Starbound Ascension: The Next Generation

by BusterBuizel

First published 17th of June, 2015

The long awaited sequel to Skies of Harmony: Starbound. Join the Next Generation Joint Strike Force as they embark in the hoofsteps of their parents to keep peace in the stars above.

BACK IN BUSINESS BABY!

The long awaited sequel to Skies of Harmony: Starbound. Join the Next Generation Joint Strike Force as they embark in the hoofsteps of their parents to keep peace in the stars above.

The story follows a third person narrative revolving around the Next Generation Joint Strike Force: a collection of OC children from the Skies of Harmony: Starbound prequel donned in a military special forces role. The story revolves around the major characters of Jump Jet, Panavia Tornado, Ship McDaniel, as well as their friends and family as they undergo the dangers of United Equus/Equestria's expansion into space. With their special forces team: the NGJSF often in the frontlines to protect Equus's best interests. With the backdrop of a looming interstellar war and a shadowy enemy, coupled with unlikely allies, can our unlikely heroes change the fate of two universes?

It's time for the Next Generation to raise and set forth where their parents left off.

BONUSES:
Read the wiki page here!: http://the-rift-cafe.wikia.com/wiki/Starbound_Ascension:_The_Next_Generation

See the full artwork gallery here!: http://busterbuizel.deviantart.com/gallery/47520430/Starbound

Official OST playlist!: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi6cqxE5uf9KTHsr58kiw4hFgDf2KbjZt

Chapter One: Enemies Within

Starbound Ascension: The Next Generation

Chapter One: Enemies Within

An explosion rocked the far reaches of space as a fierce battle raged on. A massive blue space carrier sat in the crossfire of multiple enemy fighters, bits of hull and metal sliced away with each attack. On the bridge the captain shook in her chair and turned to her staff.

“Mac! Damage report!” the swamp green colored unicorn mare with straight black hair and tail yelled.

“Structural integrity holding stable! Magic Shielding has been broken through but hull damage is superficial! ARGH!” the pink and lavender stallion with a blonde striped mane was thrown to the floor in the resulting explosion, “My glasses!”

“Here! Don't get sloppy on us Mac! Flyboys! Are you gonna do something about those fighters!” the light turquoise earth pony mare tossed Mac Book his glasses. He fluffy teal striped flat yellow mane flowed in the breeze of the air conditioning, a green bow tied on her left ear.

“Working on it Nelly! These UPF guys are giving us hell! Dammit! One's on me!”

“I got you bro! Tornado! Guns guns guns!” the agile swing-wing space fighter snapped onto one of the UPF Cazador fighters. Their UPF enemy simply pulled a quick Split-S to evade the mares fire, “Damn! These Task Force Frostbite guys are as good as they say!”

“Avia! Don't hold back on me now! Thanks for the save little sis!” the cyan-blue pegasus stallion tipped his wings to his sister, who shared the same coat color but with a dark blue and orange mane that contrasted with her brothers bright red hair.

“No prob bro! AHH!” her scream was followed by an explosion that sent her fighter into an incendiary fireball, leaving nothing left but a flaming wreck that disintegrated into ash.

“AVIA! No!” her brother screamed into the intercom of his fighter and slammed a hoof into the side of his cockpit, “Dammit! J-Just dammit!”

“Jet! Cool it! We lost Avia but we still have six of us left against four of them! We can win this!” a stubborn and fiery blue pegasus relayed to his squadron mate. On his chest was a bright and furry orange heart that matched the color of his mane which was also stripped with green. His zealous eyes looked frantically for the enemy fighters only to be struck down with a guided missile right into his tail pipe, destroying his fighter.

“Captain Jet! We've lost Tough Heart and Avia! I suggest we try to retreat to fight another day!” a light blue mare flying a stealth fighter pulled up next to Jump Jet. Her shimmering optical cloak barely visible to her squadron leader.

“NEGATIVE! We stand and fight! If we try to run those Cazadors will run us down. We have to save our home dammit!” Jet looked out at the EMS Sky Buster. The large spacecraft carrier that they all called home, “We're not gonna dishonor my father's legacy by letting these traitors destroy one of the most important ships in Equestria's arsenal! We're not running, the Next Generation Joint Strike Force does not give up.”

“Captain, please be reasonable. We've lost two of our best pilots and your sister. We have to retreat. There is chivalry to run and fight another day rather than to sit here and die,” a handsome maroon male pegasus appeared on Jet's heads up display.

“WE. CAN'T. RUN! Those Cazadors have a built in hyperdrive while our fighters don't! And even if we disengaged in combat we leave my fathers namesake unprotected! Do you hear me Morning Shine?”

“He's right. If we fail the Sky Buster will fall and all our friends in it will die. We have to fight!” a light red unicorn male appeared over all of their screens.

“Thank you Piggle! Now come on! There's no time to grieve! We have to fight!” Jet ambushed one of the attacking Cazadors that strafed at their carriers anti-air guns, “Jump Jet! Fox Two! Fox Two!”

A back facing automated gun shot down both of the missiles launched by Jump Jet as the enemy spaceplane pulled away to start another attack run.

“Shit! That thing's got a hard kill weapons system!” Jet cursed into the microphone.

“Yah snooze ya lose kid!” a snark remark from the enemy pilot replied back to Jet. It was a Spinda Pokemorph with a mop of white hair, “They don't call me Strella for nothing.”

“Arrow! We've got your back. We'll show them what it means to be Task Force Frosbite Two,” the enemy flight leader and Buizel pilot radioed back to his wingman, “Quincy, Alyssa, focus down that F/A-38 and Morgan. Those two are the most annoying of the bunch.”

“Roger Mitch!” A Glaceon pilot pulled away to dive onto Jump Jet's plane, “Die!”

The beam of ice connected onto Jump Jet's fighter and disabled his magic enchanted control surfaces. With those frozen in place it was a quick kill for Quincy as his missiles impacted their target, sending oil and shrapnel into the pitch black of deep space.

“Permafrost, splash one bandit. Tally up another,” with casual glee he chuckled at his kill.

“Marksman! EML fired!” the railgun pods on the enemy fighter tore into Piggle's Morgan in a fiery blue plasma explosion that seeped into the vacuum. The Vulpix girl in the pilot seat smiled, “Scratch one...”

“You called?!” Alyssa's report was interrupted with a stream of 30mm tracers coming from an A-164 Wipeout painted with a deceptively cute cat face, the pilot being a peach pegasus mare with brown and purple mane, “Meow meow bitch! Heheheheee! That was for the commander!”

“Finally, we took one out... Good job Scratch but there is still more!” Morning breathed in a sigh of relief before shutting off his radio, “Jet... You didn't deserve that...”

“Morning! What are you waiting for! We have to keep fighting or we're gonna lose the Sky Buster for good! We can't let the UPF do this to us,” Night Petal radioed to Morning Shine from her stealth fighter.

Morning's face turned into a deeper shade of red as he looked at the mare on his display. He sighed again and collected himself, “You are right. We have to keep fighting. ARGH! NO!”

Morning's fighter was hit by an ice beam from one of the enemy Cazadors. There was another one diving from the top to finish the kill.

“Undertow, Vulpix Two!” one missile shot out of the enemy fighter and streaked to its disabled prey. It was only right before impact that Night Petal flew her cloaked fighter into the path of the missile, sacrificing herself for her friend.

“PETAL!” Morning saw the wreckage of the fighter explode and leak out atmosphere into space. With a final glance he could see the EMS Sky Buster in its final moments as the ship was bombarded with impunity. The once graceful and massive carrier snapped in half and blew away as magazines of bombs and missiles as well as fuel and oxygen exploded all at once to spread fire, jagged metal, and whatever was left of the crew into the harsh cold. Morning stood by as his final friend was chased down by two enemy Cazadors that ripped and tore into the metal and cockpit of the attack fighter. They left nothing but shattered fragments of twisted alloys and organs. This was the end.

“It was a good run my friends...” Morning closed his eyes as the screen on his fighter faded to black as the missiles impacted his lifeless fighter. It was all over.

SIMULATION OVER. TRAINING EXERCISE COMPLETE. FULL CONTROL RESTORED TO SIMULATED CASUALITIES.

“THAT! WAS! HORRIBLE TEAM!” Jet was very displeased as his ass was facing upwards in his seat when we was thrown about in the simulated augmented reality explosion, “Gotta say though, the UPF training augmented reality really got us going. I actually thought my sister died here.”

“No kidding, my heart was racing all that time. It was just so immersive,” Avia righted herself in her cockpit and pulled up to the guys of Task Force Frostbite, “That was a nice fight. Let's do that again some time!”

“One day Frostbite! You hear me! One day! We're gonna kick your flanks into the ground!” Jet chuckled as he waved his fighters butt to Mitch, who flicked a bit of his brown hair out of the way.

“Funny, every time we run through this wargame the Federation always wins. Are we really that good of warrior prodigies my cousin?”

“Probably. You are the son of the current UPF president and my mom was the best sniper in all of the UPF. It's kinda sad that I never got those genes,” the Glaceon shrugged.

“Well you definitely got your sperm donors genes! Hahaha!” Alyssa teased and stuck her tongue out to her friend.

“Shutup Alley,” Quincy rolled his eyes as she flew in formation.

“Well! You know the rules. Losers buy the drinks!” Strella giggled and formed with the rest of Frostbite.

“Fine, Apple Cider's on me. Yo Mac Book! Can you call your mom real quick?” Jet vectored his fighter into landing approach.

“Do I look like a bartender Jet?” Mac rolled his eyes.

“No, but can you ready up the drones to pass a round of booze? I lost the bet so I'll have to pony up. Come on man, it's been a long day.”

“Whatever Jumpy,” with a rapid clip clop of hooves into his keyboard swarms of drones surrounded the fighters landing onto the ship to help maintain the complex spacecraft.

WELCOME BACK PILOTS. I RECOMMEND A RELAXING ACTIVITY TO SETTLE YOUR NERVES.

“I recommend you shut your bitch ass up Susan,” Jet hopped out of his cockpit and greeted the ships AI, “Just get me a margarita and a round of drinks for these guys. On my tab.”

YES SIR CAPTAIN JUMP JET.

“Dumb drones,” Jet surveyed the automated hangar as only two crewponies stood by to guide the aircraft landing on the carrier. He stood by to look at Sugar Rush and Brain Storm as they started to peek into each fighter to gather data and maintain any odd dents from space debris. Swarms of mini repair drones by their sides to diagnose any problems.

Jet continued on followed by his buddies from the mission with Task Force Frostbite a few paces back talking amongst themselves. As they reached the bar a couple more of their friends were playing cards at one of the circular tables; two unicorns and an earth pony. The red unicorn by the name of Prelude waved to Jet as he came in.

“Yo Jump Jet! Simon, Frag, and I are playing cards against equinity. You wanna join in?” Prelude pushed his tinted goggles up underneath his black mane with pink highlights inherited from his parents. Large bullets sat neatly tucked into his chest and arm rigs that denoted him as the team sniper.

“Nah man. Gotta buy drinks for these assholes,” Jet whispered sarcastically to Prelude as he referred to Frostbite. Jet turned his attention to the light blue unicorn pony named Fragarach.

“Oh come on Jet. You're always up for a round of this stupid game. We're playing against a rubber chicken and it's kicking our asses right now. We need you to help beat it,” Frag smiled to his friend. Although he normally wore his power armor Frag was in a casual attire with only a green shirt and lack of pants, a small dogtag necklace swished back and forth as he moved about.

“Uh, dude there's something in your hair,” Jet pointed a hoof to a strange creature that rested inside the flowing grey and white stripped mane of Frag.

“HOLY-FUCK! SHIT!” he threw the alien centipede to the floor and it crawled away unharmed. The tiny creature laughed and hissed back underneath the door to Brain Storm's room, “Dammit! Why does Brainy keep that thing on the ship? That thing is gonna kill us one of these days.”

“You tell me, I didn't get my dad's love of bugs. At least you can talk to it,” Jet eyed the strange pet as it squirmed away. The peach coated earth pony, Simon, was laughing hysterically as he flipped through the cards.

“Okay! Which one of you said: 'Let's write a fan fiction about an army of skeletons fucking Princess Cadance using the chocolate mousse moose as lubricant?'” Simon pounded the table while laughing all the while. Frag and Prelude looked to each other in surprise then to the black and orange highlighted mane of the peach pony.

“That wasn't me!”

“Neither was I!” their gazes looked to the inanimate rubber chicken as they burst into equal fits of laughter and rage.

Simon threw himself back in his chair and was now rolling on the floor, “The damned rubber chicken beat us?!”

“Fuck my life man,” Frag composed himself as he got up, “You wanna play the next round?”

Jet got up to the bar counter as the rest of his friends came into the bar, “No thanks, put it on my tab Susan. Hey! Don't go crazy on the drinks okay? I'm only buying one round for you guys.”

He hopped off the bar stool and sighed.

“I gotta go pay my dad a visit. You guys go ahead and have fun,” Jet walked out of the bar and back to the hangar. Morning Shine looked at him with a bit of concern.

“Captain! Captain Jet! Hmm, is your brother always like this Avia?” Shine glanced over to Jet's sister.

Avia sighed, “Only when things are bothering him. Come on, let's get the ship captain to talk some sense into him.”

-----

Jet flew on through space and looked out into the cosmos. He let out a disappointed sigh as he flipped his fighter over and navigated an asteroid field to reach the planet the JSF was stationed to protect: Alpha Velocia 98 I. He radioed out to the ground controller below.

“Velocia 98 I, this is Captain Jump Jet of the NGJSF, callsign Vertical. Requesting permission to land.”

“Roger that Vertical. Proceed to landing pad 1-1, out.”

“Thanks ground control. Have my MRAP ready, I need to pay a visit again.”

“Roger that captain. Rough day huh?”

“...Yeah...” Jet shut off his radio and leaned back into his seat as the fighter vibrated as it pierced through the atmosphere. He saw the large city of New Ponyville through the overlay of his holographic heads up display as it directed him to land on one of the helipads of the New Ponyville Airbase. His VTOL fighter landed with a distinct wub wub sound that reverberated from the dubstep engines. As the canopy opened he wasted no time and jumped right out. He left his helmet behind on the seat as his straight red mane flowed in the breeze of helicopter rotors and jet blasts.

“Here you are sir! Your MRAP is ready,” one of the Equestrian marines saluted to Jet as he handed him a wheeled transport. Jet sighed again and simply shook the marine's hoof.

“Thanks,” he cleared his mind as he drove to the First Interstellar Cemetery located in downtown New Ponyville. He had made this journey many times before whenever he needed time to think for himself. He parked the car and eyed the many graves adorned with flowers and trinkets left by loved ones to the many heroes that gave their lives to defend Equestria's ventures into space. He was here to meet one dead pony in particular: his father.

He eyed the simple grave in the farthest corner of the graveyard. He eyed the inscription like he did many times before. It read: “A shining beacon of hope for all those who fought alongside him and to those who called him friend. A normal pony like you or I that did so many good things for Equestria and the worlds beyond. He was a friend, soldier, husband, and part of our family among the stars. Decorated and loved by many nations, liberator of lands like Vulcan Sol and Tidas Aurora. Sky Buster was one of the legends of our time.”

“Hi dad. It's me again,” Jet touched the tombstone and left some flowers for his dead father, “I need to talk to you about some things. About this whole JSF thing. I hate to admit it but Task Force Frostbite kicked our asses again in our usual wargames. It's been the fourth time we've fought against them and we still can't win. Dad, what am I doing wrong?”

The silent gravestone sat whistling the breeze.

“I know, I know. I give it all that I got and my team is one of the best, if not THE best in the whole military. But I just don't get it. I've studied your tactics, your history, and all the things you've done to protect Equestria and everything you held dear. Nelly wouldn't be alive today if you hadn't saved her father from those bugs that took your own life. I wanna be like you dad. Tell me, what is it that makes Task Force Frostbite so much more better than us?”

Jet looked at the grave as it gave back a silent answer.

“Hmph, when you put it that way you might be right. It's not that we're any less than them. But you might be right! We are equals, but they have the better technology. I've studied them too and how their tactics revolve around adaptive combat and fighting outnumbered. Guess I inherited some of your target fixation, haha!” Jet chuckled and patted the tombstone, “You always wanted to make sure that guy never gets away. You always were my guardian angel. Thanks a lot dad. I love you too.”

Jet arranged the flowers again as they blew in the wind. His heavy heart lifted as he saw the petals swirl into the heavens guided by his fathers ghost. He smiled and closed his eyes.

“Well, well, well,” Jet jumped as his commanding officer, Ship, stood behind him with Morning Shine and Avia.

“Um! Captain Ship,” he saluted frantically, “Ma'am! May I ask how long you've been standing there?”

“Long enough to hear everything,” she went up to him and patted his shoulder, “At ease soldier. You know, I expected full well that we weren't gonna come out on top in that engagement.”

“And you went on with it anyway?”

“Mhm,” she nodded, “Look around you. The rest of our friends are having fun. It's still technically peace time you know.”

“So Ma'am, why did you proceed with the simulated slaughter fest?”

“Because it was fun,” she gave a firm chuckle, “That, and I think we've finally cracked the secret to why TFF always kicks our flanks.”

“Oh! Do tell,” a smile shot across Jet's face as he went back to his MRAP.

“Later. Brainy has the scoop on what he's been working on to make sure we level the playing field against the UPF. Once we beat them we can pretty much take on anything at that point. The UPF is the most technologically advanced space empire out there.”

“Thanks for the good news captain. I needed that,” Jet now gave a contented sigh and relaxed into his seat at a red light.

“I told you before, I grew up being the big sister to my triplet siblings. Things were always hectic around the house. At the same time it really taught me how to be a good leader and mentor. I carry that same mentality towards all of the crew.”

“Yes ma'am! Thanks for watching all of our backs captain.”

“Of course. Oh dammit! My mom's calling me again,” Ship reached into her pocket and pulled out her smartphone, “Hello? Mom! This isn't the best time. Yes I'm on Alpha Velocia but I'm kinda in the middle of something. Si... No... Mama! Mom! You're doing it again!”

Jet was doing his best at keeping a straight face as his commanding officer continued to talk. He was failing as bits of laughter escaped from his mouth.

“No! Don't put dad on the phone! You're embarrassing me again! Sweet Filly Luna mom, no I don't have time to pick up the donuts from this planet. What's wrong with Donut Joe's anyway back home?! OH! It's too far! Yeah! Mom I'm ten lightyears away from Equestria you know that right? Mom... Mom! MOM! I'm hanging up now okay? Mom, I-Okay. Okay... Okay I love you too. Bye.”

“She wanted donuts?” Jet suppressed all his urge to laugh as they pulled into the airbase.

“Shut. Your. Face. Jump Jet,” Ship and the rest of her crew looked out to their carrier as it landed on the main airstrip. The massive craft took up the whole of the airbase runway with an impressive aura of shock and awe, “Let's just see what Brainy is up to then. Susan!”

YES CAPTAIN?

“Please pilot Jet's aircraft into the hangar. I am boarding the ship and got my hooves tied up,” Ship enlisted the help of Susan, the carriers artificial AI. It stood for Service Utility System And Network and it helped to keep the whole crew of the spacecraft down to only eighteen with vital crew positions filled in by the operatives of the Next Generation Joint Strike Force.

Several minutes later all of the crew of the EMS Sky Buster gathered at the war room to discuss a breakthrough fighting the Federation in mock battles. The universe was at peace for over twenty four years now with the Apex menace gone, but that didn't stop the United Pokemorph Federation from staging all manners of mock augmented reality conflict with all of its allies. Equus ranked as one of the lowest in the wargames circles among the major space empires. Even the Hylotl, an aquatic race known for its pacifism, outranked Equus with its brand new Imperial Hylotl Navy and Army. Next up on the list is the Avali. They were long term allies of the UPF and Equus ever since the war twenty four years ago. In the mock battles they could not hold a candle to the UPF heavy armor in occupying vital locations and their use of adaptive tactics. Not to mention the most advanced Federation weapons created by their mastermind scientist duo of David and Jill Rivers. Keeping up with the Federation was the alternate universe empire of Corneria. Close allies of the UPF for over forty years the two were inseparable ever since the UPF liberated them from a hidden enemy in an unjust war that shook both their nations. The highest rank was usually held by either the Federation or its Cornerian allies, with the Avali sometimes sneaking in a short lived victory. Hostilies between the Avians and Apex prevented them from taking part in the wargames and the humans funneled all of their resources to fixing their Earth homeworld from all the damage done by a titanic octopus alien, terraforming it back to its prime with the help of all the Coalition Nations.

Ship overviewed the situation described with the rest of her crew. All of them knew of these facts but most showed disinterest. Most, except for Jump Jet.

“Ship, we already know of this. As your diplomatic officer and ambassador I know the Federation all too well. We simply cannot beat their state of the art technology and weapons. War is their sport, they've turned it into a bloodless tournament and their soldiers, equipment, cultural upbringing, and all aspects of their lives revolve around armed conflict. They know every trick in the book and react with such speed and adaptiveness that only their closest allies can compete with them. It's a shame that they never export any of their most advanced technology to Equus while all their allies enjoy their shares,” Prince Iron Cross looked down at the situation. He flicked his long blue tail and adjusted his hat. The earth pony rested his head onto his hoof in boredom.

“Please Cross,” a white pegasus stallion halted his train of thought with his gentle and confident tone, “You should know me by now. Brain Storm, the foal super genius and son of the famed Aurora and Byter. And you, being Iron Cross, prince of Equestria and Germaneigh, son of Twilight and AnY. Come on now my best friend. You know I always have a plan for these situations.”

“Brainy is right. You should all take a listen to this,” Ship addressed to all the ponies in the room as the holographic projector activated to a hologram of the UPFs primary fighter: the Type 10 Cazador. Sugar Rush and Mac Book joined him on stage.

“As you can see here the Type 10 Cazador is the fighter used by the whole UPF Navy and Elite Corps. The special modified versions we encountered today were made especially for Task Force Frostbite. Well rounded and extremely deadly, these fighters are the pain in everyponies flanks.”

“As you can see, these fighters have been designed from the ground up to be modular, with every craft tailor made to each pilot. Each part is designed to be easily reworked and replaced with alternate engines, wings, armaments, you name it. I'm sure all of you are finding that dodging those super accurate missiles to be a pain?” Sugar Rush, the yellow coated and bright blue maned pegasus, talked in a flurry. A fast speaker and thinker, he was the mechanic of the EMS Sky Buster.

“Yeah! None of our current countermeasures work against them. I've studied their weapons too. These missiles don't rely on heat or a radar lock on to track targets. It's all electro-optical. The damned things lock onto the mere image and outlines of our planes! Combine that with thrust vectoring and the genius electromagnetic control surfaces and that missile is just as good in atmosphere or out in space. They've also got some fancy ass software that makes it double back around if it doesn't hit you the first time. I'm interested in what you wanna say Brainy. I really hope this plan of yours works,” Jump Jet expressed his concern.

“It's funny you mention that Jet,” Mac Book smiled to his annoying friend, “Brain and I cooked up a theoretical countermeasure to these missiles that might just give us the edge in fighter combat. Go ahead Brain, I just ran the simulations.”

“Thank you. Now as you know our engines are powered by sound and magic to propel our craft equally as well in atmosphere or in space. What I've done was a modification that emits a loud shockwave of sound carried in a magical pocket that will impact the electro-optical missiles and disrupt the major electronics of it. We will also couple this with an EMP pulse to make sure any pursuing missiles never make their mark. Any questions?”

Jet raised his hoof, “Gotta say guys: THAT IS AWESOME! You finally cracked the UPFs trump card.”

“I got a question. My stealth fighter still cannot be easily locked by electro-optical missiles, correct?” Night Petal raised her hoof to Brain Storm.

“Yes, that is true. Optical camouflage was our only defense against those missiles, albeit a very expensive one. Just watch out for the secondary tracking systems of some Federation missiles. Not all of them rely on electro-optical tracking.”

PRIORITY WARNING: NEW MISSION ALERT!

A new hologram replaced the image of the UPF fighter. It was a briefing for a new peacekeeping mission.

“Alright! Looks like the Federation is asking for our help in controlling some armed terrorists within their universe. Looks like we have to jump realms to get to Lylat,” Ship summarized the mission profile, “What you guys say? Should we partake?”

“Oh yeah! Some action would be nice,” Jet put on a zealous smirk as he flicked down his visor.

“I'm up for it,” his sister smiled.

“Meet you guys at the hangar!” Tough Heart was already on his way to his mech.

“Ready to jump Captain!” Mac rapidly prompted some commands into his portable computer and prepared the engines to make the universe jump.

“Joint Strike Force: LAUNCH!” with her order the ship broke past the light barrier and into a warp portal to the Federations home universe.

Chapter Two: Peacekeeping

Starbound Ascension: The Next Generation

Chapter Two: Peacekeeping

Katina, one of the many arid planets of the Lylat system. This was the sight of the first invasion of the Federation twenty five years ago. The flowing sand and large rocks dotted the landscape. Tall, but sparse forests of giant mushrooms were sporadically located around the planet as well. The scene was broken by a pillar of large smoke that erupted from the joint Lylatian and Federation Katina Outpost which had been overrun by an unknown terrorist faction. The ponies of the Next Generation Joint Strike force were in their dropship with Circus Blossom at the pilot seat.

“Alright guys! Thirty seconds to drop! Ship is on the line for the briefing. I'm patching her in!”

“Thank you Blossom. Fillies and gentlecolts we are dealing with an unknown incursion and our UPF allies have asked for help in this operation. The drop zone is hot and you are cleared weapons free. Mac what's up?” Ship flashed on the HUDs of their visors and glanced to the side offscreen.

“I'm detecting more unknown signatures warping in from undisclosed location. Looks like enemy reinforcements. They're just dropships Captain!”

“Okay Mac. Nelly can you send a message to UPF Command to vector in some of their own troops?”

“Solid copy Captain Ship. Say Jet, stay safe out there, okay?” Nelly smiled to Jet as her face displayed on his HUD.

“Course dear. Okay pilots! Did everypony use up their burn cards yet?” Jet looked to his squad.

“I did sir! Got me an amped Spitfire LMG,” Tough Heart brandished his machine gun. On his back was an exported Federation Obsidian portable railgun. All of them were heavily equipped with powered armor, weapons, and two pieces of key mobility enhancing gear. One of which was their pulse jump kits. This allowed them to wall run, double jump, and perform augmented feats of parkour. On the sides of their flanks were miniature 3D maneuver systems. These tiny grappling hooks and their smart latches enable the ponies to attack from all angles even when loaded down with heavy armor. These two sets of equipment made the NGJSF one of the most unique special forces among the major empires.

“You know me Jump Jet! I never leave home without my Dragonfires! Hehehe!” Rush laughed with his mother's glee as he hugged his beloved quadrotor drone. The normally SMG armed flying robot had its gun replaced with a mini rocket launcher.

“My smart pistol can do calculus now,” Avia looked to her miniscule weapon. Her tiny handgun was more than just a simple firearm. An invention of Applebloom, the Mk5 Smart Pistol is a miracle of Equestrian engineering. The supercomputer housed within its tiny frame linked with the homing rounds the pistol fired. The gun doesn't need a manual input to aim from the pilot. All she had to do was get the enemy within the forty five degree firing cone and the weapon will do the rest upon trigger pull.

“I'm saving mine for later. Besides is there anything my Creber can't do?” Prelude had his 14.5mm anti-materiel rifle. He was the best shot in the group during training and was always the first to fire, often kicking things off with a bang.

“Amped up my EVA-8 sir! I'll be good,” Fragarach unlatched his fully automatic shotgun and hovered it near him with his magic.

“Okay! Anypony else?” Jet looked about the dropship. The rest of the team: Simon and Scratch. Shook their heads.

“Alright, here goes mine,” Jet pulled out his own burn card. It was that of an amped B3 Wingman revolver, “Blossom, care to do the honors?”

With a bright flash of light from her horn Blossom ignited the burn card in Jet's hoof. The card was engulfed in flame and burned into embers that floated away. As Jet let go of the flying embers a swirling ball of energy materialized in his open right hoof. The ashes and cinders were replaced with a finely crafted futuristic revolver teleported right on Jet's hoof. He grasped it and smiled.

“Thank you!”

“No prob. Okay pilots this is your stop! Drop! Drop! Drop! Deploy! Deploy!” Blossom signaled to them to drop. They all jumped out together as their jet hooves slowed their impacts at the last moment. Once they hit the ground they stormed the front gate of the occupied Katina Outpost.

“Alright guys! This is a Hardpoint Operation. Patch me into those hardpoints so I can hack into the enemy network. The UPF will provide reinforcements shortly but for now it's just us versus them. I'm having all your titans rearmed now and I'll drop them in when you are ready.”

“Thanks Mac! Squad move up! Fan out and secure the hardpoints!” Jet and his squad jumped the walls and took the less direct routes into the locked down outpost using their hoof thrusters and momentum gained from their running to parkour up, “They're really dug in. Squad on me! Keep moving! Keep alive! Get to cover! That tank hangar over there should be good!”

“Roger Jet!” Avia was putting her smart pistol to good use as the lock on mechanic of her firearm gravitated to the heads of her enemies, “Five downed! Changing mags!”

“You're good sis! I got you covered!” Jet slid into the covered tank hangar and used his wings to sight in with his R101C. Short bursts connected to multiple enemies firing at them from the upper level of the base, “Rush! Can I get some drones here?”

“You got it silly willy! Hehe!” Rush unhooked the two folded Dragonfire drones on his sides and deployed their ducted fan rotors. The two automated quadrotors flew off to support the NGJSF with rocket fire, “Dragonfires are up! Time to party!”

“Good! We can move into position with the drones covering us! Sis, I want you and Frag to flank those machine gunners on the second level of the base! Get creative on your parkour!”

“Will do bro!” Avia winked to her brother.

“Prelude, Scratch! Get up near that spinning sculpture and provide some sniper support for us,” Jet pointed to one far corner of the base outer wall. It was roughly two stories high and provided a good sniping spot that was both level with the main structure of the base and an elevated position of the ground level courtyards.

“On it chief,” Prelude and Scratch grappled out with their 3D maneuver gear supplemented by their thrusters.

“Simon, Rush, Tough! You are on me! We advance once Frag and my sis clear out the-” an enemy Apex soldier dropped down dead to their hooves with a blast of buckshot in his chest.

“Second story is clear sir! Don't mind the dead body!”

Jet chuckled, “Damn fine work buddy! Go go go!”

They hugged the wall and chained their jumps, wallruns, and double jumps to the barracks of the Katina Outpost. The once regal statue of Admiral Fox McCloud fighting off the aparoid menace in the middle of the barracks courtyard was upturned by the terrorists. It dishonored the memory of the once great battle Fox fought here many years ago, before the UPF invaded, and before the discovery of the second universe.

“Heads up team!” Mac Book radioed in. His face displayed at the top right corner of their HUDs, “Enemy dropships are coming in now! They are dropping down pods as well!”

“We can handle it Mac! Prelude! Scratch! What's keeping you?” Jet thruster bucked an enemy Houndour Pokemorph into a wall, instantly killing him.

“In position, let's kick things off!”

The massive explosion at the end of Prelude's rifle propelled a solid tungsten 14.5mm diameter slug into another enemy soldier. This time it was a cat anthro.

“Command be advised, they are of multiple sentient races! Mostly Apex, Human, Avian, Pokemorphs, and Anthros over!”

“Solid copy Prelude, we've received your camera feeds. Looks like they aren't wearing their native armies uniforms either,” Ship looked on at the monitor of her work station. She kept tabs on all of the members with their camera links, “Mac, Nelly, how long until Titans are rearmed?”

“Titans are rearmed and ready! Call it in when you need it guys!” Nelly flashed on their HUDs with a smile and a nod.

“Drop it in Nelly!” Jet smirked as Simon and Frag stood by with him.

“Roger that! Standby for Titanfall!” Nelly punched in a sequence of keys to release the massive drop pods of their battlesuits. Piercing through the atmosphere at supersonic speeds the pods slowed to decent and broke away to land three bipedal battlesuits known as Titans. These marvels of Equestrian engineering were the culmination of twenty five years of research by Applebloom Engineering to provide Equus with a rapid reactionary vehicle in between an IFV and main battle tank. They were designed to be dropped from space as quickly as possible to aid in a planetary assault.

“Okay big guy! Let's take you out for a spin!” Jet jumped into his kneeling walker through the open front hatch. As he took his seat in his Atlas mech several hardwired connectors interfaced with his powered armor to link his natural movements to his robot. The hiss of compressed air closed his cockpit hatch and sealed him inside as the LCD screens booted up to give him a good view of the battlefield. The protective shield of the drop pod broke away as his Titan stood. He wielded his trusty XO-16 20mm chaingun; a beefed up assault rifle firing armor piercing rounds almost an inch in diameter. This was supplemented by a vortex shield and multi-missile launch system.

“Ogre is love, ogre is life!” Tough Heart smirked as his own mechsuit stood. The massive bulky frame of his Ogre class titan was more imposing than Jet's Atlas. Although not as agile the Ogre had a sturdier frame and stronger actuators for punches that could topple whole sky scrapers with just one blow. His Titan didn't wield a conventional weapon designed by Applebloom Engineering or Lastimosa Armory. Instead he had Rush and Brainstorm weld the turret of a UPF Type 37 battle tank onto his robots right arm. Complete with functional 20mm high explosive cannon and 135mm hypersonic railgun.

The other Atlas piloted by Rush was specially upgraded by him to incorporate an advanced AI far better than the standard aftermarket Guardian Chip. It was a hive based AI system that linked with all of his drones to give them their own personality. If only they had personality, seeing as how he used his mother's dead alligator as a baseline for their AI. His drones and Titan were aggressive yet protective like Gummy before them.

“Take out those dropships Titans! Avia, Frag you two take the nearest hardpoint!”

“Roger Jet, moving to objective,” Avia radioed out as she and Fragarach bounced back and forth on the walls in their parkour. Without the need of her sights her pistol continued to lock and kill the enemy grunts on their way to the hardpoint. Their powered armor did well to guard them against the enemy fire as multiple pings of bullets and energy fire bounced off their shields and armor.

“We're at the hardpoint Jet! Mac can you patch in?” Frag iced the room with a flurry of buckshot from his EVA-8. Downing three enemies guarding the computer console.

“Alright! Patching us in. Hold on while I reverse their damage. They seemed to have taken control of the anti air turrets of the base. It's gonna take me a several seconds to hack in and disable them.”

“Hurry up with those cheat codes Mac! Enemy dropships are swarming the facility!” Jet put his chaingun to good use punching holes in the enemy dropships unloading troops via ziplines. They started to overrun the first hardpoint as waves upon waves of enemies swarmed in, “Shit! Avia you got guys coming into the building!”

“Okay!” Avia boosted up and jammed her knife into the wall to hang. Fragarach did the same on the opposite wall as Avia activated her cloaking device. Her whole body turned transparent with nothing but a mere slimmer of an outline.

“Alright! Fan out and find these pony bastards! I want them dead!” the enemy squad ran into the room as Fragarach dropped down from the ceiling. With a firm buck he sent the commander flying into the brick wall with the help of his thrusters. A human terrorist pulled a combat knife to counter Frag but he returned with a firm bite on his wrist to flip his enemy over the shoulder and into the other. A flip of his shotgun into their heads sealed their deaths as three more surrounded him. He stood by as he was outnumbered.

“Squad, gun em!” the wolf anthro ordered before being stopped by Avia, who had their heads locked on with her smart pistol as she disabled her cloak. They all fell dead before they hit the ground merely a foot away from Frag as Avia gave him a little smirk.

“Nice save,” Frag smiled.

“I thought you didn't need it but I just wanted the kill steals. Haha-AHH!” Avia took a hit from outside as she stood near a window.

“Dammit! Avia's been hit and she's bleeding out! It's a sniper! Titans can you do something!”

“We're too busy Frag! Jet! Hey! Hey! What are you doing?” Tough looked on as Jet exited his Titan to let the AI take over. He rushed to the aid of his sister but was hit by the sniper as well. Luckily for him, it only damaged his power conduit on his armor rendering him paralyzed.

“Crap! I'm down! Avia!” Jet yelled for his sister. He was concerned for her safety but foolishly strayed in the open to get shot by the sniper, “Dammit! Give me a sitrep!”

“I can't get to Avia's body chief! She's still in the line of fire of the sniper! Her vitals are dipping!” Frag was in no better position. Enemy squads were advancing into the first hardpoint as bullets pinged and bounced all around him as his cover was chipped away, “And I'm pinned as fuck!”

“Jet do I really have to save your ass!” Tough Heart picked up his friend and placed him inside of his Titan. He boosted away and left his own Titan in AI mode to help with Avia, “Dammit guys! Prelude do you see the sniper?”

“I can't! They've got gunships pounding my position! GAH!” Prelude was knocked to the floor from an explosion. A solid chunk of the sculpture pinned his legs and held him in place, “Shit! I think my legs are broke! I can't move! It hurts! Scratch where are you?”

“I'm down! I'm right here but this statue's got me pinned as well! My HUD shows I'm not too hurt thought. Dammit! We need help!”

“Oh no, no no no no no...” Ship looked on as her friends were in deep trouble, “Dammit! Mac, Sagittarius, you two take over for the command and control. I'm going down there!”

“Let me come too,” Nelly looked to her commanding officer and pleaded, “He's down there too you know.”

“I know... Blossom! Get the dropship ready! Nelly and I are going in!”

“But ma'am, we can't risk losing you too down there!”

“That is an order Blossom! I can't just leave them to die like that!” Ship's heart went out to her boyfriend.

“Ma'am, we're launching as well! Those guys need some air support down there!” Morning Shine and Night Petal spooled up their ground attack fighters and launched from the hangar.

“Copy that! Nelly and I are boarding the transport!” Ship grabbed onto the harness of the dropship as she hastily donned a combat uniform. She whispered to herself, “Don't you die on me now.”

“They're not. We've gone through worse,” Nelly tried to comfort Ship.

“That was in training though, this is real life. If we fail-” Nelly put her hoof to Ship's shoulder and smiled.

“We won't. Rest easy on that...”

“Alright! We're coming in hot! Stand by for CAS runs!” Morning Shine and Night Petal laid waste to the enemies that surrounded their friends with accurate rocket runs from their To-119 Neophrans. This bought some time for Nelly and Ship to drop into the heat of the action.

Nelly and Ship stormed the room where Frag and Avia were pinned. Bursts from Nelly's Federation ARP-5 carbine took the terrorists by surprise and cleared the room with Ship using her own shotgun as well. They cleared the stragglers and got to Frag.

“Captain! What are you doing here?”

“I didn't just want to leave you to die like that,” Ship sighed as Nelly took her 3D maneuver gear and grappled onto Avia's suit to drag her to them.

“It's okay little sister,” she hugged Avia and began to treat her wounds. She used the endearing term even though they aren't related. Avia was like a sister to Nelly.

Tough looked on at the sky as more and more dropships came down. He could see Morning Shine and Night Petal getting run down by enemy fighter jets. With Night and Morning out of missiles and countermeasures they were shot down and were forced to eject into the heat of combat.

“CAS fighters are down! I repeat! CAS fighters are down!” Mac radioed out to all the Joint Strike Force, “We are losing ground. Captain what do we do?”

“Listen up team, we have to pull out. The enemy is too strong and we've got three wounded Prelude! Scratch! Can you beam back up to the dropship with your transponders?” Ship put a hoof to her earpiece.

“URGH! Negative! It's crushed along with my fucking legs!” Prelude gave a firm grunt as he tried to desperately shove the statue off him to no avail.

“My arms are stuck! I can't reach mine!” Scratch was in a no better of a situation.

“That sniper is gonna be a pain in our flank! Captain, we can't get to Prelude and Scratch in time!”

“Frag, I know that! Think Ship think...” she pounded her head with a hoof clenched in a fist. As she zoned out a grenade rolled into the room and exploded into a bright blue pulsing aura with bolts of lightning that chained to their bodies. They all fell to the floor incapacitated by an arc grenade. Their muscles twitched uncontrollably as the electric charge continued. Ship was rolled over onto her back and saw the terrorists deactivate their cloaking systems. Their armor was angular and looked to be much more advanced than what the Joint Strike Force used.

“Stupid motherfuckin' ponies,” the Asian human looked at his prey as he slowly thrust the bayonet of his AK-113 into the arm of Ship. Her screams of pain made him laugh, “You've got a big price on your head you know. This will be a victory for the Pulsar Miltia.”

With one firm twist he completely cut off Ship's right arm and her scream echoed through the base. She was then picked up and slammed into the wall along with her friends, now lined up to be executed. Jet, Tough, and Rush were brought in all heavily wounded and piled into the corner to be gunned down.

“Squad, take some pics. We're gonna show them the before and after images for verification. We're gonna be rich.”

The terrorists lined up with their gun barrels pointed at their heads. Avia's limp body responded as she took her smart pistol in her shaking hoof. Her visor gave six good locks indicated by hexagons to the heads of her enemies. One trigger pull and the gun jammed in this most critical moment. She gasped loudly and managed to turn the enemies attention to her.

“What do we have here?” the enemy squad leader walked over to Avia and crunched down her right hoof with a firm stomp, “Equestrian Smart Pistol Mk5. Amped version huh? It is a shame that such marvelous technology be in the hooves of an extremely inferior system of government. Monarchy, democracy, dictatorships, and governments all mean nothing to the Pulsar. Governments can't solve problems, but we can.”

He took her smart pistol and put it into his empty holster, “Throw her with the others! Kill them all.”

Tough Heart crawled to Ship as he was kicked repeatedly in the gut. He slumped his body over her to try and protect her as a final act of defiance. He threw his arms around her as he heard their guns raise to fire.

“I love-” he was cut off as Ship donned a smile and placed her left hoof to his month. Her eyes stained in tears and blood. She wrapped her only arm around him and didn't want to let go.

Nelly was thrown on top of Jet as they were piled in the corner. Jet saw her heavily beat up and bleeding from her mouth. She was forced to place a piece of glass into her mouth as they took turns beating her face in. Jet couldn't help but cry.

“Nelly,” he crawled closer to her. Her sobs making his heart break as he knew there was no chance in surviving.

“J-Jet...” she coughed out more blood. Jet pulled her in closer with the last bits of his strength, “W-wrap me *cough* in your wings. I'm scared...”

“Nelly...” he wrapped his wings around her tight. She took one of them to shield her eyes.

“You're all dead! Hahaha! Alright boys! Now you can gun em!”

“You sure we can't beat them up some more?”

“Quit stalling, we've had our fun for today,” the squad leader turned his head to his men.

The room fell dead silent as a blast of energy from a UPF mute charge tinted the room with a light bluish haze. The muffled sounds of gunfire and impacts faded away as more voices filled the room.

“This is Mitchell, Hardpoint one is secured and we are uplinking. Federation helljumpers are clearing the base and our fighters are clearing the skies,” they could hear a familiar voice as well as some boosts from UPF exosuits. They instantly knew who it was.

“Copy that Frostbite this is UPF Command. Is the Equestrian Joint Strike Force in the area?”

“Well,” he looked down at them all in the corner and shook his head side to side, “They're here. But their performance was rather poor. Multiple wounded, some critical. Get some medics here ASAP.”

“Copy that! We're already here!” multiple exosuited Helljumpers boosted in from the open hole in the ceiling and began to attend to the wounded ponies. Jet grabbed one of their arms and lifted himself up. He kissed Nelly on the forehead and stroked her mane.

“I'll be back. You say put,” he murmured to her in a tender voice.

“Go gettem...” she smiled back as Jet shook off his pain and approached Mitchell. He was greeted with a smug smile.

“The best special forces in all of Equus I might say?” Mitchell the Buizel looked on at Jet. He flicked his brown mop of thick straight hair to the side.

“Just shut up and give me a rifle! I'm not too beat to shit to fight!” he was taken out of his power armor and only had a basic vest left over. Mitch handed him his R101C and laughed.

“Just try and keep up,” Frostbite boosted up to the top of the building and looked out around the base. Jet followed using a borrowed 3D maneuver gear. The sniper rang out and hit Mitch. He only scoffed as his shield reflected the projectile, “Aly, did you see the shot?”

“Affirmative...” the Vulpix girl took a prone stance and deployed the bipod on her railgun sniper. She was unphased by the machine gun fire landing near her as her steady trigger pull followed with a splatter of blood from the source of the enemy sniper. Jet saw that Alyssa took position near Prelude and Scratch's sniper post and several medics attended to his friends injuries.

The shiny Glaceon with violet hair next to Mitch smiled at Jet and raised his hand in a fistbump, “Hey Jet! Brohoof?”

Jet smiled and returned the fistbump, “I can always count on you not to be an asshole Quincy.”

“On come on, what happened to Q? Makes me sound like a genius spy scientist or something. Or maybe an interstellar omnipotent being.”
(Discord pokes his head in from the background and smiles unnoticed)

“Focus on the mission Q! Strella, you done with the second hardpoint?” Mitch radioed out as he boosted down with Q and Jet. They stood at ground level and sprinted to the next objective. Jet took flight as the two members of Frostbite chained together their boost jumps, boost slides, and air dashes to move unpredictably and as fast as possible. Quincy shot open an air vent and air dashed into the room to land right next to Strella who was caught up with multiple enemies around her. She was in cover as her energy shields recharged.

“What took you so long?” The white haired Spinda Pokemorph glared at Q.

“Ponies I guess.” he shotgunned one of the power armored terrorists in the face as he casually went about with the conversation.

“I can't blame you there. Great show even though the universes don't match up anymore,” Strella reloaded her dualwielded SMGs and flipped her visor down, “It's go time cousin!”

“You bet!” Q broke down the door to the hardpoint room and cycled through the modes on his variable tactical grenade. The selectable munition uplinked with his 3D augmented reality HUD and displayed their enemies in bright red through the walls.

“On three, we breach,” Mitch placed another mute charge on the door, “One, two, three!”

The specialized gadget froze air molecules in place to muffle any and all sounds in the room. Frostbite cleared the room with shotgun, SMG, and assault rifle fire. Jet was left in the dust as he looked on.

“Oh come on! Save some for the pony in the room!” he threw his arms up.

Q laughed and bearhugged Jet with one arm, “Like Mitchell said: you gotta keep up!”

Jet rolled his eyes and whispered to himself, “One day... We will be as good as you.”

“You will,” Q overheard him with his four ears. He pointed to them and grinned to Jet, “Glaceon you know. Four ears.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot,” Jet's own ears flopped back.

“Second objective cleared. Frostbite move out!” Mitch gave his order and Aly joined up with the group.

“Sup guys!” The Vulpix girl boosted in with a power slide.

“Third hardpoint let's roll!”

“This time I'm gonna help,” Jet whistled for his Titan to follow an he embarked the massive mech, “Why did I not whistle you over big guy?”

HEAT OF THE MOMENT CAPTAIN JET.

“Okay, you got me there,” he responded to his AI, “Let's give these UPF assholes some support.”

WARNING: THREAT LEVEL HIGH. MULTIPLE ENEMY TANKS HAVE DROPED IN.

“Jet you gotta keep those tanks off us! Mitch is the only one with AT in our squad and he can't get all of them!” Q radioed out as Dash dashed in with his Titan.

“Will do! I've got them locked! Multi-Missiles firing!” Jet unloaded a salvo of homing missiles onto the enemy tank platoon. The missiles failed to connect as the active protection systems of the tanks stopped his missiles dead, “Shit! They got APS!”

“Well get creative! They're pounding us right now!” Q cut off with a static ping.

Jet looked around and saw the wreck of Tough Heart's Titan. He eyed the destroyed turret once grafted to its arm.

“Let's go golfin'!” he picked up the tank turret and rushed in with his Vortex shield up. He managed to catch two tank shells directed right at him and fire them back at one of the tanks. He used his Vortex shields redirection capability again to redirect another tank shell fired at him into a group of infantry swarming the third hardpoint. He was right up on the first tank, “Fore!”

With one mighty swing be clubbed the tank and sent it flying out of the base into a nearby cliff face. It managed to lodge itself into the wall and exploded promptly.

“Hell yeah! HAHA!” His claps were mirrored by his Titan copying his movements in the cockpit.

“Good work Jet! You got three more tanks to go!” Quency peeked out to see Jet kicking ass.

One of the enemy tanks got stuck on a barricade. Jet crushed it flat and had an idea.

“Oh hello!” he picked up the wreck and bent the gun barrel of the vehicle into a handle. He grabbed it with his robots left hand and marched forward to the last two enemy tanks using the destroyed one as a riot shield. Several missiles and tank shells bounced off the twisted shield as Jet moved in close to rip the turret off of one tank to replace his broken club. He kicked the last tank onto its belly and repeatedly beat the shit out of the lifeless corpse with the turret club.

“Are you dead yet?! Are you dead yet?! Are you dead yet?! Wee!” he dropped the tank turret and riot shield as he spied two of the bailed out tank crew cowering in the corner, “Don't think I don't see you!”

“Captain!” the enemy soldier looked to his superior, “We're all that's left and we're out of options! What do we do?”

“We buy the Pulsar Miltia enough time to evacuate...” the two humans stood their ground, “We die... WITH HONOR!”

“Y-yes sir!” his grunt was scared but ran towards Jet's Titan with a zealous battle cry. The massive mech walked casually to them and picked them up, lifting them up to the rotating camera ball of Jet's Titan.

“He's gonna crush us! Oh God! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!” the grunt and his commander were stuffed into the exhaust port of Jet's Titan. His laughs could be heard outside of the cockpit as his robot farted them out as he caught them.

“Uh? Why didn't he kill us?” the enemy commander asked as Jet popped open his hatch with a devious smile and smug look, “Oh shit...”

He grasped them by their collars and forced their faces together like a toddler making two dolls kiss.

“NOW KISS!” he repeated as their disgusted grunts brought him a good laugh. He stifled his giggles as he held them outstretched with his hands wrapped around their bodies.

“Oh no! What's he gonna do?” they asked as Jet stood still. He then flailed his arms and span them around silly as their screams brought about more chuckles from the sadistic pegasus. Jet then began to juggle them around looking absolutely stupid playing with the enemy soldiers. Even Frostbite could to bear the comedy gold in front of their eyes.

“J-Jet! Ahahaha! What the fuck man?” Mitch laughed on slapping his knee. Quincy was there to help steady his uncontrollably laughing cousin.

“Hey! I'm not done yet!” He opened his hatch and gently sandwiched his two prisoners in between the doors. He unhooked from his seat and plopped his naked plot into their faces letting out a long and much saved bout of gas from last nights bean and cheese burrito. He dropped them to the ground and saw the commander puke. Jet lost it and was a flailing laughing mess in his cockpit, “I'm done! I am fucking done! Ahhh! You UPF guys can take care of it from here.”

Frostbite boosted over and locked them up with handcuffs.

Quincy clapped on with a smile wide on his face, “And who says a warzone can't be funny? You are lucky you work for the UPF my friend! Terrorists like these deserve no mercy. But I suppose comedic torture has its place. Well done Jet. Well done.”

“Yes, I agree,” Mitch smiled as well. He stuffed the two POWs into the back of a UPF APC and walked over to Jet, “It was a pleasure working with you. But please, do train harder. If we are to work together again I want you and your team to be as good as us.”

Jet gave a salute as the four members of Frostbite 2 gathered together.

“I pray for your squad's full recovery Captain! Until we meet again!” a Federation An-2000 VTOL hovered into place near Frostbite as they boarded. Jet flipped his salute into a goodbye wave and nodded. Only to sigh and slump back down on his haunches.

“We still aren't as good as them...”