Chapter 59

12-9-14, 10:26 P.M.

For what seemed like an eternity confined to a split second, everything flashed white as Jeremy’s vision went blank. As the rods and cones in his eyes slowly began recovering, he became vaguely aware of someone screaming, and was secretly relieved it wasn’t him.

“Christ, John, shut up! The bomb bounced,” another soldier yelled into the headset.

‘John’ promptly stopped screaming and looked around, giving a relieved sigh and a slump of the shoulders before turning to Celestia. “Uh… Thanks.” Celestia merely smiled and nodded, looking exhausted.

As they looked up to check if the sky was clear, Celestia took Jeremy aside and whispered, presumably disabling the microphone.

“I can’t hold off too many of those – we need to take those planes out while we still can,” she told him. Jeremy solemnly nodded.

“They’re too fast to take out with the rocket launcher – do we have anything else?” he asked curiously.

Celestia thought for a while, then shook her head. Jeremy grimaced – it looked like they were in need of a miracle. Luna, who had evidently been listening in, gave him an apologetic frown, which Jeremy took to mean that even her assistance would not be enough. This made unpleasant sense to Jeremy – after all, she’d dropped once already. He frowned in thought, trying to discern some magical method of downing a bomber plane.

“Should we tell the others?” Jeremy asked, to give himself time to think.

Celestia appeared uncomfortable. “…Yes, I suppose so,” she finally answered, looking over at the rest with a hint of dismay.

Jeremy approached the rest of the group, who were still watching the sky.

“We need to move,” he began. They turned to face him expectantly. “Celestia and Luna can’t hold these off forever, even with their magic. Either we find a way to take these bombers down, or we’re doomed."

Ethan stared at him for a moment, before slumping against a tree, rifle held loosely in hand as he stared up at the sky. “Don’t mind me, just gonna wait for the inevitable,” he muttered in response to the questioning looks sent his way.

“Oh come on, we’ll pull through this,” Jeremy cajoled, attempting to motivate Ethan back into a fighting mood.

Ethan looked at him furiously. “Celestia and Luna can’t do this. What makes you think we can?” Jeremy winced – the point hit home.

“Would you rather just give up?” he countered. “We have to keep fighting, as long as we’re still alive.”

Ethan grumbled, clearly wanting to protest, but after a moment got to his feet. “I still say we’re doomed,” he groaned.

“Keep saying it, you’ll invoke Murphy’s Law and then everything will be golden,” Jeremy retorted. He won a chuckle out of Ethan, and they continued watching the skies while moving under the shadows of the treetops.

A few minutes later, they heard the drone of the plane as it swooped around once more, and took cover under the trees. Just a second after Mary had joined them in hiding, a bomb hit the ground just a few feet over, and everyone stumbled back from the force of the blast. Thankfully, no one was hurt severely, although two of the soldiers now sported jagged cuts from shrapnel.

“Where did they even get bombs and bomber planes, anyway?” Jeremy asked irritably. As if on cue, two more planes appeared. Then four. Then eight. The very sky was thick with them, and the deafening roar of their engines was intolerable.

“Well? It’s been fun, guys,” Ethan remarked, sounding oddly calm.

“I uh… yeah…” Jeremy responded, still fixated on the incoming battalion.

So this was it, huh? They were all going to die – carpet-bombed until there was nothing even in their former vicinity for a square mile. And with Equestria’s two main princesses gone, that country would plunge into chaos as well. As he viewed his impending demise, Jeremy’s last thought was of his now-destroyed future. He had been planning to have kids. Settle down, raise an immortal family. Maybe even grandkids. His eyes began to water as he considered all that he would lose in the next few seconds, and without him realizing it, he slipped his hand into Luna’s. She looked at him with utmost sympathy, and the rest cast their eyes to the floor. Jeremy closed his own eyes, not wanting to see his friends die around him, and waited.

And waited some more.

…Was that gunfire?

Jeremy opened his eyes.

To his surprise, the bomber planes were not only not bombing them to death, they were exploding themselves. The gunfire he had been hearing earlier was coming from what at first appeared to be a rival group of planes – sleek and black, they had been nearly invisible in the moonlight.

“W…what…?” he stuttered as he watched the entire enemy air force get wrecked, the mysterious new planes working with a speed and precision that suggested faster communication and teamwork than should be possible.

“Who the hell are those guys, and why are they pulling a ‘deus ex machina’ for us?” Ethan wondered.

“Who cares? Our asses are saved!” another soldier cheered.

In just a few more seconds, the sky was clear of bomber planes, and the soldiers cheered some more. Luna cracked a joyful smile, and Celestia pulled Jeremy into a hug. He gladly returned it – for the moment, at least, they were out of hot water. As one, and with a mathematical precision that would make the Blue Angels green with envy, the allied planes swooped down to land in the park, and everyone scattered to give them space. Impossibly, they glided straight down onto the ground, something no jet should be able to do. Jeremy decided to examine these newcomers more thoroughly – the design of the jet was as sleek and black as it had appeared from above, and highly streamlined. The outer hull appeared to be a smooth, plastic-like substance – fiberglass, maybe? The make was unlike any he’d ever seen, and although he wasn’t quite sure, it reminded him of…

Just then, the cockpit of the closest jet opened, and everyone tried to get a look at the pilot. As soon as Jeremy caught a glimpse, he grinned from ear to ear.

"Miss me?” the pilot greeted, the sibylline tone to her voice as unmistakable as her teal carapace.

“I don’t… where did you… oh, I don’t even care, that was amazing!” Jeremy gushed in response.

Queen Chrysalis gave him a confident grin, fangs jutting out in satisfaction. “I thought you’d be okay with it, but I wasn’t sure. Air Force, dismount!” she called out, and in unison, every other cockpit opened to reveal the changeling pilots inside. To Jeremy’s shock, he saw changelings of every color, and even their queens among the jet pilots.

“You were right, Chrysalis, that was fun,” Myocia commented, her purple shell sparkling in the moonlight. The dark blue one, which Jeremy thought was Queen Ambysto, laughed in response.

“We’ve been developing this in secret ever since we heard about another attack – you can thank Queen Icthyos for most of the plane parts, they were apparently made from shipwrecks,” Chrysalis explained. Jeremy laughed, and sent a grateful glance in said queen’s direction. Ethan, meanwhile, was examining the planes.

“Hey… isn’t this the design I sent you, ages ago?” he asked incredulously. Chrysalis nodded, although her smile was somewhat forced – Jeremy suspected the memory was less than pleasant, in more ways than one.

“Yes… it is.” Jeremy noticed with alarm that the mood had very quickly shifted among the queens at being reminded of Ethan’s history.

“That reminds me… We never paid you back for your original disrespect,” Myocia hissed menacingly as she stepped closer to Ethan, hackles raised.

“Myocia!” Chrysalis sharply admonished.

The purple queen looked over in surprise. “What?”

With that, an unspoken conversation passed between the two, before Chrysalis looked away, disgust present on her features. “…Fine. If you must,” Chrysalis muttered.

Jeremy took a step forward. “Chrysalis!” he alarmedly exclaimed – surely she wouldn’t allow Myocia to kill Ethan, not when he had come so far?

To his surprise, Chrysalis held out a hoof, physically stopping him from reaching the two. “Just wait,” she whispered.

Jeremy gave her an incredibly confused look, before glancing back at Myocia, who had tackled Ethan to the ground, and was lowering her fangs towards his helpless neck. He quickly did a double take – Myocia was kissing Ethan now, lips passionately locked in his. Ethan glanced at Jeremy, and he could swear the look in the other’s eyes meant Oh please God help me I’m terrified. Unsure of what to do, Jeremy could only give a helpless shrug in his direction.

Finally, Myocia got off Ethan, and allowed him to return to his feet, glancing up at him with satisfaction. “Mmm, finally a soldier to my liking,” she remarked, even going so far as to lick her lips.

Ethan stared at her. “Uh… what just happened?”

Myocia laughed. “Did you think we’d be angry with you for disrespecting our High Queen? It’s what we do all the time, as much as possible. And to nearly defeat her, two alicorns, and the Savior in battle… now there is a male worthy of attention! And once I heard you were single…” she finished, still grinning.

Ethan audibly gulped. “Uh… let’s at least go on a date first, 'kay?” he asked.

Myocia beamed. “Deal. I know some great train wrecks we scavenge parts from often.”

Jeremy, who had been watching this exchange with a mixture of trepidation and admiration, turned back to Chrysalis. “So, now what?” he asked.

Chrysalis’ smile quickly turned to a grimace. “As it turns out, that wasn’t all the planes around here – we saw a bunch more on the way over, and it looked like they were gearing up to join these ones. So… hop in?” She motioned to a space behind her cockpit, which had been cleared out and was just barely large enough for him to sit inside.

“Works for me. Everyone take a jet, we’ll be safer than on the ground,” Jeremy called out to the rest, and the soldiers hesitantly climbed into the changeling fighter jets.

As they made their way in, Jeremy heard one mumbling, “I am climbing into a fighter jet built by an alien insect from a TV show, to fight terrorists. This is totally normal military experience.” Jeremy repressed a chuckle. Celestia waved at him as she climbed into her own jet.

Finally, Chrysalis flew back into her own jet, and closed the hatch. “Off we go, into the wild blue yonder?” Jeremy joked as she began flipping switches.

Chrysalis softly laughed. “Flying high, into the sun… Or moon, as it were,” she returned.

“You know, I… really thought I was going to die back there…” he muttered shamefacedly.

Chrysalis looked at him sharply. “I’d never let you die that easily,” she replied, and Jeremy remembered the last time she’d said something like that. He’d been returning from the Crystal Empire, just before the wedding… It seemed like a dream.

“So… how many more of them do you think there are?” he asked, trying to stay focused.

Chrysalis shrugged. “We saw about fifty more planes. As for ground forces… No idea. Sorry.”

Jeremy gave a resigned sigh. “It’s fine. Plus, we have an air force. They might’ve stood a chance before, but now? They’re done,” he joked optimistically.

“What a turnaround from a few minutes ago,” Celestia remarked into his radio, and he jumped as he realized that it was still on – everyone in the group had probably heard his confession. Dammit.

“Yeah, real funny,” he huffed. “Is there a way to get these planes synced up to the radio, just so the changelings can join in on the fun?” Celestia mused for a moment, and the faint sound of her casting a spell was heard over his suit radio.

“How’s this?” Celestia asked, her voice coming out of the plane’s radio now.

“Perfect, nice work,” Jeremy complimented.

With that, they took off into the night, Jeremy feeling slightly queasy at the sudden shifts of gravity and weather. It wasn’t anything like being in a passenger jet, as there was no cushioning to protect him from the buffeting winds outside the plane. Rather, it was more akin to the time he got to ride Luna in the open sky, except this time he was plenty warm and also holding a shotgun.

“Comfortable?” Chrysalis asked as she expertly adjusted the throttle to keep them steady.

“A little bumpy, but nothing I can’t handle,” Jeremy smiled back.

Queen Chrysalis laughed, motioning towards a second joystick. “Here, you take the guns so I can concentrate on flying.” Jeremy chuckled as he leaned forward to grasp the joystick, thumbing the button on top – he presumed this was to actually fire whatever weapon was installed.

“No heads-up display?” he mock-complained, and Chrysalis rolled her eyes.

12-9-14, 11:01 P.M.

They had been flying for only a few minutes when Dionaea came in over the radio. “That’s them, they’re off to our right and heading for us,” she reported smoothly. Jeremy looked over, and sure enough the stars in that area were being blotted out by a seeming cloud of enemy planes, revealed to be tan-colored by the moonlight.

“I don’t think I’ve ever played a game like this before…” Jeremy muttered, taking aim with the mounted gun.

“First time for everything,” Luna replied, and Chrysalis smirked.

For the next few minutes, all Jeremy could remember was shooting down enemy planes, barely able to distinguish them from their ally counterparts by the different color. Their jet pitched and rolled, presumably Chrysalis’ hoofwork – Jeremy was too far absorbed to pay any attention to what she was doing, and he got the feeling that she too was concentrating too hard to look at what he was doing. The radio was silent, except for the startled grunts and cries of soldiers and changeling queens alike – Chrysalis, to her credit, was completely taciturn compared to the rest.

Jeremy noticed Myocia’s ship was acting a bit crazier than the rest – going into insane dives towards a plane below it, only to shoot through it and pull up at the last second. While Jeremy was a little unnerved by this strategy, it seemed to be working – Myocia’s ship was racking up far more downed planes than any other. He gave a small smile as three enemy planes attacked the other jet, only to find a few seconds later that they had been blown out of the sky.

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