Soarin leaned against the wall of Spitfire’s office. He kept his eyes up at the fluorescent lights on her ceiling. It was for no particular reason, but he really had nothing better to do... besides worry about the incoming decision.
As per usual only four ponies were present. Traditionally, it was the prerogative of the lead squad to select any new Wonderbolt member or decide about the position of their current flyers. With Rapidfire out of the picture they needed a fourth pony. To fill in his place Spitfire chose Silver as a substitute, and Soarin was not the slightest bit surprised. He was the leader of Squad Two, outranked only by the lead squad, the oldest and most experienced member of the organisation and a living legend as a drill instructor. His knowledge on this matter was unquestionable. The grey veteran stood like a stern, breathing statue in the far corner of the room making no unnecessary movement, seemingly disinterested in this whole ordeal. But Soarin knew the old geezer better than to fall for this act. He was constantly aware of his surroundings, waiting for his time to put his word in should he feel necessary.
Soarin glanced down at the couch across the room from him. Fleetfoot was reclined on her back with her hooves behind her head. She had her legs crossed and was continuously swinging one of her hooves up and down gently. She kept glancing between Spitfire, the wall clock, and the ceiling directly overhead.
He looked towards Spitfire. She had a stack of papers on her desk that she was looking over carefully. The papers were eleven personal reports, one from each currently acting members of the top three Wonderbolt elite squads.
Before the third day began, the elite of the elite members were assigned to watch the cadets closely, then put together a small report of cadets that stood out amongst the twenty-one chosen. Right after the conclusion of the third day, they all went to their personal quarters and put together a quick report for Spitfire and the rest of the comittee to analyse alongside their own. From there, they had to determine which cadets showed the best potential to be in the elite squad.
Spitfire finally pushed the papers down and sighed. As if it was a sign Soarin pushed off the wall and Fleetfoot swung around before sitting up, and the meeting has officially begun.
“Khmm… Excuse me for this intermission,” Spitfire began after clearing her throat “but I haven't had time to look through these reports. However with all of you being here, I assume you’ve already took your time to read the copies I'd sent to your room.” She glanced around the room to check that everypony gave an affirmative nod and only raised her left brow at Fleetfoot’s cheeky little snicker. Soarin knew that Spitfire had long abandoned any hope to make their turquoise friend do anything she considered boring.
“Great. However, we still have to go through a few official affairs before we can get down to business. First, by the word of the Wonderbolt code of conduct I'm obliged to ask for your consent about the substitute member I have chosen to take part in this voting. Does everypony accept Silver as the substitute participant?” Soarin and Fleetfoot nodded.
“Great.” Spitfire turned to Soarin now looking directly into his eyes. “Now comes the part when I ask if anypony in this room feels they have a personal relationship with any of the candidates which would make them ineligible to take part in this committee’s work.”
Soarin gulped audibly. He silently scolded himself for forgeting about this rule. Well, there was nothing to do about it other than listen to what Spitfire had to say. She already invited him into the meeting so she must have had something for him to do.
“However it seems rather pointless as we all know that one of us maintains an intimate relationship with one of the cadets. This would normally mean that I’d have to remove Soarin from the room...”
“Spitfire, please...” Soarin pleaded. He was alright with him being ineligible to vote, but he really wanted to be at least present when they decided about Dash.
“However,” Spitfire elevated her voice indicating she wasn't finished. “I decided that since everypony has to agree about the new candidate in order reach a decision I will include the second commander as he has proved his worth and virtue several times over. That being said should his be the only vote barring us from making a decision, his vote will be automatically dismissed. Do those regulations seem reasonable to everypony?”
They all nodded in unison. Soarin gave a thankful smile to Spitfire. With how the voting worked, this meant Spitfire basically had stripped his vote from him, but she’d gone out of her way to make sure he could contribute to the selection process. It might not have meant much to some, but to him it was a confirmation that Spitfire was counting on him in this very important matter.
Spitfire let out a long and exhausted sigh. Soarin pushed off the wall and Fleetfoot swung around before sitting up. Silver on the other hand didn't even budged.
“So... I read through the reports... and it looks like a few names stand out,” Spitfire began. “However...” she switched gears suddenly. “It looks like the reports have made this simple for us. I was expecting at least four or five to choose from... but of all the cadets observed...there are two that have showcased traits that we’re looking for in an elite member beyond personal skill.”
“Well?” Fleetfoot beckoned her to continue. Spitfire looked at her sternly.
“Who’s the other one, Spitfire?” asked Soarin impatiently. “Rainbow Dash and who?” He glared at her sharply. He did not like when he felt he was being played with however Spitfire remained completely unaffected by his glare.
“Rainbow Dash and Storm Front,” Spitfire said flatly. “Based on the consistency of his performance, and his willingness to put others before him no matter what the circumstances… I vote for Storm Front.” She kept her eyes on Soarin... but like a good professional, Soarin showed no reaction. Fleetfoot cleared her throat and leaned against Spitfire’s desk.
“Well, I hear you loud and clear Spitfire... but I’m making this choice based entirely on what I’ve seen. I’m voting for Rainbow Dash. She’s shown great heart and a willingness to succeed unlike anything I’ve ever seen. She barely batted an eye in my courses, took risks that yielded rewards on the first day, and ran Soarin’s courses pretty well. Plus, can we deny that her ability to copy moves is an incredibly rare find?” she finished while leaning towards Spitfire.
“While that is true—” Spitfire nodded— “We all know that none of the candidates have the skills to immediately hop on to an elite squad. That is why I feel we should choose the cadet with the best attitude. We all know that a pony’s skill level can be very well hidden throughout a show if he is willing to play his part and not overreach his boundaries. Same goes to military operations. I’d much rather have a slightly unskilled wingmate who'll execute his orders without question than one who would try to steal the show and jeopardise the entire mission with her recklessness. What is your take on this Soarin?”
Soarin scratched his head. “I don’t know. Dash’s abilities are much more impressive than Storm’s. As Fleetfoot said, her copying ability is extremely rare. On the flipside... Is Dash ready for the responsibility of being a Wonderbolt? Storm Front did show a lot more qualities specific to duty and responsibility. If I had to make a choice purely on professional basis... I’d say... Storm Front.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Silver asked with a quiet yet surprisingly threatening voice as he finally stepped out of the shadow and slowly walked to the centre of the room. Soarin knew that voice too well. In their recruit training they quickly learnt Silver was most dangerous when he was so angry he didn't even bother to speak up. “Were you even watching the tryouts, or you were too busy coming up with dumb shit and then call it a challenge?” He looked around with anger and slight disgust in his glare.
“Hey, those were completely serious and very well executed courses that..." Fleetfoot only got this far before she broke into laughter. “Oh my... I almost managed to say it with a straight face. Just continue.” She snickered with her hoof in front of her mouth.
“As I have said, were you even looking at those candidates? Rainbow Dash is the most ridiculous pony I have ever seen. That mare not only has the speed and agility of an elite wonderbolt already but she actually watches the field with the eyes of a hardened veteran. Have you seen how many signature moves she copied in three days? Five? Six with the Power Acceleration, or whatever you call it nowadays.” He glanced at Soarin.
“It’s called the Sonic Blast-off,” Soarin interrupted but he immediately realised that he was going to regret it very soon.
“Sonic Blast-off?” Silver slightly raised his left eyebrow. “Really, son? Lighting Streak could take lessons from you in desperation.”
“I didn’t name it to...” Soarin tried to protest but Silver was having none of it.
“Do I look like I care, son?” Silver asked rolling his eyes. “But let’s get back to the point: even if we knew anypony who could copy other ponies moves this fast, no one in the recorded history of the wonderbolts could copy two signature moves at the same time, combining them into one to solve a flight problem on their first try. Whenever a rookie, or even a few of the more experienced elites, is faced with a new problem, they either freeze, or panic and try something really-really stupid and fail spectacularly. Rainbow Dash is not like them. She does n't see problems, she sees solutions. And she can even see when her skills are not the answer the problems need, takes the helm of any given group, and leads them to victory. This is incredibly rare and we cannot lose a pony like her.”
Everypony’s jaw hang like it was about to fall from their hinges. Soarin never heard Silver praising anypony, besides his own mentor. Yes, he might have let a few compliments slip from his mouth between every few metric tonnes of cuss words and cursing, but this was something else. Silver was showering his mare with praises without any restraint. It felt like Silver was stroking his soul with silk, and now that he thought about it, Silver was right. Dash did do everything he just said. Both Spitfire and Fleetfoot had been watching her for quite some time, and thus they were quite used to her awesomeness. But now that Silver enumerated her skills so profoundly, it seemed staggering to Soarin how could he ever had a speck of doubt that Dash was the right pony for the elite spot.
As he looked around he saw the same stunned expression on both of his squadmates faces.
Spitfire spoke up first, “Well... that was...” Spitfire was desperately looking for something to describe what they just heard. “Quite a barrage of reasons... I don’t see any problems with them. So everypony who agrees with Rainbow Dash’s appointment raise their right hooves.
Soarin lifted his with a huge grin on his face. Dash was going to take the elite spot. It seems like some things never change. No matter what happens, it always turns out Silver was right all along.
As she saw Soarin’s and Fleetfoot’s hooves, Spitfire cleared her throat and made the announcement. “That settles it then. The pony cadet who ascends as elite wonderbolt is Rainbow…
“Excuse me” Silver interrupted. “I might be old and forgetful, but I am pretty bucking sure I did not raise my hoof.”
“What?” Spitfire was staggered. Soarin felt the same. He could not comprehend what Silver was aiming to achieve. Spitfire didn't seem to have any better ideas either. “Well...”Spitfire said carefully “I assumed...”
“Incorrect assumptions are the seeds of defeat,” Silver snubbed Spitfire. “It seems I didn’t drill this into your head hard enough.”
“Oh, buck off Silver!” Spitfire growled, getting visibly frustrated. She could never bear when someone played her for a fool. “You said that...”
“That we cannot lose her, yes.” Silver finished Spitfire’s sentence. “And that is exactly why we can't let her get the elite spot.”
“Elaborate.” Spitfire commanded with a no-nonsense face.
“If we let Dash join our ranks right now, then that's it. She'll never get recruit training. Never learn a lot of the basics she lacks now. We put her into a rinky-dink low tier elite squad, and if we are lucky she might be able to fight her way up to the top squads one day. Great. A truly commendable career for anypony.” Silver’s last words were practically dripping with sarcasm. “However, if we put her in with the recruits, she will soar. I’d bet my wings that she would take the recruit squad captain post. She could then learn how to serve and how to command at the same time. Also, her partners would be some of the most talented recruits we have ever had. Believe me when I say I saw at least five or six poni— cadets down there, who could even make it to the top tier squads. And with Dash leading them...” Silver visibly shuddered. “The sky is no longer a limit.”
“Hey,” Soarin blurted out. “What about giving Dash what she actually deserves. I distinctly remember that somepony taught me that every wingmate should be treated according to their merits”
Silver sighed loudly “Son despite knowing your mare well, you don’t seem to know that much about her. You don’t give a mare like Dash everything she wants. That's gonna make her head so big it won’t fit in the atmosphere anymore. You give her some and make her take everything else. It works on the sheets and it works here too.”
Soarin facehoofed really hard. No matter how he tried, arguing with Silver always ended up with Silver turning his points against him.
“By the way,” Silver continued. “I'm a stallion of my word. I'm doing everything like I said. I judge everypony according their merits.” Soarin’s ears perked up and he noticed that the same thing happened with Spitfire and Fleetfoot. Silver stepped to the table, picked up on of the records, opened it and started to read. “Storm Front is the most well-rounded pony among the cadets, he has the least amount of way to go to be an elite Wonderbolt.” Silver put down his record and looked back to Soarin. “However being the most well-rounded cadet goes both ways. He might be the best candidate we have for now... but it also means he has the least room to improve. And don’t get me wrong, Storm is good. He is really good. We might even put him into one of the high tier elite squads, like squad ten, or maybe even squad eight. Yes, he’ll have some slight screw-ups but give him six months and he will look like as though he had always been there. Now give him five years, and he will still be stuck at the exact same position. Maybe he’ll get up to squad six. That would be great for the forerunner of most cadet classes…”
“But this is not just any cadet class” Spitfire interrupted impatiently. She glared into Silver’s eyes, looking for answers she could not hope to find in his words.
“We know that Silver. Contrary to what you believe we have eyes, even if we didn't spent the better part of our life crushing other ponies’ dreams and hopes. So cut the crap and tell me what you want with this.” She was clearly fed up with her subordinate.
“What I want is what is best for the Wonderbolts.” Silver stated. “Give me these twenty cadets and I promise I’ll forge them into a recruit squad the likes of which you have never seen before. You want strong fighters, Spitfire? I will give you fierce warriors. Let that Storm Front guy have his precious elite spot, I couldn't have used him in my recruit squad anyway.”
Spitfire looked deep in thought. Soarin realised that with his vote effectively nullified, and Fleetfoot’s usual careless attitude towards any official business this was actually a one-on-one battle between the two captains. But Soarin felt more like there were far greater things going on behind the scenes. Silver had always watched with slight disagreement every modernisation attempt Spitfire issued. There had always been this on-going tension between them ever since Silver was passed over as the next captain after the retirement of Blazetail and Flashwind. But for some reason, the ace pair of the legendary Gold Squad thought that Spitfire would do a better job as the youngest ever serving captain of the Wonderbolts. And Soarin was convinced that Spitfire had justified every ounce of their belief since. He even believed that Silver shared this thought. But would that make him like everything that Spitfire did?
Hell no, the old colt was way too stubborn for that. But usually he did a good job of hiding his discontent. Except for one recent occasion: The Squad Zero project.
Soarin was sure the term “strong fighters” referred to those four ponies. Silver never made it secret that he despised the idea. He contributed to it as he was commanded, but he hadn’t lifted a hoof to help them improve ever since even though he surely could have.
Soarin heard Spitfire’s long sigh and regretful acceptance. From then on it was only matter of seconds to reach a conclusion. As he left Spitfire’s office, he started to contemplate what had just happened in there.
This meeting showed off what Soarin admired the most in his colthood friend. She never let any personal feelings get into her mind if it was about the best interests of the Wonderbolts. And Silver was ultimately right. The best interests of the Wonderbolts right now would be to give him this class of recruits. He was the best drill instructor of the organisation and Spitfire knew it. Yes, she had him step down as she felt his style of teaching didn't fit to the current profile of the Wonderbolts but she could not deny the facts. Not a single had Wonderbolt made into the top elite squads who wasn't the pupil of Silver. Soarin was sure that given enough time, they could have learnt how to be almost as good as Silver, but this was not the time for this kind of experimenting. They were beaten by the Shadowbolts last time and they had to make sure this wouldn't happen again. For that they needed everypony on top of their game. Which meant they needed to reinstate their legendary drill instructor.
And now that legendary drill instructor was even determined to show off of what he was really capable. And there were few scarier individuals on this side of Equestria than a determined Silver Lining. Spitfire would have been a fool to pass this opportunity. And if it came with the price of her having to bend her knees to Silver’s will, then so be it.
But on Silver’s part this whole scene seemed like it was carefully planned to achieve… something. It reminded him one of their old chess matches.
He used to play chess with Silver a lot. He always got his ass handed over to him on a silver platter, but he would have gladly endured these losses, and more, to hear stories about Silver’s past. And the chessboard was one of the only places he would talk about his old comrades. Soarin even heard one or two stories about his legendary mentor Blizzard... something. One especially stuck to his mind. It seemed to fit their current situation well.
"Son, you can’t beat an experienced opponent with such a transparent tactic. You must always hide your intentions, make the enemy confused. Some glorious individuals can even take this to the next level. You know what? Let’s see what you can do with this problem. What is the biggest problem with hiding your plans and thus leaving your opponent in the mist?”
“Geez Silver, you know I’m no good with your riddles.”
“My soul mourns for your dying brain cells everyday son,” pouted Silver. “The problem of course is the mist itself.”
“How so?”
“If you hide your intentions behind a solid wall of obscurity, your opponent will see the fact that they can't see anything. And they'll try to find anything to grasp on to. And if they are skillful and you are unlucky, they might just guess your plan and then you are back where you had started. Or even worse because you might even think your play is safe while it's not.”
“But how can you protect yourself against your opponent randomly guessing your plan?”
“It is easy. You just have to hide the mist.” Silver smirked
“What?” Soarin had to giggle as he remembered how dumbstruck his expression must have been.
“You give them something to make them think they’ve found your plan and they will stop searching for your real plan. Then you can beat the ever living crap out of them with it.”
“He-he. That Blizzard must have been some pony.” Soarin snickered guessing this was originally Blizzard’s method, as he's the only pony for whom Silver would use the word glorious.
“Yes, indeed he was.” Soarin distinctly remembered that moment he was bestowed with a rare gift. An honest smile. A smile that carried the decades of experience with and all their grief and wounds. A smile which most would have considered sour or unhappy. Yet he knew it was, in a way, the happiest he has ever seen anypony be.
Soarin shook his head. He had to concentrate. If he was right, then this whole meeting was a deception to a degree. Not a malicious one, but still. So Silver used his little trick with the elite squad spot as a distraction. That must have been the mist. Then he pretended that he folded his cards and said he wanted the recruits. And he got his wish. But was it really what he wanted? Soarin had his doubts. He almost unconsciously started to mutter under his breath:
“Oh Silver, you glorious bastard, what are you up to?
Author's Note
You may have noticed that I actually used excerpts of the original scene. Calm has agreed to it so please don't write angry comments about that or I am gonna straight-out delete them. (Unless they contain something of real value) He in fact approved the whole story, and even liked it so please do not talk about how big of a sacrilege this whole story is. It is about entertainment and not criticism. I wanted to create a story that brings enjoyment to everyone and does not mess with anything that happened before, or bends the characters personalities. (Actually one of the reason why I wanted to write this is because how out of character was Spitfire in the original version). I knew that even with the present set of characters it is possible to create a good story out of the given premise. Yes I shamelessly abused information we only learn later on in the story, but they technically happened before that scene. But it made it more fun so in my book it was well worth it.
I would like to thank my quartet of fantastic people who helped me bring this story to life: The Editor The Artists and The Calm Wind
Also I would really like to thank you dear reader if you read my humble little fanfic and I sincerely hope you enjoyed it. As this is my first English story any criticism would be appreciated.
Edit: PinkDragonJr apparently took my words seriously and pointed out a few errors left in the text so I edited the story accordingly. So special thanks to him as well.
