Equestria Warriors

"Talon flight, head to 4000 feet an maintain." AWACS spoke through my headset.

   "Talon One, copy."

   "Talon Two, Rodger."

   "Eagle One, copy. Shit, Talon Three, copy." I shook my head. I'd been saying that ever since my old squadron was ambushed by the Russians at the start of this war. The bond the six of us had shared went beyond the combat brotherhood that most soldiers had. We just clicked.

    "Talon Three, climb to 4000 feet!" Talon One said angrily. Jerk. He thought he was king of the world just because he was flight lead.

     "Lay off, Buzz." Talon Two said. She was pretty nice, but taken. I shook my head again. I didn't even know their real names. I only knew them by their call signs, Buzz and Groper.

     "Attention, five defectors have entered the Killbox. They are being pursued by enemies. Destroy all hostiles. Good luck."

     "Five? Intel said only three!" Buzz exclaimed. I punched the throttle and flew by them.

    "Wasamatter, chicken?" I said.

    "Hey! Get back in formation!"

    "Take your formation and shove it." I heard Groper giggle. I was sick and tired of people telling me what to do while Russians killed our people. Playing by the book had done nothing for my friends.

    "AWACS, we have a new fighter group. Phoenix One, engaging." I rolled, then dove. My Raptor descended, weapons bay open. I spotted the Russians, cruising at 2500 feet .

     Rage filled me as I remembered what had happened to Eagle Flight. My flight was flying a routine dawn patrol. Me and my wingman, Willis, were in the flight lead when he was hit with a missile. His plane exploded and the fight was on. Griz and Mikey got a kill a piece, before their planes were shredded. Garret and Tes were destroyed without firing a shot. I had managed to escape the melee. The whole time AWACS was trying to get clearance to engage.

    "Smile at the birdie, fuckers." I got a lock and snapped off a shot. The missile arced towards the Russian, but the angle was too much and it splashed into the sea.

    "Phoenix On- I mean Talon Three! What the hell are you doing?!? You didn't have clearance to engage!"

    "Fucking sue me." I snarled. I fired the Vulcan machine gun and stitched one of the MiGs from ass to nose.

    "Three! Those are defectors! You need to shoot down the other planes!"

    "All Russians are the enemy." I stated, violently sending my plane into a corkscrew to get on the tail of another MiG.

    "Talons, shoot down Talon Three! He's gone rouge!"

    "Yes sir!" One responded.

A tone sounded in my cockpit. Someone had a lock on me! I popped flares in hopes the missile would miss, but to no avail.

The missile struck my left wing, sending the plane into a flat spin. I pounded my feet on the rudders, but they had jammed. Pushed by the G-forces, I could only wait as my plane spiralled into the ocean. I closed my eyes as I prepared for death.

Applejack trotted happily through Sweet Apple Acres, a basket of apples on her back. It had been a good harvest this season, and she was looking forward to the profits she would be getting. She could finally fix the barn! Suddenly, she heard the sound of something flying towards her. She turned, expecting to see Rainbow Dash flying towards her. Instead, she saw a very dark shadow. The ground shook beneath her hooves and she collapsed. The shadow screamed overhead and a few seconds later AJ heard it hit the ground. She stood, shaking then whistled for Finona.

I slammed forwards in my seat. "What..?" I muttered as I opened my eyes. Trees stood at all sides of me. The last thing I remembered was flying into the sea. I popped the canopy and stumbled out. I yanked off my helmet and noticed that it was cracked. My shoulder burned like hell, and was bleeding. I pulled out my .45 and hefted it in my left hand. I heard the rustling of leaves and spun.

    "Don't fucking move!" I shouted. My vision swam for a second and I saw a shape move out of the bushes. I squeezed the trigger. The loud report burned my ears and the shape jumped back.

    "W-who are y'all?" I heard it say in a Texan accent.

    "Who the fuck are you?" I yelled back. My head began pounding. Black spots began to appear in front of my eyes.

    "A-are you hurt?"

I summed up my reserves of strength and yelled weakly "No!" Suddenly my legs gave out and I collapsed. As I blacked out I pulled the trigger once more.

I awoke to bright lights. My shoulder still hurt. I tried to move my arms and found them tied down.

"What the fuck?" I muttered. I tried to move my legs. They were tied down as well.

        "Hey! HEY! WHERE THE FUCK AM I?!?"

       "And where did you find this... creature ma'am?"

      "I-in my orchard! It came down and crashed!"

     "Okay ma'am. Princess Celestia had been notified. She is on her way. Just relax." The nurse pony finished her writing and gave a smile to Applejack.

Twilight was sitting in the library, reading up on magic spells, when Spike coughed and belched out a letter. Twilight magicked it towards her and began to read

     "Twilight, I have been informed of a creature like the ones you and I studied before you were sent to Ponyville. He is currently at the Ponyville hospital. I am on my way to transform him."

Twilight cocked her head. "I don't remember any creatures I had studied."

                     I struggled against my bonds. "Get me the fuck out of here! Damn fucking Russians! Fuck you! Chertovy Svin'i!"

    "Hello."  I froze. A... horse just walked through the door and spoke to me.

    "I am Princess Celestia. Who are you?"

Despite my surprise I spoke with as much bravado I could muster.

   "Yeah, and I'm the fucking Archduke of Puke."

    "I don't care much for your tone."

     "I don't care much for your face, bitch." I spat. The horse ducked it's head and I noticed a horn on top of it's head. Strangely it began to glow. Suddenly a beam struck me. Pain started in my hands. It felt like my fingers were tilting backwards into my hands.

     "Ha! Y...ou call that pain? I'v...e had more pain fucking your m...om!" My toes began to do the same thing. My muscles rippled and began to shrink down on itself.

   "FUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!" I screamed before I passed out.

                   "Ahhh!" *thud* Rainbow Dash glanced up from the ground. "Ow! Hey, who said that?" Dash pushed her mane from her eyes and glared around.

       "Um... Rainbow? I think that came from town." Dash stood and turned to see Fluttershy shaking behind her.

      "Okay, come on!" Dash took to the skies.

      "Oh no! I have too...feed Angel." Fluttershy sprinted away. Dash sighed, then rocketed away towards town.

                    "Wuh... th...e fuck?" I mumbled. I opened my eyes to see a nurse...pony? undoing the straps. My eyes bugged out of my head when I realized my hands had no fingers and were covered in...very light purple.

      "Where the fuck am I?"

      "Welcome to Ponyville."

      "Jesus Christ." I slumped back into the bed. "Something tells me I'm not in Kansas anymore." I rolled out of the bed and noticed that my shoulder was fine. There was a tear and some blood on my flightsuit, and that was it. I tried to stand. Immediately fell forwards onto all fours, which felt surprisingly normal.

      "Excuse me." I turned to see another horse, this time purple, and a...dragon? This was getting weirder and weirder by the second. "Hi. I'm Twilight Sparkle."

     "And I don't give a shit." I said. Until I got answers, no names. 'Twilight' looked aback at my statement,

     "You don't give a what?"

    "Shit. You know, brown shit that comes out of your ass?"

She shook her head in disgust.

    "Anyways, welcome to Ponyville! This is my assistant, Spike. He's a baby dragon." Spike waved hello.

   "Am I on crack or something?" I shook my head. "Jesus Christ, I was about to crash into the fucking sea and now I'm here. What is this, Hell?!?"

                  Twilight glanced worriedly at Spike. The newcomer was beginning to scare her. Suddenly he stopped dead. His left ear twitched.

   "Do you hear that?" He whispered.

   "N-"

  "SHHHH!" He interrupted. "That sounds like...no, here?"

                  It sounded like the growl of the Ul'tra Bombardirovshchik. but those couldn't be here. There was a only a few involved in the war before I crashed. I stared at Twilight

   "Wheres my plane?" I said

   "Umm..." She froze, thinking.

   "It still at my farm! I haven't touched it!" Another horse jumped into the room. I raised my eyebrow.

   "Thats Applejack. She was the one who brought you here. What is your name." Twilight said.

   "Valton." I said. Valton was my callsign. "I've got no time for this.

I heard the Ul'tra and that fucker is fast. You didn't hear it?"

All three shook their heads. The ground rumbled beneath my hooves.

   "I have to get in the air. Do you have anything that can fly?"

   "We have pegesi, but I don't thin-"

   "No, I mean planes. F-18s? F-14s? Anything." They stared as if I were speaking Chinese.

                   Valton suddenly sprinted out the door.  "Hey! You haven't answered any questions yet!" Twilight shouted after him.

   "Why is he runnin' like that?" Applejack asked.

                    My flight suit was way too big now. As I ran through the sparkling white halls I fell twice. I shrugged it off and for a split second I felt self conscious. Then I noticed that nobody else was wearing anything, so I just kept running. Signs pointed to the exit. I bolted out the doors and stopped. I had no fucking idea where I had gone down. I didn't even know if the plane was still flyable. I closed my eyes and screamed in frustration. There was no worse feeling for a pilot than being on the ground during a raid. I thought of the planes I could use here. One stuck out in my mind and I felt...something flow through me. Power buzzed in my veins as I lost feeling in everything, only focusing on the one plane, willing it to be here.

                   Twilight and Applejack ran out the door after Valton. Twilight stopped dead when she saw what Valton was doing. He was floating, his eyes open and glowing with magic. A vortex was in front of him, power crackling in the air.

   "Get down!" She yelled as the vortex expanded violently.

                    I opened my eyes. The cool grass was now scorched. I coughed, turned, and stared. An F-35 Lightning sat on the dirt road, the same plane that I had been envisioning.

   "Bad ass!" I yelled, then ran over to it. The F-35 looked smaller that I remembered. It's single engine was pointed down, ready to do a vertical takeoff. I jumped on the wing and popped the cockpit. A helmet sat in the seat. I slipped in on a HUD appeared, showing airspeed and altitude. I closed the cockpit and fired the engine.

   "Lets hope I remember how to do this." I muttered. The last time I flew this ship was when I first joined the RCAF.

                    Twilight looked up to see whatever came through the vortex take off with a thundering roar, spitting flames from it's back.

   "What in tarnation was that?" Applejack yelled, getting her hat off of a fence post.

   "I...don't know." Twilight admitted.

                  Rainbow Dash saw the plane as it lifted off the ground.

   "What is that?" She said. Dash decided to follow it.

                 "Whoo!" I yelled, as I switched from hover mode to flying. I pulled back on the stick and climbed to 3000 feet. I leveled out and took a glance around me. Giant fluffy clouds surrounded me and I saw... other horses staring at me as I roared past. I waved at them and some waved back. I checked my altitude and noticed another dial.

'Minutes to engagement' was listed with a small number 0.20.

   "Twenty seconds. Huh." I muttered, then rolled to get out of the clouds. I spotted the Ul'tra and some fighters giving it cover.

"Showtime."

                   Dash, following behind, saw the plane dive towards Sweet Apple Acres.

    "It's gonna crash!" She said. She zoomed towards it, determined to stop it.

                   I got a lock and fired a missile at one of the escort fighters. It exploded and the shockwave caused the one next to it to lose a wing and spiral towards the trees below. I pulled back on the stick hard, G-forces shoving my ass down into the seat. I fired a burst of bullets into the next plane and it too fell into the orchard.

   "Ficken Ball-Taschen!" I yelled. I felt a twinge of sadness that Eagle Flight  couldn't be here to see this. They would have had a field day. The last escort suffered the same fate as his wingmen. I turned my attention to the Ul'tra.

   "What the..." I said, noticing that the bomber didn't look like the Russian plane. It was a dark black, with spines poking out of it. It was ugly. I fired a missile and hit the first engine on it left wing. It burst into flames. The plane, crippled, fell and smashed into the ground. It's flaming wing smashed into a house before the nose dug in and it spun to a halt. Adrenaline still pumping through my veins, I took a long, slow circle to confirm the kills. Four fighters and a bomber. If I remembered the counting system correctly, I was an ace! I did a barrel roll to celebrate.

                   Dash stood on a cloud. As soon as it became apparent that the thing wasn't going to crash, she settled in to watch. Her jaw hung open in amazement.

   "That...was...AWESOME!!" She exclaimed. Dash knew she had to meet whoever was doing those things.

                   I pulled the Lightning back and came in for a landing. With a bump I was down. I opened the canopy and leapt out. I saw Applejack, Twilight and Spike running towards me.

    "Sorry about your barn." I said sheepishly. Applejack gasped and sprinted past me. I saw Twilight give me a glare.

   "What? Once a plane is going down, I can't control it. It's just a barn."

   "That was her house!" Twilight yelled.

   "Ooo... sorry." I was about to offer to pay for the damages, but realized that they probably didn't take Canadian currency here.

   "What are you smiling about?" Twilight glared, then blinked in surprise. "You don't have a cutie mark!"

   "A what?"

   "A cutie mark. It shows your special talent!"

   "What... never mind. I was smiling because I got five kills. That means I'm an ace!" As soon as the  words left my mouth Twilight gasped.

   "What kind of cutie mark is that?" I looked back and saw it. It was the RCAF logo.

   "It's the Royal Canadian Air Force logo. I was, or still am, a part of it."

   "Who are they?"

   "Pilots. Or rather, fighter pilots. They fly the things I flew."

   "Huh." Twilight said, chewing her lip. I laughed.

   "What?"

   "Nothing, it's just...you reminded me of someone." My heart ached for a moment and tears filled my eyes.

   "Ahem." I cleared my throat. The past was the past. Applejack appeared again, this time holding a bucket filled with gold coins.

   "The barn is finished, but it was old anyways." She smiled at me. "I've got enough Bits to rebuild it."

   "While you rebuild it, Applejack, you can sleep at my house. Valton, do you have a place to stay?"

   "Not yet. I was going to get some gear from my Raptor and set up camp."

   "Your Raptor?"

   "My other plane that I crashed in. Where is it?"

   "Ill take y'all." Applejack began walking. I followed.

                    Twilight was about to follow when Rainbow swooped down in front of her.

   "Who was flying this?" Dash asked excitedly.

   "Valton...Ace." Twilight replied. "C'mon. Applejack is taking him to his 'Raptor'."

   "Awesome! Do you think he'll teach me how to do that?"

   "I don't know Rainbow."

                    "Here it is." Applejack said, stopping in front of a large divot in the ground.

   "Hey, it's still in one piece! Wonder if my stuffs okay." I said, seeing the wreck of my old plane. I walked to the canopy and noticed the .45 sitting on the ground. "Sorry for almost shooting you there. I didn't know where I was."

   "S'all right. You didn't hurt me none. It was just loud."

I pulled out my survival pack out of the plane and opened the zipper with my teeth.

   "Huh. The rations made it." I muttered. "Tent, flare gun, sleeping bag, it's all here. It's all fine. I wonder..." I said. I climbed back in and looked behind my seat. I barked a laugh.

   "What is it?"

   "It's my MP7! I thought it would have been crushed!" I pulled out the sub-machine gun and placed it down.

"Some scratches, but it's fine!" I poked at the clip release. All 40 rounds were still in it. I tapped it back into the butt.

   "What does it do?"

I pointed at the .45. "This is a pistol. Shoot one round, small clip, not very accurate. This is the Machinepistol Seven. It is a sub-machine gun capable of spitting out it's whole clip in one burst. Highly accurate with forty rounds."

   "Oh." Applejack sounded dumbfounded. My ear twitched again.

   "Shit, get behind the plane!" I had heard the grumble of a jet engine, and it probably wasn't friendly. Applejack scrambled underneath the wing. I joined her as the growl grew louder.

   "Hey, Applejack! Valton? Where are you guys."

The growl turned into a scream.

   "SHIT!" I jumped over the wing to see Twilight and another pony standing in the clearing. I dove and tackled them just as bullets chewed up the ground where they had stood.

   "Get behind the plane! Go!" I yelled, shoving them forwards. I quickly turned to see the dark shape of the enemy plane climb and roll. I smiled. Whoever was flying was a rookie. The turn was very jerky, not the smooth and practiced hand of a veteran. I waited as he came on another pass. He came in too low, his gun too high to hit the clearing correctly. He roared past and tried to climb, but he clipped a tree and cartwheeled, smashing into the ground. I began running towards the wreck, wary of the fuel the plane had to be carrying. I dodged a tree and saw it.

                   The plane was short, looking very stubby, and had spines all over it, like the bomber had. I could see no cockpit. As I approached, the whole top lifted off and out came a creature. It was dark black, and had small grooves in it. A sharp horn was on it's head, and there were holes in it. It noticed me and we stood there for a second. Then it charged. I swung low and grabbed as it jumped at me, it's horn grazing my shoulder. I slammed it into the ground.

   "What are you?" I asked. It hissed at me and it's horn began to glow. I reacted without hesitation. My hoof nailed the thing's snout. A sickening CRACK split the air as the thing went limp.

   "Shit." I muttered. I placed my ear near it's mouth. Nothing.

   "Shit." I repeated. I had killed it. I must have driven the cartilage into it's brain.

   "Oh my gosh!" I heard Twilight exclaim. "Is...is it dead?"

   "It's dead. I killed it by accident. Do you know what it is?"

Twilight look horrified. Applejack looked like she was going to be sick.

   "I-it's a... was a Changeling. But they have been gone from Equestria for millennia."

I straightened, brushing my self off.

   "They're back now." I cracked my neck. "Ahhh. Haven't had hand-to-hand in months." I got some questioning looks. "Sorry, hoof-to-hoof. Thats going to take some getting used to." I looked at the un-introduced pony. She was surprisingly attractive, with a rainbow mane. She cocked her head and gave a cute smile.

                  "Hi, I'm Rainbow Dash." Dash said, looking at Valton. He was handsome, with brown eyes and a black mane. He grinned.

   "I'm Valton." She stared at him while he stared back. His eyes were warm, with a hint of danger underneath.

   "Valton, what did you do to get your...plane here?" Twilight broke in, ruining the moment.

   "You're asking me. I was going to crash into the sea when I transported here. Thanks Buzz...assbag."

   "No, I mean the other plane, the one you flew here."

   "Oh. I have no fucking idea."

   "We won't figure this out tonight Twi. How 'bout we go have apple pie at your house? We could introduce Valton to the others."

   "Okay."

The two of them began to walk away. Rainbow stayed and looked at Valton. He had tears in his eyes. Dash asked "Whats wrong?"

   "Oh, heh, nothing." He sniffed, then rubbed his eyes. "My sister used to love apple pie. She...never mind. Lets go."

                    Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Rainbow leaned back, contented.

    "Ahhh. I always eat too much of your pie." Twilight sighed. The others voiced their agreement.

   "Hey, Valton. You haven't touched your pie. You don't like it?"

Valton poked at the pie.

   "It's just..." He sat in silence for a moment, before standing suddenly.

   "This is great but..." A tear rolled down his face and he bolted out the door.

   "I'll see whats wrong." Rainbow grunted, struggling to her hooves.

                    "Fuck you!" I screamed, smashing a fence post with one hoof. "Why won't you let me die? Fuck you!" I smashed another post.

    "Valton? What are you doing?"

    "Nothing." I said bitterly. "Goddamn it. I thought when I died I'd be with Ev again. And my squad.

    "Who's Ev?"

   "She was my sister...fucking Russians."

   "What happened?" Rainbow asked.

   "Do you really want to know?" Dash nodded, sitting on the grass.

   "Okay. I was the oldest kid in my family. My sister, Evelin, was born five years later. When I was young, I decided to be a fighter pilot, like my grandfather and uncle. God, my grandpa's stories made his sound like a knight. When I made it into the RCAF, I made a promise to Ev. I would keep her safe, no matter what." I chuckled. "She would send letters, usually two or three a month. That was before the lockdown."

   "Lockdown?"

   "The Canadian government got extremely suspicious of terrorists. They shut down the mailing system. There had been eleven package bombings that killed two hundred people. Anyways, I was a flight lead, but there wasn't really anywhere to fly. There were tensions in the East, but hell, when was there not? Then, Russia invaded the Ukraine. The United States saw this as a hostile action, and threatened to help the British aid the Ukrainians. That was when Ivan decided to give Uncle Sam a present.

                       "Hundreds upon hundreds of Russian missiles hit America. New York, Washington, California, hell, all of Florida was destroyed. I'll never forget that day. The horizon filled with fire, and the shockwave felt like an earthquake. In three days, Russia had managed to take all of the British Isles. Germany fell next. Russia pasted Japan and China, but left Canada alone. We got a message from the Russian commander, Igor  Prndroviski. If we didn't attack, we could have all of North America. Our Prime minister, God rest his soul, said that 'Canada will never bow to the demands of any crackpot with an army.' Then, Canada was at war. Russia began sending planes to buzz our commercial flights. We started having to cover the flights."

      Tears welled in my eyes. "Ev and my parents were flying down for my birthday. I was sitting in the terminal and waiting when a Russian flew low, and shot a missile straight into the engine of the 747. It hit the ground and burst into flames. There were no survivors." I tried to swallow the lump in my throat to no avail. "I charged out and fired my guns at the planes. They had to restrain me. After that, I devoted my life to hunt and kill the bastards that killed my family and countless innocents." I looked up and saw tears in Rainbow's eyes.

   "I... I just need a few minutes to clear my head. I'll see you tomorrow." I turned into the night and walked away.

                   Dash watched Valton disappear into the darkness. Her heart ached at the torment he was feeling. Rainbow slowly stood and walked back to Twilight's. The others needed to hear this.

                    I walked all through town, not seeing anybody. I noticed a dark forest at the edge of town and decided to walk through that. I was about thirty meters from it when I noticed a flash of light. It looked like a piece of glass or something. I kept walking.

CRACK.

An orange flame spat near the glint and a clod of dirt flew up and smacked my chest.

   "Holy shit!" I jumped back.

   "Move any closer and the next ones through your head!" I heard a voice shout, but it was familiar.

   "Holy shit, Garret? Is that you?" I shouted. "It's me, Chris!"

   "Chris? Fuck, I thought I was the only one here!" I saw a pile of leaves rise up and walk towards me. I laughed. Garret always carried his gillie suit in his plane along with his sniper rifle, a Canadian Marksmen Rifle .50, or CMR 50. Garret shucked his hood and grinned at me. His coat was a dark green and his brown hair had carried into his mane.

   "Dude!" He gave me a quick hug. "How the hell did you get here?"

   "Shot down."

   "Russians finally caught up to you, eh? He glanced at my mark. "Hey, you got yours too? I got mine weeks ago." I glanced at his. It was a sniper crosshair with 1500 printed in the left bottom.

   "Got it by saving someone from a Timberwolf. I heard them scream and saw them being chased by one. I scoped in, fired and nailed the fucker right between the eyes. Next time I looked, I had it."

   "What the fuck is a Timberwolf?"

   "It's a wolf. Made out of timber. How'd you get your mark?'

   "Got mine by taking down four fighters and a bomber."

   "Sweet. Have you met anybody yet?"

   "Yeah, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Applejack. I forget the others."

   "I've only met Fluttershy. She was thankful when I drilled the Timberwolf. Oh, shit, wait." He ran back into the woods and grabbed a small rucksack.

   "I believe these are yours. This too." I laughed. He pulled out my iPod and old speakers.

   "Do they still work?"

   "Do they fuck!" Garret tapped play on the speakers. Rock flowed through them.

   "I checked the music and it appears you have every rock song in existence."

   "Shit."

   "Yeah, but it can only play music. RedTube doesn't work and theres no wifi." I laughed again, the name of the porn site sounding wrong in this place.

   "Hey, if you're here, maybe Tes is here too! And Will, Griz and Mike!"

   "Maybe some Ruskies too."

   "Garret! Time for dinner!" A soft voice called.

   "Thats Fluttershy. Coming!" He called back. "C'mon. She makes a killer carrot cake!"

   "How about a beer?"