Dowfall part 1-making a deal
To Captian Lofty, commander of the Dream Valley Lightning Bolts-
Here is the historical account your requested of me, translated from personal diaries and firsthand reports. I must warn you, however, that this text does not present your ancestor in positive light, nor does it paint a heroic picture about the founding of the Lightning Bolts. Lofty, you have been warned!
Thane Tornado Firehooves
Dream Castle Historian
As the rain came down on her head, a young Pegasus mare put her suitcase over her head, wishing she could fly up into the clouds and stop this drizzle- an impossible feat, given this region had uncontrollable weather. As she flapped her way through the everfree forest, she remebered-
"You're a disgrace to the Wonderbolts! Drumming you out of this academy is letting you off soft!"
"But ma'am! I was only trying to be a better flyer-!"
"Don't talk back to me, nag! You dishonor this academy with your lack of concern for your fellow pony! I never want to see your face around here again!"
But the more the young mare remembered, the angrier she became...
"My queen, she is here!" The unicorn whinnied, looking in through the throne room door.
"Very well, Minuette." Rosaline replied, looking up from her paperwork. "Please, send her in!"
The large bronze doors swung open, and a proud-looking Pegasus mare trotted into the throne room, stopping before the throne and bowing politely.
"Thank you for seeing me, your highness." The blue pony with a blonde mane greeted Rosaline. "It is truly an honor to be granted an audience with you, and on such short notice."
"Lightning Dust... so you are more polite than my intelligence reports on you indicated." The unicorn monarch learned forward on her throne, looking down at the mare thoughtfully. "Welcome to Dream Castle, my dear. It is rare privilege that an Equestrian citizen is allowed to see this place."
"Yeah, I can understand that." Lightning Dust looked around at the throne rooms white washed marble columns, and purple drapery and carpeting. "Nice place you got here, your highness. Not as fancy-schmancy as Canterlot, but nice in a Dream Valley sort of way."
"What exactly are you doing here, my dear?" Rosaline replied, getting to the point. "You put yourself at great risk, coming to visit a kingdom of exiles and outcasts that officially doesn't exist. What exactly is it that you want?"
"I was the best flyer in Equestria, your highness. I had practiced since I was a foal." Lightning Dust looked up at Queen Rosaline, her face turning to a look of anger as she spoke. "Ever since I was a little filly, all I ever wanted was to be a Wonder Bolt. I trained and trained and trained, forcing myself to be faster than the fastest Pegasus filly, and stronger than the strongest Pegasus colt. While other foals were playing games and having fun, I pushed and pushed and pushed myself to be the best!"
"I am well aware of your story, Lightning. My spies are highly skilled in their information gathering." Rosaline snorted, pointing towards a barely noticeable changeling lurking in the shadows. "You were kicked from Wonderbolts training, due to your recklessness and carelessness!"
"I was the best cadet at the academy that year, the best!" The mare snorted angrily. "I was the fastest at completing 500 flying laps! I was the one who pushed past the limit on the dizzytron! I was the pony who created a tornado to bust clouds quicker! And what was my reward?" He eyes went wide, as she was basically shouting by this point. "Stripped of my position as a a leader! Publicly humiliated! And that Spitfire? She was a total hypocrite! She made me a leader because I pushed myself flying! She supported everything I did, up until Rainbow Dash called her on it! My childhood dreams were ripped out from underneath me, and I want payback!"
"That may be the case, but again..." The queen replied, bringing a halt to Lightning Dust's ranting. "What is it you want from Dream Valley?"
"You're kingdom's in a Cold War with Princess Celestia's kingdom, and in that cold war, the air power of the Wonderbolts is a factor." She smiled darkly. "I know their strengths and weaknesses, I know how they work as a team! I can give you the strategies your air fighters need to combat them! And I can train you an elite combat force from your best Pegasus flyers to counter them!"
"So, you'll train me my own squadron of Wonderbolts, and provide me with valuable intel." Rosaline cocked an eyebrow. "And what is it that you want from me in return?"
"The team is named gonna be named after me- the Lightning Bolts- and I'm made the squad captain." The mare demanded, stamping her hoof. "Also, the glory stays mine, even after I'm gone. None of this 'earning the position through effort' junk, my rank and leadership gets passed down to my daughter, and then to her daughter, and so on- as long as there is a team."
"As I recall your foolish actions nearly destroyed the harmony bearers." Rosaline replied critically. "Why should I put my own subjects at your tender mercies?"
"Okay, I admit I was being a bit reckless that day, but they could have told me what I was doing wrong, rather than stripping my pin off my uniform right in front of everypony else, and booting me out!" The Pegasus mare's wings drooped, and she looked at the floor. "I won't put the ponies under my command's in unnecessary danger, I swear I won't be reckless with the lives of your subjects!"
"You are extremely ruthless and ambitious, Lightning Dust... qualities frowned upon in Equestria." The queen noted, staring directly at the Pegasus. "However, those may just be the qualities Dream Valley's aerial defenders will need, if they are going to protect my kingdom. Very well, I shall grant you what you desire!"
"All right! Thank you, your Highness!" The Pegasus kowtowed before Rosaline. "I promise you, you're not gonna regret this!"
"See to it that I do not." Rosaline replied, gesturing off to a servant to take the Pegasus's luggage to a room in the castle. "For I have a most important task for you, once you get your new team trained!"
"Really?" Lightning asked, surprised. "What's that?"
"You are correct about one thing... the Wonderbolts are far too much of a threat to the balance of power between Equestria and Dream Valley." The queen stood up, and trotted over to the window. "Once the Lightning Bolts are ready to go, I want Celestia's little group of flyers taken out of the picture, permanently!"
"Your majesty?" The Pegasus asked in shock. "You want me to... wipe out the Wonderbolts?"
"Not to actually end the ponies lives, mind you... that is far too sinister an act." The queen replied in disgust. "But if the unit were publicly humiliated in, say, an international incident... My aunt Celestia would be compelled to dissolve the Wonderbolts to save face."
"Leaving Dream Valley and the Flutter Ponies with the only elite flyer units!" Lightning grinned. "Oh, your majesty, you are a clever pony!"
...
"I'm lookin' for a few good ponies..."
Withing the glass-domed courtyard of Dream Castle, Lightning Dust was addressing thirty of the kingdom's best flyers, hoof-picked by the queen herself. The new captian was currently dressed in a leather bomber jacket and aviator goggles- the team's outfit, designed by Hoity Toity himself- and was seeing who she could pick out of this rabble to start the training.
"As you all know, Equestria- the kingdom which dumped all of you out on your flanks, turning you from respectable citizens into exiles- is now threatening the new home that you and your families have made for yourselves out here. Queen Rosaline needs Pegasus of particular strength and speed to defend her dominions from invaders, and I want to know whom among you is up to the challenge!"
Several moments of silence followed, before a blue stallion with an grey mane with a pale streak in it stepped forward.
"I'll be happy to join your cause, ma'am!" The athletically built stallion replied, saluting the mare.
"And you might you be, soldier?" Lightning replied, realizing he was a professional by his demeanor.
"Wind Rider, ma'am... formerly of the Wonderbolts!" Her replied, keeping his gaze ahead.
"Wind Rider? The famous flying ace?" She asked in surprise. "How did an ex-Wonderbolt end up out here?"
"Humiliation and exile, ma'am!" he replied grimly, continuing to salute. "It's something I'd rather not talk about, m'am!"
"And they punished me for my ruthlessness! The mare thought to herself. "Like I said before- hypocrites!"
"Very well then, Wind Rider." She told him, her eyes going up and down the curves of his flank. "You'll be my second in command on this team." She handed him a uniform jacket. "With your experience, you're gonna help me whip this rookies into shape."
"Ma'am! Yes ma'am!" He snorted, saluting again. "I won't let you down, ma'am!"
"As to the rest of you, I could whip even the weakest of you into shape!" She flew up to another unassuming white mare with Pink and green streaks in her mane. "You! Rookie! What's your name!"
"My name? Blossomforth, ma'am!" She clumsily saluted Lightning. "Ponyville exile, banished to Dream Valley for publicly humiliating a Cloudsdale politician!"
"Did, I ask for that information, rookie?" She barked, causing Blossomforth to wince at her harshness. "In order to prove I can make each of you into a lean, mean flying and fighting machine, I will be taking this joke of a mare as my wing pony! Do all of you understand?"
"Ma'am yes ma'am!" They all replied in unison.
"Very good! I see you're all very dedicated to the cause!" The mare nodded approvingly. "But I wanna see whose got the fire in 'em to be a Lightning Bolt, and who doesn't! Now, get out on that track, and give me 500 laps!"
"M'mam! Yes ma'am!" They replied in unison, heading out onto the indoor track.
"So far, so good!"The mare thought to herself. "I need to get these goofs into shape, if we are going to carry out our new queen's orders!" Lightning Dust narrowed her eyes. "I need to stop sweating all the small stuff, and concentrate on training these failures and setbacks, to be ready! Look out, little ponies! Lightning Dust is gonna have her revenge!"
Tornado,
You're darn right this isn't a good narrative- it sucks! You make my squadron look like a band of criminals that destroyed the Wonderbolts, and you made my ancestor, Lightning, look like an evil villain. Fix it, Tornado! FIX IT NOW!
Captain Lofty
Leader, Dream Valley Lightning Bolts