The Strength of a Leader
A leader is strong.
A leader knows not to let their followers see them sweat or show fear. By being rigid, determined, and indomitable in the face of wild dangers or certain death. By exhibiting these traits, the leader becomes more than just alive. They become an icon.
They become a legend.
Spitfire sat in the back of the dark, quiet bar, her glass filled with an untouched burning cinnamon whiskey. Her attention wasn't directed at any of the other patrons of the bar, as she ensured that nopony recognized her in the hidden corner of the room. She had already inspected them thoroughly. She could not trust herself to be strong tonight. She stared at her reflection in the liquid, her mind completely devoid of thought. There wasn't much to think about. The facts were the facts. If she began to think about it, the emotions would rise to the surface. She would be weak. Her Wonderbolts couldn't see that. She would be remembered as a strong leader. As would her replacement.
She just wanted to get this over with already, just like the operation. The month of recovery in the hospital had passed slowly and many of her friends had come to visit. Not a single pony had chosen to address the elephant in the room, and that was fine by Spitfire. It had made the conversations easier. It avoided a topic where there was nothing to say. Nothing to think about. Nothing to feel about. It had helped her look strong. It had made her seem like she came to terms with what happened.
She didn’t want them to make it real, even if their eyes had focused intently on the side of her body that was missing something. She still felt it there in the form of little pricks and tingles that were tricks of her mind. The ghost of her wing had still persisted and she wasn’t ready for it to leave just yet, like a filly outgrowing her imaginary friend. For now, she just wanted to live like nothing had changed at all.
Her gaze moved to the door as she noticed Soarin enter the bar. He laughed and pointed at several of the patrons, as if he had visited the bar on many occasions. She shook her head. Soarin always had a knack for getting on her nerves. Whether it was his lack of punctuality, his crass attitude, his constant appetite, or naive optimism, Soarin was a sort of yin to Spitfire's yang.
Tonight, she would not find herself annoyed that he was 20 minutes late. She was just trying to stay completely neutral. She didn’t want to notice the right side of her body was cold.
"Heya, Spitfire," Soarin said, approaching the table. "What's with all the dramatics? The only time I ever see you at a bar is to celebrate."
"What? I can't go to a bar every now and then?" she snapped back. "Anyway, I didn't call you here to hear your sass. We have business to attend to."
Soarin nodded and took the seat facing her.
"Fine, fine. Yeesh. Touchy today I see. What's up?" he said, dropping the casual act.
Spitfire opened her mouth, then found herself unable to look Soarin in the eyes. He looked at her with concern and rapt attention, but her words were caught in her throat. Her eyes moved down to to the glass of liquor in front of her.
There's nothing to think. Nothing to feel. Nothing to it, but to say it.
"I'm resigning as Wonderbolt captain," Spitfire says, more to the drink in front of her than to Soarin. "You'll be acting captain now."
Silence filled the space in-between the two Wonderbolts. Spitfire picked up her glass of whiskey and downed it in one gulp. It burned her way down her throat, cleansing her palate of the poisonous words that cut her mouth on the way out.
"Say something," she said in a low tone, almost as if she were growling.
"I.. uh, sorry," he said, sitting back in his chair. "It's just... It's a shock for me. Why? Can’t you just-"
"Do you get it or not?" she barked.
Soarin reached a hoof across the table, but Spitfire only stared at him.
"You know everything you'll have to do as captain, right?" she asked.
"Well, yeah. I mean, of course. But, are you okay?" he replied.
"I'm fine," she said. "Now, you can probably get Dash to help out a bit more. I think she'd be a great Captain if anything happens to you. Train her hard and be ruthless. She needs a bit of a kick in the rear sometimes. And make sure everyone wears the safety equipment during practices too. We can't afford another bolt to leave. As much as I like this batch of reserves, I doubt many would fill your shoes."
Soarin watched his friend oddly, as if he was seeing a ghost of somepony he once knew.
"You might need to round on Fleetfoot. She hates the equipment, but I don't think there's much room for that option now. You'll need to be hard on them, Soarin. You'll need to be strong for them. They need a leader, and a leader can't crumble under pressure, got it?"
Spitfire's eyes dug into Soarin and he remained quiet.
"Got it?" she repeated herself.
"I think I understand," said Soarin.
"Good," she said, her eyes moving back down to her drink. "Then, in that case, you're dismissed. I'm going to collect my things from my office and locker on Monday and then it's yours."
Spitfire remained quiet, but he didn't budge an inch.
"Spitfire, you know I'm around if you ever need to talk, right?" Soarin asked.
Spitfire didn't say a word and Soarin retracted his outstretched hoof.
"Alright," he said, failing to hide the pain in his voice. "That's fine."
He rose to his hooves and began to walk away from the booth. Spitfire's eyes rose to where her friend sat, then to the door.
"Soarin?" Spitfire said, her voice beginning to betray her.
She closed her eyes, recomposing herself.
'Don't think about it,' she thought to herself. 'It's just business. You're a leader. Act like one.'
"Yeah?" Soarin said, his voice gentle and tender.
"Not a word to anypony else. I want this to be quick and quiet," Spitfire said.
Soarin took a step forward, but Spitfire looked away to her drink again. He stopped, frozen for a moment, before answering.
"Fine," he said, before turning and exiting the bar.
Spitfire sat in her office, one stuffed box of belongings by the door. She was somewhat surprised by how easy it was to strip the office of her existence. Now it was just as bare as the day that it was given to her by the last Wonderbolt captain, and she would shortly pass the keys to Soarin.
The last thing to pack was directly in front of her, sitting on the desk. A photo from one of the most recent flight shows. Rainbow Dash, Fleetfoot, Soarin and the rest of the gang, all lined up, covered with sweat, and laughing heartily from a job well done. She remembered she framed it because she thought her hair didn't look terrible after a show for once. Now she stared at it blankly, trying not to think about why it was so hard to remove it from her desk.
Her mind was blank as she rose from her seat, and mechanically grabbed the photo. Trotting to her box of belongings, she eased the photo inside. And now, she was allowed to leave. The last thing to do was to leave the facility. Then she would be allowed to think. She could think about why her sides were colder than they used to be. She could think about what her new career options were. She could think about never being able to--
Spitfire shook her head and took the box onto her back. She splayed her wing to gather her balance, but fell instantly. Her new right stump did nothing to help give the mare balance. She grunted under her breath, anger rising in her chest. Each and every breath she took burned with internal anguish as she rose to her hooves again. She returned the belongings to her box, that would be hidden in the attic until a day that she could face these without having to be strong. She took a deep breath, and released the anger like a dragon puffing soot from its mouth.
She slumped the box back onto her back, then pushed out of the office. Standing outside were Rainbow Dash, Soarin, and Fleetfoot, fully dressed in uniform. Spitfire shut the office door behind her.
"So," began Soarin. "This is it?"
Spitfire hummed to herself, then looked to her two other teammates.
"You know, we'd be happy to have you on as a personal trainer," said Fleetfoot. "Just because you can't fly anymore doesn't-"
"Right now I need some time to gather my bearings," interrupted Spitfire. "I'll see my Mom. Visit family, and try to find some new normal. After that, who knows. I'll give you guys a call."
The three Wonderbolts and the half-pegasus stood in silence. Spitfire reached into the box on her back and pulled out a small ring of keys with her mouth. She tossed them to Soarin. He caught them with a hoof.
"The chair squeaks," she said. "If you lean too far back, it will fall. Don't crack your head open."
Soarin nodded, returning her gaze to Spitfire. Rainbow stepped forward, opening her mouth to say something, but closed it. Spitfire eyed Rainbow Dash curiously. Spitfire couldn't help but feel pride for the Element of Harmony in front of her. She’d pushed and guided her since day one. She respected the mare immensely, but Spitfire did her best to never show it. If Rainbow knew she had a soft spot for her, then it could show preferential treatment. This was her last day as a leader. She needed to stay strong.
"Yeah, Rookie?" Spitfire said. "Spit it out already. I got a balloon outside with my name on it."
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, but closed it again.
“Permission to speak freely, Captain?” Dash asked.
“Of course, Rookie,” she replied.
Rainbow opened her mouth, but her words were still stuck in her throat. She closed her eyes, took two long steps forward and wrapped Spitfire in her hooves. Spitfire's eyes opened wide in shock. She looked down at the mare clinging to her tightly, not knowing how to react.
"I wouldn't be half the flier I am today if it wasn't for you, Ma'am," Dash said. "Thank you. For everything."
Spitfire felt a dampness against her neck were Rainbow buried her head. She felt a quivering in her chest. She closed her eyes, trying to regain control of herself.
"Now none of that, rookie," Spitfire said. "You did it all yourself. I just showed you that it was in you."
But Rainbow didn't let go as Spitfire wanted. Spitfire felt herself losing control of her stability. She took a deep breath, and knew that she wouldn't be able to get out of this situation so easily. She unfurled her only wing and rested it against Rainbow's back, pulling her close. Spitfire felt the tears running down her neck, but did not say a word. She chose not to think about them or what they meant.
"You know I'm always here if you need me, Dash," Spitfire whispered.
The Element of Harmony nodded, her grip easing. Dash reached a hoof up and wiped her eyes.
"Yes," she said. "I know."
Spitfire smiled and shook her head.
"Getting easy on me already, Rainbow Crash?" Spitfire said, her voice losing its gentle edge. "I'm Captain until I leave this cloud. Got that?"
The mare fell in line with Soarin and Fleetfoot.
"Ma'am, with all due respect, you're wrong," Fleetfoot said.
Spitfire raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?" she said.
"You'll always be our captain, Ma'am," Soarin said.
With one unified and singular motion, Soarin, Fleetfoot, and Rainbow Dash raised their hooves to their foreheads in salute. Spitfire smiled, chuckling to herself.
"At ease, you three. I was only kidding."
But the pegasi before her did not move. They stood at attention, focused on honoring their leader. Spitfire's chest swelled as a bittersweet feeling built up in her stomach. She couldn't help but feel sick as she took a step away from them. She swallowed hard before speaking.
"Well, you know where to reach me," Spitfire said. "I hate goodbyes, so. I'll see ya around."
The salute did not waver and it did not falter as she made her way down the hallway towards the exit of the administration building. She took a right down the hallway, then stopped in her tracks.
Lining the hall in front of her, was every Wonderbolt in the squad. They were in uniform and holding the same salute that her friends had held in honor of her. She put one hoof in front of the other, moving down the hall in silence.
Her gaze moved to each of them, each at attention and unwavering. She recognized each one of their faces and names. She remembered the hours she had helped train each one of them along their journey to earn the uniform. It only served to further the feeling that built in her stomach. Her eyes felt itchy and she couldn't help but blink and look away.
She wanted to tell them to stand at ease. To stop making such a big deal out of this. She just wanted to go home. These were her last few moments as a leader to them, and she wanted to stay strong. She wanted to still be immortal to them. As strong or as rigid as the Princesses that ruled Equestria.
"Thank you, Ma'am," said Misty Fly as she passed.
Spitfire nodded, continuing past the team.
"Thank you, Ma'am," said Wave Chill.
Spitfire closed her eyes, trying to gulp down the tremor in her throat.
"Of course," she said in a whisper, her voice cracking.
"Thank you, Ma'am," said Silver Lining.
Spitfire increased her pace down the hall towards the exit. She felt herself breaking down. She felt her willpower fading. She hadn't cried once since the news had broken to her. She knew she must stay strong for her team, but this was too much. She could feel herself walking out of the one thing she loved most. The realization of stepping down from her dream job was washing over her and she didn't want the recruits to see. Her muscles ached. The absence of her right wing was now becoming all too real to her.
She realized this wasn't just some bad dream.
Spitfire reached the end of the hall and pushed open the doors to the building and into the bright sun of the morning. She opened her eyes and felt her breath leave her like a blow to the stomach.
Lined outside was everypony she had ever seen in passing on the base. Wonderbolt Recruits. Retired Wonderbolts. Wonderbolt trainers. Each lined the path to the balloon that would carry her home to Cloudsdale. Her eyes traced her way to the Balloon, where her mother stood, waiting for her.
She closed her eyes and moved down the steps. The feeling was building to its breaking point in her stomach. She felt herself tremble with each step. She opened her eyes once more, and immediately locked eyes with Lightning Dust, who stood in civilian clothes, saluting her without a single ounce of resentment on her face. Spitfire bit her lip and looked away, but try as she might, she couldn't move her eyes in a single direction without seeing a pony she knew, saluting her. Her old personal trainer. Her flight partner for when she was a recruit.
Spitfire blinked and felt a dampness leak from one of her eyes, but shook her head. A flash of a camera blinked, and Spitfire couldn't help but wince like it was a blow to the chest. How would she look in the picture, she wondered. Strong? Graceful? Or would she look as empty and defeated as she felt inside.
Her breathing became more shallow as the overwhelming love of each person that respected her, looked up to her, washed over her. She found herself walking faster to the balloon, where her Mom stood patiently for her. Smiling.
The feeling inside reached its tipping point.
She would never fly again, for the rest of her life.
Spitfire stopped, the tide of the war inside her head now turning for the worse. It was hard to stand. She felt herself shake. The ground under her felt as if it would fall away. She closed her eyes, feeling a stream of water stream down her face.
'I can't cry,' she told herself. 'I can't be weak. I can't be a bad leader. I've worked too hard to throw it all away now. Not in front of everypony who cares. Not in front of everypony who helped me get this far.'
But the single fact screamed through her head loud and clear. The single fact she tried not to think until she left the Wonderbolts. She would never fly again.
She paused for only a moment. Barely enough for anypony to notice a shift in her step, before she cleared her throat and raised her head high once more. Spitfire was almost there. She knew it.
Putting one hoof in front of the other, she stopped in front of the balloon and turned around, where her friends stood behind her, still saluting. Rainbow Dash, Fleetfoot, and Soarin, a new Captain’s badge affixed on his uniform, stood at attention, awaiting orders.
Spitfire cleared her throat, and summoned her voice for one final command.
“At ease!” she called out to the crowd and their hooves fell to the ground in unison.
She turned away from them, feeling a tear in her eye. And she stepped onto the balloon without a word to her mother, who climbed in behind her.
The balloon attendant began to prep the gas for their journey, but Spitfire turned to her three friends, mouthing a 'Thank you' to them. Then her eyes moved to the crowd of ponies in front of her. The near-hundred of pegasi who stood, watching her, in honor of her leadership. In respect of her departure of the post.
Spitfire placed her two front hooves on the edge of the basket, and the fire in the balloon came to life. The vessel began to rise into the air, and another stream ran down her left cheek.
In a practiced motion, she raised her hoof and saluted. A smile crept on her face as another stream ran down her right cheek. The crowd cheered for her, louder than any audience for their performances. Louder than any graduating class of recruits. They cheered for her, their leader. Their friend.
She turned away from the crowd and sat down on the floor of the balloon, Spitfire's mother sitting beside her. Now shielded from the crowd below her. Now resigned of her post. Now that Spitfire was beside her mother, staring at the floor of the balloon, she felt the hoof of her mom on her back.
Right where her wing used to be.
The feelings then erupted, and Spitfire wept into her mother's hooves.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- BlndDog · 1.2k words · 32 2 · 926 views
- Thunder_Chaser_ · 5k words · 14 1 · 620 views
- PseudoBob Delightus · 4.9k words · 13 0 · 119 views
- Flutterpriest · 4k words · 269 6 · 5.3k views
- SuicidalAngel · 2.6k words · 135 9 · 7.3k views
- Flutterpriest · 1.4k words · 67 5 · 1.3k views
- advocateofpants · 6.9k words · 25 1 · 2.1k views
- AzuraKeres · 4k words · 44 0 · 979 views
Stats
Page generated in 0.144 seconds
Total duration
1,023 users online
1,775,406 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Ouch, I really felt for poor Spits here... Celestia, this was both heartwarming and heartbreaking.
If only.
encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRQCTRrVTs-2k3dz0MHX26_36x1htCWAAE0wK854OLH7Vk5hiBCwg
I was going to write some drawn out feels post but I'll just wing it.
encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ8prp-lRmjisIVO3gnbiU4OvIVWobiS-zcXJ0y-IgXHTa7WuNrqA
Now this is a quality sadfic.
Sometimes you don't need many words to tell so much
The feels!!!
You just broke my heart!
There isn't anything more too say.
Of course, cybernetic wing prosthetics are pretty much canon now:
pre12.deviantart.net/a05f/th/pre/f/2015/334/c/d/rainbow_dash_is_prepared_for_the_war___by_flutter525-d9imus1.png
So I wouldn't go as far as saying she will never fly again.
Wow poor Spitfire THIS WAS SO SAD BUT WHY DIDNT I EVEN CRY!?!
7421754 That is also in an alternate Equestria where they made war based advancements (what better way to get a pegasus back in the war then replacing what they lost?), just like how our wars gave us advancements in tech that we wouldn't have expected.
7422044
I dunno. We didn't really see any other type of technological advancement in that timeline, plus if Sombra and the Crystal Empire returned at the same time as in the normal continuity (and we have no reason to assume they didn't) they couldn't have been at war for more than a year or so.
Besides, this can't possibly be the first time a pegasus lost a wing, and ponies have both reality-defying magic and a scientific approach to using it. If anything, Cyborg!Rainbow's robot wing seems a bit crude - it wouldn't be strange at all if they had a way to straight up make a new wing. So, maybe she actually had that wing because they didn't have the time and resources to get her better treatment. Anyway, magical prosthetics and/or regeneration magic should be a field somepony would have looked into at some point.
This is really why I have a hard time appreciating sadfics like this one. Don't get me wrong, it's a good story, but... A lot of the time the feels hinge on tragedies that creatures this advanced should realistically be able to deal with. Pony magic can do stuff like transforming living beings into virtually anything, conjure matter out of nowhere, travel through time and reverse entropy, yet stories like this force us to assume they don't have medical spells for fixing fairly mundane injuries. It makes it seem kinda artificial to me, is all.
Clicking the like button multiple time does nothing!
Sad. Feels a bit empty without hearing about whatever happened to her, sort of an emotional disconnect there if you will. Even the story description suggests that we will hear about some of it, not just meet her in the bar, followed by her immediate transfer of position and a sad departure.
7422185
While I sort of agree with you that it seems odd merely to amputate and move on in a world with magic, I would point out that we don't yet have a solution to replacing arms and legs. This despite knowing quite a bit about how they work and being able, sometimes, to reattach severed limbs under a fairly constrained set of conditions; not to mention that we have some ideas on how to grow artificial tissue. Also, while the show does show some crazy magic, it's quite possible that those things are not commonly possible and/or not well understood. In other words, some spells exist which seem to work, but they're hard to recreate. So, maybe regeneration is possible, but very few unicorns could do it and it'd need to be dealt with quickly before the wound injury was too much worse. If we equate worlds, then infection and gangrene are still a concern and nerve damage could be a problem among other things. Aside from alicorns, if straight up healing magic was easy and doable it would be unrealistic. None of this deals with where the energy comes from to do things and how you know what to do. A simplistic regeneration spell that simply knows by itself how to fix a complex problem doesn't make any sense and would probably require a lot of energy. Also, you wouldn't have the same muscle mass post regeneration.
TL;DR You'd need a lot of world-building to make such a fix more than a cheap resolution (deus ex machina) to such a plot point as losing or severely injuring a wing.
7422185 The thing is all the examples you used (like the time travel) are fairly advanced spells that are used by rather specific unicorns.
And looking medically at how an injury that would require amputation would be, the magic involved would have to have the ability to create all the parts of said piece of the body, not just fix them.
Also, there are canon examples of ponies with disabilities that should've been impossible based on what you said (like the one with wheels on his hind legs). If they can't fix something like that (which considering his legs are still there it is probably just nerve damage) then how would they be able to recreate and attach something as complex as a Pegasus's wing? Another example os when Raibow Dash gets hurt, instead of using magic to instantly repair the (assumption here, haven't seen the episode in awhile) broken bones, they go through the longer process of natural reparation.
And even if Spitfire was able to get a prosthetic, it would need the same pinpoint accuracy of her now removed wing, which (if we use my above example of the makeshift wheelchair) doesn't seem canonically possible.
Mind you this is just my look at it and theres really no point bumping head canons together, without an inshow example outside of an alternate timeline we really don't have enough information to create a concise answer, I wrote this out for fun more so then less, thank you for responding!
You made me tear up damnit...
What's this watery feeling in my eyes which I haven't felt in a long time?
A sad, sad day... but wonderfully written. Good job.
The feels are strong with this one. An excellent job.
This was good
I've never given much thought to Spitfire. She seems like your generic hard-ass sergeant who likes busting the balls of her subordinates only because it gets her off. Her few appearances on the show has done little to change my opinion on her.
But I can't deny the emotional impact of this story. The amount of respect she's earned from her fellows, how they call came together to wish her, their Captain, a final farewell was a fitting end to a distinguished career. The hardest part was watching Spitfire try to keep it all together, knowing she'll never fly with them again. You've made me feel for her, something I thought I'd never do.
Emotionally perfect. What a story, just plain wonderful.
Bravo, good author, bravo.
Dem feels. Nice job author, nice job.
7422260
I know, they really need to fix that...
awwwww that's so depressing and beautiful
Ahhhhhh! The feeeeels! They burn!
Fantastic fic.
The feels here...
I would be lieing if I said I didn't tear up while reading this.
Whoa. Good show, Priest, good show.
So touching
Full review here, but in brief: solidly written and it's good to see the genuine respect from Spitfire, but I felt it was a bit too predictable and lacking a real "whoa!" moment. I was expecting the huge 'Bolt crowd, and Spitfire's final tears, from quite early on.
9207447
I'm sorry to hear that you weren't wow'ed by the fic. I could happily suggest other stories of mine that were written for a more 'artistic' approach that might be more in line with your tastes.
That said, thank you for the read.
9208389
By all means! I'm always open to suggestions and recommendations.
9208439
I personally think you'd be interested in something more along the lines of Hopeless Romantic or Feathers
Permission to Land was a contest piece that was written with a very specific audience in mind that I had tailored to. It was a gamble that didn't pay off. I openly acknowledge the piece has problems. It was written with such intent to capture and hit a target audience that it didn't really enrapture anyone else. Those other two are different stories that I'll let you judge for yourself, if you're interested.
9208453
And only now do I discover that Feathers is already on my RiL list! (Probably because it's in the RCL, as that's a fairly reliable source of stories I enjoy.) Going to add Hopeless Romantic as well, though, as its sheer brevity means I can fit in a read when I only have a few minutes spare. Thanks for the recommendations!
9208529
Of course. I hope you enjoy them.