//------------------------------// // New Faces, Old Memories // Story: One Last Flight // by Prismfire Productions //------------------------------// -present day, 25 miles west of Eldorado, Texas- It was a perfect day for a drive. The temperature was just right, a few stray cumulonimbus clouds dotted the sky, while a light breeze elegantly made the wheat in the fields dance in place. Amongst the peaceful scene, a solitary Ford-F450 drove along with its driver having only one goal in sight. The driver’s name was Rainbow Dash, newly appointed Chief Meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Dallas, and she was heading to finalize a few loose ends. “You sure you are up for this, hun?” A tan skinned woman with lavender hair asked from the passenger seat as Rainbow drove along, her eyes locked on a seemingly invisible point on the horizon. “It took you months to get over the break up, and I think it would be in your best interests if we just head on to El Paso for our wedding.” Rainbow shook her head, parting a few strands of her natural rainbow colored hair, which made everyone new she met surprised with the fact she was born with it. “No Twilight, I owe it to her to have one last meeting before we start our married lives together. After all, teaming with her gave me my first big break in the field and I want to personally thank her. Even you know that is the right thing to do, and you would do the same thing if the roles were reversed.” Twilight sighed before leaning her head over, and looking out the window at the rolling waves of wheat going by. “Yeah, I would, but if at any point you start feeling uncomfortable, we leave. Remember, we only have two weeks off before we have to head back to HQ and start working on the long range weather forecasting system.” “Yeah…” Rainbow said with a sigh, as she pulled into an empty field that had several parked vehicles, each with various equipment attached to them. “I am going to miss being on the road as a chaser, just feeling the changes in the atmosphere you know? Looking for the next big storm while clearing out those in a twister’s path to ensure no lives a lost.” Twilight put a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “When we first met you always said you were tune with the weather, so you probably feel like part of you is going to be left behind. However look at what you will be doing instead, making sure that forecasters have enhanced storm imaging further out in time, you should feel proud of yourself.” “I do,” Rainbow said parking and shutting off her truck. “anyways we are here. Pinks said she had a surprise for me so that is why I agreed to a face-to-face, kill two birds with one stone.” “I hope you know what you are doing,” Twilight said with apprehension as they approached the cars, each painted the same shade of light blue with a lightning bolt running the length of the sides. “I just don’t want any awkwardness considering I’m meeting your ex.” Rainbow gave a small chuckle. “I wouldn’t worry about that, if there is one thing that I can say about her, is that she tries to make friends with everyone she meets.” Any further attempt at conversation was cut off by a woman with curly blond hair running up and giving Rainbow a tight hug. “Welcome back, Dynamo! Pinkie is over at her car looking at the radar to see which direction we should be going today.” “Good to know Surprise,” Rainbow said after taking a few deep breaths for air, after nearly passing out from how tight the bear hug was, “while I get things sorted how, about you tell Twilight just what you all do as a unit? By the way, tell Spitfire to head northeast back up towards Eden, I got a feeling some storms will be firing up there late afternoon.” Surprise gave her a small salute before grabbing Twilight’s hand. “Will do! Now come Twilight and let me introduce you to the rest of the team. Consider yourself an honorary Wonderbolt, which is our team name, due to you being engaged to Dash.” Twilight was shocked, instinct told her to pull away from the stranger, but out of respect for her fiancée she didn’t. “How exactly do you know about that? We really haven’t told anyone except our coworkers.” Surprise gave an admittedly cute giggle. “Facebook, all of us on the team are still friends with her on there.” Twilight had no response to that, simply going through the motions as Surprise continued to introduce her to the team. Meanwhile, Pinkamena was in the mobile lab center fuming at the radar. ‘This dumb piece of junk!” Pinkamena said hitting the shock resistant screen with a wrench. “My dead mother could do a better job keeping an eye on the sky! If I had more funds I’d-“ “Ol’ Blindspot still being an ass Pinks?” Rainbow asked cutting her ex’s rant short as she came inside. “I swear this thing never worked right, even when we were together.” Pinkamena tossed the wrench to the floor in frustration. “It has gotten worse Dashie, everything seems to be falling apart at the seams. Blindspot is useless, the custom barometer shattered, we are out of spare tires from debris run-ins, and we don’t have enough to fund the whole spring.” Rainbow stood there in disbelief, the normally optimistic female she knew was nonexistent. Sensing her former girlfriend’s inner turmoil, Rainbow pulled her into a friendly hug, one that did its job. “Damn Pinks, that is rough. I saw Spitfire post on Facebook that things looked bleak, but I had no idea it was this bad.” “What would you have done if you had known the truth sooner huh?” Pinkamena asked while on the offensive, venom in her tone as she made her point. “You just got a great promotion, going to be married soon, and here I am trying to keep my own self together. I’m just your ex, so once I show you what I have been trying for two weeks to give you, you can ride off into the sunset and never hear from me again besides what I put on the web.” Rainbow felt horrible, despite Pinkamena being the one who called off their relationship, she could tell that the weather chaser was depressed and regretting it. “Listen to me, Twilight has a major in atmospheric science, but she also has a PhD in Psychology. I want you to talk to her, you are still a friend to me, Pinks, that is why I never unfriended you. I am concerned about the way you are acting, not even when your mom died did you look this broken and I would hate to hear that you did… something stupid.” “I appreciate the offer but I am fine.” Pinkamena said, giving Rainbow a small smile, one that faltered when she realized Rainbow saw right through it. “How about a compromise? We drop it for now and pretend that nothing ever happened, and in exchange I take up your offer if I feel like I need it. So where is she now?” “I am going to hold you to that deal…” Rainbow’s tone was cold, showing that there was going to be no backing out. “As far as Twi is concerned though, Surprise is introducing her to the others.” Pinkamena got up out her seat and made her way outside. ”Good, because I want them to see the look on your face when I give you the gift.” Now Rainbow was confused. Pinkamena had only said it was a “surprise” and now she specifically said “gift.” With several months left until her birthday, and no other holidays upcoming, she saw no reason for Pinkamena to give her a gift. Once they reached the crew, Pinkamena started to jump onto the trailer, but first she made her way over to Twilight. “You must be Twilight,” Pinkamena said offering her hand. “pleasure to finally meet you in person. Your thesis on how a Serbian high can disrupt the Southern Jet Stream was a very good read, one of the best I have seen in awhile.” “Thanks,” Twilight said with a small blush as she shook Pinkamena’s hand. “and nice to meet you too. Rainbow wasn’t lying when she said that you give a good first impression, were you just saying that about my thesis or did you actually mean it?” Pinkamena chuckled as she jumped up onto the trailer. “I was serious, now would you and Rainbow please join me up here.” Rainbow and Twilight both did as instructed, jumping up to join her on the trailer. There was a brief moment of pause when Twilight’s foot slipped, but luckily she wasn’t hurt thanks to Pinkamena helping Rainbow put her on level footing. “Rainbow Dash and Twilight, on the behalf of the Wonderbolts, we present to you this gift.” Pinkamena, with some help from Spitfire, started undoing the industrial strength straps that lay across the tarp. Once they were removed, Pinkamena pulled back the tarp with a flourish, and when she did Rainbow’s mouth dropped. There on the trailer were five containers, each looking like an upside down ice cream cone, and colored with a vibrant array of the color spectrum that made it look like a plane had went supersonic in the middle of a rainbow. On the side, in cyan writing, was the word “MACH” followed by a Roman numeral ranging from “I” to “V”. Rainbow jumped up beside Pinkamena, gently rubbing the cone closest to her. “Consider it your wedding gift from us boss.” Pinkamena said with a small smile, a few strands of her hair curling up in joy at Rainbow’s reaction to the gift. “I figured that you deserved something truly special, and the others got on board when I presented them with the idea.” “I-I can’t believe it…” Rainbow said in awe while carefully inspecting the weather package. “It is exact to the details that I had in my blueprints, where on Earth did you get the fund flow for this?” “Had a few stocks turn a nice profit, so I sold them to cover the costs.” Pinkamena said with a small chuckle, then her face fell into a frown. “Unfortunately, said stocks are now worthless due to a major market crash. That, combined with The Weather Channel reducing our funding to focus more on digital forecasting, is why each of us are looking at the unemployment line in a few months. You don’t happen to have any available spots do you?” “Look Pinks,” Rainbow said in a professional tone. “as part of my new position, I have been given the liberty of finding a team of my own to have. As much as I would love to get the old squad fully together, I can’t guarantee that since you all will have to go through the standard employment process. Now, my boss Luna said I could have 10 members on my team besides myself, including assistants. There are fifteen of you to only ten spots, so five of you will have to do without.” “What if you convinced your boss to have a thirty person crew?” Thunderlane asked from his spot near Soarin. “Fifteen in the field and fifteen in the office sorting data? We all know the rivalry between TWC and the NWS, so what would be a better way than to get us? Our track record speaks for itself, you know that.” “I will make a phone call and ask,” Twilight said as she leaned on Rainbow’s shoulder. “it is the least I can do considering Luna is my boss as well and you gave Rainbow her dream come to life. So what exactly is the contraption anyway?” Rainbow chuckled as she opened the top of the nearest cone, revealing an array of intricate data spheres. “This is something that I named the Rainboom Special. Each sphere has its own set of programs attached that reads everything from barometric pressure, to wind velocity and shear, and everything in between. One special feature is that it tracks the funnel’s speed along the cloud layer, instead of along the ground like normal, and records real time changes of the funnel itself.” “Does it have other uses besides tornados?” Twilight asked while picking a sphere, amazed about how so much data could come from such a small package. “Seems like a waste of time and resources if it is only used for one particular weather event.” “That is the beauty of it Twilight,” Pinkamena answered while Rainbow focused on calculating the number of spheres based on the inside volume of the cone. “the programs can be changed out based on the job needed. When Dashie first designed the Rainboom Special, she wanted it to be used on NOAA “Hurricane Hunter” missions as a modern replacement of the dropsondes that they currently use. Granted, the dropsondes to their job, but the spheres would give a more sustained map of the eyewall structure and dynamics.” “That’s when Pinks suggested we do tests with tornados.” Rainbow said joining the conversation, satisfied with the sphere count that she had calculated. “They have a very similar set up to an eyewall, plus we could just drive to a supercell and test it. I just never had time to fully commit to the project and thought of it as another unfulfilled dream. I truly am thankful that you all finished what I started, and look forward to tracking your progress on Facebook and expect a fully detailed report when done.” “That is part of the reason I wanted this face to face, I was wondering if you would take on one last outbreak with us.” Pinkamena said in a level tone, the other Wonderbolts looking optimistic as they eagerly waited for Rainbow’s answer. “So what do you say, one last ride?” Rainbow thought about it for a few minutes before sighing. “I would love to but-“ “Rainbow and I would be delighted to take up that offer Pinkamena.” Twilight quickly said catching everyone, including Rainbow, off guard. “Besides, I think it is only appropriate that the inventor sees its’ creation in action. Me and her can always put off our wedding to a more covient time, and I am curious myself just how a field operation works nowadays since I never have been part of an active outbreak mission. All my career has been in labs and focusing on models, now this will let me see just what the mobile crews do everyday.” “Well it seems like my mind has been made up for me,” Rainbow said with a chuckle as she, Twilight, and Pinkamena got off the trailer. “so I guess I’m in. So, for one last time, you all know what to do.” Each of the crew got in a circle and put a hand into the middle of it, making Twilight feel a bit left out until Pinkamena moved enough for her to join in. “I can’t do it Pinkamena, I don’t even know what to do.” “Trust me Twilight, it is really easy.” Pinkamena said as, at Rainbow’s urging, Twilight put her hand into the middle with the others. “Dashie says the first bit, then we break the circle by saying out team name at the same time. Got it?” “I think so…” Twilight said nervously before calming herself with deep, soothing breaths. “Alright, I think I am ready, on your cue Rainbow.” “Ok Twily,” Rainbow said before bowing her head and saying a prayer, asking the Creator for safe travels while on their upcoming journey. After saying “Amen”, she cleared her throat. “Alright everyone… we’re not your average weather folks, we’re the mighty storm chasin’...” “WONDERBOLTS!” The whole group, even Twilight, said while throwing their arm up in unison. “Good job Twi,” Rainbow said giving Twilight a kiss after the huddle broke. “I think it is fair to say you are part of the team now.” Twilight giggled at the gesture, feeling energized for the first time in years. “Thank you Rainbow, so what are your orders boss?” Rainbow deadpanned. “First of all, don’t call me that, now here are your job assignments. Me and Twilight will be at the front, Pinkamena right behind us, and then the rest of you fall in line behind. Spitfire will handle radar while Soarin drives the mobile lab, Thunderlane and Surprise will handle navigating, Warm Front and Vapor Trail will monitor the frontal zone, and Cloud Kicker and Cloudchaser will look at the sheer outputs. Misty, Fleetfoot, and Bulk I need to keep an eye on the trailer with the Rainboom Specials on it to make sure they stay secure. Finally I need Sassaflash, Sky Stinger, Stormfeather, and Midnight Strike looking at any ground reports that come in. Let’s go and keep on Channel 5 on our radios during communications.” The others nodded and got into their respective vehicles, Twilight acting like a kid in a candy store while pouring through all the charts and notes on Rainbow’s iPad. Meanwhile, Rainbow started up their truck and pulled back out on the highway heading east back towards Eldorado. “So what’s the plan hun?” Rainbow chuckled as she picked up the walkie, the old school method normally reserved for trucker communication being custom built into the dashboard, along with a cheat sheet of codes. “How about you tell Surprise to find us the quickest way to get on Interstate 10, I got a feeling that this is going to be a heavy hitter for a lot of populated areas.” “Roger that hun.” Twilight said with a smile before speaking into the walkie. “Surprise this is Twilight, can you hear me? Over.” “Loud and clear!” Surprise said with her normal enthusiasm. “What is it that you need? Over.” Twilight briefly paused to think about her wording. “Bo-... excuse me, Rainbow says she wants you to find the quickest way to get us on Interstate 10, how soon can you give us a heading? Over.” “Less than five minutes, over and out!” Surprise said as her end of the walkie went to static as she ruffled the maps. “I can’t believe I just did that,” Twilight said leaning back into her seat while waiting for Surprise’s reply. “I feel that should not have been my job.” Rainbow put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “You’re the greenhorn Twily, get used to it, we aren’t in the lab anymore and this is the real deal. You know, I normally have a song play at the start of every trip, a bit of a tradition as it were.” Now Twilight was intrigued. “Oh really, what exactly is the song?” A grin formed on Rainbow’s face as she pushed a button on the steering wheel. “Siri, play Thunderstruck by AC/DC in Wonderbolt Radio.” “Playing Thunderstruck.” The monotone female voice replied, and as the first notes started playing Rainbow relaxed into her seat, unaware that she was sharing the same thought as Pinkamena. “It is just like old times, and it never felt so wonderful…”