Glimmer shifts awkwardly from one hoof to another as she tries and then forgets to keep her weight off her bruised left foreleg, the Lead Captain’s silence starting turn her anxiety into full-blown terror. There were few times where she’d actually feared for her life, and the only circumstance in recent memory comparable was when Aurora had screamed at Silver Lining about lumping her in with her older brother…
Aurora huffs a sigh and her right wing twitches involuntarily. According to Chief Hour, it was a completely normal symptom after an electrical burn, but that hadn’t stopped Fire Streak from worrying the whole ride back to Canterlot about it, or Lightning Streak from making crass comments about how Aurora should try handling something safer, like lollipops.
Needless to say, the ensuing brawl had trashed the sleeping compartment Aurora had initially been forced into by Chief Hour, and the fight had even moved into the next car, demolishing a couple of the benches and breaking at least one window… That, plus their bruises obviously caused by each other, is what brought all four of them to Spitfire’s office.
When Spitfire finally looks up from the paperwork spread across her desk and silently looks the bruised group over, Glimmer winces, having put pressure on her left foreleg again in an effort to stand at proper attention. Lightning grunts from Fire’s left side, and he shifts quickly to attention as well, prompted by Fire’s elbowing him. Without looking, Glimmer flicks her right wing out to nudge Aurora, eliciting a quiet grumble, even as she straightens up.
The noise, soft as it was, draws Spitfire’s eyes to Aurora, who swallows nervously. Glimmer can almost feel her squadmate trembling beside her. With a deceptively simple scowl, Spitfire reaches over to pick up a paper, only taking her eyes off the youngest Wonderbolt present to read it aloud. “Four counts of rank insubordination,” she pauses, her brown eyes flicking over to Aurora and Glimmer, “two counts gross provocation,” she adds with a scowl in Lightning’s direction, “four counts destruction of public property, and eight counts assault of a fellow Wonderbolt…”
“Ei-OOF!” Glimmer jabs her wing at Aurora, silencing the younger mare’s outburst. While eight was a surprising number, Glimmer could also understand it. Each of them had wound up throwing punches or kicks at two others present.
Spitfire glowers at the youngest Streak, then sets the paper to the side with a sigh before resting her chin on her hooves as she leans against her desk, glaring at all of them. “I would ask what happened, but the reports from Charlie and Twenty explain it well enough…” Spitfire gestures irritably towards a stack of papers. “To say nothing of the bill from the train company… So I have just one… One burning question…” She slams her hoof on the desk, rattling it and making Aurora jump. “WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!”
Glimmer hears Lightning start to say something, but Fire shifts sharply beside her, and Lightning tries to muffle a whimper, but even that further irritates the Lead Captain. “I can only imagine this is what Dusk Glimmer meant when she told me it was a bad idea to put the lot of you on a train together.” Spitfire’s glare fixes on the twins. “Foolishly, I thought that, even if her squad caused a problem, a Command Squad would be above retaliating!”
Spitfire’s stern expression flickers for a moment as she presses a hoof to her temple, trying vainly to dispel the building headache. Again, Lightning makes a noise, but another sharp motion from Fire cuts it off.
“Captain Spitfire, Auro-” Fire starts.
“I’m aware of Recruit Streak’s injury, Third Captain… I’ve read Doctor Hour’s incident report,” Spitfire cuts Fire off sharply. “And from what I’m able to gather, that is what caused this mess! Recruit Captain Dusk Glimmer has two counts insubordination at Commander Lightning’s provocation just in the immediate aftermath! And then… As if well enough just could not be left alone, you,” she snaps, pointing at Lightning, “decided to provoke both Recruit Captain Glimmer and Recruit Streak again on the train back to Canterlot! Resulting in a sprawling hoof-fight that demolished four benches, three doors, two windows, and a sleeping compartment!”
“And a partridge in a pear tree…” Aurora mutters under her breath and barely moving her lips at all, almost quiet enough for even Glimmer next to her to not hear. Hear it, Glimmer did, though, and she turns her head to look at Aurora while delivering a swift jab with her wing again.
“DID I SAY AT EASE, RECRUIT?!” Spitfire demands, abruptly in Glimmer’s face. Glimmer squeaks and almost takes a step backwards before she catches herself, barely in time.
“No, ma’am!” Glimmer quickly answers, before wincing as she returns to her at attention stance. Unobtrusively, she shifts most of her weight off her injured foreleg while keeping both legs straight, making her lean just slightly to the right.
“THIS IS MY OFFICE, RECRUIT! I WILL HANDLE ALL DISCIPLINE IN THIS ROOM!” Spitfire yells, almost blowing Glimmer back with the force of her voice alone. “And as for you,” she continues, turning her sights on Aurora. “Think something about this situation is funny, Recruit Streak?!” she booms, making the younger mare flinch.
“N-no, ma’am!” Aurora replies, attempting to imitate Glimmer’s reply but not able to suppress the slight stammer. Snorting in irritation, Spitfire backs up a step to pace in between her desk and the four pegasi.
Stopping in front of Lightning and Fire, Spitfire looks at the twins. “Anything you two have to say for yourselves?”
Again, despite Lightning’s obvious willingness to open his mouth, Fire quickly silences him. “No, Lead Captain, ma’am,” Fire responds, his voice steady and calm.
“Good,” Spitfire snaps, resuming her pacing. “All four of you will spend every evening, starting after dinner tonight, in the equipment cage, doing the laundry for the Compound… Together.”
With Spitfire’s rebuke still ringing in her ears, Glimmer forces down her instinctive reaction to gag Aurora, and simply attempts to lean away from her squadmate while not bumping into Fire or putting weight on her bad fetlock joint.
“Together?! But… er…” Aurora’s protest dies as Spitfire almost teleports in front of the recruit.
“If you’d rather be discharged, then by all means continue to protest, Recruit Streak!” Spitfire snarls, before casting a baleful glower down the line of her subordinates. “Yes. Together. Until the lot of you stop reporting to the Trainers for any more altercations you might get into… And if any of you think I won’t know, you have lost your Celestia-loving minds. Do I make myself perfectly clear?!”
“Yes, ma’am,” the four reply, not quite in unison but close enough that Spitfire lets it go.
“Dismissed.”
Aurora is the first out the door, with Lightning not far behind her. Fire waits until after Glimmer hobbles out into the hall to allow the door to close and start towards the stairs. Hesitating after only a few steps, Fire turns to see Glimmer attempting to use her left wing in place of her foreleg, the sight making him sigh and backtrack.
“Captain Glimmer, please allow me to assist you to the Trainer Room,” Fire offers as he stands on her left.
Glimmer looks up at him skeptically before sighing herself. “I suppose I can’t be angry at you for being as protective of Aurie as I was being…” she replies with a weak half-smile.
“It would be rather hypocritical of you, yes,” Fire agrees, one corner of his mouth tugging upwards. “Here…” he suggests, stooping slightly. Glimmer sighs again and gingerly moves to drape the injured limb across his shoulders.
“My turn to start thanking you?” she comments dryly as they start carefully down the stairs to the main floor.
“I think I prefered to be the grateful one… It seems seeing for myself how my sister is doing is a bit hazardous for everyone’s health, not just my own.”