It has taken so long. Years of practice, tons of of trails and month of anticipation.Now finally a spot has opened and a lifelong dream was going to become reality. To receive such an important message is mind boggling. It slowly sinks in, turning all the switches, touches all the buttons and leaves you in a state of total euphoria.
Fire Streak has stood there, in front of his house in Cloudsdale holding a letter in his creamcolored hooves. His grin has grown slowly and constantly as his sky blue eyes had read the approval from the Cloudsdale Flight School about him joining the educational staff permanently. No longer substitute teacher, but a real full fledged flight trainer. The stallions heart skip a beat just thinking about all the colts and fillies with their ambitions and hopes in their eyes. To help them to develop their potential had always been his dream. Now he had only to retire from the Wonderbolts and he was good to go.
"WHAT? NOW?!"- Spitfire stared at the orange maned stallion in her office. Struck with disbelief, she stood behind her table with her mouth agape. Fire Streak just smiled at her countenance. -"You can´t do that to us, Strider. We need you! Who is going to fill you place?" Spitfire was hoovering over her desk the front hooves barely touching the board as her wings blew the papers of the the edge. Her soft, yellow face had a mix of emotions on it. Panicking sadness with pleading eyes tried to make him reconsider his choice, while her voice was forced to sound as professional as she could muster.
"It´s no longer `Strider´, Spity. You have been looking for a way to include Rainbow Dash since she joined the Academy. Get her."- He offered to her.
"She can´t replace you!"
He kept his smile about her reaction. "Why? Because you cheated her test result?"- Spitfire stopped hoovering falling flat on the belly on top of her desk.
"You knew?" she gasped, starring at the, not yet, former college. The stallion moved up to her and started to collect the papers of the floor.
"Does it really surprise you that I looked at the tests of the reserves?" He kept his smile, but had a dissapointed look in his eyes as he proceeded. "Considering that you broke the Wonderbolt directive to keep her in the academy. Throwing out Lightning Dust to cover up your shortcomings..."
"I guess not..." said Spitfire burying her head between her hooves in shame.
"If it makes you feel better, Rainbow Dash would have passed any way. Just not with a perfect score. I understand why you were doing it, she saved your life, impressed you on serveral occasions and she is a great flyer, but I expected better of you, Spity. You are captian of the Wonderbolts. We have traditions. Rules. Enforce them. I know you can do it."
Spitfire looked up just to find his resignation sign on top of the papers Fire Streak had gathered together for her.
The locker room was filled up as the word about his retirement were spread around. His teammates gathered around him and Slowpoke´, his leadmare, was one of the first to arrive, for once.Clipper´, Hoof-in-Mouth´ and many of the staffponies he had worked closely together were already here, watching him packing his stuff.
"What a surprise to see you here already, Surprise." He had teased the cream colored mare with the wild yellow mane, whoms wingpony he had been for the last few months. He had switched his partner more often than anypony else in the Wonderbolts and had gladly always taken the wingpony role to support his teammate the best he could. He had taken so many new wonderbolts under his experienced wingpony wings that he could fly with anypony on a whim. In fact Fire Streak was one of the few ponies that got his nickname by a trait not by a misfortune.Strider´,the swiftly walker, the replacer and the benchwarmer. It had fit with his profession substitute teacher, thought.
"So this is permanent? You are not just back next month to fly with me again?" asked `Slowpoke´ trying to sound as mocking about it as possible.
"Not if I can help it." he said but changed his attention to Soarin´ instead of speaking with Surprise any further for now: "He, Clipper. Take care of the captian for me will you. You are Spity´s wingpony. I know most ponies don´t give two feathers about this status, but I always thought of the wingpony as the more important part. I don´t want to see you leave her hanging like at the Equestrian Games Tryouts just because you hurt your wing again."
Soarin´ protested at this sudden accusation"Hey, we were flying for Cloudsdale NOT the Wonderbolts."
"And that is an excuse to leave her hanging, how?"
Misty Fly and Surprise were giggling. They all had heard about `Clipper´ hurting his wings because he had stared at some cheerleaders again. The mares continued to snicker as Spitfire stood in the door to hallway and ordered everypony to leave. Soon Fire Streak and Spitfire were alone in the locker room and his locker was empty even before she had arrived.
"Not clever, Spity. You know they are going to gossip about this again." He remarked in an sour tone.
"As if that matters..."- Spitfire was visibly nervous, scratching her foreleg. -"Could you reconsider your choice... just for the tour, I mean... just postpone not giving up on your dream..."
The two ponies looked at each other for a brief moment. Fire Streak shaked his head with the same knowing smile he had everytime talking to her.
"I just don´t know how I am going to keep leading them with out your help" she finally admited to him.
"Spity, you are my successor! You had replaced me three years ago. Time to fly on your own. Also..."- he smiled brighter -"...look at it this way. Nopony will ever have a reason again to call you `Teachers Pet´."
