The New Recruit

Spitfire had her front hooves behind her head and her back hooves kicked up on the seat of the chair opposite her. She looked to be relaxing. What a perfect time to prank her.

Rainbow Dash snuck up behind her and put her whistle between her lips, creeping ever closer. This would be a bit of a nasty shock at first, but she was sure they'd have a laugh about it later.

"Don't even think about it," growled Spitfire. "I can hear your hooves against the pavement. I'm in no mood today."

"I knew I should have hovered," snapped Rainbow, sweeping around the table. "So, what's up?"

"Just deep in thought," sighed Spitfire, leaning forward and kicking out the chair for Rainbow to sit. "I'm on my lunch break."

"So, why aren't you eating lunch?"

As if to answer that question, a waitress approached and placed two plates of food in front of Spitfire. "Would your guest like to order something, as well?"

Spitfire turned to Rainbow Dash. "If you order something, you're paying for it. I have to return to court in fifteen minutes."

"Whatever's hot and ready," answered Rainbow. "I have somewhere to be, too."

As the waitress nodded and walked off, Spitfire picked up her sandwich. "So, what brings you to Canterlot?" she asked, biting into it.

"Just running an errand for Twilight."

"Princess Twilight," corrected Spitfire through a mouthful of snapdragon.

"Yeah, she's still Twilight to me. Anyway, she sent me up here to pick up some paperwork since Spike's been called out to the changeling hive to help with... Well, I didn't pay attention to that part. Point is, he's gone, and Twilight needs this paperwork." She lifted her bag to show four colour-coded binders with papers in them. "What about you?"

"Court hearing," answered Spitfire, taking a drink to clear her mouth. "I'm sure you've read that libelous article from a few weeks back?"

"From that gossip rag?" snorted Rainbow. "The one that was printed next to the bighoof sighting? Yeah, that's something I would read... No, I didn't read it, but I heard about it from Pinkie. Something about you taking bribes to let an earth pony take your place as captain of the Wonderbolts?"

"That's the one."

"So, some fool actually believed it?"

"Hundreds, apparently. Not the least of which were dozens of new cadets at the academy. I sued on behalf of the Wonderbolts, the academy, and the student being accused in the article, and I've pretty much already won. We're awarding damages today."

"Didn't that article come out two weeks ago? Doesn't criminal litigation take a long time? How have you already won?"

"Simple. I proved my case, which was pretty easy, made some accusations of my own, which they were unable to refute, then I called for a directed verdict, on the grounds that I could prove my claims and they could not. It was, as the judge decided, pretty open-and-shut. We'd be done already if I didn't have an academy to run."

"I'm all for a speedy case," chuckled Rainbow as her food was placed in front of her; corn chowder. "Thanks. Can I have the bill, too? I'll just have this and go, thanks."

"Mine, too?" asked Spitfire. As the waitress nodded and walked back in, she turned to Rainbow. "I'd rather the case not be any longer than it needs to be. Hells, I'd rather no case at all."

"Yeah. And what a ridiculous story, too. Like you'd even let an earth pony into the academy in the first place, let alone make captain..."

Spitfire was silent as she stared Rainbow down.

"What?"

"We did let an earth pony into the academy. That's the only part of that article that was true."

Rainbow's jaw dropped.

"Yeah, I expected that reaction. I imagine you're pissed. An earth pony, being accepted into the same flight academy you very nearly walked out of? How embarrassing that your alma mater thinks that an earth pony can fly."

"He shouldn't be able to!" shouted Rainbow. "That's preposterous!"

Spitfire slammed her hoof on the table. "Keep your voice down! Some of us are trying to eat..."

Rainbow took a second to breathe. "An earth pony? Really?"

"Despite your shock, I should inform you that he's actually doing fairly well."

"Really?"

"Well, he's the sixth worst on the flight courses in his group, but... Just think about that for a moment. He flies better with no wings than five of his classmates. You wanna talk about embarrassing? Ponies with wings are being outclassed by that very same earth pony."

"Unbelievable."

"It's true."

"No, I don't believe you."

Spitfire's lips curled up at the ends. "You don't have to believe me."

"Good, because I don't."

"You don't have to believe me, because you can come see him for yourself."

"Yeah? Maybe I will."

Spitfire tapped her hoof on the table a few times, then reached into her own satchel. "I have, here, the grade reports. You're looking for Clubs, A. Tell me, what do you see?"

Rainbow found it and smirked. "Really low numbers. Like, "how can you possibly expect to make Wonderbolt like this" numbers. You're saying this guy's better than other students?"

"Now look at Blade, W. and Smoke, C. What do you notice about them?"

Rainbow traced them. "Lots of zeroes. Failure to completes, crashes... Wait a sec... This Clubs guy is an earth pony, right?"

"That's right."

"He took the dizzitron at maximum power?!"

Spitfire nodded. "I saw it myself. He actually went on twice, back to back. He failed the first time at the normal speed, as you can see from the scratched-out part, but then he tried again. On a higher difficulty. And he passed."

"Barely."

"But he passed." Spitfire used the last of her sandwich to mop up her baked beans and shoved it in her mouth. "His best isn't that great, but he's giving it. He's better than the quitters, though only time will tell if he's a loser."

"Wow," Rainbow breathed, pushing the gradebook across the table. "Just wow. I want to see this guy for myself."

Spitfire tucked the gradebook back into her satchel and stood up, dropping a few bits onto the bill as the waitress brought it out. "You should. Despite the fact that he is who he is, he's doing a great job. I hereby invite you to see for yourself just what he's capable of."