//------------------------------//
// Breathless 
// Story: The Wonderbirds... are... UP! 
// by Lets Do This 
//------------------------------//

The Moon's surface swept into view before them, as Spike used the jets to gently spin the Pegasus' dual craft into alignment.

"Wow..." Rainbow breathed, staring out through the CM's windows. The meteor-blasted, crater-pocked surface was so close she could practically taste the moondust.

Then, belatedly remembering she was supposed to be professional here, she called out: "Okay, Equestria. We're oriented for best reception. Heading into the Moon's radio shadow now."

"Roger that, Pegasus," Fluttershy replied, her voice already fuzzy with static. "We'll all be right here, waiting for you."

"No sweat, Fluttershy," Rainbow replied, smiling. "Talk to ya in a few."

The radio fell silent, as they passed around the far side of the Moon. It was unnerving, in a way, being this isolated from everyone and everything they'd ever known. Yet on the other hoof, everything had gone so smoothly that it felt like just another part of the mission, just another part of the job, a job they could all be proud of.

Rainbow glanced around at the her crew, saw them smiling back, obviously feeling the same way.

No matter where we are, Rainbow thought, we're right here, together. So we're never alone. Yeah, a bit sappy and philosophic, but that's what made the Wonderbirds so great, wasn't it? They could make you feel unashamedly happy, and get away with doing it, because they were supposedly only for kids.

Spike was conscientiously watching the clock, as the final minutes ticked away.

"Should be back in contact any second, Rainbow..." he said. Then he happened to glance up, through the windows.

"Hey, look!" he called. "There's Equus!"

They peered out through the windows, at the limb of the Moon's horizon ahead -- and a small blue-green sphere slowly emerging from beyond it. Like Moonrise -- only it wasn't the Moon...

That's home, Rainbow thought. Every place we've ever been, everyone and everything we've ever known. All on that tiny blue marble... woah...

Spike already had the camera out, and was grabbing a couple pictures of the rising planet. Then he glanced at Rainbow. "Sorry, I know it's not on the schedule and we don't want to waste film..."

Rainbow put a hoof on his shoulder. "No worries, Spike, go right ahead. Somehow I get the feeling this'll be more important than just about anything we're gonna bring home. Everycreature back there should have the chance to see this."

Spike kept snapping, as the radio hissed, and Fluttershy's worried voice became audible: "Pegasus, this is Equestria. Do you copy?"

Rainbow grinned. "Right here, Equestria -- safe and sound. And you should see the view from up here!"

"Roger that, Rainbow," Fluttershy replied, relieved. "Take some pictures for us, huh?"

Rainbow and Spike exchanged an amused glance. "Already on it, Fluttershy!"


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


With the final burn completed, and the spacecraft safely parked in lunar orbit, they began working through the checklist for crew transfer to the LEM.

"Okay, we're ready," Rainbow said. "Stand by, Equestria. Transferring power to the LEM."

Spike tugged the appropriate lever.

Something went clunk.

"Uh..." Rarity looked around nervously. "What was that? Was something supposed to go clunk just now?"

"Is something wrong, Rainbow?" came Fluttershy's worried voice over the radio.

"Not sure, Equestria," Rainbow replied. "We just heard a strange noise up here. It might be nothing, but..."

And then there was a louder BANG. The command module lights went dark. The internal fans fell silent. There was a worrying hissing noise. Rainbow felt the beginnings of a disturbingly familiar headache... "Equestria, the power just went out! And we're losing pressure somewhere!" She grabbed a flashlight from a wall bracket and cast the beam about, quartering the module's interior. "We gotta find that leak, and plug it fast!"

"I'm on it, Rainbow!" Pinkie lunged with a hoof and tore the top sheet from Rarity's sketchpad.

"Pinkie!" Rarity shouted.

Pinkie industriously shredded the sheet of paper into confetti-sized fragments, and then tossed them merrily into the air around her.

"Pinkie, quit fooling around," Rainbow yelled. "And..."

And then she realized the fragments of paper were all drifting in a specific direction -- forwards, towards the hatch to the LEM. "Pinkie, you're a genius!"

Rainbow was about to dive for the hatch herself, then she glanced around worriedly at her crew. "Helmets on, everypony, just in case. And check that your suit mikes are working."

"Rainbow!" Spike called out. "We're starting to spin! The leak must be acting like a jet! Should I use the thrusters to counter it?"

"Not yet, we don't want to waste fuel. Let's find that leak first. Just stay on the instruments, and watch our air pressure."

"Right, Rainbow!" Having pulled his own flashlight from its bracket, Spike used it to locate the pressure gauge. "The pressure's definitely dropping."

"I know, I'm feelin' it." Rainbow winced as she slotted her helmet in place. Checking that the others were similarly suited up, she dove for the hatch. Seeing no indications of damage to it, she nevertheless cautiously undogged it and tugged it open. It opened easily, so there wasn't a vacuum behind it. And a quick glance around the LEM's interior didn't show any obvious holes.

Confused, Rainbow drew back... and then noticed that there was a loose panel to her left, towards which Pinkie's paper fragments were drifting -- and there were fitful sparks of electricity coming from behind it.

With a cautious sweep of her hoof, she knocked the panel free.

"Equestria," Rainbow said, "there's a puncture in the CM's hull, behind the panel below the environmental controls. We must have had an overload and a blowout."

"Pressure's still dropping, Rainbow!" Spike called. "It's down by a quarter now!"

Rainbow thought fast. "Rarity, can you still put up a barrier spell to plug this leak?"

"Oh! Certainly I can, Rainbow, but I'll need line of sight for that."

Rainbow nodded, and motioned her over. "Pinkie, you bring the patch kit, and lend a hoof."

"Rodger dodger!" She already had it in her hooves as she followed behind Rarity. Rainbow quickly made room for the two ponies, and passed Pinkie the flashlight.

Rarity peered into the open panel. "I see the leak... one second." Her horn shimmered weakly. "There... got it. But I won't be able to hold it long. There's very little ambient magic to work with out here. We need a patch now, Pinkie Pie!"

"One patch comin' up... hot off the griddle!" Pinkie reached in with a hoof and slapped the sealant-smeared metal disc in place. "Got it!"

"Spike," Rainbow called, "how we doing on pressure?"

Spike examined the gauge at length, and then sighed in relief. "Pressure's holding steady, Rainbow. Should I bring us back up to normal?"

"Let's wait a bit, until we figure out what else is busted. The lights are still off."

"It's a bit messy in there," Pinkie said, peering around inside the panel. "Looks like the spatula drawer back home. But nothing looks really broken... aside from this one big squiggly part here."

"Lemme guess," Rainbow sighed. "It'll be the one thing we don't have a spare for."

"It's jammed into a cable bundle," Rarity said worriedly, "and throwing off a lot of sparks. It might be what's shorted out the lights. I could try using my magic to move it, but... should I?"

Rainbow looked startled. And then remembered it was her call. "Fluttershy, could you put Twilight on the line?"

"I'm here, Rainbow... what's up?"

"We've got a broken metal part behind the same panel, and it's shorting a cable. I need to know whether it's safe to move it. Wouldn't want to find out the hard way it's the only thing holding the ship together right now."

"Hold on, Rainbow, they're bringing me the specs for that panel now... okay, is it the main condenser baffle?"

"Uhhh..."

Pinkie spoke up. "Would that be a long, really twisty pipe, Twi? That twists back and forth, like the heating element in an oven?"

"Yeah, that's it, Pinkie. And which cable is it shorting? Is it the one leading to the secondary bus manifold?"

"Is that the thing down the bottom that looks like a spatula... only with four handles?"

"Umm... exactly. Okay, that means it's safe to move it. It's shorting power but thankfully it's not shorting the main bus. But there's a larger problem... without that condenser, you're not going to be able to maintain temperature control in the CM... and it's gonna get cold in there pretty quickly."

"You're right, Twi!" Spike called out. "The temperature in here is dropping already!"

Rarity gave a nervous laugh. "I was wondering why I was starting to think about my fall line..."

"We're in our suits, Twi," Rainbow said. "So we're good for the moment. Can we replace this condenser thingy ourselves?"

There was a pause from the other end. "It's not clear, Rainbow. According to the construction ponies here, it's going to take more than a little engineering work to rig up a replacement."

"But we can do it, right?"

Another pause. "It... might be better not to take the risk. We should consider cancelling the spell... and bringing you all back home..."


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


In the Mission Control room, all eyes were on Twilight as she said this.

Rainbow's voice immediately came on the radio in reply. "What the hay, Twi? You mean give up? Just like that? Because of a busted pipe?"

"I know what this means, Rainbow," Twilight said, anxiously. "And I wouldn't suggest it if we knew that's all it was. But we don't know what other damage might have occurred. And we can't tell what else might go wrong if the internal temperature drops too far. Our first priority here has to be everyone's safety."

"Twilight, we can make this work!" Rainbow pleaded. "I say we stick it out, see what we can do. If things actually do start going south, then..."

"... then we might not have time to act, like we do now," Twilight objected, "before someone is hurt!" Twilight was trying to maintain a calm, collected tone -- and failing. "By then it might be too late! Or you might be in the Moon's radio shadow again, and we wouldn't be able to help you!" She got a grip on herself, and spoke with deliberate calm. "Look, I'm the Spellcasting lead, so it's on me to make the call here." She sighed. "I think we should end the spell and bring you back."

"No."

Everyone in the room turned to look at Luna. Including Celestia, who raised an eyebrow.

"Sister? It is an appropriate decision, after all. We should bring Rainbow and her crew back safely."

"We might easily bring them back," Luna declared sternly, her horn softly glowing as she maintained the spell baseline. "But the pony we bring back would no longer be Rainbow Dash. She would be a pony who has failed to achieve a lifelong dream. Worse yet, she would never have even the possibility of discovering whether she might actually have succeeded, in spite of the risk."

Celestia considered it. And then simply nodded, remaining silent. And Luna gazed levelly, almost challengingly, at Twilight. While Twilight was nominally in charge of Spellcasting, only Luna could actually bring the spell baseline to an end.

And she clearly wasn't about to.

Twilight bit her lip. Then she turned back to the radio. "All right, Rainbow. Let's replace that condenser first. And then let's see what else we need to fix..."


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


"Yay!" Pinkie cried. 

"Celebrate later, Pinkie," Rainbow reminded her. "We still don't know whether we can actually replace this thing."

"Don't you worry, Dashie! I'm Hoof Wrench!" Pinkie declared proudly. "I can fix anything!"

"Pinkie..."

But the party pony wasn't listening. "Twilight?"

"Right here, Pinkie."

"I'm your hooves. Just tell me what I need to do." Pinkie held up her own forehooves like a surgeon. "Talk me through it. Like with the experiments... spell it out to me like cake recipes."

"Okay, Pinkie. First, we need to get that broken condenser out of the way."

"I'll get that." Rarity charged her horn with the little magic that was available, and used it to gently lift the condenser and pry it loose.

The sparking stopped, but the lights still remained off. "Probably just a tripped breaker," Twilight said when they reported this. "We'll deal with that in a bit, once the condenser problem is solved. Hold on, Pinkie. The construction ponies here are debating something. Okay, here we go. Is the existing condenser salvageable?"

"Don't think so, Twi. It's got a lot of cracks in it."

"Okay. We'll need to make a replacement. What's that? Oh good... thanks, Iron Girder. Pinkie, there's some metal conduit tubing under the right-hand control console, which is the right length and thickness... but we'd need to form it into the right shape."

"Oh, hey! I can do that!" Spike said. "Of course... it means taking off my helmet," He glanced worriedly at the temperature and pressure gauges. "But it's only going to get colder in here, so better to do it now, right?"

Rainbow nodded. "Don't worry, Spike. I'll take the conn, and I'll keep an eye on ya to make sure you don't pass out or freeze. Pinkie, pass me that busted condenser."

"Here ya go!"

Rainbow returned to her seat, even as Spike dove beneath his console. He came up with the length of metal tubing he'd pulled loose. Then he carefully unscrewed his helmet, and shivered a little at the advancing cold.

"Let me know if we need to try raising the pressure," Rainbow warned.

"It's a little thin," Spike agreed, "but with the oxygen from my suit I should be good." Tuning his firebreath, he began using it to soften and gently shape the tubing, using the broken one Rainbow was holding as a model.

"Pinkie," Twilight said, "while Spike's doing that, let's work on cleaning up any other damage in there. To the left of where the condenser was, there should be a compressor assembly..."

"Cake recipes, Twi!" Pinkie reminded her.

"Oops, sorry! It'll be a gray cylinder with three bundles of wires coming out of it."

"I see it. It looks fine."

"Okay, to the right, there'll be a brown box with a bundle of wires coming out of the top."

"Oooh, that's got a hole on one side. I didn't see it before because the condenser thingy was in the way. It must be what blew out in the first place."

"Not to worry, Pinkie. That's just a transformer. You do have a spare for that. It's in the patch kit."

"I've got that, Twi," Rarity said. "Pinkie, you pull out the broken one... but do check it's not live first!"

"Okie dokie!" Pinkie pointed with a hoof. "Here, use your magic to hold this wire thingummy out of the way. Gotta get some leverage on this to yank it out..."

Rainbow waited tensely, monitoring the temperature and pressure gauges, while Spike shaped the tubing and Rarity and Pinkie worked on the cleanup work. Then Rainbow helped a very chilly Spike get his helmet back on, while Pinkie and Rarity worked on installing the replacement condenser.

"Okay," Rainbow said at last. "Pinkie, you keep an eye on the new condenser, let us know if it's about to bust loose on us again. Rarity, you're on the fuse panel, in case anything trips. Spike, you're on the control panel, report any environment changes. Annnnd... I'll just hang out here in the middle, and worry enough for all four of us."

Once everyone was in position, Rarity reset the flipped fuses... and the lights and internal fans came on.

"So far so good," Rainbow breathed. She nodded to Spike, who gingerly fired thrusters to cancel their spin and put them back in the correct orientation. And then he retoggled the LEM power transfer. This time, it worked perfectly: they could feel the vibration of fans starting up in the LEM, beyond the forward hatch.

Pinkie nodded proudly. "The new condenser's holding, Dashie!"

"Nothing else tripped on the fuse panel," Rarity reported.

"O...kay..." Rainbow said. "Spike, how we doing on environment?"

"One second... yeah... uh huh... yep! Temperature's coming right back up. Everything else looks normal, though the air pressure's still low."

"Okay, bleed enough from the reserves to bring us up to ninety percent, just until we're reasonably sure we're back to normal."

Spike did so. And then the four of them looked at each other for a long moment.

And smiled.

"Equestria... I think we're back on track here," Rainbow said. "So... we'll continue with the LEM transfer checklist."

Fluttershy's voice came over the radio. "It's so wonderful to hear that, Rainbow! We're all relieved down here. Oh, and Twilight says she's sorry for trying to overrule you."

"She was just doin' her job, Fluttershy. As a flyer, I can respect that. Let's stay focused on the landing. Having gotten this far, I'm not turning around now!"