Cursed Gifts

(twelve (12) years latter)
A chorus of voices and an orchestra of smells greeted Rainbow Dash as she walked into the dinning hall. She sat down next to Spitfire, who was still half asleep.

“'Morning." She greeted, and her captain responded with something that was probably supposed to be a reply, but came out as a yawn. Sighing, she lowered her mug and Rainbow wrinkled her nose. Coffee. Yuck.

"Sorry." She said. "I stayed up late getting some paperwork done." Rainbow winced. Almost no pony at the HQ was a morning pony, and according to Soarin and Fleetfoot, Spitfire was bad enough on a normal day, but when she stayed up past midnight working on paperwork (which she did almost every night), well… let's just say it was a wonder she could still stand up, much less drill the team.

"Hey you two." Fleetfoot greeted, and Rainbow jumped, not having noticed the turquoise pegasus slipping in on the other side of Spitfire.

“Hey yourself." Soarin said, joining them with his own cup of coffee, sitting next to Rainbow. She chuckled. Soar was always so grouchy in the mornings. Spitfire didn't even blink.

"Morning pieboy." She said, prompting a few laughs from the other two mares. Before Soarin could retaliate, golden-orange flames burst into existence in front of Spitfire. Fleetfoot fell off the back of the bench with a yelp. A scroll replaced the flames and fell to the table. They all looked at it in shock.

"That's the Royal seal." Rainbow said, studying the scroll.

"Well?" They all jumped and looked up at the all-too-eager Surprise, who had suddenly appeared in front of them. She reminded Dash a bit too much of Pinkie, and she was also one of those few ponies who were blessed enough to be chipper in the mornings, or cursed, depending on who you asked. "Open it." She said smiling. Hesitantly, Spitfire broke the wax seal and unrolled the letter, hiding it's contents from the other ponies that tried to read it over her shoulder. She quickly scanned it, then rolled it back up.

"It says that the Princesses require my presence for a meeting."

"Ooh!" Surprise exclaimed, leaning over the table. "So that means you'll be heading to Canterlot?" Spitfire shock her head.

"Ponyvill. The meetings being held at Princesses Twilight's castle."
Rainbow Dash smiled. "Cool. Twi's place is pretty neat." Fleetfoot shook her head.

"I keep on forgetting that your personally acquainted with the Princesses."
Spitfire suddenly stood up. "I should probably go get ready. Soarin, your in charge of the team." She turned and walked out of the hall. A few seconds later she came back and snagged the half finished cup of coffee.
As soon as her fiery tail disappeared, Surprise trotted over to the opposite entryway.

"We're are you going?" Soarin asked. Surprise smiled.

"Well, you're a big softy, so I thought I might sleep in a little." Fleetfoot and Rainbow stifled laughs and Soarin glared at them.

"I might be a 'softy'-" Soarin started to say, but was interrupted by Surprise.

"See? He admits it!" He shot her another glare.

“-but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you slack off. Go wake up the rest of the team, and tell them we have practice in an hour." Surprise gave him a mock salute.

"Ay ay, captain!" And quickly shot out of the hall leaving behind a streak of white and yellow.