Author's Note

Because this story took place in an alternate universe, the background settings may be different from the original one.

The Mirage will be updated every Friday. But The rate might be unstable due to school.

Prologue: Intercepting an Unexpected Guest

The RCAF, or better known as the Royal Changeling Air Force, were one of the most feared Air Forces around the globe. But how they became one is quite a tale. You see, after the first human visited Equestria 20 years ago, the Equestrians and their allies were amazed by the human technologies. The humans, or what they called themselves the "British", their Prime Minister Churchill made a deal with the Equestrian Princess Celestia; they'll give them some of there techs, while the Equestrian would secretly help the British. However, these technologies were left for them to figure out themselves. Later some other countries joined in this project and offered them theirs.

After 20 years of researching and testing, the first ever Equestrian jet; the F-86 Saber. Since then, many countries developed their jets; the Kirin however, doesn't have that much condition to research and develop their jets, and so, they bought the Migs from the Dragon Lands.

While the Air Forces at the other countries continued developing, the Changelings however, were stuck in one place.

After the return of the reformed Queen Chrysalis, the military and the government system of the Changeling Empire were refreshed. And to do so, they ran out of supplies and energy when it comes to the military power. But what troubles Chrysalis isn't their weak military power, but another wave of enemies; not the others... But themselves.

Queen Chrysalis was able to persuade many other Changelings to reform, but there's this group of Brainwashed Changelings who refused to change. Their bodies were the same as the changelings before their reformation. The only difference is their eyes and their fangs; their eyes were glowing devious red, their fangs were longer then usual, due to the hate and anger in their body, most of the were even stronger then the Queen herself.

The reformed Changelings then called them the "Unchanged", and have no other choice but to ban them. Their leader, a ex-commander of Chrysalis's army, Steel Jaw, swore to strike back and "refresh" their fallen Empire. Due to their threatening, Chrysalis have to request for supports from their closest ally; the Equestrians. So their military is armed with full Equestrian gears. Equestrian jets, tanks, guns, etc. Steel Jaw and his minions left, and never to be heard of again.

Until now.

------(~*~)------

RCAF, the 4th Fighter Platoon, Mage Squadron
Attitude: 10,000 ft
POV: Captain Sword Tail "Mage 1"
Weapon used: Equestrian F-16A "Fighting Falcon"

The sky is clear as usual, Celestia's sun is up high, the strong breeze of wind whooshed by. Traveling at the speed of 577 miles per hour, which is Mach 0.75, while looking at the view below is absolutely stunning. This is a reason why Sword Tail joined the RCAF in the first place, he enjoys his job. The another reason is that his parents were murdered by the very own hoof of Steel Jaw himself, and so to take his vengeance, Sword Tail took flight.

His squadron, or better known as "Lucky Sons of Bitches", had survived long enough to NOT feel any fear. Not by their instructor, not by enemy, no nothing. However, their missions were dragging them down.

Scout and recon.

Scout and fucking recon.

What the fuck is that?

Unlike most of his comrades, Sword Tail seeks for challenges, he passed by the shoulder of death itself, cheated death, and kicked the very own ass of death itself. Yes, death won't hold any grips of him. Yet.

Hell, but this mission is slowly killing him.

Feeling bored, he decided to have a little chat with his wingman, Quick Slash. He's about the same age as Sword Tail, but he served in Chrysalis's army longer than he did. For some reason, he still have that playful characteristic in him. But when the danger comes, Quick Slash is always quick to react, just like his name; you'll never see it coming.

"Mage 1 to Mage 2, how's your status?" Sword tail asked through the radio.

"Fine as hell," Mage 2, which is Quick Slash's code name, answered, "but I'm slowly dying from all these scouting shits."

"No point arguing," Sword Tail sighed, "but still, keep an eye out."

The two of them continue to soar through the clouds; the clouds were thicker than usual. This is no surprise for them, because they're currently flying over the Everfree Forest, things can be a bit weirder than usual.

Just as them continued feeling relaxed, Mage 1, Sword Tail spotted something unusual about the sun itself. Why is it a bit brighter than usual? Everfree Forest can be unpredictable, but the sun was controlled by Princess Celestia herself. And she won't mess with the sun on purpose. And also, why aren't the radar working...

"Mage 1 to Mage 2!" Sword tail shouted, "My radar is blurry, and some of the electronic devices are going crazy, report your status!"

A second later, in the blurs of the radio, he got the reply, "Ugh! Same here! What the hell?" Then the radio went completely blurred out, the radar lost contact, and the keyboard light went out.

"Mage 1 to Flight Tower! Do you read me?" Sword tail tried to connect the signal again, but after trying it for three ties, he gave up. He looked to the window outside and saw something that's DEFINILY unusual.

The clouds were combining together, forming what's like a storm eye. And suddenly, a blinding light shot out from the storm eye and nearly blinded both pilots. Thought Sword Tail have his goggles on, he could still feel his eyes stinging, he shook his head to refocus. This time, the light was gone, so are the myserteous storm eye. Everything was back to normal as if nothing had happened. The radar was scanning, the keyboard were working fine, and there's no blurs coming from the radio.

"Mage 1 to Mage 2! You alright?" Sword Tail asked.

"Mage 2 to Mage 1, no I'm not! My eyes sting like shit!" Quick Slash whined.

Suddenly, both pilots heard their radars' beeping alarm. Sword Tail checked the radar, instead of having two bright dot representing him and Quick Slash, there's a new dot, its location is at their upper right side.

"Mager 2 to Mage 1! Boogie spotted, 2 o'clock high!" Quick Slash said.

"Too big for a Mig-29, and the speed isn't right either." Swrd Tail said, "But its in our airspace, you know what to do."

"Copy that Mage 1," Quick Slash said as both of them turned their aircrafts towards the direction of the boogie, "let's get to work."

------(~*~)------

RAF, 1st Fighter Platoon, "Blitzwing" Squadron Leader
Attitude: 10,000 ft
POV: Captain Lance Wilson
Weapon used: Lockheed F-35B "Lighting" II

Lance's day couldn't get anymore worst, and yet it did.

First he's getting chased by a bunch of mad aliens in their space fighter firing their pulse cannon at he and his "Blitzwing" Squadron, Lance himself splashed two of them down, then he got gunned by them. Lost three of his teammates, then got sucked into this weird storm eye somehow.

Lance opened his eyes, after getting stabbed by that blinding light. He's slowly recovering, the RAF Captain checked his surroundings, it shocked him.

"Is it just me, or I'm fighting above Vietnam?" he muttered. Below him was some sort of forest, but Lance can clearly remember h was fighting over the English Channel, and there's not much forest in England, and his advanced GPS radar system won't get him lost somewhere above the Netherlands.

What's more weird as that he spotted two dots coming in from 8 o'clock low, and they're quickly approaching him.

Lance tensed up, his hands on the handle, fingers on the trigger. But something isn't right, the targets were two big to be the aliens' star fighters, not to mention their speeds, which is at the cruising speed of an F-16.

Huh? I don't remember anything about Americans assisting us. He thought, but as the distance between him and the boogies got closer, Lance found himself getting surrounded by two F-16A Fighting Falcons.

"The fuck are the Americans doing here?" he murmured, suddenly, a new voice popped up in his globe radio chat. And it sounded nothing like American ascent.

"This is the RCAF, Royal Changeling Air Force speaking," it said, "you're entering the restricted airspace, please indicate your ID, Nationality, and purpose of this flight. Change course immediately."

The bloody hell are the Royal Changeling Air Force? What kind of bloody Joke is this? Many questions rushed through his mind, but his military career forced him to speak.

"This is Captain Lance Wilson of the RAF speaking, I have no clue what you're talking about. And by the way... Don't. Mess. With. Me." he said sternly.

Brief silence filled the radio chat room, then, "This is RCAF to unknown aircraft, change course immediately, or you will get fired upon."

Then the Fighting Falcon on his right side slid off his goggle, revealing a set of huge purple eyes and a small curved horn. Lance blinked twice, then he rubbed his eyes. Again. that weird looking pilot is still by his side in the Fighting Falcon.

"The fucking hell are you guys?!" he asked. Then he too, removed the goggle, revealing his human face, which surprised the strange pilot. Then, he spoke something to the other Fighting Falcon. Lastly, he turned towards Lance.

"You are a human correct?" it asked. Lance assumed it was a "he" by his tone of voice, yet surprised he knew his race.

"Yes, how do you know?" Lance asked, slightly alarmed.

"There's no need to be hostile, you just appeared on the radar like a ghost, so we assumed you have no idea where you are," he said, "but don't worry, we mean no harm. Your left wing is smoking, leaking fuel, cannot seem to fly too far. Follow us." he wiggled his Fighting Falcon's wings before leaning his aircraft towards the left, the second Fighting Falcon did the same. Lance followed.

Though he still have no idea about the situation his in, but these guys don't seemed to have any purpose of harm, so he could trust them a bit. But something about this sounds familiar, like the stories he heard from his grandfather. Shaking these thought away, he followed the two strange Fighting Falcon, towards the unknown.

Unnoticed by them, their movement were recorded from the ground by an anti-aircraft vehicle. A changeling with black shell, sharp fangs, and red eyes, cut the recording.

"Commander, I have an emergency to report." he said to the radio.

"What is it?" the rough voice of a 40 year-old sounded through the speaker.

"The RCAF got a new toy."