Mirage

The way to the enemy base is silence, it felt strange and cold without Quick Slash's big muzzle around buzzing, Sword Tail haven't say a word ever since Quick Slash was KIA. Surprisingly, AWACS Sky Keeper had his mouth shut as well. At least HE'S showing some respect. The Shifter Squadron and the bomber haven't take note of the combat below yet, they were up there with the B-52 boring their craps out. After a few minutes, Jokodi broke the silence.

"Hey, Sword Tail is it?" he spoke through the radio, "Look, keeping your head into the sadness of losing a friend aren't gonna help you any better, trust me I've been through this; Back a few years ago, me and my boys, Cyclopes Squadron at the Navy flew over the Celestial Sea for border patrols. It was supposed to be a milk run, then we got into contact with some small enemy surface to air missile units, we radioed and warned them, but for some shitty unknown reason they fired at us. Some of my boys were lucky enough to dodge it; except for my wingman, Oli. I watched as his plane getting pounded by the missile, it slammed right into his cockpit, the result is already shown..."

Sword Tail stayed silence.

"After that I just couldn't bring myself to fly again, but as time goes by I realized that keeping your head in the sadness of the past can't do shit, you want revenge, then get your head out, stay alive, and fight on. Quick Slash would say the same thing too isn't he?" Jokodi concluded.

Sword Tail stayed silence for a brief moment, before sighing, "You're right..." And went back to silence again, Jokodi kept his mouth shut as well, some spaces and times are needed for Sword Tail to go through the lost of his friend. A war is a war, comrades and friends dies around you, death is normal, and sometimes you'll have to watch it happen.

Lance on the other hand, had seen this happen way too many times, he'd calmed down quickly a resumed back to their mission, but the urge of vengeance is still crying out to him.

The rest of the way went surprisingly easy, no residence or enemy fighters is present to intercept them, probably because they're out of fuel, which also means that there's a nearby airfield. But destroying their airfield is for another day, the Mage Squadron have to quicken the operation; before the air combat, the Squadron had already emptied their external fuel tanks, now the fuels in their main tank is their only fuel source, they'll have to finish this up fast. Luckily, the enemy HQ isn't that far ahead.

"Attention all units, this is AWACS Sky Keeper, enemy HQ is 20 miles ahead, Mage Squadron prepare laser guidance, Shifter Squadron spread out and lower your attitude, intercept any incoming hostiles targeting the bomber." The AWACS's information came into everyone's headset.

"Copy that, Mage Squadron on me." Lance then broke the formation, lowered his attitude and flew straight for the HQ, with the rest of his squadron following behind him. Suddenly, Lance's radar began to scream, he's being missile locked.

"Damn! Watch for the SAMs!" He shote before posing out decoys while performing maneuvers, which is just in time to dodge an incoming missile, Lance then quickly searched through his ATGM radar and located the SAM site, he aimed the optic sight at the SAM truck and fired his 20 millimeter Vulcan cannon. BLUUURT! The SAM truck erupted into a massive fore ball as the missiles on its back were detonated.

"One down!" Lance then began to search and destroy the other SAM sites and anti-air vehicles, with the Mage Squadron following his actions. Soon, the anti-air sites were cleared out, Lance could see the enemy HQ from far ahead, he quickly switched weapons to laser guidance, when the distance matched, he turned it on. The laser flashed onto the suspected HQ site, though it looked like nothing from the top, the entire base is hidden underneath the layer.

Way upon them, at the attitude of 50,000 feet, the Stratofortress had just received the laser guidance signal from Mage Squadron, the pilots quickly turned the bomber towards the area, now flying flat and straight, the bombing bay opened, revealing two massive MOPs hanging on the bay, below them were the blue skies and surprisingly warm air. B-52 can fly in the Stratosphere where the air would be strangely warm instead of freezing, with theist check of bombing sequence, the bombing crew awaits for the final order.

"Mage 1 has the suspected targeted area locked," The radio operator said, "clear for the bomb run."

"Bombs away!" Then the two MOPs slipped off the weapon bay and fell directly towards the laser-targeted area.The MOPs' four flaps began to move around rapidly, slowly guiding the MOPs towards the suspected enemy HQ. The MOPs began to scream as their velocity and attitude got more extreme, the enemies units on the ground all stopped and looked up, horrified by two shadows coming straight at them in a terrifying velocity.

BAM! BAM!

The two massive MOPs each slammed straight through the ground that could penetrate three layers of 200 millimeter of concrete plates, the delay fuzes were set off, now all it matters is the time. The two MOPs went through layers and layers of concretes like a knife through butter, until it finally broke off the final protection plate of the underground basement. Time seemed to slowed down as the two unexpected 'gifts' penetrated through the plate of the ammunition storage, the enemy Changelings could only stare hopelessly as the MOPs ignited the explosives and the ammunitions.

(The MOPs in Equestria were booted with destruction magics, making them five times better than the MOPs on Earth. The Changelings poured a large amount of magic into their MOPs, so it'd look like a nuke explosion.)

From above, Lance and his fellow Mage Squadron flew away from the HQ to prevent being slammed by the shock wave, suddenly, the ground underneath the targeted area started to rise, formed into a hill, then sparks of flames and heat began to leek out. It's not long before the HUGE firework display came. A huge mushroom cloud raised from the area, the heat & shock wave spread throughout the land and crushed anything in its path of destruction. Lance could feel his jet shaking slightly from the shock wave, to be honest he wasn't expecting the MOPs to detonate like this, these magic-booted MOPs were way more destructive than the ones on Earth.

Then AWACS decided to pop up, "This is AWACS Sky Keeper, mission objective achieved, enemy HQ confirmed destroyed. Good job colts, Mage Squadron RTB, Shifter Squadron escort the bombers."

“Well at least we got our job done." Lighting Flash said, "Though some prices we have to pay."

"I said what I have to say." Sword Tail sudden said, his tone deep and unreadable.

"About what?" Sky Keeper replied.

"Not a stallion who retreats or cower over anypony; just simply not in his DNA." Sword Tail sighed, "Is there anything he left behind that's personal? Might be the only item related to Quick Slash that we can bury on the funeral."

"This Operation Bullseye is a success, thanks to both Mage Squadron and Shifter Squadron, who did most of the work. Though we lost some brave stallions, they deserved to be honored. Now, since the enemy HQ is wiped out, we believe that they've suffered minor damages, this is proved to be a critical strike to them. Steel Jaw and his army won't show up for at least one or two months, still that doesn't mean they won't send in some drones. Though we delivered a death strike to Steel Jaw, we still have to keep our guards on, there's no telling when that A-Hole would strike again. The funeral would be held tomorrow at 7:30 A.M, but those sacrifices are what led to our victory at this point. To conclude this debrief, we have delivered a K.O Punch to the enemies, and they sat their asses down for now! And we'll scout for their secret factory of their Elite Aircraft, then we'll began another operation. Until then, dismissed!"

Chrysalis is leaning against Lance's shoulder like what lover would do in her bed room; after the funeral and the honor speech, Chrysalis was once again, entering her 'worried mom' mode, which is starting to annoy Lance; though it is in a good way. Since the operation was a success, Mage Squadron and Shifter Squadron had their day off, and Lance aren't gonna miss this chance to get 'deeper' into his relationship with the Changeling queen.

"Say Lancy, what are your plans for our future?" Chrysalis asked.

"Well, I'm gonna be honest," Lance sighed, "it all happened so quick. Just four weeks ago, I came here from Earth, met you and your subjects, helped fought a war, and welp... Ends up courting the most beautiful Changeling queen I've met."

"Oh Lance, I'm the only Changeling queen you've met." Chrysalis giggled.

Then, there was an awkward silence for a brief moment, until Lance asked something Chrysalis is not expecting.

"Uh... Mind if I ask... May I dance with you?" Lance asked, a bit hesitatingly. Seeing Chrysalis froze there as well, he stammered, "Uh.... Never mind, I didn't say anything---"

"Why OF COURCE!" Then Lance was wrapped in a light blue aura and was pulled onto a dance position with his fiancé, "Oh, except there's no musicians for the background music."

"Don't worry, got that all fixed." Lance smirked as he snapped his fingers. The room was suddenly painted with romantic light settings, and a romantic music automatically played in the air, "Here's some romantic music from my home world. I think you'll love it."

Chrysalis started to sing, "In a perfect world,

One we've never known

We would never need

To face the world alone

They can have their world

We'll create our own

I may not be brave

Or strong or smart

But somewhere in my secret heart

I know,

Love will find a way.

Anywhere I go,

I'm home.

As long as you're beside me,

Like dark,

Turning into day,

Somehow we'll come through,

Now that I've found you,

Love will find a way."

Lance smiled, a bit surprised that she knew the lyrics, he joined in ,"I was so afraid,

Now I realize,

Love is never wrong,

And so it never dies,

There's a perfect world,

Shining in your eyes."

The couples danced with their hooves/palms held onto each others like how a couple would dance in the 50s, their voices and singing together formed a beautiful chorus.

"And if only they could feel it too,

The happiness,

I feel with you,

They'd know,

Love will find a way,

Anywhere we go,

We're home,

If we are there together,

Like dark,

Turning into day,

Somehow we'll come through,

Now that I've found you,

Love will find a way,

I know,

Love will find a way,

Anywhere we go,

I'm home,

If we are there together,

Like dark,

Turning into day,

Somehow we'll come through,

Now that I've found you,

Love will find a way,

I know love will find a way,

I know,

Love will find a,

Way..."

The two stared at each other's eyes after the sing ends, and Chrysalis planted her lips on Lance's, and Lance ddi not deny the kiss of an angel. He closed his eyes and let their tongues danced, small moans can be heard from Chrysalis's throat, as the couple broke the kiss slowly.

"Wow, that was... Wow." Lance stammered, "How'd you know all the lyrics?"

"Huh? Did I got them all right?" Chrysalis smiled sweetly, "I guess when we kissed, some of your chaos magic flew into me so I could see the stuff in your world? By the way, this is a great song for that movie."

Lance's eyes widened for a few seconds, she'd seen both Lion King movies?

"By the way, you still remembers what I told you before the Operation right?" she asked slyly, Lance's eyes widened again.

"You don't mean---"

"Yes, were doing it right here and right now. You are mine for the night!" said Chrysalis, then she tackled-kissed Lance onto her bed, she covered both of them with her queen-sized blanket as both lovers kissed deeply. Then...

It was a lot of moans and love-makings.

(HA! Gotcha! I'm not writing the sex part in, mainly because I'm not good a describing stuff like that. But I willl get into a tiny bit details in my next chapters on their 'activities' last night. Until then, Eddie out!)