Ace Combat Equestria: Shattered Clouds

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Intermission
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Epilogue
Prologue
Chapter 9
Chapter 20

Chapter 1

“Rhapsody?” a voice called.

The pegasus mare tiredly waved her hand at the speaker. “Rhapsody,” the voice called again. “You need to get up.” A groan was Ditzy Do’s only response. The grey mare looked about nervously, biting her lips. Once again, she tapped the sleeping sea green pegasus. “Please! You need to get up. The Major will-“

A series of bangs hit the door. “Lieutenant Rhapsody!” an agitated voice cried out.

Determined to stay in her dream, the Lieutenant in question threw her pillow from her bunk at the door, grazing Ditzy Do’s face. But the second the soft cushion left her fingers, she felt the longing to have it back. Ditzy didn’t have the heart to force the Lieutenant up, but continued to prod her with a finger again. “The Major is getting angry! Do you even know what time it is?”

A loud grumble was her response as Rhapsody, or Rhappy to her friends, lifted her head up and looked at the clock on the nightstand next to her bunk, her tail flicking in her agitation. Ten minutes after six in the morn- Ten after six!? Zero-six-ten?! After reveille?! She bolted from her bed, grabbing her dark blue uniform shirt marking her as a member of the AEGIS Air Force. This was the third time she had slept in against the Major’s orders. Ditzy tossed her friend her garrison cap, which landed neatly on her sea green and mint mane… backwards.

“You still need to practice that, Ditz,” Rhapsody said.

Ditzy Do frowned and scuffed her hoof. “I’ve been practicing,” she responded swiftly.

“I know Ditz, I’m sorry,” Rhapsody amending quickly. She looked towards the door as Ditzy Do opened it, and let out a tiny shriek of surprise.

Piercing gold iris’s stared deeply at the shuddering Lieutenant Ditzy Do, who was always intimidated by the Major of the 14th Tactical Fighter Squadron. Once the Captain of the Wonderbolts, since the conflict started, she and the rest of her squadron of Wonderbolts had found themselves actually practicing their military element more and the yellow pegasus mare found herself promoted to the leader of an entire squadron of AEGIS pilots. Her executive officer, Soarin’, and an aspiring Wonderbolt pilot, Rainbow Dash, took over as Captains.

But thankfully for the gray mare, the Major’s eyes weren’t focused on her, but the other occupant of the room. Rhapsody, who had turned to see the source of the squeak while buttoning her blouse, snapped to attention at her hero and commanding officer, clean and quick as always to a salute at her superior officers.

Spitfire didn’t give the sea green mare the benefit and pulled her shades down just a little. Though it was still a little dark outside, Spitfire could see just fine. She mainly wore them indoors as an intimidation tactic. It worked well enough for the enlisted and newer pilots, but the more veteran pilots, it was just Spitfire being Spitfire. The younger pegasus held her stance at attention and barely moved. A model soldier and flier, except for one problem.

“Third time this week Lieutenant,” she said, voice dripping with disappointment. “Tell me how many times we’re going to do this before you get it through your thick head that you need to be up and moving either before or during reveille?”

“Well Ditzy was suppose to wake-“ Rhapsody started, but was abruptly cut off by Spitfire’s hand raising sharply.

“She shouldn’t have to make sure you’re up at the right time Lieutenant,” the Major snapped. “It’d be nice of her to look after you, but you’re the lead pony. Remember? She’s the wingpony now and she’s supposed to rely on you. Stand as you were."

Rhapsody gave a light huff and dropped relaxed her stance, finishing the buttons on her blouse. Spitfire replaced her sunglasses on her muzzle as the two mares in the room stepped out into the hall. They snapped to attention when the Major cleared her throat. “Lieutenant Ditzy Do. Let this be the last time the Lieutenant wakes up late. Prove to me that ‘third time’s the charmed’ is correct and it will be the last time.”

Ditzy Do squeaked a little and nodded rapidly. The poor mare was absolutely terrified of what might happen to her, as if being on the ground was the most dangerous place she could be. Much like her lead pony, she was a reserve pilot. Ponies that had been sitting reserve had to be called in to fill the positions of those lost during the failed raid on Sky Breaker. Ditzy Do had barely finished her officer's class when she received her deployment orders. “Yes ma’am!”

“I have high hopes for you two, but you need to prove those hopes aren’t just foal’s dreams, understood?”

The two mares nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

Spitfire nodded. “Good, now get your flanks over to the mess hall and get some chow. I’ll be briefing the squadron on the day’s schedule in one hour. Dismissed.”

Rhapsody and Ditzy trotted away, dismissed, towards the mess hall. Rhapsody had her suspicions that the briefing was about. She and Ditzy would be patrolling the border again, just like every Thursday. Hopefully it was another eventful week.

And equally, Rhapsody was hoping she was wrong.

The chow hall was bustling with AEGIS pilots and air crews. As Rhapsody and Ditzy retrieved their trays, heaped with today’s breakfast – fruit salad, oatmeal, and hay bacon – and sat at their usual table with their squad mates, there was an odd sense of calm despite the fact that the AEGIS forces were getting their flanks handed to them one battle at a time. The sea green pegasus mare was still a little sleepy, despite the swift wake, and grabbed a second mug of coffee along with her first and a glass of orange juice. She groaned after placing her tray on the table and shook her head to try and get the sleepiness out of her eyes, only to then notice one of her squad mates giggling.

“What’s so funny Sprig?” Rhapsody asked incredulously.

The grey-blue hippogriff opened her bright yellow eyes and pointed her claw at the mare's head. “You, of course. You look like you just rolled out of your bunk. Your mane is still a mess, mate.”

Rhapsody retorted, “I have my wingpony to thank for that.”

“You’re welcome,” Ditzy Do replied cheerfully, and returned to eating her fruit salad. Rhapsody sighed, relieved that, despite all the past jokes made at the poor gray mare’s expense because of her eyes, she still kept a decent sense of humor. Rhapsody herself had made a few jokes as well, but after finding the poor thing huddled in the supply closet, sobbing her misaligned eyes out, the rose-eyed pegasus couldn’t bring herself to jab at her anymore. As a result, Rhapsody and Ditzy Do had become fast friends, even being assigned the same F-14A Tomcat with Ditzy as her co-pilot.

Rhapsody had made a number of other friends in her squadron, the first being Ditzy Do. The second was Sprig Root, a female hippogriff. She was a charming sort, keeping her feathers clean was just part of her daily regimen and being from the Republic of Hibern, Sprig was an exemplary officer. Rhapsody had to admit, she was attractive, beautiful even, but definitely not her type. Once or twice she had caught a few stallions watching her walk by. Her accent was often the selling point; Hibern was on the border with Trottingham, so the accents were spot on the same. A hotshot in her own right, she earned her wings in an F-16C.

Amethyst Karat, who sat across from Ditzy while devouring a hay bacon and daffodil sandwich, was Sprig’s polar opposite. She was a crystal pony, her coat shimmering the same color as her namesake, her mane just a few shades lighter. A rather timid mare like Ditzy, and that made the two of them thicker than thieves. It was luck at how fast the Crystal Empire was able to gather its reserve pilots, who had barely any flight experience, and transfer them covertly to air bases across the continent to friendly airspace to shore up numbers. Amethyst herself had only flown one sortie, and she hadn’t gotten a single kill during that.

Sitting directly across from Rhapsody was a pegasus like her, Mythic Dusk, but he however, was another story. He was a model pilot and officer, almost more than Rhapsody herself, at least when it came to inspections. Otherwise, he was a genuine smart-aleck and "mare's stallion", or so he called himself. His grey coat was accompanied by a blackened mane, the tips ending in silver, and to this day, Rhapsody had no idea how that was possible; maybe they were dyed? His deep, ocean blue eyes reflected a cool nature, but Rhapsody had seen him in a combat sortie. She had considered him borderline vicious, but he wasn’t a bad stallion on the ground. Around his neck though was a gothic sort of pendant; a steel sword with dragon heads on the hilt and a star design adorning the pommel. He even had a tattoo to match; a longsword over a kite shield. His F-16C had the same design on the nose. Being the only male in the squad, their particular group was comically called by the rest of the pilots ‘Mythic’s Harem’. It earned many groans from the four females, but Mythic more or less ignored it.

“Did you ladies hear?” he suddenly asked. “We lost Stratus Air Base yesterday morning.”

Rhapsody bolted her head up. Ditzy stopped halfway from eating her muffin. Sprig and Amethyst didn’t look surprised, though. They must’ve already heard. Though the sea green mare leaned forward. “You’re kidding right? How are they moving so fast?” she asked incredulously.

Sprig took over the conversation. “The gryphons destroyed a lot of our air power, remember? The base defense was only a couple bombers and six fighters, which were all destroyed on the ground. Scuttlebutt is saying a Meteor fighter dropped a fuel-air bomb on it.”

Ditzy swallowed hard, grimacing. The comment also made Rhapsody shudder. The Meteor squadron was Gryphnia’s elite fighter aces. If they were assigned to escort a bomb run, they didn’t lose a single bomber. Intercept enemy fighters? No planes lost and one-hundred percent kill rate. Strike an enemy position? Few survivors, if at all. They were thorough, cunning, fast, and incredibly lethal.

“So Gryphnia took over Stratus, landed their own planes, but the Meteors went back to guarding Sky Breaker, I'm guessing.” Rhapsody rested her head on her hand, her hoof tapping the ground. How much longer would it be before they struck their home base at Canterlot?
Before Ditzy could open her mouth to ask if Mythic was going to finish his muffin, the air raid siren blared. All past speech and opinions was replaced by everypony's frenzied pace to get to the locker room and into their flight suits.

Just as Rhapsody feared, it was going to be eventful.

Rhapsody finished zipping up her flight suit just as the Major stepped in, already dressed in her gear. Whilst everyone else had normal flight suits, the color depending on their particular nation, Equestrians wearing a dull olive green, Spitfire wore a blue and yellow streaked flight suit, akin to match her fighter, a rare and incredibly formidable F-15S/MTD. It was a fighter only the Wonderbolts flew.

“Alright everypony, listen up,” she cried, gaining the attention of Ponies, Crystals, Saddle Arabians and Hippogriffs alike. “AWACS picked up the IFF signature of what appears to be a flight of six bombers right for North Hill. There’s also similar groups heading for Las Pegasus and Manehatten. They’re slow, but they’ve got huge bomb bays, enough to pound and destroy the airstrip at North Hill, just outside of Hibern, and level the two cities. The Hippogriffs been putting up a good fight, keeping the Gryphons out of their country so far, but they’re still losing.”

“They won’t get in! We’ll take ‘em down, ma’am!” a male hippogriff shouted. His fellows shouted their agreement, Sprig joining them, raising their fists in the air. Hippogriffs were a proud race, and had been fierce rivals of the gryphons. When it came down to blows, their fights were vicious, and it was often the best choice by allies to back off instead of jumping in or trying to break it up. The same went for air combat.

Spitfire smirked at them. “I have no doubts. Now your mission is simple. Intercept and shoot them down. They’ll have escort, so stay on your hooves.” She aimed her helmet at Rhapsody. “Lieutenant, you’re taking your wing and heading west to North Hill and intercepting the Bears before they arrive.” She then pointed at the other Squadron leader, a yellow pegasus mare with a pink mane. She looked almost terrified to be suiting up though. “Captain, take your wings and head towards Las Pegasus. Eliminate your bombers and any escort and secure the airspace until the rest of us are clear.”

“Y-yes ma’am,” she murmured.

“Just remember your training and you’ll be alright.” She then jerked her hand to the door. “Now everypony move!”

Minutes later, Rhapsody, Ditzy, Mythic, Sprig, and Amethyst were soaring in a four wing formation towards the bomber formation. Rhapsody and Ditzy Do, in their F-14A, were flanked by Mythic, Sprig, and Amethyst in their F-16Cs. It was mostly uneventful all the way to Hippogriff territory, but Canterlot was close by, so it wasn’t too long before the AWACS called in.

“Sky Gazer here,” a mare’s voice called. “Wraith, you should have a visual on the bombers now. Tallying up six bears in the formation, and looks like a squadron of smaller fighters as escort.”

Rhapsody nodded. “Wraith here, acknowledged. We’re moving forward to intercept.” She then smiled. “Hey Scoots, tell the base on the ground not to worry. We got this under control.”

A chuckle was her answer. “Copy that, Rhappy. They’re still on their guns, but I’ll tell them to get ready to brew more coffee.”

“Tally ho on the bombers!” Amethyst called. Sure enough, Rhapsody looked forward, opening the throttle to engage.

“All fighters scramble and engage!” Rhapsody cried. She shoved her throttle up, the variable wings of her Tomcat moving backwards to accommodate the speed.

“Shade engaging,” Mythic called, peeling off to chase an F-5.

“Banshee engaging,” Sprig announced.

“Phantom engaging,” Amethyst called, none-too-enthusiastically. She broke off with Sprig to head for the left side of the formation.

“Wraith and Specter, engaging,” Rhapsody called, already firing a pair of missiles. They two impacted the belly of the first bear. It detonated into a huge fireball, falling nose down into the mountains below.

“Confirmed kill on a bomber!” Sky Gazer announced.

“There’s our welcoming party!” a gryphon cried.

“Keep them away from the bombers!” the leader called. “We’re almost to the target.”

“This one’s too good! I can’t shake-“ his voice was cut off just as a missile impacted his wing, sending his F-4 careening into a bomber. The resulting crash sent them both hurtling to the ground.

Sprig grinned. “Nice kill, Shade!”

Mythic laughed. “All it takes is some careful aiming and timing.”

Ditzy looked over at his F-16, already strafing the tail of another bear. “You make it look so easy.” Rhapsody said nothing, focusing her aim to send a large burst from her cannon into the engines of the same bear. The engine burst into flames before exploding along with the second and causing the entire wing to break off, sending the bomber into a helix towards its ultimate fate.

“Bombers have veered off! Their aiming for the nearby village!” Sky Gazer yelled. “Intercept and destroy! Hurry!”

“You heard the mare!” Sprig called. “Let’s go!” Rhapsody was in the middle of already turning just as the hippogriff and Amethyst, their fighter’s engines roaring, streaked by. Rhapsody may have been flying the largest plane in the group, but they were not the slowest. Ditzy groaned as Rhapsody increased the throttle again. Mythic soared to her right, keeping pace. To the side, Rhapsody could see Sprig and Amethyst engaging four Phantom IIs. The Hippogriff seemed to be having an easy time while Amethyst seemed to just be an annoyance.

Suddenly, her alarm blared, and Ditzy craned her head back.

“Bogey on our tail!”

The F-5 pilot grinned, his beak curling back as his clawed hand gripped the control stick. His pointed talon rested just above the missile fire button. This pilot was so going to get it. “Cutter 6 here, got a bead on the flight lead.” He jammed the button down.

“He’s firing!” Ditzy yelled, terrified.

“Calm down, Specter!” Rhapsody yelled back. She yanked the throttle back. The Tomcat lurched to a halt, nearly stalling in midair. The fighter almost went completely vertical as the F-5 flew directly underneath. Rhapsody jammed the throttle forward again, firing off a missile at the Tiger that nearly took her out. “Fox 2!” The weapon shot off the rail and speared its way through the clouds, impacting just beyond the cockpit.

“Bandit down!” Ditzy called.

“Bombers down, too!” Mythic cried. Rhapsody turned her head to her left to see the last two bombers hurtle towards the ground. All six bombers had been destroyed.

“Wraith to Sky Gazer. Ghost wing confirmed kill on all bombers. We’re heading home.” She turned her control stick to the east, her squad mates falling into formation back to Canterlot. The tomcat and three fighting falcons regained formation just as thanks came up from the ground for the rescue.

“Copy that, Wraith,” their AWACS called back. “Just got a message from Bolt One and Blue Jay One. They’ve downed their targets and are heading back as well. Good job, everypony. All aircraft RTB.”

Rhapsody smiled and pulled her oxygen mask off, looking back at Ditzy. She craned her arm back, holding up a thumb that was promptly replied to in kind. “Good job, Ghost. Let’s head on home. I left my coffee on the table.”

Sprig chuckled. “I hope they still have pancakes left.” Rhapsody smiled, making an ‘Mmm’ sound. She suddenly grinned wickedly and snapped her oxygen mask back in place and pushed her throttle once again to full. Ditzy yelped in surprise as she held on to the canopy.
“First one to Canterlot gets the first pick on pancakes! One-two-three go!!” she cried, though she was already a long way ahead, afterburners to the maximum as the tomcat roared.

“No fair!” Sprig yelled and blazed after her.

“Wait for me!” Amethyst whined as her Falcon sped up to try and catch her squad mates.

Mythic shook his head, slowly pushing his F-16 forward to rejoin them. “Mares…”

Chapter 2

I remember a time when our town was at peace with everyone and everything around it. There were no bombs dropping from the sky, and no Gryphnian fighters soaring over head, making sure the skies stay clean of anyone they deemed a threat.
There were times when I would look up and see those fighters doing air patrols, sometimes solo, other times in pairs. I don’t know why, but they fascinated me to no end. I would often sit in the town square, or just on the edge of town and watch them fly in a sort of delicate and lethal ballet.

It was only a few days after the bombs dropped, and the fires cleared that the bombers were followed by these fighters, and then they were followed by columns and columns of soldiers and tanks. It wasn’t too much longer that my little village had changed drastically. Our town marshal was removed from office, replaced by the lead MP officer. Soldiers were placed on streets instead of police officers and night watch. Our school was even adjusted, teaching new languages and history. Anything speaking bad about the Gryphnian Kingdom was burned and destroyed.

While I was living with my aunt, who mostly stayed home and complained and swore about the gryphons, I noticed that nopony was really walking the streets anymore as much as they used to. Before, the roads were bustling with ponies of the Empire. Whether it was just for a walk, buying groceries, or maybe even just going to work, there were always enough to pack the streets. That was all over now, as the ponies were replaced by soldiers, and the carriages were replaced by tanks and jeeps.

I still couldn’t believe that just yesterday, the fires were being put out, and our radios were picking up signals from the allied forces that there were mass retreats away from our own borders, and the Gryphons were invading in bulk. It was just a day or so afterwards that they had completely taken over my home town. I kept walking down the street, getting wary glances from the posted soldiers, but they kept their words to themselves, seeing me as a just a little colt who couldn’t hurt a fly.

I was too young to understand just how dire things really were for us, or how drastically my life would change because of all of this…

The tomcat secure in the hangar with the rest of the squad’s respective planes, Rhapsody and company headed back to the mess hall. Their race still held though, and they made their way quickly there, still in their flight gear. Unfortunately, the doors had been closed, and a note hung on the door that read “Closed for Special Meeting. All personnel may use the secondary mess hall for meals”. The five friends groaned and moved off to go about their business elsewhere. Sprig boasted that she would’ve won, but that was shoved aside as everyone went to their respective quarters.

Rhapsody and Ditzy Do headed down the hall, coming up to a vending machine they frequently used. “So how about that sortie? Think we did alright?” Ditzy asked.

Her sea green friend shrugged as she ran her hands along the front of the machine, feeling the cool surface of the soda machine. “We earned our ace wings a while back, Ditz,” she replied. Her tail flicked warily as she looked around the hall for anypony watching her. Finally, she clenched her fist and made a light punch against the front of the machine. There was a heavy whirring sound and a can of grape soda clattered into the collection tray, another clanking sound was followed by four bits falling into a tinier tray nearby. Rhapsody scooped them up, counting them with her thumb while they rested in her palm.

Ditzy frowned, but smirked after a moment. “That’s called stealing you know,” she murmured. Rhapsody smirked back and pushed the bits into the slot on the snack machine. She pressed the button for a particular snack, and then smacked the machine on the side. The first treat fell to the tray, followed by another of the same. She reached down and into the tray, plucking out the two blueberry and chocolate chip muffins. She tossed one to Ditzy, who caught it, albeit just barely.

“I prefer the term frugal,” Rhapsody replied, grinning. They made their way to their quarters, heading inside with their bounty and resting on their bunks. The sea green Lieutenant groaned and took a bite of her muffin before grabbing the book she had been reading for the past few weeks, Love of the Vine. Whilst she came across as a rough and ready fighter pilot and stern officer, Rhapsody enjoyed a well written romance now and then.

She checked her page and found where she left off. Clover was running as fast as his hooves could carry him, pushing his way through the crowd, excusing himself whenever he found a moment. She was here, he knew it. Grape Vine was almost on board the train to Las Pegasus. If he lost her here in Manehatten, he’d never seen the mare of his life again. How could have been so stupid and push her away like that.

That’s when he saw it, her familiar purple tail. “Grape Vine!” he called. “Grape V-“ he fell backwards suddenly after colliding with a massive earth pony stallion. Clover looked up, and his lips curled back into a snarl, his horn alighting.

“How ya doin’ Clove?” Double Barrel growled, ending it with a smile. Rhapsody grit her teeth. These two had been after Grape Vine’s heart for so long and they were finally going to go at it right here in the train station. Would Grape Vine see it and keep riding the train? Would she jump off and make them stop? Rhapsody’s eyes glued to the page-

Four sharp knocks echoed through the room. Rhapsody slammed her book shut, grunting a swear and walked to the door. Sprig was waiting on the other side. The mare decided to take advantage of her bite during their race to get pancakes and leaned on the doorframe. “’Sup, featherhead?”

Sprig narrowed her eyes and clicked her beak a little. “I got word from the Major. We’re going on an offensive tomorrow morning. Those bombers we took down came from Fisher Air Base a few hundred miles away.”

Rhapsody raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? That’s good news.”

“Not entirely,” Sprig added. Ditzy had moved up beside Rhapsody and listened in. “They’re expecting a large turn-out of enemy fighters. Probably a whole squadron’s worth. We’re being paired up with Captain Fluttershy for this one, so it’s bound to be a big attack.”

Ditzy grinned. “We’re finally on the offensive?”

Sprig shrugged, brushing a few feathers out of her face. “It wasn’t much work, but it was dangerous to gather the intelligence on it. One of our scouts was captured and… they…” Sprig covered her beak for a moment. “They tortured and fed him to their dogs.”

Rhapsody hissed violently and shook her head. Gryphons were vicious if not cruel to prisoners; everypony in the world knew that. They took prisoners only if there was decent profit or strategic value in it. They must not have seen this as one of those cases. “Why not today? We should go now before more enemies show up.”

“Major says the fighters need to be adjusted for ground attacks. You know how hard it is to fit air superiority fighters with bombs?”

The two mares in front of the hippogriff nodded their understanding. If every fighter needed to be retrofitted with ground attack munitions, it’d have to wait till tomorrow, but it’d be an early morning flight like today’s was. Of course, Rhapsody’s Tomcat had adjustable rails on the belly for standard unguided bombs, same with the Falcons. Whilst the Tomcat and their three Fighting Falcons could launch with bombs in just a few hours, it was a joint attack that was needed, and they’d have to wait until the rest of the squadron could be outfitted.

“I think we’re going to be in for a rough ride tomorrow morning,” Ditzy said after a moment of silence.

Sprig merely shrugged and started walking away. She waved her hand up for a half-hearted goodbye. “In the meantime, Major says we’re off duty, but don’t stray too far in case we’re needed.”

Rhapsody and Ditzy turned to each other. The latter mare grinned and her wings fluttered a little in the air, causing her to rise up a few inches. Rhapsody knew that look all too well. Whenever they had a few hours of off duty, they always got to go to Ditzy Do’s most favorite place in Canterlot, the one place she loved more than her work. A small little place in Canterlot, but to her, it was better than the very palace.

Home.

The two Lieutenants shared a moment of a staring contest, before the senior most nodded. Ditzy made a quick cheer and went to grab her wallet. She shoved it into her trouser pockets as Rhapsody grabbed her garrison cap and they headed out the door for the main gate. Showing their ID badges, they were allowed to exit and head into town. Ditzy looked almost giddy, being able to see her family again. They had been active duty on base for months, unable to leave the premises for fear of an imminent attack on the Equestrian capital.

Rhapsody wasn’t permitted to have that sort of luxury, as her family was way in Fillydelphia. She used to play the harp in the orchestra, under the conduction of Miss Octavia, but decided that it was about time she did something more for her country. Her little brother, Bolero, was a spritely little colt, who was almost on par with his older sister when it came to string instruments. She even caught him a couple times practicing with her prized harp, which she left to him in case something ever happened to her during the war.

Speaking of which, Rhapsody had to ask something to her friend and wingpony. “How are Dinky and Time Turner handling this?”

Ditzy’s face fell considerably, which made Rhapsody feel a little guilty that she had been so blunt with her question. But her face brightened back up as they walked down the street she lived on. It was a quiet little neighborhood. More than one military family lived here, so it was a closely knit community. Everypony looked after everypony else. “Turner is almost always worried sick, but knows this is something I really want to do. Dinky… bless her heart she has no idea I could be gone at any second.”

“Well that puts pressure on me,” Rhapsody replied with a smirk. “I’m the pilot, so I need to make sure she has a mom to return.”

“You ever considered starting a family Rhapsody?” The question caught the sea green mare off guard, nearly making her stumble on her hooves. A hand reached back and scratched the back of her neck. The thought had crossed her mind more than once, but with her career, a family, let alone a coltfriend, would only slow her down. And like Ditzy said, at any second, one errant twitch of the wrist, banking left instead of right, pulling up not soon enough, and you were only a memory.

“Well-“ she started.

“Mommy!”

The two mares looked up the street. Dinky Do, the light purple unicorn foal of Ditzy Do, was running like her life depended on it and practically leapt into her mother’s arms. Ditzy’s wings flared outwards for balance, but managed to wrap her arms around her daughter to hold her steady. Rhapsody laughed at the heart warming scene just as Time Turner came outside of the house. He was grinning ear to ear, the brown stallion wearing that dorky tie he loved so much. Ditzy smiled back and jerked her head for Rhapsody to follow.

“C’mon in, I think he’s got tea.”

The missile shot of the Su-37’s wing rail, streaking out and blowing the AEGIS Tornado IDS to smithereens, turning it into a burning hulk that rocketed towards the desert sand. The pilot leered, smiling wide as it impacted the retreating column of Saddle Arabian soldiers, oblivious that a fiery wreck was hurtling towards them. This was almost too easy, more like target practice.

The King of Gryphnia had sent the Meteor squadron to Cider Valley to reinforce the lines around the capital to the point where it’d be suicide to try and punch through the lines. Massive, possibly whole battalions of tanks were sent to the valley to push back the Saddle Arabians and their AEGIS allies. Hundreds of bodies of Equestrians, Hippogriffs, Crystal Ponies, and the Saddle Arabians were strewn across the battlefield. The burning hulks of Leopard and Challenger tanks dotted the landscape around them.

Meteor six banked, surveying the scene. “Looks like they’ve had enough,” she called, pulling her visor up. “I say these dweebs are done for.”

“Maybe we should call command,” her wing gryphon called. “I think they wanted us to wipe them out.”

Six shook her head. “I don’t think so eight.” She gave a quick fly over of a column of Leopard tanks speeding from the battlefield and noticed a few were carrying wounded troops on top of them. They looked up, terrified and holding their arms up, showing no weapons. They then returned to hauling their wounded comrades into APCs with red crosses on the top. Those same APCs then rocketed out of the battle zone once those AEGIS troops loaded up inside. “Nah, they’re leaving. They’ve had enough.”

“If you say so,” Eight replied. “Let’s head back to Glacier. I’m starved,”

Six grinned, her beak curling back far. “No arguments there. Race ya!” Her terminator’s engines roared as her afterburners kicked in and propelled her through the sky. Eight was close behind, he may have been good, and royalty good at that, but she was still better.

Yes, things were definitely going Gryphnia’s way.

“Wraith, you are clear for takeoff!”

Rhapsody gripped the control stick and pushed the throttle up. The F-14A lurched forward, the engines roaring as she and Ditzy, callsign Specter, were sent down the runway and into the cool September morning air of Equestria. Sprig and the others had already launched and were heading off towards the rendezvous point. Once Rhapsody had taken the lead position, their wing headed due southeast where they would meet up with Captain Fluttershy’s, or rather Jay One’s, group.

“Everypony armed?” Rhapsody called.

“Banshee here,” Sprig replied. “Armed and ready.”

“Phantom,” Amethyst said after, “Not used to being this heavy.”

“Well next time, don’t eat so many of the muffins in the mess hall,” Mythic teased.

“Let’s cut the chatter, if-if you don’t mind that is,” came Jay One’s voice over the radio. Rhapsody craned her head over to see her familiar F-15E Strike Eagle being followed by a pair of MiG-29s and a Tornado IDS. They all looked like they specialized in ground attacking, in spite of the shy Captain’s disposition. Rhapsody had to wonder why the yellow pegasus was a pilot. Probably was convinced to enlist by her friend in Spitfire’s squadron.

Wraith and her wing took up positions alongside the Captain’s fighters and they kept pace. “The target is fifty miles away, everypony arm yourselves, if… it’s not too early.” Rhapsody groaned to herself. Seriously, for a Captain of her own squadron, she needed to be a bit more assertive. But they did as instructed and soon, they were close. “There’s a substation nearby that channels power to the air base. If we destroy it, we can delay their chance for a counter attack. Does… anypony want to blow it up, b-besides me?”

The Tornado in the group began to dive to do just that, but Mythic propelled forward, angling his attack. “Careful Shade!” Rhapsody called.

“Who are you talking to?” he replied, sounding smug.

Rhapsody shook her head. “My point exactly.”

She watched the F-16C dart towards the ground. Suddenly, it banked up, a pair of bombs striking it on either side. They weren’t dead on hits, but it was enough to destroy the entire station. The explosion that resulted set a good portion of the crater it was settled in ablaze and sent bricks at least sixty feet into the air. Even though she didn’t appreciate the aggressive approach of her wing mate, she couldn’t argue the results at times.

“Good drop, Shade.”

“Sky Gazer here!” their AWACS suddenly called. “Fisher Air Base must’ve spotted you on radar. Six fighters closing in fast.”

Captain Fluttershy squeaked, which would’ve been considered adorable by Rhapsody had the situation been different, and called, “A-all wings engage!”

The fighters split off from each other. Rhapsody gripped the stick hard and flicked the cover off of her missile trigger and banked up to engage a MiG-21. The delta-winged fighter craned itself left and right, but the smaller fighter was no match against the more advanced jet of the AEGIS air force. “Wraith, fox two!” she called. The missile flew off the rail, striking the MiG right in the cockpit. “Scratch one!”
“I can’t shake him!” one of the MiG-29s of the other wing was turning hard, almost too hard, to try and get away. Mythic took up a chase position behind the lower class MiG-21 and chased him off. This succeeded and the enemy was promptly shot down by the grey pegasi’s cannons. It was then Rhapsody noticed Amethyst not responding. Her falcon was flying a simple straight line, right towards an enemy fighter that was screeching right for her.

Rhapsody pulled in front of Amethyst and fired a missile, striking the MiG-21 dead on. It went right by Amethyst, who still didn’t move. “Damnit, Phantom! Wake up!”

The fighter suddenly jerked, as if Amethyst had just woken from a nap. “S-sorry!”

Sprig banked after destroying one of her own. “This is ridiculous,” she yelled. “Are they even trying?”

“Can’t be, mate!” the Tornado pilot called, his hippogriff accent clear enough. “They’re too pesky to be a bunch of rookie pilots.”

Mythic flew over the wreckage of the fourth enemy MiG kill. “I think I’m with Banshee on this one. They’re still engaging and we’ve taken down four so far- “

“Make that six!” Rhapsody called. Two explosions rang out almost simultaneously. She had been able to destroy two MiG’s with two missiles. “Oh man that’ll never happen again.” Mythic went silent for a few moments. “Shade? What is it?” His F-16C flew straight ahead, as if nothing was wrong –
“The bombers are already taking off! This was a decoy!” He suddenly banked sharply to the north, his fighter shrieking as his engines took in more fuel to accommodate the increased speed. The rest of the fighters banked after him, throttling up to catch up with his. Rhapsody swore violently; seriously, how could they have been this stupid? Just as her Tomcat was catching up with Mythic was when the anti-air guns began firing.

Explosions of burst shells began pelting them from all sides. Rhapsody heard Fluttershy squeak sharply in terror, her Strike Eagle turning sharply to the left and right to avoid the enemy fire. The flak was intense, and the sea green mare managed to look down at catch sight of a few more fighters taking off.

To rendezvous with three bear bombers already in the air and heading west.

“All fighters, this is Wraith!” she cried. “Three bombers have taken off, heading east! Intercept before they reach the edge of the combat zone!” She then flicked the switch on her console. “Everypony else start dropping your payloads!”

Although the flak was thick, it was much lighter than AEGIS command had previously expected. Rhapsody and the rest of her wing were able to strafe the air field and damage enough of the buildings to render them useless. The Tornado pilot even went in close, dropping his bomblets load down the runway. The tiny explosions caused enough holes in the runway to prevent any more planes from taking off.

Even Fluttershy was able to do her own damage, as much as she hated it. Rhapsody could tell that even as the Captain dropped her cluster bomb, she was making noises that sounded like sobbing. She must’ve really hated this war, but why was she here if that was the case? Her bomb detonated, sending bomblets and shards down onto a trio of bear bombers parked outside the hangars.

Mythic had peeled off, strafing the three bears that managed to get away. One of the MiG pilots from Fluttershy’s group went with him, and the two brought them to the ground. “Sky Gazer here!” AWACS called, “The bombers attempting to escape have been destroyed. Sanitize the airspace and destroy the rest of the parked bombers. Turn this base into a junkyard!”

Rhapsody had no time to do such. She pulled into a steep climb, an F-5 on her tail. “He’s climbing fast, and picking up speed!” Ditzy called, craning her head back. A distant sound like humming was the preamble to a hail of gunfire shooting around the Tomcat. Rhapsody kept climbing, higher and higher. But still, the gryphon F-5 kept pace. They were small and thinly armored, but damn were they quick and nimble. However, they were not meant for extended, straight-up climbs like the tomcat.

The Tiger began sputtering, until finally it stalled. The pilot growled, shoving his throttle forward all the way. “C’mon you piece of-“ He kicked his clawed foot into the floor of the fighter, but this did as one would think: nothing. The fighter arched back, its turbines choked, and it tumbled to the ground nose first.

The gryphon managed to regain control, gripping the stick and pulling his throttle back, giving the engines just a little bit of sustenance to get them started. Slowly, they kicked back on, which gave him the power needed to get out of the dive and leveled out. He then turned back in time to see the Tomcat pulling out of its own dive and pull away. Though she was dropping bombs, he could turn around and –

Steer right into the missiles of a Fighting Falcon.

“I got one!” Sprig cheered. Finally, with one more bomb dropped from Amethyst’s fighter, the last bomber at Fisher air Base was destroyed. The entire field was filled with the burning hulks of fighters and bombers alike, marking a victory for the AEGIS fighters. All bombers were destroyed, their escorts were taken out of commission, and the base facilities were in flames. Rhapsody could see the remaining gryphon personnel trying to put out the flames with buckets and what appeared to be garden hoses. The fire crews must’ve been hit too.

Unfortunately, their lone Tornado pilot was pelted by the AA guns perfectly. He had been in the middle of another bombing run when they hit him, and the hippogriff pilot couldn’t pull up in time. The bullets raked his engines just as a burst from another AA gun shattered his cockpit. He was dead before he hit the ground.

“Poor Cutter…” one of the MiG pilots murmured. “His wife’s gonna be heartbroken.”

“I’ll let her know,” the other MiG pilot replied, his accent marking a Saddle Arabian. "We went to school together."

“I’m sorry to hear about the fallen pilot, but the air base has been shut down. So he didn’t die in a pointless raid,” Sky Gazer said. “Those bombers were on their way to destroy a retreating group of AEGIS soldiers heading for a rendezvous point in southern Hibern at Windbreak Point. That’s the staging area for our offensive.”

“So command is really going to start making a push?” Mythic asked.

“Affirmative to that. And you all are being pushed to the front.”
Rhapsody clapped her hands together as a few cheers rang up. “Finally! You know how to bring out the good news Sky Gazer!”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Sky Gazer chuckled. “It won’t be for but a few weeks from now, though, so you’ll have some time to get ready for the air force’s offensive. For now, everypony RTB.” With that, the fighters formed up with Fluttershy leading the group back to Canterlot air base. A few days, and the war would truly begin. AEGIS would begin its offensive to retake lost territory.

“Checkmate.”

Amethyst glared at the board and growled. “Rematch!”

Mythic shrugged and crossed a leg over the other. The lounge was quiet this time of night. Most of the base personnel calling it quits and heading for their quarters before light’s out. Of course, there were those that were night owls, like the late night fighter crews. Tonight, there was only Rhapsody, Mythic, Ditzy, Sprig, Amethyst, and three others; a unicorn playing a hippogriff in cards, and an earth pony playing the nearby piano.

“Does anypony know what our next assignment will be like?” Sprig asked as she sat down at their usual table. She set the cranberry-grape juice in front of Rhapsody, her favorite late night drink, and handed Ditzy a blueberry smoothie. Sprig sat down, crossing her legs as she sipped a cactus juice and rum. Rhapsody grimaced, wondering how in Celestia’s name she could drink that swill.

“No idea,” Mythic replied. “Sky Gazer said it was a few weeks from now, so I’m not worried. The radio said the Saddle Arabians made a huge push forward, lost a lot of troops, but gained a large amount of ground. They even captured a few Gryphon spies.” He turned back to the chess board and pushed his rook two spaces to the right. “Checkmate.” He looked back at the three others. “What I want to know is how bad the Crystal Empire is being hit.”

Amethyst hissed again and started resetting her pieces. “Rematch!”
Ditzy shook her head, looking to the north. Beyond was the battleground being waged on the soil of the crystal ponies, who were putting up a desperate fight to retake their home. They literally had no true air force left. The Crystal Princess had to draft subjects with flight experience into what was left of their air force, borrow planes from allies, and use them for defense. “Apparently they’re doing good enough. There’s been no word that the capital has fallen, and the princess is still broadcasting.”

“But how long will that last,” Rhapsody muttered, taking a sip.

Sprig scoffed. “Don’t be such a pessimist, Rhap. As long as their capital doesn’t fall, then they still have a fighting chance.”

“But without an air force – “ the pegasus mare started.

“But nothing Rhapsody,” Amethyst snapped. “We don’t go down without a fight. Crystal Heart or not, we still fight for what’s ours. We may have been gone for a thousand years, but we still know what it means to fight for what we have. Sombra disheartened us, but that didn’t mean we didn’t have the courage to face our national enemies.” She pushed her bishop three spaces up the board, where Mythic then placed his knight, taking her bishop. She then rammed her rook into it, taking his knight. “Haha!” she cheered.

Mythic slid his queen over, taking the rook. “Haha,” he replied, less enthusiastically. Amethyst stared at the board, before letting her head fall on the table. “If this offensive operation works, and we punch a deep enough hole, we can probably fly all the way to the Crystal Empire and retake the ground they lost.”

“And a few hundred miles is the border to Gryphnia,” Rhapsody added. She took another sip and looked towards the window where Ditzy looked mesmerized by Luna’s moon. “How much of a chance do we have?” Ditzy placed a calming hand on Rhapsody’s shoulder. The sea green mare looked at her friend, and then the rest of her squadron. They all locked eyes with each other. Rhapsody observed all their eyes, mentally cursing herself. It may have been the two battles in a row talking, but she was thinking a bit negatively.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered. Ditzy wrapped her arm fully around her friend, flexing her right wing to drape around her as well.

“Think nothing of it, Rhap,” Mythic replied calmly. He grabbed his coffee cup and held it up. “We’ll get through this, one way or another. And the gryphons will know that it’s a bad idea to play with ghosts.”

“But we’re not ghosts yet,” Ditzy responded cheerfully. Rhapsody smiled at her vigor. This mare could be fighting the legions of King Sombra himself, with only a toothpick and a cardboard box for weapons, and still be thinking of which muffin to eat first when she got back home. She raised up her glass of cranberry-grape juice.

“No better group I’d rather fly with,” she said.

“Here here,” Sprig replied.

“I second that,” Amethyst agreed. Mythic grunted a response, and once Ditzy had gathered up her smoothie cup, they clinked their drinks together. Time soon came for them to pack it in and head for their bunks, but not before the crystal mare grabbed Mythic’s arm and pointed at the board. “Your move,” she said coolly.

Mythic smirked, looking down at the board. He then reached down, moving his queen diagonally to the far end of the board. “Checkmate,” he murmured.

Amethyst’s face fell as she looked at the board. She had moved her pawns just right to leave him a b-line right for her king. She growled and spun away from him, muttering angrily to herself. Three moves and she’d been beaten! Mythic chuckled as she stomped out of the lounge, then turned his attention to the window. The smile on his muzzle fell a bit and he folded his arms. His tail flicked a bit and his wings rustled their feathers.

In just mere days, their war would have to turn.

Something told him the turn would be a hazardous one.

Chapter 3

While staying with my aunt, who still raved on about the horrible treatment and how much she despised gryphons, I got a small job at the local tavern. The one thing I was good at was playing a harmonica, which also was my cutie mark (imagine that), and I could play pretty good in my opinion. The soldiers there often listened to me, and there were a couple times when the place would get really quiet while I sat on the bar. The barkeep would be polishing and cleaning his glasses while he and the crowd watched and listened to my notes.

One night, a particularly rambunctious group of soldiers came in. They all wore pilot uniforms and jackets with emblems of the proud Gryphnian Air Force. Their emblem was a pair of daggers crossing blades behind a falling meteor. I wasn’t busy cleaning my harmonica and looked at the barkeep, wondering who they were.

“That’s Meteor Squadron,” he replied. “They’re Gryphnia’s top squadron. Their best. In their entire history they’ve only lost one member. And that was during the war against their first tyrannical emperor about sixty years ago.” He suddenly huffed. “Not that the royal family has changed much,” he added with a faint hiss. His voice was too low to be heard by the gryphons.

One of them suddenly walked to the bar, holding up a marker. “Hey keep! We got a new tally for ya!”

The barkeep suddenly grinned and took the marker. “Alrighty!” he cried, his disposition suddenly changing to feign enjoyment. “Let’s see here…”

The pilots had run out all of the soldiers. They gathered around the bar, tallying up their kills against AEGIS. I listened with some rapt attention, hearing the boasting and cheering. They spoke in long words and acronyms, almost too many times for me to understand. They then started shaking the hands of a gryphon, shaking him and congratulating him. They called him an ‘ace’, which I later learned was the title for a pilot who scored five kills. He was rather handsome, his feathers were pristine, and his features cool. On his jacket was stitched the number eight along with his squadron's insignia.

“And how about our leader?” the barkeep suddenly said.

I turned around to a female gryphon sitting in the corner. She was busy strumming a guitar when she looked up, a faint smile coursed her beak as she brushed some feathers from her face. The number six was stitched into her jacket as she then looked at me. She directed a smile at me, and then waved for me to come to her.

I don’t know what for, but I jumped from the bar and walked over to her. She placed a leg on her knee and hefted the guitar onto her right leg. Her wings folded back and she ran her claws gently over the strings. The bar went quiet as she jerked her beak to the seat next to her. I sat down, raising the harmonica to my lips. She then looked down and closed her eyes, strumming a few notes. A few seconds later, I recognized it as an Equestrian song. Why a gryphon knew it, I didn’t know, but she was really good at playing it. I knew it too; it was a song my mother sang to me when I was troubled, or if I couldn’t sleep. I noticed she looked rather gruff, maybe even harsh, but she played the guitar very soothingly.

I soon joined in with my harmonica, and we played a melody that filled the tavern’s air…

“Originally owned by the Hippogriffs,” Spitfire continued, “The gryphons made an almost immediate b-line for it. They’ve surrounded the area with anti-air guns, but not enough to stave off an attack by a small strike force.”

“AKA the four planes you’ve assembled in the room,” Amethyst mumbled.

“Exactly,” the Major said, her expression neutral, but seemed to have an aura that said ‘shut up and let me finish’. Amethyst did so without hesitation. “There are a total of six radar domes that are broadcasting to the Gryphon commanders every single AEGIS position. If we want to make any progress in the coming invasion, they need to be taken out. The Prime Minister himself has given us full authorization to shut them down by any means necessary, even if we have to carpet bomb the entire mountain range.”

Rhapsody folded her arms, smirking. “Hippogriffs always liked being thorough.” She then winced and turned around. “No offense Sprig.”

“None taken, it’s completely true to the point of almost being sad.”

“Anyway, we’re not gonna send in a pair of B-52s into the mountains and start dropping bombs on anything that looks hostile. A small strike squadron, AKA you, will be loaded with bombs again. Make sure to drop them on the targets, and any other Gryphnian armaments and vehicles in the area. Consider everything hostile and destroy them.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Mythic agreed.

“Alright then, you have your assignment. You leave immediately.” She saluted. “Dismissed.”

Rhapsody flexed her gloves and shuddered. “Sweet Mother Mare,” she muttered. “It’s colder than a Windigo’s flank up here. Sprig, why did the hippogriffs choose this place?”

“Cold like home, mountainous so it prevents a direct infantry attack, also keeps out armor, and it’s safe and secluded,” she answered automatically. Sprig looked around the mountain range, smirking behind her oxygen mask. “The view’s not too bad either.”

“You’re approaching the target,” Sky Gazer announced. “They’ve already sent a pair of fighters to intercept. You are clear to engage.”

“Roger, Wraith engaging.” The Tomcat sped ahead of the group.

“Shade engaging.”

“Banshee, engaging.”

“Let’ go! Whoops, uh… Phantom engaging!”

Rhapsody pulled up, letting the first Gryphnian F-16 fly under her. Mythic broke away from the group and pursued. Sprig pulled the trigger on her control stick and let loose her cannon. The heavy rounds tore through the F-4. Chunks of metal tore away from the two-seater fighter and sent it hurtling into the mountain, causing a minor avalanche into a valley.

“He’s on me!” Amethyst cried. Her F-16 turned hard, spinning into a helix upwards to try and shake off the enemy that flew her exact same plane. The gryphon was able to keep pace and turned with her.

Rhapsody pulled up, dropping a pair of bombs directly onto a radar dome. The first hit dead on, but the second went too wide, almost turning with her and slamming into the side of a CH-47. “Not exactly a target, but good shot either way,” Ditzy praised. She then looked to her left. “There’s Amethyst. She’s still in trouble!”

Wraith pulled into a turn towards the pair of Fighting Falcons, muttering, “She’s always in some kind of trouble.”

“I heard that! Shut up and help me!” The Tomcat’s wings pulled back with the increased speed as she pulled up behind the gryphon pilot. “I can’t shake him!”

The Gryphon sneered violently, trying to get a bead on this AEGIS pilot. They were spinning wildly, banking left and right just enough for him to be unable to get a lock. But she suddenly flew into a straight line, a mistake he managed to grab a hold of an exploit. His trigger was pulled and the cannon roared.

The tracers showed his bullets tearing into the left wing of the Fighting Falcon. Shards of metal and a trail of smoke indicated a good hit. He grinned and flipped up the trigger guard for his missiles. Almost immediately, he had a lock. One missile and this pilot would be gone. The gryphon clicked his beak, savoring the moment for just a few seconds. One button press and he would be an ac –

Rhapsody’s missile struck the gryphon fighter right in the engine. The pilot ejected into the air, away from the combat area, drifting down into the valley below. Ditzy craned her head back to watch his parachute open. Suddenly, his hand shot up, and Ditzy’s face twisted into one of incredulous hurt. “He just flicked us off! Jerk.”

Rhapsody pulled her fighter up beside Amethyst. The pegasus mare looked over into the cockpit. Phantom looked like she was hyperventilating, her head down as she flew an almost rigid line over the mountains. “Phantom, this is Wraith. What happened?” she called. No response. Instead, the crystal mare sounded like she was hyperventilating. “Phantom, respond!”

“Huh? Wha-?” Amethyst looked over at Rhapsody. Rhapsody scowled, looking at the crystal pony she had almost personally trained on how to survive a dogfight, and she made a rookie mistake. First rule of dogfighting: always watch your wingpony. Second rule: never, ever, even if it can’t be helped, fly in a straight line. It was like standing still for a hydra to eat you.

“They hay was that?” Rhapsody shouted. “You about got yourself killed! That’s twice!”

The Fighting Falcon kept its line, its pilot hanging her head. Rhapsody watched her, awaiting a response, before she heard a sniff.

“I-I… I’m sorry… I-I got scared.”

The Tomcat pulled a little closer. “Sorry? Don’t be sorry! You have to focus in battle or you’ll be taken – “

“I know!” Amethyst yelled. “I said I’m sorry!”

Wraith stopped, looking over at the fellow pilot. Her heart almost broke upon hearing that, and when she looked over, she saw Amethyst pull up her visor and wipe her eyes. Ditzy pulled her oxygen mask off, so that the microphone couldn’t hear her talk to Rhapsody instead. “Is she crying?”

“Sounds like it,” her friend replied, her own mask off so that they could converse privately. She then pulled her mask back up and waved for her squad mate to look at her. The Tomcat slowed down, its wing fanning out near the injured Fighting Falcon, as if reaching out to hold a hand. “Hey, I’m sorry for snapping,” she said calmly. “But you’re going to have somepony against you flying right behind you. You need to stay focused on the battle or you could get killed. I'm scared too, you know.”

Amethyst nodded at Rhapsody, looking her way and wiping her eyes again. By the looks, she hadn’t even dropped her bombs yet. “But you scored a kill the other day, and you were fine. Why did you freeze up now?”

Silence was her answer, before a pop was heard. Rhapsody and Ditzy looked over, seeing that Amethyst’s fighter was shuddering and a stream of smoke billowed from the fuselage. “He must’ve hit me worse than I thought. Losing pressure in the flaps and fuel is getting low. I need to head back to base.”

“And just in time too,” Mythic called suddenly. Rhapsody barely noticed they were flying over one of the radar domes. Sprig had destroyed the AA guns with her missiles while Mythic dropped bombs on the domes. The watched as Shade dropped his last two bombs on the final dome. The explosion was tremendous. “Last target down, the array has been destroyed.”

“Good job squadron,” Sky Gazer called. “But there’s a formation coming at you from the southeast. Looks like there’s about six of them.”

“I can’t fight when I’m wounded like this,” Phantom announced. “I can’t put undue stress on the airframe.”

Mythic pulled ahead of the formation. “We’ll clear the road for you. You two ready?” he asked Sprig and Rhapsody.

Sprig pushed forward on the throttle. “Moving to engage.” Mythic banked after her. “You coming, Wraith?” Sprig asked.

The Tomcat continued holding its position over the wounded fighter below. The two kept their easy and calm pace south to Canterlot.

“Negative. Phantom is an easy target. I’ll stay with her.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

Rhapsody shook her head and held up her forefinger, silencing Amethyst when they looked at each other through their canopies. “Consider it an apology for snapping at you.” The mare then turned her attention to her two squad mates. “You two go on ahead and rack up some kills. I’ll guide Phantom back to Canterlot.” The Tomcat hovered just above the wounded falcon, where she’d stay till they got back home.

“Suit yourself,” Sprig called.

"Sky Gazer to Phantom. You're in luck. A tanker is on its way back from a refueling and have some left over. They're willing to make a side trip to top you off since you're leaking."

The crystal pony sighed a relief and thanked Sky Gazer as she floated a little closer to Rhapsody's tomcat. Meanwhile, the resident hippogriff pilot and her fighting falcon banked southeast to meet the incoming gryphons. Ditzy tapped on the canopy to get Rhapsody's attention, pulling her mask off. “We’re almost a double ace, Rhap,” she murmured. “We’re gonna skip this opportunity?”

“’Fraid so, Ditz. We’ve got next time.” The grey pegasus mare shrugged and snapped her mask back on and watched their squad mates bank away to intercept the enemy. Rhapsody looked over to watch them go, sighing. “Give ‘em hell, you two.” A pair of AEGIS F-16s versus a squadron of gryphons. It was almost no contest, and she felt sorry for the gryphons that would soon be craters in the ground. Almost felt sorry.

“But… be careful.”

The gryphon tore off his headset and threw it against his console. He buried his face in his hand, snarling violently. The commander of the ship walked over to him. “Don’t tell me,” he muttered, but knew he was going to get the news anyway.

“We just lost the Snowdrift Radar Array in Hibern, as well as…” he stopped and looked at his radar screen nearby. One dome was still active. It was small, but powerful enough to stop the four retreating planes from the area. “… As well as the four fighters that were stationed at the array, and the six we sent to back them up.”

“Ten fighters against the four AEGIS fighters?”

“And all were lost.”

The Commander groaned, hiding his face. “This is just great. The Admiral is going to chew my ass.” The Commander adjusted his peaked cap and stormed from the intelligence deck of the Gryphnian Cruiser Epitaph. The ship was one of the many flagships that had taken over the harbors of Saddle Arabia. The Gryphnian fleet, besides the Equestrian, which was half shattered, was now the most powerful naval force in the world. But the combined force of AEGIS’s remaining navy ships from the various nations was keeping them from making it to the west coast of Equestria, where they could make a decisive blow against the most powerful of the four countries that made up their adversaries.

“Sir!” an Ensign cried from the deck above him. “We got a wire the Capital.” The commander growled and pointed at his second in the intelligence room.

“Make sure those C-17s take off safely and the jammers are in place. We have to get those troops here! The invasion is in a couple weeks. And find out who these four pilots are!” He darted after the young officer, who was already moving towards the bridge of the vessel. The Commander then sneered.

“Find out who they are… so that I can rain the meteors down on them.”

Chapter 4

It was a while before I started to understand that the allies weren’t coming back to the Crystal Empire. I had since stopped going to school, not because of the fact that the lessons had become harder, but because my aunt didn’t have the money to send me anymore, nor since. She really was just a broken mare who lost her sister to a bomb run. She often groaned about the horrible treatment of the gryphons, but she never really refused the bits I brought in from entertaining the soldiers that had taken up an occupation of our town.

There was still little I understood then. I used to see the town marshal in the local inn every Tuesday when I went there for a weekly donut and a hot chocolate after school. He would often regale some foals of visiting families about the dangers of the frozen tundra that surrounded the Crystal Empire, stories of the old days, or the days when Sombra was the ruler, or how he remembered six mares arriving and, with the help of our Princess, vanquished him once and for all.

Now though, it had become a rather dreary place, not at all the welcoming sight it had been in the past. The gryphons had set up a sort of radio station inside, all but banning civilian entry. Most of the floors in this six floor hotel had been turned into a barracks. I couldn’t even get my donut and hot chocolate anymore.

Because of this, I spent a large amount of time in the tavern, playing my harmonica for the gryphons that took over from time to time. I did, however, learn that the pilots were the more respected of the occupying military members. Meteor Squadron in particular was treated by the citizens of Glacier to free food, drinks, lodging, and by more than one mare to a ‘good time’. I didn’t know what they meant, but the gryphons seemed to like it, even if the mares were poorly dressed.

Even with all this going on, I found myself staying around Meteor Six quite a bit. She seemed like the loner type, but I began to notice she had quiet an aggressive side. I saw a crystal pony bump into her by accident. He turned to try and apologize, but the only forgiveness he received was a clawed punch to the face, a kick to his groin and a boot out the door, all from this one gryphon. Everypony around her backed off, even the handsome gryphon male, who they called ‘your majesty’ for some reason, kept his distance when she was angry. Once she threw him though, she looked at me.

I hadn’t even flinched.

Her features calmed after that. She then sat back down next to me, and we continued our song.

Another silent night in the lounge. The only occupants were Rhapsody and her adolescent wingpony who sat at a small table in the corner, sipping a mug of hot cocoa that her leader had brewed for them both. The keeper was behind the counter, wiping it down for the morning that would bring in the great crowd of grumpy and grouchy officers.

Rhapsody grabbed her cup from the keeper and headed for the corner table. Her wings flexed and hugged her a little tighter, trying to shield her from the cold while her tail crept closer to her legs, as if seeking their warmth through her suit. She sat down, hunching closely to the table and wrapping her tail around her left leg. She stared deeply at Amethyst, her rose colored eyes looking towards the cool, steel blue of her counterpart. She was quiet. Of course, after today’s fight, she had every need to be.

During the debriefing, Spitfire had asked why Amethyst had quit fighting. She hadn’t heard the conversation, since she was at an emergency visit to the castle for the coming invasion plans. When she came back and heard about Amethyst’s predicament, she had debriefed Rhapsody personally, wondering what had happened.

“Flap trouble ma’am,” Rhapsody had said. “She was going a little steep and must’ve gotten a piece of hail lodged in it.”

Spitfire had raised her eyebrows and folded her arms. “That’s why she was flying straight? … At such a high altitude?” she asked skeptically.

“Yes ma’am,” Rhapsody replied, keeping her stance and expression neutral. “Her plane was damaged and she couldn’t maneuver properly. I escorted her back to base while Shade and Banshee pressed on and accomplished the mission.”

Spitfire then turned to the Crystal Pony, who managed to look impassive and utterly silent throughout the entire talk. “This true, Lieutenant?”

Amethyst nodded curtly. “Yes ma’am.”

Rhapsody knew it was a bold faced lie, she knew that Spitfire knew it was a bold faced lie, but they both knew she was young, incredibly so. She had fought hoof and nail to get herself into the cockpit and into the skies above Equis. Even so, the upper brass would have her flank doing desk work if they discovered she froze up and almost got herself killed during a dogfight. The Major said nothing else, merely making them promise it won’t happen again, or at the very least, won’t happen too often.

Which led them to this moment in the lounge.

Wraith sat across from Phantom, a gentle but stern stare emanating from her face. “Alright,” Rhapsody said softly. “Talk to me.”

Amethyst sighed and took another sip. It was warm, soft, Rhapsody had added extra marshmallows, but there was still a chill going down the crystal pony’s spine. “I had a moment,” she murmured.

“That’s putting it mildly,” Rhapsody replied, dismissing the simple answer. “You had a bandit on your tail and you froze up. You didn’t move, you didn’t evade, and you didn’t even make an effort to get away.” She leaned in. “It’s like you wanted him to shoot you down.”

Amethyst winced and shrank under the older mare’s gaze. Rhapsody’s wing tips rustled, trying to warm themselves, as if sensing their owner’s cold gaze. “Talk to me, Amethyst… what in the name of Celestia happened? You never froze up like that before. We've had a number of sorties together and suddenly you started freezing up. What's wrong?”

The young pilot swallowed and exhaled heavily, looking out at the moon above Canterlot. The sea green pegasus was patiently awaiting her answer, which so far was not being given so easily. Rhapsody knew that Amethyst was young and liked to take her time. Often times, it irritated her lead pony to no end. But this time, Rhapsody tried to keep her patience. Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait long.

“I can’t shake him,” she murmured.

Rather cryptic response, if she ever did hear one. “What?”

“’I can’t shake him’,” Amethyst repeated. She then looked blankly at Rhapsody. “That was my brother’s last line before he was shot down.”

Rhapsody bit her lip and looked down at her mug of cocoa. “I heard about that,” she said softly.

Amethyst nodded. “There were four of us. I was flying a hornet then with the Imperial Air Force. We were given them by the Saddle Arabians, who were getting ready to replace them with F-15Cs,” she explained. Rhapsody reminded herself then that the other AEGIS nations were giving what arms they could to the Crystal Empire’s shattered Air Force. Even old planes, like MiG-21s from Saddle Arabia were welcome. It was pure luck they received hornets. “We took them up to intercept a group of Gryphons flying towards Manehattan.

“I was flying on his wing, and then we broke off to engage. I didn’t even get one, but my brother and my squad mates managed to get a whole number of them.” She then sniffed. “That was when the Meteor’s showed up. Five of them, like always. Blitz was taken down almost instantly. Streak got shot down covering me. Topaz…” Amethyst stopped and wiped her eyes before tears fell again. Rhapsody frowned. She knew that the young crystal pony was sensitive, but this must’ve been breaking her heart. And the sea green mare had never heard the exact details of Amethyst’s first dogfight.

Being the new wing leader of Ghost, she had been read in on all her pilots; Mythic was a model officer but prone to flirtatious acts bordering harassment and Sprig was proud to the point where somepony made a snarky comment about hippogriffs and she'd send them to the infirmary with claw marks or twisted limbs. Rhapsody had heard about Amethyst's first real dogfight, and what she did to send her to a bottom rung fighter wing, but she had hoped one day to get the specifics, and it seemed now was the time.

“Topaz and I went for a full throttle run back to friendly airspace, until he ended up getting one on his tail. He went down low, but the Meteor kept close pace and… Topaz… said he couldn’t shake him.” She dashed a hand across her eyes. “I tried to save him, but the Meteor was too quick. The missile hit him… and he… Rhapsody he just… it was like a fireball…” he suddenly hung her head. “He didn’t even scream… he just… went silent…”

“And you didn’t want to face his fate, so you ejected without even being shot down,” Rhapsody finished. She had read the pilot dossier, which said she ejected prematurely before she even had an enemy on her tail. Her hornet lost control and crashed into the ground, with no pilot to guide it from its doom.

“Because I got scared. I didn’t even get locked onto,” Amethyst added. She sniffed and looked down at her mug. “I should’ve just taken the missile… I got a front row seat to watching my brother’s fighter hit the ground. I lost my brother and I… was just… alone.” Amethyst’s face then turned sour, and angry. Rhapsody had never seen such an expression on this timid mare before. “I did catch sight of the fighter though, and the number written on the side.”

Now the older Lieutenant’s curiosity was peaked. While it had been astonishing to see this young mare put on even a frown, the ember Rhapsody noticed in her eyes was one that had her rapt attention. “Oh?” she asked simply.

“Su-37 Terminator. Meteor Squadron. Number Seven.”

Rhapsody nodded softly and leaned forward. "So you've got a vendetta out on this Meteor, huh?"

Amethyst lost the anger almost immediately and sniffed. "Maybe… if I wasn't such a coward." She sniffed again and Rhapsody scooted her chair a little closer, enough to drape a wing over the younger mare. Amethyst gave a whimper and leaned against her flight lead, who hummed and rubbed her arm.

"You're not a coward, Amethyst. If you were, you'd never had signed on to become a fighter pilot. And trust me when I say that when you're in the skies with us, you are never alone. Alright?" Rhapsody gave the mare a shake and received a sniffle and a nod. The two mares sat in silence and stared out the window, finishing their hot cocoas as they watched the stars wake to shine through the night.

High above the mainland, there was a large aluminum cloud. It had taken almost a week of preparation, but they had finally gotten the chance to take off and the gryphon transport planes were just about to the edge of the enemy airspace. Of course, they were also almost to the edge of their patience.

“Are we there yet?” the co-pilot of the C-17 cargo plane asked. Inside were a number of jeeps and rockets, tightly sealed down for the transport to the rendezvous point at Habun Harbor in western Saddle Arabia. The others were loaded with troops, smaller vehicles, and more than enough equipment for at least a straight week of combat operations. They had received fighter escort, a number of MiGs and Typhoons, but the air crews were still on edge.

“Four more hours, Cade,” the pilot growled. “Quit asking me that same question!”

Cade huffed and folded his arms. “We’re sitting ducks up here, even with the jammers.” He looked out the side where a MiG-29 was flying nearby. They had shared a couple of waves, and Cade found out it was a female pilot through sign language and subtle hints. “Oh damn,” he murmured as she barrel rolled for him. “I’d like to show her a good dogfight when we touch down.”

The alarm suddenly blared in the cockpit. “That may be sooner than you think!” the gryphon C-17 pilot exclaimed. “AEGIS fighters closing fast!”

“Wraith engaging!” Rhapsody cried as her Tomcat barrel rolled and darted after a MiG-29 following the lead plane. The rest of her wing reported their engagements, with Amethyst and Mythic going after the jammer aircraft at the edges of the formation.

“This is Windigo 2, we’re engaging,” cried a unicorn stallion behind Rhapsody. The four F-4 Phantoms began their own dogfights with the escort planes. While they appeared to be lumbering things, the F-4s were actually very good dogfighters. Not the best, but for the young and inexperienced pilots, they were ideal.

Rhapsody kept pace with her MiG target, waiting for the familiar buzz that her missile had a lock. Unlike the past two sorties, they had been armed with air-to-air missiles. It was the type Rhapsody and her friends loved the best. Her eyes narrowed as her thumb hovered dangerously over the missile release button. But each time she came close, the nimble MiG was able to dart from the reticule.

“This one’s quick,” Ditzy praised. “Definitely a good pilot.”

Rhapsody shook her head. “Too bad it’s not one of ours.” She then huffed as her Tomcat pulled into a sharp turn with the MiG. “It’s too close, switching to gun.” The missile unarmed itself and her cannon came to life. Deciding to test their distance, Rhapsody gave a quick burst of her cannon.

Just as the MiG decided to turn hard left… right into the line of fire.

“Nice shooting Wraith!” Sprig cheered.

Ditzy watched the MiG go down. “Was that an accident, or was that pilot just unlucky?”

“Bit of both I’d say,” her pilot replied. The Tomcat banked back into the fight. Rhapsody watched as Mythic and Amethyst both fired missiles into the cargo bay of one of the C-17s. The cargo plane turned into a fireball, exploding and hurtling towards the ground, reminding her of the bear bombers they had shot down.

Amethyst then spoke up, sounding rather melancholy. “I feel kinda bad, shooting at these planes. They can’t fight back and the troops on board can’t get out.” Rhapsody shook her head, pulling up with one of the Windigo F-4s to double team one of the E-767 jammers. The crystal pony was still her usual timid self, even after their attack on the radar station a couple weeks ago. Amethyst had told Rhapsody that story, hoping she’d understand why she was often scared of flying. She had trusted her lead pony with the knowledge of her fears. The sea green mare had no intention of breaking that trust, so she said nothing.

“They knew the risks when they got on-board these planes Phantom,” Mythic answered, his voice almost cold.

“Doesn’t mean that it feels any better,” she retorted sternly.

“Guys, cut the chatter,” Sky Gazer called. “We can discuss morals and the like when the mission’s over. There’s one more jammer and four more cargo planes. If this shipment gets to Habun Harbor, then Windbreak Point will be annihilated.”

“You heard her,” Rhapsody called. “Let’s clean house!” She pulled up behind a Typhoon as it was going for one of the rookie pilots. It tried to get away, but she pressed the button down for a missile to fly off its rail and hit it directly in the engine. The entire fighter went up in smoke and went down to the valley. “Splash one fighter!”

“Splash one cargo plane!” Mythic announced as he unloaded a heavy burst of cannon fire into the engines of one of the C-17s. It listed to the left, as it began to lose power in its wing.

“I can’t get control!” Cade yelled. “Everyone get out while you can!”

“There’s fire all over the plane, you idiot! Every exit is blocked!" one of the truck crews cursed back. Cade hissed violently as he jerked the yoke back and forth. Sparks from the AEGIS fighter’s cannon strike were sent into the cockpit and the console the pilot was at exploded, sending shrapnel into his face. He received several chunks of metal and glass directly into his skull and brain, killing him instantly.

“The last jammer craft was shot down! We’re completely exposed! Their radar is back online!” one of the fighters cried through the radio. Cade tried to pull the wounded C-17 out of its death throes, but it was futile.

He managed one last scream of horror before the plane's rocket cargo exploded.

Sprig winced as the plane burst into five different hunks of charred, twisted metal. It then resembled falling meteorites into the ground. “Poor sods,” she murmured.

“I hear that,” Rhapsody replied.

“Again, they knew the risks,” Mythic muttered. He pulled up as he watched the E-767 jammer go down in smoke and fire. “Just like we do.”

“Don’t need to be so negative, Shade,” one of the F-4 pilots chided. “I’m sure your harem doesn’t enjoy it.”

Mythic ignored that last bit as Rhapsody growled and began chewing him out. He pulled up behind another F-16C and raked it with his cannons, sending it hurtling down through the clouds with barely enough time for the pilot to eject. It was then that one of the rookie pilots yelled for help. “He’s on me! He’s got a lock!”

“Windigo 3 break right!” Sprig ordered. The Phantom pilot did so, and the hippogriff was able to bag her fourth kill of the day. The Typhoon exploded in midair, the pilot going down with it. “Sky Gazer, confirm number of enemy planes.”

“Sky Gazer here. All jammers have been shot down. The last transport plane is down as well, and escort fighters are no factor.” The AEGIS pilots cheered as another mission was a success. “Good job all pilots, Windbreak Point survives another day. And Habun Harbor has lost a good number of inbound reinforcements. All aircraft RTB.”

With that, the AEGIS fighters resumed their previous formation and headed directly south to their new home; the freshly liberated Fisher Air Base. It had taken those weeks since the bombings to reconstruct it, but with the help of volunteering civilians who were freed from gryphon control in a nearby village of hippogriffs, and with ‘cooperation’ from gryphon POWs, the fix up was proceeding smoothly.
Rhapsody suddenly found herself tallying up the friendly fighters around her. It was then that she blinked and smiled behind her oxygen mask. “Hey Ditzy, you seeing what I’m seeing?” she asked her co-pilot.

The grey pegasus mare followed her friend’s eyes, and found herself smiling as well. “I do. We didn’t lose a single fighter.”

“Wait, seriously?” Sprig asked dubiously. Her Fighting Falcon jerked a couple times as she looked around the formation. “One, two, three... four, five… six, seven, eight.” She then laughed. “Holy criminy, we’re all going home safe.”

“I knew I would make it!” yelled one of the pilots enthusiastically. “I just knew it!”

His wingman chuckled. “Settle down Straw. You’ll wet your flight suit.”

“Oh let him celebrate,” Rhapsody ordered humorously. “Let’s land and get some drinks.”

“Last one to the base pays, onyourmarkgetsetGO!!” Sprig’s fighter rocketed past Rhapsody’s, causing the twin-seated fighter to shudder.

“No fair! That’s twice!” Amethyst sped off after her, with Rhapsody pulling ahead, kicking in her twin turbines to full power.
Mythic shook his head while the rookie pilots hung back. “Seriously, you put up with them?” the flight lead asked. “It’s amazing they haven’t gotten you killed.”

“You’d be surprised,” the grey pegasus stallion said. “Best damn pilots I’ve had the pleasure of flying with. Wouldn’t want another group of mares.” He then pushed his throttle forward. “Now excuse me. I need to catch up with my ‘harem’.”

Chapter 5

Though I lacked the courage to speak, I still remained by Meteor Six’s side. I often listened to her speak with the other pilots of her squadron, which she seemed to be the matriarch of, and she often scolded the flight crews who did a bad job with repairs on their planes. One day I found myself at their base. I had more or less followed Six all the way there, and the guards didn’t really see me as a threat. As long as I was close to Six, the other gryphons would leave me be, as if they knew I was trusted by her.

I had more or less become her second shadow.

Their base wasn’t so much a building as it was an abandoned street that was under construction. It was half built, the asphalt and lines already in place. The unfinished tunnels nearby were used as their hangars. Nearby were some trailers they used as their own barracks’.
Six let me follow her all the way to the flight line, where I got to watch a pilot land his plane. It was so precise, so perfectly executed it was almost beautiful as the chute out the back deployed. When the pilot jumped out, he was saluted by everypony around, including Six herself. He then looked over just as Meteor Eight ran up and embraced him.

They shared a few jests as Six walked up and shook his hand, calling him ‘Your Majesty’ as well. When I tilted my head, they looked at me, curiously. The two gryphons must have been brothers by the similarities, and they equally had a look of confusion and apprehension in their golden eyes. Suddenly, before I could move, the brothers were standing in front of me and the eldest knelt down. He asked who I was, but I couldn’t reply. He was big and scary, but I didn’t shy away.

Six told him that I was a friend, to which they merely laughed. The eldest, whose number I managed to glimpse was Seven, reached his hand behind my head, then swiftly brought it back. Between his two claws was a cookie, oatmeal raisin. My mother made those cookies for me when I was good. I slowly took it and looked up at him as he stood and ruffled my mane. He and his brother then headed off into town.

Six then knelt next to me, asking, “Do you recognize them?” I shook my head as I took a bite, my full attention on her. She then smiled and looked back at them, sighing.

“That’s Tyr and Carde. They’re the Prince’s of Gryphnia.”

Rhapsody shook her mane out of her helmet and climbed out of the cockpit. She grinned and Ditzy met her on the ground, the two sharing a fist bump. They were ecstatic; finally bagging their number twelve kill. They had scored three kills during the fight they had just returned from and now officially were double aces. One of the flight crew ponies was already coming up and marking the nose of the Tomcat with the appropriate decals just as they walked by. Sprig slapped them on the back. “Nice work you two,” she exclaimed. “You’re both now, officially, dogfighters.”

Being the more veteran of the group, Sprig had already been titled a triple ace. While she was flying against Gryphnia when they began pushing into Hibern, she had flown with the Hibernian Republic Air Corps before her transfer to the 14th. The only one close to her record was Mythic, who was the last to transfer in to Ghost Wing, yet still had more than enough kills on his belt. But Rhapsody and Ditzy now felt kindred to them, knowing full well that they had earned their combat wings now. The only one with the fewest kills was Amethyst, only three.
“Why don’t we get some chow?” Rhapsody asked. “I could hear Amethyst’s stomach growling over the turbines.”

While not exactly at home here, High Arch air force base in south western Hibern was still a good place to sleep at least. The hippogriffs were one of Equestria’s most stanch allies, second only to the Saddle Arabians, so they wished to provide the best for their new visitors. And it was especially so if a particular group had a hippogriff in their midst, and Rhapsody’s group had one. The crisp mountain air was clean and refreshing, almost as if the war hadn’t even dared to touch it, but just a few dozen miles to the east was intense fighting between AEGIS and Gryphnian forces.

Still, it didn’t give Rhapsody pause to relax at a new location. She had always wanted to visit Hibern, with her family of course, but this was a close second choice; being with her closest friends. Her only complaint was that the cheap hangars were almost too small for her Tomcat. She had to close her wings in as tight as they could go, and still keep watch on the hangar walls.

“It’s an old fighter, ma’am,” the flight crew chief had said. He removed his cap and brushed a few feathers back. A quick breeze wafted in and caused both he and the pegasus mare to expand their wings around themselves to shield from it. Rhapsody’s tail wrapped closer to her leg, seeking warmth. Her other complaint? It was too damn cold when the breezes hit. “It’s still flown, but it’s just an old design and growing outdated. Hell there's still a squadron in the Navy that has fought tooth and hoof to keep theirs.”
Rhapsody had patted the nose of her fighter and smirked at the crew chief. “This old war bird has gotten me to every sortie and brought me home safe and sound. She even made me a double ace. I look after her in battle and she performs the best she's got.” Still, she had to admit that the F-14A was an old design. It was still being produced, but the technical systems and inner workings were just indeed growing outdated. Rhapsody was lucky enough to have been assigned a Tomcat that could still be upgraded.

Once the five had their fighters secured, they headed inside to get some food. They gathered up that day’s dinner; apple salads, cherry tarts, and buttered crescent rolls, and headed for their usual table. While Sprig enjoyed the faire of Equestria, she was home now, and enjoyed their particular cuisine. Like Gryphons, Hippogriffs were indeed carnivores, so Sprig grabbed a hold of a couple tarts, along with a couple pieces of pork bacon and a beef patty she slid between two pieces of toasted bread. It had bothered Rhapsody at first, but she learned to grow accustomed to it after a few weeks of serving with the hippogriff mare. They sat down and started eating, quietly at first, before Ditzy broke the silence. “Anypony know when our next big sortie is?”

Amethyst prodded at her salad, shrugging. “Apparently, rumor has it we’re going to be heading south in a few days. Into the oilfields near Habun.”

Mythic’s ears perked and he turned his head to her after downing some light cider. “That’s a pretty deep in strike.”

Amethyst shrugged, replying, “The Gryphnian fleet relies on their oil for fuel. And according to the recent radio chatter and intelligence reports, if their fleet weighs anchor, our offensive is toast.”

“I like toast,” Ditzy suddenly commented. Everypony that heard their conversation looked at her. The gray pegasus was chomping away merrily at a piece of bread she had toasted on her way back to the table after getting another salad. Her face was one of glee, but she lost her smile when the four other members of her wing were looking at her. “What?”

“You haven’t been paying attention, have you?” Sprig asked nonchalantly.

Ditzy blinked for a moment, tilted her head up, and then shook it curtly. “Nope!” She then returned to her toast.

Rhapsody chuckled and looked back at the others. “So,” she started. “They’re gonna have us make a swipe at it?”

Amethyst shook her head as she buttered another crescent roll and spread some grape jelly on the other side. “We’re not just swiping and leaving, Rhapsody,” she said lowly. She took a bite and chewed, as if letting that information simmer for a bit in front of them. She then swallowed the bite and turned back to her friends. “We’re going to be utterly destroying it.”

If she hadn’t been paying attention before, Ditzy Do was now. Amethyst had the attention of all four other ponies in her wing. Rhapsody’s eyes bulged, Sprig dropped the tart halfway to her beak, Mythic stopped with his mug halfway to his lips. The words hung in the air for a long time before the leader of Ghost Wing finally spoke up. “Y-you’re kidding… right? This… you’ve got to be joking. Destroying an entire oil reserve?”

“The Habun oil reserve produces hundreds of thousands of barrels a week!” Mythic exclaimed. “They want us to destroy it all? Do they understand the pollution it would cause? Not to mention how many tons of fuel would be wasted?”

“Well we couldn’t possibly capture it.” Everyone now turned to Ditzy, who swallowed a bite of her toast. Rhapsody was amazed she was eating something other than a muffin, but she knew the grey mare wanted one right now. “All the gryphons need to do to retake the oil fields and the offshore rigs is to send in a battle group of a few ships and a few dozen fighters. Bam, it’s theirs again.”

Rhapsody shrugged and prodded her salad for a bite. “Point proven.”

“So we’re bombing it to kingdom come? How many on the assault?”

“Just about twelve of you.” The wing turned to see Spitfire standing just above Sprig, the golden pegasus mare smirking at them. She then looked down at the resident hippogriff. “You gonna let me sit or not?”

Sprig stared for a moment before she was elbowed by Mythic. “Ow- huh- oh- uh… Yes ma’am,” she jabbered swiftly. She then grabbed her tray and mug and moved down, allowing the Major to sit. The golden pegasus sitting with them? They would have though their commanding officer would eat in her office, or her quarters. But sitting with the pilots and their flight crews? That was unheard of.

“The attack is gonna be this Friday,” she said calmly. “Lieutenant, your wing is being paired up with Windigo and Rapier. The Windigos need some experience, and Rapier needs to be let loose on something.” The Major prodded at her salad and took a big bite with a swig of cider. “Ah Sweet Apple Cider. Good for the soul,” she sighed happily.

Mythic looked at his mug. “I think it could use some pear juice.” Now he was the one with the mare’s turned to him. He looked at the five set of eyes staring intently into his. He then smirked and held the mug up. “It’s a joke, fillies.”

Spitfire aimed her fork at him. “I know an Equestrian Tank Commander who would ride your flank up and down Canterlot if she heard what you just said.”

Mythic grinned. “Another mare for my ‘harem’?”

Rhapsody groaned and smacked her forehead.

Friday came faster than the four pilots thought. And before she knew it, Rhapsody was in the air with her Tomcat laden with bombs. The three Fighting Falcons with her were loaded with the same, as were the four Eagles of Rapier. Windigo squadron was loaded a little differently; all four Phantoms with napalm bombs. The Rapier leader suddenly pulled ahead of Rhapsody.

“Alright everypony, you have your orders. Windigo, you split off for the refining facility on the beach. Wraith, you’re splitting off in pairs to cover us both while we drop our bomb loads. Rapier, we’re going for the oilrigs.” The four eagles peeled off, as did the Phantoms. “All wings engage immediately.”

Rhapsody banked with Sprig after Rapier wing. She found herself groaning. “Never did like stallions from Trottingham,” she muttered.
Ditzy tilted her head and leaned forward a bit. “You like Time Turner just fine, though. I find the accent very alluring.” She added the last with a giggle, as if saying what she wanted to say would make everyone flying laugh at her. And if Rhapsody knew her best friend well enough, she knew it wasn’t ‘alluring’ she wanted to say.

Unfortunately, Sprig beat her to it. “Alluring? I think it’s sexy. Very exotic, almost like mine. So nice to hear another species say it, makes it that much more enticing and… seductive.”

Rhapsody, Mythic, and Amethyst laughed, as well as a few of the other pilots. Wraith could almost feel the deep blush on Ditzy’s face. Of course, it was all followed by the lead plane’s heavy and indignant groan. “Cut the chatter,” Rapier One hollered. “And Banshee, I’ll make sure to write up your reprimand when we land.”

“Yes sir, Lieutenant Colonel Sir!” Sprig replied stoically.

He huffed and continued on his course. “All wings engage.”

Rhapsody needed no further urging. She pushed the nose of her Tomcat down, bearing herself towards a tanker ship. “Wraith here, I’m engaging a nearby tanker.” When she was in range, she flipped the switch and pulled up, dropping a pair of bombs into the side of the ship. The bombs struck hard, causing it burst into flames, exploding promptly after enough barrels caught fire and began to sink.

“Tanker down,” Sky Gazer called. “Good drop Wraith.”

“Yes, spectacular,” Rapier One agreed, obviously dripping with an undertone of ‘whatever’. Rhapsody huffed, deciding to ignore the incompetent officer and pulled up. She throttled up her turbines and made a path to the oil rigs. Two of the Strike Eagles had already made it there and they both dropped a pair of cluster bombs. Several dozen bomblets rained down, and while they were small, the explosions they caused were enough for havoc on the rigs.

There were helipads on them as well, right next to the control rooms. Rhapsody pulled herself up into a steep climb, before hitting the breaks hard, causing the Tomcat to shudder violently from the sudden stop and stall. From her angle, the fighter flopped backwards and went nose first towards the water. Rhapsody pushed her engines back into gear and opened up with her cannon after dropped two more bombs from the undercarriage of her fighter.

It was another solid impact just as a cluster bomb hit. The rig burst into flames, sending cranes, hunks of metal, and gryphons into the sea as they tried to save themselves. As a result, several of the oil stockpiles on the rigs themselves were ignited and many fell into the water itself, where the very sea itself was alight with oil fire. Rhapsody frowned behind her mask as she did a quick flyby of the engulfed rig.

“All this oil being burned and dumped,” Ditzy murmured. “Those poor sea animals… I don't know if this bay will recover.”

Mythic chimed in. "Believe me when I say those fish or seals or whatever have all but vacated this place. The second they heard us coming, they took off."

“I know, Specter,” Rhapsody replied softly. She tried to ease the grey mare, but it was a losing struggle. “We don’t have much of a choice. Damn gryphons had to push the war to this-“ Her console blared all of a sudden. Missile warning. Rhapsody pushed her throttle up and began to climb. “Hang on Specter!”

Ditzy pressed her hands against the canopy. “Believe me, I’m hanging on!”

The missile shot out underneath, followed by a Mirage F2000 that banked under her and to the right. Rhapsody pushed down and gave chase.

The gryphon pilot banked left and right, but this Tomcat pilot was good and kept a good solid pace with him. He growled behind his mask and began to dive towards the sea. Being a delta-wing fighter, the Mirage could maneuver better at low speeds. Tomcat's, however, were more bulky and couldn’t pull up as fast. All he needed to do was pull a little trick of such maneuverability, and this AEGIS pilot would plunge into the ocean. He looked back to see that the pilot was already pulling off. Maybe they did see through his ploy –

His alarm blared and he began to climb, right into a burst of cannon fire.

“Splash one!” Rhapsody cried. She looked around to see a good number of enemy MiG-29s, F2000s, and F-16s joining the fray. “Everypony be advised, they’ve sent interceptors!”

“Bit late to the draw on that, Wraith!” Mythic cried. “I’ve got one on my tail!”

“I’ve got you Shade, hang in there,” Amethyst announced. Rhapsody saw their two fighters engaging a single F2000.

Rhapsody then banked back to bombing the oil rigs. One of the Rapier fighters as she saw aimed two missiles for the supports to a rig. They struck and the support buckled, and the rig tipped violently. And then what she feared happened; the pipe burst and sprayed oil into the air… high into the air. The strike eagle was maneuverable, but the pilot reacted too slowly. Oil sprayed her fighter as she pulled up, sending the black liquid into her engine intakes and even all over her canopy.

“Damnit, I can’t see!” She shouted. “It’s all over me! I can’t – “

“Rapier three pull up!” Rapier One shouted. “Pull up before you crash into the rig!”

The Strike Eagle began climbing, but the oil that got into the engine began damaging it from within because of the added speed and stress on the turbines. They caught fire and the fighter shuddered, bursting into flames that enveloped all around the canopy, and it fell, belly-first, onto the rig and sent up a geyser of flame. Rhapsody turned away from the final impact, but grit her teeth when she saw that same rig buckle under another missile strike at its supports. It rocked heavily and then fell on its side into the ocean.

“Alright… we're still in this! Keep on the attack, everypony!" Rapier One announced, causing Rhapsody to frown and shake her head. It was as if he didn’t give a damn he lost a pilot because he ordered her to do the one thing that would kill her. “Sky Gazer, what’s the status on the refinery attack?”

She replied simply, “Facility is forty percent destroyed. Massive loss of stockpiles has been confirmed.”

“Everypony here that?” Rapier One asked, not exactly waiting for a response. “Continue with the attack.”

“Copy that flight lead!” one of the Windigos called. Rhapsody craned her head to the west. She could just barely make out the silhouettes of the rookie Phantom pilots. Even in this failing light, Rhapsody could see the telltale signs off the firestorm being caused by the napalm bombs they were dropping. She couldn’t help but feel the least bit sorry for the gryphons. Not only were they losing a huge stockpile of oil, but many of their troops occupying the oil refinery and the rigs were dying horrible deaths, whether by explosions or being burned alive.

She let out a sigh and returned to the fight, trying to find a new target to occupy her mind.

It didn’t take long. Sprig soared by with a pair of MiG-29s on her six o’clock. Grimacing that they were taking a single fighter two-on-one, she pulled up her Tomcat to follow. Ditzy craned her head around to keep watch on their surroundings as usual. The wings of her fighter slid back, accommodating for the speed and agility needed, and the reticule on her heads-up-display followed the further back MiGs. The pilot mare narrowed her eyes, the g-forces of the turns causing her vision to tunnel just a bit, but she kept close pace with them.

The reticule suddenly locked, and Rhapsody hesitated for but a second to make sure she had a lock. "Fox two!" The missile flew off the rail, missing the fuselage, but not the wing. The missile detonated upon clipping the tip, which tore off half the wing and sent the MiG into a furious spin to the water below. The lead most broke off and made a b-line for the north. Rhapsody throttled up to meet him halfway and the MiG increased speed to try and shake her off, the larger jet was gaining too fast.

He panted heavily, knowing full well he couldn’t get away.

“Where are the reinforcements?! We’re getting killed up here!” he shouted, not caring what rank was replying. “We need help over here!”

“Cloud Burst here,” their AWACS called. “Calm yourself down. They’re on their way.”

The gryphon exhaled heavily, before his reverie was cut short by a hail of bullets. They tore into the frame of his fighter, causing it to shake and start smoking. Wasting no time, he grabbed the ring under his seat and yanked. His canopy blew, and his seat violently shoved him into the air. After a few seconds, his chair halted at the maximum height and deployed its chute. Being that he was still intact, he leapt from the chair and flared his wings. Just then, his eyes caught something on the horizon heading his way. He narrowed them and focused. Five planes heading to the combat zone.

He only knew one group that flew that formation, and the realization made him grin.

Rhapsody banked east back towards the rig attack. Two of the rigs were sinking, three were burning, and the last one was just then destroyed by another cluster bomb.

“Sky Gazer here,” the AWACS called. “Oil rigs confirmed destroyed, and the refinery is out of commission. Mission com – … Stand by." Rhapsody tilted her head as she waited for her to return to speaking. “All fighters, heavy group rolling in hot. Looks like five in the formation. Anypony got a visual?”

“Specter here, I think I see…” she trailed off. Rhapsody looked back her and then followed her eyes to the north. “Confirmed! Tally ho on the bandits… wait… I think…”

Rapier One groaned heavily, “For the love of Celestia, Lieutenant, do you see them or – “

"Those are Terminators!" Ditzy screamed.

Rhapsody's eyes bulged wide. "What!?"

“All fighters! Confirmed visual! Su-37s closing fast! It’s Meteor Squadron!” Sky Gazer shouted.

“Meteor Squadron?!” Mythic cried.
Sprig yelled incredulously, “I thought they were guarding the Sky Breaker!”

Rhapsody banked hard, hurting her wings from her body being jerked hard like that, and pushed her throttle to full. The afterburners kicked in afterwards and she made a break for the south. “Doesn’t matter right now! All wings, let’s get the hell out of here!”

“No argument here!” Windigo One called. Within seconds, the remaining ten fighters of the attack were heading due south.

“Confirmed, enemy aircraft are Meteors. All aircraft, disengage and RTB!” Sky Gazer ordered. “Break for the south immediately.”

“Meteor Six here, we’re clear to engage and splash all hostile aircraft.”

“Roger Six,” Eight replied. “Moving to engage hostiles.”

The five SU-37s broke formation and pursued the AEGIS fighters.

"Do not engage the Meteors! Retreat south at once!" Sky Gazer cried out once more.

Ditzy continued turning her head left and right and behind to make sure they weren’t being followed. The rest of the fighters flew to her tail to join, but just then, Rhapsody realized they were in deep trouble. She may have been flying the largest plane in the formation, maybe the fastest, but the Meteors were still faster and much more nimble.

She gasped in surprise as an Su-37, the underside painted a fiery red, tore through the sky right over her and kept flying. The pilot suddenly banked sharply, more so than she would’ve thought possible, and let out a large burst of gunfire that missed, before launching a missile at them. It struck one of the F-4s dead on.

“Windigo Two is down! Never seen moves like that!” Amethyst cried, sounding terrified.

As if to intensify the terror, two more Meteors broke through above them, just as the last one circled around behind them. “We’re surrounded!” Ditzy cried. She huddled down in her seat, as if trying to hide herself from them. Another missile suddenly struck a strike eagle trying to pull up and away. It struck dead-on and no chute followed.

"Shite! We lost Rapier Four!" Sprig cried out.

Rhapsody’s rose eyes widened as she realized they were indeed surrounded. It took the downing of one of the Rapier Strike Eagles to make her snap from her shocked trance. Before she knew it, she shouted a new order.

“Everypony turn and engage!” Rhapsody grabbed her stick and yanked it back, hard. Her tomcat suddenly lurched to a halt as she slammed her hooves into the brake and cut off the engines. In the process, she banked, nearly colliding with a Rapier and turned into one of the Meteors, the fighter's wing's flaring to accommodate the lack of lift.

“Are you insane Rhapsody!?” Mythic shouted. “They’ll kill us!”

“Then we’re going down fighting!” she countered angrily, "You don't have to join me!" Her tomcat regained its speed and she fired a few bullets at the enemy Su-37 Terminator. It missed of course, the smaller fighter proving too agile and fast for her. Before Rhapsody knew it, she had one on her tail. She turned violently, trying to shake him when Mythic trailed him instead and got him off her tail. The Fighting Falcon was now chasing the Terminator.

“Rhapsody!” Mythic cried. “If we make it through this, I’m going to kill you!”

Though the AEGIS had them outnumbered nine to five, they were no match for the elite pilots. “So this is Meteor Squadron,” Sprig muttered to herself. “I always wanted to meet them myself.”

“Well you’re about to be shot down by them if you don’t focus, Lieutenant Sprig Root,” Rapier One barked. He took up a lead position beside Rhapsody as they chased one of the Terminators through the sky, only to have it suddenly halt in midair and let them both fly right under. The pilot then turned his fighter forward and pursued Rapier One. Rhapsody’s eyes bulged as she watched the gryphon elite pilot whiz right by their canopies and now tail the two AEGIS fighters.

“He just pulled a cobra!” Ditzy cried in awe. “That was amazing!”

“Shut up and get him off of me!” Rapier One cried. But before Rhapsody could move, the Terminator launched a missile. The Trottingham pilot climbed, letting the missile fly under him. He shouted in glee. “Ha! It’ll take more than a missile to… oh damn…” The missile suddenly curved sharply downwards and came right back for him. “Oh no. No no no no - !”

Rhapsody gasped as the missile slammed right into the Strike Eagle’s cockpit. “Sweet mother mare, they’re packing QAAM missiles!”

“A what?” One of the Windigos called.

“A quick maneuvering air-to-air missile! Focus on the briefings of munitions next time!” Sprig chided.

“Sorry! I’ll do bet – “ He suddenly shouted in surprise. “He’s got me! He’s got – “ The F-4 suddenly turned into a fireball as a QAAM rammed him right in the turbines.

Sprig suddenly huffed. “And the last thing he heard was me chastising him…”

“Focus Sprig!” Mythic cried. “We need to get out of this somehow.”

“But they’re too good!” Amethyst countered as she banked hard left and then right, a Terminator bearing down on her. One of the remaining Rapiers got him off, allowing Amethyst to turn hard to the right and head south, but that one also pulled a cobra. The Strike Eagle flew underneath and was nearly shot down by a burst of bullets when the gryphon pilot regained control. The Strike Eagle pilot tore through the air, just barely able to keep the Meteor from downing him.

“There can’t be any way those are being flown by mortals!” Windigo two cried. “We’re totally screwed!”

Rhapsody grit her teeth, keeping her gun reticule on what appeared to be the lead plane.

Six craned her head left and right, snarling into her oxygen mask.

“Son of a bitch, this one’s good,” she snarled. “Meteor Eight, delouse my six!”

“Copy that lead, on my way.” Suddenly, Six’s console blared for a missile locked and fired. She grunted and pulled up, hitting the brakes at the same time. The Terminator lurched and shuddered to a near stall. She almost lost her composure when the missiles shrieked right by her canopy. “Holy hell… they almost hit me!”

They almost hit her. This pilot almost hit her.

Meteor Eight suddenly flew by, pursing the F-14A that fired the two missiles. The AEGIS pilot banked, making sure to keep him off of their tail, but it was only a matter of time before –

“AWACS Cloud Burst to Meteor Six. Formation of five fighters heading your way. They’re closing fast.”

Six regained herself and turned away from the fray. “Visual confirmation on incoming bandits?”

Seven whooped as he fired a missile at an F-4, the pilot nearly getting destroyed. Since it missed, he lost his jubilant attitude. "Whoever's commanding these pilots is good. Has anyone gotten a kill besides Six?"

"Negative on that," Eight piped up, and then looked towards the south. He then growled. “Five F-15Ss incoming… it’s the Wonderbolts!”
“Then it looks like our work here is done, nothing more we can do. All Meteor’s RTB,” Six ordered. “I’ll inform the General that the AEGIS moved faster than expected, and the Habun Oil Fields have been destroyed.”

Forgoing returning to formation, the five Terminators turned due north.

Rhapsody pulled back into a formation with the remaining AEGIS fighters. She did a quick tally of those that had managed to survive. Two from Windigo, two from Rapier, and all three of her friends had made it. She let out a soft sigh, thanking Celestia they had made it out safely. On the other hand, they had lost four in less than a quarter of an hour. Windigo Wing was a bunch of rookies, so they couldn’t be expected to hold their own against a superior opponent like Meteor, but the Rapiers were one of the top wings in the 14th Tactical. The fact they had taken such hits was unheard of.

“Sky Gazer,” Major Spitfire called. “Meteor Squadron is bugging out. I need a SITREP and tally of our losses.”

“Yes Bolt One,” the melancholy voice of Sky Gazer replied. “The oilrigs have all been destroyed, as has the refining facility to the west. But… Windigo’s Two, and Four are down, as are Rapier One, Three, and Four.”

“Damn,” one of the Wonderbolt pilots exclaimed. “Well… we got here in time to save this group.”

“Speaking of which, Dash,” the Major suddenly murmured. Rhapsody turned her eyes to the left, seeing the Major’s blue and yellow lightning streaked F-15S pull up right beside her. Painted on the nose was her cutie mark. Almost at the same time, another Wonderbolt pulled up to her other side, sporting a cloud and polychromatic lightning bolt on the nose. “Lieutenant, I would like to see you when we land at the base.”

The pegasus mare nodded and looked around. “I’d like to check on the rest of my squad and I’ll be right-“

“Oh no, Lieutenant, you don’t understand,” Spitfire snapped, cutting her off immediately. Rhapsody looked at the Major's fighter and saw the golden mare staring right at her. If looks could kill… “That wasn’t a request, it was an order. When your wheels hit the ground, you better already be at my office door. Understood?”

Rhapsody grimaced and then swallowed, but she saluted sharply towards the Major’s plane. “Yes ma’am.” With those final words, the Major pulled her visor down and the Wonderbolt fighters pulled on ahead. Rhapsody pushed her throttle up, leading the surviving fighters to catch up with them. The sea green pegasus shook her head, sighing heavily.

Ditzy leaned forward in her seat, pulling off her mask. “Well, we survived,” she said softly.

Rhapsody shook her head again kept her eyes forward. “Not enough of us.”

Chapter 6

Over the next few days, I was wondering to myself why the two heirs to the throne of Gryphnia would be here on the frontlines. They left every other day to go on a sortie, but when they returned, all five came back, and they looked just as happy as ever. Meteor Six seemed to have a sort of kinship to the two princes, even going as far as putting her arms around the brothers as she guided them towards the makeshift barracks before letting me follow them into town.

I was fiddling with a model plane of the exact type they flew when they returned one night. Six’s plane looked a little scorched, something I had never seen before, as if somepony had almost gotten her. Six's plane was always as beautiful on landing as it was on take-off, but here it had been blemished. I tilted my head as she climbed out and ran her hand over the nose of her plane where the number zero-zero-six was painted. As I walked over, Meteor eight came over and asked if she was alright, to which she hastily confirmed.

She then started saying how close this pilot was to getting her. How if she hadn’t pulled up when she did, she’d have been shot down by this allied pilot. Six wasn’t able to get the insignia, but she said she would probably recognize the flying style if they ever went at it again. Seven said it was most likely another overconfident dweeb trying to challenge elite pilots by themselves. But Six merely shook her head, saying he was wrong.

“This pilot was good," she had said. "Skilled, probably more than they even realize.”

Her eyes then lifted to the clouds, as if expecting this pilot to soar by at any second. But she just shook her head and patted the nose of her fighter, adding, “I honestly would love to get into a dogfight with this one… I don’t even think I’d be disappointed about being shot down either…”

The two brothers just looked at her, before she simply shrugged and waved for them to follow. They did before Six looked at me and smirked. “You comin’ squirt?” I blinked and nodded before I could fully register her words. Wrapping the Meteor Squadron jacket I was given around me a little closer, I took up a spot between Seven and Six, who guided me to the town.

It was at the moment, despite my age, I realized I had actually changed sides. These gryphon pilots were not so bad once you stayed around them long enough. My aunt chastised the barkeep for tending to their drinks, her drunken rants had become more prominent by the day to the point where I had been staying with Meteor Squadron more than I had been at home. In a way, I had become an impromptu member of their group, even the flight crew chief showing me the different parts in a fighter engine.

In a city where the allies had been driven out, where the citizens were oppressed, where our previous way of life had been forbidden, where I was practically alone, I had found a new home.

Despite protests from her friends, Rhapsody hurried along to the offices of the base and squadron commanders. The second the wheels of her Tomcat hit the ground, she was removing the straps from her suit and jumped out of the cockpit before the ladder was in place. The result was her wings screaming in pain at the sudden takeoff and Ditzy yelling for her to slow down.
Her hooves carried her enflamed legs all the way to the offices when she reached the door to the command center, where she panted for breath. Spitfire hadn’t made it yet, so she at least kept her end of the bargain by being there before she –

“Good. You’re here. Inside.”

The Major walked by, opening the office door and allowing the younger pilot entrance. Rhapsody quickly stepped inside. She jumped a little, her wings flaring for a moment when the door was slammed behind her. Her tail flicked indignantly, as if protesting the sudden gesture of shock. Spitfire moved to the front of the desk, slamming her helmet down on the table. She didn’t sit down, and whilst her hooves were screaming for her to sit, Rhapsody remained standing at attention, her helmet in the crook of her arm.

Once she had closed the windows, the golden furred Major turned around. “Now,” she started slowly. Suddenly, Spitfire slapped her palms on the desk, making Rhapsody jump just a bit. “What the hell were you thinking, Lieutenant?!”

Whatever words she had thought up to defend herself dried her in throat at the Major’s raised voice. Rhapsody had been in Spitfire’s office a multitude of times, but not once had she raised her voice like this. Major Spitfire had never… never… yelled at her before. This sort of thing fully made Rhapsody aware she had royally screwed up.

“I-“ she tried to start something, but her mind kept drawing blanks. How could she justify her actions? Making two wings of green pilots attack the most elite squadron of Gryphnia?

“You ordered a squadron of green pilots to engage a formation of five Meteors!” Spitfire snapped. "Gryphnia's most elite squadron!" She began pacing; running a hand through her mane, huffing and puffing like a raging Minotaur. Rhapsody could probably bet that one motivational speaker whose name escaped her would cower at the Major’s mannerisms at the moment. Even Rhapsody found herself needing a bathroom. “Do you even realize what could have happened if my squadron had not arrived when we did? AWACS’s orders were to retreat south!”

Rhapsody now found something to add at the right time to add it. Though, she was hoping her words were being chosen carefully. “With respect ma’am, do you realize what would’ve happened had we followed that order and not engaged?”

Spitfire’s eyes narrowed considerably as she leaned on the desk. “Enlighten me,” she hissed through her teeth.

“Had we followed AWACS’s orders, and flew south like we were told, we wouldn’t be here,” Rhapsody said as calmly as she could. She was angry simply at being yelled at, one of her least favorite things, but also a bit scared of the Major’s voice. There was just something in the tone. “We had been traveling south, but those fighters were much faster and a lot more agile. Major, we were sitting ducks since we were flying straight.”

Spitfire raised an eyebrow at the Lieutenant. “And you ordered to engage… why..?”

Rhapsody swallowed hard. “Either way, we were going to die. Whether you hadn't shown up or were late. Even if we were going to die, I was going to try and keep those pilots alive as long as I could, maybe even take one of the Meteors out with us. It was unlikely, and we probably would’ve all been shot down, but at least, I think, the effort would’ve made a statement that Meteor Squadron is not as terrifying as Gryphnia makes them out to be. As long as somepony stands up to them, they have a chance.

“Was I scared? Yes. Hell yes I was scared, but flying normal and following the orders to retreat would’ve assured our quick deaths. I… I wanted those green pilots, if they were going to die, I wanted them to at least go down swinging, instead of crying for someone to save them. That if they were going to die, their families would receive a note telling of how heroic they were standing up to Meteor Squadron. I wanted to make a statement, ma'am, that we can stand up to Meteors.”

Spitfire stared long and hard at Rhapsody, who had barely moved under the scrutinizing gaze of the Wonderbolt Major. Her rose eyes continued to stare at the blinds of the office window. She thought back to the dogfight. They had almost all been killed had Spitfire’s group not showed up when they did, and Rhapsody had always been afraid of dying, not solely death itself. But there was a surge she found in herself when she had chased those Meteors. Those greenhorn pilots had put up a desperate fight, mostly because the other order meant certain death. Of course either way was certain death.

Whether she obeyed or disobeyed, all of the pilots she was leading would have been lost, something which she felt Spitfire knew. But whatever was on the Major’s mind was lost in her expression. It remained neutral as Rhapsody explained. But when she finished, the Wonderbolt stood, and sniffed, running a thumb under her nose.

“So your main focus was just prolonging their lives a little longer? To help them die as heroes?”

The question offset Rhapsody a little, but she managed to answer, “Yes.” As soon as she finished, she added. “Planes can be replaced ma’am, pilots can’t. As long as the pilot makes it home safe, the mission is a success. It’s not about the planes making it back, it’s about the crew.” The sea green mare didn’t know where she had come up with that, but it came out before she could shut herself up, so she let it hover in the air.

Spitfire pursed her lips, putting her tongue against her cheek. She turned away from Rhapsody and opened one of her desk drawers. “What you did,” she began, “Was a direct violation of orders, and incredibly dangerous to not only yourself and your co-pilot, but to our allies around us." She started rummaging through the drawer, no doubt looking for her transfer orders to probably send her to back to Canterlot. "You gave an order that would have gotten them killed, but it would allow them to live just a little longer and get them the commendations they deserved for their actions against the Meteors, and indeed make a statement. You disobeyed… but in the end… it was definitely the right thing to do Lieutenant. Instead of getting them all killed, you kept them alive much longer, and indeed proved even the most inexperienced of pilots can stand up to the greatest of enemies.”

Her hand kept rummaging through the drawer before she grabbed something. She placed her clenched fist on the desk and slide it towards Rhapsody. “’It’s about getting the crew back that counts in a sortie’. That’s the kind of line I’d expect from a true squadron leader. You've performed excellently under intense circumstances.” She unclenched her fist and revealed what she had covered up.

Underneath where her hand had been was a pair of silver bars. They looked worn, but as if polished on a daily basis. Alongside the bars were additional and matching insignias for a cap. “Those are my old Captain’s insignias. Wore those when I was Captain of the Wonderbolts. Before the war started, of course.” She eyed Rhapsody and quirked her brow, staring. After a few seconds, the Major held out her hand to them. “Are you going to take them or not?”

As if in a daze, the sea green mare quickly picked them up in her palm and looked at them, then at the Major, who was smiling; warmly, genuinely smiling. “Congratulations, Captain.”

Now it was Rhapsody’s turn to smile. She shifted them to her left hand and snapped to attention, giving a crisp salute. “Thank you ma’am.”

Spitfire returned it and sat down. “I need to get some paperwork done for an attack we’re going on in a week or so. We’ll be launching another offensive next Friday and I want everypony on this base to be ready before then. Dismissed.”

No longer seeing her need in the office, Rhapsody spun on her hoof to exit. She grasped the handle and opened the door, but was halted by Spitfire clearing her throat. Rhapsody turned and was met by the once again very stern gaze of the Major of the Wonderbolts. “You do something like this again,” Spitfire said softly, “I’ll kill you myself. You got that?”

Rhapsody kept her features leveled as she nodded. “I understand, Major.” With a returned nod from Spitfire, she left the office, closed the door, and leaned on the wall across the hall. She opened her hand, staring at the new insignias to replace her Lieutenant’s rankings with. ‘Captain’. She was finally a Captain. A grinned forced itself onto her muzzle, going ear to ear as her rose eyes lit up.

Before she knew it, she was running down the hall to find her squadron.

“C’mon everypony! Keep it rolling! Get those leopards into the garage where we can work on them.”

Two AEGIS tanks rolled out of the nose of the C-5 Galaxy aircraft that had just landed. The orange earth pony Colonel that was shouting at them was gruff, but she was kind to her troops. Even if she was coming off as uncouth, as their intelligence officer worded it, the gathered soldiers knew she was under a lot of pressure. But the second the two tanks had joined the others in the garage, she waved her hat in the air and whooped.

“Yeehaw!” she hollered. “That makes ten! That's another battalion in the works! Looks like the air force is doing their job.”

Around them, various vehicles from all around the continent were lined up for assignment. From main battle tanks to armored personnel carriers to mobile missile platforms, everypony had an integral job in the battle to come. Saddle Arabians and Equestrians compared notes about the M1s while Crystal Ponies cleaned off their Laclercs and Hippogriffs took stock of how many Challenger IIs had made it.

A pair of Hibernian Tiger helicopters flew overhead with Equestrian AH-64s as they patrolled the airspace. Humvees drove by delivering news or supplies as everypony gathered got their wits about them and mentally prepared themselves for a soon-to-come onslaught. Fighters flew higher above while some landed for refueling. Transport helicopters delivered crates by the ton before flying off to gather more. Prissy or not, Rarity could organize a large operation as well as any group of young officers, despite how much she didn't want to be in a war.
“Well of course they are,” a snow white mare replied haughtily. “They’re the only ones who can actually make a decent enough dent on the Gryphons for us to move our troops here.” The Lieutenant Commander’s horn it up as she lifted a clipboard from a pile of crates of tank rounds. She then clicked a pen in her pocket and began checking off the list. “Let’s see, Bravo, Hotel, Omega just arrived, Tango is ten miles out, that just leaves Alpha.”

“They ain’t comin’,” the Colonel suddenly remarked as she adjusted her hat back on her head and headed for the Windbreak Point offices.
The Lieutenant Colonel blinked and watched her go, trotting up beside her as best her dress shoes could handle. Even on important assignments, and field work, she preferred to wear them. While maybe not comfortable, they were definitely stylish to her, unlike the Colonel’s clunky boots.

Whilst it took little to convince the earth pony to serve her country and the allied forces of AEGIS, even if it took much for Twilight to get her to leave the farm, Rarity was a whole different story. She did not like the idea of fighting, even less going through her classes of intelligence and cyber warfare. Though she made it through, she did not like the idea of travelling military style.

Applejack may have missed the farm badly, but she felt her mechanical skills were needed. She proved such going through basic training, and then into officer’s school, becoming a Colonel in just a few months due to prowess, and her being an Element of Harmony was also a deciding factor on her position. When the war started, she was given a full battalion. Gryphnia then took over much of the mainland, and the mare was given command of half the allied forces that were participating in the coming offensive.

“What do you mean ‘they aren’t coming’?”

Applejack opened the door and stepped inside, removing her hat. “Exactly that, Rares. Got a wire from Taelur this morning. All four planes were shot down before fighter escort could move in. Apparently…” she heaved a sigh and leaned against the wall. She then turned around and looked Rarity directly in the eyes. “Apparently they got lost. Sky Breaker shot ‘em down before they realized where they were. Last known location was just within its effective range.”

Rarity removed her beret and ran a hand through her mane, sighing. “Poor dears…”
Applejack shook her head and pushed herself off the wall. “Well, we now know that Sky Breaker is still active… not as if they’d shut it down now.”

“Well of course not!” Rarity exclaimed. “And how can you say such a thing? Those soldiers are dead and all you can say is something we already know?” Rarity grabbed Applejack’s shoulder as the earth pony tried to continue down the hall. The Colonel spun and raised an eyebrow at the unicorn. “Why does it feel like you don’t care?”
Applejack narrowed her eyes, snorting. Rarity leaned back a little at the gesture. “Ah care about every single one of mah troops, Rarity,” she growled. “Don’t even think for a second about otherwise. Ah’m sad ah lost a good lot of soldiers who had to die because someone in the command room back in Canterlot misplaced a zero, but we now know Sky Breaker still works. And if ah let myself get worked up about losing my troops, ah won’t be able to focus for the invasion.”

“About that,” Rarity quickly said, hoping to relieve the tension just a little on the subject. “Do you have to join your troops on the battlefield? Safety of a tank or not, it’s incredibly dangerous, and losing a battalion commander as well as an Element of Harmony would be a severe blow to troop morale.”

Applejack’s face twisted back into one of a good nature, if a little apprehensive still. “Don’t you worry your pretty little mane, Rares. Against my better morals to be up with my crew, ah'll be back on the secondary lines barking orders. If only Twil-“

They were interrupted by a pegasus stallion rushing towards them. He looked out of breath, but needed to speak with the mares. He gathered up some breath, snapped to attention and saluted. Applejack and Rarity returned it. “What is it Sergeant Major?”

Thunderlane inhaled and exhaled rapidly, but gestured behind himself to give them a clue. “We got a wire from Canterlot. General Sparkle wants to speak with you both.”

Applejack and Rarity looked at each other, then back at the Marine. “Lead the way.” Thunderlane nodded and rushed back the way he came, the two mares in tow.

Twilight had news for them, hopefully good.

“You’re serious?” Rarity asked incredulously.
Twilight Sparkle nodded, adjusting her position in her chair. The new Major General of Intelligence Division, she had also earned enough prestige to excel at her training in the Ministry of Defense for Equestria as well as lead a top team of agents in the intelligence command in Canterlot. She wore the typical intelligence uniform; a pressed purple and gold suit with matching buttons. Her cap was decorated with the Royal Sisters crest and the two stars of a Major General.

Much to many a pony’s dismay, the Elements of Harmony had chosen national defense roles as their future careers. While Fluttershy seemed to be regretting her decision to join the Air Force, Rainbow Dash had gotten herself into the Wonderbolts, and consequently became one of their top aces. Applejack was now an Army Tank Commander with Rarity as her adjutant. Twilight herself kept away from the front lines, however, and went into military intelligence. The only one who wasn’t usually concerned for her own safety was Artillery Commander Pinkie Pie.

“I’m very serious Commander,” the purple unicorn, though her tone suggested she did not want to address her closest friends by their ranks. “Habun Harbor is still bottled up with ships. Thanks to the 14th Tactical, they can’t raise anchor and leave for Windbreak Point. With no new fuel, they can't steam out.”

“Can't believe they actually did it. They took the oil fields out of commission?”

Twilight smiled. “What do you expect? Rainbow Dash and her pilots can easily wipe out something like that.” Twilight looked towards another screen adjacent to the one she was speaking to Applejack and Rarity through, it's light blinking, indicating there was a call. It was coming from Hibern, so she could only guess who it was. She pressed the connection button and guessed right. Both Rainbow and Fluttershy were standing together in their working uniforms and smiling, happy to see their friends were alright.

The Intelligence General was just glad to know they were at the front and still alive.

“All we need is Pinkie and we’ll all be together,” Rarity casually observed.

Twilight scratched the back of her head. “She’s actually busy at the moment. Got her orders earlier to lay down cover for an armored brigade pulling back from southeastern Hibern.”

Applejack swore and shook her head. Rarity just sighed. “Well I hope she’s alright.”

“Ah! She’s fine!” Rainbow commented offhandedly with a negligent wave of her hand. “Remember that siege on Freido just last month? She was right in the center of town, about dead asleep when they found her. Not a scratch on her. She then ordered that the gryphons be given ‘extra invitations’. Remember that?”

Applejack grinned. “A brigade of artillery grunts hold off an armored force twice their size and hold the town for air support. Even in war, Pinkie Pie is still Pinkie Pie.”

They all shared a soft laugh, which did wonders for them. The war was taking a lot out of them, and grouped talks like this were rare. But that didn’t stop them from trying to get together over a communications channel and share a few laughs and old stories before the war. Big Macintosh was working the farm with Applebloom from what Applejack had heard. Rarity had exclaimed many a time that Sweetie Bell was thoroughly enjoying her new record label, and even did a few concerts with an army group to perform for soldiers. Scootaloo had followed Rainbow Dash’s hoofsteps and joined the Air Force.

Out of all of them, Twilight could be considered the most worried of the group. While she was safe in Canterlot in a well guarded palace surrounded by guards round the clock, her friends were off in the fight. At any second they could disappear out of thin air, never to be heard from again. Twilight shook the thoughts away fiercely, earning a distressed murmur from Fluttershy.

But it was Rarity who spoke first. “Dear, are you feeling alright?”

Twilight quickly wiped her eyes before they noticed anything. “Yeah, I’m alright. I-I just miss you girls is all.”

“We miss you too,” Fluttershy murmured, almost in tears herself.

It was a shared feeling of longing to see each other again. They were shedding blood, sweat, and tears for this war, and to many it seemed that AEGIS might not make it through the fight. The gryphons were strong, but AEGIS wasn't giving up yet. Still, they had lost plenty of friends to the fire. Applejack lost her aunt and uncle during a night bomb raid on Manehatten, the major city in Equestria closest to the border with Gryphnia. Her own cousin Babs Seed was with the Equestrian Marines and would be arriving at Windbreak any day. She had seen some serious action despite just having recently enlisted. Pinkie’s eldest sister was caught in a firestorm while she was trying to cover her brigade that was retreating over a bridge. Rainbow Dash was escorting a group of cargo planes when her wingpony, Dumbbell, had been shot down, one of the five Wonderbolts to have been killed by the Gryphons. Even Twilight herself had almost lost her brother, who was heavily fighting on the northern front in the Crystal Empire.

The knock on her office door prompted Twilight to look away from the screens. “Yes?” The door slowly opened, revealing one of the palace guard messengers. He snapped to a crisp salute.

“Ma’am, the Princess wishes to speak with you about the coming invasion.”

Twilight nodded, replying, “Tell her I’ll be there in a moment.” The guard nodded and left her alone. The purple unicorn sighed and looked at the screens. “Sorry.”

Rainbow Dash waved her off and Fluttershy nodded her understanding. “Better not keep the Princess waiting, Twi,” Applejack said. “We need orders, and she gives them.”

“And please tell her to put in a requisition for a different color blouse for mare officers, perhaps something in lilac with a hint of mauve?” Rarity pleaded and drawled, alternately tugging her collar for them to see.

Rainbow Dash leaned in. “You’re still on that Rarity?” she asked bluntly.

“Well of course!” she responded curtly, as if it was obvious. “Battlefield it may be, but that doesn’t mean I should not look my best.” She turned her head up, emphasizing her words by fluffing her mane just a bit.

Twilight rolled her eyes and tapped at her screen. “I should probably go then. Hopefully we’ll see each other soon.”

Applejack pointed at her. “Ah don’t wanna hear no negative talk, Twi,” she warned. “We will see each other by the end of this, ya hear?”
“Yeah! We’ll see each other when the gryphons sign their surrender!” Rainbow added stridently, causing her counterpart Captain to squeak and shy away, but regardless, the yellow mare behind her nodded her agreement.

“In that case, see you girls soon,” Twilight said. She pressed two fingers to her lips and held them to the screens. Her friends did the same, a sort of parting gesture they adopted before they were all deployed. The General disconnected and the twin screens sank back into her desk. She then reached over for a tissue, wiping her eyes quickly before she let loose another storm of tears, fearing that every time she closed their screens was the last time she’d ever hear their voices or see their faces.

Regardless, she gathered her files and headed for the throne room where the AEGIS national leaders had gathered. She prepared herself as best she could, but deep down, she knew this was going to be a thoroughly large and long meeting. If only Pinkie Pie could have made an appearance, she wouldn’t feel this gloomy. After smoothing her skirt and replacing her peaked cap on her head, mindful of the groove for her horn, she exited her office and out into the courtyard and headed down the path towards the meeting. This planning needed to be perfect, so Twilight needed to be as collected as possible.

This invasion would be the decision for the war; a chance for victory, or inevitable annihilation.

Chapter 7

Rhapsody’s engines almost lulled her to sleep. Ditzy was forced to swat the canopy. The sea green ear twitched at the sudden noise, so she tried again. The bang was loud and the pilot bolted upright, nearly sending the Tomcat into a tail spin into the sea. Rhapsody gained control and panted, sweat rolling down from under her helmet.

“Damnit! Ditzy don’t do that!” she hollered.

Ditzy shrank back in her seat. “You were falling asleep, I-I didn’t want you to doze off. We’re almost to the target.”

“You were listing a bit, Wraith,” Sprig called, her F-16 flying a little closer than necessary. The hippogriff then looked back at the rest of the gathered fighters. “We were all starting to worry a bit when you started drifting towards Shade.”

Once she had gained control, Rhapsody set her console to autopilot and looked around at the great aluminum cloud behind her. Her four fighters were flying their usual formation; one F-14A Tomcat followed by three F-16C Fighting Falcons, all four laden with bombs for the coming attack. Windigo had had some pilots transferred in to accommodate their serious lack of personnel. They had also been upgraded aircraft-wise to a pair of F-16Cs, two Tornado IDS’s, and an F-15E Strike Eagle. Following behind Mythic was Timberwolf squadron in their MiG-29s and Rapier with their group of five fighters that were rather diverse; a pair of A-10s, an F-14A, and two F-15Es. AEGIS had outfitted most for air-to-ground, but were intelligent enough to deploy aircraft able to handle a dogfight. They would be contending with Gryphnia's naval air forces today.

Eighteen aircraft in all. This was going to be Rhapsody’s biggest sortie to date.

It had been at least a whole two weeks since their attack on the Habun oil fields, but even in that time, the Gryphnian fleet stationed at the harbor could not leave with the supplies they currently had. They could get halfway to Windbreak Point, but they wouldn’t have enough arms and equipment to support their ground troops, let alone successfully assault it. The consequence? Months of trying to gain ground without naval support. Even an air force pilot could see the trouble with that.

“Sky Gazer here,” a voice through her helmet suddenly called. “Fourteen miles from Habun Harbor. All aircraft get ready for battle. Captains, you’re in charge of leading and coordinating your squadron’s attacks.”

“Wraith, roger,” Rhapsody replied.

“Timberwolf One, roger,” a brash pegasus mare replied. Rhapsody had only met Captain Lighting Dust once or twice; brash, bold, but definitely a good pilot.

“Windigo One, roger,” a strong, but borderline meek voice replied.
“Windigo One, stay calm, you’ll be alright,” Rhapsody told the pilot. The Windigo pilot held up his thumb and made a noise of understanding that could have almost been considered adorable.

The sound of fighter engines drew the sea green mare’s eyes back behind her. Her first thought was Gryphnian fighters until she saw the colors. There were four fighters, but the models were those that were only flown by one group of pilots. The Wonderbolt pilots in their F-15Ss took up an escort position around them.

“This is Wonderbolt Two,” a voice she recognized as Soarin’s break through the air. “We’re under the Major’s orders to provide escort to the target. Over?”

“Hey-hey Soarin!” Lightning Dust cried. “Long time no see, eh?”

“Timberwolf One, keep names to a minimum in the channel,” Rainbow Dash’s voice chided.

“Got it Dash, just wanted to try and catch up,” the brash pegasus replied simply.

“I think it’s Gryphnia wanting to do the catching up!” Mythic suddenly cried.

Rhapsody looked ahead, catching a glimmer of four planes heading their way. “Flight of four Gryphnian naval jets heading right for you. You are all clear to engage!”

“Wonderbolts, engaging,” Soarin cried. The four ACTIVE’s blazed forward to meet the enemy fighters. “Bolt Two, fox 3!” Four XMAA missiles shot off the rails on his wings and tore through the air. There were four consecutive explosions that followed.

“Nice kill, Two,” Dash cried.

“Let’s do this!” Sprig cried. She broke off, a pair of Windigos falling in behind her. With that prelude, the rest of the squadron began breaking off. Rhapsody and Ditzy took Mythic and three from Timberwolf towards the right.

“There are a total of four targets,” Sky Gazer announced. “There’s a battle group that detected us early and are attempting to flee the area. There’s also the western harbor that fuels and outfits the destroyers. Also two more to the east and far north. The farthest one houses the primary ships of their fleet, so somepony go after it!”

“This is Wraith, we’ll go after the battle group!” Rhapsody yelled as she increased her throttle. The five fighters banked right and bared down on a decent amount of ships. The sea green mare flicked the switch on her stick, diving for a Gryphnian Corvette. There were AA guns, which immediately began opening fire. It didn’t do so for long as a pair of bombs slammed right into the hull. Explosions rocked the light ship to the core as it listed to port. It fell back over and started taking on water.

“Corvette Stormer, sunk!” Sky Gazer announced.

“Look at that!” Lightning dust hollered. “They’re pouring off the decks!”

“Can you blame them?” Amethyst asked. “I just nailed a cruiser right on the bridge.”

“Get the medics over here! Fire those AA guns! Shoot them down!”
Fires raged along the decks as firefighters tried to put them out before they reached the lower decks and ignited the ammunition stockpile. The First Officer pulled his Captain out of the wreckage of the bridge of their ship.
“Are we clear to shoot back? This isn’t a drill?!”

The Officer grabbed the AA gunner by his collar and ferociously shook him. “Look around you blasted idiot! Does this look like a drill!?” He threw the young Petty Officer to the deck, letting him scramble to his gun on the opposite side of the ship.
The steel groaned as the heat and strain pulled at it. The heat was almost unbearable, but a pair of corpsmen tended to the Captain. But one shook his head as he patted the Captain’s cheek. The First Officer growled and stood up. He turned his baleful gaze at a Tornado just as it began raking the deck with its cannons.

The gryphon barely had time to turn around before he and the corpsman were both torn apart by the heavy rounds.

“Cruiser Cloud Run, sunk!”

“Nice shot Windigo One.”

The Crystal pony pilot turned towards his fellow crystal and waved. “Thanks Phantom.” He banked and pulled up to chase a Gryphnian F-14A. While not particularly good at dogfighting, the Tornado IDS could hold its own. Still, Amethyst pulled up to help him out.
Sprig pulled out of a dive as two of her missiles struck an oil tanker trying to leave its dock. The missiles hit the bow, causing it to flood rapidly and sent the massive ship into a nose dive for the sea floor. “Enemy tanker, sunk!”

“Yeah, we noticed,” the hippogriff mare commented gaily. This earned a scoff from Sky Gazer, to which Banshee just giggled and banked, turning to engage an F/A-18 fighter that had blazed by her from seemingly out of nowhere.

Rhapsody twisted her large fighter through a storm of flak. Were she to push a little further down on the stick, she and Ditzy wouldn’t need flight suits; they’d need swimsuits. The belly of the Tomcat was just twenty feet from the surface of the water, her turbines kicking up a large amount of it into the air. She kept her thumb above the release button, narrowing her eyes. The Carrier was firing madly to try and get her, but she kept her course… until… the right…

She pressed the button just as she pulled up and into a steep climb. The g-forces threatened to flatten her as she pulled into the air, and once she slowed down and turned, regaining her senses, she could see the damage she caused.
Her bombs had blown a hole clean into the side of the carrier. The stern then blew up, sending a huge cloud of fire into the sky. Rhapsody had to smile, despite her knowing the serious chaos below the decks that would make the mad draconequus himself tip his hat to the pegasus mare. Around her, the two MiG-29s from Timberwolf fired their rocket pods and blew holes in the retreating ships, including the one she knew was already sinking.

The Ensign pulled himself up, forcing his eyes to at least catch a glimpse of what had just happened. His ears rang painfully, he felt blood coming from his eyes. The gryphon knew he had gone def from the proximity of the blast. He was just close enough to the bombs to feel the impact, but far enough away to not feel the death it inflicted. He and his shipmates were in the middle of trying to load a pair of Tomcats with air-to-air missiles when the two bombs hit the hull. The first made a hole for the second to pass through and ignite the stockpile of bombs, missiles, and bullets.

He had been thrown far back, given enough time to see the explosion envelope a few of his mates. They were no longer there, having been vaporized while trying to load their fighters and get them back on deck to launch. He pushed himself almost to his feet, before the stern listed. The pain in his body struck again and he fell, face-first into the deck.
He cried out and raised his head again, only to be slammed into by a crushing wave.

“Carrier Rage, sunk!”

“Seriously that’s getting annoying,” Sprig muttered.

“I’m giving the reports to the squadron, like I’m supposed to do, Lieutenant,” Sky Gazer retorted.

Sprig huffed. “Whatever.”

Ditzy looked down at the wreckage of the sinking carrier. “I can’t help but feel just a little bit sorry for them.” The grey mare sighed. “They’re just doing their jobs, like we are.”

Rhapsody turned her eyes downwards, just as another explosion rocked the flight deck. An F-14 managed to take off before the bow broke off. “We can't risk them leaving port, Specter. They're still the enemy, whether at sea or in port.” She turned hard towards the carrier to pursue the other Tomcat. It turned hard to the left, dodging a burst from her cannons. She kept on the enemy fighter’s tail, matching its movements. It was easy since they flew the same fighter, but it was clear this pilot was an expert flier and knew their plane better than anypony else did.

The Tomcats continued their duel through the clouds, before it finally made a fatal move of turning before banking. Rhapsody was in the process of arming a missile and fired. “Fox two!” The missile soared through the sky and impacted the tail, sending it into a furious barrel roll towards the water. Rhapsody twisted herself around and grazed the water, catching the eye of a destroyer that opened fire with its AA guns.
She twisted and turned, avoiding the AA fire and fired her cannon. The twenty millimeter rounds shrieked as they started pelting the gun-mount. She noticed gryphons falling from the station, indicating she had hit them, and the gun twisted upwards, unusable. A moment later, the second F-14A in the attacking squadron let loose a few bombs onto its deck. The explosions engulfed the upper ship decks in flames.

“Destroyer Height, sunk.”

“That’s getting annoying.”

“Banshee, hush and get to blowing stuff up,” Rhapsody grumbled.

Sprig huffed. “I’m just saying we don’t need a play-by-play of the attack! 'Missile shot trashed!' 'Boat sunk!' 'You missed!'”

“Do I need to pull rank on you, Banshee? She's doing her job, just like you need to!” Wraith suddenly snapped.

“Take it easy Captain,” Mythic warned. Rhapsody blinked and sighed, murmuring an apology. She enjoyed being a Captain, and the perks that came with the job, but… maybe she was letting it get to her a little bit. A number of times she had to stop herself from taking too much advantage of her new rank, with Ditzy’s help. Rhapsody tried, but sometimes things were just too good to let pass up, especially with a new position.

Pushing that particular inner-monologue into the deeper recesses of her mind, where it would most likely gather dust and be forgotten until she was old and grey, she banked her fighter further into the fray. She sent a burst from her cannon into the bridge of a missile frigate that was trying to lock its payload of SAMs onto her. Even though she tore the bridge apart, her missile warning still blared.
“All fighters, be advised. SAMs on the decks are still active!” she informed her fellow pilots.

She saw Lighting Dust tear through the sky under her, a pair of missiles behind her. “Noted Wraith!” she cried as she turned hard to the left. The missiles lost track and detonated under water.

With that, she turned to the north and opened her throttle. “I’m heading for the northern docks. Anypony coming with?”

“Shade here. I'll catch up later,” Mythic announced. "I'm taking these three Timberpuppies to the sub pens."

“Phantom. Bit preoccupied with this carrier at the moment, but I’ll be over soon.”

“Windigo lead here, we’ll head over once we’re done sinking this dock.”
The Tomcat, alone for now, pushed north towards the main docks that were further in and under much heavier guard. But of course, there were much more high-value targets still sitting at anchor. And if Rhapsody was correct, there was one in particular she couldn’t help but set her sights on…

Mythic launched a missile at the submarine. This proved to be ineffective, sadly as it collided with the roof.

"Hit them from the front," one of the Timberwolf pilots called. The grey stallion watched the MiG-29 line up and shot and fired a volley from his rockets into the sub pens. A cacophony of explosions clustered into the pens. The roof supports shattered and landed on top of the submarines.

"Not bad, puppy," Mythic commented as he pulled up and around, sending a missile through the tail of a Tornado IDS trying to shoot down one of the other Timberwolf pilots on his attack run. "Hey, Wraith! Are you at the north harbor yet?"

"Sure am… and I got my sights set on a particular ship."

Sprig banked behind an F-14A and sent a cannon volley through the fuselage. The pilots bailed out before it exploded and flew towards a skyscraper. "This is the Invincible Gryphnian Fleet… you can't possibly mean…"

Amethyst squeaked as she looked north during her pursuit of an F/A-18C. "The Warlord's Claw?"

“Admiral! We’re weighing anchor now!”

Admiral Ba’rne waved for his crew to get aboard. “Let’s go, fledglings! Get aboard or we’re leaving without you!” Many of them didn’t need further urging as they sprinted up the gangway and began running to their stations. AA guns were manned, missiles were armed and posed to strike. The last to be outfitted were the massive guns that rotated back and forth to check their stability.

Once everyone was aboard and the gangway simply kicked off the deck by the Admiral, allowed to crash into the water, the Gryphnian Flagship, the Battleship Warlord’s Claw, steamed towards the open sea. Ba’rne turned to his first officer. He had stopped whining about the loss of the radar station, finally, of course he was now whining about the sudden surprise attack by AEGIS on their immortal fleet. “How soon can we reach maximum speed and get out of the harbor?” he asked.

The Commander checked a nearby console and grimaced, clacking his beak. “It’ll take at least twenty minutes at this speed. The boilers are strained from the sudden firing and we’re only able to make two knots.”

“Work the crews faster! We need to get our tails away from-“

“Admiral!” an ensign cried. “We’ve got a fighter heading right for us!”

Admiral Ba’rne hopped down and rushed to the radar screen. The lone fighter was making a b-line for them. But it was alone. Was this pilot suicidal? Taking on a battleship, loaded to the brim with anti-air weapons, capable of reducing cities to rubble in hours, alone marked the pilot as either brave or stupid. He wondered which one this pilot was.

“Load all weapons, shoot it down.”

Ditzy held on for dear life as a white cone warped around the nose of the Tomcat. She swallowed as best she could as the g-forces pushed her back into the seat. “Wraith!” she cried. “This isn’t brave! Taking on the Flagship alone is stupid, not brave!”

Rhapsody grinned behind her oxygen mask, her eyes glittering with a coming attack she may not survive, but dear Celestia would it be fun. “I think it’s both.” She suddenly pulled up as the flak guns began to open fire. The black clouds burst around her, causing the heavy fighter to shudder. She just needed to maintain this speed while climbing and she could dive-bomb it. She had a few bombs left; she’d have to make them count. The gryphons would fight viciously to save this ship of all of the ones they had.

By the time she reached her third helix into the air, Mythic had arrived, dropping a pair of bombs onto a Gryphnian amphibious landing ship. There were hovercrafts nearby that were caught in the explosion and destroyed along with it. He and a pair of Windigos had arrived and began destroying the nearby docks and fuel tanks. One of the Strike Eagles even dropped two cluster-bombs onto the submarine pens. When the second Windigo dove down, it dropped its own to finally collapse the roof of the pens onto the submarines still sitting at anchor, burying them inside.

“All sub pens destroyed!” Sky Gazer then snickered. “Submarines sunk!”

“Now you’re just doing it on purpose!” Sprig squalled.

Rhapsody laughed and pulled into a backwards dive. The AA guns couldn’t aim directly up, and Rhapsody had a clear shot. She dropped a bomb and blankly fired two missiles, not bothering to let them lock. But the wind carried them away, sending them away towards the bow. Even with this, they still slammed into the top of one of the massive gun turrets, destroying it almost instantly. The bomb also exploded right next to the bridge. It wasn’t enough to destroy it, but it should have caused some significant damage.

The Tomcat pulled out of its dive, the wingtip just barely grazing the water as she pulled back up, this time aiming her cannons at the gun farthest to the stern.

The Admiral sneered, his beak curling back as he watched this lone fighter come at them from behind. It fired its cannon, the bullets impacted hard, but Ba’rne had a new plan. He watched the tomcat fly down towards the water, using it to keep low from the AA guns. But the Admiral had other weapons he could use.

“Prepare to fire the main guns.”

Déjà vu hit as she was once again grazing the water, her throttle open. The wings folded back, allowing more speed for the attack run. She narrowed her eyes, focusing to fire her missiles into the stern. But just as she began lining up the whiskey reticule, she saw something that made her hesitate.

The rearmost turret began turning… towards her.

She cried out surprise and pulled her stick to her as fast as her wrist allowed. Suddenly, she felt the world around her shake as she pulled up and over. The guns fired, lobbing a thick anti-ship shell directly at her tiny fighter, missing though, and destroying a number of containers that sat by the docks. “That thing shot at me!”

“Isn’t that the point?” Amethyst asked. “You’re trying to sink it, afterall.”

“It fired its sixteen inch guns at a fighter? That’s bold. That’s a statement,” Mythic praised.
Rhapsody shook her head and pulled back into a steep dive for the gun. “That’s desperation.” She pulled up after dropped a bomb directly on top of it. The explosion destroyed the turret completely, sending two of the barrels crashing into the deck. She pulled out her dive, raking the command bridge, but missed however and her Tomcat screamed as Wraith pulled up. The flak guns began anew, pelting the air around her.

“Hang on Specter!” Rhapsody cried to Ditzy, who shrieked when the Tomcat suddenly lurched.

“Got ‘em!”

“Good shot, Petty Officer!” the Admiral commended, clicking his beak and slapping the young Gryphon on the shoulder. “Give it another burst.”

Flak continued to force Rhapsody to pull away, making her fly further and further inland to get away. Ditzy craned her head back and frowned. “It’s not bad, but we’ve got a bit of smoke. Looks like it can still operate, though.”

“All we need is for it to still work,” Rhapsody suddenly hissed. “They hit my baby… they’re gonna get it now.”
She banked to the right and pulled the stick back almost too hard. The Tomcat’s engines roared as she put more thrust into them and pushed for more speed. She began another attack run at a breakneck pace. She pulled the trigger on her cannon, firing a thick volley into the side. A SAM turret blew up and the gunner crew for a pair of AA guns fell away from their station. She then targeted one of the forward guns and launched a missile. It collided with the gun mount on the deck, jamming it in place.

“It’s almost down!” Sky Gazer cried. “The other docks are reporting severe casualties, and two thirds of the fleet are sunk.”

Sprig suddenly cried, “Don’t you dare, Scoots!”

Sky Gazer laughed devilishly. “Cruiser Lark sunk, Destroyer Raven sunk, Carrier Rocker sunk, Cruiser Striker sunk, Carrier – “

“Shut up!” Sprig yelled.
Sky Gazer named off a few more ships, but Rhapsody paid next to no attention as she banked left and pulled around for another attack. The remaining AA guns opened fire on her, but Mythic suddenly appeared, raking his guns across the deck and silencing them. “I’m going for the throat,” the pegasus mare suddenly announced. The Tomcat’s engines once again roared their anger as she went straight for the bridge.

“It’s coming right at us!” the ensign cried, pointing a claw at the window.

The Admiral sneered and thrust his claw at it. “Fire everything!”

The remaining sixteen inch guns opened fire on her, lobbing their shells directly at her. Rhapsody pulled up and around two as the third nearly grazed her tail. The world seemed to warp around the massive rounds as the ship’s commanding officer must have sensed the coming blow. The clouds and sky around her turned black as the flak guns found new gunners and began opening up. She pulled to the right to dodge a SAM aimed right for her cockpit. To top it off, several sailors aboard had pulled out rifles and pistols and opened fire on her. She could almost hear the crew of the battleship beginning to scream to try and shoot her down. But when she flew straight, she had other ideas than firing right then.

She hit the brakes and pulled up, the fighter lurching nearly to a stop and stalling.
Rhapsody then fired the turbines again, going straight up into the air. The Tomcat shrieked high into the sky, higher, higher, sending the two occupants past the clouds. White filled the visions of both pilots as they climbed, Rhapsody's altimeter spun like a clock even as her airspeed began to drop. The only thing above her soon was just an endless expanse of blue. Her engines began to whine, choking on the lack of oxygen needed to keep the engines going. It was here where Rhapsody slowed down a bit. The geometric swing-wings of the Tomcat flared out to try and catch more air and keep it aloft, but the speed still decreased. She then looked back and smirked. “Trust me Ditz?”

Ditzy smiled behind her mask and nodded. “Always. Let’s sink this thing,” she murmured, as if sensing the plan. Rhapsody sighed, silently thanking her best friend. She then looked back towards the nose, taking a deep breath.

She shut the engines down and pulled the stick back.

The fighter came to a halt in midair, the flaps catching the fall and turning it over on its back into an almost perfect nose dive. It fell like a dead weight directly into the cloud cover, where they were enveloped in the fluffy white clouds that Rhapsody loved so much. She remembered a time when she slept on clouds, enjoying the wind carrying her wherever. These beautiful beings seemed to have no agenda, just let themselves be carried, whether by pegasus or by the wind. They cared little for the turbulent war they went on around them. She admired them for that. So powerful, able to carry water, lighting, but also gentle, shielding from the sun those below it.

Rhapsody wondered for only a moment at the impact they have on the world. And now here they were, taking advantage and control of the skies the clouds dominated. They were tearing the skies asunder, breaking the clouds that meant so much to the world. She grimaced at the thought, knowing that these fluffy, innocent wisps had nothing to do with this war that took place in their domain, and how much they were suffering for it.

No more.

Rhapsody pushed her throttle open once again. Her turbines roared to life, sounding their charge. The tomcat's wings pinned back at the burst of speed. Rhapsody felt her own wings tighten against her back. She broke through the cloud cover, pulling the trigger on her stick. Her cannon roared as it flung the heavy bullets towards the battleship. She stopped and flipped the switch on her stick, lining up her whiskey reticule and firing two missiles directly towards the bridge. She flipped it again and angled the Tomcat to drop her remaining bombs on top of wherever they wanted.

Bullets tore through the steel, through the decks, through the crew as she continued firing her cannon at it. The missiles tore through the air, slamming into the base of the command bridge. The bombs fell, unimpeded by the gryphons, and detonated against the deck, all four hitting the center of the ship, the last two falling through the hole Rhapsody's first had torn, causing even deeper chaos. The thick naval steel buckled under the serious strain wrought by the terrible barrage it was receiving from the lone AEGIS fighter. Flames licked at the decks and the hull, the magazine kept safely in the center was hit too badly. Too much strain, too much destruction, too many flames and bombs and missiles and bullets.

The steel buckled, cracked, and then tore itself in half.

The Battleship Warlord’s Claw bent inwards at the center. The ship that guided the Royal Gryphnian Navy for almost six decades groaned and cried its death throes, splitting apart at the center. Gryphons spilled off the decks, not even bothering with the lifeboats or life jackets for that matter, let alone taking wing. They just wanted off the ship that was tearing itself apart. More explosions rocked the ship’s lower decks, and any gryphon caught there were vaporized or maimed.

Water rushed in, carrying many crewmembers down into the murky depths. Dozens were still trapped, sealed off from the exits, trying their luck at swimming downwards to try and beat the ship to the bottom of the harbor. Screams echoed through the corridors and bounced off the bulkheads as the crew fought viciously to get off and away from the burning, sinking wreck.

Admiral Ba’rne bobbed like a cork in the water, laying on his back, his eyes turned to the clouds that parted, allowing the sun to gently shine on his face. He suddenly couldn’t help himself and looked forward. The Warlord was sinking. His pride and joy had been lost… to a single fighter. He looked around as more AEGIS fighters dropped bombs, fired missiles, and strafed their guns along the harbor. More ships began to burn, to sink, to explode. It was gone; all gone. The fleet, the immortal Gryphnian Navy, second only to the Royal Equestrian Navy, was gone…

“Help me!” a gryphon nearby shrieked. “Admiral! I can’t swim, help me!”

Ba’rne huffed and gathered himself, swimming to the commander’s side and hefting him up. He struggled and flailed like a fledging in a children’s pool. His wings flapped out of sync as the incompetent commander tried to save his own life futilely. “Kick your- Stop it! Kick your feet and relax your wings!” Ba'rne shouted. "Stop! Kick your feet!"

The Commander did his best, managing to only partially gain control, and bobbed beside the Admiral, who fiercely slapped him, drawing his claws along his cheek for good measure. The commander was silenced and swallowed, further gaining his composure.

A fighter began circling around the sinking battleship. The same fighter, the same F-14A Tomcat that sank his beloved Warlord began flying around like a damned vulture. He narrowed his eyes at the tail, catching the insignia painted onto it. A spectral creature with a horse head was curving itself into a circle, carrying a scythe in its hands. The subtle grey of the fighter itself almost made it seem like a…

“A ghost,” Ba’rne said to himself. He then sniffed disdainfully. “We’ll meet again, pilot.”

Rhapsody surveyed the wreckage, smiling to herself.

“Flagship Warlord’s Claw, sunk!” Sky Gazer cried triumphantly.

Okay,” Sprig murmured. “I’ll let that one slide.”

Mythic guffawed and cheered. “Good going, Rhapsody! That was one in a million!”

“She did that herself! Woo! That’s our leader!” Amethyst cried.

Soarin laughed as he flew by her Tomcat. “Great work everypony, and well done Wraith. The Immortal Gryphnian Fleet is fish food. All aircraft RTB.” Together, almost as one, the remaining fighters from AEGIS gathered into a wide formation, circling themselves around the smoke, the fire, and the sinking ships. Gryphon sailors bobbed in the water, shouting and shrieking their curses at the pilots. Navy fighters retreated from the airspace, desperate to find a place to land since their carriers had been sunk.
Rhapsody sighed, seeing the destruction they had caused, and the more protection they had given Windbreak point to further prepare themselves for the counter-attack. The great flock of steel, aluminum, and titanium kept pace as one single unit all the way towards the exit of the combat area. Rhapsody sighed and closed her eyes, finding herself smiling wide.

She began, “O’er azure skies and emerald plains…”

Mythic turned his head to her Tomcat and smiled. “Where freedom and justice prevail.”

Suddenly, the seventeen other AEGIS fighters chimed in. Voices from all over, Hibern, Saddle Arabia, Equestria, and the Crystal Empire lent their voices to the song.

“With courage and strength, we’ll fight to the end for liberty in our land!”

“Yeahoo!” Ditzy cried, thrusting her fist into the air. Rhapsody performed a victory roll as she took the lead.

The squadron headed home.

Chapter 8

At some point in the weeks that went by, I noticed my aunt had vanished. Her mumbling about the gryphons was gone too. I wondered for a little while whether she had been dragged off by the secret police for some drunken comment. Maybe she just up and left town, heading west. Either way, she left the apartment filthy, stinking of stale cider and dust. I wondered where she was for some time.
It didn’t take long for those wonderings to vanish as well.

When news came that the allies had destroyed the harbor where the gryphon fleet was sunk, and the flagship was gone, Meteor Six seemed to take the news hard. An Ensign from the royal navy delivered the news while he and his group were visiting my hometown. Six growled angrily and left the bar in a flurry of feathers. I was with Meteor Seven, who was repairing my model fighter for me, when I saw her. Even though Seven asked me to leave her be, I got up and followed her.

I found her by the nearby river that was flowing near their base. She stood almost completely hunched over. Her head was down, her feathers lightly blowing in the air as her thin tail swayed back and forth, the tip grazing the grass beneath her. She must’ve heard me approaching, but she didn’t turn around. “What do you want, dweeb?” she asked harshly.

Dweeb. She had never called me that before. I knew enough that it wasn’t a good word, more of one of her insults she gave to the lower ranked soldiers. I now knew she was feeling bitter about the fleet being lost. I then remembered talking to Eight when I asked if she had family. He said that her father was a navy sailor aboard the flagship that was sunk. He had wanted her to join the Navy and be a fighter pilot for him, but she had gone air force to prove she didn’t need his guidance. Eight just considered me a foal, and that I would forget what he told me in the morning.

I didn’t.

She had family all over the Gryphnian Kingdom, yet only she and her father were part of the military in two separate branches. I heard that she held some hostility towards her father for him trying to force her into the Navy, but I decided not to press that issue, since it wasn’t my place to.

I walked up beside her. Six still didn’t look at me, but I knew she was watching me. Her claws scratched at the inside of her pockets as a deep scowl coursing her features. She must have been conflicted by her feelings of whether to be happy her father lost his pride and joy, or sad that he could be dead. Either way, I felt a sort of kinship to what she was feeling, even though I knew the absolution to my own family predicament.

“Why do you follow me around?” she suddenly asked. I blinked and looked up at her, my brown eyes meeting her piercing gold irises. She stared back down at me, like a predator sizing up its prey before devouring it whole. “Don’t you have a home to go to? Why do you stay with us?”

I blinked again and looked back at the water. As I sullenly shook my head, she nudged me. “Come on, kid. We’re your enemy. You should be with your family.”

I again shook my head, not meeting Six's eyes. But I did look up to see her reaction. Her face had twisted in confusion until finally settling in one of understanding. A colt by himself, no real home, stayed with the enemy occupiers, quiet with not many friends. She suddenly hummed, as if understanding. “You… lost your parents… didn’t you?” she inquired softly, losing her apprehensive tone. I nodded softly. "And... it's because... of us, isn't it?"

With her tone of voice, it seemed she now understood that, while she had the possibility of her father being alive, probably wondering if she was, I didn’t. My parents were gone, not even enough to bury, let alone mourn. She still had her family, whilst I was, in practically every sense of the word, alone.

And then it happened. I don’t know what, but my eyes began getting watery. I tried wiping them away, but they started flowing down my cheeks before I could stop them. There were too many at once, and then my body began to shake. My tail quivered and soon I choked a sob. I didn’t understand why I was crying, but it must have had something to do with the fact that, after all this time of being without my parents, I never cried. Not once.

All of the built up tension, emotion, and silence had been released all at once the second Six mentioned aloud that I was alone. I had no real family outside my now missing, drunken aunt who barely spoke to me, mostly drowned herself in drink while she mumbled about the occupying soldiers. I furiously wiped at my eyes, determined not to let this powerful gryphon see me cry.

I sudden felt something wrap around me, tight, but comforting and warm. I opened my eyes to a sight I never once expected to happen.
Six had wrapped her arms around me in an almost motherly embrace.

“Let it out kiddo,” she murmured. “You won’t get another chance to mourn them if you keep it bottled up.” With those words, from this strong, independent female of the Gryphnian Air Force, who had a kill record a mile long, who led the most elite fighter squadron in the world, who was kind sometimes, but all others was commanding, powerful and remorseless, I let it out. My body shook with my sobs, held in check for the longest time. My tears started to stain her jacket as I just let them flow, unimpeded. I rested my head against hers while she held me.

The Gryphon female held me in this comforting embrace, letting me cry against her, until I felt blackness creeping around me, and I fell asleep in her arms.

In the process of keeping up with Meteor Squadron, I had found the comfort of a home, of a surrogate family... Leaving them was no longer an option for me now...

“Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!” Sprig slammed the mug on the table, the open end down, as she yelled a triumphant cry when the Saddle Arabian pilot fell backwards, letting go of Sprig's hand, and passed out. The gathered air force pilots and ground crews cheered loudly, even the higher ranking officers joining the revelries.

Spitfire laughed hard as Soarin drew another line next to the three already on the board. “That’s four, Banshee! You’re taking down my best!”

Rhapsody took another sip of her cider and laughed. “Well she’s my best, and you’ve lost I think.” She pointed her mug at the four other pilots passed out on the wrap-around booth in the corner. They were joined by their fifth comrade, who was snoring loudly. “How about it?” The Major merely grinned and looked to her right. She then jerked her head at the table. A mix of “oooohs” and drunken giggles marked the arrival of Major Spitfire’s secret and final weapon.

Captain Rainbow Dash planted her flanks hard onto the chair, holding her arm out, her elbow on the table. Sprig’s beak curled back in a grin as she grasped Rainbow’s hand, her own elbow across from her opponents. They were both handed a mug, and then…

“Go!” Mythic cried.

The two mares pushes their hands against the other, their arms wrestling to put the other on the table. They drank from the mugs to increase their haze and try to make one another slip up and stagger in their focus of strength. They reached their third mug, and whilst Sprig had been there for a long time, she had learned at an early age how to hold her drink. Rainbow Dash on the other hand was a fresh body to go against.

A traditional drinking game from the older world of Hibern, warriors often tested their strength and sobriety by arm wrestling while chugging ale. It was an old and honored game, carried out by any who dared to compete. From the lowest peasant to the highest king, it was a time honored event.

Sweat rolled off their bodies, soaking their flight suits as they continued to struggle for dominance. They were given a fourth mug, a fifth, a sixth. Cheers grew more rampant, surely waking those at the base who decided to go to bed instead of participate. And then, on the seventh, the hippogriff’s arm began to waver. The rainbow maned mare pushed hard, the veins in her cyan hands flexing to try and prove dominance.

Sprig fought back, but her haze was too heavy, she blinked several times, trying to hold her balance. But Rainbow pressed hard, and the strain was too much for the drunken hippogriff. The grey hand hit the table, sending Sprig flying to the ground in a heap, where she collapsed. Rhapsody and Mythic groaned as the Wonderbolt squadron cheered. Bits were exchanged, drinks were passed around, and someone yelled for silence.

“She’s not moving.”

Silence was given as everyone turned downwards to the prone Sprig, laying on her back with her eyes closed. Everypony looked down, gathering around her. She wasn’t moving, simply laying on the floor of the lounge. Concern took hold, the festivities broken, as Rhapsody, Spitfire, Soarin, Mythic, and Rainbow Dash leaned down to inspect her.

“Yo Sprig,” Dash said. “You okay?”

She still lay there, unmoving like a log in a swamp. Rhapsody bit her lip as she looked around at the pilots surrounding Sprig’s prone form. Suddenly, she heard Mythic let out a drunken giggle and reached out towards her –

Sprig’s right eye opened, and she sent a fist into the air, where it collided with Mythic's jaw. He yelped and fell backwards, airborne for a moment, knocked off his hooves, before falling directly on his back. Wasting no time, Soarin jumped into the air, throwing his arms up. “She’s okay!” she cried.

Everypony cheered, returning to what they were doing. The game was over at that, and Rainbow knelt down and offered the hippogriff a hand, which she took and was helped up. Prideful as she was though, Sprig gave everyone sulking glare. Dash gave her a slap on the back. “We’ll have a rematch sometime,” she promised softly.

Sprig just huffed and headed for the bar to order something light. "Beaten by a pony in my own country... embarrassing."
Rhapsody shook her head, turning to the three pilots from Wonderbolt Squadron. Spitfire smiled proudly at the sea green mare. “Taking on a battleship, single handedly, and succeeding in sinking it, the flagship of all, is an impressive feat.”

Mythic threw his arm around his captain. “Bout got herself killed though.”
Spitfire shrugged, downing the last of her cider mug. “Either way, it was a successful attack, and their plans to invade Windbreak Point have been delayed… indefinitely.”

Rhapsody smiled and chugged her last from her own mug. The night they got back from their raid on Habun Harbor, General Iron Wing, commander of the Equestrian Royal Air Force, allowed a party to be held for the pilots who sank the fleet. He had also wished to express immediate congratulations upon the young Captain Rhapsody for sinking the flagship by herself in an outdated fighter. Rhapsody frowned just a little at the term ‘outdated’ but nonetheless accepted the praise.

“So we’re now ready to invade?” Rhapsody asked, her vision getting a little hazier. But when Spitfire shook her head, the sea green mare tilted her head. “What are we waiting for?”

“HQ is planning a new attack in the next couple of weeks, maybe sooner. We need to completely stall the gryphon’s ability to make war. Make them slow down considerably and then we can plan our invasion.” She then smiled. “And our entire base has been granted leave to enjoy the sights in the Hibernian capital.”

Mythic threw his arms up. “We get leave! I can hit on hippogriff women!” He held his pose for a few moments before freezing. Rhapsody, Soarin, and Spitfire watched him for a moment. It was then that the sky-blue Wonderbolt stallion waved his hand in the grey stallion’s face. The result was Mythic falling face first into the floor. He laid unmoving, save for the occasional snore coming from beneath. Rhapsody pursed her lips and looked at her mug, considering while nodding.

“That's some strong stuff.”

Spitfire shrugged. “It’s weak compared to the swill we drank back in basic after a good performance.”
Soarin then guffawed, leaning on the Major’s shoulder. She kept her balance, barely flinching, proving that of all the pilots on base, she had the highest alcohol tolerance. But the sky-blue stallion pointed at Spitfire, and slurred, “Hey Spits, remember that Shetland Whiskey we had after that one show in Las Pegasus. That was strong stuff.”

Spitfire laughed and moved her Captain off of her shoulder. “The Shetlands know how to make a good drink, that’s for damn sure.”
While not necessarily part of AEGIS officially, the Emerald Isle, home to the Shetlands, were their primary producer for a number of AEGIS and Gryphnian fighter craft. When the war broke out, their military contracts dissipated, followed by plans to build the fighters themselves, and the Shetland Ponies of the Emerald Isle walled themselves from the world, claiming an isolationist flag. Still, that didn’t stop them from shipping their primary, or what the soldiers thought the primary export was, to the mainland.

Pure, Shetland brewed whiskey.

Spitfire suddenly jumped when a white coated mare with a yello mane hurried up and tapped her shoulder. Spitfire leaned over so the Technical Sergeant could whisper in here ear, and then nodded sharply. “Thanks, Surprise. Excuse me everypony the General is on the line. Try to take it easy on the booze.”

Rhapsody lifted her mug. “No promises ma’am.”

Spitfire snickered and pointed at the new Captain. “Again… great work Captain. I expect to see more just like it.” With that said, the Major hurried to her office.

“A what?”

A dark grey pegasus stallion with a thinning red mane nodded and brushed his mane back with a hand. “King Kaubr’s intelligence operatives found the location of a solar power plant hidden in a deep canyon just inside the border of Gryphnia.”

Spitfire leaned in, eyeing General Iron Wing keenly. She knew this stallion, more so than many thought. He was one of the several noble born ponies who made their way into the AEGIS military officer ranks through Celestia knew what sort of means. He was efficient, but he was such a snob at the same time. Problem was, he was so good at his job, and he was such an important asset to the air force intelligence wise, they couldn’t afford to relieve him.

“Sir, you understand how well guard it’s going to be. Especially if it’s on the border. The Minotaur Principality may cover my pilots, but the gryphons have that area down pat with AA defenses.”

“The Minotaur chieftain has already assured me that they will have a path cut through in order for your pilots to make it in.” He smiled at her, revealing his perfectly white teeth as if to charm the Major’s clothing off. It didn’t work, as evident by the deadpan gaze she gave him. Seeing it didn’t work, he returned to his normally noble stature. “My point Major is that it will be a quick in and out.”

Spitfire shook her head. “It’s never a quick in and out when I send pilots into Gryphnia. I lose half the attack force I send in and they’re still being attacked when they return to friendly air space.” It was true, and many commanders in the AEGIS military knew that sending a surprise attack at Gryphnia meant you were about to lose a lot of arms, armor, and personnel. And most of it couldn’t be replaced, the loss of life especially.

But Iron Wing did not seem to care for such, waving her off. “The attack needs to happen anyway, whether now or later. Intelligence reports Gryphnia is making a push towards Manehatten and Appleloosa. By the time they reach it and engage our forces, Major, our opening will close and we may not get another chance.” He leaned forward, his piercing yellow eyes meeting the fiery orange of the Major of the Wonderbolts. “I implore you Major, take this opportunity while the opening is wide. Besides…” He then held up a folder labeled ‘Operation Blackout’. “You… don’t have much of a choice.”

Oh, Spitfire thought to herself as she shook her and looked aside. That old ploy. She looked back at the General, who patiently waited for her response to her orders. She found one, and made sure to add an edge to it. Whilst she was still mid-ranked officer in the Air Force, she had enough prestige to allow her to get away with telling the upper brass what was what. “You understand that by doing this, you’re sending a lot of my pilots to their graves.”

“We all make our sacrifices for liberty and justice, Major,” he replied softly. He suddenly leaned in. “Be happy you’re not going with them.” With that, Iron Wing looked off screen and reached for something. The screen blacked out and Spitfire hissed and swore violently, shoving one of her folder trays to the floor. Hiding her face, she looked out her window at the flight line. A few personnel were walking around, the security patrols making sure to keep the base clean of spies and such. More than one had a Germane Sheppard with them; noble dogs the AEGIS relied on for K-9 security.

She then spotted the hangars towards the middle of the line, where Ghost Wing’s fighters were housed. Not only that, but Spitfire caught sight of now Captain Rhapsody and her co-pilot, Lieutenant Ditzy Do, heading for the hangar the former’s fighter was housed. She sighed and let her finger slide from the blind she had moved to hide them from her sight.
“Dear Mother Mare, I hope this is worth it.”

Chapter 10

Not much else was said on the return trip to Hibern. No gryphon fighters intercepted them, as if sensing that the AEGIS pilots had had enough. In truth, they had. Eighteen AEGIS fighters had taken off. Less than ten were returning home. And as they discovered from Sky Gazer, four other air attacks had been launched with similar casualties. In total, out of almost eighty planes that had taken to the air against Gryphnia, less than thirty were going to be landing. A number had been forced to bail out in enemy territory, most likely prisoners by now.

It was the most humiliating defeat AEGIS had ever faced since the first failed attack, and they knew it.

Rhapsody said nothing to the control tower as she pulled the flaps into position for landing. Mythic had taken first pick on landing, as his Fighting Falcon was heavily wounded. She caught a glimpse of him pulling his fighter off to the repair yard. The wheels of the Tomcat hit the ground and Rhapsody faced forward again and let the brakes and thrusters do the rest. It was quiet, and that's what she preferred at the moment.

But suddenly, the roaring of turbines being shoved to maximum turned her attention to her left. A blue and yellow lightning bolt painted F-15S was taking off at a steep angle. The cutie mark on the nose identified it as Major Spitfire's fighter. She turned her head back to watch her takeoff into the sky. When the sea green pegasus turned back round, Captain Soarin was running down the runway as fast as he could. He flapped his wings to try and get off the ground, but had winded himself too much. Rainbow Dash stood next to him, running a hand through her multi-colored mane. They looked distressed, and that put a bit of fear into Rhapsody.

Once they had finally parked in their assigned hangar, Rhapsody yanked off her helmet and started to climb out. When she looked up, she saw Ditzy hanging her head, clutching the sides of the cockpit as if she'd die if she let go. Of course, considering what had just happened mere hours ago, Rhapsody could understand. But they had landed now, and she was safe. "Ditzy?" she murmured in the calmest voice she could muster.

The grey, wall-eyed mare merely whimpered, nearly making the Captain's heart break. When she finally looked up, Ditzy had not removed her oxygen mask, and her eyes were overflowing with moisture. Suddenly, the grey mare tore off her helmet and mask and threw herself into Rhapsody's arms. She sobbed uncontrollably against her friend. Regardless of being on a ladder, Rhapsody simply held her. Ditzy bawled her eyes out, never having been so close to death at one time, against the sea green mare's breasts.

"It's alright, Ditz," Rhapsody murmured. "You're okay now." She was terrified. This single mother had nearly lost her life, left her daughter behind, and Rhapsody now truly understood that Ditzy's life was in her palms.

With careful precision, she guided her friend out of the cockpit as medical crews came up and inspected them. Sprig looked angrily at them, yelling that she was alright. Amethyst had a few bumps, but nothing serious. Mythic on the other hand had a few burns on his suit as he looked at his fighter.

The mechanical chief looked it over, and his face told Mythic all he needed to know. The silver pegasus stallion watched as the Crystal Pony Master Sergeant ran his hands over the aluminum air frame, before finally sighing and running a hand through his mint green mane. "This thing's in bad shape."

"That's an understatement, don't you think, Master Sergeant?" Mythic huffed.

Once Ditzy had begun to calm down, Rhapsody let her, Sprig, and Amethyst head inside to rest. Rhapsody walked up to Mythic's side and patted his shoulder. "I'm telling you, sir. This wing is totaled. We can repair it, but it'll take a couple of months." Mythic sighed and hung his head. Rhapsody extended a wing and draped it over his shoulders, a comfort gesture from one pegasi to another.

"Months aren't something we have, Chief." Rhapsody and Mythic turned to see Captain Rainbow striding up to them. As usual, her mane was disheveled and her suit was unzipped halfway down and folded at her waist. A thin, olive green shirt covered her torso while her arms folded under her chest. "Lieutenant, we're going to need to replace it."

Mythic gaped. "R-replace?" He then gestured harshly towards the wounded F-16C. "I flew this baby through the academy! I was assigned this fighter during my training in Cloudsdale! I personally decorated the nose and flew it with pride through every sortie!" He moved away from the mares, walking up to the nose of the fighter. It had burns, scars, more than enough holes from a few bullets that managed to graze him. But this wing wound, any pegasi could sympathize with him. "I... Captain, I can't replace it."

Rainbow shook her head. "We're scheduled for another sortie in a few weeks, Lieutenant. If the Chief is correct, then this fighter won't make it to the end of the month."

"What will I be flying until my girl's repaired?" Mythic asked incredulously. Rhapsody could see the hurt in the stallion's face. This Fighting Falcon had sentimental value, much like Rhapsody's Tomcat to her. These were their first fighters, losing them would be like a unicorn cutting off their horn, or a pegasi cutting off their wings, or an earth pony losing their legs. It was just something you couldn't morally do.

But Rainbow remained adamant, even if she was showing sympathy. "We have some EF-2000s being shipped to us next Tuesday along with some new F-15s. You can take your pick of any of them."

Mythic merely shook his head, turning and leaving the hangar. "It's not the same," he hissed, slamming the door behind him.

Rhapsody jumped in surprise and sighed. "Give him a bit, ma'am," she murmured. "He'll come around. He loved this thing."

"I know the feeling," Rainbow murmured. "Took them forever to break me away from my Hornet. But once I started nailing kills in the ACTIVE, I fell in love."

"And I see I've been replaced." The mares turned to see Soarin, none too out of breath and sweating, enter the repair chiefs hangar. He looked at the wounded Fighting Falcon and grimaced. "Heard about the escape on the radio. Damn wing took a nice chunk didn't he?"

Rhapsody nodded, turning immediately forlorn. "Captain Dust was hit by Sky Breaker. Her cockpit crashed into the mountainside and sent a hail of rocks down on him."

Rainbow ran a hand through her mane. "Poor gal. I remember her and I pairing at the academy. Can't believe I'm still a little sore over Spitfire making her the lead pony in that little stint."

"Speaking of which," Rhapsody asked quickly, earning the attention of the two Wonderbolt pilots. "Where is the Major going?"

The two looked at each other, sharing a look of exhaustion and worry for their fellow Wonderbolt and leader. Soarin shook his head and looked away, so Rainbow took the lead. She folded her arms under her chest. "Canterlot." Rhapsody quirked her brow in confusion. That was a long ways off from their air base. But thankfully, Rainbow elaborated. "She left in a flurry. About knocked Soarin for a loop here when he tried to stop her. She almost ran over a pair of mechanics too."

"And Mother Mare was she pissed," Soarin added quickly.

Spitfire on her way to Canterlot? That couldn't spell good at all. Their orders to attack the solar power plant had come directly from the General in the palace, whilst the Air Marshal was in the Crystal Empire trying to refortify the Empire's crippled air force. This meant the General was in command of all aerial operations south of Canterlot, that included their theatre.

"Hope she doesn't do anything drastic," Rhapsody muttered aloud, but knowing full well it was just the opposite. But deciding not to dwell on it more, she turned to her two superiors. "What's our next move?"

Soarin looked out at the sky. "We're not sure yet. But odds are we're going to be off the books for a while until we get back to full strength. We lost a lot of good pilots."

"And Fluttershy," Rainbow murmured. Rhapsody stopped, almost forgetting the timid Captain that had been shot down. She had managed to eject, along with one of the pilots from Saber, but they were deep in enemy territory. There'd be no way to get to them, and by now one of the enemy choppers would have landed and taken them captive. The sea green mare hung her head and looked to the side.

"So until we know more," Soarin continued, drawing the Captain's attention up towards him, "Everypony is just spinning their wheels. We'll be getting fresh orders and then we can get back out there."

Rhapsody pursed her lips. "And the 14th wasn't the only one affected, right?" she asked.

Rainbow shook her head. "Not by a long shot. Six other squadrons participated in Operation Black Out. They were all tasked with hitting power stations inside Gryphnia, but they all got hit by Sky Breaker." She turned her rose eyes downwards and put her hands on her hips. "Over seventy planes went up... and less than thirty come back. Damn gryphons are laughing at us."

An uneasy silence rose up, but it only lasted for a few moments before Soarin waved off the setting sun and started heading for the door. "Spitfire will be back tomorrow. Or never if she's thrown in the stockades. I need a drink."

Rainbow huffed and managed a sad smile. "I'll join you in a minute hun." She turned her attention to Rhapsody, who was looking at Mythic's F-16C with a sad eye. She had grown used to seeing a noble and proud fighter and pilot on her wing. But this wounded bird could never fly, not without months of maintenance first. The pegasus mare had to agree, she knew how Mythic felt, but not wholly. This was his baby, his first fighter, seeing it in this condition was... heart wrenching. "You coming with, Captain?" Rainbow asked.

Rhapsody looked up and caught the other mare's eye. She sullenly shook her head and began to leave. "I need a shower."

Fluttershy ran. She ran faster than she had ever ran in her life. It may not have been often, but this time her life actually depended on it. She only glanced back once to see one of the Hind's land. Beside her, the hippogriff pilot who had been shot down with her was keeping equal pace with his pistol drawn. He aimed back and fired off a few rounds. They didn't hit, but there was still yelling from the gryphons for them to stop.

As if they would.

"Captain!" the hippogriff yelled. "I can distract them if you keep going."
Fluttershy let out a squeak of terror as a barrage of bullets flew over them. She looked to see they were still coming and turned to the other pilot. "B-but... what about you?" she called as best she could through her own sheer terror. She wanted to be home, away from this war.
He shook his head and loaded another magazine as he dove behind a chunk of aircraft. "They'll be all over us. I can slow them down. You're the superior, not to mention an Element of Harmony. Of the two of us, you need to - "

There was a fierce barrage that sent them both to the ground. Fluttershy grit her teeth and held her wings over her body and covered her head with her arms. When the bullets stopped hitting the ground around them, Fluttershy chanced a glance up, and choked down a plume of bile. The hippogriff pilot was a mangled corpse, blood spilling from the corner of his beak and six different holes in his flight suit. The Hind flew over them, apparently having shot right through his cover.

That was it. They won this round. And all others after. Fluttershy stood up, throwing her arms up in surrender. The Mi-24 Hind circled around and hovered directly in front of her, the cannon on the nose rotating slowly, ominously. Fluttershy blinked, tears streaming down her face as she tried to show she was no threat. Oh how she just wanted to go home. She wanted to be back in Ponyville, with her animals, with Angel, with Mr. Bear and everyone waiting at the cottage for her to come home and take care of them. Applebloom was doing well enough with that, but Fluttershy had a certain touch.

The Hind simply hovered there. To her right three Gryphon soldiers had their rifles raised as they approached slowly. Before they even were able to say it, the butter yellow pegasus was on her knees, her wings hanging limply at her sides. One of the gryphons threw his rifle behind his back and yanked her arms down, binding them together. Fluttershy winced in pain from the roughness, but she was hauled to her hooves just as the Hind turned and the side door opened. She was shoved forward towards the chopper and all but thrown inside.

Fluttershy, her arms tied back, her wings restrained, curled into a ball, sobbing the entire flight before a rifle butt made her vision go white, and then everything went black.

Spitfire stomped through the hallowed halls of Canterlot Palace. Two white solar guards, one unicorn and the other an earth pony flanked her. She outranked them, regardless of theatre, and she had ordered them to take her to the Joint Chief's room. The red carpet rustled beneath her boots as she looked left and right, searching for the telltale signs of royal solar guards. They marked the presence of the sisters, and possibly her quarry.

Stopping at an intersection of hallways, the Major of the Wonderbolts, looked and grit her teeth. Her trained hearing picked up something. Her ear swiveled and it was confirmed. The General was speaking to a hippogriff, the latter's accent sounding much like a Trottingham pony's, except much deeper and thicker. There was then a more musical voice. Princess Celestia.

Excellent.

She stormed down the left hallway, the two guards hard-pressed to keep pace with her. Once she reached the end of the carpet, she turned. In front of her, stood four figures. The hippogriff stood tall and proud, much like Sprig did. He wore a red officer's jacket with trousers, decorated with black stripes down the legs and sleeves. On the chest were more medals than even the Major had. His peaked cap rested in the crook of his arm, revealing the silver-grey feathers beneath. His entire uniform was neatly pressed, but he carried a deep air of authority.

Beside him was a pony she never really expected to see, even this far south. She was tall, but very young and quiet beautiful. A violet and pink dress with silver filigree clad her entire pink coated body from neck to hoof, clasped at the throat with a beautiful blue crystal. On her head was a tiara of diamond and crystal from the great north of the Crystal Empire. Her multi-colored mane was kept almost as neat as her gown, tied into a bun, letting the excess pour past her shoulders in a braid halfway down. Princess Cadance no doubt.

Her left was graciously presented with the company of the Solar Monarch herself. She was a full head or so taller than the four before her. The snow white robe complimented the intricately decorated blouse and trousers, which barely brushed the floor. The wings were folded inward, the massive span keeping the hallway clear, but the great horn on her forehead in no way masked the crown on her head, nor the flowing multi-hued mane that caressed her shoulders. She kept a saber at her side, even Spitfire knew it was kept sharp, yet it was still mostly for show. A kind, motherly smile adorned her face while her violet eyes scanned the hallway.

The Crystal Princess was now addressing a pegasus stallion. Nowhere near the height of his company, but his white and blue jacket marked his rank of General, and his place at the Palace. Iron Wing was respected, somewhat, and even liked, also somewhat, by the other noble houses. He was responsible for many of their children obtaining high positions in the Air Force. Instead of a saber, he kept a small pistol on his hip. It wasn't loaded, but had enough intimidation within to warn his subordinates.

The sun princess suddenly cleared her throat, catching the attention of all towards the Wonderbolt now angrily stomping towards Iron Wing. The two princesses watched in amazement, the hippogriff General taken aback. "Major?" The General started. "This is an unexpec-"

Cadance gasped as the gold coated mare harshly grabbed the General's jacket and flung him against the wall, her wings flared. Her voice was shrill, but even the guards, who had their rifles up, faltered for a moment to hear her.

"You son of a bitch. You just sent half my airpower to their graves! Not just mine, but dozens of pilots all over the air force!" she screamed. "I've lost more planes than I ever have during combat sorties, and all because your intelligence kids couldn't keep me up to date!"

Iron Wing hissed and grasped Spitfire's wrists to pry her off. "Major I'm ordering you-"

"Well I'm telling you to shut the hell up!" she shouted as she roughly banged the General against the wall. Celestia stood back, waving the guards to stand down. She seemed to want to hear this as well. A squadron commander never came this far from the front lines to discuss tea after all. "I sent almost twenty planes up to carry out this attack, I got less than half back. And it wasn't just me. The Crystal Empire launched their own air support near Appleloosa, and they were all shot down by Sky Breaker. Saddle Arabian pilots were doing a patrol of Habun Harbor, they also lost all their planes! Our air force is in shambles because you misplaced a zero, or you were trying to decide what you wanted for dinner instead of telling your kids to keep an update on Sky Breaker! Those pilots are dead because you couldn't keep us up to date!"

Iron Wing grimaced, staring at the golden iris's of Spitfire. The Wonderbolt's eyes burned with a severe rage. Her arms trembled in anger as she kept a firm grip on the General's coat. He looked left and right, to the Princesses, the Hippogriff General, and the four guards with their rifles ready. Iron Wing then shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well, we'll try next-"

Spitfire's handgun was suddenly drawn, shoved into the General's throat, nearly strangling him. His words died in his throat as she partially flailed, trying to get her off. The clicks of four assault rifles marked the guards ready to shoot her if she fired. "We sent up over seventy planes into the air, and less than thirty are coming home, we've had phones ringing off the hooks, asking what the hell happened, I've got a stack of letters to write home to broken families, families of pilots who did not deserve to die like this, and the only thing you can say is 'Oh well'?"But while she wanted to turn this worthless piece of horseflesh into a pile of meat, she had to ask. "Can you give me a reason not to put your brain all over the ceiling, sir, right in front of the monarchy?"

Silence overtook the hallway as the two princesses, the four guards, and the hippogriff simply watched the two. They knew Spitfire well enough to have a serious temper, and a supreme attachment to her pilots. She never sent them up lightly like the higher ranks did. Spitfire was a combat pilot herself, and understood the tenacity of a pilot and the dangers and how to prevent them whenever possible. She had no qualms about sending pilots off to fight, what she did regret was when many didn't come back.

Iron Wing managed to choke out something, forcing Spitfire to pull her pistol back a bit to let him speak. Once air was able to get into the Air Force General's lungs, he looked the mare square in the eye. "You'll be ending your career, your life, and dishonoring your family for generations to come." Spitfire narrowed her eyes, and he did the same. "And it won't make much difference. You'll just be venting for no reason."

Another deep silence elapsed into the corridor. The four guards kept their rifles trained on the raging Major of the Wonderbolts and the 14th tactical fighter squadron. And damn it all if he wasn't right. She'd never admit it, but Iron Wing was correct in all of those aspects. She didn't relinquish her grip on his coat though. Spitfire quirked her brow, silently asking him to continue.

And so he did. "You and your pilots know the risks of fighting for your livelihood against Gryphnia's aggression. Frankly put, I don't care much about well being of your pilots. If I did, we wouldn't have much of an air force because all of the planes would be on the ground. We would be losing this war if I was concerned about all of the pilots under my command. You shouldn't either, otherwise you'd find yourself without much of a command."

"Those pilots are like my foals, General," Spitfire snapped lowly. "Sending them up and knowing not all of them will be coming back home; do you even know how much that hurts?"

"If the command is too much for you to handle, Major, say so, and I'll have you relieved." He looked down at her hand still tightly grasping the front of his coat. "Do not mistake me for being so callous, I am concerned. But I care about results, Major, not lives."

"And how many have to die needlessly before you're satisfied?" Spitfire hissed.

Iron Wing scoffed and looked around for a moment. Save for them, the others were still silently watching in awe as the Wonderbolt talked down to her superior. "Any number of them, Major. All of them if it means Gryphnia will be brought to its knees. Something that none of you are understanding is the fact you can be replaced." He practically spat the last bit, leaning towards Spitfire. The cold stare of his yellow eyes met Spitfire's golden irises. "You and your pilots, all of them, are as expendable as your planes. You can be replaced as simply as a snap of my fingers. You have your job and your orders to follow, I would expect you to carry them out when told, and not gripe at me when you want to come home instead of defending your country."

Spitfire snarled low, but looked away for a moment. Iron Wing then cleared his throat, getting her attention back up at his. He nodded down at her wrist. "Now Major, I trust you can at least follow a simple order such as getting your hand off of me and getting your peashooter out of my neck."

She held it there for a moment, considering whether or not just to shoot him for the hell of it. It would be oddly satisfying, but then it brought her back to the previous statement. It would only prove she couldn't control her temper. She'd be replaced by a commander who would only get her pilots killed one right after the other. And Rhapsody... she'd be recklessly sacrificed. And she had so much more to prove in the sky.

Slowly, hesitantly, Spitfire's thumb rested on the hammer of her handgun and pushed it back into place. Her gun was no longer lethal at the moment and her hand pulled away from Iron Wing's jacket. Equally as slow, the guards behind her relaxed their aim on her. Incredibly, the hippogriff General and the two Princesses had said nothing. They had been all but ignored and watched these two have their heated conversation. But it seemed the Air Force General had made his point clear, causing the Wonderbolt to relinquish her hold. "There's a good girl," Iron Wing added. He brushed off his jacket and looked towards the Major -

Just as her pistol struck his face.

The warm water flowed from the nozzle, the soothing fall running over Rhapsody's body. Her wings were extended as she rested her right arm on the shower column that held three other heads. She was the only one in the room, allowing her a moment to just... be by herself. Rhapsody preferred that when she just needed to think. She was completely content to just stand there, her wings drooped, her entire body bare with only the water touching her coat.

She heaved a sigh as she finally opened her rose eyes and looked forward. It felt like only seconds ago she had stripped out of her flight suit, negligently tossing it to a heap by the shower room door with the rest of her garments. Rhapsody's mind was in such a torrent she just didn't care about the wrinkles. The sea green mare was trying to calm the nerves the best way she knew, but even that was proving futile at the moment.

A couple hours ago they were engaging Gryphnia on their own soil and destroyed their solar power plant. A couple hours ago, the first display of the power of Sky Breaker Rhapsody had ever seen was witnessed, and a part of the Captain wished that it had remained unknown to her. A couple hours ago, Rhapsody was closer to death than she ever realized. She had been in several dogfights, and she couldn't count how many times she'd had a gryphon on her tail, or the amount of bullets that have grazed her canopy, or the number of missiles she's narrowly dodged. Those factors all came with the territory of aerial combat.

But today was different. Sky Breaker was an enemy hundreds of miles away, and she couldn't fight back. It was deep inside Gryphnia, attacking and killing their best pilots at will, and there wasn't a damn thing she could do to stop it. It was an enemy she couldn't track, an enemy she couldn't shoot down, an enemy she couldn't even see. That was what made her so angry, so irritated...

So... scared.

In every fight, there was an opponent she could see, could face, could track down and defeat. This was a completely new enemy she had no chance against. A missile could explode and damage the wing of her fighter, a few bullets could damage her engine, but she could still fly, could still fight. But Sky Breaker had the ability to destroy her from hundreds of miles away in any direction and she had little to no way to avoid it. She couldn't fight it, and that was tearing her up inside.

Gritting her teeth, Rhapsody lashed out with her fist and slugged the shower column. The sudden pain jarred her, forcing her to back up and hold her bruised fist. Her tail flicked in annoyance as she saw a small trickle of blood. She gave it a small kiss and leaned back against the column before sliding down. Her wings curled around her arms as she settled onto her flanks, her tail resting out in front of her. She sniffed and pulled her knees to her chest as her wings came up and shielded her from the water, steadily growing colder. It was then that the full realization hit her.

She had almost died.

Rhapsody had accepted earlier in her career as a fighter pilot that at any second, whether by the missile, the gun, a technical error, a mistake in turn even, could end her life. Her parents, her little brother, her friends, would never see her again. But that wouldn't have been her only failure. She would end up taking Ditzy Do, her best friend, to the grave with her. Poor Dinky would be without her mother, Time Turner would be devastated, that little family would be shattered. She had no control over the aircraft, and they would both die because it would be Rhapsody's fault.

No. She couldn't think like that. Rhapsody forced down whatever tears wanted to come up and exhaled deeply, keeping her legs bent at her chest. The water was definitely getting colder now, so she would need to leave eventually. But just as she considered the thought, the flow suddenly stopped. It was silent in the shower room, save for the steady drip-drip of the shower head. Rhapsody folded her wings and looked up.

Sprig stood there, much like she was: flight gear and other clothing stashed in the corner. A towel was over her right shoulder as she looked down at the sea green pegasus mare with an eye of concern in her yellow irises. Rhapsody gave her a haphazard smile and looked towards the lower portion of the wall in front of her.

"You okay, Cap'n?" Sprig asked after a few moments.

Rhapsody looked back up at her wing mate, the hippogriff mare ever watching her. The pegasus blinked a few times and nodded. "Just tired... what time is it?" she asked, looking back at Sprig.

Sprig smirked and looked back at the door. "A little past twenty-two hundred, an hour past lights-out for the recruits. The whole base is tense right now since the Major isn't back yet. Captain Soain's in command though, and he's doing his best with Dash's help. We're all worried though."

"I can understand why," Rhapsody murmured. Her voice was low, but in the silence, she was easily understandable. "The Major kept this place together."

"With Colonel Claw's help," Sprig was quick to add. Ever the nationalist, swift to add in her peoples' contribution. Sprig then leaned down to her level, crouching on her cloven hooves and placing a hand on Rhapsody's right shoulder. The respective wing furled, and it was then that the Captain realized how warm her hand was. "Good thing I decided to take a shower. You about caught your death."

"How long have I been in here?" Rhapsody asked softly, her rose eyes turning up to Sprig's gold.

Sprig frowned at that. "A while. Mythic was actually getting worried for you, ol' softy. Amethyst collapsed in bed and was dead asleep long before the lights went out. Ditzy... haven't seen her since she closed the door to your quarters." Rhapsody frowned as well at that, and then started to pick herself up. Sprig handed her the towel that was on her shoulder. When the pegasus mare hesitated, the hippogriff smiled. "I can drip dry. Go get some sleep," she added with a jerk of her head.

Rhapsody took the towel and began to dry off her coat before slipping back in a pair of shorts and a tank top, catching the sound of Sprig switching on the shower and letting out a squawk. "You used all the hot water in this one, you bitch!" Rhapsody allowed a giggle and hurried into the hall and towards her room. She still used the towel to dry her mane, her tail left to swing slowly and leaving a tiny trail of water droplets as she walked. She gave her wings a few blots as well before wrapping it around her neck when she reached her door.

She froze just as her hand wrapped around the knob. She closed her right wing further and leaned her ear against the wall. It swiveled and perked up at the door, catching the sound of... Rhapsody pushed open the door slowly and peaked inside. The sight nearly broke her heart; Ditzy curled up on her bunk. She had completely cowered herself into the corner of the room, holding her pillow to herself, one wing shielding herself from the intruder of the room.

Rhapsody said nothing as she walked in and slowly closed the door. She made sure to lock it and carefully made her way to Ditzy's side. The grey pegasus slowly moved her wing aside and looked up at her friend. Her misaligned eyes were completely red, and her face was soaked. It reminded Rhapsody of that moment years ago when she had found Ditzy hiding in the supply closet, bawling her eyes out. She must've been crying for hours. Rhapsody knew she was scared, even when they had landed, but she truly didn't seem to understand her friend's fear like she thought she did. Her daughter, her coltfriend, what else could have been left behind should she had died today?

Carefully, Rhapsody sat down beside her on the bunk and wrapped her left arm around her sobbing bunk mate, her wing following suit to form an almost protective shell. Ditzy sniffed and embraced the other mare tightly. Rhapsody's right arm gently patted her back, stroking between her wings. It was a comfort gesture only pegasi really understood, and soon, Ditzy had quieted herself. She still shook, and a lucky sob escaped her throat, but other than that, it was silent in the room.

Rhapsody continued to simply hold Ditzy in her arms until she began to drift off, until finally falling asleep in her friend's arms. The sea green mare let her sleep, not daring to move for fear it would wake her. So she sat there, her back against the wall with Ditzy asleep against her. Soft snores followed suite, letting Rhapsody know she was completely out.

And it wasn't long after, with the dull hum of the ventilation, and the humming of the cicadas, that Captain Rhapsody was lulled to sleep as well.

Since I had really nowhere else to go, I found myself living as a member of Meteor Squadron. It wasn't such a bad life, since they just saw me as a kid who hung around the elite pilots and was sort of attached to Meteor Six's shadow. She was, after all, the one who gave me my jacket. It never left my sight, nor my back, day in and day out. I was often treated by her and her subordinates, and the Gryphnian Princes, with trinkets they saw no more need in owning.

It became very clear to me that I was very much at home.

As time went on, I started to develop a crush on the barkeeps daughter. She was a handsome filly, just a little older than me. I often found myself watching her while I played my harmonica with Six. Once or twice I missed a note, but Six never really took much notice of my distraction. But one such time, Six tried to convince me to talk to her. She said that even though we were under their control, young love was something they wouldn't try to prohibit.

Still, I never gathered the courage to stand up and talk to her, so I was content to sit on my stool and watch the regulars come in, drown their sorrows, and then be run out by the gryphons. It wasn't the ideal life I had envisioned for myself, but it was good enough for my young age. Meteor squadron looked after me by the unspoken orders of Meteor Six, who was often away in either the Gryphon capital of Fyrick or off on a sortie against the allies. I never asked for details, since I already knew about Meteor squadron's prowess from accounts from the flight crews and the pilots themselves.

As I said, it wasn't an ideal life, but it was good enough for me.
One night though, as I was trying to sleep, I noticed a light come from the upstairs room of the tavern I frequented with Meteor Squadron. I had drifted off, I guessed, and they didn't want to wake me, so they had wrapped me in my jacket and fashioned a pillow from a few towels. I awoke to get myself some water when I saw the light, and decided to investigate.

When I reached the top floor, I took a peek inside. Some ponies from the town were gathered around a computer that looked to be stolen from the soldiers. A few of the ponies from the town were holding wires at various heights while another sat by the window with a crude satellite. Typing away on the keyboard was the barkeep. So many had chastised him as a traitor for serving the enemy, when he was, all along, a member of the town resistance.

As I pushed the door open further, a hand grabbed my jacket and threw me into the room.
The typing stopped, and all eyes were on me. I looked up and around, then noticed the filly I had a crush on. But just as the same stallion was getting ready to throw me out, she shoved him away and held me close to her. We locked eyes and she placed a finger on her lips. She was protecting me because of my tender age, or so I thought.

I fully understood then that these ponies were the real heroes of the town, while I found a haven with our enemy.

Chapter 11

Soarin rubbed his eyes as he held the phone to his ear. "Yes, sir. I understand. But who will they be sending?" he asked the other side of the conversation. Rainbow sat in a chair across from him, dressed in her typical uniform of sky blue blouse and dark blue pants with her garrison cap tucked away on her shoulder. Soarin was dressed the same, but with a bit more sweat from the rather tense conversation he was having with the Air Marshal of Hibern.

"Six squadrons?" he asked incredulously. "With respect sir, isn't a bit excessive?" He was silent as the other end spoke, turning Soarin from red to pink with embarrassment. "No sir, I meant nothing by- ... Yes sir. I understand, I'll inform them myself." He then turned to his marefriend and bit his lips, turning silent as he asked. "On a completely separate note sir, will the Major be alright?"

He frowned deeply a few seconds later. "No, sir, I was just cur- ... Yes sir... yes sir my orders are clear... Thank you, sir. Goodbye." Soarin all but slammed the phone down, running a hand through his blue man.

"Well?" Rainbow asked as patiently as she could.

Soarin put his hands on his hips, his tail swaying as he tried to calm himself, but he finally turned and stared at Dash. "They're moving forward with the launch, and until further notice, I'm in command of the Equestrian Air Force wings in the Hibern theatre."

Rainbow Dash whistled, crossing her legs. "So there's a lot on your plate, huh?"
Soarin nodded before looking back out towards the base where he could see a few pilots conversing with ground crews. Some were arguing about the quality of fuel, which was terrific for some planes but barely adequate for the rest. Ever since their air force had taken such a huge blow from Sky Breaker just two weeks ago, AEGIS had all but ceased air operations in all theatres while they tried to rebuild and regroup. Transfers had been placed, reservists were called in, and Soarin had the 'enviable' job of organizing them.

"They're expecting a huge turnout of Gryphons, and possibly Meteor Squadron, when they find out."

"So they'll be sending us to counter them?" Dash asked, not exactly expecting an answer. Of course the Wonderbolt squadron would be sent along with the others. Their best pilots from the Air Force, Navy, and even the few Marines would be sent to the rocket base for defense. "Who are they sending in total?"

Soarin blinked and turned around. One his desk was the list of wings he'd be sending to defend the rocket launch. Reaching down, he picked it up and began reading off the names. "The Air Force is sending us, Ghost, Saber, Timberwolf and Windigo. Navy is sending Harpy and Taurus. Marines are sparing only one squadron; Hellcat, and they're primarily a strike fighter wing, F-4 Phantom IIs."

Rainbow nodded and looked out towards the flight line where there were fighters landing on the runway and parking on the flight line next to those who were already stationed here. The air force wings were meeting in Hibern and flying out to meet with the carriers that housed the naval and marine pilots. In total, there were over thirty aircraft.

"Will we be ready in time?" Dash inquired once again. She had no idea why, but she was full of questions. Mostly because their fearless Major had been given her Article Thirteen rights. Currently she was being held in the Canterlot dungeons awaiting further charges for striking a General. The same General who had confirmed 'Operation Black Out' a go, but had not received approval from the Air Marshal who was two ranks higher than he. In essence, he had sent almost a hundred planes and pilots to their graves without prior approval. That same General had a cell just a few doors down.

"We won't know till next Thursday. Until then," he sighed, then looked at the mound of transfer requests, equipment requisitions, and leave authorizations. A stack easily taller than his desk.

How did Spitfire do it and not go insane?

Rhapsody glared ahead. Her rifle dug into her shoulder as she let off round after round from her rifle. Empty. She quickly reloaded. They kept coming, faster and faster, but their numbers were dwindling fast. Just a few more minutes and they'd be done for. Finally, a bullet whizzed by Rhapsody's ear and pierced the skull of the last enemy.

"Nice shot Mythic!" Rhapsody cried. "Let's find the ammo drop and reload before the next wave."

Rhapsody pressed the button to reload. The pair of hands on her screen rushed to do as she commanded as she ran to the beacon that marked a drop zone. Nearby, Mythic jumped from his sniping position whilst Amethyst came down from her turret. Sprig would have a hard time finding a rocket drop for her launcher; which was why the sea green mare preferred a good rifle. Pilot she may have been, but she liked a good, well-oiled lead thrower now and then.

Ghost Wing was lounged on the couches in the break room. They had gathered a small crowd as four of the members let their hands sweat on the controllers. Their space age soldiers rushed to a nearby drop point where their superiors had sent down equipment for them to fight the evil alien invaders. Their fifth member was crouched by Rhapsody, offering her insight now and then while she sipped a vanilla milkshake.

Rhapsody took a moment to look at the newer faces where old ones had been before disappearing from existence just a couple weeks ago. AEGIS had transferred in reservist pilots to fill in spots where they were needed. Saber was practically a brand new squad. The same could not be said for Timberwolf. They had been practically wiped out, so the six faces that occasionally watched the four of them or went about their own devices were essentially the "new" Timberwolf wing.

"Can't believe they included only two rockets!" Sprig complained.

Amethyst shook her head, brushing back a few locks of her mane. She had cut it much shorter since the beginning of the month, the light pink hair now just barely at the back of her neck. As usual, Rhapsody kept hers at a medium length in a small tail tied in the back. The crystal pony rushed her character to the pod that housed new shells for her shotgun. "That's what you get for grabbing the power weapons. Ammo is in short supply," the young crystal pony jabbed.

"Plenty of ammo for me and Rhappy," Mythic added in. He and Rhapsody shared a look of unspoken agreement. His mane had been tied back as well like Rhapsody's. For reasons she couldn't explain, she liked it tied like that. It wasn't as short as hers, but definitely a handsome style for him.

"Oh whatever!" Sprig cried. "I can take out anything with - "

"Nothing if that isn't shut off and you all aren't in the briefing room in twenty seconds!"

Everypony spun to see Captain Rainbow Dash standing with her arms folded back. Not wanting to keep her waiting when there was important information, the pilots poured away from their arcade machines, their console and computer games, and their drinks and into the brief.

They were supposed to be relaxing for another three days before the launch. What was up?

"The launch has been pushed to today," Major Soarin announced.

The room filled with unbelieving mutters and chatter. Today? As in 'today' today? "They need to launch the rocket soon, since we've just gotten intelligence supporting the information that Gryphnia discovered our plans to launch a spy satellite that will give our front line troops much needed data on enemy movements. It will also help us determine where we need to strike next."

He stepped away from his podium, pressing a button that switched on the projector. A large island chain popped up, as well as icons for the rocket and the surrounding structures. A number of red arrows were aimed and approaching the base from the northeast. Whereas a number of blues were moving in from the northwest, west, and south.

"The marines and navy are already scrambling their pilots. We were the last to be told for some reason," Soarin muttered. "The Gryphons are already sending up their planes to destroy the base, but scouts report that they are mostly carrying air-to-air missiles. Why this is, we don't know, yet. But we need to get moving today, and get moving now." He pressed the button that shut off the projector. "This mission is simple: take-off, fly to the rocket base, and shoot down anything on the IFF that isn't friendly."

"Any ground targets?" asked the new Saddle Arabian Captain of Timberwolf, Shavul.

Soarin shook his head in reply, but it was Captain Dash who answered. "The navy has already reported that what little ships Gryphnia has left are gathering mostly in the capital. There's also no landing craft or advance amphibious forces already making their way there." She held up her hands when a few hands began shooting up amongst the newer pilots.

"No more questions. We have no time. So let's go. And Mother Mare be with us."

Commander Vrye rushed down the halls, pushing his way through when needed through the number of AEGIS soldiers that were trying to evacuate non-essential personnel to the shelters dotted around the base. While to the public eye, it was a popular tourist attraction, during wartime it was a heavily guarded facility, protected by the Navy and the Air Force jointly. Hippogriffs, Crystals, Saddles, and Equestrians alike both herded civilians and guided authorized operators to the control room.

Despite the strategic importance of the launch base, AEGIS still hadn't set up its own grid of SAM sites, nor a functioning military base nearby to defend it. For now, the mass of airplanes heading their way, not mattering which branch, would have to do. Vrye apologized when he inadvertently knocked down a Saddle mare who was trying to ask him how much longer till the launch.
If his orders had been carried out, they should already be counting it down.

He burst into the room, where he was met by a pair of AEGIS marines who looked him over and quickly verified his ID card. Once cleared, they allowed him in. "How much longer?" he shouted.

"T-minus ten minutes and counting, sir!" his second, a unicorn named Space Walker announced. Nearby, his partner, Star Gazer was crunching in the last number of digits to the rocket. Vrye looked out the front towards the launch pad. Grinding his beak, he turned to the radar station where a Crystal was pounding furiously into the four hundred thousand bit computer where the enemy was coming from.

His hands worked feverishly until he finally spun around. "We've been able to total a number of Gryphnian fighters sir!"

"And?" Vrye asked impatiently.

The Crystal swallowed. "Over fifty. And Meteor is leading the charge."

Vrye snarled and shook his head. His feathered tail flicked angrily as his wings flared in his anger. He just wanted to get the rocket launched and gone before the damned gryphons could shoot down their Navy and Marine fighter protection and then pound the launch base with everything they had. Seriously, all he wanted was a vacation.

"Sir!" Space Walker cried. "We're getting a call from the Air Force! They made it!"

"Sky Gazer to all planes! Engage and destroy all targets!"

"Ghost engaging!"

"Wonderbolt engaging!"

"Saber engaging!"

"Timberwolf engaging!"

"Windigo engaging!"

The mass assortment of fighters held their formation at full throttle. Rhapsody gripped her control stick tightly with her left hand firmly on the throttle. Just in front of her, the four F-15Ss of Wonderbolt took the lead. Saber was to her left, Windigo to her right, and Timberwolf behind her wing.

Her F-14A seemed to be the oldest fighter in the formation. Even her mates were flying new planes. They had taken considerable damage over the past couple weeks of small skirmishes with gryphons. Sprig had a cannon tear open her Falcon's tail which she just barely managed to limp back to the base. She was forced to bail out when the engine caught fire. Amethyst was nearly blown out of the sky when she froze up after Sprig uttered the same line that always made her stop and remember the horrid day her brother was killed. A missile clipped her flaps on her left wing. She landed, but the plane had to be scrapped. It would take too long for it to be repaired when she was needed in the sky.

Mythic was, grudgingly, flying a shiny new EF-2000 Typhoon, which he, with Rhapsody's help, had decorated the nose to the same insignia that was on his long lost Falcon. The delta wing fighter tore through the sky as it was followed by the newly acquired F/A-18 hornets of Sprig and Amethyst, the latter of whom sighing in remembrance, since it was the first plane she ever flew in the war. It had taken some work, but Rhapsody managed to keep her Tomcat in the air and in the books as fit for duty.

Ahead of her, her console picked up the blips of six enemy fighters heading right for them. Her IFF counter locked them into her HUD. Before she could say something, they opened fire. Those air force pilots who knew what they were doing managed to dodge the number of missiles heading right for them at head on. But two from Saber and one from Timberwolf were taken down. The Wonderbolts blazed ahead, launching their counter-strike.

A hail of bullets and missiles tore open the sky and pelted three of the gryphon fighters. The rest got away.

"All fighters, break off and engage!" Soarin ordered.

Rhapsody took the hint and yanked the stick upwards to pursue the enemy F-15C that nearly shot her down. The pilot pulled up, circling back downwards in an arch, but the mare pushed her Tomcat into a pursuit. Her HUD beeped as she narrowed her eyes. The g-forces pushed against her as she waited for the right moment. It came faster than she expected, and she wasted no time pulling her trigger. "Wraith, fox two!"

The missile flew off the rail, streaked forward, and pelted the enemy Eagle right in the wing. It blew it off, forcing the pilot to eject into his own fierce tailspin. Turning away, Rhapsody pushed her throttle up to follow the telltale silhouette of Mythic's fighter.

"They're already all over the launch site!" Amethyst cried.

"No shite, sky larks!" a gruff pony called. "The Marines were the first to respond as always! Oorah!" His proclamation was echoed by several other marine pilots shouting his same simple phrase. Rhapsody shook her head. She had a respect for Marine aviators, but really, to her, they should stick to the beaches while she protected the clouds. She'd take the sky over a beach of machine guns any day.

"Don't forget which navy hauled your sorry flanks all the way here," a navy pilot cried.

"Will you all shut your traps!" Soarin cried over the radio, earning immediate silence. "The air force is running this operation. Now I want all of you to scramble and destroy any and all Gryphnian targets."

"Roger bolt lead!" Rainbow shouted. "You heard the stallion! Lets clean the skies!"

Rhapsody pushed her throttle up until she was directly above the rocket base. She turned her eyes every which way, trying desperately to count the planes. This was the largest furball she had ever seen or been in. Fighter jets of every make, size, and model were streaking all over the clouds that seemed to be trying their best to get away from the flurry of the fight. She frowned at their plight, knowing full well the white puffs wanted to be elsewhere than here.

But relentlessly, she pushed into the fray, downing a pair of MiGs that were pursuing a Marine F-4E. Ditzy continued to shout out enemy positions. Rhapsody kept her eyes focused on the skies ahead. Her wings ached through each turn, and more than once did her tail flick up and hit the control stick. She was already sweating under her helmet and mask. Her rose eyes were so focused, that she barely heard one of the Timberwolf pilots yell out his warning.

"Heads up! We're merging with Meteors!"

Six craned her head around, gazing at the skies. "You're here," she murmured. "You've gotta be."

"You okay, Six?" Meteor Seven called.

Six pulled herself from her stupor. "Yes. I'm alright. Just... keep your eyes open for a specific F-14."

"Any reason, ma'am?" the younger Meteor Eight asked.

Six blinked, then sighed. "No reason. Just... keep an eye out. And watch out."
Eight and Seven didn't question or argue. They simply throttled up and went into the fray head first. Six took one last look around, sighing to herself.

"You're here... Just gotta find you."

Rhapsody barrel-rolled to avoid a missile coming right at her nose, firing a burst from her cannon. The heavy bullets tore into the F/A-18, but didn't destroy it. The plane was smoking yet still able to fly. She circled around just as that same pilot did, her Tomcat's engines roaring as she pulled as tight as she could into the turn. Finally, she locked on with a missile and fired. The weapon streaked towards its target, but the lithe navy fighter twisted away.

The pegasus mare swore to herself as she went into pursuit. "Man, this one's quick," Ditzy muttered.

"He won't be quick much longer," Rhapsody called back. She throttled up to chase, gaining on the more nimble fighter. She gave a few test bursts of her cannon, sending rounds over and under his wing and just past his engines. She was getting closer now. The gryphon pilot was twisting left and right, trying to shake her, but all she needed was just... a little...

A missile streaked in and tore the fighter in half. The two halves of the Hornet spun out of control towards the ground. Rhapsody didn't see a chute.

"What the-" Ditzy started, only to see a marine F-4E blaze right by them.

Rhapsody snarled, shouting, "You took my kill, jarhead!"

"Didn't see your name on it, butterfly!" he chuckled back and disappeared again into the fray.

"We can't count kills in this furball, Wraith," Mythic suddenly chimed. She caught sight of his new Typhoon pursuing an F-15C. He unleashed a pair of missiles that shot forward, pelting the enemy fighter at the same time. The Eagle was obliterated, reminding Rhapsody that no matter the plane, Mythic was vicious, borderline ruthless, in a dogfight. Deciding not to pursue the issue, she turned back into the fight.

Another five minutes went by, with Rhapsody downing three more fighters. But more Gryphnian planes were coming in, of every make and model. Reinforcements were coming in from the AEGIS held mainland though. Explosions, bullets, and missiles all dominated the skies. Ponies, gryphons, hippogriffs, crystals, and saddles vied for complete control of the rocket base. Something was itching at Rhapsody's neck though.

These fighters were packing air-to-air missiles, meant for dogfighting. None of them were carrying bombs of any kind, which meant that something bigger was coming. And the pegasus pilot was willing to bet her pension that it was on its way.

"How much longer till the launch?" Commander Vrye cried out.

The crystal typed on her console. "We're sixty percent complete. Another six minutes."

"This base will be destroyed in less than two minutes! Get it done!"

"Harpy three was shot down by a Meteor!" a navy pilot, a Saddle, cried.

"Keep the fledglings out of the fight with the Meteors!" a Hippogriff marine responded angrily.

When a pair of bullets whizzed by her canopy, Ditzy yelped and turned around. She narrowed her misaligned eyes as best she could to see the pursuing fighter. Rhapsody couldn't see, so the grey mare simply told her to keep dodging. More rounds flew by, narrowly avoiding the fighter. "It's a MiG-29," she announced.

"Got it!" Rhapsody cried back. She pulled up a bit then slammed the brakes. Another wave of bullets dashed right under her and Ditzy as they were pushed back into their seats and the MiG followed suit. The Captain pushed her nose forward and throttled up, giving chase on the lithe MiG-29. The Tomcat bared its teeth as Rhapsody kept the pilot in her gun sights. She and her quarry twisted through the fight, dodging other fighters, bullets, missiles, the whole lot.

The MiG pilot was starting to get desperate and dove low towards the ground. Rhapsody gave him a few bursts, only to scare the pilot back into the sky. But as he kept twisting, Ditzy kept her eyes peeled on the battle zone, looking for anything... peculiar...

"Is that?" she murmured to herself.

It was then that the MiG must have made a mistake, because Rhapsody shouted, "Wraith fox two!"

The missile tore itself from the rail to go after the MiG, who climbed high with the missile in pursuit. The F-14A pulled up with him so she could try and confirm the kill, but this pilot was more skilled than she had thought. He pulled a midair flip, sending the missile right by. It went up and out of control into the sky -

It suddenly exploded as another fighter went by.

The Su-37 Terminator jerked violently.

Meteor Six yelped and desperately tried to gain control. "I'm hit!"

"Did you-"

"I did," Rhapsody muttered to Ditzy, though unable to believe it herself. "I did..."

A pilot abruptly called out, "Whoa! A Meteor's hit and trailing smoke! Whose kill was that!?"

Six regained control of her fighter, grinding her beak together as she determined she could no longer fight with a badly damaged wing. The plane was still operable, a couple days on the ground for repairs and it'd be fine. But this... this...

"Who was it that shot me!?" she yelled angrily. "See's who's responsible for that shot!"

Meteor Seven suddenly murmured, "It's a Ghost."

"How did you do that!?" Amethyst cried. "Nopony's ever successfully damaged a Meteor!"

Rhapsody didn't have an answer, but her brain started talking to her instead. This was a chance to really rack up a serious reputation as a dogfighter. She pulled into a tight turn to follow the trail of smoke, and it wasn't long before she spotted the wounded Meteor. It was listing to its left, but still made every effort to escape the battle zone. Rhapsody flipped the switch on her control stick, arming a missile.

"Wraith here, I've got eyes on the wounded Meteor," she announced.

"Hang on Six! We're coming!" Eight cried.

"Negative," Six suddenly muttered, catching the entire squadron by surprise and stunning them into silence. "I want to see what this pilot's gonna do."

"Take the shot Wraith!" Sprig yelled.

Mythic also offered his two bits. "Take it down! That'll show Gryphnia!"

Her missile lock alert blared. "I've got tone," Rhapsody declared proudly. Her thumb rested on the button to launch. One press, and she'd solidify herself as a feared dogfighter for being able to wound and shoot down a Meteor. The elite pilots of Gryphnia, the ones responsible for the deaths of hundreds of pilots, and this one was just sitting here. Oh the kill she could get, the prestige, she could see the whole base congratulating her, and the King of Gryphnia seeing that his prized elite pilots were not invincible.

"Take the shot!" Ditzy cried.

One press, one button away and she would destroy this wounded, retreating...

Wounded. Retreating. Escaping.

Rhapsody's brow stitched together. A thought came to her head, and it was not her brain talking now, but rather her gut. Her instinct. This kill, it-it wasn't fair. There was a pilot's code about a kill. About giving your opponent, the enemy fighter, a chance to fight back, a way to defend themselves. It showed a pilot when to take the life, and when to let them go; knowing they've had enough. This pilot was doing just that; they were retreating. The Meteor had had enough. The smoke trail was evidence enough. There was no honor in this.
Wraith sighed and pulled the switched back down, disarming her missile. And just as fast, she pulled up into a loop and back to the fight as a pair of Meteors broke off their pursuit of her.

"What are you doing?" Ditzy said. "They were right there!"

Rhapsody didn't answer, even as Mythic and the other started their own protests on her reluctance to destroy a Meteor. She simply pushed her Tomcat back towards the fray, sighing to herself. When her wheels hit the ground, she was going to catch hell for this. But it wasn't time for glory, she had a rocket base to save.

The control room rocked from the impact of another fighter crashing to the ground. Vrye couldn't tell which side it was on, for both sides flew the exact same types, but it was a miracle that none of them had hit their control room, let alone the rocket.

"Commander!" the crystal pony cried. "AWACS picked up new contacts!"

The fireball that was the result of Rhapsody's hail of bullets crashed into the ocean as she pulled up after a MiG-29. She wasn't sure if it was the same one she was after previously before she accidently hit the Meteor, but she had half a mind to start targeting this particular class of fighter. As she flew, downing two more fighters, Mythic and others jabbed at her for not finishing off the Meteor she had wounded. She had simply left the latest comment with an 'I'll tell you later'.

"Sky Gazer here," Scootaloo called. "B-2 Bombers approaching from the northeast. Intercept them before they reach the launch site!"

"Negative contact," Sprig answered. "Nothing on my radar."

"We don't have them either, mate," a hippogriff from the control room answered.

"Look harder! The bombers are difficult to detect on radar, they're stealth."

Rhapsody followed her compass to the northeast. Gritting her teeth, she jerked her control stick hard in that direction and opened her throttle. The twin engines roared and her wings folded back. Her tomcat roared to life as she pushed her fighter to the limits in that direction. Ditzy kept her eyes peeled on the area, only catching sight of an F-16C coming at their side before a missile struck it. Before long, Mythic was on her wing.

"Pained me to shoot down such a beautiful aircraft," he muttered.

Rhapsody merely chuckled before the two fighters made their way to the northeast.

The bomber pilot eyed the launch base, blinking rapidly.

"What's going on? Enemy fighters are still a factor!" he cried.

"And Meteor squadron bailed on us!" his co-pilot added.

Cloud Burst, the Gryphnian AWACS, then called, "Just concentrate on your duties!"

The pilot grumbled to himself and sighed heavily. "Target sighted. Entering bombing pattern!"

"Update here from the control room!" Vrye called. "Three minutes to launch!"

The Typhoon that was tailing her broke off.

"A group of gryphons followed us. I'll hand them, Wraith," Mythic informed her. "You take out the bombers."

"Roger that," she replied and twisted, pulling the stick back as she pulled herself behind the six B-2 bombers. In the distance, she could see Mythic getting his hands full of enemy fighters. But she knew how good of a pilot he was, so she actually gave him little thought. With him destroying a MiG dead on with a hail of bullets only confirming her point, Rhapsody turned to her task at hand.

She flipped the switch on her control stick and tapped on her control panel in front of her. On her computer in her cockpit, it showed a green outline of her weapons load-out. The standard sidewinder missiles were highlighted, but after she tapped a few buttons, four larger, and much more powerful and expensive phoenix missiles were armed. But she would need to save them for a few more moments.

The Tomcat positioned itself behind two bombers bringing up the rear. Saving the missiles, she put her switch back into place and pulled her control stick's trigger. Her cannon roared as it spat hot lead out at the rightmost bomber. The torrent of bullets pelted the stealth bomber's wing, sparking something and causing huge chunks to fly off. Ditzy squeaked as Rhapsody narrowly dodged a few, but then they both screamed in surprise as Rhapsody pushed down.

The entire wing tore off.

Turning their eyes back up, the bomber was still flying, they saw. But it was listing badly, until finally it couldn't fly straight anymore. The left side was engulfed in flames as it was flung to the left. A sickening crunch was the prelude to it ramming right into its fellow. They both practically exploded in midair, forcing Rhapsody to break hard to the right to avoid a massive shower of debris from the death throes of the bombers. She could only imagine the screams of the crews onboard.

Pulling herself up and around behind the remaining four, she rearmed her phoenix missiles. The display flashed again to the much larger missiles. On Rhapsody's HUD, four red squares shot out and encompassed the four remaining bombers. Her tone blared that all four had locked on and were ready to fire. Her thumb rested on the button. She murmured, "Let's hope these 'million-bit missiles' leave a mark."

She jammed it down.

She heard a loud thump and then a thunderous roar underneath her fighter as four large smoke streaks flew out towards their prey. Rhapsody and Ditzy watched anxiously as they soared out to the engines of the bombers. Watching the reaction and detonation was like a train wreck in slow motion. Four missiles impacted the four bombers in almost a domino effect. One after the other, the phoenix missiles impacted the rears of each B-2 bomber, causing different explosions and reactions on the plane, but the damage was the same.

The entire group of bombers was destroyed, leaving only burning hulks of stealth material plummeting to the ocean below. "Nice work Wraith! All bombers confirmed destroyed! Now sanitize the remaining airspace of enemy fighters!" Sky Gazer ordered.

"This is insane!" cried Talon Eight. The gryphon was being pursued by a Typhoon with a weird dragon design on the nose. His F/A-18C was giving it all he had, but this was getting out of hand. "The Meteors abandoned us, the bombers are gone, how in the hell are we supposed to win this now?!"

Then AWACS suddenly shouted, "We'll win when you shut the f-" A piercing scream was all he had left to utter as an earsplitting screech was heard over the radio.

"Cloud Burst is down! Repeat, Cloud Burst is down!" another pilot cried. "We're totally screwed!"

"Talon Three, you're in command!" another announced. "We need orders!"

A disheartened grunt was all she uttered until she suddenly cried out. "I'm hit! I can't hold her! Ejecting!"

"Son of- Whose left in Talon?" the same pilot asked vehemently.

Talon Eight managed to dodge another missile and a burst from cannon before finally uttering, "I-I am!"

"Orders!"

He squeaked in terror before pulling away when a Gryphnian F-14A began chasing the fighter on his tail. Now free of pursuit, he tapped his helmet to make sure he had everyone. "We lost this one! We can't destroy the base without bombs and there're too many AEGIS fighters! Remaining fighters bug out! Full retreat!" With little hesitance, he pushed his throttle up and turned his nose away from the fight. But he didn't get far before he heard a missile lock warning.

Nor did it take long for the alarm to shut off, just like the pilot's life.

Rhapsody pulled her Tomcat up from her kill and began a pursuit of a MiG-29 before the order came in. From what she could see, there were no more Gryphnian MiGs in the sky. "Remaining bogeys are bugging out!" Huffing, but still smiling, Rhapsody closed her missile switch and pulled away, letting the gryphon go home with his wings still attached.

"All AEGIS personnel pull back to safe distance," Vrye suddenly announced. "We're lighting this thing!"

"C'mon guys!" Amethyst chirped. "Let's watch the launch!"

"T-minus ten... nine... eight..." Rhapsody watched the rocket start building up smoke below, then saw the fiery glow underneath. This was it. "Four... three... two... ignition... LAUNCH!"

The glow intensified and the mass of metal began to shake and propelled into the sky. As it began to rise, many of the surviving pilots began murmuring 'ooohs' and 'ahhhs' as it lifted itself into the sky. The rocket began picking up speed, and Rhapsody could just barely hear the powerful engines sending it up into the air and away from the launch pad.

"Wohoa!" Mythic cried.

"Yeah! Look at that!" Sprig chipped in.

Ditzy hollered. "Go baby go!" she yelled as it rose higher and higher, and soon it was barely within sight.

"This is Commander Vrye at Launch control," the hippogriff called over the radio. "The rocket has reached thirty-thousand feet and climbing. It is now immune to enemy action." He then chuckled and added. "Thanks to you, the launch was a success."

Cheers and cries of victory resounded perfectly through the radio as Rhapsody watched the rocket climb higher, until even the bright glow of its thrusters were no longer visible. She sighed to herself and smiled behind her mask. Cheers also erupted from the Air Force, Marine, and Navy pilots that had taken part in the assault.

"All planes, this is Major Soarin," the light blue pegasus stallion called. Rhapsody caught sight of his F-15S flying to the west. "This mission is a success. Congratulations to every one of you, and our thanks to our fellow pilots of the Navy and Marine Corps."

"Yeah, we may rent the skies, but I think we pay our rent in full," one of the Marine pilots said.

"Oh whatever," Sprig muttered over the radio. "Let's just go home."

"One step ahead of you, Lieutenant," Rainbow suddenly said. "Check out below." Rhapsody tilted her Tomcat to see, and her rose eyes widened. Ditzy gasped. Murmurs of amazement and adulation resounded throughout the squadrons.

"Is that..?" The grey mare asked, not fully needing an answer.

Applejack leapt from the turret of her tank and landed solidly on the ground, heaving a contented sigh. Rarity simply climbed down as best she could in the field boots her friend had forcefully made her put on. It was a beach landing after all, and dress slippers were not to be worn. The unicorn mare fussed about the comfort of the boots, but she managed to sludge her way up to the Colonel's side.

All around, landing ships were offloading their cargo. Tanks, infantry, anti-air guns on tracks, mobile artillery guns, ever vehicle of every shape, size, model, and serial number poured onto the island that housed the rocket base. A few helicopters flew overhead with their smaller, gunship counterparts, both as protection and hauling additional equipment. Applejack removed her helmet and tossed it behind her as one of her commanders caught the wayward piece of armor while slipping on her cowpony hat.

Hundreds of troops were landing and setting up camp on this island. Equestrians, Saddle Arabians, Hippogriffs, Crystals; all were gathering and preparing themselves for the invasion of Gryphnia. And it would be a rough battle ahead. Many of those jumping off the landing ships and hovercrafts would not be seeing this war to the end, but the Colonel did not allow herself to dwell on it. She had plans to start making with the General who was riding on top of a Leopard that rumbled off its hovercraft under heavy guard.

Before she could say something, a thunderous roar threatened to destroy her hearing. Her tail flicked angrily and she grabbed and held onto her hat. Turning up, a wide grin crossed her muzzle, even as her ears swiveled back to save themselves from the sound. Rainbow Dash's signature fighter, along with the rest of her squadron flew over head. A number of other fighters that flew alongside the Wonderbolt's squadron flew beside them, with the lead planes performing a victory roll as they soared overhead. A number of ground troops cheered and waved back at them.

Applejack took off her hat and waved it at the airplanes as they soared above and back to their respective bases. She then replaced her hat and turned to Rarity. But the white unicorn was in a state of melancholy. She looked down, prompting a soft frown from her orange friend. "I do wish Fluttershy was up there. It would make this victory feel a little more like just that." Her words were calm, but there was an edge to the softness in her voice.

A soft hand rested on her shoulder. Rarity turned to see Applejack offering a smile to cheer her up. Slowly, the unicorn mare adjusted her beret and gave a weak smile back. "C'mon Rare's," the tank Colonel said. "We got a lot of work to do."

While one would think that Applejack cared not for her timid pegasus friend, one also had to accept that death happened in war. Even the most kind was not spared from the fire. Fluttershy was one such. The five friends could only come to an agreement that, while Fluttershy was the most reluctant the most unwilling to fight in battle, she had shown amazing courage to stand up and join anyway. For that, even Rainbow considered her a hero.

Shoulder to shoulder, Applejack and Rarity met the General with a crisp salute and headed for the command center of the base.

"It won't be long now, it won't be long 'til it begins," the barkeeps daughter confided to me. As a member of the resistance, she eagerly awaited the allied invasion of the mainland.

"What about all these people?" I asked softly, gesturing to the Meteor Squadron crews and Gryphnian soldiers that had taken up the bar and the bistro tables outside. But when I finished, she answered, with a frown.

"We'll run them out of here. All of them. This is our town, our land, the Crystal Empire's land."

But a part of me knew she didn't truly mean that from the bottom of her heart. She did not seem truly confident of that statement, even if she said it herself. It was Meteor Eight who had captured her heart. The handsome gryphon prince who almost constantly clung to Six's side. They were so close their left and right wings could have been one. I knew she had this crush on him through her jealous glances at Six.

While other pilots of Meteor Squadron rotated out to others who needed the expertise, Seven and Eight stayed by Six's side constantly. They rarely left her side, all three keeping one another safe even on the ground. Even as the only female in the entire squadron, she had complete trust of the two princes.

But today, they kept a closer watch on her. Six looked shaken, holding a model of a large plane with wings that were able to fold back. It was a two-seater plane much larger than Six's, but the way she held it was through something akin to total respect. Six kept retelling the story of the very promising pilot she had come across earlier that day. Meteor squadron was sent to rally with other Gryphnian fighters, only to return after Six's plane was heavily damaged.

It was a sight none of us had ever seen before. There had been scorch marks on her plane once, but that was buffed away and repainted. While the others landed gracefully, hers was sloppy, as if she was more interested in control than expertise and smoothness of letting her wheels hit the ground. Almost immediately after her fighter stopped moving, the crew chief was barking orders to tend to the wing. As I got closer, Seven and Eight rushed by me to see to Six.

She shoved by them and stared at her wing. The tip was burned, scorched to nearly nonexistent. This was a kind of damage even I knew would take days to repair. Six ran her hand over the wing and the tip. Her face was neutral, even as they began asking if she was okay.

"This one was good," she murmured, holding the model plane level. "It had to be a female pilot. A male would have finished me off..." She then smiled and sighed, closing her eyes softly setting it down next to her mug of coffee. "If she can stay alive a little longer, this pilot could be a very worthy opponent."

Her eyes then turned sad. Not because she would be out of action for a long time, but because until she and this other pilot met on the battlefield again, she would have to deal with lesser opponents. And seeing her like that made me frown.

She deserved a worthy opponent...

Chapter 12

"C'mon Amethyst," Rhapsody murmured. "Just a little bit."

"But... it's so slimy!" she mewled. She gagged a bit as she stared. "And it smells."

Mythic began prodding her with half-lidded eyes. "You know you wanna taste of meat. Give it a little taste. If Sprig can do it, you can too."

The hippogriff smirked. "I do it on a regular basis. Nothing to it." She then grinned wide. "Besides, it's not that big."

Mythic bristled. "It's big enough!"

Ditzy shook her head. "I've heard it tastes gross for first timers. If Amethyst doesn't want to, we can't force her right?"

Rhapsody shrugged and gently tapped Amethyst's face with the meat in Mythic's hand. "Just give it a try. That was the dare."

"Al-a-alright..." Amethyst slowly, steadily, began to open her mouth -

Mythic shoved the strip of bacon into her mouth and Amethyst bit down. The strip of pork hit her tongue, forcing her to gag. But she didn't want to wimp out now, so she forced herself to swiftly chew up the piece of meat and swallow it down. She exhaled and coughed, beating her chest while Rhapsody laughed and draped a wing over her, patting her back. "You okay, kiddo?" she asked with a wide grin.

Once the young crystal mare managed to gather herself in breath and strength, she looked up at the expecting faces. Slowly, a smile began to form on her lips. "That-" she coughed again and Ditzy handed her a glass of water which Amethyst downed swiftly before exhaling and inhaling a steadier breathing pace. Finally, she was able to complete her sentence. "That wasn't so hard."

Sprig clapped her hands and guffawed. "She likes bacon!" she cheered. A few other hippogriffs who had watched laughed along with the members of Ghost Wing. Once the small celebration cleared up, the grey hippogriff mare stared at her wing lead. "How did you react again when I first shoved bacon in your daffodil sandwich?"

The sea green pegasus groaned, but with good humor, and rested her forehead on her palm. "Was gagging for half an hour-"

"More like half a day!" Mythic broke in.

"Oh like you were better!" Sprig snapped quickly. "You acted like I had poisoned you."

The grey stallion folded his arms and shook his head. "It was only for an - Amethyst?"

Everypony at the table suddenly turned to the crystal pony. She wasn't normally that color, but of course the Crystal's had odd coats to begin with. But Amethyst was a soft violet color normally, and her cheeks didn't usually inflate like that, nor was she that green. But before anypony could ask if she was alright, the Crystal mare was up from the table and out of the mess hall, heading down the hall. Rhapsody pursed her lips together and stared at the rest of her friends.

"Huh... that happened..."

The intercom suddenly gave out a low whine, signaling anyone present in the room to listen up. Rhapsody's ears perked up to listen. Major Soarin's voice broke through the silence that had fallen on the mess hall when the beep came through. "All wing leaders report to the briefing room immediately for a special announcement. Repeat, all wing leaders report to the briefing room."

Several AEGIS pilots of varying nationalities began to stand up, Rhapsody included. She sighed and wiped her mouth of from her blueberry banana smoothie that was the special drink of the day. Despite the sound, it was hardly as bad as it sounded. With a final fist pound to her wing mates, and a promise to meet in the lounge later, the sea green mare headed off to the meeting area.

Twilight slowly sipped her tea, her legs crossed as she sat in the posh den of her former mentor's private apartments of Canterlot Palace. The herbal brew washed down her throat, refreshing her body and spirit. The only outward sounds were a few birds chirping, but they were startled and flew off just as a pair of Rafale's of the Canterlot Defense Squadron flew by and off on patrol. The Canterlot Defense Squadron never strayed far from the palace, rarely going beyond the borders of the main city.

The purple unicorn sighed heavily, lowering her head as she thought back to the war that had taken so much from her and her friends. They had lost much in the ways of family, but the one that had struck them all hard was the loss of Fluttershy. When news had first come to her and the others from Rainbow Dash, it had been a long conference indeed as the loss of an Element of Harmony, as well as a dear and treasured friend had set in. Even the stoic air force captain was hard-pressed to fight back her tears.

It had been at least a month since then, and Twilight had come to accept that she was gone. Rainbow took full responsibility for their friend's fate, but no one blamed her. This sort of thing happened, to the most innocent of people. But that still didn't ease the guilt Rainbow had of pushing Fluttershy towards her position. It still hurt her heart to no end.

"You're brooding again," a soft, almost melodic voice said.

Twilight turned to see the solar monarch enter the room with a pair of folders underneath her arm. As she moved into the study, Twilight found herself eased, if just a little, by her mother-figure. Celestia strode into the room, dressed in a regal white gown, full of confidence and a gentle authority. Sitting down in the plush chair across from her Intelligence General, Celestia crossed her legs and her horn glowed with a soft golden light as she poured some tea and opened one of the folders and began to read them, but she stopped when she saw Twilight simply looking at the fire. "Twilight?"

The unicorn started, nearly dropping her tea, before she regained herself and gave a subtle wipe of her eye. "Sorry, Princess," she said hastily. "Just... thinking, going over plans in my head." It was a lie, and they both knew it. They had grown close in the past few decades, and Celestia knew all of Twilight's facades, and the unicorn knew that she knew. And as if to emphasize this, the solar princess closed the folder with one hand and set it on the table next to her chair. Her violet eyes not once left her former pupil.

"I know you are worried, Twilight," she said softly. "But, cruel as it may sound, you must push past this dire disposition you've dwelled yourself into." Twilight said nothing, merely continued to stare into the fireplace offering warmth to the steadily growing chill. "While I am concerned for Fluttershy, for she is a dear friend to you, me, and everyone, and her being an Element of Harmony, I chose not to interfere with you or your friends' free choice of selecting military careers."

"Rainbow Dash pushed Fluttershy towards it," Twilight countered, a bit harsher than she intended. Celestia exhaled sharply and shook her head. The unicorn quickly tried to recovery. "I don't mean Rainbow was - "

A hand rose, silencing her immediately. "I know what you meant, Twilight," Celestia said calmly. But her eyes were sad, as if sensing that there was lingering animosity towards Rainbow Dash for convincing Fluttershy to become a fighter pilot. "I will say again, I have my concerns, but her fate was not your fault."

Twilight sighed and hung her head. She then sniffed. "I just miss her princess. We all do. And we still are baffled that a pegasus pony who doesn't like to fly achieved such a good score with her piloting."

Celestia allowed a slight smile. "You know, that reminded me of one of your friendship reports."

"Friendship Report?" Twilight asked, shocked. "Princess, that was years ago."

But the monarch simply shook her head and kept her smile. "You spoke of how you should never underestimate your friends, for even the meekest can have the strongest of hearts and the greatest strength."

The sentence brought Twilight back many years, when she and her friends had confronted that dragon that had strayed very far from the Searing Island, a migratory point for all dragons. Fluttershy's courage showed her friends that she should not be ignored just because she was timid. The fact she even agreed to join the air force showed remarkable bravery.

As if wanting to change the subject, Celestia reopened the folder and gazed at the contents. "I wanted to go over the invasion plans for the end of the month before the meeting tomorrow afternoon."

Twilight nodded and finished her tea, setting the cup and saucer on the table and accepting the offered folder. She blinked as she looked them over, but her eyes kept drifting towards the list of battalions and their commanders. The 2nd Royal Canterlot Dragoons were being deployed, and the 4th Field Artillery brigade; Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Another pair of friends being sent to the front of the battlefield. She swallowed heavily and looked back at Celestia.

"I know you have some hesitations for sending her, Twilight," Celestia murmured. The unicorn mare stared at her, then back down at the paper. "They're the first two you ever really spoke to in Ponyville, but I want you to trust in their abilities, and have faith that they will return safely."

She did have faith. More than anypony realized or gave her credit for. Twilight was still fearful of losing her friends though. It ached her heart more than she preferred to let on. Still, this was an order from the Princess of Equestria, and more or less the informal leading voice of AEGIS. If she had faith in her friends to get this done, then it was only fair Twilight put the same trust and faith into it.

"I'll relay this to them in the islands," Twilight informed Celestia, but never looking up. The monarch of the sun frowned inwardly, but pushed it down to extend a wing and lift Twilight's face up. The massive white appendage succeeded its task and the unicorn met Celestia's eyes. A soft, motherly smile coursed across her lips.

"Tell me," she asked, deciding to change the subject. "How are... 'the two of you' doing?"

"A massive storm surge is expected to hit right in the middle of the invasion. We're expecting torrential rain, heavy surf, winds exceeding thirty knots, the whole lot."

"Weather ponies went overboard with this one, didn't they?" Creg from Saber wing muttered.

Soarin shook his head and turned to the Hippogriff wing lead of Saber. "This storm wasn't made by pegasi since Equestria doesn't have jurisdiction in this area," he explained swiftly. He continued to map out the invasion plans for the air force wing leaders. At the same time, at least he hoped, the navy was giving its own the run down. "A plus side to this is that the invasion point is far enough out of range of Sky Breaker. There are three beaches we'll be hitting, codenamed Hail, Corral, and Drake. The upside is that this storm will hamper Gryphnia's ability to resist us. We have pilots trained to fight in this sort of weather for a reason. Downside... we're expecting to lose a lot of landing craft before they even hit the beaches. The water is just too strong, but we can't select a different day to plan this. We won't get another shot."

"So those troops have been sacrificed," Shavul from Timberwolf scoffed. "Shows how much the brass cares."

Soarin set down his marker and glared at the Saddle Arabian lead. They met and Rhapsody could almost hear the fire being set between them. "The Elements of Honesty and Laughter are on this assault. They couldn't take this lightly at all, so every single safety precaution that could be put in place has been. But we're all counting on blind luck that we'll have enough troops to get on the beach and secure the landing.

"We will be working with the Navy on this assault, so please play nice with our sea-skippers, alright?" he pleaded with a hint of amusement. The flight leads shared a laugh and nodded at the Major. For a last second replacement for Spitfire, he wasn't doing half bad. "Good, then let's all get some relaxation in, because we put this insane plan into action tomorrow afternoon. Go get yourselves settled and inform your wings. I've already been told by a friend that the army is telling their troops going on the landing to start making their wills if they want. I'm giving you that same opportunity, but you'll have till tomorrow morning."

The mood definitely sobered up. But they knew this was going to be dangerous. Attacking the Gryphnian mainland on three separate beach heads was risky, and the casualty rate was going to be high in all areas of the battle. Rhapsody remembered learning about a similar beach landing during one of the great wars decades ago. Perhaps it was confidence, or arrogance, she didn't know, but Rhapsody didn't feel obligated to fill one out. She had already done so the day after Operation Blackout.

"I have every bit of confidence in everypony in this room. I trust in your abilities, but don't forget what happens should we fail tomorrow. This is our only chance."

The young Windigo leader raised his hand. "Uh, sir? What would happen, hypothetically, if we don't succeed?"

Soarin looked him square in the eye. Rhapsody had seen such a piercing gaze before. It meant that what was going to be said was to be taken to heart, but never be taken lightly. "If we fail in this invasion, then we lose our one true chance to invade the Gryphnian occupied mainland, lose months to years of tactical advantage, and ultimately seal AEGIS's fate as the defeated in this war." The same flight lead winced and then swallowed hard. "Which is why we can't fail... and we won't." he switched off the monitor and signaled the pony in the back to turn the lights back on.

"I'll see you all on the line tomorrow morning. I wish you luck... we'll need every ounce."

The ocean roiled, the waters churned madly. Today was the day, and hell had taken hold of the sea and created a terrible storm.

A bolt of lightning struck across the sky, causing a few of the marines to jerk in mild shock, but a comforting hand from their comrades helped them relax just a little. The rain poured down in what seemed like buckets, soaking the assembled troops down to the bone. The piercing chill hit every single one of them, forcing more than one to sneeze from a growing cold. As they lowered themselves into the waiting landing craft and settled in for the eventual battle and bloodshed to come, the mood was rather somber. Every one of the soldiers knew that either they, or the one next to them, wouldn't be coming back.

AEGIS had no other choice though. This was the perfect chance, even if they knew the casualty rate would mount high in only the first hour or so. Optimistically, the brass expected at least sixty percent of the boats to make it ashore. Of course, that depended on how well the gryphons could see through the rain. Yes, the mood was quiet, the only sound was the storm and marching feet across the decks of the ships, as the commanding officers began directing their troops while sailors and corpsmen offered warm drinks to keep morale up as best they could. Still definitely quiet.

Well... somewhat quiet...

"This is it huh? Once those craft hit the beach, we'll lose dozens. Not counting the vehicles, no one really cares for them, but those poor soldiers..." Pinkie hung her head. "This just isn't fair. And why do you have to go? Can't the Brigadier General handle this while you stay back?"
Applejack tightened her boots one last time and tightened her pistol belt. It wasn't the first time she and Pinkie had talked about this. The former farm mare turned to her normally bubbly and cotton candy pink friend. Sadly, the normally puffball hairstyle was gone, and the pink tresses hung down, shortened by her military haircut, on her shoulders under the helmet that carried a pink band around the base of it, the trademark of her and her specific troops. It had become commonplace to see Pinkie's hair hanging low to mirror her somber attitude, especially since the war started.

"Ah have to go, Pinks," Applejack said, not for the first time. She stood and leveled her green eyes with the blue of her friend. "The Brigadier can handle the beaches and give orders, but he needs officers with voices the troops with listen to. And ah don't mean to brag, Pinkie, but the Element of Honesty is a pretty darn strong voice."

Pinkie merely shrugged and shook her head. The pink tresses still hung flat on her head as she exhaled and looked up. "Just... promise to come back in one piece?" She then gave Colonel Applejack a soft smile, if albeit a small one. "I still have a party to plan when this is over."

Applejack extended her arm, clasping Pinkie's bicep. The artillery Lt. Colonel followed suit and nodded. "See you when you get back, Colonel." When they let go, Pinkie Pie left to go check on her troops who were scheduled to land after a beachhead was secured by the main force. At least that's what the plan was.

The sudden thunder was outmatched by the loud roar of cannons as the destroyers and frigates of the AEGIS fleet moved in to try and soften the beaches a bit for the ground troops. The sea continued to roil with fierce anger and the skies sounded their own rage at the battle being waged in their territory. Applejack could see the explosions that followed the sound of gunfire from the ships that had made it to the battle zone first.

"If ah make it back," Applejack murmured to herself. Then she made sure her pistol was tightly secured before making her way to the hovercraft that held both hers and her second's M1 tanks. It was then that she heard a piercing shriek overhead. Turning her green eyes skyward, she made out the shapes of AEGIS fighters making their way to the beach. The air support had arrived.

They'd need all that they could get.

Rhapsody sighed heavily to herself as she watched the pouring rain fall around her. The pounding water hit her canopy and nearly obscured her view completely. She could just barely see the other fighters around her. The sight of engine flames let her figure out her proximity to the rest of her fellow pilots. But if this storm didn't let up, even those flames would be hard to see. That would make the dogfighting that much more treacherous. She'd have to rely on the radio and her radar more than her eyes like she usually did.

Making sure her autopilot was still engaged, she looked through her canopy and down, seeing a number of ships from the AEGIS fleet. The exposed decks showed plenty of sailors, marines, and soldiers getting ready for the attack. Rhapsody's wings practically shrank back into her body and her tail clung to her leg just by the thought of how cold it must be down there. Hovercrafts being lowered into the water also had no covers, soaking the gathered troops and equipment onboard. She sighed to herself; this was going to be a harrowing ordeal.

The army and marines were making a joint landing, since landing each separately would take too much needed time, plus leave a victory in very bad odds of being reached. Unfortunately, this had not stopped the brass from sending an advance party to the beaches. It was said they'd be there to draw fire from the main force landing behind them. But they had been notified only after they had made landfall and had come under intense enemy fire.

"This is Captain Blitz of Unit H on Corral Beach," a pony suddenly called. Rhapsody quirked her brow at the fact an army commander had gotten through to the air force command frequency, though she wasn't entirely surprised. "We do not have air superiority over the beach! This is not as promised."

"This is Rear Admiral Pippington aboard the HMS Midnight of the Equestrian Navy," came a strongly accented Trottingham stallion. The Midnight? Rhapsody craned her neck down to see the ships arriving at the beaches. She could see it, the massive battleship similar in size to the Warlord's Claw she had sunk at Habun Harbor. The ship was facing broadside to the beach, all her guns facing the beach. Rhapsody could just barely hear it, but the forward guns fired all three barrels. An Equestrian battleship was never one to take lightly, especially one as old as the Midnight, and the explosions from the beach where the shells hit could attest.

"Look at the size of that thing," Ditzy murmured, obviously turning to see what had her friend so enthralled.

"Friendly fighters are on their way," the Admiral continued, "continue your efforts to secure the beach."

The Captain grunted an affirmative. "Alright Admiral, we'll do our best, but tell them I'll be seeing them once this is done, over."

Rhapsody shook her head and turned her head to her radar when it let off a ping. She narrowed her eyes and grunted as she snapped on her oxygen mask. Incoming enemy fighters, and plenty of them, heading right for the advancing AEGIS squadron. Switching off her autopilot, she gripped her control stick and angled herself to face the enemy head on.

"Here they come!" Amethyst announced.

"Ghost, engage," Rhapsody replied.

"Timberwolf, engage!"

"Windigo, engage!"

A MiG-29 spurred itself right by Rhapsody's cockpit, followed by an F-15C that had to be his wing mate. Rhapsody let them go by and throttled herself forward. Laden with bombs, she had a priority. Sadly for her, dogfighting was not her primary objective. But she then heard that the two had been engaged by Sprig and Amethyst whilst Mythic kept to her tail. Ever the faithful wingpony.

"Wraith, Corral Beach at vector one-five-zero, four miles," Sky Gazer informed her.

"Roger that, switching to bombs." She flipped the switch on her console and exhaled. And it wasn't long after she had done so that she got a glimpse of the battlefield. She frowned deeply, not expecting such a hell to be so... drenched. She could make out the tracers of bullets flying between the AEGIS landing troops and the Gryphnian defense line. Plumes of sand, smoke, and fire marked either mortars or grenades, depending on size.

Pulling herself out of her small daze, Rhapsody tilted her Tomcat into a roll towards the right side of the beach. Angling her approach, the console blipped her bomb count. It took merely a second, but a few guns were now aiming at her. But they flew by, no doubt hampered by the storm. Still, she pressed down into an attack angle. "I'm right behind ya, Wraith," Mythic announced. "Let's see what these little bombs can do."

"Heh, mine are bigger," Rhapsody chuckled. With a groan from Mythic, they fell into a pattern and began dropping.

"This is Unit G! We're on the beach!"

Babs Seed held onto her helmet as she sprinted across the sand to the nearest cover. The hovercraft she had run from was pouring out more soldiers. The bombs from their air support rocked the ground, sending dirt and sand into the air. Grunting hard, she popped her head up to see the damage as the two fighters soared back up into the sky to pursue other targets. She allowed a small grin as she saw the heavy damaged and destroyed pillboxes, tanks, and more than enough gryphons littering the sand, unmoving.

But just as she took a look to the left flank, a volley of shells struck the ground. "Take cover!" she screamed and ducked down to her dune. Her squad mates did as instructed by their Master Sergeant, but some were not fast enough. A few screams marked the deaths of many through the shrieks of whistling artillery shells hitting the sand, and several thumps were the results of some being sent airborne. There were some shouts above her as she saw a number of hippogriffs taking wing to see where the volley came from.

"Get back down here, you-" There was a hail of gunfire from a machine gun that silenced her back down into her dune. She grit her teeth, clutching her M16 closer as she waited for it to subside for a moment. When it did, she looked up to see that same hippogriff staring back at her on the ground with a lifeless expression, blood seeping from his beak. Absently, she gripped his collar and pulled him down into the hole she had taken refuge in.

"This is Staff Sergeant Seed to any aircraft overhead!" she cried into her radio. "The gryphons have entrenched a number of howitzer guns somewhere beyond the mountain range in front of us! Requesting air suppression of those guns!"

"Banshee, you're closest to them, find them and take them out before they're wiped out by artillery fire!"

"Copy that, Wraith," the hippogriff replied curtly. "Consider them gone!"

After letting loose a missile to destroy a gryphon Hind taking pot shots at the marines charging off their hovercraft, she turned her attention to the northern howitzer battery. The flak was getting thicker, so she guessed she was close. The hippogriff's tail flicked as her anticipation grew. A couple good bomb drops would do away with them easily. Turning her Hornet in the proposed direction, she flipped the switch and armed her bombs. Yet this storm was heavy as she got further inland.

But she was a hippogriff, and her eyesight was better than some pegasus pony's. Focusing her yellow eyes, she raised her visor to see. Those guns were somewhere, she just needed... A series of flashes dotted the mountain range. Narrowing her iris's, she caught sight of the camouflaged netting where the flashes came from. Seeing no other course of action, she aimed her bombs and flew in for the attack run. It was then that she saw something else, and it was aiming at her.
SAMs.

Yelping, Sprig pulled up, instinctively pulling the trigger on her control stick. The bombs released, flying far off target. But she didn't pay attention to where they were going until it was too late.

"Fire!" the gryphon yelled.

The large missile flew off the rail, sending it into the sky and after the AEGIS fighter. The Hornet was nimble enough to dodge it, but they were prepared to fire another. He aimed the targeting reticule at the plane, nearly getting a lock -

"Get out of there!" one of his comrades yelled. There was a thunderous explosion followed by a dull rumble that steadily grew louder. He turned around to look.

The bombs had impacted the mountainside... and caused a rock slide.

Abandoning his position, he flew up into the sky, waving at the artillery crews. They couldn't hear him though as they were shouting orders at each other and continuously firing off rounds at the beach. There was no way to warn them in time, so he took off towards safety. He caught a fleeting glance though of the rocks sliding down and overturning several of the vehicles and burying the rest in a veritable coffin of stone and earth.

Sprig deployed flares to shake the SAM off, which exploded just short of one of the flares. Chancing a look back, she caught sight of the massive rockslide that had silenced the guns firing on Corral Beach. "Huh... that happened," she murmured. Taking a breath, she then added, "Banshee here. I've silenced the guns on Corral Beach. Flowing to other areas for support."

Rhapsody pulled up and corkscrewed forcing the enemy F/A-18 to pass her. She locked her missile onto him and fired. The missile darted after her target, who rolled downwards and was able to dodge. The missile lost track and crashed into the hills away from the beach. Rhapsody swore and pulled back into pursuit, her Tomcat's engines roaring as she sped up, the wings folding back for more speed.

"Wraith! Unit Q has hit the Drake Beach but they've come under chopper fire!" Sky Gazer announced. "Head over there and back up Phantom."

"Copy that. Ready Specter?" she asked.

"And able!" Ditzy replied quickly.

Rhapsody pulled off her pursuit just as an F-15C moved in to replace her in the chase for the enemy Hornet. Pushing her throttle up, the afterburners kicked in and propelled the two pegasi off to the west. She didn't take long to get there, knowing how dangerous gunships were to the ground forces. And soon she caught sight of the explosions and muzzle flashes that gave Drake Beach its own fireworks show.

"This is intense!" Ditzy cried. She held onto the canopy as her friend twisted around to get an accurate target on a pair of Hinds dotting the beaches with their cannons. Gritting her teeth, the sea green pegasus narrowed her rose eyes and waited for a lock. The missile took off and slammed into the side of the first whilst her own cannons sheared off the tail of the second, sending it spinning madly into the ground.

The chopper slammed into the sand, sending fire and debris and earth all over.

Applejack held her helmet down as the ground shook. Adjusting her goggles, she growled and grabbed her radio. "This is Colonel Apple! Admiral, can you tell air support to mind where they're sending their kills?"

"The pilot already apologizes, Colonel," Admiral Pippington responded.

Applejack just shook her head and waved her arm forward. "Let's go ya'll! Move up! Move up!" Her M1 tank jerked forward, climbing the beach's slopes with the rest of her small armored detachment. The infantry took cover behind them as the same fighter took down a couple more Hinds and dropped a bomb on a pillbox. Two more did the same, clearing more of the beach for them to advance.

"We're getting requests for air support all over the battlefield," Amethyst muttered. "There's just too much to do. Can we make it?"

"Of course we can!" Sprig replied confidently. "Good guys always win!"

"Why do you think I always win poker?" Mythic added cheekily.

Rhapsody chuckled. "Because you slip an ace into your sleeve every three hands?"

"That only happened once!" the grey pegasus stallion said curtly.

"C'mon, cut the chatter," Sky Gazer ordered. That said, the four pilots of Ghost Wing regrouped, focusing on where the enemy was putting more of their own.

Corral Beach was the center of the enemy's concentration since the Navy had pounded the few coastal guns and armored divisions on Hail beach, with the help of Mythic and a group of other pilots. The ground forces lost most of their equipment when the bulk was sunk with three of the hovercrafts. But were advancing and close to securing the beach. Drake beach was cleared of pillboxes and choppers and the ground forces there were advancing smoothly. Sprig has stayed a few more minutes to make sure they were clear before turning back to the central beach.

That just left the center where the most fighting was taking place.

"Get that Gustav up there!" Applejack shouted.

The hippogriff team ran up, slinging their L85A2s behind their backs as the lead swung the launcher up over his shoulder. His aid pulled the rocket from her backpack and loaded him through the back. Sealing it, she slapped his helmet. "In the pipe!" Pulling her rifle around, she began firing back at the gryphons.

"Target spotted. Spread 'em, this is gonna hurt," he announced, aiming at a pill box hammering the right flank. A Saddle Arabian moved up to support him, firing his AUG at a group of gryphons aiming for the launcher. Adjusting his sights, the hippogriff soon got an accurate fix and gripped the trigger. "ON ITS WAY!"

With a loud thump, the rocket shot from the launcher. In less than two seconds, it had burst through the pillbox's wall and exploded on the inside. There was a short yell and the fiery mass burst from the opening in the side. Concrete and steel were shattered upon the rocket. "Target destroyed!" they announced.

Applejack grinned and waved her arm forward. "Move up! Secure those positions!" Her tank lurched forward as it moved to meet up with the soldiers that had sprinted ahead. Suddenly, her ears twitched. She focused her hearing and looked left and right. Applejack couldn't see it, but her hearing was good enough to...

"Colonel! Radar is picking up new contacts!" her radiopony called up to her from the interior of the tank. Applejack slunk back down to his side and took up a headset and listened.

"Colonel Apple here, go ahead!"

"Colonel! This is AWACS Sky Gazer. The Captain of Unit H was taken out by a missile fired from long range! We tracked the origins." There was a brief silence before he confirmed her fears. "We've got a squadron of enemy A-10s coming right towards the central beach! Colonel they're heading right for you!"

"All planes this is Sky Gazer! An enemy squadron of A-10s is heading for the central beach. They don't have the weapons to take them down and they can't move forward. Shoot them down or we'll lose our grand forces!"

"Understood!" cried Wheatfield from Windigo wing. "Let's go get 'em!"

"Wraith here. I'm heading there now. ETA two minutes."

Rhapsody pulled away from her fired missile, which went right into the tail of a MiG-29 that had been severely weakened by her cannons. After leveling out, she pushed herself forward. Her thrusters were at full power. The wings folded back as far as they could as her afterburners kicked in. The wings clung to her back as the g-forces began to push against her body. A cone of white enveloped the cockpit indicating she had reached supersonic. Rhapsody had to allow a grin. She remembered the first time she had flown her Tomcat and had gone supersonic.

She narrowed her eyes as the cone of white enveloped her, slicing her vision along with the torrential downpour. The clouds had begun to close in around her. By now she should be at the central beach. Where were -

"Wraith! On the nose!" Rhapsody craned her head and yelped.

The A-10 shuddered violently as an AEGIS F-14A rushed under his plane. He pulled himself out of his attack run on a line of AEGIS tanks and APCs, looking around to see the culprit. An AEGIS F-14A pulled itself up and on its side as the pilot tried to regain control. They must've broken the sound barrier coming here. And he was nearly collided with!

"Is that pilot out of his mind?" he shouted.

"Damned if I know, and damned if I care," one of the fighter escort pilots answered promptly. "I'll shoot it down either way!"

After regaining control, albeit with a dizzy head, Rhapsody and Ditzy gathered their wits and looked around. "Eagle on our tail!" Ditzy announced.

Rhapsody needed no further explanation. She twisted the Tomcat on its belly and dove. The Eagle pursued, the more agile fighter matching her movements. Flipping back around, Rhapsody pulled up and to the left, the Eagle still tailing according to the now flustered Specter riding in the back. A number of missile locks were sounding through the cockpit, but Wraith managed to shake him off. Finally, she decided enough was enough and flew straight up.

As she expected, the eagle pulled up after her. She kept her speed for a few moments before waiting on the tone. It finally sounded after a moment. "He's got us!" Ditzy cried.

"Not for long!"

The Tomcat lurched backwards as the missile lost track after flying right by when Rhapsody hit the brakes. The eagle had been going full strength and shot right by her. Flipping the tomcat once and then stabilizing it in the drop back down, she locked a missile on his turbines and fired. The missile detached itself from the Tomcat and launched, sending it cleanly into the plane's tail. Regaining control after pushing into a nose dive, Rhapsody leveled out and chased an A-10 strafing a group of Leopard tanks. The heavy cannon on the A-10's nose roared so loud, Rhapsody could just barely hear it though, even as it tore through the sand and more than a few armored vehicles and soldiers.

It barely noticed her until it had taken a volley of cannon fire into its fuselage. But it kept flying, making Rhapsody remember just how durable those damn things really were. Gritting her teeth, Rhapsody pulled herself up behind the A-10, who was now aware he was being shot at. He pushed down, relying on his fighter's greater maneuverability at low altitudes. Rhapsody didn't have much of an advantage there, and broke off in favor of Mythic soaring right for the A-10's cockpit. A missile launched from his Typhoon and struck the attacker dead on. "Boom! Headshot!"

"If only you shot that good on the range," Amethyst chided.

"You're one to talk, Ms. 'I don't know what recoil is and broke my nose because of it'," Mythic shot back.

"That was one time!"

"Phantom! On your six!"

The crystal mare turned and squeaked almost adorably as she pulled her hornet into a steep climb, letting a volley of heavy rounds fly under her. "That was from an A-10! That pilot is either brave or dumb," Sprig commented.

"Wait, an A-10 is engaging in a dogfight?" Rhapsody remarked. "I gotta see this! Take him out Phantom!"

"Working on it!" Amethyst bit back. She twisted the lithe fighter left and right, using her superior maneuvering at higher altitude to an advantage. The A-10, unlike the Tornado, was not suited for dogfighting. She easily looped herself around behind the A-10 that tried to match her movements and sent a pair of missiles directly into the tail, sending it spiraling into the sea.

"Nice one, Phantom," Mythic commented. He then grinned, adding, "Maybe you can shoot."

"Oh hush."

"Hi, how are ya?"

The gryphon turned around and Babs bashed her rifle's butt into his beak, swinging the rifle around and shooting the two other gryphons in the room. Beside her a pair of Saddle Arabians were restraining the gunner crews of the pillbox. Through her radio, Babs could hear that her fellow marines were either beating down the gryphons or, as she saw at the next pillbox, just throwing in grenades and letting the explosion sort it out.

"This! Is! For! The! Empire!" A young crystal soldier shouted as he repeatedly punched a gryphon in the face.

"Private, I think he got the memo," Babs chided. "You mind letting him up to breathe?"

The crystal stood up, kicking the gryphon in the stomach before regarding the Master Sergeant with an expression that bordered on disgust. "Should just shoot him, do the world a favor."

Babs frowned hard as she glared at the Crystal. "It's that kind of talk that makes the gryphons hate us, Private. They call us warmongers, and you're proving them right acting like this."

"Can't say I blame him, Sarge," the hippogriff nearby cut in as he tended to a wounded soldier. "The Empire was hurt the worst of all of us. I say let him vent."

"And I say we need to remember what our job is! Secure this position and hold it. Still got a ways to go." Babs gave one last glare to the crystal private before stepping outside to give her report.

Rhapsody pulled her Tomcat up behind another A-10, just noticing a second pull up beside it. It was then joined by another as the pushed down and began firing their guns. She wasted little time with her remaining missiles once she had a lock. Mythic and another pilot from Windigo wing joined her sides and fired as well. The three made a domino effect almost as they exploded in sync and crashed into the beach just short of the column of ground forces looking for cover.

"Sky Gazer, confirm number of A-10s," Rhapsody called.

There was a quick moment of silence before Scootaloo replied back. "Confirmed splash on all targets. The ground forces are clear and proceeding forward. Beachheads secured, mission complete. And good shot you three."

"Thanks Sky Gazer." She pulled up and away to form up with Ghost Wing.

"... Yes, thank you." Rear Admiral Pippington, or Pipsqueak to his friends, adjusted his cap and looked out on the beach, hanging up the phone. He then picked up the nearby radio to speak to the whole of the forces. "This is Rear Admiral Pippington aboard the AEGIS Ship Midnight. Captain Blitz was caught in the firing from the attacker squadron. Whilst we will give the dead a proper service when we have time, Colonel Applejack is now in full command of the ground forces on the beaches until further notice."

"Sir," his communications Petty Officer announced, "The Colonel sends her thanks to the air support, and doubly for the Tomcat that saved her column."

Applejack hung up her radio and exhaled heavily. As she looked, gryphons were being rounded up and herded to a central point on the beach. They had managed to set up temporary tents where Applejack and her senior officers were setting up further plans for the invasion of the mainland. Since the weather was letting up and the waves were calming, naval diving crews had been tasked with salvaging anything and everything from the sunken hovercrafts that never made it to shore. Maps had been laid out along with an assortment of measuring tools. With it all in place, the Colonel began to gather her officers -

"BEACH PARTY!!"

An ear shattering explosion rocked the central beach as Applejack turned, her ears swiveled downwards and her tail clinging to her leg, as if trying to hide itself. Blinking, she was confronted by a mass of confetti and a number of large mobile gun platforms launching from hovercrafts. They were painted the standard color, along with a few pieces of the armor painted a pink the same color as their commanding officer.

The lead most had Pinkie riding on the cannon itself of one of the guns, waving her helmet in the air and cheering madly. The muzzle was smoking and there were now several blankets and umbrellas set up on the beach near the water. A number of troops, wearing pink colored helmets whooped and hollered as their boots hit ground. A number of them even had surfboards as they charged for the waves.

"Is she insane?" a Saddle officer asked incredulously to the Colonel.

Applejack just grinned and shook her head, her first real smile in over a month. "No. She's just being Pinkie Pie."

Chapter 13

"Found the bloody thing!" Sprig cried as she entered the showers.

The three mares turned and saw their hippogriff companion re-enter the shower. Rhapsody smirked and tilted her head, stretching out a wing so the flow of water could get right at the joint so she could work in the special soap she used for her feathers. Being gentle with the cloth, she asked, "Where was it?"

Sprig turned her respective nozzle back on and doused her face for a few moments, replying simply, "Was in the locker room on the floor. Few of the boys from Rapier got it for me."

"Wait they... saw you?" Amethyst murmured, partially trying to hide herself from her friends behind the shower column.

"Of course they didn't. I had a towel on," Sprig muttered. "I do have standards... but gave them a good tail flip for their trouble."

"You're such a tease," Rhapsody prodded, good-naturedly.

It had been going rather easy for the 14th Tactical since moving to a base captured a few days ago in the northern Minotaur Principality. Having been liberated by the Royal Canterlot Dragoon armored forces, the Minotaur were more than happy to provide lodging for their great rescuers. Though they still spoke on how they were getting ready to start their offensive on the Gryphons in a matter of weeks; the Minotaur were known for their bombastic declarations and often went to great lengths to display and maintain their strength.

Rhapsody and the rest of Ghost Wing had been gaining a reputation as of late as fierce fighter pilots, but much of the praise was on the leader. She didn't know why, but the sea green pegasus mare was relayed several messages from battlefield commanders giving their sincerest thanks to the "Tomcat pilot with the Ghost insignia". It made her blush a little, but Rhapsody for the most part just returned the gratitude with a "you're welcome" and got on with life. Sometimes fame just wasn't good for people.

And Rhapsody didn't like attention focused on her.

A sponge suddenly was whipped at her head, making her wince in surprise. "Quit zoning out, mate. You'll use all the hot water again."

Sprig turned out to be the culprit, and earned a good splash of water Rhapsody accumulated on her wing before flinging it at the hippogriff. She squawked and did the same. They shared a few splashes before a pair of sponges were thrown at them both, making them both shout in surprise. Turning, they spotted Ditzy and Amethyst staring back at them, wide-eyed. With a quick glance at each other, they pointed fingers. "She did it!" they cried in unison.

Rhapsody and Sprig shared a gaze and grinned, giving a subtle nod before they pounced.

"No kidding?"

Soarin nodded at Mythic. "The whole damn thing! I swear, those pies were the best."

The grey stallion stared incredulously at the sky blue stallion. "A whole pie. The whole thing, you enjoyed it, and you didn't try to take this mare to bed?"

Soarin shrugged. "I'm a pilot. She became a tank commander. Besides, after meeting Dash at the wedding, I found out who I really wanted to be with," the now Major Soarin replied.

Mythic shifted his towel over to the other shoulder, the soft cotton slapping his wing with a light smack. He chuckled to himself as they headed for the showers. It was the two stallions' first real time to bathe since taking the air base a couple weeks ago. Every other time had been a couple minutes in and out. This time, they can actually -

"Hear that?" Soarin suddenly said.

Mythic pulled himself from his musings and stopped. They had just entered the bathing room. Inside were their lockers for their flight uniforms and helmets, as well as a number of first aid boxes. But the noises, something was going on. Soarin and Mythic took a look where it was coming from, quickly analyzing the situation. There was a fight going on. Needing no further instruction, the Major and the Lieutenant shoved open the door ready to -

Flare their wings at the sight.

The four mares immediately ceased their actions, looking at the two newcomers. Rhapsody's rose eyes had bulged as she held Ditzy's arm in a light lock as she was pinned to the floor, straddling her waist, whilst the grey mare was reaching back with her arms tugging at Rhapsody's soaked mane. Sprig and Amethyst were in a similar position, except the crystal pony was blushing furiously to the point where her cheeks were darker than her namesake coat. The hippogriff had her quarry in a leg lock that was... much wider than it should have been. All four were soaked, with the shower water still spraying their bodies.

The six exchanged glances and silence rang as the two stallions stared. Their wings were outstretched almost painfully as Sprig began to laugh. Rhapsody bit her lip, failing to stop herself. "It's exactly what it looks like," the sea-green mare announced.

"What!?" Ditzy cried.

Nothing else was said as the door slammed shut.

Mythic and Soarin stared at the doorknob, their expressions blank. They had just seen... they had just -

"I need a drink," Soarin announced, nonchalantly, already moving away from the door.

"I'll join you, sir."

Twilight looked over the maps once again. And once again, she ran a hand through her mane. She could swear it was getting greyer. "You're sure?" she asked her second.

Trixie nodded and tapped her finger on a few points. "This is the fastest route through, but the amount of power Gryphnia has in the area is unfathomable. It's... literally a fortress. They have a naval station, an air base just twenty miles away from a VTOL plateau. You can see here and here," she thrust her finger at a number of mountain spots, "They've hollowed out the plateaus to create hangars."

"What could they be housing? Or... should I even ask?" Twilight inquired.

Trixie stuck her tongue into her cheek. "Gunships, utility choppers, maybe even VTOL fighters. If we tried to move our forces through it, those aircraft would destroy us completely. We'd be set back for weeks."

"And we'll lose a huge number of troops we can't replace soon enough," Twilight added.

A yeoman entered with some tea, giving them some respite to their planning that, while Twilight was under the impression that even with Trixie's help would only take a couple hours, had begun to take up the better half of the day. Before them was a map a U-2 spy plane had managed to take pictures of. It depicted a large plateau, four major areas that were highlighted and circled as high value targets; a naval base, a resupply base, a VTOL airfield, and a standard air force base. All of which were armed and defended to the teeth.

They needed to formulate a plan to get through it, and armored forces would take too long. And the casualties would escalate too quickly. They could do it, with precise timing and even more precise execution, but in the end they would still be outmatched and outgunned while they tried to get troops to reinforce the positions.

But Trixie had a plan of her own.

"What about a full blown air assault," the powder blue unicorn mare asked. "A massive attack around, say... twenty strong. Send them in to soften up the opposition and then send in the army to mop up any further resistance."

Twilight nodded, but still held her frown. Trixie grimaced, but before she could say a word, Twilight confirmed her fears. "That was a plan I thought of, which is, despite how it sounds, our best course of action, but..." She then brought up a transparent map of the Equis continent, and then another slide with a large, red circle. Within the said circle, was the plateau, and the focal point of it was right in the middle of Gryphnia.

"Our biggest problem with that plan..."

"... Is the fact that Sky Breaker is in effective range of this plateau."

Murmurs of doubt and fear took hold of the two dozen pilots that had assembled in the room. In front of them was a map of the intended battlefield, however, there was a red, curved line going just beyond it to the west. This entire airspace was under the guard of Sky Breaker, the Gryphnia super weapon that had been tearing AEGIS air power to shreds.

Soarin and Rainbow Dash managed to get things under control though, and the cyan mare continued. "The thing is we know how to avoid it. It's dangerous, but Sky Breaker can be avoided by flying at two-thousand feet."

"That makes us vulnerable to small arms fire and anyone on the ground feeling bold enough to take us out," Shavul of Timberwolf protested.

"Not to mention enemy fighters since our maneuvering options will be limited," Rhapsody added.

Soarin shrugged heavily. "Look, this is our best and fastest option to carve a major path into Gryphnian held territories, and the brass is calling in a major air raid on this fortress. We can't try bombings, they're too dug in for that, and bombers move to slow to get away from Sky Breaker. And their fortified enough that we can't fly our troops over it and it'd take too long to go around."

"We could try going underneath them. Tunnel our way through like in that one mov-" Mythic stopped mid-sentence when all eyes suddenly turned to him. The grey pegasus stallion looked around and smiled good-humoredly and shrugged. "Just offering a suggestion."

Sprig huffed. "Not even going to tell you to shut up, mate."

"At any rate-" Soarin tried to continue.

"Hey that rhymes!"

"Shut up Mythic! We're going to be flying to this fortress and knocking out as many of their installations as we can. There're enough of you that you can individually target one area, but take time to flow to other areas that need assistance." Soarin switched off the projector and raised the screen while Dash flipped the lights back on. "And for Celestia's sake, do everything in your power to avoid Sky Breaker. Don't think they won't fire because they have aircraft up as well. Dismissed."

"Shame they cancelled the World Series game," the first gryphon said as he read the morning paper he managed to snatch from one of the grounds crew. Being squadron commander though allowed such sneaky tactics to go unpunished.

His wingman kicked the pinball machine as he lost another pair of bits to the damnable contraption, but he'd try again later. The hippogriffs may have been huge rivals to the Gryphons, but damn it if they didn't make an addictive game like pinball! "Can you blame them?" he asked. "War engulfing the whole continent, and the game was supposed to be held in Sahurma, which we control, do you think they want to play a game held in the grip of conflict?"

The first frowned, his beak clacking. "No I suppose not." He continued reading the sports section. It wasn't large. Ever since the war broke out, sports games, save for local teams competing, have since been cancelled. International games were on hold until the war was over, which made many a fan depressed, him included. And he'd been stationed in this blasted plateau for the better half of the year, barely having taken off on a sortie.

He flipped to the local defense pages and tilted his head. An F-14A Tomcat was pitched over, revealing a ghostly horse insignia on the tail as it was dropping bombs on a beach head... a beach head that was only a couple days from them. He leaned his head back and frowned deeply. "Take a look at this."

His wingman trudged over, losing another four bits to the blasted machine and looked over his flight lead's shoulder. "Hey, that looks like the ghost fighter that took down the Admiral's ship. Also one that, rumor has it, damaged a Meteor."

"Ghost fighter... seems appropriate, somehow."

The air raid siren blared. Both gryphons looked at each other and the newspaper was quickly thrown to the side as then bolted out the door and took flight to the airfield.

"AWACS Sky Gazer to all AEGIS aircraft. Be advised we are in Sky Breaker's effective range. Be careful, everypony, they may fire."

"Noted, Sky Gazer," Rhapsody replied as she locked her oxygen mask. "Ready Specter?"

Ditzy grinned behind her mask and rubbed her hands together. "Always, Wraith."

"Alright, orders are to split up and cause as much damage to the fortress structure as possible to lighten up resistance to our ground forces."

With nothing further to say, the attacking fighters split off. Rhapsody watched as three A-10s and a pair of F-15Cs broke to the left, possibly to assault the naval base and supply depot. To her right, two F-117s and four F/A-18s peeled in the direction of the airfield. She guessed that left ghost with the VTOL air base. All but Mythic were laden down with ground attack munitions, the grey stallion keeping his long-range anti-air missiles.

Coming over the VTOL base, she heard a gasp from the other side of the battlefield. "No wonder bombing raids wouldn't work. This place is a natural fortress!"

The lone Tomcat, her two Hornets, and single Typhoon banked and headed north by northeast to the plateau. There was oddly light resistance, only a pair of MiG-29s that Mythic took out from a distance. Going to full afterburner, Rhapsody and her friends soon made it to the designated area. But as she looked, there hardly even seemed to be any enemy structures, let alone aircraft.

"Shade here," Mythic called. "I don't see anything."

"Shade, they see you!" Amethyst cried.

Rhapsody watched and her eyes widened. An AV-8B Harrier was lifting off from a giant hole in the ground, it had locked onto Mythic and fired. Mythic yelped shrilly and banked to the right. The missiles flew by, and the harrier pilot picked up the pace behind him. But while versatile, Harriers were only subsonic. Sprig was able to rake the side with her cannon, hitting the thrust vents and sending the fighter into a deadly spiral to the ground. The pilot ejected however and took wing towards the air base to the south.

"Heads up! More are coming out of the plateau!" Ditzy yelled.

Rhapsody banked a couple times, avoiding cannons and missiles as more and more AV-8Bs sprung from seemingly nowhere and took off after them. But from the few times they were able to look inside the depressions in the plateau, not all of the fighters, and several gunships, had taken off. Rhapsody had a plan, but she needed to shake this harrier off her flanks. She dove into the canyon, the harrier keeping pace. Wraith was unable to outrun the pilot, since going too fast meant smacking into the side of the mountain.

But when she saw an opening, she throttled up and banked hard to the right, circling the plateau. "He's raising altitude!" Ditzy announced from behind her.

It was a serious risk, but this time it should be fine.

The gryphon pilot had adjusted his harrier to a stationary position above the short plateau, slowly spinning to keep the F-14 in his crosshairs. Already, he had gotten a missile lock and wasted no time pulling the trigger. It flew off the rail, yet it was too wide. He swore at failing to remember, a Harrier can't target accurately standing still! But just as he was about to push back into flight, the Tomcat charged right for him, letting a missile fly. He shrieked and pulled back -

Exposing the belly to a direct missile strike.

Ditzy winced when the Harrier exploded in midair and fell back to the ground in a fireball. "That had to hurt," she muttered.

"It's why I don't like VTOLs," Rhapsody commented.

"All planes! Four rounds from Sky Breaker! ETA thirty seconds!" Sky Gazer cried. "Drop below two-thousand feet to avoid being hit."

"Dive for the deck!" Shavul called. "One hit from one of those and you're toast!"

"How are we supposed to avoid that? Fly through the mountains?" Wheatfield asked incredulously.

Rhapsody didn't listen to the conversation further, pushing down towards the ground. Her altimeter showed fourteen-hundred feet, so she kept her altitude and looked up high. "Here they come!" Sky Gazer called after a bit. "Ten seconds to impact!"

"I'm still on my attack run! I can't make it!" Wheatfield cried.

"Eight!"

Shavul screamed, "Forget your attack run! You'll get killed!"

"Five!"

"Bombs away! Diving for the river!"

"... Two, impact NOW!"

The sky tore open, shattered by a beautiful display of colors before shaking the very air to a near earthquake in the sky. Rhapsody grit her teeth as the sky around her shook violently, her heart sinking as several clouds, the innocent wisps shattered with Sky Breaker's fury. The air was completely clear of clouds now, and with a sigh after all four rounds had passed, Rhapsody pulled up back into an attack run.

"Everypony okay?" Amethyst asked.

"Shade here, I'm okay."

"Banshee, good to go."

"Wraith and Specter, we're still here."

Sky Gazer then announced, "Gryphnia ended up downing three of their own aircraft. But they took down a couple of ours."

"Windigo One here. I think they learned a new trick. They come up from below and try to force us up and stay up so we can't avoid Sky Breaker."

Rhapsody frowned, remembering Lightning Dust and how she was forced upwards and was struck dead on by the Gryphnian super weapon. But now she knew the tactic, and shelved it in her mind as she pulled up and locked her eyes on one of the holes in the plateau. "Specter, hold on to something."

"What're you- whoa!"

The Tomcat turned straight up, Rhapsody pushing into full power until she reached ten thousand feet and then braked. The fighter flipped over till it was nose first towards the ground. Reusing a trick she had initiated when sinking that battleship, she angled herself till she was level enough. Her reticule encompassed the hole and she let two bombs fall. She didn't stay to watch the impact, immediately pulling her stick to level out. The g-forces strained her body and hurt her wings, but she managed to get straightened out.

Looking to her left, she saw Sprig and Amethyst launching their anti-ship missiles. While deadly against ships, they were especially useful here. They flew straight until they were over the target and then curved downward to strike their targets on the top. The two hornets pulled up and Rhapsody saw a fierce glow from where the missiles struck. One of them must've ignited an ammo dump.

This lasted a few more minutes, Rhapsody performing her nose dive attack while the two others coordinated a joint attack. Mythic continued to fly top cover, shooting down Harriers and the gunships that got bold enough to shoot at his "harem". At last, the VTOL air base was taken down, and Gryphnia lost all of their harriers and gunships in the area. That should lighten the hassle for ground forces.

"Wraith to Sky Gazer, could I get -"

"All planes!" Sky Gazer suddenly shouted. "Another wave from Sky Breaker. Same as before, but don't pull up for anything!"

Rhapsody saved her question for later and dove down. Same as before, Sky Gazer counted down to impact of the four rounds. Rhapsody turned and saw her friends joining up beside her. There were a few scattered gunboats and watch towers they dispatched easily, but they kept their altitude to avoid the blasts. Finally, with an ear-shattering roar, the massive attack impacted where the fighting was heavy.

When it had finally subsided, Ghost Wing pulled back up and formed up. "Sky Gazer, Wraith here. Could I get a sit rep?"

"Acknowledged." Sky Gazer was silent for a few moments. "The VTOL airbase is confirmed destroyed. That should ease our ground forces' advance. The Resupply Base is also down. I can see the flames from here."

"Got Timberwolf to thank for that!" Shavul cried. A few cheers rang up in agreement.

"Ghost Wing, the Submarine pens are giving Windigo and Saber a hard time. Head on over to back them up."

"Copy that," Wraith pulled the stick to the west and jammed her throttle forward. "Ghost Wing, let's punch it!"

"C'mon! Get those fires out!"

Gryphons flew like mad around the submarine base. AEGIS fighters were laying waste to the area, and they had only managed to bring down a few. No prisoners though; they were either exploding into fireballs into the ground, the mountainsides, or simply crashing into the rivers. The Sergeant ground his beak and he flew towards a nearby AA gun, the operator had been killed by a hail of gunfire that had managed to only knock-out the driver. He grabbed the seat and angled the sights up. A Nighthawk was making an attack run, but dove behind a mountain just as he opened fire. He turned and caught sight of an F-15E beginning its own strafing run.

He opened fire, the gun spewing its heavy lead bullets at the Strike Fighter. They struck hard tearing open the fuselage and sending the AEGIS plane down in flames. He yelled his triumph, throwing a fist into the air and began firing on a pair of F/A-18Cs heading in from the east. Narrowing his eyes, he opened fire, sending the two splitting off -

Revealing an F-14A that began to bear down on him. His shoulders slumped.

"Just... everything. Fu-"

Rhapsody pulled the trigger and sent a hail of gunfire at the AA gun. Sparks and chunks of the ground tore up the area around it. She didn't let up until she saw the gun itself burst into flames. Pulling up, she locked a missile onto a nearby building and let loose. It flew true and impacted the structure, but did no damage.

"We tried that before, Wraith," Shavul suddenly announced. "You have to strike it from the front."

"Copy that," Rhapsody replied. She banked, narrowly clipping a SAM site and curved around the mountain side. Diving low, and sending a missile into a gunboat, she kept her altitude low and angled her attack on one of the sub pens. When she had a good angle, she switched to her bombs and pulled up, sending one directly into the pen. The explosion enveloped the pen and tore a hole into the submarine. Curving around, she angled herself down and sent her last bomb into the deck of a container ship trying to leave the base.

Her missile alert suddenly blared and she pulled up. An enemy hornet had taken her into his sights, forcing her up into the air. Past the clouds, she resumed her climb and flipped back, the hornet letting a torrent of cannon fire erupt from the nose. She narrowly avoided it, but earned a few grazes along the wings of her Tomcat. Rhapsody pulled back into a level path, she and Ditzy craning their necks to see where the pilot was. Another alarm blared just then.

"Incoming from Sky Breaker! You know the drill. Dive for the deck!"

Rhapsody was about to do just that when a pang on her right wing forced her to look back. The Hornet pilot had angled himself directly under her. Forcing her to pull up. But she then looked down at her altimeter.

Ten-thousand feet.

Her sea green fur turned white as the clouds around her. The warning alarms blared and she couldn't do anything. "Fifteen seconds to impact!" Sky Gazer called. Rhapsody grit her teeth hard, to the point she thought they would shatter.

"Wraith..?" Ditzy called, as if asking for a plan. Rhapsody looked left and right, narrowly avoiding another barrage before the missile warning erupted in the cockpit.

"Ten seconds to impact!"

"Wraith! Dive!"

"Get out of there!"

Rhapsody exhaled heavily. She had an idea, but if she was going to have even a slight chance, she'd have to go now. An alarm blared for a missile fired - Rhapsody flipped the stick so the Tomcat was on its back and pulled hard, kicking in her throttle. The engines roared as Rhapsody and Ditzy were sent nose first towards the ground. The g-forces began to push.

Eight thousand feet.

"Wraith..?" Amethyst started.

The hornet followed behind. "Ten seconds!"

Rhapsody grit her teeth. This was going to require serious timing. One error would send her hurtling into the ground.

"Wraith..?" Mythic called.

Six thousand feet.

Another missile warning. "Five seconds!"

Three thousand feet. The missile fired. "WRAITH!" Ditzy screamed.

Rhapsody pulled the stick back with all her strength. The Tomcat shrieked as it desperately tried to level out. She pulled back her throttle and threw her brakes into action. Her flaps pushed the fighter hard to a near stall. The g-forces pushed both she and Ditzy back into their seats; Rhapsody feared her wings would snap. Gritting her teeth harder, she kept pulling. The airframe shuddered but her sturdy fighter pulled out of its steep dive.

Three hundred feet.

"Impact, NOW!"

Sky Breaker's explosions rocketed from beyond and hit the area. The F/A-18C behind her was gone when she looked behind. But when she turned her eyes forward, she yelped and pulled her left. The same hornet was a fireball on its way to the ground, slamming into the river Rhapsody was now flying along while heading south.

Finally, the explosions subsided and both Wraith and Specter were allowed to breathe. Heaving a sigh, Rhapsody looked back to check on her co-pilot. Ditzy huffed hard and shook her head. "Rhapsody... never – ever – do that again."

Rhapsody smirked behind her mask and pulled up, seeing her friends join up beside her. "Fancy flying, Wraith," Shavul commented. "Maneuvers like that are a good way to get you both killed."

"It worked, didn't it?" the pegasus mare asked snidely. There was an uncomfortable silence from her wing, so she sighed. "Alright, it won't happen again."

"Sky Gazer here," Scootaloo called. "All enemy bases have been neutralized. Our ground forces should have an easier time getting through here. Mission accomplished. All aircraft RTB."

Mythic soared next to Rhapsody's cockpit just as the latter removed her oxygen mask. He looked towards her and held up three numbers with his fingers. Rhapsody held up her thumb and changed her radio frequency so that only her Wing could hear. "You ladies think that something really big is about to happen?" he said after he was sure they were the only ones speaking on the channel.

Rhapsody looked back at Ditzy, who gave a light shrug. The nose of Sprig's Hornet soon came into view as Wraith looked at Mythic. "I know for a fact something is about to happen, and it'll be big."

"How do you know, Sprig?" Amethyst asked.

"The base of my tail itches when I got a vibe something is going on. And it's usually something beneficial."

Mythic suddenly giggled. "Need some help with that itch?"

Sprig scoffed. "Oh please..."

"Ah c'mon! You said you get vibes. I can really make those - "

"Mythic!" Rhapsody cried with a laugh.

"What? You getting the itch too, Captain?" Mythic inquired. Rhapsody could almost see the coy smirk from the cockpit of the Typhoon.

"You're not going anywhere near my tail!" she called.

"I think he's still excited about the view he got earlier. Admit it, Mythic! You liked seeing me more than her," Sprig teased.

"I can take you both, you know. I've seen it before that you don't like to be held down." Rhapsody blushed a little, remembering when Mythic and Soarin had walked into the wrong showers back at the base. He had seen their "compromising" position. "Unless of course... the itch is something else..."

Before Rhapsody could respond, Sprig's hornet had taken up position directly behind Mythic. "Captain, permission to fire."

Rhapsody grinned and pulled up, forcing Sprig to squawk and pull up. "I outrank you. I get to shoot first."

"I can shoot both of you, if you'd like. If you know what I mean." Mythic laughed. Rhapsody blushed furiously again. Sprig waved at her and had a grin coursing her beak.

"On five?" She asked.

"On three," Rhapsody corrected.

Mythic suddenly thrust forward, his afterburners burning bright. "I was kidding! I was kidding! I WAS KIDDING!"

"Get him!"

Rhapsody and Sprig shot forward, the Tomcat and the Hornet vying for a position. Amethyst sighed and shook her head.

"I should've been a baker..."

Author's Note

I was a little concerned about the opening to this chapter breaching the Teen rating... I tried to set the scene without being graphic and leave it to the reader's imagination as to the moment. I guess since I haven't heard anything from moderators, editors, or other readers, I'd say it's acceptable enough.

Just wanted to get that off my chest.

Chapter 14

The bitter cold air rushed through the feathers of the guards. They were a small group, keeping watch for the security soldiers that were regularly checking the airport terminals. There were many dealings and skepticism about Gryphnia needing an airport, born to the air as they naturally were. But the same argument was put forward as to why they needed an air force. Some gryphons had a hard time flying, and even more could not travel such distances. With the length of travel time shortened, Gryphnia adopted its own airport system to coincide with the rest of the continent.

Of course now, with the break out of the war, the airport had been silenced of civilian travel to the other nations, much as the rest of the continent had. This kept gryphons confined to local travel, although limited even then. Nothing was truly stirring at this hour, save for the airport personnel who had sufficient clearance. The rest were military personnel and a number of air force fighters and their pilots. The latter of which was sleeping instead of their usual of staying up and causing a ruckus at the terminal bars.

It was late though now, and there was hardly a thing stirring. The security guards were making their rounds, but proceeded normally. There was a light bit of frost and snow on the windows that allowed view to the tarmac and the runways which made the airport for a rather cheerful site to behold.

But now, it was about to become a possible battlefield.

With a subtle wave of his claws, the first guard, who had been hiding from the patrolling soldiers which passed into the security checkpoint, ordered the mass group of civilians further into the terminal. He gave a whisper to a few other guards who nodded and silently went after the soldiers to neutralize them. The civilians however, almost a hundred strong, kept themselves as quiet as possible. Whole families, mothers, children, infants, elders, all kept themselves low and silent.

The lead guard looked up to make sure the lights on the cameras were out, showing they had been deactivated. Seeing they were, he once again waved forward for the families to move forward. Looking out the large, frost covered windows, he saw their two large passenger jet liners waiting at their gates, the boarding ramps attached and ready for takeoff. It had taken some bribes, threats, and altogether dicey negotiations with the airport personnel, but these two had been secured for transport.

Giving a swift nod, the pilots, co-pilots, and flight attendants sprinted forward and down the ramps to prepare the planes. With no luggage, this should be a fairly simple flight. They had forgone the drinks and food, deciding this needed to be done swiftly and quietly, and without attention from the guards. Civilian airliners had often been flown further into the country for inspections, so the hope was that this would not arouse enough suspicion.

Virgil's two colleagues once again join him, keeping their eyes on any possible ambush points in case they were compromised. "Is the tower secure?" he whispered.

The first nodded. "Bravo called in as we were coming back. They are knocked out and dragged into the closet at the bottom of the tower as planned."

"We also knocked out some of the grounds crews. Military eyes have also been neutralized," said the second. Virgil didn't need to know 'how' neutralized, just that they were.

Taking a look out the side, he heard the shrill whining of the turbines coming to life and the lights beginning to flash. Standing up, Virgil fiercely waved his claws at the civilians. "Go!" he hissed. Needing no further urging, the group moved out, half going to one plane and the rest to the other. Less than an another hour, and they'd all be taking off. With any luck, they would be airborne and on their way to Equestria.

Splitting his guards into two groups, they boarded the planes along with the civilians, Virgil himself boarding the lead most plane. After making sure everyone was secured and buckled in, he gave a quick knock on the cockpit door. "Get us out of here," he muttered to the pilots. He looked back to the boarding ramp and gave a salute to his troops who would be staying behind. They returned it and activated the controls to pull away from the plane. As Virgil sealed the door, the flight attendants gave their usual, if paraphrased instructions, and they seated themselves and the two planes began to taxi. Virgil gave a sigh of relief, letting his rifle lean against the wall before looking out the side window.

A pair of guards were emerging from a side passage, alerted by the start-up of the turbines, and stared at the planes. One of them suddenly grabbed his radio and yelled into it. Virgil hissed when he saw them take wing towards the control tower, already spotting muzzle flashes. "King's forgive you, boys," he whispered to his troops in the tower as the lead plane made it to the runway.

Within minutes, both were taking off and climbing. And according to the cockpit, so were a number of fighters.

Rhapsody continued bobbing her head to the music. Being a boring air patrol so far, they opted to break regulation for a few minutes to listen to the local music relayed by the AWACS. Scootaloo had agreed to let it slide in return for letting her and the rest of the crew of AWACS have a chance listen to it as well. Aside for an occasional grunt from Sprig on the other side of the patrol zone of boredom, and a number of cheesy jokes from Mythic, it was a quiet run through the sky.

Taking a moment to look out, Wraith decided to gaze at the clouds that hovered lazily in the air. Giving her control stick a tilt, she let the wingtip of her Tomcat brush through one, creating a slow ripple. After a soft chuckle she returned her fighter to autopilot and leaned herself back and flexed her wings a little. At times, she hated flying in a fighter. Her wings were scrunched in and her tail flapped itself between her hooves. Though short and cropped, as per military standards for mane and tail cuts, it provided enough of an annoyance to be noticeable.

With a quick glance back, she heard one of their favorites begin to play. She gave her thumb a few jerks up and Ditzy turned up the volume, though with plenty of space to hear their radios in their helmets. When it reached the chorus, Rhapsody couldn't help herself but sing along...

"And I'm just hangin' on, while this ol' world keeps spinning!"

"And it's good to know it's out of my control."

Scootaloo shook her head with a smile as she listened to Rhapsody's karaoke. Not a bad singing voice, but really, she needed to stick to the harp like her cutie mark suggests. Leaning back, she gave her wings a few good flaps to give them a stretch along with her arms. It was going to be a long day after all.

"Hey Scoots!" Rumble suddenly called.

Scootaloo finished her arm stretches and relaxed. "What's up?"

The light grey stallion jabbed a finger at his console. "I've got two civilian airliners from out of Gryphnia shouting a distress call over all the channels. They're looking for any AEGIS aircraft in the vicinity."

Scootaloo pursed her lips and slid over to Rumble's station, putting the headset on. She tapped a few buttons and adjusted a dial before speaking. "This is Equestrian Royal Air Force Airborne Warning and Control System Sky Gazer, state the nature of your intentions." Static suddenly greeted her. She frowned and hissed. "AWACS Sky Gazer to Gryphnian civilian aircraft, respond!"

Static was her answer for a few moments until a voice cut through. "This is King's Airways Flight 601. We are under attack by Gryphnian fighters and are requesting support."

"This is Gryphnian Continental Flight 230. We are together and he's telling the truth! We need help!"

Scootaloo tilted her head back and looked at Rumble, who shrugged and shook his head. "No idea. Could be a trap, but I heard some screaming. This could be legit."

The mare bit her lips and turned back to the console. "Flight 601, this is Sky Gazer. We'll need an accurate assessment of the situation and of the nature of your current - "

"We are being shot at by our own air force! How's that for an accurate assessment?" the pilot shouted, nearly knocking Scootaloo out of her seat. A few blinks later, the speaker continued. "I've got civilians onboard and... um..." he stopped, causing Scootaloo to purse her lips and wave her hand in a circle for him to continue."Look our situation is dire and we've got information and scientists onboard who can be an incredible help to AEGIS."

The two pegasi shared a look of disbelief, but their concentration was cut short by what sounded like a massive crack and shouting in pain. Scootaloo pushed her attention back to the console. "Flight 601, do you copy?"

"We copy!" the voice replied loudly. "One of the fighters just let a hail of bullets tear into us. We're losing cabin pressure and need to desc- Agh!" He hissed in pain. "Shrapnel in my hand... I can't... ergh!"

"Gryphnian airliners, this is Sky Gazer, I've got patrolling aircraft in the area. I'm sending them to you now." Scootaloo pointed at Rumble and jerked her thumb to the back of the plane. He hurried off to relay the order. "Now... what kind of scientists?"

The Tomcat's engines roared and the radio had been shut off. Ditzy was now holding on for dear life as Rhapsody pushed her Tomcat as fast as she could get it. The wings had folded back as well, giving room for the small canards at the front to jut out.

"Sky Gazer here. Wraith, those planes are not out of the woods yet. The fighters that caused damage to them have backed off since they were out of fuel, but others are on the way. You need to hurry!"

"Wraith to Sky Gazer. I'm going supersonic. This bird is going as fast as she can!"

"Roger that. I've got contacts coming in fast!"

Rhapsody swore and narrowed her eyes. She was under orders to assist those airliners over the Equestria border where the local defense squadron would escort them to Canterlot. But that wasn't the primary source of her agitation. Gryphnian fighters were attacking civilian airplanes. Passenger aircraft had no way to defend themselves, let alone maneuver out of trouble. AEGIS may have been at war with Gryphnia, but it was against their military. She had no ire against the civilian population. As such, she was going as fast as she could to protect them.

The clouds had begun to move away from her, as if sensing her need to get to the area unhindered and also give her a clear view of the mountain range she was now flying over. As if right on cue, she saw two sets of flashing lights in the distance. Giving a small grin, Rhapsody pulled up into a high angle of attack.

"Sky Gazer here. Wraith, I've got a contact on radar. Lone fighter heading for the rear plane at high altitude. Be advised for other enemy aircraft."

"Roger that. I have visual on the bogey."

Pulling up just a little higher, Rhapsody got her finger on the trigger of her cannon. The reticule popped onto her HUD and she aimed it at the enemy fighter. The Hornet didn't seem to notice her, staying directly behind the airliner. The massive plane was weaving left and right, keeping the enemy fighter from getting a direct lock. The passengers had to have been getting sick by now, Rhapsody mused. Seeing little other opportunity, Rhapsody pulled up and to the right, aiming the reticule just past the hornet and opening fire.

Scores of hot lead and tracers shot forth and raked the nose of the fighter all the way to the engines. The fuselage then caught fire and a wing broke off, causing it to spin out of control to the mountains below.

"Wraith here, splash one!"

"Copy that, Wraith. More enemy contacts descending on the lead plane." She heard Scootaloo growl. "It's a sitting duck. Flight 601, can you raise altitude? This will assist the AEGIS fighter."

"Negative!" came a panicked voice over the radio. "We cannot maintain cabin pressure if we climb!"

"Wraith, they've got two enemy fighters coming up behind them! Take them out!"

With nothing else needing to be said, the sea green mare pushed down below the rear plane and caught sight of a pair of MiG-29s bearing down on the wounded plane. The first opened up with its cannon, aiming for one of the engines. The large airliner listed to the left to avoid, but a few struck the tip of the wing itself.

Gritting her teeth, Rhapsody decided to go with her missiles. With a high angle of attack, a single blip shot out from the bottom of her HUD and locked onto the lead MiG. Seemingly getting a missile lock warning, they split off. Rhapsody immediately pressed the button. One missile dropped from her plane and shot out to tail the enemy fighter just as she locked onto the second and fired. One of the missiles jerked a bit and slammed right into the fuselage of the first, but the second exploded just shy.

"Damn! But he's damaged."

"I got him!" Rhapsody looked out and smiled as an EF-2000 decorated with a sword with dragon heads on the hilt on the nose blasted the retreating MiG with a missile. "Sorry I'm late. Had to chase down a pair of Eagles."

"Sky Gazer here. Shade, pull up and cover 230 from enemy fighters!"

"Copy that. They better give me free peanuts for this."

"You won't get much of anything if we get shot down," a female gryphon's voice suddenly said. "But I'll remember your callsign the next time you fly with us."

"As long as I get a complimentary in-flight lapd-"

"Cut the chatter, Shade!" Rhapsody cried.

"More enemy planes coming in! Intercept before they reach 230!"

Mythic pulled up high, letting his delta wings catch the wind and brake his speed. This caused a short missile warning and the death shot flew right over him. It was followed by a pair of F-15Cs and a pair of MiG-29s. He pushed forward after them, arming a missile and firing immediately after a lock. The rearmost MiG disintegrated and caused his wingman to veer off... into a hail of cannon fire from Rhapsody.

As he watched, the Tomcat took up position beside him and the pair fired missiles jointly at the two Eagles also trying to get away.

"Take him into the back," the attendant said.

Virgil grunted in protest, but allowed himself to be guided into the back. As he walked down the aisle, he took note of the passengers. How terrified they must have been. Mothers cradled their children close to them while they were carefully guarded by the wings of their husbands and fathers. They didn't deserve this sort of fear struck into their hearts. And these children would be forever scarred by the rumbling of explosions and bullets outside their windows. He thanked whichever King was watching over them that the youngest would never understand what was happening right now.

"Close all the window shades! Don't let them see what's going on outside!" he shouted. The attendants and a number of volunteer passengers got up and began sliding the shades down on the windows. But as he looked outside, his vision was still sharp enough to make out two more fighters heading right for them at high speed. He swallowed hard. "Please tell me those are friendly..."

"We got here as soon as we could!" Amethyst announced.

The two F/A-18s pulled up into formation beside Rhapsody and Mythic.

"Banshee here," Sprig called. "Sky Gazer, any more bogeys on radar? My trigger claw is itching."

"Affirmative. It seems Gryphnia really doesn't want these guys to live across the border. We've got a total of six enemy fighters heading right for you."

"Six against four?" Amethyst whimpered. "That doesn't seem fair."

Mythic laughed heartily. "I agree. They should've brought a few more."

"Read my mind Shade," Sprig commented. "Hey, Wraith. You should have your phoenix missiles right?"

Rhapsody checked her armaments, forgetting she had four locked underneath her. Giving a light smile after sensing the hippogriff's intentions, Rhapsody pulled up ahead of the rest of the flight and armed them. "Affirmative. Switching to phoenixes."

Her HUD suddenly clicked and four blips shot up and locked onto four black spots amongst the clouds. Gritting her teeth, she pressed the button. "Wraith, fox three!"

Four loud thumps echoed underneath and were followed by four equally loud roars and smoke trails as they flew with breakneck speed to the horizon. Narrowing her eyes, she watched them all the way to their intended targets. Finally, after a few moments, she counted the blasts. Sky Gazer then called them in. "Splash one, two, three... fourth is damaged! Nice shot Wraith!"

"Ghost Wing," Rhapsody started. She suddenly pulled her stuck up and to the left, letting her squad mates fly under her. She grinned and finished, "Sick em'." Pulling into her turn and leveling out, she glanced back and saw Mythic, Sprig, and Amethyst's afterburners kick in and they flew directly for the enemy fighters. The fight was over in seconds, however. All her friends made one kill, taking down the last of the contacts.

Mere seconds later, Sky Gazer reported again. "The liners have made it out of the combat zone. All enemy contacts have been neutralized."
"We're free! We're alive!" came a voice shouting from one of the planes. Rhapsody allowed a smile as she could hear faint cheering from the other side of the radio. "This is Commander Virgil. Please thank those fighters."

Pushing her throttle up, she moved up beside one of the airliners near the cockpit. Tilting herself, she gave shifted her stick left and right, giving a wave to the large plane, which managed to do the same, albeit sluggishly because of the size and the damage it had sustained. Slowing herself down, she cruised right beside the passenger windows. As she looked a few young gryphons were opening the shades and looked out. She met their gaze and waved, which was returned in earnest, the young faces grinning through their beaks.

"Sky Gazer, this is Commander Sentry, callsign Lancer," a voice suddenly called. "Thank you for delivering them through the Gryphnian attack. We'll take over from here."

Ghost Wing was suddenly joined by a flight of six Rafale Ms, each bearing the royal defense squadron's insignia on the tail, the typical escorts for the royal family's private airliner. They began taking up positions around the airliners, the leader flying up beside Rhapsody, giving her a wave. "Nice work Ghost, we'll be sure these gryphons get to Canterlot safely and are escorted to their enclave."

The Gryphnian Enclave was a sanctuary for gryphons that were visiting or lived in Equestria. They lived other places, but were under constant scrutiny from the ponies. It was guarded by Canterlot royal guards on the outer walls and Gryphnian soldiers within. Days before the war broke out, back when Gryphnia was still saber rattling, Celestia was prepared to grant amnesty and asylum to those living there, but she was swiftly refused and Gryphon transport planes were permitted to evacuate the civilians to their native land. The same day the war broke out, the Princess ordered a lane of air vacated for the gryphon planes to land and take off upon loading all Equestrian Gryphons that demanded to be returned home.

"Roger that, Lancer. Ghost, our work is done. Let's head home," Rhapsody ordered. She pulled away from the airliners and the Royal Defense pilots to do their jobs. Ghost soon gathered into formation and they sped away to their air base in the Minotaur Principality. But on their way there, Amethyst suddenly spoke up after a few minutes.

"Just what was so vital about defending those planes?" she asked quietly.

Mythic then answered back. "I was wondering that myself. Guess they have really good peanuts?"

"Shade, I'm gonna shoot you, lad," Sprig suddenly.

The stallion chuckled. "Only if I get to return the favor. If you know what I mean, ah thank you!" The hippogriff groaned.

"Sky Gazer," Ditzy suddenly chimed. "What exactly did we just protect."

"Specter, it's not really what you protected, it's more of a who," Scootaloo answered, almost cryptically.

Rhapsody quirked her brow and looked back at the airliners, which were beginning to head further west. "Okay," she murmured. "Then who did we just protect?"

Her question was unanswered for a few moments, before Scootaloo sighed heavily. "You aren't really supposed to find that out yet, but it couldn't hurt, considering all you just did for them." Clearing her throat, the AWACS operator then concluded with an answer that left the five ponies of Ghost Wing in utter silence.

"Onboard those planes were the engineers for Sky Breaker."

Chapter 15

I stood on the sidewalk as a convoy of trucks rolled down the street. They were delivering bombs to the base. I was young, but I knew enough that an enemy that had to be fought by those means was close to the town indeed. The filly that I had started to grow more comfortable around was tense, as was her father. As members of the resistance, I could tell that things were getting more precarious for them and their operations.

A few short days later, the resistance blew up the runway. I was in Meteor Six's quarters, cleaning my harmonica when I heard the first one go off. The second was closer, knocking me from my chair and forcing me to look around outside. A third explosion cracked the windows, forcing me back down. When it sounded like things had quieted a bit, and the fire crews were rushing out to repair the damage, I stepped outside the trailer and peered around at the carnage. A gunshot to my left caused me to look and stare, and I watched a stallion fall to the ground. A pair of Gryphnian soldiers grabbed his arms and hauled his lifeless body away; no doubt the bombers, or at least one of them, had been caught. That's when I saw just how much damage had been done.

Meteor Eight had suffered light shrapnel wounds to his wings and left arm. Though the runway could easily be fixed to good as new in a matter of days, I noticed that the containers holding reserve supplies was in a smoking ruin. That was a heavy blow to them. Support from Fyrick's Logistics department had become infrequent following AEGIS's offensive operations to the south. I knew this as Meteor Squadrons crew chief was bellyaching it to me after he had dismissed a number of his subordinates to continue salvaging what could be.

"I don't mind buying a farm while I'm in the air," he had said once he stopped spilling the beans to me. "But I can't stand being taken out while I'm on the ground. A gryphon warrior belongs in the sky." I looked over at the runway when he finished, watching as Meteor Six came around the corner, scratching a puppy behind the ears. The thing looked happy as could be, before she set him down, telling him to go home. It didn't move, instead looking around. Suddenly it caught sight of me and ran all the way to my lap, licking my face.

As Six and I shared a smile and tried to come up with a name, a shockingly familiar siren blared through the base. And then the gryphon I recognized as Prince Carde, Meteor Seven, landed with a hard thud next to us.

"Six!" he cried. "AEGIS is launching on Sky Breaker! Command wants us airborne yesterday!"

Without another word, Six and Seven took wing to the runway. I couldn't blame her; she had a job to do now: fly her jet against allied pilots. The puppy and I ran to watch them take off, but then I realized something about their formation. Meteor Eight was on his way up with the others. With no bombs, and only a few missiles, his plane was rather light. It also was in bad shape, his engine needed to be replaced badly.

I frowned, finding myself wishing them a safe return.

"Attention!" the guard announced.

Lieutenant General Twilight pushed open the door, and the room almost immediately went silent, the gathered soldiers standing at attention and snapping to crisp salutes. "Carry on," she called, allowing them to return to their previous positions. Dressed in her typical violet uniform, but decorated in a multitude of medals and ribbons, Twilight was imposing in the analysis room of Canterlot Castle. While she may have been the focus of the room, the violet unicorn was not the most out of the ordinary sight in the room.

It was the three gryphons.

They were guarded by a pair of Canterlot Royal guards. Their grip on their M4s tightened every time somepony stepped by them, causing a few awkward glances. But when the General stepped up, they allowed her to approach. The lead gryphon stood up straight, eyeing Twilight intently. His beak fell a bit to a sort of frown. "General," he murmured, acknowledging her presence.

"Doctor," the unicorn replied simply. She looked around the room where they were starting to acquire odd looks, rather uncomfortable stares from different members of AEGIS. The most hostile came from the crystal ponies, but they were otherwise keeping quiet. She gave the gryphons a cursory glance, noticing how tense the three were. She felt some pity for them. They had come to AEGIS with an offer of information and they were still treated like war criminals. Understandable, but the last thing Twilight wanted was for their potential informants to feel so unwelcome as to take back their offer, and just return to the enclave.

Clearing her throat, Twilight gestured to a door on the far wall. "Let's speak in there. That way we can speak in private. I can call up the rest of AEGIS's leaders and we can further discuss this proposition of yours."

Rhapsody set the block down as she aimed her cue stick at the triangle. Squinting, she pulled it back and forth, correcting her aim where she needed to. Finally, she pushed hard, sending her stick into the cue ball and breaking the tight formation. "I'm calling stripes this time," she announced to Amethyst with a smile.

The Crystal mare shrugged and grinned. "Fine by me. The solids, I swear, had some defect that makes them roll farther."

Rhapsody chuckled and waved for her to make her move. She had to admit, Amethyst was a timid thing, but dang it all if she couldn't play a game of pool. The young mare had been a champion on her school's billiard team, and was starting to resurrect that old fire she had during her matches.

Amethyst bent down, aiming her stick at the cue ball, angling in her strike to hit dead center and sink a pair of solids. Her tail flicked a few times as testament to her concentration. This in turn caused a few stallions to peek at her. Mythic tilted his neck at her, earning a sharp elbow from Sprig. Finally, sticking her tongue out, the crystal mare str-

A sharp whistle resounded through the recreation room. Amethyst let out a 'Meep!' as her strike went totally off. The cue ball struck one of the solids, sending it into the wall at high speed and causing it to roll over the barricade and onto the floor, rolling swiftly under the bar by the tender's hooves. A chuckle was shared by everyone in the room. "Wow Amethyst," Rhapsody said. "You were right. They do roll far."

"Oh shut up."

They turned to see where the whistle came from, and it was none other than Major Soarin. "I need all the wing leaders in the briefing room, on the double!" And with that, he was gone. Rhapsody shared a look with a number of her squadron fellows, before shaking her head and tossing her cue stick to Sprig. Soarin looked flustered, and the sea green mare needed to know why.

"An agreement has been met, and command up in Canterlot has issued an order for a full-scale aerial assault on Sky Breaker."

Whistles and mutters of disbelief bounced off the walls. Even Rhapsody shared a look of shock with Wheatfield of Windigo Wing. They had already discovered days ago that the airliners Ghost Wing had rescued were carrying the engineers for Sky Breaker, as well as their families and a number of warriors who worked against the Crown of Gryphnia. But they didn't realize that, after only a few short weeks after their arrival, they would be launching their attack.

Rhapsody exhaled and her wings tightened a little in her edgy state. "We've granted them their offer of amnesty in exchange for information on how to bring Sky Breaker offline and destroy it for good," Soarin continued. As usual, the projector screen came down, and all twenty miles around Sky Breaker was highlighted. "Thanks to the defectors, we now know about a sizable flaw in Sky Breaker's design. We-"

The door suddenly burst open, forcing a silence as Captain Dash rushed for the podium. Soarin quirked his brow at her. "Dash, I'm in the middle of-"

"The Lieutenant General would like to give this herself." Soarin's eyes bulged, and the room burst into murmuring. He immediately nodded, forcing the projector screen to shut off. He then held the remote out to the screen, changing the frequency and the output. Finally, the screen switched to static and then the picture cleared out. The royal seal of Canterlot flashed onto it and finally, Rhapsody got her first good look at the Lieutenant General, and the Element of Magic herself, protégé of Princess Celestia herself, and Commander of Intelligence Operations in Canterlot.

Everypony in the room immediately stood and saluted. Twilight returned it swiftly and put her arms behind her back. "At ease. As you know, a group of gryphons have defected to AEGIS and, in exchange for amnesty, have given us a remarkable amount of data concerning Sky Breaker's strengths and weaknesses. Gryphnia knows about this, and are working to reinforce the installation." She pulled out her own remote. Her screen shrunk to the corner and pulled up a three-dimensional map of the Sky Breaker complex.

"They are adding to the number of SAM sites and AA guns, as well as another squadron of fighters. It is incredibly well-guarded from a ground invasion, and has its eight cannons aiming every direction, and, as we recently discovered, a powerful jammer in the center of the complex." A red circle encompassed the circular building at the ground level. "It has a strength of about five miles, making any guided munitions and missile strikes inert. You will be unable to lock onto anything with this active.

"However, we have a slight advantage. We already know that Sky Breaker cannot engage anything below two-thousand feet, and it's located within a vast expanse of desert with few mountains and hills. Not only that, but during our last strike, despite the reels of Gryphnian victory, we were able to destroy one of the towers with a lucky cruise missile, leaving them with only seven fully operational cannons; the eighth wasn't able to be repaired swiftly before the war broke out."

The screen then shifted until Sky Breaker was at the right of the screen and there were three light blue arrows coming left towards it. "The plan is much simpler said than executed, but just bear with me," she continued. Rhapsody folded her arms, her ear twitching a bit and her tail waving back and forth. She was anxious to get this underway. Still, the Element of Magic had an air of authority that said 'Shut up, I'm talking!' So shut up she did. "The 14th will rendezvous at a point here, in the west, just outside Sky breaker's effective range. Once you all have gathered up, get yourselves into formation and start dropping your altitude between seventeen and eighteen hundred feet. Dangerous, I know, but necessary, and that isn't the half of it.

"Because time is of the utmost essence, you'll be approaching the complex at high speed. Low altitude, high speed, break for nothing, and keep your course's unpredictable. This will make you a more difficult target to track and hit." As the arrows on the screen performed a weaving pattern and reached the circle representing Sky Breaker, they began to form a circle within. "Once arriving, you all need to fight your way through the SAM sites and the AA guns while maintaining low altitude. After that, you'll need to find a way to destroy the jammer at the center.

"Afterwards, sufficient communication will be reestablished and your electronics will work normally. But don't get cocky; these cannons are heavily armored and standard missile strikes won't cut it on their own. You'll need any sort of ground attack munitions you can get your hands on. But once you're within the complex and the jammer is destroyed, focus everything you have on downing those cannons. Afterwards, we're expecting the remaining enemy forces to bug out, but deal with them as necessary."

The screen then shifted back to the purple unicorn General occupying the entire screen. Soarin and Rainbow Dash exhaled and several other wing leaders joined them. They all had looks of skepticism, but otherwise, there was a sufficient air of confidence in the room. "Are there any questions, pilots?" Twilight asked. No hands were raised, to Rhapsody's surprise, so the General continued. "In that case, I've been reviewing the tactical data concerning the 14th, and I've decided that... 'Ghost Wing' will lead the attack."

A pin drop could have been heard as eyes suddenly focused on the sea green mare. Rhapsody's eyes bulged out of their sockets. Ghost Wing had never really led an attack of this caliber. A pilot of an outdated fighter was going to be leading an assault on the world's most powerful anti-air weapon. Four fighter wings would be under her command, including the Wonderbolts... Equestria's most elite squadron.

"Captain..." Twilight looked at a folder nearby. "Rhapsody 'Wraith'. Am I correct?"

Rhapsody stood up and nodded. "Yes ma'am. But... with respect, wouldn't the Wonderbolts be better experienced for commanding an attack of this magnitude? My Wing is mainly dogfighters."

"Be that as it may, Captain, the numbers from the tactics and logistics department, while often ludicrous, don't tend to lie about these sorts of things. They double check then re-double check their results. Especially this time considering how imperative this mission is." She then adjusted her bangs and turned to the sky blue mare and stallion giving her an incredulous look. "Major, Captain, Ghost Wing has proven themselves immeasurably useful in past sorties. If there are any objections to my decision..."

"I doubt there will be ma'am."

There was a collective gasp in the briefing room as a familiar gold-coated mare entered beside the Lieutenant General. "I knew Ghost Wing would rise up high on the ladder, as would the rest of the 14th."

"M-Major? You're..?"

"Out of the brig? Finally, too." Spitfire negligently waved her hand. "You heard the General. The plan is already in motion. Get your flanks to the flight-line and bust some gryphon skulls!"

The assembled pilots gave a light cheer and Rhapsody received a slap on the back. "You got this, Captain," Shavul commented.

Rhapsody smiled and looked around at the confident faces, growing into a grin. She and Spitfire locked eyes. "We won't let you down ma'am," Rhapsody announced, with a salute at the end. Spitfire returned it promptly.

"I know."

Six tapped her fuel gauge, grimacing to herself. "We're getting low."

"I see it too," Seven announced.

"Hey Eight," Six called. "You doing all right over there?" She looked back at the damaged fighter. It was keeping sufficient pace despite its previous damage. They had managed to repair it as best they could in the time they had before taking off. Despite this, there were still a number of replacements and repairs that needed to be done once they returned to Glacier. That, and Eight himself was hurt still. His wounds were bandaged and his wing wrapped and yet he still insisted on going up with his mates.

"I'll be fine, ma'am," he assured her.

Six frowned behind her beak and looked back ahead. "I hope so."

"Commander Ga'el!"

The elder gryphon turned to the Warrant Officer approaching him. The officer landed hard on his feet and snapped to a salute and tried to catch his breath from the long flight. "What is it?" Ga'el asked impatiently.

"Meteor Squadron is on the way to our defense, but they won't make it in time. AEGIS is closing in fast!"

Ga'el sneered. "How fast?" he demanded.

The officer held out his arms. "Recklessly fast. We're counting at least fifteen fighters heading this way!"

The Commander snarled and, in his frustration, shoved the younger officer out of his way. Taking off into the sky with him in tow, Ga'el made for the Sky Breaker control center. Once landing, he shouted, "Get the guns charged up! Fire up the anti-air defense and launch fighters! AEGIS is on the way and we're going to prove to them that they can't strike here twice!"

The other gryphons began to blaze around the room, scrambling to their stations to relay their orders to the others. Ga'el then turned his eyes to the direction the AEGIS fighters were coming. Grabbing his binoculars, he adjusted them, keeping a look out.

"You're not destroying this facility, AEGIS... never..."

Four of the Sky Breaker cannons aimed low, and once they had stilled, fired.

Ghost. Wonderbolt. Timberwolf. Windigo. Saber.

Fifteen strong, they tore the dunes apart as they made their way through Gryphnian air space. They had encountered little to no interceptors, merely close calls, and soon, after what seemed like hours, the 14th had arrived at the Sky Breaker's valley. Pulling back her throttle, Rhapsody took a deep breath and the rest of the wing pulled up over a large mountain chain. It took them over two-thousand feet, but there was no way to go around with the time they had left. They just needed to go faster over them and back down into the valley.

Finally, they regained a sufficient formation, arming their weapons, and prepared for the strike.

"Here we go," the mare murmured to herself. "It'll soon be all over..."

"Sky Breaker is responsible for the loss of many aces," Sky Gazer announced. "We're in need of new heroes. You all know your objectives, do your best, but... Come back alive."

Rhapsody winced slightly, and she heard Ditzy murmuring something to Dinky and Time Turner. She took the time to murmur a message to her own parents, and her little brother, Bolero. This mission was a wildcard. The battle would be unpredictable, and no doubt their moves would need to be seriously calculated. And when they cleared the mountains, it was time to start calculating.

"Incoming from Sky Breaker!" Rainbow Dash, Bolt Three, announced. "Descend to lower altitude if you don't want to get hit." The sea green pegasus turned her F-14A onto its side, the rest of the attack formation following suite. Already, she saw the streaks of color heading right above them, detonating just past their tails. The explosions of rainbow colored the air, darkening the sky for a moment. Rhapsody took a look above her, noticing the lack of clouds. They must have sensed the battle ahead, knowing the destruction that was coming, and left quickly. Rhapsody couldn't blame them.

Throttling up, the lone F-14A led the formation of MiG-29s, Tornado IDSs, F-15Ss, F/A-18Cs, and Typhoons all the way to the target. Allowing a grimace, she pushed down into an attack angle, raking her guns along an AA gun. It burst into flames and she resumed her course. Then, she blinked, gazing forward.

She could see seven cannons with her vision, though it was blurred from the distance and there was a very light fog. But it was enough to enhance the size of the target. Four had been aimed in their direction whilst the other three were in a rested position. Even from here, she could see the large dome in the center. That had to be the jammer. The turrets then lowered, but could not hit the low flying fighters. Still, Rhapsody was in awe of the size.

The turrets were easily a hundred feet high, and the cannons themselves eighty feet long. They had a full rotation capability and she could only guess at how long it would take to load them. The cannons were held up by a pair of pylons that began at about seventy feet up which allowed them to be aimed upwards to strike just about anything above two-thousand feet. She doubted even Equestria's SR-71s would be safe from their range. There was a full air force base to the turret network's right that was already starting to scramble their planes, as well.

All in all, it was a massive piece of construction. And she now had to destroy it. "Is- is the distance to the target correct?" she asked.

"Vector 3-5-0. Four miles," Sky Gazer confirmed.

"Holy - That thing is huge!"Amethyst exclaimed.

"So that's Sky Breaker." Sprig then let out a small chuckle. "No witty comment, Shade?"

"Not this time... Frankly, too easy." He then laughed. "I'll think of something later. Need to be drunk first."

"Won't be drunk if you don't look out!" Ditzy cried. Mythic yelped and rolled out of the way of a SAM. A MiG-29 from Timberwolf unleashed a hail of rockets from its wings and destroyed it a few seconds later.

Suddenly, Rhapsody's HUD began wavering, she couldn't lock onto anything with the IFF. "All planes, you've entered the effective jamming radius. You'll need to destroy the jammer with your gun."

Rhapsody throttled up, narrowing her eyes. She had reached the complex. Flak and other AA ordinance opened fire on her. The Sky Breaker cannons fired again, trying to turn and hit her with their fire, but they turned too slowly. Her Tomcat rattled and shook with each miss as she weaved through it. Finally, when she at least felt a clear point in her flight, Rhapsody pulled up and over the massive wall, aiming her whiskey reticule at the dome. Without a moment of thought, she opened fire.

Bullets struck the thin skin of the dome, tearing it apart from the inside. Gryphons shrieked as they were either hit, or were caught in the falling debris. A series of explosions formed within, destroying many vital components.

"Get those fires out!" the Captain called. But as he looked back, another volley from the attacker shredded through him and further into the power supply.

Rhapsody pulled up as the explosion rose into the sky, causing her fighter to rock from the blast. She grit her teeth and leveled out, surveying the damage to the jammer.

"Jammer's down! All wings get in there and attack!"

"Roger that!"

"Saber engaging!"

"Wonderbolt engaging!"

"Timberwolf engaging!"

"Incoming fighters!" Mythic cried.

A dozen fighters suddenly popped onto radar, with more beginning to take off from the runway nearby. Rhapsody disengaged from an attack run on the turrets and pulled up, switching to her missiles. Banking sharply, she pulled up behind an Su-35 Super Flanker, a fighter she had yet to encounter in her entire career. They were superior to her fighter in every way, but they were not 37s. They were not the best. These were average pilots scrambling out of fear to counter their attack. They would not be thinking.

"Don't be afraid, everypony," Rainbow Dash called out. "Just remember your training and engage!"

The Super Flanker caught her behind it, and started pulling into a sharp helix. Rhapsody narrowed her eyes and pulled up, keeping pace. But still, it had a tighter turning radius and was more agile, and soon it had pulled into a sharper circle and left Rhapsody behind. Ditzy gasped as the Su-35 pulled into a shortened version of the cobra maneuver and was now chasing them. "He's got us! Break!"

"One step ahead of you, Specter!" Rhapsody cried as she pulled into the opposite direction. The Super Flanker gave chase, forcing the sea green mare to break from her left to a very sharp right. The enemy pilot was hot on her tail as Rhapsody thought quickly of a plan to shake the more agile fighter. She dove low, increasing her speed. The wings of her Tomcat folded back and she careened along the ground as tracers began falling around her. She could see the tennis ball sized tracers shoot by her canopy as every gryphon on the ground worth their salt tried to shoot her down. With a sharp pull upwards, Rhapsody and Ditsy soared high into the sky.

Ditsy looked back, watching the Su-35 continue pursuit, only to have an F/A-18 force him off. "I got your back, Wraith!" Amethyst called out. "Mythic is heading for the airfield. Think you can back him up?"

"No problem! Ready Specter?"

Ditsy grinned behind her mask. "Born."

Throttling up, Rhapsody rendezvoused with the sword-painted Typhoon. He had already begun an attack run, a full bomblet dispenser being dropped onto the hangars. Fighters were already starting to take-off, and Rhapsody took the opportunity to begin her strafing. Using her cannon, she fired in bursts at the enemy fighters.

Giving a squawk of surprise, the Rafale pilot covered his face as a torrent of bullets from the strafing fighter hit his own plane. Taking a look back after the Tomcat had passed, he swore violently and tore his helmet off.

"I can't take-off! My engine's damaged and half my wing is gone!"

"What about me? I just lost my pilot!" That same gryphon looked back and saw the Strike Eagle behind him had been riddled with holes along the canopy as he pulled his friend from the cockpit, his suit stained red and body unmoving. Throwing his helmet as far as he could, he roared at the Tomcat as it flew away.

"Enemy runway destroyed!" Mythic announced. "Shade and Wraith returning to battle."

A volley from Sky Breaker shattered the skies above the AEGIS fighters. Though it was short and the rounds went too high to hit the fighters, it served as a reminder that they still had a larger objective to hit than the airfield. "Sky Gazer to all planes, begin dropping your payloads on the turrets! We need to get this place destroyed quickly! Enemy reinforcements could be here any minute!"

"Wraith, Bolt 2 here," Soarin cried out. "You've still got your bombs. Get started on your attack run! The rest of you begin destroying the nearby facilities!"

"Roger that! Wraith engaging!"

Beyond, Rhapsody could see her squadron begin their attacks. Buildings were being destroyed by unguided bombs or rockets while enemy fighters were engaged and kept off her tail. AA guns and SAM sites were destroyed, likewise, and her route was cleared. Pushing back down, she switched to her bombs and her reticule shifted.

Ditzy kept scanning the skies as the AEGIS fighters kept watch for her. Flying over the already destroyed turret, she angled herself carefully, unable to miss this shot. The lone Tomcat stared down the nose before pulling up, dropping a single bomb onto the joint of the turret. It slammed into the side, the impact causing a much larger explosion than she expected. The turret jerked to a halt and the barrel split apart from the rest of the weapon. It crashed into the ground and threw dirt and sand high.

"First one is down! Moving to the next." Rhapsody tilted her fighter, moving in a clockwise circle around the entire complex. She pulled hard into the right turn, angling each bomb impact. The results were the same for the next two. A bomb slamming into the side or even the bottom, the turrets rattled and collapsed from the impact, sending up fire, debris, and sand high into the sky. She could just barely see the gryphons scrambling to get out of the way.

"Get every last one of them," Soarin ordered. "Or this war will never end!"

She continued dropping bombs, and when she ran out on the fourth turret, Rhapsody fired her missiles. The missile struck, tearing a hole in the joint and forcing the turret to jam halfway through firing. She must have struck a nerve too, as the barrel exploded in a fiery explosion in a rainbow of colors. It seemed the shell had exploded in the barrel.

She had to pull up from another attack run as a pair of AA guns unleashed a torrent of lead right for her nose.

"Shoot down that ghost!" a commander yelled over the radio.

Ga'el sneered as he stared at this lone fighter through his binoculars, watching the remaining cannons fire at random to hit something.

"What's going on, sir?" asked his second after he returned from the armored bunker below.

Instead of giving a smart response to the stupid question, Ga'el exhaled slowly. "There's a lone fighter out there. A tomcat with a Ghost insignia... It's a tough one. Single-handedly destroying Sky Breaker."

He pulled down his binoculars and looked back at his second, who was holding a piece of paper. Ga'el took it and read it closely. Frowning and furrowing his brow, he looked back up at the Tomcat and sighed.

"They won't make it."

The Tomcat kept its circle, making several passes on the turrets. Rhapsody was now grinding her teeth as she aimed carefully for supposed weak-points in the turrets. She had tried using her gun and was impressed that it worked well in certain areas. She aimed low, towards the base of one of the turrets as it turned. The thick tracers impacted what she assumed was a reactor, for the base detonated in a flash just before the turret practically split in half, the barrel dropping to the ground on top of a mobile SAM trying to get out of the blast radius of the reactor.

She had been forced to break off her attack runs by the ground fire shooting at her. A number of her munitions had been wasted to destroy them, but luckily the rest of the squadron soared in to destroy them, and she was able to resume her attack.

"Go for it, Wraith! Take it all out!" Sprig shouted.

"Look at her. She's taking all the glory."

"Oh shut up and cover her!" Rainbow Dash countered.

Rhapsody leveled herself out, arming her last missile to destroy the turret. "This is Wraith, making my move on the last turret."

"Wraith, behind you!" Soarin shouted.

Ditzy looked back and yelped. "Su-35 on our tail! He's firing!"

Rhapsody abandoned her attack run and pulled up high, throttling up, causing the missile to fly under her. It missed the turret but the enemy Super Flanker kept her within view. Rhapsody weaved left and right, avoiding the rounds tearing through the air around her. A pang on her right caused her to jerk to the left, narrowly avoiding a volley into her cockpit. "It was a glancing blow," Ditzy reported. "Chipped off a piece though."

Rhapsody snarled and dove back down towards the complex. Darting by Sprig and Amethyst jointly chasing a Rafale, she headed for the ground flying at what many would call unsafe altitudes. To her, it was just another day on the job for an ace pilot. She weaved through the Super Flanker's fire, Ditzy continuing to call out what he was doing and Rhapsody acting accordingly. She soared over the wreckage of the Sky Breaker turrets she had already destroyed, trying to maybe cause him to falter and make him crash. But the nimble fighter matched her every move and surpassed it. The pegasus mare began feeling a sensation she hadn't since her very first combat sortie.

Desperation.

This fighter pilot was good and flying a better fighter than her. She needed a plan and fast. Suddenly, Rhapsody's eyes fell on the one remaining Sky Breaker turret. She saw how it swung, aiming for the AEGIS planes, how the barrel dropped and adjusted itself. A crazy thought entered the mare's mind, but that thought seemed like a damn good plan.

"Hang on Specter! We need to get that thing focusing on us."

Ditzy looked ahead and saw the turret. She frowned deeply behind her mask. "Have I ever told you that you're crazy?"

"Thirty-six times."

"Consider this thirty-seven." Ditzy braced herself.

The Tomcat's turbines flared as Rhapsody pushed her throttle further up and flew just beyond the complex, carrying the Su-35 with her, narrowly dodging his attacks in the process. "Specter, keep an eye on that gun! See if it's pointing at us!"

"Got it," Ditzy replied, doubt lacing her words. Rhapsody could understand and relate; she wasn't too sure about this either. Gritting her teeth hard, she pulled into a wide circle.

Catching sight of one of the F-15Ss pulling up towards her, Rhapsody couldn't believe what she was about to say. "This is Wraith to all aircraft! I have an enemy fighter on my tail. Do not engage!"

"Bolt 3 to Wraith, repeat your last."

"Do not engage the fighter on my tail. Repeat, do not engage."

A gruff sigh was heard. "Wraith, you better know what you're doing, mate," Sprig replied low.

"Yeah... me too."

"Wraith! It's aiming at us!" Ditzy cried, fear replacing the doubt in her voice.

Suddenly, after a quick prayer, Rhapsody pulled a hard left and angled her whiskey reticule and pushed her throttle to the maximum, her afterburners screaming as she descended towards her target.

The Turret.

"What is that pilot doing?" Ga'el asked no one in particular. Pulling his binoculars back down, he scratched the top of his head before raising them back to his eyes. The turret had locked onto the Tomcat that was barreling towards it.

Was it making another attack run? Was the pilot suicidal? It had an Su-35 from the Sky Breaker air defense squadron behind it, who was angling for a lock. But what was-

The realization hit him like a freight train to the groin. Ripping his radio from his belt, Ga'el shouted. "Turret control! Do not fire! Repeat, DO NOT FIRE!"

"It's getting ready to fire!" Ditzy shouted, sinking into her seat.

Rhapsody narrowed her eyes, her wings tightening to her body and her tail wrapping around her leg. Sweat rolled down her body as she let out a long exhale. Timing was everything, and the wrong jerk of her hand would kill them both. And possibly the pilot behind them. But either way, Rhapsody was hoping her intention held merit. Her afterburners continued to shoot flames out as her Tomcat tore through the sky like a comet.

Peering closely, she saw a faint light at the base of the barrel. The trigger was pulled!

"NOW!" she screamed.

Her hand slammed the control stick to the right and her hooves shoved themselves into the rudder controls and her other hand pulled the throttle back. The Tomcat shook violently and the g-forces slammed into both mares while they began their descent towards the ground.

The pilot of the Super Flanker had been so intent on catching the Tomcat that he had been momentarily stunned by the drastic maneuver. Something like that was a trick only a more nimble fighter could truly execute without the pilots nearly blacking out.

But that moment was his last.

Looking back forward, he cried out as Sky Breaker fired.

A rainbow of colors exploded across the sky just above her and Rhapsody felt the entire world around her shake and blacken as she fought against the forces to pull back into a level flight. Once she felt the g-forces ease up on her body, and her chest had returned to normal size, Rhapsody jerked her head towards the turret to see the results.

The Super Flanker was a fireball as it careened violently down towards the last turret. Finally, it impacted the center, where the barrel met the base, directly in the joint. It had gone better than she expected, the last enemy fighter in the sky had been used as the last shot fired. The turret rocked and listed. The barrel fell from the joint, slamming into the base and causing a large explosion, sparks shot into the air, as if launching its own fireworks display as a death knell. Finally, after it had calmed, all that remained was a burning husk.

All of the turrets shared a similar death and the only thing standing was the rubble and the flames licking at the twisted metal.

Both Rhapsody's and Ditzy's breathing was labored, hard to gain, but they still managed to catch some air in their lungs. The grey mare slammed herself back into her seat and exhaled. "Rhapsody... don't... don't ever... do that again. That's twice."

Rhapsody gave a pathetic chuckle. "Don't worry, Ditz. I am never doing that again."

"Target destroyed! I repeat, Ghost One has destroyed all the targets! Sky Breaker is down!"

"Sky Gazer here, we've got the report! Now this is what I like to see!"

"Yahoo!" Sprig cried. "Now it's our turn!"

Shouts and cheers were heard all over the radio. Rhapsody allowed a smile to grace her lips as she reached her arm back to Ditzy, who gave her a high-five before the pulled up to circle the damage.

All turrets had been destroyed. Rhapsody and Ditzy had been the ones who took them all out and put Sky Breaker out of commission for good. She couldn't believe it. She had done it. Rhapsody had taken an obsolete fighter and had taken out a weapon that had been plaguing the skies of Equis for years. It had shattered the skies, destroyed her comrades, broke the clouds apart. She gave a softer smile as it dawned on her. The clouds were safe now. The wisps of the air, the best bed for pegasi, the most under-appreciated rulers of the air. They were safe now.

An alarm suddenly broke the cheering completely.

"The hell?" Mythic exclaimed.

"Sky Gazer here, we've confirmed via radar that Sky Breaker has been destroyed," Scootaloo reported. "But... it looks like we've got company." Rhapsody's eyes widened. Who could be coming at them? "Five bandits coming in at mach 2!"

"Mach 2? They must be desperate to get here," Creg replied nonchalantly.

"Yeah, but five bandits could only mean one thing."

"And you're right. Not to worry though, our aces are faster than they are. You are all cleared to engage!"

Six glared at the damage they had been too late to respond to and prevent. She sighed heavily.

"Damnit, we're too late!" Seven snapped vehemently.

"Calm down everyone, we knew we weren't going to make it." She exhaled deeply. "Let's at least take down as many as we can before we run out of fuel."

"I second that," Eight replied.

"All Meteors... ENGAGE!"

Chapter 16

The afterburners screamed as the Tomcat sped towards the approaching Su-37s of Meteor squadron. The fighters from AEGIS engaged the five enemies while those who were designed for attacking or had used up their ordinance were preparing to head back to their base, but Rhapsody had no doubts the elite gryphon pilots could handle them all if they had all stayed. She exhaled heavily and looked to her formation; Mythic and Sprig on her left and Amethyst on her right. The other planes kept pace with them, the Wonderbolts close by as well.

"Break off and engage!"

She narrowed her eyes, barreling towards the lead plane. All five broke off into five adjacent directions, and Rhapsody took enough initiative to take on the leader while the others broke off to engage the other four. Rhapsody threw her throttle up, her Tomcat going into full afterburner, yet still struggling to keep pace with the nimble Terminator. Rhapsody somehow kept the enemy in her sight, and she could feel the g-forces pushing against her chest.

The Terminator broke left and then sharply right, and the pegasus mare pushed her fighter to the absolute limits to keep it in her sights. She let off bursts from her cannon, each one falling short. "Wraith! Behind us!" Ditzy cried. Rhapsody looked back behind her in the turn and saw another one of the Meteor's screaming up behind her, managing to avoid Mythic's fire. Rhapsody had no choice but to break off to avoid being hit and evade an enemy lock.

The lead meteor got away and dove in after one of the MiG-29s of Timberwolf. Rhapsody had no time to try and rescue the pilot, who seemed to be dodging just fine. She had to focus on staying out of range or out of sight. The large Tomcat fighter spun left and right, spiraling through the sky with the enemy fighter hot on her tail. "C'mon," she murmured. "Break away!"

"He's still on us, I can just barely see him," Ditzy reported. She then hummed. "There's a seven on the nose."

"Not important Specter!" Rhapsody cried as she dove down and flipped onto the back and pulled the stick back to level out, just grazing the desert floor. Much to her ire, and though it was expected, the Meteor was still in pursuit.

"Damn this one's tough. Haven't gotten a lock yet," Seven reported.

"Is it the Ghost?" Eight asked.

"Confirmed. F-14A Tomcat, spectral horse insignia on the tail, it's her."

"Then watch yourself," Six ordered. "She's got to have some tricks up her sleeves. She's too crafty."

"Any ideas, Specter? I'm out!"

"I'm out of ideas too!" A burst of tracers flew by the canopy, and the Tomcat suddenly lurched hard. Rhapsody winced hard and she gripped the stick to regain control while Ditzy shrieked. She didn't even ask Ditzy for a report, but she gave one anyway. "He's hit just beyond the tail. It doesn't look too bad, but we can't take another hit like that!"

"Hang on ladies!" Soarin cried.

The two mares look back to see the familiar F-15S dive in and give the Su-37 a quick burst of cannon fire. The nimble Terminator rolled to dodge and broke off from Rhapsody's tail. She was clear and searched the skies to see who could use help. She didn't have to search long when she saw Amethyst rushing right by her with a Meteor with her dead in its sights.

Pulling up, she rose in behind the Meteor and gave a quick burst from her own cannon. It broke off and dove high into the sky. Rhapsody grimaced, seeing that she was once again in an upward spiral chasing an enemy fighter. Suddenly, the Meteor shook a bit and began to lose altitude. Blinking for a second, Rhapsody tried to see what was wrong. But the pilot must have been faking her out, since he suddenly pulled hard on his brakes. The terminator performed a full cobra, she was going to overshoot -

"He stalled!" Ditzy announced.

Rhapsody blanched and turned her head around. "What?" Craning to see, she indeed saw that the Su-37 had stalled in mid climb, something that shouldn't have been possible, and began to drop. Seeing her only chance. Rhapsody pulled her stick back into a somersault and dove straight down after the Meteor. He was spinning erratically, but managed to regain some control in the descent and leveled out a bit. Some smoke billowed from the turbines, and the aircraft seemed to shake.

But still, it was maneuvering to get away.

Taking a gamble, Rhapsody switched from her missile to her gun. Doing her best to keep him in her sights, she squeezed of burst after burst of molten hot tracers, adjusting her fire when needed. The Terminator rolled to the left and right, avoiding each one flawlessly. Rhapsody narrowed her eyes, gritting her teeth to the point they would have shattered from pressure. "C'mon... c'mon."

She flipped to her missile. It hummed to life on her screen.

Tyr looked back, panting heavily. "She's on me! My rudder's too damaged! I can't evade!"

"Bail out, damn it! BAIL OUT!" Six cried.

"Hang on, Tyr. I'm coming!" Seven screamed.

The reticule circled around the weaving Terminator before settling on it and flaring red. A continuous wail blared through Rhapsody's helmet.

"Wraith, fox two!"

She pressed down. It shot off the rail, a spear of death soaring into open air.

The Meteor's rudder suddenly snapped. "I can't dodge it! Carde! HELP ME!"

"Tyr!"

The young gryphon looked back. He sobbed once, and life seemed to slow down as the head of the missile shattered the tail of the fighter. It was followed by fire. Lots of fire. He could feel the heat as it surged towards him, enveloping the canopy.

He didn't have time to scream.

The Su-37 exploded on impact, turning into a fireball as it pitched down and hurtled towards the ground.

"Holy shit!" Ditzy screamed, then immediately covering her mouth, having never sworn.

"She got him!" Mythic cried. "Repeat, Wraith just shot down a Meteor!"

"That's a confirmed kill on a Meteor, we got it from here. That's Sky Breaker and a Meteor down. That's a complete victory for the good guys. That was great work everypony. And well done, Wraith!" Scootaloo cheered.

"That's our girl!" Mythic hollered

"Woo! Good on ya, mate!" Sprig added.

"You got him! I can't believe you got one!" Amethyst chimed in.

Rhapsody panted heavily, eyes forward and a wide grin on her face. A Meteor... shot down... by her. She chuckled to herself and exhaled deeply. Leveling out, she smiled. An elite fighter from Gryphnia had been shot down by an ace of AEGIS.

Nothing could stop them now.

"TYR! NOOOO!"

Carde watched the flaming wreck rapidly spin towards the ground. His brother, his little brother, his too-damn-young brother, had just been taken out. "Six here, did anybody see a chute from Eight?" There was silence all across the radio. She growled angrily and shouted. "Repeat! Did anyone see a damn chute!"

"Ten here... that's a negative... no chute."

"You're lying! He bailed out!" Carde screamed angrily.

"I repeat. I didn't see a chute! No chute!"

Carde yanked off his oxygen mask, looking down, and managed to catch the explosion of the Su-37, Meteor Eight, slamming into the ground. It left a crater in the desert floor, and the proud Gryphon prince bit back a sob as he circled. His little brother... gone...

"Tyr…"

His mental mourning was interrupted by an alarm in the cockpit. But it was Six who announced the reasoning behind it. "All Meteor's, we're low on fuel. We need to get out of here, now."

"But six!" one of the other pilots tried to protest.

"No! We barely have enough fuel to get us back to Glacier, let alone to re-engage. I'd be surprised if we'd even be able to glide in. No, we need to bug out."

"And what about Tyr!" Carde cried.

"He's gone, Carde! Nothing's going to change that, I'm sorry."

Carde snarled. "No you're not. You're not sorry."

Six didn't bother arguing with him. She pulled her stick left and right, signaling the squadron to form up. Haphazardly, the Meteor's, now minus one, pushed to the north as fast as their fighters would allow.

It would be a silent trip back home.

It was opposite for the AEGIS planes. No one could stop their elated excitement over what had just transpired. Sky Breaker, the super weapon the Gryphnian King had used to threaten and later destroy anything airborne within range across Equis, had been destroyed in a matter of minutes. Then there was Meteor squadron; five had arrived to try and destroy them all, only to have one of their own shot down mere minutes after they had engaged. Two of Gryphnia's greatest trump cards beaten.

All done by one AEGIS ace: Rhapsody. The Wraith.

"I still can't believe we did it," the sea green mare murmured. Mostly to herself, but loud enough that everyone could hear it.

"You did most of the work, in case you didn't know," Rainbow chimed.

Rhapsody huffed. "I couldn't have done it alone, though. I hardly deserve all the credit."

"But you've earned most of it, filly," Soarin added. "Now let's get into formation and return home. Drinks on this Major!" Cheers escalated from there from the assembled wings. Rhapsody gave her own and began turning towards her friends. After regaining some kind of order and heading in the direction of their newly assigned base in northern Saddle Arabia, a foothold taken by ground forces and designated their new home whether they failed or succeeded. They had not only succeeded, but surpassed the expectations of all of the brass in Canterlot.

Ghost Wing took the lead, with Wonderbolt on the right, Timberwolf on the left, and Saber and Windigo taking up behind. Rapier, primarily attackers now, had already flown home, leaving behind a pair of F-15Cs. They hadn't lost any fighters to the Meteors, from what the pegasus mare could see. She allowed a wide grin behind her oxygen mask, sensing a full vic -

The tomcat abruptly shuddered in midair and she looked down at her console. A couple alarms began sounding in her cockpit and her rose eyes darted all across the buttons and monitors. "Specter! What's going on?" As if to answer, there was what sounded like one of her turbines choking. Ditzy looked back and frowned deeply.

"Those bullets went deeper than I thought; the right engine's smoking bad."

"I can see it," Mythic added. "It's like a chimney. Wraith, what do you feed this thing?"

"Wraith, shut it down. Save some power," Soarin ordered.

Rhapsody flipped a few switches and transferred power from her right turbine into her left. The turbine began to be starved of fuel and soon shut itself completely down. Her left gained all the power, keeping her aloft, but her rudder was still damaged and she was now down on one engine. Her Tomcat was severely crippled and losing thrust, even still.

"Doesn't look like I'll make it to the base on time. You guys go on ahead without me."

"Leave a wounded birded behind? I don't think so," Soarin countered.

"Well... we're gonna be late as is," Ditzy said.

"Wraith, we're sticking with you," Sprig declared proudly. "I'm not leaving my flight lead behind."

"Same here," Mythic said, surprising everypony with a concerned voice and dropping the jokester persona. "We'll stay with her as escort. The rest of you can go on ahead if you want."

There was silence across the frequency. Even Scootaloo was silent as if weighing the options. At last, it was actually Soarin who replied, "Are you sure you'll all be alright?"

Mythic chuckled. "You think I'm gonna let anyone touch my harem?"

"He's right," Sprig added. "Shade can be very clingy he wants to be."

"Like my ex-wife," the grey stallion murmured.

Amethyst blanched. "You were married once?"

"Ew! Hell no!"

The gathered planes shared a laugh. "Well... it's Wraith's call."

"I'll be alright. Just gotta take it easy."

Scootaloo huffed. "In that case, the rest of you follow Wonderbolt home. Ghost Wing, take it easy on the way in."

"Roger that," Rhapsody replied swiftly. And with that, everyone said their farewells and well wishes. Wonderbolt, Rapier, Timberwolf, and Windigo throttled up and soon left Ghost wing in the dust. Rhapsody sighed and looked back at her wounded Tomcat. A frown coursed her lips; her baby was hurt. Badly. It'd take weeks for this sort of damage to be repaired. And with Tomcats in short supply, being replaced all over, getting parts wouldn't be easy. Still, there was no way around it, and after setting her autopilot, Rhapsody leaned back in her seat. It would be a few hours till they got home.

"So... anypony know some good jokes?"

Four Meteors. Where there should be five.

Carde was seething, Six could tell. He hadn't said a word since his comment about how unapologetic she really was. Six frowned and looked back towards his plane. They had barely been in the air for a few minutes and he had said nothing. Usually he was quite the chatterbox, talking endlessly. Of course, that was when Tyr was in the formation. The younger gryphon was always right off Carde's right wing in the formation.

The spot was now empty.

It hurt her heart just a little, but this was war. Possessions could be taken, and clinging to something dear only makes it seem more precious for the enemy to take. Six could not afford to mourn. As her father had always told her, One shouldn't mourn the loss of a great warrior. That'd be disrespectful to their memory. The honorable and respectful thing to do is be thankful such a great warrior lived. Oddly enough, he had gotten the quote from an Equestrian General. And though young, Tyr was indeed a great warrior. He had his father's fighting spirit in him.

Whereas Carde had his mother's vengeful spirit.

There was a loud rush of turbines to her right. Craning her head back, she narrowed her eyes upon seeing Carde breaking formation.

"Seven!" she cried. "The hell do you think you're doing?"

He was almost a speck on the horizon when he finally spoke up. "That bitch killed my little brother! I'm gonna go find her!"

"Seven you're almost out of fuel. We can make it to Glacier, but you won't be able to make it back if you don't get back in formation!" Meteor Ten, to Six's immediate left, cried.

"I'll find a way to get back," Carde replied simply. "But I'm not going to let Tyr's spirit go without revenge! I'm going to vanquish this wraith, and I'll see you guys by the end of the week."

Soon he was out of sight and Six shook her head. "Let him go."

"But Six! He won't make it back."

"I know..." Six closed her eyes and sighed. "And he knows."

After a tanker was redirected towards their position for refueling, more than an hour had passed since the other wings had left, but Ghost Wing was still in high spirits.

"And he says, 'Nien! Nien! Can do no more!' and he says 'Why not?' and the Germane says, 'We think you are trying to escape!'" Mythic said, trying to hold back his laughing.

Sprig, Rhapsody, and Ditzy join him. The only silent one was Amethyst. "I don't get it."

Rhapsody wiped her eye. "That was good Shade, th-that was good."

"I still don't get it," Amethyst repeated.

"Sky Gazer here," Scootaloo called after an hour of silence. "We've got a group of bandits coming in from the northwest. Closing fast. Looks like the local defense boys missed a base."

"We'll take them out, mate," Sprig replied hastily. "Wraith, see if you can get low to the ground to avoid radar detection."

"Roger, good thinking. There's a ravine."

In less than a few seconds, the Tomcat was dropping altitude while the rest of Ghost Wing climbed and broke away. Ditzy shook her head loose of any drowsiness and looked around the area. Somehow, it had grown rather dark. Still, Rhapsody pushed down into the ravine, carefully navigating the mountains. "Shade here, we've engaged the Gryphnian fighters. There's at least ten up here!"

"Too bad. I was hoping for more," Sprig chuckled.

"I wasn't!" Amethyst countered.

"Wraith," Shade called. "Will you be okay for a little while by yourself?"

"Not a problem. Should have enough fuel for the tanker to arrive when i get to fumes. And this looks pretty straight. Sky Gazer, just let me know when the skies are clear so I can climb."

"Affirmative."

Carde narrowed his eyes, seeing that the volunteer fighters he had rounded up from a few patrol squadrons that had managed to evade the AEGIS's. They were occupying the three wing mates of the ghost. He grinned. "You'll be avenged little brother."

"What the hell..?"

Rhapsody quirked her brow. "What's wrong-"

"Wraith! Unknown bogey closing fast on your location at mach two!"

The pegasus mare's head became its own satellite as she swiveled her eyes in every direction. Ditzy joined her and soon the area was scanned by their eyes. "Negative. No visual-"

A torrent of cannon fire tore through the air around them. Rhapsody and Ditzy shrieked as they were pelted in a few spots. The rugged skin of the Tomcat took the hits, but the pilot could ill-afford another volley like that. As Rhapsody looked up, she caught sight of the culprit.

"It's a Meteor!"

"Alone? Out here?!" Amethyst shouted in disbelief.

"These fighters are a distraction! Clever bastard," Mythic sneered.

"We can't get to her!" Sprig announced. "There're too many bandits up here!"

Scootaloo screamed, "Get the hell out of there, Wraith!"

Rhapsody pushed her throttle up and dove further into the ravine. The Tomcat shuddered from the sudden injection of fuel, only one afterburner firing. She had almost forgotten how limited her maneuvering would be because of the damage caused to her fighter. The Meteor had every advantage in this fight, and both adversaries knew it. Still, she had to get out of there. Anything less than that was certain death.

She craned her neck around to catch sight of the Meteor. The Su-37 was bearing down on her. Alarms went off in Rhapsody's cockpit, indicating the gryphon pilot had a missile lock tone, not to mention leaks and damages to her rudders and flaps. Rhapsody ground her teeth and peeled off down a nearby pathway, heading the opposite direction in the mountain chain. The tomcat groaned in protest, but she pushed it. C'mon, she thought. Don't let me down now!

She weaved through the mountains, anxious to lose the Meteor from her tail. That wasn't possible, but she could damn well try, at the very least. The wings folded back to accommodate the speed and kept her maneuvering at the rate she needed. The Meteor's missile tone kept sounding in her ears. The sea green ears twitched and then folded back to avoid hearing the tone for so long a time. The mare began to hyperventilate, knowing that at any second he could fire.

"Wraith," Ditzy called. "I took a look at his wings as he was circling around. He's only got one missile."

"We dodge it, we'll be okay."

"That still leaves his cannon."

"We can still avoid that, at least a little."

Rhapsody and the Meteor continued their race through the web of ravines and mountains that littered the area around them. The Tomcat, seeming to sense it's near demise, lent Rhapsody every ounce of strength it had. She gripped the control stick tightly, hugging each wall of the canyon. The dueling fighters left an earsplitting echo through the area. It felt like hours as Rhapsody just focused on navigating the potentially fatal environment, pushing her engines farther than she had intended them to go. Her lone turbine was pushing all it had to keep the pilot alive. Rhapsody could feel sweat pouring down her face and into her oxygen mask.

Ditzy continued to call out the Meteor's location to her. He was swerving to try and get a clean shot through the twists and turns. Bullets from the Terminator's cannon warped the air around them with golf ball sized tracers. She could see the tracers darting past her canopy. Seeing a turn, she braked and pulled the throttle back and arched into a sharp turn, g-forces pushing on her body before she shoved the throttle back forward. Once again, the nimble Su-37 kept pace with her. She needed a plan and fast, but in a defenseless position like now, the mare had precious few options.

As if trying to dash her options, and actually succeeding, she failed to see she had turned down a dead end. Ditzy screamed and Rhapsody let out one of her own before she pulled the stick far back it was nearly touching her. The Tomcat arched up into the sky and into a half-somersault before she leveled out. Ditzy craned her head around and exhaled. "I don't see him. Maybe we lost- "

The missile alarm blared!

"No such luck!" Rhapsody rammed her thumb into the flare deployment button...

She did it again.

And again. "Flares are dead!" She could still hear the warning in her helmet. Beads of sweat turned into buckets as she rapidly pressed the button. Why wouldn't the flares deploy!?

"No... I can't shake him."

Carde grinned wide. "Gotcha..." His claw hovered over the button. "Meteor Seven, FOX TWO!" He jammed the button down...

He pressed again. "What the- Meteor Seven, fox two!" Again.

The screen flashed and showed his right wing and the single missile underneath. The missile icon was red, and the release clamps opened and closed rapidly. The damn thing was jammed!

Swearing violently, and running out of any little patience he had before, Carde switched back to the old ways of dogfighting.

"I think he was jammed!" Ditzy cried, none too excitedly. "He hasn't fired!"

Rhapsody exhaled as well, but then she stopped. "He might still have his-"

A furious hail of bullets tore through the Tomcat.

Sparks, the shrieks of the bullets tearing past her ears. Rhapsody let out a scream of terror she never thought she'd utter while she jerked the stick back and forth. The canopy tore as it became riddled with holes from the cannon fire. Alarms rang, warnings began blaring in her ears. Still, the bullets whizzed by her head. The sounds of shattering glass, torn and twisted metal resounded in her flattened ears. She could've sworn she could taste blood. Her wing was in searing pain. She could hear the air hissing around her.

Taste. Feel. Hear.

She wasn't dead?

Rhapsody raised her head and blinked. Sight! She wasn't dead! She looked around. They were still in the air! They could still fly! She grinned and grabbed the stick again to maneuver out of range of the Terminator. Judging by the breathing, Ditzy was still alive too. She must've been too frightened to say anything. That was fine. Rhapsody allowed her friend a moment to try and get herself together. The missile warning still sounded, letting her know he was still on her. And... she still had no way to -

"GET AWAY FROM MY FLIGHT LEAD!"

The Terminator suddenly flashed by her, an Hornet hot on his heels, the nose decorated with a particular snowflake design.

"PHANTOM!"

"Wraith! Get out of here!"

The Su-37 twisted suddenly and dove for the ground. Amethyst blinked and stared ahead as the Terminator twisted in its flight downwards. The number on the nose.

Zero-zero-Seven.

"You..." Amethyst hissed.

Throttling up, she pushed herself down behind the Terminator and fired off volley after volley at the tail of the Meteor. Some of the tracers hit their mark, sending chunks of metal past her. She remembered this number. She remember this particular gryphon fighter. Meteor Seven; the gryphon who had shot down her brother, and the pilot who had nearly killed her, as well.

Cracking her neck, Amethyst gained a newfound bravery as she chased the Meteor. The young crystal pony had heard Rhapsody utter the fateful line her brother shouted before he was killed. She had indeed frozen up. But, in that moment, she heard her brother talking to her. It sounded crazy, but she felt he was guiding her now. His hands were on hers, her maneuvers were his, his skills sent to her mind. She allowed a confident grin as she kept the Gryphon pilot firmly in sight.

Deciding to pull a simple trick during the dueling plane's sudden increase in altitude as he tried to pull away, she started to back off her throttle. Her gun reticule began to get closer to the enemy fighter. Amethyst narrowed her eyes. Just a little... closer...

The second the dot in the center of the reticule went just beyond the enemy, she yanked the trigger. The cannon in the nose of her Hornet fired hot lead into the air. Fire spewed from the nose like a spitting dragon and peppered the fuselage. She grinned and continued to fire until the Gryphon took a hint and throttled forward.

That was when she truly hit her mark.

Carde was launched forward as his Terminator shuddered and bucked violently. There was a huge plume of smoke billowing behind him and his rudder was shattered. He tossed his control stick left and right. Managing only to flight straight, he saw the Hornet scream overhead and begin to turn into him after flying far out ahead. He had to get the pilot before he got him! He began jerking the controls.

"Come on you piece of..."

"Shoot! Amethyst!" Rhapsody cried. "SHOOT!"

The square turned red. Missile lock.

"PHANTOM, FOX TWO!"

Carde yelled violently as he kept trying to turn his fighter. His rudder was destroyed, the controls wouldn't respond. He needed to get out of there! He needed to leave the battle! He... He belatedly began to hear the alarm.

Slowly, he looked ahead. He saw it... like a spear of death... trailing smoke...

"NOOOOOO-!"

It broke through his canopy...

The cockpit exploded into a furious display of fire. The Terminator broke apart in midair, forcing Amethyst to pulled up hard and narrowly avoid being slammed by the wreckage. Rhapsody watched in awe as the youngest, shyest, and least experienced pilot in their squadron take down the second Meteor of the day.

"Confirmed kill by Phantom!" Sky Gazer shouted. "Can this day get ANY better?!"

"That's Ghost Wing for you," Sprig replied triumphantly. "We can do anything!"

"We are the champion of the skies!" Mythic added.

"Tallied up the kills, we've got the ambush squadron and another Meteor on the books. Today has been a good day."

"You said it Scoots." Rhapsody then blinked. "Hey, Specter, you're pretty quiet. You okay back there?"

Silence... a very cold silence.

"Specter?" Mythic called.

The stillness in the Tomcat's cockpit was broken by... heavy breathing.

Rhapsody started to pale, blinking. "Ditzy..?"

"Rhapsody..?" Ditzy replied. Her voice was quiet, almost pained. The rest of the wing began to move around the wounded Tomcat to try and see.

"Oh no..." Sprig murmured.

The sea green mare turned her head back, finally seeing something that turned her skin almost as white as the clouds that began to gather around them. Her rose colored eyes widened. The canopy was red... deep red... as if splattered by... by...

"Rhapsody… I... I think he got me..."

Chapter 17

Though she lost Eight, and as I later heard, Seven, Six never openly showed her sorrow. She lost both of the Princes of Gryphnia, a huge blow to troop morale as I could understand, yet she didn't seem to show any sort of emotion towards their loss. Though I had gotten curious as time went on; I ended up finding her standing alone in the barracks trailer they shared. Seven had a baseball glove next to his pillow, and Eight had a ball. I had heard them talk about their prowess back home. They were actually selected for the Fyrick team before the war broke out, and they used their pilot's licenses to become fighter pilots.

When she felt my eyes on her, she said softly, "No matter what, they can blame no one but themselves. Tyr went up with his plane in disrepair, and Carde was already dragging as is and he chose to go back. Pilots are responsible for their planes."

She then went on about when they all first met. She spoke of when they were just a couple of hotshot princes, before she trained them personally, before they had become exceptional fighter pilots. Her words weren't particularly directed at me, but I was content to listen. Letting her speak seemed to be keeping their memory alive, giving her comfort at least.

Meteor Squadron's pilot turnover rate ran high after the deaths of Prince Tyr and Prince Carde. Rookies with little air time were transferred in whilst the veterans were sent to other squadrons to shore them up with more skilled pilots. So many faces I didn't recognize came in, whilst some I had spoken to in passing left, never for me to see again. I remember Six had sighed after she greeted the newest arrivals. They were ecstatic to be flying in Meteor Squadron, but acted nothing like the professional pilots did.

One night, Six posted a newspaper up on the board that had been faxed over from Fyrick. It praised an AEGIS pilot who had singlehandedly destroyed Sky Breaker, the Gryphon's weapon of mass destruction that had assured Gryphnia's air superiority in the entire region, and practically the whole continent. There was a large fighter on it, still flying, and it seemed to be holding two pilots. It looked familiar, then I remembered Six describing a fighter of this design having almost shot her down. The insignia on the tail...

"Look at this," she said as she sat down on the seat below it. Everyone turned to see the female gryphon sitting there, her eyes staring at the wall on the opposite side of where she was sitting. "This right here... is something worthy of praise, of respect. This... is the deed of a warrior. Even among the enemy, among ponies, there are pilots who are capable of this, capable of defeating us in grand displays of technique and prowess. This pilot... has earned my respect."

Murmurs and shocked whispers resounded through the bar before Six continued. "There are ponies who are able to triumph over the impossible odds we throw at them. Not all of them are despicable dweebs who rob our wings through cowardly sabotage." The barkeeps daughter, who was holding my shoulder as we listened, flinched ever so slightly, but I felt it through the tightening of her hand.

There was a rumbling outside the bar just then. I looked out and then went to the window. Through the driving and pouring rain, there were trucks going by. One had stopped and the back of the truck dropped down. A pair of gryphons wearing helmets with red crosses on them were helping some wounded soldiers out of the back and into the medical ward across the street. I heard shouting that the allies were making one push after the other, somehow finding some backbone. It was then that is was made very clear to me. If this was true, the allies were close.

The allies were on their way to Glacier...

Rhapsody's skin paled once more. "How bad?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Ditzy gasped and her panting increased. "N-not good," she whimpered. "It hurts... it... really hurts!"

Rhapsody looked back and saw Sprig inching closer to her fighter, flipping on its side. "I can just barely see it, Wraith, but damn it looks bad."

"We got to get her on the ground!" Amethyst called. "Does anypony know of any place we can land?"

"Think the Dragoons made it to Sky Breaker?" Sprig asked.

"Doubtful," Rhapsody replied quickly. "They aren't expected for another hour, and I don't have that much fuel left!"

"We know that, Wraith!" Mythic cried. "Panicking is not going to ease the situation any more. Sky Gazer, we need a place to land. We're low on ammo and fuel."

"Already working on," Scootaloo called back. "Just hang on for as long as you can!"

"We're trying!" Rhapsody shouted.

"Rhappy," Ditzy said weakly.

"Just hold on Ditz, we're gonna get you some help. Save your breath."

The Tomcat shook a little from the increase in speed, and Rhapsody needed all she could get, but she also had to remember that she was low on fuel. If push came to shove, she'd have to glide in. Sprig and Amethyst kept their hornets close, their wing tips mere feet away from Rhapsody's, and Mythic kept his eyes peeled on the skies around them, ever on the defensive. Her ears perking, she listened to every sound the Tomcat was making, alternately trying to keep her right wing from bleeding out.

The engines were starting to choke from fuel leaks, alarms were going off all over in her fighter, she had no way to defend herself, and the tail of her fighter was already shredded to the point she could barely maneuver. She swallowed hard, a gesture that made her wince due to the sheer pain in her wing. She could only imagine the pain Ditzy was in, so she muscled through it and focused on flying. Already the Tomcat was shuddering, desperately trying its own luck to stay aloft.

"Rhappy..." Ditzy murmured again.

"Save your breath, Ditz," Rhapsody called, "Focus on staying awake back there. Don't speak. Sky Gazer I need to know where we're going!"

"Just hold your feathers, Wraith! I'm trying to find a safe place for you all! I can't redirect a tanker to you since those that are in the air don’t even have enough for themselves."

Rhapsody hissed and looked towards Amethyst and Sprig. "Banshee, Phantom, you two can see better than me. How's she looking?"

As if on cue, Sprig flipped onto her left side and slid in close. The hornet managed to hover there, and finally, the Hibernian accent broke in through the crackling radio. "She's not too good, mate."

"And neither is your plane," Amethyst added quickly. "You're smoking bad out the back."

"Skies are still clear," Mythic reported. His fighter began wavering a little, and he swiftly added, "Not sure how much more fuel I have left. Might have enough to glide into base."

At this point, the pegasus mare's fighter began to rock a little. She looked back over her right shoulder, only to see it obscured by a large red blotch on the canopy. She swallowed hard, realizing how hard Ditzy was hit, by both shrapnel and cannon rounds that shattered on impact from the Terminator, and had to force herself to look away out the other side. Rhapsody could barely see it, but she could feel it. The rudders were hit hard, her engines were choking. The tomcat was giving her everything he could give her. She gritted her teeth and sniffed, hoping there was some kind of salvation soon.

"Finally! Ghost Wing! I have good news; we have found a place for Wraith to land and get Ditzy some help at the same time. There's also an emergency KC-10 filling its tanks right now for the rest of you."

Rhapsody let out a small cheer and a tiny smile. "Alright, just give us the coordinates and we'll-"

"Let me finish... the bad news... um..."

Rhapsody raised an eyebrow. "'Um'?"

Scootaloo huffed and spoke to somepony off to the side, possible Rumble, before returning to the microphone. "I think I'll let him explain," she added swiftly before the radio went silent for a few moments. 'Him'? Who was him? Anxiety took hold swiftly when Scootaloo shut her mouth and offered no further instructions. She held on with baited breath though, and waited for somepony to return to explaining this.

"Okay, sir. You're through," Sky Gazer finally said.

Whoever it was cleared their throat, and spoke clearly, with a broad southern Trottingham accent. "This is Rear Admiral Pippington of the HMS Midnight. Wraith, we've got a spot here you can land, but I'm not sure you're going to like it. Being Air Force, I doubt you've had this sort of training."

"Admiral, sir, it's an honor," Rhapsody said swiftly, at least trying to show a little respect in her dire situation. "Can you elaborate... even though... I have a hunch what you're going to say?"

"And you'd be right, Captain. Tell me... have you ever attempted a carrier landing?"

Silence was his answer, from all directions. Rhapsody swallowed again and tugged a little at her collar. "N-no sir. I haven't. I'm an air force pilot."

The Admiral sighed heavily from his side of the radio. He muttered, "This is why the Tomcat should have stayed with the Navy." He coughed again and spoke clearer. "I have a carrier in my fleet right now, HMS Fairweather, and we're steaming towards Saddle Arabia. Your AWACS has already informed me of the situation, Captain, and I'm severely hoping the tail-hook has not been removed from your fighter."

"After almost a year, sir? Never. Didn't want to bother maintenance crews."

"Then this just might work," Scootaloo piped in. "Ghost Wing, I'm sending the coordinates."

"Wait... we're actually going to... attempt this?" Rhapsody whimpered, already feeling doubts. She was air force! She was trained to land on gigantic strips of tarmac that go a mile, not floating driveways in the middle of an ocean!

"Wraith, we are choice-less!" Mythic cried. "You need to land that thing and get Ditzy some help!"

Sprig then added her own thoughts. "And ejecting is out of the question too, so don't even try it! Specter's body won't survive the strain of the push and you know that!"

Rhapsody grit her teeth. They were right, and she hated the fact they were all right. The Tomcat was designed as a fighter for the Equestrian Navy, but the Air Force was short on interceptors and requisitioned a large number of them, but they were swiftly replaced. As a result, there was no time to train the pilots how to make emergency carrier landings. The tail-hooks were still left on though and maintained. And now, Rhapsody was about to attempt one herself.

The mare exhaled heavily, knowing that the only choice she had to save herself and Ditzy was the choice that could possibly kill her. Carrier landings were dangerous, especially for pilots not trained for such, and even for those who were. But the state her fighter was in, and the necessity of Ditzy's condition, she was once again hating the fact her only choice could be fatal if she made the slightest error in flight. And flying a wounded bird, the margin for error was almost- no- there was no margin for error.

Swallowing hard and tugging at her flight suit's collar, she responded slowly, "Sky Gazer, confirming these coordinates."

Scootaloo spoke softly, probably to her partner in the AWACS, "She's gonna do it." She then cleared her throat. "Coordinates confirmed. Ghost wing, move out to the fleet."

"Wraith, we've got medical and emergency crews on stand-by on the flight deck. Captain Bowline will be instructing you on how to land. I'm sending word now to get the deck cleared for you."

Rhapsody once again swallowed as she started banking the wounded tomcat towards the sea, listening to the shaking bits of metal clinging to the airframe by threads, adding swiftly, "Admiral... you might want to get the fire crews ready, sir."

"Standard operating procedures, Captain. But let's pray to the Mother Mare we don't need them."

Rhapsody was praying she wouldn't need them either, but it never hurt to prepare for the worst while expecting the best. The Tomcat was sputtering now, fuel practically gone now. If push came to shove, she'd have to glide in. Close by, the rest of Ghost wing began to show the strain of losing massive amounts of fuel. They kept airborne though, staying within range to guard their wing leader.

The mountain range they were flying over gave way to the beaches, and soon, to water. They had finally reached the ocean. The sun was dipping down low. Early sunset, as if the sun was just bringing the blanket called the horizon up to its chin to rest for the day. There was barely a cloud in the sky, as if they had all parted to give Rhapsody room to move, sensing her desperation. Banking again, the cockpit was given a beautiful glow from the setting light.

"It's... pretty," Ditzy rasped.

"It is..." Rhapsody agreed, wholeheartedly.

"Nice thing to see before... before I-"

"No," Rhapsody snapped. "You're gonna see a lot more like that. Just hold on."

"I... don't know how... much longer... I..."

"Just save your breath. Sky Gazer, how much further to the carrier? I'm running out of fumes to burn!"

Sky Gazer was quiet for a few seconds, checking their location. "A few miles, you should be able to see it from your location."

"Banshee here," Sprig cried. "I can see the Fairweather. Rhapsody, we're guiding you in."

"Thanks everypony... I mean it."

"Now don't get sappy," Mythic said blithely. "We're doing this 'cause we're wingmates. And I look after my harem."

Rhapsody let out a soft giggle, her first since the situation began spiraling out of control for Ghost wing. Tilting her control stick just a bit, she let out a deep breath as the carrier came into view. The tomcat staggered, but matched her movements and commands. It seemed her old warbird wanted to get out of the sky too. Rhapsody couldn't blame it. Her suit was getting soaked with sweat and more than enough blood. She had almost forgotten her right wing had been badly damaged and numbed. The sea green mare had been so focused on her plane and her co-pilot that she had forgotten about herself. Her vision had fogged a bit from her own blood loss, but the adrenaline was keeping her conscious she supposed.

Flipping a switch on her console, she was thankful it still worked, the landing gear began to lower. Exhaling once more, she flipped another switch for her tail-hook to lower as well. Rhapsody was really going to do this. The heavy panting behind her let her know this was her only option and she needed to do this flawlessly. The massive floating airstrip came into view, surrounded by the rest of the Rear Admiral's fleet. A total of ten ships made up the battle group, including the Midnight on the Fairweather's starboard side. She had never seen an aircraft carrier this close before, and she was now about to land on the damn thing. Giving her collar a tug, she began her descent. Even with her watering vision from the pain in her wing, she could see some sailors on the adjacent ships on their decks to watch her land.

"Captain, we've got a visual on your formation. On the port side is our spotter. He'll be holding a pair of lights. Whichever way he leans, you'll need to lean that way to correct your path," a Navy pony began saying. He must have been Captain Bowline. "There's four steel cables on the aft of the flight deck. You only need to catch one of them in order to land. When you get closer, we'll instruct further."

"Copy that, Captain," Rhapsody replied. She continued her descent.

"You're coming in too fast, slow down a bit." Her ears suddenly twitched and swiveled back as she pulled the throttle back a bit. Her engine noise was getting softer, saving some fuel. The rest of Ghost wing broke off, giving her room. Already, the mare was sweating profusely, and in her opinion, she had every right to.

The controller began waving a bit for her to correct her path. Her rose eyes focused, and her tail hugging her body close, Rhapsody continued her push down, tilting the stick when needed and kicking the rudders. The tomcat groaned in protest, but she kept herself as stable as possible. She inhaled swiftly as the deck got closer and closer. Her coat stood on end beneath her suit, her skin paled, her throat dried immensely, her wings ignored their pain as they folded tightly to her back. "Easy, Wraith, easy," Bowline called again. Rhapsody's eyes began to shake, almost watering from the aspect of slamming into the flight deck. A good portion of the aircraft carrier's crew was heading to the flight deck, eager to see the landing. Almost immediately upon realizing this, the Wraith's mind went dark, projecting an image of a massive fireball in the shape of an F-14A Tomcat shooting across it. How many sailors would she hit?

What if she missed?

What if she came in too fast and overshot it and dropped into the ocean?

What if she was coming in too low and slammed the whole plane into the stern?

How many ponies besides her and Ditzy would she kill because she made a mistake?

The deck came closer to her nose. Her hands began to shake. Her wings hugged her back tightly, her tail wrapped around her leg, her ears swiveled back and clung to her helmet. Sailors began to get out of the way. She could see fire hoses off to the side prepared for use. The fireball image came again.

"Raise your nose!" Bowline yelled.

She did as ordered. Closer.

"Raise it more!"

Again she did. The deck was getting closer!

Closer!

CLOSER!

She was going to miss!

Her wheels hit the deck! The hook grabbed a cable! Her body was shoved forward! Every organ in her torso dropped down to her hooves!

"Throttle up! Throttle UP!"

Before she knew what she was doing. Rhapsody threw the throttle forward. What was left of her fuel poured into the remaining turbine. Her engine screamed, roaring out behind her. But... she wasn't moving. What had happened? The engines began to pop behind her, threateningly loud noises shooting out the back as the Tomcat jerked.

"Shut it down, Wraith! Shut it down! SHUT! IT! DOWN! NOW!"

Once again, she grabbed the throttle and yanked it back, then proceeded to power down the Tomcat. The fighter let out a shrill whine as the turbine slowly began to die down and weaken in thrust, before shutting down completely. She let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. He skin returned to its normal color as her body finally began to relax. Yanking off her oxygen mask and helmet, she panted heavily and ran a hand through her teal and cyan mane. She laughed and a small smile coursed her muzzle.

"Way to go, Wraith!" Amethyst cried.

"Knew you could do it," Mythic called out.

"Bang on, Wraith! Good show," Admiral Pippington called out. Cheers resounded through his radio into her ears. Nearby sailors were clapping for her. She smiled; she had done it! "Sky Gazer has already called for a tanker to carry your wingmates back to base. We'll fix you up quick and you'll be on your way as well by the week's end."

Rhapsody nodded. "Thank you sir." She opened the cockpit just as the sailors began rushing over to her. Her rose iris's turning upwards, she saw the two F/A-18s and the lone EF-2000 fly overhead, heading for the fuel tanker that would take them back home. She would be joining them soon hopefully. She then looked back, saying "We're landed Ditzy. You can look now." She set her helmet aside and unstrapped herself from the harness and her seat. She was panting and sweating, and in desperate need of a -

No response. Why was she so quiet? A carrier landing wasn't... so... bad...

"Ditzy?" She leaned back to look, and her skin paled once again.

The grey mare was slumped forward, unmoving.

"Ditzy?" Rhapsody called, her panic rising. Still no response, even after climbing over her seat and giving her a shake. "Ditzy!" Nothing. Her suit was covered in blood and sweat, her oxygen mask and cheeks had soaked from tears. Her wings had slumped in the seat and her head was hanging down. Helmet and oxygen mask were still tightly attached. Rhapsody began to pant rapidly again, shaking the grey pegasus mare fiercely. "Ditzy! DITZY!"

Nothing. Her chest wasn't even moving. There wasn't even a twitch. Ditzy's body was completely prone. She looked out at the group of sailor ponies rushing a ladder towards the Tomcat.

"CORPSMAN!"

The Typhoon's engines whined down as his delta winged fighter rested under its respective hangar. Opening his wings, Mythic Dusk jumped from his cockpit and landed squarely on his booted hooves as he watched Sprig and Amethyst's Hornet's taxiing behind his to their own hangars. The Saddle flight controller trotted up and ran a hand over the nose of the aircraft, namely over the dragon design he and Rhapsody had painted together at night.

"It's beautiful," she murmured. She was a charming mare, really. A soft pink coat under her full uniform hinted of a lithe frame with a darker pink mane and thinly cut tail. Grinning, she turned a soothing eye to the grey pegasus stallion. "What prompted this design?"
Mythic patted the canard-wing near the canopy. "I've got this pendant in my trunk on the C-130s that'll be landing in an hour. Also a tattoo on my back to match it."

The Saddle grinned and sidled a bit closer to him. He raised an eyebrow as she leaned back on the fuselage. "I've heard a lot about Ghost Wing. The daring pilots lead by the daring and dashing Wraith. What's he like?"

Mythic chuckled at her and leaned beside her on the delta wing. "'She' is currently on the HMS Fairweather awaiting repairs."

The Saddle pursed her full lips, folding her arms under her breasts. "Sounds like you might be the more skilled pilot." Mythic smiled at her, though he gave a forced grin as she sidled a bit closer to him. Her tail swayed back and forth as regarded him like a cat would a mouse. Mythic couldn't help she might be... "Can I see this tattoo sometime?" she asked innocently.

There it was.

"Well, maybe I can-"

"Mythic!" The Saddle mare and the pegasus stallion leaned to the back of the hangar. A very peeved hippogriff was regarding them both. "When you're done fraternizing, Major Soarin would like to see us, if you can recall his message."

He did. Mythic huffed as the hippogriff strode off, her wings ruffling in obvious irritation. "Marefriend?" the Saddle asked. But instead of the soft innocence, her tone was replaced by one dripping with the venom of disappointment.

Way to wing-block, featherhead, Mythic thought bitterly. "She wishes," he replied with a groan. "But she's right. Gotta jet." He turned to leave, but not before pointing his helmet at her. "Catch you later though."

She grinned at him and winked. "Natina."

"Mythic Dusk." He returned the wink and headed off towards the back of the hangar as a pair of earth ponies ran by with tools to repair any damage he had suffered during their brief skirmish on the way here. He rounded the corner and was promptly blocked off from the door by a grey coated arm... attached for a very angry hippogriff. Her feathers were extended outwards, as if she had just been washed and dried. Every feather and hair on her head and neck was puffed out and her cheeks were beet red.

"'She wishes'?" Sprig seethed.

Instead of replying, Mythic held his grin and pointed with a chuckle. "You look really cute all puffy like that."

Mere seconds later, he was on the ground clutching himself while a seething, and very puffed up hippogriff stomped off to the other side of the complex.

"Thank you Admiral. I'd like her back here as soon as you can get her fixed up." The door opened and Soarin turned around. In strode the three pilots he had been wanting to see for a few hours now. Lieutenant Sprig Root came in smoothing out the feathers on her neck. Lieutenant Amethyst Karat walked in closely behind her, snickering like a filly that just stole a cookie and got away with it. Mythic picked up the rear. The grey stallion in question entered with a slight waddle. As the Admiral spoke, the Captain mouthed, 'What happened?'
'Don't ask', was his response. He tilted his eyes at Sprig, who shrugged innocently.

Nodding and leaving it at that, Soarin replied, "Yes sir. With respect, just as soon as you can." He hung up after the Admiral did and turned to the three pilots remaining of Ghost wing. He took a deep breath and began, "Well, I have good news and bad news. Which first?"

It was the lone Crystal Pony who spoke, giving Soarin a light start. She was usually the quiet one. "Good news first." When the others looked at her, she elaborated. "Usually makes the bad news hurt less."

"Fair point," the silver hippogriff agreed. Mythic merely shrugged and nodded.

"Alright then," Soarin once again started, "The good news is that Gryphnia's advances into Equestria, Hibern, Saddle Arabia, and the Crystal Empire have slowed to a halt in some areas, but the vaster majority they've been pushed back and we are on the offensive. There are four different areas where we've penetrated their border and are advancing and setting up outposts."

This was met with a light cheer, with the lone male adding. "Maybe the feather-heads have gone soft after we broke their best toy."

"Tsk. Can you blame them?" Sprig asked snidely. "They're all squawk and no strut when you step on their claws the right way."

Soarin chuckled a bit before clearing his throat. Mythic caught his move and frowned lightly. "Alright... bad news."

Soarin scratched the back of his head before giving a heaving sigh. He patted the phone on his, formerly Spitfire's, desk. "That was Admiral Pippington on the HMS Midnight. They're on their way to Saddle Arabia, a day or so out and then they'll arrive. Rhapsody is fine, a few wounds but they picked out the metal and wrapped her up. She'll be good to go in a few days and flying again in a week." He swallowed hard, putting everyone on edge. They asked the silent question of the condition of Ditzy, the wall-eyed mare who could probably see better than any of them could. He took a deep breath and murmured. "Ditzy wasn't so lucky."

Amethyst choked and leaned against Sprig, who held her tightly and was trying to keep her own composure. Mythic ran a hand through his mane as he gritted his teeth, unable to bear the truth even though it was right there in front of him, slapping his face. "But," he added quickly. This sparked a hope in them as they returned their eyes to their squadron leader. Violet, ocean blue, and gold irises pierced his very soul as Soarin continued.

"Ditzy had massive internal trauma, bleeding, large shrapnel wounds and her right wing was torn to shreds along with her arm and shoulder. The wounds are incredibly severe and they're not expecting her to be able to return to active duty for some months; if she'll ever be able to fly combat sorties again, or in general." Soarin scratched the back of his head. "Now Rhapsody, headstrong as she is, had to be ordered to receive medical treatment. She's barely left the sick bay since Specter was admitted in.

"Though the Admiral assures me she's getting the best treatment they have onboard, she'll be transferred to an actual hospital once they make port the day after tomorrow."

Sprig sighed and rubbed her eyes. "At least they're alright, eh?"

"But will Rhapsody be coming back?" Amethyst asked weakly. The youngest of the group, she was admittedly the most timid and emotional. So of course her concern is for others and never herself.

But Soarin answered with a nod. "She'll be back in a week, and when she is, she's going to need a new pony riding shotgun in her Tomcat once it's repaired."

"So," Sprig began, as she started to shift on her feet, "You're filing for a replacement? For Ditzy?"

"Well not... exactly... per say," Soarin began to fumble his words, then sighed. "Yeah, replacement."

The three pilots assembled before him huffed and sighed, shifting around as they looked between each other, sharing looks of mild contempt and even scorn towards their Captain. Soarin couldn't really blame them. He didn't like breaking in replacements any more than the next commanding officer. But if they wanted to continue their operations, Ghost Wing would need to be at full strength. Besides the Wonderbolts, Ghost Wing had become one of his top fighter wings.

Shoving his papers aside, Soarin shook his head and looked up again. Outside, the ground crews were shutting the hangars and the trucks were returning to their assigned lot. The base was essentially closing for the night. The military would head into town, relax, celebrate destroying Sky Breaker and the coming advances on Gryphnian held territory. There would be liberations left and right, and the AEGIS troops couldn't wait to stomp their hooves on Gryphons all over the battlefields.

"Head into town. Saddle locals love military because they have money, but they're some of the most hospitable and humble ponies you'll ever meet in your lives." The three merely nodded after being dismissed, clearly not liking the idea of a replacement. Soarin didn't either; he knew how stressful it could be. Hopefully the new kid he requests will know the difference between a prop and a turbine. But his eyes once again drifted towards the airfield itself. The last of the hangars closed, and he followed Celestia's sun towards the mountains, then to the north. To Gryphnia.

"Mother Mare, we still have much to do."

Author's Note

Something in my gut told me I needed to elaborate on a little something.

AEGIS is based on NATO
Equestria is the United States
Republic of Hibern (Hippogriffs) is the United Kingdom
Crystal Empire is France
Saddle Arabia is NATO's Middle Eastern Allies
Gryphnia is Russia

Intermission

Funeral Services were held in Fyrick, the Gryphon capital, for the two fallen Princes. It was a sharp blow to the Gryphon morale, knowing that AEGIS had not only shot two Meteors, but they eldest sons of their King. A regal gryphon in darker attire stood at a podium between two portraits of Meteor Seven and Eight. Their faces were bright and lively. A testament to who they were off the battlefield. He spoke of their courage, their bravery, and their love for King and Country. On the television we watched in the bar, he looked on the verge of tears as Gryphnia's highest leaders were gathered to pay their respects. He spoke of disdain for the pilots who took their two great warriors.

The crowd itself was dressed dark, more than one bursting into tears. In the bar where I sat, the gathered members of Meteor Squadron and a few soldiers from the army. The barkeep had turned up the volume to maximum as the King finished his speech, holding up a goblet as a toast to their bravery. Every gryphon in the bar held up their own glasses. I knew those two pilots, I'd sat with them, hearing their stories, laughing at their jokes, and enjoying the occasional trinket they gave me.

I knew them, respected them. I raised my mug of cocoa.

Two weeks later...

"We'll do our best. Now I need to return to my business."

Spitfire nodded, understanding how much work the Brigadier General had to do yet. "I'll let you get back to it, ma'am."

Without another word, the Major hung up her phone. She sighed and looked around her Canterlot office. Much as she had left it when the war started; pristine, not at all dusty (thank you cleaning staff), and as she recalled, very blue. Posters from the old acrobatic flying days hung along the walls; some of recruitment ads, others of upcoming events long past, and, for nostalgia purposes only, one of Spitfire's safer recruitment pinups with her wearing her officer's jacket with a tight pair of dress pants as she lay across a rack of missiles. Narcissistic, maybe, but it brought back some old memories. She had to admit

Spitfire allowed a small smile as she let her mind reminisce of the old days. The F-15Ss of the Wonderbolt Squadron flying over awestruck youngsters and aspiring aviators alike. The days of pegasi performing acrobatic feats using wingpower wasn't over by a long shot. Such traditions were hard to bring down, but in the modern era, ponies wanted to see these loud, but graceful and acrobatic airplanes perform stunts like the regular ponies could do. Unicorns could perform loops alongside Earth Ponies who flew the same plane. Airplanes opened up new opportunities and dreams for aspiring young foals who felt they were destined to fly through the clouds like their winged counterparts. They still have wing powered acrobatic shows; they were just a separate performance.

It felt like so long ago that Spitfire had just received her wings after graduating the Academy and was led to the flight-line, with Soarin and Fleetfoot in tow, to their first planes. Frowning for a moment, Spitfire looked away from the posters, to an old photo on her desk. Caked with dust, she quickly brushed it aside. An F-15C Eagle, donning the colors and lightning streaks of the Wonderbolts, stood proudly in the background whilst she, Fleetfoot, and Soarin all flexed in front of it. The picture had been taken by Wave Chill, who has long since retired from frontline service.

Beside it was a picture that included the absent Wind Chill, and the long retired Colonel Silver Lining. Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Soarin hung in the background and the photo was taken by the bartender. It was the last group photo they had had together before the crisis in Hibern, and then Sky Breaker five years later. The original crew was five, and it had been reduced to two now. But still, she remembered fondly all the sorties the five of them had flown in, all of the planes they had shot down, and the record of kills they shared.

But more than that, she remembered the ponies themselves. Wave Chill was the type of stallion to give you the shirt off his back if it was raining. Younger mares would swoon, of course, and Spitfire had even been caught staring. Silver Lining was the type of superior officer who would let you get away with drinking in the cockpit as long as you gave him a swig when you landed, and had joined in a number of brawls with his pilots, defending their honor.

Fleetfoot; the only one among them who was a mother. Grounded almost right at the end of the war because of her condition, she was as fiery as it got. Nimble and flexible too, she had almost come to blows with Silver Lining when she wanted to fly with the rest of the squadron. But he was also the one who made sure she stayed in the Air Force and had her job to return to when she was permitted to get back on duty. Spitfire could've sworn she had some belly-bulge in that photo. Of course she said it was just a beer gut and promptly slugged the then Captain in the shoulder.

Blinking back a bit of moisture she promised herself she wouldn't let loose, she decided to go through her desk to make sure her more prized possessions were still where they were. Opening the top right drawer, she pressed a tab in the back of the drawer, opening a compartment. Inside were letters, a pair of glasses, and a bottle of Emerald Isle Whiskey from just after the Second Equis Continental War. Hard to believe this war was number three.

Reaching in, she grabbed the letters and flipped through them, counting in her head. Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen; all accounted for, as least for this war. She had had her own pilots to command during the Second War, which was thankfully only a couple of months long, but she had lost enough pilots to warrant a sizable stack that had only been compounded with the pilots she had lost in this one. She had counted at least over forty pilots lost, but only thirty or so had families that wrote to her.

Spitfire read the names of the senders, recalling each one, putting a face with all of them, except one. It was addressed for...

Unable to stop herself, Spitfire opened one of the letters and read slowly to herself...

Dear Major Spitfire,

You may not know me, or remember me, but I wanted to take the time to write to you about my marefri dearest friend, Cloud Kicker. She was a pilot in the Wonderbolts, Captain Soarin's Wingpony. I'll never forget the moment she received her commendations and approval to fly with your squadron ma'am. She was ecstatic, so excited, Kicker wanted to celebrate. I wish I could have flown with her, but with my landing accident during the academy, and confinement to a wheelchair for weeks, I was slammed with a desk job. I have you to thank for saving my career.

But I didn't want to write about that. Cloud Kicker was close to me, more than either of us let on. I wish you could have told me about how she was kill how she died. But I figured it out. The damnable Sky Breaker. Yeah, we know about the midnight raid AEGIS approved of. It didn't take long. She was very close to me Major, but I don't feel betrayed that I wasn't told the whole story about what happened to her.

I guess I'll have to move on. It'll be quiet around the house, but I'll get used to her being gone, I suppose. It's been hard going home to a very quiet house, but we knew the risks of joining, and neither of us have regrets. Her family came by the other day, asking if I needed any help, or somepony to talk to. I'm living with them now; they're much closer to my office. I only wish she was sleeping next to me is all, like before. I wanted to just write about it, have somepony to write to who flew alongside her, know how I felt and say a few words. Her funeral is this Tuesday if you wish to attend. There isn't a body to bury, but she's there in our hearts. Mine especially.

Sincerely,

Ensign Blossomforth,

Royal Equestrian Navy

Spitfire exhaled deeply as she refolded the letter and slipped it back into the envelope. She remembered Blossomforth. A young mare in her prime, she had been accepted into the Wonderbolt Academy. Barely a week in, and she shattered her wing and both of her legs during a hard landing when her fighter's engines blew and she was forced to eject. Spitfire was the one who had gone to the academy's infirmary to drop the news of Blossomforth's removal from the class. The gold pegasus had no idea a crippled mare could throw a lamp that hard and that far.

Almost without thinking, Spitfire rummaged through the pile of letters. She found another she had read recently, sitting on the bottom. It had actually arrived in her office while she was in the stockades, awaiting her hearing. For some reason, she felt a certain obligation to read it at least one more time. To be honest, it was one she did not expect a letter from. Exhaling heavily, the Major opened the letter and murmured it to herself.

"To Major Spitfire, 14th Tactical Fighter Squadron..."

We have never spoken, but I felt it was necessary to write to my daughter's commanding officer. I remember fondly the day you gave her a second chance at the academy. She had fallen into depression when she flunked out of the Wonderbolt Academy, I had thought Lightning would never pull back from her stupor.

While she didn't make a true Wonderbolt, she learned much from her former wingpony and took it in stride that though she would never be able to call herself a Wonderbolt, she could still fly alongside them. She wrote to me shortly after graduation that she had made it to leader of Timberwolf Wing. She sent pictures of her, her squad mates, her plane. I remember seeing plenty of those in my own flights; of course I was shooting them down. If only her mother could have seen her; she'd have been so proud of her, being a combat pilot herself once long ago, probably before you were born.

Major, she was all I had left. Hearing about her death at the hands of the Gryphons was a heavy blow to take. But do not get me wrong, I do not blame you at all for any of it. You inspired her, advised her, made sure her dreams were not forsaken. You gave her a second chance, and I only hope she never let you down. Though something tells me she didn't.

My little Lightning. Her picture of her in her uniform hangs next to her mother in hers. My days of fighting are over, and I was hoping my Lightning wouldn't pay the price I never could. But this war is taking enough of us as is. You will always have my support, Major, and know that I will be rooting for your entire Squadron for full victory.

I look forward to hearing from you.

With all respects,

Stratus, former Equestrian Royal Air Force, 88th Fighter Interceptor Squadron

Spitfire bit her lips as she set the letter down. Lightning Dust, Captain, Timberwolf One. How in the Mother Mare could she forget such a brash pilot? Her fire in combat gave even Rainbow a run for her bits and reminded Spitfire herself of the days when she was just a reservist herself. Lightning's first run through the academy had been a disaster and nearly cost her one of her best pilots. Spitfire was, admittedly, going through a rough spot with the Generals and her own family troubles. She wasn't thinking clearly now that she thought back on it, approving of Lightning's antics. That day she almost lost Rainbow Dash, and the Major almost lost her self-worth, and Spitfire was glad the young cyan mare didn't see the three empty bottles under her desk.

The Academy, the Equestria Games, and many other events after were a rather dark mark on her career record. Still, it could not be denied that Lightning was a damn good pilot. She was young, had just gotten accepted into the Wonderbolt Academy, so naturally she wanted to make not a good impression, but the best impression. And in turn, she lost sight of what was truly important. Both Lightning and Spitfire lost sight. And Spitfire had made a light promise to heave herself back to the ground on drinking. After the games, she had poured out most of her supply, convincing herself that only at celebrations would she allow herself to drink.

Blinking, just as she was starting to put a few back, she caught sight of a letter that she remembered fondly. Of all of them, this one struck her heart in a new fashion that the others, with all respect to the fallen and their families, could not fully grasp her like this one did. With a slow hand, shaking without her even realizing it, Spitfire picked up the envelope and took out the letter. Swallowing, Spitfire opened it and started to read.

More than a few drops of moisture threatened her eyes.

To Aunt Spitfire,

I hope things are okay on your end of the world and you are staying safe. I'm doing okay over here in Las Pegasus. Daddy didn't want to write a letter, so he told me to do it instead. I'm learning to write much better, so I thought that was a good idea. He's been really sad for a long time, and that's making me sad. My friends and I were on our way to school when we saw some jets like those mommy flew went over our heads. We tried to follow them, but they were too fast. We went into town and asked if anypony knew if they were mom's friends, but they had no idea. It was like they didn't know she was a Wonderbolt!

I remember you calling her a while back, telling her the Generals had a secret mission for the Wonderbolts, and mommy was going with them. I think it's so cool she gets to do those things. I actually want to be a pilot too! But when I told dad that, he got scared, telling me to get flying a jet out of my head, that it was dangerous. Then he got sad again. He's been really sad lately.

Even Uncle Rapid Fire came by to try and cheer him up. He was smiling when he came inside, holding a cooler full of bottles. They wouldn't let me have one, though. Mom left three months ago, and I haven't heard anything from her. I asked Uncle Rapid where mom was, but then he got sad too. Dad got up from the couch and went to his room, and Uncle Rapid sat me down and told me that mom was going to be gone much longer than anyone thought. Then I heard dad crying. He's tough though. Why was he crying? She was just going to be a little longer.

I know she really likes her job and it keeps her away from me and daddy. I hope she's okay and she'll be back soon. My birthday is coming up and I hope she will –

Who was she kidding?

Spitfire slammed the letter back down, unable to take more. Her eyes welled up and she panted, dashing a hand over her eyes swiftly. Biting back a sob, she hastily shoved the letter back into the envelope and covered her face, but not before grabbing the bottle of Emerald Isle Whiskey and pouring a full glass, downing it swiftly.

Panting still, Spitfire once again dried her eyes, but she still choked a sob down before it came out. The last thing she needed to do now was cry like a baby in her office. To get away from the view of the letter, she looked out her window. Her eyes went higher up, following a pair of F-15Cs as they went on their regular patrol. Painted the standard grey, but with gold and blue streaks along the wings, ending at the nose and the tail, they were marked as Wonderbolt Reservists.

It brought her back to the days she and her friends were in the reserves. Flying their own F-15Cs, she, Soarin', Fleetfoot, Rapidfire, Wave Chill; they were unstoppable. Until the failed mission against Sky Breaker came to pass, the five of them were the best pilots the Wonderbolts had. The mission to launch a surprise attack on Sky Breaker, a mission that failed, and cost the lives of over two-hundred pilots; and as they discovered a couple days later, three civilian air liners mistaken for AEGIS transport planes. Almost five hundred lives lost because of a miscalculation.

Wave Chill injured himself before the mission was called out. Soarin was grounded because of his plane acting up. Spitfire needed to stay behind because her base needed a commanding officer. But Fleetfoot...

Unable to stop herself, Spitfire looked down at the child's writing on the letter and the envelope. She sniffed and looked back towards the windows, towards the clouds high up.

"Fleet... if you're up there... let him be a kid. Let him be a kid for a little longer." She downed another shot and sighed before shaking her head. "He deserves that much."

There was a firm knock on her door. It caught the Major by surprise, something she was not used to. Quickly, she downed the last of her glass and hid it with the bottle as another knock came through, and she dashed a hand across her eyes. "C-come in!" she called.

The door opened and in strode a mare she was forgetting also worked in the building. Her wings were folded, though at a bad angle; evidence of a bad crash upon ejection. She also walked with a slight limp, another piece of visual evidence. But her stride was crisp as she walked with purpose up to Spitfire's desk. White coat, green and magenta mane cleanly cut. She stopped a foot away from the desk and saluted swiftly.

"Ensign-" Spitfire stopped herself as she tilted her head at the mare's collar. "Lieutenant Blossomforth. Congratulations."

The mare smiled and stood up straight in evident pride. "Just last week, ma'am. Desk job isn't bad here, but I miss the skies." Spitfire nodded solemnly, recalling the accident that stole Blossomforth's chance of a lifetime and her livelihood and birthright as a pegasus. "And before you ask, ma'am, No, I haven't thrown any lamps at anypony."

This was met with a laugh, sorely needed, from both mares. Short as it was, it was a nice reprieve. "Office is no substitute for a cockpit, I'm sure." Exhaling, the Major sat up straight in her chair and clasped her hands. "So! What do you have for me, Lieutenant?"

Blossomforth nodded swiftly and produced a note folded tightly in the crook of her arm. Extending it out, Spitfire accepted it and opened the whole thing with one hand. Blossomforth stood silently as the Major read the note. It was filled out by Brigadier General Sparkle. Her emotions shifted around, but the one that stood out most to the two mares was the Major's surprise. Spitfire mouthed the words to herself and coughed, then turned her gold eyes back to Blossomforth. "Please tell me she's kidding!"

"I wouldn't know, ma'am," the Lieutenant replied honestly. "I didn't read it. Wasn't my place to question General Sparkle."

Spitfire dropped the letter on her desk and looked out her window to the south. Exhaling deeply, the golden pegasus mare practically fell against the back of her chair. The news hit hard, and General Sparkle knew how to make an impact with her orders. But this one was a doozy of a doozy. "Well, they'll be in for a surprise. Tell the General I'll be ready by tomorrow afternoon." Blossomforth swiftly saluted and turned on her hoof, heading for the door. "And Blossom?" The white mare turned towards the Major, who was smiling. A genuine smile.

"Tell her I said thanks."

Chapter 18

Taking off from the carrier was (marginally) easier than landing. The catapult crews handled that mostly, and after a wave of her wings to the crews and a salute to Captain Bowline and Admiral Pippington for their assistance, she was off in the direction of her new home in Saddle Arabia. The wings folded back and she throttled up, hitting supersonic within moments as her fully fueled engines screamed.
She had looked back after putting her fighter on autopilot to see... an empty seat. Alone. She was flying alone.

Ditzy.

The poor mare was still on the coast, being sent to a hospital that had much better equipment and a more stable operating platform than a nuclear powered carrier could provide. Shocking in of itself, though they could provide better care for her after the navy corpsmen handled the bigger stuff. The shrapnel had been removed, she'd been sewn up, and the grey pegasus mare was stable. But the damage was extensive throughout her body. The doctors had done all they could, they said, and it was up to Lieutenant Ditzy Do whether or not she'd pull through.
The sea green mare barely got to say goodbye.

Her mood hadn't changed in the weeks following her return to Ghost Wing and leaving the HMS Fairweather. Rhapsody's fingers ran slowly along the glass of orange juice as her opposite hand lightly jabbed a fork into her hash browns. Her Tomcat was good as new with brand new parts; the navy repair kids knew exactly what to do, saying they practiced fighter maintenance on old F-14As. Her baby was shiny as if it had just been pushed off the assembly line. Sky Breaker had been destroyed, the Gryphons were on the run now, pulling their wayward forces back as far as they could go, at the same time calling in reservists to shore up lighter areas, turning inner Gryphnia into a blasted fortress. But one that AEGIS would soon topple. In all, they had the Gryphons on the ropes. And Rhapsody was the cause of it. She had been the one to drop bombs on Sky Breaker's turrets. She was called a damn hero and an ace fighter pilot.

Why did this victory feel so hollow, then? Why couldn't she be happy?

"Gonna eat those?" a familiar voice asked. Rhapsody's rose-colored eyes locked with the gold of her hippogriff friend, who just finished her food. She looked at the two other faces regarding her in concern. Giving a forced sigh, Rhapsody pushed the tray towards Sprig, who blinked at it and frowned, her beak curving downwards. "Was kinda hoping you wouldn't do that, mate."

"Not hungry anyway," the Captain murmured.

"You've barely been eating lately," Amethyst replied. Rhapsody was at least taking solace the rest of her squad hadn't changed too much.

"I'd say it's done her some good." Others, not so much.

Rhapsody glared daggers at Mythic, who was stirring his coffee while reading his newest comic. When he didn't hear laughing, or any sound for that matter, he looked up. All three mares were glaring at him, when his eyes fixed on Rhapsody's, he could almost see himself being burned alive. "That... sounded better in my head."

Sprig opened her beak to scold the lone stallion of the group, but not before craning her head around to see Rhapsody walking out of the mess hall, her tray left in the center, food still piled on it. The hippogriff snarled and slugged the stallion hard in the shoulder. He yelped and fell backwards out of his seat.

Applejack removed her helmet as she entered the tent. The two soldiers on either side guarding the door stood at attention and saluted. "At ease," she said, returning them to their statuesque positions. Running a hand through her blonde mane, she flicked her tail in annoyance as she saw Rarity had, once again, decorated her campaign map.

"It's so bland though!" she scolded to the Sergeant Major. The stallion merely stood there, unsure what to make of the map. She had... color-coded various parts of the map. The white unicorn's horn was alight as she guided several differently colored fabrics to areas around the map, stating they show conquered and liberated areas. It looked more like... a blanket. A stitched blanket that she remembered Granny Smith sewing for her when she was much younger, Mother Mare rest that old pony's soul.

"Ma'am... it's... a field map," Sergeant Major tried to say slowly. But Rarity lifted her hand to silence the Pegasus before he could proceed further.

"We need to prove that we can fight and still maintain a sense of dignity when we make our plans of attack!" she exclaimed. She then turned to the former farm mare that had just entered the tent. Applejack's mane was disheveled as the orange mare set her helmet aside and picked up her cowpony hat before staring at the map. "Colonel! You can relate to this, correct? Dignity and whatnot?"

Colonel Apple looked at the unicorn mare, before gripping the multicolored sheet and bundling it up. She then tossed it over her shoulder. Rarity's jaw dropped, her hard work no doubt, being carelessly thrown to the side. It would have been much worse had it landed on the dirt, but instead landed in an open crate... full of vests covered in dirt, mud, and Celestia knew what else.

"Ah need my map how ah left it, Lieutenant Colonel. Not frilled up like one of yer dresses back in Ponyville," Applejack snapped at Rarity. The unicorn mare blanched at the comment, but was cut off by the Colonel before she could retort. "You need to understand this is a warzone. Ah don't want 'pretty' maps, ah want functional and understandable, not 'the Gryphons are mauve and we're a light lilac color while these parts are green or'-" Applejack quickly shook her head. "Ah want my maps how they are, alright?"

Rarity huffed and with a flick of her magic, gathered up the colorful cloths and shoved them unceremoniously into her bag. "Fine then, Colonel," she replied with no attempt to hide her scorn at using ranks among friends. Applejack didn't like it either, but she had had just about enough of Rarity trying to, even here, make things beautiful. Doing her best for troop morale, the Tank Colonel knew this all too well, but there were times she went overboard. "I have reports from the front. Our advance is going smoothly, mostly catching Gryphon stragglers and the occasional stronghold. The Air Force or the Navy soften it, and our ground forces take it."

"And what's the news from the Hibernian Dragoons?" Applejack asked.

Rarity flipped to another page in her folder. "The dismantling is going on schedule. The Gryphons are being surprisingly cooperative. The metal that can be salvaged is being distributed by the different armed forces to see what we could get out of it all. The excess rounds are also being dismantled and the same is being done with them. Taelur has been, how would you say, 'chomping at the bit' to get their hands on Sky Breaker's weaponry." Rarity harrumphed. "Such precious metals and they were being used for petty ammunition."

"Gryphons are weird like that," the Sergeant Major muttered. The two mares in the room turned to him, and the male pegasi grimaced. "Sorry, ma'am."

Applejack shook her head as she reached for her nearby glass of water. "No worries, sugar cube," she replied nonchalantly. "I completely agree with the sentiment, just hope we don't follow their hoofsteps. Or at least our allies don't." She took a quick drink and sighed, pointing at the southern portion of the map. "Our advance through Saddle Arabia is going smooth, and the latest report from the Crystal Empire is that they're still encountering heavy resistance just outside of Glacier. They just about turned the place into a fortress since the Meteors are based out of there."

"How do we plan to break it?" Rarity asked quietly.

Applejack once again shook her head. "We've been communicating with a barkeep who's been feeding us information as best he can. But it's mostly spotty information because to get any closer is incredibly dangerous. So the information is mostly hypothetical, and that's the best they can give without blowing their cover or getting somepony killed."

A fist tapped hard on the tent flap and the Colonel turned around. "Enter." A stone faced Saddle Arabian soldier entered, handing the earth pony a slip of paper. Applejack nodded her thanks and the soldier left the tent. She looked it over closely.

Rarity stepped up beside her friend and tilted her head. "What is it?"

Applejack ran a hand down her face and grimaced deeply. "It's one of our U-2s in the south. It's finished its reconnaissance and apparently we were correct to fear the information about Gryphnia's replacement for Sky Breaker."

"So it isn't a rumor," the Pegasus soldier breathed. "We need that information it's carrying."

"Tell me something I don't know, Sergeant Major," Applejack grumbled. She set the report down and turned back to her map. Looking at the coordinates, she followed the map lines till she found the last reported location of the U-2. It was coming in from the sea at an extreme altitude, but due to its low fuel and many intended detours, it had been forced to drop and take a shortcut. She followed the line to a massive canyon. "Hydra Ravine. He'll need to go through there to land with at least fumes in his tanks. But if intelligence is serving us well, and Twilight hasn't let us down yet, there are balloons all over the area that jam our radar and guidance."

"So they can't be targeted by missiles," Rarity concluded.

"And thankfully, neither can he." The former farm pony let a hand run through her mane. "Any bases nearby that can provide support? The second he drops altitude, he'll trigger the Gryphnian radar arrays in the area and they'll scramble everything that they have to intercept." She checked her watch, pursing her lips. "He'll need to drop down in about another two hours."

Rarity leaned over the map, the keen eye of a former seamstress serving her well as she eyed the mountains and the hills. Narrowing her blue eyes, she ran her finger over the map until finally, she tapped on one of the pins marked. "This here."

Applejack followed her finger and nodded. "Shabal Air Base, on the north end of Saddle Arabia. Perfect; that's one Dash's. Ah'll get on the horn to her and see if she can scramble a couple planes to escort him in."

Once the latest C-17 had landed and taxied into its place, Rhapsody kept trudging through the base. A good number of them had been landing recently to drop off supplies. This close to the frontlines, Shabal Air Base had been sending fighters out on a daily basis to aid with the ground assaults. The occasional C-5 dropped off plane parts or, as happened a couple of times after a particularly nasty battle, a whole plane or helicopter. Some of them were in the middle of parking just off to the side as they unloaded or prepared to refuel and take off. It was a never ending cycle for the cargo pilots.

As she continued walking down the rather quiet flight line, a few ponies had exchanged whispers, claiming they were looking at a true ace, a hero. One of the hangars was open. A pair of unicorns was working carefully and diligently on one of the F-117 Nighthawks that had taken residence with the Saddle Arabian Air Corps. They stopped in their work, letting their tools and materials hover in the air as they watched her go by. The pegasus mare could always tell when someone was checking her out; her wings twitched any time eyes were on her when her back was turned.

The same thing happened when some ground crew ponies were hauling fuel pips on a large truck. They stopped to let Rhapsody walk across their path. Even over the din of the massive engine of the truck, she could hear them talking about how incredible a pilot she was, the stories they heard of her.

Wraith had become an icon to the war effort. When she flew, they knew the mission was going to succeed. She even heard a bit louder one of the Hippogriffs who were part of the airborne unit stationed with the 14th Tactical. They were murmuring, "When she flies, we don't die." So, AEGIS propaganda had made her a living legend to boost morale. They didn't even talk to the mare in question what she wanted said about her.

Rhapsody enlisted and became a pilot to defend Equestria, defend Equis as a whole, from aggressors of any shape or form. It just upset her that she wanted to be a humble air force pilot and then probably get shot down somewhere and forgotten, chalked up as another brave young pilot who died protecting her country. But maybe she was just too good to get shot. Certainly didn't apply a couple weeks ago when those Meteors shot up her plane into diced corn.

Finally, she reached her destination. Opening the door, she entered the hangar, promptly closing it behind her and staring longingly at the lone occupant. Her Tomcat simply sat there, no scars, no lines marking its age or past battles. The Navy air techs knew how to patch up a plane and make it look as good as new. Even though an aged fighter, the Captain had spied at least six on the HMS Fairweather. One of the pilots she had spoken to on the Fairweather said the second carrier in the Royal Navy, HMS Faerie Flight, had a squadron who petitioned to keep theirs, as well, after they had been trying to get a request for Hornets. Apparently, Tomcats were getting popular again.

Rhapsody walked closer to it, her wings and tail clinging to her body as the chill in the hangar caressed her coat. Hands in her jacket pocket, she stepped to the nose and then ran a hand all the way down, over the painted nose, over the painting of her harp cutie mark, over the multiple airplane stickers that showed her kills. She grimaced at the fact that even the fighter she tricked into getting shot during the Rocket Base fight had even been counted. She guessed she shouldn't be surprised.

"I think you miss her too," she murmured to the Tomcat. Rhapsody stared at the canopy, then leaned forward, resting her cheek on the side. It was warm, her plane was, as if sensing she was cold. Rhapsody had grown fond of this plane; she was assigned this particular plane just before they were going to be discontinued. Most pilots tried to find excuses to have theirs traded in, but not her. This was hers. She had often been criticized for folding her jumpsuit down around her waist, leaving only her tank-top, and would help the ground crews when they worked, even if just holding the tools, but they gave her the chance to tighten the bolts or add new rivets when needed. But they allowed her to help because she flew it and knew it better.

"They're calling us heroes, girl," she murmured to the plane, then shook her head. "I don't see it that way. I only wanted to be a pilot, cheesy as it sounds. I joined the Air Force, then went to war to fight. Didn't think I'd see myself becoming the hero of the damn thing." Turning her back to the fighter, then leaning against it, she continued, "I'm just one mare. One mare can't change the war, can she? I'm only one part of the whole. Hell, there're ponies out there right now dying while... here I am... cozy in a hangar with you."

She got no response, much as she expected. Her Tomcat only spoke when it flew, letting it's fury in the sky do the talking. Her instructor at the academy always told her, "The plane knows what it wants to do. Just feel the controls and you'll feel it yourself. Let it do the fighting, all you need to do is hold on tight."

Running her hand back up the airframe, she patted her cutie mark painted on the side, just over the decals depicting her kills throughout her career. Silhouettes of planes, boats, tanks, and helicopters took up a good portion of the nose. She had an impressive number for one who barely had a scratch on her. But Rhapsody frowned upon looking down at her bandaged wing. She was missing feathers but she was far better off than her co-pilot and best friend, Ditzy. What the Captain had received was paltry to what the grey mare had suffered.

Rhapsody swiftly shook her head. She had dwelt on that moment more than enough times. Sprig was right; she needed to get over it. She needed something else to think about. Ditzy was getting the care she needed and more. The silence was what she didn't like. The two friends hadn't been able to speak in the week since the sea green mare returned. But Rhapsody had to remind herself that she couldn't dwell on it. She still had a job to do. The skies were still being contested over Equis, and AEGIS had to triumph or all was lost.

She promptly banged her head on the Tomcat's nose to get it through her thick skull.

"Wraith! There you are!" Rhapsody blinked and rubbed her forehead and turned to the speaker. Creg, the hippogriff wing leader of Saber, panted as he flexed his wings and jerked his thumb back towards the rest of the base. "Major Soarin has been asking where you are. He's got a sortie for you."

"For me, specifically?" she asked slowly.

Creg shrugged, once again putting emphasis on exiting the hangar with a jerk of his head towards the door. "He didn't say and I didn't ask, mate. But c'mon." Shrugging, Rhapsody followed the hippogriff out the door where he took wing to the air. The pegasus mare eyed him with some envy that he could fly while she was grounded for another couple of weeks due to her injury. But her hooves still worked as far as she could see, so she sprinted her way across the tarmac to the base's command center.

"One of our U-2s is coming back from a scouting mission," Soarin explained as he walked with Rhapsody back to her Tomcat's hangar. She was fully geared in her flight suit with her helmet tucked under her arm. They walked at a brisk pace, the Major giving the mare her briefing as they walked. "It has engine troubles and has to fly through Hydra Ravine to the Northeast to make it here on time. It's deep in Gryphnian territory but a fog has rolled in and masked it pretty well."

"So it's an escort mission?" she asked simply.

Soarin tilted his head and shrugged. "You could say that, yes. Thing is, Hydra Ravine was, earlier in the war, flooded with airships that have radar jammers attached. We can't use missiles while those things are active and they mess up radar badly. That U-2 has a chance of crashing if it can't use its radar and we can't afford that. You need to get there fast before the U-2 does and shoot down the balloons, and sadly you'll need to use your cannon."

They reached the door, but Rhapsody stopped short and tugged the Major's arm. "Sir, I don't get it; why me and me alone? I'm one pilot among dozens here and I don't have a co-pilot. There's regulations on that."

Soarin folded his arms with a knowing grin. "Because, Captain Rhapsody, two things. One, you've been absent for a few sorties while they rebuilt your plane and took care of your wing. So you need to make up some sorties on your own to correct our records and get yourself back in the swing of things." He then looked at the door while the hangar was being opened and chuckled. "And two, this was a personal request from your new co-pilot." Rhapsody raised an eyebrow at him, but instead of elaborating, Soarin merely turned from her and flew back to the command center. The sea green mare blinked and stepped through the doorway...

... And promptly stood in shock, dropping her helmet.

"Quite a few kills since I've been gone, couple more scratches than I would've thought you'd have gotten. And these two red plane marks here, I'm guessing two meteors? Damn impressive if I say so myself. Even I never got one during my sorties, and you took one down in a Tomcat." The other mare patted the Tomcat's nose, snickering. "I'm proud of you, Rhapsody. Taking down two Meteors and all these planes and ships, no wonder everypony is spreading rumors about you." Rhapsody said nothing, keeping her eyes glued on the other mare's back. Golden wings flexed as she rolled her shoulders and flipped her helmet around to cover her fiery orange and yellow mane, the helmet still bearing the mark of the Wonderbolts.

It was then that Major Spitfire turned to Rhapsody, frowning at her.

"Let's go, Wraith! We got a timetable to keep!"

Chapter 19

"Fifty miles from Hydra ravine. Stay frosty."

Rhapsody adjusted her glove and her oxygen mask before looking around at the scenery of the ravine. The fog had rolled in faster than previously thought, but there was no rain. Just lots of fog around a lush mountain range. She peeked her head down to try and find the beasts which made the ravine famous, but sadly the trees were too thick and too tall, enough so that one of them could be standing straight up and still not be seen.

The mare had set the Tomcat to autopilot when they began making their way to the ravine for the escort mission. According to Major Soarin, it should be a quick in and out after she shot down a good number of radar jamming balloons. The U2 was approaching the ravine soon, so she needed to move fast, though. Thankfully, the trip was made bearable by her new co-pilot. While no true replacement for Ditzy, she was a welcome sight all the same.

"It's been a while since I flew shotgun in a Tomcat," Spitfire thought aloud.

Rhapsody tilted her head back. "Tomcat? Thought you were air force, where most of the Wonderbolts are."

Spitfire chuckled to herself as she leaned forward. "I am, Captain. But I was first enlisted into the Navy. Pegasi are born to the skies, but I loved the water. Enlisted to be a naval aviator and got my wings soon after making Lieutenant Junior Grade."

"A bit ironic, that is. Name is Spitfire and you love water."

Spitfire sighed. "Yeah, it was the butt of plenty of jokes during the academy. As for the Wonderbolts, we have pilots from the Navy as well. Hell, even the Marines have a few contributed Wonderbolt pilots in history. Wonderbolt Reservists fly the fighter corresponding to their branch; like the Air Force flies the Eagle or the Strike Eagle, Navy and Marines flew Hornets or Tomcats or Phantoms. But bottom line, when you finally earn your Bolt and Wings as a full member, you are issued an F-15S Agile Eagle, no matter the branch."

"I get it," Rhapsody replied, looking back at the terrain. They be heading for a ravine filled with radar jamming balloons, but that didn't mean she couldn't keep a look-out for enemy planes. They were bound to have patrols somewhere, or so she thought. "So you flew a Tomcat in the Navy?"

"Well... not really flew, per say." When Rhapsody tilted her head back towards her again, Spitfire elaborated. "You were still in Middle School, I'm sure. Yeah I rode shotgun in a Tomcat, or as Soarin so elegantly called when we first met, instead of Riding Bitch like on a motorcycle, I was Flying Bitch."

Rhapsody chortled before letting out a full laugh at that, nearly losing control of the plane. She was joined by the Major herself and Sky Gazer. Rhapsody's laugh fell into a giggle and she resumed her look-out. "'Flying Bitch'. That's adorable."

"Ha. Laugh it up Captain."

"That was actually the first real laugh I've heard since she got back from the HMS Fairweather, ma'am," Sky Gazer called back.

Rhapsody sobered up more after that comment, and what came next she expected to happen. "You're still beating yourself up over that, Wraith?" Spitfire asked.

The Captain sighed and nodded. "I haven't been getting much sleep because of it. I keep asking if there was something more I could have done."

"Rhapsody, you kept her alive by not getting hit anymore than you did. You did the absolute best you could within your power." Spitfire leaned forward. "The best you could've done was take that near death experience of landing on a carrier to make sure she would get help from the best doctors in the military. You could've done worse, believe me. But you put yourself at risk to save your friend, Rhapsody, and she's safe and alive. The plane was shot up, sputtering, you could've bailed out and saved yourself. But instead of that, you pushed your plane to the limits of its damage and performed a carrier landing to get her safe with the best medical attention available. You tell me; was there more you could do?"

Rhapsody looked down at her hooves in the cockpit, then sighed and shook her head. "I guess I'll sleep better with that in mind."

Spitfire smiled behind her oxygen mask. "Good to know."

Rhapsody sighed again and noticed a spot on her radar. It was there for only a moment, but soon the screen began to flicker, the lines got choppy, and then they vanished altogether. She tapped her finger on the radar screen. All that she earned was a little spark and then all disappeared. "Sky Gazer be advised I have lost radar."

"Understood," Scootaloo in the AWACS replied. "You've reached Hydra Ravine. Be advised, you must destroy the jammer balloons to restore radar, over."

"Loud and clear, Sky Gazer. Let's get to work."

Rhapsody throttled up and dove down towards the ravine. She squinted her eyes to see through the fog, barely seeing anything. She jerked her head left and right to try and see them, but she frowned deeply upon finding nothing. "Sky Gazer, I do not have visual on targets, over."

Spitfire called, "You're about to hit one."

Rhapsody looked forward, then gave a shrill squeak as she jerked the stick hard to her right, the wingtip barely clipping the balloon. "Ah... hehe... Sky Gazer belay my last." She turned back into a reverse turn and brought herself down and around.

"Missiles can't lock-on, switching to cannon."

"Line up your whiskey reticule with the balloon. Fire in bursts," the Major advised swiftly.

Rhapsody nodded and lightly squeezed the trigger on her stick. A quick burst from her cannon shot out and tore through the balloon. It immediately was set ablaze and fell from the sky and into the forest below. She watched it go down and smiled in satisfaction. One down, and as she looked forward... dozens to go. But she had a job to do. Throttling up, Rhapsody pulled up and fired a sweeping wave of bullets that took down two balloons.

"Father! This war is getting out of hand! AEGIS is – "

"SILENCE BOY!" The back of the clawed hand struck Marcus hard, sending the young Gryphon sprawling to the floor. A number of the guards winced at the sight, trying to remain as stoic as possible. But to witness the King strike his youngest, and only living son, left more than one opinion that maybe it was over the top. But what more was to be expected of the Gryphon King?

"We can still win this! We have never failed in the past against our adversaries. The Hippogriffs discovered that the hard way," he bellowed to the throne room, commanding attention in a half-drunk stupor. His crown was at a slight tilt, his luxurious tunic and trousers clung just barely to his gaunt frame. The once strong, virile, and muscular Gryphon King Sharpclaw, King since he was still a fledgling, stood and glared out over his assembled mass of petitioners, soldiers, and royal advisors. He had lost much weight and more than enough grey feathers gained from the stress on his body. Sharpclaw seethed at them all. "We are the proudest warrior race on this continent! We will not be beaten by the likes of ponies and their foul ilk!"

"Father! Listen to yourself! Listen to the reports from the front." Marcus had wisely stepped out of striking range from his father. The youngest of the three born, he had, sadly, been the last to ever come from their mother. The beautiful queen had lost her last breath, giving it to her son so he may live. As such, Marcus was often teased by his brothers and considered the oddball of the family. His father coddled him in years past, but now...

Sharpclaw waved negligently at his only remaining son, disregarding his pleas. "They are wrong!"

"Your majesty," Admiral Ba'rne called. Sharpclaw whipped his head toward the elder navy Gryphon. "The reports are sadly true. Our fleet is in shambles, and we're losing territory faster than we-"

"No! They will never get here," Sharpclaw declared. "Our armies are the strongest since the first Continental war! Admiral, once your fighter is finished, and our newest super weapon finished, we will take the territory lost. And then we will conquer the continent as my Fathers should have centuries ago!" He strode with purpose by the Admiral, who barely moved as his monarch brushed by swiftly, stopping just outside the throne room door and thrusting a claw at the fairly young Gryphon girls standing just outside. "Mina you're at nine-thirty. Gwen, you're at ten-thirty. And bring a friend." As the King left their eyesight, the girls just shrugged and left to entertain themselves before their busy night.

Rubbing his cheek as he watched his father storm down the hall, flanked by Gryphnian royal guards, Marcus stood beside the Admiral. The graying Gryphon shook his head as he brushed off his peaked cap. "This is getting out of control," Admiral Ba'rne muttered.

"My father is delusional. Mad. When he's not drunk, he's trying to get drunk," Marcus hissed. But after rubbing his cheek and choking down a sob, he added. "This is not the man who raised me... I want him back."

"Forgive me for saying, your majesty," Ba'rne replied. "The good man who was your father is long gone, replaced by a King who drinks himself stupid and preaches that we are winning this war." Adjusting his cap back on his head, he jerked his head towards the door. While others swore fealty and absolute loyalty to the crown, ever at their beck and call, Ba'rne was there when Marcus was born, his hand on the King's shoulder when his wife passed giving life to his youngest son. He had the honorable friendship with the young Prince. "The fighter will not be finished by the war's end, and our newest weapon will be still blueprints and a flat island by the time AEGIS breaks through the lines and lays siege to Fyrick."

Marcus looked fearfully at the Admiral. "You believe they'll get here?"

Ba'rne looked down at the Prince. "You don't?"

The young Prince ground his beak, peeking into a room where multitudes of Gryphons from every branch and rank rushed back and forth. They were calling out messages from the frontlines, and rarely did they report good news, which made the Prince frown deeply. "What do we do?" he asked Ba'rne.

Ba'rne stopped and eyed the Prince sternly. Marcus returned the gaze, awaiting an answer to his inquiry. They stood there for a few seconds before Ba'rne ran a claw down his beak. "What you need to do, your majesty, is get your affairs in order and be prepared to make your choice."

Marcus blinked his golden irises at the Admiral, who simply tilted his cap at him as he dismissed himself. Marcus didn't turn until the elder Gryphon was halfway to the stairs, then quickly faced behind him and called, "What choice?" Ba'rne stopped and turned back to the Prince. Once again, their eyes met.

"You'll know the moment when it comes, Marcus."

There were more than she previously thought. During the quick briefing, Rhapsody was under the impression Gryphnia has sent in large dirigibles with large complex machinery. These things were tiny, and everywhere, but mercifully very easy to bring down. Spitfire called them out while Rhapsody peeled off to the left or right, unleashing volleys from her cannon. So far, she had shot down eight.

"Eleven o-clock low," Spitfire called out. Rhapsody flipped the tomcat on its belly and turned towards it, sending a quick burst into the balloon. It burst into flames and careened down to the trees below. Righting herself in flight, Rhapsody looked down at her console in front of her.

"Radar's still choppy, but it seems to be clearing up," she reported.

"Looks like the balloons are strung together and form a web of jamming waves. It'll get weaker the more we destroy. Sky Gazer, please confirm the U2 is coming down this ravine."

"Confirmed, Major. It should be within view in about three minutes," Scootaloo replied. "You need to destroy as many as you can so the pilot can safely make it through the mountains."

Rhapsody nodded. "Roger that. Totaling nine balloons down."

Quickly banking to the right, she turned upwards and barrel-rolled onto her back, causing Spitfire to make a yelp of surprise. Rhapsody lined up her reticule and fired, destroying another. Spitfire in turn huffed. "Could've warned me first Captain!" Rhapsody chuckled to herself and swung upwards, destroying another.

"This is Tiger 3, callsign Dragonfly, calling AEGIS fighter within Hydra Ravine," a voice suddenly called. "I'm nearing the rendezvous point. What's the status on the radar jammers, over?"

"This is Wraith to Dragonfly, the jammers are weakened at my position. You should be clear to make a straight path through, over," Rhapsody reported.

"Wraith? I'll be damned, they sent the best to get me home. I owe you guys."

Rhapsody hummed to herself at the comment. Once again, she was hearing firsthand the opinion of others about her flying. She knew she was a good pilot, but the mare didn't understand why it had blown up to this degree.

"Wraith, uh, twelve o-clock on the nose." Rhapsody snapped back into the now and gave a burst, destroying the balloon. Another close call, twice in one day. "That's twice, Captain. I have every confidence in your flying but don't forget you've got someone else flying co-pilot."

There was suddenly a snicker over the radio. "You mean the Bitch Seat?" Rhapsody laughed again, followed by Scootaloo. And a few others near here who heard them.

"Sod off, Soarin! How'd you even get on this channel?"

"I'm in the AWACs."

"Not meaning to interrupt here, but I'm near the rendezvous point. I can't fly without radar."

Rhapsody returned to the mission at hand and looked around the area. "I've destroyed a good number of them, Sky Gazer. Confirm radar clear-up."

Silence was all there was while Scootaloo was scanning the area. Rhapsody, Spitfire, and the U2 pilot waited patiently, but soon she reported back. "I'm picking up a pretty large swath through the ravine's radar jammers. Dragonfly, can you see it?"

"Affirmative, adjusting course to follow."

The four planes held formation as they neared the Ravine, the leader in his F-15E narrowing his eyes.

"Spy plane is within sight. One fighter running escort."

"Just one? This'll be too easy. Let's have some fun with the U2."

Rhapsody throttled up the Tomcat to where her own radar had cleared up and was showing. Banking left with her wings folding back to accommodate the speed, she caught sight of the U2 Dragon Lady spy plane. It was intact; which was a good sign, despite the reports of it taking some damage during its return flight. It still looked air-worthy, but Rhapsody made sure to keep a close eye on it, should something go wrong and the pilot has to get out quickly.

"Dragonfly here, we've reached Hydra Ravine and the scope is clear. Thanks for the help."

"Don't thank us just yet. Wraith, you've got a flight of four bandits coming up on your six o-clock closing fast. Looks like the radar jammer's destruction cleared up theirs too."

Spitfire looked back in the cockpit. "Dragonfly will be fine on his own for a couple minutes. Wraith, let's turn and engage."

"Roger that," Rhapsody replied. She pulled the stick back, pulling up and over and then flipping back to level flight before pushing her throttle forward. The Tomcat roared once more as the claws extended. After so long out of action, it seemed the cat had not lost its claws, nor was its will to fight diminished.

The fighters came into view.

"It is just one fighter. A Tomcat."

"Tomcat? What's the tail insignia?"
The lead Gryphnian pilot narrowed his eyes. Tilting his head, he got a better view as it was screaming towards them. "It's... oh damn..."

"'Oh damn'? I don't like the sound of that," his wing-gryphon replied.

"All planes be advised. It has a ghost insignia. We are fighting the Ghost."

The lead plane flipped and pushed down towards the ground while the others split off into three separate directions. Spitfire craned her body up so she could get a better view. "They're ignoring the U2 and focusing on us."

Rhapsody pulled up behind the Rafale which was trying almost too hard to get away. More than once it had nearly pulled into the mountains. But being the more agile fighter, it was hoping to lose the larger fighter in the turns and maybe get it to crash. Rhapsody wasn't that stupid, and soon she had him locked. Before she could fire though, the Rafale had pulled up into a corkscrew and was out of the way before she could push the button for her missile. "Damnit... and the good news?"

Spitfire didn't look at her pilot and continued to watch the Rafale as Rhapsody pushed back into pursuit. "That was the good news."

"Okay," Rhapsody muttered out loud. "Bad news?"

Rhapsody's console suddenly blared a missile lock. "They're ignoring the U2 and focusing on us!" The pegasus mare yanked the stick hard towards her and tried to grab some sky. The missile flew under her, as did the lead plane, a Strike Eagle. "Try and get him. Losing the lead plane puts them in disarray."

"Got it!" Rhapsody pushed forward in pursuit. The Tomcat screamed through the fog-shrouded mountains after the Strike Eagle, who was weaving through the peaks to try and escape. Before long, Rhapsody had her eyes narrowed and the reticule for missile track had appeared. She had him almost in her sights before the reticule began to vibrate. Then it shook, then disappeared completely. "What the hell?"

Spitfire looked around and swore. "Clever bastard. There's still balloons out here and he lured us in to avoid a missile lock."

"I'm going back for Dragonfly! He's too vulnerable," Rhapsody told her new co-pilot. She pulled off and away from the leader and headed back for the ravine where Dragonfly was trying to make a desperate escape.

The gold mare nodded and leaned back. "Alright, but check on him, only. We need to get these guys out of the skies fast."

Rhapsody's suspicions were confirmed as she had feared. Pulling up and over a mountain range, she saw that two of the Gryphnian planes were twisting around the U2, harassing the pilot and trying to drive him to the ground. Rhapsody pushed down into a dive and switched to her special weapons. "These 'million-bit-missiles' haven't let me down yet," she muttered.

Her console beeped at her until a pair of missile lock reticules shot onto her screen and locked onto the two. "Fox three!" She fired, and two thumps were heard beneath her, followed by massive smoke trails. She pulled up, gazing around for number three pilot, or the leader who had vanished into the jammer web. When she looked back to her targets, they had broken off pursuit. The pair of Phoenix missiles jerked to follow, and a pair of explosions marked their successful hits, downing the pair of Su-35s.

"Never seen the 'million-bit-missiles' in action. Impressive," Spitfire commented.

Rhapsody nodded as she scanned the skies. "They saved my flank during that massive fight over the space center when we launched that satellite. Can you see the other two?"

Spitfire looked back. "Yep."

"Where?"

Her warning light blared. "That's where!" Rhapsody pulled the stick back hard and slammed the brakes. The missile streaked under her, followed by the Rafale she had missed earlier. It jerked right and the pegasus mare pushed into pursuit. The light, nimble Rafale was easily pulling away, dodging each burst from Rhapsody's cannon. She narrowed her eyes.

"Hold still you bastard," she whispered.

"Easy, Wraith. He's flying a more nimble fighter, but you can outsmart him." Rhapsody nearly broke off her pursuit, so stunned. Did the Major really just say a twenty year old fighter can outclass one in service for barely five? "He knows you're the 'Ghost Fighter'. So you've got the advantage of his fear. His movements are becoming erratic and he's doing his absolute best to get away from you. Dive for the deck."

"What?"

"Trust me, do it! Head for the mountains." Rhapsody shook her head and pulled away from the Rafale. It kept turning out of Rhapsody's sight, and then Spitfire took over spotting. "He's turning... turning... he's right behind us!" The Tomcat thrust forward as the more nimble Rafale took pursuit. "Here's where the obsolete have their trump card. Pull into an upward helix, doesn't matter which way. Hit the brakes when I say to."

"Roger." Rhapsody pulled into a helix the same direction she was flying anyway. The Rafale took off after her, climbing and turning to try and get a lock. Spitfire kept her eyes glued on him, narrowing her golden irises for the right signal. The Rafale was a standard fighter. The Royal Canterlot Defense Squadron flew them, and even Princess Celestia's royal escort fighters, emblazoned with her cutie mark, had them as a staple in their wings. But there was the fault that the Rafale had that could be exploited.

It was almost too nimble.

"Here we go..." she murmured. Rhapsody glanced back to see what she was talking about but couldn't see. "Like I said, he's wavering in battle. The plane wants to turn tighter like it's designed too, so he's struggling to get a lock against a slower, less agile target like you."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Rhapsody grumbled.

"Damn right you should. When I say, slam the brakes, you'll know what to do after." Rhapsody kept pulling into the helix. She looked back every so often, and she could start to see the Rafale jerking into the turn to try and keep straight. She turned her eyes forward, awaiting her signal whenever Spitfire gave it.

Spitfire narrowed her eyes more and focused on it. Finally, just at the crest of another attempt to correct its path, she yelled, "Now!"

The Tomcat almost screeched as it bent backwards, losing thrust and lift. The Rafale shot by into a straight path, no doubt stunning the pilot, and giving her an immediate missile lock.

"Fox two!"

The missile shot out from under her wing and pelted the Rafale square between the turbines. It burst into a fireball and hurtled towards the mountainside. Rhapsody watched it go down and collide with the mountain, causing her to frown deeply. Seeing the blast against the rock reminded her too much of the death of Captain Lightning Dust. The smoking crater on the side of Hydra Ravine marked the final resting place of the Gryphon pilot, much like the canyon back at the solar plant marked Captain Lightning Dust's. The thought turned Rhapsody's mind grim.

Her console blared and she throttled up and dove under a hail of gunfire. "Where did he come from?" she cried.

"When a mommy gryphon and a daddy gryphon-- Would you just fly this thing!?" Spitfire shouted.

Rhapsody weaved through the bursts from the F-15E that suddenly shot back onto the scene. Looking back, she shook her head and then looked to her left... towards the jammer balloons. "Bingo. Hold on Major!" Banking, Rhapsody pushed towards them.

He narrowed his eyes at the Tomcat speeding off towards the radar jamming net. Growling, he pushed up his throttle and gave pursuit. He had to catch it before it got in there. But the Tomcat kept weaving and caused him to lose his lock each time. He sneered behind his beak as it clacked together in his frustration. Before long, the reticule flickered out. They were in the jammer net. He swore and switched to his gun, waiting for the reticule to float over the Tomcat.

Rhapsody smiled her satisfaction. The jammer net kept him from getting a lock as well as tracking her. She kept her eyes peeled still, looking and hearing for the Strike Eagle pursuing her. "Careful, Wraith," Spitfire warned. "The Jammers are still active and these clouds are making it hard to see."

"I trust them," Rhapsody answered.

Spitfire tilted her head. "What?"

"The clouds, Major. I trust them to give me a warning before we hit anything." Though the Major probably thought she was a little too crazy in that regard, Rhapsody was sincere about her meaning. She loved the clouds, relaxed on them throughout her years, guided them when she needed shade. She felt a special kinship to them, as all pegasi do. The war was tearing them apart, raging in their domain, and Rhapsody was a pilot who fought for the clouds, not just Princess and Country. She fought for the safety of all skies, foreign and abroad.

They seemed to know this. Looking back ahead, she saw the clouds start to open up, showing a massive peak. Rhapsody smiled and pulled up and away from it. But as she tilted to turn back to the U2 – that she had almost forgotten about – she and Spitfire saw the afterburners of the Strike Eagle... and the clouds closing around him tightly. They were blocking his view; he couldn't see it until too late...

Cursing his luck, he started scanning the skies. His scopes were blank and his radar was fuzzy. He had had a lock a few seconds ago, but now nothing. But she was around here somewhere. He barely even heard his altitude warning, so focused was he.

"Where the hell are – "

A brilliant flash of light told Wraith all she needed to know. Turning and engaging her own afterburners, Rhapsody dove back into the ravine, catching sight of the U2 flying its straight path through the ravine. "Miss me, Dragonfly?" she asked.

"A little. Got too damn quiet." The pilot then sighed. "Once again I gotta thank you, Wraith. Your reputation speaks volumes and you made this mission a success."

"All bogies have been neutralized," Sky Gazer announced. "Dragonfly, Wraith, you're clear to continue your flight bath. Come on home."

Marcus sat heavily onto his large bed, tears staining his eyes and bright green tunic.

Once again, he had been embarrassed by his father in front of the entire court of Gryphnian advisors and lords from all over the kingdom. Once again he was proven to be the youngest, weakest, and second-rate son of a drunken king. This was not the life he wanted, the life he and his brothers had cherished. They had played baseball together and even tried out for the capital's team. But when AEGIS attacked and failed to destroy Sky Breaker, his elder brothers abandoned the idea and trained to be pilots. Marcus also wanted to go, but was severely held back by his father.

It wasn't fair. It was never fair! Marcus loved his kingdom, his people. He never wanted harm to come to them. Why couldn't his father see this was a war in AEGIS's favor? There was no way to win this. But His father couldn't see it. King Sharpclaw the Fourth was prepared to fight to the last soldier, to the last citizen, to the last child if he could get away with it.

No. Marcus couldn't allow that. He had to stop his father.

There was only one way to do that.

Rhapsody turned her eyes to the line of cargo planes that were being worked on by the ground crews. "So you were on the C-17 that nearly ran me over?"

"Sure was. I even waved at you from the cockpit. But you were still looking at the tarmac; doubt you saw me." Spitfire sniffed. "Looked like someone just kicked your puppy."

"I nearly lost my co-pilot, and my best friend. I think I had every right," Rhapsody snapped back, wings flaring a little.

Spitfire raised her hands, her wings fluttering. "Easy, I didn't mean anything by it. Had me more than concerned."

Rhapsody frowned and nodded, backing down from her defensive pose. The Captain and the Major resumed their walk down the flight line, past the hangars and the ground crews riding on carts back and forth to make their daily rounds. They had just returned from Hydra Ravine a couple hours ago and just finished chow. Rhapsody actually had more than enough questions for the Major. Last she saw her in person, Spitfire was taking off from their base in Hibern, never to be seen or heard from for two months.

"So what were you doing? Scared us all when you took off for Canterlot," Rhapsody inquired.

Spitfire sighed. "What felt like the best decision turned into a very bad one. I was angry. Furious. Listening to Sky Gazer and all of you shout reports, your voices filled with terror, hearing who was shot down. I couldn't stand it anymore. After I confirmed you were all coming back home, I took off to confront General Iron Wing. Turns out he ordered the mission a-go without approval from the Joint Chiefs."

Rhapsody raised an eyebrow. "That's ballsy."

"And against all regulations. Because of that, we nearly lost all one-hundred planes that were in the air. He and I had a... heated discussion... in front of Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, and Prime Minister Ironbeak." Spitfire chuckled.

"That is ballsy."

"I've been told I have more balls than many stallions I work with, no disrespect to Soarin. But my actions didn't go unpunished and I was arrested. As was the General actually, and he got the better end of the stick." Spitfire pulled at her blouse, showing her ribbons. "He lost his commission to give orders and plan sorties as well as a demotion to Brigadier General, I lost my wings to fly with the Wonderbolts for striking a superior officer."

"He did get the better end, didn't he?" Rhapsody murmured aloud. Any Pegasi was born to fly and knew the inconceivable thoughts of being forever grounded. Air Force pilots felt the same way, even worse if said pilot was a pegasus. Being pulled from the sky was an unthinkable punishment.

"Well he would've gotten a lighter sentence had he not insulted the Princess's prized student. He said, quote, 'I hate the fact I'm even taking orders from an academy student turned backwater town librarian in a town run by farmland hicks where the most prized achievement is growing apples.'"

Rhapsody scoffed. She'd been to Ponyville before. "Oh that's a low blow."

Spitfire chuckled. "Should've been there. Could've heard a pin drop. The Jury... two of them were from Ponyville. The Princess herself was speechless. Iron Wing's JAG lawyer actually patted him on the shoulder, wished him good luck, and left."

The mares shared a huge laugh there on the tarmac. Rhapsody clutched her sides as they continued their walk, eventually coming to the gate. "That's absolutely hilarious. So where's he at now?"

The major checked her watch, tilting her head and grinning. "Well, if the time zones are correct, probably still writing, 'I will not insult the Princess's Student nor my superior officers again' two hundred times."

Rhapsody let out another chuckle before looking back towards the runway. A pair of Fighting Falcons was starting their takeoff into the sunset of the Saddle Arabian desert sky, probably for either a patrol or a quick hit and run against a far of Gryphnian target further inland. The two mares watched them take off and bank towards the north towards their destination. "So what's our next target?" Rhapsody asked before she could stop herself.

Spitfire looked at the Captain and grinned. "That's why the higher ups like you, Wraith," she said, calling her by call sign. "You're always ready for the next sortie." The Major put an arm around the younger mare's shoulders. "What you don't seem to be understanding is that yes there's a war going on, but now you need to celebrate."

"Celebrate? Why?"

The Major threw her arms out. "You're back! You're alive. So far you've matched the number of landings with the number of takeoffs. That in itself is an accomplishment; always celebrate it."

"And those that don't match?" Rhapsody snapped her muzzle shut. Once again she said what she was thinking.

But instead of losing her upbeat demeanor, Spitfire shrugged and tapped her temple. "They've already landed, but up here," she then tapped her chest, "and here. Now come on; Let a Major buy you a drink."

Chapter 21

While AEGIS was making their push further into the areas formerly conquered, the retreating Gryphons filled our town from the north, south, and west. Some of them had received orders to shore up the defense of the city and began to immediately set up positions all over. Soldiers with missiles climbed up on rooftops and some gun crews set up on the roof of the hospital. I watched with confusion as Meteor Six smoldered at them with silent fury.

As the days went by, the occupying Gryphons began instilling new laws in the city. Food was rationed even more than ever, even gasoline was limited to a single can per household. Stealing ran rampant, and many of those caught were never seen again. What I found the worst was the mandatory blackout each night. It seemed to make the darkness last longer. It was one of these nights that forever changed my perspective about Gryphons.

The barkeep's daughter was out one night and snuck all over the city to plant transmitters around the Gryphon's security areas so they could detonate explosives when they needed to, as well as target designators for allied attack planes.

She was caught.

I heard the whistles while I was sleeping in the top of the bar. Looking out, I saw her running as fast as her hooves could carry her. She stopped at a wall and hid behind it as the military police ran down the street and scanned the skies for her. They passed her by and she began to start down the street to hurry back to the bar to safety. I decided to get down to the street to try and help. She was almost to me when a clawed hand suddenly grabbed her arm and the daughter froze on the spot. Slowly she turned around to see the hand's owner.

Meteor Six crept from the shadows she was hiding in, slowly letting go of the daughter's arm. They stared at each other, and I could've sworn that Six was going to call the guards back and turn her in. I could see in the Gryphon woman's piercing gold eyes that she knew what the filly had done. Six knew that she was the one who planted the bomb on the runway, the bomb that damaged Meteor Eight's fighter, as well as this sudden ponyhunt for her. Six knew this filly from her first day in town. The two had conversed in the bar more than once. The enemy resistance in the town; Six knew that the daughter was with them now.

I couldn't stand by any longer. I burst from my cover and stood as proud as I could. "Get out of our city, you fascist bitch!" I screamed.

Six turned around slowly as the daughter ran to my side. We stared at each other hard for what felt like eternity. Then Six's face twisted into an expression I had never seen before. I had seen anger, happiness, even a solemn silence. But this was one she had never expressed to us before.

Six's face was twisted into one of genuine hurt.

"You really hate us, don't you?" she asked quietly.

Neither of us answered, unable to speak. We just stood and stared. Even when we heard the whistles again, we didn't move. An eternity passed before she looked behind us and said, "Go!", and we ran to the bar and rushed inside. Once the daughter pulled me behind the counter and we peeked to look out the window, we saw Six directing the guards down an alley away from the bar. She didn't look back.

The next day there was no change in her disposition. Six was like her normal self, directing repairs and making her usual complaints to the Squadron Crew Chief. "The poor fuel quality is affecting thrust."

That night, the barkeep's daughter and I looked out into the starry sky about the city, which hung glistening above a dark and silent landscape not of its own choosing. We both knew that once AEGIS got close enough, the resistance would bring the lights back.

"Daddy!"

Amethyst leapt into the air to be caught by an aged Crystal stallion. He did so, all movements belying any sort of age or weariness in his bones as he clutched the young mare to him and spun her around in the gentle snowfall. Rhapsody grinned to herself and elbowed Sprig as they leapt from their cockpits and eyed the spectacle. Mythic came up between them, grinning like a cat, throwing his arms around the mares as they all strode towards the two. Spitfire on the other hoof was already taking wing to the latrines with her mouth covered the second Rhapsody opened the canopy. A Wonderbolt who got airsick; it may have just been her, but it seemed strange.

Shortly after landing and parking, the grizzled old stallion in full dress of the Crystal Empire approached Ghost Wing. He had a rifle slung over his shoulder as he saw the F/A-18C of Amethyst Karat power down and the cockpit open, revealing his young daughter. From what the trio could see and hear, she was giggling madly like a foal on Hearths Warming Eve and had just gotten her wished-for toy and the stallion sounded as if he was the luckiest in the world.

"It's so cute," Sprig murmured.

Mythic huffed. "I could say something really cheesy about this, like the whole 'This is what we're fighting for' crap."

"But it is, isn't it? Family reunited?" Rhapsody offered. This was met by a slug from Mythic.

"Don't start that, Rhapsody. This is the worst place possible to be talking about warm fuzzy feelings. This frozen wasteland could turn me into a Mythicicle."

Rhapsody smirked and eyed Sprig slyly. "Wonder what that would even taste like," she joked.

Sprig turned and her golden eyes surveyed Mythic Dusk mane to hooves as he struck a heroic pose, fists at his waist with one leg hiked up. The Hippogriff snickered and shook her head. "Probably sarcasm with an aftertaste of cheap bourbon." And just as quickly as he had stood proudly, he deflated.

"This 'frozen wasteland', Lieutenant, is my home. It is also the battleground where many have fought and even more have died in centuries past and the present. And should we lose the battle coming soon, it will be seen in the future as more red than white."

Slowly, Mythic turned around to see that same old stallion standing over him, his arms folded behind his back. A worn uniform greeted Mythic's blue eyes, pinned with medals and ribbons; enough to make anypony go blind in decent levels of light. They looked tarnished, but still held some weight to them apparently. Tearing his eyes away as he looked upwards to the figure it all belonged to, his breath caught as a stern visage of a Crystal Imperial Commissar stared him right in the face. Piercing amber eyes, framed by a dark violet coat and topped with a graying blue mane under a peaked cap, sized him up.

"S-sir... I meant no d-disrespect-"

The stallion abruptly laughed heartily at the startled young stallion before him. Mythic was suddenly gripped by the shoulder and shaken. "Ha! I kid Lieutenant! A jest! I do agree this is a wasteland, but a fitting place where many Gryphons will mark their final resting place after a heinous attack on our homes!" He slapped Mythic on the back, right between his wings to accentuate this fact.

"Spine!" he cried as he went face first into the snow.

He took another few steps forward, sizing up Rhapsody fully. Knowing she was meeting a stallion of far further rank, she stood up straight and saluted swiftly. Sprig matched it, though she knew he was not addressing her. "You must be Captain Rhapsody. Wraith." Commissar Karat smiled at the young mare before. He then waved his hand swiftly. "Please, you are my daughter's friend and flight leader. No need to be so formal."

Rhapsody dropped her salute and pulled her helmet closer to her side. "Yes, sir."

The Commissar chuckled and shook his head, wagging a finger. "Any friend of my daughter's is immediately a friend of mine. Onyx will be fine."

"Thff ff bff aff naff, srf," a muffled voice called. They looked downwards to see Mythic still in the snow.

Onyx Karat turned his eyes towards the pegasus stallion and grabbed the back of his flight suit. Picking him up, once again showing the grizzled stallion had nearly no age weary signs to him, he tilted his head and looked at him. "Say something, Lieutenant Dusk?"

"I said 'That's a bad ass name', sir," Mythic replied simply.

"Ah. Thank you." He let go of Mythic's suit, allowing him to fall back into his shaped hole in the snow.

"Owf."

Rhapsody and Amethyst covered their muzzles to suppress laughs. Onyx returned his attention to the sea green mare and stood up straight. "I must say, it is a true honor to meet the famous mare of the AEGIS Air Force. The mare who destroyed Sky Breaker and blew a Meteor out of the sky in the same day. A true victory for our cause."

The pegasus mare rubbed the back of her head, her wings fluttering just a little at the praise she still felt she didn't deserve. Her cheeks darkened from what she could feel, but before she could open her mouth, Onyx held up his gloved hand. "I can tell what you will say. You feel you do not deserve such compliments. You want only to be seen as an ordinary fighter pilot. But what you do is not something ordinary pilots can accomplish. You not only fight the enemy and gain barely a scratch from every engagement, but when you fly, you strike fear into our enemies and hope into our allies. A weapon we thought impregnable, you destroyed it and left nothing behind to be salvaged by our enemies. A squadron believed to be invincible, you proved they are as mortal as any other pilot in the skies. You wield fear against enemies and carry inspiration for our allies.

"Few in all of history can say they have done so. Rhapsody, there is no shame in admitting your skills, nor is it wrong to acknowledge that you are respected and feared. Most of all, as I have taught my own children, accept credit as much as blame. In this case, the former. Humility and modesty are good traits, in moderation of course. Sometimes you just have to accept you're a hero."

When he finished, the blush had faded and Rhapsody smiled, genuinely and exhaled. Maybe she was over thinking herself into a stupor, denying praise and selling herself short. "But be warned: do not let it go to your head too heavily. You hold a great responsibility on your shoulders, Rhapsody. It is a calling few are pushed into and even fewer accept. Should you let it slip by, you will lose it forever. Take it too quickly, and you become arrogant and cocky... and you will be the first to fall in battle. Remember that."

Rhapsody held her smile, though smaller now. Still, she held it. Onyx was clearly a stallion who had seen his share of battles in his career. "I understand, Onyx."

The stallion returned the smile and placed his arm around the pegasus mare and his own daughter. Sprig stood beside her flight lead as the four turned away from the hangars. "Let us not fear the coming battles. Today is a victory, and we shall celebrate it. Even the smallest of triumphs should be praised and welcomed with open arms. Come! Today, we feast on our militaries driest rations and even drier ale!"

"Iff drinff tooff daff!"

"Speak up, Mythic!" Amethyst shouted.

Mythic's grey and black hair shot up from the snow he had caved in, spitting out a virtual snowball. "Ptooy! I said, 'I'll drink to that'!" Groaning, he stood up and brushed himself off, hurrying after his friends.

"Grand! Then come! We drink, we fight, and we make our ancestors proud we carry their names!"

Once the plate landed on the table, Applejack's hand was on it immediately like parasprites on a freshly baked pie. Crisp apple slices were her treat of choice during the long planning she did. Regardless it was with fellow commanders, this was a truly arduous undertaking. Everypony around her had an opinion on the battle plan, and there was always another on the other side of the table who thought it was terrible.

"Ah can't see why we can't agree that carpet bombing the city is a horrible idea!"

The Saddle General angrily thrust his finger at the map, currently decorated with tiny models of AEGIS and Gryphnian emblems of all branches of the military. "It is the surest way to make sure we get the Gryphons and any sympathizers in the city. The civilians would have moved out by then," he stated matter-of-factly.

The Hippogriff General, Applejack's superior in every way, shook his head and slammed a fist down. "The Gryphons are using the civilian population as living shields! This latest report says they put a SAM battery on the roof of the hospital here. This school here has AA guns at each corner. They're lining up key targets as collateral damage points if the bombs hit. Not to mention, none of the civilians still inside have been allowed to leave. Those that weren't killed during the first days of the war have been barricaded within the city walls."

"If we do any bombing," Applejack added, "it'd need to be strategic. No bunker busters or clusters above the main city. We'd have to keep it to smart bombs."

"Last I checked, Colonel Apple," The Saddle rumbled, "You were a tank commander, not a pilot."

The tent flap opened all of a sudden, revealing the worn, and broken, form of the Crystal Empire's Supreme Commander. The electric blue man, once luscious and full of life, was now thinning and graying in several places. His face and muzzle showed lines of weariness of the constant fighting against Gryphnia, and this was reinforced by his shattered right arm, hanging in a light sling; the best they could afford way out in the tundra. His eyes were wild and red around their blue irises. Crystal Prince Shining Armor staggered in, one of the Crystal medics staying close by as he made his way to the table.

The gathered officers saluted swiftly when he made it and leaned on the table. He nodded for them to relax and stared at the table. "Have we come to an agreement on how to retake Glacier?" he rasped. He gratefully accepted the canteen from Applejack's belt, down half the pure spring water in the canteen.

But before anypony could respond, the Saddle General leaned forward, aiming at the map and moving his finger north and south. "I proposed a full-scale bombing campaign, destroy all areas the Gryphons could be using as strong-points. And I am not so callous as to not propose laser-guided munitions on the hospitals and schools where they've set up anti-air batteries."

"And the armor on the streets? And fighters?"

"Standard air escort for the bombers, and perhaps some of said fighters can be ground-attackers to mop up any armor on the ground. After the air force has done their job, we send in the Colonel," he waved to Applejack, "and her armor battalions in to seal the deal. Simple and very effective."

"What about civilian casualties?" Shining Armor asked, his voice becoming monotone.

"Odds are they are going to be extensive-"

"The odds don't even apply here, sir," Applejack cried. "It's an absolution!"

The Hippogriff nodded in agreement. "We carry out this plan and we're talking about panic and massed hysteria to all of the Crystal Ponies still trapped in Glacier. They'll be caught in the crossfire and go towards the locations that the Gryphons set up as shelters, where they have also set up anti-air weapons, and these are locations our bombs will be hitting. If we do this, there might not be a civilian population left to liberate when it's all over!"

"Key word there, General, is the 'might'," Shining stated plainly. "Those Crystal Ponies have been living in oppression and fear for months now. They're getting scared and desperate, they'd be no worse off if we carry this out than if they were in the past. They're already terrified, this won't be any different." Shining Armor sighed, looking up at the shocked faces of the assembled officers. Even the Saddle Commander expected there to be some resistance. Applejack could see on his pale sandy face that even he was thinking the Crystal Prince would call the plan into question. But here he was, stating –

"We need to take that city if we want to move into Gryphnia and link up with the rest of AEGIS. It's a sacrifice we cannot afford to cast aside."

Applejack stood straight and rigid. "Your Majesty! These ponies – "

"Need to be liberated by any means necessary, and as far as I can see, this is the only surefire way to get us a victory. We will rebuild it when the war is over, and the Gryphons are paying for any damages. Every bit, I don't care if it throws them into a depression, they're rebuilding it with their blood, sweat, and tears." Shining stood up, sizing up the Colonel, who was wisely, though reluctantly, backing down. "Send word to the air force. I want bomber crews getting their orders and the armaments readied. We're taking back Glacier by the end of the week, even if it means they need to bomb it to the stone age."

"They will do no such thing!"

The tent fell utterly silent as the normally sweet feminine voice cut through the air. The Saddle General paled, as did Applejack and the Hippogriff. But none more than the Crystal Prince himself, who froze as it seemed his coat turned whiter than normal. The former farm pony could almost hear the blood in his veins freezing. He swallowed and slowly turned to meet the voice's owner.

She stood with her arms folded, her gown replaced by simpler garments, but not without their own luster, regardless of her surroundings. Her pink coat was still glowing in the light of the tent, multi-colored mane tied back in a tail and a small crystal circlet adorning her head. At her side was a royal saber she had received from her seneschal shortly after taking the throne of the Empire. The entire ensemble suited her frame and complimented her greatly until one looked at her face.

The lovely, beautiful face the continent had grown accustomed to seeing accompanying the word of love and Hearts and Hooves Day was twisted angrily. Her eyes held a sort of fire of their own as she stared down the Prince that was her husband, arms folding tighter as she regarded him with a fury rarely seen.

"Cady-" Shining started.

"Don't you dare 'Cady' me," Princess Cadence hissed violently. "How could you say such a thing like that? Bomb Glacier back to the stone age? 'It's a sacrifice we cannot afford to cast aside?'"

"I was thinking about the war as a whole."

Cadence stepped up closer and seemed to stare down the taller Prince. "That's all I've been hearing out of you. The war. This war is changing you, and you know it. It's all I've heard out of you, it's all I hear about back at the capital. 'War' this, 'fighting' that, 'This is how many of our ponies have died in this attack, your Highness. It was unavoidable.' I'm sick of hearing about it, much worse coming from my husband!"

"Cadence please. You're overreacting."

"Am I?" Cadence narrowed her eyes, then frowned deeply before nodding. Her tone turned sad. "I suppose you are right. As your wife, I have been too submissive to your desires to fight alongside your troops." She then stood up straight. "But what you don't seem to realize is that I've been hearing about you. You hardly eat and you don't sleep well, if at all. You're tearing yourself apart, Shining, and that's tearing me apart." Smoothing out her garments, she exhaled through her nose and closed her eyes. "Yet every time I ask you to stay away from the battles, you wave me off. Therefore, if you won't listen to your wife, then you'll listen to your Princess." Shining Armor glared at her, challenging her to say it. Much to his chagrin, she did just that.

"Shining Armor, as Princess of the Crystal Empire, I am hereby relieving you of your frontline duties as Supreme Commander and pulling you back to the capital for your own safety."

Shining hissed at his wife. "I'm positive I didn't hear that right!"

"Then get your hearing checked, Shining. It's done. You're relieved. Go. Home."

Shining's face was beet red now, his nostrils flaring at the mare who he loved, but right now he wanted to strangle. His blue eyes became inflamed in rage at her declaration and blatant disregard for his humiliation in front of his subordinates. She had just spoken to him like he was some new set of boots in basic. He was here to protect these ponies under his charge that the Gryphons were oppressing and wiping out at random. Even if he needed to kill some of his own ponies in the process, he had to force them out of –

He stopped, and just like that, his anger had faded. He turned around and looked at the ponies who occupied the tent. Crystal Ponies who he had given speeches to, visited in the markets, waved hello to in the streets; he knew their faces. These ponies were his subjects. He had grown fond of them; his subjects, his ponies. They loved him and his wife, and the royal couple loved them as well.

He frowned deeply at the thought of what he had just agreed to. He agreed to a mass bombing of a city he needed to liberate. Not just the area, but the Crystal Ponies themselves still trapped in the city. All of them would be caught in the bombing and killed. Shining Armor had wanted to wipe them all out in order to show the Gryphons he wasn't backing down. Yet even here, in the command tent, he was showing a side that the Crystal Ponies had never seen before, and looking at the soldiers around him, they had shown a fear of the Prince.

What had he become? What had this war turned him into? He was no better than the enemy.

She was right. Cadence was right, and he bowed his head to her. "Yes... Your Highness..." He leaned down towards her ear. "Please forgive me."

Cadence nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You are, husband... just go home, please. Rest. You've done more than enough here."

Without another word, Shining left the tent with a sigh. Applejack frowned deeply watching him go. She had been at his wedding, saw how he acted around his wife, even after the failed invasion of Canterlot. He loved her with all his life; seeing him hiss and snarl at her was proof that the fighting on the northern front was taking its toll on all of the troops in the field, and the Crystal Prince as well. She knew not how that stallion's mind worked, but she felt a few weeks from the fighting would do him some good.

"Carpet bombing Glacier?" Cadence snapped suddenly. "Where did that plan come from?" The Saddle General timidly raised his hand. Before it could even be put all the way up, the princess thrust her finger at the tent flap. "You're relieved. Out." The Saddle looked taken aback, as did everyone else before he raised his hands.

"You're majesty; it was a momentary lapse in judgment. I can assure you, I have other plans," he explained.

Or at least tried.

Cadence would hear none of it though. "I've heard about your 'other plans', General. It's amazing how my husband even wanted you this far north. The situation here is much more strenuous than in the southern theatre. The Crystal Empire is still reeling from our last conflict, so our infrastructure is delicate. Carpet bombing a city just to kill the Gryphons is not how I'm going to let this work." Her violet eyes narrowed at the Saddle, who seemed visibly shaken, but nodded his understanding. Retrieving his cap and smoothing his uniform, he removed himself from the tent without another word or look at the rest of the occupants.

The Hippogriff commander and Applejack stood up tall as they regarded the princess when she looked back at the battle map. Much had been added since she last saw reports from the frontlines. AEGIS was making significant gains on the Gryphons. There were more sky blue markings representing the Empire's movements in the north than there were red, marking the Gryphons. Still, there was one location they had to take before they could continue their advance.

Glacier. Cadence had visited the city numerous times during her time as the Crystal Princess. It was a town steep in tradition, but more than willing to embrace the modern cultures they had missed during their thousand-year absence. That town was now shelling out as much information to the AEGIS intelligence community as they could. It was primarily coming from a barkeep in the middle of the Old Towne area. His information was invaluable since the Gryphnian takeover so many months ago. He was befriended by the Gryphon ace pilots that took up most of his business.

"What is our latest report from the barkeep, Commander?" Cadence asked.

The Hippogriff leaned forward and nodded. "According to him, he and his fellow resistance have been doing their best to sabotage the Gryphon's efforts to fully subjugate the city. Still, the response has been more troops, armor, and aircraft. We already know that the Meteor squadron is there, but they've been transferring pilots in and out almost non-stop to shore up other squadrons that have been lacking in experienced aces.

"They were building a freeway here to connect Glacier with the rest of the Empire instead of relying on the back-roads and older highways. The construction was halted when Gryphnia attacked and the Meteor's have been using it as a makeshift hangar and runway. The airport is where the air force is primarily stationed out of, but the Meteor's exclusively use the tunnels on the freeway. The rest of the city varies between parking garages used as armor workshops and rooftops being used as helipads."

"What about anti-air?" Cadence asked.

Applejack spoke up when the Commander looked her way. "Thick, almost impressively so. But most of them we won't be able to impact without significant damage to the structures." She sighed and slid a sheet towards the Princess. Cadence picked it up and read it over, quickly frowning. "Hospitals, schools, banks, even air raid shelters are being laced with SAM sights and AA guns. The air force can hit them since they're in the open, but unless we use precision munitions, there'll be a lot more civvies dead than Gryphons."

Cadence set the paper down, running a hand through her soft, multi-colored mane. "There's no way around it, is there? We have to attack it and just grit our teeth through the collateral damage? Praying we'll be forgiven?"

Applejack frowned deeply, looking towards Rarity who was writing down troop numbers on the other side of the map. It was amazing that the unicorn mare was so silent during the whole discussion. The snow white mare nodded sullenly. "I'm afraid that's correct your majesty," Rarity murmured. "From a more couth standpoint, it's unacceptable. But... from a military standpoint, one I prefer to avoid whenever possible, as the Colonel can attest, going around would destroy the Glacier citizen's morale and hopes of being liberated. And going through would mean millions in damages and dozens of civilian deaths."

"But the last message we received from the barkeep," Applejack added swiftly before Cadence could make her final decision, "was that the resistance was committing to the battle to come. They were going to assist in every way they could. In fact, he said we needed to let him know when we were on the way so they could move with their operations."

"And that is?" The Princess asked calmly.

Applejack could only shrug. "He said it was a plan that the Gryphons would not enjoy at all. He couldn't say more before the Gryphons entered his bar for drinks. So yes, the city will be damaged severely, but we will have insiders working to make it easier for us. The resistance is already committing to the fight and they know that a lot of ponies are going to be killed."

"It is unavoidable your majesty, but it needs to be done, callous as it may sound," the Hippogriff murmured softly.

Cadence rested her chin on her hand as she mulled it all over. She stared at the map hard, particularly at the city of Glacier. It was practically on the edge of the border between the liberated Crystal Empire and that held by Gryphnia still. She knew that if they take the city, they would have a straight shot into the Gryphnian heartland. Time was of the essence here, and with the rest of AEGIS waiting for the Crystal Empire to catch up with their forces, it needed to be happening soon. Sadly, Cadence remembered what her husband said, and though it sank her heart, she agreed this needed to be done, no matter the cost.

With a sigh, the Princess nodded, "You have my approval to carry on with the assault. But I want you to make every effort to avoid civilian casualties. I want precise strikes on Gryphnia's strong-points; smart bombs only, especially for any fighters that can carry them." She then tapped the area where the airport was located. "What about here? Any civilians?"

Applejack shook her head. "Negative, your majesty. Any previous workers have been removed. It's been turned into Glacier's second air force base."

Cadence's face then turned stern. "In that case, you have my approval to level it." With a small smile, she added. "I've been meaning to remodel it anyway. This'll be as good an excuse as any."

The Hippogriff General nodded and smoothed the feathers on his head as he clicked his beak. "I will relay the orders to my officers and the air force."

"Ah'll do the same," Applejack offered. "Mah boys have been itching to get some serious fighting done, and this is as good as any place to start. But don't worry; they'll be on a tight leash."

"Good to hear, you two. And General?" the Hippogriff stood up straight before the Crystal Monarch. "If it's all the same, I'd like to speak with the pilots myself. In fact, there is one in particular I would like to meet face to face."

"Of course, your majesty."

"Check," Mythic called.

Onyx Karat stared at the board, resting his chin on his fist as he stared at the board. Rhapsody, Spitfire, and Sprig watched the ensuing battle at the table from their own. All three mares knew Mythic was vicious at chess, but the Commissar was giving the veteran pilot a run for his bits. They had beaten each other down to four pieces each, both still with their queens intact.

They had gathered a small crowd of pilots and ground crews after Mythic had challenged the ragged and aged Crystal Pony to chess after Amethyst boasted that her father was the Imperial Military's champion for almost a decade. The grey pegasus stallion couldn't resist himself and declared he would take on the Commissar. Many of the Crystals in the room stared in disbelief, but the Commissar took the challenge.

Rhapsody scanned the crowds; it was clear this next move would take some time, so she took the time to look over the faces of the assembled Imperial pilots. They were young, younger than the sea green mare herself when she first got her officer's commission to become a pilot. The Crystals also didn't have the same air power their allies had. She had perused the flight line earlier in the week after they arrived, and she couldn't help but frown. The only thing she could conclude the Imperial Air Corps's inventory as, as gently as possible, questionable.

The Empire was given mere hand-me-down fighters from their allies, since it was such short notice and the Changelings wanted a crack at the Empire as a show of revenge for the embarrassing defeat in their failed attempt to take Canterlot nearly fourteen years ago during the Royal Wedding. Since then, it had been slow going to get the Imperial Royal Air Corps up to modern standards. The only fighters the Crystal Princess and her Prince could spare were a single wing of F/A-18Cs, one of F-16Cs, and one of F-5Es. And of those, there was maybe, out of nearly fifteen pilots, two aces. They were young, inexperienced, and scared.

Rhapsody could only imagine their feelings. The planes were hand-me-downs from the last continental war against the most modern weapons to date. It was after the catastrophe of the first Sky Breaker attack that shattered all but three or four Imperial Air Corps wings. While before the attack they had over a hundred, after, they numbered only fifteen. Equestria, Hibern, and Saddle Arabia gave what planes they could on such short notice given that the Gryphons were pushing north hard due to no friendly air support.

These kids she had been around for over a week now; Rhapsody had gotten to know them well enough. They knew basic dogfighting tactics, air striking maneuvers as well, but had never learned how to refuel in the air. They were all so much younger than she, the youngest she saw was a little past his eighteenth winter. His name was Aquamarine, callsign Ice Pick. He flew one of the few Fighting Falcons left in the Empire's inventory. The second she had gotten to know better was the leader of the single wing of Hornets. Tanzanite was twenty and from what Rhapsody gathered, the most level headed pilot in the Empire. He and his wing were the only ones in the Imperial Air Corps who knew how to take-off and land from a carrier.

"Not anymore," Onyx suddenly declared. Rhapsody focused back on the battle of chess before her. The move had cost the old Commissar one of his bishops, but his King was now guarded by his lone knight and queen. Mythic was baring down on the grizzled soldier before Onyx shoved his queen forward three spaces, striking Mythic's rook. "Check."

Murmurs went through the group gathered. The battle was at a complete stalemate once more. It was then that the intercom blared. "All wing leaders report to the briefing room immediately. The operation is approved and we are moving out." Rhapsody set her soda down and waved goodbye to everyone. Sprig raised her glass to her as the sea green mare and seven others headed into and down the hall.

The last thing she heard was a shout of victory and clapping.

"It's a night attack on the city. Our armor is already moving out with the infantry," the Hippogriff General explained. "You all will be cruising at subsonic, so as not to draw too much attention, until given the go ahead to fly to the city and begin operations." He then pulled down the screen and the projector hummed to life.

It showed a triangular layout of the city of Glacier, a town Rhapsody had heard about would be a massive boost in morale for the Crystals, who had been hurt the most during the conflict. "Your primary targets will be the Old Towne area here in the south part, the airport to the east, and the Government Complex in the north. Her Majesty, the Crystal Princess, has granted full usage of arms at the airport and the Government Complex. The Old Towne is majorly neighborhoods and apartments. A lot of civilian targets there, including hospitals, shelters, and schools; all of which have been equipped with AA positions and SAM sites."

"Then how are we supposed to neutralize them, sir, without civilian collateral damage?" a pegasus pilot asked after raising his hand. Rhapsody recognized him as one of the strike fighter pilots who landed two days ago leading a wing of Nighthawk stealth fighters.

The General aimed his switch at the pilot. "Excellent question. Her Majesty has ordered strictly precision bombs in the Old Towne district. This does not apply for the other two districts; those are weapons free on all targets."

"Could the Gryphons have moved the civilians to the other districts knowing we'd use our more destructive weapons on those other two locations?" she heard Aquamarine ask swiftly.

The General shook his head. "The city's resistance movement has assured that ninety percent of the civilian population that won't be aiding us in the invasion will be in the Old Towne area. Which brings me to my next point." He gestured to the unicorn who waved her horn at the projector which turned to a slide showing the city with an area lit up in red.

"This is the primary power station for the entire city. The resistance leader has informed us that they will be taking the station within two hours. Once it's taken, Colonel Applejack of the 2nd Equestrian Dragoons will charge from the north and assault the Government Complex. Commissar Karat who left just minutes ago will be leading his own forces from the east into the Old Towne area. The air force will be striking the airport and take out as many parked planes in sight," the General continued. "The Gryphons have enforced a city-wide blackout since the takeover. Several of the resistance fighters worked at the power plant and will be turning everything on when it's taken over.

"Your next order of business is to strike every target that IFF declares is hostile. The leader also informed us he and his fighters will do what they can to disable the AA positions in the Old Towne district, but we are allowed to strike anyway in case they don't make it." He nodded at the unicorn again, and she switched it off. "I don't want anyone getting heroic on me out there. There is still a sizable Gryphon force there and they will be fighting to the last feather to hold the city and halt our advance for reinforcements. But if this attack fails – "

"It won't."

The wing leaders assembled turned to the door, spying the figure just inside the room. Everypony immediately shot to their hooves and saluted. Rhapsody was sitting in the aisle as the Crystal Princess herself strode down in front of her. "At ease, pilots." The pink alicorn mare took a short glance to the sea green mare before moving to the front. "I apologize for my interruption, General."

The Hippogriff General bowed his head. "Please, Your Majesty, you are welcome to interject at any time."

The Crystal Princess nodded and moved to the front of the room and gave the wing leaders the kindest smile she could muster. "I know you're in a hurry to take off and liberate the city, but I wanted to make one last announcement, and I will make it brief." The Princess folded her hands behind her back, her tail shifting in uneasiness. "I know there are good pilots in this room, and some who have barely seen action. But I want you all to take comfort in knowing that we have veteran pilots from the other theatres here to shore up and bolster our numbers and morale. And with that said, I am placing field command of the air battle to Captain Rhapsody, callsign Wraith."

Rhapsody's pupils shrank as she broke formation and stared at the Princess, her coat running pale and her blood icy. Princess Cadence caught her eye and smiled with a nod. Murmurs and whispers floated about the room as the gathered Crystal pilots saw her and recognized her almost immediately.

"That's the Ghost? Thought she was a stallion."

"No way. The grace in the flying? Had to be a mare."

"But I'm a Major! I should be leading this."

"You're not the Ghost. She's outclassing you simply by standing there."

"I'm with her. We can't lose this battle with her in the sky."

Rhapsody couldn't speak, but before she could even form a coherent sentence, Princess Cadence lifted her hand and waved swiftly. "With that said you should all hurry to your planes. We have a battle to win. Mother Mare's speed to you all."

Dismissed, the pilots hurried out of the room. They left Rhapsody standing and watching, but soon she had shrugged and grabbed her helmet before heading out of the room. "Captain, a moment? I know you need to go, but I want to say something."

Rhapsody held her tongue before taking a deep breath and turning. The Princess stood mere feet from her, her hands still behind her back. They regarded each other intently, sizing each other up as they simply were standing in the aisle between the chairs. "How can I help, Your Majesty?"

Cadence sighed and looked behind her. Rhapsody followed her eyes where a couple pilots had stopped and were peeking around the corner and through the doorway. Eyes stared intently at the two staring at each other. The General cleared his throat and jerked his beak to the flight-line. The young Crystal pilots squeaked and hurried out. Cadence cleared her throat before looking back at Rhapsody. "I'm going to be blunt. Those pilots are all I could spare. The rest are defending the capital and other areas around the Empire. They are young, inexperienced, and above all, they're scared. I humbly requested you be transferred here not just to provide expertise, but as a tool for morale."

"Because fighting alongside Ghost Wing would inspire them to try harder," Rhapsody added.

Cadence nodded swiftly. "Not just Ghost Wing, but the Ghost herself. There will be major battles in the future, and because they are not as experienced as other AEGIS pilots, and I fear they will be grounded for it. I want you to boost these pilots in their bravery and their skill. I want to show the rest of the world that we may have been gone for over a thousand years, but we are not lacking in fight. They need to prove themselves to the world, and I want you to help them."

"I believe they would do fine without me," Rhapsody tried to explain.

"No," Cadence said plainly, catching the younger mare off-guard. "They wouldn't. They're scared, and more than one has been grounded permanently because they fled or ejected before the battle even started." The Princess's hands were suddenly on the younger mare's shoulders. "I need you to help them, Rhapsody. Empower them to never give up and to go down with a fire in their blood. I need you to turn these terrified colts and fillies into aerial warriors. You're the only mare I know who could do that."

Rhapsody swallowed as the words poured over her and she was forced to mull over them. Leading the Sky Breaker charge was one thing; it was a complex task made simple, and she was leading incredibly skilled pilots to boot. It was a small battle compared to this; liberate a whole city complete with squadrons of enemy fighters, columns of tanks, platoons of infantry, and more fury than the Mother Mare.

Liberate a city with more Gryphons than the southern front.

With a full squadron of green pilots.

And thousands of civilians at stake.

She grimaced as she regarded it all. She would've hoped to at least have the Wonderbolts, or one of her wings from the 14th with her, but she wasn't getting that. She was getting rookies who looked to her for promise and survival. She was facing an enemy that was relentless and was going to do anything they wanted to keep Glacier in their talons. Rhapsody almost started to sweat as the sudden realization hit her firmly in the breast. How was she even going to survive this? How were any of those pilots going to –

You wield fear against our enemies and inspire our allies. You have power to give them courage and bravery for any battle. Onyx popped into her mind, grinning at her. Sometimes you just have to accept that you're a hero.

A confident grin suddenly coursed Rhapsody's muzzle as she looked into the eyes of the Crystal Princess. Her coat returned to its healthy sea green, her pupils regained their previous luster, and her blood ran fiery hot. The Princess seemed to catch this and a smile coursed her lips as well. Standing up straight, Rhapsody stood before the Princess and then placed her hand on her heart. "I promise, Your Majesty. I will not fail you." She bowed her head to the Princess of Love.

Cadence smiled at the mare. "I know you won't Captain. Good luck to you all." Rhapsody suddenly went rigid as a kiss was placed on her forehead. "Go with my blessing, Captain. Fly to victory."

Standing back up straight, Rhapsody smiled and saluted the Princess. It was returned swiftly, and with a fresh boost of confidence, she turned and hurried to join her squadron.

"Go on! Get in there!"

The elderly stallion was thrown into the back of the truck, howling in pain and clutching his hip. Though cuffed, three Crystal Ponies carefully helped him inside as the tailgate was closed. The guard who threw him in banged the side of the truck twice and it drove off down the road. He and his military police partner watched the truck leave before turning around and returning to their patrol. Rifles in talons, they switched their flashlights back on.

"That was risky. Full house search in the dead of night, AEGIS could've seen those lights," the first guard stated.

The second guard huffed and shined his light down an alley, scaring a cat back behind its trashcan, hissing. "Unavoidable rookie. They were resistance fighters. They were lucky we didn't blow their heads off in the street. Zlatograd is a hundred miles from here and I bet some of them are gonna die on the trip."

The first guard nodded his agreement and shined his light to a few houses. One door opened and the stallion stepped out, asking for an explanation to the commotion. The gryphon MP raised his rifle and aimed. "Get your sorry tail back inside!" The stallion started and hurried back in, door slamming shut. "Speaking of which, did we ever catch that pony that set those charges?"

His companion shook his head. "Nope. Just got a vague description of the features. Juvenile and quick on her hooves."

"Oh yeah, that doesn't narrow it down to half the f-"

The second guard stopped him and jerked his beak down the way. One of the houses had its lights on. During a mandatory blackout. Lights on in the city gave enemy forces a focus point to where to drop their bombs. But the dumbfounding fact was that it was on at all. The power station was supposed to be under their control. At this hour, the power station was shut down.

"Echo team four to Static base," the first guard called on his radio to the soldiers guarding the power station. "We're at grid four-seven-zero and there's a house with power. What's going on?" He paused and waited. Silence answered him for a full five seconds before he called again. "Echo team four to Static base, how copy, over?"

His fellow guard shook his head and gestured to the house. "Forget it. They've been having troubles with the radios for a couple days now. Come on." Together, the two Gryphons marched to the house. Once on the front step of the quaint house with decorative flower pots, they took action. With little preamble, the first began banging his fist on the door. "SHUT THE LIGHTS OFF NOW OR WE'LL SHUT THEM OFF FOR YOU!" he screamed.

"Sarge?" The first guard looked to the second, and then to where he was pointing. There was another house with their lights on. And not just on the first floor; it looked as if they had even turned on their Hearths Warming lights on as well. Every object that gave light was on. "I'll go check them out." He made it five feet from the house before he stopped in the street.

And his eyes widened.

These two houses were not the only ones. All along the street the houses began turning their lights on, and not just a couple. Within seconds the entire road had lit up; street lamps, household lamps, candles, even flashlights tied to gutters, anything that gave off any sort of illumination, were all turning on and shining bright into the night sky. It was bright enough to be daylight yet it was only one in the morning. The two Gryphons stared hard at the road. And then the next sounds caught their attention.

Gun fire.

Air raid sirens.

Screams of soldiers in the distance.

Taking wing, the two MPs got above the roofs of the neighborhood and stared around. They could only gawk in awe as the lights across the city, no matter how bright or dim, were switched on. The blackout was gone, replaced by a light show never seen before. The entire Old Towne district had their power back on. They looked north and could see the Government Complex's high-rise buildings turning on every light on every floor. Searchlights scanned the sky. The airport lit up the hills surrounding it. Streaks of tracers from the AA guns were fired into the air.

"This is Static Base to all Gryphnian troops in Glacier! The resistance has taken the power station! The lights are coming on all over the city! Repeat, the lights are turning back on! Radar is picking up AEGIS forces just outside the city! SOMEONE CALL REINFORCEMENTS!"

Applejack pulled down her binoculars with the biggest grin she'd worn since the war started.

Glacier's lights were brighter than ever since the takeover.

Jumping back into her tank, she grabbed her radio and yelled, "All forces charge! We take back Glacier today! Repeat, all forces CHARGE!"

The five battalions of armor and infantry burst from their cover, shouts of victory and fire erupting from their combined throats. The forces from the north charged the Government Complex.

Commissar Karat glared through his binoculars and grinned manically. Promptly throwing them aside, he grabbed his sword and turned to the Crystal Ponies behind him, raising the saber high. "Today is a good day to die, comrades! We will retake our home, and show the world we have not lost any of our edge, nor our anger, nor our fury! With bullets, with fists, with bayonets, this city and its citizens will be free once more! For the Empire! For our Crystal Princess! CHARGE!"

Five hundred strong, the Commissar led his troops charging down the hill into the Old Towne district.

Explosions already were dotting the city streets and the clouds above. Flak guns fired endlessly into the sky above to try and strike any enemy aircraft. AA guns fired as well, sending streams of hot led into the early morning sky. SAMs scanned the air for anything that wasn't Gryphnian and firing their massive missiles into the air.

Not far beyond the battlefield, thirty AEGIS fighters were at full throttle. Rhapsody had caught sight of a massive glow in the distance and, after adjusting her course, the incredible amount of fighters she led followed closely. Once over the mountain, they were graced with the view of the city of Glacier. Once an awe-striking sight of the skyline, it was now being torn apart by both sides trying to take it and hold.

The airport had lit up and fighters were launching. The Old Towne area was in flames as Rhapsody could see the Commissar's men fighting madly into the area. Up ahead, she spied the Colonel's huge battalions of tanks and infantry pushing into the city from all angles. The entire city was a warzone all of its own.

"This is it," Rhapsody called to the fighters she had been given command of. "I want all of you to do your best. We are taking back this city today! Drive the Gryphons out once and for all, and show them we're not going to give in to their bullying!" Pushing forward, she could've sworn she heard the Tomcat roar its fury as she throttled up, wings folded back. Her ears bent back and her tail clung to her leg. This was going to be a massive fight, but she would make sure this city was liberated or she'd die trying.

"This is Imperial AWACS Magic to all aircraft! We've got a large number of enemy fighters heading your way, Ghost Lead." Sure enough, Rhapsody spied the enemy fighters gunning for them.

"Roger that, Magic! ALL WINGS, ENGAGE!"

Author's Note

I can't be the only one with this problem when writing canon characters into their story.

It is SO hard to work in canon characters from the show into a fan work and STILL maintain their character. I did my best here, and I felt Shining Armor would want to be in the field with his troops, slowly slipping into a remorseless soldier and it takes his wife to metaphorically slap him in the face to get his head back on straight.

Chapter 22

Glacier had become a warzone.

Troops from both sides had engaged each other in the biggest battle to date with three groups vying for control: The Gryphons who had conquered it, the resistance who had waged a shadow war of guerilla tactics since Glacier was taken over, and AEGIS that had been working with the resistance for months. While Gryphnia and AEGIS were blowing each other apart with missiles and rockets, the resistance soldiers still had no problems keeping up with stolen and smuggled rifles and RPGs stored in caches around the city. Some had even gone as far as using wood-cutting axes, decorative swords, anything with a blade or anything blunt.

Screams accompanied gunfire as the shrieks of jet engines and propeller blades cutting the air added to the symphony of battle. While the ground was lit up by lights and explosions, above, only the flames of engines could mark a passing fighter, or an explosion of one being shot down. Thirty AEGIS planes flew into the battle. The four planes of Ghost led the charge of the six AEGIS fighter wings flying. The six F-117 Nighthawks of Vulture Wing flew above the formation. Five F-5E Tigers from Ruby wing clung close to Rhapsody, much like the five F-16 fighting Falcons from Gold. Four A-10 Thunderbolt IIs hung behind Mythic's fighter, and the four F/A-18Cs of Emerald stayed behind Amethyst and Sprig.

After sending one of her bombs into a formation of Gryphon infantry-fighting vehicles that were chasing a large group of rebels, Rhapsody pulled up a ways and looked up to the wing of F-117 Nighthawks flying silently above the lake just beyond the city. Stealth fighters meant for striking and scooting out just as fast. "Vulture Wing, I want you targeting any AA defenses Old Towne. Smart bombs only and be careful where you hit."

"Roger, Wraith. Good luck," the Major who led the wing replied quickly. The whole wing, six strong, banked and moved to the Old Towne, bomb-bays already opening.

"Same to you, Vultures." She looked around the air to see a number of fighters under her command take the fight to the Gryphons. More than once, she had caught sight of red bellies marking Meteor Su-37 Terminators that were staying behind to defend Glacier. As she watched, one of the Meteors began chasing Aquamarine, wing leader of Gold wing. Moments later, Mythic Dusk had pulled up behind it and sheared off a wing, sending the plane to its end on the ground. "We need to start flowing to other areas to help," she called out. "Phantom, take Emerald Wing and head for the airport to back up the Colonel's troops. Shoot down anything that even looks at them."

"Copy your last, Wraith. Stay safe." The Hornets banked and flew to the airport. Rhapsody watched them for a few more seconds before seeing explosions marking missile hits. She frowned upon seeing one of the Imperial Hornets go down, but two Gryphnian fighters marked their final resting places in the ground.

"Shade, Banshee, take the Warthogs from Reaper wing and head for the Government Complex. I'm seeing some enemy armor from even here. See about softening them up for the Colonel's tanks."

"Got it. Let's go, featherhead." Sprig groaned and nearly rammed her fighter into his and the two from Ghost Wing led three A-10s north.

That just left one more group. F-16Cs and F-5Es painted much like their fellows, only with yellow and red, respectively. "Gold Wing, Ruby Wing, you're with me. We're floating to any area that needs extra help. We clear the skies of any fighters that take us on. Understood?"

"We're with you, Wraith," Gold Leader, Aquamarine, callsign Ice Pick, cried.

"We've got your back," Ruby leader, a mare about Rhapsody's age, replied.

The fighters blazed forward into the night sky of Glacier. Rhapsody's afterburners kick in and she peeled off after an Su-35.

"Damnit! Already got one of the Imperial planes on me!"

"Hang on, Omega twelve," a Meteor pilot replied. He was young, but ecstatic to be flying with the famous Meteor Squadron. He pulled up behind the Tomcat and narrowed his eyes. He then started and looked at the tail. "Wait... that's not Imperial... Omega twelve! You've got the Ghost Fighter on your tail!"

"The Ghost Fighter? Oh sh- Get her off me! GET HER OFF ME!"

Rhapsody barrel-rolled around a barrage of cannon fire from the plane that had taken her tail. Spitfire craned back to see. "It's a Meteor! I'll keep my eyes on him – " A missile suddenly tore into the tail of the Su-37. It blew into pieces immediately after impact. "Uh... never mind!"

"I got one! I got one!" Ice Pick cried.

"Gold One got a Meteor! Nice kill, kid!" the Imperial AWACS, Magic, called out.

A shout suddenly went up from another part of the battlefield. "Ice Pick got a Meteor? I guess I owe you twenty bits."

Rhapsody let loose a burst from her cannon that destroyed the Su-35 in front of her. The pilot ejected and flew away. "Don't get cocky, Ice Pick. Stay focused or you'll get hit."

"Roger, Wraith."

"Heads up!" Spitfire shouted. Rhapsody banked left and the missile streaked by. It was followed by a Meteor that peeled away from her. Spitfire hummed to herself. "I guess they left more than a few Meteors behind to shore up defenses."

"No doubts there!" Amethyst called from the airport. "We just got one ourselves. These must be rookie pilots. He was good, but we overpowered him and I put a missile through the canopy."

"I heard reports that different squadrons were transferring in Meteor pilots just as they transferred new blood into their own," Spitfire announced. "So they're good, but not as good as the hype says."

Rhapsody said nothing, focusing on the Meteor in front of her. It dove low, but the Tomcat stayed right on the tail, giving small bursts from the cannon to test the altitude and direction. The much swifter and agile fighter turned left and right, weaving through the skyscrapers of the Government Complex to try and shake her. But it was in vain as he tried to pull the Cobra maneuver and was too far ahead. The Meteor plane wobbled in the air and stalled and Rhapsody put a burst from her cannon through the center. The plane exploded and rained down into the river.

"Wraith got a Meteor. How many is that now?" Magic asked.

Rhapsody couldn't help but give a smile. "Just two, Magic." She quickly changed the subject. "Wing leaders, I need an update."

"This is Major Pierce of Vulture. We lost a plane, but he managed to steer into an AA gun on the street. We've also taken out a number of SAM sites on the roofs of the hospital. Operation in the Old Towne Area is going smooth, and we're seeing an AEGIS battalion leveling the Gryphnian command base there."

Magic then added, "The Colonel is also ordering special teams into different buildings to commandeer any AA sites still intact. We're marking them as friendlies. The Rebels have also taken a few sites and are destroying them as we speak. However they are encountering heavy resistance at the power station."

"Vultures five and six, drop any remaining bombs on their unwelcome guests. Shade, I need a couple A-10s to follow-up," Rhapsody ordered.

"Got it."

"This is Phantom leading Emerald Wing. We could use some help over here. The airport has more troops and fighters than we thought," Amethyst shouted. "I'm tallying up shoulder-launched stingers and AA positions all over. They're even shooting from inside the terminals."

"Copy that," Rhapsody replied quickly. "Ruby Wing, keep on the attack. Gold Wing, with me to the airport. Punch it!"

The wing of Fighting Falcons stuck to Rhapsody's tail as they moved to the east.

The AEGIS soldiers kept up pace with the resistance fighters as they ran down an alley for a shortcut. All around them the city was burning. Burning hulks of armor from both sides littered the streets and more than one gunship or fighter was still smoking from a fresh hit that took it to its final destination. Staff Sergeant Babs Seed checked her magazine before checking both ways of the street.

"How much further to the power station?" she asked the rebel fighters.

The Crystal Pony looked at the street with her. "Another few blocks and we'll be – "

"Tank!" Instinctively, the gathered troops hid or dove for cover as the Gryphnian tank rumbled into view nearby and let loose a torrent of fire from its coaxial machinegun. The few resistance fighters that had ducked behind a ruined taxi didn't make it. They were riddled with holes, bleeding on the street as the T-90 moved up and next to an apartment building. Babs was about to order her Marines and the resistance to fall back, but the T-90 suddenly started to roll backwards.

An explosion sounded to her right at the street's intersection and something tore a hole through the wall of the building the enemy tank retreated behind. A second later, another explosion followed as the T-90 was destroyed. The turret blew off as unexploded rounds detonated, causing a cacophony of smaller blasts. Babs and the remaining fighters looked down the street running perpendicular to theirs to see the smoking barrel of an M1 tank.

"You alright, sugar cubes?" Applejack called.

Babs nodded and waved for the troops to follow her. "What kept ya, cous?" she asked. After getting a small glare from the Colonel, she corrected, "I mean, Ma'am."

Applejack nodded that it was better and turned backwards and nodded down the street behind her. Flaming hulks of Gryphon tanks and other armor littered the road along with more than one collapsed or burning building. Her column looked mostly intact despite the massive battle that seemed to take place just moments before Babs and her entourage got into the street.

"Traffic. Need a ride?" Babs took the Colonel's hand as she waved for the rest of her troops to do the same, and climbed up onto the tank's chassis. Afterwards, Applejack grabbed her radio. "This is the 2nd Equestrian Royal Dragoons, We've secured the west end of the Government Complex, moving to the Power Station."

"Hind!"

Immediately, one of the Gepards from Saddle Arabia spun around to open fire. The gunship was coming directly for the front of the column and began shooting its cannon. Bullets tore into the asphalt of the street before a shriek caused it to suddenly pull up and try to move away. A missile struck the cockpit and the Hind went into a furious tailspin before ramming into the wall of an office building, bouncing off, and striking the road. Applejack and Babs, along with their soldiers, took cover. No one was hurt, but the Colonel looked upwards to see a familiar F-14A flying over their column.

"That's twice, Wraith!"

Checking the gauges, the pilot tugged at his collar. "Can't believe we're going to do this."

His co-pilot scoffed. "With AEGIS attacking the city, it's a loss. The best we can do is level it. Scorched earth, that's what the Joint Chiefs said."

With a simple nod, the pilot called back to his crew. "Get those things ready. We'll be in Glacier within ten minutes."

The gryphon pilot swore as he pulled up behind an Imperial F-16C, but he was once again shaken off as he was forced to pulled away as an EF-2000 took up behind him.

"Damn it! Where is Meteor Squadron?"

"They're getting wiped out! We can't – " An explosion resounded. "I can't control! Ejecting!"

Rhapsody spun the Tomcat in a tight arc, nearly blacking herself out. The missile streaked by her cockpit with the Meteor close behind it. Throttling up, she pushed into a pursuit. The Terminator banked low to try and avoid her, narrowly avoiding the airport control tower. The pilot banked up and around it, but Rhapsody didn't budge an inch. Spitfire looked through the air around them. "You're clear, Wraith. We're no joy on bogies. Looks like Gold and Emerald are mopping them up good."

Rhapsody barely heard her, giving quick bursts from her cannon. The Meteor pilot effortlessly dodged it and pulled into a tight somersault, ending up behind the Ghost. The two mares within the fighter wasted no time shouting orders and carrying them out. Rhapsody pulled up into a wide arc into the sky with the Meteor close behind. Rhapsody's altimeter began winding up as she gained altitude. "This has to be one of the more experienced pilots that stayed behind."

Rhapsody huffed. "I got an idea. Hoping this works."

"If it doesn't?" Spitfire asked simply.

"Then we take a missile up our flanks and return to the ground as a fireball."

The Tomcat suddenly cut out thrust and stalled. "Not reassuring, Captain!" Spitfire shouted as she grabbed the canopy. The Tomcat turned over onto its nose, the g-forces threatening to tear Rhapsody's chest apart, and bared down on the Terminator coming at them from below. The enemy pilot flipped his fighter around, narrowly scraping the bottom of his own plane against Rhapsody's, but not before getting a thick volley of lead through its belly.

The Terminator began to smoke as it tried desperately to regain altitude. Rhapsody shoved her throttle to full, once again nearly blacking out from the strain on her body before her Tomcat's wings folded back and propelled her forward. Once her missile locked, she sent the fiery spear through the tail of the Meteor fighter. Only the rear of the plane exploded, sending the plane into an out of control spin. The canopy blew and the gryphon behind the controls flared his wings, safe.

"Got a Meteor! Nice kill, Wraith. That's three now, right?"

"Sort of a modified cobra. Not bad," Spitfire commented. "Pilot's gonna be pissed, not that it matters."

Rhapsody nodded. "He'll get caught by our ground forces." Angling low, she spotted a pair of C-17 cargo planes with Gryphnian emblems on the tails. She promptly sent a bomb from her belly in-between them, destroying them almost completely. Her missile warning blared and Rhapsody dove for the ground, narrowly dodging it and the freshly destroyed cargo planes.

Spitfire craned her head around. "Rafale on our tail!"

"Oh he's gonna get it," Rhapsody declared as she pulled up and around the control tower as another missile slammed into the side, causing the whole upper half to topple onto the tarmac below.

"Various explosions can be heard around the city," the resistance radio called through. "As well, we're intercepting reports from the fighter aircraft above. It's absolute chaos up there!"

"Fire!"

The M1 tank fired its main gun, tearing a massive hole through the Gryphnian T90 across the street. The enemy's turret blew off and Applejack's tank crew moved forward. She grinned and swung her machine gun around, firing in bursts at the Gryphnian infantry firing at them from the roof of the factory just twenty feet away. More than once she had to duck down and cover herself from a burst from a machine gunner on the top floor. One of the A-10s from the air force had raked the roof taking care of the problem just minutes ago.

The resistance fighters behind her were doing their best to keep the power going, but the Gryphons were hell-bent on knocking out the station. But to do that, they needed to get past Colonel Applejack's forces who had already secured a large part of the Government Complex. The two A-10s from Reaper wing had been a tremendous help since arriving, demolishing a column of tanks that would have shredded their defensive line.

"Colonel! Hind inco-" The Gryphon attack helicopter suddenly began sparking in time with heavy cannon fire striking its side. It spun out of control and collided with the building beside it, bouncing off it, then one of the power station's towers, sending sparks across the area, and ending its death throes in the lake in the center of town. "Never mind, again!"

Blazing overhead was an EF Typhoon, the nose painted with a dragon. She could just make out the emblem on the tail. "That's a plane from Ghost wing, but not the Ghost." Applejack looked down at her cousin, who was kneeling by the tank's tread. "Still, very good timin', eh cous?"

Applejack chuckled. "They're all good, Babs. I imagine the Princess knew what she was doing when she sent them this far north."

Babs chuckled and aimed her rifle, lobbing a grenade from her launcher into a deli that was being used as a machinegun nest. Looking back up, she could only see the flames of jet engines in the pitch black night sky. From down there, they all looked the same. "I'll need to know that pilot's name when we get back to base."

Mythic pulled up, flying beside Sprig who had kept close to his wing during the entire battle.

"You get a Meteor yet, Mythic?" she asked.

"Sure did. Not long after you got yours. Looks like everyone in Ghost has one now, except for the Major!"

"Shut up, Mythic!" Spitfire cried.

Sprig couldn't help but laugh. "Now the Major is saying it. She definitely is earning her keep."

"She's keeping me alive," Rhapsody replied. "Phantom, how's the battle on your end coming?"

When Mythic looked over, the flurry of Hornets from Emerald led by Amethyst had turned their weapons to the ground. Pairs were raking the ground with their cannons while those armed with anti-ground missiles fired at any leftover tanks or parked cargo planes. The missiles streaked forward until over their target and sharply turned down to hit them directly on the top.

"Phantom here, the airport is under AEGIS control!"

"Message from the Colonel on the ground," Magic reported. "'We are steamrolling over the Gryphnian forces in the Government Complex and the Power Station is being held under friendly control. No problems here.'"

"This is Commissar Karat," Onyx cried from the other side of the battlefield. "We've got enemy gunship fire raining on us and taking T90 fire from a bridge. We need help over here, quickly!"

Rhapsody pulled the Tomcat into a tight turn to left after sending a cannon burst through the tail of an Su-35 that was chasing after Aquamarine's Fighting Falcon. "Standby, Commissar, we're on the way! Emerald Wing, stay at the airport. Ruby, keep with the A-10s from Reaper; they've still got some fighters up here, so keep them safe! Ghost wing, rally on me and Gold, we're moving to Old Towne."

"This is Vulture Lead. Our bays are dry, we're RTB." Rhapsody looked and saw the five remaining Nighthawks blazing out of the combat zone. Looking back at the city, she saw the multiple smoking craters and flaming pillars that marked their targets' final fate.

"Roger, Vultures. Thanks for the help." Once her eyes were fixed on the Old Towne, she caught sight of Mythic, Sprig, and Amethyst regrouping around her. Gold wing hung close as they made their way there. Narrowing her rose eyes, Rhapsody spied the last few fighters that defended their brethren below, but it was Spitfire who called them out.

"Looks like there's two Meteors leading the last of the Gryphon fighters," she announced. "I recommend Gold take them on while we strike the AA defenses and the ground targets holding up the Commissar."

"What?" Aquamarine yelped. "That's a Meteor! We don't stand a chance!"

Rhapsody looked over to the gold-striped Fighting Falcon. "Did you forget you've already shot one down already, Ice Pick?" Rhapsody asked. "Believe in yourselves, Gold Wing, and you can do it again. I believe you can do it."

"Okay that was cheesy," Spitfire muttered.

The sea green mare scoffed. "Bite me."

"What was that, Captain?"

"Bite me." Rhapsody gave her best salute in the cockpit. "Ma'am!"

Spitfire nodded and folded her arms. "That's what I thought you said."

"Alright!" Aquamarine cried. "We can do it. We'll make you proud, Wraith. I've always wanted to say this: Gold Wing, engage!"

The six Fighting Falcons blazed forward, the lead firing his cannon at the Meteor in front. The rest of Gold and Ghost peeled off after the remaining Gryphnian fighters. Ghost Lead leveled herself out, catching the eye of a pair of Gryphon T90s on the bridge that began backing up. "Oh no you don't!" She pressed her button and the bomb released from her underside. She then pulled up to avoid hitting a hotel and turned to watch the bomb just barely hit the tanks. They were still taken out, though, and she watched as a number of Crystal soldiers swarmed them.

Mythic was already busy dropping his bomblets on a number of fortified infantry posts along the road. This was countered by an AA gun that, just as the pegasus mare feared, was atop a school. Vulture wing must not have wanted to hit it for fear of major collateral damage to anypony still inside. She couldn't blame them, and with a flick of her tail, she let a torrent from her cannon rip into the crew before pulling up and away.

"Careful everypony," she called. "There's still some AA positions up."

"It is now one-forty-five in the morning, Eastern Equis mean time. Massive fighting has broken out all over the city despite the early hour. The only things visible are the tracers, engine flames and explosions. From what we can hear and feel, there must be quite a number of them up there! This is Resistance Radio; we will continue to provide updates as they come through."

The two resistance fighters peeked through the doorway to the roof, spying a pair of Gryphons manning an AA gun that was firing into the sky above. Its partner on the other side of the roof had already been taken out by an AEGIS plane and this one fired wildly into the air. The two grimaced when they saw one of the AEGIS fighters go down and crash into the street, but were slightly relieved when they saw the parachute. The AA gunners then began to turn their position around, aiming at the downed pilot.

"Oh hell no," the first muttered. After his buddy lit the wick, they through the firebomb at the crew. The bottle crashed onto the gun and spread the petrol all over it and the crew. Their screams were terrible and though successful, they turned away from their deed to join their comrades below.

"We've taken out the last of the AA guns at the high school. Moving to the hospital."

Rhapsody swung up behind a skyscraper as one of the few remaining fighters in Glacier took off after her. She barrel-rolled through a volley from its cannon, narrowly scraping her tail against a radio antennae on the roof of an office building. A missile came next and she twisted hard, letting it hit the road. "He's too quick," Spitfire reported. "Try and lose him on the ground."

"Roger that." The mare pushed low, taking care to not to scrape the tanks down below. More than one soldier on the ground hit the dirt as the Tomcat and the pursuing Strike Eagle tore the sky above them apart. She widened her eyes when she saw an AA gun spinning towards her. With a yelp of surprise, she pulled the stick back hard. The gun began firing at her, possibly even more surprised than her since they fired too late. And as a result, their volley hit their air force comrade right in the belly. The Strike Eagle caught fire and propelled into the river.

Swinging around, the AA gun targeted Rhapsody's Tomcat once more, firing at random. The Tomcat was fast though, but in the midst of firing, the gun was hitting the various buildings around it. The huge volume of fire tore through a floor of an office building and strafed the top floor of the hospital. Rhapsody snarled to think how many ponies inside they had struck.

Eyes flaring, she pulled up high into the sky, throttling up until she was at sufficient height. Seconds after, she pulled her throttle back and pulled the Tomcat back over onto its nose. Doing a straight nosedive, Rhapsody pushed her throttle back up and aimed her whiskey reticule before letting a medium bomb fly out from under her. Pulling up, the g-forces not so bad this time, she let Spitfire watch the bomb fall.

"And it's good!" She then paused. "Right into a rather sizable building."

Realizing what she had done, Rhapsody banked to survey they hit. The rubble wasn't large, but the shock of the blast would've damaged the inner workings of the building. For a moment, she thought there may have been somepony inside. The sea green mare was angry enough to not care at the time, but when she looked, the bomb did more damage that she thought... until she saw the sign.

"Oh. It's just a tax firm," Spitfire reported.

"Okay, so no harm, no foul?"

"Nope! Let's go."

"Glacier has been under control of Gryphnia for nearly a year. This city has not seen a conflict since Sombra's banishment," the Resistance radio informed. "This is only the second time the city has felt the flames of war."

Applejack pulled her binoculars down, turning to the barkeep who led the resistance, both staring at the ruins of the tax collecting agency building. "There was nopony in there, right?"

The Crystal stallion shook his head. "It was evicted anyway."

"Why's that?" Applejack asked.

"Couldn't pay its bills on time."

Rhapsody angled herself and let another bomb drop. It struck the center of the street where a pair of T90s was tearing into a building full of resistance fighters. Pulling up, she surveyed the Old Towne area. "Old Towne forces, I need a sitrep," the Captain called.

"This is Gold Leader, all enemy fighters are down. The sky is ours!" Aquamarine cried triumphantly.

"Colonel Applejack here. My forces are mopping up any remaining Gryphons in the area." The Colonel's M1 fired a round into a nearby apartment that the latest RPG had come from and narrowly missed her treads. The round had, unfortunately, killed a number of resistance fighters and AEGIS soldiers. Stone and glass shattered and burned and Applejack's ears bent back while ringing. "My boys have already taken the enemy command post in this area. Government Complex is ours!"

"This is Strong Shot; I run the bar in Old Towne," a stallion called. "My guys are hitting the remaining anti-air spots on the Hotel and the walk-in clinic." Looking down, he saw the gryphon he had one hoof on reaching for his rifle. Strong Shot lifted his hoof and let it slam back down. The Gryphon gunner let out a squawk of pain before whimpering. "You have yet to pay your tab, so you just lay there and shut up." He pulled the radio back up. "No problems here."

Onyx Karat blasted his rifle into a group of Gryphons charging up the stairs after they had gunned down a group of his soldiers. "Scum-sucking animals!" he screamed. Turning, he charged up the stairs with his remaining troops and a number of resistance volunteers. Kicking open the door, he ran forward towards a group of Gryphon soldiers manning the last few AA guns on top of the hospital.

Shocked, the soldiers were too slow to block the incoming Crystal ponies. Sword in hand, the Commissar slash and cut anyone close to him as his men began destroying the last of the positions. Gunfire ripped through the air as Crystal Ponies and Gryphons fought hand-to-hand for control of the roof. Though vastly better equipped, the Gryphons were overpowered and wiped out. Ripping his sword out of the nearest officer and kicking him off the roof, he grabbed his own radio.

"Commissar Karat to the Wraith. The hospital is ours once more!" He raised his sword into the air and the Rebel fighters and AEGIS soldiers below cheered loudly.

Spitfire smiled to herself. "Sounds like this is all going off without a hitch."

"AWACS Magic to all AEGIS and Rebel forces, all enemy aircraft have been destroyed and the key areas have been taken. The city is- Wait... stand by!"

Rhapsody's ear twitched as she narrowed her eyes. "Reinforcements? They're a little late to the party."

The bomber pilot glared ahead. "I was afraid of that. Glacier's been taken."

"Doesn't matter," his co-pilot declared. "We go in hard and fast and drop the bombs. Then we get the hell out."

"Bomb bay doors open, readying the thermobarics."

"A single fighter has yet to be seen in the sky, but what reports we can intercept from the military are coming through, though full of static," the Resistance radio reported once again. "Is the fighter with the Ghost Insignia among them?"

"Magic to all AEGIS and Rebel forces! Six Blackjack bombers approaching the city at high speed!"

Rhapsody's pupils shrank at the news. "Blackjacks? Supersonic bombers?"

"Those damn fascists are gonna level the city!" Aquamarine screamed. "We've got to stop them."

Rhapsody's eyes scanned the sky for the Blackjacks, before Spitfire shouted from behind, "There they are!" The pegasus mares looked to their left, spying six groups of jet engines. They broke off into three pairs and were immediately dropping their payloads. Stunned, Rhapsody was banking and watched one of the bombs hit the ground. A plume of smoke formed before a massive explosion followed. Three buildings caved in and two shattered almost instantly. She saw building debris, and shreds of tanks fly through the air.

"Those are friggin thermobaric bombs!" Mythic shouted. "This is scorched earth! They're going to completely destroy the city!"

Wasting no time, Rhapsody pulled her Tomcat into a steep climb and fired her cannon. It streaked across the belly, but hardly fazed the damn bomber. "All fighters! Pick a bomber and start shooting!"

Applejack pulled her helmet down and covered her mouth as she watched a thermobaric bomb hit the ground several blocks away. AEGIS soldiers were rushing for her position before it dropped. When the smoke cleared just a little, she gagged at the sight; nothing. They had been utterly vaporized.

"All forces! Find cover immediately! Any anti-air under our control start shooting! Bring them down before they destroy us all!"

"We're shooting, Colonel," she heard Strong Shot, the local barkeep yell. "They're too fast!"

Rhapsody pulled up behind one of the Blackjacks. She had been forced to go supersonic herself to keep up with the bombers, her afterburners screaming. Her wings were folded back and her whole body pressed into her seat. Her breathing paced up as her reticule tried to get a lock. Once the tone was good, she sent the missile off the rail and impacting the engine. A massive explosion marked a direct hit and the Blackjack listed down to the right before crashing into what now used to be a hoofball field.

"One down! Five to go!"

"Make that four," Aquamarine cried. "Got it from the front. Cannon to the cockpit."

Rhapsody banked right to see Amethyst and Sprig teaming up on one that was rapidly dropping its payload on the airport were a number of AEGIS ground forces were running for their lives. Several tanks and more than a dozen infantry were hit before a pair of missiles from the two Hornets tore the Blackjack apart. It fell from the sky and crashed right into the airport terminal, an explosion tearing apart any remaining part of the airport building as the remaining bombs within detonated.

"Three down! Get the rest! Hurry!" Magic cried.

"We're doing our best, Magic!" Rhapsody turned after catching sight of another one. Its payload was being released on the Government Complex. She couldn't see any AEGIS troops on the ground, but those she did see were fleeing in terror. A number of structures had been leveled and even more were burning. She grimaced upon seeing one was a school. "Mother Mare I hope there was no one inside that one."

Spitfire shook her head. "Nothing we can do for them, Wraith. Let's help them by saving the rest of the city."

The pilot mare nodded and pushed after the Blackjack that was turning towards the outskirts of the city. Whether to make another run or just to run, she didn't care. In hot pursuit she pushed down as she was gaining on the bomber. It was indeed running away, but Rhapsody didn't give it a chance to run along home.

None of these bombers were going back home.

Once she felt she was at the correct distance, she yanked the stick back and pulled her cannon's trigger. Volleys of hot lead streaked from the Tomcat's nose and into the underside of the Blackjack. The results were better than she had hoped; the bombs still inside were hit and detonated. The Bomber violently exploded in the air, sending burning wreckage into the lake and the plain below. Deed done, she pulled back and engaged her afterburners to return to the city.

One more Blackjack had been downed in her absence, leaving one more. She swiftly caught up with it as it was making for the Old Towne, and from what she could determine, was making a beeline for the hospital. Narrowing her eyes, she throttled up, her afterburners shrieking as the Tomcat closed in on it. Her reticule closed in on the tail and without a second's hesitation, she pressed the button. "Fox two!"

She pressed it again. "Fox two!"

A third time she pressed.

Pupils shrinking, she looked down to see, to her horror, she was out of missiles. She pulled her trigger for her cannon and it was dry! She had nothing left! "I'm empty! I can't take it out! Anyone got a missile?"

"Negative!" Mythic shouted. "I'm down to my cannon and I won't make it!"

"Phantom and I are empty too!" Sprig cried.

"Does anypony have anything?!" Spitfire yelled. "It's heading for the hospital!"

"Tanks and infantry are running by the station, shouting for everyone to take cover. We've already intercepted that bombers are above the city and dropping their payloads. We've heard a number of explosions but none of them seem to be near us yet."

"I may have something for them!" Aquamarine called out. Rhapsody turned to see him fly right by her. He had no missiles, nor did he move in for a gun strike. He instead pulled up to just above the Blackjack, and that was where Rhapsody saw it.

An unguided bomb.

"Ice Pick! Abort!" Magic called. "You can't hit it with a bomb!"

"Yes I can! It's all I got!" Aquamarine countered. "I can make the shot!"

Magic objected, "Negative! Pull back and use your – "

"Little more down, Ice Pick," Rhapsody called. "You might over shoot him. Aim for the fuselage."

The F-16C tilted downwards in acknowledgement, quickly adjusting. "It's getting closer!" Magic reported. "If you're gonna do this, do it fast."

Rhapsody continued, "Feel for the shot. Let your plane make the adjustments. It knows what it wants to do. Feel the shot..." Ice Pick tilted himself forward by mere inches.

The bomber pilot bared down on the hospital. "Almost there. One good strike."

Rhapsody kept her eyes on the F-16C as it hovered in place above the bomber. "Wait for it," Rhapsody said softly. "If you hit it now, it'll crash into it. Wait for it..." The mare could almost feel the tension in the air from all the AEGIS pilots. More so from Aquamarine himself, the incredibly young stallion about to take the shot.

"Hold... hold..."

"Bomb is locked! Ready to drop!" The Blackjack's bombardier looked down his sights, talon above the button.

"NOW!"

Ice Pick's bomb dropped from the rail. It was almost in slow motion as it dropped from the Fighting Falcon and fell towards the Blackjack. Rhapsody watched it fall. For a moment, she thought it would miss altogether. Her skin under her coat paled, her wings and tail clung to her in anxiety. Spitfire pressed herself against the canopy to watch.

For a moment, she could have sworn it would miss. Rhapsody could almost see the thermobaric bomb drop and fly through the hospital wall and level the entire structure. She could smell the burning wreckage and civilians still inside. She could hear the cries of anguish and agony at the failure to stop the bomber. Another second went by and Rhapsody could have sworn –

A massive blast caught her eye.

Rose irises glued to the sight, Ice Pick's bomb had struck it right on the tail, blowing it off the air frame. The Blackjack shook violently and rose up into the sky, the entire rear end a raging inferno. "Direct hit! Repeat, Ice Pick scored a direct hit!" Rhapsody cried.

"I did? I had my eyes closed but I hit it!?" Aquamarine shouted and his Fighting Falcon rolled multiple times in the air. "Whoa! Head-rush."

The pilot struggled with his controls to keep the Blackjack level, but he knew it was fruitless. "Tail's gone! I'm losing control! I can't hold it; everyone out!"

He looked back and gasped. There was no 'everyone'. He was all that was left and he couldn't get out. The nose of the Blackjack was catching fire, but he could still see the hillside he was falling belly first towards. His instruments were going haywire, his altimeter looking like a clock being wound backwards as his artificial horizon shattered. Gauges all over had broken, covered with his co-pilot's life-fluids after his side had sparked and shrapnel shredded the cockpit. He couldn't save it nor get out.

Swallowing, he removed his cap, and ran a claw over the picture he had taped to the instruments. A Gryphon woman smiled at the camera, dressed in a lovely violet gown. "See you soon, babe. I'm on my way," he murmured, before closing his eyes.

The Blackjack exploded upon slamming into the hillside.

"Last bomber down! The city is clear!"

"Yahoo! Glacier is ours!" Amethyst screamed.

Rhapsody pulled up beside Aquamarine. "You did good, kid. All of you did! You've earned this victory!"

"The fighters that shot down the bombers are flying over now. It seems the AEGIS forces were successful, and our city has been freed. Now we can shout, 'Victory is ours!' This has been Hard Code, reporting for community broadcast."

Cheers erupted across the radio waves. Victory was hard won, but seeing the city finally liberated made it all worthwhile. Flames licked at the city while rubble decorated various parts of the city. Everypony who had hid themselves were out in the open, shouting a triumphant roar that shook the stars above.

Rhapsody smiled to herself. Every plane under her command, save for the Vultures, were rallying around the Tomcat and the rest of Ghost Wing. The Imperial pilots were giving their own cheers, boasting of their kills and who had saved who. Aquamarine and Ruby's wing leader had gotten their first Meteor kills, and half the pilots had earned their ace wings. It was a victory they would speak about for years.

"This isn't just a strategic victory," Spitfire commented. "It's also a symbolic one. It gives the Crystal Empire and its ponies hope. Gives them a higher sense of purpose and morale. This is their victory, more than any of ours."

"Would you like some Wine with that cheese?" Mythic teased.

"Shut up, Mythic," Spitfire replied with a grin.

Rhapsody chuckled, murmuring, "I just wish Ditzy was here to see this."

Sprig scoffed, pulling up beside the Tomcat. "She's probably watching it on a TV screen from her plush hospital room while sharing popcorn with her daughter. They got to be enjoying this as much as we are."

"Yeah, she has to have seen this!" Amethyst added. "Probably feeling the same thing you are, Captain."

Admiral Ba'rne threw his headset against the wall once he received the news of Glacier's liberation from their control. He ran his claws slowly down his face, but according to the crashes above, the King was taking the news worse than he.

With a grimace, Ba'rne turned to his first officer. "AEGIS is on their way."

Shining Armor looked at the map on the giant screen in the Palace's war room. The Imperial Joint Chiefs were cheering along with the rest of AEGIS's officers. Rank and Chain-of-Command were thrown out the window as enlisted hugged and shook hands with officers and shouts of victory erupted in the room as the entire city was highlighted in the blue.

Glacier was once again under their control.

Sighing relief, and though wishing he was there, he smiled. The Crystal Ponies cheered and threw their caps into the air. Shining, though half-heartedly, threw his hat in the air before joining in the laughter.

Applejack and her troops looked to the sky. Seeing the AEGIS fighters fly over, they cheered loudly at the screaming engines overhead, on their way back to the base. With a leg propped up on the turret of her tank, she waved her hat in the air.

"Yeehaw! That's how we do it!" Replacing her hat, she stared back at the streets. Back to business. "Let's keep those Gryphons movin', ya'll. They got a long way to go." Grabbing her radio, she added. "Those of you receiving this and aren't on Gryphon round-up duty, start digging up debris and putting out fires. We got a ways to go to clean all this up."

Despite that, Applejack and her crews were in high spirits. AEGIS soldiers were relieving Gryphons of their rifles and putting them in piles. Armor crews were rounded up and their vehicles either destroyed or put into a lot for parts, depending on their condition. There were no planes in the air, only helicopter gunships doing patrols.

Babs lit a cigarette and leaned back on the turret of Applejack's M1 tank. "Tellin' ya, cous. I'm looking forward to some R and R after this. Probably go to Sweet Apple Acres when it's all over."

Applejack jumped down next to her cousin. Babs seed offered a cigarette, but the Colonel held up her hand in declination. "I'm sure Apple Bloom could use the help. She and Big Mac. Been difficult for them since Granny passed, and usually Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are somewhere to lend a hand. But since Scootaloo is in the Air Force and Sweetie Belle got her record deal it's been hard."

Babs took a puff and blew it into the air, adding to the smoke of the fires. "And she hasn't hired any help?"

"I think I rubbed off on her in that regard," Applejack answered plainly. "I didn't want help and I was able to do it all. She's getting too much like me."

The Staff Sergeant from Manehatten grinned, finishing her cigarette and flicking it into pile of rubbish and refuse that was burning still. She gave her cousin a slap on the back. "I'll take care of her when I get there, Colonel. Let's get the featherheads beat first."

Applejack held out a flask of apple juice to her cousin, who grinned and took it. Clinking her own with Babs, Applejack made a toast. "Amen to that."

Singing. The AEGIS national anthem was ringing though the streets and alleyways of the city.

It was free at last. During the night raids, the AA crews had strafed the rooftops trying to hit low flying aircraft. The town militia rounded up the gunners they hadn't killed and shoved them into the streets with the rest of the Gryphons being rounded up to the AEGIS trucks as ponies rode by on bicycles carrying the banner of the Crystal Empire.

"They" retreated as well, and their quarters stood empty at their base. After what seemed like years, AEGIS aircraft were flying overhead, graceful in their dance of winning the fight. I wondered if the enemy ace Meteor Six was after was among them, the one she longed to meet. Deep in my heart, I felt she was.

What would happen if they ever came face-to-face in the air?

I fell in with the routed Gryphons and followed after the squadron. Though I had no idea where we were going, they didn't protest. Being the "Squadron Mascot", they made sure I was taken care of for what I knew was a long trip.

Chapter 23

Mythic yawned as he entered the mess hall. The early hour had revealed little action in the room; the tables still covered by upside-down chairs. Inside was only the Crystal Sergeant who managed it and Ghost Wing's newest, if temporary, addition. She was dressed in the regular Royal Equestrian Air Force blues and sipping a mug of coffee that had to have been brewed mere seconds ago. She was looking out the window on the snow and ice that was starting to recede due to their distance south. The cold weather of the Crystal Empire's outer regions was thinner here and therefore didn't last as long. This far south of Glacier, grass was a welcome sight.

"Morning Major," Mythic called.

Spitfire's orange and gold tail flicked and her ears swiveled. Looking back, she noticed him standing just inside the doorway. "Lieutenant, you look like you just rolled out of your bunk."

"I did. And I require the nectar of the goddesses," he replied groggily. He shuffled to the counter and the Sergeant poured a mug of the steaming liquid. "I don't see anypony else up. Where are they?"

"Still asleep. Why?" Spitfire asked after another sip.

Mythic's ears perked and he flexed his wings before staring at the Major. "Still? It's zero-seven-hundred. That's reveille." He brought the mug to his lips as his own ears flicked at the silence in the room. "Come to think of it, I haven't even heard reveille yet."

Spitfire chuckled and blew some steam off her mug. "Guess you didn't get the memo, Shade." She looked back up and stared at Mythic's bewildered look that demanded an explanation. "Joint Chiefs got together and made a standing order to all frontline forces. Due the victories we've been racking up, they're rewarding all frontline forces with reveille at zero-eight-thirty. Anypony who wants to get up before then is voluntary."

Mythic's shoulders slumped. "So I could still be asleep right now? Why are you up, then? And when did you?"

Spitfire took another sip and exhaled. "Zero-four."

"In the morning? Why?"

She held up her mug. "I was thirsty. Cut me a break. Plus back in the Wonderbolts Academy my Wing always got up around this time to get some early training done. Jogs, flyovers, get some early chow while it's still hot before the enlisted scarf it all down. Hard to break that habit; I was younger than you when I started."

"So that's why I heard Thunder-Lungs when I was walking the hallway."

Spitfire paused mid-sip and perked an eyebrow. "'Thunder-Lungs?'"

Mythic snickered and sipped his cup of coffee. "The Wraith herself. Rhapsody snores like a damn freight-train."

"Ha! I think Soarin could give her a run for her bits. It's a miracle Rainbow gets any sleep."

"Give who?"

Spitfire and Mythic turned to see Sprig standing in the doorway. Her eyes were half-lidded and looked to be sleepwalking. But she was dressed in her Royal Hibernian Aero-Corps greens. Her feathers were ruffled on her head and her eyes were tired. Uniform neatly pressed, it did little to make her stand straighter or even look more awake. Mythic had to admit, she looked adorable with bead-head.

"Rhapsody's snoring," Mythic said simply.

The tired hippogriff scoffed and wave her clawed hand. "Like you're any better yourself," she muttered. "It's zero-seven-hundred. I couldn't get Amethyst up, or Rhapsody when I tried the door. Did I miss something?"

Spitfire chuckled and shook her head. "Apparently a lot of ponies missed it. Joint Chiefs permitted an extra hour of sleep for frontline forces."

Sprig blinked at the two pegasi in the mess hall, sipping their coffee. She stood there for a few moments before she began unbuttoning her blouse as she made her way out. "Goodnight."

Mythic raised his mug to her and she simply waved at him before disappearing around the corner. The two pegasi simply shrugged at each other and the stallion joined Spitfire by the window, leaning on the wall. Despite the early morning chill and the extra hour of sleep granted, there were plenty of AEGIS personnel walking the base. Aircraft were tended to, ordinance in the armored warehouse were inspected. More than enough ammunition in there was liberated from the Gryphon occupying force that was too slow to evacuate. It was luck there happened to be some in there that fit Rhapsody's Tomcat.

"So... what are the Joint Chiefs deciding our next move is?"

"Won't know till later. Probably another few hours," Spitfire replied simply. "My guess is we'll have another fight later this week, if not today."

Mythic looked out towards the hangars where Gold wing was stationed. The F-16Cs were kept snug in there, and seeing them fly often made the stallion yearn for his old Fighting Falcon. The last he saw his favored bird, it was being loaded up to be carried off and scrapped. It twisted his gut thinking about his prized plane, his very first plane, being turned to scrap and turned into spare parts. But seeing the Crystals fly them, watching these young pilots watch Ghost wing fly and emulate their abilities, it warmed his heart. He felt a smile creep on his face, knowing that these young mares and stallions of the Empire's Air Corps were getting better, and soon they'd be a force to be reckoned with. "I'd like to see the Crystal Ponies fly with us when we hit Fyrick. I can only imagine what it'd do for national pride."

Spitfire chuckled and downed the last of her mug. "If they learned anything from anypony in Ghost wing, I'm sure they'd take the skies by themselves."

Mythic shook his head. "I wouldn't go that far. We were barely handling the skies back at Glacier. It was mostly the ground pounders who kept us safe as we flew."

"And need I remind you which ponies shot down the bombers that declared scorched earth on Glacier?" Spitfire reminded him. She had him there, but Mythic simply shook his head.

"I don't want the success getting to their heads. We're far from the end of this, even if we're on our way back to the 14th. I would've thought the Princess would have told her squadrons to stay close to the Empire."

Spitfire downed her mug and raised it to the Sergeant behind the counter, who waved his horn and a pot flew out to them. Holding their mugs out, the pot magically topped off their mugs. With a nod of thanks, it flew back to its warmer behind the Sergeant who was wiping off the counter for the first of the ground crews to enter and scarf up the donuts. "The Princess gave Rhapsody a choice of which squadron she wanted to take with us to the front. She chose Gold Wing; Ruby and Emerald are shoring up defenses until AEGIS can bolster their lines up north. And now that our fronts are joined up, other AEGIS wings are lending themselves to the defense as well."

Mythic remembered Gold Wing's leader, Aquamarine, callsign Ice Pick, when he dropped his remaining bomb on the Blackjack aiming to hit the Glacier hospital. That same pilot was declared a hero by the rest of the Crystal pilots when they landed. Even the snotty Major of Vulture wing clapped him on the back. He could see the glow in the Crystal's eyes, more than his natural glow.

"So then we're heading back south? I'm sick of snow."

"Tomorrow morning," Spitfire answered. "And I second the snow thing. I can't stand winter."

"As you can see your majesty, the construction is almost done. Soon the weapon will be ready for testing in a matter of months."

Sharpclaw stood and snarled. "Unacceptable! I want it finished and ready to fire by the end of this month!"

The Chamberlain started and adjusted his glasses. "Your Majesty, please you have to understand! This weapon is terribly expensive, the royal coffers are barely handling it as well as the labor costs. We're struggling to keep the workers in line during construction."

"They are working for the defense of Gryphnia, the Throne, and the Monarchy!" Sharpclaw screamed. "They are daring to question the integrity of our warriors, our brave soldiers who daily are dying for their liberties to complain that we are not doing enough? We are on the cusp of a victory over AEGIS, who burns our lands and steals our honor and destroys our skies. This hero, this Ghost Fighter, of theirs is nothing more than an overly-praised pilot. They will fall too!"

"That's not the point, your Majesty! The point is that World Breaker will not be finished by the end of this month, or the next! The damage it could cause if incomplete would be catastrophic!" the Chamberlain blubbered loudly. "The tests needed to be run would take weeks. An actual demonstration of its power wouldn't be recommended until Summer, and that's six months away."

Sharpclaw snarled angrily at the Chamberlain, who tried to use his clipboard as a shield to protect against the fuming King of Gryphnia. "You're telling me, that this weapon that has been under construction since we lost Sky Breaker, that I have poured nearly my entire treasury into constructing, that I have personally seen to finding the perfect location to, is not going to be ready before AEGIS is at our very doorstep!?"
Rapidly, the cowering Gryphon nodded. This earned him a swift swipe across his face. The older Gryphon squalled and fell to the marble floor, clutching his cheek that had started to bleed. For the King, the name Sharpclaw was not an exaggeration. From what little he knew, the gash was a good distance through his skin. Feathers nor fur would grow there again. "The draft we had disposed of in the last war, I want it reinstated! Call every able citizen into battle!"

"How many more need to die until you're satisfied, father?" a voice cried from the doorway. Even the guards turned to see the newcomer before swiftly returning to their stalwart stances against the Throne Room columns. The Prince himself, his own feathers ruffled on his head, an estimation to his rage. "How many more of our people will you sacrifice? Can you not see that this war has cost us too much?"

Sharpclaw stood straight, regarding his youngest, and only remaining son. Smoothing out his coat and adjusting his jeweled Torc, the King stood and extended his arms as he looked to the speaker. The guards standing before each column did the same, even the Chamberlain turned. All eyes fell on Prince Marcus, who stood strong in the doorway of the throne room. But instead of chastising his remaining son, Sharpclaw simply chuckled. That same chuckle then evolved into a laugh.

"Look, everyone," he muttered. "Look to our youngest prince. The Prince, who has been sheltered from the outside world, therefore has no experience in how matters of state and war are handled, and he is informing me of how to fight one."

Marcus spat. "It doesn't take a General, let alone a simple soldier, to know that we are on the losing side of this war. You know it!" He thrust a claw around the room. "They all know it!"

"And who are you, one who has never even fought in his life, to tell your own father, the Warrior-King of Gryphnia, how and what to do in a fierce war?" Sharpclaw cried. "This is more my nation than yours. Those gryphons down in the city, beyond the walls, and on the frontlines are more mine than you are even my son! I rebuilt this country after the last Continental War! I brought our military might back to the top of the world! We are still the strongest nation on this continent! Your grandfather did the same after the First! We are bred for war and glory!"

"That's exactly it, father!" Marcus screamed. "You're so obsessed with glory that you cannot see that AEGIS is practically at our very doorstep! They are on their way right now!"

Belying his near-drunken stupor, Sharpclaw's wings flared and he sprung forward, landing mere inches from his son. Marcus was caught off-guard, his stance faltering, all of his focus lost in a mere instant. He almost forgot how towering his father was. Marcus's eyes widened as the King's piercing eyes bore holes into his youngest son's soul. He stared at his father's face, noting the lines that had been added to the ones merely from age.

"You dare challenge your father?" he murmured low and dangerously. Marcus's throat went completely dry; so much even swallowing hurt. "I returned this nation to its glory after the embarrassing defeat in the last Continental War. Without AEGIS's help, we returned to our pedestal on Equis. What are you speaking is considered treason. You are disputing the honor of our soldiers."

"That was not my intention father," Marcus all but squeaked out. "AEGIS is trying to stop your warmongering!"

A fierce strike struck Marcus in the cheek, sending the young Gryphon squawking and crumpling into a heap on the throne room floor. The same wound that befell the Chamberlain now began to bleed down Marcus's cheek. "My warmongering?" Sharpclaw screamed. "Do you forget who struck the first blow against Gryphnia? AEGIS! Who destroyed our oil supplies in Habun and made the waters around the oil rigs toxic to any wildlife in ten miles? AEGIS! Our entire fleet in Habun Harbor was defenseless and who sank it all and polluted those waters? AEGIS! Our solar power plant that powered half of Gryphnia was destroyed, BY AEGIS!" Marcus received a sharp kick to the gut. The prince mewled and clutched his stomach, his eyes watering. "You do not understand how many sacrifices I have made to give Gryphnia one more day of power, one more day away from AEGIs control, one more day before anarchy rips apart what we have left!"

Marcus didn't respond immediately, too much pain sinking into his body. Still, he slowly began to raise his eyes. Coughing onto the tile, he turned his wet face to his father who was the cause of his pain. "But they're dying, father! Please, you have to end this before we don't have anything left."

"I am not your father. Tyr and Carde understood sacrifice more than you did. That's why they joined the fight while you continued to play baseball," Sharpclaw sneered back. "I curse the day your mother gave her last breath to give you yours. You were the weakest son of the three, now the eldest two are dead."

"Because of a war you had to start! You were holding the continent ransom because of Sky Breaker!"

"That weapon was defending our 'allies' from the Changelings ever coming back! They are the ones who had to destroy it. They were praising it last time we used it! It's as if they want the blasted bugs to attack again!" Sharpclaw retorted.

"You were using it to your own political gains!"

"Enough! Prince Marcus, by the sovereignty of my crown – "

Marcus's eyes widened as he stared at his father. "What?"

" – and by order of my rule of Gryphnia – "

"Father no – "

" – I am hereby exiling you from this nation. You no longer have a home here and you are no longer my son!"

Tears streamed down Marcus's face as he struggled to his feet. "No! Don't do this, father!"

A second strike forced him back to the ground. His face was red from now two hits and his own anger and sorrow. "Shut up! You are not my son! My son would stand by me in our time of war, not beg for us to give up to the AEGIS warmongers who have destroyed every source of economy we had and ruined any chances for the waters to be cleaned!" He snapped two of his talons. Two of the Royal Guard in the throne room stood straight. "Get this... fledgling out of my castle."

The guards nodded and roughly grabbed the Prince. Marcus made no struggle; tears streaked his cheeks and beak as he stared at his father. Every gryphon in the room looked between the two, and the sound of the heartbreak could have shattered the stained glass windows behind the throne. But before someone could speak, Sharpclaw spun on his heel and strode hard and fast to the throne. He sat himself down roughly and regarded his court with a stern gaze of gold irises.

"Let this be known. I will brook no talk of treason or surrender! We are not giving up this war, and we are going to fight till our last stand! But we are Gryphons! We've been the strongest warriors since before the three pony tribes united! We drove the dragons off the continent and paved the way for all civilizations to never live in fear of them again!" Sharpclaw announced. "This war was not started by us, but rather when AEGIS itself struck a cowardly blow against our borders. Gryphnia will not be backing down from this challenge. Even Equestria will understand how wrong they are when they discover we have one of their strongest in our keeping! We will fight back this enemy at our gates, and we shall tear down the walls and borders of our world and end any transgression against us, and we shall resume our place as the strongest warriors the world has ever known!"

He raised his fist in the air, his throat erupting in the ancient Gryphnian dialect.

"Ave Gryphnia aeternum!"

Hail Gryphnia Forever.

The core of the apple was tossed over her shoulder, landing firmly in the waste bin. She was definitely getting better at that.

"You cannot just walk over and drop it in?" Rarity scolded softly.

Applejack just shook her head, not answering and continued drawing up the plans for the coming battle. The General was out with his primary command staff, leaving the former farm mare to come up with something presentable for him and the rest of the AEGIS brass that had taken a visit to the battle zone that Applejack had so far taken full command of.

"Bet ya won't toss these!" Pinkie Pie suddenly called out as she entered the tent. Applejack and Rarity turned to the new visitor. The pink mare's hair was poofed out despite the tan beret that tried to keep it under control. With her was a pair of Sergeants, and all three were holding pans with a dozen cupcakes of varying flavors on each one. "Nothing says "Welcome to the Front Lines, General!" like a "Welcome-General-Black-Forest -To-The-Front-Lines" party!"

Rarity couldn't help but give a demure chuckle. "Pinkie, dear, I don't believe the General would have wanted a party. Especially when it would really be announcing his visit to the entire desert."

Pinkie frowned, but only a little, before it turned into a small smile. "Aw come on Rarity! Everypony loves parties! Especially since I brought my signature double, super-duper, ultra, mega cupcakes! I even put extra chocolate in them!"

Applejack allowed a small smile when a cupcake was placed next to her, but she couldn't eat it now; she had too many plans to be writing up. There were over a dozen platoons in the desert right now surrounding this particular tent with more on the way. Tanks, Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Armored Personnel Carriers, Helicopters, Mobile Artillery Platforms; organizing them all was giving her a headache. She was at least thankful the air force had their own planners; Applejack wasn't about to accept the responsibility of making sure they were where they needed to be. She'd leave that to General Black Forest.

That left her with approximately – she looked at her inventory list again, sighing – four hundred and thirty six armor and attack choppers with over five thousand ground troops. Regarding the massive size of the battle, she was amazed she had not gone insane with the amount of work to do. Despite this, there were several aides from the different nations of AEGIS assisting her. Being that both the AEGIS Army, Marines, and Air Force would be participating, there were scattered tents relaying orders that often countered the orders of another branch, and revising meant much yelling and finger pointing. More than once, organizing officers had come too close to blows.

Almost absently, Applejack grabbed the cupcake beside her as she drew up the map where a group of Leopard tanks would be backing up the 30th Crystal Grenadiers while they captured an abandoned village as a staging point for the officers to relay further orders. She took a bite of the cupcake while writing down the –

She looked down at the cupcake. "This is a might good cupcake."

Pinkie grinned ear to ear. "I told you! I added my special chocolate mix the batter since a General was on his way! Do you think he'll like them?"

Rarity set down her clipboard as she signed off on a Marine aide's papers for a resupply. "Well one can only hope, Pinkie dear." Moving beside Applejack, she looked down at the map. "Applejack, I just reviewed an order from the 8th Saddle Helicopter group. They wanted those tanks to back them up on the right flank."

Applejack shook her head. "If they do that, the 30th will be unsupported when they move into that village. Odds are they'll be picked apart by any Hinds or Havocs in the area. I want to be sure that they've got armor support. Besides, those Leopards will be backed by Gepards."

Rarity took a dainty nibble of her own cupcake, tilting her head and smiling. "I agree; these are good cupcakes!" She then looked back to Applejack, her smile flipping upside down. "You mean the ones the Hippogriffs have already been begging to have cover their armored strike on the airfield in the western quadrant?" Rarity asked sheepishly.

The Colonel slowly turned her head to the white unicorn, who sank her head further into her jacket under the stare. The former farm mare then sighed heavily and dropped her pen, resting her elbow on the table and groaning with her face in her palm. She absently took another bite of her cupcake, marginally pulling back from the measure of uncertainty she had been slammed with in an instant. "This battle is too huge for all this."

"That's why we have over three dozen AEGIS personnel working on it Colonel," an elderly voice called.

The assembled within the tent turned to the main tent flap. An elderly, but no less grizzled and strong stallion entered. His face seemed to be decorated in a compassion for his allies but ruthless aggression for his opposition; a tight knit brow but his lips were slightly curled on his muzzle, as if locked in a permanent half-smile. His mane was a graying black, yet his olive green coat still looked vibrant and broad. He folded his arms back as he looked at those gathered, who immediately snapped to a swift and statue-still salute.

"Please, carry on," he said with a wave of his hand. "We're all in this together. No one is above the other."

Applejack dropped her salute. "The stallion who led AEGIS to victory against the Changelings during the second war. It's an absolute honor, sir, to finally meet you. The Supreme Commander in mah tent."

General Black Forest chuckled, brushing a few locks from his mane aside. "Don't call it your tent, Colonel," he murmured with a smirk. "The others might start talking. And the honor is mine. Meeting the three mares who bear the Elements of Harmony who saved our nation more times than I care to count. And it's a disappointment we're fighting one of our best allies during that campaign. I meant to say hello at the Royal Wedding but I sadly never got the chance. "

"Why not?" Rarity asked simply.

Black Forest sighed. "Princesses ordered me and my battalion to follow the Changelings and make sure they were fully out of Equestria." He suddenly clapped his hands together, then turned his attention to Pinkie Pie and her two Sergeants. Looking down, he saw the cupcakes and smirked. "May I, Colonel Pie?"

"Hehe, that rhymes. 'May I, Colonel Pie?' Reminds me of the song I wrote a long time ago back when we first were still afraid of Zecora, you two remember the song. And then Fluttershy sang it in her deeper voice after we got into that poison joke and that was soooo much better than my version but I still like my version better. Oh man I'd love to see her again so we can do a duet. Speaking of duets, do you think Sweetie Belle can make it – "

"Pinkie!" Applejack cried.

"Huh?"

"He wants a cupcake."

Pinkie stopped and stared. "Oh! I'd be hurt if you didn't, General. Help yourself!"

Black Forest gave another throaty chuckle before grabbing one, then turned to his aides. "Don't just stand there, boys. Get a cupcake." He nodded his thanks to the mare as his two Lieutenants slowly took their own, leaving the General to give a polite nod to Rarity and join Applejack at the table. Absently, he took a bite and chewed. "What do we have, Col-" He stopped mid-chew and looked at the cupcake. "This is a damn good cupcake."

Applejack grinned. "I know, right?"

Black Forest swallowed and leaned on the table. "Anyway, what have we got?"

"A mess sir. Everypony is after one of the other battalions to cover them in their own offensives. But the second they draw up a plan for them to be in play with them, there's others who need them more." She thrust her finger at the northeast part of the map of Cider Valley. "We've got the Marines ready to push into the abandoned village, but they'll need air support. But the air support they need is needed for the armored assault on the air base here, and I don't know if the air force can get to every location at once."

"You're right Colonel," Black Forest replied. "It was King Kaubr's idea to have everypony in separate tents and then convene in a single tent to put their plans into play. I can see now it is a grievous error. That's why General Sparkle asked me to come." He then reached into his blouse pocket and pulled out his pen. "Let's try this..."

The next morning...

"With respect General Forest," the hippogriff General called out, "we used this tactic in the last war. Intelligence says that our adversary in charge of the Gryphnian forces is the same one you and I were working with during the last war. He'll know this plan and counter."

Black Forest shook his head. "Doubtful. If you recall, Arthur, he still didn't get it even when it was working. He was more of a follower than a leader; typical Gryphon aristocracy." He then turned back to the assembled officers of AEGIS's nations. "As it stands, we're going in hard and fast, what the Germane's refer to as a 'Lightning Assault' during the First War. My father was a tank commander during that war and taught me all about it. Now, we use it to push us closer to the end of this one."

He jabbed his stick at the south end of the map. "All of our armor will be in this assault. There's not going to be any covert sabotage or any fancy flanking maneuvers; the Gryphons are too smart for it as they used to fight alongside us. The best thing to plan is a full frontal assault. Any attempts to go around or over will take too much time and we can't afford to give Gryphnia the benefit of time. We go in hard and we go through them.

"The plan is to gather all of our armor in these three points, much like with the beach landings. There will be three points of assault. We'll be counting on the air force to support us as best they can, but our main focus will be on the ground; let them handle the air. Now the first place we need to hit is here, the Air Base. This will be done by the Hibernian 4th Royal Dragoons. They'll be supported by Commissar Karat and his men. We'll have fighters flying air cover, so you guys need to focus on destroying any parked planes and choppers that may be trying to lift off."

He jabbed his stick at the middle. "Much of the focus will be here towards the southern part. They have the largest concentration here, so we'll be sending our major force of tanks and IFVs here. The second you're in view, they'll be sending a mass of T-90s right towards you. Do not give them a chance to fire at close range. You fire when you see them; use the newest ordinance from Taelur."

"The ramjet shells, sir?" one of the Saddle armor commanders asked.

"Exactly," Black Forest clarified. "Newest from the R&D kids in Hibern. Gave it a magical charge thanks to the materials we confiscated from Sky Breaker. Colonel Applejack will be leading the front charge, and her tank has already been outfitted with a special gun to fire them, as are a number of others who could be modified fast enough."

"Will they work, sir?" Applejack quickly inquired.

Black Forest met her gaze and smirked shyly. "To be honest, no idea. That's never been done before. But if it's to be tried, this is the place to do it."

"Not exactly instilling confidence sir, no offense," the same Hippogriff added.

"The same was said when the F-117 was first flown during the last Continental War. Look how phenomenal it's done so far," Black Forest retorted. "Now as I was saying. The 2nd Equestrian Armored and the 11th Crystal Grenadier's we'll be charging the front lines with the Saddle's flying air cover. Marines assaulting the village will be covered by Imperial Gepards. Intelligence is not expecting a large amount of resistance there, but according to our last drone, it's an ammo dump. So, expect a lot of explosions."

Placing his left hand on the top of the stick, he pushed down and it folded into itself. "Everypony listen," he said softly. "This battle is going to be the largest to date; the largest ground battle of the entire war since the Battle of Hell's Teeth in the Badlands that marked the final push of changelings out of Equestria. We're against an enemy who is equal to us in terms of arms and armor. A lot of them are scared and desperate, so they will fight twice as hard. There are more of them out there since Cider Valley is just two-hundred miles away from Fyrick. Sharpclaw's best are here, but we have no sighting of Meteor Squadron. If we win here, we're just that much closer to ending this war. Which is why we cannot afford a loss here; I want everypony fighting their hardest and more. I don't need to tell you what's at stake if we lose this battle."

A hand slowly raised from the back. Black Forest pointed. "Yes, commander?"

The young, nervous looking Hippogriff stood, smoothing out his uniform and swallowed. "Sir... will... Wraith One be flying in the battle?"

Silence dominated the room as all eyes fell on General Black Forest. He pursed his lips and shook his head. "I don't know. Last I heard... "

"... We are not gonna miss that fight!"

The Tomcat's engines roared as Rhapsody throttled up behind the Rafale, pouring lead into the fuselage. The enemy fighter burst into flames. "No way in hell."

"All enemy interceptors destroyed. All Wings, you're clear to resume course."

With the Tomcat leading the charge. The assembled Ghost, Gold, and the newly transferred Emerald Wings fell back into formation and resumed course south to Saddle Arabia. Rhapsody couldn't help but smirk at the numbers she was leading. The same amount as when she led the strike against Sky Breaker, but it still gave her goosebumps to think of how many were behind her. Even better, they had not lost any planes during the skirmish. "We've got three tanker aircraft on the way, Ghost lead. They'll give you enough fuel to get all the way back to Saddle Arabia."

Mythic yawned and Rhapsody could see him stretching in his Typhoon cockpit. "We've been airborne for what? Six hours now? I'm hungry!"

"I'd say not eating has done you some good," Rhapsody retorted. Sprig and Amethyst snickered. Spitfire hissed as if she was in pain.

Mythic merely huffed. "Okay, yeah, I deserve that from a few weeks ago."

"So do we know when the next offensive is?" Aquamarine asked from his Fighting Falcon pulling up beside Rhapsody. The Gold wing F-16Cs of the Crystal Empire, as well as the F/A-18Cs of Emerald wing, had joined with Ghost on their return trip to Saddle Arabia. Under orders from Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, they would be sent to the front to bolster Crystal morale. They would be flying with Ghost wing (though Rhapsody preferred 'the 14th Tactical'. There were six other wings in the 14th after all), and when the Crystal ground soldiers saw that, they would fight harder knowing they were doing their own part for the war.

"According to the Joint Chiefs, it'll be in Cider Valley. It's the only straight corridor to Fyrick," Amethyst answered.

"And the most heavily guarded route," Spitfire added. "Which means about seventy percent of our active forces will be deployed in the middle of a massive, flat desert. And the Gryphons won't be the only enemy down there. Heat, sand, a lot of troops down there are going to be dropping into a furnace."

"You'd think that with the size of the military budget, they'd make armor that can cool down the troops," Rhapsody muttered.

"Not in the budget, Wraith," Spitfire countered. "The only thing in the budget is boomsticks, bullets, and bombs."

Rhapsody sighed and shook her head. Setting her Tomcat to autopilot, she adjusted her gloves and scratched the back of her neck. "And when will this be? Next week?"

"Day after tomorrow."

Everypony seemed to blanch as a silence dominated the air. "Sky Gazer, you can't be serious. We're just getting back!" Amethyst cried. This was followed by mutters of agreement from the other Crystal pilots.

"Sorry, Phantom," Scootaloo in the AWACS called out. "You're getting refueled, you're landing, you get a day to relax and make any preparations or notify next of kin, you sleep, and then you're back in the air. But if it's any consolation, you'll be back with the 14th when you land."

Mythic grunted. "It would be nice to be around familiar faces again. Can only imagine who's new in the 14th."

"Not many," Scootaloo replied. "Ground pounders have been doing most of the heavy lifting until now. For this battle coming up, the Joint Chiefs want everypony at the ready. The battles ahead are going to be incredibly difficult. Right now we're in the Gryphnian heartland."

Rhapsody sighed. "And not much farther than that, the capital."

"If Gryphnia doesn't surrender, Fyrick will be burned to the ground before it's all over," Spitfire announced darkly. "Sharpclaw won't give up his city until every gryphon is dead."

"We'll be ready," Rhapsody replied swiftly. "For now, let's just get to Shabal Air Base so we can get some hot chow. Could kill for a bowl of soup right now."

"Could kill for a turkey leg right now." Everypony flying began groaning and making noises of disapproval. Rhapsody could almost hear Sprig blushing. "Right... forgot I'm the only one here who eats meat."

Rhapsody finished adjusting her gloves as she exhaled out her nose, staring out ahead on the plains. The landscape was slowly giving way to desert, the vegetation receding from view. If Rhapsody remembered her previous trip from Shabal, they were less than a hundred miles from their destination. She never thought she'd live long enough to see AEGIS landing their aircraft in air bases inside Gryphnia; let alone did she expect to see herself flying in Gryphnia any time soon. Yet here she was, heading for one right now. This far into the war, it was so casual to fly in Gryphnian airspace. She gave permission for a small smile to grace her muzzle, yet her sea-green coat still felt chilled.

Something told her there was still much to do, and that this was far from over.

The Prince was still sobbing as he crossed the border. His small prop-driven aircraft, given to him on his birthday as one of the few great gifts his father had given him, was his only conversation.

Wiping his eyes, Marcus once again checked the map. He had circled a particular spot just a couple hours ago before the guards, grudgingly, let him fly off. His father had ordered him to be thrown out of Fyrick by any means necessary, even if that meant if he wanted to take his own plane. But this spot was where his next destination was.

His plane would more than likely not meet the destination, but all he needed it to do was get him as close as his fuel could get him. He would do the rest himself.

Marcus's only worry was AEGIS shooting him down before he could speak with them.

Author's Note

Here we have the Gryphnian side of AEGIS's assaults, and how badly it's been hurting the Gryphons. I made sure to write this so that there's two sides to the conflict. There's always two or more sides, and while one side is booming from victories, the losing side is suffering hard. And it's not just the military.

Also, I was in the process of writing this chapter when I remembered the news of the passing of a great American General, Norman Schwarzkopf. In this story, General Black Forest is my homage to him.

Chapter 24

The sun turned the desert into a thing of early morning beauty. The usual heat had not gripped the landscape quite yet, and Shavul Air Base was a comfortable temperature, at least for now. The scent of jet fuel was heavy in the air even as sand began to blow across the tarmac. A long distance away, in the town just half a mile away from the base, a rooster crowed to wake all for the day. Goats bleated; hungry for their breakfast even as the farmer was passing it out. Both the town and the base itself were livening up from a deep slumber that was being slowly lifted off like a warm blanket.

Rhapsody stirred her tea, getting the bag fully drained into the mug. She blew the steam off and took a small sip. Exhaling, she smiled, letting the liquid warm her body. "I keep hearing 'Not for all the tea in Saddle Arabia'," she said with a chuckle. "I wondered why that was such a big deal. I now know why."

Spitfire laughed and kept to her coffee, her third mug since waking up two hours ago. She and Rhapsody had taken quick few laps of running and flying around the base when the Major had awoken. Being that Spitfire was Rhapsody's new co-pilot, she had a bunk next to the other mare's bunk. Her wings burning from the early exertion of movement, a warm mug of Saddle Arabian tea, a blend grown just in town that she bought yesterday, was just what she needed to calm her nerves.

In just a few hours, she'd be in the air taking part in the largest battle of the war.

The famous Ghost One could only imagine the knife-edge the nerves of the tank crews were on. Everypony was going to need to be on their A game today. The coming fight was going to decide the entire campaign. Gryphnia's forces outnumbered them by a staggering margin, and if intelligence was correct, a large margin of that was conscripts and volunteers; Gryphons with little to no combat experience, rushed into service with only enough knowledge to fire a rifle. It wasn't that they lacked experience; it was that there was so many of them that unnerved every AEGIS soldier and tanker already positioning themselves for the fight to come.

Miles into the desert, the massed armor was tearing across the desert. She heard unconfirmed numbers ranging from two-hundred armor to over five-hundred. It was the largest single gathering of AEGIS armored battalions since the start of the war when they were fighting a retreating battle to get out of the same valley they were now charging into. Equestrian M1s, Saddle Arabian Leopards, Imperial Laclercs, and Hibernian Challengers were going up against a vaster number of Gryphnian T-90s. Rhapsody swallowed hard thinking how much metal was going to litter the desert before the fighting was over.

Looking at the clock, she exhaled. "Two more hours... then we get this show on the road."

Cider Valley. Sixty more miles. She couldn't see it quite yet.

Applejack stood up and stretched as she poked herself out of the top of her tank. The sounds of heavy engines and caterpillar treads had nearly lulled her to sleep. She mused that the war must have changed her completely if the sound of a tank engine running full-speed could put her to sleep better than cicadas and crickets back home in the orchards.

"What I wouldn't give for one bite of those apples, right about now," she murmured. Exhaling, she patted her mounted fifty-caliber machinegun. She had personally mounted the monster herself when she first received her tank, even going as far as painting her cutie mark on the side. She's had to repaint in numerous times, but was no less pleasured to do so. Checking to make sure the feed was correct. She pulled herself back down and grabbed her radio, switching to battalion wide communication.

"All call signs, this is Big Apple, call sign Thunder one-one. Cider Valley is coming into sight. I want everypony on their guns and A game. This is their last line of defense..."

"... So they need all the close-air support they can get. They're heavily outnumbered by every piece of armor and every boot the King could rush into battle at one time," Soarin explained. "But this is the best option we have is to face it head-on to get through it. We get through this, Fyrick will be only days away."

Creg from Saber raised his hand. "Sir, what's the projected casualty rate on the ground?"

Soarin exhaled and looked back to the map of Cider Valley. He saw the number of dots representing the Gryphnian lines to the east and AEGIS to the west. There was more red than blue by nearly double. "High... almost extremely high."

Silence dominated the room before Rhapsody raised her hand. "What's the aircraft opposition look like?"

Soarin pointed to her. "Thank you for pointing that out. Gryphnia isn't stupid enough not to send in fighters and ground-attackers. Intelligence also says they've deployed a good number of stealth fighters and fighter-bombers to the region as well. Raptors and Nighthawks. Their main objective, we believe, is to destroy as much of our armor as possible before they all get killed. That being said, this is, put simply, total attack on all Gryphnian positions. Your orders are to provide close-air support and annihilate all opposition."

Shoving the map aside, Soarin looked to Rainbow Dash, standing beside him. She was taking a slip of paper from a mare who looked as if she had been running a marathon. Rainbow looked over the paper and whirled on the pilots. "AWACS reports that our armor is closing on the first line of resistance. You need to leave, now. Everypony to your stations! Go!"

"Everypony on your hooves! Visual on enemy armor!"

Applejack hissed and pressed her face into her scope. Zooming in, she caught sight of, indeed, Gryphnian T-90 tanks. They had formed a line just a few miles ahead. "Confirmed sighting," she called through her radio. "All call signs lock n' load! The second they're in range, you are clear to engage." She switched to talk to her driver in front. "Full throttle, Sergeant!"

The M1 tank gained more speed as her own tanks from her regiment sped up to keep pace. The rest of the AEGIS armor matched her speed. Peeking up through her turret, she could practically hear the treads of the other tanks screaming as the charge was sounded. Beside her, her aide's M2 was tearing up the sand beside her, the gunner waving at her. Applejack gave him a thumbs up as she reached forward, grasping her machine gun after checking to make sure it was loaded.
"Enemy armor! Fifteen hundred meters," her aide cried on the radio. "Effective range – " A scream cut him off, followed by an explosion. Applejack shouted in surprise as she ducked down into her turret, the protective plates surrounding her machine gun deflecting debris. Pulling herself back up, she stared in horror as the M2 that was just beside her was now a burning hulk. The hatch blew open and a pair of ponies scrambled out, ablaze and screaming as the rolled on the sand.

"Thunderclap 2-1 is down! Repeat, 2-1 is down!" her radiopony cried.

Snarling angrily after a prayer for their lives to Celestia and yanked her charging handle back on her machine gun. "All armor fire at will! Fire at will!"

The sound of thunder could not compare to the volume that now split the air. The main guns of every AEGIs tank began firing, nearly three hundred strong. She knew the other two areas of the desert had been engaged by both sides, but the earsplitting blasts forced her ears to pin back to save her hearing. Gryphnian tanks fired back, some rounds hitting home. More than one tank and IFV was struck, turning the war machines into fiery tombs or, mercifully, destroying the treads and knocking the tank out of combat. Just behind her right shoulder, an Imperial Laclerc exploded right in the center, the turret blowing off with the explosion within. It was followed by one of the Saddle's Leopards being struck right in the treads. The crew seemed to be fine, she observed, as they aimed their main gun upwards and became an impromptu artillery position, firing round after round.

Her own tank fired its main gun, and she watched the ramjet round slice the air before tearing through a T-90, blowing it apart, the turret blasting off the chassis. This was followed by a larger explosion as the ramjet round impacted the BMP behind it. The Gryphnian IFV had the round imbedded in it before it promptly exploded in a brilliant display of colors. Applejack allowed a small smile; Sky Breaker's technology was now being used by AEGIS. A number of the enemy tanks began to back up, but a majority still held their ground and some even advanced. Applejack narrowed her eyes, ducking behind her gun.

"All Thunderclaps, form up on me." Other M1 tanks began to file in behind her and take their positions up on a sand dune. "Fire at will!" Another thunderous volley launched from her battalions guns. Four others had their guns outfitted to fire the ramjet shells, and the new ordinance tore through the enemy armor. There was a sudden shriek in the air as she looked up, spying AEGIS fighters flying above them.

"All AEGIS ground forces! The air support has arrived!"

Rhapsody pushed her nose down. "Ghost engage!"

"Gold engage!"

"Emerald engage!"

"Windigo engage!"

"Saber engage!"

"Timberwolf engage!"

Pulling up, a bomb flew from underneath her Tomcat and collided with a howitzer position. Looking around, she saw that the Gryphons were all over the desert. She knew this was their last line of defense, but she didn't realize they had scrambled so many troops into one place. She hadn't seen so many gryphons since the beach landing when they first arrived. They truly were desperate to halt AEGIS's advance.

"We've got lines of resistance all over the desert," Scootaloo reported. "Everypony down there is requesting support. Flow to as many areas as you can to keep the battle in our favor."

"I can see a group of gunships heading for the left flank," Sprig called. Rhapsody had to remind herself that the hippogriff could see better than the others in her Wing. "Wraith, permission to take Emerald's three and four with me to soften them up! They're heading for the Marines!"

"Granted. Shade, Pick, go with Crosshair to the center line. Go back up the Colonel!" Pulling her throttle back, she watched as Creg's Typhoon was joined by Aquamarine's fighting falcon and Mythic's Typhoon. Being primarily a ground battle, they had been loaded with bombs. Matching speeds, they tore through the cloudless sky, searching for targets. Mother Mare knew, Rhapsody mused, there were enough to choose from.

"Wraith; picking up a fuel depot at two-two-four. Orders are to obliterate it."

"Wraith acknowledges, Sky Gazer. Let's clean house!"

"Damn! It's over a hundred and twenty in here!" Applejack cried as she ducked back into her turret. Even in this cramped space within the tank, she had no choice. The former farm mare began unbuttoning her uniform blouse, quickly getting to her olive green undershirt. Pressing her eyes back to her viewfinder, she kept her sights trained on –

"Colonel Applejack! Colonel!" a voice suddenly screeched over the radio.

Applejack swore to herself and pressed her radio to turn on. "Bad time Pinkie! What is it?"

"TWITCHY TAIL! TWITCHY TAIL!"

Applejack blanched. Changing the frequency, she screamed, "All call signs hold charge! HOLD!" The M1s in Applejack's battalion immediately came to an abrupt halt, a cloud of dust and sand billowing behind. Bracing herself, she chanced a small peek outside, her ears pricked up as she heard whistling. She cried out and sank back down as the artillery shells rained down just under twenty yards from her. Dirt and sand blew into the air, caking the tanks' armor for several seconds before it all stopped. Poking her head back up, she saw several large holes where the shells had impacted, still smoking. A couple even had the un-exploded shells sticking out of the sand. Those would need to be marked later for disposal.

Swallowing and tugging at her collar, she grabbed her radio again. "All call signs, resume charge. Lieutenant Colonel, thanks for the warning."

"No prob! We're gonna get back to sending the Gryphons their invitations now." Pinkie turned back to her pink-helmeted troops and pointed to the dozen M777 howitzers set up just on the ridge below her. Below that ridge were eight M270 MLRSs, their massive missile launchers aimed east. She held up her hand, signaling them to all load. It took less than a minute for the guns to be loaded.

"The Gryphons have been invited to a party." She swung her arm forward. "IN HELL!"

Like a domino effect, the howitzers fired into the air, sending their rounds deep into the desert. The missile launchers fired as well, cluster and high explosive rockets ripping into the enemy positions beyond.

Applejack watched as the missiles flew overhead and slammed into the ground. Seeing pieces of tanks flying in all directions put a smile on the faces of her crew.

Applejack called for a halt as she and the rest of her battalion crested a dune. Ahead was a dug in position of infantry and armor that were popping up with every small arms weapon in the Gryphnian arsenal. Regardless of facing tanks, they prepared to fire. Applejack could barely make them out, but she recognized conscripts when she saw them. These were gryphons that had been drafted, or volunteered themselves, for frontline service. Rushed into combat with only the knowledge to shoot, charge, or run away. Some were patriots who stood, the rest were barely old enough to have graduated school before handed a weapon. They didn’t even have body armor, just heavy coats and boots with old helmets. Regardless, Applejack grimaced and aimed her machine gun as the conscripts aimed at her. Their bullets would do nothing, she knew that, and even worse, they knew it.

These Gryphons were sent to die.

"You're just kids," she hissed under her breath. Beside her, soldiers were pouring out of their Armored Personnel Carriers and began to take up positions. Equestrians, Hippogriffs, Crystals, and Saddles began rushing around the tanks. She yelled down to the nearest Lieutenant leading them, "They're here against their will! Take prisoners if you can!"

The Hippogriff knelt down next to her tank and frowned. "No promises, ma'am. But we will certainly try." He grabbed his radio and relayed the order. The soldiers around her began fixing their bayonets and aimed down range. Charging the handle on her machine gun, Applejack ordered the tanks to fire on the armor as the AEGIS soldiers charged the line. Applejack let out a stream of hot lead into the Gryphons when the armor was given the order to cover the infantry.

"Get out of here, ya'll," she murmured towards the conscripted gryphons, even as she fired. "You're just kids! Get out of here!"

The lines, though heavy, was charged by AEGIS.

"Charlie Actual, this is Charlie three-one! We've confirmed reports that those M1s leading the charge are armed with some kind of new round! They're tearing apart the second and third ranks!"

The Gryphon General snarled. He had faced this Tank Colonel with the three apples before, but this was the first time he had actually seen her charging ahead of her own tanks. He quickly grabbed his radio. "You hold that line with everything you've got, Captain! Fire everything you have! Throw your dead at them if you find a way to do that! I've already sent word to – "

"YARRGH!" The General yanked the radio away as he was cut off by a burst of static before he looked to Charlie's lines. Pulling up his binoculars, he spied a fighter peeling away from Charlie's last known area, the position marked by plumes of smoke and two overturned tanks. That model, F-14A Tomcat, Equestrian Royal Air Force, a plane so outdated even Gryphnia was no longer making them. He stared at the tail and the emblem that adorned it, and then swallowed as he pulled down his binoculars.

"Kings save us all." He grabbed his radio and changed frequencies. "All planes! The Ghost has arrived! Do everything you can to shoot her down!"

Rhapsody banked again, sending a volley from her cannon along a stretch of aluminum bunks. Explosions followed her wake, sending flames and thick, black smoke into the air. Gryphons ran for their lives even as Rhapsody banked and made another run. One of the remaining AA guns turned towards her and began to fire. It only managed to barely graze her before she sent one of her missiles right into the center. The gun, and the crew, burst into flames. Grimacing, she surveyed the area. The entire fuel depot had been knocked out. Judging by the amount of barrels and stockpiles she had hit with both bombs and cannon, these flames would be burning for days, if not longer.

Her missile alarm suddenly blared. Spitfire turned around, calling, "Su-35. Closing fast."

Rhapsody pushed her throttle up as she banked to the left. The Super Flanker kept close pursuit, giving bursts from the cannon. Pushing further ahead to get out of gun range, she maintained her weave until the missile track warning sounded again. Grabbing her throttle, she waited, thankfully not for long. The lock warning blared; Rhapsody yanked her throttle back and hit her air brakes. The Tomcat lurched and shook violently as airspeed went to near zero and she began to drop.

The Super Flanker flew right above her, barrel rolling to avoid a collision. Rhapsody shoved her throttle forward again and aimed her reticule as she gained some thrust. "Fox two!" she cried. The missile show off her rail and sliced into the enemy fighter's tail. The entire plane went up in flames and careened to the desert floor.

"Ghost Wing, sitrep!"

"This is Banshee," Sprig cried. "We've got the enemy gunships on the run. Some of them are taking potshots, but so far the Marines are still proceeding. Somepony thought ahead and gave them stingers."

"Shade here, we've got the Colonel's front lines clear and they are steamrolling through to the secondary line!"

"Phantom. I've got some trouble here, but Ice Pick sent a few to back us up. We're a little rocky here over the Commissar's troops, but we're proceeding as planned."

Babs waited for the gunship's volley to cease before taking a little peek around the corner. It tilted to get an angle around the street of the village before an AEGIS fighter with a spectral horse insignia sent a missile right into the center of it. The helicopter exploded and rained down into the street. Grinning, she waved for her fellow Marines to follow.

"Was that Wraith One?" one of her Marines asked, watching the Hornet fly off.

Babs shook her head. "Nah, she flies an older plane. Can't remember which, but I promise we'll know her when we see her." She patted the Marine's chest. "Let's get those spotter scopes up for the artillery kids on those two buildings there. Sniper teams on the roofs."

"Moving, Ma'am." Waving back, three Marines began to follow him up. One of them stumbled up the steps, Babs musing that his mother probably didn't know he was out playing Marine. He had also been complaining about sand getting in his rifle. Shaking her head, she waved for the rest of the platoon to fan out and set up their designated points.

Sighing, she looked back around the village. The ruined buildings long abandoned by their occupants. Recent or ancient, it was haunting. With a frown, she huffed. "Damn I miss Manehatten."

Rhapsody sent another missile into the tail of an F-2A. Mythic had called them Fighting Falcon knock-offs. She smirked when she had first seen them; she rather liked the blue paint scheme. However, this particular fighter, which was now a burning crater on the desert floor, had sent a pair of land-attack missiles into a pair of Hibernian tanks, destroying them, that were covering the Marines setting up in the abandoned village. It was her fifth kill of the day.

Still, the battle was far from over, and she was heading back to reload.

AEGIS was pushing forward on the ground as two more fighter wings entered the fray. She grinned as she spied the A-10s from Reaper wing joining the fight. Last she saw them, they were waving goodbye as she and Ghost Wing were leaving the Crystal Empire. She didn't see Vulture wing escorting them. Rather, it was Hellcat. The Navy fighters from the HMS Fairweather; she had spoken to several of the pilots during her time on the ship while her Tomcat was getting repaired.

"That you coming at us, Wraith?" one of the pilots called.

"Sure is! You sea-skippers get bored yet? Thought I'd be bombing Gryphnia myself."

Rhapsody and the two wings flew by each other. That same pilot laughed. "You wish, Wraith. You getting rearmed?"

"Used the last of my bombs on the fuel depot."

"Roger that. Hey was that a Wonderbolt helmet I spied behind you? Spitfire?"

Spitfire chuckled. "Get in the fight, Chisel. Get your kills in while Wraith and I are getting fixed up."

Applejack swore again. Pulling her eyes away from her scope, she fumbled with her shirt to get it off to her bra. "I swear it's getting hotter in here," she grumbled.

"Feels like it, maaaaaaaaa..." The turret began to slowly turn to the left, making Applejack lose her target.

"Eyes forward, Sergeant." The turret immediately yanked back to the forward position. Guiding her gunner, who was now having his head held forward by her radiopony so he was not eyeing the Colonel. "Two-hundred meters. Send it!"

The tank's main gun erupted in a tiny rainbow as the ramjet shell shot forward, piercing the T-90 firing in her direction. The ammunition typically stored in a circle around the turret detonated and the tank was blown apart, the turret flying off and landing with a resounding crash. Two more M1s beside fired their own guns of the same round. The exact same effect on the Gryphnian tanks and the BMPs nearby.

Another group of tanks began to replace them, but not before taking hits from an artillery barrage from afar. Pinkie and her brigades were laying down heavy firepower on all fronts, and shouting 'Twitchy tail!' when the need arose. She had already instructed the tank commanders with her that, 'When Pinkie's a'twitchin', you better listen.'

"Hey Colonel," one of the Imperial tank commanders called. "Is it true? Wraith is in the skies?"

"Can't be. Haven't seen a Tomcat for a couple hours now."

"I think she's here!"

"Gotta be a lie. Morale booster and all."

Applejack grabbed her radio and called out, "I don't care if it's a lie. Just tell everypony that Wraith is here! We're in a giant litter box and I'm almost down to my skivvies it's so hot in here. If this battle will go faster if everypony thinks she's here, then say it!" Hanging it up, she frowned immensely. She didn't like lying to her troops, Element of Honesty be damned. But these troops were suffering, and if a little fib was enough to keep them going, she had to relent.

"Where are ya, flygirl?"

Rhapsody throttled up, her afterburners screaming.

The ordinance crews had already set up a pallet for her and rushed to her plane's side when she had come to a halt. They had definitely been training, even with unicorns using their magic, and had her ready to take off in less than fifteen minutes. And now, with her wings folded back, her tail wrapped around her left leg, and her ears back, she was soaring at supersonic to return to the fight. Behind her, contrails began to form as the Tomcat screamed across the sky.

Babs heard the sonic boom and turned towards the center line. Slinging her rifle back, she pulled out her binoculars and looked. Grinning, she watched the Tomcat tear through the blue. The spectral horse on the tail, the harp cutie mark on the nose.

"I knew she was here!"

The Marine beside her pulled out his own binoculars. She thought she'd have to catch him before he fell off the roof from jumping. "Guys! Wraith is here! We're gonna win this!"

The resounding roar of 'Oorah' echoed through the village. "We'll win this!" the younger Marine cried. "She'll get us out of here!"

"That fighter there! Did you see its tail?"

Commissar Karat heard the two soldiers and narrowed his eyes in the direction of their pointed fingers. He recognized the model of the fighter and grinned.

"The Ghost has arrived! The battle is ours!"

The soldiers behind him roared a cheer as they resumed their charge.

Rhapsody sent a volley from her cannon into the fuselage of the Tornado-IDS as it abandoned its strafing run on a group of Saddle Arabian tanks moving to support the center line. It exploded with the crew barely escaping in time. Not watching the impact, the pegasus mare turned her nose downwards and let one of her bombs explode outside a building with a pair of mortar launchers on top. The building collapsed on top of the munitions stockpile that went off, baking the inside and destroying it and the buildings nearby.

As the debris rained down, the Gryphon soldiers shook themselves and tried to see where the hit came from.

"Look up there!" one of them cried.

"It can't be!"

"The fighter with the Ghost insignia! It's the Grim Reaper!"

"Second defensive line crumbled! All call signs, keep on the pressure! Charge that third line like no tomorrow!" Sky Gazer called.

"All wings, put everything you've got into making sure those tanks get a smooth trip right to the front door!" Rhapsody called. The fighters around her regrouped, and Rhapsody spied a series of dots on the horizon. She narrowed her eyes, but the heat was making it difficult to spot exactly what they were. "Sky Gazer, tally ho on what appears to be ten bandits closing fast."

"Negative, Wraith, scopes are clear. Might be some birds. Clear up that signal!"

"Tango's in visual range," the lead pilot called. "All Ridgebacks, cleared to engage. Hydra wing, target those tanks and take out as many as you can. We'll be covering your retreat."

"Roger that. Engaging."

The eight F-117 Nighthawks dropped altitude, weapon compartments opening as they bared down on the approaching AEGIS tanks. Above them, the twelve F-22 Raptors of Ridgeback throttled up to engage.

"I see them!" Sprig shouted. "Bloody Raptors! They're sending F-22s way out here! I even see a few Nighthawks!"

"Stealth fighters!" Rhapsody shouted. "Everypony engage! Keep those tanks safe down there. Emerald, Hellcat, take out those Nighthawks. Everypony else, on the Raptors!"

Applejack glared forward, spying the Nighthawks closing fast. It may be broad daylight, but their anti-air couldn't hit them properly. Hissing, she cursed stealth fighters and sank back into her tank. General Black Forest suddenly called out, "All tanks keep your heads down. All AA guns concentrate on the air. Fire in bursts; we don't want to hit our pilots. Just keep pushing forward at top speed and you'll make it to the enemy command center! Spread out and dodge as best you can; let the air forces handle them!"

Biting her lip, she put her eyes back to her viewfinder. "You heard the General, everypony. Keep going and don't stop for nothin'!"

As she said that, one of the Nighthawks dove down, dropping part of its payload. One of the Imperial Laclercs ahead of her was struck dead on. The smart bomb slammed into the turret and the whole tank blew apart, sending the entire tank a good few feet in the air before it slammed back into the sand. Applejack's driver was forced to nearly ram another tank to get out of the way of the debris. She didn't bother asking for survivors. She knew that sort of explosion; there were none.

Taking a quick look upwards, she saw a (Applejack smirked at the analogy) swarm of hornets that were chasing the Nighthawks away. It was a swift fight; Nighthawks were notorious for their inability to make tight turns, relying on stealth to get them out of trouble. The AEGIS hornets, she belatedly realized, were Crystal Empire and Equestrian Navy, the former with green painted along the wings and tails. They fired left and right, forcing more than one to eject, abandon their bomb run, or kick the afterburners to get as far away as possible.

A few got their hits in before being taken down, but, Applejack mused, it could have been much worse.

The tanks continued their advance towards the enemy command base.

Emerald and Hellcat joined the fray.

"They're outnumbered now!" Ice Pick cried. The young crystal pony let off a burst, scraping the Raptor's wingtip, but otherwise leaving it unscathed.

"But they're still stealth fighters, everypony," Rhapsody reminded him swiftly. "They got the advantage. Just stay on your triggers, and we'll get them downed."

A sight she thought she'd never see, Rhapsody pulled up behind a Raptor. The nimble plane twisted and turned, seeming to dance through the fight. Her reticule was refusing to follow it, unable to get a missile lock. She was forced to use her gun and squeezed off a number of bursts. The Raptor twisted and dove for the sand. Rhapsody rolled and pulled down into pursuit, but the Raptor had already gone. Swearing she scanned the skies.

"On our six!" Spitfire yelled.

Yelping, Rhapsody throttled up to grab sky. The Raptor followed the retreating Tomcat into the blue, tearing a number of slowly gathering clouds apart as they raced into the sky. Biting her lip behind her oxygen mask, she yanked her throttle back as the missile tone sounded. Falling backwards, she bared down on the Raptor and sent a burst from her cannon directly through the cockpit. She made out a burst of red behind the canopy and the fighter began to drop.

"One down! I need a tally."

"I barely have a reading, Wraith," Sky Gazer cried. "They're too fast and practically invisible!"

An explosion to her right caused Rhapsody to turn and see Mythic rolling after downing another Raptor. "Just shoot them with your cannon! It'll make an opening good enough for your radar to track with a missile."

Rhapsody grinned. "Good enough for me." Deciding to test, she began pursuing an enemy fighter that was trying to sneak behind Ice Pick. She gave a burst of her cannon, forcing it away.

"Ridgeback One! You've been engaged by the Ghost!"

"Damn it! I'll get her!"

Rhapsody and Spitfire swerved through the fray of AEGIS and Gryphnia fighters as she chased her quarry through the clouds. Her radar was unable to detect it, but her eyes could see it just fine. Her wings and tail hugged her body as she pushed her throttle up to keep pace. Her teeth ground together as her wrist began to feel sore from all the twisting and turning she had to do to keep pace. Finally, the enemy pilot flew straight. She readied her cannon –

She had barely began to spin it up before the Raptor suddenly flipped, somersaulting cleanly over the Tomcat.

"Oh that is not fair!" Rhapsody yelled as she pulled upwards and away. Her missile warning blared as she weaved in and out of his range. Her warning refused to be silenced though as her Tomcat began to strain from the rapid movements that it was not designed for. Finally, she looked upwards, and suddenly an idea formed in her head.

"Major, hold on to something!" she called back.

"The hell do I think I've been doing since this started?" Spitfire retorted.

Banking sharply, Rhapsody pulled the Tomcat up into the air, pulling a wide helix. "Where is – There!"

"What are you doing?" Spitfire asked.

"Get ready to close your eyes," Rhapsody replied. She began to climb straight up into the air. The enemy Raptor began to climb with her, her missile warning began blaring again, but her opponent wasn't firing yet. She had hoped for that otherwise it'd be a long way down. She was heading straight for the clouds, narrowing her eyes and praying to the Mother Mare this would work. She kept climbing up, nearing the cloud cover.

"Wanna let me in on your plan?" Spitfire asked.

"Not yet... just be ready."

"Not sure what for, or what to do, but okay."

The Tomcat kept screaming to the blue yonder, until finally they penetrated the clouds and began to push through them. Rhapsody counted in her head. She knew this type of cloud she was currently flying through. Just a few hundred more feet and she'd be right she wanted.

"Here we go!"

The Gryphon pilot hovered his talon over his missile launch button. The Tomcat thought to try and use the clouds as cover, but that was child's play; a tactic reserved for the early days of dogfighting. As the cone of grey clouds began to fade, he broke through the clouds, still on the Tomcat's tail.

"Ridgeback One, fox t-" The Tomcat suddenly did its own flip.

He glared straight into the sun.

Screeching, he let go of his controls. The canopy did little to shade him. The sudden burst of sunlight directly into his eyes was enough. "Son of a bitch!" he screamed. "I can't see! I can-" A cacophony of bullets tore through his fuselage.

Her reticule lined up and radar locked onto the burning holes. "Fox two!"

Rhapsody jammed down her button, sending the spear of death from its rail and into the turbines of the Raptor. It exploded in a furious blast and dropped into the clouds below. Grinning triumphantly, she banked and pulled down into the fighting she was sure going on below.

"That... was old school, Wraith," Spitfire complimented. "Very old, but apparently it still works."

"I saw that in a movie once if you can believe it." She suddenly frowned. "Only that time, the debris landed on someone."

Spitfire huffed. "It's a big desert, but I doubt it's gonna hit anything."

"Twitchy tail!"

Applejack's dropped her radio and her tank screeched to a halt, nearly getting rammed in the back by a Challenger that was following too closely. Poking her head out of the turret, she was greeted by flaming fighter debris slamming into the desert in front of her. Crying out in shock, she dropped back down into the tank before coming back up and looking into the sky.

She caught sight of a Tomcat. She snarled and shook her fist in the air.

"How many more times are ya'll gonna try to drop shit on mah head!?"

"General! Our fighters are getting wiped out up there! It's like the Ghost has her own squadron of – " The female gryphon grimaced as she stared down at the lifeless body of her General. A single gunshot wound was in his chin, his pistol still in hand and a puddle of crimson spreading beneath his head. Slowly removing her cap, she murmured a prayer and turned around to head back inside. The command center was still bustling with gryphons burning documents and trying to get a hold of anything to destroy that AEGIS might use.

Needless to say, not much was going to be found when they were done.

"The General is dead," she murmured softly.

Even in the chaos of the room, they all stopped and stared at her. Tears began streaking down her face, and a few others joined her. Swallowing, she had to assume the command her Uncle had unceremoniously left her with. "Keep burning everything. AEGIS gets nothing but a hole in the sand in this attack. I want non-essential personnel in their APCs and the choppers taking off. Anyone who can still fight and wants to stay, Kings be with you. Those of you who don't, I will not call you a coward. Live to fight another day, I say, and get yourselves out of here."

"Belay that!"

All noise stopped in the room and turned to the owner of the yell. The young Gryphon officer stared and everyone who could snapped to a salute or a bow.

"Y-your Majesty! Wh-what are you doing out here?"

Marcus strode swiftly into the room and stood in the center. "Who's in charge?" he asked.

The officer held up her claws. "I am, sire."

He regarded her sternly. "I want every white cloth we have up in the air. No one else dies today. This battle ends now." The Gryphons in the room stared at him, and then exchanged glances at each other. Marcus looked around the room and hissed. "Now!"

"My Lord," one of the officers replied. "We got word from Fyrick that you had been banished. Your... orders really don't mean anything to us."

"You heard the Prince! Fight another day. We know what the King does to deserters and cowards." Now they were looking at the young officer who had taken command. "I don't care that he was banished. He was still born royal and his order is greater than mine. There's some sheets in a crate in the back of the complex. Everyone who can grab one fly into the air and hold them up." Reluctantly, the gryphons began to move to carry out the order. Marcus huffed and turned to the nearby Gryphon holding a radio who was relaying retreat orders. The former Prince aimed a claw at him.

"Find the AEGIS frequency and tell them I want to speak with the one in charge."

Leveling out, Rhapsody observed the battlefield around her. Everywhere she looked, Raptors were being driven off or shot down. She grinned behind her oxygen mask after seeing a pair of Gold Wing's pilots teaming up to put holes in the stealth fighters before sending a missile into it. This tactic was used by everypony in the air until finally, fromwhat she could see, the remaining Gryphons were retreating.

"Sky Gazer here," Scootaloo called. "Radar is showing all remaining enemy aircraft retreating. The ground forces are pulling back as well. The Command Center is open to attack."

"This is Colonel Pie! Awaiting laser designation to level it."

"Colonel Apple here! Armor is waiting for a final charge."

"All ground forces proceed forward at regular speed," General Black Forest called. "All planes, drop your remaining ordinance on anything that looks threatening. Afterwards, pull back and I'll give the order to charge."

Rhapsody adjusted her gloves. "All wings, switch to ground attack. Form up on me; we're going to do this in a single run!"

Tomcat leading the charge, Gold, Windigo, Emerald, Saber, Timberwolf, Hellcat, and Reaper formed a triangle behind her and dropped altitude. Switching to her bombs, Rhapsody's thumb hovered over the release button. She heard Mythic and Sprig making wagers on who could take out more in a single pass. Mythic's Typhoon was armed with bomblets and Sprig with missiles that could only target one at a time. But she knew the hippogriff well, and she could probably –

"All forces be advised, we might have something here," Black Forest called. "Keep going, I'll let you all know if anything changes."

Her brow quirked, Rhapsody turned to Mythic on her left. The other pegasus simply shrugged at her. "Hold off on the attack, Wraith, Spitfire murmured. "Something in my gut tells me something big is about to happen."

Sprig grunted an agreement, adding, "I got that itch at the base of my tail again. I – Wait... anyone else see that ahead?"

"Crosshair here," Greg from saber called. "I see it too. Looks like – "

"All forces abandon charge! Repeat! Abandon charge!" Black Forest yelled.

Rhapsody blinked, the words almost not registering. Once the clouds cleared, she saw she was over the command center. There were AA guns and SAM sites all over the base, but none of them had been aimed upwards. The only thing in the air were white sheets and –

White sheets? Rhapsody yelped and pulled up, nearly taking a pair of Gryphons with her. "Pull up! All fighters PULL UP!" The remaining fighters, almost over two dozen immediately pulled up and away from their attack runs. Like a swarm of birds escaping a bigger bird, the AEGIS fighters banked, rolled, flipped, anything to avoid hitting the Gryphon base. "Wraith to General Black Forest! Two Gryphons are waving white flags above the base."

"They aren't the only ones," Amethyst called out. "I'm seeing white all over the base. There's hundreds of Gryphons down there!"

Commissar Karat somehow got through the frequency and roared, "It has to be a trick! We should resume the charge! They're feigning this surrender!"

Black Forest yelled back, "I'm ordering you to stand down Commissar! This surrender order came directly from Prince Marcus."

Rhapsody blinked. "Prince Marcus? Sharpclaw had another son?"

"That's affirmative, Captain," Black Forest replied. "He's the youngest and therefore not the most publicized. He said he'll explain everything, but only if the rest of his troops are treated fairly and are unharmed. All forces are to abandon the charge. 2nd Battalion, Colonel, you are to enter the base and take control. Remember that none of them are to be harmed. I repeat, none of them are to be hurt in any way! Detain the gryphons but none of them are to be harmed."

"Understood, General. We're moving forward."

Rhapsody banked, looking down towards the desert floor as a score of M1 tanks began to make their way into the base, followed by a few platoons of soldiers. She could see a few groups of gryphons getting to their knees as AEGIS soldiers rounded them up. The AEGIS planes circled a few more times before Sky Gazer called, "Air Force's roll is over for now, General's orders. All aircraft RTB."

Forming up once more, the gathered wings began to head back to their respective bases. Looking back, Rhapsody afforded one more glance at the desert floor. It was littered with the burning hulks of armor from both sides. Tanks and other armor were ruined and strewn across the sand where hundreds were making peace with their ancestors. Around them, more than enough spots in the sand marking the resting places of hundreds of boots who fell in the charges. She sighed and shook her head, looking forward.

"Something wrong, Wraith?" Amethyst asked, pulling up beside her.

Rhapsody slowly shook her head. "This was the largest battle any of us ever fought in. Even Glacier was nothing to this. Hundreds are dead, and we still have a long way to go, more battles. And until we reach Fyrick, they're only going to get bigger. More are going to die."

Mythic caught her attention with a wave of his fighter's wings. "It's almost over, Wraith. Just a couple more pushes and we all go home."

"I'm with Shade, but that itch is still there. Something bigger is about to happen. Anyone else get a feeling the Gryphons are up to something more than reinforcing their capital?"

"We'll worry about it later, Banshee," Spitfire called. "Let's head back to Shavul and get some rest. Like Wraith said, we've still got a long way to go, and rest may become a commodity. We've taken Cider Valley, and Fyrick is just a few days away. The Princesses are going to want everypony at their peak when we get there."

Mythic chuckled. "Does that mean we all finally get mandatory naptime?" The rest of the wings began to chime in with hopeful agreements. Rhapsody actually found herself smiling to herself as Sky Gazer began explaining she would talk to the General when everypony had landed. Cheers rose up and the pegasus stallion led a charge back to the base, Windigo and Gold following close behind him. The rest of the wings were left to slowly catch up.

Looking back once more, Rhapsody spotted the clouds parting to let her get a better view to the east. The Gryphnian capital was just beyond the desert. A few days travel. And with it, the final battle of the war, she could go home and see her mother and brother again, and even her dog, Lucky.

"Just a little further... and we all go home."

Author's Note

Nearly the end of the war. Fyrick, the Gryphon capital, is on the horizon. One more good fight, and they all go home...

Right?

Chapter 25

"Attention!"

All of the AEGIS personnel in the room stood rigid upon the newcomers' entry. Headsets removed and all eyes on the doors. A unique sight, even for the palace command center of Canterlot, graced the eyes of everypony assembled in the room. The aged stallion was flanked by a pair of soldiers from his own battalion. But behind him was a sight that made everypony in the room pause and stare.

Three Gryphons.

A good number of Gryphons had already come into this area of the palace, especially when it came to matters concerning the now mostly disassembled Sky Breaker. The Gryphon Enclave was being occupied once more under the guard of Celestia's personal guards. Yet while these Ponies, Hippogriffs, Crystal Ponies, and Saddle Arabians had grown accustomed to seeing Gryphons come in and out at times, this was a completely new view for them. It was enough that nearly all operation had ceased.

"As you were!" General Black Forest cried. Slowly, the AEGIS personnel returned to their work. Regardless, a small group began to converse amongst themselves while glancing back at the trio of 'enemies'.

"You heard him! Back to your tasks!" a mare's voice called from the front of the room. A violet unicorn mare with a brightly colored uniform with the three stars of her station. Immediately, the group dispersed and the room was once again filled with the sounds of keyboards being typed upon, quiet conversation concerning the battlefields beyond, and who was going to need more coffee; typical work for the Command Center of the Canterlot Palace.

Slowly, the trio of Gryphons made their way down the center of the aisle of work stations. They garnered a good number of wary glances. They were met with equal looks of wariness and more than once, the two Gryphons in the back let their claws drift to their side-arms. Thankfully, no one seemed tempted to start a firefight in the Palace. Still, for the occupants, the tension could have been cut by a butter knife.

"Even in their most secure room, they see us as a threat," the first Gryphon murmured.

"Can you blame them, Colonel?" The lead replied softly.

The young Gryphon officer clicked her beak before shaking her head. "No, your majesty."

The unicorn mare met General Black Forest at the bottom of the steps, giving him a crisp salute. "Sir. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are inside and are eager to hear from you and Prince Marcus."

Black Forest nodded and waved for the mare to be at ease. "Thank you, General." He waved for the three Gryphons behind him to enter first. Marcus and the two aides went inside swiftly, possibly not wanting to cause more of a disturbance than they were already causing. Black Forest looked towards the violet mare, catching her looking towards the top of the steps and throwing a wink. Following the wink, she saw an orange pegasus stallion with a blue mane at the top of the steps return the wink. He then caught Black Forest's gaze and swiftly left. Looking back at the mare, he could see her blushing. Ever the gentlecolt, Black Forest held the door open and said nothing.

"Prince Marcus!" Princess Celestia said with an even, motherly tone. Despite their differences of species and faction, Celestia embraced the Prince. It was reciprocated and he looked up into the Princess's eyes. "It has been far too long. You've grown too fast for me to catch up."

"Last I saw, you were giving me that gold cloak," Marcus replied with a small smile. "It's too bad I outgrew it. But I still keep it as a memento from the only ones who... who really threw me a birthday party."

Celestia gave a laugh. "You can thank the now Colonel Pie for that. She was truly hoping you'd have a good time that day." She then frowned as she inspected the young Prince's face.

"Oh believe me. I did." Marcus then paused when he saw where she was looking.

"Your cheek," Luna remarked, suddenly stepping closer beside her sister.

Marcus reflected her frown and absently rubbed it. "My father." The two Princesses looked to the gryphon for explanation. "My order I gave to the Cider Valley forces were not necessarily under orders from the crown. My fa-" He paused, then suddenly hung his head. "King Sharpclaw exiled me. Stripped me of my station. I am... no longer royalty."

"You are still royalty by blood, Marcus," Luna remarked swiftly. "You still have a place amongst the rulers of nations."

General Sparkle suddenly cleared her throat. "Pardon me, but the others are still on hold, awaiting you to connect."

Celestia suddenly gasped. "That's right. I had almost forgotten. Thank you, Twilight." The mare bowed her head at the Princess's recognition. Marcus looked to the Solar Monarch in question and tilted his head. "When Luna and I heard you were coming straight to Canterlot, our allies wished to speak as well. Princess Cadenza, King Kaubr, and even Prime Minister Ironbeak have wanted to speak since they heard the news."

Marcus chuckled. "Uncle Ironbeak... oh this will be difficult."

"Nonsense!" Luna exclaimed. "We believe Ironbeak will be overjoyed to see you are still well. Now come! Let us not keep them waiting. This will be an extensive meeting."

The sight was one not seen since the first formation of AEGIS.

"This is Canterlot News 13 live above the palace where an amazing sight is taking place," the mare said. "There are AEGIS troops all over the place down there."

The camera panned down and scanned the ground. Outside, royal honor guards lines the halls and the doorways. Four from each nation, they stood as rigid statues as ponies stopped and stared. Many took pictures, only to be ushered away by the Canterlot palace's guards. Above, the Royal Canterlot Defense Squadron as well as a full wing of Wonderbolt reservist pilots flew patrols around the city and outlying areas. Even tanks were stationed outside the gates of the palace itself. Helicopter gunships flew by the towers, weaving through, eyeing any threat.

"Nothing like this has been seen in a very long time, and rumors suggest a gryphon official is inside as well. The leaders of Hibern, Saddle Arabia, and the Crystal Empire have joined the Royal Sisters in the palace to discuss – " She suddenly dropped her microphone and covered he ears as they swiveled back. The camera caught a jet flying by and the helicopter jerked violently as it tried to stay aloft. "Okay that was twice that happened! Are they trying to – "

"Civilian chopper! You will vacate the skies around the palace immediately! This has been designated a No-Fly zone."

"This is the biggest story of my career! I'm not leaving until – "

The rest of her voice was cut off as three of the helicopter gunships stopped just beyond the smaller news chopper. Every weapon was trained of them. "It'll be your last if you do not land that thing immediately!"

The news chopper was forced away and escorted to the ground by a pair of Equestrian helicopter gunships. No doubt the crew and the anchor were going to be detained for disregarding an official order from the military in the name of "The Big Story".

This was to be expected. Tight security was needed when six national leaders were in one room.

Celestia waved her horn over the room with a majestic wave of her head. The solid oaken doors flashed for a brief moment, as did the windows, as all outside noise diminished immediately. The Honor Guards outside still remained stock still, unmoving. Even those inside remained in their positions. Only the two Gryphon guards from the Gryphnian Enclave flinched at the flash. With a sigh, she looked back over the occupants of the room.

Luna sat regally on Celestia's right, legs crossed under a dark blue and midnight purple gown. Her torc and crown had been polished to a dark, obsidian sheen as she regarded her sister patiently with General Black Forest to her immediate right, out of his working uniform and in his dress blue uniform.

Beside the General was their niece. Princess Cadence sat with slightly less patience, a red and magenta blouse and trouser pairing. Her gold and turquoise torc and crown almost seemed to glow of their own light. Her white-gloved hands softly drummed on the table with her free one on the pommel of her saber. She hated that saber, all of them knew, but it was tradition for Crystal Imperial rulers to wear their ceremonial saber to any gathering, and Cadence was always one for traditions. Beside her was her husband and military commander. The last time she had seen Shining Armor this tired, he was taking a small break from the frontlines of evacuating towns before the gryphons took hold of them. His mane was neatly brushed though and his dress uniform pressed neatly. His posture was strict though, showing he was ready to get this over with.

Across from Cadence and Prince-General Armor was Saddle Arabia's King as well as the Crown Prince and Military Supreme Commander. King Anu Kaubr sat almost more regal than Cadence, dressed in a neat olive green robe with a crisp keffiyeh that framed an age weathered face of deep brown. He had lost much in the war, but his face always kept its feature that calmed any adversary; the Saddle King's muzzle was always curved halfway into a smile. His son was in a deeply gilded green General's uniform with medals from the past war he had achieved; whilst his father was halfway to a smile, the son was halfway to a scowl. The younger Arabian's mane was slimly cut almost to the point of bald. But he maintained himself in a room full of ponies who were his superior in every way.

Next to the Saddle monarchy was the only one who was not truly royalty. Prime Minister Ironbeak was the fifth Prime Minister since Hibern's civil war for independence during the First Continental War. Nearly seventy years ago, Equestria, Gryphnia, Saddle Arabia, and the Minotaur Principality waged a relentless war to bring down the fascist Hippogriff leader who promised a relentless campaign to turn Equis into a paradise for his people. Now, Hibern stands as Equestria's closest ally, even more so than the Crystal Empire and even Saddle Arabia.
Ironbeak was a graying buck of a Hippogriff, yet the feathers on his head were still as full as they were when Celestia first congratulated him on his election into office. His deep blue suit was pressed neatly with a deep red tie around his throat. On his collar was Hibern's Coat of Arms, a pair of rampant dragons looking towards a sword. His beak, almost the color of iron, was tightly closed as he awaited for the meeting to get underway. Out of all of the occupants of the room, Celestia mused, poor Ironbeak was the only one not laden with medals and other decorations. A military man, he still preferred to be more subdued in appearance than his peers. While not of royal blood, Ironbeak is still considered on equal footing to the other leaders.

Beside him was a tall female hippogriff. She sat up straight in her seat, wings folded tightly with her arms folded. Her uniform was not gaudy like the others', but she was a soldier who had seen action more than once. Still, she appeared to be about Cadence's age despite the experience Celestia knew she had seen. A bright red, decorated uniform complimented her snow white coat and light gray feathers.

"This meeting will take a while, so let us not delay any further," Celestia informed them. She promptly sat and clasped her hands. "Now... we all know that this can really only end one way..."

Ironbeak swiftly replied, his accent akin to a Trottingham pony as usual with hippogriffs, "Fyrick's surrender. Or Sharpclaw's death."

"The last one won't be decisive," Marcus interjected. "There're still plenty of my people loyal to him even in death. He could be assassinated and they'd only follow his word. If he dies without giving an order to surrender, they'll fight to the last feather. It'll all be ruins before they can be convinced to stop."

Cadence folded her arms beneath her chest. "Then we really have no choice but to invade and lay siege, if he won't give up peacefully."

Kaubr nodded sullenly. "I've known Sharpclaw many years. He is a warrior until the end, even before his saber-rattling grew to a fevered pitch in a drunken haze. Fyrick would be burned to cinders around him and he'd remain in his palace giving orders to fight."

"But would a siege truly be necessary? Strategic bombings? A full scale assault on the city would be a massive undertaking," Cadence added, apprehension dripping in her tone.

Luna shook her head and turned to her niece with a stern gaze. "Sharpclaw and his kingdom are beyond redemption by now. He will not surrender and he knows we know that is true." The lunar princess leaned back in her seat. "There is no other choice but a full scale invasion of Fyrick and strike hard and swift at military targets."

Ironbeak drummed his talons on the table. "I agree we need to be swift about this, but what of the civilian population? We're going into the heart of Gryphnia with guns blazing. We're going to be throwing the entire city into a chaos not seen for centuries." He turned his golden eyes to the young prince who had been mostly quiet as the leaders of AEGIS decided his city's fate. "What about you, Prince? Anything to add?"

Marcus turned to all the faces at the table. He hardly spoke to any of them, Celestia could see that struggle, because Marcus was rarely permitted to engage in political discussions. She could also feel his tension build as he regarded the tactical map of Fyrick behind her. It already had lines marked of latest intelligence depicting troop movements and strategic targets. Marcus didn't know how to act or what to say in situations like this. Sharpclaw had truly kept his youngest son out of any and all political decisions, and especially military ones. But she could see he was trying to come up with something as everypony waited patiently for him to speak.

Finally, he swallowed and nodded. "Princess Luna is right. My father won't be merciful nor peaceful. In times like this, during past conflicts, my grandfathers would call on civilian conscripts to do battle. He won't be any different this time. Not to mention, over two hundred years ago when..." he made a soft, and yet almost timid gaze towards Ironbeak. "When the... hippogriffs invaded Gryphnia to conquer it, during the battle of Fyrick, civilian loyalists took up arms, old, weak, young, all of them grabbed a weapon and fought back. It's primarily how we were able to hold the city."

"At least he didn't neglect your history lessons," Ironbeak commented. Celestia could cut the bitterness in his tone with a knife. Yet that paled to the suppressed surprise she felt at Marcus's sudden strength in voice.

Marcus paid it no mind, however, and continued. "We have plenty of loyalists in Fyrick now more than we did then. Only now they're more organized. The Inner City Guard, or the ICG as we commonly call it, are just as well equipped and trained as the standard army, so they'll be difficult to take on."

"And the civilians?" Cadence asked softly.

Marcus turned to her and slowly nodded. "They'll be willing to fight as well. Sharpclaw allows his people to own guns for hunting and personal safety. Plenty of them would be willing to fight as well. They aren't as organized, though."

Kaubr grunted. "That would make them even more dangerous. If they're willing to shoot at our soldiers, they're a threat."

"But they shouldn't be held accountable, at least not totally," Marcus added swiftly. "I've walked the streets. Times are hard and they're desperate. If they fight you, it'll be because they're not understanding how their king could let it happen. He's been preaching to them that AEGIS will never reach Fyrick, but I knew that you would. They're more than likely to fight back, but it'll be because they're scared. AEGIS is invading their city, and they'll be too scared to think. They're only thought will be to defend their homes. And that includes the city police forces; they'll be fighting you as well."

"But you understand our soldiers will need to defend themselves if armed civilians open fire on them?" Luna asked firmly.

Slowly, the Gryphon prince nodded. "Yes. My only request is that they do so with restraint. They're going to be scared and they won't understand what's happening. If they can be spared, I ask it be done."

The female hippogriff beside Ironbeak suddenly raised her hand, speaking for the first time since the meeting began. "Our armor can be equipped with tear gas launchers. I can send an order for them to be placed on."

"Ours can be outfitted as well," Kaubr's son commented also speaking for the first time. "We can set up task forces to control civilian fighters and only engage those that fight back. Tear gas, flash grenades, non-lethal ordinance. Restrain and corral belligerents."

Marcus nodded and turned to Princess Celestia. "The ICG will also be reinforced with my father's elite guard and all remaining army forces he has. Our fleet was also pulled back to the bay, and the bulk of our air force has taken over the airport. You can deal with them as you see fit. Something I should also mention; Fyrick's four bridges can be retracted inward to prevent invasion, and the roads into the city can be defended well. When it was founded, my grandfathers thought about the location with 'defendable' in mind. That still holds true, and there are plenty of strong points your armor will have to break through in order to get in and fight inside the city itself. I can give you the best routes to send in teams to secure the gate houses to the bridges.

"There is also a series of breaks in the radar any stealth planes you have can break through and conduct preliminary air strikes. I've toured those as well and my Colonel can hand over anything else you'll need to know for the attack, including where to strike first."

"And Sharpclaw?" Cadence asked carefully. "He's your father; how do you want him handled?"

All eyes returned to the prince, who turned deathly silent, absently caressing his scarred cheek. He frowned deeply and swallowed. Celestia also turned sad as she saw his eyes welling up. Finally, the prince's beak curled back in a scowl. His voiced dropped low, and he said simply with a shake of his head, "That drunken wreck is not the father I know and love. He died long ago when this war first started." Marcus gazed at all the leaders in the room. "I'll handle him myself."

Celestia, blanched, knowing exactly what he intended; she knew Gryphon's and their methods for succession. She quickly stood up. "Absolutely not," she said sternly, pounding a fist to the table. "Right now you're the only viable claim to Gryphnia's throne, and we can't lose you in combat."

"Princess Celestia," Marcus stood swiftly, wings flared. It was nowhere near as impressive as Celestia's aura of control, but it was enough to show he wasn't going to sit back down and be quiet. "I just gave you everything you needed to besiege the city I love the most. It's my home, the only home I've ever known and I'm handing over all the information you need to attack it. That in of itself is the worst kind of treason. But by order of my crown, you have permission to attack my city, pacify my people, and bring my father's regime to the ground. I am aware I will be taking over in his place. But note that even though my father coddled me and often kept me sequestered from executive decisions, I can still handle myself in a fight. I had teachers."

"But should something happen to you – "

Marcus raised his hand, silencing the Solar Monarch. The other leaders tensed, knowing how much guts it would take to silence the mare who controls an orb of searing heat that she had no problems using as a weapon, especially in ages past. "That is why I have a plan for the castle itself. That's the only other thing I have to say. Regardless of the outcome, or who I'm fighting alongside, I am doing this for the safety and preservation of Gryphnia."

Marcus leaned forward on the table, his anger ebbing away and replaced with a pleading gaze. "Princess... my brothers left to fight for Gryphnia. When I wanted to do the same, I was denied because I was the last son to claim the throne should something happen to my father and brothers. He outright has kept me from fighting for my people and my nation. Denied me the privilege of becoming a warrior for my people. It's an insult to deny any Gryphon willing to fight. Don't do the same, please."

Celestia regarded the prince sternly, but Marcus refused to back down. His gaze was not nearly as strong, but his point was making it across and still holding. The other leaders eyed the two, before finally the white alicorn closed her eyes and exhaled heavily. "You are indeed your mother's son; ever the fighter, not wanting to be left out when the safety of gryphons is involved."

"Sister, is this wise?" Luna asked softly.

"The wise decision? Not at all." She gave an almost motherly smile. "The right decision? Absolutely. And I know just the team to put him with."

Marcus gave his first true smile to her since he arrived in Canterlot. But he suddenly cleared his throat. "With the castle still in mind, there is one thing I need to tell you, also. It concerns the dungeons..."

"Can't believe it," Sprig muttered as she prodded her breakfast. "Fyrick is just a few days away. AEGIS is even calling in reservists and conscripts to battle. This is the newest largest battle in the war."

"And this time it'll be the one to win them all," Mythic added. "We take Fyrick, we end the war."

Rhapsody didn't find herself smiling at the prospect of the war ending. She was pleased it was going to end, but she didn't find her mind easing with her body. She was a combat pilot, an aerial warrior, ever since she left the Fillydelphia orchestra, she'd only known flying, fighting, shooting down Equestria's enemies. She didn't feel like she had a right to go back to the orchestra; Rhapsody hadn't taken up her harp in over a year. The only instrument she had played was her own lips, whistling tunes when she was bored. That didn't really have orchestra qualifications written on it.

"What do you guys plan to do when it's over?" she asked suddenly.

Spring and Mythic stopped their own conversation. Spitfire sat down beside the sea green mare, opposite of Amethyst who was digging into her oatmeal, hardly listening. When that mare had a bowl of oatmeal it'd take nothing short of a nuclear bomb to get her away from it. Still, she stopped eating when things got really quiet. Spitfire dipped one of her toast sticks in her syrup and took a bite.

"I'll be heading back to the Crystal Empire, I guess, and probably apply for a flight instructor's job." Rhapsody and Mythic turned to the young mare, who blushed a bright purple, though barely visible through her namesake coat. "Too ambitious?"

"Not at all!" Spitfire commented. Amethyst smiled and seemed to almost glow that the Wonderbolts Major approved. "The Empire could use some good instructors. And one who flew in Ghost Wing would probably be a first pick."

"Without a doubt," Mythic commented, giving her a light elbow then promptly took a swig of his juice.

Amethyst blushed again and scratched the back of her mane. "How about you, Mythic? Any plans?"

Mythic suppressed a belch and beat his chest. He then began fiddling with his cup of orange juice. Rhapsody caught a shadow drape over his face, but whatever she thought it was, it disappeared quickly. "Well, my mother's still sick in Canterlot. I'll be heading there immediately after the war's over. Most of my bits are heading that way anyway."

"Right, cancer," Sprig murmured, her beak curling into a frown as her eyes turned down. "Almost forgotten... how's she doing by the way?"

The grey stallion smirked and lifted his cup for a drink. "Doctors are saying she's responding well. Her mane's gone, so's her tail, but she's getting much better. I got a letter saying her mane is slowly growing back, too. Looks like peach fuzz, right now. It's adorable."

Rhapsody smiled and raised her cup of grape juice. "Good to hear. I wanna see this 'peach fuzz' when she's cleared."

Mythic clinked his cup with hers before setting it down and turning to Sprig. "What about you, featherhead?" Sprig huffed as her feathers on her neck and head puffed out a little. Rhapsody gave a small snicker; she always found that flustered hippogriff display somewhat adorable. Still, the hippogriff mare took another bite of her sausage and rapped her talons together.

"Don't know, to be honest," she answered simply. "Might head back to the farm. Mum's been having some troubles with the fields again and told me I have that magic touch that helps the trees grow and produce more fruit."

Mythic grinned at the hippogriff. "I'd like to know more about this magic touch, of yours." Sprig seemed to tense up a little through her smile before her left leg came up and then snapped downwards. Mythic gave a squeak as he dropped his fork and pancakes halfway to his mouth. Reaching down, he rubbed his hoof. "That was mean."

"I learned from the best," Sprig said low.

Amethyst groaned. "Oh would you two just kiss and get it over with?"

Rhapsody covered her muzzle before she spat her juice. Making sure it had gone down her throat, she choked a laugh and beat her chest, then let the laughter ebb down. Finally, she turned to Spitfire. "How about you, Major? Anything?"

"I never planned anything," she said almost negligently. Ghost Wing's eyes suddenly turned to their Wonderbolt member. Spitfire hardly skipped a beat in eating, adding, "What?"

"Never?" Rhapsody asked.

"Not once."

"Nothing to do?" Sprig chimed in.

"Not really. Never saw a need."

Amethyst swallowed her mouthful of oatmeal and wiped her mouth with her napkin. "But we won't be flying in the war for much longer. We'll be invading Fyrick soon. There's got to be something you want to do when it's over. The war I mean."

Spitfire simply shrugged. "If anything, I planned on still being sent back to Canterlot and sit back behind my desk, handle the General's paperwork he doesn't want to do himself, stare out the window as the planes fly by, and dream of being up there again." She added another shrug. "Air Force things."

Rhapsody huffed and shook her head. "Well... any reason why you haven't made any other plans?"

Spitfire stopped eating as she regarded her (new) wing mates. "I'm not trying to be a downer here, Ghosts," she started slowly, "But our profession is a dangerous one. We're combat pilots, and we fight to the death in the skies. Don't get me wrong, you're all good, incredibly so, Wonderbolt good. But even Wonderbolts have their mistakes. And mistakes can get ponies killed." Ghost Wing had turned silent as they listened to the Major. "Anything can go wrong up there. A wrong turn, a chance shot by your opponent. The wrong choice and you're a memory. Why make plans when you probably won't get to act on them before it's all over? See what I'm saying?"

Silence engulfed Ghost Wing as the levity began to fade. Spitfire sighed and shook her head, shoving the rest of her toast stick into her muzzle. "I just try to think realistically, alright? I don't make plans until it's over. Just how I am." Silent nods were her answer before a frown graced her lips.

"It's alright, Major," Rhapsody assured her. "I... really hadn't had anything planned either. I just wanted to wait to see what happened afterwards before I try to make anything happen."

"Thought about a stallion, lately?" Amethyst asked suddenly. Rhapsody blinked as a subtle hint of pink graced her cheeks and turned to the mare, who seemed to shrink down. "Too soon?"

Before the sea green mare could respond, a finger tapped her shoulder. She turned, thankfully her blush going down, to see an earth pony stallion with a crisp salute. Rhapsody swiftly returned it, "At ease Tech Sergeant. What do you need?"

The pony stood stock still as he replied, "Ma'am, I was sent to retrieve Ghost Wing members Wraith One and Bolt One and bring them to the hangars, ma'am. I was then ordered to gather the rest of the wing leaders and tell them that Major Soarin requests their presence in the briefing room, ma'am."

Rhapsody and Spitfire blinked at each other before shrugging and standing. "Thank you. Tell Soarin we'll be there soon." The Tech Sergeant swiftly saluted before turning on his hoof and rushing out of the mess hall. The pegasus mare frowned softly at the display; she could appreciate discipline and military bearing, but sometimes, ponies took it to extremes. It could have been her reputation, or it could have been that the stallion was raised that way. She didn't rightly know, nor did she wish to dwell on it.

She wanted to know what was in the hangar that was so important that her waffles needed to wait.

Any previous thoughts on proper military bearing and discipline and overdoing it flew out the window as both Rhapsody and Spitfire stood at attention, hands to their heads as they saluted the stallion in front of them.

And on a separate note, her waffles could indeed wait.

"At ease," General Iron Wing ordered. Both the mares regarded the General, Spitfire more so. Rhapsody recalled the Major telling the story of her taking her prized handgun and whacking this General in the face with it. There was a scar above the aged stallions left eye that was bearing the mark of the event. Still though, he did not seem to pay it any attention. The sea green mare was more intent on finding out why the General who had been relieved of frontline duty was sent here.

"Now, I trust you're wondering why I called you two specifically to meet me," he stated, his tail flicking. "First, I will admit that it was a shock that the Princesses asked that I return to front line services. Story for another time, though, as I wanted to make this quick so you can join myself and the Major for your briefing."

Rhapsody and Spitfire shared a look before turning back to the Pegasus General. The stallion waved the Lieutenant who seemed to be the General's aide. The mare nodded and waved her horn. The suitcase beside her floated up and snapped open when her magic put in the combination. Turning it to the General, the stallion reached in for a small bag. He approached the golden mare first.

The Major stood up straight once more. As the General approached her, Rhapsody could feel the tension between the two. She eyed the scar once more that Spitfire had given the General, but the two had no urge to bring up the moment. Iron Wing reached into the bag and retrieved the contents, holding them in his fist. "Your hand, Major," he ordered.

Spitfire slowly extended her hand, and Iron Wing held her wrist and placed his fist above her hand. "It was a miracle that Princess Celestia allowed me to command the air assault on Fyrick. She was prepared to strip me back down to a Second Lieutenant, but her protégé, remarkably, spoke on my behalf. My insight to air tactics was 'imperative and highly desirable for an air battle above an enemy city'. On the condition I..." Iron Wing paused and exhaled. "That I... take my position seriously, and... apologize to you for my... callousness. I felt this was the best way to do so."

Iron Wing opened his fist and let go of Spitfire's wrist. The gold mare's eyes widened as she stared at the contents. Rhapsody knew what they were; they were the lifeblood of pegasi, and the privilege of pilots everywhere.

Golden Wings. Co-pilots carried silver while Pilots were gold.

Not just any wings either. These were Wonderbolt flight wings with the signature lightning bolt down the middle. Spitfire flipped them over and, sure enough, the initials S.F. were etched into the back. Looking back at the General, she could barely suppress a smile. "When Gryphnia surrenders, I expect to see you in the skies." He looked back to his aide. "Second Lieutenant Wisp, if you please."

The unicorn mare saluted and waved to the door. "This way, ma'am."

Spitfire looked at Rhapsody, who smiled and jerked her head. The Wonderbolt Major saluted the General once more before moving towards the door the mare indicated. At last, Iron Wing turned to the Wraith herself. "Captain, I apologize for relieving you of your Flight Officer, but I believe this would be better for her," he stated. He looked towards the door; Rhapsody followed his eyes to see what he was looking at.

Her ears picked up a fainted conversation, but she smiled and figured it out when she heard the younger officer mare commenting that nothing had been changed on it, and then an almost filly-like squeal from the Major herself.

"I spoke with your former Flight Officer, Lieutenant Do," Iron Wing continued, breaking the sea green mare's mental regaling. "She's still in no position to fly, and the doctors have placed her critical care until further notice. The rounds did more damage than they had initially thought. She's collapsed more than once since her admittance, but she wanted me to tell you she's doing fine. She also sends this."

Iron Wing opened the bag again and produced a piece of paper. Rhapsody blinked and took the offered paper, slowly unfolding it. She smiled when it was revealed to be nothing more than a picture of Ditzy. Not in her hospital bed, but in her flight suit. An old picture, but it showed the bright and lively Ditzy instead of the wounded one. "I know that you cannot fly into combat of this size without a Flight Officer, as the rules say, but I am willing to look the other way for this one. She said for you to attach this to her seat."

Rhapsody blinked and wiped her eye, exhaling. "I will sir... thank you." She saluted.

Iron Wing smiled and returned the salute before waving to the hallway nearby. "Now, before we get any more late, let's join the rest of the wing leaders. We have much to discuss."

Author's Note

Three guesses what Spitfire went all :pinkiegasp: about.

The invasion of Fyrick is soon, and a look into the other leaders of AEGIS.

On another note, I was writing this story LONG before Flurry Heart or even Starlight were introduced. Being that this all takes place 14 years after the Royal Wedding, I admit I'm lost on how to introduce them.

Chapter 26

"Admiral, please, he doesn't wish to be disturbed!"

Ba'rne ignored the scarred Chamberlain as he stormed through the halls, peaked cap under his arm. The guards saluted him as he went by, as was discipline. It was also discipline to return the salutes, even nod acknowledgement to the castle servants who moved out of his way. But the grizzled Admiral of the Royal Gryphnian Navy paid nothing a mind. He had one destination, and he prayed to the Kings long gone to time that he was not praying on a pipe dream.

Ba'rne's paws made almost thunderous pounds as he moved through the halls of the palace he had traversed throughout his career. Finally, within minutes of entering the palace, he reached his destination and, with little preamble, he shoved open the doors to King Sharpclaw's chambers before the door guards could react. A lavishly decorated room, it was accented with portraits of past kings framed in gold filigree, large artworks of different areas of Equis, even a landscape painting of the Sky Breaker valley was above his massive, mahogany desk. As always, it was polished to a near blinding sheen in the correct light. Red rugs left hardly any of the varnished wooden floor exposed, just as the paintings left barely any of the ornately painted walls to be seen. And just as he expected, the wine vault, kept locked except for special occasions, was wide open and half empty.

Ba'rne wasn't even surprised anymore. Sharpclaw was drunk once more.

"That was the bottle of port from Hibern I gave you ten years ago," Ba'rne commented to the King as he stood by the window. His talons were folded back behind his wings as his leonine tail swayed. Sharpclaw narrowed his eyes, the reflection in the window telling Ba'rne so, remaining silent. "Taken from the stash of Marshal Harker during the sacking of Westledale during the First Continental War. There's a certain Field Marshal, turned Prime Minister, who wouldn't mind getting that back."

"That's too bad," Sharpclaw commented blithely. "I will admit; it's delicious." Sharpclaw lifted the bottle from the table beside him. "Arnold Ironbeak will just have to do without. Care for a dram, Gustav?"

First name basis it was then. That suited the Admiral just fine; it would at least make the next few minutes bearable, or at least he hoped. "No thank you. Never was one for alcohol, Reginald. You know this."

Sharpclaw shrugged and refilled his glass. "More for me then." Mere seconds after being poured, Sharpclaw had downed the contents of the glass. He exhaled and closed his eyes before looking back towards the ocean. "You came here for a reason, Gustav. I'm not 'too drunk' to notice that."

Ba'rne frowned as the words hit him. He had hoped for a good natured banter before the business set in. So that's how this is going to be, he thought. "About Marcus..."

"What about him?" Sharpclaw retorted swiftly.

Ba'rne's frown got deeper with that comment. "He was your son and the last chance for your blood to remain on the throne when you're gone. You... exiled him?"

"The key word there, Gustav, is was. He was my son. He spoke out against me and my ideals as a warrior-king. What he preached was cowardice and practically treason."

"Did you ever think," Ba'rne said carefully. His next words needed to be calculated. Trusted he may be, Sharpclaw would not hesitate to shoot him on the spot. "Did you ever think, he wasn't too wrong?"

Sharpclaw ran a talon along the rim of his glass, rather roughly at that. Ba'rne stood in silence, his beak tightening as he regarded his monarch. Slowly, Sharpclaw turned to the Admiral. Doing a full-bodied turn, Ba'rne could finally see Sharpclaw's features. He was worse than originally thought; huge bags were decorating his eyes underneath, and said eyes were very sunken. His once vibrant feathers were thinning on top, as were his wings. The Gryphon King was more likely to be twice his current age at first glance.

"What part do you not understand, Gustav?" Sharpclaw grumbled. "Marcus spoke out against me. I-In my own court. He challenged me, Gustav! A-after all I've done to protect him from AEGIS!"

"Marcus was doing what his gut told him to do. I spoke with him before he confronted you. He wasn't telling you to surrender to AEGIS; he wanted you to just talk to them. Try to get a cease fire. There is no dishonor in that."

Sharpclaw's talons seemed to tighten on his glass. Ba'rne could see it; gryphon goblets, even glass ones, were know for their strength. This one seemed to be cracking with hair-thin fractures. "You spoke to him? So you... helped temper his demeanor before he challenged me openly?"

Ba'rne swallowed low. "Reginald, listen to me – "

"No! I'm tired of my Joint Chiefs trying to tell me how my family works! How to run my country! How to wage a successful war!" His talons tightened on the glass once more, an audible crack was heard in the silent room. "I am the one who took my father out of power. AEGIS put me here, and now they challenged me in my own borders! I ordered Sky Breaker built to defend our 'allies', and how are we thanked? Telling me to limit its use? That weapon was keeping the changelings from invading again. It's kept the Corvians from ever invading the mainland ever again! The dragons keep away from our borders now!"

"That's just it, Reginald!" Ba'rne cried. "You used it to get everything you shouldn't have in the first place; you earned the ire of our allies from the last war and they feared you. They were worried you'd use Sky Breaker for something drastic, and now... World Breaker? Are you truly going insane? Do you understand what such a weapon could do?"
"Am I?" Sharpclaw asked simply. "I know what it could do. It will be the tool to use when AEGIS thinks they've finally won. I am not blind, Gustav. I know they are coming to Fyrick. I've accepted the inevitability."

"Then it's not too late," Ba'rne pleaded. "You know, Marcus had a point. When AEGIS gets here, a lot of the people you rule over, people we've fought for Reginald, will be caught in the crossfire! Remember we fought together in the last war for Gryphnia, and we vowed to do what was necessary to defend them." He stepped closer to his king, his friend, to try and talk sense into his alcohol-numbed mind. "Talk to them. Talk to AEGIS. It isn't too late to call for a cease fire. You know what will happen should they enter the city. Sometimes defending one's people means knowing when to talk instead of fight."

"I am defending not just my people, but our way of life, Gustav. Our honor, our right to battle, our city that we have held from invaders for near five centuries now." Sharpclaw turned back towards the window. "I somehow knew my own son would speak out against me... but... not my oldest friend." Sharpclaw's gaze turned towards the Admiral. With a shake of his head, he closed his eyes and hung his head. "They are coming, but if we can just hold them back, weather the siege like ages past, we will soon have the tools to drive them back."

"Yes... I read the report from the Chamberlain," Ba'rne commented dryly. "We'll need to weather a – what – six month siege?"

"We've weathered worse in ages past," Sharpclaw retorted, taking another sip of his port.

"Yes, back when our enemies had catapults and wooden sailing ships. We're up against guns, not bows. Tanks, and steel warships; not wooden towers and rowboats. Fighter jets and not simple wooden kites and winged adversaries! We're outnumbered, Reginald! Talk to AEGIS! Save our city while we still have a city! It's the right decision."

"But it is not YOUR DECISION!" Sharpclaw screamed, his grip tightening. The glass could take no more punishment and shattered in Sharpclaw's grip. Yet he was unfazed by it as the shards of broken glass and the remaining liquids within fell to the rug beneath. "It was never your decision! It is your duty to defend this city, and I expect you to do just that! I will see this city burn to ashes around me before I give in to defeat! I will suffer my wings torn from my body a thousand times over and still never give in the demands of warmongers like AEGIS! Remember that they began this war. But I promise; I will end it. Remember your allegiance and stand by me, just like before!"

Ba'rne recoiled at the outburst. The amber eyes of his king were burning with an unbridled fury tempered by his drink. They stared at each other long and hard, neither trying to back down, but Ba'rne soon relented. He stood up straight and examined his peaked cap. Deep within, he felt something break. "Marcus was right," he murmured, "King Reginald Sharpclaw, Second Son of Dughal Sharptalon, has been long dead. My friend is dead... Marcus's father is dead. The gryphon who believed in honor and the will of battle for his people and his allies abroad; I see now he has been long dead." Ba'rne replaced his cap on his head. "Whoever you are, I owe you no allegiance. I will not stand for you."

Sharpclaw snarled at the Admiral. "Then you're relieved, my friend. But if you are still a gryphon, still a warrior, you will defend Fyrick to your last breath."

"I will," Ba'rne sneered. "But I will do it for my city and my country... not for you."

Sharpclaw said nothing, instead turning back to the window. Ba'rne turned on his heel and left the room, making sure to slam the three-hundred year old oaken doors shut behind him.

Once outside, the Admiral ran his talons down his face, shaking his head. "Oh Reginald... I miss you my friend."

The sound of rushing steps forced his gaze back up. His first officer was rushing towards him, and after reaching him, giving a quick salute after he caught his breath. "Sir! We've lost contact with the reconnaissance flight from the Windbreaker. They reported an AEGIS squadron was attacking them."

"They're getting closer then. I suspect they'll be here in a couple hours. Maybe less," Ba'rne murmured. "I need you to get back to the Warlord's Talon. You're in command of the fleet in the field. I'm needed here."

The young officer blanched, beak falling open as he stared at the Admiral of the Navy. The Warlord's Talon was the Admiral's new battleship since the Warlord's Claw was sunk in the Habun Harbor. From the last intelligence report he read, his prized ship from the last war was being scrapped and used to repair some of the civilian buildings hurt in the surprise attack. He could imagine worse fates for it, but it was still his ship. "S-sir! The Talon is yours! I can't take command," the officer tried to explain.

Ba'rne shook his head. "You can and you must. The rest of the Joint Chiefs, myself included, need to stay in the castle and direct the battle from here. You need to guide the Talon and her crew. She's yours now, Captain. Treat her well."

The officer swallowed, paling behind his feathers a bit. But with a sigh, the Captain stood up straight and gave a salute. "I won't let you down, Admiral."

Ba'rne returned the salute with his beak curling into a half-smile. "You haven't before, Captain. Now go."

Dismissed, the Captain turned and rushed towards the window. The guard by it quickly shoved it open. A convenience of the palace when it was built was large windows for the guards or any other winged attendants and visitors to be able to leave through them when needed. The Captain leapt from the window and spread his wings, quickly flying out to the remaining naval ships of the Gryphnian Navy. Ba'rne exhaled as he watched him fly off before proceeding down the hall, pointing to a nearby guard.

"Call Major General Holdet. Tell him to meet me at the Wyvern hangar."

Rhapsody yanked her gloves on tighter, then grabbed her helmet. She paused and took a look at the emblems on it. On the left side was her harp cutie mark, and on the right was the same insignia that was on the tail of Tomcat: A skeletal, spectral pony wrapping itself around a scythe.

The Wraith.

She couldn't help but stare at the emblem. To her, when she first became a combat pilot, she was given the callsign and emblem with the thought she'd just be another pilot in the air force. She would fly and shoot down gryphons, probably be shot down somewhere on a canyon, crash, be replaced, and forgotten. The emblem would be recycled, her callsign taken up by another poor soul unlucky enough to become the new Ghost Wing lead, like she was; a replacement. Rhapsody knew, achingly knew, she was not the first Ghost Wing leader. The first was killed, along with his entire wing, during the first Sky Breaker raid. She had been chosen as his replacement almost as an afterthought.

That was – she blinked and stared off into space – a year ago today. The very thought made her wings shiver.

Now things were not at all what she had expected; she was an ace pilot, an air force icon, a legend to all who flew with her and a terror to those who flew against. She inspired hope to her allies and fear to her opponents. AEGIS ground troops cheered as she went by while gryphons ran as she approached. She frowned deeply; did she deserve that sort of fame, that reputation? Did she really want to be seen as an icon? A hero? A terror?

Rhapsody heaved a sigh, resigning to the fact that she was, indeed, an icon of the war. Onyx Karat's words echoed in her mind once more, telling her that her skills were top of the line and everypony saw her as a hero. Once again, she resigned herself to admitting that, while she felt her reputation was overblown, she was indeed a hero to AEGIS. From a letter she got from her mother, everyone at her little brother's school wanted to hear more about her: "Was she pretty?" "Was she really an ace pilot?" "Was she single?" The last question made her tail flick in annoyance.
Closing her locker, she made one last check to make sure her suit was secure, going over General Iron Wing's battle plan once more in her head...

"We need our best on this attack. It will last for a few hours, possibly a full day's worth of fighting," General Iron Wing had said. "As I'm briefing you, our ground forces are getting ready to launch their attack. While it's not exactly paramount to the air force's attacks, the AEGIS leaders have put together tasks forces from varying Special Forces teams; one to capture the bridges so we can advance into the city through more than one avenue, and the other to enter the castle to capture Sharpclaw.

"Your job is significantly easier. You will shoot down any aircraft in the immediate city, while strike fighters will attack enemy armor on the bridges as well as the roads within the city as well," he said as he aimed his stick at the map behind him. "That'll be mostly reserved for Vulture and Reaper wing, but those of you with bombs will have your own chances. There's more than enough ships in the bay and the submarine base just outside the city. Note that those ships carry SAM sights so watch yourselves."

He then pointed at the city itself. "They're going to be sending up everything in their arsenal. Bombers are still grounded though, but they will be sending up everything from A-10s to the rarely seen Su-47s." Murmurs of disbelief echoed through the room. The Su-47 was one of Gryphnia's more prized, elite fighters. It rivaled the F-22 Raptors in terms of agility, while only partially stealth. "Because of the magnitude of this attack, we've been forced to ground a few wings while others have been sent to the front for the actual fight. Those of you assembled are the air force's first choice." He aimed his stick at each wing leader in the room, respectively. "Timberwolf, Windigo, Emerald, Gold, Vulture, Reaper, Saber, Wonderbolt, Ghost."

"Are the Navy and Marines sending their own pilots?" Aquamarine asked.

Iron Wing nodded. "They're sending Hellcat, Harpy, and Taurus. But they'll mostly be on strike missions and fleet defense. The heavy lifting, as always, falls to air force." A few chuckles were shared in the room, a welcome sound to the tension that had been building. Once the plan had been given, the wing leaders made way to their hangars to relay the orders.

Rhapsody closed the locker and headed into the hangar. Mythic, Sprig, and Amethyst were waiting for her. She stopped in front of them and looked them over. All three of them stood tall as they regarded their leader. The pegasus mare exhaled and met their eyes.

"Never was one for speeches, so I'll make it simple," she said. Rhapsody gave a smile and stepped up closer, putting her hand in the center of them. It was swiftly joined by Mythic Dusk, Sprig Root, and Amethyst Karat until four hands had joined one on top of the other. "It's been an honor to share the skies with you. We may be down one, but we're not weaker because of it. I do wish Ditzy was here to face this with us, though."

"She's watching it on TV I bet," Amethyst said. "This is gonna be news worthy for years to come."

"She may end up putting herself back in the hospital with cheering when Fyrick is ours," Mythic added.

"And we'll have our own celebration to do when it's over," Sprig concluded.

Rhapsody smiled as she regarded her friends – no. After so long, so many battles, watching each other's backs, consoling, dining together, flying beside each other, they had become family. And she loved all of them like family. She truly wanted no other wing to fly with. Ghost Wing was friend and family to her.

Slowly, they parted their hands and tapped their helmets together. "Then let's not waste more time with mushy crap," Rhapsody commented. "Let's end this war today." All three gave cheers of agreement, Mythic and Sprig sharing a fist pound, before they moved to their planes. Rhapsody extended her wings and landed on the top step of the ladder to her Tomcat's cockpit. She took one look at the back seat, where Ditzy's picture was practically sewn into the material. Rhapsody quickly kissed two fingers before patting the headrest of the seat.

"See ya soon, Ditz."

Sharpclaw hissed as he finished the bottle of port. Slowly, he looked out on his city. A city built on strength, honor, the will of his people, was being threatened. But like his grandfathers past, King Reginald Sharpclaw planned to die defending this city.

He expected no less from his subjects.

Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Ironbeak, and Kaubr sat beside each other at the table set up for them in the Command Center of HMS Midnight. Beneath them, General Twilight Sparkle, Prince Shining Armor, Kaubr's son General Tadeas, Ironbeak's General Anita, and General Black Forest stood with headsets on as they shared quick comments and paced in front of the massive battle map of Fyrick. Beside General Tadeas was the female gryphon colonel that had joined Marcus when he arrived at the palace. On adjacent screens were cameras mounted on firearms from team leaders, and a helmet camera attached to, Black Forest knew, Colonel Apple.

Another was attached to a Hippogriff Captain's vest. The Special Wing Service was Hibern's elite Special Forces team. They were inside of a C-17 plane preparing for their insertion. As they all watched, The Captain turned, and while they could not hear what was said, he was indeed speaking to his soldiers. Celestia made a small noise of complaint when she saw Prince Marcus in the plane. Luna caught it and put a hand on her sister's. "Too late for second thoughts, sister."

Celestia simply nodded and turned her eyes back to the screen.

Next to the screen from inside the planes was one that indicated the user was under water, but judging by the growing light, it wouldn't be much longer.

Sharpclaw turned his eyes to the sky, fighters under their banner were flying all over the city. He turned towards the ocean. His navy was facing outwards, prepared to handle any threat. Per his order, the Warlord's Talon was attempting to move further into the city. However, it seemed to be struggling as it made its way down the river.

Sighing, he shook his head to look for another bottle.

Rhapsody flexed her fingers around her control stick, taking a gander at the fighters around her. They were far over the ocean now, all of the wings clinging together. She knew these pilots well, and she found a particular joy seeing the Wonderbolts and their F-15S's flying above, Spitfire leading the way. Though he would never admit it, everypony could tell Soarin was happy command of the Wonderbolts was taken from him and Spitfire assumed control again.

Nearby, Timberwolf's MiG-29s, Saber's Typhoons, Gold's Fighting Falcons, Emerald's Hornets, and Saber's brand new F-15E Strike Eagles from Saddle Arabia as a gift, soared beside and behind her. Close by her, Mythic's Typhoon flew close and he gave her thumbs up. She returned it with a smile behind her oxygen mask. Sprig and Amethyst's Hornets were flying to Mythic's immediate right.

Just a little farther. Rendezvous with the Navy and Marine squadrons and their next destination was Fyrick.

Wiping the blood from his knife, the thestral slung his silenced sub machine gun behind him as his comrades watched the doors. The dark-furred and even darker armor thestrals of the Equestrian Night Stalkers, under the command of Princess Luna herself, kept their fingers on the triggers as two began to dispose of the bodies of the bridge crews into the river they had swam up to reach this area. They were military, so there was no hesitation to kill. With nimble fingers, the lead thestral's dragon-like eyes scanned the keyboard and put in the override codes for the bridge, provided by Gryphnian defectors. "All teams," he said into his radio, "Begin uploading codes, those armor kids will be here soon. And we need to hold these points so the Gryphons don't close them off again." He spun around, ordering, "Gloom, Rock, get your Gustav's loaded. We'll be getting company soon."

Through the cameras, he watched the bridge begin to extend.

"Harpy wing lead to Bolt lead," a voice called. "We're approaching from your three o'clock. Ready to end this war?"

"Always. Hope you sea-skippers can keep up." The four F-14As were followed by four F-4Es. The Navy and Marines had linked up, forming forty planes in the formation.

"Heh-hey! That the Wraith I spy beside you?"

Rhapsody snickered. "Sure is, Harpy Lead. How you doing?" She grinned when she saw Harpy Wing and their Tomcats fly a little closer to Rhapsody.

"Better now. It's a guaranteed victory today, boys!" A shared 'Hooyah' was sounded through the radio.

"Hey, everypony," Sky Gazer suddenly called. "I have a special request."

Captain Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up, "What's up, Scoots?"

Scootaloo was silent for a moment, before she said slowly, "It's obvious the war's outcome rests on all of you, but... if it's not too much to ask... the end of the war would be a nice birthday present."

Rainbow laughed through the radio. "Consider it wrapped and ready, kid. Right, Wraith?"

Rhapsody laughed and nodded her head. "Of course."

Sharpclaw uncorked the new bottle as he looked back towards the throne room that he just entered –

"Your majesty!" one of his palace guards roared as he entered the throne room.

Sharpclaw snarled at him as he stood up. "What are you thinking, soldier, interrupting this court?"

"The bridges are extending! And we've lost contact with the crews!"

The royal guards within the room lost all composure as they looked at one another in disbelief. Sharpclaw didn't bother trying to tell them to regain themselves. Letting the bottle drop to the floor and shatter, the King launched himself to the windows. Turning his eyes east, the bridges, all four, pulled back when AEGIS took Glacier, were reaching our like wide stone fingers towards the other side of the huge river running through Fyrick. Looking farther east, his eyes narrowed dangerously when he saw armor.

Large explosions came from the bay and he turned to see his ships engaging the AEGIS Navy that was just beyond. The sound of jet engines made his eyes go up, seeing AEGIs aircraft firing on his tanks below and the fighters above.

They had arrived.

Clenching his fist, Sharpclaw roared and sent his fist through the glass.

Ba'rne smoothed the feathers on his head before replacing his cap. Looking upwards, he saw the massive air battle above that had begun mere seconds ago. Forward, he could see the Navy he commanded for twenty years engaging the vastly larger and substantially more armed AEGIS fleet. Turning around, he saw AEGIS tanks beginning to move towards the bridges. Once across, there would be no stopping them. Their air force was already over the skies, and he was chagrined to hear that Sharpclaw had ordered his battleship into the river to defend the palace. The river wasn't very deep; running aground was inevitable.

Sighing, he turned back to the Marines with him as he stepped away from the General.

"Move all the anti-air away from this hangar. Don't give AEGIS an excuse to bomb it." He looked at the lone occupant of the hangar as the doors began to close behind him. The shape was covered by a tarp, but it was still a sight to behold. "If anything is to remain, at least this must."

Applejack dropped her binoculars back into her tank, pulled the charging handle on her machine gun, and grabbed her radio.

"Listen up ya'll! This is the fight of our lives. I want everyone's eyes open, their fingers on their triggers, and we end this war today. This is Gryphnia's capital, and we're in for one hell of a fight, and they won't give up an inch, not a one. Remember that not every gryphon shooting at us is a soldier. The police and even the citizens themselves will be opening fire on us. We're here as peace keepers, not conquerors, so show restraint in your fire."

She looked ahead, seeing the bridges fully extended. The Night Stalkers that were keeping them that way were taking heavy fire. Applejack's gunner aimed the gun forward. He fired off a round and it rammed into the Gryphnian T-90. It promptly exploded and the enemy fire was divided between the bridge control room and the advancing AEGIS forces.

"All units, let's end this today!"

Admiral Pippington, Pipsqueak to his friends, and the youngest Admiral in Equestrian Naval History, grabbed his radio and switched to the fleet wide channel.

"All ships, this is Admiral Pippington. The last time we were here, we were defending Fyrick from a surprise attack by the Changelings. Today, we return to defend it once more. Not from an enemy invasion, but from the enemy within. Sharpclaw has vowed that he will sacrifice every citizen in the city to protect it. He's mad with power, and we will see his tyranny brought down! Let the ground troops and the air crews do their job. Support them as best you can."

The HMS Midnight's main guns aimed upwards.

"Main guns, port side, locked to the Carrier Valor Fire!" the Petty Officer reported from his fire control station. "Enemy cruise missiles launched!"

"All batteries! Open fire!"

"Crystal Soldiers of the Empire!" Commissar Karat shouted from atop his Laclerc tank. "We have taken the fight to the city our enemies had deemed impenetrable! We now show them that they know nothing of such things when they could never reach ours!" A cheer rose up. "We show no mercy for the lack that we received by their filthy claws."

"General Armor to Commissar Karat! You've entered effective enemy range and they're all over! Be careful!"

Onyx laughed. "General, you are mistaken! They have entered our effective range and we are now in a target rich environment! This day is to be remembered as a glorious victory for the Empire!"

"The civvies are not the main target, Commissar, so show restraint on your attacks. Otherwise… give them hell."

Onyx raised his sword. "We will make you proud, General! My friends! My brothers and sisters! CHARGE!"

"Vulture wing dropped their munitions and are pulling back from the fight to rearm," Sky Gazer reported. "Reaper has already been engaged the ground forces, as have our land forces. Taurus wing has also engaged enemy aircraft and have their hands full."

"Anything to say, Major?" General Iron Wing suddenly asked.

"Absolutely sir," Spitfire replied. "Alright everypony, listen up. We're entering the strongest Gryphon held location since Sky Breaker. They will be throwing everything short of kitchen sinks at us. Everyone down there is going to be fighting their hardest, and we need to do the same above them. No one slacks off, no one does a half-assed job, and no one gets reckless." Murmurs of agreement resounded through the joined fighters. "Remember your training; the Joint Chiefs, the monarchy, and every service member in Canterlot right now is counting on us. Tank crews, ground troops, specforce kids, especially us; we all need to be on our best game and better."

The nozzles on the tail of her fighter suddenly opened wider, indicating she was throttling up. The rest of the fighters followed suit, Rhapsody feeling her Tomcat roaring as it seemed to sense the coming battle.

"I trust every single one of you to do your best. You all know I don't lie to my pilots, and not many of us are coming home after this. But to those who fall, you're gonna kick and scream and take as many gryphons with you as possible! We are AEGIS, and we are the continents guardians!"

Rhapsody stared forward, seeing the coast line of Fyrick a ways off. She could make out flashes as the AEGIS navy engaged Gryphnia's. She also spotted several plumes of smoke and billowing flames. The battle had already begun within the city. There was no chance of turning back. "This war ends today, everypony! We end it here and now, and we go home as heroes! You all have it in you to be the best pilots that ever lived, I know it and, most of all, you know it. Earn those wings, everypony; today, you become legends! Should we win the day, remember this day for your lives as the rest of Equis will! You become warriors today, and should you fall, know that it will be a fate to be worthy of remembrance!"

Sky Gazer suddenly cried, "Enemy fighters closing fast!"

"All wings," Spitfire screamed, "ENGAGE!"

Chapter 27

"Fox two!"

The missile launched from the Tomcat, spearing the flanker that she had managed to get behind. Rhapsody watched it go down for a moment before she angled down, lining up her reticule and pushing herself into a dive. The unguided bomb underneath dropped from her belly and landed near a pair of tanks. They exploded in the street, saving an AEGIS IFV from a terrible fate.

"You'd think the ICG would have better training than this," she commented.

"It's you, I think," Spitfire replied quickly. "They see your markings and they freeze up."

Rhapsody frowned behind her mask. "I didn't ask to be an icon, Major," the sea green mare grumbled, not for the first time since they had taken flight.

"I'm sure you didn't," Sprig called out. "But you've got that flare, I have to say, mate."

"Banshee, speaking of flares, bandit six o'clock!" Mythic shouted.

"I got him!" Amethyst replied. Rhapsody took a moment to see her two Hornets of her wing taking turns trying to take down a rarely seen fighter. Forward-swept wings, large canards, and just barely visible to radar; Su-47s. In terms of maneuverability, they were on par with the Raptor and the Terminator, yet were more accessible. The black-painted fighters proved difficult to hit, even if they were only somewhat stealthy.

Pulling up, she caught sight of a rather familiar plane, but the markings and paint job were all wrong. "I thought only Equestria flew F-15Ss." Rhapsody didn't wait for a response as she pulled up behind it and gave chase. The pilot pulled downwards with the Wraith hot on their tail.
"Last war," Rainbow Dash called out for the first time since the battle started, "We were allied with Gryphnia. We traded blueprints of a version of the Agile Eagle. It was the prototype, nothing like ours. But it's still a capable fighter."

Rhapsody raked her cannon through a wing, sending the plane into a downward spiral when it tried to dive and shake her off. "Only if they can fly it properly it seems," she muttered.

"Thunder One-one here! We're pinned down by that battleship that ran-aground in the river! We need help taking it down or we'll be wiped out!"

Sky Gazer reported, "There's a battleship in the river near the bay. The water was too shallow and it's stuck! Those tanks won't last long if it isn't destroyed. Crystal Commandos are on the way, but somepony soften it up!"

The Tomcat banked, the pilot scanning the rivers in the city. There were five, but only one had the giant metal behemoth stuck in the entrance. Its guns were opening up near another bridge, sending massive shells into the city itself. Her eyes widened when she saw one of the shells land in a small residential area, destroying many of the houses. "They don't even care where they hit! They just want to destroy Bravo team!"

"On your wing, lead!"

She looked and saw Mythic Dusk pulling beside her. "Shade! Drop some gifts for the ship!"

"Aw! But yours are bigger!" he whined.

Rhapsody laughed and shook her head, switching to her bombs. "Haha... innuendo." Throttling up, she started her attack run.

"Warlord's Talon to AA battery five-three! Incoming Tomcat! It's the Ghost; take her down!"

"There's buildings in our way! We can't get a clear shot!"

The bridge rocked as the Tomcat's bombs struck the side.

"Confirmed casualties on the port side! We're taking on water. We won't sink though because of our depth!"

"Then keep firing!" the Captain yelled. In front of him, the battleship's main guns continued firing on the tanks in the neighborhood. That was until a pair of missiles struck his forward batteries. Explosions rocked the ship, throwing the bridge crew off balance. "Someone kill that Ghost!" the Captain screamed as he stood back up.

Rhapsody throttled up as she gained altitude. Once she had reached the edge, she cut off her turbines and let the Tomcat fall backwards. She smirked when she first tried this trick back in Habun Harbor on the Warlord's Claw. She had tried it once; surely it would work a second time. Once she had switched back on, she lined up her whiskey reticule and sent her remaining missiles into the battleship, just beyond the bridge and her final bomb on the aft battery. Explosions marked her successful hits as she squeezed off her cannon for good measure.
The internal storage blew, cracking the hull, yet the ship refused to die. The Marines on board pulled out their rifles and began shooting at her, banking, she turned herself around to the city and brought herself along the side of the ship. "Permission to buzz the tower!" she cried as she throttled up. A cone of white split by the nose of the Tomcat as she blasted by the troops on the deck. The sonic boom ripped by her and she laughed as she pulled up and away. "Their ears will be buzzing for weeks," she commented blithely.

"Commandos are boarding the Talon through the hole in the port side. Nice going, Wraith!" Sky Gazer reported. "If you got the time, there's a bridge the Gryphons are using as a supply route. To get emergency supplies to their armor and reinforce positions! Take it out!"

"But I'm out of missiles and bombs!" Rhapsody snapped back.

"Your cannon, Wraith!" Spitfire ordered. "Hit trucks as they cross! One is bound to have ordinance inside with enough power to destroy it!"

Rhapsody nodded and banked towards the inner part of the city. "Roger! Here goes nothing!" She pulled under a bridge where a pair of AEGIS tanks was firing on a retreating Gryphnian one. Blinking and looking ahead, she saw a convoy on a bridge nearby. That had to be it. "Confirming this is the bridge, right?"

"That's it, Wraith! You are cleared to bring it down."

Rhapsody pulled upwards, banking to get an angle directly on the bridge. On her HUD, the designated truck was marked. She rose up, spun herself around, and dove down towards the convoy. One of the trucks sped up to get away while the others tried to back up. The designated truck was abandoned by its driver who flew off. Rhapsody lined up her reticule and squeezed her trigger. The cannon roared as it tore through the canvas of the truck.

The cargo detonated, sending a plume of fire and debris into the air. Banking away, Rhapsody managed to catch part of the bridge collapsing into the river. "Bridge destroyed! That'll cut off their supplies and reinforcements! Wraith, return to air supremacy after rearming."

"Roger that." She pulled up and engaged an Su-47, raking its belly, then flew off to find the HMS Faerie Flight.

"Weapons free."

Silenced gunfire made small echoes through the three guards on the balcony. They barely gave shouts of pain before they crumpled, unaware of the thestrals, pegasi, and hippogriffs that were soaring down on top of them. Forming up, all six Special Forces soldiers hurried into the hallway. Another two guards were taken down before they could react.

The lead soldier, a hippogriff from Hibern's Special Wing Service, waved his hand forward. "Baseplate, Bravo One. We've infiltrated the castle and rendezvoused with the ponies. Awaiting orders." He looked to his right, watching the lead thestral rip his knife from the guard's throat on an adjacent balcony.

A female hippogriff broke through. "This is Baseplate, solid copy. You lads know your objectives. Bravo One, escort the Prince to the throne room. Keep him alive at all costs."

"This is Bravo Two," the thestral called back. "We're making our way to the dungeons to secure the HVI. Regroup on the helipad on the roof."

"Bravo three moving to secure palace personnel," the Pegasi leader called as they moved down the hallway.

"Roger. Bravo One moving out." He looked back to his team. "Your Majesty, you know the route from here?"

"I do. I'll take point," Marcus replied as he raised his submachine gun and moved down the hallway.

Through Bravo One's gun camera, Celestia watched the young gryphon move to the lead. One of the hippogriffs moved beside him quickly to cover him, though she was still tense.

"It was your decision, sister," Luna murmured to the elder princess.

Celestia simply nodded, leaning on the railing of the balcony, overlooking the Generals who were monitoring their respective commands. Twilight was assisting General Iron Wing with the air campaign. Shining Armor, having been returned to duty at his wife's reluctance, was watching an Imperial armored battalion's takeover of the airport, their guns opening up on parked planes. He was commanding Commissar Karat's troops as well.

General Black Forest was pacing in front of his team's monitors, calling out orders to Colonel Apple and the other brigades under his command. His armor was engaging the armor of the remaining Gryphon soldiers and the Inner City Guard's own troops, whilst the armor from Hibern and Saddle Arabia was controlled by King Kaubr's son and the Gryphon Colonel. He was surprisingly compassionate, telling his troops to try and work with the police to get the civilian's under control so they wouldn't be caught in the fighting while the Colonel spoke to the police chief to get his cooperation in pacifying the citizens, that Prince Marcus wanted as few casualties as possible among non-military Gryphons.

Marshal Anita from Hibern, call signed as Baseplate, was barking orders to both teams inside the castle. Bravo One was continuing through the hallways, and Celestia frowned upon seeing Marcus shooting his own guards. A necessity, sadly, and she was thankful he was wearing a facemask so that, at first glance to the enemy, he appeared to be a hippogriff; the beak shapes were similar. Bravo Two was tearing through Gryphon guards as they began heading down stairs rapidly towards the dungeons. Bravo Three was restraining the cooking staff, who threw down their weapons when the door to the dining hall and the kitchen were breached.

"Mother," she murmured, looking up. "Let this be the final fight."

Babs let her rifle rip through a pair of soldiers trying to outflank her fireteam. When they crumpled to the street, they pressed on down the road, their LAV-25 rolling right behind. "Anyone got eyes on civvies?"

"Negative. Guess they got—"

A ripple of gunfire hit the two marines up front. "Ambush!" Babs screamed. A crude explosive was set off nearby, sending another flying. Everypony in her team took cover behind either rubble piles, ruined cars, or shattered store fronts. Babs took a look out from behind the LAV as it opened up its chain gun on the upper floor the gunfire came from. But that wasn't the only threat, as a number of both soldiers and civilians began to fire at the Marines. "Fireteam Zulu Nine-Nine! We are under fire from civilian and ICG forces! We need assistance at grid point four-six!"

"Stand by, Marines, we got eyes on," came what must've been the coolest voice she'd heard in a combat situation. A loud bang was heard over the radio and the helmet of an ICG soldier exploded and he collapsed to the ground. The gryphons shouted for cover and the LAV fired on the makeshift machine gun nest on the bottom floor of what was once a used book store. Another loud bang resounded and another gryphon fell.

Babs grinned as her marines emerged from cover and started firing back. The civilian fighters began running for their lives while the soldiers kept backing up. A number of other heavy shots from afar tore into gryphon soldiers. The damage could only be done by a heavy sniper bullet. "I owe you boys a round! Where you at?"

The sea breeze caressed the short mane of the crystal commando, his magenta eyes close to the scope as he angled his aim towards a tall, muscular mare. She was looking around the city as her marines began to gather themselves up and the LAV pushed on down the street. "Top of the bridge of the Warlord's Talon. Gryphons were kind enough to provide an excellent nest for us. That you with the cute mane cut, Staff Sergeant?" The mare looked his way with a grin on her face. The impossibly green eyes almost stared at his and she gave him a wave.

He then caught a flash of feathers in a store front. "Hold still, jarhead." The scope followed where he saw the flash, until finally, a gryphon with a sword leapt from the second story window. His beak was wide in a battle cry, and the marine's eyes bulged as she tried to get her rifle up. Instead, a heavy round from the commando's rifle tore into the gryphon's torso, sending him flying at least three more feet away from the mare and to the ground in a bloody heap.

He smirked and pulled the bolt back, loading another round into the chamber. "I think I'm owed a dinner now, yeah?"

"I know a place in downtown Manehatten. You in?"

"It's a date. Keep your head down, cutie." He rolled his scope down the next street, looking for his next target.

Rhapsody put her thumb up to the carrier crew of the HMS Faerie Flight. The mare on the deck gave her a thumb up and signaled to the catapult crew, then thrust a finger forward. Within seconds, Rhapsody was launched off the deck, armed with her XMAA missiles. Her second carrier landing, and this time she wasn't landing wounded. Of course this time, she landed alone. A pallet had been set up for each fighter that would land so it could be rearmed in mere minutes.

"Wraith, returning to the fight, and making a run for the sub base."

"Could use some help here, Wraith!" Sprig cried. "Emerald and I got our hands full with these Raptors!"

Banking, Rhapsody almost immediately found herself behind a Raptor that was engaging her hippogriff wing mate. Though more agile, the pilot made no effort to try and get away, so engrossed on taking down this fighter that had a Ghost marking on the tail. She sent a barrage of bullets from her cannon through the wing. The Raptor burst into flames on that side and fell towards the ground. "Stealth fighters... never was a fan."

"Many of the ICG pilots were rushed into service. Some of the Raptors never even got a thorough paint job of the stealthy stuff," Sky Gazer reported. "Just take them down for now!"

"Roger!" She pulled up behind another Raptor for the chase. It pulled away from her, but not fast enough. It pulled up, starting to climb away from her. She sent a burst from her cannon into the turbines. The metal within shredded and the Raptor blew apart, forcing Rhapsody to bank away before she got hit by the debris. She watched it fall before spying a missile arching up from the docks on the edge of the city. Another missile launched and speared one of Emerald's Hornets. There was no chute, not after that explosion. "The sub base is launching cruise missiles!"

"We'll handle the rest of the fighters, Wraith!" Sprig called. "The sub pens are yours!"

Banking, Rhapsody pulled away from the battle, making sure to give an Su-47 that got too bold a rake across the belly with her cannon and then sent a missile into the engines. The pilot bailed as the plane burst into flames. Throttling up, the Tomcat roared as she bared down on the pens. One of the submarines had surfaced and engaged its SAM launcher. The Tomcat pilot pushed down, only a couple dozen feet from the top of the water. From the sub, a missile launched; however, the way it was designed, the missile had to go into the air at least fifty feet before arcing around to hit the target.

It flew right over Rhapsody, who locked onto the sub and fired her own missile. The missile speared the side of the submarine, tearing open a hole which poured with water. There was another submarine nearby where she did the same. Both submarines took on water, sinking into the shallow water. Pulling around to observe her work, she saw Gryphons were pouring out of the top, struggling to get away from the submarine trying to pull them under. "There were only two submarines in the pens. Both are down!"

"Nice work, Wraith! Sanitize the airspace around the city; we still need to get air superiority!" Sky Gazer ordered.

Amethyst sent the Su-47 careening to the ground after a missile strike. "That's two! I never believed the hype about the Su-47 before and sure don't now!"

"They're still good pilots, Phantom," Sprig replied as she flew by, chasing an F15S. Amethyst gave a short noise of confirmation as she engaged and shot down a pair of helicopters firing on a tank column before backing up Rhapsody as she blazed back into the fight.

"Warlord's Talon to any AEGIS forces in the vicinity! Gryphon forces have opened fire on the battleship and it's suffered too much damage to weather it all. We need assistance so we can keep laying down cover fire for the ground forces!"

"Wraith, you're closer! See what you can do!" Sky Gazer called.

The Tomcat banked and saw a number of puffs from deeper in the city. Banking once more, Rhapsody saw one hit the river beyond the hull while the other landed right on the port side. She throttled up and angled herself, locking onto one of the howitzers. They started to back up, but she fired before they could turn and turned the pair into smoking, burning hulks of metal. The last one was rolling down the street for its life. Rhapsody pulled up and let it go, seeing a Hibernian tank rolling down the intersection nearby.

"Wraith, returning to air supremacy."

Applejack covered her head as an explosion ripped through the building beside her. Yanking the handle on her machine gun, she resumed firing into the troops ahead. Her heavy rounds tore through the simple sandbag barricades, tearing into the gryphons behind. Her gunner fired again, sending the round into the BMP firing at them. Beside, the Marines from Manehatten gunned down a number of ICG guards trying to flank them, while their new friends on the Talon gave the support they could. Applejack's cousin apparently had made a new friend, as well, and his eyes were helping them along well.

"Staff Sergeant Seed!" the Colonel called. The Marine looked up to her cousin. "Start clearing these buildings! We need to secure this part of the city!"

"Yes ma-" An explosion tore into the side of the M1 Applejack commanded, rocking it. It wasn't a tank round, otherwise they'd be dead. It was from a simple RPG fired from a window above them. The Marines began firing up in that direction, and Babs aimed her rifle, sending a grenade into the window. The blast made sure there would be no more RPGs coming from that floor.

Applejack shook her head and secured her helmet, jumping from the turret to inspect the damage. Babs ran to her side, aiming down the street to cover the Colonel. "It's not bad, we can still make it."

"Ma'am, some of the boys are wondering if Ghost One is up there," her radiopony called. "But they're also saying she's be reassigned."

"Reassign our best ace?" Babs spat. "Not likely."

Applejack thrust her finger at her radiopony. "Sergeant you tell them she's here! It's not a lie, I know she is! Tell everypony on the ground to do their jobs and let the air crews handle everything else!" He nodded and sank back into the tank. The Colonel drew her pistol and looked towards the building where the RPG came from. Three gryphons were running towards them through the doors. Babs acted first, unloading her rifle into the doorway while Applejack fired her pistol. They were not soldiers, but citizens who took up arms against the AEGIS forces were designated a threat.

"RPG!" One of the Marines screamed. They all hit the dirt, but Applejack, swiftly cursing herself afterwards, looked to see what direction it was coming from. She then grunted as a heavy weight grabbed and threw her to the ground. An earsplitting blast rocked the ground just feet from her. Her ears folded back tightly onto her helmet and they rang loudly. Her vision was fuzzy, but she made out the weight that had gotten her.

Focusing her eyes, she could see the pained face of Babs, her face twisted into one of pure agony, eyes flooding with tears. She was screaming, but Applejack couldn't hear it. She did however see the place where the RPG came from explode, and a familiar Tomcat pull away. Alright, Wraith, She thought. You've redeemed yourself from all the –

Finally, she felt the warmth on her legs. Applejack's eyes bulged when she looked down, noting that her legs were covered in blood, while Babs's... they were...

"Cous'," Babs cried, the Colonel's hearing returning. Her eyes were soaked with moisture as she sobbed. "I can't feel my legs, cous! I can't feel my damn legs!"

"Daddy, no!"

High Marshal Harkol, Supreme Commander of the Gryphon armed forces, held his daughter's arms. "Sweetheart, listen to me! You have to get on there; you'll be safe outside the city!"

"But I don't want to leave you!" she bawled, moving his arms aside and clutching him tightly.

"Alvin, you know she's scared of heights!" his wife yelled. "She can't get on there!"

Alvin Harkol picked his daughter up into his arms, but supporting his daughter with one, he thrust his claw at the Osprey just a few feet away. "You need to both get on there and get out of the city! I won't forgive myself if you're here and something happens to you!"

"As would I, husband," his wife cried, hugging him tightly. "I don't want to lose you, too!"

"General!" the pilot called from the cargo hold of the Osprey. "AEGIS has taken the sub pens and the bridges! They're heading this way!"

Harkol set his daughter down and pecked his wife's cheek, a simply kiss between gryphons. "Stay here, I need to speak to the others! Then you will get on the choppers! Understand?" The female gryphon nodded swiftly, tears rolling down her cheeks as their daughter clung to her mother. With those words, he ran towards the Osprey and towards the cockpit to issue final orders to his troops.

Rhapsody spun herself around a skyscraper, sending a barrage from her cannon into the side of a Hind. The rotors took the brunt, disconnecting from the rest of the vehicle and it plummeted to the helipad it had taken off from, exploding into a plume of fire atop the skyscraper.

"All aircraft! We've received reports from the ground troops that the Joint Chiefs are making an escape!" Rhapsody blinked and looked around the airspace. Far away, she saw a cluster of helicopters near where she had made a bombing run almost ten minutes ago. "Orders from the Midnight! Those leaders must not be allowed to escape. You are to shoot them down immediately!"

Rhapsody banked around. She had just the tools to handle it.

The T-90 fired a round, but missed the AEGIS IFV that shot a tear gas round into a rioting group of civilians. Trying to give chase, it was cut off as an Leopard pulled around the corner, the two exchanging rounds, and the T-90 managed to send a round into it. But it went wide when the driver of the T-90 panicked seeing the enemy tank. The round took out the treads of the Leopard, but the gun still fired. The T-90 pulled around a bakery, hiding.

"I'm telling you, man!" the gunner cried. "We're screwed! Let's just get out and go home!"

"We've still got our orders-" The commander tried to say, but a shrill cry above made him look up. Expecting an AEGIS A-10, he brought his gun around. But he spotted a sight that, to Gryphons all over, was a more terrifying sight.

"Sir, that's the Ghost! It's the Grim Reaper!"

The commander swallowed. The Ghost flying over the Capital. The war was lost.

"Medic!" Applejack screamed. A pair of IFVs from Hibern stopped beyond the tank of the Colonel and troops with red crosses painted on their hulls. Half a dozen hippogriffs with red crosses on their helmets jumped out. They rushed over to her and the wounded Babs Seed.

The first medic caught his breath. "Oh damn... they're just... gone."

"Suck it up, Private!" the second yelled. "Get her on; we need to get her out before she dies!"

"Colonel, this is Commando sniper team Alpha on the Talon. She gonna be okay?" Applejack didn't have an answer as she saw her cousin get her wounds bandaged. The only thing she could do was kick a rock and get back into her tank, calling out orders.

"On your six, Wraith!" Sprig called out. Rhapsody turned to look, seeing her wingmate come up behind. She spotted her with similar missiles, and the two shared wings on their way.

Six V-22 Ospreys were firing up their rotors, preparing for takeoff. "Wraith, I'll cover you. You take the choppers!" The Hippogriff's hornet banked, engaging a pair of F-15 ACTIVEs.

"Got it, thanks, Banshee!" Rhapsody throttled up and switched to her special weapons. Two of the Ospreys were already taking off, and Rhapsody raked them with her cannon. The second was struck right in the right turbine and it sharply banked, striking the first in the belly. Both crashed hard to the ground, and the Tomcat pulled up high, barring down on the remaining Ospreys. The pilots had to be frantically trying to take off; they were rising up with barely enough power.

Rhapsody angled herself, and got all four on her HUD. Four squares reticule went out and locked onto them, and she pressed the button down. Four missiles dropped from the belly of her Tomcat and tore through the air. Four explosions tore into the Ospreys, sending them hurtling to the ground, crashing into the tarmac and the adjacent hangars. She then saw there was one left at the far end. She angled her fighter until she was going straight down the center. Her gun reticule lit up when she was close enough.

Rhapsody pulled the trigger.

The Osprey was struck dead on by the volley from the Tomcat's cannon. Both female gryphons shrieked as the mother covered her daughter to the rain of death, but they were nowhere near the volley to be hit.

Slowly, the mother looked back, to see the Osprey had been ruined, riddled with holes. The turbines whined as they began to power down from severed cables that provided the power. "Stay here, Harriet," she murmured. She stood and moved towards the chopper as the Tomcat, the perpetrator, rose high into the sky and away from them. She looked within and saw the holes, and the blood.

Within, the pilot and co-pilot lay slumped over. But her eyes focused on the third occupant. High General Harkol lay in a pool of his own life fluids, eyes wide in shock.

She fell to her knees and let out a wail. Behind, her daughter knew what happened, and joined.

"Tango, two o'clock! Red statue!"

"Frag out!" Marcus cried, throwing the grenade over his shoulder.

An explosion rocked the hallway. Gunfire was traded once more as the Hippogriffs and their royal guide aimed down the hallways. Their rifles blazed through the royal guards, their tactics wholly revealed by the gryphon prince who willingly fired into his own people. Within seconds, however, the hallway was clear. The only enemy remaining was a butler, who had thrown down his own sub machinegun and blubbered in a corner, begging to not be killed. Marcus sent him on his way to the safe zone in the castle for staff who could not fight.

"Just a few meters," Marcus told his hippogriff comrades. "The last vestige of my father's guard are in the throne room."

Twilight exhaled as she stared at the screen. The Night Stalker leader of Bravo Two was heading down further into the palace. They met little resistance, and nopony had been killed. The Thestrals always made sure to keep themselves out of harm's way with their advanced rifles, able to fire around corners with the flip of a lever. The lack of heavy resistance meant they made great time in getting to the dungeons. It was dark, but the gun-camera on the lead Thestral's rifle was given a night-vision lens. The operators themselves had their own natural night-sight.

"Doors unlocked," the Thestral in front commented. He slowly opened it, aiming his rifle down the dimly lit corridor. "I'm not smelling any guards, plenty of blood though."

"Mind yourself, Private," the leader ordered. "He said the cell was at the far end of the hall."

Within seconds, they had arrived. Bravo Two aimed his rifle into the cell, grunting at the sight. "I think it's her, get the door open."

The Corporal reached into his pack, pulling out a spray can. He doused the lock, which made a crackling sound as it quickly rusted away. He then shoved it open and inspected the occupant. Twilight got a look at them, and her breath caught in her throat. A hand fell on the mare's shoulder and she turned. Princess Celestia tightened her grip on her former students shoulder as they both watched the Thestrals work.

"Legs are broken; looks like they never even trimmed her hooves. Wings are in bad shape too," Bravo Two announced. He gently held the wing and the pony below shuddered. "Tail's been shaved, mane's gone."

Twilight sniffed, and nearly broke down when the mare hesitantly turned her head upwards to see the newest occupants of her cell. The teal eyes were bloodshot, and she had bruises all over her face and, what little could be seen, all over her body. "Identity confirmed," Bravo Two announced aloud. "It's her." The lead Thestral gently lifted her face and spoke with a soft voice to the terrified mare. "Captain? We're Princess Luna's Night Stalkers. We're here to bring you home." The yellow pegasus mare gave the tiniest whimper, then shook with sobs as she leaned against the Thestral for comfort that had been long neglected. Bravo Two reached around and gently held the mare.

"Oh Fluttershy," Twilight rasped. "What have they done to you?"

"Fox two!"

Rhapsody's missile speared the AA gun trying to flee down the road, turning it into a burning hulk. She pulled up, targeting a pair of Hinds that were strafing an AEGIS frigate that was combing the docks. Her two remaining XMAA missiles launched, turning both into ruined metal that crashed into the water.

"Getting reports from around the battlefield!" Scootaloo called. "Patching them through!"

"This is Tango Five! We've taken control of the airport!"

"Commissar Karat to all forces! The city center is ours and the gryphons are scattering like roaches!"

"Colonel Apple here! We've surrounded and infiltrated the ICG headquarters! White flags are going up all around us! And Wraith, I owe you when you land!"

Rhapsody smiled at the last. "They've really taken a pounding, haven't they?"

Mythic replied, "Well you did just turn their Joint Chief's escape choppers into scrap metal, with them inside. So they don't have sufficient leadership right now."

"You're their biggest fear, Wraith!" Aquamarine called out for the first time since the battle started. Rhapsody had seen the young crystal pilot drop bomb after bomb on Gryphon armor that was pouring through the streets and supporting the Colonel's battalion as they extracted the special ops teams at the bridge controls. He and his squads had single-hoofedly saved those bridges from being retaken. "You're our hero, and their nightmare."

"Let's cut the chatter!" Scootaloo called from Sky Gazer. "All aircraft keep laying down cover fire! This isn't over yet!"

"This is it."

Bravo One stood across from Marcus, while the rest of the squad formed up behind them. "These gryphons are the most dangerous in the Royal Guard, and they won't go down easily."

"We'll just have to put more bullets through them, eh," one of the hippogriffs in the squad offered.

"Wise attitude," Marcus commented, checking his magazine. "On your go, Captain."

Bravo One nodded and slowly approached the door. He grasped it and tested it; good, unlocked. He nodded once more at Marcus, who grasped the ring on his flash grenade. The second it was pulled, Bravo One opened the door part way, Marcus threw it inside and the door was swiftly shut.

"Flashbang!" one of the guards within screamed.

It went off.

"Go go go!" Bravo One cried. He kicked the door open and the Special Wing Service troops pushed inside, firing at the guards within. Screams echoed through the hall as the guardsmen were gunned down by the hippogriffs. There were fewer than expected, and the armed palace staff within had chosen to throw down their weapons and hide behind the pillars.

"Room clear!" a Private announced.

Marcus paid them no mind. He strode forward, slinging his weapon back and drawing his sidearm. "You!" Sharpclaw screamed as he adjusted his eyes. "Who do you think you are?! How dare you invade my home, kill my soldiers!"

"They were mine too," Marcus announced. Sharpclaw whirled on the would-be hippogriff, who ripped off his facemask and his helmet. The gryphon king blanched at his son, snarling. A few of the palace servants peeked behind their hiding spots and gave a start, shaking even worse than before. Surviving Palace guards could only stare in shock.

"So your treason is complete. Not only do you invade your own home, you gun down good warriors who gave an oath to defend the royal family! Defend you!"

The former prince did not answer, instead continuing his advance forward. "I'm not a royal anymore, remember? You banished me."

Sharpclaw hissed as he aimed a claw at Marcus. "You are still a gryphon! These are still your people! I was prepared to let you live a quiet life in the city, but you turned to our enemies for asylum!"

"I turned to them for aid in bringing down your tyranny!" Marcus cried. "It's over! AEGIS is all over Fyrick! The Inner City Guard is in shambles! We have no forces sufficient to fight them with, now!"

"Because you betrayed them all! Gave away their secrets, their tactics!" Sharpclaw roared. "You've betrayed your own people for your own selfish gains!"

Still Marcus proceeded forward, his boots echoing hard on the marble floor, staining with the blood of the fallen royal guards. The handgun in his claws rattled as he stopped, eyeing his father. "Does this situation seem familiar, father? The son staring down his sire?"

Luna whirled on her sister, who stared at the screen. She had moved away from Twilight, who was being comforted by Cadence. "We were supposed to take him alive. Sister, what is he doing?" the Lunar Princess hissed.

The Solar Princess watched with cold, calculated eyes as she saw through Bravo One's gun camera, as Marcus stared down the Gryphon King, his own father, pistol in hand. Celestia's voice was low, almost hollow, and callous. She never looked away from the screen when she responded, "Correcting our mistake."

Rhapsody fired from her cannon, tearing a hole in the wing of the Gryphnian F-15 ACTIVE. It listed heavily before she gave it another volley, sending it crashing into the street where a furious battle between Hippogriff Challenger tanks and a squad of BMPs tore apart the area. "Sky Gazer! How's the battle coming?"

"Reports say it's definitely in our favor! Some sectors are reporting that the police force is working with us to gather of civilian fighters and restraining them. They don't want any more innocents in the cross fire."

"Good to know not all of them want to fight us," Amethyst commented.

"On top of that, several areas are being designated surrender points for the gryphons. The call is going out for a city wide ceasefire."

"Your grandfather never gave up his throne easily, and I aided AEGIS plenty of times in the past! They put me here! They needed me! They needed the gryphons. You were there; though young, you knew the details. And here you are aiding them in bringing down your own home! Our way of life! Our honor!"

"And now you feel what grandfather felt when his own son stared him down, and he stared down the barrel of a gun." Marcus pulled the hammer back. "AEGIS may not have trusted you, but they valued your resources and your support. Like they told me; it's time their mistake was corrected."

Sharpclaw threw his arms out. "You're going to murder me? Your own father? Who cared for you, nurtured you when your mother gave her last breath to give you life? I shielded you from the world and it's flames, but you have not only dared the flames, you've brought them home to burn it down. How dare you do this to your people! Your father!"

"You're a drunk, a tyrant, and a warmonger," Marcus spat. "You're not my father."

Sharpclaw seethed, his face turning red. In a blur, he had reached beside his throne, grabbing a sword. "Then it's time," he huffed, "That I correct my own mistake. Had I known it would come to this, I would've cast your worthless carcass out the window when you were born!" He raised the sword and took to his wings. "BY THE KINGS!"

Marcus fired.

"All aircraft, messages from the battle are pouring in! Gryphons are surrendering in droves!"

"YEEHAW!" Mythic shouted. "Fyrick's ours! Take that, featherheads!"

"I can't believe it! We did it!" Amethyst shrieked.

Sprig laughed. "I knew we could do it! I knew it!"

Rhapsody closed her eyes as she leveled out. She listened to the pilots gathered around her, hearing their screams and cheers, boasts and brags. Down below, she saw AEGIS armor and infantry moving through the streets. Their navy was blockading the sea around the city. Fyrick would soon be under full AEGIS control, and soon she'd be going home –

"Hold on a moment," Scootaloo shouted through the radio. "Got a radar spike."

"If it's a bomber squadron," Sprig commented, "I'm gonna be bloody pissed."

"Negative, it's smaller. Formation of five fighters. V formation."

"Five planes in a V," Rhapsody replied dismally. "We all know who it is."

Meteor Six adjusted her glove, looking out on her city. Fyrick, a bustling metropolis, now had AEGIS aircraft, tanks, soldiers, and ships all over it. The remaining Gryphnian navy vessels were in shambles, the Warlord's Talon stuck in the river. Her father's flagship, according to her brief report, was crawling with Crystal Empire commandos. The palace had been invaded, and AEGIS armor and infantry were corralling Gryphons like cattle to open areas for guard. She sighed and shook her head. "We're too late."

"I don't think we would've made much of a difference, Six," her wingmate replied.

"We would've made a difference, believe me," Six retorted. "This is our final fight, gentlemen. We make out last stand for Gryphnia here. It's been an absolute honor to fly with you."

"The honor was ours, ma'am."

Rhapsody banked, heading for the enemy formation.

"Looks like they're making a last stand for Fyrick. You've beaten them before, Wraith; you can end this war here and now. Leave the rest of the city to us," Sky Gazer said calmly.

"She's not doing this alone," Mythic commented. Rhapsody saw his Typhoon take up her wing, and smiled wider when Sprig and Amethyst flew beside him. "You're never alone, Wraith. We'll always have your back."

"We're family, Wraith," Sprig called from her Hornet. "We stick together, and we'll end this together."

"Still," Amethyst murmured. "Think we can take down five Meteors with four planes?"

"Now you can." Rhapsody blinked and looked to her left. A Blue and yellow F-15S with a familiar fire mark on the nose pulled up beside her. "Now it's an even fight," Spitfire commented stoically.

"Our honorary Ghost wing member," Mythic cheered. "Good to have you, Major."

Amethyst chuckled. "Yep, we got this now."

"Major, permission to fly on your wing," Rhapsody asked through a wide smile behind her mask.

"Permission denied." The mare blinked, then watched in confusion as the Wonderbolt lead's fighter pulled back behind her. "I'm on your wing, Wraith. Let's do this."

"I see them now," Sprig reported. "Let's get this over this, mates, and head home!"

"This war ends now!" Mythic declared.

"I'll make you proud, brother," Amethyst proclaimed bravely. "I'm not scared anymore!"

Rhapsody throttled up, her Tomcat roared, teeth barred. "Ghost wing, ENGAGE!"

Chapter 28

"Meteor Squadron, engage!"

The Terminator's split off, with Six blazing after the leader. The Tomcat. The Wraith.

"Damnit! One of them already got a lock," one of her younger pilots shouted.

"Fox two!" Mythic cried.

The Terminator flipped, letting the missile fly under while the pilot banked sharply up and around. Mythic's Typhoon turned tight to keep up, the g-forces pulling him hard into his seat, but the nimble Gryphon fighter was more agile. Soon, the Terminator had performed the signature cobra maneuver, and the grey pegasus stallion soon found himself being the hunted.

"Damn it! I can't keep up with them!" he shouted.

Sprig suddenly flew by, chasing one of the Meteors in her Hornet. "Just keep out of their aim!"

"Easier said than done, Banshee!" he retorted.

Rhapsody rolled, narrowly being shredded by the Terminator's cannon. "Just keep on your targets! We'll get 'em!" Yet as she finished her sentence, she knew well enough that the only fighter capable of handling the Su-37s was Major Spitfire's F-15S/MTD. The Wonderbolt already had her hands full with two who were chasing her. Amethyst had given pursuit, but she was hard pressed to keep up. The three other planes had thrust vectoring, making them more agile, and therefore Amethyst was simply just an annoyance on the Meteors more than a threat.

Still, the Crystal mare wouldn't give up, even if the Major just uttered the words, 'I can't shake them!'

Rhapsody then banked low, blazing by a skyscraper, a volley of bullets scrapping by her wings as she rose into the sky. Her engines gave her all they could, her wings folded back to compensate for the speed, as it was all she could do was dodge everything thrown at her.

Six narrowed her eyes. "Come on... You've got to slip up sometime. Though I'll be disappointed if you do."

"Shade! Missile! Break!" Spitfire yelled.

Mythic pulled to his right, hard, and the Meteor came blazing right by and nearly rammed his Typhoon. "He overshot me!" he reported, and once again gave chase. His missile reticule darted all over his HUD as he tried to get a lock. The Terminator's pilot would have none of it though, and continued to dart all over the skies. "Hold still, you bastard," he hissed. His thumb hovered over the button for his missile. His breathing pace increased as the reticule got closer.

"This pony's all over me! Someone delouse my six!" Meteor Nine cried.

"Hang on, bro," Ten said. "I got him."

Amethyst's voice suddenly cut through the haze of battle. "Phantom to Shade. One of the Meteor's broke away from the Major and heading your way!"

"Roger!" As if on cue, Mythic's alarm began buzzing. Taking a quick glance back through his canopy, he saw the familiar red tipped wings that were the trademark of the Meteor. Swearing, he broke away from his quarry and dove for the streets. As expected, the enemy fighter followed. "He's all over me! Let's see if he wants to play chicken!" He continued his dive, and suddenly the warning blared. Enemy missile locked and fired. Putting what agility his Typhoon had to use, he yanked his stick back and pulled up, nearly slamming into the ground. At this distance, the missile should have slammed into the ground.

Yet the alarm kept blaring. He chanced a look back, and saw the missile still streaking after him, the Terminator not far behind. "They're packing QAAMs!" Amethyst shouted. "Bolt One almost got hit!"

"I could've told you that, Phantom!" Spitfire cried. "Now get him off me!"

Rhapsody spun her fighter around. She was almost reacting without consciousness when her reticule locked onto a Meteor.

She fired.

The missile launched, narrowly scraping the Terminator that was chasing Spitfire. It broke away, and the Major flipped her Agile Eagle onto its tail and throttled up, she and Amethyst now giving chase. When her own alarm buzzed for an enemy missile, the Wraith was called into the real world once more and she began an upward helix into the air. She turned as tight as the Tomcat could, praying she wasn't going to get a missile up her tail.

Yet another volley from the Meteor's cannon tore through the air around her canopy. She rolled and dove for the ground. "This one's only using the cannon!"

"Fox two!" Spitfire cried, then swore when it must've missed. "I caught sight of the nose! It's Six, the squadron leader! She's of the few true dogfighters in the world."

"Like you?" Rhapsody asked swiftly as she slammed her brakes, hoping to cause the enemy fighter to over shoot her.

"Like you," Spitfire corrected.

Rhapsody allowed a small smile at that, but lost it when she needed to return focus. The Terminator had indeed gone over her. Whether to give her a sporting chance, or made a mistake, she didn't care. She throttled up to give chase once more. "She's good, but only one of us is coming away from this!" Gaining on the Terminator, she squeezed off her cannon. They missed, but served to steer the Terminator away from the city. If there would be any kills, she didn't want them falling on the city. It had suffered enough damage.

Meteor Six suddenly performed a cobra, and once more the Wraith was the prey.

Amethyst's Hornet struggled but kept pace with the Meteor, her reticule trying to gain a lock. She was packing special air-to-air missiles to fire beyond visual range. Not at all effective at this range. "Banshee, how're you doing on your end?" she asked.

"Like shit, mate! He's persistent!"

"Hang on, I'll be right there!" Amethyst broke away from the Meteor. "Major, he's yours!"

"Roger!" The Agile Eagle kept pursuit while the young Crystal mare banked and scanned the skies for Sprig. She saw her, trailed close by the Meteor in question. She flipped the switch on her console and her HUD blared for a lock. Her special missile launched, forcing the Meteor to break and Amethyst gave chase. The Meteor rose up high, hoping to lose her in the clouds. Thankfully he didn't know about a new trick she had learned.

"Rhapsody says the clouds aid the just," she murmured. "Let's see if the crazy talk is true." She slowed herself down, beginning a sharp bank. She scanned the clouds, hoping the telltale sign of the Meteor's bright red underbelly would show. "Where are you?" Her console blared and she yelped, banking away. The missile blazed by, but the Meteor kept close by.

"Got you now, Pony," Meteor Eleven growled. The Hornet banked left and right, before it spun and turned sharply to the right, vanishing into thicker clouds. He gave chase, seeking another lock. But his lock reticule vanished from his HUD; the pony was right in front of him! They just were! He looked all around his airspace, unable to see any sign of the Hornet.

"The hell did you go?" he muttered. He broke through the clouds, but was unable to find the Hornet. "Anyone got eyes on the Hornet I was – "

"ELEVEN! ON YOUR TAIL!"

There was a sudden roar behind him. A torrent of bullets tore through the Terminator. He coughed and grunted, eyes bulging as he looked down, seeing horrible splotches of red all over his flight suit. He looked ahead, his HUD shattered, smoking and sparking, coated in red. Static broke his brother's voice, shouting his name. Slowly, his eyes closed, his last view being his own console covered in his own blood, red coating the picture on his console of a beautiful gryphon leaning over a motorcycle, winking at him.

"I'm sorry, Elsa," he murmured. "I broke my... prom..."

"I got one!" Meteor down!" Amethyst shouted gleefully, watching the flaming Meteor she had riddled with holes hurtle towards the ground to its doom.

"Phantom! BREAK RIGHT!" Mythic screamed.

Amethyst blanched and looked back. A Meteor had taken up her tail when she paused to look at her third Meteor go down. Her missile launch warning blared as she saw the familiar smoke trail heading her way. She yanked her stick to the left to get away, but the missile was already on her, and she knew it. She managed one last scream of fear before the QAAM slammed into the tail of her Hornet.

The hornet's rear blew, bursting into flames. "Phantom's hit! Phantom's hit!" Mythic screamed.

Rhapsody looked around for the crystal mare. "Anypony see a chute?" Rhapsody shouted.

"Negative!" Sprig cried. "No chute! No chute!"

Rhapsody's eyes widened in terror as she broke away from Meteor Six, abandoning her chase to look for Amethyst's Hornet. Just within the metropolitan area, she gave a wail of agony when she saw the fireball spinning towards the ground. Half the Hornet was gone, only the nose, cockpit, and part of the wings simply rotating in air as it hurtled towards oblivion. "Amethyst!" Rhapsody called in anguish. Her heart sank; their youngest member was gone, and right on their final –

"Piece of shit!" Amethyst screamed. Rhapsody almost laughed at the voice, happy she was still alive and that the young mare never swore. "Finally! Bailing out!"

The Hornet's canopy blew away and Amethyst's pilot seat jolted into the air, a chute deploying not long after.

"Sky Gazer! We need a SAR bird on Phantom, now!" Rhapsody called out.

"Already on it!" Scootaloo confirmed. "We got one of theirs, they got one of ours. At least she's alright."

She banked at the right moment. Spitfire suddenly cried out, "Wraith! Behind you!"

Six growled when her cannon missed the Tomcat's tail. But at the same time, she was relieved. She wanted this fight to last a good long while. The Ghost banked and headed for the clouds. Six gave chase, waiting until she was in range for a gun kill.

"Don't die on me yet, Ghost," she murmured. "First good fight I've had in months. I want this fight to last for days."

Mythic hissed as he banked left and right, twisting his Typhoon to its limits as the Terminator followed behind like the predator it was. He ground his teeth and pushed downwards, rolling himself like a drill towards the ground. The Meteor followed just as he expected, not that there was any other way it could be. As soon as he got low enough, he yanked his stick back and leveled out. The nimble enemy did the same. Tracers whipped by his canopy as he rolled left and right trying to break him away. His missile warning kept blaring, causing him to growl in frustration as he started climbing again. "Damn thing won't shut up! Why can't this guy just f-" His warning blared once more.

"Shade! Break!"

"Left or right?!"

"YES!" Spitfire screamed.

Mythic shouted in anger and rolled, diving for the ground once more. The missile streaks by his tail with the Terminator still in pursuit. The Typhoon was shaking, straining under the constant twists and turns, and his fuel was getting low. "Damn it! I'm getting a little tired of being chased," he exclaimed vehemently. He pulled his Typhoon between two Skyscrapers and once again made a circle around, hoping to get behind the Terminator. Turning a little tighter, he then whipped himself around the second building, performing a solid figure eight.

He looked around for the red tail of the Su-37, but saw no sign. As if it had just vanished from sight. Mythic's wings itched badly and his hairs on his neck stood rigid while his skin paled. "Where the hell..?"

"Gotcha!"

The Terminator's cannon roared.

Mythic shouted in surprise as the din of cannon fire tore into his Typhoon. His console blared even as he turned away from it. Fuel leak, damaged turbine, intake rupture, and his right flaps torn away from the wing; the fighter was a mess. "Son of a bitch!" he shouted as he weaved as best he could through the remaining cannon fire. It suddenly jerked violently and he looked back. His right engine had caught fire. He frowned as he pitched to the left to avoid another volley; he wasn't getting out of this. "I can't keep it up, everypony!"

"Don't worry about that, Shade," Rhapsody called. "Just save yourself!"

"I'm taking this bastard with me though. Time to fight fire with fire." He suddenly grinned. "Get it? Fire with fire? My plane's on fire?"

"Shut up and bail out, mate!" Sprig shouted.

Mythic groaned and throttled up hard. However, this poured more fuel into his burning engine; any second and it would blow. He would need perfect timing with this; one second misplaced and he was a fireball. He took one last look back, and confirmed the Terminator was still chasing him. He waited until the enemy fighter had throttled up as well before he slammed the breaks and yanked his stick back hard, kicking in his remaining flaps.

The Typhoon lurched to a halt, standing straight up in the air. Within seconds, Mythic had reached between his knees and yanked the handle.

"A Typhoon pulling a Cobra?!" Ten cried, unbelieving of what he was seeing. A wounded fighter pulling the dangerous dogfighting move. The canopy suddenly blew off the airframe and the pilot shot out horizontal. Not only a Cobra, but ejecting during it? It was almost in slow motion as Ten turned his eyes upward to watch, and the AEGIS pilot had thrown up both his arms, his hands ending in one-fingered salutes.

"You jerk!"

"Ten look out!" Six called out.

Ten looked forward. He screamed and almost reflectively pulled the eject handle. His canopy barely blew in time, same with his seat. Ten was hurtled into the open air and the explosion of the collision nearly knocked him out from the shock wave. Once he had unstrapped himself and kicked away, he looked for the AEGIS pilot. It didn't take him long, and he flapped hard to chase.

"Ten's down!" Four shouted. She watched the combined wreckage of the AEGIS Typhoon and the Su-37 crumple together like paper and end as a fireball heading for the street below. "Who the hell are these ponies?!"

"They're Ghost Wing," Six answered sullenly. "The best AEGIS has."

Four hissed as she fired a pair of missiles, but the hornet she was chasing nimbly rolled and banked away. "It's about to be 'had'."

"Mythic!" Sprig screamed.

"I'm alright, featherhead! I'm gonna sit up here and watch the fight." The lone hippogriff looked back to see a familiar pair of grey wings carrying their owner up atop a skyscraper. She then spotted another pair of wings heading for him at an almost manic speed. The Gryphon was upon Mythic before she could warn him. "Banshee, right!"

Sprig growled as she yanked her stick that way, narrowly avoiding another missile. She craned her neck back, seeing the two fliers get into a fist fight in midair, then focused on her own Terminator. "C'mon beaky... Just a little closer."

The Terminator throttled up, trying to get Sprig in range for a gun kill. Doing this just as Sprig began to slow down, though keeping up her pace by maneuvering around buildings, diving, climbing, anything to keep out of the Meteor's sights. Sadly, this made her intended tactic that much more difficult to enact. Several tracers went over her canopy, causing her to gasp as she rolled, heading for the skies.

Spitfire banked hard right and almost stalled as she spun in a full circle to get behind the Terminator. It rolled and headed for the ground. As they blazed by a pair of skyscrapers, she caught sight of a familiar pair of grey wings flapping hard around a pair of brown. Mythic was still in a fist fight with the Meteor pilot who had ejected after him. "Hey, Shade, you make a new friend?"

"Shut up!" Spitfire chuckled as she let loose a missile which narrowly clipped the Terminator's tail. She suddenly heard a grunt and heard Mythic yelling. "Don't! Touch! My! Hair!"

On her next pass, she caught sight of Mythic hovering in midair with his helmet in his right hand, the Gryphon hurtling to the ground.

"Little more... little more!" Sprig jammed her hooves into her rudders and throttled back, barrel rolling in midair. The g-forces pressed against her, threatening to crush her chest. Her eyes watered from the sudden slowing and vertigo, but it served its purpose. The Terminator blazed right by her, and she squeezed her trigger. A torrent from the cannon erupted from the nose of her Hornet, sending tracers and lead into the fuselage.

The Terminator banked, but still got volley after volley of cannon rounds through its fuselage and wings. The fluids within then caught fire and it exploded. The enemy fighter became a fireball. "Haha! Take that you – " A chunk of the tail broke off, flying right for her. "Oh bullocks."

She banked to avoid, even knowing it was futile. The metal chunk tore off her right wing and a good portion of her fuselage. Twisting metal tore through Sprig's ears, and the Hornet lurched and spun violently. She shrieked as her body was slung around, held back only by her straps on her seat. She did manage to wrap her claws around the eject handle, however, and gave it a yank. But the canopy was delayed. It blew off, but Sprig was flung from the cockpit, her right wing slamming into the canopy.

"Ah shite! My wing!" she called out, screaming in pain.

Her left wing flapped uselessly, trying to slow her fall by itself. Her eyes watered more as the ground got closer. But within seconds, her vision began to go sideways after a heavy force struck her left side.

"Got ya, featherhead!"

Rhapsody and her adversary kept rolling through the clouds. The Wraith took a moment to see if Sprig was alright, and saw a familiar pair of grey wings carrying her up to the Sky Scraper he had been fighting in front of moments before leaping to the rescue. She allowed a knowing smirk before flipping her Tomcat on its side, then hitting her airbrakes and spinning. The enemy Terminator rolled, avoiding the collision, and Rhapsody fired a volley from her cannon. The Meteor pilot dodged expertly but Rhapsody kept pursuit. "Looks like it's just us Major!"

"Negative!" Spitfire countered. "Last Meteor got me. I can still fly, but I'm no good in the air!" Rhapsody panned her eyes over, spotting the wounded F-15S pulling away from the city, heading south, and a Meteor flaming and heading for the ground. The tail and wing of the Agile Eagle were smoking, but she was nursing it away from the battlefield. "It's your show now, Wraith."

"Gilda, may the battle be yours."

Six frowned as she watched her final fellow Meteor fall. The canopy blew and he managed to get away, though, before the fighter met its fate with the ground. "King's speed to you, Gen. You take care, you hear?" The young Gryphon flared his wings, giving her a wave, before banking towards the city center where the other Gryphon soldiers were being rounded up.

She glanced back, spying the final Ghost fighter following her. She leveled herself out, then moved her control stick left to right. "Let's see if she has true honor."

Rhapsody quirked her brow as she slowed down, watching the Terminator wave its wings. "What is she doing?"

"I can see it," Spitfire muttered. "Six is challenging you, Wraith; wants to look you in the eye."

Rhapsody exhaled into her mask, throttling up a little to the side of the Terminator. She had never seen one up close. It was almost majestic in curves, dynamics, the way the canards flexed and twisted every so often to level out the fighter. It was a single seat jet, the pinnacle of Gryphnia's fighter technology. The paint was pristine as well, as if repainted after every sortie, and a number of fighters, tanks, and even a couple of ships decorated the nose. A deep red was painted on the belly, as well as on the upper tips of the wings and outer tips of the tail. Right behind the decals was the number 0-0-6. The Su-37 Terminator, flagship fighter of Meteor Squadron.

It was beautiful.

Rhapsody matched speed with the Gryphon, then lifted her helmet's visor and looked to her right. Beside, the Gryphon pilot did the same, giving her a little wave. Rhapsody returned it, then frowned behind her mask when the Gryphon lifted a claw and made a series of circles in the air. She blinked and reported back to Spitfire what she had seen.

"Wow..." the Major replied simply. "Rhapsody... are you familiar with the 'Dance of Death'?"

The sea green mare's shoulders almost slumped. "I am."

The Dance of Death. A traditional duel between winged beings. Pegasi, Gryphons, Hippogriffs, all the way to the ancient Corvians, the raven people of the North, across the ocean. The combatants circled each other, sizing up their opponent, then pulled into the circle, charging directly at each other with weapons drawn. It carried on into other battles, even with aircraft. Rhapsody never believed she'd be challenged to one though.

Still, she gave the Gryphon a nod with a thumb up. The other pilot nodded and began to pull away. "I've accepted," Wraith murmured.

"You truly are a warrior. Mother Mare's speed, Wraith," Spitfire commented. "Sky Gazer, send out the order. I don't want anypony interfering with this. Understand?"

"I can put a stinger right into that Meteor!" A crystal pony cried out.

"Negative!" a mare cried out into the radio. "Our fight is over."

Applejack waved at Babs as the humvee ambulance blazed off towards the makeshift hospital. Turning up to the sky, she started watching the two fighters circled each other above the city.

"Our fight is over, our war is done," she heard Spitfire call out on the radio inside her tank.

Commissar Onyx Karat lay with his right arm across his lap on the turret of a Crystal Empire Laclerc tank. Beside him, a crystal mare was giving him a tonic to knock him out while they prepared to amputate what was remaining of the left."This battle has nothing to do with us," Spitfire continued. "Gryphnia knows this battle is lost for them. But now it's a fight for honor..." Onyx gave the crystal mare a toast before downing the bottle.

Marcus looked out the shattered throne room window, seeing the two fighters begin to circle each other over the city that would take months to years to repair. "This is the final test of who's better in the skies." The SWS Captain joined him, offering a cigar. Slowly, the Prince accepted and they puffed together.

Pinkie Pie and Rarity lowered their binoculars as they watched from afar, Spitfire continuing on the radio waves. "No matter the outcome, the war is over. But their war hasn't. This fight is theirs and theirs alone. Nopony is to get involved..."

Amethyst slapped the door of the Humvee that had dropped her off at the nearby field hospital where a number of AEGIS, and even Gryphon troops, were being tended to. "These two are the best both of our sides have to offer. A battle between aces," she heard the Major say over a radio nearby. She sat down with a pair of ponies, flanked by a single Gryphon who was being heavily guarded.

Mythic and Sprig looked off in the distance, seeing their flight lead and Gryphnia's top ace circling each other, listening to Spitfire's speech through the the radio in their helmets. "This is a battle between aces. Our best versus their best. Nopony gets involved... let them fight. This duel will decide who is better; who is the top ace. Let them fight."

Sprig huffed and rubbed her right wing, which was twisted at a bad angle, but the worst of the pain had passed. She blinked at Mythic as he sat beside her, flopping down on his rear and folding his wings. He had a few bruises on his torso, exposed when he pulled his flight suit down to get some air and cool down from the fight. "Until their done fighting," the Hippogriff female began, "they're not sending a rescue."

"Eyup," was Mythic's only response.

"No rescue for a while."

"Eyup," the stallion replied again.

Sprig clicked her beak, adding, "Could be at least an hour."

Mythic simply nodded. "Eyup."

Sprig tilted her head suddenly, her gold eyes turning to Mythic. The grey-coated stallion looked back at her, ocean blue staring into gold. "You wanna?" she asked nonchalantly.

Mythic simply nodded at her. "Eyup." He barely finished the sentence before Sprig pounced.

Rhapsody looked out her canopy, staring at the Terminator circling her, much as she was circling it. Finally, she banked out of the circle, turned, and throttled up. The Terminator performed the same, and now the two were barreling towards each other. Rhapsody pulled her trigger and her cannon shredded the air, barely even touching the Gryphon fighter, she could see the tracers coming from the enemy. Turning on her right side, the Terminator blazed right by. "Never thought I'd be in one of these fights," she commented to herself. She flipped her Tomcat around, and saw the Terminator had done the same thing.

Both fighters once again went full throttle, guns blazing, as they hurtled through the air at each other. Rhapsody grit her teeth as she rolled through the enemy fire. She had to be careful, much like her adversary had to be. One false move while you're flying at each other, and you either get a volley of cannon fire into you, or you risk colliding with them. Rhapsody saw this as a joust, but neither she nor Meteor Six could get the other to make that false move. Each time they passed, their fire never seemed to get closer.

Six growled as she turned her fighter around, gazing at the Tomcat just beyond her gun range. The Wraith was making a bulky interceptor fighter fly like it was a bee, and it seemed to sting like one, too. The pilot was truly an ace.

"One of us has to slip up eventually, Wraith. Only one of us is going home."

She banked back towards the Tomcat, throttling up, and pulling the trigger.

Rhapsody's turbines roared as she pushed her throttle to the maximum and squeezed her trigger. Her cannon roared louder than the fighter as she kept rolling to avoid the incoming fire. The Terminator barrel-rolled towards her, and Rhapsody grunted as she flipped onto her left side, scraping by her opponent.

Suddenly her alarm began blaring. She looked down, seeing a missile lock. She shrieked and pulled up, but then saw it was coming straight for her from the front. She couldn't dodge it; it was coming too fast – !

She blinked when a fighter swung right in front of her, deploying its flares. The missile spun out of control, then exploded far above Rhapsody's canopy. She blinked to see her rescuer... It was the Meteor?

"Who the hell fired that?!" Six shrieked." This is a fight between the Wraith and me! NO ONE ELSE!"

"Captain I can take her out right now!" a soldier screamed from the ground.

"No one interferes! No one gets involved!" Six ripped the cords out of her fighter's console, tearing her radio apart. She saw the Tomcat flying in a straight line, and as she throttled up beside it, she saw the pilot was breathing hard. When they two locked eyes, Six held up her thumb, silently asking if she was alright. The pony nodded and held up her own. Six then made the circle with her talon again, to which the pony nodded and pulled away. "No one but us, Wraith. We decide this alone." Six pulled back into the circle.

Rhapsody watched the fighter pull away, regaining position. She did the same, and once again, Tomcat and Terminator circled above the skies.

"Twenty bits on the Meteor," a Gryphon shouted. His fellows around him in the holding area cheered him on. He then looked towards a Saddle Arabian tank that had its barrel aimed towards the crowd of captured Gryphnian soldiers. "Which one of you wants that bet?"

"Thirty bits on Wraith," a mare with a heavy accent called out. He spun, seeing an orange earth pony striding confidently towards him. She was wearing a cowpony hat as she stood right in front of the Gryphon. "I'll take that bet." She spat in her hand and held it out. The Gryphon looked at her hand, then did the same and clasped hers in his claws.

"Deal. Who else wants in?"

Wagers began to flood in.

Rhapsody yelped as a few bullets struck her fuselage. She looked back, seeing smoke pooling behind her fighter. "Left turbine out. Just my luck," she hissed as she shut it down, pouring her remaining power into her right. She was now handicapped in power with a wounded fighter. She scanned the skies for the Terminator. She gave a tiny smirk when she saw that, on what must've been their fifth pass at each other over Fyrick, the Meteor had taken similar damage.

This pilot was good. Six was very good. She, had to be with this graceful a flying style, was the most invigorating pilot she had ever flown against. It was almost to the point where Rhapsody could hold her head high even in defeat. She was going hoof to hoof – or rather hoof to paw – with Gryphnia's top ace pilot. She had the honor of facing this ace in a one-on-one fight. Proud if she won, humbled if she lost. This was truly a duel for the ages.

She leveled out her banking, matching the Terminator's movements. Once more, she looked out, staring at her opponents canopy.

Six shut down her right engine, pouring her power into the left. Exhaling deeply, she eyed the enemy fighter one more time. She circled her rival, her fellow ace, the only fighter on the AEGIS side that could possibly match her skills and prestige. This Tomcat; while the fighter was outdated, the pilot clearly was not. She had experience, she had prowess, she had honor and courage. A true warrior. An ace.

The sun was setting on Fyrick, and finally the war itself. The clouds had parted, leaving a bright, wide open sky for their duel. Below, Gryphnian soldiers were being rounded up, being taken prisoner as the city was put under AEGIS control. She could live with that, if she survived this. A fight of this magnitude, this caliber, above her city on the final day of the war, there were no certainties for her. But the only one she could possibly call such was that only one of them was going to fly away from this fight. Six wasn't sure it'd be her, but she wouldn't have minded that either.

"One more time, Wraith," Six murmured to herself. She yanked her stick, pulling inwards to the circle. "One. More. Time!"

Rhapsody pulled into the circle, shoving her throttle forward, her single turbine roaring. She lined up her reticule with the Terminator, her finger on her trigger. "One more time, girl!" she called to her Tomcat, banging her fist on the console. "One more pass! Let's show her what we can do!"

The Tomcat gave a furious howl as the Wraith charged. She pulled her trigger, sending streams of burning lead through the air. She was met at the gates by a thick volley from the Terminator. She didn't roll this time, she faced the Meteor head on. As she observed, her adversary was doing the same. No rolls, no dodging; just a straight charge towards your foe with nothing between them but open sky, the roar of cannons, and the blistering rounds tearing through each other.

Rhapsody held her finger on the trigger. She could imagine the barrels of her cannon getting white hot by now. But she didn't relent. Not when she saw tracers shooting by her canopy. Not even when she saw sparks shooting by on the armor of her fighter. Not even when she saw red decorate her console.

"Come on!" she screamed. "COME ON!"

Six roared as she gripped her control stick tight, watching her cannon rip into the fuselage of the Tomcat. She felt the rounds from the enemy tearing into the fighter, but she kept her furious war cry resounding in her cockpit. She heard several thumps inside her flight suit, but her gaze never wavered from her quarry. Sparks shot across her canopy, and she could see several sparks shooting around her inside the fighter. But she kept her speed.

Rhapsody yelped as she banked away from the Terminator's path. Alarms went off all around her. She shook her head, wincing hard as she looked down at her left arm, blood trickled from her sleeve, but it didn't look too bad, but it felt like she'd had feathers torn from her wing which was also bloodied. She looked back to see the damage; and blanched. Thick plumes of black smoke were coming out of her left and right side. She was losing fuel and pressure in her gauges. The Tomcat was in bad shape. But she actually found herself scanning the skies, looking to find the Terminator.

She found it... and it was worse.

Six panted heavily, looking across her console. Red decorated the buttons, and not all of it was from the lights. She looked down at herself, her chest rose and fell shallowly, several holes dotting her dark grey flight suit. She slowly reached up, unclipping her oxygen mask. Her breathing was still labored, and her vision began to swim. She was hit... badly. This was a mortal wound from a mortal enemy. But she gave a smile; this was a good a death.

The Wraith had gotten her. Not with a stray missile, or a lucky shot, or a misdirection from Six herself. This was pure and simple skill and dexterity. There was no interference, just the two of them and their skills to rely on. The Terminator still screeched at her, alarms going off to tell her what was wrong, but she paid them no mind. It was not as if she would be able to fix them in the air. The rule of the Dance of Death; Only one must survive. She had been beaten, and it was a good death.

Though Six's ears were ringing and her hearing was slowly receding, she could make out a jet noise different from her own. Looking to her left, she saw the Tomcat flown by the Wraith. The pony pulled up beside her, making sure to match speed with the dying fighter. Six watched the pony as she removed her oxygen mask, still able to keep a damaged Tomcat level with her. Her watering gold eyes met the rose of the pegasus mare, and a smile tug at her beak.

The mare pulled her right hand to her forehead, fingers outstretched. She was saluting her adversary. Noble. Six smiled fully at the Wraith, returning the salute. With a sigh, Six felt her body failing, and she decided enough was enough. She had been a combat pilot for years, constantly looking for that one final opponent who could take her down. And here she was, a warrior of the clouds, flying beside her.

Rhapsody watched as Six looked away from her, the Gryphon's eyes beginning to close. But as she watched, Six began tapping on her console, then gripped her control stick. Before she knew it, the Terminator's engines roared its lament, rocketing the fighter into the sky. The clouds, Rhapsody observed, began to close in around the fighter, just as the engines caught fire. The damage the plane had suffered and suddenly the addition of jet fuel into the blaze within. Rhapsody frowned, knowing the inevitable was coming. Still, she watched the fighter go high into the sky, until she passed through the cloud cover, being embraced by the birthright of all winged beings of the world, and disappeared from sight.

A bright orange flash was all that marked the final passing.

Yet Rhapsody felt no remorse, no shame. She had fought Gryphnia's toughest pilot, and emerged victorious. And she died well, that much she knew. She had heard stories of Meteor Six, and somewhere in her gut, Rhapsody knew this was a good fight, a good death. She wasn't poignant; she was proud that she had faced such an adversary.

Now, she just needed to limp herself home. "Wraith, returning to –"

The Tomcat violently shook. The entire airframe was overtaken by tremors while smoke filled the cockpit. Rhapsody's vision blurred as she looked all around her. "The hell just happened? Am I hit?"

"Captain!" Scootaloo from Sky Gazer shouted. "Your plane's burning! The back end is on fire!"

Rhapsody lifted herself up in her seat, rose eyes widening. The tail of her plane was an inferno, black smoke clouding out behind her. "I need to dive and put – " A loud crash made her look to her right. Her flaps were peeling off, and she could see the bullet holes in her wing. The Tomcat then jerked to the right, hard.

"You just lost your starboard vertical stabilizer! She's breaking apart!"

Rhapsody shook her head. "I can land it! Call the HMS Faerie Flight – "

"Wraith do you not get it? Did you not hear Sky Gazer?" Spitfire screamed. "Your plane is breaking apart! If you don't get out of there, you're going to die!"

The mare's heart skipped a beat. "But... I've flown – "

"You've flown that plane your entire career, I know," Spitfire called, tenderly. "You had a good run in that plane, we all know that. But you can't save it. If you don't eject, you're going to be killed. Do not let your pride take your life!"

The Tomcat continued screeching its alarms at her, lights flashed, and sparks began flying. So, her Tomcat, her plane, her partner, was dying. Rhapsody huffed, looking one last time at the cockpit. Finally, she patted the console. "Sorry girl," she murmured. "I'll remember you." Exhaling once more, Rhapsody flexed her body and grabbed the handle. "Wraith, bailing out!"

She heard Spitfire call out again. "Get a SAR bird out there, now!"

Just like training, she yanked the handle up. The canopy blew off the top and Rhapsody's chair rocketed into the air. Her eyes sealed shut before the chair reached its appropriate altitude. Then, typical of winged pilots, Rhapsody undid the straps of her seat and flared her sea green wings and began to flap. The chair's parachute deployed, but she let it fall; souvenir for some Gryphnian museum or some kids who wanted a new lounge chair.

Her eyes were focused on the burning hulk of a plane heading for the bay.

This was the first time she had ever seen her plane flying, and she was not in it. Granted it was falling, but she saw it was majestic in a dark way. It was hurtling towards its doom, but she took comfort it wouldn't land on anypony, or any gryphon for that matter. Like its own sacrifice, it made sure to let its pilot get safely away before the final stroke fell. The final battle of its life had been the most memorable, and now it was going for its final rest.

The Tomcat exploded.

The fuel ignited and the Tomcat became a fireball, but mercifully for only a few seconds before crashing into the water. A brilliant splash and spray of water marked the final resting place of her beloved Tomcat. Rhapsody felt her eyes watering as she could only stare at the spot it fell. Sighing, she pulled off her helmet, letting the breeze catch her mane, and looked back toward Fyrick. AEGIS fighters were circling and making patrols and attack helicopters did the same at lower altitudes. She could see Gryphon soldiers marching towards holding areas while the Fyrick police kept rioters in line. There was more than one squad of police assisting the AEGIS ground forces in corralling the more zealous citizens.

Smokes and plumes of fire rose throughout the city. Several bridges had been destroyed, and from what she could see, helicopters with red crosses were landing at various parts of the city. She also spotted Gryphon fighters landing at the airfields that were still intact. Beyond, she could see Sky Gazer circling a little lower to the city. Further to her right, the fleet was moving closer to the shores and more landing crafts were on their way to the beaches to drop of reinforcements and supplies.

From what she could see, the war was over.

The breeze once again caressed her mane and tail, whipping it around as Rhapsody kept flapping her wings and staring at the sunset sky. She closed her eyes, letting the winds tell her it was finally over. Nothing more to do today, no more enemies to kill for now; she took much solace in that. No more bases to defend, no more sorties to be flown, and at long last, no more lives to be taken. With a final wave and salute to her lost Tomcat's final resting place, she let herself drop down into city, letting her wings glide her over the cityscape, looking for the temporary command center.

"All Gryphnian troops! Cease fighting and surrender at the following; The City Park Tennis Courts, the National Library fountain courtyard..."

The speaker towers in the city, those that still worked, resounded through the city. Several humvees were rolling along the streets, broadcasting the same message. In droves, Gryphon soldiers were holding up their wings and claws. Civilians were being corralled by local police aided by AEGIS forces. The ICG was pushed into their designated holding areas.

"Get away!" she brandished the pistol again, clutching her daughter close. "You killed my husband!"

The pony soldier kept his rifle aimed forward. Six other soldiers stood at his sides, aiming into the smoking Osprey. "Ma'am! We're not here to harm you!"

"GET BACK!" She pulled the trigger... but the gun didn't fire. She tried again and again, but nothing happened. The soldiers took the opportunity, charging the Osprey and disarming the gryphon woman. The daughter was ushered out of the ruined aircraft as well, and both were taken into one of the nearby hangars to be held in custody until the city had gotten more quiet.

"Hey Shake! We got a Gryphon here with really big insignias. Someone call this in, yeah?"

Meteor Six's body vanished into the skies above, destined to never return to the world below. Where she vanished, there was almost no trace of her. As if she had flown up into the clouds and they embraced her. Part of me wondered if she was still flying through the clouds, but I wasn't that naive. She was gone, and wasn't coming back. Yet somehow, a single baseball landed in front of me and the barkeep's daughter.

It was dirty, but smelled faintly of the preserving agent that Seven and Eight used on their baseballs to keep them shining and new looking. I flipped it over, finding their names on it. It was the ball they had signed and given to me while teaching me to play. I felt awful having thought I left it behind when I followed the squadron all the way here. Six had kept it safe, it seemed, and this was her final thought to share with me.

The barkeep's daughter and I had followed the squadron all the way to Fyrick, and we had mixed thoughts as we buried the ball where it landed. It no longer mattered to either of us if it was Six, Seven, or Eight's grave, the memories of those three melded in time and blurred into one whole. And just as swiftly as they did, they disappeared from the world like a dream.

Gryphnia signed the terms of surrender the same day. Apparently Seven and Eight had a younger brother, also a Prince, and he had taken the throne in the death of their father. He had announced in a broadcast to the entire city, and to the forces abroad that could not get back home, to stop fighting. It was naturally met with resistance, but as the allied forces took over Fyrick, the message was clear. Prince Marcus had taken over Gryphnia, and with his signature, the war was finally over after over a year of death.

The barkeep's daughter clutched my hand as we went through the streets. Large armored vehicles that did not belong to Gryphons rolled along the streets, pony soldiers like us were directing traffic and civilians. Troops from the allied forces were caring for the wounded, and gathering the dead for burial, and even assisting local construction companies with the clean-up. The filly holding my hand suddenly tugged me arm for my attention, and gestured across the street.

My first smile in days came to me as we held hands, crossing the street to the donut shop.

Author's Note

It's done. The war is over, and Gryphnia has surrendered. Nothing left to do now...

Right?

Chapter 29

The Hind landed firmly on the helicopter pad. Though called a flying tank for a variety of good reasons, the large gunship was cowed by the arsenal that dotted the HMS Midnight. The two escort helicopters, both Tiger helicopters from Hibern, banked away and let the Hind power down without incident. The side door opened, and a pair of soldiers from the Special Wing Service jumped out, standing on either side of the doorway, rifles at the ready.

Pulling his coat closer to his frame, Marcus stepped out onto the deck. Having shed his combat armor before boarding, he had gone to his old bedroom and found most of his clothes still there. Looking upwards towards the rest of the ship, he eyed the crew compliment. Some of the crew who had heard the Gryphon Prince was arriving on their ship had flocked to the upper decks to get a glimpse. Nearby, sailors on watch took the occasional glance towards the enemy helicopter that had landed on the aft of the battleship that had anchored in the bay of Fyrick.

"Your majesty, this is unwise," one of the SWS soldiers murmured. The Prince followed the soldier's eyes towards the nearby hatch that remained open. The Solar Monarch herself was standing steadfast, flanked by a pinto pony who looked more like he belonged in an office than the bridge of a battleship. Still, his uniform was prim and his medals gleaming. His peaked cap high on his head, he commanded authority on this vessel, despite being so young. Behind the Princess and the Admiral were two heavily dressed guards. Though ornamented, they were no doubt fully capable of fighting in battle. "You still have enemies around, and one of them may take action."

"The Princess informed me that she was taking the necessary precautions for my safety. If I felt she was not trustworthy, soldier, I would not have agreed to meet her here." Marcus smoothed his coat, flexing his wings, and waved to the pilot. "I'll be back in a while. Come out and get some air." Though very reluctant, the two pilots began to unclasp themselves from the Hind's cockpit.

Marcus proceeded to the open hatch where the Solar Monarch and the Equestrian Admiral stood. Celestia met him halfway, and the two bowed to each other, as two greeting rulers properly should. "Thank you, Marcus, for showing your trust in me," Celestia murmured.

Marcus simply nodded and waved to the hatch where the others were standing. "If we don't show solidarity, then there is no hope that we can end this conflict peacefully. I am anxious to sign this, and be done with it."

"Well, below, the others are waiting. And I believe you can understand that they share your feelings." Celestia extended a wing, letting it shield the Prince from the setting sun.

"I've never been on the Midnight before," the Prince marveled, staring in awe at the guns and crew that rushed about their duties, but still made parting glances at the Prince and Princess. "I hope the next time I'm aboard, that it won't be for something like this."

"It is a hope duly appreciated and shared, Marcus," Celestia commented in a motherly tone. "Now come, let us end this conflict once and for all."

"Right this way, General."

Twilight followed the soldier through the maze of stretchers. Wounded soldiers, both of AEGIS and Gryphnia, laid waiting for treatment. Medics from both sides tended the wounded, forgoing factions and just trying to help ease pain, and the afflicted just didn’t seem to care, as long as the pain stopped. When she entered, a gryphon was stitching up a saddle mare while a hippogriff held a cloth to her forehead as she worked. Twilight herself was nearly on the verge of gagging, trying to maintain her bearing as she was guided through. Missing limbs, missing eyes, missing lives; she could barely stand it. But there was one pony she wanted – needed – to go through this to see.

"Twilight!" Rainbow called. "There you are! Over here!"

Relieving the guard, Twilight brushed by him and hurried over. Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie were all around a gurney in the ward reserved for the most extreme cases. The one who was laying before them was no exception. She fluttered her eyes open and looked at the new arrival, managing a tiny smile. Her head was wrapped in gauze, as were both her wings, and her legs had been propped up to keep weight off them. Her yellow coat had lost much luster, and her once luscious and long pink mane and tail had been cut to nearly bare.

"Hi Twilight," Fluttershy managed to rasp.

Twilight smiled wide and sat down beside her. "Hey. Sorry I'm late."

"It's okay, Twilight," the pegasus mare whispered. "It's... just like we said. We'd be... back together one way or –" She stopped and gave a furious series of coughs.

"Easy darling," Rarity soothed. Guiding a glass of water to the mare's lips. "You need to save your breath."

Applejack gave Rarity a nudge. "This from the mare who flooded her with questions about how she got through it?"

Rarity huffed and looked away. "I was being a concerned friend."

With a small chuckle, Fluttershy clasped both Twilight's and Rarity's hands. "I'm just... happy it's all over... and we're back together."

With barely another word, the six mares simply sat, on laying down, and enjoyed the company that had eluded them for so many months.

"Really, cous! I'm just... a little banged up."

Applebloom's voice rose significantly. She was speaking through a satellite phone given to the Staff Sergeant by Applejack when she went to check on her kin and her friend in the next ward. But the Manehatten born mare had good company in the form of a Crystal Commando stallion kneeling by her gurney. Applebloom sounded on the verge of tears. "Ya'll call missin' yer legs jus' 'a little banged up'? Are ya'll crazy?"

Babs chuckled and rubbed her forehead. "Cous, they're gonna give me new legs, and I'll be fine."

"Ya'll better be! Or I'll tear up that Gryphon who did it!" the younger mare cried, determined.

"You're crazy when you're mad, cous. Besides, the Gryphon who did it is in a million pieces across the city."

"Ya'll haven' seen crazy, yet! Now, know when ya gonna come down for the reunion? Or do I need to go to Fyrick and fetch ya myself? You know I will! Warzone my eye! Ah'll come over and drag ya back west by yer ears!"

"It's gonna be a few months. Fitting the legs, getting my discharge, that whole shebang, ya know," Babs replied with a shrug. "It's gonna feel a lot smaller with moms and pops not there."

Applebloom sighed and seemed to calm herself down. "Yeah... Well... get here soon, ya here? It's been too long and I got a few jars of Zap Apple Jam to make soon. It's almost season, and I need a taste tester."

Babs Seed laughed and held up her thumb. "Lookin' forward to that, cous! Hey, mind if I bring a date?" She laughed at the Crystal Pony's bewildered expression.

"You did what?!"

"Calm down, Rhapsody! We weren't seen!" Sprig sneered, but couldn't suppress a giggle.

"But... right on the skyscraper?!" Rhapsody waved her hands to the two. "It's a miracle you weren't seen!"

"We finished just before the chopper arrived." Mythic merely shrugged and leaned back in the chair. "Regardless... it was awesome."

Spitfire and Rhapsody shared a look, which they promptly covered with their palms. "What am I gonna do with you two?" the Wraith muttered.

"Make them bleach the tower?" Amethyst offered, and then squeaked as the medic pulled back the cotton ball. "It's not that bad! Take it easy!"

"Well LT, if you would just hold still, I can clean what is bad!" the Corpsman muttered to her.

Rhapsody chuckled and flexed her right wing for the medic looking her over. All of Ghost Wing was being inspected for wounds. Spitfire merely had a few bruises, able to land her own plane at the hastily cleared runway at the Fyrick International Airport, and parked with the rest of the Wonderbolts. Ghost Wing however, did not have that luck. Rhapsody had bruises and a number of cuts along her body and missing several feathers. Mythic had a portion of his ear missing from bullet wounds, his faint bruises from his scuffle with the Gryphon pilot, and a mark consistent with a beak bite on his right shoulder, but he merely gave a sly grin when it was addressed. Sprig had a broken wing, but with a few braces and healing spells, would be good as new by the end of the week. Amethyst had cuts and bruises, but she definitely looked stronger because of them. Rhapsody smiled at the young mare; she had earned her wings, truly, with today's battle.

But then there came the sting that hurt deepest: they had lost their planes.

While Rhapsody mourned her fallen Tomcat, her first plane, the bird she had flown since her training days, her wingmates had lost two. She felt for them; it was as though a rug had been ripped out from under them. A pilot without a plane was like a ship without water; it slowly becomes useless over time. But Rhapsody knew they wouldn't be this way forever. They'd file their forms, get new planes, and life would go on.

Still, the fact of the matter stung. It was as though, save for the Major, no one had made it through the battle. Spitfire, however, had landed beside the Captain when she made it to the command center and reminded her of her own words: A plane is expendable, it's getting the pilot back that counts.

So yes, she could... tolerate the loss of her beloved Tomcat. If offered, she'd turn down a replacement; there was only room in her heart for one Tomcat. For now, she was content sitting in the medical compound with her squad. They were alive after the fiercest battle of their lives, and their careers. And on top of that, the way the squad's resident male, and equally resident hippogriff, were observing each other, things were certainly starting to look up.

It was at that moment, a lone Sergeant ran in, pointing at the television screen nearby. "Channel three, Corporal! News from the Midnight!" The Saddle Arabian mare looked back and nodded, turning a few dials and then pressed a button. The screen switched over from news of a fire being put out in the residential area to the deck of the Midnight. Cameras were snapping photos of a rather handsome Gryphon, flanked by the rest of AEGIS's leadership. The Gryphon prince was shaking hands with Princess Celestia and both were giving smiles to the camera, though Rhapsody could also sense the sadness behind each one.

"Turn the volume up!" Amethyst cried.

Once loud enough, they could hear the stallion speaking to the camera. "... On the deck of the HMS Midnight, the flagship of the Royal Equestrian Navy..."

Shining Armor folded his arms as he and the sailors on the Midnight watched below as AEGIS's leaders stood alongside Prince Marcus. The ponies waited with baited breath as the Gryphon spoke. He was talking about a coming peace that would last as long as tolerance and unity stayed strong. Work had completely stopped as all eyes were glued below. Behind the Gryphon, beside Prime Minister Iron Beak, he could see his beloved watching as Celestia took up the pen and signed her name.

"The tension in the air is thick," the stallion murmured softly above so as not to disturb the proceedings. "You could cut it with a blunt knife..."

The blue mare held her colt close. He barely fussed as he stared off into space. His fogged eyes were a testament to his disability, but to anyone who knew Bolero, he was hardly hampered by it.

"Is she coming home, mommy? Is Rhappy there?"

The mare bit her lips and clutched the yellow foal to her chest. Come on, Rhapsody, she thought to herself. Something. Tell us you're alright!

"The Princess has signed," the stallion murmured. "The Prince needs to sign, and this is all over."

Onyx Karat stared at the screen in the medical tent as his doctor finished sewing his left jacket sleeve shut. Onyx had ordered it, telling him if he did not have a left arm anymore, there was no point in having an open sleeve. Around him, his troops were watching, holding their breaths.

Twilight and her friends held hands and breaths as they watched the Prince sign the Treaty of Fyrick. His claws moved swiftly and he set the pen down. Fluttershy sat up as best she could so as not to accidently kick off the small television screen that had been set up. Rainbow Dash knelt beside her broken left wing while Applejack and Rarity hovered on her right. Pinkie Pie and Twilight leaned on the bed as they watched the final events.

The Prince leaned back up and faced Celestia. After a few moments, and what appeared to be a few quick words, her hand met his claws.
Twilight, though seeing the sailors aboard the Midnight cheering, could've sworn she heard it all the way from the bay. The six friends, parted after so many months, shared a tight embrace, but none as tight as the one from the yellow pegasus mare who they had thought lost. Tears were shed, even from the brashest of pilots, staining her cyan coat.

In Canterlot, screams and cheers echoed through the streets as the news spread through the city. In Cloudsdale, just outside Cumulous Air Station, the bartender made a declaration that drinks were on the house. In Ponyville, a celebration was being planned for the heroic return of their local heroes. The families of those heroes would be content just having their loved ones back home.

The Crystal Palace shared enough of a celebration that the one after the liberation of Glacier was put to shame. Hugs, kisses, even dances were shared in the command center once again. Total bearing was gone as the victorious shouts were deafening to anyone in the room. A lowly Sergeant had dipped a Lieutenant and kissed her firmly on the lips. What was more amusing was that she wasn't even fighting it. By the door, a bright orange stallion stood beside his charge, who was clutching his hand tightly, eager to see her mommy and daddy come home so much her oversized wings began to flutter.

Sahurma was alight with glee and celebration. Songs were being sung and dances were in the street. The gem of Saddle Arabia was brighter than it had ever been, jubilation taking over not seen for decades.

Taelur in the Republic of Hibern was roaring with howls of victory as bagpipes and trumpets rang through the city, joining in the loud ringing of the Palace bell towers. The Royal Family declared another victory for their nation.

Rhapsody and Amethyst held tight as the news reached the AEGIS Command Tent. Beside them, Mythic had grabbed Sprig and dipped her down, and pressed his muzzle to her beak. She squawked in surprise, but slowly closed her eyes. The cheers were deafening as the news ran like wildfire through the base, and into the city streets.

The sea green mare let her friend go as they watched the their two squad mates share a kiss, then the Captain turned to Spitfire, who had cross her legs and folded her arms. When her golden eyes met the rose of Rhapsody, she swiftly shook her head. "I'm not kissing you!" she declared.

Rhapsody simply laughed and shook her head. "I need a phone."

The Hind landed back home on the tarmac, with perhaps a bit more force than what was necessary.

"Present, ARMS!"

Celestia looked out from the doorway of the helicopter, the blades powering down and a strong procession lining both sides of the gangway, rifles at the ready. Ponies of all tribes, Hippogriffs, and even Saddle Arabians stood at attention as she stepped down the steps and onto the tarmac. Beside them, some Gryphon soldiers stood with who were, just hours ago, their enemies. Behind her, Luna, Cadence, Ironbeak, and Kaubr followed suit and looked around Fyrick. Celestia frowned deeply, noting plumes of smoke and numerous aircraft flying around the city. Beside her, Marcus looked out on the city with her.

The two Tiger helicopters that had escorted the helicopter flew off to patrol the airfield. With all of them in one place the city was on full lockdown, but this particular airfield was the most secure area in the entire city. Still, Celestia was visibly on edge; regardless of them being victorious, this was still a hostile city. Regardless that all had signed on the line, there were still numerous pockets of resistance. Thankfully, not many had been discovered this far east of the city.

"I can feel the sniper sights on my neck," Ironbeak murmured.

"Relax, beaky," Kaubr chided. "They are fierce warriors, the gryphons, but they've been cowed."

"That does not mean there are not those who do not want to surrender," Luna offered. "It would indeed be wise to be on your guard. The way we are gathered, a single rocket could kill us all."

Cadence nudged the lunar princess. "Must you be so morbid, aunty?" she whimpered.

Luna stared down at her niece. "I am merely speaking from a tactical standpoint, Cadence."

"Marcus would not allow harm to come to us," Celestia called back, silencing the darker, fearful banter. Marcus nodded in confirmation. "Look there, his troops are keeping us covered."

Sure enough; beside several ponies and hippogriffs stood several gryphons in full combat gear keeping an eye on the group. They looked angry to be guarding the rulers of the enemy nations, but their Crown Prince spoke, so they obeyed. There were still pockets of resistance in the city, but with the help of local troops, they were being routed and disarmed before more damage could be done. But what more damage could they do to the citizen's morale, mused Celestia.

"Don't suppose I can apologize for any of this?" Marcus asked, solemnly.

Celestia shook her head. "There is nothing to apologize for, Marcus. None of this was your doing."

"But as the new ruler of Gryphnia, the responsibility falls to me." He hung his head, giving it a solemn shake. "Just as my father took the responsibilities of his father."

Kaubr folded his arms and clicked his tongue. "The sins of our fathers," he murmured.

"It's a bitch, isn't it?" Ironbeak huffed.

Marcus nodded softly, hearing them. "I'll take his transgressions, and work my best to right them."

Luna nodded as she stepped forward. "Admirable, Prince Marcus, but you must understand that not all of Gryphnia will bow to you because you occupy the throne. You may try to make things right, but many will still not swear loyalty or fealty. I speak from experience." Luna turned to Celestia, who frowned at her sister and looked towards the ground.

"Regardless," Marcus replied, diverting the conversation. "I'd agreed that Gryphnia would hand over our advanced weapons, our stealth fighters, even the Terminators. And the Warlord's Talon is already yours. Under the tag of 'advanced weaponry', there is one piece in mind I am humbly turning over to AEGIS."

The AEGIS leaders followed the young Gryphon Prince through the maze of hangars of the airfield. Guards flanked all sides, eyes surveying the surroundings for any threats. When they arrived at their destination, there were four more Gryphons standing at the door; two guards, and two high ranked officers. The one speaking turned, standing at attention as the leaders stood before him. His blue uniform pressed cleanly; he looked to be the best kempt and clean within a mile.

"Your Majesties," he greeted with a bow. He then smirked at the Hippogriff. "Arnold."

"It's been a while, Gustav," the Prime Minister commented, folding his arms. "Last time we were in Gryphnia together... We were drunk and hitting on the Gryphon who is now your wife."

Admiral Gustav Ba'rne wagged his claw in the air. "You were the one who was drunk off your tail feathers. I was trying to excuse you."

Cadence then whirled on the Prime Minister. "You said that he was the one who was drunk."

"Arnold! For shame! You've certainly delved deep into politics if you're telling such fibs."

"Anyway!" Marcus quickly interjected, though not without forcing down a smirk. "Ba'rne... the hangar? It's still standing I hope."

Admiral Ba'rne nodded. "It is. Arnold, we'll speak later. Until then," he turned and addressed the group. "As you are no doubt aware, Gryphnia has been developing new technologies to combat AEGIS. We've developed small arms, but one of the crowning achievements has been fighter technology. The Su-37 and the 47 are the pinnacle of our air forces, but our Research and Development techs wanted to push further, so, paraphrasing a long speech the General here gave me," he pointed at the Gryphon General who simply waved, shyly looking away from the presence of so many world leaders in one place, "they combined them."

Without another word, the Admiral stepped to the door and gestured for them to follow him. The guards that flanked the door turned to face each other, and both slid their keys into the locks and turned. With a hiss, the door shuddered and rose up. The Admiral stepped through, and was soon joined by the leaders. What stood before them had them struck dumb, but it was Cadence who spoke.

"What the hell is this?"

"We call it – "

"IT'S ACTIVE! ADMIRAL!"

"RESTRAIN HIM!"

"Take him down!"

The collected group turned to the shouts, watching as a gryphon in a lab coat over his army uniform was charging for them with a pair of hippogriffs on his tail. One launched himself, flaring his wings, and wrapped his arms around the running gryphon. They both landed in a tangled mass of feathers, fur, and squawks. The second hippogriff aimed his rifle at the gryphon as he struggled while his comrade fought to put cuffs on him. "Admiral! It's operational! We don't know how but – "

"Shut up!" the hippogriff on his back yelled, promptly shoving his face into the tarmac. Yet the gryphon refused to be silenced. Guards along the rooftops took glances down at the commotion, and even a few gryphon guards looked half-tempted to jump down and help their restrained comrade.

"Wait! Let him up!" Marcus shouted.

The hippogriffs stopped their struggling, looking up at the Prince. Marcus turned to his fellow rulers, hoping for some sign of cooperation, when Ironbeak stepped up. "You heard the Prince! Let him up! Come on, then!" Ironbeak reached down, grabbing the fallen gryphon by the arm and hoisting him to his paws. He growled indignantly, but the Prime Minister continued to dust him off. "Now, lad, what were you saying?"

The gryphon glared at the Prime Minister and his troops, then turned his attention back to the Prince. "Your Majesty, it's World Breaker. It's active."

"That's impossible! Construction isn't even completed yet!" Ba'rne countered harshly.

"The structure itself isn't complete, but it has enough supports that it can still fire!"

"Pray tell, gentlefeathers," Luna interjected swiftly, "but what is 'World Breaker'?"

The gryphon opened his beak to speak, but the Admiral broke in first. "Reginald Sharpclaw, call him whatever you wish, but he was not stupid." He groaned and removed his cap, smoothing the feathers on his head. "When he saw that Sky Breaker was being targeted, he commissioned a new super weapon that would trump the destructive power of the Sky Breaker Turret Network in the event that it was destroyed or captured."

Cadence tilted her head. "A series of railguns that fire shells hundreds of miles to destroy aircraft with bursting shells of tungsten is a little hard to outdo in terms of destructive power."

"But we managed it," Ba'rne countered. "Well... rather he did. Your Majesties, Prime Minister, we need to speak in private. This," he waved to the hangar, "Will have to wait. Rest easy that it's yours, but I fear we don't have much time."

"The shells were designed to travel farther than the burst shells of Sky Breaker," Ba'rne continued, "But unlike Sky Breaker, World Breaker's fire was meant to hit the ground. Each shell carries a warhead designed to burrow in the ground and let out a series of shockwaves that measure to the highest point on the current scale for earthquakes."

Celestia bolted upright in her chair, her eyes glaring at the Admiral. "Seismic Weaponry was banned after the First Continental War! Gryphnia violated those terms? You're the ones who drafted it!"

The Admiral turned to the Solar Monarch. "We may have violated the sanction, but Reginald's request was for our researchers to find a way to make them less destructive and keep their shockwaves localized."
Ironbeak stood up. "Do you remember the words the first developers of the Grand Slam bomb when they were pitching the idea to the allies?"

Ba'rne sneered and hung his head, accenting each word with a chopping motion of his hand. "'The radius of the shockwaves should stay within one mile of the epicenter of the quakes'." Celestia opened her mouth, and Ba'rne swiftly pointed at her, cutting her off. Celestia blanched and lifted a brow at the gall. The Admiral was nothing if not bold. "And before you say anything, your majesty, I am aware of what happened. The seismic waves leveled the Corvian fortress and the three adjacent cities and went five times beyond the projected range. Over fifty thousand dead. I am aware. My uncle was on the plane that dropped it."

"So you are indeed aware of our apprehensions?" Luna snapped. "What prompted Sharpclaw to create a doomsday weapon?"

"As I said before, he was not an idiot, despite being a drunk. He prepared for the eventuality that he would lose." Ba'rne nodded to a pegasus mare, who came up with a set of photographs. "When those four fighters were sent to intercept your U-2, I knew that you had pictures of World Breaker. That's why he hastened construction. He disregarded much of the aesthetics and focused on making sure the complex could handle the recoil of the four cannons, and the thicker armor would be bolted on later."

The picture came onto the projector. There was a large circular complex on it with four massive cylindrical objects facing all four primary directions. "Each cannon can be turned to face an individual target. Takes about an hour for reach cannon to make its rotation to each desired direction and adjust its angle of fire. Because they're so large, and the shells are so huge, it could take days for the right target to be pinpointed and the projected path calculated. The algorithms for each shot take days to calculate, so you can't just point it and fire like a regular cannon. For these, you want the most destructive result possible, and it's impossible to destroy the shells in midflight. And the fact that it's way out in the ocean makes it impossible to conduct a stealth mission to shut it down from within. The enemy would have to charge right into the defenses; AA platforms, a whole slew of SAM sites, thankfully no naval support, but the remaining Meteor squadron pilots have been recalled to it. It's virtually impenetrable. And being that the war just ended, and Fyrick has been taken, the contingency plan has been implemented," Ba'rne concluded grimly.

Kaubr, who had been silent for a rather long time since arriving, finally spoke up. "And what is this 'Contingency Plan'?"

Admiral Ba'rne sighed, looking to the Prince. Marcus was frowning deeply, then nodded at him. "My father believed that... his forces could dispatch AEGIS within months, subjugate the conquered to his side, and have all the nations in his control. He believed in a vision of Gryphnia occupying the entire continent for the foreseeable future, his sons of the next generations ruling the lands that stood against him. He believed that the kings of the past willed that Gryphnia control all of Equis. And if not..." Marcus swallowed and wiped his forehead. "Then the continent would see a level of destruction unseen since the Corvis War five hundred years ago, and it would be turned to dust and sunk beneath the waves. If he could not have the continent, then he would see it be destroyed."

Silence reined the room to a standstill. The ever vocal Ironbeak was at a loss for words. Kaubr fell back into silence, running a hand done his muzzle. Cadence clasped her hands together and hung her head. And while her sister was hiding her face, Celestia remained standing, soaking in the information. Sharpclaw, the king she had personally guaranteed would rule over Gryphnia after the Second Continental War, had descended into a madness worse than his father. The reality of the failure hit her deeply, but she was thankful no one made mention of it.

Still, she turned her eyes to the gryphon engineer who had been nearly restrained and arrested just half an hour ago. "How..." she nearly choked on her words before she managed to find some strength. "How long... till they fire... World Breaker?"

The engineer frowned deeply, shrinking under the tender gaze of the Solar Princess. He looked to the Admiral and the Prince. Both looked back at him, hinting that he should answer swiftly. The gryphon swallowed and looked at the clipboard under his arm. His words struck Celestia to the core.

"Days, Your Highness... days. And judging that the treaty signing was broadcast world wide, they've probably already begun calculating the targets."

Admiral Ba'rne nodded, confirming the Princess's fears. They needed a plan, and fast. A response force needed to be formed that could be counted on to undertake such a monumental task, and do so without too much public knowledge. But after such a huge victory, she didn't know how to break this news to her troops. They were celebrating a hard earned victory and an end to the destructive war. But she knew she had to, somehow. Unless...

"We need to strike before they fire, then." She gave her peers a shaky, but confident smile. "And I think we all know who can do this."

"Yes, mom, I'm fine!" Rhapsody said for the, what felt like, fourth time. "I'm a little banged up, had to eject, but I'm okay. I watched the treaty get signed on TV."

"And you were really close?" Bolero asked, shocked.

"Sure was, buddy! The Midnight is out in the bay with the rest of the fleet. I can see it from here. I think they're still celebrating." Bolero giggled and there was suddenly barking. "Yes! Hello, Lucky! I hear you too, boy!"

"He needs out, Bolero," Rhapsody's mom stated to the young colt. There was the sound of shuffling hooves as the colt moved his way to let the dog out.

"How's he doing, mom?" Rhapsody asked, her voice softer.

Her mother sighed. "Still just chugging along, honey. Doctor said to not move around the furniture too much, since he's getting used to the current layout." The mare groaned. "Which sucks, because I need to replace the couch, soon."

"Dad loved that couch, mom. You can't get rid of it!"

"Well... he's..." Her mother fell silent.

"Yeah... yeah I know," Rhapsody answered softly, knowing exactly what was going to be said. "Bolero still not over it?"

"Nope... anytime Reverie is mentioned, he just breaks," her mother muttered. "It was almost seven years ago, and it still hurts him."

Rhapsody simply nodded, leaning against the desk that held the tent's phone. "It hurts me too, mom. But hey, treaty was signed, war's over, I'll be home in a couple weeks. Maybe not even that long." A knock on the wall drew her attention, and the mare turned to see Amethyst standing under the tent flap, point frantically to the left. Judging by her expression, it was incredibly urgent. "One sec, mom," she said, and then lowered her voice. "What?"

"General Iron Wing and General Sparkle want to see you. They're here with a Gryphon with very big gold markings," the crystal mare answered with a hushed voice.

"What do they want?" Rhapsody replied, equally hushed.

"Didn't ask. And they don't look like they want to tell me, and they're right around the corner." Amethyst looked back down the hall and winced. "And General Sparkle just tapped her watch."

Rhapsody groaned and looked back to the phone. "Mom, the Canterlot brass want me for something. Probably to give me a medal or something, I don't know."

"Well, alright," the mare replied, sorrow dripping in her voice. "Just, take care of yourself and come home safe, alright?"

"I will mom. Love you, and tell Bolero I love him too. Bye." Rhapsody hung up her end and set it down, and then rubbed her eyes as she stood up while turning her gaze to Amethyst. "Okay... what do they want?"

Rhapsody slumped in her seat, running both hands through her mane. Her skin paled beneath her coat as her eyes shrank to pinpricks.

Another super weapon.

Artillery shells that cause earthquakes.

Said shells can launch across the continent.

Meteor Squadron had fifteen more planes. And they were all there.

The news slammed into her as if she had taken a missile to her chest. To top it off, this news were being delivered to Rhapsody by Princess Celestia herself. Flanking her was General Sparkle and General Iron Wing. Both officers eyed her sternly, making her shrink on top of her distress of the news that they just dumped onto her.

"This attack is going to be incredibly dangerous, Captain," Princess Celestia murmured to the pegasus mare. "I do not mean this lightly when I say that the fate of millions rests on your shoulders if you agree to undertake this."

"So... why am I here?" Rhapsody asked simply.

Princess Celestia turned to the purple unicorn. The mare nodded at the alicorn and regarded Rhapsody. "We selected you to lead the assault on World Breaker. You did a phenomenal job with Sky Breaker and Glacier, we thought you were an excellent choice for this. Your leadership skills are exceptional and – "

"General," Rhapsody quickly interjected. The mare stared back at her, more than a little shocked that a Captain had cut her off, but the pegasus mare didn't acknowledge it. "Please, why am I here? What sets me above Major Spitfire? Or Captain Dash? Those are damned heroes for Mother Mare's sake; I'm a pilot who just gets lucky."

"Luck had nothing to do with it, Captain," Iron Wing said. "It wasn't luck that you were able to sink two of Gryphnia's battleships, leveled Sky Breaker, liberated Glacier, and shot down Meteor Squadron's five best pilots."

"I had help," Rhapsody quickly added.

"And they followed your lead, Captain," Celestia remarked. "You're a hero in the eyes of many across the continent. There is no shame in admitting you're a hero."

Rhapsody shrugged, unable to counter it. Onyx Karat's words came to the forefront of her mind. Maybe she was a hero and would have to live with it. She could do that, she hoped. "But anyway," Iron Wing commented, breaking the silence. "We need you on this, Captain. We need you to lead a special response squadron that will attack this threat head-on and succeed. The Wonderbolts were a choice, but the Major recommended you. And if a Wonderbolt, their damn flight lead of all ponies, vouches for you instead of them, you've got the job. Hands down."

The pegasus mare nodded, then looked out the nearby window where she saw jets flying. She saw the telltale silhouette of F-14As flying over the water, and the depressing surge of nostalgia hit her as sure as those waves that lapped gently at the beaches around Fyrick. It had been less than three hours and she wanted her Tomcat so badly. "We'll need planes. My wingmates and I lost ours in our fight with Meteor Squadron."

General Sparkle smiled. "Leave that to me – and my ponies. We've got just the fighter in mind."

"Speaking of," Celestia added, then turned to Iron Wing, "General, take her to the Admiral. I'm sure he's eager to meet our Wraith."

"That's right." Iron Wing gestured to Rhapsody. "This way, Captain."

A series of pathways through hangars that were half ruined greeted Rhapsody as she followed General Iron Wing and two soldiers through the wrecked complex. A good number of ponies and gryphons were cleaning up the debris and patrolled the air above. Rhapsody kept letting her eyes wander around her surroundings. AEGIS had really done a number on this part of the city.

Entire hangars had been turned to scrap. Some were filled with supplies, ammunition crates, even medical supplies. A few even had the charred remains of fighter aircraft in them, the parts that could be salvaged being removed. Pegasi and hippogriffs flew in pairs and coordinated with gryphons who just wanted to get this done with as the clean up proceeded without knowledge of Rhapsody's existence beneath them.

But one hangar, as she saw, was completely unscathed.

Outside, there was a pair of gryphons who looked to be in a heated conversation. But the stronger of the two, an aging gryphon in a deep blue uniform and high peaked cap, thrust a claw at the meeker of the two and that one cowed away. The stronger one smoothed out his uniform, and then turned to see the Captain and the General approaching. He folded his claws back and held his head high, his piercing golden eyes locked on Rhapsody.

"Captain. The Wraith." His words echoed far more than should've been possible, Rhapsody thought. She stood up straight and saluted him, and he responded in kind. "It's actually an honor to finally meet you. We met only once before, when you sank my Warlord's Claw in Habun Harbor." Rhapsody visibly winced at that. "And the Talon in the bay."

"Erm..." Rhapsody coughed. "I... I'm sorry, sir?"

The Gryphon regarded her sternly, even more than before. "Never apologize, Captain. You are a warrior of the skies, and you defeated me at both turns with sheer skill. You won those bouts and have nothing to be ashamed of. Apologizing is a sign of weakness and can give leverage to your adversary. Just as you defeated my daughter in a fair fight to the death in these very skies, you have earned your victories, and my respect as a warrior."

Rhapsody blanched and realization hit her of who he was referring to, and who she was standing before. She grimaced and cleared her throat, standing up straight and placing her hands back. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir, all the same," she managed to say.

The Gryphon curled his beak in a smile and held out his clawed hand. Rhapsody tentatively reciprocated and met him with her own small smile. "Indeed. I'm Admiral Gustav Ba'rne, head of the Gryphnian Naval Forces, by the way. Introductions finished, now to business. AEGIS's intelligence department is already inside analyzing the plane, but we felt it needed that you see it as well, so you know what you're dealing with. General?"

The older gryphon grimaced and the two placed keys into the slots on either side of the door, which caused a green light above both. Without preamble, the Admiral allowed the door to hiss again and raise up, and Iron Wing waved for Rhapsody to enter as well. The mare sighed and followed.

Her breath caught in her throat. Her ears drooped. Her wings fluttered as she struggled to keep them under control before they could flare out.

"Captain, may I present," the Admiral announced, waving his hand at the aircraft, "The X-02 Wyvern."

Rhapsody was at a loss. She stepped closer to it, walking around the technicians carrying equipment and clipboards as they examined each and every inch of the aircraft. The sleekness of the plane caught her completely off-guard. It was as if modeled after a dancer; trimmed without a single flaw. "It's... it's..." She couldn't find any words for it.

"Beautiful?" Admiral Ba'rne offered. Rhapsody nodded simply, barely registering that the Admiral was beside her. "I figure you might as well be read in. As I'm sure you're aware, technology must evolve. And while the F-22, the Su-37, the F-15S, and the Su-47 are state of the art, there must always been one better. And this is the response." He walked close to the fighter, and Rhapsody followed along as he pointed everything out. "You are looking at the pinnacle of fighter technology. Fly-by-wire canards, variable geometric reverse-swept wings that fold inwards before breaching mach one, stealth capabilities, internal weapon storage. Even the vertical stabilizers fold flat to accommodate speed, and even then it can outturn a Berkut, outrun a Terminator, and is stealthier than a Raptor.

"The Wyvern is capable of carrying just about anything the Raptor and the Nighthawk can, with the maneuverability of the Berkut. It's designed to literally replace five different planes, all the way down to the A-10. This prototype is meant as a carrier based plane, but others were on the books to accommodate the Air Force."

"Until we got too close," Rhapsody finished. Ba'rne turned to her, and at first she thought she was going to receive some backlash. But he simply nodded.

"Exactly that. This is the only one ever fully developed; the prototype. It's fully mission capable, can handle any available ordinance, but needs extensive training to handle the complexity of the onboard systems and advanced maneuvering capabilities." They passed by a pair of hippogriffs examining a weapons bay right between the intakes while a Gryphon showed an earth pony mare with a clipboard the missile compartment behind the same intakes. "From AGMs to bomblets, the Wyvern can handle just about any type of weapon with remarkable accuracy."

Rhapsody tilted her head. "Um, backing up just a bit, sir, what do you mean by 'extensive training'? How long?"

Ba'rne curled his beak into a frown, rubbing his chin. "Roughly... a full two months for a regular pilot. Meteor Squadron was to be the test bed squadron for the Wyvern, and we calculated from their expertise that it may take only one."

Rhapsody pursed her lips, and then asked the question she already knew the answer to. "And who will be flying it?" Ba'rne answered her with only a look. Iron Wing mimicked it and now the answer was reinforced. It was as she feared: she was the one flying the advanced prototype fighter that took two months to learn how to fly. "That being cleared up... How long do I have?"

The Admiral answered all too swiftly. "Five days."

Rhapsody grimaced, slowly, cautiously placing her hand on the nose of the Wyvern. Smooth almost to the point of glass, just as she thought. She felt a surge, something welling up inside her, that made her wings quiver and her tail flick. But when she removed her hand, she felt a new surge of disbelief and apprehension. "Alright, Admiral." Rhapsody whirled on the gryphon, her voice raising as she sized him up. "Throwing rank out the window, because I want to look you in the eye when I ask this: You expect me to jump into the cockpit of an advanced, carrier-based, multirole, stealth fighter prototype that hasn't even been combat tested and lead a squadron against a super weapon designed to level cities from all the way in the ocean and I have five days to learn how to fly it?!"

"Yes," Admiral Ba'rne answered matter-of-factly.

It caught Rhapsody off guard, but she decided to roll with it. She huffed and shook her head, throwing her arms out. "Well... when do we start?" she asked incredulously.

Ba'rne opened his beak to respond when an Equestrian Technical Sergeant landed beside them, saluting. "Admiral. Checklist is complete. It's all set."

"Good, thank you Tech Sergeant. Open the hangar." The pegasus stallion saluted again and glided over to the hangar door. The Admiral turned back to Rhapsody, who gave him a look of wary confidence. "Hope you skipped supper, Captain. The fuel truck will be here in five minutes and once the tanks are full, you're taking off. What you're about to experience is going to be akin to driving a bus then switching to a sports car. This is state-of-the-art fighter technology, and we are entrusting its safety to you." A gryphon rushed up with a helmet that looked like it was pulled from a science-fiction movie. The visor looked akin to a dragonfly's eyes, and didn't even have a slot for her ears. The Admiral took it and then handed it over. "We need you, Captain. I don't need to tell you what's at stake should you fail. Did they mention that Fyrick was a target of World Breaker?"

Rhapsody paled under her coat once more, and merely shook her head. She had been told about the theorized targets being the capitals of each AEGIS nation save for the Crystal Empire. Four shells. Four unpreventable impacts.

Canterlot was built into the side of a mountain. It'd be dislodged from its supports and the entire city would collapse into the forest below.

Taelur in The Republic of Hibern, capital of the Hippogriffs, was in a snowy valley. It'd be buried in tons of snow.

Sahurma in Saddle Arabia was in a desert plateau. It'd be buried in sand and rock.

Fyrick was a city on the waterfront. Tidal waves would sink it.

Millions would die.

But she wasn't alone. She was never alone in these endeavors. Mythic, Sprig, Amethyst, and even the absent Ditzy; they were with her all the time. They always had her back, and therefore, they couldn't lose. They can't. They wouldn't. There may be more at stake than her home, and her country, but she was never by herself when facing the enemy.

Rhapsody reached out, grabbing the helmet and examining it. She'd live with the lack of ear slits; she'd cut them in later. The dragonfly-eye visor looked bulky, but she had to remind herself this was the prototype. Still, she gave the Admiral the confident smile she had given General Sparkle and Princess Cadence.

"I'm your mare, Admiral," Rhapsody declared. She snapped to a salute. "You can count on me."

The Admiral returned the salute. "I know we can. Now... Let's see what you've got."

Five days went by faster than anypony was ready for.

Rhapsody's stomach had felt all of those days, and after she had just been through a harrowing five carrier landings in a row on the same day, the temptation of food was thrown out the window. Not even her newest promotion could cheer her up. Rhapsody had performed more than enough carrier landings, barrel rolls, somersaults, simulated attack runs, simulated dogfights, formation flying with her wing's new planes, and by the end of it all, the mare was exhausted. But after a two hour nap, the Admiral himself would knock on the door and tell her they needed another go because someone got a measurement wrong. When she landed, she tasted her breakfast once more.

But as she walked away from the Wyvern, she couldn't help but smile. That fighter was amazing; it was agile, fast, and the controls just felt ergonomic. When she breached mach one, the seat tilted back, and it felt like she was lounging. All she needed was a dispenser for bourbon, and she'd have a new car. The computer-controlled surfaces of the wings and the canards allowed for exceptional maneuverability. The numbers that had only been speculated were updated again and again. The flights she did inside it were exhilarating each time she powered up the engines. For the past few days, though missing her Tomcat, she had grown fond of the plane.

She took a look back at the Wyvern, and had to resist the urge to ask for one more joy ride.

But she pushed the urge down, because in a couple hours, the true test of the Wyvern, and herself, would begin.

"A joint team of special forces troopers will enter the fortress World Breaker here," Ba'rne explained. "The fortress itself is still in construction, so there are plenty of places to make an underwater insertion. The Night Stalkers will enter from the west side of the island, and the Special Wing Service will HALO jump and enter from the east. The Crystal Commandos will be flown in by helicopters covered by stealth magic by the unicorns on board." A trio of arrows colored blue came from the edges of the map and met on either side of the fortress.

"In the meantime," General Iron Wing added, taking over, "the Ghosts will make an attack on any airborne targets, in this case, Meteor Squadron. Satellites tell us that there is exactly fifteen Su-37s in the makeshift airfield; which is exactly how many fighters are left in the entire squadron. You're going up against the best of Gryphnia's remaining air forces, here."

"The Night Stalkers, the Commandos, and the SWS will also have their hands full," Ba'rne interjected, "as we discovered last night. They've got a full two brigades of infantry and their own special forces inside. And every single one of them was fanatically loyal to Sharpclaw. They will fight to the death to keep World Breaker from falling into enemy hands. We're expecting them to take heavy casualties."

"We'll have to move fast then," Rhapsody replied simply.

Ba'rne and Iron Wing shared a look. "Easier said than done, Wraith." The General pressed a button on his remote, and the circular fortress expanded. Three lines emerged at the southern point and connected with a perpendicular line that ran from the left side to the right. "I don't know how fond you are of this, but you're going to be performing a 'tunnel flight'.

"There's a trio of generators in the fortress. Each one can only be accessed by driving through the tunnel, but it's wide enough for helicopters to fly in. We were able to get measurements, and your planes can fly through well enough." He then sighed. "I'm afraid this will be the toughest part. You'll need to fly into the tunnels and destroy the generators. We're counting on you to do this, Wraith, because once those are destroyed, the troops inside can get into the control room and shut down the cannons before they fire."

Rhapsody and her assembled pilots absorbed the news. More than a few murmured disheartened, but they took deep breaths to remain calm. She sat up straight in her chair and nodded to the General and the Admiral. "You can count on us, sir."

The Admiral pointed a claw at her. "Millions of lives are on the line here, Major. I don't need to tell you the consequences if you don't succeed."

"We will, sir."

Minutes later, Rhapsody marched onto the flight line, fully geared in her flight suit and her specially designed helmet. She had managed to get ear slits carved into it, so it was much more comfortable. The wyvern sat at the head of the line, and behind it were a full squadron of F-22 Raptors. Some being transferred in from Equestria while others had been confiscated from their previous Gryphon pilots. But she had been informed that she was flying with eleven pilots she had handpicked to fly in the squadron. Yet when she looked towards the back of the line, there were three more preparing for takeoff. She hadn't been notified of any extras who would be taking off with her squadron.

"Ma'am," she heard to her right. Rhapsody blinked and turned to the speaker, and was completely caught off guard when a trio of gryphons marched right up to her, fully geared for a sortie. The three stood stalwart as they regarded the new Major of the newly formed Ghost Squadron under her full command.

She regarded them and nodded. "Can I help you?" she asked.

The lead gryphon snapped to a salute. "Captain Arthur, Major. Call sign Lucky. My Lieutenants and I are here to join you in combat."

That caught her off guard even more. Rhapsody stared at the three and looked between them. The two behind the Captain mirrored the look. If they were not asking to join her, they were pleading, but the pegasus mare pursed her lips and looked out at the other gathered pilots who were shooting them looks of apprehension. Rhapsody returned her look to the three and exhaled. "Are you here under orders from Admiral Ba'rne? I won't force you to fight your own people. You don't have to do this."

The Captain shook his head vigorously. "No ma'am, we don't. But we want to. We heard that our home was one of the targets of World Breaker, and we wanted to join you in destroying it. We're not here under orders ma'am; we volunteered."

Rhapsody slowly found a smile coursing her lips as she soaked in that information. The gryphons did not echo the smile, but she could feel that they were happy by the reaction. Gripping her helmet in her right hand, she extended it outwards. The Captain pressed his helmet to hers, and the two other gryphons followed suit. "In that case, I've flown against gryphons for too long. It'll be a privilege to fly alongside you."

"The privilege is ours, Major," the female gryphon to Arthur's right replied. "To fly alongside the Wraith as allies."

"Ditto," said the gryphon on the left. "It's an even fight now."

"Harriet," the female said again. "Call sign Talisman."

"Yalt," the male to the left added. "Switchblade."

The three then joined the gathered AEGIS pilots who stared at the three gryphons, but wisely said nothing. She noted Mythic and Aquamarine sharing a few words with the Harriet, and the gryphon gave Mythic a smile. A swat in the back of the head from Sprig kept Mythic's mouth shut. Amethyst looked nervous standing next to Yalt, but gathered herself and stared ahead at the Major.

Rhapsody in turn looked over the faces she had chosen to fly with her in the newly formed Ghost Squadron. Everypony in the squadron had been quickly trained on how to fly the F-22 Raptors. Mythic's wings flared wide when he received the news that he was assigned a Raptor, and, with his new marefriend in tow, painted the nose with his signature dragon design. The Wyvern next to his Raptor had been given hastily painted markings of the Royal Equestrian Air Force and her harp cutie mark painted on the nose. On the tail was a hastily drawn insignia of the Ghost that made the five friends famous.

The sea green mare very much wished Ditzy could see this. But the last call she got from Time Turner said that she was in bad shape, so perhaps it was best she wasn't. Everypony thought she was getting better, but it proved that the damage they had thought healed back in Canterlot was deeper than the doctors thought and she was heading back into surgery.

But she was forced to put down those thoughts as she looked out at the fourteen pilots who chatted amongst themselves. The gryphons looked to be singled out, but within a few seconds of noticing it, Amethyst walked to Arthur and shook his hand. It was a start to a unified squadron, and the true test would be in a few minutes when they were in the skies for the biggest fight of their lives.

Rhapsody grabbed the bullhorn provided by General Iron Wing as he stepped beside her.

"Good Morning, pilots." The bullhorn screech got their attention, and all at once she had fourteen pairs of eyes on her. She was startled for a moment at such attention, her throat going dry almost immediately, but she cleared it and continued. "I have just a few things I'd like to say before we take off. In less than an hour, every one of you will be taking part in the most important battle of this conflict. Where we're going, there is a group that refuses to back down, and wants nothing but destruction of all who they deem their enemy, and it's up to us to stop them. This mission will result in the end of those who want to commit atrocities too great to say, and have instrumented untold chaos across the continent."

She saw the faces look at each other, a few murmurs exchanged. The gryphons were looking uncomfortable, but made no comment to it. "Although we are of different countries, and of different races, we have fought, suffered, and died together, fighting for what we believe in. I know you are hesitant to the arrangement that has just been made right now, but this Squadron is based on unity, and tolerance, and therefore they are welcome here. Remember that."

The murmurs ended and Mythic shared a look with Arthur, and then shared a nod. "We all fought for what we believed in; honor, glory, freedom. And today, as one, we gather on the battlefield as a unified force to defeat the last vestiges of resistance who would see our homes destroyed. We gather here now to liberate this continent from the tyranny of fear and oppression, and restore that freedom to our entire continent, our people, our friends, and our families.

"This victory will herald in a new era of prosperity for the Equis Continent. Victory will be ours, everyone. We shall return peace to our homes and our people. We will win back our peace, and our futures." Cheers and mutters of victory began to chime in. Rhapsody smiled as she saw the gryphons joining in, and continued. "I chose all of you because I've flown with you and trust you with my life, just as you trust me with yours. Look to your comrades around you, and know I chose them because I know that they will protect you as you would protect them. We go into this battle as one, and we will emerge the victor stronger than ever!" Cheers began to grow louder as the ground crews had filed in to listen to her speech. They were all hearing her, all of them with rapt attention. "We are unified, we are proud, and we will bring in this era of peace for all! The skies and the clouds belong to all who hope to dream, to wonder, to hope. Let us bring back those dreams, those wonders, and those hopes that have eluded us for so long." They raised their voices in a unified roar of victory, and Rhapsody found herself with them. Even Iron Wing found himself along with it.

"Join together, and let us take back our shattered clouds!"

Chapter 30

The clouds were a sickly yellow and grey, thick in the sky. The sun burned bright, trying to burn through the gloom that smothered the sky, in vain. The ocean roiled around a small, solitary island. The waters crested on the high bluffs, as if they knew what the island housed and how destructive it was. The waves battered hopelessly against the sheer rock, nature itself attempting to break it apart and send down the terrible monster housed in the island, send it crashing into the sea.

All in vain. Nature was giving up hope, but the waters continued the writhe and attack the island with their waves. Above, the winds blew angrily, the clouds refusing to shine the light on such a monstrosity.

Four great cannons, previously aimed like a compass rose, now aimed themselves towards the mainland. Four guns, four cities to be destroyed by the order of the Commander. The three generators hummed at full power as the cannons were loaded with their seismic artillery shells. They would travel hundreds of miles to strike at the mainland and destroy the bastions of AEGIS power. The traitors who signed with the allied forces would be destroyed for their crimes against the Kings.

The young officers, zealots of Sharpclaw's will, carried out the final act of defiance of Gryphnia. They had escaped internment by AEGIS to make sure this attack would succeed. The final cannon was almost in position. Once all four had their targets locked, they would begin firing. There were enough shells to level all within range, and the armies still loyal would be liberated, and the conquest of the continent would begin anew.

The inevitability was a certainty.

Mere minutes away, two helicopters carried their charges low across the water, a unicorn in each pouring themselves into an invisibility spell. Above, a full score were dropping hard and fast above the island. From the other side, their approach masked by the rolling waves, another score were preparing to climb up the cliffs to their destination.

Hidden and sheltered by the gloomy clouds, an AWACS flew far beyond the range of the evil weapon's defenses. The pilots guided the plane through the clouds, keeping themselves scarce; after all, fifteen enemy fighters were making their way to the north.

On another screen, fifteen more were flying to meet them.

The clouds seemed to be writhing in pain, knowing the battle to come, and the results if the assault failed. Rhapsody's heart hurt as she looked around the cockpit at them. They were hurting, but today, they would be saved, liberated. She exhaled as she looked around her airspace.

Fourteen F-22 Raptors flew around her. She would've smiled at all of the Ghost insignia's if the situation were not so grave. She had picked these pilots by hand, for she trusted them with her life, and they trusted hers with theirs. Her original flight stuck close; they struggled with flying their new planes, but soon got the hang of it and would now get to prove how deadly they were. Once again, she was leading an attack, but instead of fear gripping her soul, she felt a surge of confidence. She trusted these mares and stallions, and they were ready.

"Sky Gazer here," Scootaloo called from the AWACS. "Fifty miles from World Breaker. All Ghost aircraft report in!"

Rhapsody pulled her mask up. "Ghost One on standby."

Mythic. "Ghost Two on standby."

Sprig. "Ghost Three on standby."

Amethyst. "Ghost Four on standby."

Shavul, formerly Timberwolf. "Ghost Five through Seven on standby."

Creg, formerly Saber. "Ghost Eight through Ten on standby."

Aquamarine, formerly Gold. "Ghost Eleven on standby."

Tanzanite, formerly Emerald. "Ghost Twelve on standby."

Arthur, one of the squadron's three gryphons. "Ghost Thirteen through Fifteen on standby."

"Preparations are complete; ready for battle," Sky Gazer declared. "All aircraft, follow Ghost One!"

Rhapsody narrowed her eyes and throttled up. Whereas the tomcat roared its charge, the wyvern shrieked like a banshee as she surged forward, the seat leaning back. She looked towards her wings, watching as flaps opened up on the leading edge, and the outer, reversed-swept wings folded inwards. On her console, she saw that the tail had flattened as she blazed forward even faster. She exhaled, patting the console.

"Alright, girl. Let's see what you got."

"I see them! Tally ho on the bandits!" A Meteor called.

"Whoa! They- Jacque, sir! You won't believe this! They all have Ghost insignia's!" the leader's wingman called.

"Only Gryphnian pilots should be flying this airspace! No quarter!" Jacque cried.

Fifteen Su-37 Terminators flew head on towards the Ghosts.

"Wraith, fox two!"

A missile launched from its concealed port on the fighter and lanced out into the lead formation of five Su-37s. The flight dodged and scattered, as did the two other flights of five. "Ghost Squadron, engage!" Rhapsody yanked her stick hard to pull up into pursuit. She inhaled swiftly as she realized she was outturning the Terminator she had selected the attack.

Her missile reticule slowly moved up towards the enemy fighter as she tried to gain a lock onto it. The beeping gave her the clue it was tracking, but unable to target. "Hold still," she murmured. Suddenly the Meteor pilot yanked back, performing a cobra and Rhapsody shot by. "Whoa!" Her missile warning blared and she clenched her teeth as she grabbed her controls. "Hope this works." Delving into her training from days before, she yanked back her controls into a full cobra maneuver. When she pushed back down, the Terminator was ahead of her once more.

"What!?" The Meteor pilot screamed.

"Gotcha!" Rhapsody pressed her button. A second missile shot out and speared the Meteor in the center as it turned to get away. "One down! Fourteen to go!"

"Make that twelve!" Amethyst called. "Ghost 9 got another before getting shot down, but ejected. And Ghost 6 nailed one head-on."

"Good start!" Rhapsody cried as she watched Mythic blow another one out of the sky. His signature Raptor cleaved a Terminator in half with one of his XMAA missiles. It disintegrated before it even hit the water.

Arthur suddenly blew right by her as she pulled out to see the battle. Ghost Squadron, her squadron, was taking the fight to the Meteors. She could see Meteors chasing her Ghosts and vice versa, missile blazing by in near hits, volleys from cannons shredding through the air. The battle above World Breaker was terrifyingly beautiful in a dark way. The best versus the best, yet it was hard to believe that just days ago a treaty had been signed and these pilots were supposed to go home. Rhapsody frowned deeply; she had hoped the war had been over, and that would be it.

Breaking from her mental reverie, she pushed back into the fight, Sprig joining her on her tail. "They're fighting more vicious than we've ever experienced, Major!" Aquamarine cried. "It's like they're possessed!"

"We lost our home, and the war we had fought so much for. To these pilots, and those officers inside World Breaker, we lost our honor and what makes us warriors. They aren't going to surrender," Arthur countered.

Mythic blazed by, sending a hail of lead through the engines of a Meteor. "Then we take them all down!"

Arthur made a grunt of approval. "A wise attitude."

"Baseplate, this is Bravo Two. We've entered the facility and are making our way to the sub control room." The hippogriffs, thestrals, and crystals took up their positions in the facility atrium. Behind them, the door was sealed shut. "We'll hold the position until they get those generators destroyed. Just tell them to hurry up!"

"Contact! Upper floor!" one of the Crystal Commandos cried. Planting herself down with her thick shield, she propped her submachine gun on the top and fired. The gryphon cried out as he fell from the balcony. But six more replaced him.

"Use your grenades! Stone, throw a flash bang!" the thestral leader cried, firing his rifle upwards. The commando beside him kept his shield up as the unicorn behind him fired his own rifle over the shield.

Suddenly, from the right, there was a rush of air. The commando mare failed to see him as her attention was focused on the upper floor. But as she turned, she saw the torrent of fire heading towards her before it washed over her.

"Flamethrower!"

Mythic twisted behind a Terminator, sending a torrent of lead into the fuselage. It burst into flames, spinning out of control for the sea below. He then turned to his right to fight off another Meteor trailing Sprig. "Got your tail, featherhead."

Sprig laughed. "Get a good look, Mythic?"

"Always. It's such a nice tail." The terminator performed a cobra, and Mythic soared underneath. When he was sure the Meteor had regained chase, Mythic pulled back hard on his controls, putting his new Raptor into a tight somersault that got him behind the Meteor and he wasted no time in sending a missile into the engines. The explosion rocked the skies as he flew through the fires.

Amethyst and Aquamarine took turns in a weaving pattern, which forced the Meteor into a straight line. No matter which one he picked to follow, the wingman would have a clear line of fire on the next pass. The Meteor gave a slight waving flight path as the pilot tried to decide who to go after. The path however, allowed a missile to strike him right in the center. Arthur flew over the two Crystal ponies, who saluted before breaking off for more targets.

"He's on me! Persistent bastard!" Harriet, Ghost 14, one of the three Gryphons, kept her head craned back, looking to shake the enemy Meteor on her tail. Another raptor suddenly appeared ahead of her.

"Talisman! Break left!" Tanzanite cried. She did that just as a missile streaked under her and hit the Meteor on the nose.

"Nice shot, Ghost 12."

"After what happened in the Empire," Tanzanite replied swiftly. "I can't forgive the gryphons. But as long as you fly with our wings, you're one of us. I won't let you get hurt."

Talisman smiled behind her oxygen mask. "Good to hear, 12. Let's mop up!"

Rhapsody weaved through the towers that adorned the inner compound of World Breaker, a pair of Meteors on her tail taking pot shots with their cannons. The wyvern, surprisingly, was stealthier than they had thought. Missiles could hardly even track her, but cannons didn't need a radar lock. She felt a few pangs off her wings and she decided a plan was needed and fast. Deciding to try it again, she slammed her hooves into the floorboard and yanked her stick back while throttling down. The Wyvern lurched to a halt and stood straight up. After a few seconds, she pushed her fighter back down and leveled out. The wyvern's targeting computer took over as the two Meteors tried to pull away. Two reticules lanced out and she fired.

The missile ports opened and a pair launched out, spearing them and sending their burning hulks to the ground.
Rhapsody had no time to celebrate though as her warning blared. Throttling up, she craned her neck back to see her newest adversary. A single Terminator had her tail and she resumed her weaving through the compound.

"Lucky to Wraith, the Meteor on your tail is the flight lead! I recognize the number; he's good. Be careful!"

"Roger! Thanks, Lucky." Rhapsody pulled up into the sky. The Meteor pulled up right as she did and kept close pace with her. Once she was in the open air, she kicked her fighter into a cobra and the Meteor flew right by. "Got ya!" She got her reticule up towards the Terminator –

It flipped itself into a cobra, forcing Rhapsody to spin underneath to avoid a collision. "What?!"

"Have to do better than that, Ghost." He squeezed the trigger for his cannon.

A torrent of lead tore into Rhapsody's left wing. The armor was stronger than a normal fighter, but it was enough to prove that she needed to think of a plan and fast. She looked towards the clouds and pulled up high. Just as she had hoped, the Meteor followed her. The wyvern's wings and tail folded, much like her natural ones did, as she throttled up into the clouds. Her eyes strained against the forces as she hurtled up into the air. The wyvern shrieked as she leveled out into the clouds and Rhapsody looked back.

Even through the soupy clouds, she could just barely make out the engine flames as he looked for her. But if she could see his, no doubt the gryphon's superior eyesight could find her engine flames and more. This was accented by her warning blaring in her ears. She pulled up and around to the right to shake it off, but the nimble Terminator was right on her tail. She pulled another cobra, straining the wyvern, and got behind the Meteor, only to be outmaneuvered and he got behind her. Her frustration was mounting, but she had to keep her cool.

But she took a quick moment to check in. "Ghost squadron! Sitrep!"

"Seven Meteors left," Mythic cried. "We got them on the ropes!"

"Make that eight," Rhapsody quickly added. "I've got the flight lead up here with me. Who did we lose?"

Sky Gazer called in at that. "We got Search and Rescue scrambling from the HMS Faerie Flight. Ghost 9 is safe, Ghost 12 is hurt but he's getting pulled out now. But we lost 15."

"Chute?" Rhapsody asked hopeful.

"Negative. Went down with the plane."

She lost one of the gryphons. Rhapsody closed her eyes and shook her head the first death of her squadron, and he was a volunteer. Yalt, call sign Switchblade. "I'm sorry, Lucky," she murmured.

"He was a warrior, Major. He died like one, and died at your side because he believed in what you do. Remember that. Focus on your fight," Arthur called back.

Rhapsody exhaled and nodded. "Got it." She banked sharply, the Meteor hot on her tail. She weaved and rolled through the clouds while the Terminator struggled to keep up. The wyvern was proving its superiority in the turns. The Meteor Flight lead however did not relent his pursuit as was proven by the pot shots from his cannon. Rhapsody pushed down out of the clouds and dove straight for the ground, her adversary in pursuit. She pulled up and was still being followed.

"I can't shake this bastard!" she growled. Then she blinked, remembering a trick Spitfire had taught her during one of their previous sorties together. She recalled how it was used; a basic move, but no less useful. And being an elite pilot, the Meteor tended to use presence as its own weapon, not truly relying on skill. Still, she hoped he wouldn’t see this coming.

Jacque huffed and puffed into his oxygen mask as he narrowed his eyes at the unique plane. The pilot was weaving through World Breaker's small number of towers until suddenly shooting straight up in the air. He growled and turned up in pursuit. This plane was never one he had seen before. Definitely one of a kind, and he felt it had to be the Wraith.

But the peculiar factor was that she was just propelling straight up into the air. Did she think he would accept her challenge to out climb? She was definitely in for a surprise; such petty dogfight tricks were for the old world, the past, where they needed to belong. He locked his gun reticule as they began to pass up through the clouds. "End of the line, Gh-"

He emerged from the clouds… she was gone. "Where the hell…" His warnings suddenly blared, but not for a missile.

Altitude.

The Terminator 's turbines started to choke from what Rhapsody could see from a few hundred yards away. It suddenly flopped on its back and headed for the ground with its engines trying to suck in air that wasn't readily available in the amounts needed. It dropped like a rock, spinning out of control as he stalled.

Her missile locked as he was trying to regain control, and she sent it off the rail. The sitting duck pilot managed to right himself. Then, as he began to throttle up and face her, took the sidewinder through the canopy. Rhapsody barrel-rolled above the explosion and took a moment to look back, watching the Terminator fall to the water below.

"Flight lead is down, Ghosts! Let's mop up!"

"Holy sh- Jacque is down! They killed Jacque!"

"Get a hold of yourself Jace! You've got to take over command! We need orders!"

Jace snarled over the radio. "Kill them all! Even the ones who eject! No survivors!"

"Baxter!" Creg screamed.

Rhapsody panned her head around. "What's wrong?"

"One of those Meteors is strafing the water! They're trying to kill our downed pilots! Baxter was defenseless!"

Arthur snarled. "Dishonorable bastards! We have a code!" Rhapsody caught sight of Arthur's Raptor screeching after the Meteor that had been shooting at the water. She joined him by fighting off another Meteor, but from her pass, she saw the damage was done. The fallen hippogriff from Creg's squadron lay on his back, bobbing in the water. Another pilot from Timberwolf wasn't far from him, the same fate. But Arthur avenged them both by sending a pair of missiles into the Meteor.

"Jace is down!"

"How the hell are they this good? We're Meteor Squadron!"

"Regroup on me! If we go down, it's together!"

The remaining Su-37 Terminators formed up, loading the last of their missiles. A swarm of XMAAs was launched into the clustered F-22 Raptors of Ghost Squadron. The lock was faint, but it was enough for the near twenty missiles to launch.

"Incoming!" Rhapsody shouted. She weaved through the incoming missiles as the rest of her squadron followed suit. Two Ghosts were destroyed however, and Rhapsody couldn't stop to see if they were safe.

"Sky Gazer to all planes! We have less than fifteen minutes before the cannons fire! Down those last few planes and take out those generators!"

"They're also sending out cruise missiles!" Rumble added. "Try and shoot them down, too!"

Scootaloo cried out, "I didn't know that thing could fire cruise missiles! Must be a new addition."

"Ghost Lead to all planes! Double time it and destroy those cruise missiles! They might have seismic warheads!"

"This is Lucky to Wraith. Leave these to us while you go after those generators!"

"Roger. Starting my run!"

The echo of gunfire resounded through the atrium as the remaining Crystal Commandos set of their shields as barricades. The Special Wing Service hippogriffs kept their eyes on the catwalks for anyone trying to take advantage of the high ground.

Their losses were heavy, though. The mare that was burned by the flamethrower did not look like she'd survive her wounds and the SWS Captain was using her shield while their medic did what she could to keep her alive, or at least ease her pain as she passed. Three of the Equestrian Night Stalkers had fallen prey to marksman fire. Two SWS soldiers were wounded bad enough to be kept from the fighting. Despite the odds, they did not relent their position.

Bravo Two's rifle sent another two Gryphons to their Kings with a rifle grenade. He gestured to the right and a Crystal Commando who had retrieved the fallen flamethrower shortly after the previous had his head blown off by a Commando's shotgun, sent a stream of fiery death down their flank. Screams of dying gryphons seemed to delight him as the Crystal Pony maniacally laughed. The lead thestral of the Night Stalkers was taking calculated shots with his rifle at Gryphons who popped their heads up.

There was no retreat for the special forces team, nor was their surrender. They could either get into the room, or they'd die here.

"Baseplate, this is Bravo Two! What's the word on those generators for the sub control room?"

"Ghost squadron is already taking out the last of the fighter resistance and are making their attack runs."

"Estimated time till this door is open?"

"Roughly five minutes."

"We'll be corpses for three minutes by then! Hurry!"

Rhapsody kicked in her rudders to adjust her flight path. The opening in the side of the island was as reported; massive enough for a cargo helicopter to fly into it. She sucked in a deep breath and leveled out. "Wraith to Sky Gazer; making my attack run on the first generator!"

Her vision suddenly when absolutely dark as she was suddenly flying through a tunnel. Her body clenched tightly, her wings almost sinking back into her skin as she started to hyperventilate. She had to remind herself to relax more than once as she leveled out, flying along the brightly lit tunnel. Her breathing began to steady as she focused on the path. When she finally saw a large, wide column with glowing lights, her missile reticule locked on.

"Fox two."

The generator exploded brilliantly. As she exited out the other side of the island.

"Wraith, that must've done something! The cannon that was still turning just stopped and then started back up. It's still turning, but slower!"

"Making my run on the second one now!"

"We've got to take the higher ground!" Bravo Two cried out.

The hippogriff Captain, having caught his name being Wesley, shouted back to the lead thestral; Flux. "We're holding this position, Captain! They'll have those doors open; we've got to give them more time!"

Rhapsody rolled herself level to accommodate the tunnel. A pair of AA guns tried to hit her, but they were destroyed by Aquamarine before they could readjust to hit the aircraft above. Her remaining pilots were chasing and destroying any cruise missiles that were being launched. According to intelligence reports, they were carrying more tactical seismic warheads, capable of leveling small towns. Small and less destructive, they were still priority targets.

The Wraith leveled the wyvern out, pulling back on her power as she entered the second tunnel. She could hear her fighter's engines screaming off the walls as she made her way down in a needle straight line. There was a tunnel coming up to the side, and according to the blueprints, she needed to nail the turn correctly, otherwise she'd be colliding with a solid wall at the end of the tunnel she was flying down.
Making a hard right roll and leveling out, she narrowly missed the divide, locking onto the second generator and destroying it outright. She burst into the open air and exhaled her breath she had no idea she had been holding.

"Second generator down! Making my run on the final!"

"Hurry, Wraith!" Sky Gazer cried. "Reports from the team inside are not good."

"Where the hell is Charlie Five?" Flux shouted.

Wesley crouched down behind the Crystal Commando's shield and looked around as bullets bounced off the reinforced metal. The Saddle Arabian team he had originally sent to cover their flank and then return was nowhere to be seen. "Charlie Five, come in! What is your location?"

"We lost our position! We're pulling out to the choppers to cover the retreat!"

"Come back! We can hold it!" There was a shout followed by a ripple of gunfire and suddenly silence. Wesley's beak curled down. "Charlie Five, come in!" No response. He grimaced and switched his channel to speak to the AWACS outside. "We're going to be annihilated soon! What's the status on those generators?"

Rhapsody kicked her afterburners to full to the other side of the island. She saw the opening, and the two SAM sights above it. They locked onto her location, finding the small holes in her plane and launching their ordinance. She barreled towards them, hoping to time her entrance when a pair of Raptors flew across her path.

"Got your back, Wraith," Lucky called.

"Get in there and let's sink this thing!" Talisman added.

The two heat seeking missiles locked onto the flames of the Raptors and split away from her path. She pitched herself down, angling herself to fly through the third channel. When she entered, the engines of the X-02 Wyvern shrieked and bounced off the walls. She was heading lengthways to the facility whereas the other two were on opposite sides in curves. She was heading straight down the path, barely able to make out Gryphon troops emerging into the tunnel and firing at her with their small arms to no avail. Clearly it was the thought that counted.

She narrowed her eyes as her reticule locked on the final generator. Her cannon roared as she held down the trigger with far more force than she meant to. A stream of scalding lead tore through the vital systems and it burst into flames. She flew through a blast of fire and barrel-rolled out the other side.

"Third generator down!"

There was a hiss as Wesley turned and saw the doorway opening to the sub control room.

"It's open! Go go go! Get in there! Secure the room!"

The remaining Crystal Commandos kept their shields guarding the surviving troops as they forced their way into the room. Even as the guards within began to fire back, a few of the AEGIS soldiers knocked engineers from their stations to take over. Soon the four guards were down and the engineers and cannon technicians held their claws up.

"Please, don't kill me!"

"Move your ass!" Flux shouted as he rammed the butt of his rifle into the beak of the sniveling gryphon, sending him to the floor with a squawk. As Flux sat down, one of the technicians grabbed a handgun, firing and striking him in the neck. The thestral leader gurgled once before Wesley unloaded half of his magazine into the Gryphon's chest. Flux lay on the floor clutching his throat.

"Medic! The rest of you get on those controls! Get those doors open and shut down the launch sequence! The planes will be plunging in any second now!"

"You've got this, Rhapsody!" Mythic called over the radio.

"I'm marking the entrance to the final tunnel! Get in there and destroy the reactor inside!" Scootaloo added. "Get in there, blow this thing, and we can go home!"

"Hurry on those doors. Don't let those pilots die!" Wesley turned back to Flux, who's eyes began to dim in the frail light of the sub control room, his life fluids bubbling up through his muzzle. "Come on, lad. Don't die on me."

Rhapsody rolled and dove down low. The Wyvern skimmed a few feet above the sea, flying right towards the large entrance of World Breaker. This was large enough to fly a damn cargo plane through, she thought, so her fighter had little trouble. Even as the tunnel pitched upwards and then down again, she maintained her speed and heading. The lighting was terrible in here though; solid red emergency lights all over. The adrenaline made her heart race and her lungs burn. Her wings and tail clenched to her body as she gripped her controls as if letting go meant death.

She was deep beneath the top level of World Breaker, according to her altimeter, and beneath the sea level.

"One Hundred meters."

On the cameras, the special forces troops could see the lone fighter plunge heedlessly into the tunnel. One of the Thestrals kicked in the face of a gryphon. "This asshole just shut the doors behind the Wraith. She can't get out the way she came in!"

Rhapsody pulled up into a straight part of the tunnel. The red emergency lights flared, threatening to blind her.

"Shit! The door closed behind her!" Sprig shouted. "Can she get out?"

"Negative, that was her only escape!"

Rhapsody's breathing quickened at the news. Her exit was blocked? This was her final flight? She saw the reactor up ahead; could she ram it? Would it be enough? Would her missiles even scathe it? The Wyvern was a tough plane, certainly a masterpiece; but would it be enough to finish the job?

"Wait! The exhaust chute. How big is it?"

"We're about to find out." The Crystal Commando furiously pounded at the keyboard.

"Tell me she can get out!"

Rhapsody's breathing steadied as she leveled out the Wyvern as she barred down on the reactor, ignoring the shouts of her squadron as they argued if she'd make it out. The reactor stood at the end of the tunnel like a giant pillar of the world. It held up the damnable structure that housed the future anguish of the continent. It flashed with light, trying to compensate the destruction of the three primary generators. The flaring heat within pulsed and was an easy target for her remaining ordinance.

With a tug at her collar, she locked her two remaining missiles.

"Fox two! Fox two!"

The ports under her engines popped open and the two missiles locked, firing. Like spears of great vengeance, the two missiles tore through the air.

"Wraith! Pull up!" A male Hibernian accent screamed over the radio. It was unfamiliar to her, but she decided to take a small chance on top of her huge one. The missiles struck dead on the reactor. The explosion was massive as she pulled up…

Towards a ceiling.

"Get it open!" Wesley shouted. "She's already heading up!"

"I think… Got it!"

Rhapsody could see the reflection of a growing plume of fire and smoke beneath her as the reactor pillar began to detonate from the bottom to the top. She throttled up; maybe the roof wasn’t that thick and she could break through. But she dashed the thoughts as the explosion was catching up to her. She shoved her throttle forward as hard as she could. The wyvern screamed like a banshee as the wings folded. Her seat reclined as the fighter shook as her altimeter spun like a winding clock. The wyvern shook as if in its own personal earthquake. The roof suddenly snapped open, revealing the grey-yellow sky above. Her squadron pilots were flying around World Breaker to find her.

Just before she broke the surface, her vision was filled with orange and red. Angry flames crowded and clung to her plane and the heat was intense, but she pushed on, ignoring the blaring alarms in her cockpit. With a final kick to her afterburners, the wyvern pierced through the thick explosion that had sought to take her down. The death-throes of World Breaker tried to take her with it, but failed.

The Wyvern screamed high into the sky, trailing smoke while below, World Breaker roared its death knell in a curse to the Wraith in the form of a towering inferno bursting through the central vent for the reactor.

"YEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"Target destroyed!"

"There! We got Wraith on radar! Confirmed that World Breaker has been destroyed!"

Cheers and celebration echoed all over the command room in the Canterlot Palace. Finally… the final fight had been won. The war was over at long last.

Lieutenant General Twilight Sparkle grinned despite herself and heaved a sigh of relief at the news. It was all finally over, and her friends had made it through, just as Rainbow Dash had thought they would. Decorum had failed completely in the room. Even the gryphon scientists that had defected earlier were cheering with each other. The news was reaching around the world that the vile doomsday weapon Gryphnia had constructed was no more.

She grabbed her peaked cap and made her way to the door. Despite the celebration, she had her final report to write to the Princess. A General's work never ended even at the end of the horrific war. But before Twilight left, she decided to afford a small consolation for her work, and she stopped at the door and turned her head.

"Commander Sentry." The orange coated stallion turned, smoothing out his electric blue mane and standing at attention before the General. He had only recently returned home and managed to clear himself into the command center to watch the battle.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I'd like to see you in my office at twenty-one hundred, understood?"

The pegasus stallion smiled and nodded swiftly. "I'll be there, ma'am."

"Good," she replied as she grasped the handle, then turned back to him. "And Flash?" He once again met her eye with a smile. "Don't keep me waiting."

Rhapsody rolled and flipped the wyvern onto its back, then flipped around to see World Breaker. The cannons themselves began to shudder until finally the supports broke and they began to fall to the ground. Plumes of smoke and fire marked the destruction of the cannons as they broke apart. Some fell onto the compound itself while the rest sank to the bottom of the ocean. It was all turning to ruin now.

"Bravo One to AWACS Sky Gazer! That plane that flew into World Breaker… is the pilot alright?"

"Yes, she's fine! She's right here." Rhapsody looked to her right as the AWACS plane lowered its altitude, now in full view of all.

"Good on you, mate!" Sprig yelled. "That's a warrior!"

"True warrior, Wraith," Arthur joined in. "Damn great honor to fight by your side, at last."

"We made it through, everypony! Yahoo!" Mythic's voice broke through.

Equal cheers and compliments flooded the airwaves as Ghost Squadron regained their formation over World Breaker. The super weapon began to shudder as chunks fell away from their supports. The reactor explosion tore apart the systems of the entire island, the sea seeking to destroy the island and swallow it beneath its waves. The cannons had shattered on impact with the ground, ruining them completely from ever being used again.

"So, did we win the war?" the Hibernian accent from earlier asked.

"I don't know," Scootaloo replied simply, then sighed. "History decides who the winner is. But I know one thing… heroes do really exist." Rhapsody pulled off her oxygen mask, blushing beneath her coat. Scootaloo concluded, "We're all looking at one now. And she's coming home."

Rhapsody chuckled and shook her head. "We're all heroes, Sky Gazer."

"'Sometimes, you just have to accept you're a hero'," Amethyst replied.

"Oh don't start using your dad's lines on me now," Rhapsody snipped with a laugh.

Turning north, towards the mainland, Ghost Squadron formed up and headed for home. Rhapsody sighed as she looked back, and then patted the console of the wyvern. "Well girl," she murmured, "I guess I'll keep you for a while."

"Wraith, I'm getting a priority call from Canterlot," Scootaloo called. "It's about Ditzy."

Silence hung in the air before Rhapsody cleared her throat. "Is she alright?"

"I'm sorry… but I think you should go see for yourself."

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Celestia and Marcus sat comfortably, for the first time in over three years, on the balcony outside her chambers. The tea she poured was still steaming hot in her magic as she sat demurely in front of the newly crowned leader of Gryphnia. His guards stood nearby with Celestia's, and though they were statuesque and silent, the tension between the two pairs was incredibly palpable. Regardless, the two monarchs kept their dispositions calm to hopefully set an example.

"I can't help but wonder if this is too soon, Marcus," Celestia said with a calculating calmness. But still, Marcus was stalwart.

"Gryphnia is going to need more than to simply rebuild. My father set a horrible world example of us as warmongers." He took a sip of his tea, exhaling as the warm liquid seemed to wash over the fears brewing inside his soul. "We've been that way for too long. It's time for a change. We need allies."

"And joining AEGIS is your decision? Did the Admiral put you to this?"

"No. This was my plan. My father's old chamberlain helped me draft it up, but I want this for my people. There are a number of groups that would take advantage of our weakened state, a state we are not fond of admitting, but it's the truth. We need allies, and while I thank you and the rest for wanting to rebuild Fyrick and our industries, despite the aggression at times, we are still very vulnerable."

Celestia hummed and leaned back, turning to Twilight who was speaking to said Admiral of the Gryphnian Navy. They were two others who seemed to want to set a good example of the future. It could work, Gryphnia being an ally once more, Celestia was just concerned they would have another Sharpclaw. Marcus's father was much like the Prince is now, and turned into a raging tyrant. The Solar Monarch didn’t think she could handle a third crisis in the cycle.

But Marcus was right in the aspect that Gryphnia was very susceptible right now.

"Are you sure you want to do this? The transition will take time, and your subjects may not wholly agree."

Marcus shook his head with a small, sad smile. "My people have been under the influence of warlords for four generations. I want to bring them down from warmongering and conquest. Will they agree with me? Not at all. Do I care? A little, but in order to gain progress, someone has to force a change. Not write some strong words on a piece of paper and pass it around. I learned from my brothers that if you want to change, sometimes you have to do the one thing that scares you. For instance, me wanting peace… I defected to AEGIS.

"The gryphons have been tuned to think like conquerors. Take what we want because we want it. I want to move away from that, because that age is over. We almost destroyed our continent, our home, because we didn’t want to accept that we were facing a superior opponent."

"And to hammer the final nail into the proverbial coffin," Celestia concluded, "You're allying with your former enemies."

Marcus nodded. "To show them I will not take no for an answer in my decisions. Gryphnia will not survive on pride alone, and there is no shame in accepting help. They'll learn that, too, with time. We need to rebuild, and that means finding and allying with those who can help us." He looked at the document he had drafted for this moment. "If you'll accept us."

Celestia mulled it over, remembering when Marcus's grandfather was in power, then replaced by his own father by her order, and now the youngest Gryphon prince was on the throne by her order. She had heard that third time's the charmed, and while she really did not want to use that term in this context, it was a chance she was willing to take. Marcus genuinely wanted peace, and had already taken the massive step towards acquiring it.

"Prince Marcus… we welcome Gryphnia to AEGIS."

The breeze was gentle as Rhapsody stepped out of the car, holding firmly onto the bouquet of yellow roses. She pulled her coat a little tighter as her hooves hit the pavement and she looked out onto the massive field that was "Final Sun Cemetery"; Canterlot's burial ground for fallen soldiers and royal guards. She exhaled and began to walk onto the grounds. Dinky jumped out after her and pointed.

"She's over here, Rhappy!" she called as she ran in.

"Careful, Dinky. Don't trip," she called out after the filly in vain. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the slip of paper written down for her. She looked down the row as she whispered the letters to find the specific burial site. "A, B, C… D."

She turned down the lane and began to read the names on the tombstones of each grave. All were etched with a sun and moon, the seal of the Royal Sisters, with their name, service branch, rank, date of birth, and their date of death. Short and kind epitaphs were etched into the base of each by friends of family. A nice gesture, she thought. Rhapsody didn’t think she was ready to see hers here just yet.

She had been here before in the past, but right now there was somepony she needed to see. Dinky stood by a particular headstone, but she read the names as she met up with the short unicorn filly. "Door, Dipper, Dive, Diver, Divot, Doll… Do." She sighed and looked down at Dinky Do, who had her eyes locked on the stone with a look of longing, even on the verge of crying. Rhapsody set her hand on Dinky's shoulder before leaning down and setting the bouquet of roses on the ground in front of the stone. Dinky set down a model F-14A Tomcat right beside the roses and a model of an F-4D Phantom II.

"I hope these are the right kind," Rhapsody said as she looked to her left.

"She was allergic to daisies," Ditzy Do replied with a smile. "You remembered good." The grey pegasus mare limped her way beside Rhapsody. The sea green mare put a wing around her friend to support her while she leaned on her arm. The cane clicked into place for Ditzy to lean on as well as the wall-eyed mare hummed.

"I miss you, grandma," Dinky said as she clutched Rhapsody's hand, eyes on the tombstone.

"Hard to believe that with a name like 'Daisy Do', she'd be allergic to daisies. Who'd think it?" Rhapsody asked humorously.

Ditzy giggled and suddenly held her chest. "Ow… still hurts to laugh."

"Good to see you can laugh at least. Why didn't you tell me your mother was one of the first tomcat pilots?" Rhapsody asked softly.

Ditzy shrugged. "I knew she was a Navy Pilot, just didn’t ask the specifics of what she flew."

"Fair enough."

The three stood there, staring at the tombstone of Daisy Do. A picture stood beside the stone, almost a spitting image of Dinky Do in another twenty years. The breeze picked up, brushing along their muzzles as memories past of the three of them knowing the mare for who she was; a gentle soul and a giving grandmother who spoiled Ditzy's friends and daughter absolutely rotten. Thoughts of her as an aerial ace were cast aside. For a few minutes, they just remembered Daisy Do for her, not just her accomplishments.

Before long, they were heading back for the car. Ditzy leaning by Rhapsody as they moved up the cobblestone pathway while Dinky looked at the names as they walked by. Rhapsody sighed as the breeze started to lift a little. "Did you ever think about coming back? Ghost Squadron could use you, Ditz," she said softly, giving Ditzy a light shake.

The grey mare giggled and sighed heavily, shaking her head. "Rhapsody, one war was enough for me. I could barely handle it, and getting hurt this bad was the final straw." She gave Rhapsody a sad smile, but it was the honesty behind it that the sea green pegasus appreciated. "I don’t want to be 'Captain Do'.And besides… 'Mrs. Turner' sounds better."

Both friend and daughter whirled on the wall-eyed mare. "Wait… he… -proposed-?" At the shy nod of the grey mare, Rhapsody gave a squeal and hugged the mare hard, until there was an equally loud squeal and Rhapsody quickly let go. "Sorry!"

"I'm okay!" Ditzy said softly as she listed to the right. Rhapsody held her a little more softly and righted her.

"He really did it? Finally?"

"Yeah… I'm… really excited." She then turned a little morbid. "But… this isn't the right place to have a gossip hour about marriage plans."

Rhapsody looked around the cemetery and nodded, cheeks darkening. "Yeah… silence and respect. Sorry, spur of the moment." They continued towards the car before Rhapsody stood up straight. "Oh! Hey, I'll catch up… somepony I need to see."

Ditzy nodded sharply when she looked back out towards the massive green field and seemingly endless white stones. "Tell him I said hi."

Rhapsody patted Ditzy's back and took wing. She flapped hard into the air as she looked through the markers to find her location, and the one she needed to see. O, P, Q, "R…" She landed firmly on her hooves and moved down the line. The service branches were mixed together, the founder of the cemetery believing that no matter the branch, the uniform, or the tribe, when you enlisted, the pony beside you became your brother or sister; closer than blood. And in this row of tombstones, Rhapsody knew the stallion she had come to see was among brothers and sisters.

She finally came to it; a gleaming white tombstone with the Equestrian Air Force coat of arms on the face. The name, Reverie "Nocturne" Rain, Captain. Deceased seven years. Shot down in a war that shouldn’t have been started in the first place, that AEGIS shouldn't have nosed into. Rhapsody reached into her coat pocket, pulling out an airplane model of an F-15C Eagle. It was painted precisely with the Royal Equestrian Air Force colors and "Nocturne" had his cutie mark painted on the nose. She knew the details by heart, for they were the same in the picture on her mother's mantle.

She set the model by the tombstone and sat down beside it, staring up at the clouds. The bright blue sky was filled with them, bringing her back to the days she'd sit with this stallion and just watch them go by, or fly up and shape them into funny figures before sending them on their way. It brought a smile to her face, making her finally put her wing around the tombstone, causing her to look down at the inscription at the base.

Fallen, but never forgotten. May your skies be calm and your spirit timeless.

Rhapsody sniffed. "I miss you, dad... Have I got a story for you this time."

Her eyes welled up, but she was refusing to let them fall. She was raised better. Instead, Rhapsody looked back up at the clouds and sighed beginning the tale of all tales she's told him. The sun still shone, the sky was blue as ever, and the clouds that had once been torn apart in a bloody war, now drifted along in the breeze without a care in the world. Shattered no more, the clouds made their way across the endless skies, guarded by the sheltering wings of the protector.

Where once there had been a harsh smell of jet fuel is gone, and what was once Meteor Squadron's runway, was now a busy local highway.

I'm writing this letter to you, because I feel you should know the gryphon behind the ace you fought. The lady gryphon who was a warrior looking for the perfect opponent. I can tell you that it must have brought her unimaginable joy to have an opponent like you at the end of the meaningless war. I want to believe that, at the very least.

Only you, the mare who shot down the Meteor, can confirm this.

And so, I write to you…

Author's Note

So ends my first MLP story! Don't fret because there will be a sequel that I'm working on even as I was uploading chapters to the site. The sequel will iron out the kinks this one left behind, believe me.

Ace Combat 4 was not the first one in the series I've played, but is by far my favorite. I disregarded Assault Horizon and Zero to play more Shattered Skies (or Distant Thunder, depending on your demographic).

Thank you all for reading and favoriting. You've all REALLY helped my self-esteem for writing/typing.

Prologue

ACE COMBAT EQUESTRIA
SHATTERED CLOUDS

Prologue

Fourteen years after the Changeling Regime’s failure to conquer Equestria and her allied nations.

Sky Breaker, the Gryphnian weapon of mass destruction, originally set up to destroy the Regime’s airborne forces. Upon discovering its potential as aerial defense weapon, the Gryphon Kingdom’s political saber-rattling became even more prominent in the months that followed. There were pleas from the other nations that were supposedly allied with the Gryphons to halt their vicious rambling, concerning how much more trade and tribute they should receive because they had the most powerful weapon in the world to defend their neighbors.

Deciding enough was enough, Princess Celestia of Equestria, Prime Minister Ironbeak of the Hippogriff Republic of Hibern, King Anu Kaubr of Saddle Arabia, and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of the Crystal Empire convened a meeting and planned an attack to destroy Sky Breaker. Though it would result in a fierce war, it was a sabotage mission they could no longer avoid to pass over.

Pilots and planes from all four nations, fighters and bombers alike, gathered in the skies and flew to destroy Sky Breaker, but once they entered range, Sky Breaker opened fire, destroying everything within range of its guns. Over two-hundred pilots lost their lives in a mere five seconds, and AEGIS (Allied Equis Guard of Independent States) air power was almost completely extinguished. Gryphnia openly chastised this failed attack of their neighboring nations’, announcing that if they wanted war, they would receive a war that would shake the foundations of the very world.

Even as he finished his announcement and declaration of war, Gryphnian forces were already moving into Hibern and Equestria, while they viciously fought the Saddle Arabian forces. The Crystal Empire was almost cut in half by the lightning haste of the Gryphons. Key points along the continent were lost, and the AEGIS was forced to evacuate and abandon areas all over the continent.

Six months have passed since the first bastion was taken, three weeks since the last shot was fired, and Gryphnia controls much of the mainland. Though the AEGIS forces are weak, they are getting ready to launch an offensive at any second. If only they could gain a little ground.

Of course, to gain ground, you must fight for it in the air…

I remember a time when wars were just something that happened outside my little town. It was an abstract concept that occurred outside of the Crystal Empire, nothing more than a show on the television or a story on the radio. It wasn’t until gryphons flew over my town, or tanks rumbled down the roads, or soldiers marched down the street did I realize that war was a real thing. And it happens often, just like it did now.

I remember going outside with my family, to watch these strange new machines the Imperial military had soar through the sky. They were loud, but they were agile, their shapes were beautiful, and it was definitely something I had envisioned myself doing in life. The pilots were trained by those found in Canterlot, where many AEGIS pilots were trained. We hardly had such a thing as an air force when King Sombra was our ruler, but now that we had one, everypony wanted to watch them.

I remember when I was just a young colt my parents were watching something on TV about an important job our pilots had to do. I couldn’t sleep, so I snuck down the stairs to watch the screen from afar. It was a camera watching a large air base that was further in the capitol, just a mile from the palace. Even from here, I could hear the rolling thunder of their engines as they took off. Many of our neighbors woke up and went out into the street to watch them. I looked out the window of my room, and tried to count. I only reached fifty before the last glow of an engine burned away on the horizon.

I remember the next morning, the air around my house, while once filled with the sounds of my mother making breakfast, the air was now filled with a gentle sobbing. My mother was on the couch, my father holding her tightly, as the TV screen showed a large amount of wreckage on the ground. Fires raged all across this canyon and a nearby valley. The mare was talking about how massive shockwaves and explosions had knocked every single allied plane from the sky. It wasn’t until a few minutes later did I realize, that the air force the Crystal Empire was so proud of finally acquiring had been all but destroyed in less than ten seconds.

I remember being on my way to school with my friends, when we heard the sounds of a heavy engine above us. I looked up, and it wasn’t just one. There were many. They were bigger than the planes I had once seen at an air show when the Crystal Empire was showing off their new planes. They were flying over our town, and seven large black shapes dropped from the bottoms of these large planes. They disappeared behind the large houses for only a moment before we saw the explosions that rocked the ground we stood on, and we were quite a ways away from them.

I remember my friends were shouting for me to follow them into the nearby woods, where we hid for hours as it felt. Loud sirens were coming from the city, only to be silenced mere seconds later. We saw more explosions from objects dropped from the large planes going over. Once it looked like it was safe, we didn’t head for school, but rather ran back to the town. Fires were raging all over the place as fire brigades rushed families away from the flames, some carrying out my neighbors who weren’t even moving. My friends went their separate ways, screaming out for their parents. I found myself doing the same until I saw them.

I remember finding my house, or rather what was left of it. Behind me was a large hole that still burned. A fire brigade had already doused it with water, but I was looking at my house. My parents weren’t there, and neither was my house. The only thing standing where it should have been was some broken, burning pieces of wood and some stone. Other than that, there wasn’t anything there. It was then I realized I had just been picked up and hefted onto somepony’s shoulder and being carried away to a waiting truck that quickly sped away from the scene.

I remember… when peace was a very real thing…

Author's Note

I accept any criticism, just please be polite about it. This is my first story.

I've deeply enjoyed the Ace Combat series and I feel it's among the most unappreciated game series. Playing Shattered Skies gave me the inspiration to write my own story. There will be others, and I'll upload new chapters every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!

Chapter 9

Rhapsody ran her hand over the nose of her Tomcat. It bore a few scars of past fights, but showed no sign of giving up its spark to fight. Just past her canopy was her kill record, a collection of tallies in the shape of the Gryphnian sun instead of black lines. There were a total of seventeen confirmed kills on her record in the past few sorties. Ditzy was with her, both in their regular flight jackets to keep out the approaching warmth. While keeping their bodies warm, it failed to protect the most vital part of a pegasi’s body; the wings.

The two mares kept their wings hugged tightly to their backs whilst Rhapsody’s multihued teal tail wrapped itself around her leg. The lead mare ran her palm over the scores and exhaled, creating a soft plume of her breath in the air. Rhapsody was a mare who could hold her liquor well, even if she went overboard this night. But it was a celebration, and she allowed herself some indulgence. Even still, at this time, she was clear headed as ever.

Sprig had carried the passed out Mythic to his bunk, deciding she was going to meet with Amethyst in their quarters and catch some sleep. Whilst Spitfire had approved of this party being thrown for them by the General, she would drill the hell out of them in the morning to get rid of the hangovers. Rhapsody had no doubts Mythic was going to be a nightmare to wake. Poor stallion loved his drink, but couldn’t hold it to save his life once he got started.

The insulation in the all metal hangars didn’t help the situation much either, but Rhapsody grew up in a city where the winters were cold. Her blood was thick as a result, so her body kept a good temperature to stay out with. That didn’t mean she didn’t like to dress warmly, though. Poor Ditzy from Ponyville wasn’t used to such cold weather.

They both stared at the cockpit of the Tomcat, the grey mare looking at it longingly. Rhapsody caught her gaze and frowned, looking at the co-pilots seat. It prompted her question. “Ever thought about applying for your own fighter?”

The question seemed to catch Ditzy Do off-guard. The grey pegasus started and looked at her friend, then back at the fighter. Her head tilted, causing her misaligned eyes to quirk a little with the gesture. The thought had been bugging Rhapsody for months. They were assigned the same fighter, but she often wondered if her friend ever wanted to fly by herself. Ditzy had often eyed the pilot's seat of the Tomcat, so it was natural for Rhapsody to think that maybe it was time her friend had her own.

“Not really.” Now it was Rhapsody’s turn to be off-guard. “I… don’t want to make the choice of ending an opponent’s life.” She looked towards the sea green mare, the rose eyes asking for elaboration. “You all have to make the choice to kill, and I know it can’t be easy.”

“You’d be surprised,” Rhapsody countered. “In the heat of battle, you need to make the decision fast. Often times, you don’t. You just pull the trigger and fly off, and sometimes you don't even see the impact. It's usually lock-on, fire, fly off, and AWACS tells you if it hit or not.”

“But who are we to decide who gets the trigger pulled on them?” Ditzy asked. “They’re pilots just like us. And I… because we’re the same, we fight for the same thing, or so I tell myself.”

Rhapsody leaned against the nose of the Tomcat. “Gryphnia wants to take over the entire continent and the surrounding islands, butchered whole cities in the name of securing their well-being, and they have tortured civilians, brainwashed them. You’re saying we shouldn't fight them?”

“Ever think they say the same thing about us? That we’re the warmongers? We did strike the first blow of the war, and they were just trying to secure more resources,” the wall-eyed mare replied calmly.

“They were hanging Sky Breaker over our heads as a tool to rule the continent,” Rhapsody snapped, perhaps harder than she intended. Ditzy recoiled back a little, raising a wing halfway as if to shield herself from the verbal sting. Her friend backed off a little, seeing the gesture. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Ditzy replied meekly with a nod. “I just don’t like fighting. I don’t mind flying with you, I trust you to keep me safe; I just don’t want to be the one pulling the trigger. I want peace.”

Rhapsody bit her lips and slid her hand down the fuselage towards the beginning of the wings. “We all want peace, Ditzy. But often times somepony needs to die for it to come about. A true peace is worth fighting for.” She hung her head. “I don’t like it any more than you do.”

The grey mare’s misaligned eyes threatened to pour out their sadness, but she forced them back as she leaned back against the fighter, hands in her pockets. Biting her lip, she sniffed and shook her head. “I hate war.”

“But you still want to defend your country,” Rhapsody added. Ditzy slowly nodded. The sea green mare sighed and leaned next to her friend. The Tomcat was oddly warm, as if sensing their cold and it felt to Rhapsody that if the Tomcat could move on its own, the massive aluminum and titanium wing would have encompassed them to keep out the cold. The Captain knew deep down that this whole war did start because of AEGIS. Anypony with half a brain knew that they had struck the first blow, even if they didn’t fire the first shot.

Suddenly, Rhapsody felt a hand nudge her. She looked to her friend Ditzy, who had huddled up beside her friend as a light mountain breeze filled the hangar through the open windows up at the top. The Tomcat wasn’t able to do much more for their warmth, so Rhapsody began steering them both away towards the doors. “C’mon, let’s head inside before you catch a cold,” Rhapsody said.

“Rhappy?” Ditzy suddenly inquired. Her friend looked down at her friend and tilted her head. “We’ll be okay, right? Like… with all the fighting… you, me, Mythic, Sprig, Amethyst.” Ditzy then bit her lips, blinking hard. “We’ll make it, won’t we?”

A sudden chill went up Rhapsody’s spine, and it wasn’t from the breeze. It was a chill that the coming battles would really test her pilot skills. And it wasn’t just herself she had to look after. Behind her seat, Ditzy was completely defenseless. And she had a family to return home to, and a daughter who needed her mother. While Rhapsody had a family of her own to see again, Ditzy had more responsibility. Joining the Air Force was a noble decision, but she needed to survive this war not just for her own sake, but for her daughter's.

Ditzy started a bit as Rhapsody’s arm tightened around her friend and her wing circled around her. “I promise you, Ditz,” the Captain murmured. “I’ll look after you. I’ll make sure Dinky’s mother comes home safe.” Ditzy smiled and gave her friend a firm shake. The two mares exited the hangar and headed for the barracks where they could sleep.

And Rhapsody could try to shake off her hangover that was beginning to rear its ugly head.

“It’s a pretty straight forward attack; the only downside is how far into Gryphon air space you’ll need to fly.” Spitfire pressed the button on her remote. The screen shifted from the large string of valleys to the mountain range the pilots would be flying over on their way to the target: a massive solar power plant. “Because it’s supplying about sixty percent of the power for Gryphnia in this region, you’re bound to run into trouble on the way there. But probably not much since they’re trying to fight on four fronts.”

Multiple red dots decorated the screen where there were going to be possible skirmishes with Gryphons. Spitfire stepped away from the podium, aiming the built-in laser pointer of the remote at the map, drawing lines along it. “You’ll approach from the southwest and head straight there. We don’t want anypony getting lost, so stay together. Command wants this to be a quick in and out. Fly in, blow some crap up, then get the buck out there.”

Amethyst suddenly raised her hand. Spitfire pointed the remote at her. “Lieutenant?”

The crystal pony mare nodded her thanks and stood up, asking, “What about Sky Breaker?” The question caused a few mumbles of agreement, and the Major actually pursed her lips, looking off to the side. “This is far into their territory, wouldn’t it be within range?”

Everypony looked towards Spitfire, who kept her face neutral, but clearly giving off the aura that radiated confidence. At least that’s what the major hoped. “According to the General, Sky Breaker is just outside of range. They can fire, but it won’t hit. Still,” she looked back at the map and folded her arms. Her tail flicked just a bit as she continued, “There will be a huge response, so this attack is going to be big. That’s why we’re sending our best.”

She turned around, seeing the knowing gazes the pilots shared with each other. Save for Fluttershy, who looked even more terrified than any other time she was leading a sortie. She saw Rhapsody from Ghost, Lighting Dust from Timber Wolf, and Creg from Saber give each other smiles. Fluttershy from Blue Jay was much less enthusiastic. Everyone knew they were the best under the command of Major Spitfire, and they’d be leading their squadrons into this attack. Her four squadrons that she could rely on the most other than Wonderbolt.

Of course her words with the General could not be forgotten. A quick in out, but a lot of these pilots wouldn’t be coming back home tonight. A deep strike into Gryphnia was always laden with peril. But she had confidence that, regardless of casualties, they’ll succeed. She shoved her errant thoughts of the General aside and turned her attention back to the map. She pressed the remote again, which showed the main power complex and three red circles in different places.

“These are your primary targets,” Spitfire continued. “You’ve got the command center here, a collection tower to the north, and an R&D complex just east of that. Should be pretty easy to spot with the massive chimneys.” She looked back around, turning her attention to the flight line. “Once you reach the target, you’ll be engaged by serious enemy air power. We’re talking AA guns, SAMs, fighters, you name it and they will send it up to kill you.”

“Nothing a few bombs can’t handle,” Mythic replied, leaning back in his chair and clasping his hands behind his head. Before Spitfire could retort, Wraith had swatted him with her left hand, causing him to almost fall over. A quick wing kept him from falling, but her glare made him be quiet. Still, the grey stallion kept a good humored smile on his face.

“You’ll be loaded with the standard layout of missiles and bombs,” Spitfire added. "Hit those three targets, and then keep on the attack against the solar panels themselves. We really want them to be hit hard when we attack this place.” She pressed the remote again and stood back behind her podium. Her gaze turned stern as she regarded each pilot. She then turned her eyes to the left, placing her sunglasses on her muzzle. “Captain Fluttershy, you’re in command of this attack. I expect a lot from you.”

The yellow pegasus mare made an almost adorable squeak before nodding sharply and bringing her hand to a salute. “Y-yes ma’am.” Spitfire nodded and stood straight. The rest of the AEGIS pilots followed suite, saluting. The Major returned it swiftly.

“This attack will not only cripple their industrial output of arms, but it’ll be a tactical diversion as they try to repair their power supplies. This is the best way we can make them focus on something other than our imminent invasion plans,” she added. With a finally button, she shut off the screen and the lights turned back on.

“You have your orders, Mother Mare’s speed to you all.”

Rhapsody’s engines roared as they kept an eighteen plane formation. Her Tomcat and three Fighting Falcons kept a good pace with others of their same fighter type, as well as Jay Squadron’s five trademark F-15Cs and Es. Timberwolf was flying a flight of four MiG-29s, who seemed to almost be racing the three EF-2000s and twin Tornado-IDSs from Saber, determined to beat the other in reaching the area first. Rhapsody eyed them with some contempt; they were practically forgetting about the task at hand, more interested in their competition.
“Sky Gazer here to all planes. You’re almost to the target area, and they’ve already sent a welcoming party for you.”

Rhapsody pulled back on her power, disconnecting her fuel nozzle from the KC-10 fuel tanker craft. The large plane pulled up and banked to the south, finished refueling the fighters. Looking down at her radar, there were a few blips heading right for them. Looking back up, she narrowed her eyes and caught their silhouettes. “Confirmed visual on bandits,” she called.

“This is Timberwolf One,” Captain Lightning Dust announced. Her MiG regained its previous stature in the formation. The four green and brown camouflage painted MiGs increased their speed towards the front of the formation. “Requesting permission to engage while you proceed to the target.”

Fluttershy seemed to sigh in what sounded like relief. “Granted, if-if that’s what you really want.” The four MiGs wasted no time propelling forward. “Jay Two and Three, go and help them. If… if that’s okay. I-I mean it’d be-“

“W-we’ll go, Captain,” her wingpony replied. “Just head for the target, we’ll cover you.”

With that said, the remaining fighter-bombers shot towards the target area. But then it seemed like the hornet’s nest had been struck. “Sky Gazer here, confirming radar visual on six more fighters heading right for the main formation. You can’t proceed until they’re all taken down. All wings engage!”

“Saber 3 engaging!”

“Jay Four engaging!”

“Wraith One engaging!”

The F-15C gryphon pilot ground his beak together. He twisted his fighter left and right, finally getting the large F-14A fighter in his gun sights. He had heard about his brother being nearly killed when a lone fighter this same color and tail design sank his ship.

He had every intention of taking this pilot down in revenge.

Ditzy craned her head left and right. “He’s still on us! Man, he’s fast.”

“He’s flying a more agile fighter,” Rhapsody countered. “But I have a plan. Hold on!” Without even warning her co-pilot, the sea green mare shoved her stick forward. The Tomcat pitched downwards towards the deep ravine. It was narrow, but she had other ideas.

“Wraith One! You’re heading towards the ravine!” Sky Gazer cried. “What’s going on?”

Rhapsody grinned behind her oxygen mask. “I’m playing a reverse game of chicken.”

A giggle was heard near Sky Gazer’s spot on the AWACs plane. “Hey Scoots, she said chicke-“ He yelped in pain but ended in laughter.

“Shut up, Rumble!” she cried.

“Hmph! No way to treat your fiancé!”

“Will you two lovebirds focus!?” Lightning Dust cried.

Rhapsody kept her nose aimed downwards, whilst unbeknownst to her, Ditzy’s hand was slowly growing closer and closer to the eject handle as they got closer and closer to the ground. “Gimme a visual Specter!” Rhapsody suddenly ordered. Ditzy spun her head around and looked. The F-15C Eagle was gaining, as also evident by the missile warning alarm on the pilot’s console.

“He’s still on us! He’s-“ She blinked when she saw the Eagle pilot suddenly pull up hard. “He broke off!”

Without further hesitation, Rhapsody yanked her control stick back, almost to the point she was afraid she’d torn it off. The Tomcat’s wings and flaps screamed and strained as she pulled up from her steep dive and then sudden climb. The g-forces pressed the two mare’s bodies into the seats as Rhapsody pulled up hard, gritting her teeth until she was almost vertical and still pulling back. At least, just as her vision began to strain and narrow, the Tomcat reached her intended position during the circle.

Right behind the Eagle.

Twisting right-side up, Rhapsody opened her throttle, letting her afterburners flare for more speed as she chased the more agile fighter. This pilot was good at keeping himself out of her missile’s crosshairs, but she had planned on a gun kill anyway. She pulled up harder and harder until her gun-sight was just ahead of the Eagle before letting off subtle bursts of fire. The first few bullets missed, but when she saw sparks after a quick adjustment, she pulled the trigger and held it down.

A thick and heavy stream of 20mm cannon fire tore into the Gryphon fighter. Her gun hit its mark and successfully sheared off the left wing. The F-15C entered a severe barrel roll towards the ground. “Splash one fighter!” Rhapsody cried.

“Confirmed kill,” Sky Gazer agreed. “Wraith, you’re at the solar power plant. Begin your attack run.”

“Copy that!” Rhapsody throttled up and flexed her fingers over her gun trigger.

“This is Shade, I’ll cover her.”

“Banshee here,” Sprig cried. “I’ve got the sky covered.”

“Phantom engaging hostiles above the plant.”

The AA crews rushed outside, seeing the four fighters closing fast. The two gryphons manned their ZU-23 anti-air gun and aimed high into the air. The gunner pulled down his trigger, opening fire and sending a volley of 23mm shells into the air. Nearby, more gryphons were firing up their ZU-57s and aiming their barrels at the four.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” the commander shouted. “Get them out of the air! This place is too important to lose!”

Black clouds pelted them from below. They weren’t the soft white that Rhapsody had flown through and laid herself on to rest. These meant death.

Sprig said, “This flak is thick!”

“Of course it is! This place supplies power to pretty much the entire southern front of Gryphnia,” Amethyst retorted quickly. Rhapsody weaved through the flak, keeping her nose level as she thrust towards the ground. She narrowed her eyes, zeroing in on one of the flak guns firing just by her at Sprig. The hippogriff was weaving and the two dropped a bomb almost at the same time. The two medium sized bombs created a large explosion, vaporizing the crew and shattering the gun itself. They both weaved upwards to avoid a barrage from one of the two tanks carrying twin auto-cannons.

Rhapsody darted herself to the left just as an enemy MiG-29 shot into view. She grinned and took off in pursuit. The Gryphon pilot didn’t seem to notice her just yet, as his maneuvering was slow. She easily locked on a missile and sent it directly into his turbines. As she looked around, she noticed another MiG heading her way. Banking right, the MiG over shot her. But the nimble MiG was able to outturn her and got on her tail.

Ditzy turned around to watch the gryphon fighter pursue. “He’s close! I think he’s- “ she let out a yelp as a flurry of bullets flew by their fighter. A few hit their mark though and tore a trio of nice holes in the fuselage. Ditzy looked to where they were and gasped. “Another foot and that would’ve hit me!”

“He won’t be trying to hit us again much longer!” Rhapsody cried as she drove her Tomcat down towards the solar panels. They were massive plates in groups of three-by-two, six in total. And they were scattered all over. The MiG she had just shot down crashed into two and then ricocheted into the remaining four. This one on her tail was determined to do the same. She craned her head back to see him turning into her just as she banked hard to the right. “C’mon you bastard,” she murmured.

“A little closer,” the gryphon muttered. “Just… a bit… MORE!”

He pulled the trigger, sending another barrage towards the Tomcat. He missed, cursing, and continued his pursuit. The pilot was skilled, he had to give that to them. But they way they were flying, it seemed too… He suddenly squawked as he pulled up to try and get away.

Too late.

Mythic banked left just as his missile hit the target. The gryphon pilot careened as a fireball into the collection tower. The fighter tore through the tower, sending it ablaze and splitting it in half. The solar collection tower erupted into sparks and crashed into the crater below, lined with more panels to collect the sun. Chunk of steel and glass fell, crashing and burning the ground all around.

“Thanks for the save Shade,” Rhapsody called, thanking Mythic.

“That’s two you owe me!”

With that, the pair split off just as the remaining AEGIS fighters in the group joined the fray. Rhapsody looked at them, sadly counting that two from Jay Squadron had been lost. Still, they had more than enough to begin a massive assault on the remaining targets. “Here we go everypony!” Lighting Dust cried. “Plenty of targets to choose from.”

“Ghost wing! Destroy the remaining targets,” Sky Gazer ordered. “Everypony else, begin shooting down the remaining enemy aircraft and destroy the solar collection panels.”

With their orders received, the remaining AEGIS fighters engaged.

Commander Ga’el grimaced as he watched over the seven gun turrets, gathered in a circle around the central control hub that also acted as a jammer, turning their attention far to the south. He narrowed his eyes just as one of his Lieutenants burst in. “News I take it?”

“Yes sir!” the gryphon nodded with a salute. “Major Pers is asking for support fire. The solar power plant is taking severe casualties and half the facility has been destroyed already.”

Ga’el sneered behind his beak and turned to one of the Senior Sergeants in the control room just beyond the towers. “How long until the guns are charged up to fire?”

Turned back, the gryphon tapped on her console, completely focused. Her claws darted nimbly across a console she had worked on for years. This was her job, her station, and no one knew it better than her. Finally, once the last digit was in, she spun around. “They’ll be ready to fire in ten minutes.”

Commander Ga’el turned back towards the south. The turrets already began to turn towards the south.

“Ten minutes.”

Another F-16C was sent down in a blaze as Rhapsody pulled her Tomcat up and away. “Scratch another bogey!”

“These guys are tough. They must really not want us here,” Sprig concluded snidely.

Creg, the lead pilot for Saber Wing, suddenly wanted to chime in. “Well we’re still better. The good guys always win in the end.”

Fluttershy’s strike eagle dropped a cluster bomb onto a trio of AA guns, shredding them as she pulled up. “Let’s not keep the channel flooded,” she ordered. Then softer, “If-if no one really minds, that is.”

Rhapsody shoved her hand into her face, her tail swishing between her hooves in irritation. Seriously? Rainbow Dash managed to make her a flight lead? Well, at least she managed to have enough courage to fight in a sortie. Ignoring the shy yellow pegasus, the Captain pulled up and weaved through a pair of chimneys as she began to pursue a Gryphnian Tornado-IDS.

This pilot however, did not understand how to fight other fighters besides those still on the ground. The Tornado was clunky, slow, worse than Rhapsody’s aging Tomcat. But this meant that the Tomcat was faster. The swing-wings of the Tornado folded back as the pilot tried to use speed to get away from his pursuer. Rhapsody matched his speed, and gained faster, her afterburners screaming. The wings folded back as well to compensate for more speed through the sudden turns the enemy pilot was making.

Ditzy held on, keeping her eyes on the sky around them. The other fighters were occupied with chasing or being chased by Rhapsody’s fellows, so the sea green mare was open to focus on this one. Finally, her HUD blared its alert that she had a lock. Wasting no time, Rhapsody pulled the trigger. The missile flew off the rail just as the Tornado peeled off to the left suddenly. The missile lost track and veered to the right, just barely missing the tail.

He’s better than I gave him credit for, Rhapsody thought, regaining her senses and going into pursuit once more. But this time, a third party was involved. A missile warning alarm revealed itself on Rhapsody’s console and she was forced to break off. Ditzy turned around to see another F-14A on their tail. “They have the same type as us!” she proclaimed to Rhapsody. Finding a bit of courage, the wall-eyed mare grinned and rubbed her hands together. “Let’s show him who can fly one of these better!”

Rhapsody grinned behind her oxygen mask. “Now you’re talking like a true dogfighter Specter.” Ignoring the sudden blare of a missile launch, she yanked the stick to the left, sending her banking that way and the missile passing right by. Pulling the stick back to her, Wraith pulled the Tomcat into an upward helix, the enemy Tomcat hot on her flanks. She viciously fought the g-forces pushing her back into her seat.

The engines roared as they kept her aloft, her fighter willing in every move its pilot wanted. They were one fighting unit in this sky. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of straight turning up into the sky, Rhapsody relinquished her hold on the stick. The Tomcat righted itself with a quick jerk of the controls and she pushed her throttle forward. Again the afterburners screamed their release as they shot Rhapsody and Ditzy Do into the fading light.

The gryphon pilots pursued, anxious to get another kill on their record.

“Blue Six here,” the pilot called, “I’m in pursuit of what appears to be the lead plane in the formation. I won’t let ‘em get away.”

His co-pilot let out a whoop as they leveled themselves out behind the AEGIS fighter. They were the true pilots of the F-14A Tomcat, not these damned ponies. Grinding his beak together, the young Lieutenant twisted left and right to match the enemy pilots moves. These were simple tactics, easy to copy. Even their sudden breaking was –

Breaking? As in hitting the brakes?

The gryphon Lieutenant was so focused on when he was going to kill the pilot he failed to focus on how. The Tomcat he was pursing lurched to a halt and he flew right under them. His co-pilot turned his head back. “Damn this one’s good!” he cried.

“Too good!” his friend replied. “Hold on!”

The enemy Tomcat pursued relentlessly as the Lieutenant weaved through the clouds to try and shake him. A burst flew by the canopy, causing the pilot to yelp in sudden fear and jerk the stick to the left…

Right into another volley.

Thick rounds pelted the fuselage and tore into the cockpit. The co-pilot held up his arms as the shrill shrieks of bullets flew by him, leaving only the sound of the engines, alarms, and warnings of loss of cockpit pressure. He blinked his eyes open finally and looked around. He patted his chest and looked himself over. They hadn’t hit him! The bullets hadn’t gotten him. Reaching into his pocket, he removed his girlfriend’s lucky wing feather, rubbing it against his cheek. It really had come through!

“I’m okay Marvin!” he cried. “I’m okay-“ He froze in his jubilation and stared forward at the massive crimson stain on the canopy. Turning his eyes around the pilot’s seat, he saw his longtime friend and fellow aviator slumped forward with half of his helmet missing.

The co-pilot began to hyperventilate and realized they were on a collision course with the command center of the power plant. Wasting no time, he reached down and yanked on the eject handle. The canopy blew and sent him hurtling into the open sky. Once his chute deployed, Corlo watched as the Tomcat he had only flown in for a couple of months, along with his best friend, crash directly into the control room. He then relinquished to his pilot's training and snapped himself away from the parachute and allowed his wings to keep him aloft as he surveyed the area.

The shriek of an engine turned his attention to the culprit. A grey F-14A with a spectral horse on the tail. He sneered and huffed, spitting at the pilot, at the fighter.

At the Ghost…

“Confirmed kill on a bandit and the control room of the facility in one sitting!” Sky Gazer reported. “Rhapsody, how many times are you going to amaze us?”

“Eh, comes naturally,” the sea green mare replied smartly.

Mythic chuckled. “You’re such an ass.”

Now Rhapsody laughed. “Last I checked, I was a pegasus.”

“Oh shut up!” Sprig teased. “Besides you missed one more target – “

“R&D compound destroyed!” Sky Gazer called.

Sprig blinked and looked around, seeing Rhapsody pull up beside her, completely devoid of bombs. Right behind them both, the smoldering ruins of the Research and Development building was a burning wreck, hit by the sea green mare’s remaining bombs and a hail of bomblets from one of the Saber EF-2000s.

“You were saying?” Rhapsody asked coyly.

Sprig didn’t reply, instead banking away from her wing leader and heading south.

“Sky Gazer here, all targets confirmed destroyed. This will definitely keep Gryphnia busy!” The four MiGs from Timberwolf took the lead in the return formation as the remaining three Jays pulled up as well. Everypony looked scratched and bruised, but otherwise very much alive and well. “We’ll tally up the kills when you all land. Congratulations, mission complete. All aircraft RTB.”

The turrets locked themselves into position, and green lights flared at the top of each one indicating it was loaded and ready to fire.

“Fire.”

“Man I am looking forward to some good pancakes when we land,” Wraith said.

“I just want another muffin,” Ditzy countered.

Amethyst giggled. “You could eat muffins all day huh?”

“You better believe it!”

Scootaloo shook her head, a smile across her muzzle. Adjusting her headset around her neck, she leaned back in her chair on board the AWACs plane. She was a bit sad Rainbow Dash didn’t come along. It would’ve been nice for them to talk again while –

An alarm blared on Scootaloo’s console, causing her to shove aside her musings and look it over. Four blips were heading right for the AEGIS fighters, but they pulsed like they were… they were… No…

“No…” Scootaloo murmured.

Rumble looked at her, tilting his head curiously. “What is it?” he asked.

She didn’t answer him, simply staring at her radar screen as the blips got closer and closer to the formation. Gryphnia… they had managed to increase the range? Again!? Scootaloo tore the headset from her neck and shoved it back onto her ears. She furiously tapped for a squadron wide channel, which included the base back in Hibern. Virtually terrified, the orange mare pulled the microphone to her muzzle, her voice loud and clear.

“All aircraft! Incoming from Sky Breaker! Four rounds ETA thirty seconds!”

“Sky breaker?!”

“They manage to increase the range this far?” Mythic shouted incredulously.

“It’s gotta be birds or something,” Sprig challenged.

“This isn’t a misread!” Sky gazer shouted. “Get below two-thousand feet! And terrain mask.”

Now she had everyponies attention. Sky Breaker, the massive Gryphnian super weapon capable of shattering whole squadrons in the air. It’s exactly what ruined the previous attack launched against it. But two-thousand feet? Terrain mask? How were they supposed to do that, fly underground?

Rhapsody jerked her head left and right, seeing nowhere for them to go. Mountains, rocks, craters, a ravine, more rocks – She looked back to her right. “There!” she cried. “Dive into the ravine! Get low and stay low!”

“Are you nuts?” Lightning Dust shouted. “It’s suicide to fly into that ravine!”

“You got a better idea, mate?” Creg asked as he and his remaining Saber Wing pilots peeled off to follow the Tomcat. Rhapsody pushed her throttle forward, reaching the rim of the canyon. The five remaining Sabers, and her own wing began their descent to follow her. The others were still trying to reach them when the warning came in.

“Ten seconds to impact!” cried Sky Gazer.

“Timberwolf get down here!” Sprig ordered, regardless of speaking to another Captain.

The four MiG-29s darted close, two managed to make it inside. The remaining two were engaged by a pair of enemy F-15C Eagles that were trying to keep them from regrouping in safety. “We can’t disengage! They’re too fast!”

“Eight!”

“Forget about it! Get your flanks over here now!”

“They’re too good! We can’t break or they’ll get us!”

“Five!”

Lighting swore violently. “You’ll be killed if you don’t! Hurry!”

“We’re comin- They got a lock!”

“Two! Impact – NOW!”

The world shuddered, the sky shook. Rhapsody had to shield her eyes for a moment as a blinding flash overtook her vision just beyond her. A massive tear in the air was the prelude to a great explosion of pure light. It was a bolt of light blue that exploded into a rainbow of colors, before coming together as a bright white orb and then detonating. The explosion caused her to shriek and shield her eyes again as the very air around her seemed to break with an earsplitting roar and blinding flares.

Two screams were heard over the radio as the two Timberwolves who couldn’t make it to the canyon were destroyed in midair. Rhapsody looked over as the debris from the pair of MiGs hurtled to the ground. Three more explosions of the same caliber caused her to grip the control stick to right herself and squint hard to keep out the offending flare of light and death. The world literally shook all around her as her eyes bulged while keeping her body rigid.

“What power!” the Saber lead cried.

“Timberwolf Two and Three are incommunicado!” Timberwolf Four whimpered. “They didn’t stand a chance."

“And they destroyed their own fighters that were pursing,” Mythic added. “They don’t even care who they hit, do they?”

A warning blared through the radio as Sky Gazer tapped at her console. “Apparently they don’t,” she muttered angrily. “Four more rounds incoming! Twenty seconds to impact!”

“That’s not all!” Lightning Dust cried. “Look behind us!”

Ditzy turned around to see, and she gasped. “Gryphnian fighters followed us into the ravine.” From what she could count, five enemy fighters of different makes and models were hot on their tail. A scream soon followed the news. “They got one of the Sabers! A Tornado!”

“Saber Five is gone!” Amethyst reported.

“They’ve got us right where they want us,” Rhapsody hissed. “Our only chance of safety just became our death trap.”

“I told you this was a bad idea! Above or below two-thousand feet, we’re dead either way!” Lighting cursed.

Suddenly, Rhapsody grunted from the sudden thump of wind. Mythic had increased his speed. “Throttle up and deploy flares! That should keep them occupied!”

Rhapsody nodded and followed suit. Her Tomcat’s turbines roared, as if sensing the fear of its pilots and fellows surrounding it. It gave the Captain everything it could as she blazed forward. Sprig and Amethyst pushed their throttles up to match speed. The latter most fired off a pair of flare countermeasures to shake off a missile aimed at her. She banked hard to dodge a burst of gunfire, the belly of her F-16C just barely touching the walls of the canyon.

“Ten seconds! Stay low!”

Lighting dust had been through plenty of sorties, but she had never come up against Sky Breaker. She lost two planes within seconds, and those two were her best. The rookie pilot behind her was barely keeping his cool. She could hear his labored breathing through the comm channel. “C’mon Raindrops, suck it up!” she ordered. But she couldn’t hide the shaking in her own voice. This wasn’t like the other battles, she could very much die here if she wasn’t careful. And being careful right now was nearly impossible.

Her console suddenly blared a missile lock. She made a cry of terror and looked around the ravine for a way out. Without thinking, she banked to the right, causing the missile to blaze right by her. A second flew by though, not having her targeted. But it got one of the EF-2000s from Saber Wing. “No! They got Saber two!”

“We’ll be annihilated if we stay down here!” Banshee from Ghost Wing shouted. The stalwart hippogriff had finally met not only her match, but her better in every way. This was an enemy she couldn’t fight in her current state, nor vicinity. Lighting had always heard of the hippogriffs being a hearty and brave race. But now she was hearing a new emotion from this one. Fear.

“Six!”

Another missile warning. The ravine was too narrow, she couldn’t outturn it. “Five!” She needed to escape, Lighting needed a way out! “Four!” Up. Her only chance. Fear gripped her heart. She pulled the stick back and pulled up high into the air, kicking in her engines. The missile streaked under her and she breathed a sigh of relief. She then realized belatedly it wasn’t meant for her, but rather her rookie. Raindrops.

“I’m hit! I can’t hold-“ Static completed the sentence as she pushed her head down. The camouflage colored MiG-29 crashed into the mountainside. And it was too late before Lighting realized exactly where she was as well. Her altitude was at three thousand feet. She looked forward, and a tear slipped from her eye. Captain Lighting Dust choked a sob down and closed her eyes.

“Impact –NOW!”

Rhapsody held onto the handles of her canopy as the air and ground around her shook violently, as if she were on the ground and caught in an earthquake. Her Tomcat shuddered violently to stay aloft as more rips in the sky. Another brilliant display of colors was the prelude to the terrifying blast of pure white that tore open the sky. She looked up into the sky, seeing chunks of the last Timberwolf MiG tumble into the canyon. She grimaced and grit her teeth, turning away from the final impact of the cockpit against the canyon wall.

The resulting explosion caused parts of the rocky wall to shoot out in front of the retreating AEGIS fighters. With Mythic in front, he was the most vulnerable, unfortunately. A rock the size of Rhapsody’s head pelted his left wingtip. His Fighting Falcon shook and twisted on its side, smoke shooting from the metal as he seemed to struggle to maintain control.

“Shade! You alright?” she inquired.

A grunt followed her question as she watched the F-16C fighting hard to regain momentum and maintain speed. “It’s fine, I’m fine,” he replied hastily. Two more bolts from Sky Breaker shattered the tranquil dusk of the sky. And as Rhapsody watched, three more Gryphnian fighters trying to escape the onslaught were taken out of the fight. Not one was able to eject.

“They’re just firing at random!” Saber lead, Creg, mumbled loudly. “All they want is for us to be gone.”

“And they’re succeeding,” Sprig added in, without necessity. Ditzy craned her head back to see how many were left. All five enemy gryphon fighters were hot in pursuit. But as she watched, Sprig slowed down considerably, nearly crashing into the ravine.

“Banshee!” Ditzy cried. “What are you doing? You’ll be hit!”

The female hippogriff didn’t respond, instead throttling back up and tailing the lead fighter, an F-15C. She wasted no time in raking her cannon across the wings. Both of them peeled off, one of which striking an F/A-18 directly in the cockpit. A double kill. But a hail of bullets flew by her canopy, pelting her in a few places and causing her to weave dangerously close to the walls and floor of the ravine.

“Sky Gazer, this is Wraith!” Rhapsody called. “How much farther till we’re out of range!?”

The silence that responded was long, and fear began to grip Rhapsody’s heart. She kept weaving through the rocks and through the twists and turns of the ravine. She waited, and waited, and wait- Was she reading a map folded out on her lap? What was taking her so –

“Fifteen miles till you’re all out of range! Keep going!”

“You heard the mare!” Amethyst shouted, finding some resolve despite the hell that was surrounding her. “Punch it!”

“C’mon everypony!” Fluttershy cried, finally finding a voice. “Follow Ghost Wing! If that’s okay-“

“Yes Captain! It’s okay!” Creg yelled. The yellow pegasus mare squeaked in fear and pushed her throttle up. The F-15E with butterflies painted on the nose took up a position beside the F-14A lead fighter of Ghost. They twisted around a corner into a new area –

A thick barrage of bullets greeted them. Four Gryphnian MI-24 Hinds were waiting in ambush for the retreating pilots. Mythic twisted, firing his cannon into the rotors of one and sending it crashing to the ravine floor. Sprig and Amethyst simply pulled up and over, narrowly avoiding another barrage from Sky Breaker that wasn’t announced. Scootaloo must have been letting the shock get to her. Rhapsody couldn’t blame her at all.

The sea green mare pulled herself up and over, but Captain Fluttershy failed to make a move of her own.

A heavy hail of bullets hit her fighter.

Half the canopy was torn through, her co-pilot shrieking and then falling silent. The rest of the gun fire ripped open the back of her Strike Eagle, sending a thick plume of smoke and flames out behind her. “I’m hit! This is Jay One! I’m ejecting!” Fluttershy reached down and pulled her handle, being thrown into the air. She cried, tears flying off her cheeks as she felt, for the first time, a real life ejection from a combat aircraft.

Rainbow Dash had always said it was like the Dizzatron back at the academy, but this was ten times worse! No, not even that little! Finally, her chute deployed just as the AEGIS and Gryphnian fighters soared underneath her. She watched them go by and turned her head around. One of the hinds fired an anti-air missile that shot right by her chute, nearly making her ears bleed by how loud it was as it impacted the back of the last EF-2000 fighter from Saber Wing. Only Wing-leader Creg was alive in his Tornado.

Lazily, she just let herself fall to the floor via parachute, her limbs, tail, and wings limp. Tears rolled down her cheeks and towards the ravine. Regrets flew right into her face as she began to cry.

Why did Rainbow Dash say this would be good for her?

“Jay One and Saber Three are down! Anyone see a chute?”

“Affirmative! Two chutes confirmed! They’re okay,” Rhapsody reported. “Sky Gazer, distance to safety?”

“Two miles!” she was answered.

Rhapsody looked back towards Ditzy. “Are we still being pursued?” she asked.

Ditzy looked back, but Sprig and Amethyst beat her to it. “Negative on that. They broke off.”

“The Hinds too,” Amethyst added. “We’re safe. We’re all safe.”

The realization that they were in the clear hit them, but Rhapsody didn’t relax herself. She heaved a sigh and pulled off her oxygen mask, taking in deep breaths of air. She looked around as the remaining AEGIS fighters haphazardly took up formation as they pulled up and out of the canyon. Seven. That’s all that was left of the attack squadron of eighteen fighters. And Captain Fluttershy and Saber Three were parachuting deep behind enemy lines with practically no way for allies to get to them.

A painful tug at her heart reminded her that she could've been one of those that would have been killed. And part of her cried for those that didn't make it. Rhapsody closed her eyes and gripped her controls when the realization came crashing into her. This war had taken a terrifying turn, and it didn't look to be in AEGIS's favor.

“No… not all of us.”

Chapter 20

The artillery barrage ceased. Smoke billowed up from the impacts as the snow finally came down from the explosions.

"CHARGE!" Shining Armor cried, swinging his sword forward. The AEGIS soldiers around shouted and roared, their bayonets fixed as they charged the broken Gryphnian lines. The tank he had taken up position inside surged forward, providing cover for those infantry still shooting. The gryphons sounded another retreat as they clashed with the AEGIS troops, bullets still flying all around. A pair of gryphons had taken wing and were shooting down at the defenders, only to be speared by a pair of pegasi and driven into the dirt.

"Don't let up! Keep fighting! Push them back to the border!" Shining leaned to his right towards the side of the tank. "Commissar Karat! I need you on the front! Grab a rifle and continue pushing these troops! They're tired, but we have to secure a better front!"

The Crystal Commissars had been an old tool of the feudal ages of Equis and of the many conflicts that occurred after the fall of Sombra and the Empire's return. A voice of troop morale, they stood alongside the nation's troops, shouting words of encouragement, often giving orders when the commanders were not able. While not ones to fight in actual combat, more than one had taken up a weapon to show they were just as committed to the battle as their comrades. Equestria and Gryphnia themselves had relieved their armies of Commissars, but the Crystal Empire still had many, and seeing that they had been that way for more than a thousand years, Princess Cadence did not have the heart to relieve them of their ancient duties.

The aged, violet crystal pony turned to his commander, crisply saluting and holding it there until he was relieved. "Yes sir! But with respect," He looked towards the frontlines, where AEGIS troops were heavily engaged with Gryphon soldiers. The latter was pushing back, but the prideful Crystal soldiers were still fighting and shouting, shooting and stabbing their way through the gryphons that had taken hold of so much of their home country. As he watched, a pair of crystals had opened up a gryphon tank and threw a grenade inside, promptly closing it. Another group where beating the crew of another tank before taking it over and turning it around against its former fellows. "I do not believe they need more coaxing."

Shining chuckled and nodded. "I see what you mean, Commissar, but until this line is secured, we must keep going. I trust you to do that."
Commissar Karat saluted once more. "Yes sir!" The Crystal grabbed a rifle from the front of the Laclerc tank Shining stood on and rushed to the front, continuing to shout his words of morale. "Push forward soldiers of the Empire! We will drive these fiends out of our lands once and forever more! Keep fighting, keeping driving! With your bullets, your bayonets, with your bare hands!"

AEGIS continued the charge.

"Killing spree!"

Soarin laughed. "I told you she's vicious with that thing!"

Rhapsody ignored him and continued shooting at the elusive enemy soldier. But once again she had disappeared behind the pile of scrap metal. This unforgiving junkyard, this tiny map, had been her bane many times in the past. Rhapsody carefully made her way around, preparing her assault rifle for –

The riot shield struck her dead on.

"Damnit!" she cried.

Spitfire laughed. "How many is that now- Oh! Predator drone!"

Rhapsody shouted and ran for cover. "Enemy predator missile inbound! Take cover!" her commander cried. Rhapsody dove for cover. The explosion rocked the area, doing some damage to her, but more or less leaving her unscathed. Rhapsody jumped from her cover. "Haha!"

The riot shield rammed her from behind. "Haha!"

"Gunship is standing by!" Spitfire's commander announced.

Rhapsody snarled violently as she continuously fired at the Major's riot shield. Her bullets from her favorite rifle, that many considered the worst, pounded against the surface. "That thing is cheap!" She kept firing, threw a flashbang, and ran. Spitfire sprinted to keep up until finally the younger pegasus mare's soldier ran out of steam and the Major once again bashed her with the riot shield. It did damage, but not enough to kill her. There was suddenly an explosion behind her, one of Rhapsody's claymore mines she had almost forgot about. She turned to see Spitfire on the ground. She hastily picked the shield up. "Haha!"

Her screen suddenly went white. A shotgun then went off and the round ended. "Haha."

Rhapsody glared daggers at the Major, who stuck her tongue out. "Cheeky bitch." The rest of the room laughed. The sea green mare STILL could not believe she had been beaten by Spitfire only using the riot shield. She had made the challenge and Spitfire had merely grinned, Soarin and Rainbow sharing a look of amusement and pity.

She now knew why.

"I spent the majority of my multiplayer time on this game perfecting use of the riot shield and the SPAS-12. I was nicknamed the turtle," Spitfire said proudly, leaning back in her chair. "Also… choose a different rifle. The FAMAS is so useless." She and Rhapsody shared a look of contempt when their eyes met, before they started snickering. Soon both burst into a fit of giggles, and then full out laughter as they got up from the couch and headed for the bar to get drinks. But just as they sat down, Soarin came around the corner.

"Rhapsody, Spitfire, I need you."

Spitfire snickered as she grabbed her glass. "Aren't you already taken, Soarin? What would Dash think?"

The stallion blushed, the two mares sharing another laugh before he shook his head and pointed to the hallway. "Now please!"

Rhapsody wiped her eye and nodded. "He said please."

They got up and followed the Major to his office. He was silent the entire walk there before arriving at not his office, but the office of General Khalid, AEGIS's commander of the Saddle Arabian front. He had asked for the mare of the 14th Tactical that was tearing through the gryphons, that had destroyed Sky Breaker, and shot down a Meteor who before were deemed unbeatable. However, the news that he had struck Rhapsody's cord.

"North, sir?" she asked incredulously.

General Khalid nodded crisply. "I'm just as shocked as you. I could really use you here, but with both the Wonderbolts and Ghost in the southern theatre, we're in desperate need to send more of our best pilots to other parts to help shore up their defenses. For the Mother Mare's sake, Princess Celestia has sent her Capital Defense Squadron to Dodge Junction to help take back the deserts with help from the buffalo. Those ponies were trained to guard Canterlot and the Royal Families private jet. With two of AEGIS's best fighter wings in the south, the others are in dire straits, so I've been asked to relieve one to the North, to the Crystal Empire."

"Sir, I can't just leave! There's battle here where we're needed."

"I know Captain; I wish I didn't have to do this. But this was not so much an order as it was a plea." He leaned on his desk and turned to look Rhapsody square in the eye. "The Crystal Prince has been fighting hard on the northern front, and Meteor squadron attacked during one of their major offenses. He was hurt badly and it's bad enough he'll be sitting out the rest of the war." The General then waved her over to his map of the continent hanging on his wall. "I'm sending you and Ghost Wing pretty far north," he explained, tapping the location of an air base Rhapsody would have considered perilously close to the front. "That's Cadenza Forward Base. You'll be under the command of Commissar Karat, if I'm not mistaken, one in your wing is of relation."

"What'll be our departure time there, sir?" Rhapsody asked.

Khalid smiled sadly at her. "Unfortunately Captain, you'll be leaving tomorrow morning after you have chow. You're needed there as soon as you can, but the Princess will at least give you a good night's sleep before you head north. You'll be fueled up in the air as you'll be flying non-stop."

Rhapsody nodded. "I understand sir."

"Good, go inform your Wing. You leave tomorrow morning after chow for the Crystal Empire. Dismissed."

Marcus prodded his lamb with his forked. Though he asked his food to be brought to his room, as his father was having a rowdy attempt at morale boosting for his senior officers, the youngest gryphon prince had no appetite. For the months that had followed the outbreak of the war, and the serious grabs of territory the army had taken, it seemed he and his brothers would be walking on a continent that belonged to the Kingdom of Gryphnia. Instead, it went to a stalemate, and then to a full out landslide of that same territory being lost.

The western deserts of Equestria were being overrun with Equestrian ground forces supported by the native buffalo tribes who knew the land better than any, even the Settlers. The Hibernian Hippogriffs, Gryphnia's ancient rivals, were ravaging the land and skies and had already taken a foothold inside Gryphnia. The Saddles had done the same while the Equestrians were making a wider push inward as well. It suddenly became that all eyes were on the north. If the Crystal Ponies were ever able to start pushing south, they could link up with the rest of AEGIS.

If that happened, the Gryphnian Capital of Fyrick would be vulnerable.

Setting his plate aside, young Marcus leaned on his bedroom window. Outside, the toll of the war could be seen. Gryphnia was getting desperate for military surplus and troops. More than once his father had told everyone over the radio waves and the television that it was their duty to defend their homes and their kingdom. More than once Marcus had perched on the roof of the castle, his keen eyes surveying the streets below. More than once he had seen men, fathers and sons, being forced out of their homes by military police and being driven off to be conscripted into the army. Mothers, daughters, wives, left in tears as they were shown off, often never to return to their arms. Families were broken, lives were ruined.

No. His country wasn't desperate. The King was desperate.

He still wanted to prove that Gryphnia was a dominate force on Equis, with or without Sky Breaker. He wanted to show the world that they were not pushovers, that the gryphon spirit of battle cannot be extinguished just because they were against a more numerous foe.
Marcus sniffed, wiping his eye as he turned to the castle cemetery. His grandfather was buried there, as were his fathers' before him and their fathers' before them. His mother wasn't far from the Claw Clan memorial in the center. Marcus desperately wished she was here. Maybe she could have talked him out of this war, maybe even convince him to disassemble Sky Breaker since the Changeling swarms were all but extinguished after the super weapon tore them apart in the last war.

But in that war the Ponies were allies, as were the hippogriffs, the Saddles, the Crystal's, and now, in this new war, they were the enemy. Marcus sighed heavily, knowing there had to be something he could do.

Before it was too late for Fyrick.

"Can't believe I'm going home! And my father is still alive!"

Rhapsody peeked out towards the right side of her canopy, spotting the Hornet belonging to Ghost Wing's resident Crystal Pony. It had been over half a day, night falling faster this far north, and it was clear to the whole of Ghost Wing that their resident Crystal was ready to go home, see her country, regardless of the flames of war licking at the borders.

"Sadly, Lieutenant, we're not going to be there long," Spitfire called from the backseat of the Tomcat in the lead. "The Crystal Princess needs our help, and then more than likely we'll be sent to the eastern front." The Crystal let out a whine of disappointment, so the Major added, "I'll see if I can- sorry... if Rhapsody can get you a moment with your father."

The whine was followed by a squeak of delight before the Hornet performed a barrel roll. Spitfire looked forward to her pilot, who looked back with a groan. "Way to put me on the spot, ma'am."

Spitfire snickered. "Well you're the Wing Leader, so you call the shots. Otherwise I'd do it." Rhapsody merely shook her head, staring back out her canopy.

"Hey girls!" Mythic suddenly cried. "Check out starboard!"

Ghost Wing looked and were in utter awe of the sight. Rhapsody's eyes widened. She heard Sprig and Spitfire breath sighs of amazement. Amethyst chuckled. "I used to see these every night. It's been a couple years since my family would go and watch. Beautiful seeing them again."

Rhapsody had no words as she stared in amazement. Ribbons of color, greens and blues, reds and violets, streaked across the sky in a fantastic display of light. They waved and pulsed to different colors, moving like grand benign serpents that changed their color to match their dispositions. Framed against the blackened, star filled and cloudless sky, the Crystal Lights shone down on the frigid landscape beneath them. Colors of all kinds danced and played through the sky and reflected off the ice beneath them.

"There's an old legend in the Empire," Amethyst explained, "that our ancestors live on in those lights. They meld and shape, becoming one in the heavens and put on this display to show they are happy where they are. The spirits look down on the Empire and watch their descendants grow, and guide their actions. When the descendant's time comes, they will join their ancestors in the lights above the Empire and join the colorful dance." She then sighed. "I bet Grandpa's up there somewhere."

For a few moments, the pilots allowed themselves to be whisked into the display, watching as they flew just below the lights. The ribbons danced and played above them, their brilliant colors weaving under the stars in their own world, their own dance. Rhapsody smiled as she watched, her entire body becoming eased. The war drifted away, as did the fighting, and the pilots of Ghost Wing permitted themselves to –

"Sorry to break up the moment, everypony," Sky Gazer suddenly called, "but I just got a wire from Northern Command. They're conducting a north landing operation to outflank the gryphons just about a hundred miles from where you guys are. The satellite just picked up a horde of cruise missiles heading their way!"

Rhapsody frowned, forcefully tearing her rose irises from the fantastic display, a miracle she had never seen before except on television, and clipped on her oxygen mask. "How many are we talking, Sky Gazer?"

"According to the report, we're looking at about ten in each group. Since the Gryphnian Navy's been put in shambles, they've been trying to halt our advances by striking us from a distance. They're using their massive stockpiles of cruise missiles to hammer our lines. That's what nearly devastated the north advance by the Empire. They were almost to Glacier when the bombardment hit. Nearly killed the Crystal Prince in the process," Sky Gazer explained swiftly.

"So how far are we?" Amethyst asked.

Sky Gazer looked over her notes, according to her silence, before responding, "Head directly north and you should see their glows on the horizon. According to the wire, they're tracking a total of... oh my – twenty five cruise missiles are heading right for the northern front! They won't survive that impact! And they're flying at ultra-low altitudes so our radar can't spot them. Scouting force just barely saw them in time!"

Sprig huffed. "No kidding, mate! Let's double time it!"

Rhapsody throttled up as ghost wing turned to intercept.

"Damn it's cold up here! Why were we sent this far north anyway?"

The lead gryphon pilot snarled. "If I hear one more complaint from you, I'm gonna jump from this cockpit and gut you with a spork! We're here to run escort for the Valkyrie and make sure the cruise missiles reach the AEGIS line."

The wing-gryphon huffed and shook his head. "Like AEGIS would send anyone this far. We've been up here for over three hours and no contacts. It's an endless expanse of ice, igloos, ice, snow, and more ice! How can the Crystals live up here? Did I mention the ice?!"

"They just do, I guess."

"Falcon 4 to Ridgeback wing. Radar has confirmed contacts coming from the south!" the bomber called just a few miles ahead. "We've dropped our payload of missiles and are heading back to base. You hurry and take them out."

"Ridgeback 3 to Falcon 4, we copy your last and moving to intercept."

The pair of Gryphnian F-22 Raptors turned south and sped off.

"There they are!" Sprig called. "A lot more than I thought!"

Rhapsody rubbed her hands together. "They're flying a straight path, easy pickings."

"Don't let your guards down, everypony. A strike this important is bound to have a surprise in case of a counter attack."

Rhapsody tilted her head back. "Thinking escort? For cruise missiles?"

"Gryphnia is getting desperate for ground and victories," Mythic answered. "Wouldn't put it past them."

"Got nothing on radar," Sky Gazer added. "And here's another wire from the front. From... oh man, from Crystal Prince Shining Armor: 'We're depending on your efforts.'"

"Huh. Simple and to the point," Spitfire muttered. "Just like the former Captain."

"Missiles in sight, Sky Gazer. We're commencing the operation!" Rhapsody cried as she pulled up.

The ten cruise missiles streaked underneath Ghost Wing. "Phantom, Banshee, hit the ones on the left. Shade, we're hitting the right."

"I recommend you use your guns for this, Ghosts," Spitfire called. "I got a bad feeling in my tail. Save the missiles."

"You get an itch in your tail too? Hey Sprig, you can compare notes."

"Shut up, Mythic."

With only a laugh as her response, Mythic and Rhapsody took up a close position to each other and opened fire with their cannons. The twin Hornets beside them did the same. Dozens in hot lead streaks tore through the cruise missile line. Explosions lit up the air as they were destroyed almost immediately. Ten flares of fire were all they marked the passing of the salvo of missiles as the Wing pulled up and continued their path north.

"That was way too easy, you know."

"Good because we've got another salvo heading for the landing forces! Hurry up and shoot them down," Sky Gazer cried.

"Throttle up, Ghost Wing!" Rhapsody called as her Tomcat led the charge to the next target. They didn't have to look far before they saw the twelve streaks flying just ahead of them. They followed the same path as their predecessors did, a straight path low to the icebergs in the frozen sea beneath them. It was no wonder radar couldn't pick them up.

"Same trick as before," Rhapsody called before giving a quick burst from her cannon. One of the missiles blew up –

Suddenly the group split up into two.

"The hell?" Mythic exclaimed. "That is cheating!"

"Sky Gazer! Missiles have split into two groups!" Rhapsody informed swiftly.

"They're fifty miles from the landing zone! You have to take them out, fast!" Sky Gazer cried out.

Ghost Wing split off again, Sprig and Amethyst to the right while Rhapsody, Spitfire, and Mythic tore into the group on the left. However, this group was still the same in the aspect that all of the missiles flew in straight lines. Once again, the AEGIS fighters lit the sky ablaze with hot lead from their cannons. Rhapsody pulled upwards and raked her cannon along the side of the group, striking all of them, the Typhoon of Mythic soaring right beneath her.

Spitfire huffed before looking around at the clear northern sky. "Weird. This was way too easy."

"Maybe we're getting too good?" Amethyst offered.

Mythic laughed. "That might be it."

An alarm suddenly went off in their radios. The wing looked around the area to see where the threat was. "Sky Gazer to all planes, we've tracked the source of the missiles. There's a XB-70 peeling off to the edge of the combat zone at supersonic. They must've been dropping the payload. And according to this, radar is just barely picking up the signature of a pair of... Raptors?"

"What?!" Sprig shouted. "Those are stealth fighters! What the hell is Gryphnia thinking, sending stealth fighters on an escort mission?"

"Must be running out of options, Banshee," Sky Gazer replied curtly. "And... what the..." Rhapsody quirked her brow at the sudden pause. "That's strange... there's a lone missile traveling towards the landing zone at supersonic. This one is... different. Be careful. Sending coordinates."

"Tally ho! Got two bogies!"

The first raptor circled around the group. "Pair of Hornets, a Typhoon and... a Tomcat?"

The second blinked. "Wait... Tomcat? Did you see the insignia?"

"Yeah, it looked like a... ghost."

"Ah sh- Take that one down first!"

Rhapsody turned away from the pair of Gryphnian fighters that bared down on the group. Suddenly her alarm blared in hear ears. Looking down, they had locked onto her. "Hang on Wraith! I'm gonna delouse your... damn it, I can't lock onto him!" Sprig kept a close pace on the Raptor chasing her flight lead. The hippogriff suddenly grunted angrily and there was a click. "Don't need a computer for this!"

A hot stream of lead shot from the Hornet's nose, tearing into the stealth fighter, a spout of flame erupting from the wing. The gryphon pilot suddenly broke off to the west, and Sprig went into hot pursuit.

"Do not engage the fighters, repeat, do not engage them! Take out that missile!" Sky Gazer shouted.

Mythic replied simply. "We'll take out the fighters and then the bomber. Wraith, you find that missile and take it out." Rhapsody turned to the right, just as Mythic tore through the sky right by her and blazing a trail north. "I saw some contrails over here. I think it's the bomber; he's mine."

Rhapsody grinned and murmured. "Sick 'em, Shade." She tilted her control stick to the right, finding a large flare from what had to be the mystery missile. She leveled out and squeezed her trigger. A quick burst from her cannon seemed to get its attention, for while she barely scared a hit, the missile began zigzagging erratically. Rhapsody's rose irises bulged as she watched. "This thing is gonna be impossible to hit!"

"Try using your missile!" Spitfire offered. Rhapsody nodded, waiting for a lock. Her reticule began tracking, but it was moving too fast for her computer to lock on accurately. She got a lock once, but when her thumb hovered over the button, she lost track and the missile couldn't lock. The missile dropped and flew right off into the air and away from the battle. Rhapsody growled her frustration and kept weaving after it.

"Fighters are down!" Amethyst called out. "First stealth fighter kill. Feels good."

Mythic then reported in after. "Bomber is now going down in flames. Wraith, you're clear."

"Yeah, if this thing would hold still for one second!"

Spitfire leaned forward, while clutching her stomach. "Take it easy! I'm about to blow chunks back here!"

"I keep bags under the seat now hold on!" Rhapsody began flipping and rolling, trying to match the cruise missiles trajectory. But the lumbering Tomcat was barely keeping up. Rhapsody began to feel her wrists cramping up from the jerking motions she had to make to keep the missile in front of her.

"I have an idea," Spitfire suddenly called. "Level out."

"But I'll lose it-"

"Level out!"

Rhapsody snarled but turned the Tomcat right-side up and flew level. The missile continued its zigzag pattern while the pegasus mare's head darted to try and keep it in sight. While the Tomcat continued its forward flight, Spitfire exhaled, finally able to gather her thoughts before they blew out her mouth with her dinner. "It's moving in an erratic pattern, but if you watch, you can match its trajectory."

"That's what I was trying to do, ma'am," Rhapsody snapped.

Spitfire swatted the canopy, causing a deep slapping noise that resounded through the cockpit. "Hey, take it easy; I'm trying to help! Now watch it. Keep your eyes on it." Spitfire looked out the canopy, watching the large missile zigzag through the clear sky, weaving but still unable to shake the pursuing fighter. "Keep it in sight, watch for the turns. Arm your missile; keep your eyes forward, feel with your hands."

Rhapsody simply nodded, letting her hand slowly feel her stick for the tab, which she promptly flicked up with her thumb, revealing the button to fire her missile. "Take your time, this is going to require a split second reaction in a time span of none. Calm your mind. Thumb over the button, get ready."

The missile reticule arced across Rhapsody's HUD, tracking but never quite getting the lock it required. The rose eyes narrowed behind the visor as the mare focused on her quarry. "Ease your thumb, get ready..." The mare took a deep breath, sighting up her shot. It was going incredibly fast, but she was somehow able to drown out the voices of the rest of her wing as she sped through the sky.

"Thirty miles until it hits the landing forces!" Sky Gazer shouted.

Rhapsody watched for her moment. Though she had never done this before, the moment she could feel was coming fast. Her reticule began to shorten its distance until it was only in a small circle now. Upon fully breathing in, she exhaled slowly. "Now."

The button was down the same second her reticule locked.

Like a thrown spear, the missile flew off the rail from her Tomcat, slicing the air as it spun and locked onto the tail of the missile. Rhapsody could've sworn it was all in slow motion as she could see her attack rip into the tail of the cruise missile. She grinned that she finally took out the final missile, allowing her to breathe easier. There was a brilliant fiery blast following the collision of the missiles –

This was followed by a more brilliant explosion that shook the very sky she was in.

The Tomcat lurched and threw itself in every direction. Rhapsody inhaled swiftly as she gripped the stick to regain control. The blast tore the sky apart as a rainbow of colors shot across her vision, forcing her to squint as she grit her teeth. She could hear Spitfire panting rapidly as she gripped the canopy's handles. Alarms went off all over the cockpit, as the fighter continued to shake and toss and turn. It felt as if she was in the same display of colors when Sky Breaker fired its shells. She remembered screaming as she saw an iceberg bearing its icy fangs at her just before she regained control and pulled upwards into a sharp, upwards arc.

Upon leveling herself out, she realized then her eyes were the widest they had ever been. Her hands were like vices on her controls. Looking down at her HUD and her console, some of her systems were flickering and her altimeter's glass had cracked. Rhapsody's breathing then turned to heavy panting as she gave her stick a few good tosses. Her flaps were a little loose, but nothing the ground crews couldn't fix in a good day's work.

She then turned her thoughts to what the hell she just destroyed. That sort of explosion, and the missile itself; she had never seen such a weapon before. If Gryphnia had weapons like that, why had they been holding them back? It had nearly forced her to crash; she could only imagine what it could have done to anypony who was struck by a live warhead like –

"HUUAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!"

Rhapsody blinked and looked back at the wet noise before hearing a series of gags and coughs. She couldn't help but allow a smirk as she began to ask, "What is going on – "

"Tell anyone about this and I will destroy you. To death," Spitfire threatened. The paper bag was then sealed and placed under the seat. "I'll thank Ditzy she packed those."

"That was a huge explosion! The hell kind of weapon was that?" Sprig called out.

Mythic huffed and replied, "No idea... but I want one."

Sky Gazer was next to speak up. "We've just confirmed that all missiles have been destroyed, and that last one... what an explosion. I also just got a wire from the landing forces: They saw the explosion and thank you for the fireworks display. No casualties on the ground and they are moving inland to rendezvous with the rest of the Northern AEGIS forces. All aircraft RTB."

Applejack pulled down her binoculars and smirked. "Looks like Ghost Wing did it again. Ah want to know who that pilot is."

"I want to know when we're going to be in a warmer place."

The former farmpony turned down to see Rarity clutching her arms and shivering madly just inside the tank, her upper half all that was sticking up out of it. The helmet was grudgingly on her head to keep it warm. Sadly, she did not pay attention to Applejack's other advisories to her troops about packing the warmest gear they had. She was at least wearing her standard camouflaged jacket and trousers with the boots. But upon landing on the icy beach, the unicorn mare decided she needed to get off quickly before she got seasick... and walked right into the freezing waters and ruined her dress uniform she was so fond of.

"We'll get to the outpost in another couple of hours, Rares. After that, we'll get you something hot to drink, AND MAYBE GET EVERYPONY SOME HOT CHOW?" Cheers erupted amongst the massed gathering of Saddle Arabian Leopards, Equestrian M1s, and Hibernian Challengers as they drove across the heavy snow to their destination. "Afterwards, ah plan on making sure we all get a decent amount of sleep. We got a huge battle coming up."

"Glacier?" Rarity asked through shattering teeth.

Applejack nodded solemnly. "Glacier." The farmpony stood up from behind the machine gun position she so fondly used in battle and sat down on the turret next to Rarity. "Let's worry about getting to the Crystals before they're overrun first." The two mares' ears suddenly swiveled to the side to watch a group of fighter jets peeling south. Applejack smiled.

"That mare is somethin' else."