Chapters The birth of flame flyer was on the 16th April 1998 in Manehattan hospital she was a black Pegasus with hair that stuck backwards and looked just like a flame with red, orange and yellow sections and her eyes were a fiery red. Her father worked with the police and her mother at a bakery, they also had a 3 year old brother who had a fascination with the navy. When Flame Flyer was taken home for the first time, there were lots of toys waiting in her room to be played with, she was routing through all her toys when she came to a toy plane, it was green on top and red on the bottom and had bright blue windows. Every day she would play with this plane flying it in her right hoof all around the house sometimes knocking things over in her path! If she wasn't playing with her toy, she would usually be flying around and usually crashing into things.
Two long years had gone by and Flame Flyer was taken to her first air show, she liked the fighters that displayed especially the Equestrian F-15 c's the Ultimate of the eagle fighters, she loved the roar of the two engines on afterburner, the sound filled her ears but she didn't care how loud it was unlike the other fillies who would keep on crying. Because she liked the F-15 so much she was gifted a model of one. When she went home, Flame flyer would just constantly stare at the model all day and all night she would just keep on smiling and kept on focusing on it totally unaware of what was going on around her.
Five years had flown by and flame flyer graduated to the R.E.A.F cadets flying Cessna 182's where she started getting cocky. When other pilots were trained on the basics like roll, pitch and yaw, Flame Flyer was already doing loops and barrel roll's and flying under low bridges scaring her instructors to a point where they wouldn't fly along with her. After many dangerous flights, Flame Flyer was told to go to the Commanding officer's room, he didn't seem happy, "What do think your'e doing pulling off dangerous stunts like that? The Cessna 182 is not designed for your style of flying is it?!"
Twenty minutes later, the C-23 Sherpa touched down at Norwood air base. Flame Flyer was greeted by a Tornado GR-4 with its wings fully swept back at an altitude of about 200 feet, she got really excited. Norwood air base was next to the coast and had two runways with a length of about 9,000 feet for the north/south facing one and about 8,500 feet for the north west/east east facing one. Norwood air base was also the primary airbase for Lancaster bombers during World war two then being replaced by the bigger more powerful Avro Lincoln after the war, which was then replaced by the Avro Vulcan. The Squadron for the bombers, (672 squadron) moved to Harmony air base, 23 miles south west of Norwood air base and 4 miles away from Ponyville. 672 squadron currently operates B-52's, as it is one of few intercontinental bombers left in the world.
Flame Flyer was immediately told to go to the briefing room, there she found the C.O for the base who was to be given a tour of the base, "Welcome to Norwood air base, this is one of 27 air bases in Equestria. Now Flame Flyer, time for your tour of the base, first to the west hangars." The C.O and Flame Flyer stepped into a Land Rover Defender 110 and were at the west Hangars within an instant, they stepped out and the C.O started talking, "Equestria may seem a peaceful place but actually were at a constant state of alert from multiple countries up north, these countries are the New Lunar Republic, Nationalist Republic of Sombra and Changelingland, so we must keep on top in power of these countries, at these hangars, we have E-3 A.W.A.C.S, which stands for Airborne warning and control system."
Flame Flyer was back in briefing and now went by the name Burner, her colleague went by the name Eclipse, a colt who was brown and had black hair that spiked forward, he was always wearing sunglasses. The C.O briefed on her mission, "You will be flying today over Ponyville as you will be joined by Rainbow Dash for some Practice combat you will not be permitted to go over 10,000 ft on this mission, you will be joined by Bullet Rider and Rupture, good luck!"
After 7 minutes, Burner and Bullet rider were over Ponyville with rainbow dash waiting for them on a cloud, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy cheering for Rainbow Dash with Twilight and Pinkie being Cheerleaders! A.T.C cleared them to engage. Immediately, Rainbow Dash went down with Burner and Bullet rider doing a split s maneuver to get her. Next, Rainbow Dash thought it would be funny to go low level past her friends and through Ponyville and to try and get the pilots to not follow her but Burner followed Dashie and gave Bullet rider orders," Bullet rider go around the outskirts of Ponyville and try to flank Dashie"! Bullet rider broke off and wnt around Ponyville. Rainbow Dash shot past her friends nearly knocking them off their hooves Applejack replied," My sweet Celestia, I hope she don't do nothing like that again, well at least it can't get any worse!"
Rainbow Dash flashed through Ponyville and straight past Derpy who was staggered and then walked backwards and knocked a colt into the river, he was angry and Derpy said," Sorry"
Burner let out a smile and then looked forward again, her smile was wiped off her face, when she saw a dark blob in the distance, "Hey Bullet rider whats that in the distance?"
Burner went up slightly and then went down to confuse the pilot, she pulled a 7'g turn left and then a 7'g right, the Flanker went down at blistering speed and was on her tail Burner entered the gorge with the Flanker on her tail, she though she could get away because of how narrow the gorge is and how small her aircraft is but she was wrong, the Flanker followed her and she was flying on the edges of the gorge switching sides to confuse the lock on of the Flanker. The Flanker pilot switched to the gun and was firing it, Burner was doing left barrel rolls for some time until the pilot became used to this and she flew up out of the gorge almost vertical. The Flanker pilot watched as Burner evaded the path of bullets, the Flanker pilot pulled a transition to ascent so hard that pressure clouds formed on the wings and they bent upwards so much they looked like they were going to break, and slammed the afterburners fully on, then, Burner had the Q.R.A pilots on her channel saying, " We are 2 miles from your current position, hold on !" Her confidence grew a little after she heard the pilots on the radio but there was still not a lot of it in her.
The Flanker had cleared the gorge and Burner did a quarter loop right to put him off, then the Flanker pilot saw two blips on the radar, the pilot scarpered and banked left and wasn't seen again. The Q.R.A Typhoons escorted Burner home, there was so much sweat coming off her face, it was enough to fill an entire lake. Burner was coming in to land and nearly crashed after using her concentration on the Su-35. Burner went to the mess hall with Eclipse for a drink, then an officer came in, dressed up in his best uniform, went over to Burner and Eclipse gave them orders, " The C.O would like to see you his office A.S.A.P, we have a vehicle waiting outside to take you there."
When they entered, Bullet Rider and Rupture had been dismissed and the C.O waited for Bullet rider and Rupture to leave before talking, " I've never ever seen a pony like you Burner no pony has manged to evade a Flanker in an aircraft like the Hawk, I see you don't even need to train in Hawk T.1's, so after one flight, I'm moving you two to 98 squadron where you will be against the big guns in F-15's you will go down in history books as no pony ever has transferred to this squadron after 1 flight. Briefing on your next mission is after the weekend, for now your off duty, congratulations!" Burner and Eclipse then said together in a calm attitude, " Thank you sir !" The C.O replied with, " Yeah whatever, go on get out of here, and I wish you luck!"
Burner felt proud about moving to 98 squadron, but there was still a dark fear embedded in her brain that if she ever encountered the pilot again, she would be killed in a burning fireball. She put this fear at the bottom and thought about her first mission briefing with her new squadron. Burner and Eclipse went out to play cricket with the other ponies assigned to 98 squadron.
20 minutes after playing cricket, it was mission briefing time and Burner had excitement clearly shown on her face as she wanted to know her first mission. "Right listen up, your task is to intercept bombers coming in from the Pliohippus sea, your task is to get them to break away before they threaten the dummy targets set up 10 miles inland."
Burner and Eclipse made their way with their new colleagues (who were on their first mission with 98 squadron too) Sonic Hammer and Raptor. Sonic Hammer was a colt with jaws as wide as the mouth of an estuary, eyes that were as orange as fire and grey fur and a dark blue mane. Raptor was Sonic Hammer's female co-pilot who actually looked a lot like Rainbow Dash but had dark green fur and a lime mane. They made their way into their F-15d's and they took off. Burner felt proud of flying her dream aircraft (well sort of), the acceleration was more forceful and was more maneuverable.
Within 10 minutes, the target was in sight Burner ordered the Bomber pilot, "Bomber pilot, shut down your guns I repeat shut down your guns or you will be shot down. "
Burner and Sonic Hammer enjoyed the view of the sun starting to be engulfed by the Monstrously Gargantuan mountains up north, they wished they could look at the view for hours, but within 10 minutes they were ready to land and they were to land side by side with Sonic Hammer slightly in front. Then, rather subtly they gently touched down with hardly a bump, the roar had now turned into a quiet whistle. They were the first ones to arrive at base, the whistling F-15's were shut down, the cockpit canopies came up and Burner quietly muttered, "Good F-15!"
The Four ponies stopped, turned around and looked at their sleeping F-15's with Raptor Implying, "Well their our F-15's, now loyal to
Saturday brought a bright clear day to Northern Equestria, no clouds were in sight, Flame Flyer and Eclipse (real name being Sky Soarer) were climbing Equus mountain, the highest in Equestria with a height of 7,939 feet above sea level. Equus mountain was part of a group of mountains called the Merychippus Mountains. At the summit Flame Flyer and Sky Soarer enjoyed the view that surrounded them both, it took their breath away, all that could be heard was the tranquil howling wind. Then their peace was shattered with the passing by of an F-15d of 98 squadron re-doing that intercept mission. It screamed by the summit at 600 mph, then came another F-15, this time a corona enveloped the aircraft, indicating that it was going faster than the speed of sound, the awesome speed knocked Flame Flyer and Sky Soarer over like they were bowling pins hit by a bowling ball, the boom shook the ground like it was an earthquake, then there was the afterburners which looked like a pair of angry devil eyes as the F-15 zoomed into the distance, "Bloody hell that was forceful," Flame Flyer shouted as there was still a lot of noise coming from the angry afterburners.
Later that evening they checked in to a hotel in the Crystal empire which was on the outskirts of the city,the palace really showed it's vast size compared to all the other buildings that bowed down to it. This building makes the Burj Khalifa in Dubai look like a pen compared to it!
Meanwhile in the New Lunar Republic, two Tu-160 Blackjack bombers were being prepared in underground hangar and within minutes of being prepared, were making their way for take off, each Tu-160's pair of four engines made a roar so loud that it could be heard from more than 20 miles away, the reheat lighted up the sky like no other aircraft and after they both gone, they were destined for a raid. The Tu-160's were flying over the Pliohippus sea at 150 feet with their wing fully swept back, they were doing about 650 mph. The Tu-160's maintained their height so that the surface to air missiles did not lock on. When they passed the S.A.M sites, the Tu-160's broke off, one heading for Manehattan and the other for Crystal Airbase, home to Apache attack helicopters and EH 101 Merlin Transport Helicopters. The Tu-160 going for Manehattan swept its wings forward and climbed to 1,000 to start it's bombing run, panic started on the streets, and ponies were evacuating the city. Bombs started dropping on inner Manehattan. A lot of destruction was caused with three Skyscrapers falling into the streets and going through the ground like it was made of water several other skyscrapers were seriously damaged and on fire. Luckily no pony was killed, due to the evacuation. The Tu-160 put it's wings back to fully swept position and made it's way over the Pliohippus sea and went home.
The second Tu-160 got ready to start it's bombing run, Bombs were being dropped on Apaches and Merlin's, the Helicopters when hit were flipped over and part's were scattered over the airfield, the mission seemed a success, but a S.A.M locked onto the aircraft and hit it underneath the tail fin, which was then ripped off with some of the fuselage, but by chance, the Tu-160 flew into the control tower, killing the operators, on the ground, 17 crew were killed by shrapnel and helicopter part flying in all directions. The damage cost of the raid was estimated to be billions.
The raid was all over the news channels, all over the world. The President of Equestria had said this on the news, "Tonight, two Tu-160 Blackjack bombers attacked Manehattan and Crystal Air base, there have been 17 deaths only at the airbase, that is why, Equestria has declared war on the New Lunar Republic."
Flame Flyer had actually watched the Tu-160 attack the airbase in Horror, she sought for revenge, she put on an angry face through the window and then said to Sky Soarer, "Bastards are gonna pay for this."
Next Day, Flame Flyer and Sky Soarer (Now reverting back to Burner and Eclipse) were to return to base for mission briefing, "Right today, you will be taking down the fighters at Nightmare airbase right in the corner of the the N.L.R, you are to take them down to protect the bombers while they take down the radar sites and the Tornado GR4's will take down the S.A.M sites, operations will start at 1600 hours. Now a word of warning. There is a pilot out there that is so legendary, that even our aces cannot take him down, he goes by the name, Virus. The morale of the pilots was shred like paper, their faces forced to be worried, terrified. This is the Pilot burner encountered a couple of weeks back, she was lucky. Be careful in the skies, he's waiting for that perfect moment to strike."
Fifteen minutes later Burner and her squadron were passing the 66th parallel, which divided the two countries. The demilitarized zone went on for a good 5 miles and the first town of the N.L.R is near the fence. The F-15's crossed the first town, which unknown to them, was defended by flak guns, as they learned when one of 24 strike eagles sent to destroy the runway, was ripped apart by a direct hit, with debris flying in all directions, all the F-15's broke apart from formation and dashed for the edge of town. One pilot on the radio said, "Well it can't get any worse than this!"
It got worse, even though they were out of date, especially for the N.L.R, MiG-23 Floggers belted out of the mountains, there was 8 of them and one went for Burner, "Shit we have one on our tail Burner, do evasive maneuvers now!
All but one MiG-23 was left and got onto their frequency, "MiG-23 pilot to F-15's I surrender, please, let me live.
The F-15's went on with no trouble to their target the F-15E's started their strafe runs, with long lines on SU-27's and SU-30's.
Burner saw a hole in the cloud and there were three Flankers diving towards the F-15's with 6 R-73 missiles fired, one going for burner, the F-15 was screaming at them because of the missiles coming towards them, "Using Flares!"
"Burner, it is a pleasure to finally speak to you, I was impressed by your flying over Ponyville, now look at you, flying F-15's, who knows where you will be soon! Unfortunately for you that won't happen, for it's now time to kill you!
He fired his last missile, another R-77 at Burner, she went at the missile head on, "Don't eject yet Eclipse! I can evade it!
All of a sudden a new unfamiliar demon-like voice was heard on the radio, "Virus, return to base you need the fuel to get home
She got back to base, with her aircraft on fire, she lost concentration and crash landed, she opened the canopy, and watched the fire trucks come up to the burning aircraft, With her eyes still watery. Burner tried to pull out Eclipse, the fire crew tying to take her away form the wreckage, but she fought them and managed to drag out Eclipse, she gave the motionless, lifeless body out with his head pointing backwards and shaking as she moved, but the fire crew pulled her away but she refused to resist this time. She collapsed and fell to the ground.
Burner woke up at the base hospital, the next day, to find an unfamiliar face looming over her, she sat up and pulled the pony towards her. She started talking angrily, "What the Bloody hell do you want with me?