Declassified #4: Forward · 12:34am May 8th, 2015
Declassified 4 – Forward
The story was initially conceived as a seven chapter thing, each chapter focusing on each day of Lightning Dust’s week at the Academy; then it was shortened to a flashback for the upcoming Dogfight (or Dark Skies, I have yet to decide on a title). Then to what it is now.
The subtitle refers to the song “Put One Foot in Front of the Other” sung by Mickey Rooney and Burl Ives for the Rankin-Bass produced Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
Lightning shares her basic character traits with Top Gun’s Maverick; a hotshot pilot flier with a massive ego and a reckless streak. In this incarnation she is a mix of Jet the Hawk from Sonic Riders: more condescending, but with a greater respect for those who match her level of skill; and Larxene from Kingdom Hearts: shades of callousness, playful/flirty, and a hidden emotional side explored in the beginning of the chapter. These will be further explored in future installments.
As stated in-story, Lightning Dust is best friends with Cloudchaser (and by proxy Flitter) having grown up together in Cloudsdale. She has two brothers: Flash Sentry and First Base (the latter affectionately nicknamed Fi). The identities of their mother, father, and aunt will be revealed in a future installment. Respective clues for each: Tabitha voiced her, not-Caramel, Eriksen.
Dumb-Bell is pretty much himself as depicted in the show, but with a little twist of Seifer Almasy from Final Fantasy.
The beginning includes the extended ending cut from "Wonderbolts Academy".
Lightning mentions her portion of the bill is “too damn high”, a reference to the Rent Is Too Damn High political party founded by Jimmy McMillan.
Rainbow’s line “You got a good strong pair of wings, Lightning Dust. Get up and use them” nearly echoes Edward Elric’s words to Rose Thomas in Fullmetal Alchemist.
Spitfire tells her cadets if they didn’t show teamwork, she would be “disappointed, and pissed, and you do not like it when I’m both.” In Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Admiral Briggs would mouth this off at Section when the player failed a Strike Force mission.
Lightning quotes Mr Blonde’s infamous line from Reservoir Dogs, “Are you gonna bark little doggy, or are you gonna bite?”
Dumb-Bell compares Lightning Dust to the Bermuleda Triangle, a ponified pun of the Bermuda Triangle.
Luminary is a nod to the author of The Moonlit Rise of a Winning Pony.
“You got a plan, boss-man?” is similar to Kim-Ly’s line, “You got a plan, taco man?” in Turbo.
Bulk Biceps shouts “Rules of nature,” a song originating from and popularized by Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, in response to a question about Darwing, a ponified version of evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin mentioned in G.M. Barrow's Applejack and the Honest-to-Goodness Switcheroo.
Cloudchaser comments Lightning and Rainbow having more ego in one ass cheek than the other cadets. This is similar to when Britney claimed Kirresha had more heart in one ass cheek than her old friends in Bring It On: All Or Nothing.
Fleetfoot’s Torrent Squad is named after Torrent Company, a detachment of the 501st Legion from Star Wars.
