Ace Combat Equestria: Morgan

Lancer 1
ERAF 141th Special Strategic Comnbat Sq.
Lieutenant Seadroy Mood, Captain

"Lancer Squadron, the datalink for this airspace has been uploaded to your aircraft."Came our AWACS Hellcat. His voice is still the same tone. I guess he was never briefed about this mission except for the 'VIP' part. We're now about 5 Mikes from Griffonian occupied Manehattan airspace, we should be receiving FCS lock from their SAMs.

I looked down at my data link and... hang on... There's... Five targets? No, more like five targets each having four escorting fighters. Shit, they're expecting an interception all this time.

"Lancer Squadron, we have an emergency mission update from the high command," Hellcat said, "The Griffons had four An-124s in the air, one of them is carrying the VIP targets, your order is to down each of them, for the others might be carrying cargos or weaponry for the Griffonian main force."

"Lancer Squadron copy," I replied, "FCS is on, weapons are hot, Lancer Squadron... Attack."

I tried to lock onto the An-124s in the middle, but for some reason, all of their escorting aircraft were clustered together, as if they'd die trying to protect whatever was onboard the An-124s.

I decided to take out the escorts first, "Lancer 1, Fox-3! Fox-3! Fox-3! Three AMRAAMS were launched from my weapon racks.

Then came the RWR warning, as I'd expected, "Lancer Squadron defend!" The rest of the squadron fired their missiles as they banked away.

"S-300s SAM systems! Missiles in the air!" Came Hellcat's warning, "Damn, they're all over the place."

From the datalink, I saw the escorts break their formation, however, they were circling the An-124s, with some distance between them. Then I realized.

None of the fighters are defending. No evasive maneuvers, no jinxing, no nothing. They're simply moving around their cargo plane, as if... They're the ones trying to be targeted by our missiles. I get the Asmodium is the important package, but what about the other planes? What is so important in those planes that are worth ALL of the escorting fighters to willingly risk their lives protecting?

No time to think, I dove down hard as I released countermeasures.

"Lancer 1, SAM evaded, continue to engage," Hellcat ordered.

"Lancer 2/4/5, Fox-3!" Came the others.

Several seconds later, nearly 3/4 of the escorting fighters disappeared from our datalink. They just... Died like that. Killed without fighting back, I doubt they even used any countermeasures.

"What the hell was that?" Kiper's voice is filled with stress and confusion, " Ugh, don't tell me this is another setup!"

"Don't mind the escorts, shoot down the An-124s, you guys are 2 Mikes from Manehattan. Those VIPs are not allowed to be near the city, take them down now!" Hellcat's voice mixed with my racing mind, I knew what was on one of these planes. As Hellcat rushed me, a thought of killing the AWACS came into my mind, but I shook it off, he has no idea what's going on as well.

I locked onto the An-124s, my hooves shaking, if I pressed the trigger, I would become death itself... None of my squadron members is firing, I'm sure they're thinking the same thoughts.

"Lancer Squadron! What the hell are you doing?!" Hellcat's angered voice came in, "Attack!"

"Don't mind if I do." Came Pixy's voice, I jerked my head toward his direction and saw his Morgan fighter with that huge laser on top, it's charging up.

"Pixy wait-" I tried to stop him, but it was too late.

A bright laser beam was fired from his TLS, straight toward one of the An-124s, my heart skipped a beat as I braced for the detonation.

However, there was no light, the sky was still dark and grim.

"One An-124 is confirmed down, good kill Pixy," Hellcat announced.

I gritted my teeth, I shut my eyes for a second before opening them, "Lancer 1... Fox-3!"

I felt my airframe shake as the AMRAAM ignited its rocket engine, speeding towards an An-124.

Suddenly, my communication system began to buzz, as if it was being interfered with by some sort of ECM system, "Hellcat, the hell is wrong with our radio?"

There was a pause from Hellcat, then he spoke with... An alarmed tone, "I'm... getting something from a different radio frequency... Shit, it's from the Griffons."

"Are they signaling for defection?" Razornail asked.

"That's no defection signal..." Hellcat paused again, then said with slight surprise, "They're... Using non-military radio frequency... Hang on, I'm getting something."

The radio continued to buzz for several seconds before a new voice came into our radio.

"...This is Bishop 1 from 1012th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the Griffonian Air Force..." Came a very distressed raspy voice of a male, "...Please! Attacking aircraft cease fire! We request the attacking force to cease firing!"

"Are they surrendering?" Aakash asked.

"Griffonian Squadron Bishop 1, request denied," Hellcat said.

"Our An-124s are NOT carrying any weapons! I repeat, we are NOT armed!" My eyes widened, what do they mean they're not armed?

"Bishop 1, clarify your situation."

"... Me and my Squadron... Our cargo planes... They're NOT armed! We have no weapons onboard..." Bishop 1 said with a solemn voice, "They lied to us... They lied to all of us... They're trying to kill everyone... We knew it all... Some of my guys took over command of the An-124s... The civilians... Griffons and Equestrians... We have to get them out before..." The communication is bad, his voice is blurred and I can barely hear anything.

"Bishop 1! Are you still there?" Hellcat asked.

"What does he mean by Griffons and Equestrians?" Kiper asked, he's starting to freak out.

"..." The communication is dying, there was RWR warning over the background, "No... No, no no! Don't fire! I'm begging you! Please! Don't fir-" Then there was an explosion, and the communication ended violently.

However, the radio frequency jumped to another source, this time, it was from one of the An-124s.

"What the hell is going on out there?!" Came a scared voice of a male.

"... Mommy? I wanna go home...." Came the voice of a filly.

"It's okay kiddo, we're safe." Came a comforting voice of a female.

I stared down at my hooves. There's nothing I could say at this point...

"Shit!" Kiper finally snapped, "These are civilians!!!"

"What?!" Came Pixy's voice, I had never heard him like this, "What the hell?! Hellcat! What is this?!"

The communication continued, "Huh?! Is that explosions?"

"My god one of our planes just got shot down!!!"

"Are they firing at us?!"

"NO!!! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!"

"HELP!!!"

"Shit! Those bastards! We don't have any weapons!"

Lancer Squadron is completely in chaos.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Kiper is hitting his canopy.

"PLEASE! MOM! DAD! ARGH-" An explosion with a couple of screams ended the communication.

"... Three An-124s are down..." Came Hellcat's voice.

The radio is silent.

"How many can an An-124 carry?" I asked, chills climbing up my spine.

"...88 passengers," Hellcat replied.

"You have a lot of explaining to do." Came Pixy's voice, his tone is... dead.

"One An-124 remaining... It's heavily damaged, losing altitude... It's falling... Towards Manehattan."

"My god..." Razornail's voice is trembling with fear, "Those As-" She paused.

"Lancer 5, finish your sentence." Pixy said with a demanding tone, "That's enough hiding, what the hell is the objective of this... Mission?"

Then everything went white.

Third POV

Everyone was blinded by the sudden burst of light.

"Did they just..." Pixy's voice came, now with both shock and anger.

The light slowly dimmed down, revealing a very, crimson-looking sky and the burning hell below. The city of Manehattan, or what's left of it, is engulfed in fire. Fire everywhere, the once prideful standing Statue of Friendship, a representation of peace and harmony, is now standing over death and destruction. The shockwave that arrived nearly shook their teeth off; At that point, the Lancer Squadron could still feel their body, a soulless body that is.

As the Lancer Squadron flew over the ruined city, None of them said anything.

"... Lancer Squadron, RTB." Hellcat finally said.

"Damn them all..."

"Pixy..." Seadroy started.

"What is your reason to fight?" Pixy suddenly asked, he wasn't expecting any answers as he continued, "Nobody knows why they were fighting anymore..."

"Pixy, you're falling behind," Hellcat said, "We need to get out of here as fast as possible before anything else explodes. Our airframes are near their breaking point."

"Don't worry, I'll catch up."

"This... Mission-" Kiper tried to explain, but was cut off by the mercenary.

"Nah. Not one word... I'm just tired..."

The time is now 0258 Hours.

In less than a day, the world will be shaken.

By the horrors of Manehattan.