An increasingly confused Rookie pt2

    0800 Hrs. Sand Island.

Displeased. Displeased was Rookie when the morning sun shone in his eyes, “Fuck you, sun.” Displeased was Rookie when he saw that he was still on a couch in another world, “Fuck you, world.” Displeased was also Rookie when he saw a plane pony sleeping on the floor where Falcon was last night, “fuck you- WHAT THE FUCK?!” Let’s put that as very displeased.
    Apparently someone just outside heard his yell, for the hangar doors were forced open… which probably wasn’t good for them, to reveal the head of one of the Sand Island ponies who peaked in to look around, “What?! Something wrong?” By the sound of the voice, it was Snow.
    “That!” Rookie pointed to the sleeping plane pony, “How the fuck did that thing get in here?!”
    Snow’s eyes snapped to the pony and started analysing the situation. Apparently there was something he knew that Rookie didn’t because he started snickering. Which grew into full blown laughter as he fell onto the ground. Rookie, feeling slightly insulted and embarrassed for his possible mistake, grew red in the face and crossed his arms before putting on a slight pouty face as he waited for Snow to stop his laughter.
    When Snow calmed down enough, he stood back up and walked the rest of the way into the hangar, “Heh heh. Can’t, heh, can’t you recognise your own plane?”
    “What.” Was all Rookie could respond with. Leaving his flight gear on the couch, he hopped off and walked closer the the slumbering pony and sure enough, it was Falcon. From the USAF roundel, shape of the wings, flaps, tail, even to the four AIM-9X and two AIM-120 missile configuration. “What.” Was all Rookie could respond with after looking up at Snow.
    Rookie’s reaction caused Snow to fall back down and start laughing again. His recovery was quicker this time however, so he stood back up and peaked back out before returning with an empty missile rack, “Here. To keep the missiles in a place where they’re probably a lot less likely to go off.”
    Rookie just stared at the missile rack before a light went off in his head, “Oh right. I won’t be needing the missiles for who knows how long. I guess I better wake up Falcon.” He then walked over to Falcon’s head and nudged her nose with a foot, “Hey uh, Falcon. Time to wake up.”
    Falcon responded with a murmur and shifted a little. No waking up achieved or progress made.
    “Come on. Wake up. We gotta get your missiles off of you.” Rookie nudged her nose again.
    Falcon’s response this time was to reach a hoof up and around him to pull him to her chest and snuggle him like a fleshy teddy bear.
    Rookie was obviously not having any of it as he was pulled closer to her, but there really isn’t much you can do when your opposition is mechanical in nature and over ten times your size. So Rookie was staring helplessly up at a chuckling Snow, “Please, kill me.”
    Snow had other thoughts, “Kid, do you have some secret agenda where you must kill me with laughter? Because you’re doing pretty well so far.”
    “Oh if only it were that simple. But seriously, a little help?”
    Snow nodded and got in close to try and pry Falcon’s hoof away from Rookie. Or at least enough so he could wiggle free. No such luck however, “Sorry, I can’t. She’s got some death grip on ya.”
    “Well fuck…” with that said, they just kinda looked around the hanger to not look at each other which would make things more awkward then they already were, “So… how’s the weather up there?”
    “Oh it’s pretty nice. Sunny out, and a couple clouds here and there.”
    “That’s cool. That’s cool… What are the others up to?”
    “They’re out on patrol. Archer had an easy enough time looking after you so only I was sent this time. Didn’t know we would be having another person to look after.”
    “Yeah… Though you probably won’t be alone in looking after this one. I will most likely have to be living, and by the looks of it sleeping, with her. So we’ll probably be looking after each other…. That isn’t really improving the situation is it?”
    Snow shook his head, “Not really. It would also depend on her personality.”
    Rookie nodded slowly, “Right, right, her personality. That would be a pretty big factor. Though right now I guess we can check off that she’s a heavy sleeper.”
    Snow chuckled, “Yeah. No having to worry about her much once she falls asleep.”
    It was just then, that Falcon gave a yawn and stretch, before slowly opening her blue eyes and looking down at Rookie trapped in her grasp. “Good morning Rook.” She gave a small smile.
    “Um.” He gulped, “Good morning. And my name is Rookie. Close though.”
    “Shhh,” She pressed a hoof tip to his lips… or face, “Your name is Rook.”
    “But-...”
    “Shhh.”
    Rookie looked over to Snow and gave the most bewildered expression ever. Snow, being the professional he is, flopped onto his back and burst out in another round of laughter.
    “Shut up…” Rookie said as he grew red in the face.
    “Oh don’t mind him. So, how’s my pilot doing this morning?”
    “Incredibly confused and stuff. It’s not everyday that you get transported to another world, and the next day your plane comes to life… and looks like a local.”
    Falcon simply giggle, “Silly Rook. I’ve always been alive. Just not fully animate.”
    “I see… well… this will be awkward to tell the guys at base… if we ever get back there. Which I highly doubt will ever happen.”
    “And why is that?” she tilted her head a little.
    “Well, there’s the joke that you and I are dating.”
    “We’re not?”
    Ye- no- uhhhh….”
    Falcon giggled some more, “Oh Rook. Silly as always.”
    “Uhh… can you let go of me now?”
    “Aww, why? You’re so huggable!” she emphasised by hugging him a little tighter… which probably wasn’t to smart of an idea.
“Because… I don’t… want to get crushed to death...!”
“Oh! Sorry!” She said finally releasing him.
Rookie, finally free from her grasp, gulped in some much needed air before crawling over to her belly and leaning back against it, “Please… please be careful when you do that…”
“I will.” She said with a sheepish grin.
By now, Snow was done with his laughter and sat back up to look at the two, “Alright kiddies, what are you to going to be doing today?”
Falcon just stared at him while Rookie rubbed his chin then replied, “Well, I have to exercise. So I guess that’s what I’ll be doing. Oh! And Falcon’s missiles. Don’t want to forget to take those off.” So he stood up and pat Falcon’s side, “Come on. Up. Gotta get your missiles off.
And so Falcon stood up… a little too high. Now would be the time Rookie realised that though plane ponies are roughly the same size as a normal plane, they’re still much taller. He couldn’t even reach her missiles, let alone her wings, “Uh, back down please.”
And so Falcon lied back down. Getting the missiles on her wingtips was easy enough, but the ones in the underside required some awkward positioning. Nonetheless, Rookie managed to remove the missiles from their hardpoints and place them on the missile rack Snow had dragged in earlier.
“Alright, missiles are stowed away. Any place I should put them?” Rookie asked Snow.
He shook his head, “Nah, you can keep them here. Just make sure you put it off to the side so you aren’t tripping over them all the time.”
“Right, right. Tripping and exploding hazard.” Rookie said as he pushed the missile rack to a sidewall, “And with that done, time for some exercise.” He said as he walked out of the hangar and into the warm, sunny rays of outside, followed by Falcon and Snow. Outside, he then made his way to one end of the active runway and stretched a bit before starting to jog along the side.
“So, what’s the exercise for?” Snow asked as he walked beside Rookie.
Rookie was about to respond, but Falcon beat him to the punch, “Exercise is so the pilot stays in shape. If the pilot isn’t in shape, then they’re a lot more likely to pass out under G-forces.”
“Correct.” Rookie added, “And ones cardio plays a surprisingly big factor while flying. Also strengthens the legs for when the pilot has to flex them when making tight turns. Or any turn really.”
“I see. But why would you have to flex your legs when turning?” Snow asked and Rookie replied.
“When you’re making a turn, your blood is forced to your legs and has a hard time getting back up to the brain. Which would cause the pilot to pass out. Flexing your legs kinda squeezes the blood back into your head. However I don’t have to worry about this so much, because Falcon has limiters which prevent her from passing a certain degree while turning.”
“Which I wish you would take off.” Falcon blew a raspberry at Rookie, “Having limits set in place is lame.”
“They’re there for my safety and yours. I don’t want to pass out, and I don’t want you getting damaged because we made too tight of a turn.”
“Me? Damaged? I’m too perfect to get damaged!”
“You’re also perfectly full of yourself.” Rookie muttered.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s what I thought. But seriously. I’m built to withstand high g-forces, and you won’t get used to tight turning with the limiters in place. So take them off. C’mon, it won’t kill you. If you pass out, I can still fly. C’mon. C’mooon. C’mooooooooooooon.” Falcon leaned in to talk directly into Rookie’s ear, “Take them oooooooooff, so we can go for a riiiiiiiiiide.”
“Falcon, stop.” Snow butted in, “I think you’re making him deaf.” he said as Rookie stuck a pinkie in his ear to recover what hearing he still had in that ear.
“Speaking of ride,” Rookie said after digging through his ear, “I don’t think I’m allowed to fly until I have a clean bill of health from Snow, Edge, Blaze, Archer, whoever.”
Falcon pouted before something came to mind as she grinned at Snow, “Oh Snow~.”
Snow leaned away from her, “Hey, you’re not pulling me into whatever scheme it is you’re thinking of.”
“Oh, it’s not a scheme. I just want you to say he’s free to go so we can go flying!” She said with a grin.
“Hmm. Rookie does seem to be alright, but I would rather have Edge or Blaze have the final say. Though if you’re in so much need of flying, then I think Edge never said anything about doing so. Just leaving Sand Island, and out of sight of one on us.”
Falcon squeed as she reached down to Rookie, but her hoof was blocked by Snow’s own hoof, “That is, if Rookie wants to, and the others have returned from their patrol.”
“But that’ll take foreeeeever! I’ll be rust by the time they get back!”
Snow looked over Falcon and said, “By the way Rookie keeps you maintained, I think you would be the one to outlast us.”
Falcon grumbled and Rookie added, “Besides. I don’t have my flight stuff on. I left them back on the couch in the hangar.” He said causing Falcon to grumble some more.
After a little more jogging up and down the runway, Rookie finally stopped and wiped some sweat of his brow, “Alright, jogging done. Falcon, mind lying down for a second so I can hop on your wing?”
“I could just lift you up, you know.” she said as she lied down so Rookie could climb onto her wing before standing back up.
“You could, but this is what I had in mind first. I’ll keep that in mind however.” He said before turning around and scooting off her wing a little and leaning back so he was upside-down with his legs hooked onto her wing to keep him from falling. Then he started leaning forward as if to climb back on but not actually doing so.
“What’s this exercise for?” Snow asked.
“Nothing in particular. Well, besides strengthening my core muscles. This is just something I’ve always wanted to do at base but would probably be yelled at if I tried.”
“Risk falling and hurting yourself?”
“That’s what they say. Maybe they’re right, and I’m an idiot for doing this, but I should be fine. I have you two to catch me if I fall.”
Falcon and Snow looked at each other before Falcon started whistling and tilting her wings a little.
“Falcon, that is not funny.” Rookie said while still exercising.
“Fine…”
Rookie’s exercising this time didn’t last as long. So when he climbed back onto Falcon’s wing and lie there, his abdomen was sore and his head felt funny from being upside down. Still, it was worth it.
“So what exercise are you going to do once you catch your breath?” Snow asked.
“None. That was my exercise for the day.” Rookie said still lying on Falcon’s wing and starting to lounge.
“Fair enough. What are you going to do now? The others still aren’t gonna be back for a while.”
“I think I’m just gonna lounge. Falcon’s wing is nice and warm. Mmm…” Rookie started curling up with a small smile gaining a few chuckles, “But seriously. I do feel kinda hungry. I didn’t have any dinner last night, or anything to eat this morning.”
Snow grinned, “Well, you’re just in luck. Archer made some ramen last night just before going to bed that I swiped. I still have some left overs in the fridge. I can warm you up some if you would like.”
“Ramen? Like… pre-packaged ramen?” Rookie cracked open an eye and looked at Snow.
“Yeah. None of us really know how to cook, which doesn’t really matter much when you can just have some JP-5 fuel. You on the other hoof need actual food, huh?”
“Yeah. But that’s alright. Some ramen actually sounds pretty good right about now.”
Snow nodded, “Alright. Just follow me.” He motioned for Falcon to follow him as he started towards his hangar. On the way he looked to Falcon and asked, “You want some ramen too? I’ve got plenty.”
Falcon grinned, “Sure! I’m feeling a little empty myself.”
Once they were in Snow’s hangar, Snow went to his fridge and pulled out a bowl of ramen and sniffed it.
“Why are you sniffing the ramen? It’s just ramen.” Rookie said.
“We like mixing jet fuel with our food. Otherwise we would need to eat a lot more to get as much energy then with just straight up jet fuel.” Snow said as he gave a couple more sniffs, “Alright. It’s safe.” He then placed the bowl in the microwave to warm it up. Once the ramen was warmed up, he separated them into two bowls, and a much smaller bowl before setting them on a nearby table, “Bon appa- uh… dig in!” He humored the two before digging into his bowl of ramen.
Falcon tilted her wing and let Rookie slide down onto the table where he took up his bowl and was about to start eating, until he saw Falcon just absolutely inhale her portion of Ramen. Snow took notice too as he was staring at her with noodles still hanging out of her mouth. Once the ramen disappeared down her gullet she looked to the two, then at their bowls before asking, “You gonna eat that?” The two looked at each other then looked back at Falcon and nodded before going back to eating.
After eating and taking care of the bowls, Falcon helped Rookie back on her wing before following Snow back outside where they were soon treated to three black dots heading towards the island, “Ah, the others are back.” Snow said. Sure enough, Blaze, Edge, and Archer landed on the runway and headed in their direction. Albet with some confusion.
“Who are you? And how did you get here without us noticing?” Edge was the first to ask Falcon.
Falcon gave a cocky grin and a salute, “I’m Falcon. I flew in with Rook.”
Edge raised an eyebrow, “And Rook is…?”
“That would be me.” Rookie raised a hand, “Falcon refuses to call me Rookie.”
“That’s because your name is Rook now.” Falcon said, looking back at Rookie on her wing.
“Wait. You’re the plane I helped Rookie with last night?” Archer asked.
“Yup!”
“Huh. I didn’t know planes from other worlds could suddenly come to life after entering into ours…” Archer said half to himself.
Edge on the other hand sighed and rubbed her face with a hoof, “Guess I’m going to have to report to Rex… again. At least the island wasn’t destroyed while we were gone.”
“Oh, speaking of gone. Now that you’re here, can Rook and I go for a flight?” Falcon piped up.
Edge hummed in thought before looking at Rookie, “How do you feel, Rookie? No harmful thoughts or anything?”
Rookie shook his head, “No Ma’am. I feel fine, for the most part. Still a little uneasy about the thought of living in a world that isn’t mine. But, I won’t be harming myself over it any time soon.”
Edge nodded slowly, “I see. Yeah, I think I can allow a flight. But you’re still unauthorised to leave the vicinity of the island, so one of us will have to be up there with you to make sure you don’t leave.”
“I can fill in for that roll, Edge.” Snow said.
“You think you can handle them?”
“I survived the morning. I can survive the afternoon.”
Edge nodded, “Alright. Good luck up there.” She concluded with before heading off with Blaze to report to Rex about Falcon.
“I’m gonna head to my hangar. The ramen is calling my name.” Archer said trotting off to his hangar.
“Uh, let’s go.” Snow said before heading to the runway in a quick manner followed by Falcon.
“Wait, wait, wait. I don’t have my flight gear on.” Rookie said causing them to stop, “We need to head back to our hangar and grab my stuff.”
“Alright then, make it quick. I’ll be waiting for you on the runway.” Snow said before heading off.
Falcon sighed and grumbled as she headed back to their hangar so Rookie could put on his stuff that he had left on the couch.
“Oh pipe down. This isn’t taking long.” Rookie said as he finished his flight suit and started getting his g-suit on.
“Ok. But I wanted to be in the sky hours ago!” She whined and trotted in place eliciting a chuckle from Rookie who finished with his g-suit and was putting on his helmet and oxygen mask. Once his helmet and mask were in place, he hopped onto Falcon’s hoof and was brought up to her head as she used another hoof to open her canopy. This, however didn’t have all too favourable results with Rookie.
“Good god. You’re literally opening up your head. That’s disturbing.”
“Just hop in.” Falcon said with a hint of irritation.
Once Rookie was in and starting to get buckled up, Falcon shut her canopy and blinked a couple times. Rookie, after buckling up, was taking note that Falcon’s cockpit looked like it hadn’t changed much, or at all, “Huh. Archer was right. I wonder what it’s like in his head.”
With Rookie in place, Falcon started off towards the runway while Rookie was listing off some pre-flight checks, “Oil pressure?”
“Good.”
“Engine?”
“Good.”
“Rud-”
“Rook, I’m fine. If I felt something wrong with me, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you.”
“You never know, Falcon. You never know. Besides, maybe there could be something wrong with you, and you wouldn’t notice until it’s too late?”
“Rook, you’re causing yourself to much stress worrying about something that isn’t likely to happen. Especially after you did some maintenance on me just last night.”
“You were aware of that?”
“I was aware of everything after being built.”
“So… you knew I-”
“Yup.”
“Oh…”
The rest of the trip to the runway was in relative silence. As promised, Snow was waiting for them on the runway, tapping a hoof a little as he waited, “Ready to fly?”
“I was born to fly.” Falcon said with a grin.
“Yeah, what she said.” Rookie added in.
“Alright. Just hold on for a second.” Snow said before looking to the sky and saying, “Snow to Thunderhead, come in Thunderhead…. The new recruits and I are requesting clearance to take flight…. Fine I’ll introduce you to them when we’re up there…. Thanks.” He looked back to Falcon and Rookie, “Alright, we have clearance. Once we’re up there however, Thunderhead would like to meet you two.”
Falcon shrugged, “That’s fine. As long as we get to go flying.”
“Alright, take your place ahead of me, and take off when you’re ready. I’ll be right behind you.”
Falcon stood at the ready in the middle of the runway with Snow just behind her and to the side a little. Rookie started up Falcon’s engine and counted down, “3… 2… 1… go!” At the go, Falcon started trotting down the runway while steadily increasing speed. Faster and faster, quickly going from a trot, to a canter, quickly to full on sprinting before she took a leap of faith and was airborne. Once in flight, she tilted up so she was steadily gaining altitude until they were at a sufficient height and leveled out. Snow then took the lead as he directed them over to a plane that was already in flight, presumably the AWACS Thunderhead. Once they got close, Falcon got up beside him and offered a friendly smile and wave.
“Hey. You must be the new recruits I heard about. I’m Thunderhead, welcome to Sand Island.” He said with a deflated voice and a sad smile.
Falcon frowned a little and said, “Thanks. But what’s with the long face?”
Thunderhead shook his head, “It’s… nothing. Nothing to worry yourself about. Thanks for your concern however. Mind if I know your names?”
“Sure!” Falcon brightened up, “I’m Falcon. My pilot in my cockpit is Rook.”
“It’s Second Lieutenant Rookie,” Rookie corrected, “And I can introduce myself. Thank you very much.”
Thunderhead gave a little chuckle, “I can see you two are going to be a hoof full. Well, go on. Enjoy your flight.”
“Thanks.” Falcon gave a salute, “Maybe you can watch our little dance.”
“Our little dance?” Rookie asked.
“You know. ‘Practice’.”
“... Ohh, right.”
Thunderhead raised an eyebrow then shrugged, “Sure, I guess. Not like I have much to do right now anyways.”
“Great! Now sit back or whatever, and watch the show!”
With that Falcon and Rookie parted from the two until they were a decent distance away then started flying straight up towards the atmosphere.
“Hey, Falcon, Rookie. You’re quickly reaching a dangerous height. Come back down.” Snow warned.
“Oh we will. We will.” Rookie was the one to reply as they continued climbing straight up. Once they reached 40,000 feet, Rookie stalled Falcon’s engine and they soon closed their eyes and started falling back down to earth with Falcon in a spread eagle pose When they opened their eyes, they could see what could be described as a giant, picturesque furball that was frozen in time.
“You see it too?” Falcon asked.
“Yeah.” Rookie replied.
They continued their skydive for a moment more before starting Falcon’s engine again and starting to ‘dance’ in the beautiful mayhem. Barrel rolls around cannon fire, corkscrews past missiles, aileron maneuvers to cut close against bellies and backs of the other planes stuck in time. Sometimes they would even cut through the contrails left by missiles or planes taking tight turns.
Eventually, the ‘frozen’ scene started to move. It was at a snails pace, hardly noticeable unless one was paying attention. Slowly, but surely it got faster. Bullets started connecting with their targets or missing altogether. Missiles doing the same except exploding instead of sinking into the targeted plane. Rookie and Falcon as a result started pulling tighter turns as their limiters would allow, and moving faster to outpace whatever was thrown at them.
Once the furball reached full speed, Rookie and Falcon were pulling even more daring maneuvers to avoid getting ‘shot down’. Like positioning themselves so a missile fired at them would hit another plane. Or flying erratically to throw off cannon fire aimed at them. They however didn’t return fire. It wasn’t because Falcon only had her cannon available. It wasn’t even because this was just all in their head, projected into their surroundings. Instead, it was because causing chaos was fun. Their erratic movement and maneuvers caused planes to fire or crash into one another. They weren’t worried about friendlies or anything, because this was a free-for-all. No teams, no alliances, nothing to even fight for. Just pure, chaotic fun that would probably make gods of chaos shed a tear of joy. For in the middle of all the chaos, was Rookie and Falcon. Orchestrating the chaos and making it flow in their favour. This was their dance. This is how they practiced. And so they practiced until it was just them, and one other plane. The two racing towards each other in a game of chicken to see who would flinch. Who had no fears. When they were about to collide, they closed their eyes for but a second and opened them again. When their eyes opened again, the scene was gone. Like it never existed. Because, well, it really never did exist.
Snow gave a low whistle as the two made their way back to him, “That was some impressive flying. Did you take the limiters off for this?”
Falcon shook her head and Rookie replied, “No, we didn’t. I’ve never taken the limiters off, even while practising. I know how to disable the limiters, but I never do.”
Snow hummed, “Impressive. Would like to see how you two would do without the limiters. But that would be for a later day. It’s starting to get late, so you should head to bed. I think I’m gonna retire myself.”
“Ok, we’ll do that.” Falcon said, “But first we want to see what Thunderhead thought about it.”
Snow flashed an irritated look that was gone as quick as it came before he shrugged, “Alright. I guess I can stay up a little longer. But don’t take too long though.”
“We won’t.” Rookie replied this time as he and Falcon made their way over to Thunderhead.
“So, what did you think about it?” Falcon asked.
“Well, I’m certainly impressed. How long have you two been flying?” Thunderhead asked.
“For about nine months, I think.” Rookie said.
“Nine months, eh?” He raised an eyebrow, “That’s pretty impressive. You must train hard wherever you come from.”
“Yeah, you could say that. Though I like to practice whenever I can. I’m still pretty new at this, so I don’t want to let my squad down. Or, well, my former squad….”
Thunderhead gave a sigh, “Then keep practising and you shouldn’t have to worry about disappointing anyone….” he gave a small wince.
“Hey,” Falcon started, “Is something wrong?”
Thunderhead shook his head, “I already said, nothing is wrong. Nothing you should worry about.”
Rookie and Falcon gave him a worried look but decided to drop it. Trying to pry it from him would probably be a bad idea. So they nodded and gave him a salute before flying back to Snow to land. Once landed they said their goodnights to Snow before heading off to their respective hangars. In their hangar, Falcon opened her cockpit and helped Rookie out so he could remove his stuff and place it on a table by the little kitchen. With Rookie back into his casual clothing, he was helped up onto Falcon’s head where she then went back outside to sit and watch the sun start to dip below the horizon again.
“So. How are you feeling about all this?” Falcon asked.
“About all this? I feel… scared. Scared, lost, confused, you name it. Sure this place has been nice and all, but I still can’t shake those feelings.”
Falcon reached up and grabbed him before holding him against her chest, “Then it’s a good thing you have me, right?”
Rookie wiggled to get a little more comfortable before saying, “Eh, to an extent. I’m not that excited to owning a living plane. Even if it came from the world I used to live in. But I guess that statement could be refuted that you know me well. You know my quirks. That and living with you will get me used to being around plane ponies. No offence.”
“None taken.”
“Thanks. Speaking of which, I think I quickly got used to these Sand Island ponies because I was forced into interaction with them. So in a way I was forced to get used to them. Does that make any sense?”
“Mmm, not really.”
“Oh. Well, still. That little note might mean something. Or it could have been a one time thing.”
“Or you’re just overthinking it. Come on, let’s head to to bed before you start rambling on to the point where you don’t even know what you’re talking about.” Falcon said as she moved Rookie back to her head.
“Yeah, that seems like a good idea.”
Back in the hangar, Falcon made her way to the bedroom where she climbed into bed and watched as Rookie slid down her face, over her muzzle, and across her neck to her chest where he lied down.
“You know, I never took note until now but, you’re pretty warm and a little more soft than I imagined.” Rookie took note.
“Hmm. Must be because I’m a pony now.”
“Maybe. Anyways, good night.” Rookie said as he snuggled up on Falcon’s chest.
Falcon giggled and pat his back, “Good night.” She said before relaxing and falling asleep herself.

???? Hrs. Location Unknown.

Rookie found himself flying through the arid skies and long mountain range again. He sighed as he took control of Falcon again. Though what he didn’t expect was a metallic hoof bumping against the canopy.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” He screamed out in alarm.
“Hey, watch your language, whoever’s in there.” He heard the familiar voice of Falcon.
“Falcon?! What, what’s going on?!”
“Rook? Oh! It is you! Apparently we’re sharing the same dream.” She said.
“H-how?”
“Beats me. Hey, know where we are?”
“Uh, n-no… No I don’t. Though I have a pretty good guess.”
“Well, a guess is better than nothing. Let’s hear it.”
“Well, I’ve been looking at the mountain range, and by the way it curves around, I want to say that this place is Area B7R. A.K.A. The Round Table.”
“Ooh, fancy name. Mind telling me about it?”
“Sure. Area B7R is an arid, mountainous place where only planes can be effective. There’s no water, so no Navy, and there was something about the ground I forgot about that would make ground forces ineffective. So air force is really the only option.”
“Ohh, I see. So, why this place? What’s so special about this place to cause us to be here, and not somewhere else?”
“Because I hold this place near and dear to my heart. It’s my favourite map to play in, in Ace Combat. At least, that’s what I think. I actually don’t know why we’re here.”
After a little bit of flying, they suddenly heard cruel laughter that caused them to be on edge.
“Falcon. Please tell me that laughter was from you.” Rookie said.
“I-I was about to ask the same of you.” She shakily replied.
“Well if it wasn’t you then… Uh oh.”
On the radar, they could see a dot on the edge of said radar fly straight at them and some more laughter followed by a voice, “Hello you two. Did you miss me?” It was the voice of The Demon Lord followed by some more cruel laughter.
“Nope!” Rookie said before tapping his helmet and talking to himself, “Uh, Luna said this was just a dream. I could take him down a notch or two. I just have to imagine it. Uh, now?”
“Oh shit. I suddenly don’t know how to fly this thing.” The Demon Lord said causing Rookie and Falcon to calm down a little until he continued on, “What does this do?” Suddenly a lock on warning was blaring, “What does this button do?” The warning became a missile alarm. The Demon Lord had fired a missile at them!
“Oh shit!” Rookie and Falcon yelled before making a hard right turn to avoid the missile that harmlessly flew right past them. Albet a little too close for comfort.
The Demon Lord was laughing again, “You really thought that would work? Sorry, but you’re a little too late. Now you’ll just have to deal with it.”
“Falcon.”
“Yes?”
“Initiate the Golf Tango Foxtrot Oscar maneuver?”
“Roger.”
“The what maneuver?” The Demon Lord asked before Rookie and Falcon turned to the south and started flying that way at max speed, “Oh, I love it when they run!” He laughed and gave chase.
When The Demon Lord got another missile lock on them Rookie called out, “Wait, wait, wait! Cease fire for a moment! I have a couple questions to ask!”
That seemed to have done the trick as though they were still locked on, they weren’t having any missiles fired at them, “Could you also stop targeting us? The alarm is distracting.” A couple seconds later, the alarm stopped and they heard a grumbling over the radio.
“This had better be freaking good...” The Demon Lord asked.
“Right. Uh, why are you attacking us?”
“Because it’s fun.”
“Really? Because it’s fun?”
“Yeah. Don’t you do the same?”
“Um… next question. Why are you such an ass?”
They heard a scoff, “The hell kind of question is that?.”
“The the Demon Lord I know isn’t an ass. He’s pretty nice.”
“Oh shove it. That’s character interpretation and you know it.”
Rookie huffed. As much a he hated to admit it, The Demon Lord did have a point, “Alright. then last question. Why did you let us escape?”
“I what?”
“Bye.” Was all that Rookie responded with before his vision started getting dark as he started waking up again.
But before his vision darkened completely, he could hear Falcon’s laughing and The Demon Lord’s irritated yelling, “You sneaky son of a b-” he wasn’t able to finish his sentence as Rookie’s vision darkened completely and he thought to himself, ‘That was hilarious.’