It was about 6:30 pm when the door to the locker room opened. A chorus of voices and laughter suddenly filled the room.
“You should have seen yourself, Crash! Haha!” Soarin said to the rainbow-maned pegasus that walked beside him. “You went straight into that cloud!”
“Oh, please. Don’t pretend like you didn’t mess up, too!” Rainbow countered. Both of the pegasi broke out into laughter as they and the others spread out towards their respective lockers.
Spitfire knocked a hoof against her locker once, opening it. “You gotta admit, Crash, that was pretty funny,” the Captain said as she dried her face with a towel. She smirked as Dash rolled her eyes.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I think we’re more than ready for our next tour!” Thunderlane exclaimed confidently.
“Not so fast, big guy,” Spitfire reminded him as she reached into her locker. “We’ve still got plenty to do, so you best make sure you don’t screw it all up.” The yellow-coated mare shut her locker after she took out her shampoo.
The Captain of the Wonderbolts ended up being the first at the showers, followed by Rainbow Dash, Soarin and the rest. They all stripped off their uniforms and threw them on the ground. It needed to be cleaned, anyway.
The sudden stream of ice cold water gave Spitfire and the others just what they needed after yet another day of exercise. She briefly let the water pour down on her, resting a hoof on the wall. The mare’s ears twitched ever so slightly as she could identify the chatter of the others beneath the loud noise of the flowing water. A quick turn of the head showed her that, as usual, it was Rainbow Dash talking to Soarin. She had most definitely noticed that trend by now, the fact that 90% of all chatter originated from the cyan-coated mare. Not that she was particularly opposed to it, of course. Dash was one of, if not the best flyer in all of Equestria, and loyal at that. A bit of chatting wouldn’t hurt anybody.
“- Spitfire -” she managed to pick out of their conversation, and yet she decided not to bother. Her back was still turned towards them as she picked the Shampoo off the ground. “Spitfire,” she heard again, mixing a decent load of shampoo into her now soaked mane. She suddenly felt somepony tap her on the back.
“Sorry, Spitfire, I just...” Rainbow Dash said nervously as Spitfire turned towards her. “Me and the others wanted to hold a small little party back at my place and I figured I’d invite you, as well.”
Spitfire smirked back at the cyan pegasus. “I’d love to, Crash.”
Rainbow almost jumped in excitement. “So you’ll come?”
“I would, but...” she let out a deep sigh, “I’ve got more work to do here, still. All those applications you gave me today have been keeping me busy,” she told her teammate with regret.
Dash’s ears flattened. “But can’t you do that tomorrow?” she asked. “Come on!”
“Sorry, Crash, there’s nothing I can do. Some work simply needs to get done.”
“Yeah, alright...” Dash replied quietly, her head hanging low.
“Hey now,” Spitfire said cheerfully. “That doesn’t mean you and the others can’t enjoy spending some time together, does it?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then make a face that shows me that!” Spitfire watched as Dash smiled back at her with renewed enthusiasm.
“Yes, ma’am!” she replied.
“Now go and have fun or I’ll have you all fly another ten laps!” Spitfire shouted. The cyan pegasus briefly saluted and quickly left the showers.
Only then did Spitfire notice that she was all alone in the showers. The others had finished and left during their conversation, and with Rainbow Dash gone as well, it was only her left. For just a moment, she stood there, silent and lonely.
She closed her eyes as the water poured down on her again, the white foam of the shampoo running down her body. She began to hum the tune of her favourite song, her eyes still shut. She was reminded of her dad for a brief moment, as it was his favourite song as well. She rarely got to see him these days, however, since she was so busy or on tour throughout Equestria. It was one of the few downsides Spitfire saw in being a Wonderbolt.
She hummed louder as the shower continued, almost managing to drown out the staccato rhythm of the droplets.
After fully drying herself once again, Spitfire put her towel and hairdryer back into her locker. She reached for her Captain attire which she had put there before the training started and shut the door. As usual, putting on the rather formal uniform took much longer than the normal Wonderbolt outfit, though Spitfire couldn’t be bothered wearing a tie that late in the day and decided to go without it. On the bench next to her still laid her outfit, which she promptly picked up and put into a small box for laundry. Luckily, this was not one of her many jobs at Wonderbolt HQ.
As she stepped outside, wearing her sunglasses, she could still see the outlines of the others in the distance as they sped off. She couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t quite know why, and yet she had to. She stood there, all by herself, with extra amounts of work waiting for her, and yet the pure sight of the others in the distance couldn’t have made her any happier.
The proud Captain took off and happily marched off towards her office. It was going to be a long night for her, and it would require a lot of coffee.