Dr. Wolf was settling down in his office with a cup of tea. He started to go through the pile of letters on his desk to see if Celestia had sent him any mail. She has the bad habit of not giving him any heads up on his patients. Now that he thinks about it not a lot of ponies gave him any notice before dropping in. As he finished going through his pile of letters a hooded pony flew in, scattering the papers onto the floor. Doc sighed and started collecting his mail. "Good evening, I was hoping we were past the disguises."
The voice he heard was scratchy but it was deeper than Dash's. "How did you know I was coming, and that I'd wear a disguise for that matter?"
Dr. Wolf suddenly realized that this wasn't Rainbow Dash. He knew he had heard the voice before, but he couldn't place it perfectly. He quickly tried to correct his small misstep. "Oh, sorry Ms, I thought you were someone else. You're a member of the Wonderbolts, am I right?"
"I'm actually the captain. For now." Dr. Wolf noticed the change of tone in her voice. She quickly changed the subject as the took off her hood to reveal her yellow coat and orange mane. "My name is Spitfire, reporting as ordered."
Dr. Wolf raised an eyebrow. "Ordered?"
Spitfire sighed and pulled out a piece of paper and a file and handed it to the wolf. "I received a summons from Princess Celestia. She said that I had to spend at least one session with you to talk about my... issues."
Dr. Wolf started reading it as he sat down in his chair. He recognized the letter as a summon that Celestia usually gave the ponies she sent his way. The file contained a record of Spitfire's career, and it was a rather good record at that fact. He noticed a few red sections that seemed to indicate the important parts. He took a deep breath as he made his way to his seat. "Oh, I see. Well come in and make yourself comfortable."
Spitfire took a seat on the sofa. Her voice didn't have a sound of authority, but a weak, humble tone. As she started to think about what Doc said when she first came in her curiosity got the best of her. "By the way, who did you think I was?"
Doc bit his lip as he thought about Dash's first session. "I'm sorry, but I do have to keep that information confidential, the same rule applies for the rest of my patients, including you."
"Good! I didn't want my team knowing about this." Spitfire said as she pointed a hoof at Doc.
Doc cleaned his glasses as he prepared to ask her the first and usually the hardest question. "Alright, now tell me what's on your mind."
Spitfire took a deep breath. "I'm planning on retiring, but Princess Celestia insisted that I talk to you about it."
Doc raised an eyebrow. If Celestia wanted Spitfire to talk to him than it had to be about something personal. "Oh, why do you want to quit? From what I understand you're still fairly young for a commander. I'd think that you'd keep going for at least a few more years."
Spitfire turned to Doc. "Well, I feel like someone else would be a better leader. It'll be better for the team."
Doc started going through the file that she gave him. It looked like she had an impressive career. "From what I've heard you've been a great leader. You keep the others in line, and you have helped keep them in good shape. They have continued to perform gracefully under your leadership. You have lead them pretty well for someone as young as you are." He noticed as she looked away when he described her as 'great'. "Unless... You don't think so?"
"My record as a leader, let alone a teacher, is far from perfect. Our rookie would make a better leader than me at this point." Spitfire said as she lowered her head.
Doc didn't know much about the Wonderbolts, but he knew about the only one in town. "Are you talking about Ms. Dash?"
Spitfire nodded. "Yeah, even in the academy she was showing signs of leadership that outweigh mine."
He started to think that this could be a feeling of a new student critiquing the rough edges of the teacher, but he wasn't certain yet. He needed more facts. "Do you want to elaborate on this?"
Spitfire took another deep breath. "When she first came she ended up reporting that her partner ended up endangering several ponies in an attempt to show off. It involved a tornado and hot air balloon. It resulted in several ponies getting hurt."
"What happened then?"
"Dash quit. She didn't want to be a part of something that didn't care about other ponies well beings. We do try to bring out the best in ponies, but I think I lost track of that when I was seeing new records and new solutions to those tests that I gave them. I was able to convince Dash to stay after I discharged her partner."
"It sounds to me like you did the responsible thing."
Spitfire hit her hind leg with her hoof. "But I didn't pay attention. I didn't take charge until it was too late. Ponies nearly got hurt, and now Lightning Dust has a team of reckless stunt flyers."
"And you feel responsible for her recklessness?"
"I let the problem get out of hoof. Maybe if I could have taught her better instead of throwing her out she wouldn't have started this crazy stunt fest. She welcomes danger like a trip to the ice cream store."
Dr. Wolf started thinking that he found the issue. "Well that was a long time ago, Lightning Dust made a long list of decisions before she found herself at that point. You can't blame yourself for how Lightning Dust reacted." Doc realized from the look on her face that there was more to this. "But I'm guessing it's not just this one moment. Is there another moment relating to your team specifically?"
"Yeah. Before Dash joined the team we met at the equestrian games. Admittedly she's one of the fastest ponies I've ever seen. She even had my jaw on the ground. Unfortunately, she was paired with a couple of slow ponies. I knew that it should have just given me more confidence in our chances of winning, but I saw an opportunity. I wasn't confident with Soarin's skills at the time, so I told him to fake an injury."
Doc started to rub his chin. "I'm guessing you wanted to recruit Dash to your team."
"She was born in Cloudsdale. Legally she could make the switch. She also tried faking an injury so she wouldn't have to choose between her friends and us. She ended up choosing her friends, but she pointed out that I abandoned my teammate for a better chance of winning. I admitted that I was wrong, but it still took me a long time to regain Soarin's trust after that. Doc, I've let down my team. I've thought more about my position instead of my team, and whenever they need personal help they go to Dash now. She can lead the team a lot better than I can. When Dash came to me for help I messed up and another one of her friends nearly got herself hurt. I never should have been put in charge in the first place. I'm just a greedy, insensitive fool who was given a title that I don't deserve." Spitfire finished saying before covering her face with her hooves.
Doc watched as this strong leader started crying silently in her hooves. He knew he was watching a side to her that no one else has seen. Dash has often told him about her being a strong, confident leader who can never be fazed, but he now saw a pony carrying unbearable guilt who couldn't handle it anymore. He took a deep breath as he handed her a tissue. "I see. Ms. Spitfire, most of these events happened a long time ago. I can only imagine how long you've been carrying this burden. But I don't think you'd be here today if you didn't care about your team. I can relate to the feeling of letting my friends down and even making decisions that hurt them to this day. Every pony has made mistakes and bad decisions. No one's perfect, but we learn from our choices, we overcome our flaws and become better."
"I would like to be a better leader, but I don't know if I can be the pony that they can look up to."
Doc started to think about some of Dash's sessions and came up with an idea. "Tell me, you speak highly about Rainbow Dash. Has she ever made any mistakes or dumb decisions?"
"Well, she did dive into a trash can on her first day. It gained her the nickname Rainbow Crash. I'm guessing she took our initiation the wrong way. After doing several weird impressions throughout our training she tried doing a crazy stunt to prove herself. She thought I was going to fire her. I managed to convince her that she was a valuable member and that the nickname was a joke that all of ended up getting. I'll admit that I jumped at the chance to recruit her. She had the skill and the heart to join us."
Dr. Wolf stood up and placed a paw on her shoulder. "Ms. Spitfire, you've convinced me that not only did you learn, but you're still good at helping and leading others. I believe that a good teacher learns as much from her students as they do from her. The fact that you recognize your bad choices and are willing to change makes you a great leader. I've met ponies who were criminals who had to learn to put their past behind them so the can focus on making a better future for themselves and others. Don't give up on yourself. If you do, who will keep the next pony to not give up on themselves? Failure can either break you or make you stronger. Don't let your past break you now."
There was silence for a moment. Doc could tell that she was trying to processes all of this; He just hoped that she could see how much good she has done. Finally, Spitfire slowly rose up from her seat with a weak smile. "Thanks, I needed to hear that. You know something, you'd make a great leader."
Doc gave a soft smile. "I don't think that I'd make a good Wonderbolt. I wasn't made with flying in mind. I'll stick with what I'm good at."
As Spitfire started walking away she pulled out a couple of tickets. "Well, thanks again. I hope I'll see you at a show soon."
Doc didn't feel right accepting this gift from her. He quickly tried to return them. "Um, I don't want to take advantage of you."
Spitfire just shook her head as she shoved the tickets back to him. "I insist. It's the least I can do for you."
Doc could see that she just wanted to feel like she was doing something to try to repay him. He decided it would be wiser to accept this gift than giving her a new problem to deal with. As Doc looked at the tickets he suddenly had a question pop into his mind. "Before you leave Ms. Spitfire, I do have to ask something. What exactly brought this up now and not sooner?"
Spitfire nervously chuckled. "Oh! I guess it was after Dash asked me to help with a kid. She was the one who nearly got hurt trying to joining that group of stunt ponies. I'm now being told that I'm not good at talking to kids. Um, do you think you help me with that?"
Dr. Wolf gave a smile. "I'd be happy to. Same time next week?"
Spitfire gave a smile and a salute. "Yes, sir!"
As she bolted out the door Doc noticed the cloak she wore was still on the floor. "Uh, Ms. Spitfire..." He was too late. The only sign of her being there was a streak of light resembling her hair that quickly faded. He sighed and hung the cloak up in his closet next to Dash's old coat that also had yet to be successfully returned. "I guess I'll give it back next week." Dr. Wolf took a deep breath before remembering those fond words. "It's good to be helping."
