//------------------------------// // Expectations // Story: Thunderbolts // by Beakwood //------------------------------// After an 'eventful' night Rainbow Dash returned to her house alongside Gilda and Lightning Dust. There was a lingering air of awkwardness between them after the incidents of the party. None of them muttered a word until they reached back to the cyan mare's house. "Yeah, that was some party alright" Gilda said as she went through Rainbow's front door. At last the uncomfortable silence has been broken. The cyan mare followed right after while Lightning Dust took her own time to get inside. Once inside the griffon turned around only to realize the ammount of awkwardness going between each one of them. "So...yeah..." Rainbow started while touching her swollen eye slightly. "I...huh...had fun..." Rainbow Dash sounded nervous. She shot a quick glance towards the turquoise mare nearby but Lightning was feeling too uneasy to bother looking back at her. "How is the eye?“ Gilda asked feeling annoyed already with their attitude. " By the way Lightning, if you're upset with Rainbow you can start hoofing each other if that will make you feel better. It worked for me at least." Gilda advised humorously. "I will let ya know that I wasn't prepared. I could've beat ya anytime!" Rainbow protested feeling irked by Gilda's smug smile. "Dash, the day you beat a griffin on hoof-to-claw combat it will be the day Pinkie Pie will be princess of Equestria." Gilda retorted in disbelief. Lightning snorted at Gilda's response. The griffon really did have a point after all. Well, at least the reason for Rainbow's swollen eye was somewhat explained. It surprised Lightning that, despite going into a physical fight, these two were still talking with each other like good friends. "Yeah, right." Rainbow Dash wasn't very fond of accepting defeat that easily. "Whatever, I'm gonna drop. It's been a long day." "You want me to get something for your eye?" Gilda asked feeling mildly concerned and satisfied for hitting her. Rainbow just waved a hoof at her concern. "Nah, it's itching a bit but I'll be fine. How was the party for you Dust? I heard you made friends with Thunderlane." Rainbow asked with clear curiosity and an undertone of teasing. "You better take that smile off of your face Dash, she doesn't need your teasing right now." The griffon said in a tone of warning. "I can defend myself just fine, thanks" Lightning replied vehemently towards the griffon. "Since Rainbow asked it was alright I guess. At least until bucking Spitfire showed up." Rainbow glared at the other mare for a second before taking a deep breath to calm herself down. Twilight strongly advised Rainbow Dash to not let Lightning's grumpy mood get to her, especially when Spitfire was mentioned somehow. "I'm sorry about that. I was surprised for her to show up like that. I..." Rainbow struggled to find the right words to express how she really felt about the whole incident. "...it's really hard for me to forget what I always wanted to be. I know you're upset about the Wonderbolts after what happened . I just want for us to be friends again without fighting because of the Wonderbolts." Gilda felt that Rainbow was adressing her too. The griffon eyed the cyan mare warily while feeling a huge ammount of anxiety taking over. "What are you talking about?" Lightning asked confused as to what Rainbow Dash was trying to say. Rainbow took a deep breath before narrowing her eyes towards them. "I'm not joining the Wonderbolts." "WHAT?!" Rainbow jumped back in surprise from the sudden outburst from the other two. She could understand Lightning being surprised but not Gilda. "Please tell me this isn't because of my fit back then." Gilda said sounding worried to some extent. "Rainbow you can't be serious. That's your dream. That's what we.....what you always wanted." Lightning narrowed her eyes at the cyan mare. How could Rainbow Dash even think about trashing away a golden chance like this? Rainbow was actually a bit astonished that Dust actually wanted to see Rainbow becoming a Wonderbolt despite the bad blood that went through their relationship. "I know that b- "You can't just quit because I was such a loser back there! You gotta take this chance while you can!" Gilda interrupted while staring wide eye at her former friend. "I can't j- "You can't throw all of this away just because of me! I already have enough to deal with without adding your giving up to that weight!" Lighting said annoyed at her former Wing Pony. "I didn't w- "How can you even- Rainbow felt like she had enough of these two interrupting her. It was no surprise she vented out after being talked over for the third time. "WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP?! I REFUSED IT BECAUSE I WANTED TO FLY WITH MY FRIENS! IT NEVER FEELS THE SAME WAY WHEN I FLY WITH THE WONDERBOLTS!!!" Both Gilda and Lightning stood in silence while eyeing the panting mare in between them. Rainbow had every reason to want to fly with the Wonderbolts but after hearing Twilight and the others she felt like a key element was missing. The Wonderbolts were great but they made her feel somewhat suppressed when flying. With her friends she could tell it was different, despite most of them not being fast as her, they still gave Rainbow a greater sense of freedom and joy than any Academy day wasn't able to offer. Flying with the Wonderbolts was special. Flying with her friends was better. It was just a matter of putting under perspective. "You two are my friends." Rainbow Dash couldn't help but feel guilty for saying that. She wasn't really a great friend to both of them. "Even if you don't see me as a friend that's how I wanted to feel about you two. Perhaps one more than the other." Gilda shifted uncomfortably while listening to the mare. Lightning seemed sorrowful. "I want to make part of this team. I know everypony here has more to them than it looks. We showed that once during the Equestrian Games! I know we can do it again if we train hard and support each other. All I'm asking is for a chance for this to work." "Yeah, I don't see anything wrong with that." Lightning said with a quick shrugg. "Just can't say I will go nice on ya because of we're teammates and all that stuff. I guess the least I could do is cut you some slack since you gave me this chance after all." Rainbow was pleased to know that at least Lightning Dust wasn't going to be such a downer every time she made an argument. The cyan mare stared expectantly a her long time griffon friend. Gilda felt a bit unnerved under Rainbow's piercing glance. She still felt out of place with everything that was happening. Her argument with Dash wasn't because she was upset with the possibility that Rainbow would leave her behind again, but rather the outcome of their relationship after that. "It's late. We better get to bed. Training starts tomorrow and we don't wanna be late." The griffon said without looking at anypony in particular. She almost could feel the disappointment coming in waves from Dash. "Fine by me. It's gonna take few hours to lose away all the stuff from that party. It's been a while since I made morning routines." "You still don't look to be in a bad shape." Gilda pointed out. Lightning raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Well, you're definitely better than me. I may not have weight but I'm lacking strength." "With huge wings like that is hard to believe. Did you ever made a wing power test?“ Dust asked with sudden curiosity. Rainbow parked her eyes at that question, she couldn't remember seeing the griffon measuring her wing power before. "If I had to guess it makes more sense to be higher than any pegasus if it's an athlete griffon we're talking about. Just saying. "Rainbow added as Gilda frowned at her. "Gilda always managed to surpass me on acceleration." "Did she now?“ Lightning asked seemingly impressed. Back at the Wonderbolt academy Dust felt it was too difficult to catch up with Rainbow if the cyan mare could manage to get a fair bit ahead. Their top speed, agility and acceleration were too similar. Perhaps Lightning's edge over Rainbow Dash were her reflexes and timing to perform tight maneuvers. "That's because you always stressed yourself too much on launch. I spent a longer time in Flight Camp and learned a lot Dash. Of course I have my natural advantages but it would've been a lot harder for me to overpass you if you paid more attention to basics and bothered to read more books about flying techniques." "I wanted to be a Wonderbolt, not an egghead flying instructor." Rainbow retorded with a huff. "Well, that actually explains some stuff." Lightning said while eyeing Rainbow Dash with concern. "I noticed you had some weird approaches while we performed basic training back at the academy." Rainbow stared suspiciously at the other mare. It was never a good thing to talk back about their short academy days togheter. "What about it? You and I were always side by side when practicing." "But I still had a short edge over you Rainbow and you know it." Lightning said severely. Had this discussion happened few months back Rainbow Dash would've straight out challenged Lightning Dust to a race to prove her wrong. But Rainbow Dash, after going through some much with her friends, learned few valuable lessons since then. Still it hurt her pride a bit to admit Lightning was a better flyer back then. "I guess you had..." Rainbow muttered in painful acceptance. "...what's the point anyway?" "The point is that you skipped through lots of things that a pegasus or griffin should know about. Even the most insignificant of the details can make a difference when flying against somepony of your level." Gilda said knowingly for a fact that Rainbow Dash never bothered to learn more about flying. "For reasons that don't really matter to me you never got your education completed." Rainbow winced a bit. Hearing that from Lightning Dust made that sinking feeling she always had regarding her incompleted days at Flight Camp even worse. It was unnerving to think that Lightning reached to that conclusion so easily. "Which means that ponies like Spitfire, Soarin, Fleetfoot will always have an edge over you." Rainbow opened her mouth to retort but nothing came out of it. Lightning Dust, despite how much Dash would love to prove otherwise, did have a point. "We can worry about that later. We haven't even figured out a name for the team yet!" Rainbow said excitedly as she popped a little scroll from under her....wing? "Yeah but I think we could figure that out tomorrow morning with the rest of the team. And nothing that has rainbow or dash in the name!" Gilda warned well aware of how Rainbow had a 'talent' for nicknames. "Ah, come on!" The cyan mare protest before staring sadly at her list with a pouty face. "Don't even get me started on that Dash." The griffon said before turning towards the other pegasus. "Any ideas LD?" "Well...if I had to suggest it would be something related with weather. I think..." The turquoise mare replied hesitantly. "Urgh, ponies and their stupid names." Gilda muttered while rolling her eyes. "We're right here ya know." Rainbow Dash said annoyed. "So?" Gilda retorted back uncaringly. "Nevermind." Rainbow Dash should know better that Gilda would still be Gilda no matter what. "I'm sure we can come across something nice and that won't sound incredibly stupid." Lightning said amused by Gilda's mannerism. Rainbow stared incredulous at the turquoise mare. "What? Gilda isn't wrong on that. Some ponies do have weird names." "Yeah but the way she says it it's kinda rude." Rainbow replied while trotting upstairs with the other two. "That's because you worry too much about what others would say. Even if she sounds mean she doesn't say with the intent of offending anypony. That's her opinion. She ever said your name was stupid?" Lightning asked with evident humor. "Well,no....but she- "Doesn't really matter and we should figure this stuff out tomorrow. Stop worrying so much. Night you two." Dust interrupted before taking off and hovering straight towards her room. Gilda and Rainbow stood alone in an awkward silence. "So....goodnight?" Rainbow half-wished, half-asked. "Yeah, night. Don't be late or I'll wake you up with a wet poke." Gilda warned with a smirk. Rainbow stared perplexed at such possibility. Before the pegasus could reply the griffon was already gone into her guest room. Tomorrow was going to be a long day. ************************************************ Morning came rather peacefully if not for the early incident at Rainbow's house that made Lightning spill her breakfast in fright. A very loud scream coming from Rainbow's room shook the gigantic cloud house and those inside of it. The former cadet flew as fast as she could upstairs towards Rainbow's room. Once inside she saw Gilda standing over Rainbow's bed while the cyan mare thrashed all over the floor nearby. "GAH! GILDA WHAT IN THE HAY?!!" Rainbow was really upset. The mare scratched one of her ears furiously. "Told ya I would give you a wet poke if you took too long to wake up." The griffon replied while looking incredibly amused. "You know I hate that! It's gross!" Rainbow complained after using a towel to dry the internal part of her ear the deep as she could. "It weird actually. It's like Gilda gave you a good ear lick." Lightning commented with certain satisfaction. It would always amuse her to see Rainbow Dash in the bad end of things. "Shut up Dust!" "Come on you both. Let's have breakfast and fly down to the town." Gilda said as she jumped from the bed. "To the town? I thought we would start training at the clouds." Rainbow asked confused. "We still have a long way to go before reaching the skies. We're meeting Twilight and Amethyst to sort some things out with the rest of the team." Gilda explained tiredly. "Long way? Most of them are Wonderbolt reserves. What could they possibly learn of different?" Rainbow seemed really doubtful of a new approach. "You peggy have learned all a pegasus can do. You trained to be great pegasus. I will teach you all how to fly like griffons do." This intrigued Lightning. She never thought that griffons could have a different approach to flying than pegasus. It actually should be obvious since their wing spam and bodies were so much different. "Griffon flying techniques? Oh, I'm totally in for that!" Rainbow bursted excitedly, her previous anger due Gilda's prank evaporating instantly. "Me too. But will it work on ponies?“ Dust asked as they finally reached the kitchen. Gilda shrugged. Probably it wouldn't but a bit more of knowledge never hurt anypony. Until very soon. ************************************************ Thunderlane poked a small rock to distract himself from the sudden boredom he found he was currently dealing with. It's been an hour since he left home to join the other pegasus at the edge of Everfree nearby Fluttershy's cottage. Cloud Chaser, Star Hunter, Helia, Pizzelle, Sunshower Raindrops, White Lightning, Rainbowshine, Orange Swirl were already present for the meeting. Twilight was few meters away from the group chatting excitedly with Spike. Apparently they were still waiting for Amethyst, Cloud Kicker, Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust and Gilda. "Hey Thundy." Speaking of Tartarus. "Hey there Kicker. Is Amethyst with you?" Thunderlane asked politely but wary of Kicker's mischeviousness. "Nah, she's taking her time with her scrolls and stuff. I would've helped her bring all that stuff but she said she could handle it." Kicker replied while studying the group around them. "Is Dust here yet?“ 'And here we go. Classic Cloud Kicker, can't take her mind out of the butter.' "No, but she and the others will be soon. Why do you ask?“ The stallion was actually wondering what would make Kicker think he had some kind of involvement going on. "Well, I'm kinda worried since we both know what happened at the academy and seeing what happened last night with her and Spitfire made me wonder a lot of stuff." That answer surprised the mohawk stallion. While he expected some sort of teasing it came instead the selfless concern of a teammate. It was really rare the occasions that Kicker would act like a mature pony. He couldn't blame her for living life so intensely but she easily went overboard sometimes. "I get what you're saying. I don't really know what happened at that time to see things ending up like that after so long." Thunderlane replied thoughfully. "You think Spitfire may have been unfair with her?“ The purple pegasus asked as she watched the arrival of Rainbow Dash, Lightning and Gilda. "Who knows? But one thing is for sure, whatever we gonna deal with in the next weeks, it starts today. Let's make sure to do our best for not only Rainbow, Twilight or Gilda, but for our homes and those who will be cheering for us during this new start." "Oh, so poetic Thundy. I bet Dusty would love your mushy poems." Kicker teased with a wink. "Buck you, Kicker."