"Is this really going to work? Not that I don't have faith on griffon methods or any of sorts but I don't think they will feel very pleased to be subject to such radical change of-
"Yo, chill Twilight. I got this, stop worrying so much. Besides Amethyst will help me to make sure everything goes...huh...what's the word I'm looking for?“ Gilda asked as she eyed both purple mares standing nearby her.
"Accordingly?" Amethyst suggested kindly enough.
"Pretty much that. Now these pegasus need to feel what hard work really is like. I wanna cut the laid off ones from the start."
"Then what Rainbow Dash is doing here?" Amethyst asked while giggling.
"Hey! I heard that!“ The cyan mare in question yelled indignantly as she heard the purple unicorn talking about her in not such a good light. "I bet Kicker must be talking hay nonsense about me with you again."
"I dun know whatchu talking about." Kicker said trying to sound innocent but with a smirk clearly plastered across her face.
"Ok. Everypony make a line here! Hurry up dweebs! We have a lot to do."
The group of pegasus present slowly organized themselves in a proper line in front of the griffon. Gilda raised an scroll with the names of all the ponies that signed their candidature to join the team.
"Good! Now I will call your names and if you're here say so. If you're not here then don't say anything at all."
Few ponies eyed each other confused while others nodded hesitantly.
"Suns...for real?...Sunshower Raindrops!"
"Here!" Came the excited response of a mare in the line.
"Parasol!"
"Here." Parasol replied rather unenthusiastically. Gilda glared at the yellow coated mare standing just few meters away. The mare quickly took notice of the griffon's eyes narrowing at her. "H-Here!"
"Better." Gilda said while smiling in satisfaction. At least she could instigate some fear in those dweebs if they ask for it. "Cloud Chaser!"
"Here!" Came the reply of the purple mare standing right between Rainbow Dash and Star Hunter. The blue stallion nearby her seemed a bit off for some reason.
"Cloud...urgh...Cloud Kicker!"
"Here sweetie!" The devious mare replied much to everypony's annoyance. Gilda groaned internally at her teasing.
"Here's something I wanna make clear Licker." Cloud Kicker choked a gasp at the way Gilda adressed her while everpony else laughed. "You can be the little sassy all you want but when talking with me you better watch out. Otherwise I'll stick your rear end in the nearest masterpole and use you as our team flag, you got that?“
Everypony else stood in perplexed silence at the griffon's threath. Except for Rainbow and Lightning that were chocking in their own laughter. Even Thunderlane was trying not to burst in laughter after seeing how pale Cloud Kicker had become.
"Star Hunter!“
"Here!" The stallion replied almost instantly. He even made the traditional Wonderbolt salute. Gilda stared intensely at him for few seconds. The sheer intensity of her stare was making it very nerve-wrecking for the dark blue pegasus.
"Gez, so uptight. You look like you got a stick up your flank." Gilda commented somewhat amused.
"No, please!“ Star Hunter replied seemingly terrified for a second. When it clicked what the griffon actually said his face went from dark blue to purple. "I-I mean...n-no, of course. I'm just...nervous."
Gilda was having too much fun already messing with these ponies. Though a quick glance towards Twilight's face made it clear that she had done enough. The griffon shrugged her concerns off while checking the rest of the silly names in the list.
"Thunderlame."
"It's Thunderlane!" The black stallion replied annoyed at the jab. Gilda rolled her eyes at how easy it was to get on his nerves.
"Same thing." The griffon responded much to his displeasure. Gilda noticed Rainbow Dash and Lightning still laughing quietly at the events.
"Lightning Dork"
"It's Dust but I heard worse." Lightning replied without being bothered a single bit by the name adressing. Rainbow on the other hoof was finding it too hard to keep herself togheter. Gilda knew exactly how to fix that.
"Lamebow Trash."
"WHAT?“
Rainbow Dash stood perplexed while most ponies, the exception being Twilight, Cloud Chaser and Thunderlane, laughed their plots off around her. Even Lightning couldn't help but held her belly with both hooves in an attempt to keep her breath.
"I suppose that's you." Gilda said loud enough for Rainbow to hear her over the obnoxious laughing.
"That's not funny! What gives you the right to straight up insult me?!" The mare replied as she trotted right in front of the griffon.
Gilda raised an eyebrow at how poorly she was reacting to this. It also raised a very familiar and uncomfortable feeling in her gut that the griffon hoped she would never feel it again.
"Why you're so upset? I was making fun of everypony. You knew this was coming." Gilda replied uncaringly.
It seemed the other ponies noticed what was happening as they slowly stopped laughing to observe both griffon and pegasus debating.
"Oh, really?! Cause you already forgot what I've been through at Flight Camp?! Do you think it's easy for me to forget that whole name calling stuff?! That's not fair Gilda!" Rainbow protested fiercely while sounding a bit hurt at the same time.
"Rainbow Dash, please." Pleaded Twilight as she felt the possible outcome in the current situation.
"She's right Gilda. It's not really cool to hit on Rainbow like that. Most ponies here knows how much of a deal that is to her." Cloud Chaser said while looking at the griffon dissaprovingly.
Gilda's temper seemed to rise to extremely dangerous levels in the blink of an eye. She slowly stuffed her chest as she prepared to unleash every single one of her thoughts widely over the cyan mare.
But then it stopped. She slowly exhaled all the energy built while closing her eyes with a huge ammount of self-control. Past mistakes were hard to forget and she would be dammed if she made the same mistake twice.
Yet there was something she could argue about.
"It's funny, ya know." Gilda said distractedly as she glanced at everypony around her. "I made fun of you and now I'm suddenly the bad guy for doing it? When you pranked me in that party and I got angry for being laughed at I was also the bad guy. Are you telling me that I should respect your feelings when you never respected mine?“
An odd silence followed after what Gilda said. Most ponies stared away feeling oddly guilty because some of them were at the aforementioned party.
"Because who cares, right? Griffons are heartless, grumpy, selfish creatures. They don't have feelings."
"Gilda, please..." Twilight was fearful of what could happen if the griffon kept going with this. It was not the time to pick up fights, especially in front of the team.
"I didn't mean to-
"Whatever Rainbow. Do me a favor and forget about it until we're done with the morning." Gilda interrupted without sparing a single glance at her old friend.
Before anything else could be said a familiar pink pony sprung out of nowhere.
"Hi Gilda!Hi Dashie! Hi Twilight! Hi Amethyst!Hi Cloud Chaser! Hi Thunderlane! Hi Cloud Kicker! Hi Helia! Hi Parasol! Hi Star Hunter! Hi Starlight! Hi Lightning Dust!Hi Sunshower Raindrops! Hi Orange Swirl!Hi White Lightning!Hi Spike!"
"Hey Pink...wait. Did you say Starlight?" Twilight asked looking visibly puzzled. "And where's Spike?"
"I was here the whol-
"Oh! She's around that line of trees!" Pinkie interrupted while smiling cheerfully.
"Hey! We are in the middle of something here Pinkie, what do you want?“ Gilda asked looking none too happy to see the pink menace nearby.
"I'll be right back." Twilight said as she made her way to the nearest set of trees.
"I came here to wish all of you good luck on your first day of training!“ Pinkie replied as she bounced around a very annoyed Gilda.
"Sure, whatever. I just do-
"I noticed that you and Rainbow are arguing again." Pinkie said sounding suddenly serious which made Gilda do a double take on what she was about to retort.
"Pinkie, you know it's normal for friends to argue sometimes." Amethyst Star made herself present as she trotted to their side.
"Rainbow is a partner. She ain't my friend." The griffon pointed out dryly. Pinkie gasped in shock.
"But...but...you two are BFF!You can't just say that!" The pink pony retorted rather dramatically.
"She's right." Came the meek voice of Rainbow Dash. The cyan mare was hanging her head low as she fixated her gaze on the snowy ground. "I can't be a BFF if I couldn't even be a good normal friend."
------------------------------------------
"Urgh, there they go again. It's been one drama after the other since we got here."
Thunderlane blinked as he heard the turquoise mare complaining about the current debate taking place right in front of them.
"It's getting hard to not let past issues get in the way?“ The black stallion asked while observing Rainbow Dash getting spontaneously angry as she heard whatever Gilda was saying to her. Lightning huffed before responding.
"You can say that again. I don't even know why I bothered to come back."
Thunderlane felt a peak of curiosity at the reasons for Lightning to have decided to join their team. It wouldn't make sense for her to be joining this event only to prove herself somehow. The stallion wasn't sure of how much she changed since the academy. Perhaps it was a good time to find out.
"Hey." Thunderlane said as he slowly reached closer to her. If Lightning noticed his approach she pointedly ignored it. "What's the real reason for you to be here?“
The mare quickly fixated her amber eyes on him in genuine puzzlement. Did he still had some suspicious regarding her presence?
But even Lightning Dust herself wasn't sure of the real reason to be competing for Ponyville. If anything she would have a better chance in towns like Manehattan or Baltimare.
"I don't think I have a main reason. At first it was to get back at Spitfire somehow. Now I'm not really sure. I really could use the money but I wouldn't have anywhere else to go where I could find a decent job for a pegasus like me."
"A pegasus like you?“ Thunderlane repeated confused at what she was trying to get at. Lightning seemed flustered for a second. She darted her eyes away on him while looking towards the ground in embarrassment.
"You know....the really fast, self-centered, egocentric, and uncaring type of pegasus."
"Oh! You scared me for a second!“ Thunderlane said while smiling. "I thought this was about you, not Rainbow Dash."
Lightning actually laughed a bit despite how much of a jerk he sounded at the moment.
"Har har. Ain't you a comedian? You know what I'm talking about." Dust replied in between amusement and annoyance.
Thunderlane sighed as he accepted the undesirable path this conversation would take. He already felt bad enough when thinking of how much he disliked the turquoise mare back at the academy. Maybe they were too quick to judge her for her mistakes? Mistakes she wasn't solely responsible for?
Was she really that bad as he was lead to believe?
"I know." Thunderlane said as he adopted a more serious approach towards the subject. "I wonder why we never got along at the academy."
That made Lightning's face turn grim very quickly. Whatever reason she knew about it probably didn't brought her any wonderful memories.
Thunderlane was just one of the many other cadets she ignored due their lack of skill if compared with Rainbow Dash. She knew that being the best meant being with the best. Thunderlane simply wasn't as good as her and Rainbow Dash.
Speaking of it.
"Sooo....how's the reserve routine going for you? Doing great on the tests?" Lightning asked hesitantly. She knew it was an odd question when coming from her.
The stallion was genuinely surprised by her sudden interested on his career. Thunderlane shifted on his hooves feeling uncomfortable.
"Oh, that! Yeah, huh...I'm doing alright." He said somewhat evasively. The pegasus mare raised an eyebrow at his nervous stance.
"Come on, you can talk me with me about it. At least you're there living up the dream and stuff." She asked with a genuine peek of curiosity.
Thunderlane was having an internal debate on where he should spill tye beans or not. Though her mention of living up a dream brought him back into reality quickly enough.
" Living up a dream?“ He repeated while pondering the words for a second. "It's kinda weird to say this but I never believed I could become a Wonderbolt at all. Years from hearing Rainbow Dash calling me out for being lazy and without ambition kinda drove me away from thinking that I could it."
It took a great deal of effort for Lightning to not roll her eyes at the mention of Rainbow Dash as the reason for Thunderlane's lack of faith.
"Then why did you apply?“ The mare asked unsure of how he still managed to go through it and reach the reserves. The stallion couldn't help but smile fondly as he recalled the reason he became everything he was now.
"Because my little bro wouldn't have it any other way." Thunderlane replied with a hint of pride in his voice. "He sent the application formulary even though I haven't signed anything. He's really good at copying my writing."
"Wow. I guess it must've been quite the shock once you got accepted." Lightning mused while trying to imagine his reaction towards that moment.
"Yeah, it kinda blew me away and terrified me at the same time. I was kinda worried I would just embarrass myself in front of the Wonderbolts." The stallion admitted sheepishly while scratching the back of his head with a hoof.
"But you weren't really that bad." Lightning Dust said as if was kind of obvious. Thunderlane glared at her for a second before settling his eyes back into the group nearby them.
"I wonder how can you tell. You never had to worry about us. It was always a race between you and Dash. We barely could keep up. I don't think you ever cared for a second about our skills since Rainbow overwhelmed us tremendously." It sounded harsh but it was the truth. The other cadets never were able to compete against Lightning and Rainbow.
"If there's one thing I'm sure about the Wonderbolts is that they wouldn't pick you if they thought you couldn't do it and you did. Maybe you're not the best but you sure can handle your you own just fine." Dust replied confidently.
"And you got expelled for endangering the Elements of Harmony despite the incredible ammount of talent you have." Thunderlane pointed out as if expecting her to deny it.
"Yeah, pretty m......the elements of what?!" Lightning asked visibly confused. Thunderlane raised both eyebrows at her reaction.
"Really? You don't know what the Elements are?" The stallion asked while looking perplexed at the mare's obliviousness. Lightning shrugged in response.
"Does it matter?“
Thunderlane stared hard at her as if he couldn't recognize this mare at all.
"Wow. This explains a lot. And kinda makes it worse all the same." The stallion said in disbelief." Tge elements of harmony are responsible for defeating Nightmare Moon, Queen Chrysalis, Discord, King Sombra and Tirek."
Lightning narrowed her eyes as she recognized every single one of these names, especially Tirek. So the elements are the greatest deal of Equestria and she pretty much ignored that? But what exactly were the elements?
"And who controls the elements?" Dust asked feeling silly enough for not knowing any of this at all. Her entire life was spent focus on herself and the Wonderbolts and she didn't cared much fir what happened around Equestria. Being expelled only made herself isolate completely from the world around her.
"There are six of them. Each one for a particular pony. Laughter, Generosity, Magic, Kindness, Honesty and Loyalty. I guess you can figure it out who these ponies are." Thunderlane eyed her with a devious smirk.
Lightning Dust felt like the greatest fool of the entire world right now. Her academy incident had nearly costed the lives of the ponies carrying the Elements of Harmony. Had they died that day it would probably result in the destruction of the kingdom at the next incoming threat. All thanks to her stupid attitude back then.
Is this why she took such harsh punishment? For something of such importance that she should know?! No wonder it was a royal mark that fated her life to misery.
But she didn't know. Would've hurt that much to ask?
"I can tell by your face that you really didn't know." Thunderlane said with a serious facial expression this time. He honestly thought she was joking around. That the incident back at the academy was a mere display of extreme arrogance to act tough in front of such important ponies. But she was really oblivious to their importance and that costed her tremendously. "That really sucks."
Lightning couldn't help but chuckle even without feeling any sort of amusement at all.
"It does." She said with a trembling voice. Thunderlane perked his ears in alarm at the sudden change. It was clear that this revelation was shaking her on the inside.
Lightning feel like her feelings were all over the place. Anger, sadness, sorrow, angst, anguish, fear, and a huge sense of injustice that she couldn't place it anywhere.
"Can't believe I never noticed 'miss honesty' during all the time I've spent with her at the academy." Dust muttered with some irony.
Thunderlane chuckled at her little mistake.
"Actually that would be Applejack. Rainbow Dash is the element of Loyalty."
...
Lightning stood still for few seconds. Even her breathing had paused during the time her brain slowly processed that information. Even the storm of emotions going inside of her seemed to come to a sudden halt. Her eyes gazed into the nothingness while her body stop working altogether.
Rainbow Dash. Loyalty.
Rainbow Dash. Loyalty
Rainbow Dash. Loyalty.
Rainbow Dash....loyal?
LOYAL?!?!
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAA!!!“
Thunderlane stood speechless as the turquoise mare squirmed over the floor in an uncontrolable fit of mad laughter. She rolled around the snow incapable of stopping herself. Her hooves clenching over her stomach while tears dropped from her eyes like a constant waterfall.
Everypony nearby stopped and glanced at the maniac laughter in utter astonishment. Even Gilda and Rainbow Dash were quickly distracted from their heated argument by the sudden commotion.
"I CANT!!!!HAHAHAHAAHA!!!BELIEVE!!!HAHAHAHA!!!!"
Thunderlane was sweatdropping at her insane reaction. He had absolutely no idea of what caused her to go crazy like that.
"Wow Thundy. You are already driving her up the wall. I can only imagine how wild it can get once you hop her into the bed." Despite the loud obnoxious laughter Cloud Kicker still managed to make herself audible enough for the stallion to hear that tease.
"I will drive you somewhere alright. No promises you'll be coming back." Thunderlane muttered angrily in response to Kicker's antics.
For now it would have to wait as they were all curious to know what drove Lightning Dust to such insanity.