Celestial Base, Ponyville
179 km within Equestrian lines
Squadron break room
Present day...

Spitfire couldn't believe what she was reading, as she flicked the pages of her newspaper to that of the main headline page.

What she saw, imprinted in bold was: 'Equestria Declares War!' As she read through the article, she discovered a recap on everything that had gone on in the past few weeks. How the right-wing Crystal Federation party bought every single PMC in Equestria to create Equinox, how Equinox took over the entire Crystal Empire, then declared war on all of Equestria and invaded their neighbors.

Equestria, now sheltering the leaders of each of the fallen nations, realized that they could be open to invasion and started to buff up their forces with fresh-faced recruits and even mercenaries. Even their legendary Wonderbolts of the Equestrian Air Force took on some new recruits.

Which is what was happening today.

As Spitfire, the captain of the Wonderbolt Squadron, sat on the couch in the room and flipped the page, Rainbow Dash entered the room, with a coffee being held in her right wing. And judging by the bags under her eyes, she had just woken up. Upon seeing her captain sitting at the couch, she saluted her with her other wing and said, "Morning, Captain!"

Out of habit, Spitfire saluted her back. "At ease, Crash. It ain't time for that yet," With that said, Rainbow sat down at the big table in the middle of the room, and started to take sips from her coffee.

"Any news on when the rookies are getting here?" Dash asked, taking another sip.

"First, the recruits are getting here until later this morning. And second, it's not 'rookies', it's 'rookie'," Spitfire replied, the last statement causing Rainbow to do a spit-take.

"WHAT?!" She exclaimed, "I thought we sent out a request for six recruits! Why are we only getting one?"

"We're only getting one out of the six pilots requested, because they had to get here by road, as our trains aren't running near the frontlines, due to recent air attacks on the trains close to the front. And the first rookie to be sent to us was already in Ponyville, so he's on his way now," Spitfire replied. It was unwise to transport ponies via train, due to the Friendship Express Incident, when the Friendship Express, while transporting troops to the frontline, came under attack by Equinox aircraft. Although the train made it to its destination, the conductor was killed during the attack. Since then, only ground transport has been used, unless it's deep within friendly lines work, where trains are able to operate unopposed.

The train line that leads the pilot training facility to Ponyville is the exact same line that the Friendship Express came under attack on, so the Equestrian Military weren't going to take any chances.

Moments later, after Spitfire had finished reading her newspaper and Dash had finished her coffee, they had decided to head down to the hangars and see how the others were doing. And sure enough, down in the hangars, were Misty Fly, Thunderlane and Fleetfoot. They were all working on their fighters with the Diamond Dog crewmen that worked at the base. And the moment they saw their captain approaching, just like Dash, they all saluted.

"At ease, everypony," Spitfire said to the group, saluting them back. She then turned her attention to Fleetfoot's aircraft, and the two dogs working on it. "Still tuning your Tulip's engine?"

"Yep," Fleet replied, "Tuning a Tulip's engine is a bona fide bitch, isn't it?"

"It's just that you've been working on it since last night," She then snapped a glace her own fighter, sitting proudly in its hangar, untouched by the crew, "It pains me to say it, but you should've stuck to the Suiga," This statement caused the other Wonderbolts to laugh.

"SHUT UP!!!!" Fleet snapped, "Just because it's difficult to maintain, doesn't mean I don't like it!" The speedy mare turned to Misty, who was still laughing, "Looks who's laughing, with her underpowered Fission!" Immediately, Misty shot the fellow mare a death glare. Immediately, Spitfire broke the two's argument up before any blows could be traded.

Then suddenly, there came a massive roar approaching the base. The Wonderbolt members all saw what was causing the noise: a massive four-engined aircraft coming in to land. As soon as the plane touched the ground, it taxied to an empty spot on the taxiway and stopped, with the Wonderbolt members saluting as it came up and stopped before them.

Once the plane had stopped, the side door of the plane opened and out stepped Base Commander Twilight Sparkle, the commanding officer of the Celestial Base. Immediately, the Wonderbolt pilots saluted her as she stepped out of her plane, with Twilight saluting them back.

"Commander Twilight! Welcome back to Celestial Base! It's great to have you back ma'am!" Spitfire greeted.

"Thanks, Captain Spitfire. It's great to be back on home soil," the unicorn said back.

"Ma'am, is the new recruit of my squadron with you now?" Spitfire asked, raising an eyebrow.

Twilight just jestured to the open door of her plane and out stepped Spitfire's new rookie. But he wasn't what she or the rest of the squadron were expecting. He was an unreformed changeling with red eyes, red wings, red shell, bloodied hooves and fangs and a Cutie Mark of the Soviet Air Force Roundel on his flank. He was also wearing a World War II-style flight suit. He stopped beside Twilight and just stared at the pilots, as if he was assessing them very carefully. And Spitfire was starting to feel uneasy at the changeling's silence.

Luckily, Twilight noticed her discomfort. "Don't worry about him. He's always like this," The unicorn then started to introduce the new pilot, "Wonderbolt Squadron, meet your new recruit! His name is Akula, and he was a pilot in the Changeling Kingdom's Air Armada, before the nation fell under the Equinox. His kill record is incredible. During the invasion, he was responsible for the destruction of 3 Equinox tank platoons in a single battle and has a kill record of 39 aircraft destroyed. After the fall of the Changelings, he lead his squadron out of a base that was supposed to surrender, destroyed most of the base and fled to Equestria. After arriving, he and his squadron mates split ways and he joined our air force,"

"Umm, hold on a second there, ma'am," Fleetfoot interrupted, "Why couldn't this bug introduce himself? Why did you do it for him?"

"Good question, Fleetfoot! Well, Akula is a little bit tight and doesn't speak much. The only times he does is when it is absolutely necessary. And he deems introductions not important enough. So, don't be spooked by his silence," When Twilight said that, Akula's expression softened and he just nodded lightly.

"Oh! I almost forgot! His callsign is Rapier, as he may be silent most of the time, but he is incredibly intelligent and skilled. The emblem he has on his planes, is a black rapier sword,"

After taking a moment to look him over, Spitfire could sense something about this Akula character that she liked. No, it wasn't good looks or sexual prowess. Instead, she could sense Akula's combat ability and had a feeling that he would be a valuable asset to the Wonderbolts.

"Well, with that out of the way, I'll leave you all to get acquainted," And with that, Twilight left the group as the bigger plane that brought her here taxied for a takeoff.

The group of Wonderbolt approached the lone changeling as the transport plane flew away to its base. "So. You're the rookie we have been assigned. I'm Captain Spitfire, the leader of this squadron. My callsign is Blazer. You may have commanded your own squadron in the Changeling Military, but now, you're under MY jurisdiction! Since the Wonderbolts are the best flyers in Equestria, I expect all orders given to you to be followed and all mission objectives to be completed WITHOUT FAILURE!! AM I UNDERSTOOD?!!" Spitfire yelled, getting right in the changeling's face.

Akula just kept his composure and nodded lightly. Spitfire was taken aback by his calmness, backed off and introduced the other squadron members, "These are the other members of the Wonderbolts. The blue pegasus with the rainbow mane is Rainbow Dash, her callsign is Blue Thunder. She still is a bit of a newbie, so don't complain if you have to watch her back from time to time. The stallion is Thunderlane, his callsign is Storm. He is not as talented as some of the others, but he is a really incredible ally. His extraordinary escort capability makes him very valuable, so if you need some help in getting a fighter of your tail, you should call on him. That light-yellow mare is Misty Fly, her callsign is Mistmane. She's also very talented. You'll be watching her tail, unless I order otherwise. Finally, that light-blue mare is Fleetfoot, her callsign is Speedster. She's the fastest of the team, which makes her perfect for interception missions. Be sure to get to know them,"

Spitfire then turned to her squadron mates and ordered them to head off to the briefing room, as she led the changeling to his new hangar. When the hangar opened up, only one aircraft was visible. A single-engined, gull-winged single seat propeller fighter. To the changeling, it looked like a cross between the F2G Super Corsair and the Focke-Wulf Fw 190.

"Meet the SUIGA," Spitfire said, introducing the aircraft to him, "This is the standard fighter of the Equestrian Air Force. It's trusted by all Equestrian pilots and its tractor engine configuration grants great stability and visibility for the pilot, making it suitable for various missions. This, along with its multiple payload options, makes the Suiga a very useful multirole aircraft. You may be stuck with it for the time being, but once you start proving yourself, more aircraft will become available to you,"

Akula just listened to Spitfire, as he looked over the aircraft. He discovered some of the very advanced features that the Suiga had over the fighters he used to fly in during his time in his home's air force. The Suiga had a bubble canopy for great all-round visibility for the pilot, and had a total of seven guns (two in each wing and three in the nose). This was three more guns than the Lancer fighter that Akula flew in the Changeling Armada, and five more guns than the Stinger fighter he flew before he flew his squadron was equipped with the Lancer.

Wow, The changeling thought, examining the position of the guns and the external hardpoints, The positions of the guns is perfect for both air combat and strafing attacks. And those hardpoints under the wings and the belly give me a really good choice of secondary weapons. No wonder why the ponies love this plane,

"I see you're falling in love with the Suiga as well, I see," Spitfire commented, cutting the changeling from his thoughts, "C'mon, if we daddle around the hangar now, we'll be late for the briefing," And after sharing a laugh with her, the first changeling pilot in the Wonderbolt Squadron followed his captain to the briefing room, ready for his very first mission.

Author's Note

The Lancer and Stinger fighter mentioned in this chapter will be given a visual explanation in a later chapter. For now, try to imagine what they look like for now. Just know that they resemble late-1930's monoplane fighters and are purely outdated against the more modern aircraft in use by the Equinox.

For now, hope you enjoyed!!!