It was a week later, and Riley was finally going home. The Wonderbolts time in Europe had expired. At long last, Germany was defeated, and their leader, Adolf Hitler was dead. The 9 P-51s were on the Essex class aircraft carrier USS Victory.
A week later, and the USS Victory was docked at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas. As the other Wonderbolt P-51Ds were being offloaded at the dock, Riley was still in his bunk. All of a sudden he realized that Applejack needed him. As fast as his feet would carry him, he bolted to the flight deck, and there it was, his P-51D Mustang, fitted with replacement drop tanks, it had newly replenished ammunition reserves, it was fully fueled and ready to fly. When no one was looking, he ran for his plane, fired up the Merlin engine and took off from the carrier to Sweet Apple Acres.
2 hours later, it was only a few miles further in his Mustang and he'd be back with Applejack, and her family. On the way, Riley rubbed his shoulder, which still throbbed slightly from his hard landing at Canterlot airfield upon returning from their last patrol before Germany surrendered. It was a painful reminder of his near death on his last war patrol in his plane.
The final tally was as follows:
Riley had 32 kills
Spitfire had 19 kills
Rainbow Dash had 22 kills
Fleetfoot had 18 kills
Soarin' had 16 kills
Wave Chill had 20 kills
Misty had 16 kills
Fire Streak had 16 kills
Lightning Dust had 17 kills
Riley finished the war as the highest scoring Wonderbolt pilot, Spitfire was second highest scoring Wonderbolt pilot, and Rainbow Dash was the third highest scoring Wonderbolt pilot. But more than that, Riley was the highest scoring P-51 Mustang pilot of all time. He utterly crushed the kill record set by U.S. World War I pilot Eddie Rickenbacker, who had 26 kills to his record and the record set by George Preddy, who had 28 kills to his record. But sadly, George Preddy didn't survive the war to claim his victories. He was killed when his Mustang crashed after being accidentally hit by friendly antiaircraft fire, he would never meet Riley Samborski, the Mustang pilot who shattered his record.
Soon Sweet Apple Acres came into sight. Riley approached the runway and landed. "And we have touchdown," Riley said to himself as he applied the brakes and the Mustang came to a stop. He then shut off the engine. For once in what seemed like forever, Riley smiled. He was back home.