Spitfire was pacing before her team, wearing her uniform, whistle bouncing on her chest. "Alright troops, we're going to be having a free day today-"
"Whoo!" Rapidfire cheered
"Rapid!" Spitfire snapped. "Anyway... that means you will be responsible for your own training."
"Why?" Thunderlane asked
"Because there will be days when I'm not here to oversee your training, so I need to make sure the idiots among us know how to work out on their own." Spitfire replied, glaring out at them over her aviator glasses.
"Yea-hey!" Rapidfire huffed
"Oh you know it's true, just own it." Spitfire said, then continued her pacing. "Today, you will all be responsible for yourselves, and I will be among you doing the same. Just because I'm taking the day off from being your-"
"Mother?" Lightning Streak asked
"Single mom who's really strict?" Thunderlane suggested
"Military mom?" Rapidfire joined in.
"...Drill Seargent. Just because I'm not in charge for the day does not mean I will not see everything you do. Which means this is not a day for goofing off. I don't want to see any shenanigans today."
"Aww..." Rapidfire sighed
"That's enough out of you Gutter." Spitfire growled. "Now, if any of you have any problems, I expect you to solve it yourself."
"Why do we have to participate, ma'am?" Misty Fly asked, raising a hoof.
"Well Misty, the boys would get lonely if they had to go through this on their own." Spitfire answered teasingly, smirking
"Hey! Surprise is just as shenanigan-y as us!" Thunderlane accused
Spitfire rolled her eyes. "That's not a word, Thunder."
"My point still stands!"
"And my point is that you're all responsible for your own actions for the day. And due to likely collateral damage, let's try to stay within the boundaries of HQ, okay?" Spitfire said, before trotting off.
"Are you sure thith ith a good idea?" Fleetfoot asked as she and Spitfire headed to the gym.
"Of course I'm sure. They can handle themselves for a day and I'll be able to step in if needed." Spitfire replied.
"Heh, okay. Now come on honey, I bet I can lift more weightth than you."
"Oh you're on!" Spitfire laughed, chasing Fleetfoot into the gym. The two mares entered the gym, having left the rest of their team to their own devices. Nothing too bad could come out of that. Hopefully.
"Rapid, what are you doing?" Lighting Streak whispered "Spit said we're supposed to be training."
"She said that right before she announced we'd have to be responsible for our own training." Rapidfire replied, hunched down with his side pressed against the wall, leaning in to look through the doorway leading to the kitchen.
"So you're being responsible for your own training by not training? Clever..." Lightning Streak rubbed his chin with a hoof.
"Not exactly." Rapid slunk forwards. "I prefer to think of it as my own type of training. In the art of dessert-snatching!"
"What?!" Lightning exclaimed, and Rapid yanked him down as Thunderlane poked his head out of the doorway.
"Someone there?" Thunderlane asked, but saw no one. He shrugged and reentered the kitchen.
Rapid breathed a sigh of relief as Lightning composed himself.
"But... but Rapid, Thunderlane's making pies today! And you know how Soarin gets if he doesn't get pie!" Lightning whisper-yelled
"That's the point." Rapid said, smirking.
"Soarin is going to kill you."
"I know. But it'll be worth it." Rapid snickered. "Come on."
"Wait, why me?"
"Because I needed someone to help carry the pies and you're right here. Now let's go."
Lightning nodded and slunk after Rapidfire. They looked into the kitchen. Thunderlane was putting the finishing touches on a few pies, and set them on the counter. He then took off the chef's hat he wore, setting it down and leaving the kitchen from the door opposite the one they were peeking through.
"Heh, great, we won't have to deal with the angry cook. Come on." Rapidfire led him into the kitchen.
"Mm, these look really good..." Lightning said, lifting one up.
"Grab as much as you can carry, quick, before he comes back." Rapid directed
The two stallions quickly grabbed all the pies, just as they heard hoofsteps. Thunderlane was coming back. Rapid gestured for Lightning to go, and they flew out of the kitchen, carrying the pies.
"Alright, I've got the dessert taken care of, so now I-WHERE ARE ALL THE PIES?!"
Rapidfire snickered mischievously. "I relish this victory."
"So what do we do with the pies now?" Lightning asked
"Hm... let's give 'em to Surprise." Rapidfire said
"Why her?"
"She's almost as bad as us. Plus, we'll get a good laugh out of whatever she does with them."
"Ooh, okay!"
Rapidfire laughed and flew down the hallway, Lightning behind him.
"Surprise? You in here?" Rapidfire ducked into the rec room. "Oh, there you are."
"Hi guys!" Surprise called, spitting out a crayon. She was lying on her stomach in the rec room, a coloring book spread in front of her with a box of crayons. "What'cha doin'?"
"We just found all these pies." Rapid said, he and Lightning Streak setting them down in front of Surprise, whose eyes widened and a grin appeared on her face. "We were wondering if you knew something we could do with them...?"
"Of course I do!" Surprise bounced up, hovering in midair. "Why didn't you say so?! Come on!"
Rapidfire and Lightning Streak laughed and hoofbumped as Surprise scooped up as much pies as she could and flew out of the room. They grabbed the rest of the pies and followed her.
Meanwhile, Spitfire and Fleetfoot had been joined by most of the other Wonderbolts, who had taken initiative and decided to train in the gym as well. The only ones absent were Blaze, Misty Fly, Wave Chill, Thunderlane, and of course the three scheming pegasi.
"Hey Sun, where'd you say the others were again?" Spitfire asked, doing a couple chin ups on the bars mounted to the wall.
"Blaze, Misty, and Wave said they were heading out to the obstacle course, the others are probably with them." Sun Chaser replied, she was doing wing ups.
"Not Thunderlane, he's cooking dinner, he said we're having pie tonight!" Soarin cheered, and Rainbow giggled, kissing him on the cheek as they competed to see who could do the most wingups.
"Heh, you and pie, Soar." Fire Streak chuckled
"Hey, stop with the pie talk, you're making me hungry!" High Winds called out
"I think it's about time to hit the showers anyway." Spitfire said, dropping down from the bar and flying to the door.
"Good idea honey." Fleetfoot followed her.
"Eh, sure. I was winning anyway." Rainbow said
"Heh, yeah Dashie, you were." Soarin said, smiling at her.
"Come on then." Spitfire led the way out of the gym, noticing the others follow her. She turned back to them with a sly smirk. "You guys aren't stopping just because I am, are you?"
"Of course not!"
"No way!"
"Nu-uh!"
"Heh, whatever you say..." Spitfire said, chuckling.
"Hey guys!" Blaze, Misty, and Wave flew over to them.
"You done training too?" Soarin asked
"Yeah." Blaze landed, stretching. "Can't wait to hit the showers."
"Where are the others?" High Winds asked
"I thought they were with you guys." Wave said
"No... but Thunderlane's probably still cooking-" Sun Chaser began
"Spitfire, help!" Thunderlane ran up. "All the pies are gone!"
"What?!" Soarin exclaimed
"The pies are gone?" Spitfire asked
"Yeah, all of them! Where could they be?!" Thunderlane asked
"Alright, calm down. Go start making some new pies and we'll-"
"Hello everyone!" Surprise trotted up to them, pulling a long table covered with a tablecloth behind her with some rope. "I have a surprise for you, get it?!"
"We get it Surprise, now what is it?" Blaze asked
"Ta-da!" Surprise whisked the tablecloth away, revealing...
"The pies!" Thunderlane said, staring at the confections, which were resting on top of a second tablecloth.
"Surprise, you took them?" Soarin asked
"Sorta! I have them here to surprise you all!" Surprise explained.
"Oh. Well, I guess that's-" Soarin then gasped as Surprise grabbed the tablecloth in her mouth and flicked it deftly.
The pies were thrown up into the air and came down.
"Incoming!" Blaze shouted
The group of startled pegasi did their best to shield themselves with their wings. Unfortunately this didn't do much, and the pies fell on them with a comical splattering.
"Ick! Yuck, pie filling!" Rainbow spat, while Soarin began licking some of the filling off his hoof.
"Surprise! Or should I say, sur-pies!!" Surprise doubled over laughing.
Two more laughs sounded from behind her, and Rapidfire and Lightning Streak trotted up. Rapidfire patted Surprise on the back.
"Wow! That went better than I thought it would, nice work Slowpoke!"
"Thanks Rapid!" Surprise giggled.
"Wait. This was you two's fault?" Spitfire snarled, trying to look intimidating while covered in lemon meringue pie filling.
"Well, we were just the ones who gave the... heh, ammunition, to Surprise, she decided to do this on her own." Rapid said, smirking.
"So instead of doing what I asked, you two decided to goof around and do the exact opposite of what I said?!"
"Pretty much."
"Oh, you two are going to get it..." Spitfire growled
"Heh, yeah right." Lightning chuckled
Spitfire snarled, but Fleetfoot put a hoof on her shoulder. Spitfire nodded, and then grinned. She locked eyes with Surprise, who winked and reached under the table.
"Oh boys! I just remembered, you two deserve something for a job well done!" Surprise said
"Really? What?!" Lightning asked eagerly
Two pies were shoved into their faces. Surprise giggled and flew over to Spitfire, hoofbumping her.
"Surpies!" Surprise giggled
Rapidfire and Lightning Streak wiped the pies off their faces.
"And that's all our punishment?" Rapidfire asked hopefully
Spitfire laughed. "Of course not! You two start cleaning this mess up."
Rapidfire and Lightning Streak groaned and sulked off. Spitfire chuckled and put her wing around Fleetfoot.
"Come on everyone, now we really have to hit the showers." she called, then nuzzled Fleetfoot and spoke in a low voice. "And after that, you're coming with me Fleety."
Fleetfoot giggled and blushed. "Thnuggleth?" she asked.
"Snuggles." Spitfire replied, kissing her cheek. "Heh, love you Fleety."
"Love you too Thpitty."