A New Era
From above, the sky shone with a brilliant clarity amplified by the few clouds dotting its horizon, backlit by the sun which hung high in its blue midst. It was not, however, still, nor was it quiet. Held today was a special Wonderbolts anniversary which came around only once every decade. With viewers gathered from all corners of Equestria and beyond, the stadium was as packed with bodies as it was with their raccous fanfare.
A loud cheer rose from the crowd as the team dipped into a v-formation. One mare led at the front, trailing a long streak of rainbow behind her while the others left clouds of smoky blue in their wake. Her wings were spread wide before she angled downwards, falling into a loop. Her feathers ruffled against the wind, glistening with an iridescent quality that made them look as much a part of the sky as the great blue itself.
Rather than swooping down as might have been traditional though, she used the momentum to sned herself rocketing upwards. The pegasi behind her followed, and the audience sat with baited breath as their eyes were drawn ever skyward until the seven ponies looked like birds up high. Many watching knew what was about to happen, but many more — especially the non-Equestrians and younger ones present — were about to witness the current Wonderbolts' signature spectacle for the first time in their lives.
For a fleeting moment, the air stood still and utterly silent.
Then, with a speed that bordered on the impossible, the head of the group shot back down with her front hooves outstretched. Her prismatic mane was instantly blown back, but with the way she'd taken to styling it after her predecessor, it seemed no worse for wear.
The others on the squad trailed behind in as best form and fashion as they could. None of them had the raw talent that she possessed even in her maturing years, but she'd assured them many times that didn't make them any less a vital and valued member of the team. So, unable to match her in speed, they assisted in making the performance as much of a show-stopper as possible. Each flier paired off with their assigned partner and flew in expertly choreographed units that served to draw the attention as much to their captain's feat as to the team overall.
It wasn't too unlike watching a dance. While one led the charge, the others twisted, twirled, and tangoed with one another in mid-air. It almost reality just how in-sync each member was not only with their partner, but every other pegasus on the whole.
Finally, the moment arrived. Towards the mare at the front, space itself seemed to warp around her, stretching back further and further until at last...
BOOM.
The sound made was like the crack of a god's whip, living up well to the stunt's namesake. What came immediately after was a rapidly expanding wave of shifting colors across the entire spectrum. It seemed to move in slow-motion as much as it did the precise opposite. Those below watched in awe, captivated by its hypnotic hues before erupting into applause.
As the captain's hooves touched ground, she was deafened by the uproarious chanting of a name from all around her.
"Rain-bow Dash! Rain-bow Dash! Rain-bow Dash!"
A weary smile graced itself across the mare's lips. Pushing her flight goggles to her forehead, she looked to her sides as her cohorts swept in behind her.
Were she the same pony she was in her youth, she would have fainted in bliss from taking in the reverent way the packed stadium screamed her name, but things were a little different these days. With a look that communicated everything it needed to, she set her eyes upon a nearby stallion who promptly flew over and gave her a stark red megaphone.
She cleared her throat, and the crowd went quiet.
"Thank you, thank you everybody! I always appreciate a little flag-waving, but today's event isn't just about me! It's about our history. It's about the legacy we'll leave behind. But most importantly, it's about the Wonderbolts! I couldn't have done this without the brave and talented ponies by my side here today. So please, I'd like you all to give them the rounds of applause they deserve!"
The crowd obeyed with barely a second's pause, and the tired expression on Rainbow's face turned more genuine as they called not her name, but the name of her entire team.
Many grateful bows, waves, and signed autographs later, things began to die down. Rainbow Dash hoofed the megaphone back to the stallion who proceeded to deliver closing remarks on the occasion as her constituents began to break off for the locker room.
Just as she was about to do so herself, Rainbow spotted a face making its way from the crowd. It was a familiar one, etched now with the lines of maturity and motherhood, but no matter how much time passed it was a face she'd never forget. Her smile became ever wider as she heard the voice of an old friend and the mare she'd once called captain.
"That was a pretty good performance you did out there if I do say so myself, Captain Dash." Spitfire smirking, smacking a wing against Rainbow's back. "Seriously, I couldn't've done it better myself. Heck, I probably couldn't have done even half as good as you and your team did back in my prime, and you're nearly as old as I was when I retired!"
Rainbow laughed. "Maybe, maybe not. But I'll have you know it was you who trained me into a proper Wonderbolt in the first place! Can't give me all the credit, cap."
To further emphasize her point, the aging Wonderbolt slicked a hoof back across her mane, drawing attention to its wind-swept appearance.
"Heh. Guess I can't argue with that now can I? What's that saying again, somethin' about the best teacher makin' their student better'n them?"
Rainbow could only shrug. "I'm sure Twilight would know."
Spitfire snorted and continued. "Well, all I know's that I picked the right pony for the job. You've made this old coot prouder'n you can imagine. Heard things've been shaking up a little lately too. Something about griffons and the like at the academy now? I should stop by some time and give 'em a proper Spitfire drill sesh like I used to do to you newbies."
Spitfire sighed, chuckling. "Man do I miss yellin' at people." She paused, looking up into the sky with a hoof at her chin. "How long's it been since I made you captain again?"
"Twenty years." Rainbow said.
Spitfire shook her head in disbelief. "Twenty years, sweet Celestia ..."
Rainbow's smile softened. It felt like a lifetime ago that she was given the honor of leading the Wonderbolts. Even to this day, she could still hardly believe it. It had been a mostly normal day otherwise, like any other before it, but it was a day she'd remember in vivid detail until the very end. She never could have imagined what was to come when she'd flown in for practice that morning.
It was a hot summer's day that afternoon. Just hot enough to make every pegasus in the sky shimmer with sweat, but not enough that it posed any danger. Besides, Spitfire had told them, with the show coming up later in the fall, they couldn't spare to waste a day lollygagging about. And so there Rainbow was, panting from exertion in the smothering heat of the July sun just like all her other compatriots.
"Atten-shun!"
Rainbow froze in her tracks as a harsh, scratchy tone pierced the open air. Every flier around followed suit, and in the blink of an eye the busy airspace had become deathly still. From down below, Spitfire sat at her desk with a hoof on the intercom, peering above her sunglasses with satisfaction. Boy did she like yelling at people.
"Rainbow Dash, report to my office A.S.A.P. And get your flank in the shower rooms first this time, yeah? Rest 'a you Bolts, keep practicing!"
Rainbow looked to the left and right of her, watching for reactions that might tip her off to some sort of clue as to the sudden interruption. Typically, the only time Spitfire got on the loudspeakers mid-flight practice was to dispense a healthy dose of discipline on whichever poor soul had attracted her ire that day, but she hadn't the faintest idea of anything she'd done wrong in a while. If anything, for the past year or so, she'd been outperforming the entire team.
Her teammates gave her nothing though. Most simply shrugged their shoulders before diving back into the routine while a few others ooh'ed and snickered like schoolfillies when their peer was called to the principal's office. In any case, her mind was not at all settled.
Then there was Soarin, who Rainbow Dash knew was the closest when it came to Spitfire and her decisions. When her gaze set on his, he gave her a weak, knowing smile in return. She was unable to pull anything from the expression other than a sense of melancholy, and just like that her confusion became worry. Before she could stop him and ask anything further, he'd joined up with the rest of the crew in honing their upcoming routines.
With a growing knot of fear in her belly, she dove down and made her way for the showers. All the while, from washing up to drying off until making her way to Spitfire's office, her mind ran a mile per minute.
What had she done? Was she being punished? What was any of this for?
Even worse, the more she thought on it, the more she realized she'd seen Soarin smile like that only once before. And that was a couple years back when Rapidfire had left the team. That notion sparked a single, terrifying question in her mind.
Was she about to be discharged?
She thought for a moment that this must have been how Twilight felt whenever she used to struggle with her panic attacks. She might have laughed were she not busied enough as it was dealing with her own.
"Come on, Dash. Just breathe. You've been a faithful member of the Wonderbolts for years. She's got no reason to cut you loose."
That was what she tried to tell herself at least, but staring at the closed door to Spitfire's office, she was finding it difficult to buy. Panic had overtaken rationality, and even though she was well aware of that fact it didn't do much good in actually snapping herself out of the spiral.
It took what felt like ages fixating on the littlest details of the polished wood before she mustered up the courage to knock.
"Come in!" A voice called.
Rainbow Dash obeyed and nudged the door open with a wing, making her way in with trepidatious hoofsteps. There, her captain sat at her desk in her usual uniformed attire, shades perched on her snout and blazing orange eyes otherwise focused on paperwork. She signed the sheets stacked in front of her one by one before passing them off to a pile on her right.
'Discharge papers.' Rainbow thought.
"There you are." Spitfire announced, finally lifting her attention to Rainbow. "Took ya dang well long enough. Really oughtta be faster about those showers, huh?"
There was something about the casual nature which Spitfire spoke that put her even more on edge.
"I, uh." Rainbow Dash forced down a lump in her throat before realizing she'd forgotten to salute her superior. With a flustered noise, she snapped to rigidity and brought a cyan-feathered wing to her forehead. "Apologies Captain Spitfire ma'am. It won't happen again."
Spitfire had done this job for long enough that she could spy a nervous wreck from a mile away. With a softening expression, she lowered a hoof in reply. "At ease, soldier."
It didn't do much for the tension that had built inside the other mare's muscles, but she did bring her wing back in against her side. Before she could think of what to say and before Spitfire could continue, she was set off into distressed rambling.
"Captain, I want you to know that whatever it is I've done wrong, I sincerely apologize and I'll do my best to make up for it. I've dedicated more years of my life to this team than I can count since I was a filly, so if I've stepped out of line in any way at all I'll make sure I correct my behavior to my utmost. I know I haven't always been the most disciplined flier but please let me make it up to you-"
"I said at ease." Spitfire repeated. She folded them across her desk in that ever familiar way that reminded Rainbow of a schoolmaster. "I'm not here to correct you and you haven't done anything wrong."
"Then why did you call me over?"
"Because," Spitfire said. She took off her glasses with a sigh, setting them aside as she rubbed at her vision. "We need to talk about you and your future here on this team. Have you taken any notice to how hard I've had you all drilling for this upcoming show?"
"I-" Rainbow swallowed. "Yes ma'am, I have."
"There's a good reason for that." Spitfire leaned in, setting her eyes squarely on Rainbow's own. "This isn't a trick question for the record. I'm not gonna yell at you unless you lie to me, and trust me, I'll know if you lie to me."
Rainbow nodded hesitantly.
"I'm sure you've noticed I've been getting slower these last few years."
"Captain, ma'am, I-" Rainbow started, but she was swiftly cut off with a raised hoof.
"Ah ah ah. Back it up, cadet. What did I say about lying?"
Rainbow moved to speak again, but stopped. She poured over with relentless scrutiny every tiny facet of Spitfire's otherwise neutral expression in an attempt to gauge her commander's angle. When she came up empty-hoofed, she found herself forced to seriously contend with Spitfire's words.
It was true, she told herself. Spitfire wasn't wrong, she had been getting slower. Everyone on the team had noticed it, and all of them had talked about it in private at some point when they'd gotten the chance. At least that was the case but for the exception of Soarin and herself. She could only speculate as to why he never joined in, but for her, she'd simply wanted to outright deny what was so plain to seey.
Lines had started to show on Spitfire's face that weren't there before, and although that did not by necessity mean anything more than aging on the most superficial level, that couldn't be said for her particular case. She was as boisterous and passionate as she had always been, and if anything her shouting only seemed to get louder with time, but she'd started to noticeably lag behind when it came to their actual flight exercise and performances. Rainbow was certain it was something that even the untrained eyes of casual viewers of their shows were aware of by now.
"Well?" Spitfire probed.
"Yes ma'am, I have."
To that, Rainbow received a curt nod. Then, in a move that would have shocked even some of the closest ponies to her in her life, Spitfire took in a deep breath, sighed, and closed her eyes. She kept quiet for several long moments. When it came to Spitfire, any period of true silence longer than a few seconds was unthinkable. Perhaps it was just the mellowing of age that had brought on such a change.
"There's a good reason I've been putting you and the crew through so much lately. I would've joined you out there today myself, but-" She tapped a hoof against the fat stack of papers between them. "That and it's hot as Tartarus out there. In any case, I'm not plannin' on stickin' around here that much longer. Dunno if you've heard it or not yet — probably not, Soarin ain't the gabbin' type — but I'm gettin' hitched in a few months. And with my performance as of late, well..."
Rainbow could only listen on. She knew what Spitfire's next words would be, but she wasn't sure she was ready to hear them out loud yet. Unfortunately for her, that decision had already been made.
"I think it's time for me to retire." It was followed by a heavy and exhaustive exhale, as if it was as difficult for her to say as it was for Rainbow to hear. She continued before Rainbow got the chance to interject. "So, the reason I've been putting so much effort into this routine's 'cause it'll be my last. It's Wonderbolt tradition for the captain to put on a special last show before they leave. 'nother important part of it's introducing the new captain."
Rainbow wasn't really sure what to say to that, but she managed. Rubbing the back of her head, she smiled awkwardly with an unsteady hold that threatened to break at any moment. "That's a lot to take in this suddenly."
"Believe me, I know. Kinda is for me too, and I've had a lot more time to think about it."
She paused.
"Y'know... the only reason I can remember how long I've been on this team at all's 'cause we keep records. Otherwise?" She shrugged. "I could only guess."
To the both of them it seemed like ages since things had been this way. Rainbow Dash knew there existed a time in her life where she hadn't been a Wonderbolt, but it all felt like long enough ago that she'd first been accepted, let alone begun her training at the academy, that she failed to picture what a life might be like without the uniform.
It struck her then that she couldn't even begin to imagine how much stronger that feeling must be for Spitfire.
An anxious silence reigned thereafter, and Rainbow found herself fidgetingly with her wings. She knew this was all building up to something, the changing of the guard was for certain, but she wasn't sure yet what that might be.
"So what about the new captain then?"
"That's actually what all this paperwork's about." Spitfire jabbed at the white sheets. "Lotta junk I have to sign off on first. Bureaucracy, you know how it is. We've still got a few months before the big show so I got plenty 'a time anyways. That's not the important part right now though. The important part is who the next captain's gonna be."
She leaned forward and set her glasses back onto her nose. "Rainbow Dash. You've been on this team for goin' on ten years now, and in this time you've done a lot for us."
A realization was beginning to creep into the edges of Rainbow's awareness, but her conscious mind blocked them out.
"You showed us time and again what it meant to be there for your comrades. Even if you yourself struggled with the choice sometimes, usually 'cause we were the ones makin' bad decisions in the first place, you always pulled through. You showed us firsthoof the true meaning of loyalty. And that's to say nothing of your abilities."
Spitfire leaned back in her chair which creaked in aged protest. A brow quirked over the rim of her shades, and she kept her eyes lock-step with Rainbow's.
"Did you know you're the most talented flier in the Wonderbolts? And I'm not talkin' just this team. I'm talkin' about all of Wonderbolt history. In all of that, we've never seen anyone as skilled, dedicated, and fearless as you."
Rainbow Dash swallowed, waiting for Spitfire to continue. When she didn't, Rainbow answered herself. Her mouth felt as dry as the Badlands. On a subconscious level, she knew where this conversation was heading, but for reasons she couldn't fully define, she refused to let it take root.
"No ma'am, I did not."
"Well you are." Spitfire replied. She tilted her glasses down so that her fiery ambers could bore deep into Rainbow. Then, she took in a breath, and with an unexpected turn, she smiled.
"That, among all the other reasons I gave, is why I'm naming you the new Captain of the Wonderbolts."
In that moment, time stood still. Rainbow's eyes went wide, and her jaw flapped uselessly like a fish as she struggled to find words.
Suddenly, her mind was assaulted with a flood of memories, starting from childhood. The first time she went to see the Wonderbolts with her dad and how the roar of the crowd rose and fell like a tide with the motions of the fliers. The first race she'd ever participated in and how disastrously it had gone. The time she performed the Sonic Rainboom and earned her cutie mark. Helping Fluttershy with the hurricane. The games at Rainbow Falls, the academy acceptance letter, Lightning Dust, joining the Wonderbolts and so many more she could hardly keep track of them.
Faster and faster, they whirled around in her head until they all finally came back to that precise point in time.
Everything she'd done in her life had led up to this, she realized. In spite of herself, in that instant, the fact that she'd played a part in saving the world countless times seemed like the least of her accomplishments. Everything she'd done before paled in comparison.
She tried to take in a breath, but it hitched. Blinking rapidly, she realized she'd started crying. It wasn't much, and she didn't make any sound, but there on her hoof that she'd brought to rub at her vision was an unmistakable wetness of joyous tears.
"It's an honor, Captain Spitfire." Rainbow saluted, her voice coming out with a firmness that shocked her all things considered.. "I hope I can do you proud."
"You already have. I know you'll be a great leader. Given your track record, heh, won't be too surprised if you go down as the best we've ever seen. There is one thing you can do for me though, before you get your butt back out there."
She opened a drawer in her desk and withdrew a single sheet of paper. At the top was the Wonderbolts' insignia emblazoned in shiny gold. Beyond that and the paragraphs stating needless information below sat a line of text that caught Rainbow's attention.
'I, blank, hereby accept my appointment as the next Captain of the Wonderbolts, hereby until either discharge by the Crown, order of Royal Parliament, or personal decision.'
As her eyes roamed across the words, a familiar memory surfaced again, It was first time that she'd seen the Wonderbolts in action and not just heard of their exploits in class or through others. This time though, it wasn't the din of those around her or even the Bolts themselves that came to the forefront, but what it had meant to her back then and what it meant to her now.
She wordlessly took the pen that Spitfire offered into her grasp. Its ballpoint tip hovered less than an inch above the page, waiting to flow across a signature that would make her in a season's time the commander of the Wonderbolts.
She looked up at Spitfire for a second, then back down to the blank line.
Ever since she was a foal, she had only dreamt of being a Wonderbolt. When it finally had happened, it hadn't especially stunned her given her talents and wherewithal, but that hadn't made it any less exciting. But this was different. Even in her wildest fantasies, she'd never pictured herself here, being appointed as the Captain of the Wonderbolts.
A broad, beaming smile spread over her lips, and she signed her name without a second thought.