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Just Can't Catch a Break2,968 words
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Crash and Burn

Spitfire stood next to Rainbow Dash in the large hanger, shaking in her hooves. She kept glancing around partially looking for the General and partially looking for Soarin, who had yet to arrive. Spitfire wore her sunglasses and captain's uniform; the medals on her dark blue uniform would occasionally reflect the sunlight that found it's way into the hangar.

Rainbow gently nudged Spitfire, which caused her to jump a little.

"Hey, relax. Everything is going to go just fine with the General."

"It won't be if Soarin doesn't get here soon..."

"Don't worry, he'll be here! You know how difficult it is to get into those new outfits."

Spitfire didn't seem to hear, and kept glancing around, even hovering a little bit to get a better view. Rainbow rolled her eyes and pulled her back down.

"Spitfire, all your worrying isn't going to help. If anything, it will just make things worse for you."

Spitfire paused and sighed.

"I suppose you're right...but what if-"

"But what if nothing. You've gotten this place as perfect as you can get it, now stop thinking about what can go wrong and just focus on impressing the General!"

"Giving me the orders now, huh?" Spitfire said with a smirk.

"Yes, that's an order!"

Spitfire chuckled and looked around one more time.

"Still, though, it would make things a whole lot easier if Soarin would show up already. But I guess that's our Soarin right?"

Rainbow paused and nodded, slowly fading away into her thoughts. Spitfire was too busy looking for him to notice Rainbow's train of thought fading.

"Yeah....our Soarin."

Rainbow had found herself thinking more and more about Soarin for quite a while now. The thought of being in a relationship with him made her all giddy inside like that night at the Grand Galloping Gala.

Back then, relationships were the last thing on her mind. Her dreams of becoming a Wonderbolt were infinitely more important; now she was a Wonderbolt and a pretty famous one as well. She was now living the life: she had a much bigger house--probably much bigger than she needed--she had fans, and most importantly, she still had her five closest friends that were always there for her. She was living her dream; she had almost everything...almost. During her downtime, when it was just her alone with her thoughts, she discovered that her house was rather quiet and, even though she had her friends, she still couldn't shake this feeling of loneliness. There was Tank to talk to, but all he did was bump into almost everything around him, which Rainbow still found funny.

As much as she hated to admit to herself at first, she needed a special somepony in her life. One day, she thought about who that might be; Soarin was the first one to pop up in her mind and it gave her butterflies in her stomach. Over time, her attraction to Soarin grew stronger and stronger until she finally confirmed with herself that she liked him...she really liked him.

The only pony she told about her crush was Spitfire. Needless to say, Rainbow was emotional when they talked; she was trying to be so strong and not cry, but she, eventually, broke down. Understand, she was under a lot of pressure. Not only was this her first time opening up about a very serious issue on her heart, but society had put her on a 'tomboy' pedestal. The world saw her as tough; somepony who would never look for a relationship, and if she did, she would more than likely appear to the public as soft, and that would likely lead to ponies speculating that she was also weak. To make matters worse, there was the usual fear of the unknown and the fear of Soarin rejecting her as well.

After Rainbow had calmed down, Spitfire assured her that, even if the world did reject her, she would still have the Wonderbolts to back her up and the support of her friends back in Ponyville. At Rainbow's request, Spitfire reassigned her to partner up with Soarin during practices so that they could be closer, and would, hopefully, make it easier for them to talk. The only problem is that Rainbow was too nervous, and whenever she tried to ask him out somewhere, somepony or something would interrupt her.

It, also, didn't help that Soarin could be so clueless on picking up on Rainbow's signs. Maybe she could get him alone and ask him then, or maybe she should just blurt it out in front of everypony. However she asked him out, she felt as if she had to do it soon. The anticipation was killing her inside.

"There you are!" Spitfire suddenly said, interrupting Rainbow's thoughts.

Soarin quickly trotted up to the two mares, panting a little. He was wearing a different uniform than the usual Wonderbolts attire; it was much sleeker and seemed more aerodynamic. It was a dark blue color with black pads on the shoulders, knees, and down the back right, where the spine was, stopping just before the lower back. The uniform zipped up to right under Soarin’s head, making it difficult for him to look down.

"Sorry...I'm late." Soarin started to say. "I was trying to- Oof!" Soarin was interrupted by Spitfire shoving a pilot's helmet onto his chest, which he grabbed onto.

"Shush! You're here before the general and that's all I care about!" She said as she shoved him away to move further down the hangar. "Now go suit up! She'll be here any second!" Soarin put the helmet on, and left to suit up and get into position. As he was leaving, Spitfire turned to Rainbow.

"Is everypony in position?"

"Yes, they're all waiting for your signal."

"Alright, good." Spitfire said, relieved. Just as she was about to relax, some officers, not too far away, yelled out 'ten-hut!' and saluted; a few seconds later, a Pegasus wearing a uniform, much like Spitfire's, walked past them.

Spitfire froze. If it wasn't for Rainbow nudging her, she probably would've stayed frozen.

The General saluted the two officers and made her way towards Spitfire and Rainbow; she was there all too quick for Spitfire's liking. The general wore a uniform that was decorated with many medals and had four stars on her shoulders. Her coat was a dark gray, almost like the bottom of a storm cloud, in contrast to her mane and tail which were a bright white, like a cloud on a nice day. Her eyes were a bright yellow and her cutie mark was a tornado.

The two mares saluted at the same time.

"Ma'Am!" Spitfire's voice cracked. The general didn't seem to notice, and, if she did, she was doing a really good job at not showing it. Rainbow on the other hand, had a difficult time keeping a straight face. Spitfire immediately cleared her throat and tried again.

"Ma'am. Thank you for coming today. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The General saluted them; once she did, all three mares put their hooves down.

"The pleasure is mine Captain. I'm glad to hear that The Wonderbolts are working on expanding a Pegasi's flight capability instead of focusing solely on stunts."

"Yes ma'am, the tech we're going to show you today will greatly enhance both of those aspects."

"I can hardly wait then; impress me enough and we just might use it in the Royal Guard." The General turned to Rainbow. "Who is this with you?"

"Wonderbolt Rainbow Dash, ma'am!" Rainbow said looking straight ahead.

The General perked up an eyebrow. "Rainbow Dash? As in the Rainbow Dash? The Element of Loyalty and part of the Council of Friendship?"

"Yes ma'am!" Rainbow said, trying to keep a straight face.

The General did a half bow to her. "It's a true honor to meet you."

Rainbow was completely caught off guard by this. She never considered herself to be important enough for somepony to bow to her, even if it was a simple head-bow. She thought that was reserved for the Princesses, and yet, here was a four-star general actually bowing to her. Thankfully Rainbow still had enough sense to bow back. The General turned back to Spitfire.

"Lead the way Captain; whenever you're ready."

"Yes ma'am. Rainbow, go get suited up."

Rainbow saluted and left to go get ready. When she was out of the General's view, she zoomed away all giddy, unable to hold in her excitement of having a general bow down to her.

Spitfire turned and started walking down the hangar. "It's this way, General."

As the two walked, Spitfire grew uncomfortable as they walked in complete silence even though the general seemed to be just fine with it. It was much easier when Rainbow was here. Heck, anypony would've been fine, but now it was just the two of them. A four star general that held Spitfire's future in her hoof, and a lowly captain. Eventually, Spitfire spoke up.

"So...um....I noticed you have four stars now."

The General nodded. "Indeed. I was recently promoted."

Spitfire smiled and chuckled nervously. Oh no, she thought to herself, as if three stars wasn't bad enough....how am I ever going to get through this....

"Well, Congratulations you really deserve it!" Spitfire said in an attempt to hide her nervousness.

The general only responded with a nod.

Spitfire silently praised Celestia as they arrived at a small, simple presentation section. There was a large television: its screen was bright blue and at the center of the screen the words 'No Signal' were shown in white text in a black box. Next to the television was a small movable curtain that blocked a pegasus pony standing behind it.

"We're arrived, General. Please stand here and we'll start."

The general stood in her designated spot as Spitfire walked to the curtain, then turned and faced the general.

"Within the past few years, technology has significantly accelerated. The Wonderbolts have taken advantage of this recent spike and have developed new prototype flight suits that have significantly increased a Wonderbolt's speed, agility, and have also helped significantly reduce the amount of g-force on our wings. These new suits allow us to fly faster and perform tight and impossible maneuvers as if they were nothing, including being able to come to a complete stop almost instantly after flying 100+ miles per hour. General, I would like to present to you-" Spitfire pulled back on the curtain, unveiling the Wonderbolt's most recent advancement in flying "-the Firefly."

The curtain was pulled back, revealing Soarin standing at attention with his wings spread out.

Soarin wore the new dark blue flight uniform, but along with it, he wore a-

* * * *

"Hold up!" Gentle Breeze interrupted, again. "Did you say 'Firefly’?”

"Yes I did." Soarin said with a smile.

"That's grandma's name! Is that where you got the name?"

"Mmmmm....maybe..." Soarin said with a wink. "You'll need to ask your mother about that. After all, she came up with the nickname for the tech. The actual name is really complicated and long, and I don't remember what it was called. So Rainbow called it 'The Firefly' and the name just stuck."

"Quit interrupting Gentle!" Fire said impatiently. "I wanna hear what the entire Firefly suit looks like!"

"Well excuuuuse me..."

Fire rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Soarin.

"So what did the Firefly look like?"

* * * *

Soarin wore the new dark blue flight uniform, but along with it, he wore a pilot helmet with a completely black-tinted visor. An oxygen mask was dangling from the side of the helmet so that he could speak, and was connected to a small hose that traveled over his shoulder and into a
container that rested on his back and traveled down his spine. It also had two narrow blue lights shining on the top, and a small red handle just above his left shoulder. Though these features were interesting, the most significant feature that caught the general's eye was what was attached to Soarin's wings, lower back, and legs.

Soarin's wings were what drew the general's attention. His feathers were completely covered by multiple thin layers of metal that got more narrow as it approached the bottom feathers. The actual wings themselves had collapsible frames around them that started from the both sides of the container, immediately stretched down and joined to his wings, and connected to each other all the way to the tips of his wings. This setup pulled on his wings, which prevented him from closing them all the way.

Just behind, and slightly elevated above his wings, were two thrusters; one on each side, and both connecting directly to the container. Both seemed active and ready to fire at a moments notice. Finally, behind each of Soarin's legs were long, thin leg-braces, which were connected to black pads that covered his hooves.

Spitfire quickly grew more and more nervous the longer the general took to examine the tech; it was impossible to get a read on her. Finally she spoke up.

"What's it like in there?" the General asked.

"Well," Spitfire began, "it's-"

"Oh, no. Sorry Captain, but I wasn't talking to you." she then turned back to Soarin. "So, how is it? Comfortable? Can you move around at all?"

"Yes ma'am." Soarin spoke up. "Although it is difficult to look down."

The General smirked. "That's probably for the best when you're thousands of feet in the air. What about your wings? Looks uncomfortable the way it's pulling up on them."

"No ma'am. It's fine."

"Can you move them at all?"

"I can angle them in different directions, but I can’t fold them in."

The General nodded and backed up a step. "Well, Captain Spitfire this certainly looks impressive. Now tell me about it's performance."

Spitfire couldn't help but smirk slightly when she nodded. "Yes ma'am!" The way she said it wasn't just to obey her superior, there was a tone of excitement behind her words; this was the part where things would get interesting, and this would only be the first part of the demonstration.

Spitfire walked over to the television and pushed a button on the side. Instantly the screen went black as it changed channels. As the General looked on, she could see herself staring back on the screen. It took her a few seconds to comprehend what she was looking at, but soon enough, she found the source of what was looking at her.

"A camera in his helmet?"

"Yes ma'am. With this, we can see everything that the pilot sees and record what happens in the air. That allows us to analyze and study our own flight patterns and improve where needed; and that's not all." Spitfire picked up a remote, pointed it at the television and then clicked a button.

Almost instantly, several displays and monitors popped up around the edge of the screen. The top right of the screen had a display of a pegasus with several strategic dots over its legs, wings, back, and head, and a separate display of the Firefly. Right under it was a heart monitor with blood pressure readings, all of which showed normal readings. On the left side of the screen was a long, slender vertical blue line with a 100% at the top, right above that was a small display that read: OXYGEN LEVEL. Just beside that was an altitude display and at the top center of the screen was another small display that read: SCORE: 0.

"Thanks to the new Firefly flight suit, we can tell if a pegasus has suffered physical injury. For example: if a wing is broken, or an ankle is sprained, an alert will sound and will appear as a red dot on the pegasus display wherever the injury is. The same thing happens if the Firefly is damaged, except we will be able to tell what's wrong it since it's part of the system. As you can see, the flight suit also monitors heart rate and blood pressure, allowing us to even further analyze a pilot's flight capabilities and limits. Finally, the line on the left side of the screen indicates the pilot's oxygen levels."

"And what does the 'score' mean?"

"That is just an incentive to help motivate the pilots. During flight, the pilot flies along a guidance line through circles that are projected on the screen in the helmet. The closer to the center a pilot flies through, the more points they get; the one who has the most points at the end of a run gets a prize."

"What kind of prize?"

"It depends on the number of points. The grand prize is a day of R&R, unless we're on tour or have a show coming up soon."

"I see...now what about those braces on his legs. What are those for?"

"Those help reduce the force a pegasus feels when they land. For example, if you jumped from the top of this hangar onto the ground, you'd break your legs at the very least. However, with those braces, you could jump and land just fine."

The general seemed to be impressed by this. "Really? I must admit, this is rather interesting Captain."

Spitfire silently breathed a sigh of relief.

"Can you do that from any height?"

"No ma'am, they do have a limit, but we are working to get rid of that limit as much as possible.

After a few seconds of silence, Spitfire spoke up, eager to get to the next part.

"If you would stand next to me ma'am, we will give you a demonstration."

The General nodded and took her assigned spot several feet away from Soarin.

"Alright Soarin, you're clear whenever you're ready."

Soarin turned away from the two officers and crouched in a take off position. Soon enough, the two thrusters on his pack gave a low hum that slowly got louder as they started to warm up. Just as they erupted with a small blue flame, Soarin galloped away at top speed. Within seconds, he was out of the hangar and zooming through the sky.

The two officers turned to the television screen just in time to see a birds eye view of the Academy as Soarin flew over it near instantaneous.

"Now let me get this straight," the general said while watching the screen. "He can't move his wings at all right?"

"Correct. The firefly keeps his wings spread out. All he has to do is angle them differently to change his direction."

"And those thrusters are what's keeping him moving?"

"Yes ma'am."

"It's seems to make flying rather easy...almost too easy. Don't you think?"

"Perhaps it does. In fact, Rainbow Dash thinks the same way. It does make flying easier, but it also helps the pilot save energy in case they need to abandon the suit and fly on their own."

"Abandon the suit?" the General asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes ma'am. Every suit has an emergency cord above the left shoulder. Should a malfunction ever occur to the point where the suit is inoperable, the pilot pulls the cord and the Firefly will fall apart around them, letting them fly on their own."

"I see." The general nodded and turned her attention back to the screen.

Meanwhile, Soarin had flown over the academy again and altered his wings, angling them so that he could fly straight up. He quickly flew up higher and higher into the sky, the altimeter increasing with him the higher he flew.
7,000ft...
10,000ft...

Within minutes, Soarin easily broke his usual cruising altitude of 6,000ft. Even though the air around him was rapidly starting to cool, he kept climbing.
15,000ft...
20,000ft...
25,000ft...

By now, the air around him was at freezing temperature. A small alert sounded in his helmet and showed up on his HUD, warning him. However, it soon turned off thanks to the suit's built in heating wires that kept Soarin at a comfortable temperature.
30,000ft...
35,000ft...
40,000ft...

Another alert went off, this one however was a louder and flashed quickly on his HUD, indicating a higher priority. The air around him was thinning and he wouldn't be able to breathe much longer if he kept flying as high as he was. Soon enough, however, he felt a cool breeze from his mouth piece inside his mask. Soarin breathed in the pure oxygen as he continued to climb even higher.

"Unbelievable..." the General said in astonishment as she observed the altitude meter on the screen. "He's leveling out at around 80,000 feet."

"Yes ma'am. He's reached the maximum height the Firefly can reach."

Soarin glided around for several minutes, and thanks to the camera in his helmet, the two observers on the ground could see everything he saw. They could see the borders of every part of Equestria: The Badlands, The Frozen North, even the endless Everfree Forest seemed vastly small and insignificant at this height. They could even see the very curve of the planet; so many lands still unexplored.

Spitfire turned to the General. "If you're ready ma'am, we'll move to the control tower for the next part of the demonstration."

The general nodded, and the two walked out of the hangar towards a large nearby control tower. Within minutes, the two were at the top. They stepped out of an elevator and into a large circular room with control panels and monitors surrounding the edge. Large windows made up the walls allowing the ponies inside to see outside. Two Pegasi officers were busy at work typing on the panels, however they stood at attention upon the General's and Captain's arrival.
"Captain, all Wonderbolts are ready and waiting."

"Very good, thank you Sergeant."

The two ponies went back to work after Spitfire saluted back. She then reached for two headsets, and put one of them on, giving the other to the General who copied her and stood just behind Spitfire.

After testing the mic out, Spitfire spoke up,

"All Wonderbolts, this is Captain Spitfire. Sign in and prepare for takeoff!"

One by one, the voices of different Wonderbolts spoke through the headsets, and with each sign in, the pilot's Firefly lit up on the screen as well as their helmet cams.

"Wonderbolt Fleetfoot, thigning in!"

"Wonderbolt Fire Streak, signing in!"

"Wonderbolt Rainbow Dash, ready to fly!"

"Wonderbolt Misty Fly, good to go!"

"Wonderbolt Blaze, signing in!"

"Wonderbolt Rapidfire, ready and waiting!"

One of the pegasus officers behind the control panel turned halfway to Spitfire.
"All Wonderbolts signed in, and all Firefly's are operational. We are green across the board, ma'am."

Spitfire nodded and spoke once again into the mic.
"All Wonderbolts, you are clear for takeoff. The sky is yours."

A resounding "yes ma'am!" simultaneously came from each of the excited Wonderbolts.

One by one, the thrusters on the Fireflies whirled to life as each Wonderbolt attached their mask over their muzzles.

"Hey, Rapidfire!" Blaze said over the headset in his helmet. "Try and beat my score this time!"

"Ha! Good luck keeping up!" He shot back.

"Shut it you two!" Misty said. "Remember, the general's watching, now let's show her what the Wonderbolts are truly capable of!"

The Wonderbolts galloped out of the hangar they were in and in just seconds, they were zooming through the sky to meet up with Soarin.

Soarin was circling high over a field not too far away from the Academy at 40,000 feet. In a few minutes, the other Wonderbolts were flying next to him. Fire Streak flew next to him and held out his hoof, the two hoof bumped then separated so that they wouldn't collide. Suddenly, Spitfire spoke over the headset.

"All Wonderbolts, this is Captain Spitfire. Everything is operational and working perfectly; the Atom Bomb is a go. Repeat: we have a green light for the Atom Bomb."

* * * *

"Woah, wait a second." Fire interrupted. "The Atom Bomb? What is that?"

Soarin smiled. "I thought that would get your attention. The Atom Bomb is the most dangerous trick the Wonderbolts have ever attempted. In fact, it can only be done with the Firefly. What would happen is that, we would pick a large cloud then each pilot would fly around at different angles. Eventually the cloud would morph into a sphere. The end result: a giant atom floating in the sky. It required precise calculations that only the Firefly could give us so that nopony would collide into each other."

"That sounds really cool daddy!" Gentle said excitedly.

"That's just the beginning. After a few seconds, we would fly away from the cloud, at that moment, your mother would fly towards us at top speed, and then do a sonic rainboom right when she hit the cloud. This resulted in the atom exploding and giving the audience a spectacular show."

"That....is....AWESOME!" Fire said wide eyed. "But...why haven't I heard about that trick or the Firefly?"

Soarin blushed from embarrassment and squirmed in his seat.
"W-Well...there's a reason for that..."

* * * *

As soon as the green light was given, the Wonderbolts split off into different directions. Misty and Fleetfoot flew down to fetch a large chunk of a cloud and pushed it out into an open part of the sky. They flew away to allow the first Wonderbolt, Fire Streak, to make his approach. He flew right above the cloud and angled his wings so he would start flying around it.

Soarin was next. Timing was everything with this trick. One mistake meant months of recovery in a hospital...or worse. Thanks to the Firefly, however, the timing was precisely calculated to the second, and Soarin was able to fly along his path without fear of flying into his teammate.

One by one, the other Wonderbolts joined them; next was Fleetfoot, then Blaze, then Rapidfire, then Misty. Soon enough, a giant atom formed in the sky. In fact, thanks to their flying, the cloud began to smoothen out into a perfect sphere. As an added effect, the Wonderbolts' lightning effect made the entire atom look alive.

The general widened a little with awe as she gazed up at the giant spectacle, obviously impressed at what Spitfire and her team cooked up. Spitfire looked at her out of the corner of her eye and smiled. You haven't seen anything yet, General. she thought to herself.

There was only so much dizziness a Wonderbolt could take; even one who practiced on the Dizzitron for hours on end had a limit they just couldn't overcome. The Atom Bomb always made the pilots exceed their limits very quickly; therefore the trick wouldn't last more than a quarter of a minute at the most before they had to fly away.

An alert went off in the pilot's helmets, it was time to break away before Rainbow would hit her mark and cause a sonic rainboom. Each pilot broke away, but as Soarin broke off, he got a perfect view of Rainbow flying towards them. She looked absolutely stunning...too stunning in fact. Soarin zoned out, just briefly, but it was enough of a distraction to send him colliding into Rainbow and several of the other pilots. The two hit with such force, it knocked Rainbow out cold and she started falling to the ground.

Multiple alarms went off in the watch tower. "Firefly suits one, two, six and seven are heavily damaged!" One of the Pegasus officers reported. "Firefly suit four has suffered a major malfunction!"

"Suit four....that's Rainbow Dash!" Spitfire immediately got on her mic and tried to get ahold of Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash! Come in!"

Rainbow was still unconscious. The impact had caused her suit to twist and turn; one thruster was aiming straight down, making her fall faster, and the other was tilted at an angle, making her spin uncontrollably. "Rainbow Dash! Come in!" Spitfire's voice spoke through her earpiece. "Rainbow! Can you hear me!?"
30,000 ft...
28,000ft...
25,000ft...

The other pilots were able to recover; their suits were damaged, but still semi-operational. Soarin looked at the altimeter display on his HUD and saw one blip falling towards the ground. His eyes widened in horror as he realized it was Rainbow's blip. He and several other Wonderbolts who got the same idea flew straight down to catch her.
23,000ft...
20,000ft...
16,000ft...

The General looked on in confusion and worry; was this part of the demonstration? If it was, Spitfire was doing a marvelous job acting. She would've stayed quiet, but Spitfire looked too good for acting. "Spitfire, what's going on?"

Spitfire flinched a little. She just couldn't talk to the general right now. She had to stay focused on Rainbow. "Sorry General, not right now."

"This isn't part of the demonstration, is it..."

"No ma'am it isn't." Spitfire's tone had a hint of annoyance in it.

"Captain what can I-"

"Ma'am, I'm sorry but not right now!" Spitfire interrupted. The General was about to speak, when they suddenly heard Rainbow's grunts over the speakers.
15,000ft...
13,000ft...
10,000ft...

Soarin and the others were nearly caught up to Rainbow when she woke up. Her HUD was filled with cracks and fizzled on and off making it impossible to read the screen, and something was sending a sharp pain in her wing. Rainbow tried her best to fight off nausea and tried to get her suit to cooperate. She looked behind her and find out what was wrong with her wing.

"Rainbow Dash!" Spitfire's voice spoke in her helmet. "Come in! What's going on!?"

"My suit is heavily damaged!!! My wing....the frame is pinching it shut!!! I can't open my wing!!!"

"Rainbow, if you can't fly, disengage and fly on your-wait!" Spitfire stopped as she saw others blips fly towards Rainbow's.
"Soarin, Misty, Rapidfire! Break away! Rainbow is going to disengage!"

Misty and Rapidfire looked at each other with uncertainty before they flew away. Soarin however kept chasing after her. If only his suit wasn't damaged, he could get her. He had to get her; this was his fault. He couldn't let her die. Spitfire's voice boomed in his helmet.

"SOARIN! BREAK OFF NOW!!!"

Soarin growled and forced himself to fly away.

"Alright Rainbow, you're clear! Disengage now!"

Rainbow reached to her left shoulder for the small red cord. It took a few seconds, but she grabbed it and yanked it with all her might. The HUD display in her visor turned red, and with a loud beep, every piece of metal over Rainbow's body instantly fell to pieces and peeled off her body, freeing her and allowing her to fly on her own. It almost worked perfectly...almost. One of the frame pieces that protected her wing snagged on it and yanked it back. Rainbow continued to fall.
8,000ft...
5,000ft...
3,000ft...

As soon as Rainbow disengaged, her suit on the monitor faded. "Firefly suit four is now offline. Disengage successful." Before Spitfire could take a breath through, a new alarm went off; this one was on Rainbow Dash herself. A red dot flashed on her wing, indicating something was wrong. The computer quickly found the problem; Rainbow had dislocated her wing.
1,000ft...

The other Wonderbolts were too far away to catch her, and there was no way Rainbow could fly on her own.
850ft...

Soarin and the others watched helplessly from above as their friend fell further to the ground. They still flew down in a desperate attempt to grab her.
700ft....

Rainbow tried desperately to get her wing to work but every time she tried, a sharp pain shot through her wing and traveled throughout her back. She was getting scared. It was impossible to tell how close to the ground she was. Not knowing and not being able to plan was what scared her the most.
600ft...

Spitfire ripped off her headset and scampered to open a window. She then took off with such force, she left a shockwave behind her that radiated through the control room.
575ft...

Spitfire streaked through the sky, flying faster than she's ever flown before. She flew so fast the nearby clouds evaporated when she zoomed past; she might've been able to pull off a sonic rainboom if she flew a little faster.
400ft...

Spitfire was able to finally catch Rainbow just a few hundred feet before she hit the ground. Spitfire slowed her speed and flew up, setting Rainbow on a large cloud. Spitfire stumbled next to her; her entire body shaking as massive amounts of adrenaline surged through her veins.

"Rainbow.....are.....are you......" Spitfire said, gasping for air. Rainbow could've sworn she had seen her heart beating against her chest. "Are you...alright...?"

"I'm fine Spitfire, thanks to you. I think my wing is dislocated though..." Rainbow looked back at her wing.

The overwhelmed captain moved in and hugged Rainbow tightly. She was a wreck as she fought back tears of relief and anger.

"Ouch. Hey, Spitfire, calm down, I'm fine."

Soarin and the other Wonderbolts landed nearby. He was almost as much as a wreck as Spitfire. He opened his mouth to speak but Spitfire got in the first word.

"You!!!" Spitfire snapped at him. "What were you thinking Soarin!?"

Soarin took a step back.

"First you crash into Rainbow, and then you endanger her again by disobeying my orders!!!"

Not enjoying Soarin getting yelled at like this, Rainbow spoke up to try and defend him.

"Spitfire, it was just a mistake. It's okay, really. I-"

Spitfire turned back to her. "Rainbow, quiet." Rainbow obeyed and sat where she was as Spitfire turned back to Soarin.

"You're lucky I don't throw you out of the Wonderbotls right now! If you weren't such a good flyer I would!"

Soarin flattened his ears and lowered his head.

With her mind racing, Spitfire couldn't think too clearly. She took a breath in an attempt to calm down. "You're dismissed, Soarin," she said in a calmer voice.

Not daring to say a word, Soarin nodded and flew back to the hanger, followed by the other Wonderbolts. A couple of medics landed on the cloud to examine Rainbow. Spitfire stayed with them, not leaving until they took Rainbow away.

* * * *

"Sounds like you really messed up dad!" Gentle Breeze spoke up.

"Yeah...." Soarin said with a sheepish smile.

"Dad, I have a question. These Firefly suits sound really awesome and so does that Atom Bomb trick, but I have never seen either one of those used in your shows. What gives?" Fire asked.

Soarin's cheeks flushed a little. "Well, Spitfire went to go talk to the general after the accident. She was really impressed with the Fireflies, but the safety of her troops were more important to her; she didn't want to risk another accident like that happening again. So a day later, Spitfire cancelled the Firefly project, and when the Fireflies went, so did the Atom Bomb."

Fire understandably looked disappointed. "So what you're saying is..."

"Yup," Soarin said with his cheeks flushing a little more from embarrassment, "your father is the sole reason why the Wonderbolts cancelled the most technological advancement we've ever made."

Author's Note:

Hey everyone! Well, here is the long awaited chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it! Again, I apologize for the long wait. I will do better in the future! You guys are awesome for sticking with me for so long! Thank you for your support!