Wonderbirds: Into the Storm

by 8_Bit

Rating: everyone
Tags: Rarity, Other, Adventure, Pinkie Pie, Science Fiction, Crossover, Alternate Universe, Applejack, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash
Length: 5418

Typhoon force winds, a capsized cruise ship, and a missing family. The Coast Guard is out of their depth, but it's all in a days work for Equestrial Rescue.

'Calling Equestrial Rescue, this is the EQCGC Thresher of the Equestrian Coast Guard. We are currently on-scene with the cruise ship M.S. Celestial, which has now capsized. We were called to evacuate the passengers due to engine trouble which was being exacerbated by typhoon-force weather conditions, but the engines exploded and the ship turned onto its side before we could finish our operation. Though the majority of passengers were successfully evacuated, we believe a family of four are still on board. Equestrial Rescue, if you can hear us, please acknowledge this transmission.'

Crossover with the hit 1960's TV show Thunderbirds, which is the property of the Gerry Anderson Legacy and ITV Studios.

Wonderbirds is a series of standalone, episodic one-shots and shorts, not set in a linear narrative to each other. Though presented as a series of stories, you do not have to have read previous ones to understand the narrative in each one.

Published 2022-04-17 23:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2022-04-17 23:30:01 UTC

Perfer Vim Tempestatis

Tension ran high amongst the few officers gathered on the bridge. The highest ranking among them, Vice Admiral Cutter, sat at the captain’s chair scratching his chin as his tail twitched fitfully. The ceiling lights were on their dimmest setting to allow them better visibility into the night outside. The only illumination in the room came from the control console in front of them, and the occasional flash of lightning through the window.

“Time check,” he said to the Junior Lieutenant stood nearest to him.

“Thirty minutes since we called, sir,” the younger pony replied. He had to rapidly adjust his stance to avoid being knocked off his hooves by the ship lurching in the waves.

“Thank you,” Cutter replied distantly.

“They’ll be here on time, sir,” said the Commander leant against the wall, noting the look of doubt on the face of his superior. “They never miss a beat.”

Cutter nodded in appreciation, but he didn’t doubt the efficiency of Equestrial Rescue. They were, after all, the stuff of legend. Guardian angels who would fly in at the speed of lightning with machinery the likes of which most of ponykind can only dream of. They would pull off impossible rescues with moments to spare, and wanted for nothing in return but the promise of anonymity. In many senses, their intentions reflected his own for when he’d signed onto the Equestrian Coast Guard. Selflessness, bravery, saving lives, it was all he’d ever wanted to do with his life.

But right now, he felt bitter. His doubt directed itself inwards as he gazed at the stricken liner floating half a click off his port bow. He knew there was nothing he could have done but defer the situation upward. All his additional ships were shore bound with the passengers they’d managed to rescue, and all the helicopters dispatched to his aid had been forced to turn back long before they got close to the ship in peril. It was the storm of the century, strong enough to send choppers running. And he was slap bang in the middle of it.

Even the top weather scientists from Cloudsdale had written the storm off. It was self sustaining now, and no amount of pegasi would be able to disperse it. All they could do was let it run its course.

He remembered his time at Officer Candidate School, where it had been drilled into him on many occasions that he’d have to make ‘the tough call’ one day. He’d never imagined that his tough call would be admitting defeat and asking somepony else for help. But when he replayed that moment over and over in his head, where the Celestial had made that deafening boom, and listed violently onto its side, he knew he’d made the right call. He was in way over his head. He’d actually been able to see the hull swell and glow under the immense heat being barely contained within as the engines detonated. There was no amount of training that could have psychologically prepared him for this situation.

So deep in thought was Cutter, he almost fell out of his chair as a raspy voice came through the radio.

“Coast Guard vessel Thresher, this is Wonderbird One, do you read me?”

“Wonderbird One, reading you loud and clear,” Cutter replied, hooves trembling as he held the microphone to his mouth.

“Glad to hear it, Thresher,” the raspy mare on the radio replied. “We’ll be with you any moment now, are there any updates on the condition of the ship?”

“No, nothing new to report, though I wouldn't give it long before it sinks."

“In this storm, I'm surprised your ship is still floating. I'm guessing you've tried pegasus extraction?”

"Negative, the winds are too strong, nopony could survive trying to fly through this, I can't risk any of my crew."

“Copy that. And to confirm, you can account for all the passengers and crew except for four?”

Cutter winced. "That is affirmative, Wonderbird One." It was like a gut punch of defeat. But this was bigger than him. He shook his head to clear his mind, if Equestrial Rescue could get them off the ship, that was all that mattered. "Can you help them?" he found his mouth asking automatically, almost acting of its own accord.

“If they're still alive, we'll try for sure.”

"And how soon is ‘any moment now’?”

The mare on the radio gave what sounded like a resigned sigh, to which Cutter could only exchange some confused glances with his fellow officers.

“Look up.”

Hooves thundered on the floor as the assembled officers on the bridge rushed to the windows, pressing their noses to the glass to glimpse outside. Barely visible against the pitch black sky and through the downpour, a navy-blue rocket with a red nose cone hovered there. The sharp glow of its vertical thrusters illuminated a white number 'one' on its fuselage. Almost to highlight its dramatic arrival, a bolt of lightning erupted across the sky behind it to bring the sleek craft into clear view for a split second. For Cutter and his crew, it was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen.

“’Five, this is ‘One, I have a visual on the Thresher, I'm currently positioned about two hundred feet above it, progressing towards the Celestial now.”

“Copy that, ‘One. Do be careful, I’m detecting particularly aggressive wind shear in your area.”

“In a typhoon? Yeah, thanks for the update, Rares.”

“Sarcasm is most unbecoming, Dash.”

“Can you see this storm from up there?”

“With a large amount of clarity, yes. Now focus.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as the inevitable message came through to her earpiece from base.

“Girls, friendly reminder. Callsigns only when on missions.”

Dash gave a tut and eased the controls forward. Her hooves made deft movements on the joystick, like it was second nature to her. The fly-by-wire systems on Wonderbird One were working overtime, but she still had to make constant inputs to keep the rocket under control in the immense storm. Though she had enough experience flying this ship at this point for it to be a sweet and effortless synergy between mare and machine.

The cruise ship faded into view, a dim orange glow through mist and smoke. Dash gulped, a sound completely drowned out by the noise of the rain thundering against the plexiglass canopy surrounding her. She flicked one of the overhead switches, lowering a heavy duty searchlight out of the hull. M.S. Celestial, flagship of Canterlot Cruise Lines, was a sight to behold.

The ship, as Cutter had stated in his distress call, lay out on its port side. Fire was eating its way through the superstructure, occasionally visible on the side of the ship facing upwards as it broke through in random patterns. On the slim chance that the family were still alive, their time was running out fast.

Without many alternative options, Dash began to search the side of the ship visually, using the searchlights to aid her view. It was going to be anything but easy, especially with the ship rising and falling in the huge waves. From time to time a particularly large one would crash over the bow, washing across the surface and taking any loose objects with it.

“Holy hay on a Tuesday, that’s one sorry sight,” came another voice through Dash’s earpiece.

“’Two, you watching my vidfeed?”

“Sure am, ‘One, got it up on ‘ma screens here. Reckon we ain’t got long before that thing goes down.”

“I was thinking the same, have ‘Three standing by on the rescue platform. When we find them, we don’t wanna leave them on board any longer than we have to.”

“Standing by already!” squealed a voice from somepony that sounded far too happy for anypony about to lower herself down onto a burning ship in a typhoon. ‘Typical Pinkie,’ thought Dash with a grin.

“An’ ‘Four is ready in the sick bay if we need to deliver any first aid. ETA is ‘bout three minutes from now.”

“Copy that, ‘Two.”

“I’m attempting to access the file archives for Canterlot Cruise Lines,” Rarity reported. “If I can locate the cabin the family were staying in, it might speed up the search.”

"Their cabin?" Dash asked, unable to mask a note of scepticism. "When the alarm sounded shouldn't they have gone to muster stations?"

"According to the passenger medical database, one of the foals suffers from a handicap and is in a wheelchair. If the official emergency briefings I've found for Canterlot Cruise Lines are correct, they would have been instructed to return to their cabin if an alarm sounded. A member of Guest Services should have met them there and advised them, and evacuated them when the crisis escalated."

Dash's ear twitched as her jaw tightened. "This family is on the ship with a handicapped foal, and the crew of the ship evacuates without them?!" Two scars along her back seemed to throb on cue with phantom pain, outraged by the indignity.

"Whatever happened to allow it to slip through the net darling, we can't do anything about that now. We have a job to do, let's do it. I'm through the last firewall now, I should find their cabin number at any moment."

“Make it quick then 'Five, I’ll continue the visual search until you come up with anything.” Rarity was right. Whatever chain of events had led to this, they could investigate later. Right now, they had to save the family.

“’One, I’m currently monitoring your systems,” came the voice from base. “Keep an eye on your thrust vectoring motors, I’m becoming concerned.”

Dash shifted her attention away from the ship below to give her instruments a brief scan. One light turning orange amidst a flurry of greens confirmed Twilight was right.

“She’ll hold for a while longer,” Dash radioed back, her eyes lingering on a few other orange lights. “But the reactor isn’t looking so hot either. I give her about ten minutes before I need to get her out of this storm, otherwise you’ll be rescuing me.”

“Don’t trust us, ‘One?” Applejack laughed.

“Remember our trip to Germaneigh last month?” Dash asked, returning her focus to the ship.

Applejack’s response never came through, as Rarity interjected with a priority message.

“’Five to ‘One, I have located the family’s cabin. You’re looking for Deck eight, Suite seven-two-four.”

“Copy that, care to point it out to me?”

“Already done.”

The heads-up display built into the glass canopy displayed a flashing arrow pointing down and to the left. Dash adjusted her flight stick, rotating Wonderbird One on the spot until the arrow was pointing straight down. Dash then proceeded to ease the rocket along the length of the ship. Metre by metre slid by at an agonisingly slow pace, as she dared not rush in the whipping wind that was causing the rocket to lurch to and fro. Minutes passed as she progressed, the arrow eventually disappearing and the canopy display highlighting a balcony towards the stern of the ship.

Miraculously, the cabin Rarity had found in the database was far away from the nearest flames, and on the side of the ship facing the sky.

With a great deal of finesse, Dash maneuvered Wonderbird One until it was directly above the cabin. Looking down through the glass floor, she could barely make out anything on board as a wave crashed onto the ship. She gently eased downwards on the controls, preparing to lower the rocket closer into a position with better visibility.

She blinked twice as the wave cleared. She didn’t need to get closer to see what was very clearly below her.

“Come in ‘Two,” she spoke into the radio, her voice steady and calm. “I can see the family. They are trapped against the far wall of their cabin. We can get them out by lifting them upwards through the door to the balcony, but we have to do this as quickly as we can.”

“Copy that, ‘One. Arriving on scene now.”

Cutter took a moment to look away from the rescue in progress. Something was... off. He knew his ship, every creak, lurch and rhythm. But as the searchlights of the distant Wonderbird One had locked onto a spot to the tail end of the ship, he noticed something. A deep throbbing vibration, running up his legs from the floor. It grew and grew in intensity as the other members of his crew also began to notice, heads turning one by one to Cutter as if for explanation.

For a moment he could only stare back, dumbfounded and jaw agape, until a frosty white light erupted from the sky, blinding him and his crew before it swept in the direction of the Celestial. The vibrations grew tenfold as the colossal source of the light passed overhead, moving to join the small blue dart above the stricken liner.

It looked almost like a green UFO, a massive oval structure the size of a city block with two sharp, forward swept wings. Twin jets of light illuminated two red tail rockets and a T-shaped tailfin as tall as a building. Various lights along the superstructure shone on different markings, most prominently 'E.R.' in massive letters on the side of the tail.

The vibrations in the floor ceased as the crew shared looks of disbelief. Descriptions that Cutter had heard on the news were true. Quite simply, it looked too big to be able to fly. And yet there it was, suspended above them, practically shrugging off the monsoon it was wading through. Wonderbird Two had arrived.

"Welcome to the party, 'Two." Applejack heard on her earpiece as she set her vertical jets to auto. A sophisticated computer array took control of the ship, hovering it in the same spot while Applejack turned to another set of controls.

"How're they lookin' down there, 'One?" she replied.

"With the ship on its side, they're pinned to the far wall down there. I can see their heat signatures on infrared but not much else, so I'm gonna pull back a bit and give you some space to work."

"'preciate it," Applejack said as Wonderbird One rose away and to the left outside her windscreen. It stayed nearby but gave a sensible gap between the two machines, giving a safety buffer should the winds gust one way or another unexpectedly.

Wonderbird Two may have had more surface area for the wind to blow on, but its larger mass and more powerful engines gave it better resistance against the brutal wind. Wonderbird One could fly three times faster in a straight line, but right now Applejack had the advantages of size working for her benefit. Dash probably had the right equipment on her ship to pull this rescue off herself, but it was a lot safer for her to stick to her reconnaissance role for this mission. She'd used her earlier arrival to locate the family, now Wonderbird Two could attempt the rescue in the safest way possible.

"Okay 'Three, you standin' by down there?" Applejack asked into her earpiece.

"Let's. Do. This." Pinkie Pie's determination, as was on-brand for her, seemed very out of place considering what she was about to do.

"And I've got stretchers standing by in the airlock for the... um, the foals." a gentler voice came through, with a confidence that only came out in situations of urgency.

"Okey doke," Applejack beamed, pulling a lever on a section of console to the side of her steering controls. "This cable car is departin', all aboard!"

A whir emanated through the ship. Camera feeds from inside its large central capsule showed a set of doors swinging open on the underside of its belly, baring the innards of the cargo bay to the stormy seas below. A caged platform with a single occupant swung gently from a cable in the centre of the chamber. It jerked and bounced occasionally as small pockets of wind flew upwards into the cavernous space. Applejack watched as a device resembling a large harpoon gun lowered from beneath the platform into the darkness outside.

She flicked through the camera displays until she reached the feed from Pinkie Pie's helmet. She saw Pinkie's gloved hooves manipulate the controls gently, compensating against the swaying of the wind. A digital readout followed her inputs and plotted the trajectory of the magnetic grab. She tweaked the angle and the firing pressure, and then she paused. The aiming reticule swayed left, then right, then... *THWOOSH* roared the feed from Pinkie's microphone as one end of the cable shot away into the darkness.

"Bullseye!" cheered Rainbow Dash's voice as Applejack peered outside. Illuminated by Wonderbird One's searchlight, the magnetic end of the cable had clamped itself onto a section of hull directly above the cabin containing the trapped family. Traversing the cable like a ski-lift, the rescue cage would come to a stop right atop the cabin's balcony.

"Ah'd call that a bullseye too." Applejack declared, her hoof hovering over a red switch. "You strapped in and ready to drop, 'Three?"

"Ready to drop, 'Two," Pinkie replied, her tone becoming unnervingly serious. Applejack watched the video feed as Pinkie's hoof reached towards an identical switch to the one in the cockpit. "On your go?" she heard Pinkie ask.

"On mah’ go."

"Copy."

"Three, two, one," she counted down. "Go!"

Both hooves flicked their respective switches in unison. On the main screen in Wonderbird Two's cockpit, the video feed showed the rescue cage plunge into the darkness.

In comparative silence, Rarity sat contemplating the array of monitors in front of her. She occasionally took a moment to glance out of the window to one side of her, where thousands of miles below sat the swirling mass of clouds that was currently causing her friends a lot of problems. Several screens showed lines of code, others a complex series of readouts from both Wonderbirds One and Two. Most of the screens were live video, some of news reports on the storm, some of the live feeds from the Wonderbird craft and a few of the exterior cameras on the Thresher.

She had a wealth of information at her hooves, and at moments she wasn't needed she tried to anticipate what information would be useful to aid her friends in their rescues. Her eyes glanced over to one of the Thresher camera feeds. A new and sudden plume of flame had shot upwards from the bow of the Celestial. She turned her attention to the screen that was currently showing the Celestial's passenger manifest. She closed the window, and tapping furiously, brought up a composite image from a rendering programme she had written.

Using all the live-feed inputs and satellite feeds, an AI programme would mesh together a real-time 3D image of the current area surrounding each Wonderbird craft. The more cameras, the better, so both Wonderbird One and Two combined gave her a decent view of the situation. She navigated her way up and down the render of the Celestial, examining the pockets of fire.

"It's spreading faster," she murmured to herself as she ignited her horn with a frosty blue glow, raising a mug of coffee to her mouth.

She cast a sideways glance out the window again as she sipped the piping hot drink. She was still not quite able to take in the immense size of the storm. Her brow furrowed as she set the mug down and turned back to her programme. She scrolled through an assortment of drop-down boxes to bring up the thermal imaging overlay. Her eyes widened and her ears drooped as the whole ship glowed.

For one brief instance there was a sickening plunge, like a twisted amusement park ride as Pinkie found herself weightless. She kept herself braced as the cable caught. The motors whirred loudly above her head as the safety platform was brought down towards the Celestial in a controlled descent. The wind and rain howled around her. The cage rocked violently as she leaned back from the control panel and held tightly to the harness strapping her in place. The digital readout she'd used to aim the magnetic grapple now displayed her progress down the length of the cable. It progressed quickly until with a thud and an upwards burst of seawater against the floor of the cage, she stopped.

Her mind went to straight to the task at hoof, disconnecting her harness from the fixed mounting on the control panel. She reached up and pulled down a pair of cables from the roof of the cage. She strapped one to her own harness, and another to a harness hanging by the sliding door. Pinkie paused for a moment, leaning backwards against the door as a gust of wind almost sent her sprawling forwards, and checked a device on her wrist. She tested a pair of buttons, and confirming that the cables would winch in and out on her command, pushed the door aside and leapt out into the storm.

Her hooves thudded on the glass sliding doors leading into the ships cabin. Through a thin layer of accumulated water, she saw four faces look skyward. Acting with speed, she grabbed the door handle and heaved it aside, ducking her head and bracing as another large wave washed over her. She lowered herself down into the cabin, where the four ponies sat huddled on the far wall.

She wasted no time, and pointed at the two foals. One, a teal unicorn girl, and the other, a beige pegasus boy with his hind legs strapped into an large cumbersome pair of wheels. Minus the wheelchair, the two children looked like aged-down versions of their parents. Both the adults were eagerly pushing the foals towards Pinkie, doubtlessly wanting them off the ship first.

"Get that off of him," Pinkie said urgently, laying out the harness attached to her second cable. "We've got stretchers on our ship, but we won't be able to lift him onto the rescue platform with it still attached to him."

The father nodded. He began undoing the buckles holding the wheels in place while the mother brought her daughter over to Pinkie, who helped her into the harness. Large in size, it was designed to be able to lift one adult pony or two foals. No sooner had Pinkie tightened the straps holding the daughter in place, than the father carried his son over. Working quickly, Pinkie had the pair strapped in and ready to go.

"I'll be right back," she said, winching herself and the two foals up into the stormy night.

She tried not to look at the tears in the eyes of the two parents she was leaving behind, even for a moment, as she emerged with the foals into the fierce wind. She worked quickly, climbing out of the cabin and up into the caged area of the rescue platform and moving the two young ponies onto a fold-down bench. Strapping a safety belt to each of them and wrapping a fire blanket around the pair of them, she gave them a reassuring nod and dove for the door again.

Her radio came to life again as she landed on the sliding glass door for the second time. "'Five to 'Three, come in!" Rarity's voice sounded panicked. "You've not got long, temperatures in that ship are surging fast!"

"Copy that," she replied, and loosing a long stretch of cable, jumped in through the open doorway.

She landed hard inside, rolling on impact and nearly colliding with the two parents huddled in a corner. The room was noticeably warmer, and the two ponies looked panicked. Pinkie grabbed the rescue harness and moved towards the unicorn mare, who trembled as her legs were guided into the straps.

"Can you fly?" Pinkie asked the stallion, who nodded shakily in reply. "I'll winch her up, you fly up to the door with her and hold onto her tight. Stop flying the moment we're outside, otherwise the wind will grab you both and then we're in real trouble."

The notion that they weren't already in real trouble seemed to lighten the tension. The two parents shared a nervous but comforting glance. Then they turned back to Pinkie, expectingly.

"Let's go," she said.

Activating the winch, she was hoisted up with the mare alongside. The stallion flapped his wings and rose upwards in unison, clinging to his wife for dear life. True to instructions, once the three emerged into the outside he tucked his wings away and clambered onto the glass. He turned back to help Pinkie by pushing the sliding door closed again. Pinkie nodded towards the doorway of the awaiting rescue cage, into which he followed his wife.

Pinkie had just climbed back through the doorway and was reaching to close it behind her, when a distinctive shiver ran across her entire body. Tucking her tail between her legs, she barely had time to think the word 'doozy' before the entire ship lurched violently. Had it not been for the cable holding her in place, she would have been thrown out the open door. As her peripheral vision caught the two parents stumbling for balance, her radio erupted again. This time it was Rainbow Dash shouting out, as the sky around her began to glow orange.

"Bail out right now, 'Three, that ship's going up!"

Instinct kicked in, autopilot took over. The fact the cage doorway was open became inconsequential. She slammed the emergency release button and dove to shield the two foals with her body as warmth tickled her back. The rescue platform swung away from the ship like an unstoppable pendulum as an inferno consumed the world behind its occupants. In an instant, heat sucked the air from their lungs and silenced their screams before they even uttered a sound. Only the bars of the cage separated them from the hell raging around them.

And in the next moment, they swung clear of the explosion, and the motors aboard Wonderbird Two kicked in. The cage reeled back into the green leviathan's metal belly just in time for the shockwave of the explosion to rock the whole ship backwards. Heat licked its way upwards towards them, but was intercepted with a thunderous clang as the doors to the cargo bay slammed shut. The craft bobbed perilously on waves of air and pressure. Lights dimmed around them. Their entire world shook for a few terrifying seconds. Finally the hull let out a low moan and settled itself back into the tumultuous storm. The lights hummed back on, the space around them now illuminated and eerily quiet.

Chest heaving, Pinkie stepped back and checked over the foals. Both trembling furiously and soaking wet, but alive and unharmed. She turned towards the two parents, who were shakily rising to their hooves. The heat from the explosion had dried them off, and singed their fur badly. Both of their hides were blackened in places, and the stallion was coughing. But they were both stood there, alive.

Shortly after, Rainbow Dash found herself out of the storm. Wonderbird One was skimming a few hundred feet over the swirling clouds at cruising speed. She passed the time at this leisurely pace by running diagnostics on the systems likely to have been damaged by the heavy winds. The thrust vectoring motors, true to Twilight's observations, had taken the worst punch. Constantly working over capacity just to keep the rocket stable had worn them out, badly. She would be able to land safely back at Harmony Island, but they'd need to be replaced.

Dash scribbled in the ship logbook, noting this alongside her observation that fluctuations in the fusion reactor had settled once the rocket had resumed normal forward flight. While the reactor problem had resolved itself, the issue with the thrust vectoring was no good, storms like that were rare but not unheard of. If it happened again, and if they were needed to respond again, then Wonderbird One needed the endurance to hover through it for longer. Maybe while repairing the parts, an upgrade would be possible. She wrote the idea down just in case. She knew how her ship worked, but upgrades were a job for an egghead.

"Base to 'One, are you reading me?" Twilight's voice spoke in Rainbow Dash's earpiece.

'Speaking of eggheads,' Dash thought to herself with a smirk. "Reading you loud and clear, weather any better there?"

"Weather's fine here, 'One. I just wanted to check in with you."

"All good here. You'll be glad to hear I'm writing my mission log as we speak."

"Wonderful, you're getting good at this!" Twilight sounded delighted, and Dash rolled her eyes with a grin. "What's your ETA?"

Rainbow Dash cast a glance along her instrument panel, then at a digital readout by her flight stick. "I'm letting the autopilot cruise her while I write this up. Then once that's done, I'll full throttle back to the island, should be home in twenty minutes or so. How about Wonderbird Two?"

"Well 'Four was concerned about the two adults, they seemed to have been exposed to high temperatures when the ship blew up, so 'Two is taking them directly to a trauma centre on the coast to get them to a burn clinic."

"It was a big one. The whole ship splintered and went up like a firecracker. They gonna be okay?"

"I think so, 'Four didn't report any severe external burns, but she was concerned the stallion might have sustained some internal damage, he was coughing quite severely and struggling to talk. It's a good hospital, with an excellent burns unit, so they'll look after him."

"And the foals?"

"Thanks to 'Three, completely unharmed. Between the foil blanket she put around them, and using herself as an equine shield, they had some pretty good protection. And because of her suit and helmet, she was fine too."

Dash smiled to herself. Hero of day, if it was an award, would definitely go to Pinkie Pie. She made one last scribble in her logbook before signing her name and snapping it shut. She pocketed it as the onboard computer notified her that diagnostics were complete. Wonderbird One was clear for full throttle.

"Make sure you get in contact with the cruise line too," Dash said. "I don't care whose fault it was, someone on the crew messed up and didn't help that family evacuate. If they'd done their job we wouldn't have been needed here."

"We'll do a full debrief when you get back, and I'll contact them tomorrow. I've already spoken to Vice Admiral Cutter, he sounds as annoyed as you are about it, so I think he'll be making his own inquiries."

"We might be able to force them to act if reports come to them from both the Coast Guard and Equestrial Rescue."

"Exactly," Twilight agreed. "The main thing though, mission successful, all hooves accounted for, and the Thresher is making its way back to base. Cutter sends us his thanks and says we can always count on backup from him if we need it."

"We're always out here making friends, some things never change," Dash mused as she pulled back on her flight stick. A chime sounded in the cockpit as the autopilot disconnected and the rocket began to climb. "Ship just cleared me to go full speed, so we'll finish this conversation shortly, okay?"

"Roger that, 'One. Fly safe."

"Always do, base. Wonderbird One, over and out."

The rocket rose and rose, a sharp navy-blue dart against the crystal clear sky. It levelled off as its pilot flexed her shoulders and leant back in her seat. No amount of training could prepare anypony for this. She pushed her throttle lever all the way forward and the rockets at the ships tail exploded with raw and limitless power. It propelled the ship forward like a bullet from a gun towards the horizon. Wonderbird One accelerated faster and faster, chasing its top speed of fifteen thousand miles per hour as Rainbow Dash was pushed hard into her seat. She raced across oceans and continents, the world beneath her blurring as she flew on, homeward bound.

Author's Note

This story was inspired by the original Thunderbirds episode 'Atlantic Inferno' and by the Oil Rig Rescue from the 2004 live-action Thunderbirds movie.