//------------------------------//
// Hero 
// Story: Air Supremacy 
// by AlwaysDressesInStyle 
//------------------------------//

“Why do you guys hate the Wonderbolts so much?”

“They kicked us out.”

“To be fair, don’t you think you may have deserved it?”  Wind Sprint points to Lightning Dust.  “You’re insanely reckless and endangered ponies.”  She turns to Wind Rider.  “You tried to frame Rainbow Dash so the Wonderbolts would kick her out, just because she broke your records.  Boo-hoo, get over yourself.  Somepony will eventually come along and blow Rainbow’s records out of the sky too.” She turns to Short Fuse.  “Have you ever heard of anger management? No?  Look it up.”  Finally, she reaches Rolling Thunder.  “I have no idea who you are or why you got booted out of the Wonderbolts.”  She shrugs.  “Sorry.”

“I don’t have to take this verbal abuse from a kid.”  Lightning Dust turns her back on Wind Sprint and prepares to fly off – they’re in hostile territory and the less time she spends in Cloudsdale the better she likes it.

“Hold up, hotshot. She’s got a point.  I had a distinguished career with the ‘Bolts. Ponies used to look up to me.  I threw it away because I was afraid of another hotshot breaking my records.  If you’d made it into the Wonderbolts too, I’d probably have done the same thing to you.”

“Thanks a lot, geezer.”

“But maybe it isn’t too late to right some wrongs.  You’ve got talent, Lightning Dust.  You can squander it trying to do something on your own, or you can make your peace with Spitfire, Rainbow Dash, and the team.”

“Hey!  What about us?!?” Short Fuse screams, attracting the attention of passing pegasi.

“That’s up to both of you to rectify whatever shortcomings got you booted out of camp.  Maybe they won’t take any of us back.  But I think we should try.”

Lightning Dust snorts but she sees Wind Rider is serious.

“Do you want to be the best of the best, hotshot, or do you want to settle for being the best of the rest?”

Lightning hovers, fuming.

“Think of it this way, hotshot.  At least this time it’s only your pride that’s going to hurt, and not your whole body.”

Lightning screams in frustration but eventually relents.  They’re attracting a crowd, which is the last thing she wants.  She eyes the group surrounding them.  “Fine, let’s go talk to Spitfire.”

Wind Sprint leads the way, and Spitfire is surprised to see them.

“Newbies.  And oldbie.  What brings you here?”  She’s less than happy to see any of them, especially Wind Rider.

“Me.”  Wind Sprint pushes her way to the front of the group and smiles up at Spitfire.  “They were trying to recruit me to a rival organization, but I think maybe all that’s needed here is talking things out.  There’s a lot of talent in this room and we all know it.”

Spitfire pulls down her glasses and looks at Wind Sprint.  “Yeah, there is.  Calmer heads and all that.  I’m surprised that it took a filly to point out the obvious to all of us.  So let’s talk about why the Wonderbolts should give you another chance.”