War, Apples, and Love

by Island_Dancer96

Chapter 7: Rainbow Dash becomes an ace!

The day on the airfield began perfectly quietly. Riley was in his bunk reading the June 1942 issue of Time magazine. The mechanic for his Mustang walked into the room, "Mail for you, Commander Samborski!" He said.

Riley looked up from his magazine. He took the letter and set it down on his desk. "Thank you, Ashton." Riley said. The mechanic, whose name was Nicholas Ashton nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Riley got up, sat at his desk and opened the envelope with the letter opener.

January 19, 1945

To: Commander Riley Samborski, Canterlot Airfield, England

From: Applejack Apple, Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville, Texas.

Dearest Riley,

I have to say, I'm sorry I haven't sent you a letter yet. I've been meaning to, but tending to the orchard and taking care of Applebloom has gotten my hands in knots.

If only you were home! I miss you more than you could imagine and I only hope for your safe return. How's the weather out there? I've heard that some terrible storms have hit down there. We'll get a good cider season this year, I can already tell. Big Mac and I have plucked the apples and the rain's been pouring like you could ever imagine. I just can't wait to get apple bucking again.

You should see Applebloom; she's been running around the house like a lunatic. I can tell she's got your energy, and she'll make a good farmer on the farm when she grows up. Knowing you, I can hardly see that happening. Applebloom is going to be a handful, that's for certain, especially since you're not around.

If only you could have been here for it! She got a hold of our American flag, the one we have hanging out front over the front porch overhang. I don't even want to know how she got it down, but she did. Well, my little sister was waving that thing all around until it flapped in her face. But that's not all! No, after that incident she went pulling up one of the flags from the flowerbed. She took it in her mouth and ran all over the flowers playing with it. The garden's ruined! But let me tell you this, but I found out how to keep her busy when I need to.

Give her a flag, and she'll disappear for an hour running around the farm with it. Good thing I have Big Mac to help me around.

I miss you, sugarcube, so much,

XOXO Applejack

Reading that letter made Riley's heart beat 10 miles a second. He smiled brightly, more brightly than he did in his entire life. "Aw, I miss you too, AJ." Riley sighed, putting the letter from Applejack on his desk. But the tranquility on the airfield was once again shattered by the call to general quarters. Soon, he and the other Wonderbolts were in the air again.

Riley was very determined to deal with them. He quickly turned his attention to shooting down as many of the German planes as he could. He was rewarded to see one, then another, explode before him, with bursts of his Mustang's machine guns.

Despite his focus on that task, though, something tore at his attention. It wasn't just Me-109s that were being blown out of the air. Fw-190s and other German planes were being destroyed, and he could see their pilots dying. One German pilot tried to block it out, but the death cries increased, more and more of them all around him. They were dying to the American pilots.

Out of the corner of her right eye, Rainbow Dash saw an Me-109 trying to get behind Misty to shoot her down. Only one thought burned in the rainbow haired pilot's mind now. A thought that would stick with her for the rest of the war. Shoot the Germans. Rainbow Dash let out a war cry and using her Mustang's machine guns, she shot the German pilot who shamelessly and mercilessly tried to shoot down Misty's Mustang. All of Rainbow's bullets made their mark. But some of the bullets found their way into the cockpit, and the chest of the German pilot exploded as blood splashed onto the canopy. The German plane went down, only to be shot to pieces by Riley's Mustang, and they had now shot down the majority of the German planes.

As the B-17's fled, under the protective cover of the other Mustang escorts, the air battle intensified. Nearly half the German planes had been shot down already. They were in real trouble, and a dark reality dawned on one particular German pilot. In just a few years, the American pilots had become a true threat to the Germans.

Oil and fuel surged through their lines, hydraulics whirred madly, electronics buzzed deafeningly loudly. Rainbow Dash pushed her P-51D Mustang past its limits. Shoot the Germans. That one thought buzzed in Rainbow's head like a swarm of angry hornets. The next 3 planes went down. Rainbow thought to herself, "That's what they get for trying to shoot down my friends!" Now she had shot down 3 planes altogether. It all seemed too easy.

Letting her lust for blood consume her completely, Rainbow Dash fired at 2 more planes, mutilating their pilots. She didn't care. Three more Me-109s converged on her. In a display of pure anger, Rainbow Dash twirled her Mustang around and she shot all of them down. "That's 8 planes in my streak. I'm an ace now!" Rainbow said to herself.

Only Rainbow's Mustang's inboard guns were still loaded. The two outboard guns were empty. She was now low on ammo. But she didn't care. 3 more planes fell from the sky, thanks to her sharpshooting. 2 more Me-109s converged on Rainbow. But as she prepared to fire, Rainbow Dash's Mustang 's inboard left gun fired its last bullet. She was now out of ammo. But Rainbow still had one last dangerous trick up her sleeve. Gathering all of her willpower, Rainbow Dash noses over and dives.

Her Mustang accelerated past 470 mph, its Rolls Royce Merlin engine howling. The enemy pilot doesn't see her coming. Riley and the other Wonderbolt pilots look on at their fellow pilot diving in a ramming attack. By this point, Rainbow Dash's Mustang now speeds past 503 mph.

Then there was a brilliant shower of bright sparks and then came the sickening sound of ripping metal as the propeller of Rainbow Dash's P-51D Mustang sliced through and shredded the tail of the unsuspecting Me-109 to ribbons. The German plane tumbled from the sky out of control, and another Mustang shot it to pieces, it was Riley, that made her smile. On the other hand, Rainbow Dash's Mustang's propeller had weathered the ramming attack, despite considerable damage to the blades.

The last Me-109 shot at her planes tail. He found his mark. Barely. Rainbow Dash could still fly. She could still turn. And as long as Rainbow could still fly, she would keep on fighting. Rainbow Dash let out a yell of rage and she pulled up steeply, the German bogey still on her tail. Her plane's engine howled. Then... Her Mustang stalled. She let her plane fall. Rainbow entered a nosedive and picked up speed. Gravity pulled her down.

Everything was in shambles for the Germans, their planes were in pieces in the ground and their seasoned pilots were dead. In truth, he was sure that by now, their seasoned pilots were dead already, given everything that was happening. As Riley shot down more and more German planes, he was watching and listening to everything going on around him, but the truth was inescapable, the Me-109's days of glory were over. To the remaining German pilots and the other Mustang pilots, the Wonderbolts seemed invincible, all the while demonstrating the lethal superiority of the North American P-51D Mustang over both the Me-109, the Fw-190 and the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.

The last bogey still kept firing at Rainbow Dash, bent on blowing her out of the sky. But she refused to let him. At the last second Rainbow pulled up. And the German plane crashed into the ground, exploding in fragments. Soon, there were almost no planes left. A few of the Wonderbolt Mustangs had flown back to the airfield. Riley and Rainbow Dash were the last to return to the airfield.

"Know where Rainbow is?" Riley asked Fleetfoot.

"She's on her plane's wing." Spitfire replied.

"Thanks." Riley said

Fleetfoot nodded.

He then proceeded to walk over to Rainbow's Mustang, and he found her sitting on the left wing, her legs draped over the gun ports and looking out over the airfield.

"Boy, Rainbow, it’s obvious to say you were pretty vicious up there, you might have been just as vicious as me.” Riley chuckled, walking up to her.

“I totally was,” Rainbow had possibly the biggest grin on her face that Riley had ever seen on her face. “I never knew that today would be so much fun! I totally demolished those Me-109s! Oh and those Fw-190s didn’t stand a chance! I could hear the bullets hitting. But I just brushed that off and I shredded that Me-109's tail! It was so awesome!” She gushed.

“Hehe, yeah,” Riley averted his gaze in embarrassment, "I learned that at our first dogfight too. Sometimes you get so caught up in the excitement of shooting down the enemy that you can't help but have a little bit of fun every now and then.” Riley said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh but it was so worth it! Shooting down the Germans, and lots of them, is the coolest thing ever! But still, my Mustang isn't as fast as I hoped it’d be.”

Riley wore a sly grin, “Oh really? How fast do you want it?” He asked.

"Eh, it needs to be about 20% faster.” Rainbow said.

"Yeah, I know, but, the Mustang's already 20% faster than the P-47 Thunderbolt, the Me-109 and the Fw-190." Riley said, scuffing a shoe on the deck of the carrier.

"Rainbow Dash, you..were...AWESOME!!" Fleetfoot gushed, running over to the two pilots, and interrupting them.

"It was nothing, just fly and shoot straight and look good doing it, like Riley." Rainbow said, shrugging her shoulders. Then, the other Wonderbolt pilots started converging around Rainbow's Mustang.

Still mostly sprawled around Rainbow's Mustang, on the airfield, Riley listened as several of the Wonderbolt pilots who he had been flying with talked to each other and with Rainbow about the events of today. He could hear them boasting about their kills as they chased after the German planes. However, despite their boasts, Riley was thinking about Applejack.

From what he saw, the propeller of Rainbow Dash's P-51D Mustang had taken serious damage in the ramming attack, three inches were gone from the tip of each blade. But the repair crew assigned to Rainbow's Mustang said that it could be repaired. For Riley, it was a relief. Rainbow was going to live to dogfight another day. Riley finished the day with 21 kills, Misty had 11 kills, Fleetfoot had 9 kills, Spitfire had 15 kills, Fire Streak had 10 kills, Lightning Dust had 13 Wave Chill had 17 kills, and Rainbow Dash had 19 kills and Soarin' had 12 kills.