talkie was silent for a few minutes until the communications officer responded.

“Extraction will arrive at 0500 hours.”

“Roger that. Please notify the captain that the destroyer escorting you must not be trusted. It is part of the rebel fleet.”

“What? The Grover was sent to us by the defense minister to escort us in case of attack from rebel ships. You must be mistaken.”

“No. I am not mistaken Regal Moon. The Grover is not meant to be trusted. There are rebels on the far side of the village and they plan to storm the capital. They also plan to destroy you using the Grover.”

“Thank you for this intelligence. I will have that sent to captain immediately. Extraction is in route. Regal Moon out.”

I glanced back from the window that looked out on the main street and looked a Spitfire who was very displeased.

“They don’t believe you do they?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

Spitfire shook her head. “I don’t think so. At least we’ll be out of here in a few hours and then we can explain things in more detail. The sooner we get the full details of the rebels’ plans to the princess the better.”

She got up and grabbed her PPSh-41 and walked over to the back window. I turned back to watching the main street and the shore. Then it started to rain. The rain made our visual perimeter even shorter.

After a few hours, the rain stopped and I could see along the street very clearly. I gazed out to at the water to see that the launch from the Regal Moon had finally arrived.

“Right on time,” I commented as I looked at my watch. I called Spitfire over to the window and she confirmed that it was them.

We put on our packs and headed out the door. Little did we know that during the rain storm a bunch of rebels had entered the house next to us and the one across the street that was diagonal to us. We both ducked back inside and began shooting out of the windows that faced the house across the street. The extraction team from the Regal Moon joined in, shooting at the house next to us. It was the perfect crossfire. After several exchanges of bullets Spitfire had enough and pulled a grenade launcher of her pack. She fired it at the house across the street and it exploded in flames. The extraction team seemed to get the idea and did the same to the house next to us.

We threw our packs back on and ran out the door. I was the first one across. I ducked behind the edge of the other house and then Spitfire came running out. She was about half way across the street when a sudden burst of gun fire came from the burning house behind her. She collapsed as she ran towards me, blood erupting form her chest. My heart beat slowed as I processed what had just happened in front of me. Without even thinking I ran out into the street towards her. As I came close to where she lay, I threw a grenade towards to house. It exploded on contact and there were no gun shots that followed.

I grabbed Spitfire and began carrying her back to where the extraction team was waiting. From there we hurriedly moved to the boat and we began heading back to the Regal Moon. I tried to help Spitfire in any way that I could. She was my partner and I cared about her very much. No. She wasn’t just my partner. She was my friend. I stayed with her the entire time that we were in route to the Regal Moon.

The trip to the Regal Moon was much shorter than it was when Spitfire and I were waiting for extraction team. I guess that when you have a Wonderbolt bleeding out on the floor of your boat, you want to get them to the nearest infirmary as soon as possible. Once we arrived at the carrier a medical took Spitfire to the infirmary where her she was going to be in surgery for a long while. I was called to tactical. Once in tactical I laid out the plans that Spitfire and I had overheard. The commanders all looked very concerned at the plans that I had laid out before them.

It wasn’t long after I had finished that Captain Iron Hoof spoke. “You’re certain that this is their plan?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yes, Sir. They were very specific.”

“There’s something here that doesn’t make any sense,” the XO, Commander Lightning Lance, remarked. “Why would they only send a destroyer after us? They know that we are quite capable when it comes to defenses against destroyers. They should have back up plan in case the Grover failed at crippling us.”

The commanders turned to me and I instantly walked over to the sonar station. “Run a long range sonar sweep of the surrounding area. Set it to maximum.”

As the sailor complied with my request the officers came of me wondering what I was searching for. Suddenly a large ping appeared on the sonar. A talon class attack submarine. Captain Iron Hoof ran over to the phone on the wall and contacted the engine room and bridge.

“Hard to port! Full speed ahead! Sound General Quarters!” he hung up the phone and signaled for the rest of us to follow him to the bridge. I complied and followed behind them. As we proceeded to the bridge the alarm for General Quarters sounded and I felt the ship speed up.

Once we reached the bridge the ship began to lean to starboard. I saw the coast of Griffonstone begin to disappear as we headed away at full speed. The Grover attempted to match us. I hoped that I was wrong about this being the same ship that the rebels had possession of.

Yet, I was wrong. The Grover’s gun suddenly concentrated on the hull of the Regal Moon. However, it wouldn’t get the chance. Suddenly several anti-ship missiles launched from our deck and speeded towards the Grover. The enemy ship erupted in flame as it suddenly slowed to a stop.

As quick and decisive as our strike had been, we hadn’t got away uninjured. The Grover’s gun had been taken out by the first missile. Yet, she had fired off one missile as a final act of defiance during her death. The missile had hit our mast and it came crashing down on our flight deck. Several planes were crushed under it and many sailors were injured by the resulting debris. Many of the systems on the bridge went off line. The only systems that hadn’t been destroyed were our short range radar, maneuvering monitors, and our sonar. Thank goodness that our sonar was still active because there was still a rebel sub lurking beneath the surface of the water. Yet when I looked at the radar I was surprised to see that the sub was… moving away from us. Apparently, the captain didn’t want his ship to meet the same fate as the Grover. That sat just fine with us. We were in no state to retaliate any attack made by the sub.

Only a few minutes after our little skirmish, I dismissed myself form the bridge and quickly walked down to the infirmary. I wanted to know what Spitfire’s condition was. I got there just as she was coming out of surgery.

“How is she?” I asked.

“She’s stable,” the doctor answered. “But, she took quite a beating. I’m surprised that she isn’t dead. By all rights, she should be.”

I thanked the doctor and walked over to where Spitfire was. She was lying in a dead and her heart monitor beat slowly. I couldn’t help but feel helpless. She was my friend. She had saved my life back in the caves and I felt like I had failed her. I sat down in a chair and refused to leave her side. I stayed there for hours. Nothing was going to pull me away now.

THREE MONTHS LATER

I walked out of the barracks and walked onto the flight line. The day was beautiful as the sun rose high above the mountains to the east.I walked into the hangar that contained the plane that belonged to me and my partner. It had been a long time since we had anything interesting to go after. I grabbed my helmet and noticed that my partner’s helmet was already off the rack. I smiled at this. She clearly wasn’t going to let me get the head on her already. It had been three months since we were rescued from the shores of Griffonstone by the Regal Moon. Today, we were revisiting the carrier again. The carrier was back out on the sea bring terror when her name was mentioned. I jogged up the ladder and looked into the main cockpit our new FA-18. There she was, getting our plane ready for flight.

“So, Spits. You ready to kick some rebel ass?” I asked as I settled into my seat.

“You had better believe it,” she responded. “They gave me some bullets and I have been dying to get a chance to return the favor.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” She closed the canopy and started our plane’s engines. We rumbled out onto the runway and I glanced up from my monitor to see that the rest of our squadron was already waiting for us on the runway.

“You want to do the honors, LT.?” Spitfire asked me.

I smiled and clicked my radio. “Mother Bird, this is Wonder 1. Requesting permission for departure. Are we a go? Over.”

“Roger that, Wonder 1. You are in the green and you have a go. Good luck and stay safe out there.”

“Roger that, Mother Bird. Wonder 1 out,” I clicked my radio, “We’re all set, Captain.”

“Let’s do it.” Spitfire waited until the rest of our Squadron were in the air and circling back so that they could fall in with us after we took off.

After we were in the air, it took only a short time before we all landed on the flight deck of the Regal Moon. Four other carriers had joined our convoy. They were carrying Wonderbolts from Manehattan and Fillydelphia.

After another day of traveling on the carrier, we got the alarm to get to our planes. Spitfire and I were the first ones on the deck, followed by Soarin and Fleet Foot. We clambered into our planes and took off. The rest of the Wonderbolts and the main fighters from the carriers followed closely behind us. We flew for several minutes, before the fighters from the carriers broke off to attack the infantry. We continued on to where we planned to intercept the bombers. After about four more minutes we got a visual on the bombers.

“Heah, Spits,” I called up to her. “11:00 low.”

She gazed out of the left side of the plane and saw our targets. “Good eye, LT.” She clicked her radio to contact the rest of the flight group. “Head up everyone. We got enemy bombers at 11:00 low. Don’t hold back on these suckers. Go crazy. The more you take down the more time off you get. Fall in on me.” She clicked off of her radio. “You ready for this, LT.?”

I smiled under my mask. “Hell yeah, Capt.”

Spitfire banked the plane down towards the enemy bombers. I stared down at the slow moving planes and I waited for the epic battle that would ensue. The whole flight that had lead up to this moment certainly was a steep tail wind.