Celestia’s sun had only been up for a few hours, but Rainbow Dash, Spitfire and Fluttershy were already awake and standing in front of Fluttershy’s cottage. Rainbow Dash was still stretching, yawning, and attempting to wake up.
“Well, we should probably start heading to the library. We’ll have to walk; the sky is too clear this morning to risk flying. Besides, this early in the morning, there shouldn’t be anyone on the roads.”
Rainbow’s last few words were harder to understand as she spoke through her yawn. Cinching her borrowed hoodie tight around her flame-colored mane, Spitfire turned towards Fluttershy, wondering if her new friend would be walking to Ponyville with them.
“I would go with you both, but I really need to stay and finish my morning chores. I hope you understand.”
Spitfire smiled at Fluttershy. Her meekness was sometimes annoying, but other times cute.
“Of course we understand, Fluttershy,” Spitfire started, “I would just like to thank you for letting us stay here and for helping me. I truly enjoyed my day with you yesterday. It was such a change from what I am used to. If this ends the way I hope it does, I’d like to come back and visit you again, if that would be okay?”
“Oh yes, I would like that very much. I really do hope this works out for you. I know you didn’t tell me the whole situation, but it sounds very stressful. If I can help again at all, please let me know.”
“Thank you Fluttershy. You truly are kind. Now,” Spitfire turned toward Rainbow Dash, who had leaned against a fence post, “Should I wake her up, or just start walking to Ponyville and see how far I get before she wakes up on her own?”
The laughing from the two yellow pegasi snapped Rainbow back to consciousness.
“Hmm…wha…yeah, let’s get going,” as she tried to play off having fallen asleep.
Spitfire and Rainbow Dash turned and headed down the path toward Ponyville. Fluttershy stood and watched her friends disappear from view.
“Oh, I do hope everything works out. She is too nice a pony to be in this bad situation,” Fluttershy said to no one in particular as she turned around and headed toward her chicken coop.
As they walked, Spitfire looked all around at the wooded area they were passing through. “You know, it really looks different down here on the ground. Sometimes I think I’ve lived my whole life in the sky. I don’t even remember the last time I just walked through the woods like this. Now, tell me about this library we’re going to hide in.”
“Well, it’s the Ponyville library and Twilight’s house…”
“Whoa! Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s personal student? No way we can go to her!”
“Why not?”
“If we go to her, she’ll end up telling the Princess where I am and I’ll get caught for sure. She’s nothing but a direct line to the Princess.”
“Exactly.”
“What?”
“She’s a direct line to the Princess. If we fill her in on the details, she can inform the Princess, and then the Princess can take care of everything. I thought this plan up last night. We just need to get some muscle in there to clean up the Wonderbolts.”
“Rainbow, you just don’t get it,” Spitfire stopped in her tracks and dropped her head, “No one can know what I’ve told you. If that news ever got out, it wouldn’t clean up the Wonderbolts, it would destroy them. I never should have come to you. You don’t know how hard it was to tell you. Not just because I was betraying a trust, but because I was destroying your dream. A dream you obviously want to try and save.”
“So what, you’d just leave things as they are? Just leave the Wonderbolts alone to destroy other ponies like you told me? I guess that sounds fine to you since you’d be safe, but what about the pony they recruit to replace you? I don’t want to clean up the Wonderbolts so I can still join, that dream is gone. I want to clean them up for the ponies that come after, one in particular,” Rainbow was thinking about that one filly that’s always hanging around her. What was that squirt’s name?
“Alright, I’m sorry for what I said, but you still cannot tell Celestia. I understand what you want to do, and I tried to clean up the Wonderbolts. I talked to as many ponies in the organization as I could. I eventually was told to keep quiet or I’d get put on pyro detail. Believe me, I tried. I don’t want them to replace me with somepony else and repeat this, but there is no way to stop them without destroying them. I couldn’t bear to do to the entire fanbase what I did to you the other night.”
Tears were forming again in Spitfire’s eyes. Rainbow saw them and she knew it was killing Spitfire to do what she was doing. “Of course she would have tried to fix things. She’s Spitfire. She’s not a quitter. Rainbow, you can be so bull headed sometimes.” Rainbow thought to herself. She then shook her head to try and quiet the conversation going on in there.
“I’m sorry too, Spitfire. Of course you would have tried to fix things. I know that running had to be your last resort. I’m sorry. Still, we need to go see Twilight and we need to tell her everything. She is the smartest pony I know. If anyone can help us, or see something we’re missing, she’s the one.”
Rainbow Dash walked back to Spitfire and placed her wing over her. Spitfire lifted her tear filled eyes toward Rainbow.
“You’ve trusted me this far. Trust me just a bit more. After this, it will get easier, I promise.”
“Okay, you’re right. I’ve trusted you up to now. I might as well take the last step, but telling her everything, Rainbow I don’t know if I can.”
“Don’t worry. I can tell her and you just nod if you have too, but first we actually have to get there. Let’s go, okay?”
The two pegasi started walking back toward Ponyville again. Spitfire was still unsure of this new course of action, but if Rainbow Dash trusted someone, she knew she could. She did introduce her to Fluttershy, after all. “I’d rather be back there, with Fluttershy, cleaning out that nasty chicken coop than have to tell Twilight about the Wonderbolts,” she thought.
Ponyville was still quiet when they arrived. Rainbow was relieved at this. Even with the hoodie, Spitfire could be recognized by a Wonderbolts fan, and if Pinkie happened to recognize her, it would all be over before she could do anything. “I’ll have to be really careful with Pinkie. I’ll have to handle that one just right,” Dash thought.
When they got to the library, it was clear it wasn’t open for business yet, but Rainbow knew Twilight and Spike would be up, although her knocking received a much different reaction than she expected.
“Alright, keep your horseshoes on. I’m coming,” was all that came from the other side of the door. It eventually opened to reveal a very sleepy looking dragon still rubbing his eyes.
“Come back in three hours. We’ll be open then,” is all he said as he started to close the door again.
“Spike, it’s me. Let me in.”
“Look, Miss Me, come back in three hours. We’ll be open then.”
“Out of the way, Spike,” Rainbow had enough of this, ”We’ve got to see Twilight,” she snapped as she walked through the door, shoving the sleepy dragon out of her way.
“Sorry about that…Spike, is it? We’re kind of is a rush,” Spitfire offered apologetically.
“Twi! You awake?”
“Rainbow Dash, is that you? What are you doing here so early? Don’t tell me you need the next Daring Do book already?”
“Well I do need the next book, but that’s not why we’re here.”
“We? Who’s we?” Twilight inquired as she came down the stairs.
“Twilight, I’d like you to meet Spitfire. I’m not sure if you remember her.”
Spitfire took off her hoodie and shook out her mane. It felt good to get that off her head.
“Spitfire, from the Wonderbolts , right?” Twilight asked.
“Hello Miss Sparkle. You are correct. I used to be with the Wonderbolts.”
“Oh, you can call me Twilight. What do you mean used to be with the Wonderbolts? I’ve never heard of anyone ever being in the Wonderbolts and then not anymore.”
“Well Twilight, that’s what we need to talk to you about,” Rainbow answered.
“Oh, okay. Can we talk about it over breakfast? Spike was just getting up to start cooking when you knocked. By the way, where is he?” Twilight looked past Rainbow Dash and Spitfire to see the baby dragon asleep by the front door. She started to trot over to wake him up.
“Actually Miss Sparkle…I mean Twilight, can you just let him sleep? I don’t want him to hear what we have to say. It’s very personal.” Spitfire hung her head slightly. She was still not looking forward to this conversation.
“That’s fine, but I can’t cook. Would just coffee or tea be okay?”
“She can’t cook., trust me. We’ll be lucky if she doesn’t burn the water making coffee,” Rainbow joked.
Twilight couldn’t really argue or even fake getting mad. She knew she was a horrible cook.
“Well actually, I can cook a little,” Spitfire said. “If you show me where everything is I can fix up a small breakfast. We can all talk, I’ll cook, and we’ll see what happens.”
Twilight and Rainbow Dash were a little shocked to hear that Spitfire could cook.
“Why are you two looking at me like that? Rainbow, if you had any food back at your place when I first got there, I would have fixed dinner then, but there isn’t a lot you can make from old ketchup and soy sauce packets. Besides, I helped Fluttershy make dinner just last night. You have a really short memory, don’t you?”
“The kitchen is this way, Spitfire. I’ll show you what we have and where everything is. I’m sorry that I looked so surprised. I just never expected a Wonderbolt to know how to cook,” Twilight replied walking toward the kitchen.
The two went into the kitchen to get started, leaving Rainbow Dash standing in the library with a look of shock and surprise frozen on her face. “She knows how to decorate a house. She likes girly frou-frou bath stuff. She knows how to cook. Who is this mare?” was all Rainbow could think as she eventually wandered into the kitchen.
“So, Spitfire, how long have you been a Wonderbolt?” Twilight asked, trying to make small talk.
“I’ve been with the Wonderbolts nearly my whole adult life. They snatched me up right out of flight school. I started in the administration office doing general paperwork. Then I got onto one of the practice squads, and then the backup team, and eventually worked my way nearly to the top of the main team. It was a lot of hard work, but I did learn a few other things along the way.”
“Like how to cook?” Rainbow asked.
“Dash, there you are. Yeah, I learned to cook at the Wonderbolts compound. You could either eat in the cafeteria or wait until later and go fix your own food. You can only eat that ready-to-eat cafeteria food for just so long,” Spitfire said.
While she was talking Spitfire was moving all over the kitchen fixing coffee, hot water for tea, toast and jam, and oatmeal. Just as she was finishing up her story about trying to change the menus at the Wonderbolts compound, everything was done.
“…and that’s really when I started to learn that the Wonderbolts are not about change. Well, everything is ready. Hope you like it.”
“Spitfire, this looks amazing. Thank you for fixing all this. Now, what exactly did you two want to talk to me about?” Twilight asked, looking up from her bowl of oatmeal.
Spitfire closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began to tell her story to Twilight.
“Oh my goodness, Spitfire, I’m so sorry. I had no idea that the life of a Wonderbolt was like that,” Twilight was wiping tears from her own eyes and magically levitating a clean tissue to Spitfire. “Who else knows about this?”
“No one outside the Wonderbolts and the two of you,” Spitfire answered. “And it has to stay that way.”
“I don’t know. I think I really should tell the Princess about this. She would want to know about this kind of horrible treatment of her subjects. How they’ve managed to hide it from her for so long-” Twilight was cut off mid-sentence.
“Twi, you can’t tell her,” Rainbow said softly, still wearily hanging her head low, “She can’t know because it would destroy the Wonderbolts forever. Think about it. You tell the Princess. She launches an investigation into the Wonderbolts. This will cause headlines all over Equestria, ‘Wonderbolts Under Investigation for Cruelty’. After that, the Wonderbolts would be finished. I wanted you to tell the Princess, but Spitfire, she helped me see that if someone from the outside came in and tried to fix all this, the Wonderbolts and especially their fans would be destroyed. I don’t want anypony else to feel what I felt when I learned this,” Rainbow simply rested her head on her hooves. She was tired and had no more tears left to cry.
“Hey Twilight, what’s going on in here?” Spike called. The kitchen door was pushed open by the baby dragon, just waking up from his nap in front of the door. “It smells really good, so who cooked it?”
Spike’s vision cleared and he looked around the room and was shocked when he saw who was there.
“HOLY HOPPING HORSE APPLES! You’re Spitfire from the Wonderbolts!” he yelled.
“Why yes, I am,” Spitfire answered forcing a friendly smile and wiping away the last tears. “And who might you be, young dragon?”
“I’m Spike, Twilight’s number one assistant,” he said proudly, puffing out his chest a little.
“It is a pleasure to meet you Spike. I hope you don’t mind me taking over your cooking duties this morning, but we just didn’t want to disturb your nap.” Spitfire said, shaking the baby dragon’s hand.
“You? You cooked this? Wonderbolts can cook?” Spike’s eyes grew even wider with amazement.
“Yes I did, and you haven’t had breakfast yet. Come over here and I’ll fix you a plate,” Spitfire and Spike walked over to the stove where the former Wonderbolt served breakfast.
Rainbow Dash pulled Twilight over close to her and whispered, “See that? See how starstruck he is? See how he looks up to her? If you tell Celestia what we know, he’ll learn about it eventually, and all that will be crushed. He would never look at Spitfire, a Wonderbolt, or any of his heroes again. We have to figure out another way. We need that big brain of yours,” Dash finished by forcing a smile herself and giving her friend a playful noogie.
Twilight wrestled her way out of the noogie, glaring back at her rainbow-maned friend, “Hay, cut it out! And, you’re right. I see it now. We’ll figure something out.”
“You won’t tell Princess Celestia?” Dash asked.
“I promise, I won’t tell Princess Celestia,” Twilight answered.
“Pinkie Promise,” Dash demanded this time.
“Ugh, alright. Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye.” Twilight responded.
“Umm, what was that?”
The two friends looked up to see a very confused Spitfire staring at them.
“Oh, that was the best kind of guarantee you can get here in Ponyville. Twilight just Pinkie Pie Promised not to tell what we just talked about,” Dash said with a devilish grin on her face, “A Pinkie Promise is forever.”
At that moment, a canister on the counter top beside Rainbow Dash shot its lid off and across the room. A bright pink pony head rose from the canister. With a very serious and nearly sinister tone, it said “FOREVERRRR!” before lowering back into the canister, never taking its eyes off Rainbow or Twilight.
“What was that?” Spitfire said backing away from the canister.
Rainbow Dash was too busy rolling on the floor laughing to answer. Twilight simply stood there with her hoof over her face.
“That was just Pinkie Pie,” Spike said from behind Spitfire with a mouth half-full of oatmeal.
“We’ll fill you in more later,” Twilight sighed, “Now help me get Rainbow off the floor and let’s go to my study. We have research to do!”
Rainbow Dash was laying in front of the library window with her head propped up on her hooves. She was just over halfway through the latest Daring Do novel. Twilight gave it to her so that she and Spitfire would be able to research without hearing how bored Dash was or how boring researching is. It had proven to be a very effective method since they had heard nothing except the occasional gasp or squee from Rainbow all day.
Spitfire was rubbing her eyes. They were tired and sore from reading dusty books with small print all day. Her hopes of finding some helpful information were fading fast.
“Spitfire, come here! I think I’ve found something,” Twilight called.
“SHHH! Some of us are trying to read,” Rainbow scolded.
“Yeah Twilight, what did you find?” Spitfire asked, looking over Twilight’s shoulder at what looked to be a very old book.
“Well, I found this legal book on Equestrian contracts, and there is a direct reference to the Wonderbolts contract in here. It reads just like you said. Every four years, a Wonderbolts contract may come up for renewal. No signature is needed to renew. The mere presence of the Wonderbolt in question is enough,” Twilight read, “But here is the something interesting. If a Wonderbolt does not want to renew their contract, they simply need to leave the compound before their contract expires. Any and all positions left behind will become the property of the Wonderbolts and considered payment for the time to close the contract,” Twilight finished reading and looked over to Spitfire. “So you see, it was never meant for you to never be able to get out of the contract. Somepony has changed that on their own, but, if you do leave, anything you left behind will be theirs,” Twilight looked back to the book to make sure she read that right.
“Well, fortunately, my most valuable positions are in my family’s storage facility in Fillydelphia. There are some Wonderbolts you just can’t leave valuables lying around. Fleetfoot wasn’t just called that because she’s fast on the track, if you know what I mean. Does it say anything about my earnings?” Spitfire asked.
“Not directly. Why do you ask?”
“Well, the Wonderbolts have their own bank at the compound. All the administrators would ever give to us is a statement of how much they put into our account each week. Then we could go and get a statement of how much we had in the bank.”
“The bank is at the compound?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, that’s not good. Anything left at the compound is considered Wonderbolts property. From the way this reads, that would be you money too, if the bank is in the compound.”
“Oh, that just GREAT!” Spitfire shouted.
“SHHH! I’m still trying to re-“ Rainbow tried to scold, but was interrupted.
“SHUT IT, Dash! This is way more important that your silly book! My life’s savings are in that bank! I’ve been with them for years, and now I’m just going to lose it all! I gave them my life for the last 12 years and I’m going to walk away with nothing! This is not right! What am I going to do now?” Spitfire yelled walking away toward one of the many bookcases.
“Wait, what did I miss?” Rainbow asked.
“Well,” Twilight started, “We just found out that she can leave the Wonderbolts, if this old contract example I found is right, but anything she leaves behind at the compound becomes the property of the Wonderbolts. Her savings is at the Wonderbolts bank, inside the compound,” Twilight turned back to her book, desperately reading further looking for an answer.
“So, if you leave,” Rainbow said softly as she flew over to Spitfire, “You lose your life’s savings? C’mon Twi, how can that be fair or legal?”
“It isn’t fair, but because of the wording of the contract, it is, sadly, legal,” Twilight answered.
Spitfire turned back to face her new friends. The tears were streaming down her face. “Well. That’s it then. I have to go back. I’m a pegasus. I’m supposed to be free to fly the skies, but I’m totally trapped now. I have no more freedom to fly than an earth pony...show pony until I die,” this thought was crashing through her mind. The pain of the realization was breaking her heart. The exhaustion from running; the emotional turmoil of highs and lows; it all became too much to bear. Spitfire’s tear filled eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed to the floor, darkness enveloping her mind.
“SPITFIRE!” was the last thing she heard.
The sky was clear and blue. The sun was shining warmly and brightly. On her right was Rainbow Dash; on her left was Fluttershy. They were flying freely through the sky. Not one of them had a care in the world. Then suddenly there was a scream from Fluttershy, and then one from Rainbow Dash. Spitfire looked at her friends and saw terror in their eyes. That was when she noticed it, that familiar sensation. She was falling. She looked to where her wings should be, but there was nothing there. They had just vanished. Now she was falling helplessly to the ground. She looked back up to see her two friends diving toward her in a futile effort to save her. She knew they couldn’t make it in time, but at the rate of their dive they wouldn’t be able to pull out in time. “NOOOOOOO”, she shouted, and found herself sitting straight up in a strange bed, covered in sweat, with two new friends sitting vigilantly by her side.
Rainbow Dash and Twilight leaned closer and placed comforting hooves on Spitfire’s shoulders.
“It’s okay, Spitfire. It was just a dream,” the lavender unicorn said attempting to calm her.
“Yeah, you’re okay. It’s all going to be okay,” the cyan pegasus echoed.
“What…what happened? The last thing I remember is being in a library and talking about that damned contract,” Spitfire said, weak and confused.
“It’s okay,” Twilight began, “You’re still here at the library. This is my room. You passed out earlier and we carried you up here. You’ve been unconscious for a long time. We’re just glad you’re awake now.”
“You really scared us there, Spitfire,” Rainbow interjected, “We didn’t know what was wrong. All we could do is just sit here and hope you woke up.”
“I guess it just all got to be too much for me to handle. Looks like your hero has yet another weakness, eh, Dash? I’m sorry I scared you both,” Spitfire hung her head in embarrassment, “You said I’d been out for a long time. What time is it?”
“It’s after midnight, so you’ve been out for around six hours. You must have been exhausted,” Twilight said.
“After midnight?! Great! I passed out and managed to waste an entire day!” Spitfire threw herself back down onto the bed.
“No, you didn’t waste a whole day. You needed rest and your body found a way to get it. It just wasn’t the best way to go about it. Plus, I think Rainbow and I have come up with a plan to get at least some of your money out of the Wonderbolts’ bank,” Twilight gave a wink to Dash.
“Yeah, and you could say that my silly Daring Do book helped come up with it,” Rainbow couldn’t help but have a little venom to the tone of her voice. Daring Do was the last hero she had now.
“Sorry about that Dash. Honestly, I am. I was just really upset. I didn’t mean it. Will you forgive me?” Spitfire asked.
“Of course I forgive you. I was only joking, anyway,” Rainbow replied while “Well, mostly joking,” ran through her head.
“So, what’s this Daring Do plan you two have worked up then?” Spitfire finally asked.
“It’s late; we’ll talk about it tomorrow. You need rest. You’re going to have a pretty full next few days ahead of you. We’ve got to keep moving, remember? Tomorrow, I’m taking you to stay with Rarity while Twi and I work on our plan,” Rainbow said.
“Yes. It’s late and we all need our rest. Spitfire, you stay here and take my bed. Dash, you can have the guest bed. I’ll go sleep downstairs,” Twilight had this all organized in her head well before Spitfire even woke up, “Good night everypony!”
Twilight walked quietly back down the stairs, levitating the single candle in front of her. She sat by the window admiring the night sky until she could hear Dash’s snoring and assumed Spitfire was also asleep.
“I know what I promised, but I have to do something and we don’t have a lot of time,” she thought while levitating her quill, ink, and parchment to her.
“Please forgive me, but…I have to do this,” she whispered.
“Dear Princess…”