How she lead them all

How she lead them all
Chapter 1
By MixA4

“So AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash whispered to herself, as she trotted down the halls of the Wonderbolts Academy. The walls around her were stocked full of Wonderbolts memorabilia. Medals, plaques, awards were hung anywhere they could fit. The carpet under her hooves held a beautiful royal blue tone with the Wonderbolts insignia spread around in a pattern. Rainbow Dash passed a vacant office and squealed to herself as she imagined her name in bolt letters painted over the window.

Rainbow Dash: Wonderbolt Officer First Class

Her anticipation was almost too much for her to bear. She walked a little faster through the halls, trying to find Spitfire's office midst the many other offices. By the time she had found the office, she was almost in a full gallop, a grin tearing across her face.
She giggled with anticipation as she tapped a hoof against the door. Spitfire's voice rang out from inside.

“Come in.” She sounded almost disinterested.

“Smile a bit, you're about to have the fastest pony in Equestria flying with the Wonderbolts!” Rainbow Dash thought, opening the door. Spitfire's office was rather quaint, but like the rest of the academy, there was no shortage of awards. Behind Spitfires' desk, several different awards hung from the wall, each ranging from fastest flight times to Wonderbolts acrobatics. Trophies and medals crowded a glass display case on one side of the room, and on another were numerous academy pictures featuring Spitfire with what Dash assumed were Wingponies. Spitfire was at her desk, decked out in her officer's uniform, shades down over her fiery eyes. Her gaze didn't leave the paperwork.

“Dash, take a seat.” She motioned to one of two chairs in front of her desk. Dash almost couldn't contain her energy as she propped herself in one of the chairs. Although the lettering was small, Rainbow Dash could see her name printed multiple times on the paper Spitfire was reading.

“Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire began. Her tone hadn't changed. “The famous Rainbow Dash. You saved my life in Cloudsdale.” She looked up from the paper, her expression was rather stern. Rainbow Dash chuckled to herself.

“Yes, it's true!” She said proudly.

“Then you went ahead and pulled off the Sonic Rainboom, breaking some of Equestria's fastest speed records as well as putting on a beautiful light show for all to see.” Spitfire continued, her tone unchanging.

“It was pretty awesome, wasn't it?” Rainbow Dash asked, grinning wider.

“Then, you come and join the Wonderbolts academy. And, despite a very messy start, you went ahead to take the position of Lead Pony, and placed head of your class, setting new records for the Wonderbolts, all while still in the Academy.”

“Yes, it's all true! I am that awesome!”

Spitfire didn't say anything, her face was solid.

“Dash, you're a prime Candidate for the Wonderbolts. You have the speed, the talent, the drive, you have more than some of our senior officers have. We're ready to sign you up for the Wonderbolts and even move you into an officer's position early on, you'd just need to go through another academy for the Officer's Corps and you're ready.” Excitement coursed through Rainbow's blood vessels. Her whole life, everything she had worked for lead up to this moment! She was going to be a Wonderbolt!

Then, very subtly, Spitfire's face dropped. She sighed.

“Dash,” Spitfire began. “The Wonderbolts have declined your application.”
In a split second, the overloading amount of happiness surging through Rainbow Dash's system dried up.

“Wh-what?” Rainbow Dash said. She could not believe what she just heard. “Declined?”

Spitfire picked up the paper in front of her.
“Two years ago, you had a stunt accident which broke your right wing.”

“Yes, it was a minor fracture! It was healed in a week!” Feelings of dread began to fill Rainbow Dash, a pit formed in her stomach.

“This is the hard part of being an officer, Dash. Because of that fracture, the Wonderbolts do not want to risk signing you on, only to have you get injured again. You and I both know that the bones in a pegasus's wings are very malleable, and when they break once, they're likely to break again. The Wonderbolts declined your application.”

“No,” Dash was in denial. No, no this can't be! Isn't there a way around it? Can't you do something?”

“I tried, Dash. I submitted a request for a waiver three times. They all came back rejected.”

The dread quickly turned into hopelessness and depression. Tears began to fill her eyes.
“Can you try again?” Tears began to well up in Dash's eyes. “Please?”

“I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash. There's a strict policy against wing injuries, the Wonderbolts can't allow you to join. You will never be a Wonderbolt.”

You will never be a Wonderbolt

Those words crushed Rainbow Dash. All her dreams of flying alongside her childhood heroes felt shattered, destroyed. Slowly, Rainbow Dash began to break down as it all started to sink in. Emotions began to fill and overwhelm her.

“Keep it together, Dash.” She thought, but it was swiftly becoming too hard to hold back. Her eyes brimmed with tears, her throat stiffened, her nose became plugged up. She lowered her head to hide her face behind her bangs, but it was futile. One tear broke through, sliding down her muzzle and falling to the royal blue carpet.
Never.
Another tear broke through.
Be.
More tears followed suit, her breathing became labored as she tried harder to hold it together.
A.
She let out a choke, still trying to hold back the wave of emotions.
Wonderbolt.
It was too much, she couldn't hold it back any longer. Dash buried her face into her hooves and started sobbing uncontrollably as she realized her dream would never come to be.

“Dash, I'm so sorry.” Spitfire placed a hoof on her shoulder, her voice became empathetic, almost sad. “I know how bad you wanted to be a Wonderbolt. I had never seen a more willing face in all my years. I fought with the recruitment office tooth and nail, Dash, I really did.”
Rainbow Dash cried even harder, the pit in her stomach almost felt like an actual wound. Spitfire let out another sigh. She got up from her desk and went to the door.

“I'll leave you here Dash. Take as long as you need, I know it hurts worse than any broken wing could have.” She said.

Rainbow Dash sobbed without end. Her life felt like it was at it's end, everything she had dreamt of, everything she had every wanted in her life, gone. All because of a simple injury.

“Why?” She cried out. “This.... THIS ISN'T FAIR!”