The sound of the V2 launching behind him was all the confirmation he needed that his order to fire had gone through. Looking about he saw the small blue-winged silhouette of his buddies jet in the distance turning towards him.
“Too bad, Buddy,” He began over the radio. “This twisted game needs to be reset. We’ll start over from ‘zero’ with this V2 and entrust the future to the next generation.” Pixy finished, activating his plane's ECM Countermeasures. Belkan technology really had it all, he would have even allowed himself a smile if he were fighting anybody else.
But not against Cipher. It seemed as if it was almost yesterday when he was first assigned under him at the start of this blasted war. When all he was fighting for was the paycheque at the end of every sortie. But after Hoffnung… something inside him changed.
What truly was his reason to fight?
That was the question he began to ask himself. Was there something greater he could fight for? How would it feel to fight for something he believed in?
All those thoughts began to weigh him down. And when the nukes detonated over Waldreich… He had found his reason to fight. Those blasted borders, all they have ever done for the world is create conflict and war. Well now no longer! He just needed to hold Cipher off for a few short minutes until the V2 detonated.
Pixy adjusted his course, his plane now making a beeline straight for Ciphers.
“You and I are opposite sides of the same coin,'' began Pixy, finishing with a grunt as a missile impacted his plane. The two fighters passed within meters of each other before flying in opposite directions, their joust lit by the exhaust of the rising V2 above them.
“When we face each other, we can finally see our true selves,” Continued Pixy as he approached Cipher head-on, his buddy doing the same, neither of them turning away from this confrontation. Only one of them would be flying away, and they both knew it.
Two explosions rang out as they passed each other again. Both pilots were shaken in their cockpits as they managed to hit the other with a missile. Pixy gritted his teeth as he regained control of his aircraft, the damage done by Cipher’s missile beginning to make itself known after this prolonged dogfight. He gritted his teeth however and made another pass for, perhaps, the final joust between the two knights of the Sky.
“There may be a resemblance,” He began lining his plane up, “but we never face the same direction.” Pushing his throttle to the max, his plane breaking the sound barrier as he headed towards Cipher. He could see the oncoming jet in the distance, a small trail of smoke following it confirming that this joust...would be their last.
Steeling his resolve, Pixy pushed his plane to its limit. He could feel his engines beginning to buckle under the strain but he didn’t care. The pair got closer and closer, their missiles locking onto the other oncoming aircraft as they prepared to end this duel.
“Come on!” Shouted Pixy, pulling the trigger and letting his payload loose towards Cipher. The Demon Lord of the round-table had other plans however as he rolled his plane 90 degrees. Pixies pair of missiles passing Cipher entirely as they fly only several centimeters over his cockpit and under his plane's belly. Their payloads exploding some distance behind Cipher as they crashed into each other.
The world began to slow down for Pixy as he watched Cipher return fire.
He was too close for Pixy to dodge, and with the rattle of Cipher’s missiles impact against his plane filling his cockpit, Pixy knew his fate had been sealed.
It was game over for Solo Wing.
Smoke began to fill his cockpit as Cipher passed his doomed plane. The pair only meters apart from each other. Fire began to spread throughout the interior of his plane before reaching his fuel-tank, igniting it, causing a secondary explosion in the fuselage of his craft. His instruments went haywire and began to short-circuit as the concussive force tore the back of his plane to shreds as Pixy began to plummet towards the ground. The force of the explosion forcing Pixies head to collide with the glass Canopy, knocking the pilot out cold.
The last thing Pixy saw before losing consciousness being the silhouette of Cipher’s plane against the blinding explosion of the V2 above them.
———
He didn’t know how long he was out but when Pixy came to what he did know was that he needed to leave his plane's wreckage, and fast as the smell of smoke reached his nostrils. Pain began to make itself known throughout his body but most prominently on his chest and back. He could feel something lodged in his stomach, sapping his strength. His vision was completely shot at the moment, the Pilot not able to even make out any of his cockpit instruments which were less than a meter away.
He held his arm in front of his face to keep himself from inhaling any more smoke as he moved to grab the emergency canopy release lever. The woosh of the opening canopy signaled to the pilot that exit from this burning wreck was now possible. Unbuckling himself from his pilot seat, Pixy slowly dragged himself out of the cockpit his eyes screwed shut from the pain. His every move during his escape sending a lightning-bolt of pain up his spine.
He didn’t know how bad he was injured but he knew it was serious. With a grunt of exertion and pain, Pixy was finally free of the wreck and slowly dragged himself towards what looked like a nearby tree through his rapidly darkening vision.
Propping himself up against the tree he could barely make out the form of his planes burning wreck in front of him. Its white color-scheme is easily distinguishable from the green landscape behind it. The remains of his trademark red wing was buried in the blackened and burning ground. Small fires still burned around the wreckage turning the once green ground below black. A light trail of fresh crimson blood is visible leading from the cockpit towards Pixy.
He could feel the warm wetness began to pool underneath him. He pulled his arm up from his chest and into his declining vision. Only to be met with some sort of white blood covered hoof instead of his arm.
Some distant muffled shouting was heard by the Pilot, but he couldn’t care less at the moment as his declining attention was completely focused on the limb in front of him. Panting heavily from exertion and shock at what he was seeing, he turned his head downwards to see the rest of his body.
He no longer saw his flight suit covered body, but a small white equine body instead. Dark crimson streaked through the white fur, pooling on the ground below as a jagged piece of metal stuck out of his belly. The shouting became louder and louder as its source got closer and closer to Pixy. His vision began to darken as he felt his strength leave him. He wanted to panic at what he was seeing, at what his body had become but he simply didn’t have the energy to. Maybe he was hallucinating due to blood-loss? Thought the Pilot. But even in his weakened state, he knew it was wishful thinking. It felt way too real to be the delusions of his probably concussed mind.
Maybe this was Hell?
Maybe it was Heaven?
Or perhaps something in-between?
So many questions went through his mind as he took in what he was seeing instead of his normal human body. He could feel the nearby vibration of something approaching his crash-site through the green ground as a light breeze was felt pushing against him.
He felt his eyelids grow heavy and begin to close as a nap sounded really good to the Pilot about right now. The sound of yelling grew closer and closer as his eyes began to close, his consciousness beginning to slip.
“Hey, buddy can you hear me!? Are you alright?! Answer me!” Broke a scratchy voice through the ringing in his ears. He felt something against his side before he spoke one word with the last of his energy.
“Buddy?”
Darkness consumed his vision soon after as he fell into the blissful arms of unconsciousness, the shouting he had heard becoming frantic before he fully succumbed to blood-loss.
Author's Note
If you've seen my Discord profile pic you know how much I love Pixy
And as per usual big thanks to Darthball for looking this through and overall helping out <3
