Captain Spitfire, a name that would go down in the history books of Equestria as one of the Wonderbolts' greatest leaders.
But the years have not been especially kind to her. It's been some time since she took up the title as Captain, and that age is beginning to show. For as much as she wants everything to stay the same, she knows it's not possible. Her time has passed, and another's has come to take up her mantle.
She knows exactly who to pick though, and she rests assured in the knowledge her successor will be just as great, if not greater, than her.
Chapters (1)
I liked it. I really liked Spitfire when we first saw her in the show, I like her design and her voice, but I never cared for the direction they took her in the show. I hated what she did to Soarin in that one episode, and I didn't like her whole drill sergeant shtick in the Wonderbolts Academy either. I do enjoy the Wonderbolts being some sort of paramilitary or at least military-themed organization, I just didn't like the way they did it in the show. It felt too obvious, too on the nose maybe, to me. And I guess that carried over to Spitfire for me, with her very human-looking clothes (I really dislike human looking clothes on ponies for the most part) and her shades. The way you wrote her feels perfectly natural and in-character for her in the show, however, in the likeable parts.
As I'm typing this I don't know why I'm focusing so much on Spitfire when I guess the fic is about Rainbow Dash. (EDIT: Having scrolled back to the top of the page and seeing the title, thumbnail and description, it was very much presented as a Spitfire fic, heh. Even if it's from Rainbow's perspective.) I like Dash here. I like that she's grown up and feels genuinely better they're cheering for the team rather than her, and I like it that she's still her old proud self enough to be like, "guys, guys, it's not just about me, it's also about the team" when "guys, guys, it's about the team" would've sufficed.
One criticism I have, though, is this bit, near the end:
This is fine, but I think it's a bit of a missed opportunity. I don't know if this is referencing something in the show, since there's a bunch of episodes I've still got to watch, but I feel like it would've been a good addition to include that memory (or, if it was a reference to the episode, maybe one or two short lines about it, for the benefit of those that haven't seen it or don't remember it).