Wingmates
"Wingmates"
Sometimes I'm tired, sometimes I'm shot
Sometimes I don't know how much more I've got
Maybe I'm headed over the hill
Maybe I've set myself up for the kill
"Now get up there and give me twenty!"
Though it was by no means the volume of the Royal Canterlot Voice, when Spitfire gave an order, everypony knew it and as the words died down, Rainbow Dash shot into the air to be greeted by the others and receive their congratulatory salute. Seeing this simple action, she felt pride swell within her chest and she returned it eagerly, a steely gleam in her eyes as she motioned for them to follow, the group sailing into the sky as one. The fact that they would defer to her and join her in her 'reprimand' being a more galvanizing and powerful honor than any award she could ever win.
Despite her often bragged upon fearlessness, cavalier attitude and daredevil ego, Rainbow Dash was no stranger to extremes in both mood and performance. However, the all but literal roller coaster of emotions she had endured over the past few days had more than taken its toll, nearly pushing her to the breaking point and robbing her of almost all her remaining energy. After the day she had endured, the twenty laps around the airfield were nothing more than a brief cool down exercise; albeit one that was desperately needed.
By the time she split off from the other cadets and returned to the tarmac to finally open her friend's care package, she was so hungry and exhausted that even the damaged cake looked like a banquet. Taking a much needed bite, she sat amongst her friends to regale them with the stories of her week and simply enjoy their company again. Through it all though, she could not shake the concern she felt at the disappointment in the eyes of her former wing-leader, and erstwhile friend. Likewise, the memory of the teal green pony being lead away towards Spitfire's office made her insides churn uncomfortably.
Rainbow Dash was many things -- some good, some not so much -- and she knew that for all of her strengths, she had an equal, if not greater, number of flaws. Of course, she'd generally prefer to march through Tartarus with her wings clipped before ever admitting that. But, when all was said and done, everything about her came down to just one simple truth; even after everything that had happened, she just couldn't leave a pony hanging.
Excusing herself from her friends, Rainbow Dash trotted off towards Spitfire's office.
------------
Her body felt like lead; her gait sluggish, her head low and her wings dragging the ground in defeat, her mind in even worse shape than her physical form. She wanted to raise her head and look around in the vain hope of seeing just one friendly face or find somepony who might take her side in the situation; one who would stand up for her or at least make some kind of acknowledgement that she would be missed. But vain hope was just that, vain; she knew that nopony would be coming and had already resigned herself that they were likely just glad to see her go. Considering the looks she had gotten after the ill-fated tornado, she could hardly call herself surprised.
The walk through the barracks felt more like the last mile of a condemned prisoner making their way to a guillotine than a walk to the locker room; a fate which, she reflected, would be preferable to the life of obscurity that waited beyond the academy.
"Just another in a long line of disappointments," Lightning Dust thought to herself.
As the droopy pegasus made her way into the locker room, she wondered how a pony could be at the top of the world one minute only to have it all stripped away in the next. Her movements felt mechanical, her breath labored and shallow as she made her way to the plain metal locker; plain except for the golden wing insignia across its front, above which her name had been printed in neat hoof written letters. That should have been proof she had finally made it, but instead it was just another reminder of her failure.
Staring silently at the metal locker would bring her no answers, but she reasoned for a moment that if she waited long enough, maybe somepony would realize what a mistake it was letting her go and come in to welcome her back. On the other hoof though, she knew that if she waited too long, the guards would come in looking for her and the humiliation of being escorted off the premises in full view of everypony else would be more than she could take. Repressing a sigh, she nudged open the locker to look at her meager possessions inside, pulling them out and stuffing them unceremoniously into her worn duffel bag.
Most of the things in her locker where simple and practical without any emotional attachments to them, but as she came to the last article, she paused, looking at it closely. It was a news clipping stuck to the back wall of the locker with an old Wonderbolt magnet, the picture showing a familiar cyan blue pegasus with a polychromatic mane being carried off the field in Cloudsdale Stadium, the headline reading "Best Young Flier performs Sonic Rainboom! Old Mare's Tale Proven True!" in bold but fading letters.
To say that Lightning had been surprised that the Rainbow Dash had been part of her Wonderbolts class had been an understatement. She had admired the elder pegasus ever since flight school for the daredevil actions that she seemed to perform with ease and had always wondered what it would be like to meet her face to face. Every article she had found had described her as a brash, devil-may-care stunt pony whose ego often wrote checks her body couldn't cash; but who could pull of stunts that even the Wonderbolts weren't capable of. When they had finally met face to face though, Lightning didn't want to come across as an overzealous fan girl and so she had played it cool, pretending to know nothing about her fellow cadet and enjoying the fact that the celebrity wasn't all that much different from her.
She thought she had found somepony who could finally understand her, somepony she could relate to!
But she guessed what they said about heroes was true, and that when you finally met them, they always let you down.
"Buck it all," she said quietly. "Buck. It. All! I made it here on my own! Me! The freak! The screw up! I proved you right and I proved everypony else wrong, I followed my dream and I made it! But then she had to buck it all up because of her stupid... her stupid friends! It's not my fault they showed up when they did! It's not my fault she had to side with them! Spitfire made me the Wing leader, not her! Why would she do that if I wasn't better than her! Okay maybe she was a little faster on stuff and maybe she made it all look easy. But I pushed myself harder than she did! That's what Spitfire said! She said she made me Wing leader because I pushed myself... because I worked for it!"
She hadn't realized she was shouting at the locker until the last words began to boil her blood as her heart raced. A cry of rage and frustration worked its way loose from her throat as she spun, hind legs pulled up as she felt her muscles coil before kicking out into the locker. Her hooves connected with the heavy metal solidly, slamming the door closed and leaving a good inch deep impression in its facade. Unfortunately, the sudden violence robbed her of the last of her adrenaline and she sank down to her haunches with a whimper.
"I'm not gonna cry," she told herself, repeating the words over and over like a mantra even as she felt the first tears begin to slide down her cheeks. "It wasn't supposed to be like this... I was supposed to come here and wow them and join up without any problems. I worked hard for this, I worked hard like you told me to and she... she just made it all look so easy so I just pushed harder. That's what you told me to do... that's what I've always done and now... now cause of some stupid mistake... was I really that wrong?"
"What am I supposed to do now...?" she asked herself, watching the small puddles made upon the floor by her tears. Her spirit in turmoil, she almost missed the sound of the door opening, but as her ears piqued up, she quickly wiped the tears away with her foreleg and did her best to straighten herself up. Turning slightly, she felt her heart skip as a familiar pegasus stepped into view to stand at the end of the row of lockers.
"Hey," Rainbow Dash said lightly.
Lightning felt the depression and self-loathing instantly replace themselves with righteous fury as she surged to her hooves, wings flaring as she reared back on her hind legs, forelegs thrashing. The look on Rainbows face was unreadable, but the Wing leader badge that glimmered on the other mare's chest was as mocking as any insult. She wanted to tear it off of her and shove it down her throat before beating her to a bloody pulp.
Rainbow didn't even flinch as the teal mare slammed her hooves into the floor with a clack as loud as thunder.
"What do you want!?" she shouted. "Come to gloat!? Come to rub the fact that you won in my face? I'll save you the trouble, ha ha ha, poor Lightning Dust, you bucked up and now everypony knows it, I'm so glad you're going home because now there's nopony else that's got a chance of beating me!"
Silence was the only response.
"Please, don't keep quiet on my account!" she continued. "What's the matter? Timberwolf get your tongue? Don't bother trying to sugarcoat things, just insult me and get it over with! Say it! Come on! I know you want to! I know I'd be gloating if I got somebody kicked out who was a threat to my dream! I'd be up there doing loop the loops and shouting about it to all of Equestria! You know that right? I swear I'd be..."
"No," Rainbow said, cutting her off. "You wouldn't be."
At that simple statement, every remaining words died on Lightning's lips. "Bu... wha... huh?" she began.
"I know your type, Lightning Dust." Rainbow said matter-of-factually. "You'll rub it in, but not like what you're saying you'd do. You know how I know that you're that type? Simple, it's because I'm the same way. I have to push the envelop and be the best there is when I want something as bad as I want this. I've got to show my stuff and be better than everypony else because that's the way I am. That's the way we are."
Lightning stared for a moment before she began to laugh ruefully.
"Oh... oh ho ho that's rich... oh that's a good one! You think you know my 'type' huh? Well I happen to know your type too Rainbow Crash!" She shot back, smiling cruelly as the other mare's ears flickered just a little at the old and unwanted nickname. "Yeah, that's right, I know all about you. Best Young Flier two years running, Element of Harmony and the only pegasus to ever pull off a Sonic Rainboom. Want more? I know your dad's the commander of the Air Wing branch of the Royal Guard and your mom's one of the most renowned distance fliers in all of Equestria. I see you in the news all the time and I know that all of your friends always stood up for you when you bucked up. And you know what else? I idolized you, Rainbow Dash! I wanted to be like you and for the the life of me I can't figure out why anymore! You've had everything hoofed to you your whole life to where you only ever had to do your damned practice and stunt flying and occasionally do a little weather work when you got bored."
She paused to breath, but continued quickly.
"Well guess what? I never had any of that! I had to work my way up here! I had to fight for everything I've had in my life. I don't have famous friends or rich parents or the princess of Equestria pulling strings for me... and you've got the nerve to sit there and tell me you know my type!? Face it, Rainbow Crash, you're just as arrogant and self-centered as I am! So don't you dare preach to me about my type because, filly, you don't got a wing to fly on with that one!"
Shaking with anger and humiliation, Lightning Dust flared her wings one more, silently challenging Rainbow to refute her words.
"Finished?" Rainbow asked, her tone still matter-of-fact. "You're right, I come from some money. I've got some famous relatives and I'm famous in my own way. But the truth is that that doesn't mean a load of horseapples in my family; we work hard for what we've got too and I honestly don't give a hay if you believe that or not. I'm just as arrogant, cocky and brash as you were today and I know that. I've toned it down a little over the years thanks to some help from my friends, but I'll never completely give it up, mostly cause I wouldn't be me if I suddenly turned humble or something. But you know what? I'm okay with that."
"You're.... you're okay with that!?"
"Yeah, I am, and do you know why? It's because the difference between us isn't in our upbringing or skills or who we know." Rainbow said, her tone still even and calm. "I'm a practical joker, Lightning, I love pulling pranks and it makes me smile. I"ll happily let any pony eat my dust fair and square and I'll take a challenge just for kicks. I push myself hard and I've done that every day of my life because I want to be the best there is and, yes, I've been reckless more than I care to admit. But, the difference between us is that I've learned the hard way that pushing myself for no good reason is the last thing that needs to be done and that I would never step on another pony just to get what I want. Not anymore."
Lightning felt as if she'd been slapped by those words and recoiled slightly, backpedaling until her rump connected with a bench, causing her to inadvertently sit down. Rainbow Dash... the Rainbow Dash, had just admitted her own faults without batting an eyelash -- in a way that sounded like she was almost bragging about her downsides! -- and turned everything that had been so clear into a complete jumble without ever raising her voice. Lightning stared at the cyan pony before her, her eyes wide and her jaw slack, her brain barely able to register the impossibility she had just witnessed.
"I... I didn't... I mean... I wouldn't...." she started, but Rainbow wasn't done yet.
"You did." She said. "You did everything you did these past few days to prove you're the best, maybe to prove that you're better than me because like you said you... idolized me... fine, I get that; and on any other day I'd be going gaga over the fact. But what I don't get is why you think the others are weak just because they can't fly as fast as we do or bust clouds as fast as we can."
She blinked. "W-well aren't they?"
"Ponyfeathers, girl! Do you even hear yourself? You're just looking at their wing power, that's it. I'll bet you didn't know that Cloud Chaser is one of the best shading-scouts in Cloudsdale did you? Did you know that Thunderlane, lazy as he is, is the best storm organizer this side of Las Pegasus? Hayseeds, even Barbell, for all his muscle and 'yeahs!,' is an Equestria renowned snowflake artist! They can all fly great and they've got a good chance at making it on the Wonderbolts even though none of them can match either of us in speed or agility. Sure, I'll crack jokes and throw my ego around, but I don't think that they're weak just because they're talents are in different places than me and because they don't push as hard."
Taking a moment to breath, Rainbow trotted forward a few steps, pausing as she noticed Lightning cringing back some, the last of her earlier bravado spent under the torrent of words. She saw the turmoil in the other mare's eyes as she tried to bring her thoughts back into cohesion and knew that if she wasn't careful, the teal-green mare's frayed emotions could snap. Sighing, Rainbow stepped back to give her some room.
"I knew somepony once, Lightning... a gryffon actually. Her name was Gilda; she was my best friend back in flight school and in the Speedsters. But she was doing the same thing I used to do and the same thing you're doing now. She was all about winning no matter the cost, it didn't matter who she put down or stepped on so long as she looked cool and came out ahead. I did that a couple of times and it always left a bad taste in my mouth, but I didn't see how she really was for a long time because I was the same way. It wasn't until I saw how she was treating my friends that I woke up and actually started to see just how bad I could be and let my friends, my real friends, show me a better way to do things. She walked out and I haven't spoken to her since. I don't want that happen to you, Lightning, because when I look back on the times before I met my friends, I really, really don't like what I see."
Head lowering, ears pinning back, Lightning sighed, "Friends huh?"
"Haven't you ever had a really good friend that was always there for you?"
"Yeah, my dad... but he died a while back. Everypony else... well... they always thought I was just a freak because of the way I act. I thought I might have found a friend here, you know? But I guess all I've done is push everypony away... push you away!" Pausing, her earlier anger returned as she met Rainbow's eyes once more. "What do you want me to say, Rainbow Dash? That I was jealous of you? Okay, fine, I admit it, I was jealous. I've pushed myself because I was jealous. Being a Wonderbolt has been my dream since I was a chunky little pegasus filly that could barely fly and everything I've done in my life was to further that dream. But then I looked at you and the way you made everything look so easy and so... so awesome, it was like all my hard work was for nothing because I just couldn't measure up. Do you have any idea how that made me feel!?"
"Yeah," Rainbow said. "I think I do, but do you know why I make everything look so easy?"
"No, why?"
"Because flying and agility are my talent, Lightning Dust," she answered. "Sure, I work hard -- despite what some ponies think -- and I play hard and yeah, I'm good at a lot of things, but speed and agility are what I'm great at. They're what make me, me and that's why I make it look so easy."
Lightning was about to reply, but the sound of a third set of hooves echoing in the locker room made her pause, her eyes turning slightly to the left to see who was about to come in and find the pair of them like this. Of all the ponies who could have walked in at that moment, however, Spitfire was not high on the list, but both Lightning and Rainbow saluted out of reflex. Spitfire raised a golden furred leg and waved the gesture off before slipping her glasses off and hooking them to the breast pocket of her captain's uniform.
"You done?" She asked Rainbow.
"Yes Ma'am."
"Good," she replied, turning to fix her amber eyes on Lightnings quivering golden ones. "I'm gonna ask you a question, newbie and I want you to think very, very hard before you answer it. Got it? Good. Now, why do you want to be a Wonderbolt so badly?"
Staring into Spitfire's hard, uncompromising gaze, the younger mare trembled and felt her wings rustle slightly before she could get them under control. She had already been torn apart verbally and dismissed from the academy with barely a chance to defend herself. She had been publicly striped of her rank -- informal though it had been -- and humiliated in front of her fellow cadets and a bunch of civilians. She had tried to explain herself, even foist some of the blame off on Rainbow, but had been told summarily to shut her mouth and pack her bags. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out why she was being asked this now.
"C-captain Spitfire, ma'am... I don't... I mean I'm not...." she stammered.
Spitfire would have none of it.
"You got one chance to answer my question, newbie. You throw it away with some lame explanation, I walk and that's the end of the line. You lie to me, and I swear by Celestia's Crown and Luna's Mane that I'll not only throw you out on your plot, I'll personally buck your flank all the way from here to Cloudsdale, get me?"
Spitfire had gotten progressively closer with each word until her nose was scrunched against Lightnings and her own wings had flared out dangerously. Lightning, for her part, swallowed hard and found she had nowhere else to go and no real choice other than to mull over her answer for several heartbeats. Spitfire backed up, barelyn to give her breathing room.
"You'll think I'm playing a sympathy card if I tell you," Lightning answered at length, ears pinning back and eyes unable or unwilling to look into the Captain's.
"Try me," Spitfire replied.
"My special talent is storm monitoring... lightning and thunder specifically," she said. "I found it when I was six and I've hated it ever since... I didn't want to be a weather pony, I wanted to be racer or a stunt flier and when I got my cutie mark for storms, I thought that dream was gone. Dad, my real dad, sat with me for hours after that and told me I defined my talent, not the other way around and that if I wanted to be a racer, I just needed to set a goal and push myself till I got there. He told me I could be anything I wanted to be if I put my mind to it, special talents be damned. So... that's what I did, I pushed and pushed but all I've ever been able to do is come in second place at best."
Lightning missed the glance exchanged between Rainbow and Spitfire as she continued.
"Dad died when I was nine and mom remarried when I was twelve. The guy... my stepfather that is... that mom married, he's okay I guess. I mean, he took care of me and he takes care of mom and he loves us both, but he can't understand why I'm not happy with my talent. His talent is similar to mine and he's a foreman at the weather factory who got me my first job; he just can't understand why I keep chasing 'unreachable dreams' when I should be happy that I've got something I'm good at already." She paused to take a deep breath. "He's never said it directly, but he thinks that if you don't use your talent you're not really a pony, just... just a thing that doesn't know it's place in the world. A lot of ponies I know say or think the same things because they're happy with what they do and can't figure out why I'm not. I just... wanted to prove everypony wrong, okay? I wanted to show them that I could do something they said was impossible and maybe... maybe inspire some other ponies along the way to do the same thing. You know. be the pony that ponies look up to for once, instead of the pony that everypony talks down to. I guess... I guess I got so caught up in trying to prove myself that I forgot about that and went about it wrong."
"Is that all?"
Lightning nodded as Spitfire stepped forward again, raising her foreleg slightly and causing Lightning to cringe as if awaiting a slap. But rather than feeling a strike, she felt the hoof rest on her shoulder comfortingly and raised her head to look into the older mare's eyes once more. Spitfire patted her shoulder lightly and stepped back.
"That's a pretty good reason, newbie" she said. "Lightning Dust, you endangered your fellow cadets, caused your wing-pony to be injured, damaged Wonderbolt property with an excessive use of weather force, nearly cost five civilians their lives and basically alienated your entire class with your attitude. Any one of these infractions is cause for dismissal under Wonderbolt Charter... taken collectively, I should throw your out on your plot right now."
Lightning blinked, "Didn't you um... do that, ma'am?"
"Yeah, I guess I did," She replied. "But... having said all that and listening to your story along with everything that was said between you and Rainbow Dash, I feel I also owe you an apology. I was harsh on you earlier, I admit that and was a lot harsher than was necessary. I know I expect a lot out of ponies because I expect a lot out of myself; especially ponies I put in a position of command. I felt like I'd screwed up making you wing-leader and I was taking my anger against myself out on you, I'm sorry for that. But at the same time, I'm not sorry I stripped you of your status. You made mistakes, sure, but Celestia knows I've made my share over the years and I've always had somepony give me more second chances than I probably deserved. I guess today is just another of those screw-ups on both our counts."
"Ma'am, I don't.. .what are you...?" Lightning stammered.
"A good friend of mine," Spitfire began, casting a sidelong glance at a sheepish looking Rainbow Dash, "came to me this evening and we talked about a few things. She asked that the record be set straight and that she regretted a few things she said before asking that I consider giving you a second chance. She thinks that under all the bravado I've been looking at there's a Wonderbolt worth holding onto. I guess I do too, since I'm here and all."
"WHAT!?" Lightning shrieked. "After I nearly killed your friends!? After all the stuff you said, after what I said?! Wh-why would you...?"
"Because I'd like to consider you a friend, Lightning Dust," Rainbow answered. "There aren't too many ponies out there that can keep up with me and like I said earlier, we've got so much in common it's almost scary. I guess I kinda felt guilty for some of the stuff I said too and because I know what its like to have a dream that ponies say you're not gonna get to see come true. That, and when I screw up, my friends stand beside me and give me another chance. I thought, you know, maybe you'd be up for the same thing? That's what friends do for each other."
Lightning simply stared.
"Also," Spitfire said. "I get to see plenty of would-be elite fliers; some of them even make the cut. But, I rarely ever get to see too many potential aces around here. I'll deny saying this and I'm not gonna show a shred of favoritism, but you two are a couple of the best fliers I've seen in years, you've definitely got potential and if I toss it away just because of a screw up..." she shrugged. "However, I'm gonna make this crystal clear, this ain't no free ride, period, end of story, exclamation point. You're officially on probationary flight status until further notice and will bounce back and forth between the teams each day while Rainbow Dash will be your primary wing-leader. In a couple of weeks we'll reevaluate you and see if you've learned from your mistakes."
Leaning forward again, Spitfire glared. "And don't think for one second that I am gonna cut you any slack, newbie. I'm gonna ride your plot like you're a two-bit dock mule and I'm gonna watch every move you make like a dragon watches a gem mine. You screw up again, you have so much as one feather out of place or one hoof over the line, I'll toss you out on your plot before you can blink, you get me?"
"Y-yes ma'am, I get you ma'am!" Lightning said, raising a shaky salute.
"Good... and you," she added, looking squarely at Rainbow Dash. "If you ever storm out of my office again without waiting for me to dismiss you, I'll personally make sure you end up shackled to weather factory till you're too old to fly, get me?"
"Yes ma'am, I get you ma'am!" Rainbow replied, saluting.
"Good, then get your lazy flanks out of this locker room and in the sky. You both get one-hundred laps before you can call it a day. Now move it!"
With that, Spitfire replaced her glasses, snapping off a glare to both cadets before turning and, with a flick-snap of her tail, trotted off and away without another word, the slamming of the locker room door the only sound to mark her passing. As soon as she was gone, Lightning turned to stare at Rainbow Dash in disbelief.
"Did you just... did she just... I don't... how did...."
Rainbow just smirked.
"Wingmates again, huh?" she asked quietly.
"Naw," Rainbow said, shaking her head. "We're at least twenty percent cooler than that, so let's go with friends instead."
"Friends, huh?"
"Yeah, I'd like that." Rainbow answered
"Yeah... I think I would too... I just... well... I guess 'thanks' doesn't really cover it... and um... I'm sorry for the shouting earlier. Thanks for... yeah, never mind, I'm no good with the mushy stuff. I'm glad your friends are okay, though."
"I was running high on adrenaline there and everything just came to a head, I'm sorry I lashed out. Besides, you don't save Equestria as often as we do by being easy to take down, you know." Smirking, Rainbow extended her foreleg and gave her new friend a half-friendly, half-challenging smirk. "Don't make me regret this, Lightning," she said. "I still think you're a bit on the dangerous side, but you can be my wing-pony anytime."
For her part, Lightning stared at the hoof for a few seconds, mixed emotions evident on her face before she finally returned the smirk and lightly bumped her hoof to Rainbow's. "Horseapples... by the time I'm off probation you'll be mine again."
"Wanna bet?"
"Oh it's on."
"I thought so... onetwothreego!"
In a flash, Rainbow was gone, the only sight to mark her passage being a rapidly fading rainbow jet trail which Lightning stared at for a split second before realizing what had just happened. Wings flaring as she screamed for Rainbow to get back and race her fair and square, she shot forward as if fired by a cannon. Throwing everything they had into the rush, the two sped out of the barracks and into the rapidly darkening sky above.
Neither of them noticed the two uniformed ponies standing in the shadow of the building watching them.
"They're gonna be at it a while, Spits... wanna go get some pie?"
"You and your pie, Soarin," she replied, chuckling.
"Hey, I can't help that that cute farm pony brought some with her! Let's go get some before its all gone huh?"
"You go ahead, I'll catch up."
"Suit yourself," he said as he flew off.
From her position at the edge of the barracks, Spitfire watched the two future aces above her and smirked lightly, spreading her own wings to take off and head for dinner before Soarin ate it all.
"You know," she said to herself. "I think those kids are gonna be okay."
Sometimes I lie awake, night after night
Coming apart at the seams
Eager to please, ready to fight
Why do I go to extremes?
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This was a great read and a fantastic way to have things resolved with Lightning Dust. If she doesn't just vanish or wait until another season (and there better bloody be more!) to come back for revenge or just to beat Dash (she appears at start of the episode as RD is about to win something/do something cool continues to beat her all episode until RD has a revelation and wins with a morale to go with it) I hope they at least have something to resolve it all. Something as good as this, I would. Thumbs up and favourite from me, it was great to read.
Pretty good, but I think after the episode, Lightning Dust would need to do a lot more than have a sympathetic backstory to redeem herself. She didn't just screw up by almost killing Dash's friends, she didn't show even the slightest bit of remorse over her actions and she expected Spitfire to approve of her actions. She deserved what she got. Dash was never as bad as Lightning is.
I do think Lightning could be redeemed, but I think you'd need a longer story than this to do so.
I'll be honest and I'll admit that I never saw the Wonderbolt's Episode nor the Mare-do-well one, but from the fans reactions on both episode it makes me question the efforts that the production team puts into the show and showcasing the moral of it.
I mean How can one person write two DIFFERENT Rainbow Dash Themed Episodes and that we can still find bits and pieces that are flaws within the episodes and showcased some it to highlight, the negativity that these episodes tends to generate ?
Sure the writer may have gotten better with Rainbow Dash in this episode, but it is not without a few more flaws.
However, no show is perfect and that's what Fan-fics are for.
I find this entire story to be the true headcannon/aftermath of this tale and shows the episode in a much better light than what we were originally given.
You have truly done a great job with this idea and I am glad to read it. Everpony, or person, deserves a Second Chance, am I right ?
there are a few minor typos here and there, but I still feel confident saying inb4 featured. This looks like it's going places
Edit: Congrats on the feature. CALLED IT!
Well I found it very well written and good, but I'm one of the people who thinks that Lightning Dust deserved to get kicked out of the Academy. Until she learns respect for teammates who aren't as good as she is, to be more cautious, and to have basic respect for the lives of innocent bystanders she doesn't belong on an elite military/stunt team, even if she is almost as good as Rainbow Dash. Still though you've done a good job making her more sympathetic.
LD got off REAL easy. The Mane 6 are not only the Elements of Harmony, they're full-fledged KNIGHTS (knighted at the ceremony at the end of the Season 2 premiere), so if anything happened to them, Spitfire would have ALSO been responsible, by placing LD as lead pony.
The beginning and middle were good. The story could have ended with Spitfire telling her that - not to get back into the class, but that she was welcome to apply again next time (and since most applicants were from Ponyville, it seems likely that these tryouts are more frequent than annual). The tail end of the fic seemed tacked on.
~~~~
>I know you're type
your
>till your too old to fly
you're
> "Yeah, I'd like that," Rainbow answered
.
> Spitfire began, casting a sidelong glance at a sheepish looking Rainbow Dash
She... isn't talking about RD herself, is she? They're not good friends.
Great job, by the way I'd like your oinion on my work in progress
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/70647/friends-of-a-feather
It works on a similar theme but I think it would be more about not being the end of a dream but the start of a new one.
This story is awesome! It's 20% cooler!
Nice story.
Nice idea, good execution, good job
This was great. I hope there are more fics with Lightning Dust, I really liked her character.
Much like Trixie she kinda got a raw deal in the episode which left me cold. Dismissing her would be a waste of talent.
I hope the fandom does more with her in the future.
Lightning Dust deserved what she got. Ignoring what she almost did to the Elements of Harmony, she could have crippled her fellow cadets earlier on when she coerced Dash to blow past them with her. Pegasi might be crash-resistant to a degree, but that does not mean they are crash-proof, especially in the wing area. Top that off, she injured her wingpony, was informed beforehand that it was too dangerous for her wingpony, went through with it anyway - then acted as if a wing injury wasn't a problem instead of stopping to see Dash off to be looked at. Chance could have been that Dash might have broken her wing on Dust's command.
She endangered her fellow cadets, disobeyed instructions to kiss ass, destroyed Academy property, nearly killed Equestrian heroes, and was not only unapologetic - but pulled rank just to get out of having to deal with it. There is nothing redeemable there, there is no reason to feel sorry for her.
If anything, I'm tired of there being so many Celestia-damned Dust-apologists, trying to say "Well maybe this maybe that it's just not fair" she had ONE chance to show them she was team material, and she proved them wrong. She proved she can't function properly in a team, She knew what failure to work in a team meant - that she'd never make the Wonderbolts, and she blew off everything the Wonderbolts team required of its members. She doesn't deserve a second chance, and she won't be getting one. You do NOT accept potential threats into a squad where cohesion and adherence to orders is absolute, or someone's going to lose their life.
You don't see any solo-showboats in the Navy Blue Angels, do you? They're where the Wonderbolts even come from in the first place. You pull shit like that in close formation flying in jets, you're going to send more than just your own jet spiraling into the ground. Oh look, that still applies to Pegasi. Dash here showcased maturity - that she's growing up somewhat from being like how Dust is. She's surpassing the old Dash who would have acted just like Dust, without thinking what it would cost her.
Dust did NOT consider what she might lose, and did not think before acting rashly. If she got a second chance, then the Wonderbolts would not be the ace team they are, letting dangerous fliers into their ranks would just destroy unit cohesion as a whole and drastically drop their performance level.
No amount of sob story changes what she did, and what she is. We need fewer apologists trying to say all the villains are just misunderstood. Who CARES if they're misunderstood? Discord brings about a candy-coated apocalypse, Nightmare Moon nearly brought genocide on her own subjects, Chrysalis tried to enslave an entire race of beings, Sombra went evil and enslaved a whole kingdom. Yet everywhere I go I find people raving about how it's not their fault, or they need second chances.
Trixie, at least, was somewhat understandable. She didn't actually bring the Ursa Minor, and it's quite possible that her boasting is just part of her stage presence. I get that, even though she was still bitchier than she should have been. Gilda, regardless of how close she might have been with Dash - was a thief and enormous asshole. She deserved what she got. Dust, regardless of anything else - is a threat to those around her, and did not use her brain before endangering her Wonderbolts dream, meaning she was very well not worthy of it.
Annoying as all hell that I can't throw a stone and not hit someone trying to make every jerk, bully, dark god, and washout sound like a tragic hero who just got a bad shake. I completely accept that might be someone's headcanon, the problem I have is that there are so many of them forming these weird little cults and bitching at anyone who says different anywhere I go. /endrant
I wish this would make it onto the show.... It shows a lot about Rainbow's character.
Interesting...very interesting.
"I still think you're a bit on the dangerous side, but you can be my Wingpony anytime."
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw2604-Luna_saw_what_you_did_there.jpg
1820925
I can see where you're coming from. In situations where the performance of teammates is the difference between life and death, there are no second chances. You'd better be damn sure your wingman knows their shit, and you know yours. Lightning Dust doesn't deserve a second chance to join the Wonderbolts. Or any other stunt flying team, for that matter. She had one shot, and one shot only, and she blew it sky high.
But... that doesn't mean she can't learn from her mistakes.
1820925 Meh, except for the fact that Spitfire was initially impressed with her use of the tornado until RD mentioned she almost hurt her friends, and on top of that, Spitfire encouraged her reckless behavior by promoting her to wing leader in the first place. On top of that, how dumb do you have to be to think it would be a good idea to take an uncontrolled hot air balloon into airspace where they knew flight training was being conducted? Isn't Twilight supposed to be smart? It's just as much Spitfire's fault they were nearly killed as it is Rainbow and Lightning's. RD did nothing to stop the creation of the tornado, hell she even helped make it!
Things can't always be black and white.
I agree with pretty much everything Aurora Dimmet said. I would like to add that inventing a rich pony with perfect parents background for Rainbow Dash to further play up your contrasting Lightning Dust backstory really reenforces their point.
1821290 I agree with all of your points save one: the bit about Twilight taking the balloon to a flight training camp.
I'm pretty sure that since a training camp is considered a controlled environment, you wouldn't really expect a natural disaster to be waiting for you once you got there. Yes, she is smart. No, being smart does not give you an ability to predict the future.
1821312 Spitfire's reaction made it seem like that kind of thing was not unheard of, but I see your point. Still, their balloon had no visible means of control, so I still wonder how they even ended up there in the first place. Well, I guess there's always magic!
1820925
Well aren't you just a bag of sunshine and rainbows I presume.
It's nice to see Lightning Dust get some closure, but I don't feel Spitfire needed to apologize for being hard on her. She did endanger the lives of her fellow recruits and the mane 5 and damaged/destroyed Academy property and deserved to be chewed out and dismissed from the Academy for those actions. The important thing though is that she can learn from those mistakes and perhaps some time in the future try again with some other Aerobatic team(I doubt the Wonderbolts are the only flying team of their kind in Equestria).
I give this story four out of five mustaches
Good story, nothing bad here!
You're absolutely right, a character like Lightning Dust deserves a second chance. Newly introduced characters like her are too often tossed aside by the end of the episode.
Not a bad story if you accept the premise that Lightning Dust deserved better than what she got - and I do. The episode didn't give her any resolution whatsoever, so any continuation of it is welcome.
That said, two minor quibbles: One, check your usage of "you're" vs. "your" and "they're" vs. "their". There (ha!) are a lot of switch-ups of that kind in the story. Two, labeling this story "Random" might be the most egregious misuse of a story tag I've ever seen. This isn't a comedy story, much less something that falls under the umbrella of "Random". Just "Slice of Life" will do nicely.
1821440 1820925
I agree on both counts. Spitfire had nothing to apologize for. Them's the rules. And yes, LD blew it, no going back, no second chances.
But these are ponies we're talking about. We can bend the rules if it makes for a happy ending. So there.
1820925
Yes, because it's not like the whole purpose of training is to spot these problems and deal with them early.
Oh... wait. I forgot.
Spitfire and all the other trainers we saw didn't seem to give a flying buck about paying attention to such things and actively promoted Dust's recklessness by allowing her to demand a higher setting on the dizzitron, then going off to award her the lead pony role. Not to mention that they ignored Dash's injury and - given Spitfires expression when Dash looked her way - even appeared to taking the stance that quitting was not an option. Any sane instructor should have been demanding to know what the hell happened for one of them to have sustained a clear wing injury like that. Not to mention that her response to the other trainees being thrown about in air obstacle course was to insult their skills as well as prove that she had apparently not watched a single bit of it given Dash and Dust made their move in plain sight and had Spit, or any other instructor, been watching she should have been on them both like stink on a bug for their actions.
At which point we have Dusts first jerk speech - which is quite frankly nothing worse than anything Dash has boasted about or claimed in past episodes.
And then the tornado... in which Rainbow dash is inspired by Spitfires own words to go along with the plan. And it's not a bad plan, I highly doubt Dust would have brought it up if she'd never worked tornados before because to claim such is to rely on her having an idiot ball to explain it. The tornado going out of control, then, can most likely be put down to simple accident. What's more important though is that this tornado went out of control... and none of the wonderbolt staff did a thing about it. The thing even smashed through the scoreboard so there is no way in hell that they didn't notice it!
But hey, a tornado is apparently not worth doing anything about. Maybe they were just morons, maybe they didn't care - or, far more likely, they knew the local airspace was restricted in some way so that there would be no-one around to be harmed by such things. Which, if so, would put Twilight at fault for being hit by the tornado on the simple basis that she should not have been there. Funny thing about military training spaces that - civilians aren't meant to randomly wander through them. I doubt this is any different for the training grounds of an elite air display / air force team.
Plus, even when the five fall it's down to Dash alone to save them... because apparently the staff and trainers still don't care to do anything about it.
And then comes the big finale of Dust's apparent indifference to the disaster. What, exactly, does she do that's so terrible here? Lets see... she appears to not care about the fact that five ponies fell to their death... well no. As she said, they didn't. They were saved. Dash has reacted in even worse ways to such things before - the whole Mare Do Well thing being the prime example - where she was actively showboating while ponies lives were in danger. At least Dust only did it after they were safe. Insensitive yes, jerkish yes, but hardly high crime.
Dash then accuses Dust of 'making' her hurt her wing and sending the others into spins. Which is funny since it was Dash who chose to follow her on both occasions, Dash who had the option to not do so, Dash who never spoke up at any point about anything that was an issue until her explosion right at the end. Good job Dash! The moral of your story is essentially 'I was just following orders' given you never questioned anything!
In short - Dust was an arrogant jerk at best and one that would have been a complete non-issue had the trainers at this poor excuse for a training camp actually done their jobs.
1821312
Actually in such a training camp one should be more likely to expect danger since a big chunk of the point of such training is that any accidents and mishaps will happen there rather than on the proverbial field. If Twi hadn't been there then the tornado would likely have just ended with light punishment and either a warning not to do it again or training sheduled on how to properly use a tornado. It's only Twi + co suddenly popping up that turned a negligible incident into something major.
>>Shadow_Wolf
As to the fic itself... My biggest complaint, really, was that you felt the need to give Dust a woobie-tastic backstory with the whole dad and stepdad thing. You really could have done without much of it, likely just leaving things with the fact that Dust had worked herself hard to get there despite aerobatics not being her special talent. Giving her the sade backstory rather diminishes the character as rather than acknowledging the characters screw-ups and/or personality flaws you as an author instead appeared to manufacture sympathy so that the audience would judge the character on that backstory rather than on the character themselves.
I'm kind of iffy on the idea of Dust hero-worshipping Dash... I think you laid it on a bit too thick with that, but I will admit that it is likely she would have followed Dash from at least around the time of the Best Young Flyer contest.
You have a tendency to mix up thinks like your and you're so watch for that, and i'm not really sure what your tagging is doing - Random brings to mind weird-as-heck crackfics, not things like this.
Other than that, not too shabby. Good work!
Amazing topgun reference near the end there. what you did: i see it.
great story :)
1821584
Good, good. Let the leather pants flow through you.
She really is becoming the new Trixie.
1821290
The training grounds is a place where traffic and visitors should be going in and out rather frequently. There's probably a place where visitors enter and leave from, which the Mane Six likely took. It's not like someone can't avoid the great big balloon while they're flying around.
1821773
Geez. I have clearly been told. Surely I must bow down to your ability to both browse and misapply TVTropes articles.
Or, y'know, I could just ask you to point out where I claimed that Dust could do no wrong and that everything was the fault of circumstance around her. Or perhaps I could just ask you to justify the double standards you hold regarding Dash's behavior in prior episodes compared to Dust's behavior now when it can be proven that Dash has done equal or worse than Dust in the past. Maybe I could even go one step further and ask how exactly you managed to get 'baw baw baw don't be mean to poor widdle Dusty' from a rambling rant about incompetent instructors, Dash's refusal to complain about anything and the fact that had Twilight + co not shown up in the middle of a training field no-one would likely have even cared about the tornado accident.
But I suppose that would require you to do something a bit more complex than lay all the blame at the hooves of the one pony you don't like much.
1821880
People, such as yourself, tend to forget that tropes have more then one interpretation. The trope "Draco in Leather Pants" isn't just "baw baw baw don't be mean to poor widdle Dusty", it's when a fandom takes a character who's been canonacially established to act negatively and attempts to portray them in a more positive manner.
While you never said she could do no wrong, you most certainly did blame the circumstances:
It's not Dust's fault, the tornado going out of control was an accident!
It's not Dust's fault, The Wonderbolts should have stopped the tornado!
It's not Dust's fault, Twilight shouldn't have been there to begin with!
Yup, you're not trying to blame anypony else. Moving along...
While it is true that Dash's ego kept ponies in danger, there's a big difference: Dash wasn't the one that put them in danger to begin with.
"We should slow down. It doesn't look like both of us could make it at this speed."
--Dash, immediately prior to injuring her wing.
"Um, Lightning Dust? Next time, maybe we don't cut the other teams off like that."
--Dash, after cutting the other teams off.
No, she didn't care that her actions nearly caused five ponies to plummet to their death. Dash may have helped with the tornado, but her reaction to it says it all:
images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121217015122/mlp/images/thumb/e/ec/S3E7_1735_Rainbow_Dash_is_freaking_out.png/320px-S3E7_1735_Rainbow_Dash_is_freaking_out.png
She was horrified by what had happened and immediately set out to save them. Lightning Dust? She sat on her ass like those instructors you so like to blame.
Funny, please point to where I said I didn't like her. I think she's a great character that helps to show just how much Dash has grown from when we first saw her. Judging by your. and others, reactions, I'm sure she'll do very well in the fanfics and I look forward to it--just as long as she doesn't wear any leather pants.
(God I love the new preview comment feature.)
Wow, I never really noticed how much Rainbow Dash has changed until you pointed it out in the Author's Note. Lightning Dust really reminded me of the Mare Do Well episode when Rainbow was also being a bit of a reckless jerk, and I like how you mentioned that her friends gave her a second chance, which made her do the same for Lightning Dust. I'm just waiting for another episode with Lightning Dust in it. This is one of those stories that's so beautiful I just want it up on my wall.
1819797
They seem to be giving up on morales. One morale so far, one letter to Celestia. No news when Celestia visits after Trixie goes crazy (Trixie doesn't trust wheels! I don't blame her, but if you won't use something on wheels you should walk)
Dear Princess Celestia, Today I learned that inflation and the scarcity of coal (bad zebra relations) leads to huge price increases on ink.
Your Faithf
You keep using the WRONG BLOOD YOU'RE/YOUR'S! DIE IN A FIRE! FIGURATIVELY BECAUSE I LIKE THIS STORY!
I do wish things went this route in the episode. Even though Lighting Dust did deserved to be punished, the look on her face after being dismissed from the academy was heart-wrenching.
Great story!
I'll read this as I'm a Lighting Dust fan, hopefully I'll like this. XD
1819797
I"m glad you liked it. Thank you for the thumbs up, favorite and the compliment :)
1819849
I can definitely see your point in this one and I probably could have stretched this out over several chapters but honestly, I have no idea what else I would have done with it if I'd made it any longer
1819858
Careful, you'll swell my ego and make me blush with compliments like that, but I'm really glad you enjoyed it, that was what I was hoping for.
1820006
Yes you did! When I put this up this morning, I never even thought for a second that it would generate the number of views/comments/likes that it has and I never expected it to get to the feature box. Color me very surprised and beyond thrilled!
1820119
In addition to what was stated in my author notes, I'm a fan of the background ponies and the ones that are supposed to be one-shot antagonists... I'm not saying I really expect to see a lot of Lightning in the future, but this idea really wouldn't leave me alone. Glad you liked it!
1820454
Corrections have been made, thank you for pointing them out! Also, I freely admit that the ending was tacked on around the time I posted the story, but for some reason just leaving them flying out to do their laps didn't work for me.
1820571
I won't be able to tonight but I'll be happy to take a look at it soon. Happy to help!
1820682
Thank you!
1820722
Thanks, glad you like it!
1820781
Much appreciated!
1820865
Thank you! I'm not really gonna say that she didn't get a raw deal, cause she did screw up and was pretty callous to the other cadets, but I think they could have done a little more with her. Hence this fic.
1820925
I'm not gonna bitch at you or say that you're wrong, you've got the same right as everybody else on what you do or don't like and I'm fine with that. Feedback is feedback whether positive or negative, but in the end you read my work and took the time to leave a comment for it, so whether I agree with you or not, I'll still say thank you for at least giving me your time.
1820976
Thank you though, I'm glad you liked it!
I never expected it to get where it is, I'd shoot for the stars and hope it got tacked on as an episode, but that might be setting my sights just a tad bit too high
1821178
Much appreciated!
1821218
I'm afraid it's not. In all honesty, it just sounded good ^^;
1821226
Glad people are getting the Top Gun references!
1821307
Sorry if you felt it was sappy or improperly used, but like you said, I wanted to pull up a contrasting back story to do what I wanted to do with the fic. It is what it is.
1821290
Indeed, everything works in contrasting shades.
1821280
That was pretty much my point, though whether she actually does learn from her mistakes or not is for some other author to write.
1821440
Thank you for the mustaches
1821454!
I've got a bunch of corrections to make, but thank you!
1821496
Many thanks to you! Glad you liked.
1821514
Also, I wasn't sure if this really qualified purely as slice of life or not, so I added the random tag mostly for the same reason I tacked on the ending, because it felt right at the time ^^; I'll probably take the tag off at least though. Thanks!
I freely admit I'm not the greatest writer... and unfortunately I'm not a very good editor, especially at 5 in the morning, but thank you for the advice and the comments, I'll do my best to fix stuff up in the coming weeks
1821584
I'm glad you liked the story and thank you for the honest comments and criticism.
1821727
Glad you enjoyed it and glad you got the references!
1822235
Seriously though, I'm glad you liked it and I'm pleased to see that I'm agreed with in the character development and second chance departments
Thank you very much for the compliment and I'm glad you enjoyed it so much, though careful or you'll make me blush again
1822656
Really glad you enjoyed it and I'll do my best to keep the your/you're mistakes to a minimum and/or correct them in the near future
1822863
Magic of Friendship is all about learning from mistakes and getting second chances when they come available. I'm glad you enjoyed it, thank you!
1822869
Hopefully you will!
1821290
Even with Spitfire being involved, yes. It is black and white. There is wrong and right. Spitfire is not nearly as much to blame as Dust is.
Think of what Spitfire SAW. All she witnessed was Dust and Dash working well together, all she got to observe and hear about were Dust's results. She did not see or hear about any of the other crap she'd done. That's just the way shit works, otherwise every officer in every military unit would be worthy of their position instead of slipping their negative and disqualifying 'qualities' by the promotion board.
1822886
It was just a rant in general. Your story was more or less fine, aside from a few details others already brought up. So don't take anything I said personally, it wasn't any sort of insult to your writing - just my distaste for how common Dust-protection is overall. Keep up the good work.
1821584
I don't even know where to start with how pointless your post is.
1821325
Ye verily. You shall not find someone as chipper as I am. Please choke on my joy and good cheer.
1821280
Oh yes, I didn't mean to imply that Dust can't learn from her mistakes. Dash did, after all. But the problem is TIMING - Dash learned her lesson before being accepted, and cemented it by seeing Dust in action. You could SEE it on her face and hear it in her voice "Is this how I am to other people?" and she knew she had to grow the fuck up, y'know? Dust can probably make a great comeback, but Wonderbolts is out. Just because she fixes her crap doesn't mean she deserves a second chance, any resolution for her needs to be about her overcoming her issues and making the most out of her life. Got no one to blame for her failure but herself, is all I meant to imply.
1822886
Well written: I feel like all the characters are in-character, and it all flows together perfectly to create a compelling and feel-inducing story. It also helps that it all makes sense.
I can totally see Rainbow intervening on Lightning's behalf; they are so similar, they make excellent rivals. Lightning does strike me like a young Rainbow Dash now that I think about it, and for Rainbow to take her under her (metaphorical) wing makes a lot of sense to me.
-required wisecrack-
What color was surprised again? Green? No, that's jealous... maroon? And thrilled was...?
1823034
Really glad that you enjoyed it and that you feel I got the characters in character. I'm also glad you think it makes sense cause that is always important!
As for the color of surprise, I've always considered it to be a whitish-gold kind of color and thrilled is sort of a dark blue... I really have no clue as to why
1823079
-required (pony related) wisecrack-
Surprise is whitish gold? Gee, wonder why...?
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1823281
Blink blink... I... um... yeah... wow... didn't see that one coming
I loved it! I think it's the perfect way to redeem Lightning.
1823377
I'm glad you enjoyed, thank you!
thatschurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tumblr_maq77ecMHG1qejf6u.gif
Wasn't that character's name suppose to be Reynold Rage?
But still a cool tedemption story overall.
1823314
img405.imageshack.us/img405/8586/achievementhr.gif
YEAH! Achievement Unlocked!
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Great job with this man. I felt for Lightning Dust and I don't even like her. At all.
Keep up the good work.