Forgiveness Is Hard To Give
It was a beautiful sunny day, the sun beaming down on the Wonderbolt HQ where a bunch of pegasi were doing laps and a fiery maned pegasus was counting their times. A rainbow maned pegasus was doing the best out of them all. Soon enough, they all landed in front of the fiery maned pegasus.
“Alright,” Spitfire announced. “Rainbow Dash once again has bested you all. Gotta up your guys game.” Rainbow gave a grin as Spitfire gave her a quick nod of respect. “Head to the lunchroom and get some food everypony.” Rainbow quickly darted off ahead of everyone and grabbed her tray. She flapped my wings and sat down at her spot in the corner away from the others. She was purposefully distancing herself from her fellow Wonderbolts. She was still mad about them not believing her about not sending Spitfire away. This was the last day she had with them till she went back home for a bit. Not even Soarin stood up for her. Nor did Surprise or Fleetfoot or Misty Fly. She rolled her eyes when she saw them walking up. Speak of the devil and they appear.
“Hey Rainbow Dash,” Soarin greeted her. “Can we sit here?” Him, Surprise, Fleetfoot and Misty Fly all wore the same hopeful expressions.
“Sure,” she answered curtly and gestured for them to sit. They exchanged a nervous glance between themselves and sat down.
“Some flying out there today Dash,” Misty decided to break the silence. She was the veteran of the group. “You did well.”
“It was impressive Dash,” Fleetfoot smiled shyly.
“Thanks,” she said simply. She bit into my sandwich and chewed slowly.
“You wish you could stay here instead of going to Ponyville?” Surprise asked her.
“Nah. I’m looking forward to my naps and friends. Got some good pranks planned for them,” Rainbow answered and shook her head, ignoring their surprised looks.
“Thought you would ask to stay here,” Fleetfoot smirked.
“Not in the mood to stay here right now.”
“We have something to say,” Soarin sighed and her eyes flicked up to him. “Something we’ve been meaning to say for a few hours now.”
“Okay? Spit it out,” Rainbow said impatiently. “After this I have to get flying home. It’s a long flight to Ponyville. I have a job outside of this, you know.”
“We’re sorry. For not believing in you about not sending Spitfire away,” Soarin and Misty said in unison. “It was wrong of us.” Rainbow paused and made contact with each of the Wonderbolts across from her.
“Apology not accepted,” she grunted out. Their nervous expressions grew as they gawked at her.
“But why?” Fleetfoots ears flattened against her head. “We mean it.” Rainbow slammed a hoof on the table and all the Wonderbolts in the room stared at us in silence. High Winds and Surprise looked the most nervous.
“I’m an Element of Harmony. Do you know which one I am?” Rainbow asked. Everypony in the room shook their head slowly, except for her Ponyville friends. They all knew for the obvious reasons. “I’m the Element of Loyalty. I value loyalty above all else. I give it to my friends and allies without a second thought and expect it in return. Loyalty courses through my blood. It’s a part of me, always has been and always will be. I’d rather die than break my oath of loyalty,” Rainbow gazed at the surprised reactions. Who represented what in the Elements of Harmony she guess wasn’t well broadcasted. “I’m going back to my town now. I got a weather team to lead,” she stood up with her tray and disposed of it with her typical burst of speed, leaving a rainbow trail behind her. “Let’s go Sprinkle Medley, Raindrops, Cloudkicker, Sassaflash, White Lightning, Cloudchaser and Bulk Biceps.” The pegasi Rainbow named all gave a quick salute her way and turned to their bags.
“You guys fucked up,” Spitfire announced as she leaned against the doorframe of the lunchroom. “You should have known she wouldn’t have sent me away. It isn’t like her to do that.”
“We didn’t think of that at the time,” Soarin sighed.
“I mean she’s the element of loyalty for crying out loud. Remember at Rainbow Falls? You should have remembered that,” Spitfire continued. “How she stood up for you against me and Fleetfoot.”
“Well she didn’t accept it,” Fleetfoot sighed. “Time to move on.” Surprise let out a low sigh and slumped over, Misty patting her comfortingly on the back.
“No,” Spitfire glared at her. “New orders. Each and everyone of you is going to get her forgiveness. We are pausing all Wonderbolt activities till you do. Raindrops! Cloudkicker! Sassaflash! White Lightning! Thunderlane! Cloudchaser!” She shouted and the named pegasi looked up from getting their bags ready to head back to Ponyville for their jobs.
“Yes ma’am?” Thunderlane asked nervously with a salute.
“Where are you all going?” Spitfire demanded.
“Ponyville ma’am like Rainbow ordered. We are on the same weather team as Rainbow Dash so we got to get back to work.”
“Rainbow doesn’t give you orders,” Blaze snapped. “Spitfire does.” Raindrops stomped her hoof into the ground.
“Our time is up here temporarily. Rainbow is our boss. We take our orders from her,” Raindrops growled. She and the others were the most angry about how Rainbow got treated. Blaze and Raindrops glared at each other. Spitfire rolled her eyes and gestured for High Winds to separate the two before a fight broke out.
“We’re coming with,” Spitfire announced. Everypony in the room stared at her in shock. “I want to see how she is in a command position before I’m certain I made the right choice. I guess we can help with the weather.” Sassaflash gave a chuckle at that.
“Try to keep up. Rainbow runs a tight ship and takes no nonsense,” Sassaflash smirked. Spitfire glared at her and pressed a hoof against her chest.
“We are Wonderbolts. So you can try to keep up with us!” Spitfire smirked. “Now everypony pack your bags. We’re going to Ponyville.” Nodding, the Wonderbolts turned to leave and prepare, Blaze shooting Raindrops an angry look before following the others.
“Are we sure about this?” Soarin pulled Spitfire aside. “She seemed pretty angry about it.”
“I’m certain. Besides, if she does a good job at being a leader like I think she will, she’s going to make a great replacement in the future if I ever retire,” Spitfire admitted.
“Isn’t it a bit early in your life to debate retiring? Misty is older than us and is most likely the first to retire.” Soarin reminded her. “You have a lot of years left.”
“Pays to be prepared. Now don’t you have a bag to pack Soarin?”
“Yes boss!” Soarin gave Spitfire a salute and nodded before flying out the room. Spitfire gazed out the window and sighed.
“Uh we are ready ma’am,” High Winds spoke from behind her. “All accounted for. Blaze is the most reluctant at the moment. She and Raindrops are less than happy with each other.”
“Sucks to be them. Let’s go,” Spitfire scoffed and took off into the sky in the direction of Ponyville.
“How long have you been working for Rainbow?” High Winds asked hesitantly as she went into a dive following Spitfire.
“A good few years,” Cloudkicker shrugged as she did a half hearted barrel roll. “She’s a pretty good friend.”
“Damn right,” Thunderlane smirked. “Remember tornado duty guys?” The Ponyville pegasus all shared a laugh.
“I remember you getting Feather Flu along with Blossomforth and half our ranks,” Raindrops chuckled.
“I remember you crashing accidentally and the tornado falling apart,” Cloudchaser teased her. The jasmine pegasus turned bright red.
“That did happen,” Raindrops admitted sheepishly. High Winds gave a snicker and patted her on the back.
“Everypony makes mistakes,” High Winds coaxed with a grin. “I know first hand. They call me Hoof in Mouth for a reason.”
“Got a hoof sucking fetish?” Sprinkle Medley grinned.
“That is disgusting Sprinkle!” Cloudchaser snapped. “Absolutely disgusting.” Raindrops and Sprinkle Medley looked at each and burst out laughing.
“I accidentally walked into the Wonderbolt statues hoof when I was reading a book and it went into my mouth,” High Winds rubbed her head as she flew forward.
“Ow,” Thunderlane cringed.
“Where is Rainbow Dash?” Fleetfoot asked curiously. “Shouldn’t she be around here?”
“She’s the fastest mare alive. She’s probably halfway to Ponyville by now,” White Lightning chuckled. “I’m the second fastest of course.”
“Is that so?” Sassaflash taunted. “I’m faster I bet.” The two pegasus gave each other a friendly competitive glare.
“Let’s settle this with a race then,” White Lightning announced. “First of us to Berry Punchs Bar owes the other a round.” She held out her hoof and Sassaflash shook it.
“Deal!” The two landed on a nearby cloud and crouched low.
“Are they always like this?” Misty asked with an amused smile.
“Yep,” Sprinkle grinned. Cloudkicker flapped her wings in front of the two pegasi.
“On your marks, get set and go!” Cloudkicker slashed her hoof down and the two pegasus took off into the distance, leaving Cloudkicker spinning in a circle before Raindrops caught her with a cloud.
“Who’s gonna win?” Surprise asked. The Wonderbolts watched the rapidly fading pegasus with mild curiosity.
“White Lightning,” Sprinkle Medley announced. “Twenty bits on her.”
“You’re only saying that because you guys go way back,” Cloudchaser rolled her eyes. “Forty bits on Sassaflash.”
“Sixty on both,” Spitfire smirked. The others stared at her in shock. “What? I can bet on my recruits after hours.”
“Never thought I’d see that,” Thunderlane mumbled.
“It’s a long flight. Looking forward to stretch my wings out and fly,” Misty groaned eagerly.
“You guys have a lot of work to do,” Spitfire announced. “Ponyville is getting ready for winter so we can do that too.”
“Yes!” Surprise pumped her hoof. “Love snow!” Blaze sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Celestia kill me now.”
Forgiveness Is Hard To Give
White Lightning let out a laugh as she landed outside the Ponyville Weather Teams office. A frustrated Sassaflash landed behind her.
“You win again Whitey,” Sassaflash grumbled. “Good job.” She had lost the race to the bar last night and made a few ponies mad. Mainly Cloudchaser, Spitfire found it entertaining. She was perfectly fine with losing, it was just a friendly competition after all. It kinda helped that White Lightning felt the same way.
“You too Sassaflash,” White Lightning grinned. “You had me in the first half. Really thought you were gonna win it.” The two mares started trotting inside the office.
“I did too. Guess I’m not fast as Lightning,” Sassaflash winked. “Maybe one day.” White Lightning rolled her eyes and gave a frown.
“You’ve beaten me before remember?” White Lightning pointed out. “The one time in Canterlot when we raced really low through the streets and got yelled at by some Royal Guards for flying too low?”
“Oh yeah, that’s right. That did happen,” Sassaflash smiled. “I remember we had to fly all the back to Ponyville to avoid the fines. Can’t believe they put a height limit on how low we could fly. It’s bullshit.”
“It really is. We’re living things we can do whatever we want,” White Lightning agreed as the pair quieted down when Rainbow stepped in front of the gathered pegasus. It was a smallish team of twenty pegasi.
“Alright everypony I’m back, no more slacking off!” Rainbow smirked and the pegasi all gave a collective laugh. Rainbow was a laid back boss and didn’t demand too much from her employees. All she wanted was the skies clear when needed to be and if you could do that, you and her got along fine. “How was things in my absence, Blossomforth?” The watermelon maned pegasus stepped forward shyly. She was the quietest of the team.
“Everything went well boss. Some minor hiccups here and there but nothing we couldn’t solve right away,” Blossomforth gave her report quietly and the others had to strain to hear her.
“Sorry we’re late,” Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts stepped inside the room without their uniforms on. They didn’t want to attract too much attention.
“Spitfire? What are you doing here?” Rainbow asked cautiously as her eyes flicked to Soarin and Misty Fly.
“We got kinda bored of being cooped at HQ so we figured we’d come help you and your team out with the weather around Ponyville for a bit,” Spitfire announced. She gave a pointed look to Soarin and Misty.
“Yeah what Spitfire said,” Misty stepped forward. “We wanted a change of atmosphere.” Raindbow locked eyes with Spitfire for a few tense moments.
“Alright fine. But I’m in charge. The buck stops with me alright?” Rainbow asked, surprising Spitfire. This was a completely different mare from Wonderbolt practice.
“You got it,” Spitfire nodded briskly. “We don’t want any special treatment either. If we fuck up, let us know. And we don’t want to be flocked because we are the Wonderbolts please.”
“Alright. With that out of the way, we have business to discuss. Firstly, Dizzy Twister is currently in the hospital in labor at the moment so be sure to visit her after work. Silverspeed is there with her at the moment and will give me updates,” Rainbow announced and her teammates stomped their hooves eagerly. Spitfire watched on curiously with a smile.
“How long has she been there?” Raindrops asked excitedly.
“For the past eighteen hours I believe. I caught Silverspeed yesterday at the Sugarcube Corner and she made me aware that the two would be out for a bit,” Rainbow explained. “We have to bring the snow clouds from Cloudsdale today. It’s gonna be a few hours but we can do it.”
“There’s a lot of them,” Clear Skies said worriedly. “I’m not sure we will be able to keep up this year. We’re down four pegasi. Dizzy is in labor, Silver is with her, Bluebell is sick and Star Surfer is on vacation in Appaloosa with her family.” Rainbow sighed and shoved her hoof into her face.
“I’m tired of this negativity, Clear Skies. It’s time for us to be awesome!” Rainbow grinned. “We’re the best around town at what we do. Not even Baltimare can do what we do. We’re gonna get those damn clouds, we’re gonna fill that damn sky with the snowy clouds.”
“Yes boss!” Clear Skies grinned and gave a salute. “Let’s do this.” Soarin and Spitfire looked each with smiles.
“Wow she’s motivating,” High Winds commented in awe.
“Damn right,” Surprise agreed with wide eyes. “How did none of us see this side of her back at hq?”
“Probably because you were busy falsely persecuting her.” Soarin and Fleetfoot turned around slowly and made eye contact with a mad Rainbowshine.
“You know about that?” Soarin asked hesitantly with drooped ears. Rainbowshine rolled her eyes dramatically.
“We all know. We overheard it through the grapevine. You hurt my boss. Just for your information, I’m violently loyal to Rainbow. Don’t make me any madder,” Rainbowshine gave a cruel grin, her eyes lacking any warmth as Surprise gulped and hid behind Misty. Misty rolled her eyes and sighed.
“Look we messed up. Majorly. And we know,” Misty snapped. “We don’t need a constant reminder please.” She and Rainbowshine glared at each angrily. A blue hoof stomped on the ground and both mares glanced at Rainbows face.
“That is enough. I’m not having anypony get hurt today because I have better things to do than paperwork. Paperwork is boring and I don’t like boring things. And Misty isn’t covered under the weather teams insurance so please don’t hit anypony,” Rainbow gave both mares a pointed look. Rainbowshine blushed and gave her a big smile before flying to get her clouds.
“Sorry about that Spitfire,” Rainbow ignored Misty’s grateful smile turn into a frown as she faced Spitfire. “Rainbowshine has had a crush on me for years. She gets pretty damn protective over me.”
“Ooh somepony has a crush on Dash,” Surprise sang excitedly. Her face fell when Rainbow ignored her. Rainbow had been her friend and was just ignoring her.
“It’s fine Dash,” Spitfire sighed. “What do you want us to do?” Rainbow shrugged.
“Raindrops is going to Cloudsdale with Kicker and Sprinkle to get me the paperwork I need for my cloud orders. I hate paperwork. It’s boring,” Rainbow groaned. Spitfire smirked and gave a chuckle.
“Yeah it’s annoying,” Spitfire agreed.
“You can send one of the Bolts to help Parasol and Clear Skies take the birds south. The earth ponies and unicorns are already handling everything on the ground. The trees and the pond,” Rainbow groaned. “Clear Skies was right. We’re gonna be so behind again.”
“Well you got a team of Wonderbolts to help this year. Blaze, go find Parasol and Clear Skies to take care of the birds. Silver Zoom, go to Cloudsdale with Raindrops, Kicker and Sprinkle Medley please,” Spitfire ordered. “If that’s okay Rainbow.”
“That’s fine by me Spitfire. Thanks for the help,” Rainbow nodded.
“Just let me know if cross a line. You’re the boss for a while now,” Spitfire nodded back slowly. “Fleetfoot, High Winds, Surprise, Misty and Soarin, accompany Rainbow wherever she goes and help with whatever she needs please.”
“That’s not necessary. I’ll be fine. Thanks anyway,” Rainbow announced.
“Oh I insist. Having some helpers is always good,” Spitfire smirked.
“Fine,” Rainbow sighed. “Let’s get to work. Last thing I need is Torrent Twist riding my flank again like last year.” Rainbow rolled her eyes and took off into the sky.
“Are you sure about assigning us to her Spitfire?” High Winds asked. “She’s obviously pretty mad still. What if she hurts one of us?”
“She won’t do that,” White Lightning smirked. “She only hurts changelings or Tirek or uh evil things.”
“Or uh evil things?” Sassaflash raised an amused eyebrow. “What the hay does that mean?”
“Ya know. Bad things,” White Lightning explained.
“That literally tells me nothing Whitey,” Sassaflash rolled her eyes. “I love you but you confuse me some days.”
“Careful there. Don’t think Sea Swirl would like you saying I love you to another mare,” White Lightning teased.
“Who’s Sea Swirl?” Spitfire asked curiously.
“My marefriend. Hopefully she proposes soon enough,” Sassaflash sighed happily. “She’s way better than Caramel.” White lightning scoffed.
“Anypony is better than him. Wish you could let me break his jaw,” White Lightning grumbled.
“Yeah that’s not happening. You’d have to get behind Sea Swirl for that honor first,” Sassaflash sighed. “We should get to work. Rainbow will ride us hard.”
“Bet you would like Rainbow to ride you wouldn’t you?” White Lightning grinned and bolted as Sassaflash chased her out the room.
“Those two are pretty entertaining,” Surprise chuckled. “I like them!”
“I don’t think they like us,” Rapidfire sighed. “That Rainbowshine was ready to punch Misty it looked like.”
“Nonsense!” Surprise insisted. “White Lightning let me sleep over at her house last night. She wouldn’t do that if she hated me.”
“Fair enough.”
“Enough chatter let’s get to work,” Spitfire scoffed. “And you all have a mare to work for her respect once again.”
“Yes ma’am!”