Ace Combat: Hooves of Solaceby VDNKhChaptersPrologueChapter 1: Across the DivideChapter 2: Preemptive StrikeOutlinePrologueDear Princess Celestia: We realize that Equestria provides unique economic opportunities found no where else in the world. However, with the large number of griffons immigrating to your kingdom, we respectively request that you deport all griffons back to our homeland of Gryphus. Our population shortage is beginning to take a toll on our economy. In my professional opinion, I believe that Gryphus may soon become unreliable trading partners if this persist; which could in turn, disrupt your kingdom’s financial well being. Sincerely, Administrator Tolstaya Stratocratic Republic of Gryphus Dear Administrator Tolstaya: I hear your voice of concern and promise you that in the event that your economy becomes compromised, I Princess Celestia will personally see to it that a global relief effort will be provided. I cannot however, return your former citizens to the police state they have fled from. They are citizens of Equestria now, and they are here to stay. Sincerely, Princess Celestia Kingdom of Equestria Dear Princess Celestia: We are disappointed, if not outraged, that you have not only refused our request of the return our citizens, but have insulted the structure and competency of our government as well. We do not need a global relief effort and find it offensive that you could consider the notion. To prevent any further leakage of our citizens, we have closed our borders and shut down all exportation. Your merchants are no longer welcome in Gryphus. We can no longer let your kingdom leach off of our economy. Sincerely, Administrator Tolstaya Stratocratic Republic of Gryphus Dear Administrator Tolstaya: I respectively demand that you reopen Gryphus’s borders for open trade. You provide the world with large amounts of combustible fuels and rare earth metals. You cannot simply close your borders and expect to repair your economy without global trade. This is a very foolish decision for the well being of Gryphus. Sincerely, Princess Celestia Kingdom of Equestria Dear Princess Celestia: We will keep our borders closed, and we will not export any goods to the rest of the world. When and only when we receive our citizens from your kingdom, our borders will remain closed to the world. We will inform all other nations on earth of our requirements to reopen our borders. I expect a fast deportation of all griffons if you wish to maintain a good diplomatic standing with the rest of the world. Sincerely, Administrator Tolstaya Stratocratic Republic of Gryphus Dear Princess Celestia: After much thought and consideration, I have concluded that to ensure the global stability and ethical treatment of Equestrian griffons, we will build up our military as a bluff. We will threaten Gryphus with invasion if they do not resume open trade and exportation of their goods. I cannot stress enough that this is only a bluff and that there will be no invasion what so ever. So I ask of you, the approval to accomplish the following goals: Start an aggressive recruitment campaign, focusing on not recruitment, but international visibility to warn Gryphus of our military build up. Enlist the industrial private sector to manufacture military hardware, to further help Gryphus foresee our military build up. And finally focus on quantity rather then quality of air-force personal and equipment to make Equestria look more intimidating. I estimate that it will take 3 years to organize the build up of a sizable military before we state our demands to Gryphus. Sincerely, REAF Director, Crimson Springs Kingdom of Equestria Dear Administrators of Gryphus: With the recent developments of Equestria’s military build up, I propose a counter offencive plan. An invasion of Equestria. I require that Gryphus must direct all nonessential spending and labor to a Total War policy. Military analyst predict an invasion in less then 3 years. We must invade Equestria before they invade Gryphus. Sincerely, Administrator Tolstaya Stratocratic Republic of Gryphus Ace Combat: Hooves of Solace - Prologue - - 3 years later - Scootaloo took a deep breath. “This is my moment.” She thought. “Everything I been training for, has all come down to this moment.” Her pupils dilated as the curtains opened and the trumpets wailed. “Graduation,” she said out loud, giving tentative glances to the astute pegasi next to her. Confetti poured from the ceiling as the pegasi cheered for Equestria’s newest members of the REAF. Scootaloo did not want to stay here. She was thinking of her friends back in Ponyville and the party they had undoubtedly planned. Her daydream was broken when she heard her name from the announcer. “Lets get this over with.” She mumbled to her self. “Surprise!”, Pinkie yelled as Scootaloo returned to her home. Over a dozen ponies stared at the unsurprised mare. Scootaloo gave back a slapstick impression, “Wow Pinkie, I’m really surprised.” “Well duh! Do you know haw many letters I had to intercept to make sure no one told you about this?” Pinkie Pie stated with a serious tone. Squinting closer and closer at the increasingly worried mare. Scootaloo stalled, “Umm...” “Zero!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed with a huge smile. A confused look over took Scootaloo’s face. “Alright fine, that surprised me.” Pinkie gave a satisfied nod and wondered off to tend to the party. Scootaloo looked around to find somepony to mingle with. Standing out of the crowd of ponies was a cyan mare with colorful hair. “Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo yelped with excitement. Equestria’s best flyer heard her name and gave Scootaloo a confident glance. “Hey Scoots. Congrats on getting out of Cloudsdale.” “Thanks Rainbow,” Scootaloo said while entering the circle of conversation. Sweetie Belle continued the complementing of Scootaloo. “Yeah, isn’t it the hardest military academy to get into these days?” “Not when you know me.” Rainbow Dash said with an over-confident tone. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both rolled their eyes and sighed. “So why did you join the air-force Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked in an aggressive voice. Before Scootaloo could form a cohesive sentence, Sweetie Belle continued, “Because I think this is just another way to get those greedy military contractors more money in their deep pockets.” When Scootaloo tried to retort her statement Sweetie Belle continued, “I think your just falling for the propaganda that the REAF is dishing out.” “Hey!” Scootaloo yelled. “That was uncalled for.” She gave a glance at Rainbow Dash before continuing. “I joined because- I want to think- I want to know that I’m helping defend the Equestria.” Scootaloo stuttered out. It was the most textbook answer she could think of. “I- sorry.” Said Sweetie Belle resentfully. “I just hope you never have to defend us. Its not like Gryphus could pull of a sizable invasion. Their economy is in a deep recession.” “It’s not like I’ll be killing anypony Sweetie Belle, I’m just a reconnaissance mare.” Scootaloo informatively put. Sweetie Belle looked down nervously, “Just- be careful alright?” “I will, not much action for my role anyhow. Except when they invade we’ll be the first shot down.” “What!?” Sweetie Belle squeaked. Scootaloo took mild amusement for teasing her friend, “Relaxing I’m joking. The special flight suits they made help us fly really high up. So high that griffons can’t even see us. It take a really strong pair of wings to keep you flying that high because the air-pressure is so low, and you couldn’t even breath without the suit. Actually there was this one stallion that tried to fly without his suit, he was so-” “Okay I get it Scoots,” Sweetie Belle groaned. “But that’s not the best part!” Scootaloo whined. Sweetie Belle glared, “I think I could go without hearing the conclusion to that story.” She turned and trotted to another circle of ponies. “Nice talking to you Scootaloo.” She said sincerely. “Yeah. See-ya.” Scootaloo said. Satisfied from teasing her friend. Scootaloo looked awkwardly at the floor and asked it, “Why did I join?” She gave a glance at Rainbow Dash and proceeded with talking to her friends. Scootaloo knew why she joined the REAF, she just couldn’t admit it to her self. A couple weeks later, Scootaloo had been assigned to the 128th Aerial Reconnaissance Squadron “Sirin”. Regent, Her wingmare, and Sky Light, who was the AWACS (Airborn Warning and Control Systems) operator. Her and Sirin squadron were shipped to the Marigold, an Equestrian airship. The airship was specialized as a mobile command center. And to Scootaloo’s surprise, the same airship the Wonderbolts are stationed on, the kingdoms Ace fighter squadron. She was given a terse introduction to her squadron and was briefed for her first sortie. A simple reconnaissance mission over the Equestrian border shared with Gryphus. - 2100 Hours - She stepped into the hanger to suit up and was over taken by awe with the complexity of the room. Dozens of ponies, mostly unicorns, darting around like mice. Tending to the equipment and maintaining the hanger itself. Several uniformed maintenance ponies surround Scootaloo and guided her to the launch platform. For all intensive purposes it was just a metal panel sloped at 25 degrees that would be pushed on a rail. The pegasus in question would stand on the panel and be propelled off once the panel reach the end of the rail. This was done just to get the pegasus to a comfortable flying speed without him or her wasting energy to take off. Scootaloo stepped onto the launch pad and was suited up by 3 unicorns. One assembled a helmet and levitated it onto Scootaloo’s head. The other 2 strapped on her flight-suit and fastened the final buckles with a satisfying click. The first one then connected the helmets muzzle to a thickly insulated tube, and then the other end to an oxygen tank mounted on Scootaloo’s back. This was all starting to become very heavy. Scootaloo felt like she was about to lose her grip on the slopped panel. But when she checked her hooves were not moving. The all important radar equipment and aerial cameras were fastened to Scootaloo’s belly. Several more buckles were clicked into place and Scootaloo’s helmet came to life. Her heads up display made it easy for her to keep track of her heading, speed, and altitude. “Speed: 0, Altitude: 3,159ft, heading...” She turned her head left and right to watch the compass move. “hmm-hmm, 134⁰” The 3 unicorns suiting her up gave nods at each other and backed away. “Huh, record time.” One of them said unimpressed. Regent, her wingmare, was prepared as well. All the unicorns fled the hanger. The deep buzzing of a klaxon alarm vibrated Scootaloo’s helmet. Steam gently climbed from the rail in front of her. The bulky hanger doors began to open. As soon as the night sky became visible, the thin tower of steam was sucked away from Scootaloo. She felt her hair reach for the main door of the hanger in front of her. Scootaloo felt she lost her grip on the panel again. She lowered her self readying for her launch. The radio in her helmet began to countdown. “5” “...4” “...3” “...2” “...1...” “Launch!” Soon Scootaloo’s hair was racing in the other direction. She could hear a loud whistle of steam from the rail below her. But it was soon replaced by the roaring wind as she left the hanger. Her wings instinctively flung open to catch as much air as possible as she felt her self quickly losing speed. Her mind finally caught up to her after she experienced her first real launch. She looked behind her and found the strobe lights of the Marigold already a long distance away. “Change your heading to 1-3. Maintain current speed and ascend to 20,000.” Scootaloo told her wingmare. Scootaloo turned to her new heading followed by Regent and began their climb. - 0200 Hours - Regent tells his story to the Scootaloo and Sky Light. “So then I’m standing in line right? The Royal Guard pulls me aside to “confiscate” my saddle bags. When I asked for ID they exchanged worried looks and persisted that they’re legit guards. One of jumped me from behind, but I bucked right in the jaw and broke it. Then the real Royal Guards showed up and the other 2 fakes one flew away and left their broken jawed friend behind. Heh, freaking pansies.” “Hey you two, get your heads out of the clouds.” Sky Light said with urgency. “Think I’m picking up some bogeies on radar here. Fly over to these coordinates and check.” Scootaloo’s helmet beeped and the indicators on heading shifted. “Oh boy... I’m picking up at least a 3 dozen fighters. IFF comes back negative.” Sky Light said. Scootaloo asked worriedly, “Griffons?” “Celestia I hope not. If the griffons invade they won’t know what hit ‘em.” Regent humorously said. Bitterly, Sky Light said, “This is serious Regent, it could mean war.” “What...” Regent said, “Just stating the obvious.” Scootaloo pulled out the looking glass for her belly mounted camera. She could barely see the long winged creatures flying through the mountain pass far below her. She stared though the looking glass in disbelief for a few seconds before she yelled, “I’ve got a visual! It’s griffons, Sky Light, we got griffons!” Chapter 1: Across the DivideAce Combat: Hooves of Solace - Chapter 1: Across the Divide - -Beating Fear - “Regent, can you confirm?”, Sky Light said. “Oh Luna...” Regent collect himself. “Yeah I can. There’s at least 2 squadrons.” “So, you still think they won’t know what hit ‘em?” Scootaloo asked demeaningly. - Flagship Battle Cruiser “Marigold” - - 0217 Hours - An officially dressed earth pony trotted toward the doorway of the war room. “Commander.” A slightly slouched pegasi said. He quickly stiffened his posture. With a metallic click, the dull grey metal door opened, and a rush of radio chatter and confusion flowed from the war room. The center screen showed a light blue line dividing up the landmasses. Gryphus labeled to the north and Equestria labeled to the south. Several red arrows in formation were slowly moving south, across the light blue line. “Commander,” A Cyan pegasus began, “Let me bring you up to speed. About 20 minutes ago, our recon picked up several bogeys moving across the northern border. They later confirmed that they were griffons.” The commander’s face grew slightly pale. “Is this event isolated?” He asked calmly. “So far,” Rainbow continued, “but my team is prepped and ready for an intercept.” “Hold on,” the commander shifted Rainbow’s attention to the screen. “Look.” - 0218 Hours - Sky Light intervened, “Hold your horses guys, it looks like the griffons are... turning around?” Scootaloo doubled back to her looking glass to find the winged creatures making a quick banking turn. Their formation was impeccable. Regent couldn’t control his laughter, “This is too good, pegasi - 1 and griffons - zero, Haha!” He exclaimed while corkscrewing though the air. “Why would they go through all the trouble of mobilizing just to back out at the last second?” Sky Light said. There was a moment of silence before Regent blurted out, “Because they suck!” “Wow Regent, how astute.” Sky Light added in an overly sarcastic tone. “Aw come on... I know you guys love me!” said Regent. “You’re one big Motormouth, Regent. You know that?” Scootaloo intervened. “What was your nickname back in the academe... Chopper right?” Sky Light said. A moment of silence came between them. “Motormouth Chopper.” the 2 mares said in synchronization. “You guys are jerks! You know that?” Regent cried. “Whatever, Motormouth. Alright guys, change your headings to 1-5-0; we’re done here. The griffons are fleeing the airspace and the commanders back on the Marigold are eager to hear our after-action report.” Scootaloo ordered her wingmates. “You mind doing the honors... Motormouth? I’m a bit shy around the commanders,” Sky Light chuckled. “Oh no, please, age before beauty.” Regent said drawn out, making sure he had the last word. - 1134 Hours - Scootaloo stared at the blank forms in front of her, neatly mirroring her expression. “The one thing they don’t tell you about being a pilot is all the paper work.” She thought to her self. She hoped the pencil would magically begin to move it self and fill out the after action report for her. Regent was having similar issues, Scootaloo could see it in his eye. But Sky Light had already filled hers out and went off to lunch. Regent broke the unnoticed silence by asking, “Hey Scoot, were it says, “describe bandit(s) actions.” Do I put: “Fail” or “Retreated like a bunch of losers.” ?” - 1207 Hours - Scootaloo, much later, followed Sky Light to lunch. Having not been properly acquainted, Scootaloo took it upon herself to get to know Sky Light. “Anyone who could tease Regent so well couldn’t be that bad” she thought. Sky Light had a dark grey coat and washed out pink mane. Scootaloo asked about her cutie mark, a spotlight. “Well, I got it when I first did the spotlights for a school play. I got really good at levitating the lights to just the right angle without even seeing the play in front of me.” “So... you joined the air-force?” Scootaloo asked with a puzzled tone. “As cool as stage lighting was the first time,” Sky Light told, “It got boring at around high-school.” Scootaloo retorted,”But you’re stuck in a chariot during every sortie. That can’t be too exciting.” Sense Sky Light was an AWACS operator, she was a unicorn trained in levitation and detection magic. Anypony that would fly near an AWACS chariot would notice it would be easier to maneuver, and that their missiles had a tendency to hit the bull’s eye move often. The REAF coined term, Magic Support Measures (MSM). The levitation magic helped by slightly pushing the said pegasi or payload to its target. They help with detection as well as combat. While their radius for combat assistance is very small, they can detect bogeys miles away. In large, hectic battles, they provide invaluable situational awareness for the pegasi. Sky Light looked past Scootaloo and made eye contact with Regent. “Mares.” Regent said mocking an elegant tone. “Motormouth.” Sky Light replied. Scootaloo sat and listened as the 2 ponies descended into such immaturity that it could drive the most conditioned flyer mad. - 1215 Hours - “All I’m saying is that the griffons must have had a reason to back out, they're not stupid you know.” Sky Light argued. “You mean beside the fact that they just got cold talons and wussed out?” Regent said affirmatively. “Lets face it, they will never go to war with us.” “What if,” Scootaloo stopped to quickly second guess herself, “What if they were just gauging response time for the pegasi?” Sky Light put her hoof on her muzzle, “You might be on to something here. It would be vital information to a full scale preemptive-” Sky Light comprehended the severity of the notion. “I think we need to talk to Commander Rivers.” Dear REAF Commander, Crimson Springs: It has been brought to my attention, by our reconnaissance team, information of the hollow invasion attempt. It may have been an act to determine the air-force’s response time to an invasion. I recommend that we upgrade our alert to REDCON 2. An attack may be imminent. Sincerely, Commander Autumn Rivers of the Marigold. - 2247 Hours - Inside the briefing room, the whooshing of a ceiling fan and its motor could be heard through the silence. Several moths picked at its light. Large, taloned creatures, sat in rows; waiting for their briefing. They all sat motionless, a blink was a rare occurrence. The door swung open and several carts loaded with black blocky armor were moved to the center of the room. Each griffon was distributed a set of the armor. Firestorm spoke up. “What- What kind of armor is this?” he said clumsily. “Magic Absorbent Armor or (MA-Armor), to avoid detection for our preemptive strike.” Replied the Colonel. “We estimated that it took the pegasi 17 minutes to mobilize. With that information, we have developed our order of battle for the actual invasion of Equestria.” Contrasted looks were be seen through out the griffons’ eyes. Some filled with content, others filled with uneasiness. “Your squadron’s mission is really quiet simple,” the Colonel began. “All of you, the Apex squadron, will fly in at low altitude wearing the MA-Armor, and destroy radar facilities along the border. Then you all will cover our Self Propelled Chariots as they move in to fortify our position below the border. Separate attacks will be lead on the patrolling war ships along the border. Once we have a talon in Equestria, we’ll build up more forces and push south. The attack commences tomorrow at 0500 hours” A griffon named Sova spoke out, “This armor is really heavy, are you sure we can fly with it?” The colonel replied, “You’re the Apex Team, Gryphus’s top squadron, this armor shouldn’t be an issue for any of you.” The colonel left the room followed by most of the griffons, acquainting them selves with the new armor. Sova noticed a worried look on Firestorm. When Firestorm noticed he was being watch by Sova, he quickly got on task and tried to put on the MA-Armor. Sova asked Firestorm without a single trace of sympathy, “Is there something wrong, commander?” Firestorm paused and got a brain storm, “No, not any more.” He said with confidence. - 0306 Hours - “Ugh,” began Soarin’, “I can’t believe we got the night shift. We’re practically royalty being the Wonderbolts and all.” He said, putting on his flight suit. Their blue and yellow outfits were replaced with suits a little more bland, solid grey. “Pipe down Soarin’, Sirin team always gets the night shifts.” said Spitfire. “And well they should, keep us from wasting time with trivial scouting missions-” “Soarin’!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she walked into the hanger. Soarin’s mane stood on its end. He knew what was about to happen. “You will not put your self above anypony just because you’re in the Wonderbolts, is that clear?” Rainbow Dash ordered. All the attention in the room was directed toward the 2 Wonderbolts. All the maintenance ponies driven solely by caffeine all of a sudden had a huge jolt of energy. The night shift was never this exciting. Soarin’ sighed resentfully, “Yes Ma’am.” “Now are you ready to do some scouting, or is that not important enough for you?” said Rainbow. “Yes Ma’am, I’m ready.” Soarin’ replied with a little more dignity. “Good, Spitfire?” asked Rainbow. “I’m ready too.” replied Spitfire. Rainbow signaled the hanger crew to prepare for her squadron’s launch. The hanger sprung to life as the unicorns prepped for the Wonderbolt’s take off. - 0518 Hours - Three pegasi roared through the skyline. Luna’s bright moon cast contrasted highlights and shadows against the cloud cover. From Spitfire’s perspective, It looked like a white wrinkled blanket that stretched limitlessly. But from Rainbow and Soarin’s point of view, It was just another starless night. “Hey Rainbow, mind if I drop my altitude a bit?” Spitfire began, “I can’t see you guys up here.” Rainbow replied, “Stick to protocol Spitfire, we don’t want the girffons to take us by surprise up their.” “Uh- Right... Sorry.” Spitfire mumbled. “Don’t you ever loosen up Rainbow?” Soarin’ asked. “If she wants to jeopardize our mission then by all means.” Rainbow Dash said passive aggressively. Soarin’ gave Rainbow a resentful stare before pulling up and away from her. He dove through the cloud layer and joined formation with Spitfire. Rainbow sighed, shrugging off the abandonment by her squadmate to continue her mission. “There’s no getting around a penalty for this.” She growled. - Flagship Battle Cruiser “Marigold” - - 0518 Hours - The Marigold floated gently above the cloud layer. Its strobe lights blinking illuminating the clouds below. Off in the distance, several trails of disturbance in the clouds could be seen. The war balloon's AWACS operator reported, “I’ve got an unknown on radar, what could this be?” The blips on his radar multiplied and increased. More disturbances became apparent. The operator became more confused and worried. “What is happening here?!” he blurted out. Before he knew it the Marigold was hit with an explosion. The shock sent the operator out of his seat. The air raid alarm sounded. Colonel Rivers voice roared over the comms channel. “Fire teams suppress the damage! Wonderbolt’s scramble! Where is Rainbow Dash? I need her here!” “This is Kottos, what’s going on?” “The Gyges is under attack, requesting air-support!” The comms channel quickly became over run with support request and confusion. No pony could communicate with one another. The war balloon’s guns flared. Black puffs of smoke quickly filled the skies near the Marigold. A single statement could be herd from all the confusion through the radio. “REDCON 1 had been declared, I repeat REDCON 1 has been declared. All warships prepare to engage in combat.” Notes I made an Ace Combat style map specifically for this story, I'll update it every time I make a chapter with new locations. Warning, 4800x2400 size image (really big) Map Chapter 2: Preemptive StrikeAce Combat: Hooves of Solace - Chapter 2: Preemptive Strike- -Trembling Masses - - 0521 Hours - “Scramble the fighters!” Scootaloo galloped as hard as she could through the veins of the Marigold. Her squadmates right behind her. Fire and smoke had completely filled the halls of the airship. The anti-air measures from outside made ships rumble at an inconsistent beat. Unicorn repair ponies were rushing in and out of the inferno onboard. Scootaloo reached the entrance to the hanger. The heat warped the door shut. “It won’t -hmp- budge!” Scootaloo said while pushing herself against the door. Sky Light yelled, “Get out of the way!” she cracked her neck and readied a spell. Scootaloo stepped back. The door let out a ear piercing screech and was blown out the doorway, clean off the hinges. The force of the push wedged the broken door into the wall behind it. Completely phased by the situation at hand, they all rushed into the hanger without giving notice to Sky Light’s magical abilities. The unicorns present levitated Scootaloo and Regent to the launch pad and quickly prepped them for take off. Much faster then they normally work. In seconds they were all suited up and ready. An explosion outside the ship rumbled the hanger. “Get the hanger doors open, move it!” a unicorn blurted out. “Air-raid warning, enemy bombers inbound. Scramble and engage.” Amidst all the sounds of anti-air cannons and explosions on the ship, a metallic grinding sound came from directly under the main hanger door. “Oh for- the bucking door won’t open!” Regent yelled. The grinding started and stopped at even intervals as the unicorn in the control room resorted to jabbing her hoof at the control panel. “C’mon. C’mon. C’mon!” Regent said impatiently. “Screw it, Scootaloo fire a missile at the door. If we don’t open it now then we’re finished!” Sky Light yelled. Scootaloo stared at the door for an instant. “This is happening... really happening” She thought. “Just do it!” Yelled Regent. Scootaloo armed her missile. “Everypony brace!” A she yelled. A deafening bang shook the whole hanger. The air rushed out, cleaning the inside of all the smoke. The hanger door was gone. Scootaloo caught a glimpse of griffons flying past the opening, being chased by anti-air measures. “5” “...4”“Don’t get over eager,” Sky Light said. “...3” “...2”“Just do what you always do.” “...1...” “Launch!” The Wonderbolts on reconnaissances sped atop the layer of clouds, following their heading to the Marigold. They had just received the S.O.S. message from the Flagship. Along with tens of other request from numerous war ships. However the messages will go ignored by the Wonderbolts as the Marigold was one of Equestria’s most valuable war assets. “All right everypony listen up,” Rainbow Dash began. “The Marigold’s situation is grim, the pegasi are out numbered 7:1. As soon as we get there we won’t stop for ordinances. We’re going straight to hoof-to-talon combat.” Soarin’ got excited, “Haha, all right! Finally a challenge.” He said firmly. A giant grey semi-sphere peered over the clouds. Smoke and puffs from anti-air measures filled the area around it “Marigold in sight, 60 seconds to way-point.” Said Spitfire. “I’ve got 3 unknowns coming in fast, they may be bombers.” “30 seconds and closing.” Spitfire said. The Wonderbolts were just within earshot of the dogfight. All they could hear was the constant barrage of AA measures. “Wait... That lightening emblem... Those guys are on our side! It’s the Wonderbolts! The Wonderbolts are here! We’re going to be alright!” The girffons were now in clear view of the 3 pegasi. “Spitfire engaging!” “Soarin’ engaging!” They each assumed their closest target. Pecking out one griffon after another. Commander Rivers took over the comms. “Thank Celestia you made it. The Marigold’s hull can’t take much more abuse like this. You must clear the airspace as quickly as possible. Sirin team have already launched and are engaged in combat. You are to coordinate with them to fend of the invaders.” Soarin’ was slightly annoyed, “Sirin team is doingour job now? Here I thought we stole theirs.” “Cool yourself Soarin’, I’ll take all the help I can get.” Rainbow Dash said. “Yeah!” Spitfire blurted out. “Sirin team this is Rainbow Dash, join our formation and we’ll give you cover.” “Well, if it isn’t his royal highness Soarin’.” Said Regent. Soarin’s annoyance soon turned to rage. “What did you say flight filly?” He growled. “Well I figured sense you guys were so nice as to fill in recon duty for us, we’d give dogfighting a try. You guys call this work? This is practically dancing!” Regent said mockingly. “Well do you want our cover or not?” Spitfire asked in a more positive tone. “Count me out” Regent said. “These griffons couldn’t dance their way out of a paper bag.” “Right... Scootaloo? Do you need cover?” Spitfire asked. “Follow my lead Regent, join formation with the Wonderbolts.” Scootaloo ordered. “Aww come on...” Regent whined. “There’s no way I’m anywhere near Soarin’.” “Chopper...” Scootaloo growled with displeasement. Regent turned and swooped in next to Scootaloo. “Ugh... right behind you.” He said defeated. They both banked right and arced them selves below the ship, where the heaviest fighting was taking place. As the lower hull paned into view. They saw the trio of Wonderbolts entering the skirmish as well. The 3 dispersed and bucked 3 griffons right in the back of the head. The 3 griffons froze and dropped like rocks. Scootaloo and Regent joined the formation and followed the Wonderbolt’s lead. Spitfire issued orders to Sirin team. “Scootaloo, listen closely, Soarin’ and Rainbow will fly ahead of you and chase down the griffons, when those 2 have a griffon cornered, you or Regent fire a missile at them when you can get a clear shot. I’ll watch your six o’clock. Lets do this one griffon at a time.” “Roger.” Scootaloo said. Rainbow Dash and Soarin’ gave no complaints to Spitfire’s orders. They both rushed out ahead and tailed a griffon. They both came in at the griffon’s left and right. “Scootaloo, Fox 2!” Her missile blared from under her. It quickly flew out of sight, leaving a thin vapor trial behind, slowly drifting in the wind. The tiny vapor trail far out in front of Scootaloo met with the griffon. A large puff of smoke and a black vapor trail spiraling downwards is all Scootaloo could see. A moment later she heard a soft bang. Scootaloo’s fixation on her kill was broken when a griffon roared past her. Narrowly missing the griffon’s sharp talons. Spitfire was right behind it, she dove under the griffon and bucked its beak, shattering it. The griffon’s wings tensed up and it quickly fell through the cloud layer. “Are you alright?” Spitfire asked. “I’m fine, just shaken up is all.” Scootaloo replied. “I can’t believe I let the griffon past me, how’d I miss him?” Spitfire said. “Regent, Fox 3!” Four missiles launched from Regents suit. Each of them arced around and chased down 4 different griffons. A rapid secession of explosions followed. “The enemy threat level has been reduced, we should be able to hold out against them.” “Everyone disperse!” Rainbow yelled. “Spread out your attack.” “There’s too many of them Scootaloo, use your SP weapons.” Regent said. “Hey you’re not experienced enough to be giving orders yet Chopper.” Scootaloo said jokingly. She switched to her special weapons and targeted 4 griffons far out in front of her. “Scootaloo, Fox 3!” Four vapor trials swept through the sky in front of her. The four vapor trails met with their targets, only one of the vapor trails sped past its griffon. The griffon changed its course and flew right toward Scootaloo. Her helmet blared missile alert warnings as the griffon launched a missile at her. Scootaloo turned as fast as possible to avoid the incoming attack. She arced out of the missiles flight path and chased down the griffon. Copying what Spitfire did, she swooped under the griffon and bucked its beak. The beak shattered like glass. The griffon gave out a gargled cry before tensing up and falling. Scootaloo was again fixated on her kill, watching it plummet though the cloud layer. “Not bad Scootaloo! You’re a natural fighter.” Regent said. “There, see that orange one? That’s you target, shoot it down!” Scootaloo rotated around and checked her surroundings. She spotted 3 griffons closing in from 3 different directions. She was cornered. She darted up, flying as fast as she could upward, straight toward one of the griffons. Before it could react, Scootaloo launched a missile at the griffon. It exploded sending the now dead griffon sideways. Scootaloo flew straight through the smoke cloud it left behind and targeted the next griffon, who was right on her tail. Scootaloo dove to the side as the griffon flew past her, then darted after it. She chased the griffon up higher and higher. The griffon was force to fly downward when it ran out of breath. Scootaloo took that chance to buck in the back of the head. She pushed herself even higher and met the griffon as he was arcing downward. Scootaloo threw her hind-legs at the back of the griffon’s head and heard a resounding crack. Scootaloo met no resistance as her hooves impacted the griffons neck. The griffon froze and began to fall. The last griffon dived to rescue his fallen friend. “The enemy threat level is even lower now, drive them out of Equestria!” The remaining griffons pulled back. From the dozens that attacked, on a hand full were left. “The griffons are fleeing the combat airspace. Great job everypony.” Sky Light said. “Where have you been the whole time Sky Light?” Scootaloo asked. “Oh nowhere, just directing the rest of the battle for you.” Sky Light said with great smugness. “Hey what about that griffon pecking at your tail, don’t I get any credit for taking care of that for you?” Spitfire asked. “Not even, I shattered the neck of some griffon closing in on you Spitfire.” Regent rebutted. “You two have a lot to learn from Scootaloo over here, she doesn’t take help from anypony!” Rainbow Dash said praising. “All pegasi time to head on home now, try and make it back for supper” Regent continued with a joke, “Great! I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.” “Be quiet... Chopper.” Spitfire said. “Oh no... Not you too.” Regent said displeased. All the pegasi flew around to the back of the air ship where the hanger was. Smoke still poured from the ship’s cracks and holes in the hull. The repair teams will have their work cut out for them. Sirin Team, the Wonderbolts, and several other support squadrons reached the tail of the Marigold. “What did you guys do to the door!?” Rainbow yelled - 0839 Hours - A convoy of armoured chariots rolled into Garuda Air-force Base, the griffon’s front line airfield. Two Apex Predators over watched the chariots from the control tower, leaning against the rails atop of the tower. All the chariots were marked with the label CS-107. “Conscripts.” Firestorm said darkly. “The invasion has only just begun, why now?” he wondered. “What ever it takes to win the war.” His wingmate said. “But we only just broke south, and our forces haven’t even broke sweat.” Replied Firestorm. His wingmate searched for an explanation, but could not find one. “Yeah well- Hey at least it’s not our asses on the line right?” he said with a nervous laugh. “No. Not for long,” Firestorm replied while walking away from the guard rails. Dear REAF Director, Crimson Springs: I gathered the flight data from the griffons just as you asked. They can easily out maneuver our anti-air guns. Their flight paths are included in the letter. As a result of the griffon's preemptive strike, we have lost 19 out of the 28 airships patrolling the border, our position here is completely compromised. I have ordered the remaining balloons to create a 50 mile gap between Gryphus and them. It seems as though we have greatly underestimated our enemy. Sincerely, Commander Autumn Rivers of the Marigold. Notes: Map Now believe me when I say I procrastinated the hell out of this chapter... Also check out my friends Ace Combat cross-over directly related to my story. Here OutlineBecause I have lost interest in finishing the story, I'll toss up the outline so everyone knows how it ends. It's probably full of spelling errors and such but no matter. This is only an outline and not intended to the actual written out story. Ace Combat: Hooves of Solace OC Characters with major roles: Sky Light: An inquisitive and often philosophical unicorn mare, that always open up a conversation with some deep life changing question. Though she does not converse well with more simple minded ponies that shy away from questions like that. Generally light hearted. She is the AWACS controller for the 128th Aerial Reconnaissance Squadron. (name needed)Regent: A quiet but bull head stallion pegasus with a god-complex. He dislikes conversation he doesn’t start, this leads to constant teasing by his 2 squad mates. Especially Sky Light. He has an immature sense of humor. Generally pessimistic. He is the secondary recon patrol in the 128th Aerial Reconnaissance Squadron.Firestorm: An empathetic and care-free griffon with very simple pleasures. He gives the impression that he has no weaknesses, but internally the war is taking a great toll on him. Through out the story he becomes more and more bitter. He is the leader of the Apex Predators. The most skilled flyer in Gryphus. I wrote the outline before I made a name for Scootaloo and her squad. So through out the outline they will be called the 128th. Prologue: Equestria and Gryphus (nation of griffons) experience bad relations with each other. Over 3 years they both prepare for war. Scootaloo joins the Equestrian air force and, after talking to Sweetie Bell and Rainbow Dash, becomes conflicted as to why she joins. Scootaloo is stationed on the same war balloon “Marigold” as the Wonderbolts, the Aces of Equestria. On her first sortie she encounters enemy griffons heading toward the Equestrian border on her radar. The 'bad relations' they have was edited at the last moment before the story was up. Chapter 1: Across the Divide- : The enemy units go back into Gryphus as soon as they cross the border, leaving everypony confused. Scootaloo talks to her squad mates the next morning (128th Aerial Reconnaissance Squadron), introducing them as characters. AWACS “Sky Light” and Recon Stallion “Regent”. They talk about why the griffons would retreat as soon as they crossed the border. They think that the griffons were gauging response time from the pegasi. That information gets passed onto the generals. The generals talk to Scootaloo personally about it later. Then the 3 top fliers of Equestria, Rainbow Dash, Soarin', and Spitfire get a hold of the information. They argue over the theory, Rainbow Dash saying the griffons just got cold talons. The generals agree with Scootaloo’s theory, and bring the information to Celestia. The 2 griffon aces (or as they call them selves “Apex Predators, in biology meaning nothing preys on that animal) are introduced, Sova “Apex 09”and Firestorm “Apex 01”, are revealed to be part of the fake invading force, and talk about why they were called back at the last second. The Equestrian border is separated by a mountain range, the griffon air base Sova and Firestorm are stationed is on the edge of the mountain range. They are called to a briefing and handed strange pieces of black, blocky armor, calling it “radar absorbent.” In briefing Sova and Firestorm are told the order of battle for the actual invasion that will take place the next morning. You may have noticed that this outline deviates from the written story.That's because written out it didn't work as well as I thought It would, so I moved things around. Chapter 2: Preemptive Strike - : Celestia warns the public that an invasion may in immanent, the air-force mobilizes. The 128th fly many sorties for recon, but gather no evidence of an upcoming invasion, the air-force stands down. Scootaloo and Sky Light talk about having a tactical advantage of moving ground forces quickly across the mountain range, and how Equestria has no efficient way of doing so, but consider that the griffons might. The griffons have an efficient way of moving troops with the recent invention of the “Self Propelled Chariot” or “SPC” (a flying APC basically) Sova and Firestorm take off at 2400 hours with the stealth armor; they are part of a first wave of attacks against Equestrian radar facilities. The attacks are carried out by Gryphus’s Apex Squadron. When the radar facilities are down, a second wave of troops, the SPCs, will fly across the border and begin attacking with the cover of the Apex Squadron. The third and final wave will be the bulk of the griffon air-force that will attack the war balloons. The 128th are scrambled when the air-force realizes that the radar facilities have stopped responding. Scootaloo picks up massive amounts of SPCs crossing the mountain range. In the mist of her shock that the griffons actually invading, the 128th is called back to help defended the war balloon from a massive incoming force. Back at the war balloon Regent and Scootaloo are issued state of the art flight suits, built for air to air combat. They are only given a brief tutorial of all its weapon systems. They are rushed into combat when the wave of griffon fighters arrives. The griffons out number the pegasi on the war balloon 7:1. Scootaloo shows impressive talent in air to air combat, coming close to the skills of the Wonderbolts. She helped win the battle to save the war balloon. However out of the 28 war balloons that were defending the border, 19 were lost. The preemptive strike gives the unicorn scientist valuable information on griffon mobility, and develop anti-air cannons to be used on war balloons. I was really just pulling numbers out of my ass from the loss ration of balloons. Just to get the point across that the balloons are flawed and the griffons are strong. Chapter 3: Invasion of Equestria - : After the preemptive strike, Celestia receives a formal declaration of war from Gryphus. The public prepares for the worst. After the Equestrian side of the mountain range was been captured, troops begin to pour in further fortifying the griffons placement. Scootaloo performs many mock dogfights with Rainbow Dash, creating a strong friendship between the two. Scootaloo’s internal conflict is temporarily put to rest. At 1400 hours. The 128th flies a sortie to attack a convoy supplying the fortified griffons. The attack is successful, but they are chased down by the griffon aces Sova and Firestorm and require the Wonderbolts assistance to drive them off. Sova and Firestorm are ordered retreat. Reluctantly, they do. Scootaloo is relegated back to recon after the mission, but she continues to have mock dogfights with Rainbow to prove her worth and become a full time aerial superiority fighter. Twilight sends a letter to Celestia asking that she be sent to Gryphus to act as a diplomat to end the war. But Celestia refuses. Luna however, helps Twilight get to Gryphus with her sister unaware. Luna shares Twilight’s concerns of Celestia that the war is taking a toll on her judgment. After weeks of small scale attacks and building up forces on the Equestrian side of the border, the griffons make a major push further south. After proving her worth in the mock dogfights with Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo is promoted to an aerial superiority fighter, but remaining in her original recon squadron Regent is also promoted to a multirole-fighter. As the griffons push south, Scootaloo is dumped onto the front-lines in the small town of Benehoof. At 800 hours, a formation of enemy griffons are on its way to seize the city. Like the majority of the pegasus air-force, the griffon air-force is largely compiled of new recruits. Easy pickings for Scootaloo, until 2 members of the Apex Squadron (Apex 06 and 17) show up, specifically targeting Scootaloo. She cannot rely on the Wonderbolts bailing her out this time; she must shoot them down by herself. She succeeds with a few close calls. The city on Benehoof is defended with minimal losses. Scootaloo receives a badge for her outstanding performance. However, the griffons succeed in making a large push south, pushing the front lines near Manehattan and Fillydelphia. The commanders on Scootaloo’s war balloon realize that they can’t hold Benehoof forever, and that it has little strategic value, so the town is evacuated and abandon. Sova finds Firestorm with a very heavy conscious. Sova asks him how his wife and kid were doing. He tells them that Benehoof was evacuated safely and that they were okay. Sova and Firestorm are relieved. I wanted this story to seem like it had legit strategy involved. And not just (apologize in advanced for the war stories writers) a bunch of pegasi thrown around for shock value and die over a small farming town. Chapter 4: Life Lines - : Sense Benehoof was a city close to the border of Gryphus; many of the town’s inhabitants are griffons. Gryphus wants its civilians back. So the griffons launch an attack on the Benehoof refugees’ convoy. The 128th is dispatched to intercept the griffons. The griffons reach the refugees first, unarmed, and demand that all Equestrian griffons report to them. The 128th arrives while the Griffons were picking through the refugees, and retreat. Scootaloo realizes they are very young and unarmed, but is still ordered to shoot them down. Scootaloo complies but not without making a fuss. However, not all the griffons are shot down, and 2 refugees are taken back to Gryphus. She is again scolded by Rainbow Dash but Sky Light and Regent back up Scootaloo. Twilight is in the capital city of Gryphus, Iusa. The city seems surreal and very foreign to Twilight. The city is sparsely populated, and all the buildings look dull and efficient. Military police find Twilight and, to her surprise, act casual and never press her for answers. She tells them she is a diplomat on behalf of Princess Luna, and that she wants to end the war. Twilight detects glee the police griffons’ body language as they lead her to city hall. The mayor of Iusa informs Twilight that she will have a hearing with the leaders of Gryphus in 5 weeks, the next time they all meet. Rainbow Dash vents to Spitfire about Scootaloo’s fuss over shooting down the unarmed griffons. Spitfire informs her that Gilda, an old time friend of Rainbow, was among the Equestrian Griffons evacuated. At the end of another mock dogfight, both Scootaloo and Rainbow apologize. Think Vitoze from AC:6. This is where they see Scootaloo's full potential as a fighter. Much like they learned Talisman's. Chapter 5: Manehattan Marauders - : at 100 hours, griffons seize the city of Manehattan by surprise wearing the stealth armor. The squadron has identified it self as the “Marauders”, a stealth multirole fighter squadron. It consists of about 12 experienced griffons. They come off as uncouth and rugged. The 128th is assigned to help over throw the Marauders from Manehattan. The 128th takes off at 700 hours. Scootaloo and Regent are to engage the Marauders while 71st multirole squadron will attack any forces in the city. The stealth armor made is difficult to track the Marauders, a well as lock on to them. Scootaloo did not want a rouge missile to go crashing into the most populated city in Equestria. She is very selective in firing her missiles and ends up using close-quarters combat to take down the most of the Marauders. Sky Light’s skills in magic play a big roll in destroying the Marauders. She is given a badge for outstanding logistics support. When the battle is almost won, a sudden evacuation is ordered for the 128th and 71st squadrons. They are confused as to why and do not comply imminently. But soon the reason is clear when Sky Light sees 11 Apex Squadron griffons are inbound to Manehattan. The battle is a military victory, but a strategic loss. Manehattan is now in griffon control. Stalliongrad is Equestria’s largest military production city. Manehattan and Fillydelphia are to the east and west of Stalliongrad. Taking both cities would have Stalliongrad flanked by griffon forces. Losing Stalliongrad could mean losing the war. Marigold is moved to defend Fillydelphia. Scootaloo talks to Sky Light about the Marauders stealth armor, and why pegasi don’t use it. She explains that the armor is too heavy and reveals in the story the major physical differences between pegasi and griffons. Twilight must settle into Iusa for the 5 week wait until her hearing with the griffon leaders. She finds out that Gryphus has a very strict information policy and thus has no libraries. The casual military police escort her around, and fill her in on griffon culture. Sova returns from her sortie at Manehattan to find Firestorm denouncing the harsh treatment of the ponies in their captured cities. His superiors ground him but he still makes an effort to change the opinions of his squadron. Not too much to say about this chapter. In an effort to keep the titles having matching letters, I came up with Manehattan Marauders and went from there. Chapter 6: Two Eternal Aces - : It is almost time for Twilight’s hearing with the leaders of Gryphus. She escorted by guards, and shocks her when they wish her the best of luck. She collects her self and begins to give her reasoning to end the war. Scootaloo and Sky Light talk about the implications of loosing Stalliongrad. A state of emergency is declared when a force is seen on its way to seize Fillydelphia. The 128th is scrambled to intercept inbound griffons to Fillydelphia. In a change of pace, the Wonderbolts are assigned the less difficult duty of picking off any units that make it though the 128th. The Wonderbolts complain about the assignment, and demand they help the 128th. Soon however the 128th is pushed back into the city, being over whelmed by the sheer number of griffons and SPCs. The units fortify them selves in the tunnels of the city that stretch under the river. Regent shows his true abilities as a multirole fighter by fending off the griffons, and flying into the tunnels, destroying the encamped units without collapsing the tunnels. He is given a badge for prowess in combat. The 128th squadron is now an all aces unit. Their skills surpassing that of the Wonderbolts. When Equestria is in a wartime emergency, all decisions are guided by Celestia. She makes the decision to evacuate Fillydelphia and move as many refugees as possible into Stalliongrad. She wants to increase its military output. All military units in Fillydelphia are moved to Stalliongrad. Fillydelphia is left defenseless with many ponies still in the city. The Wonderbolts are told to hold the city as long as they can. A formation of 7 Apex Predators moves in to wipe out the 7 Wonderbolts. The Apex formation is wiped out but 2 Wonderbolts are lost. Rainbow Dash’s closest friends Soarin’ and Spitfire are shot down and killed in combat. The Marigold is moved to engage griffon units out side the area of Stalliongrad. Scootaloo expresses her concerns about the ponies in Fillydelphia to her squadron. They question Celestia’s motives. Twilight gives her argument to end the war, and is given a polite “buck you” by Gryphus’s leaders. The police that are escorting Twilight seem very disappointed and let her know that they and many others support her. She begins to become attached to the griffons in Iusa. She begins a movement to overthrow the griffon despots. The plot thickens, though in the final story, to keep Celestia in character I made all the ulterior motives made by Crimson Springs. Chapter 7: Resistance - : A formation of griffons seize Fillydelphia and now has a shot at taking Stalliongrad, Equestria’s major military city. Losing Stalliongrad could mean losing the war. Stalliongrad is pumping out military hardware faster then it has ever produced, readying for the unavoidable attack. Moral is low as the news of deaths of Soarin’ and Spitfire spread. A military funeral is held for the two aces. It is clear to everyone on the Marigold that Equestria is losing the war. Its economy is crumbling and they lose more and more land to the griffons everyday. To help turn the upcoming battle on Stalliongrad in their favor, a small scale attack lead by the 128th is deployed to recapture a fortress held by the griffons, high up in a mountain. Following the 128th will be a team of Special Forces to recapture the fortress while the 128th deal with the sky. They all once again perform outstandingly. The base is recaptured and will act as a first line of defense for Stalliongrad. Seeing how successful war balloon were in combat, the unicorn scientist think that keeping the war balloon as just a mobile base and command center is a waste of its potential. Larger air to air and air to ground weapons are made for the war balloon. Also more armor was added to its hull, making the war balloon a flying fortress. Equestria begins to shape its military strategy around the war balloon. Using the weather pegasi, clouds were placed around the war balloons to give them an element of surprise. This strategy proved to be very effective when 3 war balloons were sent to recapture radar facilities around Stalliongrad. The griffons realized they are losing control of the area around Stalliongrad and quickly build up the largest force ever assembled to take the city. Faced with the clear threat of losing Stalliongrad, all available units are sent to defend the city. The ground forces arrive first and fortify the city. The war balloons are still a day out, but radar facilities see the massive griffon force moving toward the city. The ground units will have to hold out until the air-force arrives. Scootaloo helps comfort the grieving Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash becomes very attached to Scootaloo. Moral onboard the Marigold is lifted. Twilight, with the help of the police force in Iusa, begin thwarting the griffons war effort. Factories are sabotaged and workers are “forced” not to go to work. News of the events quickly spread to Equestria despite the heavy information control in Gryphus. Scootaloo learns about how willing the griffons are to end the war. After weeks of causing trouble and questioning authorities, Firestorm is informed that his family is being held prisoner. His wife and kid were the 2 griffons taken from the Benehoof convey. If he does not obey orders, his family will be killed. Around here the story get dodgy in terms of plotholieness. Chapter 8: Siege on Stalliongrad: Scootaloo talks to Sky Light one last time before they take off. She asks Sky Light about Luna defying her sister and sending Twilight to Gryphus. Sky Light elaborates on the subject and brings up the details of the griffon conscripted military and harsh despotism. Scootaloo’s conflict become stronger knowing she is killing griffons that were forced into combat. Scootaloo ask Sky Light why she joined the air-force. When she returned the question, Scootaloo could not give an answer. Firestorm is told the order of battle, when the main pegasi air-force arrives, he will be the only Apex Predator sent in to destroy them. Fully aware of the might of the air balloons, they expect him to die in combat. Then he will be out of their feathers for good. The massive griffon force arrives at Stalliongrad and its encamped units, waiting for reinforcements. Hours out, the encamped ground units hold out as long as they can, suffering heavy losses. En route to Stalliongrad, Scootaloo continues to ask Sky Light what separates them from griffons, when no clear answer is given, Scootaloo become emotional about the topic, claiming that they are no different from pegasi. Rainbow Dash comes into the conversation and scolds Scootaloo for showing sympathy for the enemy. Reinforcements arrive with modified war balloons. The griffons perform a maneuver called The Shattered Hoof. The maneuver is as follows: A griffon in lead pursuit forces a pegasus into a near stall. The griffon chasing circles up above the stalling pegasus gaining as much altitude as possible before the pegasus can turn around. The griffon then uses gravity to help it accelerate as fast as possible toward the pegasus. The griffon slams into a soft spot either on the back lower or above the ribs, and causes the hollow bones in the recoiling body of the pegasus the shatter, killing the pegasus instantly. This tactic is extremely effective because most pegasi in the air-force have little to no combat experience. It claims hundreds of pegasi’s lives. Losses on both sides are massive. When the battle begins to tip in the ponies favor, a lone griffon identified as Firestorm arrives. Firestorm maneuvers faster then anypony has ever seen and uses a Fuel Air Explosion Bomb (FAEB). It detonates creating a sphere of fire in midair, incinerating any pony in it radius. The bomb is unguided. The battle is quickly turned into the griffons’ favor. Equestrian forces are ordered to retreat and the war balloons are ordered by Celestia her self to bomb the city as they leave. To destroy as many military factories as possible. The order is met with an over whelming negative response. Rainbow Dash convinces them that the princess knows best and they begin to bomb their own city. The Wonderbolts never land a single hit on Firestorm but Scootaloo manages to get a lock on. Scootaloo hesitates. She fires one missile that the griffon is unable to dodge completely and is hit by the shrapnel. Limping and unable to perform tight maneuvers, the Firestorm is helpless. Scootaloo contemplates everything that she is being conflicted about, and decides to denounce her place in the pegasi air-force. The rest of her squadron backs her up. She makes everypony aware that she will not shoot Firestorm down, but escort him back to his base. Scootaloo gives her reasoning about the conscripted griffon military and their willingness to end the war. The war balloons second the notion and stop the bombing. The battle ends in a stalemate with both remaining forces retreating. Stalliongrad remains in Equestrian control. Many lives are saved. The 128th escorts Firestorm back to his base. And report back to the Marigold where they expect they will get hammered with penalties. At the time of outlining, I could not think of a way for Scootaloo to not shoot down Firestorm other then this.This would have definitely changed. On a side note, I really like the name of this chapter. Roles off the tongue very well. Siege of Silvat from AC:6 references if you were wondering. Chapter 9: Grounded - : Scootaloo comically thinks that Celestia will send her to the moon for protecting Firestorm. Scootaloo is met with approval from most of the pegasi onboard the Marigold, and even a silent approval form the commanders on board. But following protocol they still ground the 128th until further review. Rainbow Dash won’t even look at Scootaloo. The Scootaloo is confined to the interrogation room for 48 hours. However no pony could think of a charge when she indirectly save hundreds of lives by convincing the bombers to stop bombing Stalliongrad.With both the griffon’s and the pegasi’s armies crippled, the commanders of the Gryphus get desperate and launch a second assault on Stalliongrad. The griffons take of at 1900 hours inbound to Stalliongrad. The griffons are 3 highly trained, stealth outfitted, Tactical Fighter squadrons. The commanders predict that the 128th will be grounded after escorting Firestorm, so they are confident that they still have a shot at taking Stalliongrad. Scootaloo remains bored in the integration room, bored but content for her actions earlier. She begins to consider defecting but shuns the thought.The Apex squadron’s numbers have seriously dwindled sense the beginning of the war. Starting with 18, there are now only 9. And with the recent events of Firestorm’s failure in Stalliongrad, the commanders of Gryphus are looking to expand its Apex squadron. Twilight’s resistance group in Iusa get a hold of that information, and submit only applications of griffons that want to end the war. They hope they can convince the public to stand up against the autocrats of Gryphus and they think the best way to do that is through the Apex Predators. Twilight, knowing that Firestorm is very out-spoken about the war think he is an invaluable asset to her resistance group. Twilight is unaware of Firestorm’s family. After much discussion over what to do with Firestorm, his commanders put him under heavy surveillance, but keep him as an active fighter. Chapter 10: Defence for Ashes - : The stealth fighter squadrons attempting a second capture at Stalliongrad are nearly at their waypoint. Twilight is dropped off at the closest point to Firestorms base her Pinkie Pie Heavy Industry ultra-light can take her. She arrives near what was a middle-class residential district just outside Stalliongrad. During the Siege on Stalliongrad, Firestorm had destroyed a war balloon “Kottos” and the burning wreckage landed in the residential district. Twilight at first goes in fearless but becomes more and more frightened by her surroundings. The fog of ash made it very difficult for Twilight to see where she was going. It is 100 hours. Twilight observes burnt remains of house, and as she approaches the wreckage of the Kottos, anti-aircraft gun shells are writtled everywhere. A faint roar of incoming griffons is herd by Twilight. She does not recognize the sound, and prepares a defence spell. Twilight carefully approaches the Kottos. All that remains of Kottos is its charred aluminum skeleton. Snapping Twilight out of her attention to the Kottos, a much louder roar of a griffon’s wings can be herd. Suddenly several griffons fly overhead, opening fire on near by patrolling pegasi. In seconds a full blown battle is going on over head of Twilight. Scootaloo’s 48 hour containment has been completed, and now she is sleeping heavily in her bunk bed. She dreams of 3 missiles exploding behind her, matching the 3 loud bangs on the room’s door. She gets up immediately, in a very minor case of shell shock. She is told by her commander that patrolling pegasi have just engaged griffons in combat. Scootaloo is told her grounded status has been lifted and she will take part in Stalliongrad’s second defence. Briefing is skipped and the the 128th and several other squadrons take off from the Marigold. The situation is explained while the pegasi fly to where their patrol has engaged the griffons. When the griffons realize Scootaloo is is not grounded, they immediately retreat. They ask where Firestorm is, but back at base he is no where to be found. Twilight uses illusion spells to sneak into the griffon base. She pulls Firestorm to the side who immediately counters Twilight and pins her to the ground. When he asked what Twilight was doing there, she responds with her part in the Iusa resistance, and asked Firestorm to help them. After one of Twilight lectures, Firestorm goes with her back to Iusa. The griffon leaders find out about the Iusa resistance and are outraged. Griffons are taken out of the front-lines and into Iusa. Thus helping Equestria’s war effort. Chapter 11: Seaddle Resurgence - : The 128th returns from its sortie. The commanders of the Marigold evaluate the situation. Firestorm has disappeared and that leaves the occupied griffon areas much easier to retake. The war makes a sharp U-turn as Equestrian forces push the griffons back north. In the mean time, the 128th is relegated to much less important missions. Their first big sortie in weeks is the retaking of Seaddle, just south of Gryphus’s border. The resistance in Iusa has leaped to several other griffon cities. Riots and looting are become rampant. More and more griffon troops are being pulled out of Equestria to suppress the rioting. Firestorm has taken a large role in the resistance. Eventually enough cities have over thrown their federal government and secede to the resistance. Which now call them selves the New Republic of Gryphus. Their intent is to overthrow the Stratocratic Gryphus’s military leaders. The New Republic launches an attack on Seaddle around the same time Equestria came to retake it. The 128th and several other squadrons including the Wonderbolts take off at 800 hours to retake Seaddle. Early that morning at 500 hours the New Republic launched its attack on Seaddle. When Equestrian units arrive, they are unsure of who to attack. After much arguing, they are ordered to attack all griffon units. When the pegasi start to shoot down the New Republics fighters, a DJ who calls herself “DJ Scratch” interrupts the Equestrian military radio frequency. She tells the fighters to not attack the New Republics fighter’s. The pegasi are told to belay that request and to continue engaging all griffon fighters. All except for Scootaloo who pleads for the selective targeting. Most of the pegasi, even her own squadron think that the resistance is just a trick. Scootaloo uneasily agrees. The 2 griffon forces soon evacuate the airspace in 2 separate directions. Sky Light notes this and thinks Scootaloo may be right. Seaddle is now under Equestrian control. Twilight writes tens of letters to Celestia telling her that the New Republic wants peace, and is willing and able to help in the war against Gryphus. The princess never replies. Twilight cannot contact Luna either. Firestorm share his concern about his family to Twilight. They embark on a mission to rescue Firestorm’s family. Chapter 12: Family Feathers - : Twilight and Firestorm arrive in Bermingclaw, where Firestorm believes his family is being held. It’s the griffon equivalent to Stalliongrad. The city is still under Gryphus’s control. Twilight cloaks herself in a chariot. Firestorm enters the city pretending to be peasant from a nearby farm. They enter the city without conflict. The city was very different from Iusa. It was packed with griffons who have fled from near by cities for protection. They are afraid that the Equestria will cross the border soon and seek shelter in the city. Many griffons look sick and homeless. The despair of the city reminds Twilight and Firestorm what they are fighting for. Firestorm feels a little greedy rescuing for just his family. The 128th prepares for its sortie on Garuda Air-force base. The airbase where the Apex Squadron were stationed during the preemptive strike. Once the base is taken, Equestria will have access to many cities in Gryphus. Including Bermingclaw. After a long hiatus, the Apex Predators return in the battle for Garuda AFB. 13 new Apex predators take-off from Garuda AFB into the combat airspace. Scootaloo and and Regent pick off a few. The Marigold tries to steals the kill by a surprise attack. Like in the defence of Stalliongrad, it hid in the clouds until it was right over Garuda AFB. Then it proceeded to jump out of the clouds and catch the Apex squadron by surprise. However the griffons have learned how to effectively attack war balloons by exploiting blind spots in the flak cannons area of fire. The Marigold is dealt a heavy blow and recommends that the 128th retreat. However, they do not retreat because Scootaloo wants to regain the trust of Rainbow Dash. After a very long and drawn out dogfight, the 128th finally shoots down all the Apex Predators. Equestria now has a strong foot hold in Gryphus. For the first time in weeks Rainbow Dash talks to Scootaloo, complementing her on her skills. Scootaloo is glad that they are on speaking terms again. With Twilight’s help, Firestorm knows exactly what prison and what cell his family is being held in. His espionage training kicks in. The sound of the rain and the darkness of night time help him sneak into the prison. He reaches his family’s cell after a few difficulties. Only to find it empty with only blood stains on the walls. He walks in to investigate, and feels empty shells on his talons. Soon after the alarm sounds and bright flood light fill the prison. With the advantage of speed on his side, he quickly flies out of the prison and beyond city limits. Twilight only assumes the worst has happened. Chapter 13: Bombing of Bermingclaw - : The rain clouds over Bermingclaw is giving the Equestrian air-force an opportunity for a sneak attack. Celestia herself orders that every war balloon in the Equestrian fleet take part in the siege. Her plan is to completely level Bermingclaw, so all its weapons factories are destroyed. All of her commanders agree that her plan is complete over-kill. But the princess argues that destroying the city is vital to winning the war. In total over 100 airships are assembled and put enroute to Bermingclaw. Scootaloo does not raise concern about the morality of the sortie. She remains quiet as to not anger Rainbow Dash or her superiors anymore then she already has. The war balloons begin assemble over Bermingclaw. The griffon radar operators pass the massive amounts of blips on their radar as an anomaly. Thinking that there could not be that many war balloons. All the airships descend out of the overcasting clouds and commence bombing. The griffons quickly scramble their air-force, but realize they their is no way they could win, and call back all air-born griffons to assist in escorting civilians to the bomb shelters. It’s at this point Scootaloo decides “buck it” and tears off her equipment. Losing her IFF means that the flak cannons now start to fire at her. She lands on the ground and helps herd the confused and scared griffons into the shelters. The griffons recognize Scootaloo, by her infamous record of combat effectiveness, and are over-joyed that she is helping. The griffons that tried to fly out of the city were killed by either a pegasi, or flak fire. When the bombs approached the shelter Scootaloo is helping fill, She and the other griffons fit the last of the civilians inside the shelter, and close it up. The bombing only last 7 hours. The the whole city is destroyed. The air-ship pilots conscious catches up to them, as well as the pegasi’s. They soon notice that Scootaloo is missing. They assume she was KIA. In the shelter, she finds Twilight. Twilight explains her role in the New Republic, and about Firestorm missing. She also shares her concern that Celestia may have bombed the city because she was there. Scootaloo agrees to help Twilight and the New Republic end the war. On the Marigold, Rainbow Dash and the remaining 128th squadrons members mourn the death of Scootaloo. Her equipment, damaged heavily by the bombing, is found. She is marked MIA due to her missing body. Firestorm has long fled the city, but sees its destruction from a far. He was wounded in his escape from the city, and cannot fly very far. He walks his way to Talonbury. Chapter 14: Recuperation - : Firestorm tries to find a good place to sleep in the wilderness. As he is getting comfortable, a sonic rainboom disturbs him. After the fires stopped burning on the surface, the griffons emerged from the bomb shelters. With the help of Twilight’s organizing, they begin to count their dead and help the wounded. Scootaloo takes up to listening DJ Scratch’s radio broadcast. She learns that the Equestrian Air-force is holding a memorial for Scootaloo. Twilight informs Scootaloo that they need to leave the city. Scootaloo and a hand full of griffons escort and guide the convoy to Iusa. High altitude recon pegasi pick up their convoy’s movement, and marks the location for the Marigold to intercept. The war balloon move ahead of the convoy’s expected path and waits in the clouds. Onboard the Marigold, the remaining squad-mates of the 128th is assimilated into the Wonderbolts. How ever with Scootaloo gone, almost none of the pegasi talk to each other. Sky Light misses her conversations and Regent begins to miss the attention he got. At nightfall, Sky Light picks up a single unknown on radar. She alerts the Marigold. According to radar, it is traveling way faster then anypony or griffon could travel. Before the Wonderbolts could scramble, the bogey reaches the Marigold and hit it with a powerful bomb. The bogey disappeared and quickly as it came. a second wave of super-sonic unknowns enter the Marigold’s airspace. The Wonderbolts catch sight of the bogey and describes it as a “Super Sonic Chariot” (SSC). Rainbow Dash performs a sonic-rainboom to catch up to the SSC. She destroys it before it could reach the Marigold. Several more appear on radar. After a slight panic, Sky Light tells them to charge at the SSCs head on. Her plan is effective, the last of the SSC are shot down. Safire, a young griffon that looks barley old enough to fly, swoops in next to Scootaloo and introduces herself. When Scootaloo asked how Safire knew her, she reveals that she is Firestorm’s daughter. When Safire was asked where her mom was, she replied that she was in the convoy. Her mom’s wings were injured in prison she goes on to explain. She talks about how there was a huge fight among the guards over Gryphus and the New Republic. And that some guards were locked up, or in worse cases shot. When nightfall came, the whole convoy set up camp. Twilight, following her hunch that she was still being hunted, told every griffon to make sure their chariots and wagons were camouflaged. Safire, Scootaloo, and Twilight, heart warming converse next to a small camp fire. The first light hearted conversation Scootaloo can remember having in a long time. While Scootaloo was listening to DJ Scratch’s radio broadcast, a sonic-rainboom blast the convoy’s camp. A few moments later, the rainboom is heard through Scratch’s broadcast. She is silent for a second before a resounding wow can be heard from the camp and DJ Scratch. Chapter 15: Reunion - : Firestorm is unaware that he is being followed by high altitude recon pegasi. When he reaches Talonbury, a small force is assembled to seize the city. In the city, Firestorm replenishes his supplies and leaves. Regent and Sky Light can’t take abandoning their friend Scootaloo anymore, they both agree that what Equestria is doing is wrong and decide to travel to the New Republic’s hub in Talonbury, a small town near Iusa. In the middle of the night, they both sneak out, steal a chariot, and fly to Talonbury. Regent and Sky Light were unaware of the siege on Talonbury that morning. By the time they reached the town, it was under attack by a small scale force of pegasi. Having not taken any weapons for them selves, Sky Light tells Regent to fly directly into the center of the dogfight. Sky Light using her advanced levitation magic redirects all the missiles fired to the pegasi. All pegasi are soon eliminated from the airspace. The griffons celebrate the one of few victories they get, and escort Regent and Sky Light to the New Republic’s hub. They are enlisted and told to fly to Iusa. A search party from the Marigold is sent out to find Regent and Sky Light. Twilight’s convoy begins to move again at dawn. They reach Iusa at around mid-night, and the New Republic officials direct Twilight’s convoy to a refugee camp. Scootaloo is enlisted to help the New Republic, and is immediately sent out to attack a war balloon set up near Talonbury. They identify the war balloon as “Marigold.” Scootaloo does not want to take part in the sortie, as she does not want to fight her friends. The commander brings in the captain of the squadron attacking the Marigold, Regent. Scootaloo becomes over joyed her friends are part of the New Republic, and Regent is stunned that Scootaloo is alive. Hugs for everypony in the reunited 128th. They all agree that the ponies on the Marigold are good ponies, and plead that they try to get the Marigold to join their cause. The commander uneasily agrees. After a short power nap, they all leave inbound the Marigold at 400 hours. They are intercepted by the search party, that tries to shoot them down.Search party with weapons everypony! After dealing with the search party, the 128th’s confidence in the Marigold is lowered. They reach the Marigold with several commanders and the Wonderbolts waiting for them. After back and forth arguing between the 128th and the Marigold’s commanders, Rainbow Dash becomes hostile and attacks Scootaloo and only Scootaloo. The Wonderbolts soon follow, while the rest of the 128th take defensive measures. The 128th never fire a single missile at the Wonderbolts. Eventually Regent decides they best course of action at this point is to destroy the Marigold. He hits the already damaged Marigold at weak points created by the SSC attacks. The Marigold is disabled but not destroyed. It slowly looses altitude and crashes into the ground. The 128th flee. Bet you didn't see that coming. Chapter 16: Knossos Fortress - : Throughout the week, Firestorm had been looking for Gryphus’s Aeronautical Research Facility. To help keep Iusa in the New Republic’s talons, a sortie will be commenced at Knossos Fortress. Because the base is so heavily fortified, the New Republic intends to bomb and starve to fortress. They have more then enough units to create a blockade all around the base, and with the 128th, they can knock out the power plants and destroy long ranged artillery units. And keep any pegasi from flying away. Making a counter attack from inside the base next to impossible. Their sortie begins at 1100 hours. The 128th fly in first with cover from anti-ground fighters. They make quick work of the power plant. They attack artillery units while demolition crews blow up railroads leading to the base. in a couple of hours the base is isolated and crippled. New Republic units begin to wait out the slowly starving pegasi. For a little while the pegasi tried to breach the airspace, but where shot down by the 128th. However they soon realize it is Scootaloo they were fighting. The pegasi are confused, most thought she was dead, others heard about what she did to the Marigold. At that point in the war, Scootaloo was a iconic figure only bested by Rainbow Dash. Even though everypony thought she was dead, the Equestrian air-force used her as a recruitment icon. So most of the pegasi’s opinions of her were high. The Bombing of Bermingclaw also left Equestria denounced internationally, as well as internally. A lot of ponies wanted to usurp the Equestrian government. This lead to Knossos’s surrender and absorption of pegasi fighters. The New Republic now had an air-force more balanced by griffons and pegasi. International relations with Equestria has soured for most of the world, and with the New Republic trying to defend its people, it receives international attention. The New Republic begins to collect allies in its war against Equestria. Many different species are sent to help defend the New Republic. Among them, Chimeras, Zebras, Bears, and Diamond Dogs. The sea serpents act a a navy for the New Republic. Firestorm’s training allows him to steal military documents. Upon reading them, he hurries to Iusa. If you played Ragno Fortress in AC:6, that's the feel I was going for. Also the American Civil war has a parallel to this chapter. Only If you switched the events around and the south was the one attacking the north. In actuality, the north invaded and got the international help it needed to win. Chapter 17: Iusa Assault - : (note, written in extreme ambiguity mode, holes need to be filled) Firestorm finds the wreckage of the Marigold. He arms himself with all the undamaged equipment he can find. Swarms of pegasi and a hand-full of airships are over the griffon capital. All combat ready griffons and pegasi take off. Along with the help of the New Republic’s many allies, the Equestrian force is pushed back. Until a wave of reinforcements arrive to back up the Equestrian force. Mainly the Wonderbolts. After much bickering between Twilight and Scootaloo, they agree to evacuate the airspace. While a retreat is being ordered, Firestorm makes a surprise appearance after a long hiatus. He surprises the Equestrian pegasi and shoots most of them down. Most of the New Republic's units have fled the combat airspace. The 128th, and Firestorm are all that stands in the way of Iusa from being taken by the Wonderbolts. The 2 Aces squadrons engage in an intense dogfight, but with the 128th prevailing. Only Rainbow Dash and a few Wonderbolts made it out alive. They fled but not without Rainbow Dash making snipe remarks to Scootaloo. A celebration is held. The 128th and Twilight ask Firestorm many questions about where he has been, before he can explain the intelligence he found, he is reunited with his family. The 128th feel very proud of them selves. More good news comes as Equestria has agreed to a cease fire. During the celebration of their victory several hours later, Firestorm pulls the 128th and Twilight away to finally inform them about the intelligence he found. The celebration is cut short to prepare immediately for the assault on the Aeronautical Research Facility (ARF). That note at the beginning was too myself. To this day I don't know how that battle should have gone. Chapter 18: Fire and Ice - : The 128th, Firestorm included, fly over the flat icy plains that their next way point lies on. Along with them is a large force of griffons and pegasi. Their mission is simply to destroy the Aeronautical Research Facility by any and all means. The intelligence only gave information on a high-tech extreme maneuverability platform. And hints at a complex life-support system. The platform is designs so that a griffon sits and pilots it, rather the wear it. As the approach the base, a single high speed object is detected coming in head on. Before the pegasi and griffons could even think, it shot past them, shooting down one of the ponies, and making an insanely sharp turn at high speed. The air-force breaks in to attacking stance, and chases the object. The girffons and pegasi split. The object is named F-01 “Wyvern”. Many pegasi break into pursuit but could not catch the Wyvern. When they wonder how any griffon could take the abuse of such high g-forces. Sky Light replies cryptically with saying that the life support system forces the griffon to stay alive no matter what. When Firestorm lands a hit on the Wyvern, the fire from his FAEB formed a bubble around the aircraft, exposing a shield. The pegasi become panicked and fear it cannot be shot down. However, they land a coordinated hit on the Wyvern and destroy its shield. The Wyvern is finally shoot down, and the griffons finish destroying the ARF. Before the wreckage of the Wyvern crashes, a pained “thank you” can be heard over the radio. Firestorm recognises the voice as Sova’s. Further investigating the wreckage of the ARF, specialist find what appears to be a prototype to a nuclear bomb. Further intelligence includes plans to use the final version of the bomb to destroy Canterlot.References... everywhere... Chapter 19: Friendship of Mass Destruction - : The 128th are briefed on the mission to destroy Gryphus’s WMD. They believe that informing Equestria of a nuclear threat would hasten the detonation of the bomb. So the New Republic took matters into its own talons. If they fail Canterlot and the surrounding area will be wiped out. They are all outfitted with bulky stealth armour. Their mobility is impaired greatly, but they say they won’t need to do any dogfighting. They are ordered to complete the mission no matter what, then flee. At 1300 hours, during troop rotation, the 128th’s sortie begins. They fly through the narrow canyon know as Ghastly Gorge. The terrain is very difficult to fly through. Rainbow Dash is the best navigator of the gorge. Luckily, the gorge is void of any pony life. Once they clear Ghastly Gorge, they will fly as quickly as possible to the presumed bomb’s location. Residence are likely to see them flying and report it. On near their waypoint, Rainbow Dash intercepts the 128th. Rainbow Dash breaks the cease fire agreement and the 128th are forced to initiate a dogfight. Regent tells Scootaloo that him and Firestorm will hold of Rainbow Dash while Scootaloo will destroy the bomb. Scootaloo dumps her armour and flies as fast as she can, nearly breaking the sound barrier. She quickly puts a lot of distance between her and Rainbow Dash. Shortly after she flees, Rainbow Dash breaks the sound barrier, catches up to Scootaloo in a very short amount of time, and lands a surprise hit on Scootaloo. Causing her to crash. Her oxygen tank burst causing her to explode. The 128th are in disbelief that Scootaloo is shoot down. They are able to destroy the bomb when Rainbow Dash suddenly flees the airspace. Swarms of rescue ponies are seen heading to inspect Scootaloo’s crash site. The 128th fly back and deliver the dire news of Scootaloo I don't know if I should have named this chapter just Weapons of Mass Destruction. Obvious reference to the AC:6 level in terms of setting and name. Epilogue: - 1 Week Later - : Rainbow Dash is observing Scootaloo’s statue at the foot of Canterlot’s castle. It reads “Equestria’s Unsung Hero: Scootaloo. For her loyalty to Griffon kind and Pony kind alike.” Rainbow Dash apologies to the statue. Behind her Scootaloo, in her wheel chair, apologies back. She tells Rainbow they need to return the the gym to continue Scootaloo’s rehabilitation. Rainbow pushes Scootaloo’s wheel chair down the road. I though this ending was satisfying, Scootaloo meets the same fate a Marcus did in AC:6. And Firestorm lives to tell the tail, unlike Pasternak. I had a squeal planned to involve the stolen wreckage of the F-01 into Abysus and an Equestrian invasion and the Chimeras invading too. The Belgium of the conflict if it were WWII. But unless people will write that for me, it won't ever see the light of day. Here's the final map
PrologueDear Princess Celestia: We realize that Equestria provides unique economic opportunities found no where else in the world. However, with the large number of griffons immigrating to your kingdom, we respectively request that you deport all griffons back to our homeland of Gryphus. Our population shortage is beginning to take a toll on our economy. In my professional opinion, I believe that Gryphus may soon become unreliable trading partners if this persist; which could in turn, disrupt your kingdom’s financial well being. Sincerely, Administrator Tolstaya Stratocratic Republic of Gryphus Dear Administrator Tolstaya: I hear your voice of concern and promise you that in the event that your economy becomes compromised, I Princess Celestia will personally see to it that a global relief effort will be provided. I cannot however, return your former citizens to the police state they have fled from. They are citizens of Equestria now, and they are here to stay. Sincerely, Princess Celestia Kingdom of Equestria Dear Princess Celestia: We are disappointed, if not outraged, that you have not only refused our request of the return our citizens, but have insulted the structure and competency of our government as well. We do not need a global relief effort and find it offensive that you could consider the notion. To prevent any further leakage of our citizens, we have closed our borders and shut down all exportation. Your merchants are no longer welcome in Gryphus. We can no longer let your kingdom leach off of our economy. Sincerely, Administrator Tolstaya Stratocratic Republic of Gryphus Dear Administrator Tolstaya: I respectively demand that you reopen Gryphus’s borders for open trade. You provide the world with large amounts of combustible fuels and rare earth metals. You cannot simply close your borders and expect to repair your economy without global trade. This is a very foolish decision for the well being of Gryphus. Sincerely, Princess Celestia Kingdom of Equestria Dear Princess Celestia: We will keep our borders closed, and we will not export any goods to the rest of the world. When and only when we receive our citizens from your kingdom, our borders will remain closed to the world. We will inform all other nations on earth of our requirements to reopen our borders. I expect a fast deportation of all griffons if you wish to maintain a good diplomatic standing with the rest of the world. Sincerely, Administrator Tolstaya Stratocratic Republic of Gryphus Dear Princess Celestia: After much thought and consideration, I have concluded that to ensure the global stability and ethical treatment of Equestrian griffons, we will build up our military as a bluff. We will threaten Gryphus with invasion if they do not resume open trade and exportation of their goods. I cannot stress enough that this is only a bluff and that there will be no invasion what so ever. So I ask of you, the approval to accomplish the following goals: Start an aggressive recruitment campaign, focusing on not recruitment, but international visibility to warn Gryphus of our military build up. Enlist the industrial private sector to manufacture military hardware, to further help Gryphus foresee our military build up. And finally focus on quantity rather then quality of air-force personal and equipment to make Equestria look more intimidating. I estimate that it will take 3 years to organize the build up of a sizable military before we state our demands to Gryphus. Sincerely, REAF Director, Crimson Springs Kingdom of Equestria Dear Administrators of Gryphus: With the recent developments of Equestria’s military build up, I propose a counter offencive plan. An invasion of Equestria. I require that Gryphus must direct all nonessential spending and labor to a Total War policy. Military analyst predict an invasion in less then 3 years. We must invade Equestria before they invade Gryphus. Sincerely, Administrator Tolstaya Stratocratic Republic of Gryphus Ace Combat: Hooves of Solace - Prologue - - 3 years later - Scootaloo took a deep breath. “This is my moment.” She thought. “Everything I been training for, has all come down to this moment.” Her pupils dilated as the curtains opened and the trumpets wailed. “Graduation,” she said out loud, giving tentative glances to the astute pegasi next to her. Confetti poured from the ceiling as the pegasi cheered for Equestria’s newest members of the REAF. Scootaloo did not want to stay here. She was thinking of her friends back in Ponyville and the party they had undoubtedly planned. Her daydream was broken when she heard her name from the announcer. “Lets get this over with.” She mumbled to her self. “Surprise!”, Pinkie yelled as Scootaloo returned to her home. Over a dozen ponies stared at the unsurprised mare. Scootaloo gave back a slapstick impression, “Wow Pinkie, I’m really surprised.” “Well duh! Do you know haw many letters I had to intercept to make sure no one told you about this?” Pinkie Pie stated with a serious tone. Squinting closer and closer at the increasingly worried mare. Scootaloo stalled, “Umm...” “Zero!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed with a huge smile. A confused look over took Scootaloo’s face. “Alright fine, that surprised me.” Pinkie gave a satisfied nod and wondered off to tend to the party. Scootaloo looked around to find somepony to mingle with. Standing out of the crowd of ponies was a cyan mare with colorful hair. “Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo yelped with excitement. Equestria’s best flyer heard her name and gave Scootaloo a confident glance. “Hey Scoots. Congrats on getting out of Cloudsdale.” “Thanks Rainbow,” Scootaloo said while entering the circle of conversation. Sweetie Belle continued the complementing of Scootaloo. “Yeah, isn’t it the hardest military academy to get into these days?” “Not when you know me.” Rainbow Dash said with an over-confident tone. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both rolled their eyes and sighed. “So why did you join the air-force Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked in an aggressive voice. Before Scootaloo could form a cohesive sentence, Sweetie Belle continued, “Because I think this is just another way to get those greedy military contractors more money in their deep pockets.” When Scootaloo tried to retort her statement Sweetie Belle continued, “I think your just falling for the propaganda that the REAF is dishing out.” “Hey!” Scootaloo yelled. “That was uncalled for.” She gave a glance at Rainbow Dash before continuing. “I joined because- I want to think- I want to know that I’m helping defend the Equestria.” Scootaloo stuttered out. It was the most textbook answer she could think of. “I- sorry.” Said Sweetie Belle resentfully. “I just hope you never have to defend us. Its not like Gryphus could pull of a sizable invasion. Their economy is in a deep recession.” “It’s not like I’ll be killing anypony Sweetie Belle, I’m just a reconnaissance mare.” Scootaloo informatively put. Sweetie Belle looked down nervously, “Just- be careful alright?” “I will, not much action for my role anyhow. Except when they invade we’ll be the first shot down.” “What!?” Sweetie Belle squeaked. Scootaloo took mild amusement for teasing her friend, “Relaxing I’m joking. The special flight suits they made help us fly really high up. So high that griffons can’t even see us. It take a really strong pair of wings to keep you flying that high because the air-pressure is so low, and you couldn’t even breath without the suit. Actually there was this one stallion that tried to fly without his suit, he was so-” “Okay I get it Scoots,” Sweetie Belle groaned. “But that’s not the best part!” Scootaloo whined. Sweetie Belle glared, “I think I could go without hearing the conclusion to that story.” She turned and trotted to another circle of ponies. “Nice talking to you Scootaloo.” She said sincerely. “Yeah. See-ya.” Scootaloo said. Satisfied from teasing her friend. Scootaloo looked awkwardly at the floor and asked it, “Why did I join?” She gave a glance at Rainbow Dash and proceeded with talking to her friends. Scootaloo knew why she joined the REAF, she just couldn’t admit it to her self. A couple weeks later, Scootaloo had been assigned to the 128th Aerial Reconnaissance Squadron “Sirin”. Regent, Her wingmare, and Sky Light, who was the AWACS (Airborn Warning and Control Systems) operator. Her and Sirin squadron were shipped to the Marigold, an Equestrian airship. The airship was specialized as a mobile command center. And to Scootaloo’s surprise, the same airship the Wonderbolts are stationed on, the kingdoms Ace fighter squadron. She was given a terse introduction to her squadron and was briefed for her first sortie. A simple reconnaissance mission over the Equestrian border shared with Gryphus. - 2100 Hours - She stepped into the hanger to suit up and was over taken by awe with the complexity of the room. Dozens of ponies, mostly unicorns, darting around like mice. Tending to the equipment and maintaining the hanger itself. Several uniformed maintenance ponies surround Scootaloo and guided her to the launch platform. For all intensive purposes it was just a metal panel sloped at 25 degrees that would be pushed on a rail. The pegasus in question would stand on the panel and be propelled off once the panel reach the end of the rail. This was done just to get the pegasus to a comfortable flying speed without him or her wasting energy to take off. Scootaloo stepped onto the launch pad and was suited up by 3 unicorns. One assembled a helmet and levitated it onto Scootaloo’s head. The other 2 strapped on her flight-suit and fastened the final buckles with a satisfying click. The first one then connected the helmets muzzle to a thickly insulated tube, and then the other end to an oxygen tank mounted on Scootaloo’s back. This was all starting to become very heavy. Scootaloo felt like she was about to lose her grip on the slopped panel. But when she checked her hooves were not moving. The all important radar equipment and aerial cameras were fastened to Scootaloo’s belly. Several more buckles were clicked into place and Scootaloo’s helmet came to life. Her heads up display made it easy for her to keep track of her heading, speed, and altitude. “Speed: 0, Altitude: 3,159ft, heading...” She turned her head left and right to watch the compass move. “hmm-hmm, 134⁰” The 3 unicorns suiting her up gave nods at each other and backed away. “Huh, record time.” One of them said unimpressed. Regent, her wingmare, was prepared as well. All the unicorns fled the hanger. The deep buzzing of a klaxon alarm vibrated Scootaloo’s helmet. Steam gently climbed from the rail in front of her. The bulky hanger doors began to open. As soon as the night sky became visible, the thin tower of steam was sucked away from Scootaloo. She felt her hair reach for the main door of the hanger in front of her. Scootaloo felt she lost her grip on the panel again. She lowered her self readying for her launch. The radio in her helmet began to countdown. “5” “...4” “...3” “...2” “...1...” “Launch!” Soon Scootaloo’s hair was racing in the other direction. She could hear a loud whistle of steam from the rail below her. But it was soon replaced by the roaring wind as she left the hanger. Her wings instinctively flung open to catch as much air as possible as she felt her self quickly losing speed. Her mind finally caught up to her after she experienced her first real launch. She looked behind her and found the strobe lights of the Marigold already a long distance away. “Change your heading to 1-3. Maintain current speed and ascend to 20,000.” Scootaloo told her wingmare. Scootaloo turned to her new heading followed by Regent and began their climb. - 0200 Hours - Regent tells his story to the Scootaloo and Sky Light. “So then I’m standing in line right? The Royal Guard pulls me aside to “confiscate” my saddle bags. When I asked for ID they exchanged worried looks and persisted that they’re legit guards. One of jumped me from behind, but I bucked right in the jaw and broke it. Then the real Royal Guards showed up and the other 2 fakes one flew away and left their broken jawed friend behind. Heh, freaking pansies.” “Hey you two, get your heads out of the clouds.” Sky Light said with urgency. “Think I’m picking up some bogeies on radar here. Fly over to these coordinates and check.” Scootaloo’s helmet beeped and the indicators on heading shifted. “Oh boy... I’m picking up at least a 3 dozen fighters. IFF comes back negative.” Sky Light said. Scootaloo asked worriedly, “Griffons?” “Celestia I hope not. If the griffons invade they won’t know what hit ‘em.” Regent humorously said. Bitterly, Sky Light said, “This is serious Regent, it could mean war.” “What...” Regent said, “Just stating the obvious.” Scootaloo pulled out the looking glass for her belly mounted camera. She could barely see the long winged creatures flying through the mountain pass far below her. She stared though the looking glass in disbelief for a few seconds before she yelled, “I’ve got a visual! It’s griffons, Sky Light, we got griffons!”
Chapter 1: Across the DivideAce Combat: Hooves of Solace - Chapter 1: Across the Divide - -Beating Fear - “Regent, can you confirm?”, Sky Light said. “Oh Luna...” Regent collect himself. “Yeah I can. There’s at least 2 squadrons.” “So, you still think they won’t know what hit ‘em?” Scootaloo asked demeaningly. - Flagship Battle Cruiser “Marigold” - - 0217 Hours - An officially dressed earth pony trotted toward the doorway of the war room. “Commander.” A slightly slouched pegasi said. He quickly stiffened his posture. With a metallic click, the dull grey metal door opened, and a rush of radio chatter and confusion flowed from the war room. The center screen showed a light blue line dividing up the landmasses. Gryphus labeled to the north and Equestria labeled to the south. Several red arrows in formation were slowly moving south, across the light blue line. “Commander,” A Cyan pegasus began, “Let me bring you up to speed. About 20 minutes ago, our recon picked up several bogeys moving across the northern border. They later confirmed that they were griffons.” The commander’s face grew slightly pale. “Is this event isolated?” He asked calmly. “So far,” Rainbow continued, “but my team is prepped and ready for an intercept.” “Hold on,” the commander shifted Rainbow’s attention to the screen. “Look.” - 0218 Hours - Sky Light intervened, “Hold your horses guys, it looks like the griffons are... turning around?” Scootaloo doubled back to her looking glass to find the winged creatures making a quick banking turn. Their formation was impeccable. Regent couldn’t control his laughter, “This is too good, pegasi - 1 and griffons - zero, Haha!” He exclaimed while corkscrewing though the air. “Why would they go through all the trouble of mobilizing just to back out at the last second?” Sky Light said. There was a moment of silence before Regent blurted out, “Because they suck!” “Wow Regent, how astute.” Sky Light added in an overly sarcastic tone. “Aw come on... I know you guys love me!” said Regent. “You’re one big Motormouth, Regent. You know that?” Scootaloo intervened. “What was your nickname back in the academe... Chopper right?” Sky Light said. A moment of silence came between them. “Motormouth Chopper.” the 2 mares said in synchronization. “You guys are jerks! You know that?” Regent cried. “Whatever, Motormouth. Alright guys, change your headings to 1-5-0; we’re done here. The griffons are fleeing the airspace and the commanders back on the Marigold are eager to hear our after-action report.” Scootaloo ordered her wingmates. “You mind doing the honors... Motormouth? I’m a bit shy around the commanders,” Sky Light chuckled. “Oh no, please, age before beauty.” Regent said drawn out, making sure he had the last word. - 1134 Hours - Scootaloo stared at the blank forms in front of her, neatly mirroring her expression. “The one thing they don’t tell you about being a pilot is all the paper work.” She thought to her self. She hoped the pencil would magically begin to move it self and fill out the after action report for her. Regent was having similar issues, Scootaloo could see it in his eye. But Sky Light had already filled hers out and went off to lunch. Regent broke the unnoticed silence by asking, “Hey Scoot, were it says, “describe bandit(s) actions.” Do I put: “Fail” or “Retreated like a bunch of losers.” ?” - 1207 Hours - Scootaloo, much later, followed Sky Light to lunch. Having not been properly acquainted, Scootaloo took it upon herself to get to know Sky Light. “Anyone who could tease Regent so well couldn’t be that bad” she thought. Sky Light had a dark grey coat and washed out pink mane. Scootaloo asked about her cutie mark, a spotlight. “Well, I got it when I first did the spotlights for a school play. I got really good at levitating the lights to just the right angle without even seeing the play in front of me.” “So... you joined the air-force?” Scootaloo asked with a puzzled tone. “As cool as stage lighting was the first time,” Sky Light told, “It got boring at around high-school.” Scootaloo retorted,”But you’re stuck in a chariot during every sortie. That can’t be too exciting.” Sense Sky Light was an AWACS operator, she was a unicorn trained in levitation and detection magic. Anypony that would fly near an AWACS chariot would notice it would be easier to maneuver, and that their missiles had a tendency to hit the bull’s eye move often. The REAF coined term, Magic Support Measures (MSM). The levitation magic helped by slightly pushing the said pegasi or payload to its target. They help with detection as well as combat. While their radius for combat assistance is very small, they can detect bogeys miles away. In large, hectic battles, they provide invaluable situational awareness for the pegasi. Sky Light looked past Scootaloo and made eye contact with Regent. “Mares.” Regent said mocking an elegant tone. “Motormouth.” Sky Light replied. Scootaloo sat and listened as the 2 ponies descended into such immaturity that it could drive the most conditioned flyer mad. - 1215 Hours - “All I’m saying is that the griffons must have had a reason to back out, they're not stupid you know.” Sky Light argued. “You mean beside the fact that they just got cold talons and wussed out?” Regent said affirmatively. “Lets face it, they will never go to war with us.” “What if,” Scootaloo stopped to quickly second guess herself, “What if they were just gauging response time for the pegasi?” Sky Light put her hoof on her muzzle, “You might be on to something here. It would be vital information to a full scale preemptive-” Sky Light comprehended the severity of the notion. “I think we need to talk to Commander Rivers.” Dear REAF Commander, Crimson Springs: It has been brought to my attention, by our reconnaissance team, information of the hollow invasion attempt. It may have been an act to determine the air-force’s response time to an invasion. I recommend that we upgrade our alert to REDCON 2. An attack may be imminent. Sincerely, Commander Autumn Rivers of the Marigold. - 2247 Hours - Inside the briefing room, the whooshing of a ceiling fan and its motor could be heard through the silence. Several moths picked at its light. Large, taloned creatures, sat in rows; waiting for their briefing. They all sat motionless, a blink was a rare occurrence. The door swung open and several carts loaded with black blocky armor were moved to the center of the room. Each griffon was distributed a set of the armor. Firestorm spoke up. “What- What kind of armor is this?” he said clumsily. “Magic Absorbent Armor or (MA-Armor), to avoid detection for our preemptive strike.” Replied the Colonel. “We estimated that it took the pegasi 17 minutes to mobilize. With that information, we have developed our order of battle for the actual invasion of Equestria.” Contrasted looks were be seen through out the griffons’ eyes. Some filled with content, others filled with uneasiness. “Your squadron’s mission is really quiet simple,” the Colonel began. “All of you, the Apex squadron, will fly in at low altitude wearing the MA-Armor, and destroy radar facilities along the border. Then you all will cover our Self Propelled Chariots as they move in to fortify our position below the border. Separate attacks will be lead on the patrolling war ships along the border. Once we have a talon in Equestria, we’ll build up more forces and push south. The attack commences tomorrow at 0500 hours” A griffon named Sova spoke out, “This armor is really heavy, are you sure we can fly with it?” The colonel replied, “You’re the Apex Team, Gryphus’s top squadron, this armor shouldn’t be an issue for any of you.” The colonel left the room followed by most of the griffons, acquainting them selves with the new armor. Sova noticed a worried look on Firestorm. When Firestorm noticed he was being watch by Sova, he quickly got on task and tried to put on the MA-Armor. Sova asked Firestorm without a single trace of sympathy, “Is there something wrong, commander?” Firestorm paused and got a brain storm, “No, not any more.” He said with confidence. - 0306 Hours - “Ugh,” began Soarin’, “I can’t believe we got the night shift. We’re practically royalty being the Wonderbolts and all.” He said, putting on his flight suit. Their blue and yellow outfits were replaced with suits a little more bland, solid grey. “Pipe down Soarin’, Sirin team always gets the night shifts.” said Spitfire. “And well they should, keep us from wasting time with trivial scouting missions-” “Soarin’!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she walked into the hanger. Soarin’s mane stood on its end. He knew what was about to happen. “You will not put your self above anypony just because you’re in the Wonderbolts, is that clear?” Rainbow Dash ordered. All the attention in the room was directed toward the 2 Wonderbolts. All the maintenance ponies driven solely by caffeine all of a sudden had a huge jolt of energy. The night shift was never this exciting. Soarin’ sighed resentfully, “Yes Ma’am.” “Now are you ready to do some scouting, or is that not important enough for you?” said Rainbow. “Yes Ma’am, I’m ready.” Soarin’ replied with a little more dignity. “Good, Spitfire?” asked Rainbow. “I’m ready too.” replied Spitfire. Rainbow signaled the hanger crew to prepare for her squadron’s launch. The hanger sprung to life as the unicorns prepped for the Wonderbolt’s take off. - 0518 Hours - Three pegasi roared through the skyline. Luna’s bright moon cast contrasted highlights and shadows against the cloud cover. From Spitfire’s perspective, It looked like a white wrinkled blanket that stretched limitlessly. But from Rainbow and Soarin’s point of view, It was just another starless night. “Hey Rainbow, mind if I drop my altitude a bit?” Spitfire began, “I can’t see you guys up here.” Rainbow replied, “Stick to protocol Spitfire, we don’t want the girffons to take us by surprise up their.” “Uh- Right... Sorry.” Spitfire mumbled. “Don’t you ever loosen up Rainbow?” Soarin’ asked. “If she wants to jeopardize our mission then by all means.” Rainbow Dash said passive aggressively. Soarin’ gave Rainbow a resentful stare before pulling up and away from her. He dove through the cloud layer and joined formation with Spitfire. Rainbow sighed, shrugging off the abandonment by her squadmate to continue her mission. “There’s no getting around a penalty for this.” She growled. - Flagship Battle Cruiser “Marigold” - - 0518 Hours - The Marigold floated gently above the cloud layer. Its strobe lights blinking illuminating the clouds below. Off in the distance, several trails of disturbance in the clouds could be seen. The war balloon's AWACS operator reported, “I’ve got an unknown on radar, what could this be?” The blips on his radar multiplied and increased. More disturbances became apparent. The operator became more confused and worried. “What is happening here?!” he blurted out. Before he knew it the Marigold was hit with an explosion. The shock sent the operator out of his seat. The air raid alarm sounded. Colonel Rivers voice roared over the comms channel. “Fire teams suppress the damage! Wonderbolt’s scramble! Where is Rainbow Dash? I need her here!” “This is Kottos, what’s going on?” “The Gyges is under attack, requesting air-support!” The comms channel quickly became over run with support request and confusion. No pony could communicate with one another. The war balloon’s guns flared. Black puffs of smoke quickly filled the skies near the Marigold. A single statement could be herd from all the confusion through the radio. “REDCON 1 had been declared, I repeat REDCON 1 has been declared. All warships prepare to engage in combat.” Notes I made an Ace Combat style map specifically for this story, I'll update it every time I make a chapter with new locations. Warning, 4800x2400 size image (really big) Map
Chapter 2: Preemptive StrikeAce Combat: Hooves of Solace - Chapter 2: Preemptive Strike- -Trembling Masses - - 0521 Hours - “Scramble the fighters!” Scootaloo galloped as hard as she could through the veins of the Marigold. Her squadmates right behind her. Fire and smoke had completely filled the halls of the airship. The anti-air measures from outside made ships rumble at an inconsistent beat. Unicorn repair ponies were rushing in and out of the inferno onboard. Scootaloo reached the entrance to the hanger. The heat warped the door shut. “It won’t -hmp- budge!” Scootaloo said while pushing herself against the door. Sky Light yelled, “Get out of the way!” she cracked her neck and readied a spell. Scootaloo stepped back. The door let out a ear piercing screech and was blown out the doorway, clean off the hinges. The force of the push wedged the broken door into the wall behind it. Completely phased by the situation at hand, they all rushed into the hanger without giving notice to Sky Light’s magical abilities. The unicorns present levitated Scootaloo and Regent to the launch pad and quickly prepped them for take off. Much faster then they normally work. In seconds they were all suited up and ready. An explosion outside the ship rumbled the hanger. “Get the hanger doors open, move it!” a unicorn blurted out. “Air-raid warning, enemy bombers inbound. Scramble and engage.” Amidst all the sounds of anti-air cannons and explosions on the ship, a metallic grinding sound came from directly under the main hanger door. “Oh for- the bucking door won’t open!” Regent yelled. The grinding started and stopped at even intervals as the unicorn in the control room resorted to jabbing her hoof at the control panel. “C’mon. C’mon. C’mon!” Regent said impatiently. “Screw it, Scootaloo fire a missile at the door. If we don’t open it now then we’re finished!” Sky Light yelled. Scootaloo stared at the door for an instant. “This is happening... really happening” She thought. “Just do it!” Yelled Regent. Scootaloo armed her missile. “Everypony brace!” A she yelled. A deafening bang shook the whole hanger. The air rushed out, cleaning the inside of all the smoke. The hanger door was gone. Scootaloo caught a glimpse of griffons flying past the opening, being chased by anti-air measures. “5” “...4”“Don’t get over eager,” Sky Light said. “...3” “...2”“Just do what you always do.” “...1...” “Launch!” The Wonderbolts on reconnaissances sped atop the layer of clouds, following their heading to the Marigold. They had just received the S.O.S. message from the Flagship. Along with tens of other request from numerous war ships. However the messages will go ignored by the Wonderbolts as the Marigold was one of Equestria’s most valuable war assets. “All right everypony listen up,” Rainbow Dash began. “The Marigold’s situation is grim, the pegasi are out numbered 7:1. As soon as we get there we won’t stop for ordinances. We’re going straight to hoof-to-talon combat.” Soarin’ got excited, “Haha, all right! Finally a challenge.” He said firmly. A giant grey semi-sphere peered over the clouds. Smoke and puffs from anti-air measures filled the area around it “Marigold in sight, 60 seconds to way-point.” Said Spitfire. “I’ve got 3 unknowns coming in fast, they may be bombers.” “30 seconds and closing.” Spitfire said. The Wonderbolts were just within earshot of the dogfight. All they could hear was the constant barrage of AA measures. “Wait... That lightening emblem... Those guys are on our side! It’s the Wonderbolts! The Wonderbolts are here! We’re going to be alright!” The girffons were now in clear view of the 3 pegasi. “Spitfire engaging!” “Soarin’ engaging!” They each assumed their closest target. Pecking out one griffon after another. Commander Rivers took over the comms. “Thank Celestia you made it. The Marigold’s hull can’t take much more abuse like this. You must clear the airspace as quickly as possible. Sirin team have already launched and are engaged in combat. You are to coordinate with them to fend of the invaders.” Soarin’ was slightly annoyed, “Sirin team is doingour job now? Here I thought we stole theirs.” “Cool yourself Soarin’, I’ll take all the help I can get.” Rainbow Dash said. “Yeah!” Spitfire blurted out. “Sirin team this is Rainbow Dash, join our formation and we’ll give you cover.” “Well, if it isn’t his royal highness Soarin’.” Said Regent. Soarin’s annoyance soon turned to rage. “What did you say flight filly?” He growled. “Well I figured sense you guys were so nice as to fill in recon duty for us, we’d give dogfighting a try. You guys call this work? This is practically dancing!” Regent said mockingly. “Well do you want our cover or not?” Spitfire asked in a more positive tone. “Count me out” Regent said. “These griffons couldn’t dance their way out of a paper bag.” “Right... Scootaloo? Do you need cover?” Spitfire asked. “Follow my lead Regent, join formation with the Wonderbolts.” Scootaloo ordered. “Aww come on...” Regent whined. “There’s no way I’m anywhere near Soarin’.” “Chopper...” Scootaloo growled with displeasement. Regent turned and swooped in next to Scootaloo. “Ugh... right behind you.” He said defeated. They both banked right and arced them selves below the ship, where the heaviest fighting was taking place. As the lower hull paned into view. They saw the trio of Wonderbolts entering the skirmish as well. The 3 dispersed and bucked 3 griffons right in the back of the head. The 3 griffons froze and dropped like rocks. Scootaloo and Regent joined the formation and followed the Wonderbolt’s lead. Spitfire issued orders to Sirin team. “Scootaloo, listen closely, Soarin’ and Rainbow will fly ahead of you and chase down the griffons, when those 2 have a griffon cornered, you or Regent fire a missile at them when you can get a clear shot. I’ll watch your six o’clock. Lets do this one griffon at a time.” “Roger.” Scootaloo said. Rainbow Dash and Soarin’ gave no complaints to Spitfire’s orders. They both rushed out ahead and tailed a griffon. They both came in at the griffon’s left and right. “Scootaloo, Fox 2!” Her missile blared from under her. It quickly flew out of sight, leaving a thin vapor trial behind, slowly drifting in the wind. The tiny vapor trail far out in front of Scootaloo met with the griffon. A large puff of smoke and a black vapor trail spiraling downwards is all Scootaloo could see. A moment later she heard a soft bang. Scootaloo’s fixation on her kill was broken when a griffon roared past her. Narrowly missing the griffon’s sharp talons. Spitfire was right behind it, she dove under the griffon and bucked its beak, shattering it. The griffon’s wings tensed up and it quickly fell through the cloud layer. “Are you alright?” Spitfire asked. “I’m fine, just shaken up is all.” Scootaloo replied. “I can’t believe I let the griffon past me, how’d I miss him?” Spitfire said. “Regent, Fox 3!” Four missiles launched from Regents suit. Each of them arced around and chased down 4 different griffons. A rapid secession of explosions followed. “The enemy threat level has been reduced, we should be able to hold out against them.” “Everyone disperse!” Rainbow yelled. “Spread out your attack.” “There’s too many of them Scootaloo, use your SP weapons.” Regent said. “Hey you’re not experienced enough to be giving orders yet Chopper.” Scootaloo said jokingly. She switched to her special weapons and targeted 4 griffons far out in front of her. “Scootaloo, Fox 3!” Four vapor trials swept through the sky in front of her. The four vapor trails met with their targets, only one of the vapor trails sped past its griffon. The griffon changed its course and flew right toward Scootaloo. Her helmet blared missile alert warnings as the griffon launched a missile at her. Scootaloo turned as fast as possible to avoid the incoming attack. She arced out of the missiles flight path and chased down the griffon. Copying what Spitfire did, she swooped under the griffon and bucked its beak. The beak shattered like glass. The griffon gave out a gargled cry before tensing up and falling. Scootaloo was again fixated on her kill, watching it plummet though the cloud layer. “Not bad Scootaloo! You’re a natural fighter.” Regent said. “There, see that orange one? That’s you target, shoot it down!” Scootaloo rotated around and checked her surroundings. She spotted 3 griffons closing in from 3 different directions. She was cornered. She darted up, flying as fast as she could upward, straight toward one of the griffons. Before it could react, Scootaloo launched a missile at the griffon. It exploded sending the now dead griffon sideways. Scootaloo flew straight through the smoke cloud it left behind and targeted the next griffon, who was right on her tail. Scootaloo dove to the side as the griffon flew past her, then darted after it. She chased the griffon up higher and higher. The griffon was force to fly downward when it ran out of breath. Scootaloo took that chance to buck in the back of the head. She pushed herself even higher and met the griffon as he was arcing downward. Scootaloo threw her hind-legs at the back of the griffon’s head and heard a resounding crack. Scootaloo met no resistance as her hooves impacted the griffons neck. The griffon froze and began to fall. The last griffon dived to rescue his fallen friend. “The enemy threat level is even lower now, drive them out of Equestria!” The remaining griffons pulled back. From the dozens that attacked, on a hand full were left. “The griffons are fleeing the combat airspace. Great job everypony.” Sky Light said. “Where have you been the whole time Sky Light?” Scootaloo asked. “Oh nowhere, just directing the rest of the battle for you.” Sky Light said with great smugness. “Hey what about that griffon pecking at your tail, don’t I get any credit for taking care of that for you?” Spitfire asked. “Not even, I shattered the neck of some griffon closing in on you Spitfire.” Regent rebutted. “You two have a lot to learn from Scootaloo over here, she doesn’t take help from anypony!” Rainbow Dash said praising. “All pegasi time to head on home now, try and make it back for supper” Regent continued with a joke, “Great! I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.” “Be quiet... Chopper.” Spitfire said. “Oh no... Not you too.” Regent said displeased. All the pegasi flew around to the back of the air ship where the hanger was. Smoke still poured from the ship’s cracks and holes in the hull. The repair teams will have their work cut out for them. Sirin Team, the Wonderbolts, and several other support squadrons reached the tail of the Marigold. “What did you guys do to the door!?” Rainbow yelled - 0839 Hours - A convoy of armoured chariots rolled into Garuda Air-force Base, the griffon’s front line airfield. Two Apex Predators over watched the chariots from the control tower, leaning against the rails atop of the tower. All the chariots were marked with the label CS-107. “Conscripts.” Firestorm said darkly. “The invasion has only just begun, why now?” he wondered. “What ever it takes to win the war.” His wingmate said. “But we only just broke south, and our forces haven’t even broke sweat.” Replied Firestorm. His wingmate searched for an explanation, but could not find one. “Yeah well- Hey at least it’s not our asses on the line right?” he said with a nervous laugh. “No. Not for long,” Firestorm replied while walking away from the guard rails. Dear REAF Director, Crimson Springs: I gathered the flight data from the griffons just as you asked. They can easily out maneuver our anti-air guns. Their flight paths are included in the letter. As a result of the griffon's preemptive strike, we have lost 19 out of the 28 airships patrolling the border, our position here is completely compromised. I have ordered the remaining balloons to create a 50 mile gap between Gryphus and them. It seems as though we have greatly underestimated our enemy. Sincerely, Commander Autumn Rivers of the Marigold. Notes: Map Now believe me when I say I procrastinated the hell out of this chapter... Also check out my friends Ace Combat cross-over directly related to my story. Here
OutlineBecause I have lost interest in finishing the story, I'll toss up the outline so everyone knows how it ends. It's probably full of spelling errors and such but no matter. This is only an outline and not intended to the actual written out story. Ace Combat: Hooves of Solace OC Characters with major roles: Sky Light: An inquisitive and often philosophical unicorn mare, that always open up a conversation with some deep life changing question. Though she does not converse well with more simple minded ponies that shy away from questions like that. Generally light hearted. She is the AWACS controller for the 128th Aerial Reconnaissance Squadron. (name needed)Regent: A quiet but bull head stallion pegasus with a god-complex. He dislikes conversation he doesn’t start, this leads to constant teasing by his 2 squad mates. Especially Sky Light. He has an immature sense of humor. Generally pessimistic. He is the secondary recon patrol in the 128th Aerial Reconnaissance Squadron.Firestorm: An empathetic and care-free griffon with very simple pleasures. He gives the impression that he has no weaknesses, but internally the war is taking a great toll on him. Through out the story he becomes more and more bitter. He is the leader of the Apex Predators. The most skilled flyer in Gryphus. I wrote the outline before I made a name for Scootaloo and her squad. So through out the outline they will be called the 128th. Prologue: Equestria and Gryphus (nation of griffons) experience bad relations with each other. Over 3 years they both prepare for war. Scootaloo joins the Equestrian air force and, after talking to Sweetie Bell and Rainbow Dash, becomes conflicted as to why she joins. Scootaloo is stationed on the same war balloon “Marigold” as the Wonderbolts, the Aces of Equestria. On her first sortie she encounters enemy griffons heading toward the Equestrian border on her radar. The 'bad relations' they have was edited at the last moment before the story was up. Chapter 1: Across the Divide- : The enemy units go back into Gryphus as soon as they cross the border, leaving everypony confused. Scootaloo talks to her squad mates the next morning (128th Aerial Reconnaissance Squadron), introducing them as characters. AWACS “Sky Light” and Recon Stallion “Regent”. They talk about why the griffons would retreat as soon as they crossed the border. They think that the griffons were gauging response time from the pegasi. That information gets passed onto the generals. The generals talk to Scootaloo personally about it later. Then the 3 top fliers of Equestria, Rainbow Dash, Soarin', and Spitfire get a hold of the information. They argue over the theory, Rainbow Dash saying the griffons just got cold talons. The generals agree with Scootaloo’s theory, and bring the information to Celestia. The 2 griffon aces (or as they call them selves “Apex Predators, in biology meaning nothing preys on that animal) are introduced, Sova “Apex 09”and Firestorm “Apex 01”, are revealed to be part of the fake invading force, and talk about why they were called back at the last second. The Equestrian border is separated by a mountain range, the griffon air base Sova and Firestorm are stationed is on the edge of the mountain range. They are called to a briefing and handed strange pieces of black, blocky armor, calling it “radar absorbent.” In briefing Sova and Firestorm are told the order of battle for the actual invasion that will take place the next morning. You may have noticed that this outline deviates from the written story.That's because written out it didn't work as well as I thought It would, so I moved things around. Chapter 2: Preemptive Strike - : Celestia warns the public that an invasion may in immanent, the air-force mobilizes. The 128th fly many sorties for recon, but gather no evidence of an upcoming invasion, the air-force stands down. Scootaloo and Sky Light talk about having a tactical advantage of moving ground forces quickly across the mountain range, and how Equestria has no efficient way of doing so, but consider that the griffons might. The griffons have an efficient way of moving troops with the recent invention of the “Self Propelled Chariot” or “SPC” (a flying APC basically) Sova and Firestorm take off at 2400 hours with the stealth armor; they are part of a first wave of attacks against Equestrian radar facilities. The attacks are carried out by Gryphus’s Apex Squadron. When the radar facilities are down, a second wave of troops, the SPCs, will fly across the border and begin attacking with the cover of the Apex Squadron. The third and final wave will be the bulk of the griffon air-force that will attack the war balloons. The 128th are scrambled when the air-force realizes that the radar facilities have stopped responding. Scootaloo picks up massive amounts of SPCs crossing the mountain range. In the mist of her shock that the griffons actually invading, the 128th is called back to help defended the war balloon from a massive incoming force. Back at the war balloon Regent and Scootaloo are issued state of the art flight suits, built for air to air combat. They are only given a brief tutorial of all its weapon systems. They are rushed into combat when the wave of griffon fighters arrives. The griffons out number the pegasi on the war balloon 7:1. Scootaloo shows impressive talent in air to air combat, coming close to the skills of the Wonderbolts. She helped win the battle to save the war balloon. However out of the 28 war balloons that were defending the border, 19 were lost. The preemptive strike gives the unicorn scientist valuable information on griffon mobility, and develop anti-air cannons to be used on war balloons. I was really just pulling numbers out of my ass from the loss ration of balloons. Just to get the point across that the balloons are flawed and the griffons are strong. Chapter 3: Invasion of Equestria - : After the preemptive strike, Celestia receives a formal declaration of war from Gryphus. The public prepares for the worst. After the Equestrian side of the mountain range was been captured, troops begin to pour in further fortifying the griffons placement. Scootaloo performs many mock dogfights with Rainbow Dash, creating a strong friendship between the two. Scootaloo’s internal conflict is temporarily put to rest. At 1400 hours. The 128th flies a sortie to attack a convoy supplying the fortified griffons. The attack is successful, but they are chased down by the griffon aces Sova and Firestorm and require the Wonderbolts assistance to drive them off. Sova and Firestorm are ordered retreat. Reluctantly, they do. Scootaloo is relegated back to recon after the mission, but she continues to have mock dogfights with Rainbow to prove her worth and become a full time aerial superiority fighter. Twilight sends a letter to Celestia asking that she be sent to Gryphus to act as a diplomat to end the war. But Celestia refuses. Luna however, helps Twilight get to Gryphus with her sister unaware. Luna shares Twilight’s concerns of Celestia that the war is taking a toll on her judgment. After weeks of small scale attacks and building up forces on the Equestrian side of the border, the griffons make a major push further south. After proving her worth in the mock dogfights with Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo is promoted to an aerial superiority fighter, but remaining in her original recon squadron Regent is also promoted to a multirole-fighter. As the griffons push south, Scootaloo is dumped onto the front-lines in the small town of Benehoof. At 800 hours, a formation of enemy griffons are on its way to seize the city. Like the majority of the pegasus air-force, the griffon air-force is largely compiled of new recruits. Easy pickings for Scootaloo, until 2 members of the Apex Squadron (Apex 06 and 17) show up, specifically targeting Scootaloo. She cannot rely on the Wonderbolts bailing her out this time; she must shoot them down by herself. She succeeds with a few close calls. The city on Benehoof is defended with minimal losses. Scootaloo receives a badge for her outstanding performance. However, the griffons succeed in making a large push south, pushing the front lines near Manehattan and Fillydelphia. The commanders on Scootaloo’s war balloon realize that they can’t hold Benehoof forever, and that it has little strategic value, so the town is evacuated and abandon. Sova finds Firestorm with a very heavy conscious. Sova asks him how his wife and kid were doing. He tells them that Benehoof was evacuated safely and that they were okay. Sova and Firestorm are relieved. I wanted this story to seem like it had legit strategy involved. And not just (apologize in advanced for the war stories writers) a bunch of pegasi thrown around for shock value and die over a small farming town. Chapter 4: Life Lines - : Sense Benehoof was a city close to the border of Gryphus; many of the town’s inhabitants are griffons. Gryphus wants its civilians back. So the griffons launch an attack on the Benehoof refugees’ convoy. The 128th is dispatched to intercept the griffons. The griffons reach the refugees first, unarmed, and demand that all Equestrian griffons report to them. The 128th arrives while the Griffons were picking through the refugees, and retreat. Scootaloo realizes they are very young and unarmed, but is still ordered to shoot them down. Scootaloo complies but not without making a fuss. However, not all the griffons are shot down, and 2 refugees are taken back to Gryphus. She is again scolded by Rainbow Dash but Sky Light and Regent back up Scootaloo. Twilight is in the capital city of Gryphus, Iusa. The city seems surreal and very foreign to Twilight. The city is sparsely populated, and all the buildings look dull and efficient. Military police find Twilight and, to her surprise, act casual and never press her for answers. She tells them she is a diplomat on behalf of Princess Luna, and that she wants to end the war. Twilight detects glee the police griffons’ body language as they lead her to city hall. The mayor of Iusa informs Twilight that she will have a hearing with the leaders of Gryphus in 5 weeks, the next time they all meet. Rainbow Dash vents to Spitfire about Scootaloo’s fuss over shooting down the unarmed griffons. Spitfire informs her that Gilda, an old time friend of Rainbow, was among the Equestrian Griffons evacuated. At the end of another mock dogfight, both Scootaloo and Rainbow apologize. Think Vitoze from AC:6. This is where they see Scootaloo's full potential as a fighter. Much like they learned Talisman's. Chapter 5: Manehattan Marauders - : at 100 hours, griffons seize the city of Manehattan by surprise wearing the stealth armor. The squadron has identified it self as the “Marauders”, a stealth multirole fighter squadron. It consists of about 12 experienced griffons. They come off as uncouth and rugged. The 128th is assigned to help over throw the Marauders from Manehattan. The 128th takes off at 700 hours. Scootaloo and Regent are to engage the Marauders while 71st multirole squadron will attack any forces in the city. The stealth armor made is difficult to track the Marauders, a well as lock on to them. Scootaloo did not want a rouge missile to go crashing into the most populated city in Equestria. She is very selective in firing her missiles and ends up using close-quarters combat to take down the most of the Marauders. Sky Light’s skills in magic play a big roll in destroying the Marauders. She is given a badge for outstanding logistics support. When the battle is almost won, a sudden evacuation is ordered for the 128th and 71st squadrons. They are confused as to why and do not comply imminently. But soon the reason is clear when Sky Light sees 11 Apex Squadron griffons are inbound to Manehattan. The battle is a military victory, but a strategic loss. Manehattan is now in griffon control. Stalliongrad is Equestria’s largest military production city. Manehattan and Fillydelphia are to the east and west of Stalliongrad. Taking both cities would have Stalliongrad flanked by griffon forces. Losing Stalliongrad could mean losing the war. Marigold is moved to defend Fillydelphia. Scootaloo talks to Sky Light about the Marauders stealth armor, and why pegasi don’t use it. She explains that the armor is too heavy and reveals in the story the major physical differences between pegasi and griffons. Twilight must settle into Iusa for the 5 week wait until her hearing with the griffon leaders. She finds out that Gryphus has a very strict information policy and thus has no libraries. The casual military police escort her around, and fill her in on griffon culture. Sova returns from her sortie at Manehattan to find Firestorm denouncing the harsh treatment of the ponies in their captured cities. His superiors ground him but he still makes an effort to change the opinions of his squadron. Not too much to say about this chapter. In an effort to keep the titles having matching letters, I came up with Manehattan Marauders and went from there. Chapter 6: Two Eternal Aces - : It is almost time for Twilight’s hearing with the leaders of Gryphus. She escorted by guards, and shocks her when they wish her the best of luck. She collects her self and begins to give her reasoning to end the war. Scootaloo and Sky Light talk about the implications of loosing Stalliongrad. A state of emergency is declared when a force is seen on its way to seize Fillydelphia. The 128th is scrambled to intercept inbound griffons to Fillydelphia. In a change of pace, the Wonderbolts are assigned the less difficult duty of picking off any units that make it though the 128th. The Wonderbolts complain about the assignment, and demand they help the 128th. Soon however the 128th is pushed back into the city, being over whelmed by the sheer number of griffons and SPCs. The units fortify them selves in the tunnels of the city that stretch under the river. Regent shows his true abilities as a multirole fighter by fending off the griffons, and flying into the tunnels, destroying the encamped units without collapsing the tunnels. He is given a badge for prowess in combat. The 128th squadron is now an all aces unit. Their skills surpassing that of the Wonderbolts. When Equestria is in a wartime emergency, all decisions are guided by Celestia. She makes the decision to evacuate Fillydelphia and move as many refugees as possible into Stalliongrad. She wants to increase its military output. All military units in Fillydelphia are moved to Stalliongrad. Fillydelphia is left defenseless with many ponies still in the city. The Wonderbolts are told to hold the city as long as they can. A formation of 7 Apex Predators moves in to wipe out the 7 Wonderbolts. The Apex formation is wiped out but 2 Wonderbolts are lost. Rainbow Dash’s closest friends Soarin’ and Spitfire are shot down and killed in combat. The Marigold is moved to engage griffon units out side the area of Stalliongrad. Scootaloo expresses her concerns about the ponies in Fillydelphia to her squadron. They question Celestia’s motives. Twilight gives her argument to end the war, and is given a polite “buck you” by Gryphus’s leaders. The police that are escorting Twilight seem very disappointed and let her know that they and many others support her. She begins to become attached to the griffons in Iusa. She begins a movement to overthrow the griffon despots. The plot thickens, though in the final story, to keep Celestia in character I made all the ulterior motives made by Crimson Springs. Chapter 7: Resistance - : A formation of griffons seize Fillydelphia and now has a shot at taking Stalliongrad, Equestria’s major military city. Losing Stalliongrad could mean losing the war. Stalliongrad is pumping out military hardware faster then it has ever produced, readying for the unavoidable attack. Moral is low as the news of deaths of Soarin’ and Spitfire spread. A military funeral is held for the two aces. It is clear to everyone on the Marigold that Equestria is losing the war. Its economy is crumbling and they lose more and more land to the griffons everyday. To help turn the upcoming battle on Stalliongrad in their favor, a small scale attack lead by the 128th is deployed to recapture a fortress held by the griffons, high up in a mountain. Following the 128th will be a team of Special Forces to recapture the fortress while the 128th deal with the sky. They all once again perform outstandingly. The base is recaptured and will act as a first line of defense for Stalliongrad. Seeing how successful war balloon were in combat, the unicorn scientist think that keeping the war balloon as just a mobile base and command center is a waste of its potential. Larger air to air and air to ground weapons are made for the war balloon. Also more armor was added to its hull, making the war balloon a flying fortress. Equestria begins to shape its military strategy around the war balloon. Using the weather pegasi, clouds were placed around the war balloons to give them an element of surprise. This strategy proved to be very effective when 3 war balloons were sent to recapture radar facilities around Stalliongrad. The griffons realized they are losing control of the area around Stalliongrad and quickly build up the largest force ever assembled to take the city. Faced with the clear threat of losing Stalliongrad, all available units are sent to defend the city. The ground forces arrive first and fortify the city. The war balloons are still a day out, but radar facilities see the massive griffon force moving toward the city. The ground units will have to hold out until the air-force arrives. Scootaloo helps comfort the grieving Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash becomes very attached to Scootaloo. Moral onboard the Marigold is lifted. Twilight, with the help of the police force in Iusa, begin thwarting the griffons war effort. Factories are sabotaged and workers are “forced” not to go to work. News of the events quickly spread to Equestria despite the heavy information control in Gryphus. Scootaloo learns about how willing the griffons are to end the war. After weeks of causing trouble and questioning authorities, Firestorm is informed that his family is being held prisoner. His wife and kid were the 2 griffons taken from the Benehoof convey. If he does not obey orders, his family will be killed. Around here the story get dodgy in terms of plotholieness. Chapter 8: Siege on Stalliongrad: Scootaloo talks to Sky Light one last time before they take off. She asks Sky Light about Luna defying her sister and sending Twilight to Gryphus. Sky Light elaborates on the subject and brings up the details of the griffon conscripted military and harsh despotism. Scootaloo’s conflict become stronger knowing she is killing griffons that were forced into combat. Scootaloo ask Sky Light why she joined the air-force. When she returned the question, Scootaloo could not give an answer. Firestorm is told the order of battle, when the main pegasi air-force arrives, he will be the only Apex Predator sent in to destroy them. Fully aware of the might of the air balloons, they expect him to die in combat. Then he will be out of their feathers for good. The massive griffon force arrives at Stalliongrad and its encamped units, waiting for reinforcements. Hours out, the encamped ground units hold out as long as they can, suffering heavy losses. En route to Stalliongrad, Scootaloo continues to ask Sky Light what separates them from griffons, when no clear answer is given, Scootaloo become emotional about the topic, claiming that they are no different from pegasi. Rainbow Dash comes into the conversation and scolds Scootaloo for showing sympathy for the enemy. Reinforcements arrive with modified war balloons. The griffons perform a maneuver called The Shattered Hoof. The maneuver is as follows: A griffon in lead pursuit forces a pegasus into a near stall. The griffon chasing circles up above the stalling pegasus gaining as much altitude as possible before the pegasus can turn around. The griffon then uses gravity to help it accelerate as fast as possible toward the pegasus. The griffon slams into a soft spot either on the back lower or above the ribs, and causes the hollow bones in the recoiling body of the pegasus the shatter, killing the pegasus instantly. This tactic is extremely effective because most pegasi in the air-force have little to no combat experience. It claims hundreds of pegasi’s lives. Losses on both sides are massive. When the battle begins to tip in the ponies favor, a lone griffon identified as Firestorm arrives. Firestorm maneuvers faster then anypony has ever seen and uses a Fuel Air Explosion Bomb (FAEB). It detonates creating a sphere of fire in midair, incinerating any pony in it radius. The bomb is unguided. The battle is quickly turned into the griffons’ favor. Equestrian forces are ordered to retreat and the war balloons are ordered by Celestia her self to bomb the city as they leave. To destroy as many military factories as possible. The order is met with an over whelming negative response. Rainbow Dash convinces them that the princess knows best and they begin to bomb their own city. The Wonderbolts never land a single hit on Firestorm but Scootaloo manages to get a lock on. Scootaloo hesitates. She fires one missile that the griffon is unable to dodge completely and is hit by the shrapnel. Limping and unable to perform tight maneuvers, the Firestorm is helpless. Scootaloo contemplates everything that she is being conflicted about, and decides to denounce her place in the pegasi air-force. The rest of her squadron backs her up. She makes everypony aware that she will not shoot Firestorm down, but escort him back to his base. Scootaloo gives her reasoning about the conscripted griffon military and their willingness to end the war. The war balloons second the notion and stop the bombing. The battle ends in a stalemate with both remaining forces retreating. Stalliongrad remains in Equestrian control. Many lives are saved. The 128th escorts Firestorm back to his base. And report back to the Marigold where they expect they will get hammered with penalties. At the time of outlining, I could not think of a way for Scootaloo to not shoot down Firestorm other then this.This would have definitely changed. On a side note, I really like the name of this chapter. Roles off the tongue very well. Siege of Silvat from AC:6 references if you were wondering. Chapter 9: Grounded - : Scootaloo comically thinks that Celestia will send her to the moon for protecting Firestorm. Scootaloo is met with approval from most of the pegasi onboard the Marigold, and even a silent approval form the commanders on board. But following protocol they still ground the 128th until further review. Rainbow Dash won’t even look at Scootaloo. The Scootaloo is confined to the interrogation room for 48 hours. However no pony could think of a charge when she indirectly save hundreds of lives by convincing the bombers to stop bombing Stalliongrad.With both the griffon’s and the pegasi’s armies crippled, the commanders of the Gryphus get desperate and launch a second assault on Stalliongrad. The griffons take of at 1900 hours inbound to Stalliongrad. The griffons are 3 highly trained, stealth outfitted, Tactical Fighter squadrons. The commanders predict that the 128th will be grounded after escorting Firestorm, so they are confident that they still have a shot at taking Stalliongrad. Scootaloo remains bored in the integration room, bored but content for her actions earlier. She begins to consider defecting but shuns the thought.The Apex squadron’s numbers have seriously dwindled sense the beginning of the war. Starting with 18, there are now only 9. And with the recent events of Firestorm’s failure in Stalliongrad, the commanders of Gryphus are looking to expand its Apex squadron. Twilight’s resistance group in Iusa get a hold of that information, and submit only applications of griffons that want to end the war. They hope they can convince the public to stand up against the autocrats of Gryphus and they think the best way to do that is through the Apex Predators. Twilight, knowing that Firestorm is very out-spoken about the war think he is an invaluable asset to her resistance group. Twilight is unaware of Firestorm’s family. After much discussion over what to do with Firestorm, his commanders put him under heavy surveillance, but keep him as an active fighter. Chapter 10: Defence for Ashes - : The stealth fighter squadrons attempting a second capture at Stalliongrad are nearly at their waypoint. Twilight is dropped off at the closest point to Firestorms base her Pinkie Pie Heavy Industry ultra-light can take her. She arrives near what was a middle-class residential district just outside Stalliongrad. During the Siege on Stalliongrad, Firestorm had destroyed a war balloon “Kottos” and the burning wreckage landed in the residential district. Twilight at first goes in fearless but becomes more and more frightened by her surroundings. The fog of ash made it very difficult for Twilight to see where she was going. It is 100 hours. Twilight observes burnt remains of house, and as she approaches the wreckage of the Kottos, anti-aircraft gun shells are writtled everywhere. A faint roar of incoming griffons is herd by Twilight. She does not recognize the sound, and prepares a defence spell. Twilight carefully approaches the Kottos. All that remains of Kottos is its charred aluminum skeleton. Snapping Twilight out of her attention to the Kottos, a much louder roar of a griffon’s wings can be herd. Suddenly several griffons fly overhead, opening fire on near by patrolling pegasi. In seconds a full blown battle is going on over head of Twilight. Scootaloo’s 48 hour containment has been completed, and now she is sleeping heavily in her bunk bed. She dreams of 3 missiles exploding behind her, matching the 3 loud bangs on the room’s door. She gets up immediately, in a very minor case of shell shock. She is told by her commander that patrolling pegasi have just engaged griffons in combat. Scootaloo is told her grounded status has been lifted and she will take part in Stalliongrad’s second defence. Briefing is skipped and the the 128th and several other squadrons take off from the Marigold. The situation is explained while the pegasi fly to where their patrol has engaged the griffons. When the griffons realize Scootaloo is is not grounded, they immediately retreat. They ask where Firestorm is, but back at base he is no where to be found. Twilight uses illusion spells to sneak into the griffon base. She pulls Firestorm to the side who immediately counters Twilight and pins her to the ground. When he asked what Twilight was doing there, she responds with her part in the Iusa resistance, and asked Firestorm to help them. After one of Twilight lectures, Firestorm goes with her back to Iusa. The griffon leaders find out about the Iusa resistance and are outraged. Griffons are taken out of the front-lines and into Iusa. Thus helping Equestria’s war effort. Chapter 11: Seaddle Resurgence - : The 128th returns from its sortie. The commanders of the Marigold evaluate the situation. Firestorm has disappeared and that leaves the occupied griffon areas much easier to retake. The war makes a sharp U-turn as Equestrian forces push the griffons back north. In the mean time, the 128th is relegated to much less important missions. Their first big sortie in weeks is the retaking of Seaddle, just south of Gryphus’s border. The resistance in Iusa has leaped to several other griffon cities. Riots and looting are become rampant. More and more griffon troops are being pulled out of Equestria to suppress the rioting. Firestorm has taken a large role in the resistance. Eventually enough cities have over thrown their federal government and secede to the resistance. Which now call them selves the New Republic of Gryphus. Their intent is to overthrow the Stratocratic Gryphus’s military leaders. The New Republic launches an attack on Seaddle around the same time Equestria came to retake it. The 128th and several other squadrons including the Wonderbolts take off at 800 hours to retake Seaddle. Early that morning at 500 hours the New Republic launched its attack on Seaddle. When Equestrian units arrive, they are unsure of who to attack. After much arguing, they are ordered to attack all griffon units. When the pegasi start to shoot down the New Republics fighters, a DJ who calls herself “DJ Scratch” interrupts the Equestrian military radio frequency. She tells the fighters to not attack the New Republics fighter’s. The pegasi are told to belay that request and to continue engaging all griffon fighters. All except for Scootaloo who pleads for the selective targeting. Most of the pegasi, even her own squadron think that the resistance is just a trick. Scootaloo uneasily agrees. The 2 griffon forces soon evacuate the airspace in 2 separate directions. Sky Light notes this and thinks Scootaloo may be right. Seaddle is now under Equestrian control. Twilight writes tens of letters to Celestia telling her that the New Republic wants peace, and is willing and able to help in the war against Gryphus. The princess never replies. Twilight cannot contact Luna either. Firestorm share his concern about his family to Twilight. They embark on a mission to rescue Firestorm’s family. Chapter 12: Family Feathers - : Twilight and Firestorm arrive in Bermingclaw, where Firestorm believes his family is being held. It’s the griffon equivalent to Stalliongrad. The city is still under Gryphus’s control. Twilight cloaks herself in a chariot. Firestorm enters the city pretending to be peasant from a nearby farm. They enter the city without conflict. The city was very different from Iusa. It was packed with griffons who have fled from near by cities for protection. They are afraid that the Equestria will cross the border soon and seek shelter in the city. Many griffons look sick and homeless. The despair of the city reminds Twilight and Firestorm what they are fighting for. Firestorm feels a little greedy rescuing for just his family. The 128th prepares for its sortie on Garuda Air-force base. The airbase where the Apex Squadron were stationed during the preemptive strike. Once the base is taken, Equestria will have access to many cities in Gryphus. Including Bermingclaw. After a long hiatus, the Apex Predators return in the battle for Garuda AFB. 13 new Apex predators take-off from Garuda AFB into the combat airspace. Scootaloo and and Regent pick off a few. The Marigold tries to steals the kill by a surprise attack. Like in the defence of Stalliongrad, it hid in the clouds until it was right over Garuda AFB. Then it proceeded to jump out of the clouds and catch the Apex squadron by surprise. However the griffons have learned how to effectively attack war balloons by exploiting blind spots in the flak cannons area of fire. The Marigold is dealt a heavy blow and recommends that the 128th retreat. However, they do not retreat because Scootaloo wants to regain the trust of Rainbow Dash. After a very long and drawn out dogfight, the 128th finally shoots down all the Apex Predators. Equestria now has a strong foot hold in Gryphus. For the first time in weeks Rainbow Dash talks to Scootaloo, complementing her on her skills. Scootaloo is glad that they are on speaking terms again. With Twilight’s help, Firestorm knows exactly what prison and what cell his family is being held in. His espionage training kicks in. The sound of the rain and the darkness of night time help him sneak into the prison. He reaches his family’s cell after a few difficulties. Only to find it empty with only blood stains on the walls. He walks in to investigate, and feels empty shells on his talons. Soon after the alarm sounds and bright flood light fill the prison. With the advantage of speed on his side, he quickly flies out of the prison and beyond city limits. Twilight only assumes the worst has happened. Chapter 13: Bombing of Bermingclaw - : The rain clouds over Bermingclaw is giving the Equestrian air-force an opportunity for a sneak attack. Celestia herself orders that every war balloon in the Equestrian fleet take part in the siege. Her plan is to completely level Bermingclaw, so all its weapons factories are destroyed. All of her commanders agree that her plan is complete over-kill. But the princess argues that destroying the city is vital to winning the war. In total over 100 airships are assembled and put enroute to Bermingclaw. Scootaloo does not raise concern about the morality of the sortie. She remains quiet as to not anger Rainbow Dash or her superiors anymore then she already has. The war balloons begin assemble over Bermingclaw. The griffon radar operators pass the massive amounts of blips on their radar as an anomaly. Thinking that there could not be that many war balloons. All the airships descend out of the overcasting clouds and commence bombing. The griffons quickly scramble their air-force, but realize they their is no way they could win, and call back all air-born griffons to assist in escorting civilians to the bomb shelters. It’s at this point Scootaloo decides “buck it” and tears off her equipment. Losing her IFF means that the flak cannons now start to fire at her. She lands on the ground and helps herd the confused and scared griffons into the shelters. The griffons recognize Scootaloo, by her infamous record of combat effectiveness, and are over-joyed that she is helping. The griffons that tried to fly out of the city were killed by either a pegasi, or flak fire. When the bombs approached the shelter Scootaloo is helping fill, She and the other griffons fit the last of the civilians inside the shelter, and close it up. The bombing only last 7 hours. The the whole city is destroyed. The air-ship pilots conscious catches up to them, as well as the pegasi’s. They soon notice that Scootaloo is missing. They assume she was KIA. In the shelter, she finds Twilight. Twilight explains her role in the New Republic, and about Firestorm missing. She also shares her concern that Celestia may have bombed the city because she was there. Scootaloo agrees to help Twilight and the New Republic end the war. On the Marigold, Rainbow Dash and the remaining 128th squadrons members mourn the death of Scootaloo. Her equipment, damaged heavily by the bombing, is found. She is marked MIA due to her missing body. Firestorm has long fled the city, but sees its destruction from a far. He was wounded in his escape from the city, and cannot fly very far. He walks his way to Talonbury. Chapter 14: Recuperation - : Firestorm tries to find a good place to sleep in the wilderness. As he is getting comfortable, a sonic rainboom disturbs him. After the fires stopped burning on the surface, the griffons emerged from the bomb shelters. With the help of Twilight’s organizing, they begin to count their dead and help the wounded. Scootaloo takes up to listening DJ Scratch’s radio broadcast. She learns that the Equestrian Air-force is holding a memorial for Scootaloo. Twilight informs Scootaloo that they need to leave the city. Scootaloo and a hand full of griffons escort and guide the convoy to Iusa. High altitude recon pegasi pick up their convoy’s movement, and marks the location for the Marigold to intercept. The war balloon move ahead of the convoy’s expected path and waits in the clouds. Onboard the Marigold, the remaining squad-mates of the 128th is assimilated into the Wonderbolts. How ever with Scootaloo gone, almost none of the pegasi talk to each other. Sky Light misses her conversations and Regent begins to miss the attention he got. At nightfall, Sky Light picks up a single unknown on radar. She alerts the Marigold. According to radar, it is traveling way faster then anypony or griffon could travel. Before the Wonderbolts could scramble, the bogey reaches the Marigold and hit it with a powerful bomb. The bogey disappeared and quickly as it came. a second wave of super-sonic unknowns enter the Marigold’s airspace. The Wonderbolts catch sight of the bogey and describes it as a “Super Sonic Chariot” (SSC). Rainbow Dash performs a sonic-rainboom to catch up to the SSC. She destroys it before it could reach the Marigold. Several more appear on radar. After a slight panic, Sky Light tells them to charge at the SSCs head on. Her plan is effective, the last of the SSC are shot down. Safire, a young griffon that looks barley old enough to fly, swoops in next to Scootaloo and introduces herself. When Scootaloo asked how Safire knew her, she reveals that she is Firestorm’s daughter. When Safire was asked where her mom was, she replied that she was in the convoy. Her mom’s wings were injured in prison she goes on to explain. She talks about how there was a huge fight among the guards over Gryphus and the New Republic. And that some guards were locked up, or in worse cases shot. When nightfall came, the whole convoy set up camp. Twilight, following her hunch that she was still being hunted, told every griffon to make sure their chariots and wagons were camouflaged. Safire, Scootaloo, and Twilight, heart warming converse next to a small camp fire. The first light hearted conversation Scootaloo can remember having in a long time. While Scootaloo was listening to DJ Scratch’s radio broadcast, a sonic-rainboom blast the convoy’s camp. A few moments later, the rainboom is heard through Scratch’s broadcast. She is silent for a second before a resounding wow can be heard from the camp and DJ Scratch. Chapter 15: Reunion - : Firestorm is unaware that he is being followed by high altitude recon pegasi. When he reaches Talonbury, a small force is assembled to seize the city. In the city, Firestorm replenishes his supplies and leaves. Regent and Sky Light can’t take abandoning their friend Scootaloo anymore, they both agree that what Equestria is doing is wrong and decide to travel to the New Republic’s hub in Talonbury, a small town near Iusa. In the middle of the night, they both sneak out, steal a chariot, and fly to Talonbury. Regent and Sky Light were unaware of the siege on Talonbury that morning. By the time they reached the town, it was under attack by a small scale force of pegasi. Having not taken any weapons for them selves, Sky Light tells Regent to fly directly into the center of the dogfight. Sky Light using her advanced levitation magic redirects all the missiles fired to the pegasi. All pegasi are soon eliminated from the airspace. The griffons celebrate the one of few victories they get, and escort Regent and Sky Light to the New Republic’s hub. They are enlisted and told to fly to Iusa. A search party from the Marigold is sent out to find Regent and Sky Light. Twilight’s convoy begins to move again at dawn. They reach Iusa at around mid-night, and the New Republic officials direct Twilight’s convoy to a refugee camp. Scootaloo is enlisted to help the New Republic, and is immediately sent out to attack a war balloon set up near Talonbury. They identify the war balloon as “Marigold.” Scootaloo does not want to take part in the sortie, as she does not want to fight her friends. The commander brings in the captain of the squadron attacking the Marigold, Regent. Scootaloo becomes over joyed her friends are part of the New Republic, and Regent is stunned that Scootaloo is alive. Hugs for everypony in the reunited 128th. They all agree that the ponies on the Marigold are good ponies, and plead that they try to get the Marigold to join their cause. The commander uneasily agrees. After a short power nap, they all leave inbound the Marigold at 400 hours. They are intercepted by the search party, that tries to shoot them down.Search party with weapons everypony! After dealing with the search party, the 128th’s confidence in the Marigold is lowered. They reach the Marigold with several commanders and the Wonderbolts waiting for them. After back and forth arguing between the 128th and the Marigold’s commanders, Rainbow Dash becomes hostile and attacks Scootaloo and only Scootaloo. The Wonderbolts soon follow, while the rest of the 128th take defensive measures. The 128th never fire a single missile at the Wonderbolts. Eventually Regent decides they best course of action at this point is to destroy the Marigold. He hits the already damaged Marigold at weak points created by the SSC attacks. The Marigold is disabled but not destroyed. It slowly looses altitude and crashes into the ground. The 128th flee. Bet you didn't see that coming. Chapter 16: Knossos Fortress - : Throughout the week, Firestorm had been looking for Gryphus’s Aeronautical Research Facility. To help keep Iusa in the New Republic’s talons, a sortie will be commenced at Knossos Fortress. Because the base is so heavily fortified, the New Republic intends to bomb and starve to fortress. They have more then enough units to create a blockade all around the base, and with the 128th, they can knock out the power plants and destroy long ranged artillery units. And keep any pegasi from flying away. Making a counter attack from inside the base next to impossible. Their sortie begins at 1100 hours. The 128th fly in first with cover from anti-ground fighters. They make quick work of the power plant. They attack artillery units while demolition crews blow up railroads leading to the base. in a couple of hours the base is isolated and crippled. New Republic units begin to wait out the slowly starving pegasi. For a little while the pegasi tried to breach the airspace, but where shot down by the 128th. However they soon realize it is Scootaloo they were fighting. The pegasi are confused, most thought she was dead, others heard about what she did to the Marigold. At that point in the war, Scootaloo was a iconic figure only bested by Rainbow Dash. Even though everypony thought she was dead, the Equestrian air-force used her as a recruitment icon. So most of the pegasi’s opinions of her were high. The Bombing of Bermingclaw also left Equestria denounced internationally, as well as internally. A lot of ponies wanted to usurp the Equestrian government. This lead to Knossos’s surrender and absorption of pegasi fighters. The New Republic now had an air-force more balanced by griffons and pegasi. International relations with Equestria has soured for most of the world, and with the New Republic trying to defend its people, it receives international attention. The New Republic begins to collect allies in its war against Equestria. Many different species are sent to help defend the New Republic. Among them, Chimeras, Zebras, Bears, and Diamond Dogs. The sea serpents act a a navy for the New Republic. Firestorm’s training allows him to steal military documents. Upon reading them, he hurries to Iusa. If you played Ragno Fortress in AC:6, that's the feel I was going for. Also the American Civil war has a parallel to this chapter. Only If you switched the events around and the south was the one attacking the north. In actuality, the north invaded and got the international help it needed to win. Chapter 17: Iusa Assault - : (note, written in extreme ambiguity mode, holes need to be filled) Firestorm finds the wreckage of the Marigold. He arms himself with all the undamaged equipment he can find. Swarms of pegasi and a hand-full of airships are over the griffon capital. All combat ready griffons and pegasi take off. Along with the help of the New Republic’s many allies, the Equestrian force is pushed back. Until a wave of reinforcements arrive to back up the Equestrian force. Mainly the Wonderbolts. After much bickering between Twilight and Scootaloo, they agree to evacuate the airspace. While a retreat is being ordered, Firestorm makes a surprise appearance after a long hiatus. He surprises the Equestrian pegasi and shoots most of them down. Most of the New Republic's units have fled the combat airspace. The 128th, and Firestorm are all that stands in the way of Iusa from being taken by the Wonderbolts. The 2 Aces squadrons engage in an intense dogfight, but with the 128th prevailing. Only Rainbow Dash and a few Wonderbolts made it out alive. They fled but not without Rainbow Dash making snipe remarks to Scootaloo. A celebration is held. The 128th and Twilight ask Firestorm many questions about where he has been, before he can explain the intelligence he found, he is reunited with his family. The 128th feel very proud of them selves. More good news comes as Equestria has agreed to a cease fire. During the celebration of their victory several hours later, Firestorm pulls the 128th and Twilight away to finally inform them about the intelligence he found. The celebration is cut short to prepare immediately for the assault on the Aeronautical Research Facility (ARF). That note at the beginning was too myself. To this day I don't know how that battle should have gone. Chapter 18: Fire and Ice - : The 128th, Firestorm included, fly over the flat icy plains that their next way point lies on. Along with them is a large force of griffons and pegasi. Their mission is simply to destroy the Aeronautical Research Facility by any and all means. The intelligence only gave information on a high-tech extreme maneuverability platform. And hints at a complex life-support system. The platform is designs so that a griffon sits and pilots it, rather the wear it. As the approach the base, a single high speed object is detected coming in head on. Before the pegasi and griffons could even think, it shot past them, shooting down one of the ponies, and making an insanely sharp turn at high speed. The air-force breaks in to attacking stance, and chases the object. The girffons and pegasi split. The object is named F-01 “Wyvern”. Many pegasi break into pursuit but could not catch the Wyvern. When they wonder how any griffon could take the abuse of such high g-forces. Sky Light replies cryptically with saying that the life support system forces the griffon to stay alive no matter what. When Firestorm lands a hit on the Wyvern, the fire from his FAEB formed a bubble around the aircraft, exposing a shield. The pegasi become panicked and fear it cannot be shot down. However, they land a coordinated hit on the Wyvern and destroy its shield. The Wyvern is finally shoot down, and the griffons finish destroying the ARF. Before the wreckage of the Wyvern crashes, a pained “thank you” can be heard over the radio. Firestorm recognises the voice as Sova’s. Further investigating the wreckage of the ARF, specialist find what appears to be a prototype to a nuclear bomb. Further intelligence includes plans to use the final version of the bomb to destroy Canterlot.References... everywhere... Chapter 19: Friendship of Mass Destruction - : The 128th are briefed on the mission to destroy Gryphus’s WMD. They believe that informing Equestria of a nuclear threat would hasten the detonation of the bomb. So the New Republic took matters into its own talons. If they fail Canterlot and the surrounding area will be wiped out. They are all outfitted with bulky stealth armour. Their mobility is impaired greatly, but they say they won’t need to do any dogfighting. They are ordered to complete the mission no matter what, then flee. At 1300 hours, during troop rotation, the 128th’s sortie begins. They fly through the narrow canyon know as Ghastly Gorge. The terrain is very difficult to fly through. Rainbow Dash is the best navigator of the gorge. Luckily, the gorge is void of any pony life. Once they clear Ghastly Gorge, they will fly as quickly as possible to the presumed bomb’s location. Residence are likely to see them flying and report it. On near their waypoint, Rainbow Dash intercepts the 128th. Rainbow Dash breaks the cease fire agreement and the 128th are forced to initiate a dogfight. Regent tells Scootaloo that him and Firestorm will hold of Rainbow Dash while Scootaloo will destroy the bomb. Scootaloo dumps her armour and flies as fast as she can, nearly breaking the sound barrier. She quickly puts a lot of distance between her and Rainbow Dash. Shortly after she flees, Rainbow Dash breaks the sound barrier, catches up to Scootaloo in a very short amount of time, and lands a surprise hit on Scootaloo. Causing her to crash. Her oxygen tank burst causing her to explode. The 128th are in disbelief that Scootaloo is shoot down. They are able to destroy the bomb when Rainbow Dash suddenly flees the airspace. Swarms of rescue ponies are seen heading to inspect Scootaloo’s crash site. The 128th fly back and deliver the dire news of Scootaloo I don't know if I should have named this chapter just Weapons of Mass Destruction. Obvious reference to the AC:6 level in terms of setting and name. Epilogue: - 1 Week Later - : Rainbow Dash is observing Scootaloo’s statue at the foot of Canterlot’s castle. It reads “Equestria’s Unsung Hero: Scootaloo. For her loyalty to Griffon kind and Pony kind alike.” Rainbow Dash apologies to the statue. Behind her Scootaloo, in her wheel chair, apologies back. She tells Rainbow they need to return the the gym to continue Scootaloo’s rehabilitation. Rainbow pushes Scootaloo’s wheel chair down the road. I though this ending was satisfying, Scootaloo meets the same fate a Marcus did in AC:6. And Firestorm lives to tell the tail, unlike Pasternak. I had a squeal planned to involve the stolen wreckage of the F-01 into Abysus and an Equestrian invasion and the Chimeras invading too. The Belgium of the conflict if it were WWII. But unless people will write that for me, it won't ever see the light of day. Here's the final map
