Two Days later. Avalon's Shadow
It's time for you to head out to Crystal City, even though it's about a four hour journey by air.
You've overhauled Chaika's engine despite the fact that she did not want anything to do with auxiliary power, but she dealt with that so she would be able to keep up. That was the day after they arrived. Yesterday was overhauling Sully's right turbine. Which for burning a special fuel and was supposed to be more simplistic was a real pain in your ass to overhaul.
 
Two hours later en route you're flying aboard Thunderbolt this time and listening to the radio chatter from the ponies.
"So what do you think the Crystal empire's going to be like?" Nora said
"I don't know Nora, why don't you wait and see when we get there?" Raptor said with a bit of irritation
"Well, I just think it's nice that a group of us is going." Thunderbolt said as you look through her canopy to Morgan who's very disinterested and flying as formation center
"Morgan, I know you wanted me to fly with you, but Thunderbolt wanted me to fly with her for once sweetie." You say via your link to her so the others don't hear it.
"I know, it's just if we're supposed to be guarding you why aren't you with the best one for that job?" Morgan asked as you sigh
"Because you're the best one we have for long range engagements, I let you bring Zoisite. You can hit just as far as that MiG-31, but I wouldn't tell him that." You say as you smile a little.
"Anon, what do you think of all this?" Thunderbolt asked as you're now forced to focus on everyone else
"Well, I think this if somethin else to say the least. Dealing with Sunbutt, I mean that can go awful. Like I don't want to deal with awful." You say as Thunderbolt transmits that for you.
"She not as bad as you say. Can be difficult sometimes." Foxhound said defending his Princess
"Yea don't I know it. Anyone know how much longer to destination?" You say wanting this to be over with, as you're wearing uncomfortably formal clothes.
"Only a few more minutes, there's no airstrip so we landing on an outsikirt road." Foxhound said as you roll your eyes and look behind Thunderbolt to see little Chaika doing her best to keep up while Skybreaker was just above her stall speed to stay close to her.
"Hang in there Chaika, just a few more minutes." you say giving the stubborn little biplane pony the encouragement she needed to make it all the way to the city.
 
You're forced to lead your ponies into the city, which most of them dislike and Chaika enjoyed due to how tired she was from flying for so long.
What you were wearing reminded you of an air force uniform.
 
"So where is this place Foxhound?" you ask considering he'd know where it was better than you.
"Knowing Princess, in largest building. That one." Foxhound said as he pointed to a very tall crystal spire.
"You're fucking kidding me. Well, if she wanted a dickwaving contest, she won this round." You say under your breath as Morgan turns and gives you a confused look.
"We five minutes from meeting place, I hope we not late." Foxhound said as Morgan scoops you up and picks the pace up.
"Thanks Morgan." You say loud enough for her to hear.
"No problem." Morgan said as you cover your eyes as you lie on her back for the moment.
Again her radar display pops up in your eyes as there's a slow moving blip at what would be about tree height.
"Morgan?" You say wondering if she sees it too.
"I see it, but I can't hit it." Morgan said frustration filling her voice.
"Morgan hold, I know that signature." Foxhound said as you look to him from beneath Zoisite.
"Then you better call it down." You say as the other fighters notice it too, whereas Thunderbolt's as close to Morgan as possible
"Razorback, is you flying around all creepy like?" Foxhound asked.
"Foxhound you know I don't like it when you call my flying creepy. You got something against VTOL or something?" a bizarre looking plane pony said as he popped up over a house as you were utterly confused by his design.
"No I have nothings against of your types. Is just how you flying slow and behind buildings, like creep. I no like." Foxhound said as you're still trying to figure out this pony as Morgan is subconsciously telling you she sees a new toy to play with and break.
"Well, the Princess is a few minutes behind schedule Foxhound, oh, there's a group that's not so happy to see me." Razorback said as your escort fighters are displaying their missiles, and Echo's running ECM for you.
"Can you turn the ECM off, it's making me dizzy." Razorback said.
"Introduce yourself." You say as you place a hand atop Zoisite to keep Morgan from blasting him.
"Me? I'm just a F69 VTOL, name Razorback. One of the few guards Celestia has capable of chasing down the other plane ponies, well other than Foxhound there." Razorback said as the ECM turns off, and those with internal missiles put them away.
"Who are all of you?" Razorback asked as he switched to a more "normal" configuration if you could say there was one for him.
"In ascending order or descending?" You ask wondering who should go first.
"Don't matter to me, just as long as I get your names." Razorback said, as you figure you may as well begin.
"Rex Tremendae." You say giving him your nickname and title.
"So that's you? Heard stories about you and Morgan, scary things, shooting down a T-50 with things I've never heard of." Razorback said as you knew Morgan loved hearing how dangerous she was from others.
"I'm Morgan, you're rather odd Razorback, forward swept, but VTOL, sort of an unstable configuration don't you think?" Morgan said making her judgement of him known.
"Well, guess that's why I've got six turbines to control that movement. Don't think I don't know what you're capable of Morgan. You're not the only one with superweapons." Razorback said as you stare at him while Morgan smiles hoping for the chance to shoot him down.
Then from there, they went down the line, Thunderbolt, Echo, Raptor, Nora, Lighting, Skybreaker and Chaika.
"Well, there's still a few minutes before Celestia gets here, you all really should get to our meeting place, follow me." Razorback said after the introductions were done.
 
This would be the first time in years since you've seen Celestia personally. This will either go incredibly well, or you're just going to be yelled at. You hope this goes well.
"Well, here we are. Rex, if you'd follow me." Razorback said as you motion for Morgan to follow him.
"Just Rex." Razorback said.
"About that, not going to happen. Thunderbolt, Echo, you're all free to move around the city, just keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary." You say dismissing them from your company except for Morgan, who knew better than to leave you alone.
"Rex, I'm serious, it's just going to be you, Foxhound and me. Celestia's not going to like having Morgan there." Razorback said as you just smile.
"Really? You've heard what's she's capable of, would you rather have her with me and restricted by me, or out there, with a laser?" You say hoping he'll play along with what you want.
"She's got a laser? I thought she had those freaky missiles that blew up really big." Razorback said rather freaked out that Morgan didn't have just one super weapon.
"Yea, Hyperstine isn't the only thing she carries. We left those behind. Just the laser this time." You say as both you and Morgan smile.
"Ok, she's staying with you." Razorback said allowing Morgan to continue along your way taking you into the meeting area, where, you were early.
 
"Well, this is a first." You say as you're sitting in a chair with Morgan behind you when Celestia enters.
"The trains from Equestria are awful. Should have flown." Celestia said when she walked in.
"Seems you should have, but why the train?" You ask rather amused at how irritated she is for being late to her own meeting.
"Never though you'd be late to your own party." You say as your feet are up on the table.
"Well, it's a meeting between us, it's not my party Anon." Celestia said as you take your feet off the table.
"Well, I'm here, may as well begin with what you've got to tell me Celestia." You say.
"Right, when the red wing leaves." Celestia said.
"Um I don't think so. It's for everyone's safety that she's with me. I'd hate to think what would happen if someone made her angry, oh and she does have a Laser on her back." You say as Celestia stares at the Zoisite pod, as Morgan is staring off into space rather bored.
"Well, you found it. You sure you want her to leave and be out there?" You ask as Celestia is at a loss for words.
"What's your name pony?" Celestia asked.
"Morgan, I'm the one those stories are about. I'm sure you've heard them. Foxhound and Razorback seem to have heard them." Morgan said with a slight smile on her face.
"So, you're the one who shot down the T-50. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about that." Celestia said as Morgan just smiled.
"Well, if there's a problem, I'll destroy it." Morgan said first lightly, then flipped to her attack personality.
"Well, I have my own ways of dealing with troublemakers. Anon, Thunderbolt told me that you were taking care of an issue with Gryphons in Avalon Territory." Celestia said.
"Yes, I was. Small black ops group, fifteen of them, I've brought the surveillance photos of the area with me so you can see them for yourself." You say as you pass her the photos.
Celestia looks at the photos taken by Sully, and frowns at them.
"Those aren't diplomats." Celestia said.
"I know. I went and saw to that myself. Pretty stubborn those gryphons. Wouldn't take leave for an answer. It's like they're trying to start a war." You say.
"Can I hold on to these? For when I meet with the gryphons to show them that they are being monitored?" Celestia asked.
"Sure, I've got the negatives, I can make as many as I want. Doing a little bit of blackmail are we?" You say as you let her keep the photos.
"Well, if I can show them that they are being watched by multiple nations perhaps we can keep them from attacking either one of our nations." Celestia said.
"For once I agree. We should do everything we can to keep them from dragging either one of us into a war. If they attack me, my retaliation will be swift and hard. They come after Avalon, I'll hit them in their capitol." You say as Celestia nods.
"Yes, the gryphons only seem to only understand harsh realities." Celestia said.
"I've had to execute gryphons before them so they understand the concept of not overstaying their welcome. I'm certain you had to do something similar to get them to leave where they were in Avalon territory." Celestia said as Morgan smiles lightly.
"Yea, something similar. Like three rounds from a 30mm cannon into a gryphon similar." You say admitting what you did to her, as she's admitted the same.
"Well, if they heard any of this they'd declare war on both of us, and I'd like to see them try and win that." You say as Celestia nods, seemingly shaken from having to remember the ordered executions of several gryphons.
"Yes, and we cannot allow them to find out that we have done that. Do you understand Anon?" Celestia said.
"Of course I understand Sunbutt, if you remember, there are certain things about me that are not being said, by either of us for very good reasons." You say acknowledging that this is not to leave the room.
"So it is settled then? You and I are to remain neutral towards eachother, and if the gryphons attack either nation, we are on our own." Celestia said as you nod.
"And cutting through Avalon Territory is the fastest route to either nation, without diverting to either Appaloosa or the Crystal Empire. I'm not going to let an army from either side march or fly through. If one of their soldiers sets foot on my land, I'll make them regret it, if your soldiers set foot on my land, I will chase them back to the border, where you will be reminded of this: Avalon Territory is Neutral. I don't want to take part for either side, I want that clear." You say again forcing your neutrality statement on her again.
"I believe you've made it very clear that you want Avalon to be neutral, but what are you going to do to maintain it's neutrality? You can't just keep bashing them out of your borders." Celestia said.
"For now." You say
"That's an awful thing to say." Celestia said.
"So would you prefer if I set up an AA network around my border to keep anything that's not flying with a "friendly" IFF out of my nation?" You say giving her an even worse option.
"No, why would you suggest something like that?" Celestia asked you.
"Defending my country, I've heard from Foxhound that all he's allowed to do is intercept, never dissuade or attack." You say as Foxhound looks a little saddened that you would bring that up.
"Is true, you only let me chase, never engage." Foxhound said a little saddened.
"Well, we may have a gryphon problem, which means you get to attack them Foxhound. Razorback, just make sure that Foxhound doesn't attack any friendlies." Celestia said allowing Foxhound to cheer up a little.
"Is good you allow me to do so. I can hit them farther away than Razorback, Even see them before him." Foxhound said making this about himself now.
"Foxhound, can you save it for later? Now is not the time for you to be talking about yourself." Celestia said as Morgan rolled her eyes.
"Don't be so bored young lady. I do expect you to have manners. At least act like the fighter you're reported to be." Celestia said making Morgan a little irritated.
"Celestia, she's still pretty young, cut her some slack. She's going to be bored because there's next to nothing that can challenge her in the skies." you say hoping that Celestia will understand.
"Next to nothing? Razorback could challenge her. They have the same weapon. A laser and missiles. How is there next to no challengers for her?" Celestia asked as Razorback backed up and tried to hide away from Morgan's sight.
"Razorback, why are you?" Celestia asked only to be cut off by Razorback.
"There's something about her, I can't challenge her. There's just no way I can. Even if my life depended on it, I couldn't. Celestia look at her eyes." Razorback said as you know Morgan's eyes changed color on you