Author's Note

So somewhere between the time I spent on this sight and me playing Ace Combat, I thought to myself: "Ponies in fighter jets...I'm a sad person."

Anyway, the fantasy of seeing them fly planes got WAY too stuck in my head and I ended up writing this thing.

This is pretty much a play-by-play reenactment of the first mission of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon with some creative liberties taken and me somehow trying play to reality with the use of missiles despite the fact their being fired by multi-colored horses. Suffice to say, I have screwed up priorities. Also, borrowing a page from Lonewolf78's book, I placed a little something in the story for you to read to. You'll know it when you see it.

Note: No proofreading was done. Expect my idiocy to show.

Ponies in Fighter Jets. Why Not?

Blurs

That was all that could be seen. A hectic mix of bright blue and white splashing every which way, obscuring all vision. In a few places, there was charcoal that broke the repetitive motif, rising up from some unknown source. A bright light off in the distance further made the whole picture that much harder to comprehend. The world was a mess.

A weightless feeling carried itself. The feeling of suspension was there, as if someone had recreated gravity itself and made a new, alien form. There was nothing to hold the atmosphere in place. The air itself felt as if it was taken away. All forces that could have existed disappeared, left with nothing but this emptiness that consumed everything.

Then the brightness that was so blinding had suddenly sported a speck. This small, black, was the only conceivable item left the haze. It was starting to grow, but the brightness was still there, blinding as ever. Even as the dot began to dwarf it, there was still an unshakable feeling of helplessness against this terrifying new world.

Soon enough, something began to obscure this horror, and the world went dark.

A gloved hoof was raised to shield the sun from Twilight Sparkle’s face. Her eyes were in a squint, but they eventually adapted to the light. She looked out to the endless sea of clouds and sky that surrounded her.

She also saw her own reflection against a transparent background. Her mind registered what was adorned on her. A flight helmet was fastened tightly on her head, connected to a breathing mask that covered her snout. She looked down at herself and saw that she was wearing a flight suit, and that she was sitting. Around her, she saw various buttons and controls for all sorts of actions. She then realized that she was in a cockpit.

Suddenly, a flying object came into view. Upon closer inspection, she saw that it was an F-22 Raptor fighter jet. She looked to the other side of the cockpit and saw two more flanking her.

What was happening?

“Magic 1, please respond.”

A voice had suddenly crackled in her ear. She was caught off guard from the noise and flinched. The voice sounded like young, very young, in fact. Whatever it was, it sounded like someone familiar.

“Colonel, you alright?”

Twilight was surprised again, but quickly realized what was going on.

“Yeah,” she quickly managed to speak out. “Sorry there, Dash. Just zoned out, I guess.”

A snort of laughter was faint, but heard through the communications link. “And you’re the one telling me to stop getting distracted while flying.”

Twilight gave an amused smile.

“Magic squadron, you’re two minutes out from Manehatten,” the young voice came back over the comm. “You’re cleared engage any hostile fighters in the area.”

Twilight was confused by the statement before she looked in front of her.

The city of Manehatten looked like it was in chaos. Several stacks of smoke could be seen coming from the city. She looked to the skyline and saw several Raptors flying against several Mig-29 aircrafts. Smoke trails from missiles fired by both parties could be seen, and every now and again there was an explosion, followed by the sight of debris falling towards the already torn city.

Reality hit Twilight as she realized why she and the rest of Magic squadron were flying. She quickly responded to the voice’s previous statement, also now remembering who it was. “Copy that, Spike. ETA is now one minute.”

“Ready to see which one of us can take out more bandits today, Colonel?” The snarky competiveness in Rainbow Dash’s voice could be heard.

“Uhm,” a shy voice began. “Sorry, I didn’t know we were going to compete today.”

“A surprise kill count?” A hyperactive voice suddenly came over the comm, followed by a gasp. “Those are the best kind of surprises!”

Twilight could not help but smile at the banter between her friends. “Let’s try worrying about saving the city, girls,” she said.

Manehatten was coming up and the four fighter jets were readying for the upcoming fight. Twilight brought down her helmet’s goggles as they approached. They were thirty seconds out from the city.

A group of Mig’s saw the squadron and immediately scrambled.

Fifteen seconds.

The enemy planes had split up to take on one of the fighter’s at a time. Magic squadron accepted the challenge in turn.

Five seconds.

One of the Mig’s had its rear to twilight, its engines lit with exhaust. Twilight activated the afterburner of the Raptor and began to follow it, as her friends split to take on their own challengers.

Magic squadron had engaged the enemy.

The Mig’s acceleration was not enough to escape Twilight’s craft. The radar beeped as the hostile craft got within range of the Raptor’s gun. Twilight fired a rapid burst of fire at the plane’s tail. The engines of the Mig caught fire and the craft was soon plummeting to the city.

“Splash one,” Twilight said, announcing her first kill for today.

She then looked up to see another Mig explode in the sky above her, followed by Rainbow Dash’s raptor flying by.

“And that’s one for me,” exclaimed over the comm.

Twilight looked back in front to see another Mig flying. She followed it as it flew towards the city. It was a risky behavior on both their parts. Both planes weaved between the structures, with the Mig frantically trying to get away from Twilight’s machine fire. The Mig began flying up along the side of a building, hoping to get away from the raptor by doing a sudden forward descent at the top of the building.

That turned out to be a mistake as the Mig took the dive too early crashed into the side of the building. Twilight barely had enough time to ascend her plane before the explosion hit her. The plane was wobbling, but she soon regained control.

“Are you okay, Colonel,” Fluttershy’s concerned voice came over the comm.

“Yeah,” she replied. “Just caught some shrapnel from that last plane. It should be fine though.”

Spike’s voice came back on. “A flight of bandits is heading to your location. Prepare to intercept.”

“Magic,” Twilight said, confirming she received the message. “Magic squadron, status.”

“This is Magic 2,” replied Rainbow Dash. “Downed two bandits and looking for some action.”

“Magic 3,” Pinkie Pie chimed in next. “Ready Roger Wilco.” The statement did not make sense, but it served to confirm her status was green.

“Uhm, this is Magic 4,” Fluttershy came over the comm. “I’m ready the next objective. I mean, if that’s okay.”

Twilight continued. “We have a flight of bandits coming for us. Prepare to engage.”

Dash yawned. “More target practice? No sweat.”

The said flight of bandits had entered the Manehatten airspace and Magic soon began the attack. Twilight managed get right on the tail of one. She was about to fire the cannon when her radar informed her that she was being tailed herself. It informed her that a missile was locked onto her.

“Woah,” She exclaimed as she began performing evasive maneuvers. The plane was hot on her tail until Magic 3 began to tail it instead.

“Hey,” she began with an angered tone. “Do you sneak up on your mother like that?”

Soon enough, Twilight managed to break from the enemy craft’s pursuit, allowing Pinkie Pie to finish it off with a round of cannon fire.

“Thanks for the backup, Pinkie,” Twilight said over the comm.

With that settled, it was time to back on the trail of the Mig she was following. Soon enough she was back on its tail and Twilight, quick to not waste time on this pilot, fired a high accuracy missile. The nose of the missile collided with the rear of the Mig and soon more debris was falling from the sky.

Twilight would have celebrated but apparently another Mig managed to get behind her. She did not have the patience to deal with a reoccurrence like this, so she de-throttled her plane just enough so that the Mig was right behind her. Now that she had the jet in position, she quickly ascended the plane, turning the throttle down further. This caused the Mig to fly right past her, prompting Twilight to re-engage the throttle and tail the plane back.

“This isn’t your day.” She knew the enemy’s frequency would not pick up on her taunt, but she still felt good about it.

The Mig sent Twilight on a wild chase about the city. It flew past gaps between buildings, descended to a point where it was only a few hundred meters above the water, and led her right past a falling crane.

“This guy’s good,” she commented over the comm.

“Yeah,” Dash chimed in just before taking down another Mig she was chasing. “But good doesn’t cut it against Magic squadron.”

She was right. The pilot Twilight was chasing certainly had amazing control with his plane, but she and the rest of Magic were better than these fighters. She was about to prove it when three of the other fighter’s buddies made a formation with him right in front of Twilight’s raptor.

This was a mistake.

Twilight switched her firing control to her four air-to-air missiles. Each missile locked on to one target. Without hesitation, she fired them all, each on a direct course for their target. Within seconds, all four planes were shot out of the sky.

Twilight was proud.

The warning system beeped as it began to alert Twilight that a missile was in her way. But something was wrong. The system registered the threat but she could not tell where it was coming from. She looked about frantically in the hopes that maybe she could spot it herself, but the smoke from the down planes was shrouding her vision.

Then the mysterious threat came into view, right in front of her as made contact with the plane’s nose. The Raptor rocked and jumbled as the force from the impact sent Twilight astray. She tried all the controls in the cockpit that could to stabilize the plane, but it was evident that the missile had knocked out her systems. Now she was slowly plummeting to the ground.

Acting quickly, she grabbed hold of the eject lever at the base of her seat and pulled with all her might. Gravity betrayed her for a brief moment as the seat shot out of the cockpit. Twilight could feel the air around her. The forces of the winds blew around her and the once muted sound of the world came rushing back to her senses. The whole world rocketed around her as the only thing keeping her aloft was the momentum of the seat.

She detached herself from the seat and activated her parachute. The jerking motion it made as it built up air below it reminded Twilight of how much she wished these were made with wings in mind. She lifted her goggles, taking away the mute colors of the world and letting in its wave of vibrancy. All around her she could see the battle still raging. Planes left and right exploded in a rage of blaze.

One of the flying beasts came right by her. The close proximity and speed sent Twilight’s heart into a flutter. The force that it brought rocked her back and forth in air before she could finally get stabilized again. She looked about her in a panic to see if any other planes were heading for her. Her eyes eventually landed on what had originally jack knifed in front of her.

It was indescribable.

It did not look like any plane she had ever seen. The nose was sharp and jutted out from the cockpit, adorned with a stabilizer that gave it a look of the stinger of a bug. The body widened at the wings which looked like wicked blades that were turned back so that the sharp points were facing towards the nose. The back looked as if there were no engines to keep the monster aloft, yet its movements were swift, and it banked and turned sharply. Twilight was amazed that she was able to keep her eye on the black dot.

That was what scared her the most: The fact that, even in the brilliance of the sun, the jet could still retain such a pitch black color. If there was any form of cockpit, she could not see even the most smallest of glares from the glass. It was as if it was sucking in the very light around it.

This monstrosity was wrong. Its very existence seemed to be an affront. There was no way such a thing could possibly exist, yet it did. It was flying and tearing through ally jets like they were nothing.

And it was heading straight for her.

Twilight panicked. She flailed about in some vane hope that she could possibly veer the parachute away from the black craft. But it did not work. Nothing seemed to be able to save her from that black evil that was coming straight at her. Her eyes widened, her heart raced, her breathing intensified, and yet with such an active and frightened body, she could not help but look as the monster was now seconds away.

She raised her hoof up in terror and everything went black.

Twilight shot out of her bed with a start. Her breath was short and panicked, trickles of sweat covering her face. Her mane was frazzled from the pillow she laid on. She looked about and saw that she was in a room with a simple closet, mirror and nightstand. A window outside showed the bustling activity of an air force base.

Taking all of this into account, she gave a long sigh and fell back onto her bed, cursing the fact that she had the same nightmare again.