But it’s My Fault.
Lightning Dusts Spitfire rolled to a gentle stop as she throttled down the engine and killed the power. Sliding the canopy back she unbuckled her harness and stood up in the cockpit; a wide smile grew on her face and chuckling lightly jumped out onto the wing. As she climbed down to the ground, a twinge of pain ran through her foreleg; Lightning looked at her hoof to find it was bleeding but shrugged it off thankful the wound was minor and knew that it could have been far worse.
The deep whir of two Merlin engines cut through the air as Lightning Dusts eyes scanned the horizon. Waving and smiling she watched as Lt. Dash lined up her fighter plane with the grass runway on final approach; Capt. Spitfires’ Hawker Hurricane was not far behind preparing to land as well. A rush of relief washed over Lightning simply excited their long ordeal was actually over; now they all could relax and look forward to that drink she had promised Lt. Dash.
Suddenly a loud pop echoed across the airfield as Rainbows engine backfired; to Lightning’s horror a long thick stream of pinkish liquid came gushing out from inside the fighters wheel well. The landing gear stopped lowering and the flaps didn’t deploy; it quickly became apparent that Rainbow Dashes’ entire hydraulic system had suffered a catastrophic failure on final approach. She was going far too fast to pull up, the fighters hydraulically controlled flaps were needed to slow her approach and her landing gear had yet to fully deploy. The rear ailerons were pulled back as far as they could, but too much of their surface had been shot away in the dog fight doing nothing to change the course of the fighter.
Rainbows plane rumbled past Lightning and hit the grass runway hard. The impact was shallow enough, but very fast so the tail and underside made contact with the ground; for a moment it looked as if Rainbow could pull it off and belly land the crippled fighter. The partially deployed landing gear dug deep into the grass runway; the sudden impact of which brought the fighters nose down, then with an explosion of earth and metal the Spitfires propeller chewed into the runways surface which sheered it off and sent it sailing far to the other side of the airfield. The fighter slid and skewed into the dirt, its wingtip caught the runway and whipped the plane around violently which ripped the engine clear from its mounts. The fighter continued to slide, panels, parts, and pieces breaking off as it went; then it came to an abrupt stop as it slammed into the drainage ditch at the end of the runway.
The impact of what happened slowly began to dawn on Lightning as the sirens blared and medical wagons rushed to the aid of the crashed pilot. In a stupor of disbelief she ducked under the wing of her fighter and began to gallop over to Rainbows plane; as she ran something appeared in the corner of her eye, it was Spitfires plane. The lumbering Hawker rushed by having touched down close enough to Lightning that the blast of wind knocked her onto the ground. Dazed and confused she lifted her head in time to see the landing gear snag a rut in the runway made by Rainbows fighter.; the wheel caught and collapsed under the stress causing the wing to smash into the ground and veer the plane off the runway into the open grass.
Getting back up Lightning ran over to her captain’s fighter now resting close by in the grass beside the runway; as she galloped she could see Spitfire tumble out of the cockpit, fall off the wing and smash hard into the ground.
Sliding onto the grass by Spitfires side Lightning grabbed a hold of her captain screaming her name over and over; but to her horror she watched Spitfires eyes fade over and close as she slipped into unconsciousness. With tears streaming down her face Lightning called out for a medic; an emergency ground crew was not far behind and in a few moments had reached Spitfire and Lightning Dust. Leaving Spitfire to the care of the medics Lightning began galloping at full speed to Rainbows plane which too had an emergency crew buzzing around it. Tears streaming from her eyes she gritted her teeth, put her head down and ran with all her might.
Just yards from the plane she was tackled to the ground; a tall brown stallion with black hair and blue eyes in a blue ground crew uniform had grabbed her in a full body hold. “No, STOP let me go! I have to help to her, I have to save her, GOD PLEASE PULL HER OUT OF THERE!!!!!” screamed Lightning. “You can’t go near that plane ma’am! It’s not safe; let the emergency crews do their work” exclaimed the stallion “You don’t understand” said Lightning “I have to save her it’s all my fault!” Lightning kicked and screamed struggling against the ponies embrace as he carried her away from the wrecked fighter.
Setting her down on the cold concrete floor of a nearby maintenance hangar he waved and yelled at a passing medical wagon; a white mare in a white W.A.C. coat, overseas cap and a medical bag slung over her shoulder jumped off. She galloped over to the hanger and sat down next to Lightning Dust
“What’s wrong” she exclaimed,
“Nurse Redheart, Sgt. Dust needs medical attention” said the ground crew pony,
“I fear that she may go into shock!”
Nurse Redheart began rifling through her medical bag; pulling out a roll of bandages to apply on Lightning’s wounds she looked up to find the ground crew pony running back out onto the airfield “Sir!” yelled Redheart, “I need some help holding her”, the ground crew pony turned his head back “I’m sorry ma’am there’s no time, I’m needed” he replied and galloped away.
***********************
Standing alone at her bunk the day’s events went reeling through her head like a talking picture show. The images of the dog fight over the channel flew through her mind while every detail of Rainbows crash kept playing out ad nauseam. Lightning reached into her pocket and tossed a spare box of bandages onto the bed; Nurse Redheart had given them to her as extras just before she galloped off to help the medical staff attend to Rainbow Dash and Spitfire in the hospital wing.
She took off her tunic, shirt and tie, tossed them onto the bunk and stared at the heap of clothes; the tunic was stained with oil and petrol, the shirts white color dirty from grime, sweat, tears, and blood. Reaching into her footlocker Lightning grabbed her bath towel and a bar of soap, then made her way to the showers located at the end of the barracks.
Turning the shower faucet Lightning felt the warm water cascade down and wash away the grime of the day’s events. As she was removing the bandage from her hoof, unexpectedly, and much to Lightnings own surprise, she fell forward, both forelegs bracing her body against the shower wall, her breathing became erratic, and tears streamed from her eyes. Lightning then broke down in a heap of sobbing; the gravity of the day’s events forced her to the floor where she sat and cried uncontrollably burying her face into her forelegs. The muffled sobs were drowned out by the relentless patter of splashing water from the showerhead as it echoed through the white ceramic tiled shower room.
***********************
The morning had been exhausting and after her shower Lightning decided to lie down for a nap but the sound of a muffled voice and knocking stirred her from sleep. She opened her eyes blinking several times then propped herself up on the pillow; in a daze trying to figure out where the noise was coming from she scanned the empty barracks which were now basked in the warm glow of the late afternoon sun filtering in through the dusty windows.
A grey colored Pegasus with a dark mustache in a blue utility uniform, short brimmed cap and aviator sunglasses had poked his head in; “Excuse me ma’am, I hope I’m not interrupting” he said. A bit surprised Lightings eyes finally fell upon the pony standing in the doorway “No, it’s alright Cpl. Whiplash” replied Lightning “What can I do for you?” The Cpl. cleared his throat, “I have been instructed to inform you that your fighter has been repaired, re-fueled and re-armed; its ready to scramble and you have been requested to man the flight line for the evening”. “Thank you Corporal, I’ll be out shortly” Replied Lightning; Cpl. Whiplash nodded and took his leave.
After the corporal left Lighting climbed out of bed to put on the fresh uniform she had laid out earlier and replaced the bandage on her injured hoof with a fresh one. She looked herself over in a hand mirror, let out a heavy sigh and placed it back with her other belongings; then proceeded to make her way over to the barracks door and out to the flight line.
Closing the door to the barracks Lightning made her way to the squadron’s staging area. Across the field she could see a line of fighters surrounded by fuel wagons and ammunition carts; maintenance crews were clambering over several planes shouting out commands and performing various tasks.
Pausing, she looked down at the ground, her brow furrowed in deep thought; with a sudden change of direction Lightning straightened her tunic then briskly walked away from the flight line and over to the central building on the air base. Without hesitation she opened the double doors, passed the administrative desk and made her way down the main hallway abruptly stopping near the end. She turned to face a dark wooden door; this door was just the same as all the others except for a sign that hung upon it which displayed the words “Hospital Wing” in bright red letters. It was now late afternoon; the crash happened in the morning, “plenty of time for things to have settled down” thought Lightning. “I have to know if they're alright.”
No sooner had Lightning knocked on the door when Nurse Redheart poked her head out
“Oh, Sgt. Dust, what can I do for you?”
“I’m here to find out what has happened with Cpt. Spitfire and Lt. Dash”
“Sergeant, you know it’s against regulations for an on duty pilot to be informed of….”
Lightning’s voice cut through mid sentence,“Nurse Redheart, with all due respect ma’am I don’t particularly care”.
With a shrug Nurse Redheart stepped out into the hall quietly closing the door behind her and turned to meet Lightnings gaze.
“Spitfires stable right now, I expect a full recovery”.
Lightning let out a sigh of relief, happy to hear her friend would be ok.
“Alright Nurse, how about Lt. Dash?”
There was a long pause, Nurse Redhearts stance shifted uncomfortably.
“Nurse….what about Dash?”
Again, no response, Redhearts gaze remained on Lightning
The white mares eyes told her everything, heavy and sad, weighed with grief it was now clear what would be said next and why Nurse Readheart refused to speak. A sudden wave a tension, pain, confusion and anger all washed over Lightning and for the first time in her life she had absolutely no idea what to do next.
The two stood quietly neither one wanting say what they both knew until Lightnings voice shattered the silence.
“Did you tell Spitfire yet?”
There was a long pause, then Nurse Redheart spoke,
“Ma’am she just woke up, it’s not a good idea for…..”
“So that’s a no?” snapped lightning as she cut Nurse Redheart off mid sentence.
“No,” whispered Nurse Redheart, “I haven’t.”
“I’ll tell her” said Lightning through gritted teeth
“No, ma’am that’s not necessary you don’t have to.”
As she raised her head to meet Nurse Redhearts gaze, Lightning replied in an unwavering tone.
“No I don’t, but I’m going to.”
Nurse Redheart looked into Lightning’s eyes, she could see the sergeant was tired and the days’ events had worn heavily on her, but there was a sound resolve deep in those eyes that could not be ignored. Letting out a long sigh Nurse Redheart spoke,
“Stay as long as you need, I’ll be just outside the door.”
Lightning walked into the Hospital wing; with the door closing she turned to meet Nurse Redhearts gaze, “thank you” whispered Lightning. A warm smile grew on Nurse Redhearts face, “You’re welcome Sgt. Dust” she replied in a hushed voice then closed the door.
Her eyes scanned the room until they fell upon a lone figure lying in the farthest bed placed by the window. Walking towards her the limp of Lightnings injured leg caused her offbeat pace to echo throughout the empty room; she came to stop in front of a white hospital bed with a curtain that had been drawn partially closed. A white canvas laundry bag was placed at the bottom of the footboard and as she moved closer her stomach churned at the sight of the crimson red soaked bed sheets that laid crumpled up inside, but something she saw in the corner of her eye made her heart jump into her throat; a small sky blue feather was caught on the headboard frame, lightly fluttering in the breeze from the open window.
Nearly losing her composure Lightning reached over and plucked the little feather from the headboard. With a shaky hoof she placed it in her tunic’s pocket, then lowering her gaze to the wooden floor she turned around and walked back into the isle making her way to end of the hospital wing. Walking up to Spitfires bedside she looked down upon her friend who appeared to be fast asleep, “I can wait for her to wake, there's no rush now” whispered Lightning.
Staring out of the hospital window, Lightning Dust let the sun’s rays warm her face while the wind blew through her yellow mane. She reached into her tunic pocket and took out the little blue feather. With her bandaged hoof, she raised it up into the gentle breeze and watched as it took flight; fluttering along until it disappeared, blending in with the wild blue of the open sky. Closing her eyes she spoke in a soft hushed voice “Oh Rainbow…….Im so sorry”