//------------------------------//
// Mounting Up 
// Story: Interceptor: Storm Warning 
// by EroPony1000 
//------------------------------//

It was raining. Emerging from the middle passageway onto the landing terrace, Watch Commander Spitfire walked confidently across the slick stone toward the waiting cadets and their machines, unfazed by the darkening clouds and the rumble of distant thunder.

Sheets of water driven by the winds spilled across the cobbles, flowing through the cracks and into the drainage channels, tumbling overboard and turning to mist.

Her boot-clad hooves made splashes where they fell; her mane and tail trailed behind her like plumes of fire, wind-tossed yet determined to burn.

She stopped before the arc of rookies, all standing before their ‘Drakewing’ Interceptors in the torrential rain, clad in tight and glossy jumpsuits bearing their personal heraldry alongside the sigil of the Midnight Sun.

Their Interceptor Suits were fearsome combinations of ancient tech and modern magic, resembling the flying dragons of the Gleaming Horde. Each was outfitted with a crystal Repeater-Bracelet and a pair of corrosive ‘Pesticide’ rockets enchanted with a homing spell and capable of melting the Reactive Carapace Armor of a changeling Swarm Drone.

The cadets looked almost sad in their rain-slick flight suits, their manes and tails heavy with water and flattened by the downpour, but Spitfire felt a touch of pride seeing how they remained at attention regardless.

At the front was Rainbow Dash, who had distinguished herself during training and was thus given command of the mission. She was an excellent pilot, though at times her confidence could make her reckless.

Spitfire gave them all a curt salute and the young pilots returned it, flinging rainwater with each sharp motion.

“Mount up!” cried the captain over the roaring rain, sending the cadets scrambling to their dormant strike craft.

Dash climbed into the skeletal frame of her Drakewing and tightly fastened the control rig, which fit around her wings, wrists and ankles. 

Sensing her presence, the magical machine’s Paradox Core came to life and began sending power to the autonomous systems.

Layers of blue metal started to unpack, sliding into place while smaller, interlocking scales meshed together to seal the suit between the heavier armor plates.

From the outside it looked like Rainbow Dash was suspended within a flayed metal dragon, its body folding and tightening around her own.

The captain approached Dash as she was still gearing up, wanting to speak face-to-face one last time before she was sealed away in her exoskeleton.

“Captain.” said Dash, watching the magic-metal ensconce her arms and feeling it tighten around her legs. Her hooves were propped up as though on stilts, with raptor-like talons beneath them.

Spitfire saw all this and approved, but her face was grim when she spoke next. 

“Remember, it’s not just you up there cadet, and this isn’t a simulation. There are no points if you don’t come back alive.”

Before Dash could say anything in response Spitfire grabbed the zipper of her suit and yanked it all the way down to her navel, releasing RD’s compresses tits, which spilled out from her suit like a river bursting through a dam. 

With her limbs locked in the machine, she was unable to do anything about it except wince at the sudden cold and the sting of the the heavy, freezing raindrops now battering her bare breasts and slipping down into the recesses of her suit.

“Ow—Hey!” shouted Dash, but the machine was already beginning to seal around her, shielding her from the rain just a bit too late. 

The last thing RD saw before the armor was shut tight was the captain winking and waving her fingers.

For a moment, all was dark. The draconic helm had descended like a hood and now settled into place, flexible scale mesh connecting to the solid metal of the helm, which was supported by the suit’s powerful spine.

With a chorus of hissing Needle-like protrusions on the interior of the suit emerged, pressing against the cadet’s body. The flight suit was intended to act as a buffer between them and her tender flesh, but thanks to the captain some of the needles made contact with her bare breasts, the sensation alarmingly intense.

She gasped, and as if in response the darkness melted away and Dash could see the stone deck again and feel the rain on her metal skin, though the sensation was distant and dreamlike, except on her breasts.

She felt naked and exposed, then remembered she was sealed in nearly 5 tons of electrum plating, but somehow that didn’t seem to help.

Nevertheless, she leaned forward, stretching her metal limbs like a cat while flicking her barbed tail and extending her wings.

The others did the same, each of them taking a moment to adjust to their mechanical bodies. When they were finished they all sat at attention, looking to Dash to lead them.

The middle passageway was set down into the deck, with a number of metal rails on either side spanning the length of the ship.

The captain watched from a safe distance as Rainbow’s electrum dragon stepped forward onto the runway and locked its fore and hind-claws into the catapult rails with a magnetic snap, angling her wings for launch.

The captain crouched down, the rain finally taking its toll on her mane and tail. She tapped the deck, then extended her arm horizontally, giving the signal to launch.

With a hiss of purple steam and the glow of arcane lightning the catapult pulled the Drakewing along the stone deck, sparks flying and tail lashing, then flung her out into the open sky.

Fleet Foot was next, then High Winds, both falling in behind Dash and holding pattern around the carrier.

The voice of the captain echoed in the helm of Dash’s Interceptor.

“Superheavy to Blue Lead. Confirm green-line.”

In the augmented reality HUD a heading appeared, skirting the storm.

“Blue Lead copies, green-line confirmed.”

Dash and her wing-mates ignited their afterburners and roared off toward the storm wall. It wouldn’t be long before they encountered the enemy for the very first time.