11:16 AM
River Starswirl Airfield

Rainbow Dash stuck the last bit of hay salad into her mouth, chewing quickly as she slid her piloting goggles on. She almost laughed at the thought- what wimpy pegasus needed goggles?- before brushing it aside. A biplane could hit about twice the speed of the fastest pegasi, and the natural bodily defenses didn’t cut it at that stage. Not to mention it was quite cold, and Dash preferred the warm earmuffs of the goggles and cap. She briskly strode out of the mess hall, fixing the last buttons on her jacket, and walked to her aircraft. Her wingmate and flight leader, both other pegasi (while it wasn’t a requirement it certainly helped) were just climbing into the seats of their aircraft.

“Morning, Straight Shot!” Rainbow Dash greeted her flight leader. The chocolate brown pegasus, freshly promoted and on his first leading mission, responded in kind and fastened his safety belt, an essential component when one was not always right-side-up. The other pegasus, an apple-green pony, paid her little attention, too focused in starting his engine. That reminded Dash- she hadn’t gotten into the cockpit of her Pegaco AA7 yet.

Rainbow Dash hoisted herself up the side of the cockpit by way of the hoofhold. Her rump plopped into the uncomfortable seat, pushing Dash into an upright position. She fastened the belt over her waist and looked over the controls. The only thing left to do was to start the engine.

Dash’s trained hoof carefully turned the mixture lever. This was important- the wrong fuel mixture could mess up the takeoff and that was never a good thing at the velocities expected. Next came the crank. She grabbed hold of the hooped lever and spun it once, twice, a third time before the engine let out a terrific bang and began its steady roar. The propellor twitched and began to spin at idle. Now came the good part.
Rainbow Dash pulled the throttle back at a gentle pace, noting the flight leader ahead. As he nosed into the air, Dash’s AA7 bounced down the dirt runway, her hoof solidly on the control stick and preventing an accident. Finally, she pulled back slightly and let the feeling of flight wash through her as the biplane left the safety of the earth, steady behind the flight leader.

11:49
Over the trenches of the River Starswirl

The dull gray glint of the Gryphonian fighters was visible even at distance. The formation of 3 Gryphonian planes were at an altitude below the squad of Pegaco-built aircraft, and the AA7s had the sun’s glare behind them. Now was the time to strike. The flight leader began a steep dive- this was the cue for Dash and her wingmate. The AA7 did not have the superlative turn rate of a Gryphonian fighter- in a turning match it would suffer.
However, it had the best climb and dive rate of any fighter in the war so far. A standard tactic was to attack from height and ascend to height once more before repeating. The Gryphonian fighter could either wait for the next attack or fruitlessly try to beat the AA7 in a climbing match. They called this “booming-and-zooming”, and the Gryphons were in a perfect position to be the victims of this.

The wind picked up in Dash’s ears as her fighter sank in line with the leader. One eye on the altimeter, this was an important rule. A hoof signal, raised and a sudden drop, was all she needed to know before slamming the triggers.

The dual M12 machine guns roared to life, spitting brilliant clouds of light as they did their work. The synchronizer gear mounted in the guns carefully timed the firing of the guns to the rotation of the propellers- ensuring that no bullet would hit the prop and doom Rainbow to an early grave.

The Gryphonian monoplane in Dash’s sights began to crumble along its left wing root. Suddenly it snapped and the Gryphon spiraled toward the ground, ending in a small explosion. Dash briefly looked aside to see another’s tail snap off. Her wingleader leveled out, confident that he could destroy the last one. He didn’t pay attention to the multitude of pony head silhouettes painted alongside the vehicle’s brighter-than-normal gray.

The monoplane suddenly snap-rolled to the right. Most Gryphonian planes had rotary engines that gave them immense turn speed in one direction from the torque, and this one was no different. The monoplane leveled out, just out of range of the flight leader and Dash’s guns. Its front lit up as the monoplane fired. Her wingmate, the green pegasus, watched as her engine disintegrated, then part of her top left wing. With no way of powering out of the spin, the green pegasus nose dived and did not have the altitude to slow down with her natural wings. The results averted Rainbow’s eyes.

The wingleader acted by the book, as most fresh-promotions did. He turned sharply upwards to gain the height advantage. But he had spent too much time at low altitude, lost too much energy. The monoplane lazily motored toward him before placing two bursts into the elevators. The rear of the AA7 began to disintegrate but miraculously kept stable… until a final burst went straight through the vehicle’s inside and into the poorly-placed fuel tank. A piece of shrapnel nearly hit Dash’s plane.

Now it was just Rainbow and the ace gryphon. He flew behind her, steadily closing. By now his guns would easily be able to kill Dash, but the weapons did not fire. Dash’s anger grew as she realized that she was being TOYED with. She wouldn’t stand for that. Her hoof aligned over the blip switch and pressed hard. As intended, the engine cut and the monoplane zoomed past her. Her heavy-caliber weapons aligned over the Gryphonian emblem and opened fire.

The monoplane, for all its pilot’s skill, was not particularly durable. It began to disintegrate and sink to the ground. Dash looked at the pilot, expecting a hateful glare. Her smirk was crushed by the pilot’s expression- panic at the sudden retaliation, the feeling of power shattered and terror taking over. It wasn’t a mindless killer that she had sentenced to death. That gryphon was a person, serving his country, that had died in the service by her hooves. Dash felt sick to her stomach as the monoplane flipped and smashed into the ground. War had been a cavalier thing to her, but she had never seen the effect directly until a routine kill had been closely examined.

Rainbow was now alone, over enemy territory. There would likely be a span of several minutes in which the enemy would not retaliate, and the trench border was right there, just several miles away. Nothing at all for the AA7. So she flew, taking the beauty of it all in. A small column of smoke, racing across a gray line, caught her attention. As Dash’s biplane slowly dipped to a low altitude, the supply train’s details became more apparent. It was obviously traveling to the flak-protected trench station several miles away. It also didn’t have any anti-aircraft armament to speak of. The train was entirely at her mercy, and likely carrying vital supplies for the Gryphons. The biplane dipped lower, side-by-side with the train. She could clearly see it now. It was a Prusan G8 model, 0-8-0 (the handbook of locomotive types had saved many a pilot from bombing an allied train) wheel arrangement. Simple, greeen and black coloration that would doubtlessly charm Rarity back at home.

Dash slowly closed the throttle, letting the highballing engine slowly pass. She was at near-stall speed right now but she honestly didn’t care. The moment was too captivating. As she reared back and prepared a strafe, she noticed the engine speeding up. A futile attempt at escape from her fast fighter. Rainbow fired the guns at the second wagon from the locomotive, the one containing ammunition. Small-arms ammo doesn’t go off in huge explosions, but the blast was enough to wreck the wagon and its coupling. Only the locomotive remained now, and a wagon filled with what looked like crates of salted fish for the gryphons in the trenches. Her hooves were on the trigger. At any moment, she could end the locomotive’s journey and the lives of its crew, and most likely starve several fighting gryphons as well. The death of both parties would be horrible indeed, whether by her direct hoof or not. Dash found her hooves gravitating away from the triggers.

No, she decided, she was not a mindless killer, in the moment until her destruction. She was a pony, a rational being that didn’t kill a helpless opponent. The AA7 gently wheeled away from the steam locomotive and back towards the friendly lines. Dash could faintly hear the engine’s whistle as the little biplane made its way home.

END

Author's Note

So what do you guys think?

Since I have been experiencing a bit of writer's block with Tracks, I made this to alleviate that a bit.
If it's popular I might add a few more (unconnected) chapters.