Ace Pilots Plus and Indestructible FA-18 Hornet

Chapter 3: Changing of the Tides

The sun, once again it awoke the pilots and rude fashion. Brightly shining in their faces, it almost blinded them once again. Jamison was the first to wake up with the birds singing loudly and ponies working on the repairs of the damage the airship attack on base. Jamison soon cracked and eye open, testing his ability to withstand the sun's rays of light.

"Hello brightness my old friend..." Jamison muttered in a joking manner after failing his first attempt. But he was prepared to face the sun in battle by putting on his helmet and adjusting its shades.

The two pilots fell asleep in their jet and although uncomfortable, it was good enough. The night before made them exhausted, even after the event of a Griffin raid.

Once more, Jamison opened his eyes, now dimmed down by the shades. Looking around, he managed to actually see the severity of the damaged caused by the Griffins. By the looks of it, there was 6 buildings damaged and four buildings destroyed, including the Administration building.

Oh that poor Administration building. Forever will be missed.

Jamison laughed to himself, remember an old fraise when he was younger and played video games on his computer before being sent out on an aircraft carrier. "Press 'F' to pay respects."

But as he continued to look around, he noticed there was something off, like a new addition to the airbase. There up in the sky above the airbase were five airships, almost the size of the Hindenburg. Though they were airships, like the one from last night that was black and red, they were in a different color pattern as the pontoons were a silver with a picture of a Phoenix on the sides with a golden hull, attached to the pontoon and secured with ropes, with blue stripes nearing the bow of the airship. And if Jamison had to guess, it looked like the airship was just in a battle judging by damages to hull itself.

"Oh... fuck..." Jamison muttered silently under his breath, quickly attempting to wake Alex up by shaking him violently.

"Alex, wake up! We have..... company." He paused, trying to think of a word to make the situation less ominous than it actually was.

Alex then was jolted awake with a daze, eyes shooting open with the sudden shaking. "Agh! I'm up, I'm up!" He yelled loudly, rubbing his eyes from his grogginess. "The fuck is it... you want..." Alex began to ask until his eyes laid upon the airships in the sky above them. "Oh..."

"Hope they don't have their guns aiming at us." Alex commented while stifling a yawn, taking off his helmet and brushing his hair and used his helmet's visor as a mirror, leaving Jamison in awe and confusion on how calm Alex was.

"Well hope is on your side today." A voice popped up, making the pilots turn their heads towards the source.

Not to their surprise, it was another horse. But this one was vastly different than the others the pilots saw so far as in terms of height and accessories. 'She', noted by her voice, was pristine white with a multi-colored mane that was flowing against the wind. A golden crown was laid upon her head behind her horn and wore crest of the sun around her neck of the same color.

"And you are...?" Alex asked in a nonchalant tone, causing some the guards to fidget in irritation.

"Her Highness Princess Celestia and you will address her as such, hairless ape!" A guard, a part of 'Princess Celestia's' escort, spoke up with anger in his tone, aiming his spear towards the pilots.

Alex and Jamison reared back, not expecting such hostility, grabbing a hold of their Berretta's and aiming it at the guard, who recoiled slightly, in a defensive manner from within the FA-18.

Princess Celestia just sighed, unfurling her wing and thwacked the guard across the head with it and causing his pupils to shrink in a comical manner. "We will not tolerate such a hostile attitude, Sergeant." She scolded the guard as he hung his head low.

Regaining composure, Princess Celestia stood straight once more and cleared her throat. "I do apologize for my escort's behavior, especially to those whom helped defended Equestria's citizens."

Alex and Jamison looked towards each other and back to the Alicorn, putting away their guns, and slowly climbed out of the FA-18.

"Why thank you, Princess Celestia, for your recognition for our actions." Alex said as he and Jamison bowed. "But I am afraid our actions has caused us a great deal of trouble for the United States of America." He finished standing straight at attention, Jamison doing the same.

"Oh? I had know idea that you two were from Amareica. They didn't inform me of sending troops to Equestria, or how advanced their technology was." Celestia replied in a shocked tone.

Suddenly Alex and Jamison started to burst out laughing, tears forming in their eyes. "HAHA, Amareica! That's hilarious! HAHAHAA!" Jamison called out, falling to the ground holding his sides in laughter.

This caused Celestia to rear her head back, ear's flattening. "W-what?" She cautiously asked, not sure what was funny to the pilots.

When Alex finally recovered, Jamison still rolling around on the ground, he spoke up to clear her confusion. "N-no, no. We're not from your America, we aren't from this... world, as a way to put it." But this only caused Celestia to tilt her head to the side in more confusion, and the guards to mummer amongst each other.

"But how would such a thing happen?"

"I don't know, we just were in combat during some heavy ass storm and we ended up here when a lightning bolt struck our aircraft here." Alex said, pointing a thumb towards the FA-18 behind them. "Jamison get up."

Jamison was finally calming down from his fit of laughter and laying down on his back, breathing heavily. "Hehehe, 'Amareica'." He said once more, receiving a kick to the ribs from Alex to get up. "Ow! Ok fine." Complaining, Jamison got back up holding a hand over the area he was just kicked in. "Pretty fucking hilarious though..." Jamison mumbled, wincing in pain.

An awkward silence came strong, both parties remaining silent after what happened. But with a sudden grumble coming from the pilots stomachs, the silence was broken from a light chuckle for the Princess as the pilots reacted by rubbing the back of their heads with an awkward smile.

"Seems as if your venture cause you to be hungry, shall we?" The princess spoke up, hiding her smile behind a hoof. "My royal airship should suffice in food desires. Follow, we have much to discuss."

"Wait, what do you mean, ma'am?" Jamison piqued up, looking towards Celestia as she was walking away.

"What else could I mean? You just attacked a Griffin Airship of the Griffin Empire, defending Equestrian territory in the process. You just assisted us in war between two nations." Princess Celestia said, having an somewhat worrisome smile creep along her muzzle. "Oh this is very entertaining." She giddily clapped her hooves together. "Do not worry, Captain Sea Breeze has informed me of your protocol with you FA-18. There's certainly enough room to store it in Royal Airship The Double Negative. Now come, we have much to discuss on our way to Canterlot." Celestia called once more, now walking off to a large Airship along the runway, presumably the The Double Negative.

Alex and Jamison looked towards the Alicorn once more, Alex letting out a frustrated sigh, and Jamison scratching his head. "Well now, we just entered a war and we didn't even know it." Jamison finally said, resting his hand atop his head.

"Mother FUCKER!"

Aboard the The Double Negative

In Princess Celestia's Personal Dining room

The pilots found themselves at a table for three with Princess Celestia high up in the air above a layer of clouds, looking at the menus the airship staff supplied. Jamison was chatting with the Princess about where they came from, what the FA-18 was, and basically answering any questions the Princess had to the best of his knowledge.

"So, how exactly long have you been friends with him?" Celestia asked, pointing to Alex who was just staring out the glass window to the clouds they were passing.

Alex was lost in his own world, many things running through his head until he nudged by Jamison. "Huh.. what? Sorry I was just..."

"Thinking? I know this is quite a sudden... change for you two, but lets put worries aside and have conversation." Celestia said, sipping her tea that was brought to her earlier.

Alex coughed awkwardly into his fist before continuing. "So... You asked how long we've been friends, right?" He waited till Celestia nodded. "Well then, this is going to be a long story."

"Believe me, I have the time." Celestia smiled, sipping more of her tea.

"Well we met back in basic training, and that was around 12 years ago." Alex finally said, counting the years Jamison and him actually have known each other.

"Quite long, I wouldn't be surprised you two make a great team with that length of time of friendship under your belts." Celestia said in a complementary tone, looking down at her menu once more. Her horn then started to glow in a yellow aurora, picking up a little bell with her magical grasp, ringing it.

As soon as she rung the bell, a waiter came to take their orders, being hesitant with the two new creatures sitting at the table. "May I take your order, your Highness?"

"I'll have some Chardonneigh , please and thank you." She said, flinching when she heard Jamison laughing again.

"Ahahaha! Chardonneigh! Oh my God, that's so fucking hilarious!" He managed to say while laughing, pounding the table with his fist. Causing Celestia to give him a confused look along with the waiter, while Alex was trying hard not to laugh and only letting out small spurts of giggles.

After another round of laughter from the single pilot, they finally took their orders. Both pilots settled for a Caesar Salad, being the only thing they had familiarity with.

"So, what is it that you find so funny, Mr. Mullins?" Celestia asked, using Jamison's last name.

"I apologize, but it's some of the names you guys have for the things here. Back home we have the same things, but they don't use hors- I mean pony terms in them."

"Quite interesting. So I believe it's time to begin briefing of our situation with the Griffin Empire with you." Celestia's expression changed from a friendly one to a stern expression with a thousand yard stare filled with combat experience. "We are equally matched with the Griffin Empire, each battle is a loss and win with no actually success towards each other's goals in this war."

"But how did it start?" Alex asked, taking a large bite of his salad from his fork.

"It was a day I regret most entirely, though not my fault, but was one of the royals in Canterlot." She started off, taking a long sip of her wine. "There was another royal of the Griffin Kingdom, a daughter of their king. She was spending time in Canterlot as an Ambassador for her country, but she was attacked and raped."

"Whoa, that's... Agh!" Jamison was about to say something but Alex punched him in the arm.

"Unfortunately we knew who is was, Prince Bluebood, my adopted nephew." Celestia gritted her teeth in anger. "To think he'd do such things, but the signs were there. He never could stand not getting what he wanted."

"What did he want?" Alex asked, putting down his fork to apply more ranch to the salad.

"That is what we don't know of, he never was able to speak his motives before he was assassinated." Celestia took another long sip of her wine before continuing.

Alex began coughing, almost choking on his salad, as he pounded his chest with a fist. "The fuck? I get that rape isn't tolerable, but assassination?"

"Well King Phoenix doesn't have the same laws as we do, and rape is punishable by death. So he decided to take matters into his own talons and sent assassins out to kill Blueblood."

"Well what's the punishment for rape?" Jamison asked, setting his fork down onto the plate of the finished salad, taking a sip of water.

"It's quite the same process as yours, we hold a trail to prove the prosecuted either innocent or guilty."

"So what was the verdict?" Alex asked, finishing his salad as well.

"There was none." She said, pouring another glass of wine. "King Phoenix grew impatient as his anger boiled towards Blueblood. We found Blueblood brutally beaten in his chambers, stab wounds all across him."

Alex sat back in his seat, placing a hand on his chin, finding out he was starting to grow a beard, but he couldn't think about that now. 'What the fuck type of world is this? And why did we land in the middle of a war between two countries? Alex thought to himself, his vision unfocused to what was in front of him.

"What you thinking about, boss?" Jamison asked, turning towards Alex, as he leaned back onto his chair, balancing on two legs of the chair.

"How fucked up this war this is gonna get." Alex said plainly, not looking up when he heard Celestia almost choke on her drink this time.

"What do you mean, Mr. Fulcrum?" Celestia asked, setting her wine glass down with her magic.

"Well lets just say Equestria's kill count is going to rise."

Jamison suddenly fell backwards with a yelp, but quickly got back up to look at Alex. "Alex, you can't be thinking..."

"Yes, I have good reasons too. At this moment in time, Princess Celestia here seems to be our greatest chance of getting back home, and since we already made our first mistake by not thinking straight. We're forced to help her because the Griffins find us as enemies. No offense."

"N-none taken, Mr. Fulcrum..." They could see her visibly gulp as she downed the third glass of wine. "It'll be a pleasure working with you..."

"The same to you, Princess. We'll be off on our way." Alex said getting up and leaving the room.

Jamison quickly bowed and fixed his chair as he followed behind Alex. Celestia was then left alone to her own thoughts, waving back the waiter to gather the pilots finished plates.

They certainty are interesting creatures, and that device of theirs as well. They just might be the key to change the tide of this war once and all.

The Griffin Kingdom Capital City

"Curses! HOW!" King Pheonix slammed his talon on the arm rest to his throne as his voice boomed throughout the throne room, finally hearing the news of the failed attack on Equestria.

"There was... was a thing there, Sire." The griffin soldier explained, "It was able penetrate through the hull of the Airship like it was nothing. It wasn't like anything we have seen before besides the prototypes we are testing."

This news however intrigued the King, leaning forward to listen intently. "How so?" He asked in a chilling tone.

"This thing was able to propel presumably enchanted pieces of metal that exploded on impact that was so fast that it had trails of fire. And it flew without propellers and was faster than any average griffin, leaving it's own small trail of fire." The soldier finally finished, holding his helmet his shaky talons.

"Hmm..." King Phoenix hummed to himself, rubbing a claw along his chin. "Prep the prototypes for combat, and get the fleets ready to move out."

"Sire, but it's too soon!"

"SILENCE! I will not tolerate your timid attitude towards battle! Leave my presence, fool. I don't have time to deal with cowards." King Phoenix commanded, rising off his throne onto his hind legs and flaring his wings in intimidation.

The Griffin soldier quickly left, flapping his wings as he ran out the throne room. Soon silence fell upon the king, thinking in the quiet of the throne room, but it was interrupted by the scrapping of talons along the wooden floors of the room.

"Father?" A voice called out, causing the king to turn his head towards the source of his daughters voice.

"Yes, Hestia, my darling child?" He replied, getting back up from his throne to face his daughter, walking over to hug her.

Hestia returned the hug, nuzzling her father's neck as he embraced her, wrapping his wings around her. "Why must we continue this war? The deed has been done... why must we waste more lives for a lesson already learned?" She began to form tears in her eyes from both pain from the past and present.

"Oh, darling, it pains me to see you cry. But I'm doing what must be done for this family, making sure what happened to you never happens again." He stopped the hug, lifting up his daughter's head to look into her eyes, wiping away a tear from eyes.

"But does it have to cause the lives of others and our own?"

"If it gets the point across, then it does." He said once more, getting irritated with her persistence. "Go back to your room, everything will be taken care of soon enough." Phoenix then kiss her forehead, bringing her back into a good night hug.

Soon being released from the hug, Hestia soon began to leave the throne room, wiping her tears away with a talon. "Good night, Father." She finally said, leaving towards her chambers.

When she finally reached her room, it was time to put her plan into motion. She poked her head out of her room, looking down both ways of the hallways in careful watch to not get caught. Preparing her saddle bags, she silently sneaked out of the room off towards the kitchen.

Finally reaching the kitchen, she poked her head through the door, but immediately pulled her head back, spying one of the chefs still in inside. Quietly, she snuck inside, careful not to catch his attention until she was close enough. "I'm sorry, Jeffro." She said quietly.

"Huh.. what?" He asked, but was immediately knocked out by a pan to the back of the head, slumping down to the ground.

Hestia winced as a metal clang filled the room, but it left as quick as it came. She then began to fill her bags with food for the trip to Equestria, taking anything that would last her long. When her bags were full, Hestia then left towards the gardens. Having already planned ahead, she made way to her secret exit of the castle grounds, making sure no one was following her.

Along one of the walls, there was a hole covered by bushes large enough for her to fit through, perfect for her escape from the griffin kingdom. 'It's time to stop this madness, Father. I'm sorry, but this is what I must do for our country.' She thought to herself, making her way through the wall and off castle grounds, becoming one step closer to ending this war.

Author's Note

I do apologize for a very weak upload schedule, as in I don't have one. I've been pushing this back for a long while, and updates might not come as frequently because I sent a job application for this summer at Papa Murphy's Pizza. So with that, I might not actually get this done as much as you guys want. BUT! If you live in TN, guess who might be making your pizza's. This guy!