HandyFlash stared at the sun that was about to set on the horizon. The thought of Dimitri and Razor Whisk working together made him even more frustrated. Both of them wanted Equestria to fall into nothing but a ruin of glass. He had no choice but to believe Kira that Dimitri was one of the responsible ones for almost all this. There was just so much evidence of his betrayal. He looked at the horizon and saw some overcast clouds were heading to Maneila. He could smell the rain all the way from here to there. Seems like a matching weather for his mood. He touched his healed wound on his jaw where he got it from Saddle-Arabia and walked back to the landed AAC-113. What he was nervous about when he was walking back was how he is going to explain about Dimitri shooting down his own squadron.

He felt one small fresh raindrop from the clouds and walked towards the AAC-133 to meet up with Neon Nimbus and everyone else. He looked around the city of Maneila in the distance and saw that the citizens were all heading inside their homes. Downtown, the shanty towns, the noble areas, everything. He's guessing that the wether is going to be heavy rain because of the clouds coming. Not only it effects the islands they're in. It also effects near by countries. Mount Griffon gets high winds, The Union of Changnia gets some hail, and the dangerous one is the Draconian Tail Island; Where a blizzard happens. It happens once a year, but HandyFlash knows it starts today.

He reached the AAC-113 that was landed on the ground and went inside using his hoof by an identification scanner. The temperature lowered down by around six degrees; which was seventy four degrees inside. Since the Fillyppine islands were tropical and humid, the air conditioner was on blowing on low. He saw his friends on the glass walls looking outside of the runway. They were all thinking about Kira, hoping she will recover soon. The doctors said she needs to remain in the hospital for a few weeks because of the damage on her. By Dimitri.

HandyFlash couldn't hold in the words for much longer. He had to tell them about Dimitri and what he did to his squadron. He walked to all of them and said 'Hello' to get their attention.

Princess Luna bowed her head. "Good to see you again Colonel." She looked up. "How fair is your day?"

HandyFlash gave a fake smile. "Well balanced and well. Thank you."

Pinkie Pie stared at him suspiciously. She could tell the smile on his face was fake. Because…Lets just say she's just Pinkie Pie. "That smile doesn't seem right." She commented. "Are you okay?" She asked.

HandyFlash's wingmare, Rainbow Dash, raised her eyebrow in confusion. "Lieutenant Kira called you in there. What did she say to you?" She asked.

"Oh nothing." Was all he answered.

Applejack frowned. "Now HandyFlash. Ah know when you're telling the truth or not. Just might as well tell all of us what's going on." She said.

Princess Luna, Neon Nimbus, Twilight and her friends along with his whole squadron stared at him; waiting for an explanation. HandyFlash knew he was trapped and couldn't make a random excuse or change the subject. He stared at the room Kira was in then looked at the group.

"Kira told me how she got shot down." He said.

Thunderlane gave him a simple look. "Well yeah. Either a missile or gunfire."

"No. I mean…" he sighed. "Vampir 1 shot her and the rest of Raptor Squadron."

Neon Nimbus frowned. "No wonder I saw anger in you when you went outside."

HandyFlash looked at his squadron. "You all remember the code on Vampir 1's plane?"

"4913920189." His eight squad members said at the same time clearly.

"Do you see the trick of those numbers?"

Thunderlane shrugged. "If this is about math, then I wouldn't know."

"You always don't know math." Blossomforth commented.

"I always don't know why you talk back to me." Thunderlane rolled his eyes.

HandyFlash nodded. "Here's what I found out. 4913920189. D is the 4th letter of the alphabet, I is the 9th, M is the 13th, I is the 9th again, T is the 20th, R is the 18th, and finally again, I is the 9th." He gave the answer. "Can you all guess what that stands for?" They all stood there thinking until they got the answer. What HandyFlash said was showing Dimitri. By that code on Vampir 1's aircraft and he said he shot down Raptor Squadron, Dimitri was responsible for all that's happened.

Neon Nimbus looked down and frowned by the incident when Dimitri was at the E.R.A.F graduation. He wanted to pick one of the best pilots, so he can eliminate them first. Twilight looked at her and patted her back with her hoof.

HandyFlash walked outside as the other followed him. He ignored every question they asked. Too much was just in his mind to think more straight. It was now raining showers as thunder was heard from far away from Maneila.

"How would we tell if it was Dimitri anyway?" Dumbbell asked. His answer was now right above them.

They all looked us and saw an AI plane that looked like one of the bombers carrying a huge package hanging down securely. Also, it was refueling two planes with separate wires. One had a black and grey paint scheme and the other one had a white and red tiger paint scheme. The two aircraft belonged to Razor Whisk and Vampir 1…aka Dimitri. As everyone looked at them pass by, they noticed another group behind them that were escorting the bomber with the package. They weren't drones at all. They had the emblems of Vampir, Shadow, and Rogue Squadron on their wings and flaps.

HandyFlash glared at all of the aircrafts that passed by them without attacking. He walked coldly away as everyone noticed him.

"Colonel? Where do you think you're going?!" Neon Nimbus questioned him.

"Where do you think? After all of them." HandyFlash said in a cold voice.

Rainbow Dash looked at him like he was crazy. "What? You can't go after them by yourself!"

"I don't care about what I'm doing if it risks my life. I can't let them go away." HandyFlash continued walking away to the AAC-113 flight deck.

Fluttershy ran to him and stopped him in his tracks. "Take us with you. You can't act on this alone." She suggested.

HandyFlash shook his head. "No. Not this time. I can't afford to lose my squadron against that traitor and the wretched one."

Fluttershy glared at him in frustration. "I am not going to lose one of my friends!" She yelled as thunder echoed in the area. "Without you, Arion Squadron would be worthless. We need someone who knows what he's doing. If you're going after them, you won't do it alone. I insist you don't go by yourself." She said.

Thunderlane walked up next to her. "Flash? I'm gonna have to agree with her." He said. "You led us through our flight services and battles ever since we were pilots in training. Baltimare, Fillydelphia, Vanhoover, Saddle-Arabia, and now Maneila. Trust us. We're ready." He added. HandyFlash looked down.

Next, Blossomforth went up. "Please just let us go with you. The Wing Feathers of Celestia and Luna shows great team work. Like what a pegasi's wings. The feathers never leave." She said while she spread her wings and flapped them.

HandyFlash looked down and shivered by the tough choices and the cold air rushing by the rain clouds. A raindrop hit his wings and caused them to spread. He looked up and sighed. "Okay." He accepted. "Bit if I lose the eight of you, I'll never forgive myself."

Neon Nimbus looked at her watch and showed a map of the globe. She was tracking the group that was with Razor Whisk and Dimitri thanks to the code they saved and used on Dimitri's plane as Vampir 1. She noticed that the group was about to pass by the most dangerous territory in this kind of weather. The Draconian Tail Island. Since Maneila is having a thunderstorm, the Draconian Tail was said to be having a blizzard. The clouds on her map says it all. She looked at Arion Squadron and saw they were ready for chasing down the group with Razor Whisk.

Neon Nimbus bit her lip and sighed. "I'm approving the mission. But the way you're going will possibly risk your lives in danger." She said. "Is that understood?"

"Understood General." HandyFlash nodded. He looked at his squad and nodded. "Get ready your planes. We're off now." Before he could walk off, he was stopped by Neon Nimbus. He turned his head and saw her smile.

"It's really brave of you to just go after a high value target in one of the most dangerous weather conditions ever." She said. "Are you sure you want to do this?" She nervously asked.

HandyFlash nodded. "Yes."

Neon Nimbus nodded slightly and kissed his cheek lightly. "Good luck." HandyFlash blushed with his eyes widened. Not only he was surprised, but since that happened in front of everyone, they all stared but shook their way out to stay focused.

HandyFlash looked at his squadron and nodded. Showing that he's all set to go. Twilight and the rest offered them good luck and hoping them to stay safe. Since Razor Whisk's group is heading to the Draconian Tail Island for a shortcut to Equestria, it's going to be fatal to the loser on whoever gets shot down near that island. A brutal blizzard happens there once a year. The flight deck crew saluted and got to work on their aircraft as soon as possible. HandyFlash looked at the sky and saw two more of Razor Whisk's flights go through without fighting the AAC-113. By that cargo he saw, it was probably important for something in his plan for the Sunspot Weapon.

Neon Nimbus radioed all E.R.A.F units to stay in Maneila until it is safe to fly, or at least when Arion Squadron deals with the rogue group. She looked at Arion squadron as they got inside their jet aircraft one by one. She didn't want to lose them like Raptor Squadron was attacked leaving only Kira a true member. She saw them readying everything on their planes. Fluttershy was noticed to be breathing in and out calmly to not get the pressure. She was about to face a group of possible high skilled pilots working for Razor Whisk. Thunderlane looked at Blossomforth and stared at her. If she gets shot down, he would never forgive himself for not protecting her. Blossomforth looked back at him and smiled lightly. He nodded back as well and turned on his visor and HUD for takeoff.

-(A few miles away from the Draconian Tail Island.)-

Arion flight was now dashing through the clouds as rain was splashing through their glass lid. The wind speed was getting even more risky, so they ascended above the clouds getting a beautiful sight of a sunset. At e same time, they all commented at the same time in the same words 'Pretty Sunset'. Neon Nimbus stayed back at Maneila in the AAC-113 to give them intel in communication. She saw that the flight was heading towards the Draconian Tail territory. As they got closer, they noticed on their visors that a meter was tracking the temperature outside. It began to get even lower.

"Arion flight. This is Neon Nimbus. You're now approaching the Draconian Tail. Be careful." She said as she kept an eye on the radar of them.

Derpy looked down at the sea and saw some small parts of the island and wondered. "Is there civilization in the Islands?" She asked.

HandyFlash responded. "Yeah. But when it comes to weather conditions like this, they use a shield to cover up the cities just like what Shining Armor did at Canterlot."

Cloudchaser and Flitter were the ones staring off in front of them and saw one drone go past them without engaging. Flitter looked at her radar and saw that numerous amounts of dots were showing up about ten miles away from them. This was possibly the group they were after, so they contacted Neon Nimbus.

"General? We got them." Flitter said.

Neon Nimbus calmed herself down and responded. "Roger. I'll keep you updated in battle. Be careful."

They saw the group on scope and noticed a flight that turned around heading towards them. About eleven of them were going after them without stopping. The aircrafts that were getting closer on scope was Variable-sweep wing type jets with one pilot inside the cockpit. The emblems on them was a Vulture biting a golden arrow with thunderbolts as it's feathers. This did not look good. They don't recognize the flight as well.

"Vautour 1 to all aircraft." A male voice said with a Fancy (French) accent. "Our orders are to keep any hostile aircraft away from the escort. Shoot them down and let them lose their lives in the blizzard." He added.

A female voice was heard. "Vautour 4 copies."

"Possible reinforcements coming as well. Be ready. Vautour 1 out." Vautour 1 warned.

Back with Arion Flight, they noticed a missile alert. HandyFlash alerted them to do evasive maneuvers as they all successfully evaded the missiles. They all looked forward where the missiles came from and saw the hostile flight was approaching in afterburners.

"We got company Arions." Rainbow Dash said.

"Vautour 7 to Vautour 1. Targets are confirmed on radar. Guess who they are." Vautour 7 gave a hint about their 'Targets'.

Vautour 1 raised his eyebrow and smirked. "Well. This is the Wing Feathers of Celestia and Luna, droit?" He chuckled. "Let us see if you all can keep that title." He ordered his squadron to fire more missiles as Arion Flight dropped flares and fired their cannon rounds, resulting only minor damage to most of the Vautour flight.

Thunderlane glared at the enemy flight. "Don't get your hooves frozen on the stick."

Vautour 1 chuckled. "Oh? What if I'm not a pony? I'm a Griffon. Just like my entire squadron."

Rainbow Dash looked at him looking for his target. "And what are you here for?" She questioned.

"I'm an old friend of Razor Whisk just like Dimitri. Plus me and my Vautours are mercenaries from Mount Griffon." He explained as he chased down one of Arion flight.

"Huh. Wonder how Gilda would feel." Rainbow Dash chased one of the pilots.

Rainbow Dash picked her target as rain and snow was splashing on her lid. She finally picked one and chased down one. The one she was after was flying in unpredictable patterns which made it very tricky to aim her sights in. She growled in frustration and decided to fire a missile, but flares were dropped by her target. Next she immediately switched to her cannon and fired in burst.

"Vautour 4 to Vautour 7. Requesting support."

"7 here. No problem."

Rainbow Dash saw another one of the hostiles on her tail as he followed closer. "Shoot. I gotta do this quickly." She said to herself. She focused mainly on the one she was chasing and switched to her missiles. She got tone and fired a close range heat seeker. The missile confirmed a hit on her target as it was loose in balance because of the flaps were damaged.

"This is Vautour 4. I'm hit. I'm hit."

"Withdraw from combat. I'll take care of this jument." Vautour 7 said.

"Copy that." Vautour 4 used her breaks to make Rainbow Dash lose sight of her. She headed to the group that has Razor Whisk, Dimitri and the unknown package. Rainbow Dash couldn't risk it. She could see that multiple squadrons of Razor Whisk was with him protecting the package.

Fluttershy saw Rainbow Dash was being chased by one of the fighters. She inhaled deeply and turned her aircraft to assist her friend. She kept her HUD aiming directly on her target and got tone to tell her to fire missiles. She was about to fire two at the same time, but fired one just in case. Her target dropped flares in time, but it was the right moment to fire one more missile just to clip him down.

"Arion 3. Fox 2." Fluttershy said and fired her other missile from her holo pod. Her missile shook her target and confirmed heavy damage that her target's jet was disabled.

"This is Vautour 7. I'm hit." He said as he saw Fluttershy's plane behind him. She fired her cannon rounds to damage the plane even more. "I'm going out!" He said and ejected out of the plane as it exploded.

Rainbow Dash looked behind her and saw Fluttershy instead of Vautour 7. She smiled. "Thanks Fluttershy."

"Anything to help my friend." Fluttershy smiled back.

"This is Arion 7. Arion 5 is in trouble." Dumbell called. "I can't assist her right now. Someone help her out."

Thunderlane volunteered and followed the Vautour member who was pursuing his girlfrie-…I mean, Blossomforth. She was barrel rolling every time a missile was going after her. But Thunderlane better help her before her luck runs out. He switched to his missiles and fired one, but was cut off by flares. In the corner of his eyes, he looked on his left and saw another jet heading towards him.

"I don't think so Glowing Feather." Vautour 1 smirked and fired a missile so close to Thunderlane, that it was too late to drop flares.

Thunderlane looked at his HUD and saw hull integrity is now around 85%. Another missile alert was heard. His visor sensed the missile was coming from his port right side. Cloudchaser, Flitter, and Derpy were unable to help because they were chasing down a few of the Vautour members.

"Hang on." Rainbow Dash came from the same direction where Vautour 1 last came from. She was now head on with Vautour 1. She fired her cannon rounds straight at him. While Thunderlane was taking care of Blossomforth's chaser, Rainbow Dash engaged Vautour 1.

"Guns guns." She said and fired her cannon round in fully automatic. The rounds impacted through Vautour 1's plane. It hit the gas canister and resulted an explosion on his left engine. When she was about to pass by his aircraft, she flipped upside while firing her guns. Her rounds hit the tail of the aircraft to the cockpit.

"This is not over…" Vautour 1 said. "You still have to…take down my…Qualifiés amis." Was his words before he was heard from static.

Dimitri with the group looked back and saw that Rainbow Dash shot down Vautour leader. He glared and looked at Razor Whisk's plane.

"Sir. Vautour Leader is down." Dimitri told him.

"Acknowledge Vampir 1. Let them get closer. My plane has a shield capability to cover myself and the package. They will have to take more than one move to take it down." Razor Whisk said.

"Roger."

As the rest of Vautour squadron was heading back to the group, Arion Squadron followed them. Not only after Vautour Flight, but the entire group with Razor Whisk. HandyFlash was in front of his squadron and gave a hatred glare at Razor Whisk's plane.

Razor Whisk laughed. "I bet you're wondering where are we going."

"Actually, I'm wondering why my hoof is not down your mouth at this point." Thunderlane talked back to offend Razor Whisk; which actually worked.

"You little…Vampir, Shoot them down!" Razor Whisk ordered.

"It would be my pleasure." Dimitri smirked. "Homunculus Flight, send some fighters to take care of Arions 2-9. I'll take care of this one." Dimitri chased down HandyFlash.

"This is Homunculus 1. Roger."

"I thought you were on our side Colonel." HandyFlash said while doing evasive maneuvers.

"And I thought Lieutenant Kira told you why I did it." Dimitri said. "Remember? Razor Whisk is my friend, and I never betray my comrade? It's just like what your friend Twilight Sparkle follows to all of you." He added.

"She has a heart unlike you." HandyFlash banked in 90 degree tilt and drifted which slowed him down and Dimitri went forward.

Dimitri banked his aircraft in a 90 degree angle and flipped back pointing his aircraft head on of HandyFlash. "Why even bother going after me Colonel. The real one should be Razor Whisk." Dimitri fired his cannon rounds and hit HandyFlash's aircraft.

HandyFlash felt a quick sharp impact on the base of his foreleg and one on his torso. As he saw Dimitri pass by his plane, he looked down and saw a glowing blue scar like he got from Saddle-Arabia on his chin. He was shot two times and it didn't look good. He gritted his teeth in frustration and pain and mainly focused on his ace dogfight against Dimitri.

"You feeling okay Gavin?" Dimitri said his middle name. "Seems like my cannon rounds hit you where it hurts."

HandyFlash chuckled. "Work on your aiming then." He said and break right to have a sight on him.

Neon Nimbus was heard on the radio and changed the plans. "Arion flight. Disengage Razor Whisk's group. They're approaching the strong areas of the blizzard."

"All thanks to my shields to protect my group." Razor Whisk smirked.

"Get off the comm." She said in annoyance.

HandyFlash had no choice but to accept that. Their aircraft was not capable much for extremely violent weather. "Understood."

"After I deal with you!" Dimitri said and dashed towards HandyFlash. Big mistake.

HandyFlash used his breaks and a cobra stand to slow down his aircraft immediately. He leveled his aircraft and was now on his tail. "Why did you join the Equestrian Royal Air Force anyway?" He asked.

Dimitri laughed. "I was ordered to spy on the unit. Now thanks for falling for it, I got some plans for Razor Whisk to see."

HandyFlash gritted his teeth. "And why Daniel, Kira, and Kelly?"

"They were skilled pilots than I thought. I wanted to take care of the skilled pilots first."

What he said made HandyFlash more angry. "Nevermind you!"

Dimitri barrel rolled and did a cobra maneuver, but did it too early. HandyFlash slowed down his aircraft and fired his cannon rounds while Dimitri's plane's nose was up, making him an easy target. Dimitri leveled and looked at his aircraft. Multiple holes were caused by his rounds.

"What was I thinking?" Dimitri growled in frustration.

HandyFlash passed by his aircraft and now was being chased by Dimitri. He did a Split S maneuver as Dimitri followed. Like what he did to Razor Whisk last time, he pointed his nose backwards immediately after finishing the Split S and fired his cannons which hit him even more. This caused Dimitri to pass by him with heavy damage. HandyFlash continued to chase him, but he felt turbulence coming from his right side. It distracted him, but the wind made Dimitri able to drift faster by breaking left. It happened so fast that HandyFlash didn't react.

"Buck." HandyFlash looked behind him as Dimitri fired cannon rounds behind him. "Damn it." He cursed.

HandyFlash twisted his plane upside down and pulled up to lower down to the clouds. When they reached below the clouds, the saw the Draconian Tail's main island covered in snow as strong winds and snow was blinding the place a bit. He saw some places were shielded by unicorn magic to cover up the cities in the island from the blizzard. He headed towards the mountains and to a canyon to go past through the hard way to see if he can lose Dimitri. He turned and turned not to make sure to hit the canyon walls as Dimitri was still on his back. HandyFlash fried a 'Maddog' missile as it hit some rocks on the canyon. The rocks fell on Dimitri's position, but only damaged his plane instead of getting pinned down. HandyFlash pulled out of the canyon and turned to two mountains and flew between them which they passed by one of the cities.

"I'm waiting for your next move, Colonel." Dimitri said while still on his tail.

"Fire away coward!" HandyFlash yelled.

Dimitri smirked and did so. He fired a missile as it was heading to HandyFlash's plane. But something happened. The missile exploded when it didn't even touch his plane. HandyFlash chuckled lightly.

"Like my trophy system? Made it myself." HandyFlash said.

Dimitri glared. "Right. You're an inventor. I forgot."

"You think you're going to get away from this? It's not happening when I'm around!" HandyFlash said furiously.

Dimitri laughed. "Like a weakling like you can beat me in the fight. That's all what you are! Weak, Spineless, and a stupid little novice!"

"Thanks for your compliments." HandyFlash said sarcastically and pulled up and hit the breaks to make Dimitri lose him. HandyFlash was keeping his eye completely on him. "You're reward is this!" He yelled and fired his guns on Dimitri's plane on the flaps.

Dimitri growled and broke left, but HandyFlash was still behind his tail firing his cannons rounds. Then he felt a violent vibration by a missile striking his tail. As he tried to keep breaking left, it was no use. HandyFlash's missile and cannon rounds destroyed one of the flaps on his aircraft; which caused it to have trouble balancing in the air. The blizzard's winds were damaging his plane as well

Dimitri smirked. "Even if I get shot down and lose, you still lost since Razor Whisk got away by my little invention." He said.

"I wasn't after him." HandyFlash said. When Dimitri's plane pointed its nose up to show the cockpit, HandyFlash aimed and got tone. "I was after you!" He fired a missile straight at the cockpit and exploded the whole front to the plane. HandyFlash got out of the way to not collide his aircraft. He looked back and saw Dimitri's plane fall straight down the clouds of the blizzard and hit one of the Draconian Tail mountains with a huge explosion of fire and caused a minor avalanche. The nearby trees caught on fire because of the dripping jet fuel and fire.

HandyFlash leveled his aircraft then put in on auto pilot and sighed. He looked at his hooves and saw they were shaking in fear and anger from before. He turned off his HMD visor and looked at the place were Dimitri crashed. Smoke, Fire, Shredded metal was now corrupting the blizzard's snow white surface. He lied back and breathed in and out calmly. He felt empty. Just empty. He was interrupted during silence when a radio transmission was heard on his headphones.

"Colonel? This is Arion 2." Rainbow Dash called. "I lost contact with Dimitri. Did he get away?" She asked.

HandyFlash looked at his right and saw all his squad members jets regrouping by his plane. "Look at your 5 o'clock." He said.

All of them looked at the direction he said and saw Dimitri's crash site as smoke was rising up. Rainbow Dash looked at HandyFlash's aircraft and saw that it was damaged by a brutal dogfight against Vampir 1, Dimitri. HandyFlash saw that all his squad mates aircrafts were minority damaged. He chuckled on how much they can fight off against heavy resistance by Razor Whisk.

HandyFlash grunted by the pain of the rounds that hit him. The blue scars were still there and causing more pain. "General, I need medical assistance when I get back." HandyFlash said.

Neon Nimbus gasped. "What's the injury?" She asked

"Two rounds from Dimitri's cannons hit me." He answered. All his squadron stared at him in shock.

"Okay. I'll work on it right now on the AAC-113." Neon Nimbus nodded and hung up.

Fluttershy contacted HandyFlash. "Colonel? Are you still able to fly?"

"Yeah. Don't worry. I'll be fine." HandyFlash said.

Away from Arion Flight's position, Razor Whisk and the rest of his group was continuing to escort the package. The remaining members of Vautour squadron followed him in and protected him and the package. They soon exited the Draconian Tail zone and saw partial clear skies.

Razor Whisk looked at the radar and saw that Dimitri was off the radar. He sighed and turned off his radar. "They underestimated you." He showed no emotion and looked back at the blizzard clouds. "Rest in Peace comrade."

Vautour 4 looked back as well because of her leader's lose in the blizzard. He was shot down by Rainbow Dash with her cannons hitting his plane's engines to the cockpit. She sighed and calmly held the stick with her paws and slowed down next to Razor Whisk's plane.

"What's the plan now sir?" She asked.

"Don't worry Jacqueline. I still can do this without Dimitri." Razor Whisk smiled to hide his rage for the lost of his friend ever since he was just a mercenary and himself was a scientist. "Follow me in."

"Right behind you. Where are we going?" Jacqueline asked.

"The Kingdom of Marey. Constantincoltle." He answered.

Next Chapter: The Lunar Blues Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 4 Minutes