Lightning Dust tightened the strap on her messenger bag, looking out over the edge of her lawn. Another advantage of cloud homes? The view. A view like this was only otherwise available to ponies in Canterlot or in hot air balloons, but even then it still wasn’t the same. Only the sharp vision of a pegasus let them take in every aspect of creation below. While she never tired of it, she had places to be.
Jumping off the end of the lawn she unfurled her wings and gave a hard flap to steady herself, settling into a gentle glide. As gravity slowly pulled her down she angled herself to circle Ponyville, starting to put together a list of things to do and places to visit. Getting her fur trimmed was at the top of the list, then there was the matter of mending some fences.
Of course there was Scootaloo. She could’ve been seriously injured or Celestia forbid killed if she hadn’t backed out. Besides, she shouldn’t have been running with them in the first place, she was just too young. But there were other ways she could be involved.
And then one of the hardest was going to be Rainbow Dash. Nearly making her friends plummet wasn’t cool, even if Dash had helped contribute to that tornado. And everything that happened with Scootaloo probably didn’t help. That fence didn’t just need to be mended, it needed to be completely redone.
And Spitfire? Lighting Dust grit her teeth, almost growling at the thought. That fence and the bridge it was attached to could burn to the ground for all she cared!
Next on her to-do list, she’d need to gather some specific herbs and ingredients. She’d heard a rhyming zebra on the fringes of the Everfree might have what she was looking for. If she did, Lightning Dust could get a lot started in one afternoon.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a school bell tolling. She looked down and caught sight of a vivid orange blur tearing out of the schoolhouse and through the road. Lightning Dust grinned seeing Scootaloo speed through Ponyville. Even if the kid couldn’t fly, she was still impressive.
She saw her dart into a house and made a mental note of its location. Seeing the ground approach she gave another flap of her wings to steady herself before she touched down in front of the barber. Having her first landing out of the hospital be a smooth one brought a smile to her face as she approached and pushed the door open.
A small bell tinkled as she entered, grabbing the attention of the barber. “Welcome, welcome. I see you’re in dire need of good grooming.” Barber Groomsby spun a chair towards her and began to dig through his drawers. “Please, have a seat!”
“Yeah, I really do.” She set her bag aside and got in the chair, but he didn’t bother draping a cape over her before spinning her to face the mirror. She closed her eyes as Groomsby started to mist her mane, getting to work with a comb and trimmer.
“I was wondering how long your recovery would take.” He remarked as he began carefully straightening and trimming her mane. “That was a nasty spill you had.”
“Oh, you know about that?” She cracked an eye open to see him beside her.
Groomsby was focused on shaping her wild mane back into something a bit more manageable, chuckling at her question. “Of course! It was all over the papers. Everypony in town knows about it, and probably a lot of ponies outside Ponyville, too.”
Lightning Dust’s face settled into a frown as the news sunk in. Her friends hadn’t told her about that. She cracked an eye to glance at the mirror and a thought crossed her mind. “Can you leave it longer in the back? Just trim it so it’s not all over the place.”
“Don’t want your old mohawk back?”
After a moment of thought she shook her head. “The less I look like a reckless daredevil the better.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I’ll leave you something you can style.” Groomsby expertly trimmed down her mane until it resembled something presentable, longer in the back just like she asked.
“Now comes the fun part,” he snickered, pulling out a pair of electric shears and getting to work.
She shivered as the cold metal clippers began to shave down her coat, trying to block it out. A headline like what he mentioned could go either way. Ponies loved a good comeback, but the idea that the stunts they did in the future were still dangerous might scare potential fans away. If that was the case, the Washouts would have to prove they’d changed to win back the trust of their fans.
An involuntary groan escaped her. Why in Equestria had she picked that infernal name?
The Washouts.
The ones who’d shout ‘leap before you look’.
The ones who seemed to have death wishes.
All just to be a mockery of another team.
That name was going to change, but to what? She’d had a lot of ideas while recovering, but none of them were good enough. It had to be perfect, something that set them apart besides just second to the Wonderbolts. There was still time to find a fitting name, however.
For the second time that afternoon she was pulled out of her thoughts, this time by the sound of the clippers being set on the counter. “All done, Ms. Dust.”
Lightning Dust looked herself over in the mirror, smiling at the pony who stared back. She hadn’t suffered any permanent scars from her accident, and she briefly wondered if that was because of something Doctor Horse had done. Besides that, she was definitely slimmer from some lost muscle mass. She’d have to weigh herself after her errands to see how much.
“How much do I owe ya, Groomsby?”
“For that trim and grooming? Ten bits altogether.”
Immediately reaching into her bag she pulled out the required bits, setting them on the counter. “Seeya later, I’ve got a friend to visit.”