Better Off Without

"Rainbow!"

The call came down from the sky, and Rainbow Dash, as expected, looked up. There, flying in formation with her comrades, was Spitfire, the venerated leader of the Wonderbolts. Naturally, Rainbow was happy to see her friend, as was the young Scootaloo, who was smiling widely as she stood beside her icon. The Wonderbolt broke from the rest of the fliers, heading straight down for the streets of Ponyville, right for Rainbow. With expected grace and precision, she landed, removing her goggles and walking up to the younger mare with a smile.

"Good to see you, Dash."

Rainbow nodded.

"You too."

Spitfire looked around the place for a few moments before speaking up again.

"Got some news for ya. We need an extra flier in the upcoming show, and guess who's name in on the list?"

A sly smile crept onto the mare's face as she said that, and Rainbow, for her part, seemed rather shocked and taken aback by this. As for Scootaloo, she looked up to both of her elders before adding her own voice to things.

"But...Rainbow's just a reserve."

Spitfire's smile remained as she shook her head to that.

"Not anymore, kid."

The implication here was clear, as indeed was the massive grin that Scootaloo now wore. She was doing pretty much what one would expect a youth such as her to do. Jumping about, giggling happily, even performing a flip or two, all to Spitfire's amusement of course. As for Rainbow, she stood there, completely motionless, with a blank expression upon her face. While Spitfire chuckled at this at first, her demeanour changed to a slightly more serious one as it continued.

"Um...you can say something if you like."

Realising she'd been simply gawking this whole time, Rainbow shook her head frantically, getting herself out of that trance-like state. But, when she came to, her face was not one of joy or excitement, as Scootaloo's was, but rather, thoughtfulness. A thoughtfulness that, frankly, most wouldn't have expected of her. But, thankfully, it didn't last, as she finally broke the silence between them. However, when she spoke, it was not what Spitfire had been expecting.

"Yeah, um...pass."

The silence returned, and this time, it was so noticeable that not even a pin-drop could be heard. Spitfire stared at her young comrade with confusion and disbelief, as did Scootaloo, before, at last, the former spoke.

"Wha...what do you mean pass?"

Raising a hoof, Rainbow scratched the back of her head.

"Well...no offense, Spitfire, but...I've kinda been doing some thinking about all this and...well...I don't think the Wonderbolts are for me."

To say Spitfire looked surprised would have been an understatement, as she stood there with her mouth gaping open for almost a full minute, before, like Rainbow, shaking herself out of it.

"But...but...where did this come from? All your life, you've dreamed of being one of us! All the times we've spoken, you never stopped going on about it!"

Rainbow nodded.

"You're right. I dreamed of it, and yeah, I did go on and on about it. But you know what? A lot has happened to me since those early days. I've gone through a lot, I've seen a lot, and..."

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"...I've also learned a lot more about you guys."

Here, Spitfire frowned in response.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Rainbow sighed.

"Look...I think of you as my friend, so I don't want you to be offended, but..."

Steeling herself, the young mare finally got her words out.

"...I just don't think the Wonderbolts are all that great."

Spitfire looked as if she'd just been slapped in the face, and was, naturally, rather irritated at such words.

"Oh yeah? Give me one good reason why you'd think that, newbie."

Frowning at the name-calling, Rainbow complied.

"I'll give you more than one! Firstly, and this should come as no surprise...you guys kinda suck as a military group."

Turning, Rainbow gestured to the rest of the town around her.

"Whenever trouble shows up, where were you, and what were you doing? Nothing!"

Spitfire stepped forward, pointing her hoof in an accusing manner.

"Hey! What about that dragon friend of yours? We turned up for that, didn't we?"

Rainbow looked to her and nodded.

"Yeah...and what happened then? You got beaten in less than a minute. Got yourselves stuck in a water tower, then acted like it was all part-of-the-plan when you got out."

Spitfire looked frustrated, but, for the moment, looked away, saying nothing. This gave Rainbow an opportunity to continue.

"Yeah, sometimes there's stuff you couldn't have solved, like Tirek and the like. But there's other stuff too that you didn't even try to stop! Dragons smoking up the sky? Diamond Dogs capturing civilians? Cerberus roaming Ponyville? You guys did nothing about any of it!"

Turning briefly, Rainbow looked away from her.

"In fact, remember that reservoir incident? When things looked bad, and it seemed as if we couldn't get the water to Cloudsdale, did you, the great Wonderbolt, help out? No, you just stood there watching! I don't care if you thought looking at a stop-watch was more important, because frankly, it wasn't!"

Spitfire looked to her again, continuing her frown.

"Hey! Equestria's a big place! You can't blame us if so much chaos happens to this one town!"

Rainbow shrugged her shoulders.

"Sure, that's fair. But, there's other stuff you need to remember. Like how you treat your own people."

Here, Spitfire looked damn-near insulted.

"Excuse me?"

Rainbow raised a hoof and pointed it straight at the Wonderbolt.

"Do I need to remind you about Lightning Dust?"

Spitfire's eyes narrowed further.

"Hey! We sorted that out, remember? We kicked her out and realised we were wrong. I admitted to it right in front of my own staff!"

Rainbow nodded.

"Yes, you did...after I'd told you off about it. Before that, the only thing you felt about her was how impressive she was for her, what was it, unorthodox tactics? Am I remembering that right?"

Her final words had been harsh, making it clear that she had, indeed, been remembering it right. Spitfire said nothing, for no opportunity was given, as Rainbow carried on.

"If I hadn't stood up to you, if I hadn't decided then and there that I couldn't be a part of it...you'd have kept her in, wouldn't you? You'd have gone on praising her for what she did, regardless of how many ponies she hurt. In fact..."

Rainbow took a step closer to her.

"...I'm willing to bet that you only cut her loose to try and save face. I'd insulted you, yelled at you, walked out on you, and only then did you take action. You kicking Lightning out wasn't about doing what was right, was it? It was all about showing the rookie, the one who dared to speak out against you, that you were better, and could be in the right, is that right?"

Spitfire's jaw clenched, and it was obvious from looking that she was more than a little angry at this point. Scootaloo, who had been quiet for most of this, looked to both of her elders, quite afraid of what was going to happen next. And speaking of which, that came sooner than expected as Rainbow spoke yet again.

"And need we talk about Soarin?"

Briefly, Spitfire seemed confused.

"What about him?"

Rainbow frowned again.

"You lied to him, remember? Back before the Equestria Games. You lied to him to try and get me to join your group. For all your talk of loyalty among the Wonderbolts, the moment one of them became an inconvenience, you wanted him out of the picture and replaced with somepony better. Winning was more important than your own team, your own friend!"

Again, Spitfire looked angry.

"Hey! I'm their leader, newbie! I had to make hard choices to try and do what was best for them! Without a full team, our chances of qualifying were dropped! We had to replace him, or we'd have lost! I'm not gonna have my whole squad fail just to keep one guy happy!"

Rainbow shook her head.

"I'm not talking about that. Because that part I understand. What I'm angry about is you lying. If you'd have told him about it from the start, that you'd needed somepony to take his place and help you qualify while he recovered, he'd have understood. Soarin's no idiot. If he'd been told, he'd have been fine with it."

As before, Rainbow pointed to her.

"But you didn't, did you? You didn't trust him. And what's more, at the end of it all, even after you managed to qualify, did you apologise to him for deceiving him? No, you didn't."

Turning, Rainbow looked to the section of the sky where the rest of the Wonderbolts had been flying minutes earlier.

"I'm actually surprised the guy still wants to fly with you after all this time."

Spitfire was seething now.

"Oh yeah?! Well...well...you're one to talk! All those mistakes you make, all the bad choices you've taken, I don't hear you apologising for those!"

Looking back to her, Rainbow narrowed her eyes again.

"But that's just it, Spitfire...when I made mistakes, apologise is exactly what I did. When I wronged my friends, I said sorry, when I made bad calls, I tried to make up for it. But you guys..."

She shook her head.

"...you've just kept your course, never becoming better. You're always so proud of yourselves, acting as if joining was the best thing that could happen to a pony."

Briefly, Rainbow's expression was that of, for lack of a better word, shame.

"And for so long...I believed it. I dreamed that joining you would be great. But now that so much has happened...I know the truth."

Stepping closer, Rainbow frowned one last time at her colleague.

"And that truth...is that I'm better off without you than I ever was with you."

Silence hung in the air like a bad smell, and Scootaloo watched her elders nervously, waiting for each to be the one to make the first move. Spitfire stood there, flabbergasted by what she'd heard, while Rainbow kept her ground, staring the other mare down with great intensity. It was obvious that Spitfire was angry, offended, and quite upset over everything the younger mare had said to her. She opened her mouth to say something, but time and again, she couldn't get out a single word. Only false starts came from her, and this lasted for several minutes. Then, at the end of it all, all she could do was turn away, giving Rainbow one final, scornful look before, at last, spreading out her wings. She gave an almighty flap, launching herself into the sky, and Rainbow watched as she flew further and further away. When she was, at last, too far to see, she let out a sigh.

"R...Rainbow?"

The mare looked to the filly at her side, who, understandably, was concerned for her.

"Are you okay?"

Smiling, Rainbow placed a hoof upon Scootaloo's head, gently tussling her mane a little.

"I'm fine, Scoots."

The young filly tilted her head slightly.

"It's just...that whole thing you said to her...I kinda can't believe that you'd do all that. I mean, I get what you were saying but..."

She looked away, appearing deep in thought.

"...it's like you were acting all...what's the word...out-of-nowhere and out-of-character?"

To this, Rainbow chuckled.

"Yeah...maybe. But...would I have ever said that stuff if I was in-character?"