Wild Blue Yonder

Landing at Ironwood were the squadron’s replacements. Turbo was dreading this moment. Replacing a friend with what, a greenhorn? But what greeted Turbo surprised him. Standing before him was a muscular pegasus colored sea foam green and with a blue mane.

“Are you the 6th Flight CO?” The voice was not proportional with his body, but Turbo nodded anyway.

“You found him. And you are?” The pony dropped his bag and saluted.

“Flight Officer Whirlpool, sir!” Turbo sighed.

“Okay, first, drop the salute. I'm only your commander when we're in the air. Two, you don't need to call me ‘Lieutenant Turbofan.’ I'm just Turbo.” One of the enlisted ponies came running across the field from the communication building to the command center. Colonel Jack walked out.

“4 Squadron, scramble!” Ponies began to run around like chickens with their heads cut off.

“You wanted action?” shouted Turbo over the sound. “You're gonna get plenty of it!” When they went to the armory for their gear, they found Major Stars giving out a haphazard briefing.

“A large formation of enemy bombers have crossed the lines at 6,000 hooves! Only a few of them hit our trenches, the rest are probably heading for air bases and supply dumps. Intercept as quick as possible. No flare, just head up when you're ready and wait for your flight. Turbo nodded and helped Whirlpool with the straps. In rushed Nimble and Camel, and he helped them with the straps. Galloping outside, ponies were taking off left and right while some earth ponies and unicorns manned anti air guns.

“Alright guys, take off.” Off they flew, climbing up to 6,000 hooves in only a few minutes. “Spot em, call em.” They searched for three minutes with no luck.

“I got bombers in my sight, 3 o’clock level!” Turbo looked to confirm. There they were, about 30 of them.

“Good eye, Cam. Move to engage.” The rolled over to face the enemy, coming at them from a 10 degree angle, giving them a large target to fire at. Already, some flights had engaged. Turbo realized a flaw in their attack. The flights were coming pericemental, giving the escorts plenty of time regroup and attack. “Push on, guys. No mercy.” Turbo fired a burst into the lead bomber, it caught fire and started to fall. Turbo corkscrewed over the formation, trying to throw off the gunners’ aim.  It couldn't be confirmed as a kill, as he didn't see it go down.

“Hard right Turbo!”

“Huh?” He faced forward, and looked directly into the eyes of a gryphon escort. “Ah. Hallo mein Freund.” The beast was not amused, and slashed Turbo in the face. He roared in pain. The gryphon grabbed him by the neck and started plummeting towards the ground. Turbo started panicking as the ground got closer. He began swinging at the gryphons face, but to no avail. Welp, I guess this is it. Turbo closed his eyes and waited for the end. POW POW POW POW! The gryphon’s gripped loosen. He opened his eyes and saw Nimble on top of his attacker. She shoved him off with a grunt, freeing Turbo's wings. He spread them, and soared into the clouds.

“Didn't I tell you not to do that again?!” screeched Nimble.

“Thank you, Nimb.”

“You're welcome, but don't expect me to do that again. Next time, you'll suffer for your stupid decisions!”

“And what was that stupid decision?”

“You saying ‘hello, my friend’ to the gryphon!” Sopwith butted in.

“Can you two stop arguing like an old married couple and focus!”

“Alright, alright! Let's from up and attack the bombers.” It occurred to Turbo that they were lost. “Ah. Slight problem. Where are we?” Whirlpool cursed.

“Thanks Turbo,” Nimble said. “You got us lost!” He was losing his patience.

“Do you want to command 6th Flight?! Then be my guess! Now everypony shut up so I can talk to Major Stars!” He changed the frequency to the commanders’ radio. “Major, can I get the location of the enemy?” The radio buzzed and an answer finally came back. “Wilco, sir.” Changing frequencies again, he found his flight’s. “Alright, guys. Bombers are 10 o’clock high from our positon. Get above and dive down on em. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir,” everypony mumbled in unison. After searching, they found the bombers. They were being attacked by 3rd Flight. Climbing to 2,000 hooves above, Turbo gestured down. Everypony nodded. Sucking in a breath, Turbo tucked in his wings, and pointed himself downward at a 90 degree angle, slightly rolling. Sending a long burst into one of the bombers, Turbo was satisfied to see it nose dive towards the ground.

BAM!

“What the?” A shockwave buffeted him and sent Turbo spinning out of control. What in Celestia’s name happened. “Oof!” A chunk of wood bounced off his chest. The only thing he could guess happened was that one of the bomber’s load exploded. Regaining aerodynamic control, he looked up and saw to his delight, that the formation broke up and started heading for home. “Alright, that's enough. We're heading home.”

They were silent the entire way back, all exhausted from 4 hours of continuous flying. Once touched down at Ironwood, Nimble approached Turbo.

“What was that?” He didn't answer. “Turbo, something is off with you today. I can feel it.” Still no answer. “Well?” He finally just shrugged his haunches.

“Just an off day for me, I guess.” She wasn't accepting that as an answer.

“Bull. There is something more going on.”

“I'm not talking about it.” Turbo, get out of here, now! There is no time for me! “No badgering me for more information.” I'm not leaving you, mom! Wind Rider too! We can escape together! She looked at him with pleading eyes.

“You're hiding something, I can tell.” Listen to your mother one last time! Get out of here!

“It's the anniversary of my mother and sister’s death, okay!?” Nimble's ears went flat.

“Oh. Listen I'm s-”

“Don't be,” he said, voice a lot calmer. “It's not your fault. I was going to burst sooner or later.” She sat down under their ash tree, head held low, clearly still upset that it was her fault Turbo had burst out. Turbo sat next to her. “It was six years ago.” Nimble looked at him with surprise. “I never mentioned her, but I had a sister. Her name was Wind Rider. Even though she was half my age, we were inseparable. Anywhere one of us went, the other followed. I do something stupid, she'd laugh and help me up. We were the perfect team. As for my mom, she was stern, yet caring. It was hard to get her to have fun, but once she did, she was the craziest one of us all. I loved my family, loved them to pieces.”

“Then one day, we decided to take a train trip across Equestria. It was great. But one night, while everypony was asleep, we jumped the tracks. Everypony in our car woke up and started screaming, as we were falling into a valley. Then it stopped. I blacked out. When I came back to, I was the only one moving. Going over to my dad, I found that he was still breathing. Looking at the front of the car, a fire was burning, coming ever closer. Upside down and with wreckage blocking the door, the only way out was through the window. I kicked one open and hauled dad outside. Crawling back in, my mother was conscious. But there was a large piece of wood crushing her. I didn't have the strength to pick it up.” There were now tears falling down Turbo’s face. “She kept yelling at me to get out, but I told her I wasn't leaving her or Wind Rider. The fire was getting closer, and my fur was starting to singe. Finally, she yelled ‘listen to your mother one last time! Get out!’ I felt somepony grab me and drag me through the broken window, me kicking and screaming the whole time. The stranger set me on the grass next to my father and she restrained me from going back into the car. I started sobbing, and soon I could her my mother screaming in pain. Wind Rider never regained consciousness from the initial crash. I felt the strange pony’s grip loosen, and I made a mad dash towards the wrecked car. Before I could reach it, the engine’s boiler exploded, sending me flying back, and knocking me unconscious.”

“Help arrived from the closest town, and they assisted the few survivors. There was nothing left to bury. My father sank into a depression, only broken with alcohol. One day, he sobered up, and got a job at a factory. Now he owns that factory, a successful pony in every way. But every year on this day, we sit and cry with each other. Celestia, I miss them. I remember it like it happened yesterday. But today, I had a job to do and nearly failed because of personal emotions. If it ever happens again, it could cost my flight their lives.” Turbo looked down at Nimble. Tears were forming at her own eyes. She stood, looked him in the eyes, and hugged him around the neck. It was a tight, comforting embrace, and Turbo lost all control of his emotions. He started sobbing, muffled by Nimble.

“Let it out. Let it all out.” The crying continued. After a solid minute, it subsided. She released her embrace and looked at Turbo. He was a total mess, eyes puffy from crying, dirt and dust on his face washed away in streaks by tears. “I'm sorry.” He rubbed his eyes with his wings.

“I already said, don't be, Nimble. None of it was your fault. Saying sorry won't bring them back. And like I said earlier, I have a job to do. Fulfilling that promise I made to keep you safe.” She chuckled softly.

“Not forgetting that, are you?”

“I keep my promises, and I'll remember it as long as you're on this side of the ground.”