ASF-X Shinden II

"Alright team, you know the drill. We wipe the skies clean until it's all blue, got that?"

Spitfire ordered, leading the Spectrum Task Force through the Equestrian skies, the drones of six blue and yellow decorated F/A-18 Super Hornets streaking through the air. Each of their planes were customized with insignia's of their cutie-marks on their horizontal stabilizers, as well as the cutie marks of the two princesses on each wing: Celestia on the right, Luna on the left.

They piloted their aircraft in a belly-down position on the seat, their wings controlling their flight as they were inside special slots that sensed muscle tensions. The movements would corresponded to the maneuvers of the aircraft that would result in them, just like if the pegasus was flying naturally. Their hooves grasped onto handles with buttons that controlled their toys of destruction.

They wore special Wonderbolt G-suits that mirrored the normal uniforms.They also didn't wear helmets, only goggles that had an integrated heads-up display. It was the best innovation to the pilot second only to the wing-controlled flight system, as they were much more comfortable, and allowed their awesome manes to be shown off to their opponents in battle--at least it was in Rainbow Dashes' opinion.

"Got it boss. This'll be nice and easy."

"No way, Soarin'--we're doing this mean and dirty. No one messes with us!" Fleetfoot taunted through the comm.

"C'mon, let's get into the furball already. These wings are just itching to show them what we got!"

"I'm with ya, Dash. Let's crash this party!" Lightning Dust said, her voice as well as her partner's filled with eagerness.

Their headsets crackled as they received their orders.

"This is Tower to Spectrum, we have hostiles within defensive perimeter. Intercept and engage."

"Roger that. Spectrum Team engaging." Spitfire complied.

"Let's do this!"

"Right behind ya!"

Their jets roared in a battle-cry as they accelerated to full afterburners, their incendiary tails shooting outwards. They banked towards the ridged mountains of Canterlot, where dozens of aircraft were already in the fight waiting for them.

"Bandits head-on."

Their missiles locked on, and they fired upon the unsuspecting enemies, blowing them out of the sky as they made a spectacular entrance through the roaring infernos of their prey, gaining much attention. They broke off into their separate directions in three pairs, Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash paired together.

"Just like a walk in the park!" Soarin teased.

"Man, these guys are gonna get it for ruining a good day!" Rainbow Dash growled, her eyes narrowing onto her next target.

"C'mon, we got some work to do." Spitfire said, as the team swiftly took out the bandits one by one with no problem at all whatsoever.

Soon, instead of a battle, it was the enemy scrambling through the air as they attempted to survive and avoid being forced to bail out as their planes were shreaded into pieces.

Rainbow Dashed fired a missile to pick off one of the last bandits, and cheered as the missile entered straight through the exhaust of the enemies' aircraft and detonated in a very satisfying display of fire and metal wreckage. A glint of light just beyond the downed aircraft caught her attention, and squinted to focus in on it. As it became closer, she made out the body of another aircraft, though she couldn't quite make out the pilot through the black glass, but managed to make out a speck of yellow. She finally noticed a puff of smoke under it's wing--a missile.

No countermeasures, missile already fired, not enough time to bail. Oh no no no no, no way this can be happening. Rainbow dash thought, as realization hit:

I'm going to die.

"DASH, LOOK OUT!!!" Her wingmare screamed, her warning too late. Rainbow Dash could only stare in shock attempt to pull away, but to no avail as the missile streaked towards her as time seemed to slow down. The echoes of the battle around her, the brilliant fireball still in front of her, and the extreme details of the missile in front of her. She saw the individual flaps bending as it tried to adjust to it's mark, the individual flares of light that propelled it towards her, and the brilliant flash of light followed by a rush of warm air that consumed her before she closed her eyes...

...the alarms of her cockpit still echoed through her ears...

Rainbow Dash awoke with a jolt, shooting straight up into the air and hovered to take in her surroundings. She felt her heart beating intensely as she took panicked, rapid breaths. Sweat trickled down her body, and her limbs still shook from the adrenaline and rushing blood. An alarm clock was blaring on the nightstand adjacent to her pillow, a digital red 6:30 am flashing on the screen.

She was alone in a small, plain room, one of many that made up the domestic Equestrian military barracks. This room was located in the officer's wing, which had more luxury and comfort than others. Despite months of experience sleeping in much worse conditions, she still longed for her plushy cloud-bed, but it would have to do. The walls were a dull, light-blue with a poster of the Wonderbolts in front of her. A fan with lights on it dangled above her head, the blades rotating gracefully to produce a calm breeze. There were no windows, for the base is located inside of Canterlot's mountains.

"Just a nightmare...it's ok Rainbow--your fine." She had a series of similar nightmares over the past two nights, and this one was the third of the series.

She slammed her hoof on the clock to cease the deafening alarm, and groaned as she rubbed her face to erase her morning cobwebs. She groggily trotted on the dark, blue carpet towards the bathroom and took a shower wash off her sweat and refresh herself for the day ahead. After drying herself off, she left her room to proceed to the mess hall.

"*Yawn*...Oh hey, RD."

Rainbow Dash looked to her right, and saw Lightning Dust emerging out of her own room, a towel draped over her neck, as well as a pair of earbuds stuffed in her ears, the wires trailing towards a small iPod strapped on her foreleg.

"Morning, Dust." Rainbow Dash weakly replied.

"Heh, looks like you had one heck of a night. What's up?"

"Eh, just a dream." She sighed.

"Well, it's over, your here. How was it?" Lightning Dust asked.

"Nothing much, it's fine." Rainbow lied. She hasn't mentioned anything of a dream to anyone until now.

"Then you'll get over it. C'mon, we'll get you some grub and relax with the team." She motioned with her head.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan."

They proceeded down the zigzagging corridors until the finally reached a large room filled with dozens of ponies with trays of food. They made their way to the line, and filled their trays with food from the buffet-style cafeteria. Scanning the room, they identified their team members just sitting down on a table, and went to go sit with their buddies.

"Lookie here, the newbies finally decided to show up!" Spitfire greeted with a grin.

"Yeah, morning to you too, Captain fire-butt." Lightning Dust replied, as Rainbow Dash cracked up.

Soarin ignored to conversation and dived into one of several small pies that he hogged from the stack, which wasn't very much in the first place, earning teasing nods of disapproval, all of which he was completely oblivious to.

"Any news yet?"

"No, the forces are still idle. We're still on stand-by for anything."

"Still? Ugh, the suspense is making me nuts. Just do something or get outta Equestria!" Rainbow protested.

A few days ago, small unknown groups of fighter jets were seen creeping around the Everfree border. Although no threats have been made, any attempt to contact them would result in their elusive retreat. Ever since then, the Equestrian standing military were put on stand-by, the Spectrum Task Force being one of them.

After that subject, the team began to talk about other random things, including the question of how many freaking pies does Soarin eat daily. They reached a verdict of 'too many pies a pony should eat in their entire lives'.