Rainbow Dash crouched lower in the cockpit of the F.E, attempting to find some shelter from the bitterly cold wind. Constructed mainly of canvas and wood, the F.E2b had two sets of wings, one directly above the other, with two forward-firing machine guns, and a third, rear gun on a rotating mount. It was a highly manoeuvrable design, but it lacked the full armour of battle autogyros and other military fighter craft. Instead, it was only armoured in vital areas; it had segmented iron plating covering the engine block, and another section of iron plate directly behind the pilot’s seat. She recalled that it had been chosen because of the fact that it was not too difficult to fly, and that it could also be constructed and repaired in very little time.

Cruising along at 15,000 feet, Dash glanced back at her new observer. The Orange-coloured, blonde-maned earth pony had flatly refused to remove the battered-looking Stetson from her head when they were launched from the carrier zeppelin, and dash was amazed that the hat hadn’t already been blown off. This was practically all she knew about the new recruit, apart from her name: Applejack.

Rainbow Dash, looking over the side of the cockpit, could see mile after mile of rolling white clouds, like great masses of cotton wool, stretching away into the infinite distance. Looking up again, she saw that she had slipped a little out of formation, away from the patrol. She sideslipped the aircraft back into position, and looked at the 6 other machines. Whilst the rest of the aircraft were coloured a light brown, the lead machine had was painted a bright yellow, signifying it as the aircraft of Captain Flame Spectre. The female Pegasus was well known for being an excellent pilot, and she had a seething hatred for sky-pirates to boot, ever since her parents had been killed in a sky-pirate raid in the far north 20 years ago. The tale was that she’d personally hunted down the pirates responsible and hanged them. With their own innards. She was well known for taking on any pirate craft she met, no matter how much the odds were stacked against her. So far, she’d managed to remain unscathed, but everyone knew that her luck couldn’t hold out much longer.

For some time they flew on, round the mountainous clouds that seemed to go up and up into infinity. After 20 minutes or so, Dash noticed the Flame Spectre was leading the patrol to the very top of an immense cloud that stood directly in their path. As the lead aircraft reached the top of the cloud, the radio buzzed as the Captain hailed the rest of the flight.

(To enhance the reading expierience, I have added some music to this chapter. Open a new browser window, and enter this into the web adress bar: http://www.youtuberepeater.com/watch?v=ZG_i-Nl4yEo&name=Rayman+Origins+soundtrack+27+Mountain+World+Boss+Meca
The song will continue to play untill you shut it off.)

“Enemy aircraft spotted; looks like a bunch of pirate fighter craft, the usual outdated machines. Seems to be about 15-20 them; we’re going down there to teach them a lesson they won’t forget in a hurry. Spectre out.”

As the rest of the flight reached the top of the titanic cloud, Dash looked down over the side of the cockpit and gasped as she found herself looking down into a very large hole. Straight down for a sheer 8,000 feet the walls of the opaque mist dropped, forming a basin-like depression at the bottom, were a rag-tag selection of machines were making their way across the bottom of the immense crater in the clouds. Then the Captain’s machine began its dive, closely followed by the others. Down, down, down they went, the wind howling past the struts and wires of the aircraft like a thousand screaming demons. Dash stole a quick glance at Applejack, who was now stuffing the hat away under her seat; obviously, she didn’t want to lose it. Soon the patrol was in shooting range: Firing from a distance was a waste of ammo, so you had to get fairly close to your target to make sure you didn’t miss.

It was immediately clear that the pirates hadn’t seen them coming. They continued on their course until they heard the chattering of machine gun fire from above them, but then it was much too late. The lead machine, a rather decrepit looking tri-plane burst into flames and plummeted downwards as the bullets found their mark. A second machine gave a jerked upwards in a convulsive motion, as sure sign that the pilot had been hit. It zoomed upwards, turned slowly over onto its back, and span down through the floor of the cloud and out of sight. Dash pulled up out of the dive, and banked sharply, and re-entered the dogfight that had suddenly erupted in the crater-like depression of the cloud.

As she hurtled back into the fight, she heard the rear gun chattering incessantly. She looked around, and saw a small biplane that looked like it shouldn’t be physically able to fly come in directly behind her. Even as she watched, Applejack poured lead directly into the engine of the enemy air machine, which promptly exploded in a ball of flames. Dash marvelled at the calm deliberation of her gunner, watching as she threw the empty ammo drum out of the aircraft, and replaced it with another, her face set in a look of grim determination. Dash wondered if this wasn’t the first time the Orange earth-pony had seen combat.

The next minute seemed like an age to Rainbow Dash, as machine after machine plummeted downwards, some trailing smoke, others engulfed in flame. Several enemy aircraft fell to the rear and front guns of the F.E, but as soon as they did, another machine would come at her, guns blazing. Even though the patrol possessed the technological advantage, they were still heavily outnumbered. They were fighting a loosing battle. A black-winged-biplane screamed past her on its earthward descent, missing her by inches. The thought of a collision did not frighten Rainbow Dash. She felt only a strange elation, a burning desire to go on doing this indefinitely – to down the enemy machines before she was killed herself, as she knew that she would be in the end. There was no thought in her mind of retreat or escape.

Dash heard a sudden cry of pain from behind her. She turned around and saw that Applejack, her gunner, had been hit in the shoulder, leaving her unable to operate the machine gun. She sank down into her seat, but her look of pain and shock suddenly turned to a savage snarl, and she struggled back up and began firing again. However, her injury had severely damaged her ability to fire accurately, she could only make wild sweeps with the gun, instead of the carefully aimed bursts she had been trained to make. As Dash turned her attention to the scene in front of her, something struck the machine with a force that made it shudder violently. The compass shattered as a bullet struck it, and the liquid it contained spurted back into her face, half-blinding her for a few seconds. She wiped her face with a hoof, and turned around to see a surprisingly new looking biplane directly behind her, painted a blood-red colour. It let off a second burst, and her machine jerked as bullets smashed into it, severing several control lines. But before the red machine could finish the job, a bright yellow F.E zoomed down, heading straight for the Red aircraft. The enemy pilot saw the danger and tried to twist out of the way of the oncoming machine, but it was too late. The two machines collided with a sickening crunch, and then exploded in an immense fireball.

A feeling of nauseating helplessness swept over Rainbow Dash as she realised that her F.E wasn’t responding to the controls, and it began to fall out of the sky. She looked back at Applejack, who met her gaze and nodded slowly, and then braced herself as best she could. For a few sickening seconds, the machine was completely out of control, heading for the solid ground. Then Dash managed to force the F.E into a fairly level position. The plane thundered down towards an empty stretch of land, close to a huge forest. Dash switched off the ignition, and braced herself for the impact. There was a splintering, rendering crash as the plane collided with the ground. It flipped over onto its back, and the top wing shattered into pieces. The aircraft slid to stop. With her vision fading to black, Rainbow Dash was dimly aware of being dragged out and away from the wreck, before she finally passed out.