Skies of Harmony

Cloudsdale was buzzing with energy as air racers from around the world of Realm compete to win the championship title of the Red Hoof Air Race. There were pilots from all the world's nations, with the brand new Tidas Auroran pilots ready to test out their skills in pitched head to head time trials. Among these pilots were the father and daughter team of Roy and Emerald Ming, hailing from the Auroran province of Verusa. They flew two heavily modified P-36 fighters that were left over from the previous war with Vulcan Sol, still sporting their old blue and white sun roundel of the Verusian Air Task Force. Speaking of Vulcan Sol, there was one orange tabby cat pilot by the name of Vex Gradius who was also competing in the Red Hoof Air Race. Vex was a prototype test pilot for his nation, and revealed the brand new Vulcan Sol Macchi C.200 monoplane fighter. The Tidas Auroran pilots kept their eyes not only the prize but also their enemy as well. They were weary of any threat this pilot was going to present. Although all of the racers had their guns stripped from their aircraft there was something about Auburn's brother that made them all uneasy.

The Wonderbolts flew by, showing off their brand new Spitfire Mk. 14s donated to them from Tidas Aurora. They had put on an airshow to commemorate the Final Four racers. The last racer was right behind them as their escort. This was Equestria's star racer back from his long retirement and out to protect his title. A friend of both Spitfire and Soarin, this stallion trailed a trademark rainbow colored smoke from his blue and white P-51D Mustang. His sharp turns bled airspeed as he approached the runway to land. He taxied over to the racers hangars and slid open the bubble canopy. The first to hop out was Scootaloo as she crawled up and over her adopted father's shoulder. Her dad was Spectrum Streak: writer, air racer, and father to the one and only Rainbow Dash.

“Phew! Glad to see I haven't lost the spirit huh Scoots?” Spectrum turned to Scootaloo.

“You bet!” she smiled, her wings beat in a flurry of excitement, “I've been watching all your old racing videos big sister kept. Is is true on your last race you won second place by only .36 seconds?”

“Yeah, and that was only a few days before your big sister was born. I had to settle down for a bit, but now that she's out of the house I felt the need to race again. It's really refreshing now: new faces, new rules, and the planes! I've never even seen an aircraft until Tidas Aurora showed up. Now it seems like they're everywhere Scoots.”

“Hey dad, I was wondering... Where did you get this plane?” Scootaloo was rummaging through the old gun compartment that's now being used to store luggage and other assorted items.

“Your big brother and I fixed this plane together! It was a really nice birthday present. He got in touch with some of his Tidas Aurora buddies and bought this plane right out of the factory for only 1,500 bits. He taught me how to fly with strapped controls and manual mode as well and with the money him and I are making off that co-authored book we just published I've been practicing a lot in this plane,” Spectrum opened up his gun compartment for his luggage as well. His ground crew was on standby to service his plane.

Meanwhile in the island nation of the Fillypines, Tidas Aurora had hired a very special pony to recover an ancient artifact that might be of some help to Vulcan Sol's war effort. Daring Do, also known as A.K. Yearling, was walking in the busy streets of Iloilo City. The smell of raw sewage, diesel, and freshly cooked food mixed together in a bittersweet motley of scents. There were ponies and the indigenous water buffalo, known as carabao, all mixed together selling everything from freshly caught seaweed to exotic fruits like jackfruit, mangoes, and pineapples. She was no stranger to foreign lands but this was one of the more unique outings she'd ever done. Partly because she didn't know much about the Fillypines and it's less than peaceful history. She took in the sights as she trotted into the Molo District, the old churches and school houses that set apart the old city from the new city. Her directions took her to a back road with small market stalls selling fermented fish sauce and raw seafood. The sickening smell turned her away. She then stared at a rusted up metal gate to a compound with a tall concrete wall topped with broken glass to deter any thieves. The painted on warning on the gate read “DO NOT ENTER” in bright red spray paint, with a thick combination lock to boot. She pulled a note from her hat that read the combination: BF1942. Twisting the lock open she proceeded to pull open the rusty and heavy gate. Inside the compound was questionable. The small corn field at the front of the house was left with the dead husks of uncared stalks. Parasitic plants had cracked and broken the concrete driveway at her feet. The masonry was destroyed and crumbling with exposed rebar. The metal roof of the parking space was collapsed onto a carriage, a dog skeleton crushed by the fallen stone and concrete supports. A screen door hung by only one hinge as she opened it and stepped inside the house. It looked like something out of the apocalypse. The roof had a giant hole, yellow rotting furniture thrown about with spots of blood and mold. An old dried up fish tank with broken glass and what was left of the fish lay on the once beautifully tiled floor. An old hardwood table was on its side with bullet holes shot into it.

As Daring Do walked into the house a medium sized figure caught her eye to the left. It was of Luna, a sweet filly Luna. Made of plastic and painted by hand. One of her wings was gone, half of her burnt as she held one hoof up in the air in a peaceful gesture. She approached it with wonder.

“Who... Could have done this?...” She asked herself. There was a pony that silently flew right behind her.

“That... Would be Vulcan Sol...” it was Sky Buster. He wasn't wearing his usual flight helmet. Instead he was wearing a full metal military helmet with a matching uniform. Slung over his back was an AK-47.

Daring Do lashed back with her whip, but Sky Buster deflected the crack with the frame of his rifle. Daring caught the firearm in her mouth as the whip recoiled back, wrapping the weapon with her second lash. The sling of the Kalashnikov pulled Sky forward into Daring's swift kick. He bore the brunt of her hoof and recoiled back. Daring then used her whip to immobilize Sky Buster's hooves. She came face to face with him.

“Who are you?” she asked aggressively. Instead of an answer, a cold metallic end of what felt like a cylinder was gently thrust next to her ribcage. Sky smiled.

“Tsk... Tsk...” he was using his free wing to aim his revolver right at her heart, “You have the right to take my life... But know that I will also take yours...”

He threw the revolver to the side and disarmed himself.

“I am Sky Buster. And you are A.K. Yearling I suppose? Or do you want me to call you Daring Do?”

She sighed as she freed him, “Are you the mercenary my employers want me to work with?”

“Oh, mercenary is such a degrading title... I prefer to be called a 'foreign volunteer,' and by that I mean yes...” Sky Buster retrieved his rifle and handgun, “I suggest you get yourself a firearm. Things in the third world are not as forgiving as they are back in Equestria. You can dodge spears, arrows, and traps, but you can't dodge a bullet. And there are plenty left over from the last two wars.”

“Last... Two wars?” she asked a bit intrigued.

“The First Vulcan Sol Conflict and the Neighponese Occupation. Not fun times for the Fillypines,” Sky answered as he took a drink of hard cider from his flask, “What you see here is my childhood home... I wasn't here when my whole family was killed. Their ghosts haunt these walls, their blood stained in the furniture. Hell, even my dead dog is just chillin' under the carriage...”

He sighed deeply.

“The thing is... I once blamed myself about this, how I couldn't save them. Now I don't, and for good reason. Vulcan Sol is an evil nation that will stop at nothing until the whole world is theirs. Don't trust any anthro you see. They'll just stab you in the back and walk away. And if you're wondering: yeah, I'm crazy... But I've got the best help I could ever ask for,” Sky twisted around back at Daring Do, “I've heard of you. I've read your books. You need to work on your allusions, using real names like that can get those who've helped you get killed. Then again, it was the first time anypony ever helped you.”

“Stuff it motormouth, why exactly are you helping me?” she stood her ground.

“Isn't it obvious Miss Daring! You-need me to direct you alll over these islands. You-don't know where to go, where it's safe, and how crazy-fucked up pirates and insurgents there are on these islands. Oh, and one more thing:” he softly banged his chest with both hooves, “I'm dating the rainbow colored girl who saved your ass in your last book.”

He threw some pictures of him and Rainbow enjoying some happy moments together from out of his wallet for Daring to take a look.

“No joke huh?”

“You're in good hooves Miss Daring. I graduated the Royal Guard Academy and flew with the best Equestria had to offer in the last war,” Sky saluted, “Sorry for the show, but I just like to fuck with people under my watch.”

“Oh haha...” she wasn't amused.

“Okay, I get it, you're kinda pissed. Let me apologize sneaking up on you then acting like a jerk. I'm sorry.”

“Hm... Fair enough. Now we need to get to work,” she took out her map, “We're suppose to go to Leyte Gulf. Do you know where that is?”

“About a thirty minute flight to the west. Here you should probably take this,” Sky handed her 2,400 pesos, “Cash for weapons. I can take you to a good black market dealer.”

“I'll take your word for it,” she underestimated him and remembered how he was crafty enough to potentially kill her had Sky been a threat. The two flew off to the north to get the supplies.

Back at Cloudsdale Emerald was already in the air and ready to start her time trial. He course was set up with colored clouds acting as pylons which they had to perform a set routine to compete for the best time. They had to turn, knife-edge, half cuban, and perform split second aerial maneuvers to aim for the fastest time.

“It's a great day here at the Cloudsdale Airport and our racers are right up and ready to kick the tires and light the fires! Good afternoon everyone and I do mean everyone as I see a few non-pony faces out there in the crowd today! My name is Soarin here to sportscast the Final Four as they compete for the second annual Red Hoof Air Races. I'm joined today by my friend and squadron leader; Spitfire. Miss Spitfire, do you wish to comment on our current racer just starting on her run?” Soarin announced to the ever cheering and pumped up crowd.

“Yes I do Lieutenant. Hailing from Tidas Aurora is a female pilot by the name of Emerald Ming, at only twenty years of age she is among the youngest pilots to reach the finalist trials! She starting flying at only the age of thirteen as a crop duster pilot with her father, who is also competing in today's pitched head to head race. Here we go she's starting her run! Look at that dive, 362 kilometers per hour right on the money. Very tight turning on those first two gates! It's quite a testament to the P-36's performance.”

“The thing about Curtiss aircraft are their amazing dive performance. Oh look at that a little high with the 8.5 G turn past the red gate, no penalties so far. Emerald is really one with her aircraft isn't she?” Soarin looked to Spitfire.

“That is right Soarin, that plane is doing exactly what she wants it to do and in a race like this we are talking about a few millimeters margin of error from any critical penalties that might just cost anyone the race right here. With two Auroran pilots can either Vulcan Sol or Equestria take home the glory in this international air race?”

“Looks like they might have a chance as Emerald Ming finishes her trial with a less than stellar time of 1:12.41. Just a half second off from her previous time and believe me that is going to open up a whole new can of worms for Tidas Aurora as Equestria and Vulcan Sol have their best pilots ready to race.”

Meanwhile, in the now urbanized Ponyville there was a unicorn paying close attention to the unfolding air race as he eagerly awaited Spectrum's turn. The stallion had a deep blue coat underneath his work uniform and square black glasses. His mane was jet black and contained in a matching cap that read the title of the sandwich shop he worked at: Wubway. His cutie mark was of a pencil, keyboard, and game controller all crossed together an in a pixelated fashion. A customer came up to him: a brown colt with a propeller hat.

“Hello Game!” he greeted the sandwich artist.

“Hey Button, what's up? Welcome to Wubway, where we serve your sandwich with a good helping of modular bass. What would you like today?”

“Can I get a cucumber sub with extra oats and lettuce please?”

“Of course you can kiddo. How's your KDR in Call of Cutie: Ghosts?” Game Theory prepared the sandwich with the first main veggies, “Toasted sandwich for you right?”

“Huh uh. And kinda bad actually... 1.0,” he looked up at blue unicorn as he pulled the tray from the oven.

“Well that's not that bad. We all gotta start somewhere. Over to you Kami!” he passed the tray to the light peach colored pegasus mare with a beautiful light brown mane that flowed from the sides of her head, somewhat like the drooping of a winter hat. Underneath her cap she wore a green bandana with an orange stripe that ran at the bottom. Her cutie mark was of a Pokeball, a ribbon in the background.

“Hello there!” She smiled at Button, “Lettuce and oats right?”

“Yup,” Button kinda dug at the ground, a little disappointed.

“Hey, cheer up. Are you side-strafing?” Game asked.

“Yup.”

“Aiming down sights often?”

“Mhm.”

“Playing League Play?”

“Of course.”

“What about working on your quick-scoping? Reload cancel? Watching the minimap? Not forgetting about your Com Radios?”

“Bad, yes, got that down, and yes...” Button replied in sequence.

Game Theory looked down with a smile and patted Button on the head, “I will teach you later young warrior. Enjoy the sandwich!”

Game winked and wrapped up the sandwich for Button Mash.

“That's for you, I'll pay for it.”

“Wow! Gee thanks coach!” Button took the bag in his mouth and happily trotted off.

“Anytime my protege...” he nodded approvingly as Button walked out, “He'll make a fine addition to the Lunar Knights Clan.”

“Excuse me, Game and Kami. Can I talk to you for a minute in private?” their boss addressed them.

“Sure thing boss,” Game kept a smile, Kami was a little concerned though. They headed into the kitchen and their boss sighed heavily.

“I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you two go...”

“W-What? But why sir?” Kami was the first to exclaim.

“Now now, it has nothing to do with your work performance. I don't want to let you guys go, but I have to,” he looked away.

“But, why?” Game asked.

“...Equestria has declared war on Vulcan Sol. Your numbers came up and you've been both drafted. I'm sorry.”

“Whoa whoa whoa! I don't think I can handle war! Shooting a guy on screen is way different than actually killing a dude. Sure, I've played all these war games b-but. Oh Celestia... Oh sweet Celestia I can't do this!” Game Theory started to have a panic attack.

“Game! Calm down!” Kami went up to him and hugged him with both her arms and wings, “Shhh... We're gonna get through this together. How long do we have to prepare?”

“A week. And don't think you can cheat the draft either. They've got unicorns with lie detection spells and you could end up in jail for that. Sorry it had to be this way,” he handed them both their severance package, “I hope that helps.”

“Thank you, we'll be back after the war. I promise. And I promise to you Game that we'll get back okay? We're too smart to be put into the front lines,” she kissed her boyfriend, “You'll be okay. I won't let anything happen to you. Hey, Spectrum's about to take the stage. You should go watch.”

“Yeah, maybe I should,” his gut feeling made him uneasy, “This is still just so fucked up.”

“Well looky what we got here! The pride and joy of Equestria's air racers back from retirement! Spectrum Streak is an extremely wonderful pilot with over three dozen trophies and prizes from his extensive racing career! He's done it all folks! From endurance races, to speed, agility, and time trials. Can he master the art of piloting an aircraft though ladies and gentlecolts? Let's find out as he begins his run!” Spitfire looked up and saw Spectrum enter into the opening dive.

“And a perfect 365 kilometers per hour! Right at the limit of entry speed! Miss Spitfire this is truly a joy to see Spectrum honed back to his fighting edge! You have to wonder who coached him on how to fly an aircraft. Look at that! Beautiful and aggressive nine point five G turns at a perfect altitude through those gates, with the trademark trail of rainbow smoke in his wake. What a spectacular show today folks!” Soarin announced over the wildly excited crowd. Scootaloo was cheering her heart out for her father.

“I would personally love to meet his flying coach. Whoever he or she may be really taught Spectrum to fly so perfectly! Still no penalties with .10 seconds ahead of the both the Tidas Aurorans! Can he win one for Equestria this year?” Spitfire too, was excited for her friend and past colleague.

“There he goes! The last vertical turn, can he make the grade?” Soarin was on the edge of his seat and the crowd went silent. As Spectrum's P-51 crossed the finish line the race timer stopped, “One minute ten seconds flat! It's a new record for the famous Equestrian racer; Spectrum Streak! He has to be felling really good right about now!”

“Now that is an academy record if I ever saw one,” Spitfire added, “Huh, what's this? It appears the prototype Vulcan fighter is unable to fly. It looks like a flat tire Lieutenant. No use taking off with that now!”

“A crushing defeat for Vulcan Sol. Let's hear what the judges have to say!”

“Coming in at number four: Vex Gradius of Vulcan Sol... Number three: Roy Ming of Tidas Aurora. And the winner of the second annual Red Hoof Air Race goes to... Spectrum Streak of Equestria! Congratulations on behalf of all the racing fans!” one of the tower operators announced to the crowd. The fever pitched cheering reached a climax and Scootaloo was fluttering her wings in excitement.

“Yes! Thank you very much! I would like to thank my future son in law. He's the one who taught me how to fly and fix up this aircraft. He's fighting out there guys! So this is Spectrum, saying: support our troops!” Spectrum radioed in and flew past the spectators seats and gave a nice tip of his wing to the crowd. As he flew off into the clouds he thought about Sky Buster, turning off his radio, “I couldn't have done it without you son...”

With machete in hoof, Sky Buster was clearing the way for his escort. Daring Do was focused on finding this treasure and looking intensely at the map.

“So, I don't suppose you know what this treasure might be?”

“Pasatsat Hiyas... The Ghosts of Past Wars Gem. During the first Vulcan Conflict and the Neighponese Occupation it is said that the ghosts of those who were killed in their wake left behind a tainted and corrupted gemstone, imbued with dark magic. Ghosts that were never put to rest were sucked in from all over the Fillypines. Well, no time to lose!” Sky Buster looked back at Daring, “You have your gun with you?”

Daring pulled it from her holster, a Colt 45 M1911, “Yup.”

“Good, I suggest you keep it out, Stay down!” Sky ducked and observed a dirt trail, heavily used by offroad vehicles. One of which happened to drive by, ponies and carabao all armed with Type 100 SMGs, Cei-Rigotti Vulcan semi automatic rifles, and SKS Tidas Auroran rifles. Sky Buster pulled his machete, “Pirates... Watch this, but cover me.”

“No thanks,” Daring prepared her whip.

Sky Buster held her back gently and whispered, “Are you trying to get killed?...”

“Hey! Who's that?”

“Shit!” Sky acted quickly, throwing a rock in the opposite direction from where they were, attracting the attention of the pirates away from them. With their backs turned, Sky rushed forward and stabbed one of the pirates. As he kicked the body away, he pulled the pin from a grenade on their vest, “Get down!”

He tackled Daring as the grenade exploded, sending shrapnel through the foliage and outright killing any pirate left out in the open.

“Do! I suggest you use that gun! NOW!” Sky got off her and put down some suppressing fire with his AK.

Daring aimed in to one of the charging water buffalo with a machete trying to gut Sky. Three shots into the ribcage sealed the fate of the carabao and he collapsed to the jungle floor, right at Sky's forehooves.

“Phew! Thanks for the save!” Sky was looting the bodies for SKS ammo, “Be sure to check their bodies. I'd rather have free ammo than no ammo.”

Sky Buster was also taking money out of their wallets as well as any other valuable goods.

“Hey, isn't that stealing?” She glanced back at him.

“It's a fucking dead guy and he's evil. It's them or us and to the victor go the spoils. I suggest you hurry up, they like to patrol this area a lot.”

“Wow... He's really dead huh?” Daring looked at the water buffalo she just killed and stood there for a while.

“Let's fucking go! It's like you never shot a guy in your life before!” he was twirling around a gold necklace he got off one of the pirates while chopping away the foliage with his bolo. Daring Do followed him slowly into the jungle.

“That's the thing... It just felt, wrong...”

Sky Buster stopped, “So you're telling me you'd rather have a guy kill me instead huh? I don't get your logic Daring. Look, like I said; things are very different in the third world nations. You've got scumbags, terrorists, pirates, and all sorts of shitholes just waiting to kill you for your food, money, anything they can grab, whatever! I may have been born in a rich family, but I learned the hard way after coming back here when my family died. It's them or us, and trust me I've seen some shit you don't want to see. Now the legend of the gem says that there are ghosts that block passage to it. If you see one then don't freak out. Find the burial mound the corpse should be in and stab into it. Do them a favor and send them to rest in peace.”

Daring Do tripped on one of the burial mounds he just mentioned. A strewn mat of rotted banana leaves with a small slit stabbed into it puffed up from it, smelling of rotten flesh and flies gathering around it almost instantly.

“Good job,” Sky examined the mat, “Strange, that's a small slit. Smaller than a combat knife and way smaller than a machete or bolo. I'd say that was a Vulcan Sol officer's rapier. It's close, look for any strange details, something magical.”

Daring sifted through the brush and found a strange clearing full of burial mounds. A group of Roman/Slavic looking anthros with sub machine guns, bolt action rifles, and Renault light tanks surrounded a tall black monolith, a gemstone on top of it.

“Does that count?”

“Oh yeah... This is not good... I see a whole platoon plus they're supported by two tanks. They're having trouble getting to that gem though. I didn't expect the tanks. Dumbasses always have intel wrong! I wish my friend KP was here, her intel is golden for operations. Oh, and see the faint green shimmer on those tanks? Armor and speed enchantments. A Panzerfaust would be nice...”

“A what?” Daring whispered, “Meh, I don't care. How do we take these guys on?”

“Element of surprise and improvise... Say, why don't you use this,” Sky handed her a bow and arrow he had picked off from the pirates, “I assume you know how to use that?”

“What do you take me for?” Do gazed back, unamused.

“I take you as a greeny! A noob! You haven't seen war! Just do what I say, shove that hoof up your mouth and we are gonna get out of this alive and we'll both be on our separate ways with a big bag of cash. Kill them quietly, if you can,” Sky glared back in a gaze that paralyzed Daring, if only for a brief second, “This is why I hate working with loners like you. You think you're tough, invincible. Pfft... You're dead here if you keep that up.”

“I-” Daring stepped back, “I'll do it.”

“Good, now about those tanks...” Sky eyeballed the two tanks and noticed one of them had its hatches open, exposing the crew of two, “I got it! Come with me, let's sneak around!”

“What's the plan big guy?” she loaded her bow.

“See how the shimmering doesn't appear in the open crew hatches? Aim an arrow right in there after I do this!” Sky wrapped a grenade to the tip of the arrow, “Now, this grenade has a fuse of five seconds. Once I pull this pin, you got two to three seconds to aim for the hatch. At this range we should dash into the tank and close the hatches behind us. You drive, I gun! Trust me on this...”

“Um, okay! I'm game for it,” Daring notched her arrow and aimed slightly above the hatch of the tank. She exhaled and drew the bow. Sky pulled the pin and the safety catch flew off. She let the arrow fly right into the tank, but it bounced off and exploded near the monolith as the Vulcan troops were trying to retrieve the gem.

“Shit! You missed!”

“Well I've never shot an arrow with a grenade strapped to it before!” she answered back.

“Just go go! We still have the element of surprise, we can do this!”

Daring once again notched another arrow, this time with a barbed steel tip. Spotting a Vulkie getting to his feet, she shot it right into his neck. The soldier screamed clawing at the arrow as warm blood dripped onto his armor. He coughed blood and collapsed into the dirt, a red puddle forming on his face. Daring froze.

“Celestia... I-” Sky Buster was there to smack her back into reality.

“THEM OR US!” He spotted another Vulcan soldier as he aimed a semi-automatic rifle to their direction, “Go loud!”

Sky Buster whipped the AK-47 off his back and unloaded into the soldier in the open, the bullets teared into flesh and left big open holes in the Vulcan's chest plate and vital organs. Sky grabbed Daring and flew into the top of a tree.

“Get over it greeny! It's horrible ain't it?! That's war for you and I'm here to make sure you don't end up like that! Now come on-” Sky was almost interrupted as a tank shell tore into the jungle and hit the tree they were hiding in. The massive mango tree toppled over and knocked the wind out of both Sky and Daring. She looked around for him.

“Sky! Sky Buster!” she was pinned under one of the thick branches of the tree as a Vulcan Fire Mage came right up to the jungle and started to burn it down with dark magic, “Oh shit! No no no no no!”

She was trying to free herself but her wing and back leg were firmly stuck in the fallen tree. She saw the fire reaching ever closer to her and the heat started to weave through her coat.

“Sky! Sky Buster!” She was doing her best to free herself from the fallen branches. No luck. She saw Sky Buster tackle the Fire Mage and was strangling him with her own whip. He turned over to Daring Do and threw his bolo right at her.

The machete dug into the branch her leg was caught under. He yelled, “Daring Do! Use that! You're my bitch now you little Vulcan asshole!”

He tightened his choke hold on the Fire Mage and turned to the tank.

“Can't shoot me huh! Your precious little Mages aren't so easy to replace you fuckers! Shoot me you stupid tank and you kill him too!” Sky Buster held up the remnants of the platoon as Daring was furiously trying to free herself from the thick branches.

With machete in hoof and the fire spreading closer and closer to her, Daring Do chopped into the tree as the fire started to singe her coat. With her wing free she extended it, only to have it catch fire and it burned her severely. She screamed.

“Daring!” Sky Buster was distracted by her scream and the Vulcan Mage kicked him off. The angry magician donned in silver and gold accented Roman armor glared at the pegasus, palms red with flame.

“Ave... True to Vulcan Sol...” as the mage thrust his palm forward to unleash hellfire onto Sky Buster, Daring Do flew in with a swift kick to knock the officer to the ground. She grabbed Sky Buster and darted into the forest.

“They fucking got me!” Sky Buster was trying to put out the fire that was eating away at his clothing, He tore it off and threw it into the jungle. He screamed as some of it was already fused to his skin from the burns. Half his body was hairless and his left side was left with third degree burns, “Medic! I need a med kit!”

Daring sifted through his saddle bags and found the burn treatment kit within his medical box. She treated Sky's wounds with the burn ointment and poured some rubbing alcohol into it. Sky Buster's agonizing screams tore into her mind, making her forget about her half burnt wing and the lesser pain she was experiencing.

“Sweet Celestia... You're gonna be fine! Stay with me!”

“It fucking hurts! Don't let me die here man!... Not like this!...” Sky tried to move to pull the gold necklace off his neck, but the pain shot through him as he hanked it off, “ARRRG! Fuck! Daring! If I don't make it out of here, give this to Dashie!”

He dropped his gold locket with a picture of Rainbow Dash smiling into the hoof of Daring Do. She took it and placed it with care into her pocket.

“You're not dying here. I have to complete the mission!”

“Don't do it! Dammit!...” Sky tried to reach out for her. His pain was swelling and he was just about to pass out, “I-I... I don't want to be alone...”

Having bandaged and treated her burnt wing, Daring flew as best she could avoiding any direct line of sight to the Vulcans. She flew right behind one of the tanks and started to punch one of their hatches open. She pulled her M1911 and the crewman greeted her with a dagger, which she deflected with her wing. She shot into the stomach of the soldier and pulled him out of his vehicle. As she got in she gave a swift buck to the face to the driver, who slumped over on his controls and made the tank go full speed into some trees before it stopped as one of the tracks broke loose from the other tank shooting right into it. Daring was thrown about in the vehicle and knocked to the floor. Another shot, this time her tank shook violently as a shell ripped into the engine, stopping it completely. As she got up she wrapped her hooves over the gun and started to crank the turret to aim right at the other tank. She aimed right into the gunner's hatch and shot her first round into it, the gun of the enemy tank immediately drooped. She found one of the unused shells that had been knocked to the floor and fumbled trying to figure out how to reload the gun. She stuffed it into the breach and fired again, this time at the driver bailing out. There was a splash of red and he refused to get up. Daring Do was bleeding all over the inside of the tank as her wing still held the dagger, pure adrenaline preventing her from feeling it. One more shot: a high explosive round right into the center of the last group. It made quite the splash and took out the remaining Vulcan Sol.

She opened the hatch and collapsed out of the tank, pulling the knife from her wing. She trotted slowly to the gemstone on top of the monolith, dead and burning bodies all around her. Her wings took on a heavy burden as she flew up and collected the floating stone, once again falling to the ground in her exhaustion and pain. Her legs protested and she dragged herself to the treeline where Sky Buster was still recovering. She pulled the locket from her pocket and placed it in Sky's hoof.

“You're not dead yet... Show her you love her...”

“Did you get it?...” Sky took the locket and held it close.

Daring reached into her jacket and pulled the black gemstone radiating it's dark aura, “We got it...”