After Rainbow Dash is proven innocent of the heinous crime of letter mailing, she has a few things to say to the ponies that accused without a shred of proof.
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LordBrony2040
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I actually want to see a little bit of a followup about what happened to Soarin and how this affects the Wonderbolts themselves.
You made a pretty good point. I think I officially hate the wonderbolts
good points. Heck I first IU thought it might have been Lightning Dust. It would make sense. But no they went with the old guy which I figured out as soon as I saw him again. Again the writing is hit or miss this season. the last episode my only issue was no Coco Pummel. here it's this.
Heck you know what this Rainbow should do? Form the Shadowbolts as a rival to the Wonderbolts. I'm sure she can get Luna's support in it.
Frankly while I can hold Spits a littel innocent in this since she never had a hoof in the accusation the writers seem to constantly show a bit a negativity on the part of the Wonderbolts. getting kind of annoying.
I'm sorry but I can't get behind this in the slightest.
Soarin and the Wonderbolts had every bit of reason to suspect Rainbow Dash considering how heavily the evidence stacked up against her. Yet rather than automatically ban her from the Wonderbolts, Soarin' gave her a perfectly good chance to prove her innocence.
nice twist
6442066
There was no evidence. it was just, "You're the one who replaced Spitfire, therefore you MUST be guilty."
6442080
She was the only one other than Spitfire who slept in that wing. Her motivations for "removing" a Wonderbolt from the lineup would easily make her the prime suspect.
They had all right to believe it was her but Soarin' decided to give her a fair chance to prove her innocence by finding out a true culprit.
6442089
And your confusing reason for suspicion for meaningful evidence.
Did she have a motive? Yes.
Did she not have an alibi? Yes
Does that in any way shape or form add up to proof of guilt? No.
And you don't prove innocence, even in a court marshal where everyone pretty much knows the person being prosecuted is guilty with the overwhelming evidence to back it up from the get go. The proof of guilt is on the accuser, and the Wonderbolts had nothing when Soarin passed judgement.
I'm sorry what.
Their actions were believable because Dash's behavior made her a likely suspect, at least given the information they had.
Pay attention to the show details before blindly jumping to conclusions to defend "muh favorite pny!"
Characters can be wrong at times. And they could've easily arrested her right there, but they let Rarity investigate while they searched for Spitfire's whereabouts.
They did not
.
The wonderbolts have been a prime example of how Equestria isn't quite the paradise a lot of people think it is. It harbors ponies that have the same fallibilities as some of the worst of humanity. The wonderbolts lack many of the virtues that the ponies are supposed to espouse and it amazes me that they haven't fallen 15 notches for Dash.
In your story here it would be interesting if Spitfire after her long trek finally got it. I mean she has been being taught friendship lessons by Dash from day 1. Technically Spitfire could have followed Dash right out of the wonderbolts.
6442159
God's sake, you're saying it like the Wonderbolt is the vilest group of ponies. Oh, wait, you just did.
6442122
Actually, my favorite pony is the biped with the bacon hair. So stop trying to put words in people's mouths when you can't read minds.
And they had nothing beyond what was barely even an idea of motive and some very iffy means. But that is not proof.
6442188
Yes and No. Nasty things are often done by those who are silent when they go down. While the wonderbolts are not espousing the virtues of harmony presently, I see a lot of the backgrounders are caught up in the whole thing and/or are too into fitting in to voice opposition. The first several ponies (most notably including the third on the cloudsdale team) were ones really pointing hooves, *BUT* Soarin couched everything. "If you sent that letter, I'd have to ban you." I think he still has heart, but many ponies around him don't.
So you have a few active ponies who have really lost their way in high positions, a number of erstwhile toadies who are vulturing things, ones that just sit silent, and a few good ones who tend to be punching bags. Overall though the organization is not what it should be by any stretch of the means, and the whole way it works is very human.
6442294
Of course they're pointing hooves. Someone just sent their captain away and potentially sabotaged their show.
Rainbow Dash has a weak alibi at best.
She had the clearest motivations for doing it for anyone.
Ponies saw her leaving the party with Spitfire and she had the easiest access to her room.
She's the prime suspect.
If they truly thought she was guilty they would've banned her on the spot. God forbid had any of the Wonderbolts searched Spitfire's room before Rarity did and found the fake note with Rainbow's mane.
6442225
That wasn't the main point of my argument.
The main point is that you are just throwing your hate boner for the Wonderbolts around despite evidence in the episode showing that they had valid reason for suspecting Rainbow Dash.
I had a wall of text agreeing with the author on how someone making a negative assertion such as "I didn't do it" does not have a burden of proof and then I decided that it just wasn't worth it.
I liked the story.
6442105
I think you should stop wondering about the morality of the Wonderbolts' actions and bolt out of here, because things don't look very wonderful for you.
Can I just say I wish the episode ended like this? Seriously, so many episodes would have hit home so much better if they'd just gone down this kind of road!! Still, that's what fanfiction's for, I guess. Well done, well done indeed. Loved how this fic played out and hope to see other such work in the future.
6442330
And you're missing his point. The legal system does not work on "Oh, we think you did it, prove us wrong." Its "We think you did it, and this is why."
...What'd they have... A bit of hair and the fact that RD got to fly... People shed. Ponies shed... And how easy is it to just snip a bit of hair off someone who's sleeping? Both those together, yeah, that's reason to suspect. It isn't reason to level the charges they did at her. Its what's called circumstantial evidence. Its the kind of thing that, if it was brought to a court, would be dismissed. You can't prove a whole case on something that shallow.
6442346
That was painful... Please... No puns.
You know, Soarin never said that Rainbow was guilty. He said that IF she was guilty, she wasn't going to ever be a Wonderbolt.
As far as I can tell, the deadline to prove her innocence was so that she would be allowed to attend/perform, not for her to not be banned from the Wonderbolts. That charge would most likely have been investigated later.
6442391
Don't worry, I won't punish you any further.
6442383
They didn't arrest her. She was just a suspect. Suspects are brought in for questioning if they have circumstantial evidence or even evidence pointing them to the scene of the "crime" or the place where the victim was seen last.
Her alibi was weak as well.
Excellent story. Wish she had done exactly this in the episode.
To LordBrony, this story was a wonderful read, and I'm glad DarkParable pointed me towards it. I enjoyed reading it, and appreciated reading an alternative end. Good work.
6442408 You monster.
6442418 Which all entirely ignores everything about Rainbow Dash the Wonderbolts have seen. To their knowledge, she has never, ever acted in a way that suggests she would do something like this. She's saved the world numerous times. She's saved them. She quit the Academy with that whole situation with Lightning Dust, and she was graceful in the face of being beaten by Spitfire in the Games. Her alibi may have been weak, but there is nothing about her that makes her doing what they accused her of likely. Besides, even IF her alibi was weak, it doesn't prove she did anything. Even if she couldn't prove someone else did it, that doesn't mean she did it.
Frankly, it was the way they didn't even think about it before accepting it was probably her. They turned on her instantly, and the fact the Wonderbolts have consistently not been the best of role models.
You need to rewatch the episode. Soarin never accused Rainbow. He told her to make sure she can prove her innocence. This story reeks of sour grapes and butthurt, so I gave it a thumbs down. It's not poorly written but its an obvious knee-jerk reaction from an author who did not fully pay attention to the episode.
Also Wind Rider did get stripped of everything at the end of the episode.
6442558
This. Like I said yesterday, given the way they've been consistently depicted during the more recent seasons, or basically anything from Hurricane Fluttershy on, I'm surprised the Wonderbolts bothered to get off their flanks to try to save rarity back in Season one.
6442383
You mean the hair they never even found? RARITY Found the hair, hell, none of the Wonderbolts even knew about it till Rarity whipped it out at the end. They were literally accusing her on zero proof, just "Ohh hey, well she's the one who'd profit to be able to fly tomorrow."
6442015
Lightning Dust would have actually been clever, having the old guy as a red herring. And at this point Dash should totally call in favors from the THREE princesses who either owe her multiple, serious favors that they can't easily repay, or that she's best friends with and just make her own flight team. With honor and blackjack and hookers... But don't call it the Shadowbolts, that's way overplayed and will make ponies think of the Wonderbolts. For a ten second, hastily conceived attempt to seduce you away from your friends, the Shadowbolts have sure taken on lives of their own.
6442570
And allowed to continue to hang around the dressing room.... for some reason.
6442872 well why not have a night theme team. The Wonderbolts belong to Celestia to the Shadowbolts can be that balance.
6442872 He DID get stripped of everything by Spitfire who then ORDERED him to be removed from the premises of the dressing room or did someone, once again, not pay attention to this detail?
Um...you know, come to think about it, the Wonderbolts in all their appearances don't come off very well.
6443299
AFTER he'd already confessed, and was allowed to hang around till Spitfire came back. He really should have been escorted from the room hours earlier. Like, ya know, they were threatening to do with Dash.
6442570
You do not accuse someone in an official way that restricts others without proof and the opinion that you think someone is guilty. Like I’ve said time and time again, the Wonderbolts had nothing but motive, which is no grounds for suspension. Even guys that get put on suspension ‘pending an investigation’ are put there because there is already enough evidence there to cast doubt on them. Actual physical he did it evidence in the form of a smoking gun or witness.
They had one guy make an accusation, and then everyone jumped on the bandwagon without knowing anything. They were basically the court of public opinion.
In contrast Rarity did it the way it was supposed to be done. Lacking a witness, she took the proof of motive that she had to go with her theory that she had from the moment she heard of who was blaming Rainbow, gathered evidence, and THEN pointed a finger.
And you don't PROVE innocence. You NEVER prove innocence. Soarin never even said prove innocence. But like I said above, his actions spoke about his opinions on the matter.
6442558
It's almost like you're saying people who have been looked up to for years can't have ever actually done something bad.
josephcphillips.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/cosby2.jpg
Oh wait.
The Wonderbolts may have been rescued by Rainbow, but that doesn't mean she can't be a dick. They don't know her as well as her friends. They don't know she wouldn't do this for a shot at fame. Hell, with an elite group like them, it's not unlikely people have tried dirty methods to get to fly with them. They have to be open to possibilities even if it means suspecting someone they thought they could trust. Also keep in mind they allowed Rarity to investigate and prove Dash's innocence. Once they saw the evidence they didn't argue it and assert Rainbow was the perpetrator, but accepted the evidence and apologized.
6443950 No, I'm not saying that, and it was ridiculous of you to say so. I was pointing out they had very good reasons to NOT suspect her, instead of immediately jumping on to bandwagon of assuming she's guilty. The fact is they made it clear it had to be PROVEN it wasn't her for them to not blame her when they had shaky, at best, reasons to suspect her guilt. They would have counted her as guilty unless it was shown without doubt that she wasn't the culprit; everything they did made it clear, which is ridiculous. You prove GUILT, not innocence. They were irrationally hasty areholes displaying a lack of clear thinking or ability to think "Hmm, maybe this mare who has displayed, by all accounts, a high degree of integrity deserves us to not assume she's guilty." They 'allowed' Rarity to investigate? Well, yes, it was so kind of them not to immediately use limited evidence which is doubtful at best and give her the chance to prove her innocence, instead of attempting to prove guilt. See 6443604 for a good summary of that part of it.
6443604
Companies or organizations are not always even legally required to investigate at all in many occasions. There are numerous instances of companies (such as Walmart) accusing lower employees of wrongdoing and immediately firing them without having any real evidence, just because they believed that they did said wrongdoing. It's part of their power as an employer, and if you're not part of a union, there isn't much you can do about it if it wasn't against your contract. Is it fair? No, but it's something that definitely happens.
Compared to this, Soarin is being pretty forgiving. He never said at any point that Rainbow was being suspended as a Wonderbolts Reserve, only that if she was eventually found out to have been the culprit, she would be expelled. The deadline was only so that Rainbow could attend or fly in the coming event, which as her employer, Soarin has the authority to switch her out for another reserve if he suspects that wrongdoing is plausible, but he's not suspending her.
Y'know, I couldn't imagine why Rainbow would want to hang out with the Wonderbolts after that miserable showing in the Equestria games. Heck, I don't even know why Soarin would want to stick around after they tried to kick him to the curb. This story is really the only appropriate response Rainbow should have, doubly so since they clearly have little to no understanding of the concept of "loyalty". It has to go both ways for it to have any meaning.
6444181
People should actually listen to what is said in the show rather than jump on the "omg mai rainbow waifu".
Direct quote from Soarin' starting at 8:49
"Rainbow Dash, if you can prove that somepony else is behind Spitfire's disappearance before that start of the show then you can still fly with us. [...] I have to warn you, if you sent that letter the bylaws are clear, I'd have no choice but to ban you from the Wonderbolts forever."
I believe this is a plausible reaction Rainbow could have taken, and my justifications were already commented below. Good job on such a show quality type alternate ending.
6444397 There's a fine difference between "ermagerd mah waifu!" (which is silly, because Tali'Zorah is my waifu,) and expecting such a thing as "self-respect" to exist. Because both those incidents? Not the kind of things I would accept from either friends or employers.
Because it's deplorable. And I can prove it:
Let's say I'm a new waiter at a nice restaurant. The tips are ridiculous, and the job is even better because I've gotten to know a few of my coworkers enough to maybe consider them friends, acquaintances at least. And it just so happens that I'm awesome at waiter-ing: everyone wants to throw their money at me. If, on one particularly good night all the tips collected that night go missing mysteriously, I would not be happy to have to prove my innocence simply because I don't have seniority. (Which is pretty much the only reason I can think of why the Wonderbolts wouldn't look into something with such serious repercussions personally.) I would think less of both my coworkers for allowing that shit to fly and my job for putting me in that position. Even if I did exonerate myself, I wouldn't be happy with either parties afterwards. And if their immediate reaction wasn't to come down like a ton of bricks on the person responsible? I would be very rightly pissed off.
And that's just that single situation. As I said right there in the first sentence:
That was where my credulity took a hit: when the captain of the team tried to back-stab an under-performing member and Rainbow is apparently supposed to be cool with it because "Wonderbolts!". Maybe they learned a valuable lesson that day, but it still happened.
What is the deal with you people? Rainbow Dash was a suspect and was given a fair chance to prove her innocence. Her deeds in the past? Who cares? You know who else would have good deeds in the past? Wind Rider.
And, remember, people, Rainbow is the only pony there currently that had legitimate reason to get rid of Spitfire. Only she benefits.
As for how the Wonderbolts have been portrayed? Do I need to remind people about Rainbow Braggart Dash who was slow to the rescue in Mare-Do-Well? Or how about mess up the Weather Factory Dash? How about I'll be underhanded and use my wings and other dirty tricks for Running Leaves Dash?
How about the fact that when Spitfire learned about how Lightning Dust was - Rainbow hurting her wing and Lightning knocking everyone back happened where Spitfire was out of line of sight - she immediately got rid of her? That she and Fleetfoot WERE called out for Rainbow Falls. How about Spitfire - the captain - doing it again to Wind Rider when she returned, kicking out a living legend?
6445398 Tell me, if someone was murdered and there were three people at the scene, who seems to be the most likely culprit: The guy who has been known to get into dangerous fights before AND had a grudge against the victim, or the person who gave him his dinner that night? I don't know if the story is good or not, but character witnesses are important, so yes, her previous actions DO matter.
That is an incredible title, Added to my read-later list.
6444091 the person can sue under wrongful firing. Trust me. I work at a franchise mcdonald's. they check to make sure of theft before firing.
6443950 One Rainbow is already famous as part of the EoH and her integraty has a better record then the Wonderboilts at this point. Heck the only dubious stuff she ever did was in fall weather friends and that's a gray area. THe bolts on the other hand have shown to prefer recklessness. Imagine if Dash wasn't able to save her friends at the acedemy. Then throwing Soarin under the bus to get Dash to fly with them for the games. And now this. without ANY proof they accused Rainbow of being guilty. Just imagine if Rarity didn't find the clues and Rai8nbow was kicked off the team. Then Wind Rider was exposed. Do you think Rainbow would come back just like that? Spitfire better shape them up after this. Heck the simple fact that Wind thought you had to play dirty question what else has he screwed up before getting caught. This is a major scandal and a blow to the bolts rep
You know, after all the crap they've pulled, I'd be surprised if ANYONE actually respected the Wonderbolt. The only way I would see that is if all that was covered up for the sake of saving face, which is even worse on a personal level. For a land that's supposed to represent harmony and friendship, the Wonderbolts are awful at both.
This is a satisfying read, but it isn't long or in depth enough.
What we really need is a story that covers all the basis: this story here (after being fixed up a bit) would be the prologue to a longer story, one more in depth and exploration of the source topic. The following chapters could cover Rainbow Dash dealing with her life after her decision, Wind Rider dealing with the REAL consequences of his actions, the Wonderbolts reflecting on where it all went wrong for their team, and the journey to make things right with all of them. Whether or not Rainbow does join them in the end of the story would be up to the author, along with the fan service idea of Soarin shipped with RD and trying to mend their broken bond.
Someone make a bigger story out of this, and fast.
6446344
Only if they're a part of a company where firing you for zero reason is against contract. A lot of places and jobs have it as part of their standard contract that they can fire you at any time and for any reason, and a wrongful dismissal charge has no legal basis there. I don't know about McDonalds' standard contract, but department stores often have that clause in there for rank and file workers, for example.
6446355
Rainbow Dash has done questionable things in other episodes too, including theft (Read it and Weep), risking others' lives for autographs and getting jealous at people who "steal" her fame (Mysterious Mare Do Well), and ECOLOGICAL TERRORISM (Tanks for the Memories). She does not have some kind of flawless record, the second is just the kind of past actions that would make this plausible, and the third is worse than anything the Wonderbolts have ever done.
Again, it was NEVER said that they were going to throw Rainbow off the team if Rarity hadn't investigated. Soarin never said that, none of the other Wonderbolts ever said that, and no one else said that. The only penalty if Rarity hadn't helped out in time would be Rainbow not being able to attend or perform at that specific event.
6446736 Yes Rainbow isn't perfect but never malicious.
Also the fact that they were banning her from performing with ABSOLUTELY no proof at all. Just a thought she might have done with again no proof.
6446604 I agree. there can be much more to this.