//------------------------------// // Butting Feather-heads // Story: Dashed Hopes and Reformed Dreams // by ChaoticHarmony //------------------------------// Chapter 16: Butting Feather-heads “Oh, hey Soarin, hey Dash.” Spitfire’s words died in the silence that hung between the four ponies, cut only by the background chatter of the resident pegasi. “What’s up?” Soarin silently stared at her as she stepped over to the two pegasi and stopped a few feet away. She smiled at him in her usual manner, a friendly smile that vanished in an instant as Soarin exploded. “What’s up? What’s up!?” His mane waved in the air as he tossed his head with rage. “I’ll tell you what’s up. Dash has been in the hospital because of a stunt that we bucked up in practice!” His sky-blue hoof pointed at her accusingly. “A stunt that we wouldn’t have even done if it wasn’t for you abandoning us for this…” Soarin fumbled for words in his anger, trying and failing to find a term derogatory enough for the grey pegasus who stood before him. “Hey, chill out, Soarin. I didn’t know that Dash would go off on her own and make a new routine, it’s not my fault.” Spitfire held up her hooves as if she could deflect the anger aimed at her. “It isn’t yours either, Dash, I’m not upset with you.” She quickly added as Dash visibly drooped. “Well, the thing is, Spitfire… it kinda is.” Rainbow shook her head as Soarin’s mouth opened, effectively shutting it with her small movement. “No, Soarin, it is.” The cyan pegasus walked up to Spitfire with her head down, looking up guiltily into the orange mare’s eyes. “See, I found some trick sheets in your office at the arena, and I wanted to make my own version of it.” The rookie Wonderbolt put on a nervous smile after the senior remained silent for a few moments, which soon faded as she frowned. “Dash, I had a trick sheet in my office that used—“ Soarin broke in heatedly. “Yeah, used her as the centerpiece, and that means she was in the most danger! A rookie, the centerpiece!” He held up a hoof as Spitfire opened her mouth to protest, cutting her off. “I know she was made the captain, but that means that you gave her access to the stunt pages. We both know what paper Dash looked at Spitfire.” His glare intensified as he kicked a hoof into the clouds angrily. “We both know that you’re the one made that created that routine.” Rainbow winced as Soarin pointed out her lie. “Well, it was in my office wasn’t it? How is it my fault?” She was matching his shouts now, putting her forehead against his and glaring into his eyes up close. “It’s bad that I put the best-bucking flyer in Equestria on the team? Isn’t it your job to tell the captain when she’s doing something wrong? Why didn’t you tell her not to do it?” Spitfire jabbed at the now-speechless, sky-blue stallion with a hoof, pushing him back a few inches before he could recover. “I wouldn’t have to tell her to do it if you didn’t make her captain!” Soarin pointed again at Wind Cutter. “And you wouldn’t have made her captain if you didn’t want to take care of this guy. You could have just as easily called up a pegasi taxi service to take him up there to watch if you wanted him up here so badly.” “Yeah? So what if I wanted to help out the friend of a rookie? What’s wrong with a bit of fan service?” Spitfire’s indignant tone was followed with an enraged roar of a phrase. “FAN SERVICE?! Spitfire, you ABANDONED us for him! You made a pony that was just starting out as a Wonderbolt the captain without a thought and decided it would be a good idea?” Soarin tossed his head angrily again and looked contemptuously at one of his oldest friends. “I thought my captain was smarter than this.” Soarin turned away and spread his wings, looking back over his shoulder to leave a parting note. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you,” He glanced at Wind Cutter and then back to Spitfire before facing the sky before him. “But come back when you figure it out whatever, or whoever, it is, Spitfire.” The clouds shivered as the sky-blue Wonderbolt’s wings flapped, taking the pegasus into the air and eventually out of sight. The three other pegasi watched as his form, silluhouted against the bright sky, soon disappeared as it dove back into the city where the Wonderbolt performance stadium no-doubt was located. Silence seemed to press down on them as hard as their feelings did, oppressing any attempt at a conversation. Seconds seemed to extend beyond their normal realm of meaning into ages as they all stood still-watching where Soarin had been just moments ago. Rainbow was the first to break the deafening silence, walking up to Wind Cutter and pulling the reserved pegasus into an embrace. “Heya there, Cuts.” As Wind Cutter remained silent, Rainbow Dash pulled away and looked at him with concern. “You okay?” Without a word, he turned away from his friend with a shaking head. He stepped over to the edge of the cloud and looked over his shoulder at her. “Sorry, Dash, I need to be alone right now.” With that, he leapt over the edge onto a lower part of the city, galloping through the streets and weaving through the crowd as he strove to get as far away as possible. That left the two mares standing awkwardly together, kicking at clouds under their respective bodies and waiting for the other to speak. “So, Dash, how was practice?” At Rainbow’s incredulous expression, she shook her head. “Well, before… y’know.” She chuckled embarrassedly and gestured to Rainbow’s still-wrapped-up limbs and wings. “Yeah, it was fine. Listen, I gotta go.” The rainbow-maned pegasus turned and walked away slowly, showing all signs of wanting to run instead. She half-turned before she went around a corner, as if she wanted to say something to Spitfire, but when she peeked from the corner of her eye, she was no longer there. AUTHOR'S NOTE: All right, this is important. Please check THIS out. It contains important info with what is going on with me at the moment. If you don't want to, know that this will be seeing very sparse updates for the next few months due to RL situations allowing me to only write during the weekends. Also, I know this chapter is shorter than usual, but this is a good place for me to end it, in my opinion.