The Equestrian Air Force

-(1 hour later. Maneila City's Largest Bay.)-

At the city of Maneila, it seems that AI gunboats and drones weren't only aiming at the escort of the FFS Latitude. Razor Whisk's Bandits and Corvettes were attacking the Fillyppino Navy and Archer Squadron. They did all they can to protect the city and the ships or air units at the same time. All hoped that reinforcements of the FMS Tsunami and the Task Force X flights would arrive not too late.

"This is the FFS Amber calling to all ships. We have more of those unknown corvettes. I repeat, more are coming."

"This is Archer 1. Roger." Zander nodded. "We'll deal with some of the ships and mostly the drones."

"Archer Leader, is there any reinforcements arriving at all?" The Captain of the FFS Amber asked.

"Yeah. Arion, Warrior, and Raptor flight with the FMS Tsunami and its fleet will be arriving here shortly." Zander replied. He looked at his squadron and contacted them. "Alright Archer flight. Engage the drones at short or medium range, but the unknown corvette ships at long range. Wouldn't want your plane full of holes."

One of his squad members responded. "Archer 4 acknowledges. I'll take care of the drones."

"You're not doing it alone Random Hooves." Archer 3 boosted by him.

"Alright Nightshade Smoke. Keep that hoof on the stick." Random Hooves said.

"No problem. Engaging drones." Nightshade Smoke pursued one drone.

Coming from the east, we see a few Task Force X flights with some Fillyppine Navy ships following. Above them was the largest plane ever built in the E.R.A.F, the AAC-113 Albatross. Arion Flight was in front of Warrior and Raptor Flight as they looked at the Bay of Maneila.

"Darn." Rainbow Dash said in annoyance. "They sent one wave at us and one wave at the capital. Smart." She said.

"Least you can have fun twice." Cloud Dash smirked.

HandyFlash contacted Archer squadron. "Archer flight. This is Arion. Guess you weren't the only ones to get your hooves dirty." He said.

"Pretty much. You are cleared to engage anything that is hostile." Zander said.

"Roger that." HandyFlash hung up. "Arion flight, make the drones explode like fireworks."

"Enjoy the show." Thunderlane boosted up.

"I will alright." Neon Nimbus said while in the AAC-113.

"Archer 4 to Arion Leader. We will help out as well." Random Hooves said.

"Be advised, we have a reconnaissance plane pilot called Meteor in the clouds." Nightshade Smoke told them.

Cloudchaser looked up and saw his plane just above them. "Meteor. It's been a long time." She smirked.

"Yeah. I was called here for assistance. I'll keep you all updated." Meteor said and continued flying.

Cloud Dash ordered his squad to attack. "Alright. Lets kick these drones and corvettes out of my homeland." Cloud Dash fired a missile and struck one drone.

"Roger that. Arion Squadron, Be advised. Warrior and Raptor Squadron are in the east of Maneila assisting Meteor and the Maneila Navy. Proceed to their position to assist." Neon Nimbus ordered.

"Arion acknowledges. Cloudchaser, follow me in." HandyFlash said and turned towards the east.

"I'm on it." Cloudchaser followed HandyFlash as they both used afterburners to move in faster.

A transmission was being heard. "This is Captain Cyclone. We need assistance to clear out the air full of those drone buggers."

"This is Arion Flight, the rest of us will be there soon. Help is on the way." HandyFlash responded. "Arion 2,3,4,5,6,7, and 8. You all attack the ships and tones in the bay. Rainbow Dash, you lead them."

"You got it." Rainbow Dash banked right to split up.

HandyFlash and Cloudchaser barrel rolled down and flew in a smooth formation. They saw four AI corvette ships firing on the Fillypino ships as they fired back. They reduced speed and switched on their helmet display.

"Arion 9. Fire on my mark."

"Roger that Arion." They got in closer until they got tone.

"In range. Fire…NOW!" HandyFlash and Cloudchaser each fired two missiles as one of each headed to the four AI ships. The four ships exploded as steam rose up from the fire touching the salty water.

"Four enemy ships silenced. Thanks Arion Flight." The FFS Amber thanked.

"Anytime Amber." Cloudchaser said.

Rainbow Dash's eye caught a drone heading towards HandyFlash and Cloudchaser. She pursued the drone and fired her auto cannons to disable the fly. It did evasive maneuvers as best as it can, but was hit on the engine and dived straight down to the waters.

"Drone down." Rainbow Dash called.

"Niiice." Daniel complimented.

"Thanks."

"All flights and ships in the area. We have confirmed three of those air deployed ships are not going in the water. Bombs are on their wings." Neon Nimbus called out.

Kira groaned. "Great. They have bombers now."

Dimitri headed towards the bombers and fired his cannons at the front. "Guns guns." He spooled and fired his rounds. He passed by it and pointed his aircraft's nose up then back to follow its tail. HandyFlash arrived by him and fired his cannon rounds as well. As they both accurately fired their rounds, one bomber went down. As it was falling, the wing broke that had a bomb on it as it flew into a AI Corvette.

Dimitri laughed. "One bomber and one ship down."

HandyFlash chuckled. "Yup."

The FMS Tsunami turned the ship around to face the cannons at the AI Corvettes to engage without them knowing. The large cannons fired first and created a wave from the force. No wonder they call it the FMS Tsunami. The second cannon that was the size of shed fired another and sunk one corvette.

Captain Sand Stone looked above her and saw one of the bombers. The sirens sings as the bombs were dropping onto them. "GET DOWN!" She yelled as everyone of her crew covered their heads as the bombs hit the water and exploded. The ship took minor damage and now sailor were injured.

Sand Stone got back up. "Shoot that bomber! Earthquake Cannon, aim!"

The Cannon named Earthquake aimed at the bomber that just passed by them and aimed. It was in a effective spot to fire. "Fire!" The cannon controller said and shot a huge round at the bomber. The bomber exploded into a huge orange fireball as shredded metal splashed.

"Nice shot. Cannons! Keep engaging the AI ships." Sand Stone ordered.

Fluttershy saw the last bomber that was closing in to the city. She was the only one closer to it, so she had no choice. She gave a game face for the first time to shoot down the bomber. She aimed for the wings first because it was more thinner, but harder to hit. She had trouble to hit the wings of the bomber. But unexpectedly, Thunderlane arrived right next to her.

Fluttershy sighed in relief. "Am I glad to see you. I need help Thunderlane."

"That's what I'm here for." Thunderlane smirked and fired a missile at one of the wings. It struck the wing as the bomber spinner out of control.

Fluttershy finished it by firing her guns to make the bomber go only straight down. They both turned back into the bay to engage more drones.

With Raptor Squadron, Dimitri turned his aircraft away from the battle zone as his three other members followed him. He contacted Neon Nimbus to ask her permission for something. "General? I saw some drones going in the far east of the capital. Request permission to pursue."

"Uh…Copy that Raptor 1. You are cleared to go after." Neon Nimbus accepted his request. She contacted HandyFlash. "Arion 1. All hostiles are almost down. Raptor 1 will pursue any drones secretly passing through."

"Roger that Neon."

On the FFS Amber, her whole group was ready to fire rounds at the other AI corvette ships. "Alpha Check." The captain said as the cannons focused their scope on the corvettes that were firing at the FMS Tsunami. "Check!" One of the crew said. "Roger. Bruiser!" The captain said and fired an anti-ship missile at one of the corvettes. The missile struck its target and destroyed it to pieces. The explosion caused a wave which made the nearby corvettes flip over by the powerful wave. "Multiple hostile ships sunk."

At the air, HandyFlash was being chased by two drones as they fired their missiles, but was missed by HandyFlash's flares. He looked around and saw only five ships remaining. "Arion 7. Engage the corvettes." He ordered.

"I hear you. Beginning my run." Dumbbell nodded and lowered his altitude and fired his missiles into some ships. He disabled three and one was destroyed, but two were active. The two AI ships fired on Dumbbell's aircraft and caused some damage. "This is Arion 7. Pulling out of the effective area." Dumbbell turned away saying he couldn't do another strafe run.

"Roger. Blossomforth and Derpy, take care of the ships. Leave me to one." HandyFlash told them.

"Arion 5 roger. Arion 6, follow me in." Blossomfroth said.

"Right behind yah Blossomforth."

HandyFlash made the two drones follow him. He had a trick up his sleeve to destroy the two drones and one ship at the same time. He went to one of the undamaged corvettes and headed straight towards the ship. It was like he was going to crash into it. But, he did a cobra maneuver to slow him down from going forward and pointed his aircraft's nose up. He hit the throttle and made his aircraft go up as he broke the sound barrier. As for the drones, they crashed into the ship and destroyed it.

"Arion, this is Warrior Leader." Cloud Dash called. "Do you have visual on Raptor Squadron anywhere?"

"He and his flight were pursuing hostile drones that were secretly going through around the outside of the city. Why?" HandyFlash asked.

"He's not on my radar with his squadron." Cloud Dash replied. "Meteor? Any sign?"

"Negative. Nothing new on my radar as well." Meteor said.

"Alright. We'll look for them when we finish these ships and drones off."

Meteor flew down into one of the ships and dive bombed it with four medium size bombs. Derpy followed him as well as she fired her missiles at the AA guns firing at him. Flitter swooped by and fired her guns at the ship and disabled it. With one final drop, the ship was destroyed.

"All ships are down."

Rainbow Dash followed HandyFlash to take out the last drone making a retreat. They took turns on firing their missiles as the drone dropped flares on them. They decided to fire their guns on it. Aiming at the wings because of the missile on them, one round penetrated through and shredded the drone down.

"All drones are down!" Rainbow Dash cheered.

"Roger that flights and ships. Good job." Neon Nimbus said.

HandyFlash looked at Cloud Dash and nodded. "Alright. You can search for Raptor squadron now. We'll protect the bay." He said.

"Roger." Cloud Dash nodded and turned his aircraft to the outside of the city limits.

"Neon Nimbus?" Fluttershy called. "Is Twilight and the rest okay? Also is Princess Luna okay?"

"Yup. They're here. Don't worry about it." Neon Nimbus responded. "Alright. We gotta land this thing. We're a bullseye at this height." She said and manually landed the huge AAC-113 on the open outskirts of the city of Maneila. The Navy stayed at the bay just in case another attack is back.

Cloud Dash was ordered to do a search around the island while the whole Maneila Navy and the E.R.A.F were still taking from the south. Cloud Dash continued to look at his radar, his view, and for smoke just in case somepony was giving a sign for help. He was chosen for this because of his aircraft is a VTOL jet that can hover above any suspicious area.

"Warrior 1 to Arion 1. Still nothing. How's the flights and the ones of the Maneila Navy?" Cloud Dash asked.

"It's all good. Nothing but smooth SAILING." HandyFlash chuckled.

Cloud Dash rolled his eyes. "Wow. That's not really much of a joke."

Princess Luna on the AAC-113 used the radio to speak. "It sounds kind of like one. Right?" She said.

Cloud Dash was about to speak, but in the corner of his eye, he saw three areas that had smoke rising in the air. "Hang on everypony. I think I see something." He hung up and turned his aircraft to the three smokey areas.

Meteor, who was high up on the sky on his plane, was watching overhead. He noticed the three smokes as well, then contacted Cloud Dash. "Hey CD, do you see what I see?" He asked to make sure he wasn't imagining it.

"Yeah. I see three smokes. If that's what you see." Cloud Dash told him.

"Roger. Be careful." Meteor hung up.

Cloud Dash slowed down his aircraft and locked it on to hover mode. The trees still blocked the way, so he moved up a bit to get a closer and clear look. His eyes widened by the result of what was causing the smoke.

"Warrior 1 to Neon Nimbus?" Cloud Dash called.

"Roger Warrior. Did you get anything?" Neon Nimbus responded.

"We got three Task Force X pilots down. Raptor 2, 3, and 4." Cloud Dash identified the emblems on the planes. They were confirmed to be from Raptor Squadron.

HandyFlash's eyes widened when he heard that on the radio. He turned his plane to Cloud Dash's position. Same thing went with his whole squadron. They all followed him in.

Neon Nimbus almost dropped the mic. She just found out Daniel, Kira, and Kelly just got shot down. They are either alive and lost in the woods, or brought to the ground along with their planes. "Roger. I'll send in Search and Rescue birds with medics." She hung up and covered her face. 'No. That can't be true.' She thought, but there was nowhere to face. Cloud Dash would never lie about a serious situation. She felt ashamed because she wanted to keep her pilots safe. Princess Luna went up to Neon Nimbus and looked at her.

"It wasn't your fault." Luna said. Neon Nimbus just sat there covering her face. "Neoma Nimisha, it's okay." She said by using her real name. Neon Nimbus looked at Luna and looked down. In her surprise, Luna hugged her.

Neon Nimbus sighed. "I'm gonna have to get use to it as a General of the Air Force, right?" She closed her eyes and breathed in and out calmly. Luna nodded sadly.

"Yes. I'm afraid leaders have their own problems and struggles as well, General."

A few minutes after, SAR birds arrived at the three crash sites. Cloud Dash landed his aircraft on an open spot of the forest and assisted the medical ponies. Some ponies were searching around the crash of scrap metal for any sign of the pilots and most were looking around the forest. Cloud Dash walked up to a mare, who was in charge of the Search and Rescue and asked the situation.

"Ma'am? How's the status on the three crashes?" Cloud Dash asked. The mare shook her head.

"Only one pilot was found. The other two are missing. We can't find these two named Daniel and Kelly." She said.

Cloud Dash looked at Raptor 2 and 3's aircraft that was now scrap metal. He couldn't believe it was his first time to see what happens if you get shot down. "What about Kira? Is she okay?" He asked.

She pointed at the carriage that had Kira was in. "Kira is unconscious. We need to get her out of here now."

"Okay. Tell your SAR birds to go to the AAC-113's medical room." Cloud Dash ordered. The mare nodded and went to the carriage to get Kira out of the area or else she will be more than unconscious.

Cloud Dash just remained where he was, staring at the crash sites. He hoped Kira would get better. But he felt more worried about Daniel and Kelly because they were nowhere to be found. He decided to help out with the Search and Rescue and return back to the city's landing zone. He looked at the AAC-113 in the distance and saw that it was landing by the outskirts of Maneila. Good. Because carriages have trouble reaching the AAC-113 at high altitude.

-(AAC-113 Medical Room.)-

Doctors were trying their best to keep Kira from losing her vitals. Bandages were wrapped around her hooves, wings, and forehead. All of Arion Squadron, Twilight and the rest, and Neon Nimbus were watching poor Kira getting treated by the doctors to keep her still alive. Kira was breathing normally as she was still unconscious; which was still a relief. They all waited patiently if they were allowed to go in to check up on her. As Twilight asked nicely and the doctor quietly accepted, they all went in and saw her half-awake. She looked at them with the same expression as they all smiled and said hello one by one.

Blossomforth gently went to her and smiled. "Hello Lieutenant." She said quietly. "Are you okay?"

Kira stayed silent. She looked down on her hooves and saw a vision of her flying her aircraft. In the vision, she saw her plane getting hit by cannon rounds by an enemy plane. Her eyes widened in shock as her vision continued and showed her plane facing the ground as it got closer. On her left was her other squad members, Daniel and Kelly's planes hitting the ground. From out of the vision, Blossomforth tried to make her snap out of it. As the vision ended, Kira sat up quietly. Next thing she did was she started crying from the horrors of the event and the lost of her squad members, especially her sister, Lieutenant Kelly.

Everyone in the room was completely saddened by the feeling of Kira. It's like her painful feelings went through them like water dripping through paper. Fluttershy tried her best to hold back tears, but this was too much for her. She sobbed quietly and hugged Rainbow Dash's neck. Dash seeing Fluttershy like this effected her as well. Her chest was empty and cold. She hugged her back and comforted her foalhood friend.

Blossomforth hugged Kira gently to not make a sudden pain. HandyFlash joined in as well. HandyFlash dropped one tear only.

"M-My sister…I-I don't know if s-she's still alive…" Kira spoke with a chocked and shaking voice.

Princess Luna smiled lightly. "I'm sure they're alright. There's still hope to find them." She said.

HandyFlash looked at Kira and nodded. "They're fine. I'm sure they are."

She hiccuped and nodded back and locked down sadly. She closed her eyes and the vision came back to her. Instead of the horrors of the cockpit view where she was going to crash, she saw the plane that shot her down. She looked around and saw the smoke trail of a missile. She followed it and ended up behind her. It was…

Kira froze with her eyes widened, but the others didn't notice. Twilight looked at everyone. "We should let her rest. She might recover faster if possible." Twilight suggested.

They all agreed as they all gave Kira good luck and a get well sign. HandyFlash was the last one in the room with Kira. He walked slowly to the door, but was stopped by Kira.

"Colonel?" She called quietly.

HandyFlash looked back and saw her still sitting up. "What is it?" He asked politely.

"I-I…It's about me getting shot down." She said. "I just remembered something that just came to me." She added.

He raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean? You mean you know who shot you down?"

Kira's mane covered her one eye and nodded. "In my vision…" She stopped.

HandyFlash waited patiently. "What happened?"

"I saw…" She repeated. "I saw…Raptor 1…" She finally said it.

HandyFlash froze. 'D-Dimitri?' He thought. 'W-Wait…No. That can't be true.' He nervously spoke. "He was…protecting you, righ-"

"HE SHOT ALL OF US DOWN!" Kira yelled as her forelegs shook violently.

HandyFlash flinched by her sudden yelling. He wrapped a blanket around her shaking forelegs and calmed her down. "Easy. Easy." He sighed. "Why would Dimitri do that?" He asked.

"I heard him say…'Razor Whisk is my friend. And I would never betray…my comrade'. Was all I heard. His radio was still on when he said that. When I was about to speak to him, he engaged us in an instant." Kira told him.

"Why? Just…why?" HandyFlash's eyes widened as he was remembering something.

The first thing to pop into HandyFlash's head was 4913920189. Those numbers were from one of Razor Whisk's allies' plane. It was on one pilot's plane named Vampir 1. He thought about the numbers as hard as he can. Something was coming to him and…his lightbulb lighted up.

4/9/13/9/20/18/9

D- 4th Letter of the Alphabet

I- 9th Letter of the Alphabet

M- 13th Letter of the Alphabet

I- 9th Letter of the Alphabet

T- 20th Letter of the Alphabet

R- 18th Letter of the Alphabet

I- 9th Letter of the Alphabet

It all spelled out as 'Dimitri'. The leader of Raptor Squadron that Kira was in. More came to his mind than he thought.

-(Canterlot. *Before the defense of Vanhoover.*)-

Dimitri looked at HandyFlash and nodded hello. "Colonel. How's your stay at the base?" He asked.

HandyFlash rolled his eyes. "Boring." He said in annoyance. "All we did was just relax our wings."

One of Dimitri's squad mates smiled. "Well, least you had time to take a break, you know?"

"I agree. So. What are the four of you doing here right now?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Neon Nimbus has assigned us to stay at the base to protect the runway. She also said something about the nine of you." Dimitri tapped his chin with his hoof. "Oh yeah. You all need to report to her at once."

Derpy raised her eyebrow. "Us?" She asked.

"Eeyup. In the briefing room. No need to rush. She said the meeting will begin in 25 minutes. All Task Force X pilots except us are recalled there." Dimitri said and led his squadron into Canterlot.

(30 minutes later.)

"Squad. I'll be in the air. I thought I saw something above the clouds." Dimitri said.

"You want us to come with?" Daniel asked. Dimitri shook his head 'No'.

"Negative. Just keep an eye out." Dimitri ordered and outside. He didn't went to his hangar that had his plane. Instead, he flew north. His entire squadron was unable to witness or hear this because they were inside a restaurant.

(In Vanhoover)

"What? How come I didn't spot them on radar?" Meteor asked.

"They probably have stealth capabilities. Hold on." Rainbow Dash changed her comm. "Unknown flight, state your intentions." She said.

"Lt. Colonel Rainbow Dash. Here's your answer." One of the pilots said and fired a missile. Dimitri was the one to engage first.

"Woah!" Rainbow Dash barrel rolled to avoid the missile.

"We just came to stop by to say, 'Hello'." The leader of the unknown squadron said.

The six planes quickly passed by the Arion squadron. They all saw the planes appearance and recognized it. "Razor Whisk." They all said.

"Ah. Did I tell you I brung my little friend along?" Razor Whisk said as another aircraft went in the same level with him.

"Arion squadron. Good to see again." The pilot said. For the evidence, it was Dimitri.

"Vampir 1. We were just talking about you in our base." Rainbow Dash glared at his aircraft. "Now, who are you exactly?" She asked.

"My identity is no longer allowed to be shown." Dimitri said and followed Razor Whisk to make another pass.

(During the battle at sea.)

"Raptor Leader to Arion Flight. My comms are getting a bit messy. I'll be back below three minutes." Dimitri called.

"Copy that." HandyFlash accepted. "Warrior Flight, take care of the drones. We'll deal with the ships."

"Roger that Arion. Don't worry about us." Cloud Dash said and continued to attack the drones.

Kira looked at her Leander's plane and saw him fixing his radio. "Raptor 1? You okay?" She asked.

"I'm good. Hold on. I gotta reset this thing." Was all Dimitri said before his radio was off.

Next thing he did was to disable the communication on the ships and the rest of the flights. He switched his channel to a different one and called in a familiar name. Other Vampir Squadron members.

"Vampir 1 to Vampir 4. You are cleared for attack." Dimitri told the leader of the small group.

"Vampir 4 to 1. We will commence our strike. Heading to battle zone." Vampir 4 banked his aircraft and turned towards the battle zone as the rest of the group followed.

"Roger. The flights named Warrior and Raptor Squadron are not worth shooting down. Focus your fire on Arion Squadron." Dimitri ordered a direct engagement to Arion Squadron only.

"Copy that. I'll put their wings on a plate." Vampir 4 said coldly as he led the way to the battle zone.

(Maneila outskirts)

"Goodbye my pilots. Razor Whisk is my friend. And I would never betray my comrade." Dimitri said and locked onto Daneil, Kira, and Kelly's aircrafts as the missiles hit them straight through the center of their planes.

HandyFlash looked at Kira and frowned. "So…he really did do it." He sighed.

"I'm sorry." Kira apologized. She knew him and Dimitri were good challenging ones to each other. But to think it was all fake under Razor Whisk's orders.

HandyFlash's frown began to fade away. He started to breath in and out slowly. Kira looked at him and saw he wasn't depressed at all anymore. But angry. In HandyFlash's head, all he wanted to do is go after Dimitri for what he did that didn't only effect Kira, but him, his squadron and his friends. He didn't want him to get away with it at all. HandyFlash got up and opened the door to leave, but was stopped by Kira again.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

HandyFlash showed hatred in his eyes. "After Dimitri." He simply answered.

"But…you don't know where he is at." Kira worriedly said.

"That's why I'm gonna find out now."

Kira hopelessly couldn't stop him. She knew anger would win against how much she was hurt physically and emotionally. She looked down at her hooves that were wrapped by blankets by HandyFlash. "Just…be safe." She said.

HandyFlash went over to her and hugged her. "Just…I hope you feel better."

-(Unknown Location in the Fillyppines.)-

"Razor Whisk. The deal is completed." One of the members of Rogue squadron said to his leader.

"Good. Good." Razor Whisk smiled in satisfaction that all are according to plan. "Dimitri?" He called.

"Yes Razor?" Dimitri arrived by his left.

"You're in charge of guarding our package. If any Equestrian flying dodo bird arrives, shoot them down without hesitation." Razor Whisk said.

"Of course." Dimitri nodded.

"Alright. Lets get out of this place."