Blown Away

A thousand different thoughts, none of them good, raced through Twilight’s mind as she stared at Spitfire. Was she in trouble? Should she warn Rainbow Dash not to come up? Why wasn’t Spitfire saying anything? Spitfire stood silent, unmoving, staring straight at Twilight with an odd gaze. It wasn’t as harsh of a look as Twilight would have expected, rather a calculating, yet disappointed look… with a hint of something else.

“What’s up, Twilight? You haven’t said a thing since you finished…” Rainbow Dash said, trailing off as she noticed Spitfire. “Oh.” Her shoulders sank as she landed next to Twilight, preparing herself for the angry lecture that was sure to come.

“I am extremely disappointed in you, Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire said, pacing back and forth. “Not only have you been using the courses without my permission, but you brought a new flier onto the most dangerous one and had her run through it unsupervised.”

“But I…” Rainbow Dash started.

“Not only did you bring her onto the course unsupervised, but she sustained an injury from lightning which you deliberately hid from me. How long do you think I’ve been flying? Don’t you think I know a lightning burn when I see one?” Spitfire demanded. Rainbow Dash seemed to grow smaller with each line she heard, cowering into a ball.

“As for you,” Spitfire turned to Twilight, softening her gaze. “I’m sorry…”

“Wait, what?” Twilight and Rainbow Dash simultaneously asked.

“I’m sorry for the recklessness of your flying partner. Had she gone to me first and asked for permission to use the courses, I would have granted it. I’m sorry that I couldn’t have been there to prevent your injury and guide you through a proper training. It was due to her foolishness that you were harmed,” Spitfire said as Rainbow Dash turned away. Twilight recognized that look. The tears would be coming soon.

“She was only trying to help. Rainbow Dash is a great flier,” Twilight said, defending her friend. “Besides, I went with her willingly, you can’t pin it all on her!” Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up.

“She is one of our most experienced fliers, but she isn’t a certified instructor yet and she didn’t follow proper protocol,” Spitfire said, glaring at Rainbow Dash. “Although… I must say I’m impressed.”

“What?” Twilight and Rainbow Dash simultaneously asked again.

“You flew for the first time less than a week ago,” Spitfire said. By now the sun had set and the moon lit up the course in ghostly silver light. “And today, I just watched you pass our most difficult course, a feat that many other pegasi who have flown all their lives couldn’t accomplish with months of training. That’s really something, I’m not denying it.” She paused for a moment in thought. “Alright, consider yourself lucky to have such a good friend, Rainbow Dash. Can’t say I’d feel the same way about a friend who leads me into a lightning storm. There will be consequences, of course, but I’ll take it easy on you.” Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight and smiled thankfully. Twilight nodded back silently, returning the smile.

“First of all, neither of you will be running the Dragon Course, or ANY course for that matter, for the next two weeks. One of you is in no condition for rigorous training, and the other one is going to have to take that as part of her punishment,” Spitfire said. Twilight breathed a small sigh of relief. She hadn’t been looking forward to another run of the Dragon Course anyway.

“Rainbow Dash… For using resources without permission and irresponsible handling of a new recruit, I’m demoting you to a regular advanced flier for two weeks. I will lead the advanced flier group in your stead,” Spitfire continued, “Trust me, it could be a lot worse.” Rainbow Dash nodded sadly.

“Twilight Sparkle… I see now that I was wrong to put you in the advanced fliers. You clearly weren’t ready for the tasks at hand, and it pushed you too hard too fast. Believe it or not, I can sense when a flier is overwhelmed. I’m going to put you in the intermediate flying group, two levels below the advanced fliers, headed by Skyward Storm. By now you’d probably be around his level if you were at full strength. Don’t worry, you’ll have a chance to get back up there with Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire said. Twilight nodded, thinking that these punishments were probably going to end up doing her some good.

“Alright, that’s it then. What are you two still doing here? Being on a course after hours without explicit permission is against the rules. Scram, you two. I’ll have some errands for you to run tomorrow while everypony else shows off their progress on the obstacle courses,” Spitfire dismissed them.

As they flew back towards Ponyville, Rainbow Dash bumped Twilight on the shoulder. “Hey, thanks for standing up for me. I don’t know what Spitfire would have said if she blamed it all on me.”

“You risked everything to help me. I’m the one who should be thanking you,” Twilight beamed. “Did you see it by the way? On Spitfire’s face?”

“I wasn’t really looking at her face. Why? Was there something hanging out of her nose?” Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight frowned.

“No, I meant her half-smile. She was smiling behind that stern look. Like she was proud of you, and didn’t really want to punish you,” Twilight said. Rainbow Dash’s face lit up.

“Well of course she was proud of me. No amateur flier would be able to fly through the Dragon Course within a week of enrollment in the academy without my help,” Rainbow said, seeming to forget her sadness at her demotion.

“I just hope nopony beats your time on the Dragon Course this week,” Twilight said, thinking it would be a good idea to boost Rainbow Dash’s ego just a little bit more.

“Ha! Beat me? They’d need more than my two weeks’ break to do that! They’d be lucky to catch up in two months!” Rainbow bragged. Twilight gingerly grabbed her friend in a hug, making sure to avoid contact with her injured side, and the two friends laughed, spiraling gently in a line across the night sky.

Pretty soon, they had reached Twilight’s home. “So anyway, what do you suppose Spitfire meant by errands?” Twilight asked.

“Beats me,” Rainbow Dash shrugged, “she never had anypony do that before. Then again, nopony has ever broken so many records… I mean rules… before. My guess is it’s nothing too bad, but I’d still get a lot of rest. At least you don’t need to hide your injury. Anyway, I’m going to head off now. Night, Egghead.”

“Yeah, I guess. See you tomorrow,” Twilight said as Rainbow Dash turned and flew away.