Chapter 18
Chapter 18
"Rainboom One, you have two missiles coming to your left. Evade! Solar two, assist Lunar three. He's getting swarmed on by enemy jets. Blackbird three has been shot down, somepony please destroy that bucking AA near our choppers!"
Flare Chaser continued to spout off updates. The other ponies in the AWAC were huddled over their own computers, sending their own orders. All of their skills were being tested to keep their pilots alive and Flare could feel her throat turning a tad dry from all the speaking. She swore they would've put the ponies who spout off the legal crap at the end of commercials to shame.
"This is Lunar four. Most of the eastern defenses of the fortress have been destroyed."
"Good job, Lunar Four." She had earlier ordered him, along with two others to focus on those defenses. She was impressed they were almost finished after several minutes. "When you're done go help Sun squadron with the southern defenses. Until our ground forces can break through to open up the cooling vents, you're all stuck up there."
"Roger, heading to--Got a plane on me... buck, missile incom..."
The indicator that showed Lunar four's position went out with a wink. Flare Chaser stomped a hoof against the panel, causing it shake slightly, but no permanent damage. Her actions startled a yellow pegasus across the other side of the plane, who was busy talking to another pilot.
Apologizing to Fluttershy for startling her, she looked back at her screen. Her brow raised in curiosity as the blip of a friendly jet appeared to the south. It quickly disappeared when she noticed it.
"Damn radar better not be on the fritz again," she muttered. Her small opening from the distraction of her radar was risking a pony getting shot down. Solar three gladly stated his distress.
"I got a enemy jet right on my tail! Somepony please get him off! As if to emphasize his dire situation, there was the sound of bullets ricocheting off his plane. "Somepony, anypony!"
Flare chaser drew a blank on who to get help. Everypony else was either dealing with evading gunfire, fighting off their own pursuers, or helping shoot down said pursuers. For the first time in her career, she didn't know what to do. The pegasus' flying was turning so erratic that they were leaving combat airspace and slowly drifting south. The green and red blips indicating friendly and enemy danced around each other for several seconds before the red one strangely disappeared.
"Holy buck. Thank for the... huh? Who assisted me?"
"Celestia herself apparently," Flare Chaser joked to herself. "Worry about that later Solar Three. The rest of your squadron needs help with several enemy jets strafing our ground forces."
"Roger that! Solar Three promptly complied.
Flare Chaser continued what she was previously doing. Even with the help of seven other ponies in the AWAC the job felt overwhelming. While spouting off a command to Rainboom Three, a small part of her started to wonder who really helped Solar Three.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! Lightning repeatedly thought
Half of it was toward himself for losing the pistol he escaped Canterlot with. He reasoned it was forever lost the moment his plane ran out of fuel. He had more important things to worry about besides his belongings, unless he wanted to live in the ocean. The other half was toward the guards for shooting his plane as way to to stop him. Or at least he thought they were trying to capture him alive.
The only possessions he had was the blue flight-suit he always seemed to wear, and his weaponized black storm cloud. Which he unimaginatively named 'Zappy'. Zappy was happy to show its worth when Lightning Spark bucked the small cloud and sent a bolt at an offending enemy plane that broke off from the main battle. Sadly he had to ditch the cloud since it was only small enough to fire one bolt, but it was enough to do this job.
Finally at his destination, he took in his surroundings closely. The fortress itself looked even more imposing with his own eyes rather than in his vision. Spots of billowing smoke could be seen dotting the vast amount of grey it had. Spots that used to be anti-aircraft guns. There were still a sizable amount firing at his allies, but they were able to evade most of their gunfire.
The two long parts of the fortress that looked like arms rested in front of the main building like how an animal would lay on its belly. Both main entrances were located at the end of each "paw", which the ground forces were steadily advancing through. Lightning spotted one pony who stood out from the rest near the right "paw". She apparently also spotted him as she was busy bouncing outside the entryway with a smile on her face.
"P-Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here?" An exasperated Lightning Spark asked when he landed next to her.
"I took one of the choppers silly!" She responded like it was obvious. Lightning look to the sky and closed his eyes for a moment as if to pray to Celestia.
"Okay. that's how you got here, but why are you here?" A bullet bounced off a metal plate and went through pinkie's frizzy mane, creating a small hole. Lightning raised an eyebrow as the hole disappeared, the mane returning back to normal.
"Well, I couldn't just sit on my rump and twiddle my hooves all day. That would've been so boring. Sure, there was partying going on all over Equestria and who doesn't like a good party, but we could be doing better things like stopping the rest of these meanie-pants gryphons from destroying Canterlot! That's why I brought this baby!"
"Pinkie! Why did you bring a baby to a warzone?" Lightning yelled as Pinkie held in her hooves a yellow foal.
"Oops! Sorry, wrong baby. Hiding it behind her back, she whipped out what looked like a rocket launcher covered in frosting.
"What is Celestia's name is that?" Lightning deadpanned.
"It's my Cake-zooka! or maybe I'll call it a Bake-zooka? Oh, how about Easy bake launcher! Or how about-mpphth!" A hoof covering her mouth promptly stopped her.
"I get it, but wouldn't it make more sense to have something that fires... maybe... explosives?"
"Don't be silly, Silly. Everypony knows how deadly pastries are." When she said that, another bullet flew by and buried itself into a earth pony who was rushing into the doorway. A medic ran over and quickly dragged him away from the gunfire to be treated.
Lightning noticed he dropped a small device on the ground. Picking it up, it was the ear radio they all wore under their helmets. Looking back at the wounded pony, he was laying still while the medic watched over him. While he hated stealing, it wouldn't do much good now that the previous owner was out of commission. He tucked the radio into his ear and turned back to Pinkie.
The first thing he noticed was her hair had gone limp. The second was the sad look in her eyes as she stared at the injured pony.
"Pinkie, are you-" He cut himself off as she muttered something, but couldn't hear it. "What did you say?'
"They hurt my friend..." She looked at Lightning as she started to get misty eyed. T-They..." Pinkie and Lightning stared at each other. He slowly noticed her visage started to change into something more malicious. "Think I'll return the party favor," she growled.
"You don't plan on..." before he could finish his sentence, Pinkie had already bolted through the doorway. "... Yep, she is." He was confused why the nearby gunfire had suddenly stopped, but the gryphons were still firing. Glancing around the corner, his mouth hung open.
Pinkie Pie had run out into the kill zone. It was a straight corridor covered in grey metal plates. To reach the gryphon lines required ten seconds of galloping, and there was no cover in-between. To everypony's and the gryphon's surprise, she didn't need it since she was half-way to her goal. She seemed to know exactly when to change direction as bullets pinged against the floor where she should've been.
When she was several feet near the gryphon line, she jumped in the air and whipped out her weapon. With steady aim, she popped each gryphon in the head with a variety of pies, before landing back on her hooves. After finishing her one pony assault, she trotted back to the others with a smile on her face. Her mane back to its frizzy self.
"Alright everypony, let's get going!"
"Stay still you stupid..." Rainbow Dash muttered as she kept close behind an enemy jet, waiting for a good position to fire. She had been following her prey through every flip, corkscrew, and any other tricks to lose her, but she wouldn't give up that easily. She caught a lucky break when another friendly jet took several pot shots at her target, forcing it to fly straight. Just long enough for Rainbow dash to line up her shot.
Her jet let out a low hum as a streak of bullets flew through the sky and made a neat line of holes into the right wing. The speed they were flying caused the wing to tear off like a page from a notebook. Rainbow gave a salute to the pilot as the gryphon bailed out of the jet. A part of her was glad the enemy pilot is still alive.
"Your welcome," Gilda said as her jet matched speed next to rainbow's jet. She gave a mock salute toward her before breaking off to chase after another enemy.
"Rainboom One here. Have our ground forces breached into the fortress yet? I don't know how much more we can take." The mix of anti-air and enemy jets was slowly taking its toll on the pony pilots as one would get shot down every couple of minutes. If this continued their air forces would be taking heavy losses.
"This is Flare Chaser. I'll patch you through with our ground force's radio to listen for yourself."
Soon as she said that, gunfire and somepony shouting could be heard over her headset
"This is Leader of Apple platoon. We managed to break through the right entrance. Any luck from Dragon platoon on their side?"
"They're dealing with tough resistance, but they're slowly advancing," an unknown voice spoke from the AWAC. "Suggest you hold off until they are able to join you on the second floor."
"Most of my squad is still alive. We can't afford more time to open those cooling panels, else risk more of our pilots getting shot down. We're going in with or without Dragon Squad.
There was a short pause of thought before the AWAC member responded.
"Very well. Remember that the control room is most likely on the third floor. Focus on reaching there first to open the heat sink's panels.
"You heard the lady. Two flights of stairs ain't gonna kill you, so get going!"
Lightning huffed while going up the second flight of stairs. Apparently whoever made the floor plans for this place didn't know what they were doing. The hangar, and any rooms next to it counted as floors 1A-1B, and it took two flights of stairs to cover one floor due to how tall the rooms were. He took a shot in the dark that it was build this way to allow gryphons to fly through the hallways.
It must've been a gift from Celestia herself when he spotted an elevator while moving toward the next flight of stairs. He Nudged Pinkie on the shoulder and pointed at it with a smile on his face. She got the same idea and, while nopony watched them, bolted into the small elevator. Scanning the array of buttons, he pressed the correct one which had a black three on it..
Call me lazy. I don't give a buck!
Meanwhile, Pinkie was giggling like crazy.
"Just wait to see the looks on their faces when they see there was an elevator the whole time!" She couldn't take it anymore and burst into louder laughter.
Lightning would be joining in her laughter, but he felt uneasy being around a laughing pony who can annihilate an entire group of gryphons with pie. He found out later after inspecting her handiwork that the launcher was loaded with stale pastries.
The light above the doorway dinged, showing they had reached the second floor. Eventually the constant giggling from Pinkie broke him from his serious shell and he joined her. He had to admit, he began to also looked forward to seeing their faces as well. When the light switched to the three, they both took a step toward the door, expecting it to open. However, it did not. Instead, the speaker on the elevator turned on and a small camera in a corner spun, zooming up to get a good look at him.
"Well, well, well. What have we here?" A familiar voice said through the speaker that chilled Lightning's spine. "Lightning Spark, of all ponies. What a pleasant surprise." The camera shifted to his left, looking at Pinkie. "Though I've never seen your friend before." Lightning shook off the chill and took a fighting stance, spreading his hooves out as he stared at the camera.
"Cut out the movie bad-guy act, Gilford. It's getting old. Where are you so I can pummel your beak in." Gilford responded with a disappointed 'tsk.'.
"Straight to the point, hmm? Don't worry, we'll be seeing eye-to-eye very soon." The speaker turned off with a loud click.
Lightning pressed the open door button on the elevator panel and wasn't surprised it wouldn't work. Instead the elevator jerked upward, heading to the fourth floor. He responded by pressing against the right side of the elevator.
"Stay against the other side, Pinkie. Who knows what Gilford has waiting for us."
"Okie Dokie!" Pinkie replied cheerily, oblivious to the dangers that might lie ahead. She pressed against the left side of the elevator and they both stayed still until the elevator reached the fourth floor. The doors slid slowly open and...
Nothing. No gunfire came through the doorway. No explosions rocked the elevator. No angry gryphons yelling at him to leave their cover. Peeking around the corner, all he saw was a coated gryphon with his talons leaning on the console in front of him. Cautiously exiting the elevator, he looked around to make sure there wasn't any hidden enemies.
Outside the clear windows that covered most of the room, he saw the desperate battle going on around the fortress. When he took several more steps toward Gilford, he took a talon off the console. Above him were several large monitors which showed cameras watching the entire facility. He stopped mid-step when Gilford spoke.
"That's far enough, Lightning Spark," Gilford said quickly. He turned his head to looking at Lightning. "I wouldn't want to accidentally press the button on this detonator, now would I? Be quite a shame for those ponies entered the control room." Pressing a button on the console behind him, it switched to a full-screen view of Apple squad securing the room. He motioned with his free talon at Pinkie Pie.
"Go back in the elevator and shut the door behind you. I want to have a private chat with your friend here." Pinkie Pie glared at him for a second before responding.
"Okie dokie lokie," she growled slowly before backing up into he elevator. She still glared at the gryphon as the elevator door closed.
"You have some interesting friends," Gilford point out calmly as he watched Pinkie make her exit.
"What in Tartarus do you want, Gilford? I didn't come all the way here to have a chat." He took a step back as Gilford's calm attitude did a complete u-turn.
"Revenge toward your squadron, Lightning. Starting with you of course. Your group ruined everything I had planned, and now you dare destroy my greatest work!" Gilford pointed a shaking talon at Lightning. "Ever since I met you at the detention center I hated you. Your race just doesn't know when to keel over a die!"
Gilford gently placed the detonator on the console behind him and tore off his coat. Underneath, his body wasn't exactly bulging with muscle, but it did show he was in fit shape. He flexed his wings for a moment to enjoy the feeling without his coat ruffling his feathers.
"Sorry if I seem a little rusty. I haven't killed with my own talons in a long time, so you can imagine how I've longed to wring your sorry little neck." Gilford crouched low and paced counter-clockwise around Lightning. "Now, let us see how good you are without your jet!" Before Lightning could respond, Gilford lunged at him, swiping his talon down as he plunged.
Lightning responded by flapping his wings and propelling himself backwards to avoid the blow. Gilford growled as his tugged to free his talon, which got stuck in the tile floor. Seeing an opening to attack, Lightning hopping in the air and dove at him.
Gilford grinned and waited until he was within arm reach. His talon wasn't stuck at all as he easily pulled it out and grabbed Lightning by the throat. He squeezed hard enough that blood trickled where the ends of his talons met his neck.
"Pity that you have hooves and I have talons. Makes the duel unfair don't you think?" He suddenly felt all the air expel from his lungs as Lightning used is back hooves to buck him in the chest. He could've sworn he heard a rib or two snap as he landed on his back and skidded across the floor.
"While you can slice all you want, you can't change the fact I can still beat your face to a pulp!" Lightning retorted as he pounced on top of Gilford and proceeded to do just that. Every punch he dedicated it to somepony.
"This one's from Rainbow Dash! This one's from yours truly! This one is for just being that ugly!"
He was about to deliver a fourth one when Gilford knocked it aside and headbutt Lightning. He took the second of disorientation to roll him over and sit on his chest so he couldn't buck him off. He stared down at him, his face bloody and bruised.
"You forget that I have something else I have besides my talons to inflict pain."
Lightning went wide-eyed as Gilford threw his head back and dove his beak down to tear into his face. Rolling his torso to the left, he managed to redirect it from his face to his left foreleg. He screamed as jolts of pain shot through his body.
"Hmph, I don't see why ponies think we eat you all the time. You taste horrible." He spat on the pony under him, causing him to wince. "Now hold still, I'll make this quick." He leaned back to gouge him again. Unfortunately, he forgot about his back legs again.
Kicking his legs out, Lightning managed to lock both hooves around Gilford's neck and began to strangle him. He responded by lifting one of his talons to free himself and Lightning used that moment to punch Gilford in the chest again. The exact the same spot he bucked earlier. He was rewarded with Gilford rolling off of him and clutching his chest.
At this point they laid there to catch their breath. Gilford steadily stood up clutching his chest with one talon. He coughed loudly and spat out blood. Lightning rolled over on his stomach and got up as well, holding his bleeding and torn foreleg.
"D-damn you. I was hoping to make this quick," Gilford groaned as he limped back toward the console. "but it looks like you will have to watch as your friends below die."
Lightning took several deep breaths to fight through the pain he was feeling before slowly chasing after him. Steadily closing the distance with his foe, he was several feet behind so he took the chance to dive forward. He managed to land directly on Gilford's tail, earning him a pained screech from the gryphon. Now that he had several more seconds before he reached for his goal, he tapped his 'borrowed' earpiece.
"This is toward Apple platoon on the third floor. You need to get out of there immediately! I'm doing my best to stop Gilford from detonating that room. This is not a joke, get out of there no-!" The headset clattered across the floor when Gilford pulled it out of his ear and tossed it. He then kicked Lightning off his tail and took the next several steps to reach the detonator.
"You fool. I knew better than to have such an obvious target be its only weakness. I prepared this moment long before you even knew about this place. This little tidbit of information was only kept away from you so I could see the laughable hope you had in your eyes. There is no way to stop this super weapon from firing again, even if your plan to overheat the gun succeeded, I already entered the code to have this gun fire regardless of its status. By the time the automated systems have overheated, your nation will be nothing more than a burning husk!"
With that said, he pressed the button on the detonator.
He smiled as everything went expected. He heard the sound of the explosion and felt the violent shaking of the fortress. What he didn't expect was the floor under him suddenly buckling, sending him and Lightning down an entire floor. The equivalent height of falling down two flights of stairs.
"This is to Apple platoon on the third floor. You need to get out of there immediately! I'm doing my best to stop Gilford from detonating the room. This is not a joke, get out of there no-"
Mist Dancer's eyes shot open as she knew who was speaking through everypony's communications. Her face grew pale when Apple platoon doubted Lightning's advice.
"This had got to be a joke. We're so close to-"
"That's no joke," Mist interrupted. "Follow his order and get out of there or you're all going to die!" Mist Dancer yelled. The voice that came through her headset next shot a strong chill down her spine.
"You fool. I knew better than to have such an obvious target be its only weakness. I prepared this moment long before you even knew about this place. This little tidbit of information was only kept away from you so I could see the laughable hope you had in your eyes. There is no way to stop this super weapon from firing again, even if your plan to overheat the gun succeeded, I already entered the code to have this gun fire regardless of its status. By the time the automated systems have destroyed itself, your nation will be nothing more than a burning husk!"
Communications turned dead silent for several seconds to any pony who had listened to their radio at the time. He had just torn apart whatever hope the pony forces held onto without even knowing he had done so. What happened next kept the moment of shock lasting several seconds longer.
The third floor of the fortress suddenly exploded, sending loose pieces of rubble and glass around the entire facility. Flames shown coming from inside the fortress, threatening to consume anypony or gryphon crazy enough to traverse it. Fluttershy was the first one to break from the shock of these latest events.
"Y-you think what he said was true?
"I don't know, but why would he lie about something like that? I doubt he knew Lightning's radio was still transmitting. Rainbow let out an angry sigh. "This changes everything!
"Flare chaser to Apple platoon. Are you alright? Please respond. There was static for several seconds before something came through.
"... Fire everywhere... lost half my... evacuating the... at first floor..." The rest of just static, but those few words were enough to frighten and ease her mind.
Mist Dancer desperately tried to understand why Lightning Spark was inside the fortress. Why would he go against Rainbow dash's order to stay in Canterlot? While she was happy he was safe with the princesses, she felt an emptiness without him with her in the squadron. She hesitantly spoke, hoping for a response.
"Lightning Spark, please answer," She asked almost pleadingly. All that came was static, but that didn't stop her as she grew angry. She always knew he joked around during stressful moments. "Damnit, I order you to answer me!" Her emotions started to tear her apart at the implications of what just happened. "Lightning Spark!" She screamed out in desperation.
"Lightning Spark!"
Who the buck is yelling at me?
Lightning Spark felt sharp pain all over his body. He groggily opened his eyes to take in the bleak surroundings.
Huh, so that's why I felt warm. The tiredness and his mind's natural reaction to joke around during stressful moments keeping his thoughts calm.
Nearby flames seemed to reach for him, threatening to consume his prone body. The spinning red warning lights and fire were the only light source available. All the fluorescent lights had shattered from the explosion. Steadily getting on his fore hooves, he got away from the fire and to get a better look at where he was.
If somepony had built a giant hole in the ground with a slight incline and placed him at the bottom, it would be a good comparison to exactly where he was. Except replace the dirt with metal, concrete and other materials that was on fire. To his disappointment, the only escape was block off by more rubble.
Lightning took several seconds to recollect his thoughts. He remembered Gilford pressing the detonator then went blank when the floor beneath him broke apart. He berated himself for not using his wings, but the floor caught him by surprise. Though he began to wonder where Gilford was as he was nowhere to be seen.
He went along with the idea that he was buried under the rubble. Right now he had to find a way out before the flames killed him or the rest of the building collapsed. Testing his wings, they were a bit sore, but shouldn't be too much of a problem to fly back upstairs. Spreading his wings, he flapped them to ascend upward.
Landing on a small part of the floor that didn't fall, he found the elevator doors were ajar. Putting both hooves, one of each door, he shoved it open and peered into the elevator shaft. A small fire at the bottom of the shaft quickly told him it was permanently out of order.
To the side of the doorway, he spotted a red ladder leading toward any of the floors. Carefully reaching out with a hoof, he looped it around one of the bars and pulled himself out into the shaft. He pushed thoughts out of his mind that involved slipping and falling to his death. Even with his wings, the shaft was too tight and the cables would get in the way of his wings to spread fully.
Holding onto the ladder that much tighter, he took the next several steps carefully and reached the second floor doorway. He thanked his luck that it was open fully. Pressing against the ladder, he pushed himself off and flew through the doorway. He slid about a foot before coming to stop on the polished floor
I'm never taking elevators ever again.
Looking at the white hallway he was now in, he trotted briskly, wincing every time he had to step with his left foreleg. He reached a T-section at the end and glanced both ways. There were a flight of stairs leading only downward to his left. The right was hard to tell where it lead as several of the lights were shattered or flickering, giving a spooky feeling.
Following his "not go through the spooky area cause ghosts might be real" sense, he went down the stairs. After several flights, he came across a grey unmarked door with a push-lever. Pushing it open, he was met with the sound of silence.
Carefully shutting the door behind him to not make any noise, it still managed to slam loud enough anyway to alert any enemies who simply looked up. Seeing that no gryphons were trying to kill him, he examined the area he had wandered into.
He was standing on a catwalk in what appeared to be a very large hangar. Possibly bigger than the one located in Canterlot. Looking over the catwalk railing, he saw several enemy jets lined up. Two jets were pointed outside, one on each runway that started inside the hangar itself.
They all must've left when the explosion occurred, Lightning deducted. Something caught his eye inside one of the jets pointed outside.
"Gilford!" Lightning yelled, his voice echoing throughout the hangar. Even with the canopy closed, his shout caused the gryphon to snap his head up to look at him. A grin formed on his face as his engine flared to life and shot out the door and down the runway. Frantically lunging over the catwalk railing, he dove toward the other enemy jet pointing outside and climbed inside.
Shutting the canopy and putting on the helmet inside, a smiled formed when he noticed the jet was already set for take off. He guessed the pilot hadn't arrived when the alarms went off to evacuate the fortress. Glancing down at the controls, it took him a bit longer to figure out the similar, yet different set-up in front of him. After feeling comfortable with where everything was, he pushed forward on the thrust and shot down the runway after Gilford.
After the large explosion, the double-A on the fortress abruptly stopped. Gryphons were evacuating the building and being rounded up by ground forces as orderly as possible. Seeing the very thing they were trying to protect sent enemy morale down the toilet. Any enemies still in the air either ejected or kept fighting honorably. The latter were shot down shortly after refusal to surrender.
Even more terrifying than the explosion was the large gun above the fortress. It had suddenly come alive and had been firing every couple of minutes. Desperate to stop it, everypony fired everything they had against it. Bullets and missiles tore at the thick metal plating, but nothing seemed to severely damaging it. After several minutes of firing, the only thing they had done was create a large bundle of smoke.
"I don't get it, this thing should be a pile of rubble after that kind of beating!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"I'm out of ideas. How do you destroy something that can't be destroyed?" The sound of Flare chaser's head hitting the console with a dull 'thud' came afterwards. "What this? Oh, great. We have two more enemy jets leaving the fortress," she said with a slight annoyed expression. "Rainboom squadron, take care of them. We're stuck until we can figure out how to stop this thing. I'll look over the blueprints again, but I get the feeling it's for naught.
"Roger that," Rainbow Dash responded grimly. She spotted the two jets as they started to ascend their altitude. "I see them. Hang on,... why is one of them opening fire at the other?"
"What? Can you get a visual of who's inside those jets?"
"That's impossible at the moment with the way they're flying, Flare. Can you open communications with them?"
"Actually, yes. Give me just a second... and... there we go. You should be able to speak with them now."
"This is Rainboom One to enemy aircraft. You have twenty seconds to comply to my instructions or you-"
"Rainbow Dash? Now is really not the time to play policepony with me. Can't you see Gilford is getting away?"
"L-Lightning? Mist sputtered.
"Hey, Mist. I'll gladly explain everything once this is over, but we need to stop him!"
"Actually the fortress is top priority as a threat, Lightning Spark." Flare Chaser pointed out. "Gilford is no longer considered a threat now that he has been expelled from his 'throne.' I suggest you come back and-"
"No!" Lightning yelled. "He helped start this damned war and I'm going to make sure he pays for it!" The thick tone of anger in his voice made Rainbow's spine shiver.
"Lightning, please calm down," Mist Dancer soothed. "Your anger is clouding your judgement."
Heavy breathing could be heard coming from Lightning. Over time it slowly started to die down to long, deep breaths. He kept his voice calm as he spoke.
"I'm sorry. You're right Flare. While I hate to admit it, focusing on the fortress is more important than my grudge with Gilford. Too bad there isn't a way to stop it. Lightning Spark made a u-turn and joined with his fellow pilots. They flew lazily around the fortress since the only dangerous thing was the giant cannon firing every couple of minutes.
"Yeah, we heard after you warned Apple platoon about the bomb. We already tried using brute force, but the thing is like trying to break a turtle shell with only your hooves. Don't ask how I know this. I tried it once," she admitted quickly.
"Do any of you have a clue how to stop this thing?" Lightning asked desperately.
"I may have found something interesting..." Flare Chaser began. "Looking at the cannon blueprints, the entire thing is crafted with fifteen inch steel plating. So outside intervention is out the window. There's another opening above the cannon to vent any smoke build-up. Gilford said the entire thing is automated so the necessities to fire the gun are inside the hull itself."
The long pause of silence meant that whatever she was trying to point out flew over everypony's heads.
"Meaning that all the explosives are located there also!" Only the pony sitting next to Flare could see her eyes roll when the collective response of "oh" came from everpony. "Anyway, if we could get a missile in there, we could cause a big enough explosion, to detonate the entire payload inside the cannon."
"Yeah I saw this in a movie once. Not it." Spitfire spoke up.
"What?"
"Oh, there was this movie about a fighter pilot who had to fly through a building to destroy power generators of something like that."
"What happened at the end?"
"He crashed into a wall and died, she told nonchalantly. "Pretty grim story now that I think about-"
"Not helping!" Lightning Spark added.
"Either we do that or wait for the weapon to destroy itself." Flare stated, slightly annoyed at their bickering. "It's pretty obvious we do the former."
Rainbow Dash looked at the cannon as they passed in front of it, low enough as to not get hit if it fired. The opening looked too small for her jet to even enter. A pegasus would have to fly in there and detonate them. Even if a pegasus could fly in there, their chance of escaping the explosion was slim to none. She slowly began to realize what she had to do.
And she didn't like it at all. Pulling a sonic Rainboom in the clear sky was one thing. Doing it while flying down a cannon and timing it right to detonate the tons of explosives inside was something different all together. But she couldn't let it destroy her home. Even though she was frightened beyond measure if she failed to perform the sonic rainboom, she had to try.
"I'll do it," Rainbow dash said with forced courage. "I'll destroy the weapon."
"Rainbow, don't be crazy. You're going to get yourself killed!
"And thousands of ponies will die if somepony doesn't stop this thing! I don't know if it will work or not, but I have to at least try." Reaching for the ejection lever, she took a deep breath and pulled on it.
"Rainbow Dash what the hay are you doing?" Flare Chaser yelled.
"Just watch," Fluttershy said quietly.
Rainbow Dash flew high in the air. Higher than the cannon itself as she needed to pick up enough speed to ease the horizontal part of her flight. If she could stay at the edge of the barrier when entering the barrel, she could increase her speed by that small amount to break it and hopefully fly out to safety. This all looked like a good plan, but of course this plan was "on paper" as they say. And they don't always go according to plan.
She floated in the air, starting at the cannon below her. The air seemed to pick up occasionally, blowing her mane haphazardly. Since each shot took several minutes to fire, she had plenty of time before the risk of the gun going off while she was in the barrel. She impatiently waited for the cannon to fire again before beginning the sonic rainboom run.
The loud explosion as the cannon fired was like the gunshot of a race. Rainbow Dash immediately bolted downward at a sixty degree angle. The cold wind stung at her face and her ears quickly went numb. After several seconds of flying, she felt the same resistance whenever she went this fast. Slowly the barrier began bending at a right angle. It wasn't enough though. She had to push the cone in front of her into a tight funnel.
She was reaching the point where she had to fly into the barrel when the cone started to close in on itself. When she flew into the tunnel, the sound of the swirling wind around her seemed to echo off the metal, created a loud noise that sounded like she was in a wind tunnel. Ahead of her, she could see the next missile wasn't loaded in the chamber.
Come on wings, don't let me down now!
Her entire face had gone numb at this point. Her mouth was pushed back like a dog sticking its head out the window of a car. Rainbow knew she was just at the edge of breaking the barrier. Every time she was about to break the barrier her head felt light from all the blood rushing back.
It was a split second decision when she reached the point the missile would rest before firing. Giving her wings that final push, the barrier in front of her snapped like a branch. Her speed increased two-fold and she had less than a second to change her course in another direction before she turned into a pegasus pancake.
The Sonic Rainboom managed to suceed in exploding inside the room. Almost immediately, the nearest missile exploded, all the smaller warheads exploding as well like large firecrackers. The other missiles followed suit at a dangerous rate, threatening the flying pegasus stuck inside the room, looking for the roof exit out.
Buck, there's a giant fan blocking he exit! Her speed had slowed down dramatically by now from all the turning she had to do in the cramped cannon. Seeing plan A out the proverbial window, she bolted back toward the barrel. The rapid amount of explosions behind her was the best coach she had in her life. Her wings pumped as fast as they could go as she knew any slower might be her death.
She was halfway down the barrel when the back of her hooves started to feel uncomfortably hot. The yellow tint that surrounded the metal barrel around her acted like a rear-view mirror as she could already guess what was literally 'hot on her tail'. She didn't know if she would make it as she was forcing her lead wings to keep its pace.
Too focused on pumping her quickly tiring wings, Rainbow Dash didn't even notice she was clear of the barrel. She continued to fly until the cool wind greeted her singed flank. She lazily floated down onto a nearby cloud and flopped on top of it in exhaustion.
"I-I did it... I actually did it." Rainbow's sides heaved as she took in deep breaths to calm her hammering heart. Sitting up on the cloud, she look back at the Fortress.
The barrel of the cannon had turned into a stub, the rest had fallen down and rested on the runway below. The hull of the cannon, even with the fifteen inch thick plates, had popped open like a bag of popcorn left in the microwave for too long.. Every once and awhile, an "unpopped kernel" shot out of the cannon and exploded seconds later, harmlessly in the air.
The Sonic Rainboom apparently didn't stop with destroying the cannon. It spread across the sky, pushing away the overcast clouds like a giant broom. The late afternoon sun greeted her to the east, bringing a sense of calm to her mind. It felt nice to feel Celestia's sun again give warmth from the cold wind, as if thanking her for a job well done.
Laying on her back, she watched the sky with half-lidded eyes. Finally, it was over. Even if Gilford got away, where would he go? His nation would hate him for starting the war. Goldwing would most likely hunt him down as well to give her people justice. He would get caught sooner or later.
The sound of a jet interrupted her thoughts. Looking up to the sky, she saw her squadron pass by. They were close enough that she saw them waving and cheering her on. Her face broke out in a smile as she waved back enthusiastically. She broke out in tears of joy as thoughts of seeing all her friends back together made her smile even wider.
"It's over... the war is finally over," She whispered to herself.
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I'm guessing this is just the beginning.
855456 If you're subtly asking if I'm making a sequel... gods no.
Edit: Maybe...
Half of me is dissapionted, the ending and not enough fighter on fighter. But it was not what I expected. And why was there no super-fighter?!? Not the perfect AC crossover I was hoping. It is sad to see this come to an end. Good job.
This fic should happen in Strangereal because it's ACE COMBAT
Good chapter! I was hoping for an epic fight with Gilford and another chapter after this one but so far this was an excellent crossover. Short, sweet, and to the point. There are 2 really good AC/MLP crossovers on this site and you're one of them. Irony is that both of your fics are very similar yet different.
The other is actually close to the same chapter number as yours and only has one chapter left to be made, much like yours seems to be. War with Griffins is obvious because other than Changlings, Griffins would be the only viable air enemy to pegasi.
Enough of my ranting, this was a very good story and I hope to see it finished.
Just fix your grammar and the areas where you either mixed up words or left them out. Other than that, this was an excellent piece and as a AC and MLP fan, you left me satisfied.
Good work!
Silver out!
912223 Actually I believe there are single and twins.
The F-16A (single seat) and F-16B (two seat) were initial production variants. These variants include the Block 1, 5, 10 and 20 versions. Block 15 was the first major change to the F-16 with larger horizontal stabilizers. It is the most numerous F-16 variant with 475 produced.[92] -Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16_Fighting_Falcon
912428
I don't hate you. You are correct but I felt that you just went a little overboard on your analysis.
Don't get me wrong, your analysis seems very plausible and I wouldn't doubt that you are right. It just didn't feel that this was the right place for it at the time.
However, I do realize that you probably said that so Brotato can write better dogfights in the future. If that is the case, then excellent work on constructive criticizism.
I would like to apologize for calling you out, it wasn't my right to do that. The reason I did it was because I've many constructive comments turn into rage over time and I didn't want to see that here.
Sorry man, truce?
Silver out!
913511
Well I was expecting Yuktobanian made Su-47 Berkuts and I'm not surprised that RD is using the F-15.