8 October, 1969
RAF Luqa, Malta
No. V (AC) Sqn
Razor 1-2
Fg Off. James Burkley
Field Training Exercise
"All flights, Magic, begin exercise."
With the cut of the radio static, I knew that this zone was now an active training zone. The coast 12000ft below was certainly about to hate us, extra noise from the afterburners interrupting the latest English Sunburn Tournament. I love Malta, so hot that anyone who comes back with no tan is almost certainly lying about their visit. Not great for us in these speedy greenhouses. The Lightning F6, a great improvement over the F3 by... very little actually, wing pylons able to carry external tanks are great, in anything other than a dogfight like this. The itinerary for today is chasing some Vulcans from 50 Sqn over the Maltese coast. Again. These two Redtop's will start to get bored of this view stuck if I don't fire them off sometime soon.
"Magic, Razor 1-1, request Bogey Dope.
In an instant my ears perk up at the radio activity. Waiting on the answer to start looking for our oversized bomber friends.
"Razor 1-1, Magic, BRAA 288 for 20 at 15000, Flanking
Snapping to the left, I look high to see an object somewhat far away. We were flying at bearing 300. Time to catch up then.
"Razor Lead, 1-2, Visual"
"Razor 1-2, Lead, Roger.
Razor Flight, Lead, maintain heading for intercept, climb at 10, engage burner on my mark."
"Razor Lead, 1-2, Climb 10, burner on mark"
"Razor Lead, 1-3, Climb 10, burner on mark"
The simultaneous answer was a testiment to our training. I pull to 10 degree AoA and maintain formation with Razor Lead. With just the three of us out and a single Vulcan up this morning, there wasn't much radio chatter. I'll admit that I'm a little bored here. What I would give to have something actually happen for us to get to do some real work. We have state of the art aircraft, capable of hovering vertically just above the ground and even climbing in that state, albeit not very quickly and very limited in terms of maximum altitude. Take that Yanks! Your Phantom cant do that. Neither can ours but that is besides the point.
"Razor Flight, mark."
Thump. The aircraft shook a little at the immense power of the afterburner, the mach meter was startying to tick up rather quickly going from just below mach 1 to mach 1.2 in roughly 25 seconds. These engines are absolutely beautiful, hungry, but beautiful.
I check my IR cool as we rapidly approach the target. With the heads cooled and prepped, leaving my fingers far away from the missile release trigger and gain a lock on the not-so-gentle giant.
"Fox 2" I call turning off the IR cool and master arm. At this range, that would have likely been a splash, no telling whether the bomber would live to tell the tale though.
"All flights, Magic, ENDEX.
Razor 1-1, rogue aircraft entering airspace BRAA 042 for 20, 17000, hot. Intercept and determine hostility."
"Magic, Razor 1-1, Roger."
"Lads this is not a drill, turn to merge 042, maintain climb of 10. Prepare Redtops for emergency.
Me and my big mouth. Just can't shut it can I?
"I have visual, on my mark, break and form escort."
"Mark"
Being on the left wing, I cut the afterburner and pull out left to swoop onto the right wing of our intruder. As I started my turn in, a sudden very heavy turbulence cuased me to almost lose control of the aircraft. This bird is fast, it works, but it just hates to actually fly in anything other than a straight line sometimes.
Looking around I saw absolutely nothing. No con-trails, no specks in the sky to indicate other aircraft. Maybe I'm just being blind.
"Magic,Razor 1-2, I've lost sight of everyone.Requesting Bogey Dope,"
...
"Magic, Razor 1-2, radio check, over,"
...
In theory Magic should be further ahead of my current bearing and should be less than 40 miles away. The radar however has other ideas on where the aircraft should be. Such as simply ceasing to exist. Glancing around and seeing no damage to the aircraft nor any change in handling confirms that I've not been hit by a stray bullet or missile. What I do see however is a coastline off to my right wing, with diminishing fuel load currently sat at roughly 40% in the mains and 50% in the ventral, I have to find a runway to land on and sort this mess out.
Princess Twilight Sparkle
"I shall consider your request carefully and report back to you soon on whether you have been granted the funding or not." Nodding to the guard to let the court-goer leave the room.
Very quickly my visage goes from the false smile to a tired frown. Why on Equus would I ever give ten thousand bits to open yet another resteraunt with more of the same dishes down resteraunt row. To think I wasn't ready for this at my coronation just one month ago. I can also see why Celestia and Luna both agreed to retire and leave all this behind them.
Looking at the register of appointments for today, thankfully that was the last one. Not one of these nobles actually had anything good to say or request in their appointments, treating it more like spending time with royalty that I don't really care about except the pay check if I play me cards right. I suppose that I am thankful with how they go about trying to get under my tail, they're about as subtle Rainbow Dash is patient.
Speaking of whom, she just burst into the throne room. "Twilight, we may have a huge problem on our hooves." She continued pulling out a map from under her wing, "A regular training patrol spotted some flying contraption moving at high speeds of the coast of unknown origin and our top flyers can't catch it. Whatever it is, this thing is going faster than me post-rainboom."
"How much faster?"
"Not too much according to my most recent reports, older reports seem to present it as moving faster. To add, it seems to be shaped like a pegasus of some kind and not a balloon."
"It's slowing down, try to guide it to somewhere safe to stop on the ground."
"I've already sent a team to guide it to the runway at the academy."
"Clear the rest of my day Raven, I think this is a matter I must tend to personally. I shall fly myself there, a detachment should not be necessary for the location, I believe Lieutennant Dash is perfectly capable of providing protection."
Raven leaves with a nod. I stretch my wings popping slightly.I need to get out more. My wings feel numb and achy and I havent even taken off yet. This day just became more interesting.
Fg Off. James Burkley
There really isn't too much to see. Cruising by the coastline at mach 1.1 and no afterburner for the obvious reasoning. There have been signs of civilisation. The odd city here and there and from what I can tell at this distance, an active airstrip on a mountain at my 10 'o' clock. With no frequencies though nor any real way of knowing where I am, landing will be hard. A short flyover should allow me to see if the landing is even feasable. Judging by the small wings being deployed around me and attempting to catch up, this has to be a military base for training purposes, any other base would have supersonics on my wings right now trying to contact me. The lack of new friends on my wings suggest that these are subsonic aircraft and more than likely to be turboprops from their size.
Pulling back on the throttle and deploying the pitiful excuses for airbrakes I begin to slow. These thin sheets of reinforced aluminium may have worked well for the sabre about 20 years ago, but we need something better than that for this beast. Dropping subsonic now and good timing too as I'm sure the locals don't like their windows being smashed now that I am down lower. Needless to say, this mountain base is certainly different. Heck, this mountain is different. Pretty sure mountains don't just poke out of the ground like an apple core left on the desk. Who climbed that anyway to actually build the runway? How did any form of logistics get to the base with no visible road to be see around it? Why do I need to ask all this when all I want is fuel, a map and a cup of tea to rest after this flight.
...
Well my speed has dropped nicely for a makeshift pattern to check the runway. 500 miles per hour should do me well enough to check, turn and land should the runway be clear. Everything looks normal in truth, activity is high but runway has been left clear. Interesting building design and certainly well done, they almost look like real clouds despite the obvious building shapes up top. If it looks like this underneath then from the ground you might not even know there is a base here besides the traffic. Not seeing any aircraft out nor any obvious hangers, not my problem on how they store aircraft provided I don't have an extended stay. Lets not push my luck any further after all this.
Going out long I have time to slow and turn in to line up for a final. 300 mph. Flaps fully down, drogue shoot prepared and airbrakes retracted. Stay cool. An overshoot could lead to a problem with that cliff but this bird should stop in time. Good descent rate. Coming over that cliff edge. 250 mph. Runway under me now, steady. TOUCHDOWN. Drogue deployed. Steady. Maintaing direction with braking and rudder. 100 mph, we're safe. Coming to a steady stop.
Leaning back in silence, I have the chance to relax for a moment. Down and safe, time limit removed. Seems like I'm being redirected off the runway by some ground crew, never seen that uniform before. Pulling off the runway into a clear spot, I shut down and disconnect myself from all the oxygen feeds. Opening the canopy and taking off my helmet I look to the side.
...
"Ah."
Princess Twilight Sparkle
Silence dominated in part due to the horrendous noise of this... thing but also from the unbelievable craft. "How did this fly faster than you Rainbow? I can't find any trace of magic either to actually allow it to fly in the first place."
"You tell me Twilight. You're the egghead, I'm just an officer in line for Captain when Spitfire retires."
"That could be sooner rather than later judging by her sudden need for time off. Before you ask, her reasons are not for me to share Rainbow. She will tell you in time."
Soon enough the noise died down and stopped altogether, thank Celestia. The small glass cabin opened up to reveal a creature removing a helmet. Hold on, this looks like a human from the mirror world but not as colourful.
"Ah."
Well, it speaks I think?
"Is my oxygen mask working correctly because I'm pretty sure horses can't build airfields."
"Your mask is working fine, you have landed in Equestria, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle."
"They talk too, wonderful. If I'm really here can you just get me a ladder so I can get out of the aircraft?"
Rainbow is already on the case. A small team of ponies move to retrieve a ladder from the storage area. Not sure why Pegasi need a ladder but I can't complain.
A few moments later, a ladder is placed under the cabin and the creature climbs out. Very much a male of the species judging by the voice. He seems to be tall, wearing a green suit with all sorts of wires and pipes connected to it. His light brown mane is matted from the helmet. Once he reaches the bottom of the ladder and streches he turns around.
"Equestria huh? Never heard of it. Do you have a map to compare?"
Author's Note
Alright here we are, not the story I quite promised and certainly a large amount of time has passed since I made that post.
This was supposed to be finished and out about two weeks ago but life happened.
Well tell me what I can do to edit, improve and more for this chapter and future ones. This is my first actual attempt at first person. I find third easier to work with but I need to develop both anyway.
I'll try for weekly updates minimum.
Fg Off. James Burkley
Well this is a little awkward. The blue one sent for a map from somewhere inside the buildings. Am I in a kid's dream here? Or is it a man's worst nightmare? Surrounded by pastel horses that have wings besides Princess Twilight here I believe she called herself. I mean, they speak English. ENGLISH! Maybe Doctor Who did have some merit after all... No. No, as fun as that show was even it had differing languages at times like those strange ant things from a few years ago. Well, judging by the lack of obvious aircraft here nor any apparent sound of one, the ground crew probably don't exist to any degree or simply don't want to touch the drogue chute so I may as well pick it up myself to safely store away.
"How does it fly? After you landed I performed a quick scan and found no magic of any kind to assist in lifting or lightening the craft."
If they don't know how an aerofoil works, hence a monoplane then why do they have a runway?
"Okay Princess, to what purpose does this runway serve?"
"Well, for the pegasi to have a safe place to land at high speed if necessary."
"Does your nation have any sort of flight capable craft?"
"We have airships, the latest and fastest way for non-pegasi to cross land and ocean relatively comfortably. Even those need floatstones to assist with the weight of the ship underneath the balloon."
"Oh dear, this is going to be a loooong chat." I sigh. "So, this aircraft in particular is the Lightning built by BAC, this variant is the F6. The earlier models were built by EE but those details don't matter right now. The Lightning F6 is one of the latest and most advanced aircraft ever built for the purpose of interception and could climb at 20,000 feet per minute up to 60,000 feet to some of the highest flying spy aircraft and bombers." I pull out my notebook and pencil. "The reason this is at all possible is down to those wings and how as a nation we have managed to refine the design in the last 50 or so years to allow such high speeds." Drawing an aerofoil shape on the paper and a quick sketch of how the air flows around the wing. "This shape is known as an aerofoil and is designed to accelerate the air over the foil to create a pressure difference between the top and bottom of the wing called lift." I draw an arrow from roughly the centre of mass pointing up. "While this is a rough sketch of the force diagram you can see the idea. As your airspeed increases, the lift increases, hence a greater force acting up on the wing." Drawing an arrow down and writing mg next to it I continue. "This lift has an opposing force however. The weight of the whole airframe acts down which reduces the resultant force from the wings and most importantly will cause your aircraft to lose altitude if you are going so slow that the weight has a greater magnitude than the lift. This also happens at high altitude which could lead to a stall. Hopefully that satisfies your curiosity for now." Throughout that whole lecture, the Princess just took notes and nodded along. Just by her note taking and stance I can tell that she is a scholar at heart.
"Thank you, that will satisfy for now but I would love to know more about your flying machine. We will need to compare measurements though and create conversions where we can."
I nod. "I have a feeling we can and will need to do that sooner rather than later." The map had arrived and was placed neatly on the ground unfolded. I pull out one of my charts. Oh. Looks like I never took out my UK chart. This thing was always useful for map practice showing the whole of the Isles after all and perfect for my purpose here with a mini map of the world on the back detailing the other map series for designated areas.
"The map I have here is specifically of my country. It is an Aerodrom chart in truth showing all the roads and airfields in the country rather than borders, counties and the like." I lay it out unfolded next to the map of Equestria that had been brought out for me.
"You're lucky that we even have a full map of Equus here. Had to pull it out of the office cabinet. I'm Lieutennant Rainbow Dash seeing as I haven't actually introduced myself formally."
"Thank you Lieutennant Dash and I don't believe I have actually formally introduced myself either. I'm Flying Officer James Burkley, which is equivalent to a Lieutennant in the army back home." Damn Yanks have gotten here already with the L-ooo-tennant shit. We invented the word after all, its L-ef-tennant.
"Why did you say Lieutennant in such a strange way?"
"My people invented the word in the first place quite some time ago. It has carried forward from older forms of English but your way of saying it was adopted by the Ya-Americans back home when they broke away from the Empire. That wasn't the only word either but we can discuss it later."
"Anywho, we need to compare these measurement systems. My chart here is 1:1,000,000 which means that 1 inch on this map is roughly 16 miles in the real world. Each box here is 1 and a half inches wide and 2 and a quarter inches tall but those boxes don't help too much really. There are conversion scales on here from imperial to metric too which could be of use. To cover the basics of imperial, the system the UK uses, you can see the inches here, 3 inches makes 1 foot, 3 feet makes a yard and 1760 yards makes 1 statute mile or roughly 5000 feet. 6000 feet makes 1 nautical mile or about 2000 yards. As you can guess in aviation we use nautical miles due to the ease for conversion. I can see us turning to metric at some point though seeing as using powers of ten is much easier to remember and faster to do mental maths with too."
Twilight makes a small noise and begins. "I see. Your country has a very similar system to our old one which works out to be roughly the same with different names for the units that's all. We now use a number system which seems to be identical to your metric system listed here. I brought it in under my rule to standardise our measurements and make them more precise, both systems are accepted however while the transition is underway. I also did it to bring Equestria forward into line with the other few nation states on Equus. From what I have been told by local mayors is that most of the residents are happy with this change, especially those who work with materials who have to order from outside of Equestria and the research community is happier with not having to convert units in papers."
"That is exactly why I can see the UK transitioning to metric at some point down the line. The conversions are so much easier, but bringing in new tools for metric measurements may put off carpenters and masons back home. Having both available though does allow everyone to be happy seeing as many people struggle to visualise both systems when giving a rough length for something."
I turn over the map to show the world as I knew it. "This is the map of Earth. The continent I see on your chart simply does not exist anywhere. As a species we have photographed most of the planet either by scout aircraft or more recently with spaceflight."
Princess Twilight didn't reply, opting instead to turn around and head towards the Lightning. Her horn lit up. I thought she was joking about the magic stuff, I mean, most people in the past put unexplained effects to magic and called it evil in some cases, but this. This is actual magic. Why else would her horn light up like that?
Her horn only cut out after a few seconds. "There is definitely some magical residue around the aircraft, but not spellcraft itself. Natural magic. Particularly strong in this case too. Can you tell me what happened before you appeared here? That way I can get to work on identifying what the cause was and potentially send you home."
"We encountered an unidentified aircraft entering our training airspace. As we broke away from our formation I came across a sudden bout of heavy turbulence. Thinking back all of my electrics had some sort of minor malfunction at that moment but quickly returned to normal, as if they were disrupted externally. I'd say that was when I left home and appeared here. Where is this base on the map?"
Lieutennant Dash points at the base along the west coast at the edge of the mountain range that almost splits the country in half.
"With the coast to my right with a river feature clearly nearby and knowing my airspeed for the given time I would say I appeared near Las Pegasus. Are you having a fucking giggle? Is that city full of casinos and nicknamed The City that Never Sleeps per chance?"
Lieutennant Dash answers me first. "Yeah. How would you know that?"
"There is a city in the USA that happens to be very similar called Las Vegas. There seems to be a common theme here with names. Many of your cities seem to be named after an American city but turned into a horse pun."
"I think I know what the situation may be. I shall gather a team of the finest researchers to investigate around Las Pegasus for magical anomolies. If this is what I think it is, you may run into some problems with actually returning home."
Turning around to Twilight, the sense of dread I had managed to ignore until now started to finally break through my barriers. Come on, I need to maintain my proffesionalism for the sake of humanity as some sort of impromptu ambassador.
"I hope I'm wrong."
"I hope you are too. I guess my stay has been extended... indefinitely." I sigh. "Seeing as that is the case, my aircraft will have to be stored properly to prevent damage. Anywhere the aircraft is out of the elements is fine and that fuel will need to be drained and stored properly judging by your demeanour Princess. I'm going to be here for some time aren't I?"
"If my theory is true then you may never return. I'm so sorry." She seemed to wilt at this. Her head now held low and her hears flattened to her head.
"Well I know nothing about magic, it simply doesn't exist. But I do understand some of the language used. Nature is something that cannot be controlled and probably never will be. Don't beat yourself up over something like this."
"I'll have some protection spells placed over your craft to prevent corrosion."
"That fuel will still need to be taken out for safety. Store it in a cold tank and keep it away from flames or sparks of any kind."
"Follow me Mr Burkley. I will need to speak to you formally in Canterlot and sort out the paperwork for all this."
Following her towards a chariot, I can't help but think of home and the last thing I ever said to my girlfriend.
Sorry Annie. Looks like I failed to keep my promise.
Author's Note
GSGS 4695 sheet NW 50/8 Edition 2 from the War office and Air ministry in 1962 was the map I was referring to if you are curious. If there are any factual mistakes etc tell me and I'll change it. My block of text talking about aerofoils was done from memory and I am perfectly willing to change misinformation.
Damn I finished this faster than I thought. Feedback would be lovely, nitpick this to shit so that I can improve.
