Ace Combat: Hooves of Solace

Ace 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