Hey everybird! What's up!?
First off, thank you to you all who got the last question, it was more of a funny, less serious one to ask!
And today's question is going to step away from Star Wars and back to something else I very much enjoy…
From MLP: FiM, who is your most favorite of the Pillars of Equestria?
Me: It's a close tie between Somnambula and Mistmane, but I do have to go with Mistmane, I am a little biased because Mistmane comes from an Asian inspired part of Equestria and being South Korean born… Yeah it's a no brainer. But seriously, unlike the other pillars, who kept their physical appearance, (And in the case of Rockhoof, changed in a better way) Mistmane actually gave up her physical beauty and well… Not to sound mean… Looks like an old witch…
Moving on to your question…
From Stormknight089, he asks, "What is your favorite Star Wars quote from the movies?"
Me: That is your really hard, but I guess there are two most memorable ones that come to my mind right now, when Darth Vader told Luke, "No, I am your father" and in Rogue One when Jyn Erso said "Rebellions are built on hope"
From T8ECR34TOR, he asks, "With every action movie that you've seen and enjoyed in your life, what scene from either of them did you think was completely epic?"
Me: Well I think it has to come from the movie 12 Strong, about the first American soldiers to fight in Afghanistan after September 11, the last battle scene when the American soldiers led one of the tribal armies, on HORSEBACK, against the Taliban forces, who had tanks, machine guns, and rocket artillery, and well winning! Yeah if you told me that a group of horseback soldiers defeated a much more modern army, I would just laugh at your face, but it happened alright!
Anyway, lets move on to the next chapter!
Chapter 12: First Attempts
Two and a Half Years Later…
(Arthur's POV)
"Command, me and my wing partner have visual on what looks to be a light cruiser, please advise." I spoke through the comm unit in my cockpit as we approached the ship, which suddenly released four TIE fighters, speeding towards us. "Four TIEs have been released, should we engage?"
"Copy that, engage, backup is on the way, ETA ten minutes." A voice responded as I then spoke to my wing partner.
"Alright Abby, you ready?" I asked my wing partner.
"Ready as I ever will." I heard the female voice reply back.
Opening the X-Wing's S-foils into attack position, I sped up as the TIEs opened up first, shooting their green lasers past my cockpit as they zeroed in on me and my wing partner. Relaxing and putting more power to the froward shields, I targeted the closet TIE to me as patiently waited for the target lock before sending several bursts of fire. The first shots missed as they went wide of the target, but the last ones managed to catch the ball cockpit as it exploded, the solar panel wings spinning away as I flew through the explosion.
"Got one!" I shouted as I heard the cackle of my comm unit going off.
"Arthur!" My wing partner shouted. "I got one on my tail and I can't shake him!"
"Copy that, hang on, I got him!" I called back as I locked onto Abby's position, seeing her trying to shake off the TIE on her back, who kept up a steady barrage of green laser fire. "Alright, almost there, almost there…" I said quietly as I tried to get the solid lock on the TIE, only it was too late…
The TIE managed to burn through the shields of Abby's X-Wing, as suddenly fire erupted from the back of the fighter and the inside of the cockpit exploded as Arthur's wing partner was gone.
"Abby no!" I cried as suddenly green laser fire lit up my own cockpit and everything first went red before turning a pitch black…
"Simulation over, mission failure…" A new voice spoke as Arthur's cockpit opened on its own, to reveal that it was only the flight simulator that Arthur was in, not real life.
As the simulator cockpit opened, Arthur had his helmet's visor down, to hide his shame as a familiar voice called to him.
"It's okay cadet, this is your first day in the simulator, there is no shame in getting the mission failed message, every cadet has to go through it." The voice spoke as I looked up to see my mother smiling at me, reaching out a wing as I took it and she helped me out of the simulator cockpit.
It has been a few months since both my brother and I have started our years we would spend at the New Republic Starfighter Academy, finally learning, after many years of waiting, to become fighter pilots for the New Republic Navy. It wasn't easy, in fact at first it was downright boring, even thought I was part of our mother's group and my brother was learning from dad, both my brother and I first had to attend many classes filled with boring lectures on such things like mechanics and combat tactics. Of course we wanted to actually fly, learning the wings-on approach, just like our parents.
Our parents understood our feelings, but they told us, and they were right, in that this was an era of peace, in which there was no need to hurry up on training, our parents had to learn the quick, wings-on approach because they were in a middle of a war, no time to learn everything out of the cockpit. Still both my brother and I looked froward to the day when we could finally hop in our own fighters and fly through the skies and stars for real.
Speaking of our parents… Because they were our parents, our other classmates thought my brother and I would become the teachers' pets, and at first teased us and such, like in our early school years, but both my brother and I were mindful that we were in a military academy now and as such subject to more harsh punishments, so we didn't pick fights. In fact as the weeks went by we did make some friends. And it was clear that we were no teachers' pets because our mom and dad treated us no differently from all the other cadets they taught.
Back to the present, as I got out from the cockpit simulator, my mom's smile turned into a more serious expression as she turned to look at the rest of her class.
"I hope you all take what Arthur did here seriously." My mom spoke in her more teacher like voice. "What did Arthur do that was wrong?" My mom questioned to the class and waited until a wing raised itself.
"He waited too long for the solid lock, sometimes you should fire earlier, in order to distract your target, so as to take him off your wing partner." The cadet with the raised wing answered.
"Correct Brandon." My mom replied. "And since you're the one who answered the question, you're up next."
"Yes ma'am." The cadet replied confidently as he put on his helmet and jumped into the simulator while I rejoined with the rest of my classmates, who turned to watch the screen which showed what Brandon was seeing from his cockpit.
As the class was finished with the simulator today, it was time for our midday meal and break as I went to the cafeteria in the academy, as I walked there, I was met from behind by a wing slap to the back…
(Tyler's POV)
"Hey brother, how was your first time in the simulator, anything I should know for tomorrow?" I asked my brother as it was going to be my first time in the simulator tomorrow with my classmates from dad's group.
"Nothing much, I kinda of failed it…" Arthur sighed. "I thought it was going to be so easy, but turns out there are just too many things to think about and I thought for once all those boring lectures would come back to me and be helpful…"
"Well, it was your first time, I'm sure your second time will be much easier." I tried to cheer up my brother as we came into the cafeteria, other cadets already there, either in line getting their food or sitting down at the long tables, eating or chatting to each other about various things.
Once my brother and I finally got our food, we sat down at one of the tables, sitting across from each other, talking about the day when we were joined by one of our friends…
"Hey Arthur, Tyler, how is it going?" A voice called out happily as a mostly black toucan joined us, sitting down besides Arthur.
"Hey Poe, good to see you." I greeted one of our friends.
Poe, who's full name was Poe Dameron, was one of Arthur's classmates, learning from mom, Poe was one of the more "cocky" cadets to put it lightly, much like my brother and I. And well mom often had to deal much more with these kinds of cadets, which wasn't a problem for our mom since well… As our dad put it, much tougher than he is.
"So, bad first day in the simulator?" Poe asked my brother.
"Bad" is an understatement Poe…" My brother replied, rolling his eyes. "I almost had the TIE on my wing partner's back, I thought if I only had a couple more seconds, I could have saved my wing partner…"
"Well look at it this way, you're bound to not make the same mistake twice." Poe tried to cheer up Arthur, only Poe ruined it in his way…" And if you do, well consider that you're just bad luck."
"Thanks a lot Poe…" My brother playfully punched Poe's side as Poe then turned to me.
"So Tyler, your first day is tomorrow isn't it?" Poe asked.
"Yeah, kinda of nervous, but I'm sure now that I know what my brother faced, I'm sure I'll do fine, maybe finally show Arthur I'm not the little brother I am, even thought we're only a few minutes of age apart." I chuckled.
"Still going on about that Tyler…" My brother giving me a "Seriously?" face.
As the rest of the school day went on, back to more lectures and such, which again was rather boring, the day eventually ended as cadets filed out of their classrooms, back home as our family got back together to go home. As we exited the academy, to take the taxi back home, my dad spoke to Arthur.
"So how was the simulator Arthur?" Dad asked my brother.
"Could be better dad, it's tricky." Arthur answered.
"Give it time son, sometimes it takes many attempts for cadets to pass it." Our dad replied.
"Yes son, today was a very first good time for you, I sometimes had cadets who fared much worse, I think there was even one time a cadet couldn't find the button to lock the S-foils in attack position." Our dad added.
"Thanks mom, dad, but trying will get me nowhere…" My brother sighed.
"Well I hope you do just as good tomorrow Tyler, I'm counting on you to show the other cadets on how it's done." Our dad spoke to me.
"Yes dad." I smiled.
"Oh, so it's a competition now?" Our mom glaring at dad.
"Isn't it always?" Our dad joked as the taxi flew through the traffic above the cityscape towards our apartment building.
Once we arrived, we got off, headed for our apartment and settled down for some dinner, enjoying a peaceful mean before preparing for bed. Once night began to fall, our parents went to their own room, laying down and sleeping together, Alex and Ashley simply powering down where they were in the apartment, and my brother and I in our room, laying down on our bed.
"Hey Tyler." I heard my brother call to me from his bed.
"Yeah Arthur?" I replied.
"Good luck tomorrow." Arthur said in his tired state. "You know, we're lucky to have made it this far, lets not disappoint our parents anymore."
"I know, we both worked hard for this and we'll make it." I replied. "Also, I'm sure I'll do better than you tomorrow."
"You bet…" Arthur said in a jokingly way before giving out a yawn and starting to close his eyes. "Goodnight brother."
"Goodnight brother." I replied as I myself made sure I was comfortable before relaxing and closing my own eyes, drifting off to sleep as I looked froward to the next day.
So did I trick you into thinking the brothers were already fighting the First Order? Okay, probably not, but you got to admit it sounded real at first!
Also… I hope you all enjoyed the surprise, first appearance by Poe, I bet some of you are smiling right now!
I think that's it for now, so…
See everybird later!