Ace Pilots Plus an Indestructible FA-18 Hornet

Chapter 2: Where the Norm stops here

It looked all too familiar, but instead of humans, it was ponies running around doing various jobs. Alex and Jamison both looked in awe and shock. Finally arriving at the "base" of the ponies, it looked like a regular airbase. Except it was built by ponies for ponies.

Along the flight, they noticed many things, one being how colorful the world they were in was. Even how ridiculous the buildings looked, more specifically that building that looked like a giant cupcake with candies all over it. But soon their sight seeing excursion came to an end as the pilots were dropped off, and literally dropped, off near a building of the ponified airbase.

"Yeah thanks, asshole!" Jamison hollered while throwing the bird at the two Pegasi that dropped them. He rubbed his now aching ass from the landing, watching as the Pegasi flew off.

"Cool it, Jamison." Alex demanded, place a hand over his wounded shoulder. He then turned and looked at the building they were dropped off at. "Administration..." He said quietly, reading the sign above the door.

Jamison then had done the same, soon looking into the building's window for a view inside. There he saw a familiar figure at the front desk of the building who seemed to be talking to another pony behind it. "Hey it's that Pegasus Captain... Ocean Wind, I think." Jamison pointed to the mare, motioning for Alex to look in the same direction.

"It's Sea Breeze, Jamison." Alex said, seeing the mare as well. Suddenly his focus was taken off of the scene inside to the reflection that the window gave off, seeing a lot more ponies behind them doing various things while the sun soon became closer to sunset

There were a large group Pegasi, maybe twenty at most, that seemed to be doing a form of push-ups with their wings while being yelled at by a Drill Sergeant.

"Come on, Maggots! I've seen your mothers do better than you while they were still having you in their bellies! Is that all you got! Push it, Maggots!" The Drill Sergeant yelled loudly, walking around the large group. "Do you understand! I said push it!"

"Sir yes sir!" They all yelled back, exhaustion strained in their voices as they continued on, few struggling to push back up.

Alex and Jamison turned away from the building to watch the spectacle before them, laughing lightly at the Drill Sergeant's taunts.

"You don't hear that everyday for pt."

"You don't see 'this' everyday. Like a world so far full of ponies and wooden wolves." Alex replied to Jamison comment without haste, forcing realization back upon them.

Jamison stood still for a long while, not noticing a group of Pegasus soldiers running past. "How... how is this not a dream...?"

"Maybe because we're both having it." Alex stated, taking a seat against the wall of the Administration building, wincing slightly at the pressure being put on his shoulder. The thought made Jamison silent once more, obviously thinking about something by the scrunched up look on his face.

"Or this is a weirder version of hell..." Jamison said finally, placing a hand on top of his head, brushing his hair slightly.

Suddenly with a cough, and two duffle bags thrown at the pilots, Alex and Jamison looked towards the source of the cough to see Sea Breeze glaring at them.

"First off, you two are lucky that you won't be sleeping uncomfortably thanks to your truly." Breeze said sternly. The pilots were about to say something else, but they were cut off by Breeze. "And yes, we do have your giant hunk of metal-"

"FA-18" Alex and Jamison corrected her simultaneously.

"-FA-18 being transported to base here and should arrive after sundown by 2 hours tops." Sea Breeze finished, holding a hint of an annoyed look on her face from their interruption.

Alex was the first to take a peek inside the duffle bag given to him, finding a blanket and pillow inside. "Thank you, Captain." He said proudly, standing up to give her a salute, Jamison doing the same, catching her off guard completely in doing so.

"We will stand by and await our aircraft's arrival. Mainly that it should always be within eyesight when on duty." Alex said after zipping back up the duffle bag and hung it on his good shoulder. "Just point us to where she will be transported to and we'll be on our way."

Sea Breeze suddenly shook her head, regaining thought, and pointed to the far end of the runway. "Your aircraft will be unloaded down over on the east runway. I suggest you hurry, sundown in 15 minutes."

"Thank you once again, ma'am." Alex said once more before motioning for Jamison to follow down to where their FA-18 would be, running quickly to beat the sunset in time.

Sea Breeze watched as they ran off, her tail swishing through the air irritably, something bugging her mind. "Why is it now they show up?" She then looked onto the horizon of the setting sun, watching as it slowly descended away from sight. "Could they be... no, impossible." Breeze said finally, beginning to trot to her bunks amongst the base as spotlights began to flicker on, lighting up the now dimming airfield.

Elsewhere Outside Equestrian Airstrip near the Everfree Forest

The whirring of steam engines and propellers were loud amongst the Griffon Airship. The airship itself was a large and bulky piece of Griffon technology, built for total destruction, thus why it was a destroyer class airship. Amongst the airship itself was a crew entirely made of Griffon soldiers and technicians, constantly working in order to keep things running smoothly.

"General Talon, the cannons are armed and ready for combat." A voice spoke up, bringing Talon out from his daze and at attention to the current situation.

"Good." Talon spoke up, getting up from his chair and walking over to an intercom in the Captain's Cabin, prepping for what he was about to say. Taking a deep breath, he began to speak into the intercom. "Alright soldiers, tonight is the night we make our move. We did not come this far for defeat. For we have the element of surprise, we cannot compromise this operation due to lack of focus and strategy."

Talon paused, before taking another breath and continuing. "I want everyone prepared for combat and in their designated stations. I don't want any mistakes made or I will personally pluck your feathers and throw you off this airship. As I said before, we have come too far just to fail."

The whole crew went silent knowing that his words weren't bluffs to scare. Talon's reputation for being a ruthless General, not accepting failure from any griffon in his army, as well as winning every battle he took part in, utterly crushing who was in his way.

"Now get back to work!" He yelled over the intercoms, and as quickly as ordered, every crew member began to do as they were told once more. General Talon walking back to his seat, sitting back down for the rest of the operation.

With sudden lurch, the airship began to move slowly, its destination was the Equestrian Airbase of Ponyville, bringing soon to be destruction with it.

The Equestrian Airbase of Ponyville

"Hold it steady, dammit! That's a 98.3 million dollar aircraft you're carrying!" Alex yelled at the Unicorns, who were levitating the FA-18 to the end of the runway.

The Unicorns just snorted and rolled their eyes, tempted to just drop the FA-18 on Alex and Jamison's heads while they were manually opening the landing gear. It was a struggle at first, but they soon managed to get the wheels out, walking out from under the levitating fighter jet so it could be set down on the ground.

"Ok, now 'slowly' set it on the ground, and 'gently'." Alex commanded, putting emphasis on the key words of what to do.

Doing just that, the Unicorns then left, leaving behind what else there was that the pilot's had with them when they first arrived. Quickly, the two pilots began to inspect the aircraft for any damage of any kind, making sure it was ok if they were to take off again.

"Everything looks... ok? It's like nothing happened to it before we first took off." Jamison said finally, finishing up his part of the check up on the FA-18.

"You sure? Give me a system diagnostic check, we have to be sure." Alex ordered, almost baffled by the fact there wasn't anything wrong with the aircraft so far.

"Copy that."

Jamison then began to climb up to the cockpit, opening the hatch to where he could climb into the co-pilot's seat, performing the system diagnostic check as told.

"How the fu-" Suddenly an explosion went off, cutting Jamison off before he could finish his sentence.

Both the pilot's attention were drawn where the explosion came from, seeing what looked to be a pirate ship with a giant balloon instead of sails in the air, almost shitting their pants. The apparent airship began to attack the airbase with explosive power, causing destructive carnage and emergency sirens to go off all throughout the area. They watched as Ponies began to take defensive action, firing what they had at the airship, but all for nothing.

"What the absolute fuck!" Alex and Jamison yelled in unison, staring in awe and minor terror at the sight.

"Jamison! Prepare for combat!" Alex yelled, climbing up into his seat of the aircraft, putting on his pilot helmet, getting prepared for take off himself.

"Wait what! We don't even know if she can run, overall even fly for that matter!" Jamison yelled back in protest, still standing on his seat as he pointed at the FA-18.

"We either find out or get blown the hell up!"

This caused Jamison to stop his protest, soon sitting down as he prepared for take off as well, strapping himself in. The hatch then closed, both pilots making sure it was sealed shut and secure. Once everything was in order, Alex began his portion of system checks, testing the flaps, ailerons, and elevators. Surprisingly everything in the aircraft was running perfectly, like brand spanking new, perfect. Soon Alex engaged the thruster, slowly maneuvering forward, gaining speed on the runway.

As the Ponies stationed continued their efforts, they were attacked by Griffin forces, becoming a close quarter battle. Both Ponies and Griffin soldiers began their clash, instantly drawing blood on both sides.

Amongst them was Captain Sea Breeze calling out orders as the battle raged on. "Don't hold back! We must not let them capture this base!" Suddenly a Griffin lunged at her with open talons, but was countered with being thrown down onto the ground. Immediately, Breeze picked up a fallen spear and plunged it deep into the Griffin's chest as it screeched in pain, dying almost instantly.

"Celestia damn it! Somepony tell me when buck'n reinforcements arrive, we need that airship down now!" Sea Breeze hollered, continuing the skirmish against Griffin forces.

"Look! The east runway!" A pony soldier called out, pointing to the moving object on the runway, watching as it took of with great speed. Causing few soldiers from both sides to look at the object in awe and worry.

"What is that thing!"

"Whose side is it on!"

More questions were drowned out as Sea Breeze looked onwards knowing who and what the object, questions filling her head, causing her to loose focus of the battle.

Alex pulled up the landing gear once they were in the air, quickly banking left and turning outside the airship that was assaulting the airbase, passing by to get a better look of its defenses.

"Looks like they've never seen something like us before." Jamison said over the radio of the FA-18, noting the delay of attacks on the base and themselves.

"Then lets give a show while we have the chance!" Alex grinned within his helmet, pulling the FA-18 up into the air above the airship and diving down for a clear shot on it's propellers, unloading 20 mm rounds into it. The propeller engine soon exploded, literally shaking the entire airship as the fire soon began to spread.

An explosion erupted throughout the entire airship, causing many of the Griffins onboard to fall over or stumble. Red lights within the airship began to go off along with warning sirens, causing confusion for the General.

"What happened!" General Talon yelled, demanding answers.

"We've been hit, sir!" A Griffin soldier replied quickly, a worried look on his beak.

"By what!"

"We don't know, sir!"

Talon became infuriated, nothing like this ever happened to him before during airship raids. So what was happening now that made this situation any different?

"Get defenses up and ready, I want what ever is hitting us taken down!" Talon ordered, slamming his talon on the arm of his chair hard.

"Sir, yes sir!" The crew replied and began to do as ordered, each member speaking to different parts of the airship, getting their defenses up before another explosion erupted once more on the airship.

"Looks like we made them angry!" Yelled Jamison, observing what looked like Griffins begin to fire upon them with obsolete weaponry. He laughed lightly as arrows began to hit the FA-18, being nothing but futile as the Griffins continued their 'defensive' actions.

"At least we have their attention! See if you can lock on their balloon, I'll get you in position." Alex said, turning the aircraft for an attempted lock on the balloon holding the airship in the air.

"Yeah, like it's moving fast enough to dodge any missiles." Jamison said sarcastically, readying to launch the missiles upon the airship.

"Got it, smart ass. You have a lock on or not?"

"Yes, firing missile one!" Jamison called out, watching as the missile rocketed towards the balloon. It then exploded on impact, fire spreading.

"Hurrah!" Both pilots called out at the direct it.

"General! We have to retreat! We're taking on heavy damage and loosing altitude!" A Griffin crew member called out quickly, regaining his balance as the third explosion occurred.

"Nye! We will not fall back after coming this far! Continue on!" Talon commanded, taking pride over loss.

"Denied! The crew are calling override, we're falling back!" Talon's second in command spoke up, giving the go ahead for retreat.

General Talon became speechless, the first time his orders were overridden. He was enraged at the thought of defeat.

Soon the airship began to slowly turn with the remaining power that was left, an eerie creaking sounding off as it did so. Retreating back over to the Everfree Forrest from which it came.

The Pony soldiers cheered loudly as the Griffin assault turned into a retreat, watching as they flew back to their flaming airship. Many of the ponies, either wounded or exhausted, looked upon the FA-18 not evening knowing it was an FA-18. But what they did know is what ever it was saved their flanks.

Sea Breeze, after witnessing they Griffin airship's retreat, bolted into flight towards the FA-18 with great speed fast enough to outmatch a rainbow mane Pegasus that was currently popular. The other soldiers watching after her with confusion on what she was doing, but didn't follow suit.

Breeze finally reached the aircraft, flying near the cockpit and motioning with her hooves for it to land. Taking pride as it soon began to descend onto the runway, but there was much more than pride on her mind right now. As soon as the jet landed, and the pilots began to climb out, she started yelling what she was holding in for the past few minutes.

"The buck was that! Do you know how much shit we're in now!? Now we're deeper in the mud than we once were because of you!" Breeze yelled her heart out, rage dripping from every word thrown at them, she was the definition of raw rage and emotion at this moment in time.

This threw both pilots off guard, not expecting scolding instead of a thank you for what they done, and Alex was going to clear that right up.

"Oh I'm sorry, but you should be thanking us for helping you in a 'loosing' battle! We didn't have to help you know. But by the looks of it, it clearly seemed that you guys had a handle on everything in your favor." Alex retorted with a bunch back of his own in words with sarcasm, this time throwing Sea Breeze off guard. Only sputters of incoherent words spilled out of her mouth as Alex continued on.

"I though we were returning the favor of you helping us, but NO! Little miss pony captain wants to throw a fit about it just cause she couldn't defend against a higher military force on her own!"

Alex's yells could've been heard throughout most the base, even drawing in a crowd around them. Most of the crowd were in awe at the aircraft that saved them, others were in awe that the human was talking back to a captain.

At this point, Sea Breeze was in rage and guilt, her expression showing anger, but her eyes told the different story. The human caught her and he was right, she was disappointed in herself for not even being able to win the battle on her own. But they had helped the ponies by taking down the airship itself when they didn't have to.

"Now if we're done here, I suggest you better go back." Alex spoke up once more, dragging Breeze out of her thoughts.

Sea Breeze nodded and agreed, calling out her own orders. "Alright, everypony back to work!" Getting groans in return, they all left the two humans in peace, Breeze following after the crowd as she flew off.

Once out of hearing range, Jamison spoke up. "What a bitch, not even a 'thank you' for saving their asses."

"I feel the same way." Alex replied as he soon began to check on the FA-18's condition, finding it perfectly fine like nothing happened. This still threw both of them off, like how their aircraft was practically invincible for some insane reason they didn't know.

"I have a feeling it's going to be a long day tomorrow." Jamison said once more, climbing into his seat in the cockpit, getting ready to fall asleep from today's activities

"Ditto." Alex said, climbing into his own seat and doing the same. "Goodnight, Jamison."

"You too, pal."

As the night dragged on, Jamison falling asleep in the FA-18, Alex couldn't help but stay awake. His mind drifted from thought to thought from what happened. It was all too confusing and he wanted it to just go away, but it only made it worse as he continued to stare up into the stars. He could tell tomorrow was going to be FUBAR, he just knew it.

Author's Note

Thank you all once more for enjoying what this story is turning out to be. I would really like to know your thoughts on how this is going so far, it'll help me out a lot in writing my stories and even give me more experience in doing so. Thank you once more, and please enjoy this story for what it's worth.

Have a Good Day/Evening/Night.