War of The Gods

March 30th

Cloudsdale

The sun's warmth fell over Fluttershy as she stepped from her train and onto the open platform, her single roller bag in tow. The station she stood at was surprisingly small for the large town, a simple one-platformed station with a single long station house running next to it. This was unsurprising as this was not the grand station of Cloudsdale, rather it was a depot belonging to the Royal Equestrian Air Corps, where cargo and personnel were offloaded for the nearby airbase. With two blasts of its low whistle, the mixed train slowly crawled away from the station, its heavy bell clanging as its pistons slowly chuffed along. The train cleared the station putting the massive field into view, its long gray workshops and tall watchtowers were surrounded by a tall chainlink fence. Fluttershy crossed the tracks and walked the rough dirt path connecting the depot and the field, upon reaching the gate to the airfield she was promptly stopped by two men in wide-brimmed helmets and gray fatigues holding bolt-action rifles.

"You're not allowed here!" One of the soldiers, a burly man with red hair, declared, pointing his rifle at Fluttershy.

"Oh... Um," Fluttershy began in her soft voice, a nervous smile plastered across her face "I-I'm here to see Captain Rainbow Dash... She's my-"

"Alright then," The guard interrupted her as he lowered his gun "I'm just gonna need to see your ID papers," Fluttershy knelt down and fished around in the small front pocket of her bag, producing a small leather booklet and handing it to the guard. The guard looked over it, his eyes widening "Oh sorry Ms. Fluttershy," He said nervously, he and the other guard standing at attention.

"I-It's fine," Fluttershy nervously stammered out, not fond of the attention "Just please, let me in,"

"Yes ma'am!" The guard declared before lifting the barricade blocking the road in. Fluttershy stepped in, the dirt path beneath her transitioning to an asphalt road that connected each building and facility in the airfield. She walked past hangars where mechanics maintained the powerful inline engines and other parts of the fighter aircraft at the base, a fighter passed nearby with a rattling drone as it neared the twin landing strips. Several young men were gathered next to one of the fighters playing cards, paying her no mind as she passed. It was not long before she reached her destination, the Colonel's office nestled between the crisscrossing runways and connected to the radio tower communicating with the pilots. Inside the Colonel's office was Colonel High Wind, a much older man in a dark gray officer's suit, a massive scar crossing his left eye. The tall man saluted Fluttershy.

"Ms. Fluttershy, it's good to see you," He said in his deep voice "I suppose you're wondering where Captain Dash is,"

"Y-yes sir,"

"Oh you don't need to be formal with me," Colonel Wind said with a smile on his bearded face "You technically outrank me and you aren't even in the corps," Wind laughed heartily "She's in the air right now, but I'll tell the boys in the radio room to call her down," The colonel walked into the room next-door and returned a moment later "Captain Dash should be landing any second now," He told Fluttershy, sending her off. Leaving the office Fluttershy looked up and watched as Rainbow Dash's fighter passed low over her, pulling her sundress and hat with it. Fluttershy snatched the hat out of the air and watched as the plane landed and promptly turned around. The plane taxied down the runway and parked right in front of Fluttershy, the powerful engine rattling to a stop. The pilot swung the canopy open and climbed her way out, standing on the wing in a dark gray flight suit. She removed her helmet, revealing her short and messy rainbow hair. She hopped down, her helmet tucked under her arm, Fluttershy immediately charged her, wrapping her thin arms around Rainbow Dash's waist.

"Missed me, huh?" Rainbow Dash jokingly asked in her much harsher voice, placing a hand on Fluttershy's back. She released Rainbow Dash, looked her in her magenta eyes, and said:

"It feels like years," Fluttershy answered softly.

"It's only been two months," Rainbow Dash said laughing as she gave Fluttershy a small kiss on her cheek. Fluttershy blushed bright red, a beaming smile across her face. "There's more where that came from," Rainbow Dash told her lover seductively "Later, that sundress is comin' off," She caressed Fluttershy's still-blushing face. The two were snapped from their moment when the shrill moan of the field's air-raid siren sounded off over the complex "What the..." Rainbow Dash muttered, "I gotta go!" She shouted, giving Fluttershy a long kiss on her lips before climbing back into her plane. She started the plane with a boisterous roar and quickly whipped it around, joining three other fighters as they took to the sky.

"What's the deal?" The crackling voice of a fellow pilot asked through the radio system.

"Observation's spotted a twin-engine plane carrying bombs of some kind headin' this way and we need y'all to look at him," Colonel Wind answered from the ground.

"That's it?" The pilot responded disappointedly.

"Come on Spring," Rainbow Dash began, using the handheld radio in her cockpit "Ya can't shoot every plane that comes at ya, this isn't training," Rainbow Dash and the third pilot laughed.

"You're nearing him now, he's somewhere above y'all," As soon as Wind said that a blue blur roared over the three fighters.

"There's the son of a bitch," Rainbow Dash declared as the planes turned after him. Quickly the squadron caught up to the plane. It was navy blue with a white bottom and two engines with a single-man bubble cockpit. "Anyone got a visual on the bottom?"

"Looks like... Depth charges to me, Cap," Spring answered as he made a slow pass under the plane.

"Looks like he's got smoke comin' out of the right engine," The third pilot said "Hang on lemme get next to him... Alright, I see the tail marking... It says AO7, and the letters C-S-N-A-C on the fuselage... The only symbol is some sort of red X behind that,"

"I don't recognize that," Colonel Wind said, he was about to continue when he was cut off.

"Mayday... I've got a... leak... down... land... field..." The crackling voice of what they assumed was the navy blue bomber's pilot said through a storm of radio static. "Need... Fire... Return... Carrier..."

"Pilot, this is Colonel Wind of the Cloudsdale Airfield, you have permission to land,"

"Th... God..." The plane began its hard descent, Rainbow Dash and her squadron following close behind. The plane dropped its gear as it neared the northwestern runway. The plane descended hard and fast, popping its rubber tires and skidding to a smoking halt, Rainbow Dash and the others passing overhead and landing close by. She and the others climbed from their planes and joined a group of soldiers rushing over to the bomber, pistols drawn. They watched as the plane's pilot climbed from the smoking aircraft hands in the air. He hopped down from the cockpit and removed his helmet, setting it on the ground. He was strange in appearance, his flight suit was pretty much the same as there's though blue rather than gray. It was his skin and hair that stood out, his skin held a sort of peach-like white color to it with short blonde hair now a sweaty mess. He got down on his knees, hands still up, and stated unprompted:

"I am Navy Airman First Class Leslie Hubert Rodman, I am stationed aboard the carrier CSS Vigilance and do not mean any harm. There was a major malfunction in my plane's engine and I was too far from my carrier to return, I mean no harm," The soldiers ushered him to get up and guided him to the Colonel's office as a fire crew approached the plane.

Later in The Day...

Nighttime had settled over the airbase, yet the events from earlier were still on everyone's mind, many called it some experiment, others called it an invasion, and some of the crazies called it aliens. Rainbow Dash ignored these, she was in the officer's barracks on the southern side of the base and had little contact with these stories. Right now she was in her small personal quarters, lit by a single lamp on a nightstand next to a metal-framed bed that sat a dull warm glow over the room. She was not alone, with her was Fluttershy who sat on the bed still in her dress. Rainbow Dash sat on the bed next to her, grabbing Fluttershy and pulling her close.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting for this," Rainbow Dash said, brushing a strand of hair out of Fluttershy's face. The two embraced in a passionate kiss, letting all the feelings from the last two months out all over one another. Rainbow Dash unbuttoned Fluttershy's dress from behind "I told you this sundress was comin' off," She said seductively between the kissing. Rainbow Dash slowly slid the shoulder straps down her lover's arms, revealing only her sparse undergarments. "Dear Sweet Celestia you're gorgeous," Rainbow Dash passionately told Fluttershy as she felt her up. Rainbow Dash pulled away and started to unbutton her gray overshirt, stopping when a knock came at the door,

"Captain Dash!" The man on the other side called "Colonel Wind needs all the officers outside!"

"Damnit," She muttered angrily, quickly buttoning her shirt and standing up to leave "Just stay here, I'll be right back," She then left the barracks, stepping out into the cold of the night where a crowd had gathered on the southwestern runway. Descending from the sky were the bright lights of a landing aircraft, its engines emitting a mix of a propeller drone and a wind-like whistle. As it landed spotlights brightened it up, it was another twin-engine navy blue plane. This one, however, was much larger with its belly low to the ground and its wings at the top rather than the bottom. The engines wound down and a ramp lowered at the back, from what Rainbow Dash could see around twenty men stepped out, looking like soldiers in matching blue fatigues carrying some sort of rifle. Ahead of them was a thin man in a blue officer's suit with an eyepatch over his right eye. He looked similar to the pilot from earlier in terms of skin color, in fact, almost all of the troops with him shared the same skin color.

"What is the meaning of you landing at my field?" Colonel Wind angrily questioned, approaching the eyepatch-wearing officer. The officer simply smiled and said:

"I am Admiral Thurston of the Confederate States Navy," His voice was smooth and calm "I am at command of Battle Fleet 6 and I believe you have both a pilot and plane that belong to me in your custody,"

"Yes! And what of it?"

"I would like them back," Thurston answered with a smile. A few minutes later they had all gathered outside the hangar where their plane was being held alongside the pilot. "So you're really keepin' one of my men in the same place you keep your planes?" Thurston asked with mild annoyance as they entered the hangar.

"Well we didn't have anywhere else to keep-" Wind was cut off:

"Spare me your excuses," Thurston looked over the craft and the pilot "I'll be takin' Officer Rodman with me but the plane is too big... In the meantime, it is not to be touched by anyone who is not in service to the Confederate States Navy. In fact, I am keepin' six Marines here to guard this plane until a proper retrieval can be undertaken,"

"You can't do that!" Colonel Wind huffed as Thurston was walking off, Rodman in tow. "What authority do you have,"

"I have authority as Admiral, Colonel,"

"Princess Celestia will be hearing about this!"

"Call her, tell her the situation, and tell her to contact Confederate High Command to talk," Thurston left the hangar, returning to the plane on the airstrip.