Part One: Welcome To My Past

Many Pegasi know my name, perhaps you have heard of me? My name was Lightning Dust when I lived although many know my name few know my story or rather how I found myself currently sitting in what you might call Heaven depending on your own point of view. Truth is I was never really good at being humble and I guess writing this story down I hope I can at least convey some of my legacy to you. I know I have burdened my family for generations with the shame of my expulsion from the Wonderbolt Academy, trust me when I say it was never my intention to cause so much pain. It seems easy I guess with the hindsight of having sat in the Place for so long to not really recall the chain of events that led me here. When you die time doesn’t really seem relevant, so when I lost my life a lot of my memory died with my body, so I will try my best to tell at least what parts I can remember. So where to begin?

I guess a good place to start would be back before the War to really let you get a sense of who I was. Well as you already know my name was Lightning Dust. In the City of Cloudsdale, I had already developed quiet a reputation before being admitted into the Wonderbolt Academy. When I was a filly I was considered one of the best fliers in the Summer Flight Camp, when I grew older my flying skills only got better. I loved to fly through storms and push myself to test the limits of my wing power. I had few friends growing up or at least no pony I became really close to anyway. I was all too quick to find fault in other ponies flying styles; I always considered myself to be the best and went out of my way to prove it like when I crashed a race being held to determine who was the best flier in Cloudsdale needless to say I bedazzled everypony there with my skills.

One day while I was lifting some weights in my home, I received a knock at my door, opening it to find the mail pony had arrived with a letter for me. Taking it from him I saw that it had the official seal of the Wonderbolt’s embossed in wax on the front. I excitedly tore open the letter and squealed as I saw that I had been accepted into the Wonderbolt Academy. Slamming the door in the face of the confused mail pony I raced upstairs to pack my things for when I needed to report to the Academy. I barely got any sleep that night, I was too excited but at the same time also really nervous. I had always wanted to be a Wonderbolt, every Pegasus dreams of flying with the greatest team of fliers in all of Equestria. It was almost impossible for me to even think that this was really happening to me, I had to pinch myself just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming and needless to say I wasn’t.

I counted down the days to when I had to leave and marked each day that passed on my calendar. When the day finally arrived, I through off the covers from my bed then quickly showered before making myself breakfast. I was in such a hurry to get going I had to remind myself to grab my saddlebags before stepping a hoof out my front door. After making sure I had gotten everything I needed, I took off flying as fast as I could to the Academy training grounds. I wanted to make quite the impression at my first day at the Academy. When I arrived I watched as teams of other trainees soar through the skies in formation and then when it was time took my place in line after dropping off my saddlebags. Next to me was a Pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail, she had a sky blue coat and her cutie mark was a cloud with a rainbow thunderbolt. I could sense that this pony was not like everypony else, she like me had something to prove to the Wonderbolts that we belonged there with the best.

Turning I saw Spitfire making her way down the line personally sizing up the recruits. When she got to me, she said that I probably couldn’t get past the first flag pole without tiring myself out. I brashly replied that she should try me and let me prove myself. How full of myself I was back then. I felt like I could take on whole world but my foalish pride blinded me. Truth was when Spitfire was standing before me; it felt like I had butterflies in my stomach. I was shaking so much I’m surprised that Spitfire didn’t notice or even say anything to me. I had to prove myself with every task that the Wonderbolt trainers threw at us. My wingpony, the Pegasus that I noticed before with such passion in her eyes was somepony who I felt was my equal there. Rainbow Dash was her name and I simply thought that we could accomplish anything together, but she wasn’t willing to do the things I was in order to be the best or at least win. Life was a competition after all, everypony trying to prove why they deserved to fly with the greatest team in all of Equestria.

As days passed by in the academy, I developed a reputation as a pony that was willing to win no matter the consequences and also as the hardest working pony. My wingmate Rainbow Dash wasn’t so pleased at being paired with me. Outwardly she didn’t voice her concerns to be, and honestly I didn’t take much notice of it. There were a few time where I thought less of her, I figured maybe she wasn’t the kind of pony who had the guts to succeed here academy. The only pony that didn’t seem to care about my reputation was a pony named Thunderlane. I didn’t really think much of him at the beginning, at our first inspection by Spitfire he was really jittery and wouldn’t even make eye contact with her, but after getting to know him I saw another side. But something about him caught my eye. After our first exposure to the Dizzatron, I found him puking his guts out behind a tree. He didn't notice me approach and I nearly gave him a heart attack when I said hello. At first he was confused as to why I approached him, I have to admit that I wasn't sure why I was even talking to him, but after awhile I struck up a conversation with him. I asked why he was even at the Academy, he replied that he had a few of his ancestors who were former Wonderbolts and that also he just liked to be able to prove himself. His parents always thought of him as lazy foal who would always need their help and that this would prove to them that he could do something on his own. When I asked what he thought of me, he simply shrugged and said he didn't really care about what other ponies thought of me. He understood that I was here to prove myself and he could identify with that.

After our first talk I often found myself stealing glimpses of Thunderlane as he trained. He was brave, kind, and he actually tried his hardest even when it didn’t seem good enough. Also he lived up to his reputation he was very lazy, this probably his only fault that I could find. He would frequently be late for morning inspection when we would check our gear before the days training. Often I would find him still asleep in the barracks. Once in order to wake him up I had to pour icy water over his head, needlessly to say he woke up pretty quickly after that and never missed morning assembly. We seemed to hit it off after this he expressed that he cared for me. I was nervous when he told me, I had come to the Academy for one reason, and that was to be the best Wonderbolt ever but now I hadn't expected to fall head over hooves for somepony. Another part of me though had hoped this would happen, I mean he made me feel in ways that I never had before. I would giggle when he smiled at me and my face would turn beat red. Things are strange when you are in love, and I wasn't sure where this would led but I was always ready for another adventure, so gave into my emotions and told Thunderlane that I loved him after we had just got done finding flags during one training exercise. I never saw a pony smile as wide as he did after I told him. It made me laugh and he kissed me for the first time. This was something I would remember for the rest of my life.

My last day at the academy is one I will never forget. Our task was to clear the skies over the academy as quickly as we could. Even though Spitfire said it wasn’t a race, I was convinced that I and Rainbow Dash could do it faster than anypony else. Taking to the skies, our progress was slow and something seemed to be bugging Rainbow Dash. Clearing the skies of all the clouds was taking a lot longer than I had expected so I proposed to Rainbow Dash that we create a tornado to clear the skies faster than any other team. Rainbow Dash agreed with a tone of reluctance in her voice, I shrugged it off and we proceeded to fly faster and faster around each other spinning the air into a vortex between us. It was working at least for a few minutes but I couldn’t control it, the strain was too much for my wings to handle and I spun out of the tornado. Dizzily I shook my head and the world for a few seconds wobbled then came into focus. The tornado began to pick up more speed, sucking up every cloud in sight.

As the tornado swirled out of control across the sky, the only thing I could think about was how awesomely fast it was making our task go by. I was certain that Spitfire herself would certainly let me onto the Wonderbolt’s after how quickly we cleared the skies. I watched as the tornado danced across the skies towards a purple balloon that emerged from the cloud cover. In the basket were five ponies, as one of them, an Earth pony with a distinct ascent shouted, “It’s a twister!” The tornado caught the balloon in its grasp snapping the ropes that held the basket to it like twigs. The basket and its pony occupants quickly tumbled to the ground. I watched as Rainbow Dash and my other classmates saved the ponies before they smashed into the ground. I wasn’t able to help them because I was still stunned how quickly I had lost control of the tornado. I am not and have never been good at losing control of things. Call me a sore loser but I like to win and succeed at any cost or at least I did then anyways.

Rainbow Dash and her friends safely landed on the ground and I flew down to her expressing how awesome it was at how quickly we had cleared the skies and that none of the other pony teams were even going to catch up to us. I offered my hoof for a hoof-bump but Rainbow Dash turned it aside and began criticizing be for my behavior. I remember feeling a bit agitated at her calling me out in front of everypony; after all I was because of me that we were considered one of the best teams at the academy. She told me that she also wanted to be one of the best but that I wasn’t going to accomplish being the best in the way that I was going about it. I reminded her that it was Spitfire herself that I made me the leader of our team and that Rainbow Dash was only the wingpony. After that she stormed off to Spitfire’s office while I went to the mess hall to meet up with Thunderlane. Whatever she said to Spitfire had obviously had an effect because during my meal a few of the Wonderbolt trainers found me and said that I had to come with them. I was lead before Spitfire and told that I was going to be expelled from the Wonderbolt Academy. I could have sworn in that moment that my jaw hit the floor. To make the embarrassment even worse I was led before Rainbow Dash and her friends where I was stripped of my wingpony leader pin then quickly escorted out of sight. I barely had time to pack the few things I had brought with me to the academy in my saddlebags before the trainers forced me to leave.

I only caught a glimpse of Thunderlane as I left. He was soaring happily behind Rainbow Dash, I was certain that he would never forgive me for the way I had acted but I was wrong about that. For weeks afterwards all I could do was mope around at home, I didn’t bother to read my mail or even contact my family. I wanted to hide from the world; I guess in reality it was to hide my shame. I wasn’t sure of what I should do. All I had ever wanted was to be a Wonderbolt; it was the thing that gave my life purpose and meaning. That was the first time I considered killing myself, I mean what was the point in living if my dreams were smashed to pieces long after the pain of the expulsion wore off? But instead of trying to kill myself, I just went and lay down in my bed waiting for the Grim Pony to come and reap me. I don’t know how long I lay there, and to be honest I didn’t really care but a knock at my front door woke me from my self-pity. Trotting into the bathroom, I quickly tried to fix my appearance. I barely recognized the disheveled image that stared back at me with sunken puffy eyes that were still red from all the crying I had done.

My mane hung in strands over my face hiding some of my reflection beneath dirty unkempt clumps of my mane. My coat had faded beneath the grim and sweat from the lack of bathing. I hadn’t attended to certain personal hygiene needs and I could smell myself within the small confines of the bathroom. I took some perfume and sprayed it on my filthy coat trying to hide the smell. Rushing towards the door, I pulled it open to see Thunderlane standing there with a big smile that spread across his muzzle. He held up a bouquet of flowers saying he had missed me. I was stunned just to see him standing there on my doorstep, I was fairly sure that I was dreaming or that his was some sick illusion that the Grim Pony had taken in order to escort me into the Afterlife. But after a few seconds of an awkward silence I knew it was really happening. The only things I could do was wrap my hooves around Thunderlane’s neck and bury my nose into his mane sobbing like a little filly. He rubbed my back and said that everything was going to be okay. He spent the night in my home and helped me feel better. After spending the night, with him the pain of the expulsion diminished slightly but I felt like I needed to make a change for the better. I had been my own worst enemy by recklessly putting other ponies in danger so I could succeed. I knew that in order to redeem myself that I would have to change. But I wasn’t sure how I could go about starting to prove to others that I had indeed changed for the better. Unfortunately I would find my opportunity to finally prove myself when the War began only a few years later.