> You are Phantom
> An F4 Jet pony, bred purely for military service
>Today, you’ve been assigned to a training session with one of Seaddle Academy’s new recruits
>It wasn’t something you’d done before, but you knew how it worked
>You were trained too, back in the day, afterall
>You stopped thinking to yourself and went through your preflight checks again
>Fuel. Check.
>Visibility. Check.
>Brakes. Check.
>Thrusters. Check.
>Ailerons. Check.
>Rudder. Check.
>Elevator. Check.
>Raptor, the recruit. No check. She still hadn’t arrived
>She wasn’t late, but you were expecting a recruit to show up early
>You sigh and taxi to the edge of the runway with a slow canter
>Clear skies with a warm breeze, flying conditions couldn’t get better than this
>The airfield was quiet too, perfect for a one-on-one lesson
>You see something shoot past in the top corner of your eyes
>And then you hear it
>The newbie was finally here
>You watch as she comes in for a landing
“Way too hot, kid.”
>You stifle a laugh as she slides along the dirt strip in a cloud of dust
“Way way way too hot.”
>The dust clears, and you get a proper look at her.
“Edgy”
>She growls at you, insulted
>”I am not edgy!”
“Woah. Calm it kid. I’m just messin’ with ya.”
>She shot a glare at you.
“No point locking me when you’re empty.”
>You caught her off guard with that comment. Newbie, so much to learn
>She takes a step back
>”H-how d’you know I was locking you?”
>You smirk and lead the rookie fighter into your hangar as you talk
“Been in service since ‘60. I’m going to know if somepony’s locking me.”
>”Since ‘60?”
“Mmhmm. From ‘Neighm to Hayraq, seen it all, done it all. Over 200 confirmed kills-”
>You open the door to what you call your “Trophy Room”
“-And seven cabinets of successful missions. I’m Phantom.”
>You stare out of the window reminiscing on your past endeavours
>Raptor is behind you, browsing the files from your previous missions
>You’d kept them to remind you of your achievements
>And so you had something to show when other asked what you did with your life
>You turned and watched as Raptor rifled through your things with intrigue and awe, like a foal in a comic book store
“Raptor.”
>She stands to attention
>”Yes Ma’am.”
“Ready to go?”
>She nods
“Let me just set my radio to your frequency, then we can head out”
>You adjust your radio to match up to Raptor’s and make your way back out to the runway.
“You hear me okay?”
>Startled, Raptor stumbles backwards and falls onto her tail fins.
>You tilt your head quizzically
>She slowly gets up on all fours again and rubs her rudders
>”I-I can hear you twice…”
“You’ll get used to it, it’ll be fine once we’re in the air. Done your pre flight checks?”
>She blushes, embarrassed she’d missed something so basic.
>”Oh, uh, I’ll do those now.”
>You quickly check yourself over again before watching your flight partner, making sure she did everything correctly.
“Now’re you ready?”
>”Yes Ma’am!”
“You sure?”
>”A-affirmative, Ma’am.”
>You can see the doubt on her face, hear it in her voice
“What’re our mission objectives?”
>You had her
>”I, uh… I…”
“Number one rule, never start a mission without knowing your objectives.”
>Her face had assumed a beet red hue, and she was looking down at the ground
>”S-sorry Ma’am…”
>You weren’t here to hurt her feelings
>You weren’t here to destroy her confidence
>You were here to teach her
“It’s only a rookie mistake. Better to make it now than in service, right?”
>She lifts her head slowly
>”But it’s still a mistake.”
“You learn better by making mistakes, that’s why we’re making them now. I’d rather a rookie made mistakes and learned from them, than not make mistakes and not learn anything.”
>She smiles at you, weakly
“Now c’mon. We’re heading to RAF Stableford, 50 klicks south east. Routine flight.”
>”Understood, Ma’am.”
“You lead, I’ll follow you in formation. I wanna see what you’ve got.”
>She grins and with a rekindled enthusiasm, bounds out onto the runway and starts galloping, gathering speed for take-off
>You follow her out onto the dirt strip, making a callout down your radio
“F4 Phantom, F22 Raptor, Oscar Mike”
>Raptor lifts off, bolting upright into the sky
>”Oohrah!”
>Her voice echoes down the radio, ringing in your ears
>You sigh to yourself before taking to the air after her
“Rookie.”