ASF-X Shinden II

"Canterlot is under aerial attack! Scramble all fighters! Move defensive assets into position and defend the runway!"

Alarms rang as all the personnel raced throughout the base, doing whatever they needed to do during an attack. Among them were the Wonderbolt squadron as they geared themselves up for flight, and made their way outside onto the terminal. Rainbow Dash looked up and saw a display of chaos in the blue sky. Planes and missiles flew everywhere, with frequent explosions shaking the ground. The roar of many engines filled the air.

The team ran towards their F/A-18 Super Hornets which were waiting for them on the tarmac, the drone of their idle engines ready to fire up. They climbed up their ladders and fitted themselves inside of their seats as their cockpits began to seal. Rainbow Dash mentally checked herself out as she did hundreds of times before during her exercises--except this time, it was much, much more real.

"Everyone saddled up? Give me a count." Spitfire said through the headset.

"Spectrum 2, all saddled up!" said Soarin'

"Spectrum 3, ready for takeoff," Rainbow Dash complied.

"Spectrum 4, ready to kick some flank!" Lighting Dust said.

"Alright, were all set. The rest of the team will join up ASAP." Spitfire said.

"Tower to Spectrum, your cleared. Can you takeoff? The attacks are--"

He was cutoff as jets screamed right over their heads, followed by missiles impacting the ground nearby. The fire of anti-air cannons deafened their ears, as well as bolts of magical lightning attempting to strike the enemy aircraft. They saw some of the aircraft spiral downwards in an inferno, leaving a black trail of smoke until it smashed into the ground and burst into a giant fireball.

"Holy SHIT!" screamed Lightning Dust.

"SPECTRUM, YOU NEED TO TAKEOFF BEFORE WE LOOSE THE RUNWAY! GO, NOW!!!" The Tower never seemed to have ever been this stressed before, if not over the radio.

Spitfire and Soarin' led first in front of Rainbow Dash and Lighting Dust as they made their way onto the main runway, already surrounded by several craters. An unrecognizable wreckage of an enemy plane rested in a fire next to the runway, attempting to be doused by a crew of fireponies.

"Alright, let's go, team. Just like we always do!"

Their engines eagerly screamed, creating a tail of fire as their Hornets accelerated down the runway. The began to tilt upwards, and soon left the ground, immediately retracting their gears.

"We already got bogies on our tail, break off!"

Sure enough, lock-on warnings flashed in their cockpits, and the two pairs broke into each other. They all looked to see a pair of bandits spitting off to individually take on a pair.

Rainbow Dash was his main target, and she maneuvered accordingly by pulling right as Lightning Dust pulled left. They then began to turn back into each other, except Rainbow Dash accelerated even faster as Lightning Dust opened her flaps to decelerate.

The bandit, still trailing Dash, flew into Lightning's line of fire, which she took full advantage of by opening up with a deadly burst of 20mm cannon fire at 100 rounds per second. The shells greedily tore the enemy apart, disintegrating into scrap metal, the body plummeting towards the ground.

"Nice! That weave was textbook!" cheered Rainbow Dash.

"That was sweet! But were not done yet!" Lightning Dust said. They paired back up, and moved on to take down another bandit.

(Back in Ponyville)

Spike attempted to keep up with the guards on foot as they galloped towards the edge of the Everfree Forest as a search and rescue team for Twilight. They were about 10 strong, and wore a tactical outfit with camouflage and kevlar, as well as their equipment which consisted of rilfes, magazines, and gadgets with various tasks, rather than the standard gold-armor uniform. A few of them carried Shocklances, which were special weapons that fired a bolt of lightning, effective up to a few dozen meters. They were very good against magic defenses and magic-wielding enemies.

The group finally slowed to a halt, and Spike put his palms on his knees, leaning over as he took large gulps of air, panting heavily.

"This is where Twilight was believed to have been last seen?" The leading guard asked.

"Uuuh--yeah...*pant*...this is about...where we last...*pant*...saw her."

"Alright. Go back to Ponyville and stay safe, and try to keep a watch for any more trouble. We don't want anyone else being lost today. There's more than enough trouble going on than we can stop. We're Oscar Mike team, move it!"

He shouted further commands as the team moved into the treeline in search of of the enemy, leaving spike to himself.

They spread out into a line of 5 meters between each pony, advancing at a quick pace while staying as stealthy as possible. Once they saw a small clearing ahead, they began to stalk quietly, alert to their surroundings.

"Hey, my signals are getting all fuzzy. The sensors are going nuts. Something's jamming the area."

They halted, and also noticed that their radios were starting to produce static.

"This is--HQ--can you--*bzzzt*--radar's going--jamming--*bzzzt*..."

"HQ, can you repeat? Please copy. HQ?" The leader said. Only the buzzing sound of static answered back.

"All units, silence radios, go black."

Everyone turned off their electronics, and remained as still and silent as possible. No one moved, blinked, and barely even breathed. Only their squinted eyes scanned the perimeter.

They heard a faint noise of something across the clearing, like a snorting beast. Though, it did not sound threatening at all, rather it sounded more...cute? Despite this, they slowly raised their weapons without a single noise, and aimed at whatever the source was. After further analysis, it sounded like SNORING. In the far distance, a quiet drone was also heard. A bush shook and rustled before becoming once again dormant. The snoring seemed muffled, but was still pretty loud.

The leader nodded, and the group advanced towards the bush, closing in on whatever hid inside. The distant drone seemed closer now. They reached the edge of the clearing, but before they stepped into the sunlight, the drone started to progressively become much, much louder before it soon overpowered the snoring.

"What the hell is that?" One of them whispered.

They listened carefully once again, and heard the sound of a few jet engines approaching.

"Are there any friendly aircraft within the A.O?"

"There aren't supposed to be."

The sound began to grow deafening, and as they looked up, they expected aircraft to rush overhead. But instead, the sound seemed to remain constant, approaching slower than before. They estimated it's position.

200 meters. The sound began to rumble deeply. A few seconds passed.

100 meters. The whines of the turbines were heard, and began to turn into a high-pitched whirring screech that accompanied the roars.

50 meters. They all looked up, and began to see the nose of a jet inch it's way over the treeline. If it was a jet, why was it so slow? Soon, a second nose appeared, and the first jet's intakes were seen, soon followed by the wings. They saw enough to make out what they were: A pair of AV-8 Harrier II's currently hovering in VTOL mode. One of them carried some equipment under it's wings that did not look like any type of weapon they knew. They were probably the EM Jammers that screwed up their equipment and the radars. The second one was much more menacing. Several large missiles, as well as two gun-pods were carried on it's wings--and they were pointed straight at them.

"Holy...Shit." He said, looking at the aircraft dumbfounded.

"GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!!!"

None of them needed to be told a second time as they turned around to flee, just as the most deafening and fearful sound they ever heard blasted the air. The armed Harrier began to fire it's enormous guns across the border of the clearing, billowing fire and dirt right behind their hooves. Tree after tree toppled down as their trunks were decimated into splinters without mercy, catching on fire from the incendiary bullets. After a few seconds and several-hundred bullets later, he eased the trigger, and the screaming banshees stopped.

The Harriers proceeded to lower to the ground, and their wheels touched the dirt. The Changling Agent, carrying a snoring, knocked-out Twilight Sparkle who was completely oblivious to everything that just happened, advanced towards the aircraft, and lifted Twilight into the empty backseat of the cockpit, grunting with effort.

Ugh, damn! Why do nerds have to be so heavy?.

Once she was in, he made buckled Twilight in, and made his way towards the other Harrier. The cockpits of each Harrier began to seal as he strapped himself in. The engines began to pick up as the Harriers rose above the trees, and accelerated back to where they came, their package secure.