When you want something so bad that you spend your entire life working towards it, nothing hurts more than having that dream ripped right out of your grasp.

Lightning Dust wanted to be a Wonderbolt. She wanted it so much that everything else, everyone else, became secondary to the blue-and-yellow suit. A disaster narrowly avoided ceased to even be a blip on the radar, loss of control translated directly to thrills, and anyone near her level was labelled an obstacle.

And now, here she stands. Alone. Broken. Everything she's ever worked for amounts to a suit with a hole in it, and her cutie mark in a blacklist. And she has no idea why.

And since Rainbow Dash is busy with training, the duty falls to somepony else to knock some sense into the disgraced cadet.

A gift for a friend.

Lightning Dust snorts a rail of lightning dust, kicks Thunderlane's flank, and shows everypony that she's a force to be reckoned with and is bucking awesome.

I somehow managed to post the words to this story on Fimfiction without the site overdosing and 502ing from Lightning Dust's sheer awesomeness. But even these words could never do justice to the legend that is Princess Archduchess Lightning M.F.W. Dust, Ph.D. You just had to be there.

WARNING: If you look at the cover image too long, you'll go blind just like you would if you masturbated too much or stared into the sun too long, because that picture counts as both. Thanks to Gamibribolinho for sacrificing his sight to draw this so that we could gaze upon Lightning Dust's glory.

Lightning Dust has been in a bit of a rut ever since getting kicked out of the Wonderbolt Academy. Day after day, she's been sticking to a strict exercise regimen under the guidance of Cloudsdale's premier personal trainer, Haymaker. Her hope is that she'll unlock her true potential and show Haymaker how awesome she is, thus prompting him to use his connections to get her back into the Wonderbolts. No matter how many times Haymaker tells her it's impossible, Lightning simply refuses to listen.

Then one fateful night, Lightning Dust's training is interrupted by the appearance of her greatest idol, Wind Rider. It turns out he too has difficulty accepting reality, and he has his own, more nefarious schemes to get himself back in the game. Haymaker sees this as his last chance to save Lightning Dust from walking Wind Rider's path. And if that means rubbing salt in a few wounds and shattering a few dreams, then so be it.

Cover art provided by the amazingly talented Cyrano.

When Rainbow Dash rockets off to find Spitfire, planning to surf the jet stream to cross half the length of Equestria in just hours, she has no idea she will need to work with an "old friend" to do so.

The two former teammate trainees from the Wonderbolts Academy meet up once again in Cloudsdale, but not for a friendly reunion especially with their past still haunting Lightning Dust's nightmares. Rainbow Dash takes Scootaloo on a little tour around Cloudsdale to show why some pegasi live there, that is until Lightning Dust tells Scootaloo her version of what happened when she went to the Wonderbolts Academy with Rainbow Dash.

Although still a novice flier, Twilight has begun to feel comfortable in the sky. But when Rainbow Dash asks her to enter a flying pairs competition with her, she believes that her inexperience will only hinder her friend's chances of winning. Twilight's misgivings deepen when Rainbow learns that two old rivals will be competing as well, and her desire to win begins to drive a wedge between them. Full of doubt of her own abilities and anger toward Rainbow's fierce ambition to beat the others, will Twilight overcome these obstacles and compete with her friend, or will she quit the competition altogether?

This story was accepted by The Goodfic Bin! If you haven't been there, why not check them out once you're done here for some other great stories?

Lightning Dust blew it. Everything she had worked for, hoped for, bled for: gone. All in a moment of blind bravado that nearly ended up harming innocents. With that weighing on her mind, Lightning Dust seeks to lighten the weight on her shoulders.

She loves to fly, foals need to learn to fly, so what's the harm in teaching the fillies and colts to share the skies?

Dedicated to IJAB, who drew this art piece for me many a moon ago.
Editors: Draconian Soul and SpaceCommie. Really nice guys, but brutal. Talk about tough love. Now go give them some!
Preread by RainbowBob. The Spongebob to my Patrick.

EVNW contest submission.

Legends tell of Hurricane's Champron, the mysterious helm that made him the mightiest Pegasus to ever live. In her search for revenge Lightning Dust found it. But, caught in a terrible blizzard, will she chose revenge or life?

Written to celebrate 250 subscribers! Prompt suggestion by Stormy Skies. With thanks to JCatt, Stormy Skies and Lord of Dorkness for their help pre-reading.

The moments spent with a brother or sister are amongst the most precious and most cherished of them all. It is little wonder, then, why the bond between siblings is a powerful one, and that of Lyra and Lightning is no exception.

These are but a few snapshots of their sisterhood over the years.

A short spin off tale of 'a compass for a lost dreamer' following Lightning Dust as she, due to a pink 4th wall breaker, lives an evening of Ditzy Doo's life through her wall eyes. Through the experience she learns a lot about Ditzy Doo, yet nothing.

Though reading the original story would help the reader understand a few little things, it is not necessary to enjoy the primary focus.