Trooper, a pilot with almost no experience under his belt, is placed under a veteran to learn how to fly and face off against enemies. In the end, he must prove himself to be just as capable a pilot as anyone else!
Equestria, truly a beacon of hope for the world. Everyone’s heard the stories of their heroes: The Elements of Harmony, the magic of Friendship, yada yady yada.
They also saw themselves as a sort of police force for the world, which was obviously not a good sign for many countries. It was no surprise that the Griffons wanted to go to war, especially when their air superiority was challenged and all that. However, I’m not really into that kinda thing. I just want to fly in the sky! It’s kinda hard when everyone says an Earth Pony can’t do it, but if a pegasus can fly a jet, so can I!
(This is kind of a parody of Ace Combat, the logic of the Ace Combat games applies here [i.e. multiple missile, a HUD, so on and so forth]. There is implied death [such as explosion], and lots of no -no words.)
I feel my heart race a bit as I step on the marble flooring of the lobby. Ponies, griffons, hippogriffs, zebras, even changelings are rushing around, making maintenance checks, rushing to meetings, and preparing various positions. However, my focus is on the unicorn woman at the front desk. She’s pale yellow, with blonde bare. Her horn is alight with a blue aura as she keeps some papers next to her while she uses her hands for writing something on another paper. As I walk up, she glances at me before returning her eyes to her work. “Mechanical registrations are to your right sir,” she says. I shake my head.
“Uh, no, I’m here for-“
“Ah, right. The financial management sector is-“ I sigh and pull out a form from my pocket. I unfold it and place it on her desk.
“No, I’m a pilot. I’m here for registration for the Equestrian Air Force.” The mare stops and looks at the form. She looks back up and tries to look around me for my wings.
“... Very well,” she says hesitantly. She squints at the form before muttering to herself. She keeps muttering as she spins her swivel seat to face a filing cabinet next to her. She pulls out a cabinet and rummages through the sorted files before pulling out a paper. She turns back to me and hands it to me. “Here you are Mr...” She glances at my form.
“Trooper Dent, but call me Trooper,” I say, taking the forms. The woman smiles.
“Alright. Good luck Trooper, earth ponies don’t tend to be here long as a pilot,” she says. I nod, giving a half-hearted salute before looking at the papers. “Your barracks are to the right, all the way down the hall. Take care!” I nod in thanks and start walking in that direction. I pass by some pegasi, who look at me in skepticism as I walk by. I pay no attention to them as I keep walking. See, it’s strange for an earth pony like me to be a pilot, since earth ponies normally don’t have a good sense of flight. It’s not impossible, per se, it’s just uncommon. However, I passed the flight tests at flight academy, I have proved myself as a capable pilot. I feel a tap on my shoulder, making me stop and turn to the source. A pegasus guy, a bit taller than me, crosses his arms as he looks me up and down. He has a green collared shirt, and green pants. It’s his flight suit, meaning he’s a pilot. His wings, strangely enough, have bandages on them. His fur is white, like mine, but his mane is grey. A green military cap covers most of his hair.
“... Are you the new nugget?” He asks. I blink in confusion before remember what nugget means.
“Oh, uh, yeah, I’m the new guy,” I say. “My TAC name’s Grunt.” The pegasus scoffs.
“I don’t expect much from you, but I’ll give you some advice. Try not to die,” he says.
“So, who’re you?” I ask.
“... My TAC is Scar, and I’m your squadron leader. Some warning, you pissed off some people when you signed in. That’s all you need to know right now,” he says. He turns around and starts walking. “We’re going to sortie for patrol in a few minutes. You’ve got ten minutes to get your gear and scramble.” I resist from scowling at him as he walks away. I got here, I’m happy about that much. I turn back and hurriedly rush down the hall. I pull out the paper from before and look at the room number I’m assigned to. Room 444. I open the door, revealing the barracks to have quite a few beds. On one, lays a changeling with his flight suit on. He tilts his head to look at me before laying back down.
“Now I know why I’m on standby. You’ve got bottom bunk next to me,” he says casually, using a thumb to point at the bunk to his right. I sigh inwardly and hurry to the bed he gestured to, tossing my stuff down. I hurriedly change into the flight suit that was neatly folded under the bunk and look at my watch. Five minutes. Great. “The hanger you need to go to is down the hall, right at the end. Your aircraft will be the one with your emblem. Good luck.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, grunting as I try to hurry up on tying my boots.
“Word of advice, be patient. We lost someone out of pure bad luck recently, and they’re still in a bad mood about it.” I look at the changeling for a second. Why does he seem to calm about it? I stare for another couple of seconds before shrugging it off and going back to what I’m doing. I get up and start walking out. “I hope you’re ready for the sky,” the changeling says, giving a half-hearted wave. I return the gesture and walk out.
I walk down the hall, paying no attention to the glances and sneers as I come up on some doors. I open a door and walk out into a hanger, where two planes are next to each other. Various creatures are running around the place, rushing to their positions and making checks on the aircraft before initial sortie. One creature, a blue hippogriff with silver hair, wearing a flight suit, stands next to one of the air craft. The plane is an F-15E, like the one next to it. The emblem visible on the tail fins is a golden Royal Gaurd’s Helmet, with a spear running through it. A letter ‘G’ is painted in red next to the spearhead. That’s my plane. I pay no attention to the pilot staring at my plane, and walk towards the small stairway going up to the cockpit.
“So, you’re the rookie?” The pilot calls, never looking away from the emblem. I notice my equipment is in the cockpit and quickly put it on. Headset, helmet, oxygen, etc. As I equip the gear, the hippogriff finally looks at me, noticing the lack of wings. “... I hope you can carry your weight,” she says, turning and walking away towards her plane. I look at the plane’s tail to see her emblem. It has half a red heart, with an outline of a yellow shield in front of it. A black line goes down the middle of the shield, like a crack. “The name’s Half-Shield, don’t screw up!” The hippogriff calls, disappearing behind the plane. I give a silent glare after her, but return my attention to the opening doors. Now, I should focus on the mission. The bright light blinds me for a bit, but I hear the go ahead in the radio. I brace myself for the first mission, and hope that I can prove myself to everyone around me.
I keep the aircraft steady, following the lead of Half-Shield, who flies as Scar’s wingman. Scar is flying an MiG-31. To the right of Scar, is a pilot I haven’t met yet. The HUD labels him as Topper. His plane is the same type as Half Shield and mine. On his tail, I can see a top hat with a target on it. From the self-made conversation he had so far, I’ve gathered that he’s a bit of a loudmouth.
“For Celestia’s sake, I’m sick of all this silence!” Topper says through the radio.
“With all the talking you’ve done, I don’t know what you mean by that,” Scar replies. It’s true, Topper has been chatting us up this entire mission so far. At least he’s relatively friendly towards me. Turns out, he’s also pretty new, but he’s flown a couple more missions than I have.
“Cut the chatter and keep your eyes peeled Spade Squadron,” Our AWACS, Bird’s-Eye, says. “Reports from the last patrol suggest enemy presence in the area. It may have just been reconnaissance, but given the state of the war with Griffon Stone, brass would like to know for certain if they’re planning something here.” I keep checking my radar, trying to find something. “Spade 4, do you copy?” I nod to myself.
“Yes sir,” I respond. Scar is Spade 1, Half-Shield is Spade 2, and Topper is Spade 3.
“Good. At least you know your identity during the mission. You’re so quiet, I thought you crashed already,” the AWACS responds. I resist the urge to retort, only keeping my focus towards the radar. Suddenly, a blip shows up, an arrow. An aircraft.
“Guys! Something popped up on radar!” Topper calls.
“Affirmative, I see him. He is in vector 285. Fly up and see if you can identify them,” Bird’s-Eye says. Scar grunts over the radio.
“Alright, don’t open fire until my say so, got it?” Scar asks. I can feel that he was specifically talking to me.
“Wilco,” I say calmly. Scar rotates his plane to the left to turn, and we all follow suit. My IFF picks up the aircraft after we fly for a bit. We each turned around, getting behind the unknown aircraft in formation
“This is Spades Squadron in affiliation with the Equestrian Air Force. State your business and affiliation,” Scar says. The aircraft doesn’t move or respond, leaving us in silent suspense. “... This is Spades Squadron, we request your identification and affiliation, do you read me?” Scar asks again. I feel anxious as the radio silence continues. “... If you do not respond, we will be forced to shoot you-“ Suddenly, the radar pings several aircraft, all heading towards us from behind.
“Multiple bogeys in bound!” Half-Shield exclaims. The moment she says that, a warning pops up on my HUD. They’re locking on us with missiles.
“Damn, break off!” Scar yells, immediately turning upwards. I break off formation by turning left, just as soon as the bogeys behind us fired missiles. I feel the pressure of the high-g turn against me, making me struggle to breathe. It’s like someone’s pushing all of me against my seat.
“Spade Squadron, return fire on all hostiles!” Bird’s-Eye says.
“Roger, Fox Two,” Scar says. I look up just in time to see one of the bogeys burst into flames, and Scar flying past them. Damn, that’s fast. I grunt to myself and look at the radar. A hostile is on my tail. I feel a smirk naturally form on my face as I do a barrel roll and slow down. The hostile behind me overshoots, flying past me.
“What the-“ the enemy’s radio chatter cuts in. “Where did he-“ I lock on and instantly fire two missiles, destroying the aircraft quickly.
“Two enemies splashed, who got the second one?” Bird’s Eye asks.
“Wasn’t me- Dammit!” Topper says.
“It was Grunt, I saw it,” Half-Shield responds. I pull up some more, going up into the air to chase down another hostile.
“A bogey’s on my six,” an enemy says. I fire a missile, but the aircraft shoots out some flairs, making the missiles miss. “Damn, he’s fast.” I frown and keep chasing the bogey as he starts trying to shake me off by doing loops and spins. I finally lock on again and shoot two missiles. The enemy does a barrel roll, before immediately turning sharply to the right. I rotate the plane to follow him, doing a high-g turn. “I can’t shake him off!” I finally get tired of relying on missiles and start trying to aim carefully with my aircraft’s machine gun. I start firing, and manage to take out a wing from the enemy and making him spin out of control.
“Another one splashed!” Bird’s Eye says.
“Fox Two,” Half Shield says. On the radar, I see an enemy disappear. “Target splashed.” I notice an enemy trailing an ally on radar. I look up as I level my plane, and see a hostile chasing Topper.
“This guy’s on my ass! He’s not letting up!” He yells. I narrow my eyes and pull up, beginning my chase for the hostile.
“Heheh, easy pickings,” an enemy says. I get a lock on, and I fire two missiles. “What the-“ the enemy is interrupted as my missiles collide with his aircraft, taking down the enemy.
“Geez, thanks man, I owe you one!” Topper says. I don’t reply, instead focusing on my next target, who gets behind me.
“Fox Two,” Scar says. Immediately, the aircraft behind me bursts into flames, and Scar’s plane flies straight through the wreckage. “Watch your six Grunt.” With that, he breaks off and chases another target. I give a slight glare and turn around to chase some other enemy. I lock onto one almost immediately and fire my missiles instantly. The aircraft tries to outmaneuver them by turning sharply, but it was too slow and got hit nonetheless.
“Spade 4 has already taken down four bandits!” Bird’s-Eye says. “Maybe he’s worth his salt after all.” I notice an enemy chasing down Half Shield. I feel conflicted about whether she needs help or not. However, that question is answered when she makes a high-g turn and gets behind them, quickly taking them out with missiles. I look at the radar to see that only a few bandits are left. One of which, however, is a bit further off than the others. I narrow my eyes and feel a bit of adrenaline rush through me. What is this feeling, this excitement? I look towards the direction of the bandit, and see an oddly colored plane. It looks like the F-4E, but black with yellow tipped wings. I immediately turn to it, putting a lot of thrust into my engines. The IFF system labels the aircraft as ‘Hawk’. I feel a grin come across my face as I see him speed up as I get closer.
“Ah, a fledgling,” the pilot says. “I can tell you’re a little new to this. I see the hesitation.” A chuckle can be heard. “You’re nothing more than an over eager newborn chick, but I’ll play along.” A missile fires, coming towards me. I do a barrel roll, shooting my machine gun as I dodge the incoming missile. We pass each other, barely nicking each other’s wings. I notice Scar is close, but he keeps his distance. Good. The pilot coughs. “Damn, I admit, that was good.” I quickly turn, chasing the aircraft. “But I’m better.” As I gained speed, he suddenly pulls up, but doesn’t move forward. Instead, he seems to stall and makes me overshoot before he regains speed behind me. I panic a bit, as the warnings pop up again before the missile alarms start blaring. I quickly shoot out some flares and pull up. The missiles miss, but the pilot is still glued to my tail. “You can run, but you can’t hide,” he says, laughing as he starts shooting his machine guns at me. I spiral and turn, trying to dodge all the bullets, but I can almost feel the tinks of the bullets that hit. I need to think of something, quick.
I turn again as the pilot keeps chasing me, firing missile and guns. I turn to look at the air craft as I turn towards the sky again. My eyes widen as I see that he’s struggling to keep up with my sharper turns. That’s it! I grimace as I realize I’m gonna have to turn a lot sharper than before. It’s probably gonna hurt, a lot. I grit my teeth as I suddenly make a high-g turn, pulling back with all my might. “What the- how is he-“ the pilot stumbles over his words as I finally manage to outmaneuver him. I ease up on the turn as he is struggling to keep his speed up to be able to get behind me again. If he keeps turning, he’ll stall. I can hear him growl. “Dammit!” I smile as I realize I’ve got him. He levels his plane, starting to regain his speed. However, I’m already on his tail. I hear him give a chuckle, and see him start going up. Not this time. I instantly fire two missile. “Shit!” He yells, speeding up almost instantly to avoid the projectiles. The aircraft makes a sharp turn towards the sky to dodge them, but I follow him closely. I get a lock on and fire missiles again, but they miss when he spirals in place, barely dodging them. “Damn it! Damn it all!” He turns right, and I follow suit. He twists and turns, and I match his moves at every point, trying to get another lock on. However, my impatience gets to me, and I fire off my machine gun. He can’t keep spiraling forever, it’ll make him dizzy, no matter how good of a pilot he is. As I predicted, he doesn’t spiral again.
The bullets fly towards him, and suddenly, the plane’s engine catches on fire. The pilot wheezes and coughs over the radio. “... It looks like you’re not so childish after all. Very well, I commend you, though I doubt you’ll last long.” The voice gives a tired laugh before the aircraft explodes, and the radio goes to static.
“Damn, this isn’t going as planned, we need to call off the bombers, this is too risky,” the enemy’s radio chatters. “... Affirmative. All Red-Claws! We’re pulling out! This area is not as unguarded as previously thought.” All the enemy aircraft start pulling off, going east. I start to follow them, but AWACS stops me.
“The enemy is retreating! Break off and continue patrol. RTB when your course is done,” Bird’s Eye says. I frown and pull off, heading towards Scar. Not long after the order, Half-Shield and Topper return to either side of Scar, whereas I stay on Half Shield’s left. “Well done everyone. Spades 4 wasn’t too shabby either.”
“Hm,” Scar replies, continuing his flight. I silently stayed near Half-Shield’s aircraft, scanning the radar every now and then.
“I have to admit, I didn’t think Grunt could pull off half of those moves!” Topper says. “You know what, Grunt! I’ll buy you a beer later! How’s that?”
“... Sounds fine,” I reply. I look at my radar one last time, wondering what that adrenaline rush I felt was. I sigh and regain focus on where I was flying. This shouldn’t take too long now...
Equestrian 375th Air Force Base, 1840 hours.
Scar, Half-Shield, Topper, and I sit in a small conference room, around a wooden table. Topper, now that I can see him, is a light green pegasus with a black mane, highlighted with a dark green. A unicorn stands at the front of the room clearing his throat. He’s sharply dressed, like a business man. His dark grey fur almost makes him blend with the wall, if it was for his blue mane. “Is everyone accounted for? Good. You all managed to stop an ambush from enemy Griffonian forces. In doing so, you managed to aid Bird’s Eye intercept a bit of their radio’s communications. The information we gained from it follows close in line with intelligence we gathered recently. Thanks to you four, we managed to stop a bombing run in a different part of Equestria,” the dude says, smirking a bit. “Everyone, except Scar, is dismissed.” I didn’t hesitate to get up and shuffle out the door with everyone else. Hopefully, I can get far enough away before-
“Hey, Grunt, wait up!” Topper says behind me. Half-Shield looks behind her to see me gimace as I stop and turn to Topper. “I owe you one, c’mon! I know a good bar around here!”
“It was a lucky shot,” Half-Shield calls, before continuing her walk. I shoot her a glare, but Topper sighs.
“Don’t mind her, she’s a bit... sore, about our recent loss,” he says. I scoff.
“Oh yeah, she’s sore alright,” I say distastefully. “She doesn’t have to be such a bitch about it.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it. I was totally prepared to hate your guts!” Topper says blatantly. I blink in surprise from the honesty. “But dude, your flying’s pretty good! You’re alright in my book!” I frown and cross my arms. “Like, to think an earth pony could pull that off! We gotta have a drink, come on!” Topper gets behind me and starts shoving me down the hall as I try to resist. “Man let me tell you, there’s this cool drink that has a mix of soda and vodka, you’re gonna love it!” I finally stop resisting and just start walking.
“Sounds fine,” I say.
“Gee, not much of a talker are you? That’s alright, I talk a lot,” Topper says cheerfully.
“I noticed,” I mutter.
“The name’s Patch, Rough Patch!” He introduces himself.
“... Trooper Dent,” I say, relaxing a bit.
“Nice, now we’re getting somewhere!” Patch says, getting in front of me to lead the way. “Come on! Hurry up! The bar’s gonna get crowded soon!” I smile slightly, picking up the pace behind him as we head out...
Scar, still sitting in the conference room, clears his throat as the unicorn walks up. “Scar, it’s about Grunt.” Scar sighs.
“Yeah, I saw it too Joker,” he says. The unicorn gawks at Scar.
“You saw who he was up against and didn’t bother to step in!?” He asks incredulously.
“The kid already had his ass saved when I took out that bandit that was behind him. I wanted to see if he could get by. Besides, he lived, right?” Scar asks.
“That’s not the point! He has shown considerable promise on his flight scores, we need to see his potential!” The unicorn replies.
“The last guy to die in my squad was the one I wasn't hard on enough. I’m not going to make the same mistake,” Scar says, standing up. “He was too loose of a cannon, I’m going to make sure Grunt doesn’t go down the same road. I knew he had the skill, but now I want to see if he has the attitude.” With that, he walks out of the debriefing room...
Patch and I sit at a bar, he’s drinking some sort of booze as I drink a soda. “... and I said, bro, I’m gonna knock the lights outta ya!” He continues. I give a slight smirk and quietly sip my soda. “The commander wasn’t too happy with that, so I was placed in the brig for a bit.” I give a chuckle, nodding.
“That sounds about right,” I say. “Every time I disrespected an officer, I was always tossed into a brig to cool down.” Patch hums in thought.
“Say, that emblem you had on your aircraft, why did it have a Royal Guard Helmet?” Patch asks. “I mean, most emblems tend to have a bit of meaning behind them, so...” I glance at the guy, who has been friendly to me ever since we met, and grimace at his pleading look. I sigh, sip my soda, and look up in reminiscing.
“... I used to be a regular Royal Guardsman, like my father. However, I didn’t want to join the Royal Guards, I’ve always wanted to be in the air.” I frown, clearing my throat. “Everyone has always told me how earth ponies like me should never be in the air, we’re more attuned to the earth. Given how ‘unnatural’, ponies viewed it, you can imagine how I was seen within the ranks.” I give a slight chuckle. “The spear going through the helmet is my way of sticking it to the ponies who tried to talk me out of it.”
“Damn, that’s deep,” Patch says. “My emblem came from the string of luck I had on my first mission. I managed to take down some ace the griffons had.” He sips his booze and laughs. “You know, I think you and I’ll be good buds!”
“So, you made it,” a voice cuts in. Patch and I look behind us to see the changeling I met before the mission started, still wearing a green flight suit.
“Flik!” Patch says, raising his arms into the air. The changeling, smirks and fist bumps the pegasus. He looks at me with a calm and chilled expression.
“Hey dude, looks like you’re still in one piece,” he says. I quirk an eyebrow at him, but Patch just order another soda for his friend.
“My guy, can you get me a Pepsi for my main man!?” Patch asks. Flick sits next to Patch as a drink is served.
“Hey, Patch, did you hear what this dumbass did?” Flik asks. As I glare, Patch pays no mind and take a big slurp of his booze.
“No, what?” He asks, putting his glass down, allowing the bartender to refill it.
“Apparently, according to Scar, he shot down an Ace,” Flik says, sipping his soda. Patch and I’s eyes go wide.
“What? No way!” Patch turns to me with excitement. “Bro, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I uh, didn’t know,” I said.
“Well, you did take out an Ace. His TAC was Hawk, he commonly flies an F-4. He’s not the brightest star, but he’s still up there in the Griffon Air Force,” Flik continues.
“Damn, that’s pretty cool!” Patch says. “Think Scar’s gonna go easier on him, now that he’s taken that guy down?” Flik laughs.
“Buck no! If anything, he might put more pressure on the guy,” he says. I grunt, sipping my soda as the two start chatting away. I look on as the two of them seem to chat about how bad the next mission will be for me, in terms of our captain’s attitude towards me. I smile a little, liking how I’m not being treated like an outcast, but like a friend. I haven’t felt this for a bit of time, ever since I went to the flight academy...
I sit in the same conference room as yesterday, with Scar, Patch, and Flick. Half-Shield doesn’t go on today’s mission, apparently. The unicorn, who’s name I now know is Joker, clears his throat. “Alright everyone, today’s mission will be a bit different from usual. Given how well you handled yourselves yesterday, and the close proximity of an air base in Griffon Stone, today you shall be raiding an air base. Or, more specifically, you will be performing a bombing run. We need their hangars destroyed, and their bombers trashed. Plain and simple. We refitted you’re aircraft to have UGB’s, or unguided bombs. Good luck.” With that, we’re dismissed and allowed to hurry to our hangars...
Western Griffon Stone, 1330 hours.
Near a mountain range, large forests and plains fly past us down below. Above us, are clear skies with minimal clouds. Perfect for flying. I still fly near the back, to the left of Flick, or ‘Bugger’ as his TAC says. Since he’s taking Half-Shield’s place, he’s Spades 2. His emblem is rather comical, a fly with a fly swatter and devil horns. Topper flies on the far right, next to Scar. I don’t know why, but I finally notice Scar’s emblem. A wing with a red slash on it. “Alright, does everyone remember what we’re doing?” Scar asks.
“Wilco,” Topper responds.
“Rodger,” says Bugger.
“Affirmative,” I say.
“Good,” Scar says simply.
“You’re at an ETA of two minutes. Don’t mess up,” Bird’s-Eye says. “... Hey, is that peanut butter?” I quirk an eyebrow as I listen to Bird’s-Eye. “Well, I’m just asking because mine didn’t have any... No, it’s got cheese... Yeah, of course!”
“This is Bird’s-Eye, ETA of finishing lunch-time is maybe a couple quick bites,” Bugger says, mocking Bird’s-Eye’s voice.
“What- oh! Quiet Bugger! I was a little late, okay?” The AWACS responds. “Besides, I like peanut butter crackers...” I had to resist the urge to laugh, and decide to quickly check my radar. On screen, various dots litter the area.
“We’re coming up on the enemy’s air base,” Scar announces.
“Good. Make sure they can’t launch any planes Spades Squadron,” Bird’s-Eye says. “If we can get rid of most of the base, we can expect a lower number of air strikes on our boys on the ground.”
“Leave it to us, Nutter Butter,” Topper says. I let loose a short laugh, trying to remain in control of my flight path. I can hear a snicker from Bugger, and a single chuckle from Scar.
“... Proceed with the mission,” Bird’s-Eye deadpans.
We keep flying, relatively silent before some targets pop up on my HUD near the ground. Helicopters, fuel reserves, storage houses, and even some transport planes are out on the open in front of the hangars.
“Raise the alarms! Four enemy planes spotted! Get our pilots into the air, quick!” The enemy’s radio chatters.
“All right Spades, span out. Let’s see how flat we can make this base,” Scar says. In a snap, we break formation and head towards different parts of the air base. I go straight towards the fuel reserves, which look like big giant metal balls. Air craft can’t fly without fuel. I let loose my machine gun, making the huge containers burst and explode. I think I shot down three. There’s seven more to go. As I turn around, I spot some planes getting on the runway. Better take care of that before it becomes a problem. I come around again, lining up with the runway. The plane is already trying to take off.
“Come on! Come on!” A voice yell. I fire my machine gun, taking off the plane’s right wing. “Damn it!” The plane starts tilting to the right, but it slows down enough to sit back down.
“You idiot, you’re blocking the runway!” Another enemy berates. I continue my path of destruction, gunning down more fuel reserves.
“Damn, I think Grunt just took out more than half the fuel reserves!” Topper says. I fly around again, checking the hangar and see that they’ve dragged the damaged aircraft out of the way. Welp, guess I should make the blockage a bit more permanent.
“Okay, we got his plane out of the way, begin preparations for launch,” the radio chatters. I line up with the run way and fire two missiles without locking on. I pull off, and soar into the air to get some space. “What the- No! He took out part of the runway! We can’t launch any planes now!” I turn back towards the hangar, readying to finish the job. I switch to my special weapons, which are unguided bombs. The HUD shows a reticle the lines up with the ground, nearing the hangar. The moment it lines up right, I let two of the bombs go and pull off. I hear two explosions, and look over to see the hangar’s entrance blocked by wreckage. The ceiling and roof of the building is gone too. Good.
“Good job Grunt! Now, see if you can help your squaddies in other parts of the air base. There are four more hangars!” Bird’s-Eye says.
“Woohoo!” Topper yells.
“Not bad, not bad at all,” Bugger mentions. I hear another loud explosion, and look over at a different part of the air base to see Scar flying away.
“Nice work Scar, three hangars left,” Bird’s-Eye says.
“Hey, Grunt! I bet you 5 bits you can’t outperform our Captain!” Topper says. I don’t acknowledge him, only regaining focus towards the mission at hand. I speed towards another runway, which has a pilot about to launch. I quickly aim at the runway as best as I can and fire an unguided bomb. The bomb is much more destructive, creating a crater right in the plane’s path. Luckily, he managed to slow down enough to have a non-violent crash. However, his plane’s nose was still stuck into the dirt.
“Shit- these guys aren’t playing!” An enemy says through the radio. I quickly pull up, and try to regain some distance to launch another attack.
“This is Helicopter squadron Iron-Fire, we’re coming over to provide support,” an enemy says.
“Damn, they’re good! The attack helicopters are fast!” Topper says. I sigh and decide to take them out first. I rotate my plane and turn left, going towards the multiple arrows that popped up on radar. I fire a missile and switch targets before firing again. I hit two of the helicopters, taking them down. I swing around, quickly locking on again before firing two more. I Gun down the last ‘copter, denying any help for the hangar I’m attacking.
“Damn, that was fast,” Bugger says.
“They took out a squadron of AH’s!” An enemy yells. I fire a couple unguided bombs at the hangar I was aiming at before, destroying it. I pull off again, inspecting my work.
“Two- no, three hangars down! Good work everyone! That was all the hangars of the air base! Scar’s already halfway through the rest of the base, help him clean up will ya?” Bird’s-Eye asks. “... Wait, an enemy is coming in fast, an SU-37.”
“... I’m gone for half an hour, and this happens?” A new voice asks. “Tch. Predictable.” I look down at the radar to see an enemy plane coming up to Topper. “This should be short work.”
“Hey- wait- someone’s on my tail!” Topper yells. “I- I can’t shake them!” I grit my teeth and turn sharply, speeding towards the new pilot. Topper tries to spiral and make the pilot overshoot, but the new pilot simply slows down.
“Hmph. Such a simple pilot. Predictable.” I notice that this pilot is labeled on my HUD as ‘Fracture’. I speed up some more, trying to chase down the enemy as he dogfights Topper.
“Damn it, someone! Help!” Topper says.
“Don’t worry, I’m coming,” Scar says. However, something about that struck a cord within me.
“Back off! He’s mine!” I yell, feeling adrenaline go through me. I feel a smile creep up on my face as I get close enough to lock on.
“Hm? Another insect?” The enemy’s voice says. I fire my missiles, but he simple rolls out of their way, dodging them. Topper just barely manages to get out of the way as well before the missiles fly past him into the distance. “Hmph. Simple creature, you wish to die? Very well then. Let’s play.” He speeds up, ceasing his chase with Topper and flying towards the mountain side.
“Grunt, break off, it’s a trap!” Bugger says. I pay no attention to his words and continue my chase. Scar, on the other hand, follows closely, but he’s nowhere near as close to Fracture as I am. I keep speeding up, slowly catching up to the pilot as we near the mountain side.
“Eager pilots like you always have a downfall: you never pay enough attention,” the enemy says in a bored voice. He suddenly descends, and I follow him without thinking. He levels his plane, being at a low altitude and close to the ground. I do the same, locking on and firing some more missiles. He skillfully barrel rolls, keeping his plane from flying too low.
“Well now, you may have some more value than I thought little chick, but let’s see if that was just luck.” Suddenly, he pulls up, and I finally notice that we’re heading towards a mountain. I grit my teeth and quickly pull up, just barely managing to avoid crashing into the mountainside. I continue to follow Fracture, who is flying just low enough against the mountain that it would make anyone think twice before trying to follow him. However, I am not just anyone. I only have tunnel vision as I simply try to lock on again. The moment I do, the pilot turns left, leveling off and flying along the side. I groan and turn as well, doing the same. Dust and rocks are thrown off by the sheer wind of his jet, but they don’t manage to reach me as I keep wavering and trying to aim at the plane. Once I feel lined up, I start firing the machine gun. I don’t know if it’s close enough to hit, but I keep adjusting my aim as I fire. finally, I seem some sparks flash off the aircraft the pilot’s flying.
“Huh? You’re still following me?... Did you scratch my plane?” The pilot asks in an open channel. I growl to myself as I put the plane into full throttle, speeding up even more. I keep firing my machine gun, but now the pilot goes up and down the mountain side, avoiding the bullets. He’s also going faster. He gives a small chuckle, before turning left again, down the mountain. “You’re rather good at keeping pace with me in this cat and mouse game, but I’m afraid playtime will be over soon,” he says. I turns left, trying to keep my speed up as I try to follow him. He moves left and right, swerving and doing barrel rolls as he dodges my bullets and missiles. As I get even more frustrated, he suddenly slows down and pulls up, revealing the foot of the mountain. I give a yell and quickly pull up, leveling my plane just before it touched the ground. I silently sigh in relief, but now I notice that Fracture’s behind me, and he’s got a missile lock.
“The game is over, little mouse,” he says, firing two missiles at me. I deploy some flares and try to fly faster, but the pilot keeps up, staying close to my tail. “Oh don’t worry, if you let the missiles hit you just right, it doesn’t hurt too much,” the enemy taunts, firing more missiles. I pull up into the sky, making the missiles miss. I try to look behind myself to see the aircraft, but he’s still too close to me to see him. “I admit, you are much more fun than I anticipated,” he says. I growl to myself again as I just barely manage to dodge more missiles.
“Damn, look at them go,” Bugger says. “I didn’t think the kid had it in him.”
“I’d hate to be him, that’s for sure,” Topper says. “I’m no match for that guy...” I go into a spiral, trying to make Fracture overshoot me. However, it doesn’t work, he merely fires his machine gun at me. A couple bullets get me, but not enough to take me down.
“This is starting to become boring, so I’ll kill you off now. Pray to your goddess before you die, will you? Tell her I said hi,” mocks the enemy, firing two missiles. I panic, look at my speed. A high-g turn will kill me, since I’m too slow to pull it off. However, turning wouldn’t prove useful since the radar indicates the missiles being too close for me to do that anyway. I keep panicking and decide to try a high-g turn and hope for the best. I slow down, pull up with all my might, and hope for the best. “What the-“ I feel a slight motion sickness as my plane suddenly turns much quicker than I anticipated, and I see the ground before the missiles pass me.
Before I know what’s going on, Fracture’s in front of me, struggling to do a high-g turn as my missiles lock on. On instinct, I fire two missiles quickly, and they both hit their mark. The aircraft bursts into flames, and starts going down. “No way! A post-stall maneuver!?” Bugger says.
“Oh shit,” Fracture says. “Heheh, it appears you’ve bested me. It seems my over confidence was my downfall. Very well, I enjoyed this game, little mouse.” With that, his radio goes to static as the aircraft explodes.
“The aircraft is down! I repeat, the aircraft is down!” Bird’s-Eye says.
“Hmph,” Scar says. I pay no attention to him as I try to regain control of my breathing.
“... Good job Spades Squadron, it looks like you managed to wipe out most of the base, courtesy of Spades 1 and 2,” Bird’s-Eye says. “Return to base.”
“... Hey Nutter Butter, will we get any snacks when we get back?” Bugger asks. A groan is heard as Topper and I give a quick laugh. With that, we return to a formation, and fly west, in the direction of Equestria...
Equestrian Air Base, 1900 hours.
We all sit in the conference room from earlier today, ready for debriefing. Joke walks in, clearing his throat. “The attack on the air base was a success. Fuel and air vehicles were destroyed, along with various buildings and runways. Thus, the base is inoperable,” he says. He looks up and stares at me. I can see he’s conflicted between saying something and holding his tongue. “... That’s all for now. Everyone, except Scar, is dismissed.” With that, Flik, Patch, and I quickly get up and shuffle out the door.
“Trooper, we gotta talk,” Flik says, stopping me. I turn to look at him, who looks serious. Patch comes up, looking excited.
“Bro! How did you know how to do that thing!?” Patch asks. “I’ve never seen a rookie pull off a post-stall maneuver like that before!”
“A... a what-maneuver?” I ask in confusion.
“A post stall maneuver. It’s when you’re too slow to turn, so you pretty much do a flip or manual air brake while moving th same direction you were going in,” Bugger explains. “I still struggle to be able to accomplish that maneuver.”
“What maneuver?” A female voice asks from behind me. I turn to see Half-Shield, in her flight suit, staring at me with a glare.
“The post stall maneuver! It was so cool! He was fighting an ace, and then he slowed down and-“ Patch gets interrupted by Half-Shield’s hand going over his mouth.
“What? Another ace?” She asks skeptically. Patch nods, being kept silent by her hand. She scoffs, look at me. “Huh, guess you’re competent. Let’s hope your luck holds out,” she says with a bit of venom. With that, she walks away, leaving me and the other two in the middle of the hallway. I glare after her. She’ll be eating those words, I know it. Flik sighs.
“Uh, don’t mind her, she’s-“
“Still sore?” I ask sarcastically.
“Hey, she thinks you’re trying to replace the last guy, alright. He was pretty special to her,” Flik says defensively. Patch nods, suddenly a lot less energetic.
“Yeah, they kinda had a thing going on,” he says. “It’s why she has half a heart on her emblem. The last guy, Star, had the other half of the heart.” I look back in the direction Half-Shield left, now a little less stern.
“... I guess that makes sense,” I say.
“... Hey, let’s cheer up a bit guys!” Patch says, wrapping an arm around Flik and I’s shoulders, forcing us to move along with him. “We’ve gotta celebrate! Super Trooper here just took out another ace!”
“Don’t call me that,” I grunt, struggling to keep up with the excited pegasus’ pace...
Scar crosses his arms as Joker punches the bridge of his nose. “I’m struggling to understand,” he starts. “Why was is necessary to just let him go up against another ace? You didn’t step in at all.”
“He told me to back off, and I recognized that tone of voice. Half-Sword also had that tone,” Scar says. “I could see how competitive he is, how he wanted to prove himself.”
“And you know what, Star was much more experienced than Trooper when he proved himself,” Joker says, sighing. “For Celestia’s sake Scar, Trooper’s still a rookie. He doesn’t have the natural instincts a pegasus or a griffon does! He”s an earth pony! Don’t you see?! You need to keep him on a tighter leash!” Scar scoffs.
“A tighter leash? He’s not a dog, he’s a soldier. He’ll follows orders to the letter. However, again, he has a competitive spirit. He’s like Half-Sword in that sense. I just want to see if the similarities will continue,” Scar says, getting up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have reports to write up.” With that, he walks out. Joker, frowns at the captain, shaking his head.
“I just don’t want another loss like Star,” he mutters to himself...
I silently sip my soda as Patch keeps talking to Flik. “... Let me tell ya, never went to the gym again after a sight like that!” He says, shaking with laughter.
“Geez, that’s more horrifying than my grandma,” Flik says, sipping his soda as well. He stops and looks around before gasping. “Yo! Keen!” He yells, throwing his arms up. I look over to see a griffon walking up. He’s about Patch’s height, with brown and white feathers and grey fur. He wears a collared shirt and jeans. His head is covered by a blue cap with a picture of an eagle’s head. He’s grumbling as he walks up.
“Damn bet,” he says, pulling out some bits and roughly handing them to Flik and Patch.
“About time you remembered, Nutter Butter,” Patch says, nudging the grumpy griffon with an elbow. I look at the griffon, now knowing that this is Bird’s-Eye.
“Wait. bird’s-Eye is a griffon?” I ask in surprise. Keen rolls his eyes, sighing.
“Yes, a griffon’s allowed to be friendly towards Equestrians you know,” he says sarcastically. “Believe it or not, we’re not all against you ponies.”
“No no, it’s not that, it’s just... You weren’t what I was expecting. Most griffons are gruffer sounding than you,” I explain.
“Uh Huh,” he says.
“We made a bet about whether you’d live or not,” Flik says, chuckling. I deadpan at them and sip my drink.
“Nothing against you, just didn’t believe in you,” Keen says, sitting next to me. “Well, I’ve got nowhere to go, so I’ll sit with you guys. Don’t make me regret it.” He waves the bartender over, who serves him a pint of something. He looks over at my drink and sees that I have a soda. “... Isn’t it kind of counter intuitive to be in a bar?” He asks me, sipping his alcohol.
“Huh?” I ask. He nods towards my drink and I roll my eyes.
“No, I just don’t like alcohol. Most of it is too bitter for me,” I say. Patch and Keen both blink in unison before slowly turning to look at me. “... What?” I ask. Patch snickers as Keen simply shakes his head. “Oh, don’t get me started, Nutter Butter,” I say, making Patch and Flik laugh out loud as Keen spits out his drink. He looks at me sharply, opening his beak to say something, only to close it and grumble as he sips his beverage. I smile contently, sipping my soda as Patch and Flik continue talking with Keen about stuff.
“So, how was everyone else’s patrol going today?” Patch asks. Keen sighs.
“Apparently, boring. They all bellyache about it, but I know they hope it continues. There’s talk about a bombing run some of our forces might do, but it hasn’t been confirmed,” Keen says. He scoffs, leaning in towards us. “There’s also a rumor going around that Equestria’s building a secret weapon.”
“Oh? Do tell my good man,” Patch says, putting on a fake Canterlot accent.
“Yeah, don’t keep any details,” Flik says.
“Well, there’s talk about some mercenaries Equestria has hired. They’ve got a pilot that’s flown for a Equestria before, his TAC name’s Fallen Star,” Keen says. “Some of our boys out west are saying that these mercenaries are trying out some sort of experimental aircraft, courtesy of Hippogriffia’s eggheads!”
“That’s some spices detail right there,” Patch jokes, sipping his drink. Suddenly, the door to the bar bursts open, and some laughing pegasi walk in. All of them have blue jackets, with feathers poking out the collar. Keen, Flik, and Patch groan at the same time as the group walks in, talking and laughing with each other.
“Oh great, the Scorpio Squadron,” Flik says. “Trooper, try to ignore them.” I give him a confused look. “They’re big shots around here.”
“More like big snots,” Keen mutters, sipping his drink.
“‘Ey barkeep, we need a round for my boys! We scared off some bandits who were too wimpy to face us!” One pegasus, a dark blue guy with slick dark-yellow hair, calls. The barkeep gives a huff, clearly not happy with this group.
“I don’t understand, why haven’t we seen them until now?” I ask.
“They were off on a long range strike mission in enemy territory,” Keen says. “They’re gone for days, and sometimes weeks. They don’t particularly like us.” I give an even more confused look before noticing a pegasus with a jacket walk up to us.
“Oh look, it’s the not-spy,” he says, snickering. Keen huffs, silently sipping his drink. The leader of the group, wearing a leather jacket with a pair of goggles over his head, grabs the pegasus’ should.
“Lay off, they’re not worth our time. Those freaks can’t be worth our time if they don’t do what we do,” he says. The pegasus looks like he wants to argue, but sighs and goes with his leader. I take another look, realizing he has black fur and dark red hair. On the back of his jacket, is a picture of a scorpion’s tail curling around an eagle eye. I grimace at the group and return my attention to my own.
“... The only reason we’re freaks to them, is because of how different our team is. We’re just misfits to them,” Flik says, with a bit of anger in his voice.
“Yeah. I’m only ever assigned to you guys since you’re the only ones who’ll take me,” Keen tells me.
“Changelings aren’t in such a positive light either,” Flik says. “It’s one of the reasons that you were assigned to this group.”
“Uh, what about Patch?” I ask. “He seems normal.”
“Well, he’s a bit of a slow learner, no offense pal,” Flik explains.
“Oh, none taken,” he says. I hum.
“Okay, what about Scar then?” I ask. Keen gives a whistle, shaking his head.
“He shouldn’t even be in the air, according to his medical reports,” he says. “He used to be a respectable ace. He was thought to be unstoppable at one point,” Keen explains, looking like he was talking about a dream. His expression melts into a sort of sadness however. “He was shot down at one point by some enemy mercenaries, and it costed him his wings, literally. However, he shows no weariness while flying. The only thing he showed, was pain for something else.”
“What was it?” I ask, curiosity getting the better of me.
“We don’t know,” Patch says. I blink in surprise. “However, after all’s said and done, he’s still a damn good pilot! I’ll follow him to the end!” He raises his glass, to whphich the other two follow suit, nodding.
“Hell yeah,” Flik says, before downing his drink. I look at my own drink, in thought of Scar. I wonder, exactly how good is he? Could I even begin to be like him? As I ponder these thoughts, I try to enjoy the company of my fellow pilots and AWACS...
I huff as I walk to the hangar. Today, we’re getting orders to escort some sort of cargo from the enemy territory in Griffon Stone. I was put on standby for the last mission, which had ended up in a dogfight between Scar and some poor soul that couldn’t match his speed. I caught sight of Flik, Patch, and Half-Shield, crowding around him in the bar. I didn’t want to rain on their parade, so I stood back and watched at the time. They looked relatively happy. I mean, Scar actually talked more than five words, so I assume they were having a good time. I didn’t stay long, I finished a glass of soda and left. The next day. Keen hooked me up with a guy that could bring in aircraft I could use. After a bit of haggling, and some cash I had earned from my previous two missions, I bought an aircraft that’s a bit better than the F-15. I got myself an Su-30M2. I admit, it’s certainly different from the standard aircraft I used until now, but according the seller, it’s better than the F-15.
Anyway, I had it come in the other day, in time for me to use it today. Today, we’re going on an escort mission for some cargo plane in Griffon Stone. Apparently, this mission is really important for some reason. All Joker would tell us, is that we do not have the luxury for failure. I mean, that should go without saying, which confuses me for his insistence that we succeed. What’s even stranger, is that we’ll be flying a five-plane formation, along with Scorpio Squadron, who will also fly five planes. They’re heading out ahead of us, we’ll be patrolling in circles at a certain location above the ocean, where Scorpio Squadron will catch up with us with the escort. This is so their air forces will believe that we didn’t send more pilots, and send fewer planes to intercept them. We would then spring into action to take advantage of their fewer numbers. This is all to secure the cargo plane we’re escorting.
I snap out of my mental replay when I bump into someone. I blink and look up to see the captain of Scorpio Squadron. Speak of the devil... “Ah, you’re Trooper, correct?” He asks. “I was just checking with Joker about something.” He smiles, crossing his arms. “I’ve heard some rumors about you, a fast ace.” I give a stern look in return. He smirks. “An attitude, I like that in a pilot. The name’s Stinger, but my TAC’s ‘Sharper’.”
“... Okay, so what is it?” I ask. He blinks in confusion.
“... No, my TAC, is Sharper,” he clarifies. I tilt my head in confusion.
“I mean, Grunt isn’t that good of a name, I know, but-“
“No, not like that, I meant- oh forget it,” Stinger says, sighing. He looks up to me, smiling. “I’ll see you in the air my wingless friend.” With that, he walks away. I look after him in confusion.
“... Weird,” I mutter, continuing my walk to the hangar. I honestly figured he’d be more of a jerk, but that was strangely pleasant...
Off-Shore of Western Griffon Stone, over Celestial Sea, 1320 hours.
The ocean below is a mix of teal, blue, and other words of color that are basically blue but slightly different. In the distance, there are rocky cliffs, and along the coast further away, there’s a beach. I think I can see civilians. They look like the tiniest of dots, like ants. I smile a little, hoping that nothing happens during this mission. I put my focus back towards my group, where I fly in the farthest to the left, behind Half-Shield, who’s to behind Scar to the left. To his right, Bugger flies in front of Topper. Our five-plane formation forms an arrow. Since I’m still technically the rookie, I’m Spades 5.
“Hey! Grunt!” Topper calls. “When did you get the new plane!? It looks good!” I smile a little at the compliment.
“He probably called up Dealer,” Bugger says. “Yo, Nutter Butter, is that right? There’s no one else who’s allowed to sell to our Air Base.” A tired sigh is heard.
“Don’t get the wrong idea, I just felt bad the rookie keeps getting the short end of the stick, that’s all,” Bird’s-Eye responds. “Besides, this means he owes me one.”
“In what? Peanutbutter?” Topper asks, bursting into laughter with Bugger. I can hear Half-Shield give a chuckle, as small as it was. I myself smile under the flight-mask as well.
“Cut the chatter, I can see the Cargo is coming in. Be sure to-“
“Mayday, mayday! This is After-Rain 6, a bogey’s chasing us!” The radio chatters. I can feel my heart skip a beat as I hear this.
“This is Sharper, Scorpio 1, I’m in a dogfight with multiple bogeys! I’m requesting help, ASAP!” I feel my eyes widen as my HUD pops up with several new contacts. All except two are enemies.
“Spades, engage!” Bird’s-Eye orders.
“Roger. Disperse,” Scar says. In a flash, we all break off and chase random enemies. I go for the ones chasing down our escort.
“Don’t let them escape! She can’t leave, it’ll cost us too much if she escapes!” The enemy’s radio chatters.
“Spades, take out any threats towards the cargo at all cost!” Bird’s-Eye says. I quickly pull around and trail behind the two chasers. I fire two missiles, and quickly switch to my special weapons. Four air-to-air missiles, which have multiple lock ones. I mentally kick myself as I fire one, realizing I could have just switched to it earlier. In any case, I down the two of them and quickly fly past the cargo’s plane before pulling around. I immediately target another plane, but to missiles come out of nowhere and make it explode the moment I lock on. Scar flies past, confirming his kill as I grunt and turn around to find another target again.
“Those two planes...” A female voice says over the radio.
“Ah! Damn!” Half-Shield says. I glance at the radar and see an enemy on her tail. I debate in my head whether or not she’ll ask or want help. I see Scar is busy with some other enemy, and Bugger’s too far out to be of any use in time. Topper is trying to gun down some other enemy. I scowl to myself as I see that Half-Shield is still struggling to regain control of her situation. I sigh and start speeding towards them.
“This one’s mine,” the enemy says. I twirl, pulling up to trail behind the shooting plane. “This is Fire-Claw 3, Fox 2.” The plane fires a missile the moment I fire a missile. “Wait, what the-“ The plane gets hit as Half-Shield gets hit as well.
“Shit!” Half-Shield yells. I grow concerned as I see smoke trailing from her plane.
“Half-Shield, are you alright?” I ask.
“... Yeah, I can still fly,” she says, albeit, with a bit of hesitation.
“Spades 2, try to keep out of dogfights for the remainder of the mission,” Scar says. I pull off and circle around to check on our cargo. I grimace as I see three more enemy planes tailing it. One of them fires their missiles, but the plane shoots off flares and makes the, miss.
“This is After-Rain 6, we require help!” Yells the escort. “Damn it, I wish I could fight them off myself!” I go full throttle, glancing at the radar to see another ally speeding towards them as well. I have no doubt it’s Scar. I feel a rush of sorts come over me again. I can feel the excitement wash over, filling me with what I now realize is a competitive nature. Yet again, like the last mission, a smile creeps onto my face. I push the plane’s limits for speed, trying to surpass Scar’s.
I flip to special weapons, lock on to the three enemies, and fire. I flip back to missiles and lock on to the nearest opponent. One missile hits the pilot closest to the escort. The other two missiles are trashed due to one of them doing a barrel roll while the other just shoots off flares. I am following the one who did the latter. I use the opportunity of the used-up flares to fire two missiles, which almost immediately destroy the plane close to me. I aim at the second and final plane, firing my machine gun. However, my bullets are too sprayed to hit. Suddenly, two missiles come from behind and destroy the plane. I feel a shockwave, grimacing as I know who took that one out.
“... Not bad,” I hear Scar say.
“I could do better if you’d butt out,” I hear myself say. I reel back a bit from myself, but I only hear Scar chuckle in response.
“We’ll see, Grunt,” he says. I can tell there was no malicious intent in those words. No, if anything, it sounded like a challenge. I smile, getting even more competitive. I pull off, doing a high-g turn and speeding towards our next target.
“Tch,” a new enemy voice chimes in. “Worthless. I leave them to sort it out, and they come crying for help.”
“Spades, Scorpio, there’s a new bandit coming in!” Bird’s-Eye says. “He’s coming in fast! Vector 90 of Spade 5!” I quickly look to my right, and my HUD shows a distant target speeding towards me. I grunt and turn towards it, willing to meet it head on. Adrenaline rushes through me. I know this feeling by now. The target is labeled ‘Ash’. This pilot must be another ace, to be able to have a label. I go ahead and start firing my machine gun, hoping to get a lucky shot in. However, the enemy pulls off. I can their plane, an Su-37. Their tail has an emblem that looks like a fire with a smile on it.
“That one’s excited, isn’t he?” The voice asks herself.
“Wow, Grunt was quick!” Topper mentions, catching up to the escort. I pull off a twirl and start my chase with the ace. I see Scar is catching up too.
“Oh? Two eager beavers? How cute, I guess I feel like playing,” the enemy says. I get a lock on and fire two missiles. As expected, the pilot dodges with ease by doing a barrel roll. I switch to my 4AAM, and fire off a couple. Instead of releasing flares, the pilot does a wider barrel roll, twirling a bit as the missiles fly past her.
“I’ll deal with him!” Half-Shield says, turning towards us.
“Half Shield, stick with the cargo. The same goes for Topper and Bugger. Let those two sort it out,” Bird’s-Eye says.
“I’ve seen what that- that thing did, I’m sticking with the cargo!” Sharper says, who I finally notice. He’s flying next to the cargo, with smoke trailing from the tip of his left wing.
“Wait, where’s your squadron Scorpio 1?” Bird’s-Eye asks.
“T-they were shot down by that ace! Their TAC is Ash!” He replies with panic.
“Wait, Ash!?”
“Remember Ash, we want to the Cargo incapacitated, not dead!” The enemy chatters.
“We’ll see what happens,” Ash responds. “However, if you wanted them alive, I personally wouldn’t have pick myself to do this? You’ve seen my records.” I fire off my machine gun, but Ash is just out of reach for my gun fire to hit. Scar speeds up, firing off two missiles at the enemy as it turns. I go ahead and start turning with the him, trying to lock on with a missile.
“Grunt, I want you to pull off, this one is no joke,” Scar says.
“No! I can do it!” I claim.
“...” Scar doesn’t reply, but Bird’s-Eye certainly does.
“Grunt! That’s a direct order! Listen to-“
“It’s fine, I’m sure he’ll manage,” Scar cuts off. I give Scar’s plane a glance of confusion before returning my attention to Ash. I finally lock on, and fire two missiles.
“Alliyoop!” Ash says, slowing down and pulling up to do a high g-turn, just barely dodging the missile. I fire my gun, but Ash does a barrel roll and dodges most of the bullets, except for one that hits her craft. “My turn!” Suddenly, the plane slows down dramatically, making me panic and veer off the collision course with her plane. “Hm? A Royal Guard helmet? What kind of emblem is that?” My HUD lights up red with a missile warning, and I quickly fire off some flares.
“Hang in there Grunt, I’m coming up behind them,” Scar says.
“Flares? No fun!” Ash says. I start barrel rolling, trying to make her overshoot. However, I only manage to fly into machine gun fire, taking some damage. “Barrel rolling? Please, I’m not a newborn chick!” I notice that my HUD is warning me of her locking on, and grimace. Where the hell is Scar!?
“Finally,” Scar says.
“Agh! Damn it!” I pull up to try and look at my pursuer, only to see some smoke coming off of her plane. “I forgot about his buddy, oh well. Guess he’s more fun to deal with then!” Ash pulls off, and Scar follows close. I point my jet to follow them, trying to get back into battle.
“Ash! We didn’t ask for you to have fun, we asked you to-“
“This is my airspace at the moment, don’t get your feathers in a twist. I’ll get the job done when I get it done,” Ash replies. “Right now, my focus is on their ace, as well as this other plane that’s caught my attention.”
“Scar, Fox 2,” Scar says, firing a couple missiles. However, both projectiles miss when Ash pulls off another barrel roll, and starts diving to the ocean. Scar and I dive as well, ready to give chase. Scar is faster though, catching up to the ace before me and firing off his machine gun. Ash twists her plane, dodging the bullets flying past.
“Close, but no cigar,” Ash says. Suddenly, her plane slows down and flips upward, getting behind Scar. “Ash, Fox 2.” Ash fires a couple missiles, one of which lands a hit on Scar’s aircraft.
“No!” Half Shield yells. I grit my teeth as I finally lock onto Ash. I fire two missiles of my own. She rolls, dodging them.
“Heh, too slow-“ I switch to special weapons, and fire my other four missiles at her. “Huh!?” She tries to barrel roll, but she’s too late as a couple manage to hit her. “Agh! Damn! I have to eject!” A figure ejects from the plane. I barrel managed to see what it is before passing it. It looked like the pilot.
“Spade 1! Scar! Are you alright?!” Bird’s-Eye yells.
“... I’m fine, but my wing’s damaged. I’ll need to RTB,” Scar responds. I finally notice Scar’s plane is still in the air, heading west back to base with the transport plane.
“Thank you Spade and Scorpio Squadron, we wouldn’t have made it without you,” the After-Rain says. “Hm?... Sure, why not?”
“Who’s she talking to?” Topper asks.
“... Hello, brave warriors. I am Princess Luna, the er... Cargo? Such a strange thing to be referred to as,” a royal, slightly loud voice says.
“P-Princess!?” Bird’s-Eye exclaims. I’m surprised as well, unable to say anything. I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.
“We wish to thank everyone, it had been quite a journey to get out of there. I’m sure my sister kept my kidnapping a secret to avoid panic,” Luna continues.
“Princess!” I blurt out. “What are you- why are- how long had you been gone!?”
“... Lieutenant Trooper, is that you?” Luna asks. I fall silent, unable to respond accordingly from the calm question. “We never forget a royal guard’s voice. Tell me, does your mother still send you chocolates?” I start blushing in embarrassment as Topper and Bugger try to conceal their laughter from the radio. “We would like some when we return, your mother always picks out the best chocolates in her travels.”
“Uh, sorry Princess, um, she didn’t send anything this month, other than a post-card,” I mutter. I come up to the transport plane to be in view.
“Aw, such a shame,” Luna replies. “... I admire your plane’s tail-art. I imagine you had some words for- What?... Very well, we’ll return to our seat. Everyone, thank you for your protection.”
“Yo, Super Trooper, can we have some chocolate?” Bugger asks, snickering. I don’t respond, merely grunting as I shoot Bugger’s plane a glare. I look to the side to see the beach I saw earlier. It’s empty now, save for a wreckage that was a plane. I hope no civilian got hurt...
“... That plane...” Ash says to herself, watching the plane that took her down. “... Pops, take a note. There’s a plane with a broken royal guard’s helmet and a spear as an emblem. They’re a new ace.”
“Did you see their TAC?” Her radio asks.
“No. But I suggest that we should keep an eye on them.” A hum sounds out, as well as a scribble.
“What should we call them?” Ash hums to herself as she unbuckles her seat and frees her wings. She hovers in place, allowing her seat to fall into the ocean below.
“... Grim-Spear?” She asks, starting her flight east back to base.
“Grim-Spear... okay, updated. Now, about your failure...” Ash sighs, knowing that things are not going to be pleasant when she returns...
I sigh, slumping into my seat with my drink at the bar. Joker told us how good of a job we did, but we’re getting a new addition to our squad. Stinger, who’s squadron had been confirmed MIA for the moment, is being reassigned to ours. He’s not bad, unlike his squad-mates, but he’s a bit awkward. He was kinda shaken up from earlier, but he’s calm down knowing that at the very least, his squad’s alive somewhere. In any case, I’m hanging out with Patch, Flick, and Keen, as usual. “Super Trooper, my guy, lemme tell you,” Patch says, a bit tipsy. “When my ma comes in, and sees the mess I made, she was all like- ‘Did I drop you as a baby or something!?’” Flick laughs as Keen rolls his eyes.
“Patch, you told us this story yesterday,” Keen says.
“Still funny as ever!” Flick says. I give a smirk as I sip on some soda.
“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” A female voice asks. I look over to see Half-Shield, who looks a little embarrassed. I drop my good attitude and shrug. “Thanks,” she says. She looks at the bartender. “I want the cheapest booze you’ve got,” she says. He nods and goes off to fulfill this order. Half Shield looks at me for a moment before looking away. “... Thanks for Uh, earlier,” she says. I give a courtesy nod and try to focus on the story Flick’s telling. However, Half-shield taps my shoulder. I give an irritated look. “Snuffle,” she says. I stare at her for a minute. “... My name’s Snuffle,” she elaborates. My eyes widen a bit before taking an awkward sip.
“... So that’s why you didn’t want to tell me your name,” I say. She blushes and crosses her arms.
“No, it’s because I trust you enough,” she says.
“Oh, hey Half-Shield!” Patch says, just now noticing the hippogriff. “Did you finally tell Super Trooper your name yet?”
“Stop calling me that,” I say, taking a sip as Snuffle nods.
“... Super Trooper?” She asks herself as she looks at me, cracking a smile.
“Not my name. It’s just Trooper-“
“I dunno, you look like a Super Trooper,” Snuffle says.
“Well, you don’t look like a Snuffle,” I reply. She laughs as she gets her order.
“True,” she says. She takes a sip, nods, and guzzles the pint-sized glass. I look on with surprise, but Keen snickers.
“Do we need to talk about your drinking problem again?” He asks. She sets her glass down and sighs.
“No, it’s not a problem. It’s a solution,” she says. Flicks snickers and leans over to me.
“Last time Snuff got drunk, she broke a table from a bar-fight she got into,” he says. I scoff, giving Snuffle a glance.
“Hey, the table had it coming. I bumped into it way too many times,” she says. With that, everyone starts laughing and talking, while I simply sit and enjoy the conversations they have. I admit, this is much nicer than I ever thought it would be...
I crack my eyes open, lying on my side in bed. Today’s a bad day. I’m the only one not going into today’s mission. Scar said it was my turn to stay on the ground today, with that dude Stinger. “Good morning!” I slowly roll over to look at the doorway from by bunk, and I see Stinger standing there with a mug of coffee. He’s smiling widely as he walks in. “So, how’s my groundy-buddy?” I give him a look of tired confusion and roll back over. Today’s my break. I love the air, and if I could fly, I would, but it’s still tiring. “I got wind of Joker’s debrief, I think our squad’s gonna be gone for a couple days.” I groan in acknowledgement and close my eyes. I feel a shake. “C’mon, today’s a day off, you gotta do something you like,” Stinger says.
“...” I sit up, yawn, and look at Stinger in annoyance.
“... Not much of a talker, are ya?” I give him a bemused look. “Alright, alright, I’ll leave you alone,” he says, turning around. As he walks out, I sigh to myself and thank Celestia that I’m finally left alone. The moment I do, a boom sounds off and the ground shakes. I fall off my bed as an air raid siren goes off.
“Celestia damn it,” I mutter as I pick myself off the ground.
“All pilots, head to your hangers and get in the air immediately! This is not a drill!” A voice yells over the intercom. I hear a splash.
“AH!!! HOT!!!” Stinger yells in the hall. I sigh and get up. I quickly change into my gear and head out.
Equestrian Air Base, 0900 hours
I pull out of the hanger, gritting my teeth as my plane shakes from the explosions nearby. “Spade 5 and 6, pull off! Taking off is too dangerous!” Joker says from the radio.
“You said all pilots, and we’re pilots!” Sharper replies.
“...” Joker gives a resigned sigh. “... Fine, Spades Squadron, engage the enemy. There are three bombers, but they’re escorted by fighters that also have bombs. Don’t let them complete their third run!”
“Roger,” Sharper says.
“Wilco,” I reply.
“Agh! I got hit!” A friendly pilot says.
“Hurry,” Joker says. I look up to the sky as I start speeding down the runway. There’s a lot of smoke, but I can make out some fighters looming over the base, spiraling with other fighters and avoiding anti-air fire. I push the throttle, and my aircraft starts moving forward.
“Hey, who the hell’s taking off down there!?” Someone asks.
“This is Joker, that aircraft is Spades Five, Grunt. The one taking off after him is Spades Six, Sharper. Make sure they get up into the air,” Joker says. As I start accelerating faster, my allies start to chatter.
“Hey, I heard about Spades’ members, do you guys think he’s the wingless one?”
“Probably, I saw him hanging around the bunkers earlier.”
“Quit talking and more defending,” Joker orders. Finally, my plane lifts off, and a spray of gunfire nearly misses me from above.
“Damn it, they’ve got another bird in the air!” An enemy says.
“Wait, is that... oh crap, is that Grim-Spear!?”
“Come on rookie, that guy isn’t real.” I pull up my wheels and speed up to give chase to the nearest enemy, a fighter.
“Spades 5, there are fighters trying to take control of the air space, clear them out and regain control before their bombers show up. I don’t want anyone to go home in a body bag,” Joker says.
“Hey, Grunt, I’m lifting off in a bit! Try to protect me will ya?” Sharper says. I glance at the runway as I pull up to chase a fighter. He’s making his checks quickly. I go back to what I’m doing and fire off some bullets, catching the fighter’s right wing.
“Agh! I got hit!” He yells. I lock on, and fire a missile. The bogey tries to do a barrel roll, but the damaged wing slows him down and allows the missile to hit his plane. I suddenly get a missile warning, making me look at my radar to see that a missile’s behind me.
“Haha, I got you!” An enemy says. I pull up, until I’m upside down. The missile flies past my cockpit, giving me a good look at it before it passes. I fire off my machine gun in the direction it came from, and manage to hit a plane that was chasing me. “AGH!!!” I just barely pull away in time for it to fly past without colliding into me. I roll upright, leveling my plane out and looking around. The other squadrons are also taking them on, but they’re having trouble. I glance at Sharper, who’s lifting off the runway.
“This is Spades 6, I cleared the runway,” Sharper says. “I’m forming up with Grunt.”
“Spades 6, follow Spades 5’s lead, take out all bogies in the area,” Joker instructs.
“I saw those moves Grunt, that was pretty quick,” Sharper mentions. I don’t reply, instead focusing on fighting off another plane. I start speeding towards the mass of planes higher up, with Sharper close behind me. I can see at least ten enemy planes swirling and spiraling with eight friendlies.
“Joker, where are the others?” I ask. “I thought we had a few more than this.”
“Many of our fighters were shot down, but so were theirs. Tread carefully,” Joker warns. I grimace and catch up to an enemy.
“Come on, we almost got them on the ropes!” An enemy says.
“Yeah, it won’t be long until our bombers reach here, so hurry up!” Another says. I lock on to a fighter and fire a couple missiles as they’re preoccupied with another plane. They don’t notice the missile until they explode into a fiery ball.
“Thanks!” A friendly says.
“Uh, Grunt, permission to disperse and engage?” Sharper asks.
“... What are you asking me for? I’m not leading,” I say. At Sharper’s silence, I sigh. “...Granted.” Immediately, Sharper’s plane pulls off and chases down a nearby plane. I pull up until I’m going the other way, and roll to be upright. I chase down another plane, going through a cloud. I lock on, but hold off. Clouds are cold, cold enough to throw off missiles. The plane rolls, and I try to line up my gun. I fire off, and take out the enemy. I pull up and shoot out of the clouds, slowly turning back to the mass of planes. There’s seven left.
“Guys, I think that really is Grim-Spear,” an enemy says.
“Then let’s take care of him!” Another says. Two planes turn towards me. I snicker, knowing what they’re trying to do. “They can’t take on two of us chasing him!” I keep my heading, and speed towards the one on the right. I fire my gun, making it turn away, but I turn my attention to the left one. We keep speeding towards each other.
“Yellow 7, pull off!” One enemy says.
“No, he’s mine!” The other says. I lock on, and fire at the same time the enemy does. Our missiles fly past each other, just barely avoiding collision, and continue towards their targets. I quickly rolled, and the missile flies past. The enemy wasn’t as lucky however, and gets hit head on. I even cringe a bit at the sight. The other enemy starts chasing me.
“I’ll avenge you Pepper!” He says out of anger. I see a volley of bullets come at me, and just barely managed to pull off and dodge some of them. However, one of them nicked my wings. Crap. I hear the lock-on warning from my dashboard, making me freak out as I see that I had turned in the direction the enemy’s heading, allowing him an easy shot at me. “Die you son of a-“ The enemy is cut off when he suddenly bursts into flames, and bits of gunfire flies past him. Flying past, Sharper glances at the downed enemy and catches up to me.
“Grunt, you okay? I didn’t hit you, right?” He asks. I calm down a bit, trying to look back at the now dead enemy.
“... I’m fine,” I say. “... Nice shot.” I look at Sharper’s plane next to me, and see him giving me a thumbs up from the cockpit. We break off from our vector and return to the fight. There are five left.
“That guy with the Royal Guard emblem... he’s pretty good,” a friendly says.
“Damn right he’s good!” Sharper says. “He took out a bunch of fighters in his last mission, going toe to toe with-“
“Shut it Sharper,” I snap. The last thing I need is for pilots to get a reason to hate me when they figure out that I don’t have any wings. It’d hurt their pride.
“But... Sorry,” Sharper says.
“Just continue with the mission,” I say. Five enemy planes are left. One of them explodes from gunfire, making it down to four.
“Emerald 2 splashed one,” Joker announces.
“Come on, we had them cornered, what happened!?” An enemy yells.
“Duh-duh-duh, duh-Nah-Nah,” an enemy sings.
“What- Rocker!?”
“Higher ups said something was off, I wanted to see for myself.”
“... A new bogey’s coming in, an Su-37,” Joker says.
“Only one? They’ve got some nerve!” An ally says.
“It means that’s an Ace,” I warn.
“Testing, testing,” a new voice says.
“What are you doing!? You’re speaking on an open channel!” An enemy says.
“Greetings Equestrians! The TAC’s Rocker, and I’d like to say thank you. Thank you for being easy target practice!”
“H-hey, who’s locking-“ A loud boom sounds out, and a friendly fighter blows up suddenly.
“Evasive maneuvers!” Another friendly says.
“Wow, this weapon’s hella powerful,” Rocker says. “Let’s see how long it takes to smash up the base with this baby!”
“Rocker! That weapon’s off limits!” An enemy says.
“Well, it was, until I suggest I could test run it,” Rocker says. I grimace and look around until I spot Rocker’s plane. I can barley make out a red bird’s head with horns, opening its beak with wavey lines coming out. I fire off my gun, missing the plane just barely. “Huh? Is that another target?” Rocker mocks. “Wait... that emblem... Oh, hehe, Ash told me about you, Grim-Spear.”
“Grim-Spear?” Sharpers asks.
“Let’s hope she wasn’t exaggerating,” Rocker says, before directing his plane towards me. Instinctively, I barrel-roll. The moment I do, a boom sounds out again, and my plane shakes. “Oh, I missed? Hm, you might be something after all.” I grimace and fire off my gun, but miss as he rolls. “Alright then, let’s boogie.” We pass each other, before turning around and firing off missiles. We both dodge again, passing each other. I pull up, and changed direction. I instinctively roll again, and a boom sounds out. My plane shakes. “Ooo, I missed again. Okay. Let’s see how long you can withstand me,” Rocker says. I grit my teeth, getting tired of his cockiness. I make a sharp turn and fire off some bullets, catching Rocker’s tail. I smile as I see that I’ve finally managed to catch up to his tail. His plane probably needs to speed up after the force of his gun’s recoil slows him down.
“Spades 5 damaged him!” Sharper says.
“Heh, nice shot,” Rocker says. I lock on and fire a couple of missiles, but he easily dodges them by turning sharply towards me, rolling to evade them and let them pass.
“You got ‘em Grim-Spear!” A friendly says.
“Yeah! Take him down!” Another says. I grimace and quickly fire my gun before pulling off to avoid collision with Rocker’s plane.
“I can see why Ash likes you, you seem to be no stranger to dogfights,” Rocker says. Annoyed, I switch to an open channel.
“Hey, Rocker,” I say.
“Yes?” He asks innocently.
“Less talking, more fighting,” I say.
“Spades 5, cease communication with the enemy!” Joker says. Rocker laughs.
“Alright tough guy, let’s brawl!” Rocker says. I switch back to friendly radio channels and notice the lock on warning. I slow down, and perform a post-stall maneuver to get behind Rocker. He pulls up, trying to avoid me from locking on, but I don’t need to do that. I pull up as well, firing off my gun and leading my aim. The bullets pass by Rocker’s plane, but a few manage to hit him. His plane twists around and pulls down, exposing his belly. I notice an object attached to it, and focused my fire. I fire my gun, and manage to hit it before pulling off. “Heh, I can’t miss this time,” Rocker says. I notice his plane trail behind me quickly. “... Huh? What- what happened to-... Oh, you sneaky bastard,” Rocker says. I think I hit his gun. He fires off his machine gun, and a few bullets catch me. My plane’s tail catches fire.
“Oh hell,” I say.
“Spades 5, pull off!” Joker says.
“No, I got this,” I say.
“Dude’s crazy, he’s on fire!” A friendly says. I can feel my plane’s dragging a bit, slowing down. I need to hurry. I pull down the throttle, and cut off my speed. I start pulling down.
“What’s he doing?” Sharper asks himself.
“Spades 5, pull up!” Joker says.
“Trust me,” I say. Rocker doesn’t think twice, and speeds towards me. I keep an eye on Rocker, who’s hellbent on gunning me down. I finally attempt another post-stall maneuver, managing to do a small backflip and letting Rocker fly past.
“Oh sh-“ Suddenly, a figure pops out of the cockpit of the plane, right before it crashes into the ground. I, on the other hand, keep flying, albeit slowly.
“He just... Did he just...” Both enemy and friendly radio chatter are at a lost for words as my still-flaming plane manages to return to the airspace. I notice that there are three enemy fighters left. I flip to an open channel.
“Hey, I’m still flying. So, who’s next?” I ask. Almost immediately, they turn tail and start speeding away.
“I’m not going up against that!”
“Screw that, I’m retreating!”
“Sonova bitch’s on fire, and he still wants to fight!?” I watch as they retreat, unshaken. I flip back to friendly commas. “Joker, I need to land, my plane’s on fire.”
“Uh, I can kinda see that,” Joker says.
“Holy crap Grunt- er, Grim-Spear,” Sharper says.
“Not my TAC,” I say.
“It is now,” Joker says...
I sigh as I sit down at the bar. It’s kind of lonely, without Patch or Flick sharing stories, or without Keen complaining or sharing rumors. “Alone tonight?” The bartender asks. I nod. “Still want a soda?” I chuckle, nodding. “Alright, give me a sec.” I look around to see that there aren’t as many patrons as normal. “Yeah, that air battle that happened earlier made everyone scared. We weren’t too close, but we were close enough,” the barkeep says. “Hey, you’re a pilot, did you go into the air?” I nod again. “Did you see that guy’s plane who caught on fire?” I contemplate on how I should answer this... I simply nod. “Man, guy was crazy. I would’ve tried to eject or something. I know planes have parachutes for the pilot seat, so it should’ve been fine.”
“... Eh, I didn’t feel like it,” I say. The barkeep pauses and slowly looks at me in shock. Suddenly, the door opens.
“Sir, are you the pilot known as Spades 5?” A voice asks. I turn around to see a couple of armored guards, with a griffin behind them. His blue eyes stare at mine. His down feathers are slightly ruffled, and his handcuffed arms are still. The griffon wears an orange jumpsuit.
“... Yeah,” I say. The griffon’s eyes narrowed.
“No,” he says. “No way you’re Grim-Spear.” I scoff, putting two and two together. He’s Rocker. He probably couldn’t fly back to base by himself. I turn back to the bartender, who gives me my glass.
“Thanks,” I say.
“You’ve got ten minutes punk,” a guard says, shoving the griffon towards me. His dark beak curls into a frown as he sits next to me. I don’t look at him, only sipping on my soda quietly.
“... I kinda expected you to be taller,” he says.
“...” I glance at him, before sipping again.
“Not much of a talker, huh?” He asks. “That’s fine, I just wanted to see who was the guy that made me lose today. Heh, I didn’t expect an earth pony to be the one.” I shrug, yawning. “Y’know, Ash is pretty weird about you.” I give him a quirked eyebrow. “Like, she hates that you shot her down, but she loved the fact that you did. It’s weird.” I don’t comment, only sip on my soda. The griffon looks around. “... Y’know, I’ve always wanted to go to Equestria. There’s a lot of sights to see, lots of cities to get souvenirs...” He stops to chuckle. “... I even wanted to see if I can poke fun at some ponies in Canterlot. Y’know, the ponies who’re too refined to breathe poor people air.” I chuckle, earning a smirk from the griffon. “Look at that, the thing managed to laugh!” I roll my eyes, though I smile. “Hey, uh, quick question, and sorry if this is outta the blue, but can we take a picture?” I give him a confused look.
“Why?” I ask. He chuckles.
“As a souvenir. I have a sister back home who’d be pretty mad if I didn’t get a picture taken at Equestria like I promised.” I eye him over, trying to tell if he’s lying. After deciding that he isn’t, I look over at the guards.
“Hey, can we get a-“
“I’ve got one,” the bartender says, going to the back. After a moment, he comes back out, holding a big polaroid camera.
“Thanks dude, you’re pretty chill,” Rocker says, getting next to me and smiling at the camera. I scoff, holding up a peace sign.
“You’re pretty chill yourself. I kinda expected you to be a nuisance about it,” I admit. He notices my hand gesture, and does the same thing. I give a small smile as he gives a grin to the camera. A click and a flash later, and the polaroid snaps a picture. After it prints out, the bartender gives it to the griffon.
“Again, thanks. I’m not like most griffon pilots, I don’t have as much of a vendetta against Equestrians,” he says.
“Times up, let’s return you to your cell,” one of the stoic guards says. Rocker sighs.
“Alright, I’m comin’,” he says. He turns to me with a grateful smile. “Thanks, I won’t forget this.” With that, he walks away with the guards. The bartender looks at me with a bit of confusion.
“Hey, why’d you humor him?” He asks. I shrug.
“He was chill, so why not?” I ask. The bartender laughs, nodding.
“Heh, I guess there wasn’t reason to say no,” he admits. With that, I go back to drinking soda quietly, relaxing a bit with the quiet atmosphere...
I silently groan as I take my can of soda from the vending machine in the air base’s cafeteria. Patch found out about the flaming plane from Keen five minutes ago. “Come on! You’ve gotta tell me!” He says. “No way you’re gonna just keep it to yourself!” I glance to see if anyone’s noticed me. Ever since I landed, I became the talk of the base. Few pilots have ever had their plane on fire, and still fly long enough to land. However, the attention’s a bit much for me. Eve now, across several tables where various military staff, mechanics, and other pilots, are glancing at me and talking to each other in whispers.
“Patch, I don’t want to talk about it,” I say. “It’s almost seven in the morning, and I only just got done with breakfast.” This apparently doesn’t deter Patch’s enthusiasm, if the sparkle in his eyes mean anything. It’s not that I don’t want to remember the incident, it’s just that Patch will gush over it even more if I say anything. I’d rather he talk it out with Flick or something. I crack open the can and take a nice sip.
“So, how’s Grim-Spear’s morning soda?” Snuffle asks, walking up. I glance at her and sigh.
“Don’t call me that,” I say.
“Okay Super Trooper,” she says, sticking her tongue out. I actually can’t tell if I like it better when she hated me. She drops her cutesy act and recomposes herself. “I heard we got a prisoner of war on base, the ace you shot down.” I nod.
“Chill dude,” I comment. “Loves souvenirs.”
“I also heard he used a secret weapon, did they recover it?” Snuffle asks. I sigh.
“Shot it to pieces. Given that the plane smashed into the ground, belly down, I’m certain there’s not much to recover.” Snuffle huffs.
“Oh well, you survived,” she says. “By the way, what was that about being on fire?” She asks. I audibly groan. “I heard some of the other pilots talking about it. But, that didn’t actually happen, right?” I give her an irritated glance. “... It did!?”
“Why’s everyone so stuck on it?” I ask aloud. Suddenly, a feedback noise sounds out and Joker’s voice is heard from the intercoms.
“Attention, Trooper Dent, Iron Gate, report to the briefing room,” he says.
“Odd, briefing doesn’t start until 9 today,” Patch says. I give a tense glance at the intercom, wondering what this is about.
“I guess I’ll head off. Later,” I say, giving a weak wave before leaving. I look back to see many ponies were staring at me. They all hushed up and returned to eating as I roll my eyes and exit the room. I walk down the hall, passing various offices and rooms. I enjoy the relative silence, not having to talk to someone.
“Oh, hey Trooper,” a voice says. I silently sigh and look back to see Keen, catching up to me with a half-eaten muffin. “I was just looking for you, did you really-“
“Yes,” I interrupt. “I was on fire.” Keen snickers, shaking his head.
“Must’ve been one helluva day, huh?” He asks. I nod, sipping my soda as I continue walking. “Oh, Trooper, the seller’s here if you want to look at another plane again soon,” Keen offers. I give him a thumbs up without looking and keep walking.
I enter the briefing room, and notice Scar sitting to the side with Joker. I throw my now-empty can into a small trash bin next to the door before sitting down across from them. “Good, everyone’s here,” Joker says. I glance at Scar, realizing what his real name is now. He doesn’t seem fazed, if anything, he gives a small smirk I can barely notice. “Trooper, I have been reviewing your actions over the past four sorties. I admit, you are a lot more capable than I originally thought.” I cross my arms, trying to figure out what he’s getting at. “Recently, Equestria has managed to gather up enough forces to attempt a counter attack on Griffon Stone’s mainland. However, aerial resistance is heavy, which stops our own aerial forces from providing proper support. We need you and Iron to go in, and attempt to sanitize the air space.” I quirk an eyebrow.
“Wait, just me and Scar?” I ask. Joker nods.
“We can not send in too many planes at once, but we need two skilled pilots to go around them ahead of time to take them by surprise.” I look at Scar, who’s simply staring at me to see my reaction. I look back at Joker, with a confused look.
“So, why me?” I ask. Joker chuckles.
“Remember when you were on fire?” He asks. I frown. “I imagine you must’ve shaken some of them, and given how you’re already nicknamed Grim-Spear, I believe you will be a valuable asset in terms of intimidation.” I nod, seeing some sense in that. “I’ll relay this information to your squadron, for now, go ahead and suit up to sortie.” I look at Scar, frowning.
“What are you so smug about?” I ask, getting annoyed by his smirk.
“Just wondering how high of a bar you’re going to set,” he says, getting up. As he leaves, Joker shakes his head. He turns to me, frowning.
“Oh, one more thing, you won’t be getting AWACS support until after the rest of your squadron arrive. So, with that in mind, after the refueling jet leaves you at your halfway marker, you and Iron are on your own. Don’t do anything stupid, we need heroes like you two.” I quirk an eyebrow, looking at where Scar left.
“... Hey, quick question,” I start. He nods for me to continue. “How did he get his TAC, Scar?” I ask. Joker sighs.
“I can’t tell you, that kind of question is between you and him.” With that, he gets up. “Good luck,” he says, before turning and leaving me in the room...
South-Western Griffonian Territory, 1100 hours
I watch as the refueling jet’s refuel-line retract into itself. So far, everything’s quiet. Scar and I are flying above forests and hills, trust barely above the clouds. “Alright, Spades 2, you’re refueled and ready for combat. Good luck out there Spades Squadron,” the refueler’s pilot says.
“Hey, the Aces of Spades! Give those griffons hell!” Another voice says.
“Sorry, that’s my copilot. He’s a bit new. In any case, best of luck,” the pilot says, before turning his plane. Scar and I are alone now. I look at his MiG, wondering what he’s thinking.
“... Hey, Grim-Spear,” Scar says, using my new official TAC. “Keep your eyes peeled. We have some time before reaching our objective, but I have a sneaking suspicion that we’re going to see some action soon.” I hum in acknowledgement, looking down at the fluffy clouds below us.
“... Scar, I’ve got a question,” I start.
“Is it about my TAC?” He asks.
“Yeah. Why did you choose Scar? Pegasi are normally proud about their wings, and losing them is something like a dishonor, right? It’d be strange to express it with a TAC.” I hear a sigh.
“... Ever heard of the rumors, about how I lost my wings? How an enemy shot me down?” He goes silent for a second. “... They weren’t true. When I was younger, I used to be a mercenary,” he starts. “I hated rules, and hated being stuck with a squadron. I flew with an old buddy of mine, and we respected each other’s talents. Hell, we were best of the best.” He pauses, seeming to reminisce on those times. “Back then, there weren’t wars, but there were always targets. An offshore company hired us.”
“Which one?” I ask.
“Some Minotaur company. Anyway, we were told to take pictures of some cargo that was on a route through the Bandlands. It was a stockpile of weapons, being sold to hippogriffs,” Scar continues. “Well, I figured we could get paid double if I destroyed them.”
“Sounds stupid,” I comment, to which Scar barks out a laugh.
“Yes, it was,” he says. “I shot it, and its explosion was bigger than I thought. Next thing I know, I see a truck’s wreckage flying at me, taking off one of my plane’s wings. When I ejected, some shrapnel caught my wings.” I grimace.
“Sounds painful,” I say.
“Like hell,” Scar replies.
“What happened to your friend?” I ask. He goes silent.
“... I suppose he saw the explosion’s aftermath, and decided to fly off to avoid trouble. I think he hates me for screwing up, but I don’t really know. I decided to instill Scar as my TAC to remind myself of my failure, and never let any of this got my head again.” I nod to myself, starting to understand it. “Not many people know about this story, since the operation was declared confidential.” Before I could ask why he’s telling me this then, Scar hums in confusion. “Wait... What’s... Grim, fly down, now!” He yells. I don’t argue and push my nose down, going below the clouds with him. Once below clouds, I see that we’re over a desert area, meaning we’re deep in southern Griffon territory. “That was close, my radar’s picking up signals ahead.” I look at my own radar and notice a sort of wave coming towards us. Actually, it’s like part of an expanding circle. It stops at a certain point before another wave comes up.
“What is it?” I ask.
“I don’t know, but let’s stay out of its range for now. It may be a radar site.” I grimace.
“Why don’t we smash the place? It’d be one less target to worry about,” I suggest.
“No good, we’re still too far away from our main objective to blow our cover. Avoid them at all times.”
“Fine.” With that, I keep an eye on my radar as I carefully shift my plane’s direction with the rudder, going around the area.
“Grim, expand your radar, I think we just stumbled onto something.” I do as he says, and my eyes widen a bit.
“It’s a maze,” I note. The radar shows multiple radar sites that overlap each other, with small gaps in between some them.
“Be careful, don’t fire anything, just avoid them,” Scar says. I silently follow orders, pulling my aircraft to follow Scar’s lead. On the ground, I can just barely make out tiny dots that resemble buildings or vehicles.
“Hey, what’s with the jets?” An enemy asks.
“No clue, must be returning from training down south,” another answers.
“Hey, Scar, can’t they hear our jets?” I ask.
“Yes, but I’m willing to bet they can’t see what’s on our planes.” I look around me, noticing how unnerving it is to fly with invisible walls I can’t touch. Now I’m glad Scar told me to hold off, because if there are this many enemy lookouts, there must be even more enemy defenders.
“Anything to report?” An enemy asks.
“Nah, nothing but dust and clouds,” another responds.
I quietly keep following, scanning for any enemy planes or AA defenses. Something tells me I should be worried. I look at my radar just in time to see a new radar spot start scanning between me and Scar. “Shit!” I yell, pulling off into empty airspace.
“What happened?” Scar asks.
“A new radar site started up next to us. I have to find my own way now.”
“Very well, be careful,” Scar warns. I look at my radar and carefully fly around the spots of detection. There’s no telling if they can find me on accident if they pop up like that. I look at the ground as I maneuver, and notice a long line going through the ground. That looks important.
“Hey Scar, there’s something strange on the ground. Looks like a pipe or something,” I say.
“... I see it. Good catch Grim,” he says. “... Try to follow the pipe, see where it leads. We might have to break our cover.”
“Roger.” With that, I keep spinning and turning to make sure I don’t get caught. I can see the pipe leads to a building a good ways away.
“Hey, did anyone watch the cool movie last night?” An enemy asks.
“Shut it Bottles, keep an eye out.” Another chastises.
“Hey, it’s boring as hell out here, and nothing’s showing up on radar.”
I strain as I feel a sudden resistance from the wind. Shit. According to my radar, I’m drifting to a spot that’ll detect me. I pull up even harder, rolling a bit to see if the resistance will die down. Thankfully, it works and I barely miss the zone, speeding up to try to get away from the invisible walls. That was too close.
“Anything D7?”
“Nothing Central.”
After a couple of minutes, listening to nothing but muffled rushing air and the occasional afterburner, I leave the field of radars. “I made it. Scar, where are you?” I ask.
“You got lucky Grim. I’m stuck,” he says. I furrow my brow. “Radars have surrounded me. I can’t turn back.” I silently panic, trying to think of what to do.
“Hold on, I think I have an idea,” I say, looking at the pipe. “Do you think they’ll be too focused on me if I started blowing stuff up?”
“Grim, you’re suggesting you’re going to take on all the AA defenses in this area without any backup. Are you sure?” Scar asks.
“Sounds fun,” I say, speeding along and above the pipe.
“Hey, whose plane is that? I don’t recognize those markings,” an enemy says. I pull up, rolling to level off and target the oncoming building. Now that I’m closer, it looks like an industrial plant, with columns of smoke puffing out various chimneys through the facility. The building is made of a mix of bricks and metal, with a concrete foundation under it, which also holds various smaller buildings. The pipe connects into a separate building, where trucks with large metal barrels drive out. Whatever’s there, it must be either fuel or something of equal value. Perfect. I fire off my gun, not really aiming at anything, only to get their attention. “OH SH- ENEMY AIRCRAFT AT BASE!!! I REPEAT, ENEMY AIRCRAFT AT THE BASE!!!” I fire off my gun with purpose now, causing a chimney pipe to collapse. “HE’S ATTACKING THE FACTORY!!!”
“This is Big Brother, describe the enemy aircraft,” a voice asks. Meanwhile, I fire missiles at a tower, causing the chimney to collapse, as well as a small explosion within the facility. I pull around, eyeing my work from above.
“Don’t bother, I know who it is... I want payback,” another voice chimes in.
“Ash... Fine. You’re patrolling near there anyway. Head to vector 140, east by south east. Your ETA at full speed is-“
“I’ll be faster.”
I swerve around, firing more and more missiles and gunfire into buildings and facilities. “Good job Grim. It looks like they’re converging on you. I’ll go on ahead, escape their radar and catch up after I leave the AO. Got it?”
“Wilco,” I reply, seeing that AA guns are, in fact, coming towards my location from the ground.
“I DON’T CARE WHO GETS HERE, JUST GET HERE IMMEDIATELY DAMMIT!!!” The enemy says.
“... Rodger. Ash and her squadron is coming to your position. We’ll send another squadron that’s patrolling by as well. They only sent that one, so it shouldn’t be a problem,” another says. I spiral into the sky, dodging incoming anti-air fire.
“ETA of leaving is ten minutes. Cause as much havoc as you can, and get out of there,” Scar says calmly. “I’d hate to replace you already.” To that, I give a small smirk.
“Rodger.” With that, I turn back to the ground, firing a spray of bullets into the gathering guns below. I lock onto a building and fire a missile, before switching targets and firing onto something random. Ten minutes. Ten minutes to fight, but I don’t know how long it’ll take to run. This should be fun. I pull back, leveling off, and speed towards the radar buildings. The factory’s trashed, and they certainly don’t need the radars anymore. I lock onto one, firing off a missile, making it explode in one hit. Along the ground, I can see several transport trucks. They must be evacuating.
“Dammit, they’re destroying our radars! Where the hell is our air support!?” An enemy asks. I flair the afterburners, speeding up and finding targets faster as I fire my machine and my missiles. I constantly roll or loop around to avoid the AA guns below, which have given up trying to catch up to me.
“O-Oh Lord!” An enemy says.
“Keep it together private!” Another says.
“That’s Grim-Spear! He’s an Ace from Equestria! We’re screwed without air support!”
“I said keep it together! It’s on its way!”
I swing low to the ground, firing at the guns shooting at me. This is too easy. I roll a bit to the right, pulling up and swinging around to search for more radars. The blips on radar are far and few between. There’s still a good few radars, I’ve destroyed at least ten or fifteen of them, so I head towards them.
“You’re doing good Grim, I’m almost halfway through. ETA is six minutes,” Scar says.
“Rad-Site-Bravo to Big Brother, where’re those damn fighter squadrons!?” An enemy yells.
“Right here,” a female voice responds. Suddenly, on my radar, a blip appears. I swing around to see a TAC come up with a target. I grimace as I recognize it. Ash. She’s flying in an Su-37 again, with the same emblem but with a slash across it. Must be a mark of shame. “This time, he’s not getting away.”
“Grim, be careful. I don’t think Ash is gonna let what happened last time slide,” Scar says.
“Time?” I ask.
“Five and a half,” he answers.
“That’s more than enough,” I say, speeding towards Ash.
“Remember- the main objective isn’t to fight her Grim, we need to-“
“Don’t worry, I remember,” I say.
“Ash, you cannot fail this time. If you do, your punishment will be more severe,” an enemy warns.
“Don’t worry, this is personal,” Ash remarks, speeding up towards me. We get faster and faster, racing towards each other. Both of us fire missiles, which speed towards each other but collide in the air. We both pull up, managing to avoid having the same fate, with our aircraft belly-to-belly. We pull off, and go separate ways to get some distance. I can tell she’s coming for my throat this time, I need to be careful. The question is, will she be too blood thirsty to notice the QAAMs I’m about to fire? I fire off both of my missiles once I face and lock on to her, and slow down. As predicted, she’s going to dodge the regular missiles, but I quickly switch to my special and fire off two QAAMs. Ash growls as she sees the other, faster missiles coming towards her, and rolls quickly while pulling up. Amazingly, the special missiles barely miss her, and she locks onto me.
“Aw hell,” I mutter. She fires off two missiles as I dive bomb and move out of their ways. Thankfully, they miss me and fly off towards the ground. I go towards the ground, leveling off before I actually touch it and speed up. Ash follows suit, getting behind me and chasing me. She fires her machine gun, but I swerve to the left with my rudders. I look back and manage to get a glimpse at the aircraft, and I think I can see its pilot as well. I can’t tells what she looks like, since her grey flight suit covers a fair bit of her. Her helmet covers her eyes and feathers, but I can barely see the black beak poking out. I pull up, slowing down. Ash didn’t notice the change of speed, and overshoots me, allowing me to get behind her. As we go up into the sky, Ash pulls up even more and levels off, with me following suit.
“Hey, Grim-Spear,” Ash says on an open channel. I notice she’s not trying to move away from my sight, despite having me locked on. I frown.
“Ash, you know that protocol-“ An enemy gets interrupted by another.
“Hold on, I know what she’s trying to pull. Let’s see if it works.”
“...” I hear a sigh.
“Let’s see what she wants,” Scar says. I debate with whether or not I should oblige before sighing. I flip to the open channel.
“... What?” I ask.
“How long do you have?” She asks.
“... Excuse me?”
“You’re not here by yourself, I don’t care how good of a pilot you are, Equestria wouldn’t send a lone pilot into a secret site by themselves. So, what are you planning?” She asks. “You’re a good pilot, so you must be covering for something.”
“Do not answer her Grim,” Scar warns.
“... How did it feel?” I ask.
“... What?” Ash asks.
“How did it feel when everyone started doubting you?” I ask. I hear a growl.
“You. Little. Bastard,” she says. Suddenly, her plane performs a post stall maneuver, managing to eat behind me quickly and locking on. I switch back to friendly comms.
“That got her attention,” I say, pulling off as she fires two missiles. I manage to fire off flares and make them lose track of me.
“Yep... ETA in four minutes,” Scar says. “Try to lose her somehow.”
“Come here you bastard!” Ash yells.
“Ash, pull off! You’re no longer-“
“Shut it!” She yells. “He thinks he can get away with ruining my streak- my pride!? To hell with you- I’m getting the revenge I deserve!” To this, she fires off more missiles, even switching to her specials and firing even more. I roll, pulling up, maneuvering and spinning to avoid them. I try to slow down for a post stall maneuver, but she fires her machine gun when I get in range. Unlike me, she’s much more accurate. I suffer some bullets hitting my plane, but none were too damaging. I growl to myself as I see that she’s still firing missiles at me. It seems I can’t out maneuver her... I have a plan now. I smirk and pull off, racing up into the sky. I flip to an open channel.
“Ash, this time, I’ll make sure your wings are clipped for good,” I say.
“Like hell you will!” Ash yells, chasing me. She fires off her machine gun, but I’m too far away for it to be effective.
“What’s the ETA of the fighter squadron?” An enemy asks.
“It looks like two minutes sir,” an enemy responds.
“Ash, you are to pull out in-“
“I am not backing away from this! This is my fight!” Ash replies.
“That is not your decision to make,” her commander says. Ash fires another four missiles at me, but I spin and dodge them again, before pulling off and diving.
“Come on Ash, I’m going to ground you, where’s your fighting spirit?” I ask.
“Grim, what are you doing? You haven’t been shooting her,” Scar mentions. I flip to friendly comms.
“Trust me,” I simply say, flipping back to an open channel.
“I’ll show you a fighting spirit!” Ash yells. She keeps a continuous fire with her machine gun now, barely being able to reach me. As we speed towards the ground, I pull up and level off before pulling up into the sky again as Ash fires more missiles. This time, a missile catches my plane. My plane’s smoking now. Shit.
“ETA is Less than three minutes, you better do something about her,” Scar says.
“Congrats, I’m smoking. I’ll die of cancer now,” I mock.
“Shut up!” Ash yells, firing more missiles.
“Ash, your-“
“I don’t care!” Ash replies. She fires more missiles, I dodge them with spins and barrel rolls.
“You better care, because everything that’s about to happen is going to be your fault,” I warn.
“Shut up!” She yells again.
After she had fired many missiles, I finally had to start keeping my plane level. “I have you now, bastard,” Ash says. I feel my eyes widen in fear. I await for something to happen, for a flash or a burning sensation... but nothing happened. I finally notice her machine gunfire has stopped. “... What- why isn’t-“
“Ash, your missiles and gun ammo is dry,” her commanding officer notes. “But that’s fine, the fighter squadron’s here to clean up your mess.”
“ETA’s two minutes Grim. Think you can handle the squadron?” Scar asks. I smile wickedly.
“That’s what I’m planning on,” I say.
“No... No!” Ash cries in terror. “Tell them to pull off- he’s-“
“This is Delta Squadron, enemy’s on sight. Permission to engage?” An enemy asks.
“Granted. He’s weak and smoking, so he should be easy to take down,” the enemy officer says.
“No! Do not engage! I repeat-“
“You only have permission to be silent Ash.” Ash looks on with fear as I pull off and head towards the squadron. I flip to friendly comms.
“Now watch,” I say. I switch to my QAAMs, and wait for the enemy to appear. Sure enough, five enemy planes come up on radar. I lock onto one, fire a missile, lock onto another, and fire the other.
“Hey- what’s-“ the enemy is interrupted by an explosion, as two of their planes are hit head on with my special missiles.
“Break! Break!” The squadron leader yells. The three remaining planes break off, going in different directions. I pick a random plane, which I can now see are F-4E’s, and get behind it. I switch to regular missiles and fire two, catching the plane quickly and taking it out. I swing around to find another plane and chase it. “What the hell- what’s flying that thing!?” I switch to QAAMs, and lock onto the plane. I fire one, and it catches the plane’s engine and makes it explode.
“I can’t eject- I can’t-“ The enemy goes to static as his cockpit explodes.
“No...” Ash says quietly, only able to watch on as I pursue the last one.
“I’m falling back!” The last fighter said.
“Your orders are to take out the enemy-“
“To hell with orders! He took out my entire squadron!” He yells. I lock onto him with my missiles. “Oh no- he’s got a lock! Someone help!” Before I could fire the missiles, I hear Ash.
“Wait! Don’t shoot! He’s retreating!” She yells. I stop, and notice that the plane in front of me isn’t attempting to get behind me, only speeding up more and more as it tries to get away.
“... Alright,” I say on open comms. I switch back to friendly comms. “Hey Scar, think we can take prisoners of war while we’re in the air?”
“... I see, sure,” he says. “By the way, I’m just about to leave the area, I suggest you start bringing Ash with us if you want to keep her.”
“Don’t phrase it like that,” I mutter.
“Dammit! Return to the airspace and fire on that damn pilot!” The enemy officer yells. “Ash, when you return-“
“This is Grim-Spear of the Equestrian Air Force. Ash, pilot of the Griffon Stone Air Force, you are to head to vector 320 and stay on course until said otherwise.”
“And why should I do that?” She asks.
“Because I’m locked onto you,” I say. Ash finally realizes that I’m behind her. She wouldn’t have the chance to maneuver away, no matter how fast she was. She sighs.
“... Fine.”
“Tell your boss or AWACS that you aren’t to be followed. Your IFF is to be blocked from their view,” I say.
“... This is Control, of the Griffon Stone Army. Shoot her down,” an enemy says on an open channel.
“What!?” Ash yells.
“If you return, we will do more than merely ground you. You will be dishonorably discharged for this disgrace you have brought to Griffon Stone. So go ahead Grim-Spear. If you don’t, we will.” With that, radio goes silent.
“... Again, Ash, head towards vector 320 and stay on course until told otherwise,” I say.
“... Understood,” she says. Her aircraft turns slowly, until heading towards the decided vector. With that, we head out of the airspace, towards the main objective north of us, I plan on telling Ash to follow me once we’re out of their radar. This is gonna be a tough day ahead of us.
“I’ll wait for you two to catch up,” Scar says on friendly comms.
“Got it,” I reply, flipping to friendly comms.
“... What’s going to happen to me?” Ash asks quietly. I flip back to an open channel.
“You’ll be held prisoner in accordance to international law. But first, we need to do something. We’ll sort out the details later,” I say. With that, we fly silently, as the fields below me smoke from the damage I had done. Today’s gonna be a long day...