“Rainbow?” Her left ear twitched on its own, but Rainbow did her best to keep her focus on the locker in front of her. “Hey, Dash?” Again she ignored the voice, silently willing whoever it was to turn around and walk out of the locker room. The last thing she wanted right then was more attention. The sound of approaching hoofsteps broke her resolve, and her simmering emotions boiled over. “You’ve got some bucking nerve, you know that, Lightning? Thinkin’ you can just waltz in here and apol—” Rainbow jumped off the bench and spun around, only to freeze when her eyes landed on the other pony in the room. “—logize… and you’re not Lightning at all…” Her anger fell away immediately, and she slumped down to her haunches. “I-I’m sorry, Meadow…” Meadow Flower approached slowly and sat next to Rainbow. “Hey, it’s okay, Rainbow.” “No, it’s not okay. Not at all.” Rainbow caught Meadow’s blue eyes for a moment, but quickly looked away. “Not after what happened out there today.” “That wasn’t your fault, Rainbow.” Meadow flicked her ears and shuffled her hooves a bit. “At least not entirely.” Rainbow stymied a hiss through gritted teeth. “Half the fault, a third of it, whatever. Either way, I followed along with Lightning’s stupidity, and everypony else suffered as a result.” “And that’s exactly what I want to talk to you about,” Meadow replied. “You might not have noticed it before, but the rest of us are just as upset at Lightning as you are. We just don’t know what, if anything, we can do to calm her down.” Rainbow let out an exasperated sigh. “Well, my little speech earlier may have won some credit back with you all, but it also ticked her off big time, I’m sure… and working with a lead pony who hates your guts is probably not going to end well for anypony.” Meadow mulled that over, then her ears suddenly perked. “Hmm, what if you requested to switch partners? The rest of us are so slow, we’d hold Lightning back all the time.” “You do that, she’ll just go off on her own anyway, and as long as she’s setting record times, I doubt Spitfire will care—” Rainbow jumped in place as an idea hit her. “That’s it!” Meadow gave her a curious look. “Huh? What’s “it”?” “Spitfire!” Rainbow answered. “I need to see Spitfire.” “And do what?” “Tell her exactly what happened, that’s what. Reckless flying, crashing you all… nearly killing my friends in a tornado…” “Wait, are you serious?” Meadow jumped in front of Rainbow. “Look, you said it yourself, you were part of that too. Lightning will just pin it on you in return. It’ll be your word against hers, and you know that hardly ever works out well.” Rainbow turned and went back to her locker. She flipped open her flight bag, stuffed the extra uniform she had and a few papers in it, and tossed it back in the locker. “It can’t be my word against hers if I’m not here.” “W-what are you saying, Dash?” Meadow asked. Rainbow kicked the locker door closed and stepped around the low bench again. “I’m saying I’m out, Meadow. I’m finished.” Meadow’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “W-what? Rainbow, nopony’s ever just quit the Academy like that! Look, I agree with you one hundred percent about Lightning, but if you go in there, Spitfire might throw you out anyway!” Rainbow paused at the open door for a moment, her mind turning over that possibility, along with dozens of others. Finally, she turned back to Meadow. “Then so be it. I’m not going to war over this. Spitfire needs to know the truth. I can’t live with myself if I cheat my way to the roster, but I won’t stand by and let Lightning ruin it for the rest of you either. If Spitfire can’t handle that, then this isn’t the team I always thought it was.” Rainbow walked out into the hallway and closed the door behind her, leaving Meadow Flower behind, possibly for the last time. [hr] The door to Spitfire’s office swung open with a slight squeak. Spitfire was behind her desk, hooves braced in front of her and a stern gaze behind her ever present sunglasses. “This better be important.” Rainbow swallowed the lump in her throat, steeled herself, and stepped inside.