"It's not an excuse as they should have tried to find a way to bring you down, to where you're vulnerable, and it's not like I'm not worried about night raids which is why there's always some patrol flying around each city and around the border." You say still making subsections of the aircraft.
"So what if they should have, they're stupid. They're not going to because of how they think. Their main concern is how the ponies see them not us." Thunderbolt said as she was a little irritated with your seemingly overcautious approach to this.
"Still I would rather not throw your lives away like they are nothing Thunderbolt." You say as you look at how many sub assemblies you've made. Enough to make maybe the wing, but only one of them.
"You worry too much Anon." Thunderbolt said.
"I know, so why don't I grab the kiddos and the four of us go out to the dam? Just to get away for a bit." You say as you finish up your work and wait for her response.
"That's actually a good idea." Thunderbolt said as the two of you walked home.
"Great, I just hope Morgan and Falken are up to it." You say walking.
"They should be, they're either pretending to get along or they really are getting along very well." Thunderbolt said as you smile a bit.
"It wouldn't surprise me if they're actually arguing right now." You say as you enter your home.
 
It's dead quiet when you enter, Falken's asleep on the couch, and Morgan's just watching something on the TV.
"Hey who wants to go out to Avalon Dam?" You say to break the silence.
"Go out to the dam? Didn't Thunderbolt say that place was off limits to you?" Morgan asked.
"Well, that was a long time ago, I think it should be ok for him to go there now." Thunderbolt said as you just roll your eyes
"So are we going or not?" You ask again hoping for a different response.
"I'm game." Falken said as he woke up
"Well, I can't let you go alone can I?" Morgan said in reference to you.
"Alright, looks like we're all going." You say
"So who wants to carry me to the dam?" You say knowing it's a five minute flight vs an hour's walk.
"I'll carry you." Thunderbolt said as you climb up on her back.
"Alright let's go." You say as you get comfortable and ready for the short hop of a flight.
 
1800 Hrs. Avalon Dam.
"It's peaceful out here." Morgan said as you Thunderbolt and Morgan looked over the edge towards Avalon's Shadow.
"Yea, it is. Falken what do you think?" You say getting his opinion of it too.
"Well, it's certainly nice. But what's going on over there?" Falken asked as you turned to see the smoke from the burning cities of Oslo.
"War. That's what's going on there. That smoke is from five or six burning cities." You say as you look at the amber glow with him from the top of the dam.
"Why are they in a war?" Falken asked.
"They're in a war with us. They didn't like the fact that I wouldn't let them kidnap a foreign dignitary on our land, and they tried anyways, which resulted in a gryphon dying, and apparently they declared war on us for it. What you see is what happens when you declare War on Avalon." You say as Morgan and Thunderbolt look at the distant burning cities and the rising smoke.
"That's a lot of damage." Morgan said as you nod.
"I wonder how bad the photos Sully's bringing back will be." You say as you see him go flying over head back to base to have the pictures developed.
"Well, you'll know pretty soon won't you?" Thunderbolt said as she saw him fly over too.
"Yea I guess so" You say as you go and sit on the edge of the dam.
"Two sides, behind us, destruction and before us, peace." Morgan said as she leaned against the edge.
"Yea, and above us, the infinite heavens. Still got two up there, hope we finish up before they come down." You say remembering that there's two shuttles up in space.
"You should, they've been up there for what? four or five days now? Aren't they both up for two weeks?" Thunderbolt says to which you nod.
"Yea." You say
"But it's when they come down that concerns me." You say as that's the time to hit them if these gryphons are dumb enough to chase one down into your airspace, where Morgan and Falken will be waiting and more than ready to vaporize them.
"Still you worry too much. Just look at how peaceful everything is from up here." Thunderbolt said as you nod
"Yea it is pretty peaceful, all the lights of our city, our roads, and our runways. Sometimes there's a beauty we just can't see all the time, and this is definitely it." You say just before you check the time.
"Time to go home?" Thunderbolt asked.
"I don't know, Falken, Morgan, want to go home or do you want to stay a little longer?" You say asking the young ones if they want to be out still.
"Let's go home." Falken said as Morgan nodded.
"Alright, time to go home." You say as you climb back on Thunderbolt and then the four of you proceed to go home.
2000 Hrs. Your home.
"Alright you two go to bed." You say as you walk in your house.
"Do we have to?" Morgan asked pleading with you.
"Yes, you're both still quite young and you need your rest. Now go to bed." You say causing Morgan to lower her head and trot off to her room. It would seem that you didn't have to argue with Falken, as he's already off to bed, he is only two days old.
"You're really a father to them." Thunderbolt said as you just smile.
"Well, they are mine aren't they?" You say still smiling.
"Yea, they are." Thunderbolt said, her voice showing a second side.
"You know, they could be ours." You say leading her on a little.
"What do you mean ours?" Thunderbolt asked.
"Well, you and I are together, it's just another step to make it so." You say hoping she's really not this stupid.
"Oh, wait are you proposing?" Thunderbolt asked.
"Not at this moment, unless you want me to." You say as she giggles.
"Well, how about you and I go and rest?" You say and point towards your room.
"Rest? I've got a better idea for you." Thunderbolt said as you're intrigued by her suggestion.
"Alright then." You say as the two of you go into your room.
 
0800 Hrs. Your home.
You wake up sore and smelling heavily of Jet A and hydraulic fluid.
Thunderbolt's still asleep as you get up to and shower.
The warm water helps your sore body regain strength, as you've still got a plane to build for yourself, and another set of bombing raids to assign to the 463rd.
Morgan's awake and made you breakfast
"Dad, what was all that noise last night?" Morgan asked.
"What noise?" You ask about to lie to her face.
"It sounded like Thunderbolt, and well, I dunno it was odd." Morgan said as you give her a "confused" look and pause to "think" about it.
"I dunno, could it have been a dream?" You say hoping she takes the bait.
"Like a dream within a dream?" Morgan asked to which you nod
"Yea a dream within a dream. You know those happen right?" You say
"Wow, I know that happens to regular ponies, I never thought it would happen to me. That's really neat." Morgan said rather happy about that, and you're not showing how relieved you are about the lie.
"Well, to me you're all no different than those regular ponies, You've all got a heart, that I've just yet to find during my maintenance on you all." You say as Morgan smiles.
"So, what are we going to do today dad?" Falken asked as he walked out of his room. His appearance of a normal face with a longer than average nose, due to design, and lack of two physical eyes doesn't bother you, but sometimes it does catch you off guard.
"Well, I'm building my own wings, and seeing where we need to strike next in Oslo. You two are more than welcome to patrol around Avalon's Shadow." You say as you eat what Morgan made for you, which thankfully lacked any bit of jet fuel or grass.
"Patrol the airspace? That's kinda boring dad. When are we going to do something fun?" Falken said as you frown at him
"When I build my wings then we can, I've got five days to do so, so can you wait five days Falken?" You say expressing a little irritation with him
"I guess I can. Why do you need wings anyways? Why not just ride along with Morgan like you always do?" Falken asked.
"Because I want to fly with you not in you." You say hoping they get the point.
"So you want to fly next to us?" Falken asked as you roll your eyes and nearly put a hand through your face
"Don't you two know better than to bother your dad in the morning?" Thunderbolt said as she came out of your room.
"Yes Thunderbolt." they both said as you just laugh
"Alright you two behave, I don't want to hear from Echo or Brezhnev you've left the country in search of a fight, because when you get home I will weld you to the floor for a week." You say giving them the vague threat of punishment.
"Yes dad." They said as you left to go and do work
 
0930 Hrs. Shop
"I got those pictures for you Rex. We smashed those factories." Sully said
"I mean we leveled the entire industrial complex around their factories. Defense wise, it's all massed along route 171, which means getting Celestia through it is going to be one hell of a challenge Rex." Sully says as he gives you the pictures.
"No AA defenses around them that we can see? Where is their AA network? Did they put it all around the capitol to keep us out of there?" You ask only for Sully to nod.
"It would seem that way Rex, almost all their AA is around their capitol, they have very old AA guns placed randomly with their main defense force, once they heard that Equestria was at war with them too, they focused more on them than us, they're just keeping us from leveling the capitol." Sully said as his surveillance confirmed it
"Well, I've been telling Thunderbolt that they need to be more focused on us than those Ponies. Frankly this gives us a huge advantage when we have to clear Celestia a path along 171 since they're too stupid to see us as a threat to their ground troops. Do they even have specialized air defense troops?" You ask not even sure if the gryphons have a way to combat you in the skies
"If you mean anything other than gryphons throwing rocks? No, they don't a few of them use rifles, but we destroyed their munitions plants and weapons factories yesterday. They're reduced to slings and rocks, and we move too fast for them." Sully said as you think why there would be spotty AA coverage over the main force unless it wasn't meant for AA but anti personnel
"Well, when we run through the area it's going to be easy for us to take them down. Relay where the next area is, take down their roads next. Major hubs need to be burnt to the ground." You say as Sully nods and leaves you to pass along this information
"When do they launch?" Sully asked before he fully left your shop.
"They'll leave at 1200 Hrs this time. Fast movers only, Since you asked me yesterday how many pounds of bombs dropped, here it is, 6,667,948 pounds of bombs dropped." You say
Sully stared at you while he converted it into a smaller number.
"3333.97 Tons?" Sully asked to which you only nod.
"Yea 3.3 thousand tons of bombs in a single day." You say
"So only the B-1s and Tu-160s this time?" Sully asked to which you nod.
"Yes, full force again is excessive, and if we're doing that, we may as well start leveling cities with them." You say as he nods and leaves to relay the news.
When Sully finally leaves it allows you to work on the sub assemblies more and you're not putting it all together until you have every sub assembly made and ready to be installed on the main framework which only has a fuel tank engines and control surfaces.
 
1500 hrs. Control tower.
The few ponies that live in Avalon's Shadow with you have decided it was time for you to be updated on current standings.
"Celestia's forces are about five eights amassed, and there is a lack of attacks on our borders." One of the ponies said as she read off the list.
"Doesn't mean they're not going to hit our borders, keep them patrolled." You say in response to the border part of her statement.
"Our transports are flying non stop bringing in ordinance for us to use. Mriya and Galactus are having a slight competition to see who can haul more ordinance, Mriya's winning in case you wanted to know." Another pony said reading his supply clipboard.
"Good, I've slowed the outflow of bombs, so we can stockpile the ones we're getting in, unless the B-1s and Tu-160s burn through more bombs than we can supply them with." You say as the supply pony laughs.
"Fuel supply is overloaded, we're storing it in every facility we have, and we're even expanding our underground storage network, KC's solidifying as much of it as he can, and there's still a massive influx of fuel. Though it's not like they couldn't get by with just eating an insane amount of our food." the final pony said.
"Well, at least we won't run out." You say jokingly
"Yes, well we've got a major surplus of it, and we're dispersing it to the other cities as we speak." she said as you nod.
"Good. It sounds like we've got a good handle on supplies and ponies, I'd like to keep it this way for as long as possible. Just make sure everyone knows this alright?" You say as they all nod and leave you to return back to your work.
 
1800 hrs. Avalon's Shadow.
You're out for a walk, and it looks a lot like the winds of war have yet to reach Avalon's Shadow, as most of the ponies are out talking like it were any other day.
You hope this lasts, you also hope that you don't lose a single pony, which is really optimistic and you know you can't truly achieve it, but any loss you take you'll return tenfold.
"Rex, I hear you no sending us in again tomorrow for strike." Bear said as you passed him.
"Bear, we leveled six industrial complexes, 3.3 thousand tons of bombs were dropped yesterday. I'm going to tone it down a little. You know take out their roads with the 160s." You say as Bear laughs.
"Is good plan, give us break da?" Bear said
"Da, break good." You say as he laughs even harder allowing you to walk on by.
 
Five minutes later you're at the VTOL hangar, all four residents were out on the porch, drinking, the three Russians heavily, and Lightning's throwing up.
"You is baby! Why can't you hold Vodka like man?" Sergei said making you laugh.
"Sergei, don't give him alcohol poisoning. I need all of you alive." You say as Sasha smacks Sergei upside the head and Ludmila giggles at the statement as you can tell the Russians have already blacked out, but are still conscious.
"I keep watch on Sergei for you Rex." Sasha said as you nodded and continued on your way around Avalon's Shadow.
During your walk around your city, you feel relieved that everyone there is ok, and in high spirits. The walk doesn't make you as worried as you were about them all, but you're still wondering what those gryphons are planning.
They aren't showing any signs of counterattack, only troop gathering along route 171, as if the survival of their country depended on that route not falling to Celestia's troops. It's a little concerning, other than the superheavy AA defense network around the capitol, nothing can really stop you from bombing every single rural part of Oslo into oblivion.
 
As it nears 2000 hrs, you return home to rest, your mind cleared of many of your worries, and with only the supersonic bombers going out tomorrow, there was nothing to worry about.
 
0800 hrs. Back in your shop
Though you don't mind being back in your shop, you do feel as though you've been trapped there for an extended amount of time just building, and not repairing or doing anything really productive. Then again, building a way to fly with everyone and help them is something productive, and it keeps you busy and busy means you're not worrying about the bomb run later today.
So you spend your time building sub assemblies, and waiting to install them. All the while, anyone who was on the maintenance list got a check before you went back to building your ADFX. Each pony was a welcome intrusion of your work, as it allowed you to think that everything was back as it was, and there wasn't a war going on just on the other side of the border with an enemy that was not concerned with you.
You were happy until you ran out of sub assemblies to make by 1300 hrs, one hour after the bombers launched to hit major transportation hubs that were not the capitol.
No sub assemblies meant one thing, final assembly of the aircraft. Something you've kind of been dreading for a while, but you have to do it.
So you being to assemble the aircraft, which quickly takes shape, minus the skin
2200 Hrs. Avalon's Shadow
You land to the runway lights, and to three ponies waiting for you as you taxi the 02 back to the shop
"Where'd you go Anon?" Thunderbolt asked as you climbed down from your fighter.
"Around, I just went for a flight, I do hope you all don't mind that I did. It's just I wanted to make sure I could still fly like I used to." You say as you're listening to the newly created craft for any sign you broke something or any issue.
"Well, do you think we could go fly tomorrow dad?" Morgan asked to which you nod.
"Yea, we can go fly tomorrow, but we need to sleep, it's late and I'm tired." You say as you walk home
 
0800 Hrs. Home.
Morgan again made breakfast for you, which you're always happy to eat, and since you said you'd go and fly with her, you may as well get it done early in the day as there's no more targets for the bombers to hit, they're just reinforcing route 171, which you won't hit until Celestia is ready to roll down that highway after you blow the defenders off of it
"So when are we going to go?" Morgan said prancing around you as you, Falken and Morgan walked off to your shop so you could get your plane
"As soon as I refuel it. Remember this is an actual plane, I have to fuel it and watch the gauge where you just get hungry." You say as she's still prancing around
"So why can't we go right now?" Morgan asked as you stare up at her
"Seriously? Morgan, give me a break here." You say as you fuel the plane
"ADFX-02 Morgan?" Falken said as he stared at your plane
"Yea, it's another Morgan, but this one isn't a pony and I'd prefer if you called it ADFX or 02. So we don't confuse this with your sister" You say as you can see the confusion in Falken where as Morgan's just a little too excited to go flying with you
"Right, so the ADFX, why build another?" Falken asked
"Because what's scarier than one of your sister?" You ask with a smile on your face
"Two of my sister. Are you going to paint it to match her?" Falken asked to which you nod