Spitfire was sitting in her office, her usual commander’s uniform itching. She forced herself to not scratch her joints, but it was hard. On top of the still present aches from her race, itching and discomfort were hard to stomach.
Her office didn’t appear different. It didn’t appear to her like she had narrowly avoided the possible end of the Wonderbolts, of her HQ, and the termination of potentially dozens of recruits contracts. It looked… boring. Her in-tray was as tall as usual, and her out-tray by comparison insignificant.
There was a knock on her door. Spitfire brought her sunglasses to her nose. She had been expecting this ever since Rainbow Dash had returned, aching and broken, back to Cloudsdale to celebrate her victory.
“Enter,” she instructed, putting on once again her best Captain’s face.
The door opened, and in walked Clip Busy from the EIA. Spitfire noted the hunted look on his face. He was shaken, and Spitfire liked that. Her meeting with the Director of the EIA, and Princess Twilight, had bore fruit, and she was licking her lips in preparation of the proverbial fruit salad.
“Captain Spitfire,” he said. “A pleasure.”
“It isn’t,” Spitfire taunted. “You look like a pony who just got told be the Director to step away from the Wonderbolts. Among a lot of other horrible things that’ll be happening to your department.”
Clip bit back a retort, cowed. Spitfire breathed in, satisfied. Oh, how she loved this.
Spitfire was not kind. She did not enjoy Clip Busy and his management of the Wonderbolts. She had been all too happy to point out to the Director his questionable choices, in her own words, and how his directives, signed and stamped by his department, had led to the rise of Professor Vector and her jet as a direct competitor to maintaining traditional pegasus heritage. She had been all too happy, as well, to take the opportunity when talking to Twilight about a troublesome element of the EIA who was aiming to sabotage either the Wonderbolts or the development of a magnificent new machine and had backed Spitfire into a corner, forcing her to compete directly against the jet.
The princess had not been amused. And that had just been the beginning of Spitfire’s machinations...
Lesson number one; one should never, ever mess with Spitfire. She’d always win in the end… one way, or another. In that regard, she supposed she had something in common with Rainbow Dash.
“I’m glad to report that your funding is safe,” Clip said. “The matter of Cloudsdale maintaining air superiority has been handled.”
Spitfire shook her head. “It hasn’t, you know.”
“It has,” Clip countered, some of his old belligerence returning. “The public still see the Wonderbolts as the masters of the skies. This was the objective.”
“You think the jet will disappear? It’s been developed. One day, more will be made, and they’ll be better, faster… And Rainbow Dash won’t be a Wonderbolt forever.” Spitfire smiled. “Worse, it won’t be in a Cloudsdale lab either, will it? After all, what good do pegasi have for a flying machine that requires that level of upkeep when they can just flap their wings a bit harder? It’ll be developed again, better, by Earth ponies and unicorns. You know that already, of course. You never cared about actually doing your job at the EIA, and just wanted to be able to tell the Director that you were able to ‘cut costs’ for ‘efficiency’ whilst supporting either ‘traditional pegasus values’ or ‘innovative new technologies conducive to Cloudsdale’s supremacy’, whichever happened to win. But let me guess… things didn’t work out properly, did they?”
Clip hung his head. “No.”
“Aw, sweet Clip. Tell me what’s wrong!” Spitfire taunted.
“The director has… been unsupportive lately. Princess Twilight is… not comfortable with Cloudsdale’s handling of this situation.”
Spitfire knew this already from when she had met with Twilight Sparkle whilst delivering the letter from Applejack. “Unexpected,” she lied.
Clip Busy’s expression turned into a sneer. “And I suppose you have a plan, oh mighty captain?”
Spitfire grinned. “No. I had a plan.” She tilted her head, looking behind Clip. “And that plan is over now. Oh, Professor Vector? Would you like to say hi to our guest?”
From outside, the tall, elegant sciencepony emerged. She was currently wearing a long white labcoat, and she peered down at Clip, as if she were looking at a bug. Spitfire had heard that she too had been forced to deal with the EIA… and had been no more enthusiastic about it than Spitfire. Vector, like Spitfire, hated Clip and what he represented.
“I take it back, captain. You most certainly are the taunting type,” Vector said.
“I made a deal with Twilight,” Spitfire said, getting to her hooves. “Oh, didn’t you know? We’re good friends. Well, acquaintances. I take care of Rainbow Dash for her, you see, and in exchange, we’re pretty… chummy.” She grinned. “Vector is a part of my team now.”
“The Wonderbolts has a new science division,” Vector explained. “Novel science and experience stand together. That was the arrangement, as agreed upon by the Princess, was it not?”
Spitfire rolled her eyes. “All very optimistic, yeah. Point being, Twilight has accepted to provide funding to me, directly, in order to keep on sponsoring the development of a wide variety of flying related technology.”
“That’s not…” Clip began, stammering. “That’s not something the EIA has approved of!”
“Well, the EIA is on its way out. Where did you think that funding came from? That’s right, all the funding that used to go to an outdated, counterproductive organisation. The Director already knew that his department was going to get significantly reduced; and I convinced him that it’d be a good idea to end his career with some goodwill at the little dance thing. Listening to myself and Vector sparring verbally at the dance was enough to convince him of that. Setting up the Wonderbolts as leaders of scientific and cooperative innovation will be good press for him in Twilight’s court and Cloudsdale. Good press will allow him to seek a new position somewhere a little more… open. It’s just good politics, Clip.” Spitfire’s face became hard, and cold. “You, I have less sympathy for. On account of you being a vapid, insignificant irritation to me.”
Clip fumed. “You were not instructed to do any of this! You were instructed to do one thing; maintain Wonderbolt superiority. This… this isn’t that!”
Spitfire breathed in, and adjusted her tie. “I do not play games on demand. I play them against ponies who get in my way, Clip, and as you can plainly see, this is checkmate.” She held out a document. “This bears her majesty’s seal. Let’s see… ooh, control over budget. Wow. That’s a nice little thing she added in for me, you know.”
“This is unacceptable.”
“You can see yourself out.” Spitfire nearly snarled. “You have pitted two of Cloudsdale’s strongest assets against one another, damaged pegasus image, drained valuable resources, wasted my time, and worst of all, you have annoyed me. Goodbye.”
As Clip retreated for the last time, Spitfire leaned back into her chair, breathing a long sigh of relief. Vector gave her a small look, a cautious one. Spitfire smirked. This was as much for Vector’s benefit as it was for Clip.
“Glad to see everything works out for you,” Vector said, appearing a little shaken by Spitfire’s sudden and brutal putting down of Clip, even if the waste of space had been their true opponent.
“Always.” She looked at her in-tray. “I’ll get Soarin to throw out everything from the EIA to celebrate.” She opened her drawer, and pulled out a bottle of wine. “Want some?”
Vector sat down opposite Spitfire. “After seeing Clip Busy’s face? I could hardly refuse.”
The captain smiled. Everything was coming up Spitfire. Vector was a part of the Wonderbolts now, the jet was hers, and the Wonderbolts future was more secure than ever before. She had control over the fastest machine in the world as well as the fastest ponies. Cloudsdale’s image was secure and in a way that was inclusive and progressive, not stifling. Funding wouldn’t be a problem with Twilight aiming to support the sciences, and realistically, the Wonderbolts wouldn’t struggle either thanks to the endless contests they could win that the jet and similar machines simply couldn’t practically compete in.
If you couldn’t beat them, get them to join you. Spitfire had done it for Rainbow Dash, and now, she had done it for Vector and the jet. Mach could come along too, if he wanted. Who cared? She’d make him a commander; finally give him a title so ponies would take him seriously.
Integrate and evolve. Adapt and overcome. If chess didn’t work, change the board.
Perhaps Spitfire would remain captain a little longer… so long as it was fun. And for when it wasn’t…
Spitfire eyed a list of potential replacements she had lying on her desk. On top of the pile was Rainbow’s name. She snorted. Well, she’d have to demonstrate a little more stability, perhaps… but maybe someday.
Spitfire poured herself and Vector a glass of wine.
“To victory.”
“To a long lasting partnership.”
Spitfire chuckled as she guzzled on her wine. “Same thing, really.”
Rainbow Dash lay down on the grass, the picnic next to her going on rather comfortably despite the intense pain in her wings… and her core, and her legs, and her neck for some reason…
“I’m sorry I’ve been kept busy,” Twilight Sparkle told her. “I suppose I thought everypony else was adjusting, and I didn’t want to mess with that too much…” She tilted her head, smiling sadly. “I should have known once I realised you weren’t sending letters as regularly.”
Rainbow closed her eyes. “It’s okay. I… I kinda suck at talking.” She groaned as she rolled onto her side. “And thanks… for the message.”
Twilight smiled. Applejack handed Rainbow Dash a tankard of cider as the noon sun beat down on the small gathering. “You’re welcome.”
“How did you know I was going to be that high up?”
“Crystal ball, of course,” she replied with a little smile. “I actually was quite surprised. If you had been anything other than a pegasus, I’m fairly confident your brain should have leaked out of your ears…”
Applejack nudged Rainbow, causing a jolt of pain to shoot through her side. “Ain’t no chance of that happenin’... her skull’s too thick and her brain too small.”
“Hey…”
“What about the jet?” Applejack asked. “I can’t imagine it’d just… go away.”
“Spitfire assures me that she has it handled,” Twilight said. “She’s quite a devious pony, I think.”
Rainbow nodded. “Too devious! She’s got more plans than I have hairs!”
Applejack and Twilight both giggled. It was true. Rainbow wondered what it’d be like if ever she had to actually compete against Spitfire… properly. With conflicting interests…
It wasn’t a pretty picture.
Rainbow felt Applejack lie down next to her, her soft fur rubbing against her own. With Twilight there as well, and knowing that all her friends were still paying attention… were still connected to her… she felt whole.
She couldn’t believe that, a while ago, she hadn’t been enjoying flying. Now, she felt like she enjoyed it more than ever.
Life was good… at last.
Things would have been different if Applejack hadn’t been there. She might not have made it this far at all… at every step along the way, Applejack had been a constant support.
She felt herself drift off to sleep again. She had been sleeping a lot more after the race… who could blame her?
“Thanks, guys…” she muttered. “I’m just gonna nap for a bit now…”
Rainbow was jolted awake by Applejack pulling at her wing. “Now hold up there, partner. I’ve got something to show you.”
Rainbow, puzzled, got to her hooves. “What?”
She was pointed towards the East, towards Ponyville. Rainbow strained her eyes, looking at the buildings that made up the town, from the large colourful staples of the community such as the town hall, the school, and Sugarcube Corner, to the little houses, getting smaller and smaller as they reached the edges of the town, becoming little more than cottages.
“It’s Ponyville,” Rainbow pointed out. She gave Applejack an unimpressed look. “I’ve seen Ponyville before, you know.”
Applejack pointed towards one of the cottages, not far away, nestled neatly between one of the paths leading to town and the orchard. “I wanted to bring this up when we were in Cloudsdale… Rarity said that I should… but I didn’t really find a good time, what with… well, everything.” She smiled. “I was talkin’ to the folks at the town hall and I can easily afford that little cottage now that the Apple Family has come into a little money, especially if you help out with your Wonderbolt salary.”
Rainbow stared at the cottage. Was Applejack suggesting she move out of the farmhouse? She felt her heart leap. It’d be better than moving into her old cloud-house… less risk of magic malfunction… but Rainbow never really thought, not really that Applejack would even consider moving out of her old home.
“Really?” Rainbow asked. She pictured not feeling like she was perpetually in the way, and liked it. “We could live there?”
“Well, it ain’t like we take up much space…”
Rainbow chuckled.
“I think it looks like a lovely little place,” Twilight said. “I’d also be very happy to pitch in if there’s ever a struggle regarding price… although by the sounds of it, you’ve got that covered.”
“That’d be so awesome!” Rainbow exclaimed. “I can’t wait.”
Can’t wait...
Fin