Eastern Equestria, off shore, 1400 Hours
I keep the aircraft steady, following the lead of Half-Shield, who flies as Scar’s wingman. Scar is flying an MiG-31. To the right of Scar, is a pilot I haven’t met yet. The HUD labels him as Topper. His plane is the same type as Half Shield and mine. On his tail, I can see a top hat with a target on top of it. From the self-made conversation he had so far, I’ve gathered that he’s a bit of a loudmouth.
“For Celestia’s sake, I’m sick of all this silence!” Topper says through the radio.
“With all the talking you’ve done, I don’t know what you mean by that,” Scar replies. It’s true, Topper has been chatting us up this entire mission so far. At least he’s relatively friendly towards me. Turns out, he’s also pretty new, but he’s flown a couple more missions than I have.
“Cut the chatter and keep your eyes peeled Spade Squadron,” Our AWACS, Bird’s-Eye, says. “Reports from the last patrol suggest enemy presence in the area. It may have just been reconnaissance, but given the state of the war with Griffon Stone, brass would like to know for certain if they’re planning something here.” I keep checking my radar, trying to find something. “Spade 4, do you copy?” I nod to myself.
“Yes sir,” I respond. Scar is Spade 1, Half-Shield is Spade 2, and Topper is Spade 3.
“Good. At least you know your identity during the mission. You’re so quiet, I thought you crashed already,” the AWACS responds. I resist the urge to retort, only keeping my focus towards the radar. Suddenly, a blip shows up, an arrow. An aircraft.
“Guys! Something popped up on radar!” Topper calls.
“Affirmative, I see him. He is in vector 285. Fly up and see if you can identify them,” Bir’s-Eye says. Scar grunts over the radio.
“Alright, don’t open fire until my say so, got it?” Scar asks. I can feel that he was specifically talking to me.
“Wilco,” I say calmly. Scar rotates his plane to the left to turn, and we all follow suit. My IFF picks up the aircraft after we fly for a bit. We each turned around, getting behind the unknown aircraft in formation
“This is Spades Squadron in affiliation with the Equestrian Air Force. State your business and affiliation,” Scar says. The aircraft doesn’t move or respond, leaving us in silent suspense. “... This is Spades Squadron, we request your identification and affiliation, do you read me?” Scar asks again. I feel anxious as the radio silence continues. “... If you do not respond, we will be forced to shoot you-“ Suddenly, the radar pings several aircraft, all heading towards us from behind.
“Multiple bogeys in bound!” Half-Shield exclaims. The moment she says that, a warning pops up on my HUD. They’re locking on us with missiles.
“Damn, break off!” Scar yells, immediately turning upwards. I break off formation by turning left, just as soon as the bogeys behind us fired missiles. I feel the pressure of the high-g turn against me, making me struggle to breathe. It’s like someone’s pushing all of me against my seat.
“Spade Squadron, return fire on all hostiles!” Bird’s-Eye says.
“Roger, Fox Two,” Scar says. I look up just in time to see one of the bogeys burst into flames, and Scar flying past them. Damn, that’s fast. I grunt to myself and look at the radar. A hostile is on my tail. I feel a smirk naturally form on my face as I do a barrel roll and slow down. The hostile behind me overshoots, flying past me.
“What the-“ the enemy’s radio chatter cuts in. “Where did he-“ I lock on and instantly fire two missiles, destroying the aircraft quickly.
“Two enemies splashed, who got the second one?” Bird’s Eye asks.
“Wasn’t me- Dammit!” Topper says.
“It was Grunt, I saw it,” Half-Shield responds. I pull up some more, going up into the air to chase down another hostile.
“A bogey’s on my six,” an enemy says. I fire a missile, but the aircraft shoots out some flairs, making the missiles miss. “Damn, he’s fast.” I frown and keep chasing the bogey as he starts trying to shake me off by doing loops and spins. I finally lock on again and shoot two missiles. The enemy does a barrel roll, before immediately turning sharply to the right. I rotate the plane to follow him, doing a high-g turn. “I can’t shake him off!” I finally get tired of relying on missiles and start trying to aim carefully with my aircraft’s machine gun. I start firing, and manage to take out a wing from the enemy and making him spin out of control.
“Another one splashed!” Bird’s Eye says.
“Fox Two,” Half Shield says. On the radar, I see an enemy disappear. “Target splashed.” I notice an enemy trailing an ally on radar. I look up as I level my plane, and see a hostile chasing Topper.
“This guy’s on my ass! He’s not letting up!” He yells. I narrow my eyes and pull up, beginning my chase for the hostile.
“Heheh, easy pickings,” an enemy says. I get a lock on, and I fire two missiles. “What the-“ the enemy is interrupted as my missiles collide with his aircraft, taking down the enemy.
“Geez, thanks man, I owe you one!” Topper says. I don’t reply, instead focusing on my next target, who gets behind me.
“Fox Two,” Scar says. Immediately, the aircraft behind me bursts into flames, and Scar’s plane flies straight through the wreckage. “Watch your six Grunt.” With that, he breaks off and chases another target. I give a slight glare and turn around to chase some other enemy. I lock onto one almost immediately and fire my missiles instantly. The aircraft tries to outmaneuver them by turning sharply, but it was too slow and got hit nonetheless.
“Spade 4 has already taken down four bandits!” Bird’s-Eye says. “Maybe he’s worth his salt after all.” I notice an enemy chasing down Half Shield. I feel conflicted about whether she needs help or not. However, that question is answered when she makes a high-g turn and gets behind them, quickly taking them out with missiles. I look at the radar to see that only a few bandits are left. One of which, however, is a bit further off than the others. I narrow my eyes and feel a bit of adrenaline rush through me. What is this feeling, this excitement? I look towards the direction of the bandit, and see an oddly colored plane. It looks like the F-4E, but black with yellow tipped wings. I immediately turn to it, putting a lot of thrust into my engines. The IFF system labels the aircraft as ‘Hawk’. I feel a grin come across my face as I see him speed up as I get closer.
“Ah, a fledgling,” the pilot says. “I can tell you’re a little new to this. I see the hesitation.” A chuckle can be heard. “You’re nothing more than an over eager newborn chick, but I’ll play along.” A missile fires, coming towards me. I do a barrel roll, shooting my machine gun as I dodge the incoming missile. We pass each other, barely nicking each other’s wings. I notice Scar is close, but he keeps his distance. Good. The pilot coughs. “Damn, I admit, that was good.” I quickly turn, chasing the aircraft. “But I’m better.” As I gained speed, he suddenly pulls up, but doesn’t move forward. Instead, he seems to stall and makes me overshoot before he regains speed behind me. I panic a bit, as the warnings pop up again before the missile alarms start blaring. I quickly shoot out some flares and pull up. The missiles miss, but the pilot is still glued to my tail. “You can run, but you can’t hide,” he says, laughing as he starts shooting his machine guns at me. I spiral and turn, trying to dodge all the bullets, but I can feel the thinks of the bullets that hit. I need to think of something, quick.
I turn again as the pilot keeps chasing me, firing missile and guns. I turn to look at the air craft as I turn towards the sky again. My eyes widen as I see that he’s struggling to keep up with my sharper turns. That’s it! I grimace as I realize I’m gonna have to turn a lot sharper than before. It’s probably gonna hurt, a lot. I grit my teeth as I suddenly make a high-g turn, pulling back with all my might. “What the- how is he-“ the pilot stumbles over his words as I finally manage to outmaneuver him. I ease up on the turn as he is struggling to keep his speed up to be able to get behind me again. If he keeps turning, he’ll stall. I can hear him growl. “Dammit!” I smile as I realize I’ve got him. He levels his plane, starting to regain his speed. However, I’m already on his tail. I hear him give a chuckle, and see him start going up. Not this time. I instantly fire two missile. “Shit!” He yells, speeding up almost instantly to avoid the projectiles. The aircraft makes a sharp turn towards the sky to dodge them, but I follow him closely. I get a lock on and fire missiles again, but they miss when he spirals in place, barely dodging them. “Damn it! Damn it all!” He turns right, and I follow suit. He twists and turns, and I match his moves at every point, trying to get another lock on. However, my impatience gets to me, and I fire off my machine gun. He can’t keep spiraling forever, it’ll make him dizzy, no matter how good of a pilot he is. As I predicted, he doesn’t spiral again.
The bullets fly towards him, and suddenly, the plane’s engine catches on fire. The pilot wheezes and coughs over the radio. “... It looks like you’re not so childish after all. Very well, I commend you, though I doubt you’ll last long.” The voice gives a tired laugh before the aircraft explodes, and the radio goes to static.
“Damn, this isn’t going as planned, we need to call off the bombers, this is too risky,” the enemy’s radio chatters. “... Affirmative. All Red-Claws! We’re pulling out! This area is not as unguarded as previously thought.” All the enemy aircraft start pulling off, going east. I start to follow them, but AWACS stops me.
“The enemy is retreating! Break off and continue patrol. RTB when your course is done,” Bird’s Eye says. I frown and pull off, heading towards Scar. Not long after the order, Half-Shield and Topper return to either side of Scar, whereas I stay on Half Shield’s left. “Well done everyone. Spades 4 wasn’t too shabby either.”
“Hm,” Scar replies, continuing his flight. I silently stayed near Half-Shield’s aircraft, scanning the radar every now and then.
“I have to admit, I didn’t think Grunt could pull off half of those moves!” Topper says. “You know what, Grunt! I’ll buy you a beer later! How’s that?”
“... Sounds fine,” I reply. I look at my radar one last time, wondering what that adrenaline rush I felt was. I sigh and regain focus on where I was flying. This shouldn’t take too long now...
Equestrian 375th Air Force Base, 1840 hours.
Scar, Half-Shield, Topper, and I sit in a small conference room, around a wooden table. Topper, now that I can see him, is a light green pegasus with a black mane, highlighted with a dark green. A unicorn stands at the front of the room clearing his throat. He’s sharply dressed, like a business man. His dark grey fur almost makes him blend with the wall, if it was for his blue mane. “Is everyone accounted for? Good. You all managed to stop an ambush from enemy Griffonian forces. In doing so, you managed to aid Bird’s Eye intercept a bit of their radio’s communications. The information we gained from it follows close in line with intelligence we gathered recently. Thanks to you four, we managed to stop a bombing run in a different part of Equestria,” the dude says, smirking a bit. “Everyone, except Scar, is dismissed.” I didn’t hesitate to get up and shuffle out the door with everyone else. Hopefully, I can get far enough away before-
“Hey, Grunt, wait up!” Topper says behind me. Half-Shield looks behind her to see me gimace as I stop and turn to Topper. “I owe you one, c’mon! I know a good bar around here!”
“It was a lucky shot,” Half-Shield calls, before continuing her walk. I shoot her a glare, but Topper sighs.
“Don’t mind her, she’s a bit... sore, about our recent loss,” he says. I scoff.
“Oh yeah, she’s sore alright,” I say distastefully. “She doesn’t have to be such a bitch about it.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it. I was totally prepared to hate your guts!” Topper says blatantly. I blink in surprise from the honesty. “But dude, your flying’s pretty good! You’re alright in my book!” I frown and cross my arms. “Like, to think an earth pony could pull that off! We gotta have a drink, come on!” Topper gets behind me and starts shoving me down the hall as I try to resist. “Man let me tell you, there’s this cool drink that has a mix of soda and vodka, you’re gonna love it!” I finally stop resisting and just start walking.
“Sounds fine,” I say.
“Gee, not much of a talker are you? That’s alright, I talk a lot,” Topper says cheerfully.
“I noticed,” I mutter.
“The name’s Patch, Rough Patch!” He introduces himself.
“... Trooper Dent,” I say, relaxing a bit.
“Nice, now we’re getting somewhere!” Patch says, getting in front of me to lead the way. “Come on! Hurry up! The bar’s gonna get crowded soon!” I smile slightly, picking up the pace behind him as we head out...
Scar, still sitting in the conference room, clears his throat as the unicorn walks up. “Scar, it’s about Grunt.” Scar sighs.
“Yeah, I saw it too Joker,” he says. The unicorn gawks at Scar.
“You saw who he was up against and didn’t bother to step in!?” He asks incredulously.
“The kid already had his ass saved when I took out that bandit that was behind him. I wanted to see if he could get by. Besides, he lived, right?” Scar asks.
“That’s not the point! He has shown considerable promise on his flight scores, we need to see his potential!” The unicorn replies.
“The last guy to die in my squad was the one I wasn't hard on enough. I’m not going to make the same mistake,” Scar says, standing up. “He was too loose of a cannon, I’m going to make sure Grunt doesn’t go down the same road. I knew he had the skill, but now I want to see if he has the attitude.” With that, he walks out of the debriefing room...
Patch and I sit at a bar, he’s drinking some sort of booze as I drink a soda. “... and I said, bro, I’m gonna knock the lights outta ya!” He continues. I give a slight smirk and quietly sip my soda. “The commander wasn’t too happy with that, so I was placed in the brig for a bit.” I give a chuckle, nodding.
“That sounds about right,” I say. “Every time I disrespected an officer, I was always tossed into a brig to cool down.” Patch hums in thought.
“Say, that emblem you had on your aircraft, why did it have a Royal Guard Helmet?” Patch asks. “I mean, most emblems tend to have a bit of meaning behind them, so...” I glance at the guy, who has been friendly to me ever since we met, and grimace at his pleading look. I sigh, sip my soda, and look up in reminiscing.
“... I used to be a regular Royal Guardsman, like my father. However, I didn’t want to join the Royal Guards, I’ve always wanted to be in the air.” I frown, clearing my throat. “Everyone has always told me how earth ponies like me should never be in the air, we’re more attuned to the earth. Given how ‘unnatural’, ponies viewed it, you can imagine how I was seen within the ranks.” I give a slight chuckle. “The spear going through the helmet is my way of sticking it to the ponies who tried to talk me out of it.”
“Damn, that’s deep,” Patch says. “My emblem came from the string of luck I had on my first mission. I managed to take down some ace the griffons had.” He sips his booze and laughs. “You know, I think you and I’ll be good buds!”
“So, you made it,” a voice cuts in. Patch and I look behind us to see the changeling I met before the mission started, still wearing a green flight suit.
“Flik!” Patch says, raising his arms into the air. The changeling, smirks and fist bumps the pegasus. He looks at me with a calm and chilled expression.
“Hey dude, looks like you’re still in one piece,” he says. I quirk an eyebrow at him, but Patch just order another soda for his friend.
“My guy, can you get me a Pepsi for my main man!?” Patch asks. Flick sits next to Patch as a drink is served.
“Hey, Patch, did you hear what this dumbass did?” Flik asks. As I glare, Patch pays no mind and take a big slurp of his booze.
“No, what?” He asks, putting his glass down, allowing the bartender to refill it.
“Apparently, according to Scar, he shot down an Ace,” Flik says, sipping his soda. Patch and I’s eyes go wide.
“What? No way!” Patch turns to me with excitement. “Bro, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I uh, didn’t know,” I said.
“Well, you did take out an Ace. His TAC was Hawk, he commonly flies an F-4. He’s not the brightest star, but he’s still up there in the Griffon Air Force,” Flik continues.
“Damn, that’s pretty cool!” Patch says. “Think Scar’s gonna go easier on him, now that he’s taken that guy down?” Flik laughs.
“Buck no! If anything, he might put more pressure on the guy,” he says. I grunt, sipping my soda as the two start chatting away. I look on as the two of them seem to chat about how bad the next mission will be for me, in terms of our captain’s attitude towards me. I smile a little, liking how I’m not being treated like an outcast, but like a friend. I haven’t felt this for a bit of time, ever since I went to the flight academy...
Author's Note
I hope y’all enjoyed!
I sit in the same conference room as yesterday, with Scar, Patch, and Flick. Half-Shield doesn’t go on today’s mission, apparently. The unicorn, who’s name I now know is Joker, clears his throat. “Alright everyone, today’s mission will be a bit different from usual. Given how well you handled yourselves yesterday, and the close proximity of an air bae in Griffon Stone, today you shall be raiding an air base. Or, more specifically, you will be performing a bombing run. We need their hangars destroyed, and their bombers trashed. Plain and simple. We refitted you’re aircraft to have UGB’s, or unguided bombs. Good luck.” With that, we’re dismissed and allowed to hurry to our hangars...
Western Griffon Stone, 1330 hours.
Near a mountain range, large forests and plains fly past us down below. Above us, are clear skies with minimal clouds. Perfect for flying. I still fly near the back, to the left of Flick, or ‘Bugger’ as his TAC says. Since he’s taking Half-Shield’s place, he’s Spades 2. His emblem is rather comical, a fly with a fly swatter and devil horns. Topper flies on the far right, next to Scar. I don’t know why, but I finally notice Scar’s emblem. A wing with a red slash on it. “Alright, does everyone remember what we’re doing?” Scar asks.
“Wilco,” Topper responds.
“Rodger,” says Bugger.
“Affirmative,” I say.
“Good,” Scar says simply.
“You’re at an ETA of two minutes. Don’t mess up,” Bird’s-Eye says. “... Hey, is that peanut butter?” I quirk an eyebrow as I listen to Bird’s-Eye. “Well, I’m just asking because mine didn’t have any... No, it’s got cheese... Yeah, of course!”
“This is Bird’s-Eye, ETA of finishing lunch-time is maybe a couple quick bites,” Bugger says, mocking Bird’s-Eye’s voice.
“What- oh! Quiet Bugger! I was a little late, okay?” The AWACS responds. “Besides, I like peanut butter crackers...” I had to resist the urge to laugh, and decide to quickly check my radar. On screen, various dots litter the area.
“We’re coming up on the enemy’s air base,” Scar announces.
“Good. Make sure they can’t launch any planes Spades Squadron,” Bird’s-Eye says. “If we can get rid of most of the base, we can expect a lower number of air strikes on our boys on the ground.”
“Leave it to us, Nutter Butter,” Topper says. I let loose a short laugh, trying to remain in control of my flight path. I can hear a snicker from Bugger, and a single chuckle from Scar.
“... Proceed with the mission,” Bird’s-Eye deadpans.
We keep flying, relatively silent before some targets pop up on my HUD near the ground. Helicopters, fuel reserves, storage houses, and even some transport planes are out on the open in front of the hangars.
“Raise the alarms! Four enemy planes spotted! Get our pilots into the air, quick!” The enemy’s radio chatters.
“All right Spades, span out. Let’s see how flat we can make this base,” Scar says. In a snap, we break formation and head towards different parts of the air base. I go straight towards the fuel reserves, which look like big giant metal balls. Air craft can’t fly without fuel. I let loose my machine gun, making the huge containers burst and explode. I think I shot down three. There’s seven more to go. As I turn around, I spot some planes getting on the runway. Better take care of that before it becomes a problem. I come around again, lining up with the runway. The plane is already trying to take off.
“Come on! Come on!” A voice yell. I fire my machine gun, taking off the plane’s right wing. “Damn it!” The plane starts tilting to the right, but it slows down enough to sit back down.
“You idiot, you’re blocking the runway!” Another enemy berates. I continue my path of destruction, gunning down more fuel reserves.
“Damn, I think Grunt just took out more than half the fuel reserves!” Topper says. I fly around again, checking the hangar and see that they’ve dragged the damaged aircraft out of the way. Welp, guess I should make the blockage a bit more permanent.
“Okay, we got his plane out of the way, begin preparations for launch,” the radio chatters. I line up with the run way and fire two missiles without locking on. I pull off, and soar into the air to get some space. “What the- No! He took out part of the runway! We can’t launch any planes now!” I turn back towards the hangar, readying to finish the job. I switch to my special weapons, which are unguided bombs. The HUD shows a reticle the lines up with the ground, nearing the hangar. The moment it lines up right, I let two of the bombs go and pull off. I hear two explosions, and look over to see the hangar’s entrance blocked by wreckage. The ceiling and roof of the building is gone too. Good.
“Good job Grunt! Now, see if you can help your squad dies in other parts of the air base. There are four more hangars!” Bird’s-Eye says.
“Woohoo!” Topper yells.
“Not bad, not bad at all,” Bugger mentions. I hear another loud explosion, and look over at a different part of the air base to see Scar flying away.
“Nice work Scar, three hangars left,” Bird’s-Eye says.
“Hey, Grunt! I bet you 5 bits you can’t outperform our Captain!” Topper says. I don’t acknowledge him, only regaining focus towards the mission at hand. I speed towards another runway, which has a pilot about to launch. I quickly aim at the runway as best as I can and fire an unguided bomb. The bomb is much more destructive, creating a crater right in the plane’s path. Luckily, he managed to slow down enough to have a non-violent crash. However, his plane’s nose was still stuck into the dirt.
“Shit- these guys aren’t playing!” An enemy says through the radio. I quickly pull up, and try to regain some distance to launch another attack.
“This is Helicopter squadron Iron-Fire, we’re coming over to provide support,” an enemy says.
“Damn, they’re good! The attack helicopters are fast!” Topper says. I sigh and decide to take them out first. I rotate my plane and turn left, going towards the multiple arrows that popped up on radar. I fire a missile and switch targets before firing again. I hit two of the helicopters, taking them down. I swing around, quickly locking on again before firing two more. I Gun down the last ‘copter, denying any help for the hangar I’m attacking.
“Damn, that was fast,” Bugger says.
“They took out a squadron of AH’s!” An enemy yells. I fire a couple unguided bombs at the hangar I was aiming at before, destroying it. I pull off again, inspecting my work.
“Two- no, three hangars down! Good work everyone! That was all the hangars of the air base! Scar’s already halfway through the rest of the base, help him clean up will ya?” Bird’s-Eye asks. “... Wait, an enemy is coming in fast, an SU-37.”
“... I’m gonna for half an hour, and this happens?” A new voice asks. “Predictable.” I look down at the radar to see an enemy plane coming up to Topper. “This should be short work.”
“Hey- wait- someone’s on my tail!” Topper yells. “I- I can’t shake them!” I grit my teeth and turn sharply, speeding towards the new pilot. Topper tries to spiral and make the pilot overshoot, but the new pilot simply slows down.
“Hmph. Such a simple pilot. Predictable.” I notice that this pilot is labeled on my HUD as ‘Fracture’. I speed up some more, trying to chase down the enemy as he dogfights Topper.
“Damn it, someone! Help!” Topper says.
“Don’t worry, I’m coming,” Scar says. However, something about that struck a cord within me.
“Back off! He’s mine!” I yell, feeling adrenaline go through me. I feel a smile creep up on my face as I get close enough to lock on.
“Hm? Another insect?” The enemy’s voice says. I fire my missiles, but he simple rolls out of their way, dodging them. Topper just barely manages to get out of the way as well before the missiles fly past him into the distance. “Hmph. Simple creature, you wish to die? Very well then. Let’s play.” He speeds up, ceasing his chase with Topper and flying towards the mountain side.
“Grunt, break off, it’s a trap!” Bugger says. I pay no attention to his words and continue my chase. Scar, on the other hand, follows closely, but he’s nowhere near as close to Fracture as I am. I keep speeding up, slowly catching up to the pilot as we near the mountain side.
“Eager pilots like you always have a downfall: you never pay enough attention,” the enemy says in a bored voice. He suddenly descends, and I follow him without thinking. He levels his plane, being at a low altitude and close to the ground. I do the same, locking on and firing some more missiles. He skillfully barrel rolls, keeping his plane from flying too low.
“Well now, you may have some more value than I thought little chick, but let’s see if that was just luck.” Suddenly, he pulls up, and I finally notice that we’re heading towards a mountain. I grit my teeth and quickly pull up, just barely managing to avoid crashing into the mountainside. I continue to follow Fracture, who is flying just low enough against the mountain that it would make anyone think twice before trying to follow him. However, I am not just anyone. I only have tunnel vision as I simply try to lock on again. The moment I do, the pilot turns left, leveling off and flying along the side. I groan and turn as well, doing the same. Dust and rocks are thrown off my the sheer wind of the jet, but they don’t manage to reach me as I keep wavering and trying to aim at the plane. Once I feel lined up, I start firing the machine gun. I don’t know if it’s close enough to hit, but I keep adjusting my aim as I fire. finally, I seem some sparks flash off the aircraft the pilot’s flying.
“Huh? You’re still following me?... Did you scratch my plane?” I growl to myself as I put the plane into full throttle, speeding up even more. I keep firing my machine gun, but now the pilot goes up and down the mountain side, avoiding the bullets. He’s also going faster. He gives a small chuckle, before turning left again, down the mountain. “You’re rather good at keeping pace with me in this cat and mouse game, but I’m afraid playtime will be over soon,” he says. I turns left, trying to keep my speed up as I try to follow him. He moves left and right, swerving and doing barrel rolls as he dodges my bullets and missiles. As I get even more frustrated, he suddenly slows down and pulls up, revealing the foot of the mountain. I give a yell and quickly pull up, leveling my plane just before it touched the ground. I silently sigh in relief, but now I notice that Fracture’s behind me, and he’s got a missile lock.
“The game is over, little mouse,” he says, firing two missiles at me. I deploy some flares and try to fly faster, but the pilot keeps up, staying close to my tail. “Oh don’t worry, if you let the missiles hit you just right, it doesn’t hurt too much,” the enemy taunts, firing more missiles. I pull up into the sky, making the missiles miss. I try to look behind myself to see the aircraft, but he’s still too close to me to see him. “I admit, you are much more fun than I anticipated,” he says. I growl to myself again as I just barely manage to dodge more missiles.
“Damn, look at them go,” Bugger says. “I didn’t think the kid had it in him.”
“I’d hate to be him, that’s for sure,” Topper says. “I’m no match for that guy...” I go into a spiral, trying to make Fracture overshoot me. However, it doesn’t work, he merely fires his machine gun at me. A couple bullets get me, but not enough to take me down.
“This is starting to become boring, so I’ll kill you off now. Pray to your goddess before you die, will you? Tell her I said hi,” mocks the enemy, firing two missiles. I panic, look at my speed. A high-g turn will kill me, since I’m too slow to pull it off. However, turning wouldn’t prove useful since the radar indicates the missiles being too close for me to do that anyway. I keep panicking and decide to try a high-g turn and hope for the best. I slow down, pull up with all my might, and hope for the best. “What the-“ I feel a slight motion sickness as my plane suddenly turns much quicker than I anticipated, and I see the ground before the missiles pass me.
Before I know what’s going on, Fracture’s in front of me, struggling to do a high-g turn as my missiles lock on. On instinct, I fire two missiles quickly, and they both hit their mark. The aircraft bursts into flames, and starts going down. “No way! A post-stall maneuver!?” Bugger says.
“Oh shit,” Fracture says. “Heheh, it appears you’ve bested me. It seems my over confidence was my downfall. Very well, I enjoyed this game, little mouse.” With that, his radio goes to static as the aircraft explodes.
“The aircraft is down! I repeat, the aircraft is down!” Bird’s-Eye says.
“Hmph,” Scar says. I pay no attention to him as I try to regain control of my breathing.
“... Good job Spades Squadron, it looks like you managed to wipe out most of the base, courtesy of Spades 1 and 2,” Bird’s-Eye says. “Return to base.”
“... Hey Nutter Butter, will we get any snacks when we get back?” Bugger asks. A groan is heard as Topper and I give a quick laugh. With that, we return to a formation, and fly west, in the direction of Equestria...
Equestrian Air Base, 1900 hours.
We all sit in the conference room from earlier today, ready for debriefing. Joke walks in, clearing his throat. “The attack on the air base was a success. Fuel and air vehicles were destroyed, along with various buildings and runways. Thus, the base is inoperable,” he says. He looks up and stares at me. I can see he’s conflicted between saying something and holding his tongue. “... That’s all for now. Everyone, except Scar, is dismissed.” With that, Flik, Patch, and I quickly get up and shuffle out the door.
“Trooper, we gotta talk,” Flik says, stopping me. I turn to look at him, who looks serious. Patch comes up, looking excited.
“Bro! How did you know how to do that thing!?” Patch asks. “I’ve never seen a rookie pull off a post-stall maneuver like that before!”
“A... a what-maneuver?” I ask in confusion.
“A post stall maneuver. It’s when you’re too slow to turn, so you pretty much do a flip or manual air brake while moving th same direction you were going in,” Bugger explains. “I still struggle to be able to accomplish that maneuver.”
“What maneuver?” A female voice asks from behind me. I turn to see Half-Shield, in her flight suit, staring at me with a glare.
“The post stall maneuver! It was so cool! He was fighting an ace, and then he slowed down and-“ Patch gets interrupted by Half-Shield’s hand going over his mouth.
“What? Another ace?” She asks skeptically. Patch nods, being kept silent by her hand. She scoffs, look at me. “Huh, guess you’re competent. Let’s hope your luck holds out,” she says with a bit of venom. With that, she walks away, leaving me and the other two in the middle of the hallway. I glare after her. She’ll be eating those words, I know it. Flik sighs.
“Uh, don’t mind her, she’s-“
“Still sore?” I ask sarcastically.
“Hey, she thinks you’re trying to replace the last guy, alright. He was pretty special to her,” Flik says defensively. Patch nods, suddenly a lot less energetic.
“Yeah, they kinda had a thing going on,” he says. “It’s why she has half a heart on her emblem. The last guy, Star, had the other half of the heart.” I look back in the direction Half-Shield left, now a little less stern.
“... I guess that makes sense,” I say.
“... Hey, let’s cheer up a bit guys!” Patch says, wrapping an arm around Flik and I’s shoulders, forcing us to move along with him. “We’ve gotta celebrate! Super Trooper here just took out another ace!”
“Don’t call me that,” I grunt, struggling to keep up with the excited pegasus’ pace...
Scar crosses his arms as Joker punches the bridge of his nose. “I’m struggling to understand,” he starts. “Why was is necessary to just let him go up against another ace? You didn’t step in at all.”
“He told me to back off, and I recognized that tone of voice. Half-Sword also had that tone,” Scar says. “I could see how competitive he is, how he wanted to prove himself.”
“And you know what, Star was much more experienced than Trooper when he proved himself,” Joker says, sighing. “For Celestia’s sake Scar, Trooper’s still a rookie. He doesn’t have the natural instincts a pegasus or a griffon does! He”s an earth pony! Don’t you see?! You need to keep him on a tighter leash!” Scar scoffs.
“A tighter leash? He’s not a dog, he’s a soldier. He’ll follows orders to the letter. However, again, he has a competitive spirit. He’s like Half-Sword in that sense. I just want to see if the similarities will continue,” Scar says, getting up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have reports to write up.” With that, he walks out. Joker, frowns at the captain, shaking his head.
“I just don’t want another loss like Star,” he mutters to himself...
I silently sip my soda as Patch keeps talking to Flik. “... Let me tell ya, never went to the gym again after a sight like that!” He says, shaking with laughter.
“Geez, that’s more horrifying than my grandma,” Flik says, sipping his soda as well. He stops and looks around before gasping. “Yo! Keen!” He yells, throwing his arms up. I look over to see a griffon walking up. He’s about Patch’s height, with brown and white feathers and grey fur. He wears a collared shirt and jeans. His head is covered by a blue cap with a picture of an eagle’s head. He’s grumbling as he walks up.
“Damn bet,” he says, pulling out some bits and roughly handing them to Flik and Patch.
“About time you remembered, Nutter Butter,” Patch says, nudging the grumpy griffon with an elbow. I look at the griffon, now knowing that this is Bird’s-Eye.
“Wait. bird’s-Eye is a griffon?” I ask in surprise. Keen rolls his eyes, sighing.
“Yes, a griffon’s allowed to be friendly towards Equestrians you know,” he says sarcastically. “Believe it or not, we’re not all against you ponies.”
“No no, it’s not that, it’s just... You weren’t what I was expecting. Most griffons are gruffer sounding than you,” I explain.
“Uh Huh,” he says.
“We made a bet about whether you’d live or not,” Flik says, chuckling. I deadpan at them and sip my drink.
“Nothing against you, just didn’t believe in you,” Keen says, sitting next to me. “Well, I’ve got nowhere to go, so I’ll sit with you guys. Don’t make me regret it.” He waves the bartender over, who serves him a pint of something. He looks over at my drink and sees that I have a soda. “... Isn’t it kind of counter intuitive to be in a bar?” He asks me, sipping his alcohol.
“Huh?” I ask. He nods towards my drink and I roll my eyes.
“No, I just don’t like alcohol. Most of it is too bitter for me,” I say. Patch and Keen both blink in unison before slowly turning to look at me. “... What?” I ask. Patch snickers as Keen simply shakes his head. “Oh, don’t get me started, Nutter Butter,” I say, making Patch and Flik laugh out loud as Keen spits out his drink. He looks at me sharply, opening his beak to say something, only to close it and grumble as he sips his beverage. I smile contently, sipping my soda as Patch and Flik continue talking with Keen about stuff.
“So, how was everyone else’s patrol going today?” Patch asks. Keen sighs.
“Apparently, boring. They all bellyache about it, but I know they hope it continues. There’s talk about a bombing run some of our forces might do, but it hasn’t been confirmed,” Keen says. He scoffs, leaning in towards us. “There’s also a rumor going around that Equestria’s building a secret weapon.”
“Oh? Do tell my good man,” Patch says, putting on a fake Canterlot accent.
“Yeah, don’t keep any details,” Flik says.
“Well, there’s talk about some mercenaries Equestria has hired. They’ve got a pilot that’s flown for a Equestria before, his TAC name’s Fallen Star,” Keen says. “Some of our boys out west are saying that these mercenaries are trying out some sort of experimental aircraft, courtesy of Hippogriffia’s eggheads!”
“That’s some spices detail right there,” Patch jokes, sipping his drink. Suddenly, the door to the bar bursts open, and some laughing pegasi walk in. All of them have blue jackets, with feathers poking out the collar. Keen, Flik, and Patch groan at the same time as the group walks in, talking and laughing with each other.
“Oh great, the Scorpio Squadron,” Flik says. “Trooper, try to ignore them.” I give him a confused look. “They’re big shots around here.”
“More like big snots,” Keen mutters, sipping his drink.
“‘Ey barkeep, we need a round for my boys! We scared off some bandits who were too wimpy to face us!” One pegasus, a dark blue guy with slick dark-yellow hair, calls. The barkeep gives a huff, clearly not happy with this group.
“I don’t understand, why haven’t we seen them until now?” I ask.
“They were off on a long range strike mission in enemy territory,” Keen says. “They’re gone for days, and sometimes weeks. They don’t particularly like us.” I give an even more confused look before noticing a pegasus with a jacket walk up to us.
“Oh look, it’s the not-spy,” he says, snickering. Keen huffs, silently sipping his drink. The leader of the group, wearing a leather jacket with a pair of goggles over his head, grabs the pegasus’ should.
“Lay off, they’re not worth our time. Those freaks can’t be worth our time if they don’t do what we do,” he says. The pegasus looks like he wants to argue, but sighs and goes with his leader. I take another look, realizing he has black fur and dark red hair. On the back of his jacket, is a picture of a scorpion’s tail curling around an eagle eye. I grimace at the group and return my attention to my own.
“... The only reason we’re freaks to them, is because of how different our team is. We’re just misfits to them,” Flik says, with a bit of anger in his voice.
“Yeah. I’m only ever assigned to you guys since you’re the only ones who’ll take me,” Keen tells me.
“Changelings aren’t in such a positive light either,” Flik says. “It’s one of the reasons that you were assigned to this group.”
“Uh, what about Patch?” I ask. “He seems normal.”
“Well, he’s a bit of a slow learner, no offense pal,” Flik explains.
“Oh, none taken,” he says. I hum.
“Okay, what about Scar then?” I ask. Keen gives a whistle, shaking his head.
“He shouldn’t even be in the air, according to his medical reports,” he says. “He used to be a respectable ace. He was thought to be unstoppable at one point,” Keen explains, looking like he was talking about a dream. His expression melts into a sort of sadness however. “He was shot down at one point by some enemy mercenaries, and it costed him his wings, literally. However, he shows no weariness while flying. The only thing he showed, was pain for something else.”
“What was it?” I ask, curiosity getting the better of me.
“We don’t know,” Patch says. I blink in surprise. “However, after all’s said and done, he’s still a damn good pilot! I’ll follow him to the end!” He raises his glass, to whphich the other two follow suit, nodding.
“Hell yeah,” Flik says, before downing his drink. I look at my own drink, in thought of Scar. I wonder, exactly how good is he? Could I even begin to be like him? As I ponder these thoughts, I try to enjoy the company of my fellow pilots and AWACS...
Author's Note
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