The night before, Soarin had asked Rainbow Dash how much trouble a pony could possibly get into over a simple cloud-busting exercise. And now, today, she had the answer to that question.
Lightning Dust had gotten the bright idea that, even with their substantial lead over any of the other teams, they would be able to sweep the competition with a single cloud-busting tornado. But Lightning had made the tornado too big for the two mares to control and it had careened out of control. And, what was worse, today happened to be the day that her friends had decided to stop by for a quick visit and had their hot air balloon caught in the tornado. The supervising Wonderbolts and the other recruits had barely been able to extract the five mares from the out of control balloon before it plummeted to the ground.
The five mares were set firmly on the runway so they were not at risk of falling through the clouds. Rainbow Dash left her lead-pony's side without a second glance and landed on the ground beside her friends. Besides the shock, none of them seemed to be hurt. It was only then that Rainbow allowed herself a sigh of relief. If any of her friends had been hurt... she didn't know what she'd do.
"Are you okay?" Rainbow Dash asked breathlessly, gazing at each of her friends in turn with wide eyes.
"I think we're fine." Twilight said slowly.
"None the worse for wear thanks to your friends!" Rarity flashed her saviors a glowing smile, and the poor Wonderbolt's cadet nearly fell out of the sky as a result.
Before Rainbow Dash could say another word, Lightning Dust had flown down next to her. "Hey, Dash, in case you hadn't noticed, there are still some clouds left! We can still do this!"
After days of keeping her mouth shut whenever she disagreed with Lightning's decisions, Rainbow Dash could no longer keep her temper. She turned on Lightning, stomping her forehoof on the ground and fluffing up her feathers in agitation. "In case you hadn't noticed, my friends were nearly killed by that tornado!" She growled.
"But they were not killed." Lightning Dust said blankly. "Come on, we just need a smaller tornado this time..."
"No way!" Rainbow yelled. "You said we could control the last one just fine, but as I remember it you spun out and I couldn't control the tornado that big on my own!"
For a few seconds, it seemed that Lightning Dust was going to yell back at her. The two mares glared at each other, their feathers fluffed up to make them both look bigger. "I am the Lead pony and I say you have to get back up there now!" Lightning Dust growled.
"Spitfire may have made you Lead pony, but that doesn't mean I have to automatically respect you and go along with every crazy scheme you come up with." Rainbow Dash said, and without another word she turned and stalked away. Lightning Dust rolled her eyes and flew off to take care of the last few clouds left in the sky.
The other recruits glared at Lightning as she left, and turned their attention to the five ponies they had rescued. "Are you sure you're all right?" They asked.
"We're fine, but I think that more things have been happening the last few days then we thought." Twilight responded.
~~~~~~~
Rainbow Dash marched herself right to Spitfire's office. For the first time, she was no watching the training herself, she had left that to others. Without even looking up from her paperwork, she spoke. "Rainbow Dash, I thought I told you to bust clouds."
"It's done, ma'am." Rainbow responded shortly.
Spitfire glanced up at Rainbow Dash, and then spun around to look out her window. "Huh. It looks like you and Lightning Dust are done. That's another academy record broken..."
"Captain Spitfire, ma'am, Lightning Dust decided that we should use a tornado to take care of all the clouds at once."
"Well... that is a little unorthodox for simple cloud-busting, but I guess I can't argue with results." Spitfire commented.
"Well, I am." Rainbow Dash said shortly. "Lightning Dust couldn't control the tornado and we lost control of it. Half of our fellow recruits spun out and it almost killed my friends who were coming to visit me."
At that, Spitfire gazed up at Rainbow Dash in shock. "What?"
"And that's not all. I don't know if Soarin has talked to you yet, but he's seen first hand what sort of pony Lightning really is." Rainbow Dash continued.
Soarin? Spitfire thought to herself. Well, he did mention he wanted to talk to me today about the recruits... But before Spitfire could say another, Rainbow was continuing.
"I know that you made Lightning Dust the lead pony because she's driven, but there's a difference between being driven and being driven to the point of endangering other ponies. I can't be a part of a flying team that allows their ponies to fly like that." Rainbow Dash paused, tears welling up in her eyes. Then she glared at Spitfire as she ripped the silver Wonderbolt's Academy badge off her flight uniform and pressed it down on Spitfire's desk. "I quit." She said simply. Her eyes widened briefly as if she couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. And then her face set with determination as she turned and walked out of the office without giving Spitfire the chance to think, let alone speak.
~~~~~~~~~
Rainbow Dash marched down the runway, hurriedly trying to wipe the tears off her face before she got back to her friends. She couldn't believe that she had just quit on her dream! A part of her wanted to rush back and tell Spitfire that she didn't mean it. But she had meant it. The Wonderbolts she knew and admired would not allow such dangerous flying on their team.
Her friends were waiting out on the runway. "Dear, what happened?" Rarity asked.
Before Rainbow Dash could answer, another voice spoke. "Yes, I'd like to know what's going on too."
Soarin landed on the runway, gazing confused at the small group of ponies that were gathered around Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash gave a small look of apology to her friends before stepping forward to meet Soarin. "Soarin... I know that you really wanted me to be on the Wonderbolts with you, but I don't think that's going to happen anymore. I just quit."
Pretty much everypony's mouths fell open. "Quit?" Soarin gasped.
"What do you mean ya quit?" Applejack asked, shocked. "The Rainbow Dash I know would never quit!"
"Well, I just did." Rainbow Dash said. She forced a smile on her face, because she was pretty sure she would start sobbing otherwise.
"But, Rainbow... I was just about to talk to Spitfire..." Soarin began.
"I know, thank you, Soarin, but my friends almost died today because of Lightning Dust." Rainbow said. "But, Soarin... I would still like to, you know..." She glanced nervously at her five friends. "If you're okay with me being a pathetic Wonderbolts drop out."
"Dashie..." Soarin said seriously. "I don't care about that..."
Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy gazed between the two and then exchanged a glance with each other. Rarity gave a big smile, practically bouncing on her hooves with excitement, which pretty much confirmed to Twilight and Fluttershy what they were seeing. If they were right, it seemed like Rainbow and Soarin were... well... special someponies.
But before Rarity could say anything of the sort, Spitfire marched out of the administrative building looking livid. Everyone in the academy froze, even Lightning Dust landed.
Spitfire stopped by the Wonderbolts who had been watching the cloud-busting and exchanged a few words with them. Once she was done, she marched straight towards Rainbow Dash, still looking mad enough to kill. "Rainbow Dash! How dare you walk out of my office without giving me a chance to respond!" Spitfire yelled.
Rainbow Dash instantly jumped to attention. "Ma'am! I'm sorry, ma'am!"
"Spitfire..." Soarin began.
"I know what you're going to say, Soarin." Spitfire told him. "And it's not necessary. Lightning Dust! Front and center!"
"Ma'am!" Lightning Dust leapt forward, but with less enthusiasm than before.
"Is it true what I've heard? Did you create a tornado that you couldn't control and endanger the lives of these ponies?" Spitfire asked.
For a few seconds, Lightning couldn't respond. "Ma'am... I was trying to..."
"Did you, or did you not?!" Spitfire yelled.
Lightning Dust glared at Spitfire, and then lowed her head in defeat. "I did."
"Then perhaps nopony told you that there is no place on the Wonderbolts who would knowingly endanger their teammates or bystanders? Because the Wonderbolts are not just the best flyers. We are the best flying team in Equestria. We work together on the Wonderbolts, with no team member overshadowing or risking the lives of the others. But I suppose the fault is really with me." Spitfire ripped the golden Lead pony Academy badge off Lightning's flight suit. "You are not Lead pony material and you are not Wonderbolt material."
At first it looked like Lightning Dust was going to argue with Spitfire, but then she just settled on sending a glare Rainbow Dash's way. Then she turned and stalked away, taking off and flying from the Wonderbolt Academy.
"Now, Rainbow Dash, at ease." Spitfire said to Rainbow, and she relaxed slightly. "If you really want to quit, I'll let you. But you and I both know that's not what you want." She held out Lightning Dust's Lead pony badge. "You were right, Dash, you are Lead pony material."
Dash could hardly get out a squeal of happiness before she quickly snatched up the badge and pinned it to her own flight suit. The rest of the recruits gathered around Rainbow Dash excitedly, all of them glad to be free of Lightning Dust and her dangerous behavior.
In the commotion, Twilight moved slightly closer to Soarin. "So... are you and Rainbow Dash...?" She asked quietly as to not draw attention to them.
Soarin glanced at her. "Yes, but can you keep it quiet for the moment? Hardly any pony knows..."
"Well, a few of us have guessed, but your secret is safe with us. I'll get Rarity to stop from blabbing." Twilight said. "I'm guessing I don't need to mention how special Rainbow Dash is to us, and to treat her right?"
"No, you don't." Soarin said, turning his gaze proudly on Rainbow as she took off with her fellow recruits. "I know how special she is, um..." He just realized he didn't know this mare's name.
"Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said, guessing what was the issue. "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll all get to know each other."
"I'm Soarin, by the way."
"Second-in-Command of the Wonderbolts. I know." Twilight said with a smile. "I've picked up a few things from knowing Rainbow."
"Wait a second!" Pinkie Pie suddenly gasped. "I didn't get to give Rainbow Dash my care package!" She held up a box which had obviously been crushed in the balloon accident.
Soarin stepped forward and held out his hoof. "I'll make sure she gets it." He said, acutely aware of the two unicorns giggling slightly at that.
Well, he supposed there could be worse ways of meeting your marefriend's best friends. And Soarin now knew with one hundred percent certainty that Rainbow Dash's place in the reserves was in the bag. Spitfire wouldn't chase down any old recruit. And he had the most beautiful mare in Equestria as a marefriend. Things couldn't possibly get any better...