//------------------------------// // Ploy or no ploy // Story: Apology // by zman123 //------------------------------// Dash rolled her eyes. It was clear that despite her initial surprise and enthusiasm were rapidly cooling. "You're not my friend." she responded coldly, staring her former partner coldly in the face. "You put my friends in serious danger and after that, I stopped trusting you." "You're not surprised to see me here then. I guess." the yellow maned pony sighed, nervously flapping her wings. "I'm surprised" retorted Dash angrily. "Not in a good way." "You don't like the welcome party I threw for you then. Partner? I'm sorry." the voice sounded far from arrogant or offended. If anything it was a lot like the apologetic tone Fluttershy used when she was being needlessly regretful for a mistake she played next to no part in. But Dash was not convinced. She knew this pony well, and she knew this pony wasn't to be trusted. The best surprise party and stack of presents in the whole wide world were not worth having, when they came from a pony so untrustworthy and reckless. "No." she responded, shaking her head "Not really. The presents are nice, but I still don't trust you I'm afraid. You really let me down back at Wonderbolt's academy, and last I saw of you Spitfire kicked you out for being a bad Wonderbolt. If Spitfire can't trust you, how can I?" "i can see that you're still..." but before she could finish her sentence, Dash cut the other pony off. Dash changed the subject. "You should know that I'm the element of loyalty by now. If you don't, then now you do. You should realize that just showing up without even asking me if you could, isn't exactly the best way to show you're sorry Lightning Dust." The pony known as Lightning Dust nodded regretfully. "But first tell me. How did you find me here? How in the hay, did my friends let you in so easily after what you did to them?" Rainbow Dash had to make a gigantic effort not to raise her voice. But she had to know just what was going through Twilight's egghead mind when she let what she knew was one of Rainbow's most distrusted rivals into the private and sacred meeting place that only Rainbow and Twilight's other friends were supposed to be allowed. She expected two kinds of response from her old rival in that instant. For her to turn tail and sprint away after realizing that her vapid attempt to coerce Dash into an offer of false friendship had been foiled, or for her to continue to keep the jig up as she would begin to lie like crazy in a way that would make a lying Applejack look convincing in comparison. What she did not and could not have anticipated was yet another surprise on a day where she had already seen too many surprises to expect anything to amaze her any more. Heck, she would have been unimpressed and unfazed in that instant if Princess Luna crashed through the ceiling giggling maniacally, having been turned back into her nightmare moon persona so long after every pony had thought her to be changed forever for the better again. But what came next was somehow able to get Rainbow to reel in amazement once again as a tornado of thoughts began to quickly whirl in her mind, causing her to feel almost dizzy. "You would be right not to trust me again partner." admitted Lightning Dust, clearly not at all fazed by Dash's brash demeanor "After what I did, you have every right to feel that way." Once again Dash's blood froze to ice as she stood mesmerized by an unknown force she could make no guess to. Lightning Dust's words in the next second made her feel as if some pony had stuck a knife deep into her flesh. "Sometimes I even feel I don't trust myself anymore." continued Lightning Dust, keeping her eyes fixed on Dash all the while. Dash stayed silent, unable to form words to reply to that. Lightning took this as a cue to keep explaining. "After Spitfire had me kicked from the academy..." She paused for a long tense moment, as she took a moment to look away from her former partner to stare blankly into the far corner of the room. She pulled herself back together soon enough much to Dash's chagrin. "Let's not talk about what happened after that." she said at last. "It's probably best you don't know." Dash didn't know whether to feel sympathy for what had clearly not been a pleasant experience for Dust, or more distrust that a pony trying to gain back the trust from Dash she had lost was now withholding more information and trying to put on a ruse to illicit pity. So she only grunted in acknowledgement and gestured for her partner to continue her story. "Your friend found me. Hungry, cold and injured one day, she found me and decided to help me despite knowing me well." Rainbow Dash didn't buy the "cold and injured" part of that sentence one bit. But she did wonder which of her friends would be silly enough to fall for Lightning's act after being a witness themselves of what she was capable of. Applejack certainly didn't seem like the type to quickly forgive, and Twilight was clearly book learned enough so that even the most conniving con artists would have trouble even tricking her slightly. She had been the first pony after all to realize that something was not right with the false Cadence back in that Changeling situation in Canterlot. "She saved me." said Lightning, clearly close to tears even as she spoke those words "She took me back to her cottage and took care of me until I was better. She fed me. She sat at my bed side and she told me that she forgave me for everything I did." Rainbow Dash did not need to ask which pony that had to be. She had been with her friends long enough to know that only one of them owned a cottage, and by pure coincidence that was the only one who would be naive and gullible enough to believe Dust's evil lies. But she kept her thoughts for herself for the moment in the hope of gleaning more from whatever parts of the story Dust had yet to get to. She could have bet her rank as full time Wonderbolt which she had worked all her life to earn, that every word that came from Lightning Dust's mouth was a filthy lie made to deceive her. From her past experience with even seemingly trustworthy and reputable ponies like Wind Rider turning out to be another fraud caring only about personal gain, she knew that any story that sounded too sincere was just as doubtful as one that was made without any feeling at all. Lightning Dust sounded sweet and indeed very honest from the way she looked straight at Rainbow when she spoke, and how she never once tripped over her words. But silver tongued deceivers were as much a common sight in Rainbow's line of work as a protector of Equestria, as bad liars. "That friendly pony told me that it was alright. That she thought I was a good pony despite all I had done both at the Wonderbolts academy that time, and back at flight school when we were a lot younger. She..." "Stop" barked Dash, bringing Dust to a dead stop. So far what Dust had been saying already made no sense but that detail there really took the cake. "I don't believe that. If Fluttershy did know you from back then, she would have told me. And she never once mentioned anything about you Lightning Dust. I think you should stop lying now." insisted Dash, carefully studying Lightning's expression for any sign that she was trying to make up all these details on the spot. Dust was clearly taken aback by Dash's accusation, and visibly shrank back. Though when she did speak again, her voice was still mild and quite, while yet still as clear and unbroken as it had been throughout this entire less than amiable conversation. "Yes. I did know a pony called Fluttershy back in flight school when I was younger. She was quite nice compared to the other ponies there actually, and though we never really spoke or got to know each other better, I always sort of wished I could have been her friend and helped her out with her problems." "What problems were those and how could you have helped?" demanded Dash, deciding to humor Lightning for the moment and to give her a fighting chance of at least making her clearly fake tale look at least somewhat plausible. Rainbow was more than expected to be met with silence or a change of subject from Dust, now that she believed that she had finally trapped her in a corner from which there was no escape. This was the best way to find out whether a pony really believed in what they were saying. What she could not have anticipated was for quiet yet dangerous rage to enter Dust's otherwise calm and soft tones. The first signs of anger that Dust had expressed thus far. "So you didn't know that Fluttershy was bullied and picked on very badly during Flight school?" asked Dust in response to Rainbow's question "You as Fluttershy's closest friend did not realize that a lot of the other ponies loved to make fun of Fluttershy simply because she couldn't fly well and because she was too nice of a pony to try and defend herself." Rainbow Dash's hard eyes softened a little at that. Clearly Lightning's story at least held some grain of truth after all, though she doubted it was much. Lightning was more than correct when she mentioned the bullying. And Fluttesrhy had confided in Dash about the bullying no grown pony listened to her about. "So why didn't you help then?" asked Dash. She had to know if any more of Lightning's narrative held any sense, and from her past experiences with the many enemies she had to deal with, she had learned that nonstop interrogation was the best way to parse truth tellers from liars. It was how Pinkie Pie had dealt with an obviously hiding Applejack who had failed after all to win the rodeo and bring back the prize money the town counted on her to win, among many other past experiences. Lightning Dust took a brief moment to bow in shame as she surveyed the ground and sighed. Then she looked back up again, her expression far more taciturn and serious this time despite the clear regret she still held. "You have friends, a reputation and in general a good life." she said, choosing her words carefully. "So do most of your friends, Dash. Especially princess Twilight. What are the odds after all that Celestia would just pick any lucky pony from off the street to study under her wing." "How is that relevant to anything?" Dust looked at the doorway briefly to check it was still empty. It was clear she wanted Dash and Dash alone to hear what she said next. "As long as you have a good life, you really can't complain about anything and..." "Cut to the chase. What exactly are you implying here?" "Ponies like me and Starlight" here Lightning's voice broke briefly "Ponies like me and Starlight, don't have good lives. To put it simply Dash, the flight school me was nothing like the one you saw in the Wonderbolt academy." Dash had to give credit. Unless Dust was very good at acting, she was beginning to sound more and more convincing. Convincing enough, that Dash would consider trying to believe and even to empathize with who she previously thought was nothing more than another remorseless and selfish bully concerned only about showing off and self gain. But she quickly forced those feelings out of her mind as she remembered the gigantic tornado that very nearly took out her friends, and could indeed have gone on to cause much more catastrophic damage if she was less fortunate. "I heard about you first when you did the sonic Rainboom in a race. You were already Wonderbolt material and a great flyer even then. I wasn't." Dust smiled at Dash approvingly. "What do you mean?" "I could barely lift myself off the ground by the time everyone started talking about you as the best flyer in Cloudsdale. It wasn't until much later that I got a fraction as good as you were by then." Dash closed her eyes in deep thought. This conversation had gone on far longer than she had anticipated and she needed time to mull over everything she had just learned. What she thought would be a simple "go away" to her old rival to get her out of the scene the moment this talk began had instead turned into a convoluted and detailed confession where despite all her expectations, Lightning had shown not one bit of malice as she described in ever more complex detail the events that had led up to this meeting. Many of these details, Dash had never thought Lightning would be comfortable admitting to. If there was one thing Dash had grown to respect, it was that Dust was clearly putting all her cards on the table. Whether it was because she really did feel sorry for the tornado incident, that was yet to be determined. But the benefit of doubt was something Dust did deserve, Rainbow told herself reluctantly if the nice presents were anything to go by. Yet one looming question still remained. What was Lightning Dust still doing here. And why did she seem so anxious to get back into Rainbow Dash's good side when it was Rainbow Dash who grassed Lightning up to Spitfire.