Turbulence
The cooled air of the storage building sent a chill through Ace as he walked inside from the scorching noon heat. He kicked the doors shut behind him and pulled a lever down with his magic, causing the shop lights on the ceiling to pop to life one row at a time. The dark room quickly filled with brilliant white light, revealing rows upon rows of pre-event vehicles in various states of disrepair. While his clipboard levitated by his side, Ace briskly cantered down the center aisle. He glanced at each car he passed by. Rusted sedans, dented minivans, smashed luxury vehicles, and mint condition pickup trucks all perfectly lined up next to each other. The unicorn stopped near the end of the lineup and scanned his clipboard. He walked to the trunk of the car he’d stopped in front of.
“Rodriguez. 2002 Buick Century. Nevada Plate ‘F289876’. Still operational,” Ace said to himself before lifting the tailgate, revealing a couple cardboard boxes of assorted items that one would normally find lying around in a car. “Twelve pounds of cargo… a couple jackets, phone chargers, and a collection of Madonna CD’s. Nice.”
He shut the trunk of the sedan and moved onto the next vehicle.
“Paddock. 2012 Dodge Dart. California Plate ‘KRA33Y’. Radiator destroyed, engine block cracked, cylinder head warped, and extensive body damage.” Ace had to pry the mangled trunk open with his magic. The force of his effort nearly ripped the tail off of the car. “Eighteen pounds of cargo. Let’s see here… phone chargers, of course, an old iPod Nano, an opened pack of medium Trojan fire and ice, gross, and… oh wow. A Colt revolver. Fully loaded. Now ahm jealous.”
Ace looked at the inscription underneath the manifest of Paddock’s car and raised a brow. “Paddock was released three days ago? Why hasn’t he come to pick up his stuff?” The unicorn put a checkmark next to the Dodge and continued his routine to the next vehicle, a familiar gray station wagon.
“Lindenberg. 2006 Volvo V50. Nevada Plate ‘Q120778’. Belts shredded and head gasket gone.” Again, the unicorn lifted the tailgate. Before he could continue with his job, his radio crackled inside his jacket.
Ace pressed the button on his radio. “This is Ace. Say again.”
The voice spoke through the radio again. “Code yellow, Ace. Code yellow! We need you in the tower. Now.”
Ace’s ears folded back to his head. Airliner returns terrified him. He had experienced too many losses in the past to be hopeful with code yellows, but he was determined to try and save them nonetheless.
“On my way,” he sighed.
Ace put the clipboard on top of the gray wagon while his horn began to glow a brilliant blue. Within seconds, he disappeared in a flash and reappeared into the air-traffic tower.
The radio room sat about a hundred feet above the base and had windows on all sides. By pre-event standards the tower was bare and primitive. They were lucky to even have a radar. There were two ponies on staff in the tower, an earth pony stallion working the radio and a unicorn mare watching the surrounding area with binoculars. Ace walked up to the earth pony attempting to calm the pilot and tapped his shoulder.
“Keppler. Let me on the radio,” Ace ordered.
The tan earth pony nodded and spoke into the microphone. “AA-67 heavy, I’m going to have you talk with our return expert here. He’ll try and walk you through this.” There was a pause before Keppler spoke back up, “God be with you too, Captain Miller.”
Keppler took his headset off and held it out in his hoof. “It’s a 737. A hundred and twenty-nine souls on board. American Airlines flight sixty-seven from Miami. Co-pilot lost his shit and locked himself in the bathroom.”
Ace swiftly took the headset in his magic and sat down in front of the radio. “American Airlines flight sixty-seven heavy, how copy?”
“Hello? I… are you that return expert guy?”
“My name is Ace. I’m the head of the local Las Vegas returnee rescue squadron. I’m assuming the trafficker before me told you some almost unbelievable information, yes?”
“Um, affirmative Vegas tower. I’m willing to believe anything to get me out of the sky right now.”
Ace looked over at the barebones radar screen next to the radio. “Okay AA-67, I have you on radar. You’re about fifty-six kilometers to the southeast. Can you give me your bearing and altitude?”
“Shit uh…” The pilot shuffled the radio a bit. “Bearing is north-northwest toward McCarran, 36.07 degrees north and 115.12 degrees west. We’re on approach speed. One hundred forty knots. And um, currently at ten thousand feet and descending.”
“Be advised AA-67 heavy, McCarran no longer exists. Keep your bearing toward McCarran but do not, repeat, do not dip below two thousand feet. When you are approximately 5 kilometers from your destination, I need you to bear to your right towards Nellis Air Force Base. The runway will be easy to spot, but just in case, we’ll have ground crew flash some lights for you. Affirmative?”
“Yeah… a-affirmative ground.”
Ace turned around and spoke sternly to the mare behind him. “Moonlight. The plane will be coming out from behind Frenchman Mountain in about 15 minutes. You tell me exactly when you see him.”
The pink mare nodded and turned her gaze to the southeast.
“Won’t the plane be coming dangerously close to the city?” Keppler asked in a worried tone.
Ace nodded while turning his attention back to the radio. “Yes. Send out a code yellow alert. Contact the radio stations and city hall.”
Keppler picked up the phone and began dialing while Ace picked the microphone back up. “Okay. Captain Miller, right? What I need you to do is extend the flaps. You’ll be able to pull the lever but you’re gonna need to use both hooves.”
-----------------
Winter shut her locker with a smile on her face. The successful rescue yesterday had her spirits flying high. She spread her wings and fluttered over to her partner while he prepared his lunch. Jack sat down at their usual card playing table and took a veggie sandwich out of his paper bag. He always worked up an appetite during his patrols over the desert. The smell of fresh bread and tomatoes filled his nose as he prepared to take a bite.
Winter hovered upside down, directly over the top of Jack and noogied him. “Where’s my lunch old man?”
The pegasus stallion sighed and shook his lunch bag until a small container of diced potatoes landed on the table. “Here. You can have my taters.” he said with an eye-roll.
The mare took the container and popped the lid open before sitting down beside her wingpony. “They’re called potatoes, Jack.”
He reached toward a small radio sitting at the center of the table and turned it on. “Not where I’m from they’re not.”
“So… That was quite the rescue yesterday,” Winter said, trying to strike up a conversation.
Jack set his sandwich down and nodded. “Yeah. Not very often that a returnee is that calm when we pick them up.” He pondered for a moment. “I don’t know. Call me crazy, but something tells me we’re gonna see him again.”
Winter played with a potato piece with her hoof. “He was kinda cute, too.”
The stallion snickered and put a wing around Winter. “Daw. Was it ‘cause of the ‘angel’ thing?”
The snow white mare’s cheeks turned a light but noticeable shade of red. “Grandma used to tell me about angels. Beautiful messengers of heaven that help and protect or something like that.”
“He probably thought he was dead and an angel was there to take him away. Or…” Jack touched her nose with his hoof, “Maybe he was f-l-i-r-t-i-n-g~.”
Winter smacked his hoof away from her face, “A returnee flirting with somepony right off the bat? You really are senile.”
Jack groaned and leaned back in his chair. “You of all ponies should know I’m technically as young as you.”
“Hey. You’re the one that made a big deal out of it when you ‘got a kid’ as a partner.”
The radio began playing an old pre-event pop song that relaxed Jack.
“Why are we listening to classical music?”
Jack waved his sandwich in her direction. “What? Got a problem with Coldplay?”
The young mare rolled her eyes and began eating. To add to Winter’s annoyance, Jack took a bite of his sandwich and began singing along.
“♫ She dreamed of para-para-paradise~♪”
Winter reached out to the radio to put on something a little more modern but was stopped by an emergency tone. Ponies around the hangar stopped what they were doing and gathered around the table.
The tones stopped and a calm, female voice came over the airwaves.
“This message is being transmitted at the request of the Nevada Aeronautical Survey. A code yellow alert is in full effect for the following areas as of 12:08 pm: The Kingman highway, the Lake Mead agricultural zones, the town of Hoover View, the town of Meadville, the city of Las Vegas, and the Las Vegas Valley. A large commercial jet liner is due to attempt a landing at…”
Winter’s heart sank as the world around her began to blur. The last time she was on site for a code yellow had been a year ago when she’d first started working at the base. The thought of that day sent chills through her body.
The winged mare was shaken out of her daze by her partner. “Winter! C’mon! Ace’s orders,” Jack exclaimed as he shoved a couple of hoof-converted marshall wands into her arms.
“Uh, what are we doing again?” Winter asked as she strapped the beacons to her forehooves.
Jack checked the batteries in his lights before securing them to his hooves. “We’re going to signal to the pilot on how to line up with the runway. The hoof-lights are bright enough to see at this time of day so don’t look directly at them.”
Winter’s ears folded back while she peered outside the hangar. Her wingpony patted her back. “It’s going to be okay, Winter. Ace said the pilot is calm and is cooperating. We’ll land this one safely and we’ll help welcome our new friends home. Now cmon. We gotta get to the end of the runway. The plane will be coming out from behind the mountains any minute now.”
Jack took off out the large open doors of the hangar and raced down the patched up runway. Winter trailed behind him, looking to the southeast the entire time. About halfway down the runway, an odd flying object in the far distance caught her eye. She flapped her wings harder as the metal structures and hot asphalt of the base gave way to dusty plains.
“Before the plane passes us, make sure you are on the ground and five-hundred feet away from the runway. I sure as hell don’t want to watch you get sucked into a jet engine!” Jack exclaimed as they reached the end of the runway. Jack flew off to the right side and Winter to the left.
With the duo approximately a thousand feet apart from each other, Jack turned his marshall wands on and waved to the young pegasus mare. Winter followed suit and waved back at him. The airplane was just exiting its turn when they started waving their lights at it. Winter’s face began to brighten as the liner drew nearer. This was actually going to be her first successful air rescue!
-------------
“Nellis tower, I’m exiting the bank now,” the pilot said in a much more relaxed tone than he’d had at first contact.
Ace looked out the window, checking on the two pegasi waving their beacons at the incoming jet. “Good, good. Y’all should see our welcoming crew guiding you in right about now AA-67.”
“Uh… ah! Yes, I see them. Landing gear… ugh, deploying. Sorry… my TCAS system is screaming at me. It’s not picking up runway beacons.”
In the background of the cockpit radio, a staticky computer voice could be heard shouting “Too low, terrain!” repeatedly.
“That’s normal, captain. Just keep her steady and you’ll be on the ground before you know it.”
“Okay,” Miller sighed, “We’re coming in on the stri- oh… shit.”
Ace jolted onto his hooves and watched the plane. “What? What is it, captain?”
“We’re losing speed. There’s too much drag... Shit! The flaps are out too far!” Miller shouted while the TCAS voice in the background blared a buzzing noise while exclaiming “Low-speed warning. Too Low. Terrain.”
Ace’s fur stood on end as a shiver rushed through his body. Hadn’t he given the directions properly? Had he missed a step? Ace went into full panic mode.
“Miller! Miller, accelerate! Keep her up! I don’t care if you have to take her in the dirt, just please don’t crash on me!”
“My wife Heather and my daughter Sarah are in Kissimmee, Florida. If they’re still there, t-tell them I love them so much…” Captain Miller said, holding back sobs. The 737 stalled out and tipped sideways.
“God bless you for trying, A-”
The whole world seemed to go silent as a fireball engulfed the dusty ground where the plane had been two seconds ago. No pony in the tower moved a muscle, not even when the deafening blast blew open one of the tower windows. Ace screamed as loud as he could and hurled the microphone at another window, shattering it. Then he vanished in a flash of magic.
-------------
The heat of the explosion burned at Winter’s face, but not enough to evaporate the tears streaming down her cheeks. The fumes of burning jet fuel filled her nose and stung her eyes.
She hovered in the air, watching the bright orange fireball rise into the air from the ground. Something inside Winter snapped. She should have prevented this! She could still help! Had to help! There was still time to save them!
She ripped the marshall sticks off of her hooves and raced toward the raging inferno. The closer Winter got to the blaze, the more her senses screamed in pain. She didn’t care. Halfway to the flames, Winter was knocked out of the sky. She hit the ground hard, finding her wingpony holding her down.
“Winter! What the fuck are you doing!?”
The young mare sobbed and struggled to get out of Jack’s grasp. “No! No, I have to help! I have to help them! I can save them!”
“Winter, you can’t save them!” Jack yelled over the roaring hellfire before them.
“No! I can! Get the hell off me! I can save them!”
Jack shook her hard. “Winter! Snap out of it! They’re dea-!” He choked back his tears. “They’re dead! We can’t save them!”
Winter broke down in her wingpony’s arms. “I just want to h-h-help!”
The pegasus stallion wrapped both of his wings around Winter, sheltering her from the heat radiating from the burning wreck in front of them. “I know you want to help Winter… I do, too…”
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Oh, shit.
Nice chapter, well written as before. Managed to be both dramatic and emotional, which is awesome.
I do have one concern though: I still don't know what the main drama of this story is going to be about. I can't help but feel like this chapter was a bit of a holding pattern until whatever the main story is going to be emerges. The sooner we get to that point, the better.
7941587 You're not wrong. Had you been writing this, I guess you'd put the content of chapter 2&3 in a single chapter, as it's basically still scene setting and more thorough character introduction. For at chapter to break writer's block, I think it turned out really nice though... and it's my fault it took so long to get it published. At least the 737 isn't in a holding pattern anymore. Plot arrival is imminent.
7941587 There was a little bit of a hint during the beginning scene pointing in the direction of the plot. If you can find it.
Unwelcome incident, but it's bound to happen. My thoughts are with Winter Winds. I've seen a few plane crashes up close (nothing as big as a 737, just small craft) and other wrecks, and you captured the witness trauma well. I'm impressed, not depressed. Just waiting for the fun to start. Even though I'm not a doctor, I gots patience.
One quibble to raise is that Nevada plates are not like that, three letters, three numbers. I'm sure you know that, and understand the reason for the changes.
Thanks for the tale so far. I'm hooked for sure!
What about United Airlines Flight 232 that crashed and burned in a fireball? There were 296 people on board, 111 died on impact, yet 185 survived. To assume that everyone died on impact and not even check for those who might have survived the crash would be considered dereliction of duty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_232
Besides, unless the skies were completely clear, the Pegasus ponies could gather clouds over the crashed aircraft and make a near instant rainstorm if they wanted to.
7947031
UA-232 made it to the airport and skidded down the runway.
AA-67 stalled and fell to the ground like a brick.
Here, I made an illustration to show you how I envisioned it.
68.media.tumblr.com/f802ad451d6d1a862df4437bd803e818/tumblr_oldw7tndX51s5gwwno1_1280.jpg
Also, A few things to remember. The Dust Devils are a private organization made up of volunteers. Not all of them are gonna have the professional training rescue crews have today. Especially when it comes to something completely out of their control. The plane didn't glide into a destructive skid, it lost speed and gravity pulled it almost straight down. Almost anybody would think something like that would be unsurvivable. And of course the skies are clear. It's late spring in Nevada.
Well, this just makes me wanna fly even less than I ever
and honestly, reminded me of the airplane flashback from Metro: Last Light.
But nuuuu
7942013
Huh, the whole shipping thing?
7961197
What about shipping?
7961485
Oh you know
7961668
Oh, you mean what the hint was. It's not that.
Or maybe it's a second hint. It's earlier on before Ace gets to the tower. It's EXTREMELY vague or a reason, but you'll be able to reflect on it when the storyline becomes clearer.7961741
Huh, okay then. Well, I await to see it in action then
7961197
Metro? Agree, that would be kinda fitting, despite the very different setting.
The whole 'what was that, what's going on?' thing.
7962825
Indeed, it's just what popped into my mind. And both of them I swear give a phobia of flying
Damn. Being absolutely helpless to save that many people. So many feels.