An increasingly confused Rookie

???? Hrs. Unknown location

“Fox two!” A pilot yelled as a missile screamed towards an enemy plane after being launched. “Missile hit. Splash one bandit.”
“Good job, Rookie. Fly like that and I may have to be the one to follow your orders.” another pilot said through the radio, the voice of his flight lead.
“Thanks sir, that’s greatly appreciated!” Rookie said back through the radio before lifting a hand off his plane’s throttle and petting the dashboard, “Good job, Falcon. You’re doing great.” He said to his plane which was an F-16C Fighting Falcon. Three guesses where he got the name.
Falcon shuddered from the petting.
“I know you’re scared. I am too. But I’m starting to feel confident about this. If we fly our hardest, we are sure to win this fight. Hopefully ‘He’ won’t show up…” It was Rookie’s time to shutter.
“Rookie, now is not the time to be talking to your girlfriend again. We have more bandits enroute” The voice of the flight lead cut in through the radio again, “Now focus on the mission. Those planes won’t shoot them selves down ya know.”
“Yes Sir! Sorry Sir!” Rookie snapped to attention and started flying towards another enemy.
This attack went on for what felt like hours, but was probably only ten or so minutes. Enemy planes were shot out of the sky as soon as they were locked on. Rolls, flips, turns, even some advanced maneuvering only the most skilled could pull off were used to sweep up the seemingly endless wave of enemies in an efficient manner as possible. It was a long fight, but soon the radio started filling with the transmissions of fleeing enemies and cheering of the flight lead and other wingmen.
“We did it! I can’t believe we did it!” Rookie cheered as well, taking his hand off the throttle again to pat Falcon’s dashboard, “Alright, Sir. Please lead the way back home.”
… All he could hear was silence...
“... Sir?” Rookie looked around in the sky for his suddenly silent flight lead, but he was nowhere to be found, “Sir? Sir where are you?”
Not only was his superior not responding, but neither were the other wingmen. In fact, they didn’t seem to be around in the formation they were in earlier, or on radar. They disappeared. Except for one little blip on the radar that signaled an enemy. And it was headed straight for them.
They could see it in the distance, and when they did, they froze. The plane looked to be an Su-47 Berkut with the forward swept wings and slender body. But the tails were pointed inwards instead of being more straight up and down. It was an ADFX-01 Morgan painted white with dark blue wings and tail fins.
“It’s… it’s… oh shit, it’s ‘Him’! It’s The Demon Lord! Falcon, get us out of here!” Rookie screamed as he tried moving the stick to turn and fly away, but it was unresponsive, “Falcon! Snap out of it! We need to get out of here or we will die!”
Falcon was still not responding as if it really was alive and frozen with fear as The Demon Lord let loose a couple missiles that were flying at them fast. Rookie was still screaming and moving the stick, trying to move Falcon out of the way. By the time Falcon started moving again, it was too late. The missiles would impact before they would be able to get out of the way. So in an attempt to save at least one person, Rookie was automatically ejected. ‘I’m sorry...’ a faint female voice could have been heard, but Rookie was too focused on another thing to notice.
“FALCON!” He screamed with a hand outstretched as if trying to pluck Falcon and move her out of harms way. But it was a fruitless effort and he was forced to watch as the missiles collided with with Falcon, whom disappeared in a fiery explosion…

0745 hrs. Unspecified USA air base
“FALCON!” Rookie sat up in his bed, covered in a cold sweat from his recent nightmare. “Just a dream… Just a dream… just a dream…” He quietly chanted to himself to calm his breathing. When he finally calmed down, he looked over to his alarm clock that read 0750 hrs. He wouldn’t be needed for a while, or maybe even for today, so he decided a shower was in order.
Once he was cleaned, and the sweat was washed off, a trip to the mess hall was needed to quiet his rumbling belly. The food at the mess hall was alright, nothing too impressive. He got a special, a ‘rubbered dick’, which was shredded chicken in place of sausage, some peppers, and scrambled eggs wrapped up in a burrito. Rookie always loved the chefs sense of humor and creativity when it comes to naming meals.
As Rookie was enjoying his meal, his flight lead sat down in front of him with a ‘rubbered dick’ of his own and said, “Just got a call from the brass that we are to patrol around the north. Apparently there’s been some ‘atmospheric disturbances’ in the area, and we are to be sent to check it out.” before chowing down.
“Seriously? Can’t they just have some astronomers keep their eyes glued on their monitors and guess what’s going on?”
“They’re already doing that. They want us to go get a first hand look at what’s causing all the fuss. Beta and Caelum already got the news, so we’ll be meeting them on the runway at noon. With that in mind, you should go see to your ‘girlfriend’ after this and get her ready for flight.” The Flight Lead casually said through mouthfuls causing Rookie to turn red a little. It was known and joked around at the base that Rookie was rather attached to his jet.
The two pilots finished their meals in relative peace, well as much peace one can get in a mess hall where everyone was making gay jokes because of the special of the day. With their meals eaten, and dished dealt with, they separated to go to their hangers and prepare their jets for take-off.
“Oil pressure is good. Engine is now good, so it isn’t due for another maintenance check for a while, missile’s are secured, good. Hmm, will have to clean out the carbon in her exhaust once I get back…” Rookie said as he checked things off on a clip board. The maintenance check didn’t last long before he tossed the clipboard off to the side and pat Falcon’s undercarriage, “Alright, Falcon. You’re good to go. Once we get back, I’ll have to clean the carbon out of your exhaust before it starts causing problems.”
With that taken care of, he hopped into Falcon’s cockpit and did the pre-flight checks before started her engines that caused the jet to slightly shudder. No one, not even the engineers could figure out why that happened, but it didn’t seem to impair the jet in any way, so they let it slide.
“Hey, hey. No need to be afraid. We’re just going on a patrol to check something out. No combat or anything.” He said patting the dashboard, but the plane shuddered again, “Yes, I know you’re fully armed, but that’s only if we encounter any hostiles while flying. I doubt we will since this is US territory, and we aren’t really in a time of war.”
Falcon didn’t shudder again, so Rookie taxied her out onto the runway with the rest of the flight.
“Hey Rookie, are you talking to your plane again? That thing’s just an inanimate object you know.” Beta said through the radio.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I just feel better flying while thinking that I’m not flying alone. Well, beside you guys.”
“Well, as long as it doesn’t affect your flying…”
“Cut the chatter.” The flight lead said interrupting the conversation, “Once we’re airborne, we are to head north, north-east. Keep in formation at all times. This may be a patrol, but that doesn’t mean you can fuck off and look at the local tourist traps. Ready? Then let’s move.”
One by one, the planes took off from the runway with Rookie closing up from behind. Once airborne, they headed off in the indicated direction to look for god knows what.
“Sir,” Rookie said to the flight lead as he watched the land below fly past, “What do you think will be there when we arrive?
“Rookie, if I knew that, then we wouldn’t be here and I would be a fucking millionaire.”
“Right, stupid question…”
The rest of the flight was mostly quiet, not counting the banter between the other wingmen on who banged whose mother or if that rock formation totally looked like a marijuana leaf. It totally did by the way. Probably some teenagers with too much time.
“Hey, Rookie?” Caelum called out
“Yeah?”
“When’s the wedding?”
“W-what? Wedding? Between who?”
“You know. Between you and your plane!” He started laughing.
Rookie grew a little red at the joke, “Har har har. For your information, the wedding is on the twenty eighth.” That caused Caelum to start roaring with laughter. Rookie wasn’t excluded from the joking that was aimed at him. So even he joined in from time to time.
When the flight was reaching its destination, a giant thundercloud was quickly moving into their flight path.
“Sir, that thundercloud is moving a little too fast to be natural. Maybe it’s part of the atmospheric disturbances we heard about. Should we avoid it?” Rookie asked.
“Negative. It’s just a cloud. Keep flying straight.” He responded.
And so they did. They soon entered the thundercloud. Booms of thunder and flashes of lightning were all around them as they flew through cloud.
“Sir…” Rookie started, “I’m not getting a good feeling about this. Maybe we should have flown around it.”
“I said negative, Rookie. We will be fine. The cloud will be behind us soon enough. Just try to not get spooked by the lightning.”
“I still don’t know… The lightning looks like it’s been stalking us. And slowly getting closer. I’ve been watching it and- SHIT!” Rookie said as he and Falcon were struck by lightning. Falcon was automatically shut off somehow and had become a glorified glider in a thundercloud.
“Falcon?! Falcon, wake up! Wake up dammit!” Rookie yelled as he tried restarting his plane’s engine with no such luck.
Soon enough, Falcon had lost too much speed and was going into a stall. Like their flight lead said, they were soon out of the thundercloud. Too bad it wasn’t in favourable conditions. And if Rookie couldn’t get Falcon to start again, then at least he knew how to swim as they would be crashing into the water below. Too bad he wasn’t thinking of ejecting anytime soon.
“Wake up, wake up, wake up! Dammit Falcon, I’m not leaving you!” Rookie yelled as he pulled back on the control stick while frantically trying to start the engine. Miraculously, the engine started up again, “YES!” he said as he was still pulling back on the stick to make a hard turn out of a dive and into a climb. He was just in time too as the underbelly of Falcon was almost skimming the water. With the current emergency taken care of, Rookie sat back and took some deep breaths to calm himself. Sweat was accumulating on his forehead, and he was shaking a little from the scare he had to endure, but after some deep breaths his shaking subsided and he had cooled down.
As he was climbing back to altitude, he was starting to notice that something was off. Something was very off. Someone should have contacted him by now to ask of he was alright. Not only that, but he couldn’t see anyone on the radar, or out the sides of the canopy. He was alone, and starting to get nervous.
“Rookie to squad members, come in squad members, over.” Silence, “I repeat. Rookie to squad members, come in squad members, over.” Still nothing. He was getting scared again, “Beta? Caelum? Flight Lead? … Anyone?” No one. Not good… First the lightning, almost crashing into the water, and now… wait… water? A quick look confirmed that Rookie was now over water. Which made absolutely no sense. He should have been over land, right? The flight wasn’t supposed to go over large bodies of water, especially bodies of water this big. What the hell was going on?
Rookie switched the radio frequency to all channels, “This is sec-,” He had to stop right there for the pressure of being alone and increasingly scared had caused his voice to sound shuddered and cracked at the end. Some more deep breaths and he tried again, “This is Second lieutenant Rookie to anyone in the area, please respond. I repeat, this is Second lieutenant Rookie to anyone in the area, please respond.” The suspense was killing him. At this rate, it might actual-.
“This is Captain Edge of the Sand Island Squadron. We hear you loud and clear. Please sit tight while we fly over to give you an escort.” The voice of a female pierced the chilling silence and brought with it some sweet relief. The mention of escort should have raised some red flags however. But since the voice was the only thing keeping Rookie from having a panic attack, he had zero fucks to give.
“Oh thank god, another voice! Thank you Ms. Edge, I was almost about to have a panic attack. That would not have been pretty. And copy on the sit tight. I’ll circle around until you arrive.” With joy, Rookie was starting to gently circle around where he was until Edge and whoever was with her arrived.
Four blips on the radar were soon seen heading in his direction, and it wasn’t long before he was able to see them out the side of his canopy. However, one look and the term ‘confused’ would be an understatement when describing Rookie at the moment as the planes that were approaching looked… off to say the least. “Um, Edge? What am I looking at?”
“I don’t know, you will have to describe it to us.”
“Well. It looks like the bastard-... uh... it looks like a mix between a jet… wings look to be swept back but could spread out, F-14?... Anyways, a mix between a jet, and a cartoon horse. And there are four of them.”
“Are they painted black?”
“Yup.”
“That would be us. And we’re plane ponies. Correct on the F-14 as well.”
“Plane ponies?” Rookie facepalmed, “First my squad disappears, I end up in an unfamiliar area, now these plane pony things… oh fuck, I forgot about the radio! Uh, I didn’t offend any of you, did I?”
There was a slight pause before Edge replied, “We’ll survive. Now please follow us. We have some questions we would like to ask you back at the base.” The plane ponies that arrived started heading back the direction they came from. Now with Rookie in tow.
“Operation: Make a decent first impression. Status: Nailed it.” Rookie mumbled to himself.

1430 hrs. Sand Island base
It wasn’t a particularly long flight. Maybe about five to ten minutes tops before Rookie could see an island come into view. It didn’t seem too impressive. There was an air strip to take off and land, some hangars, and buildings. For a small island, it sure did have what would be necessary to be a forward air base for a number of squads if a war has broken out. Hopefully that wasn’t the case. Other than that, it also seemed like a decent place for a vacation, if the sandy coast and occasional palm trees were any indication.
When the Rookie had landed following the Sand Island Squadron  and taxied off the runway, his first order of business what to open Falcon’s canopy and raise his visor… which was apparently a bad idea on the visor part.
“Good god, that’s bright!” He immediately lowered his visor back down. Just when he thought a bright and sunny America could get bright, this one takes the cake. He’ll have to get used to it eventually. At least the sun wasn’t cooking him alive, so he hopped out of the cockpit and walked to where the plane ponies were waiting for him. And good god they were big. Granted they’re probably about the size of an F-14, that’s still pretty big so he had to crane his neck upwards to even see their faces. Which by the way was incredibly disturbing. Eyes, mouth, nose, ears, they really did look like a living thing mixed with a jet and they were staring down at him. So talking with them will probably be a little uncomfortable, and hopefully they didn’t know human body language as Rookie was leaned away from them a little as he stared at them. If they did, then they gave no indication as they motioned him over to one of the buildings before heading that way themselves. Once inside, they walked to one of the tables with one of them offering a hoof to help lift Rookie onto one the table, which he tentatively accepted, before going to sit beside the others on one side of the table looking down at Rookie. Since the inside of the building seemed to be darker, he removed his helmet and mask and went to go sit in the middle of the table, starting to get a nervous again. He was in an unfamiliar place and getting stared at by four big plane ponies after all.
“So, you are Second lieutenant, Rookie, correct?” Edge was the one to ask, judging by the voice. Also by her slightly more slender frame compared to the other three.
“Uh, y-yeah. That’s correct.” He nodded, “Uh, your names, please?”
“Sure. I’m Captain Edge as you already know. The others are Captain Blaze, Captain Archer, and Captain Snow. We have an AWACS by the name of Thunderhead here as well.” She said pointing to the others in kind.
“Hey, quick question.” Archer quickly butted and leaned in, “Why is your name ‘Rookie’?”
Rookie leaned back a little, “ Um. Rookie is the nickname given to me by my squad because I’ve only been with them for I think nine months? I forgot, but I know it was under a year.”
“Right. Good to know.” Edge said gently pushing Archer back, “Now, you said you lost your squad. Do you know how they disappeared?”
Rookie gave a shrug, “Not really. Last I saw them was just before I got struck by lightning while we were flying through a thundercloud.”
Edge raised an eyebrow, “Alright. Why were you flying through a thundercloud in the first place? On that train of thought, what were you and your squad’s sortie?”
Rookie shrugged once more, “I really don’t know why we were flying through it. It didn’t seem natural to me. Moved too fast. Almost as if were intercepting us. As for our sortie,  we were tasked with investigating some atmospheric disturbances.”
“Atmospheric Disturbances?” Edge screwed up her face and tapped on her forehead in a thoughtful manner, “Thundercloud… lightning… disturbances…” She turned to Blaze and mumbled, “almost sounds like… nevermind.” She shook her head and looked back to Rookie, “Alright, I think that wraps up our questions. I bet you have some yourself, yes?”
Rookie nodded, “That I do, and it would be my most pressing one.” He said as he stood up and spread his arms in a confused manner, “Where am I?”
Edge hummed and slowly nodded, “Right. Should have expected that question. Well, I’ll cut to the chase. You are currently on Sand Island in the Avalon Territory, in the world of Equestria.”
Rookie scratched his head. Avalon? Like that one place in a videogame he so loved to play? Eh, probably a coincidence. However there was a bigger problem, “World of Equestria? So… I’m not on Earth anymore?”
They all shook their heads, “Nope.” Archer said.
Rookie let that little bit of info process a little before he stared at them intently and asked, “But I can still go back to Earth… right?”
The ponies leaned back and looked among themselves with nervous looks.
“I can still go home… right?” Rookie pressed again.
The ponies looked between him and themselves a little longer before Archer shook his head, “As far as we know… no. I’m sorry.”
Rookie stared at them and blinked slowly. Maybe this was just a dream. Yeah, it’s just a dream. Plane ponies? Yeah, not in a million years. Just a little pinch on the arm and… alright that did nothing. Granted he was wearing his flightsuit so that might be the problem. Maybe a punch to the side of the face will do the trick…
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” The ponies yelled in near unison. Don’t really know why they’re so concerned. They don’t exist. Also that punch didn’t seem to have done anything. Maybe another will do. And… nope they’re still there. Third time the charm?
Rookie was winding up for another blow to the side of his face before Snow leapt forward and pinned Rookie to the table with a hoof, “What is wrong with you man!?”
“Oh, nothing’s wrong with me, Sir!” Rookie began with a look that completely said ‘he lost his marbles’, “I’m just stuck in a different world with no way to get back home! Everything is just dandy! So don’t worry about me, Sir! I’m ready for my next sortie! Well, actually, I have to do my maintenance on Falcon before-... Falcon!” Rookie started struggling underneath Snow’s hoof, but Snow wasn’t letting up. It was a good several minutes of the ponies awkwardly looking at each other before Rookie had finally stopped struggling and was lying there underneath Snow’s hoof, staring at the ceiling.
“You alright, Man?” Snow asked.
“I’ve calmed down if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Will you start punching yourself again if I let my hoof off of you?”
Rookie sighed, “No. I won’t. I would just like some time to think, and doing my regular maintenance on Falcon would really help.”
“Falcon?” Snow asked as he lifted his hoof off of Rookie who stood up and started dusting off, “You mean that plane you came in on?”
“Yeah. F-16C Fighting Falcon. Haven’t had her for too long, but I already know enough to take her apart and put her back together.” Rookie said as he grabbed his helmet and was helped down from the table by Edge, “Uh, mind if I use an empty hanger and some tools to use on Falcon?”
“Sure.” Edge nodded, “Archer can help you find a hanger and keep an eye on you. We’re concerned about your mental health, so we will have to keep a constant eye on you for a couple days or until you seem better. Is that alright with you?”
 Rookie nodded, “Yeah. Thanks for the concern, and letting me use a hanger.” he said as he put his helmet back on and lowered the visor before walking out of the building and to his plane.
“I will?” Archer looked to Edge asked.
“Yes, you will. I want you to keep an eye on him for a while to make sure he doesn’t decide to start harming himself again. You should also try to ease him into this world. As we have already noticed, he’s in a lot of shock. So letting him know more about the world will hopefully dampen it. If not.... well let’s just hope nothing happens. Think you can manage?”
“Yeah. I think I can do that.” Archer gave a salute.
“Good. I have to go give Rex a call, and let him know of our new arrival.” Edge concluded before walking off with Blaze and Snow. Archer himself watched for a second before heading out to catch up with Rookie.
When Archer caught up with Rookie, Rookie was staring at his plane before looking over to Archer, “You know. I just remembered that I have no clue on how I’ll be able to move Falcon to a hanger.”
“Oh, well if that’s the case, then I can just push it.” Archer said before he started pushing the plane over to an unused hanger with Rookie walking at his side, “Question.”
“Answer.”
“What are you going to be working on? Maybe I can help?”
“I’ll be taking a look at Falcon’s electronics and wiring. Getting hit by lightning must have fried god knows how many wires. It’s a freaking miracle she was able to start back up. Oh, that reminds me. Got a rag or something? I was going to clean out her exhaust port as well.”
“Um, yeah. I’ll grab them from some other hangers once we get your plane into an empty one.”
Their little trek soon came to an end once they reached the entrance of an empty hanger. When Archer opened the door for Rookie, it was safe to say that Rookie was confused.
“This… this looks more like a living room then a hanger. Why’s that?” Rookie gave Archer a confused look. The hanger in question had a couch on one side of the wall, a small kitchen in the corner right next to it, and a couple doors with one leading to a bedroom and the other to a bathroom.
“Because we’re living beings.”
Rookie stared as Archer pushed the F-16 into the middle of the hanger, “You know, that’s a very good reason. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because you just got here. Now stay here while I go grab some tools and a rag. I know Edge said an eye should be kept on you at all times, but I shouldn’t be too long. So, please don’t start harming yourself again before I get back.” Archer said as he passed by Rookie and disappeared among the other hangers.
Rookie opened his mouth to raise an objection put paused as he thought about recent events and what the others might be thinking of his current psyche, “Yeah. I guess he has a point…”
When Archer returned with a tool chest in his mouth, he saw Rookie sitting by the open door of the hanger, seemingly staring out onto the water. So he walked over and placed the tool chest to the side before sitting down beside him, “Thinking of anything?” Archer asked after a couple seconds have passed.
Rookie gave a slight shrug, “Not really. I think that’s for the best actually. If I try to think, I might go crazy again. I just need some normalcy to return before I start thinking again. Oh and thanks for the tools.”
“No problem.” Archer said as he slid the chest over to Rookie who didn’t seem to bother with it. Instead continuing to look over the water.
Rookie continued staring over the water for a long while before standing up and stretching before picking up the chest and walking into the hanger to start working on Falcon.
Archer stood up and followed him in, “Need any help?”
Rookie paused after taking off his helmet and went digging through the tool chest before looked to Archer then to Falcon and back to Archer, “Actually, yes. I need to get on top of Falcon, and without a ladder of some sort, it’s going to be a little difficult.”
“Got it. If there’s anything else you want help with, feel free to ask.” Archer said as Rookie gathered up the tools he would need before hopping onto his hoof and being lifted up onto Falcon.
Rookie immediately started getting to work on removing the paneling, “I’ll still need your help. Basicly I would need to to hold onto the panels I take off so I don’t leave them some place up here and accidentally knock one off, thus damaging it and possibly making it so that I can’t put it back on. That would not be good whatsoever.”
“No it wouldn’t be.”
It was a long process for taking the paneling off due to a lack of certain tools, so some improvisation was necessary. None the less, the panels were removed and placed safely to the side. With that done, Rookie sat where he was and stared at the wiring, “Huh…”
“Huh? Were you expecting something?”
“Honestly. I don’t know what I was expecting. Since the wiring is fine.”
“Oh. Well didn’t you say earlier that some wires should be frayed or something?”
“Yes. But that was before I remembered that jets are made to generally withstand lightning. So lightning wouldn’t really cause wires to fray or melt or anything. If anything were to happen, it would most likely be a spark happening in the fuselage which would cause the fuel to…”
“Kaboom…” Archer grimace.
“Yup. Not pretty.” Rookie nodded, “Mind handing the panels back?”
“Yeah, sure.” Archer started handing the panels back so Rookie could replace them, “So uh. Anything about this place you would like to know while we put the panels back on?”
Rookie raised an eyebrow at Archer before going back to the panel he was working on, “What makes you ask that?”
“Well, Edge tasked me with trying to get you acclimated to this world some more by letting you know more about it. But if you’re not ready, then I understand. normality and stuff”
Rookie shook his head, “Nah, I think I’m ready to know more. Working on Falcon is helping me to keep calm.”
Archer grinned as he was readying another panel for Rookie to put back on, “Great! What did you want to know?”
“For starters, what do you guys do? Like, what’s your job?”
“Oh, that’s easy. We’re the royal guards of Avalon!” He said proudly. Rookie couldn’t help but chuckle at the mention of Royal guard, “What’s so funny?”
“Oh, nothing. Just, the royal guard part. Makes me think of medieval times. Or England. Anyways, if you’re royal guards. shouldn’t there be more of you? Instead of the four of you?”
It was Archer’s turn to chuckle this time, “Oh, we’re not the only royal guards. There’s more, but they’re in different places of Avalon. Maybe you might see them, since this is our HQ.”
“I see…” Rookie said stroking his chin.
“You’re thinking of joining aren’t you…?”
“I didn’t know you could read minds.”
Archer laughed, “No, I can’t. But that would be kinda cool though. No, I just made an educated guess. You had that certain look on your face, and you are also a fighter pilot. Though, mind if I ask a question?”
“Sure. Shoot.”
“What was your job before you came here? I don’t think you actually mentioned it earlier.”
The question Archer had asked caused Rookie to stop working on the current panel and sit up straight to give a proud salute, “I’m a proud pilot of the United States Air Force, Sir! Or I was. But I’m still damn proud of it.” with that said, Rookie with back to work on the panels with some vigor.
Archer chuckled “Alright. So what do you do in your air force?”
“Umm… let’s see,” He said while still working on the panel, “Provide close air support, air dominance, patrols, I think search and rescue as well. For the most part, we keep the skies clear and or safe. With force if and when necessary.”
“I see. So you already do some of the things we would do.” Archer tapped his chin in thought, “We aren’t hurting for more members, but having another surely wouldn’t hurt…”
“So… is that a yes…?” Rookie leaned a little to Archer.
“You would have to get everyone’s support, but I think you have a pretty good shot.”
“Awesome!” Rookie grinned before going back to the panel he was working on.
“I guess that answers that question. Anything else you would like to know?” Archer handed over the last panel.
“Hmm. I’m going to assume there are more of you. Well, plane ponies in general and not just F-14’s. So, how many different types of you guys are there? Like, different makes and models and stuff like that?”
“Oh, there are more than I can possibly remember. If you can think of it, there’s probably one around in Avalon.”
“Including commercial jets, bi-planes, prototypes, everything?” Rookie gave Archer a rather bewildered look.
“Yup. Yup. Yup. And yup.” Archer nodded them off.
Rookie stared and blinked a couple times before giving a surprised look and going back to the panel, “Wow. That’s a lot…”
“I know right? So, what else would you like to know?”
“I dunno. I don’t really have anything else to ask. I could ask about the world, but I’ll find out more of that soon enough.” Rookie however did have a question he was dying to ask, “Actually, I have one more question. Is there a giant dam somewhere in Avalon?”
“A dam? Yeah. There’s one over by Avalon’s Shadow that powers the place. Why?” Archer tilted his head at the seemingly specific question.
Rookie pursed his lips and squinted at nothing in particular as the gears in his head were turning. It wasn’t long before he dismissed it with a hum, “Hmm, I’ll have to visit it some time…”
Archer raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment, instead watching Rookie finish the last panel, “All done?”
“Yes and no.” Rookie said as he gathered up the tools and was helped down to the floor, “I finished the panels, but now I need to clean the carbon out of Falcon’s exhaust.” He put the tools into the tool chest and grabbed a rag from it before walking behind Falcon. With Archer’s help, he was able to crawl into the exhaust port and start wiping away the accumulated carbon.
Archer watched Rookie work for a couple minutes before asking, “Hey Rookie. Are all pilots taught how to repair their planes in the USAF?”
Rookie grumbled as he remembered that he forgot to take off his g-suit and flight suit before climbing into the exhaust port and getting carbon all over himself before replying to Archer, “Nah. We have an engineer crew that does the repairs and maintenance.”
“Really?” Archer tilted his head, “Then where did you learn how to repair and maintain your plane?”
“From the engineers of course. Whenever Falcon was getting a maintenance check, I would watch them. One day, one of them asked if I wanted to learn how to keep Falcon maintained. I think it was supposed to be a joke, but I accepted it and they taught me how to keep her maintained. I think the engineers were kinda happy that I took the initiative to learn how to maintain Falcon myself. Means they would have one less plane to worry about too much.”
“Ohh~...” Archer nodded slowly as Rookie finished his statement, “Would it be possible to keep us maintained? Sure we have the best engineer, who just so happens to be our leader, in Avalons Shadow. But it’s a bit of a flight away, and having someone who could keep us in top shape here would be a big help.”
“Hmm. I would love to, but I know nothing about plane ponies, let alone F-14’s.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t have to worry about us being ponies as well as planes. Our internals are very similar to a non-living plane.”
Rookie looked behind him to give Archer a confused look, “Seriously? Like someone could sit in your head and be able to control you like any other plane?”
Archer nodded, “Yup. Very similar to non-living planes.”
Rookie kept staring confusedly at Archer for a couple moments before finishing up with cleaning out the carbon, “Alright. If you can convince your engineer to teach me how to keep you guys maintained and do repairs if necessary, then sure. I’ll be your guys’ grease monkey. And whoever else would need maintenance that your engineer would teach me.”
Archer gave a very excited grin, “Great! If you don’t make the cut, then you would at least have that as something to do.”
“Yup.” Rookie said simply before climbing out of Falcon’s exhaust port and onto Archer’s hoof before being set down on the ground before going to Falcon’s air intake and starting to clean that out as well. Or at least as much as he could with just the rag, “Because I wouldn’t really have anywhere to go. Military is essentially all I really know here. I don’t know any civilian jobs or whatever. Hell, I don’t think I would even be ready for the general public, being a human and all. That reminds me,” Rookie said moving out from underneath Falcon to fix Archer a raised eyebrow, “You aren’t freaking out or anything over seeing me and my plane. Why is that?”
Archer gave a scoff and a dismissive wave, “That’s because you’re not the only human in this world. There are some over in equestria, and we had a couple here in Avalon as well.” His face then went gloomy, “Before something happened to them… So, you’re kinda the only human in Avalon now.”
Rookie gave a concerned face before going back to Falcon, “I won’t ask for details. I don’t think I would like the details. At least that answers my question.”
The last couple minutes or so of maintenance went on with silence as nothing more needed to be said. By now, the sun was starting to sink below the horizon. Rookie then placed the rag back in the tool chest and went to look at the missiles still attached to Falcon’s hard points, “Should I take those off? And if so, where should I put them?”
Archer looked at the missiles before asking, “Are you planning on flying anytime soon?”
“No. Not for at least a day or two.”
Archer shrugged, “Then you can probably leave them on until you decide to go flying. I’ll bring a rack over some time tomorrow so you can store the missiles until they’re needed.”
“Thanks.” Rookie said before scooting the tool chest over to Archer then took off his g-suit and flight suit so all he had were the pants and shirt underneath. He then grabbed his helmet and climbed onto the couch with Archer’s assistance.
“Don’t you want to lie in one of the beds?” Archer asked.
“Nah. That’s too much bed for me. Besides, it’s warm out enough to not warrant a blanket.” Rookie said as he got himself cozy on the couch.
Archer shrugged and went to pick up the tool chest, “Alright… I’ll try to Snow over in the morning to keep an eye on you. Sound alright?”
“Sounds alright with me.”
With a couple good night and good byes, Rookie was soon asleep.

???? Hrs. Unknown location.

Rookie was flying through the familiar air again. This time, in complete isolation. Not even the Demon Lord was there to torment him. The radio and radar silence was unnerving, so he started flying around aimlessly, trying to look for someone. As he was flying he took in the surroundings. The most notable thing, was the mountain range that seemed to go on forever. He followed along that a ways and noticed that it had a subtle curve to it. Maybe it looped around into a circle?
“Please, slow down. We can only fly so fast.” A female voice suddenly came into his head.
“What the f-!” Rookie jumped in his seat, “You almost gave me a damn heart attack! Where are you?”
“We are beside you. Look to your left.”
When Rookie looked to his left, he had no freaking idea what he was looking at. It looked similar to the ponies he saw earlier, but this one was far smaller, and didn’t look like it was mixed with a plane of some sort. It had wings, but they were of the feathered variety. To sum up the creature, it looked like a dark blue pegasus, with a horn and a wicked celestial looking mane and tail. Or a unicorn with wings. A pegacorn? Whatever it was, it had cool looking hair.
“Uh… hi…? Mind if I know what you are?”
The creature put on a regal looking pose and pointed to herself, “We are an alicorn. You must be the human we sensed earlier, correct?”
She also talks funny and didn’t allow Rookie time to nod and say ‘I see’ before asking her question. Like it would have made much of a difference, “Yeah…? I guess…? How did you sense me?”
The alicorn giggled, “We are Luna. We are the princess of the night. We noticed there was something new, so we investigated it. Turns out, it was you.”
Princess? Guess that explains the odd speech, “Ok. How did you know I was a human?”
“You just suddenly appeared. Like the other humans before you.”
“Oh… ok. I guess that makes sense?”
“Yes.” Her face went solemn, “We also sensed something dark in this dream. Something evil. Mind telling us what you know?”
“Evil?” Rookie tried scratching his head, “The only evil in here would be the damn Demon Lord that keeps shooting me down. But he’s not evil. Or at least he’s not supposed to be. But you shouldn’t worry about that. This has been happening for a long time.”
Luna’s face looked surprised, “You have been dreaming of your death for a long time?”
“No, no, no! Shot down, sure. Died, no. If anything, I would like to shoot him down. But I don’t think I will ever be able to. He’s an ace, and I’m just a rookie….”
Luna rubbed her chin in thought as she watched Rookie in the cockpit, “Hmm. What are you afraid of?”
Rookie thought hard on that question before answering, “ You know, I thought I was afraid of nothing. I guess, now that you make me think about it, I guess I’m afraid of disappointing people. I’m afraid of slowing everyone down with my inexperience and lack of skill. Whenever I can, I practice, practice, and practice some more, but I still can’t shake the feeling that I’ll never be as skilled as the Demon Lord. Or more achievable, the pilots I was with before coming to Equestria.”
“Ah hah!” Luna clapped her hooves, “Then this Demon lord is a test! A test you have not realised!”
“A… test?” Rookie looked to Luna, “Why do you say that?”
“Your fear is holding you back. If you want to beat the Demon Lord, then you must overcome your fear of disappointment!”
“Huh… that does make sense.”
“Yes! Now remember, this is a dream. He is only as strong as you make him out to be.”
“Ok. So if I want I could make him horribly incompetent if I wish?”
“Correct! Start out low, then slowly work your way up until you reach the level of skill you believe him to be. By then, you should have enough confidence in yourself to beat him!”
Rookie rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “Yeah. That makes me feel better. Thank you… Princess Luna?”
Luna nodded, “Correct. Though please, just call us Luna.”
“Ok. Thanks Luna. Um, mind if I ask a favour?”
“Oh? What do you have in mind?”
“Could you keep my existence under wraps? I don’t know how you deal with new comers, but I would like it if the world didn’t know I existed. I’m not quite ready for the general public. At least for now.”
“We would help if we could, but we have no power where you are. But since you are in the Avalon Territory, ponies here won’t know you exist anyways. Unless you make a show of yourself, or word gets around. But until that happens, and your approval, we will not let on that there is a new human in Avalon.” She gave a sly grin, “As far as anypony is concerned, this conversation never happened.”
Rookie gave a chuckle, “Thanks Luna. I owe you one.”
After some good byes, they parted ways. Rookie continued flying along the mountain range a little longer before his vision blacked out and he was starting to wake up.