“Two weeks,” Lightning Dust grumbled, rubbing her side. “Why do bones take so long to heal?”
“Because they’re bones. They’re hard and take a while to fix,” Aria answered matter of factually.
“Do I want to know how you know that?”
“Probably not. Let’s just say that I’ve taken some hits in my life.”
“You mean aside from getting your wing broken by Chroma?”
Aria grinned. “I’ll consider that one to be my greatest scar, thank you very much. Just consider this one of yours.”
Lightning grumbled under her breath again as she flapped towards the Black Rook Lodge. “Yeah, well, training is going to take a hit. Can’t be out there, kicking their flanks myself while I’m wounded like this.”
“You have the training means. Just tell some of your recruits what to do. They aren’t all idiots are they?”
Lightning bit her lip as she landed on the lodge walls. Her recruits were taking a bit of a load off at the moment, generally lounging around and enjoying the fact that their lodge master wasn’t currently busting their flanks. There were a few among the lot that she could probably trust to run the training spider without breaking it.
“Of course, there is the whole assassin to worry about as well.”
“That’s why you’re going to take Adagio’s guards, right?”
“I don’t think I really have a choice now.”
Aria patted her friend on the back. “I’m pretty sure that the mare that had the spine to take a shot at Chroma can handle a bunch of green recruits.”
While Lightning was sure of that under normal circumstances, these were hardly normal circumstances what with an assassin running around and super strict baroness coming to pay her a visit.
At least she could count on her friends to back her up.
- - - -
“Have you completely lost your mind!” Starlight shouted.
“Have you?” Adagio roared back. “Or did you forget that somepony tried to kill Lightning?”
Oh, right. Two of my friends have egos the size of Canterlot, Lightning thought.
“You still can’t search every house in Ponyville without any evidence of wrongdoing!”
“I absolutely can! It is my right as the baroness of this territory!”
“Sure, if you want to keep making everypony in this town think you’re a tyrant!”
“Ladies, please, no need to fight over me,” Lightning said, her tone as dry as a desert.
“We aren’t!” both mares shouted at once.
Lightning sighed, idly letting her gaze wander around Adagio’s sitting room. “Could have fooled me.”
“I refuse to feel guilty for taking the attempt on your life seriously,” Adagio huffed.
“You think I’m not taking it seriously? I’m the one she tried to kill! But if you land on Ponyville with both hooves, all you’re going to do is let this jerk know we’re coming. Even with your guards, we don’t have enough ponies to search every house in Ponyville at once.”
“Assuming she’s even hiding in town,” Starlight said. “For all we know, she snuck in with Lightning’s recruits.”
Lightning froze an icy chill running down her spine. It hadn’t occurred to her at the time, but the assassin could have easily slipped in with her recruits. She took everypony who was willing to come and make the necessary sacrifices. A perfect environment for an assassin to operate in.
“I’m giving you Will too.”
Lightning looked up to find herself staring into Adagio’s intense glare. Very little escaped her friend’s eye when it came to a pony’s emotions.
“Adagio-”
“No arguments Lightning. Will has saved my life in the past and there’s no one I’d trust more to protect a friend.”
Lightning squirmed in her seat. “He’s your bodyguard Adagio.”
“I insist. I’ll be traveling out of The Heartlands for a bit under guard anyway.”
Lightning raised an eyebrow. “Where to?”
“The Lunar Kingdom. In light of Chroma’s attack and Echidna’s freedom, King Sombra has felt the need to remind some of our neighbors of old bonds and shared struggles,” Adagio said, idly swirling a goblet of wine in her magic. “So I’ll be traveling to Queen Luna’s realm to make nice.”
Lightning smirked back. “Try not to accidentally start a war while you’re there.”
Adagio responded with a chuckle. “Accidentally? Please Lightning. If I start a war, it will be entirely intentional.”
Lightning laughed at the joke, helping herself to their shared bottle of wine. But as she poured it Starlight’s observation hung in the back of her mind. Was her assassin in her midst?
- - - -
“Move it you maggots! Do you think the monsters of the Everfree care if you’re tired or not? They’ll eat you up without a second thought! So you better get running!”
It was another rock pack run to build muscle and endurance. Icy Mist was at the front of the column, doing her usual round of encouragement.
“Come now everypony, step lively now! One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four! I know you can do it! Don’t let a bunch of stupid stones get you down!”
Lightning couldn’t help but like the crazy mare. She was a different kind of noble from some of the others she had met. While Adagio was defined by her ambition and Starlight her causes, Icy Mist was a bit more...gallant. Or at least she chased some strange personal idea of what gallantry was. She made for a refreshing change of pace and a rock of positivity for the other recruits to anchor to.
But as she watched the recruits continue to run their laps, dark thoughts began to squirm into her mind. A smiling face and goofy attitude could easily had a poisoned dagger or two.
“Icy Mist! Front and center!”
She came trotting over with a wide smile. “Yes ma’am?”
“You’ve been doing good work out there. Always nice to see a bit of positivity on the field.”
“Thank you ma’am!”
“I am curious though. House Mist. I’m not too familiar with that one. What part of The Heartlands does it hail from?”
A strange transformation seemed to overcome Icy Mist at that point, her smile becoming strained and her eyes taking on a thousand yard stare. “With all due respect ma’am, I don’t know you well enough to discuss my house so frankly.”
“But-”
“I’mgoingtogetbacktoworknow!” she almost shouted, before running back to the crowd.
Note to self. Ask Adagio if she’s heard of House Mist at all, Lightning thought.
- - - -
A day later and they were doing another round on the spider training dummy.
Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger were at the lead, weaving through the mechanical strikes that Scootaloo was throwing out. The two of them were like a well oiled machine, the strikes just swishing through empty air where they had been a moment before.
Vapor Trail had shown the most improvement of her recruits so far. For a little while, Lightning was concerned that her tendency to hold back was going to lead to her dropping out of the whole effort. Now, Lightning fully intended to keep her if possible. One thing she was concerned about though was her tendency to stay right by Sky Stinger’s side. While having partners in the Rangers wasn’t unheard of, there was a fine line between that and becoming dependant on each other.
On the plus side though, she could rule out Sky Stinger as the assassin. Still, best to nip a possible problem in the bud. As the groups switched to give the other half of the trainees their go, Lightning flew over to Vapor Trail’s side.
“Hey Trail. Got a moment?”
She smiled nervously. “Of course ma’am. What do you need?”
“Tomorrow, I want you to train in a different group from Sky Stinger.”
The effect was immediate. Vapor’s pupils shrunk to near pinpricks and she began to pant.
“What? ...No! I can’t. I...I’m not ready on my own!”
Lightning raised an eyebrow. “Vapor Trail...you’re not that bad. In fact, you’ve been showing a lot of improvement! You can’t just hang on Sky Stinger forever!”
“I’m still not ready!” Vapor pleaded. “Just...just give me another week! I’ll be ready then. I promise!”
“Uhhh. Alright then....”
As Vapor trotted off, Lightning could only blink at what just happened.
What was that about?
- - - -
It was a few days later when another bit of strangeness came to Lightning’s attention.
The day’s training had come to an end and she was working in her office, planning out the group’s first training session in the Everfree. Those training sessions were always among the most dangerous, what with the threats of monsters and caprataurs. Yet they were also amongst the most necessary as Ranger’s needed to learn how to survive in the depths of that cursed forest.
Then came the scream from the barracks.
Lightning threw open the windows and shot for it at top speed. Bursting into the barracks she was presented with an utterly bizarre sight. Sunflower was perched on the headboard of her bed. She was staring down at a hoof sized scarlet colored spider that was futilely trying to escape a glass jar. Said glass jar was held in place by Firefly. Scootaloo was glowering at Firefly while sitting on her bed. The rest of the recruits were staring at the strange tableau with as much confusion as Lightning was feeling right now.
“Does somepony want to explain to me what in the name of Equestria’s flowing fields is going on here?” she exclaimed.
Sunflower pointed a shaky hoof at the jar. “That thing was in my bed!”
Flying a little closer, Lightning recognized the species. It was a Scarlet Striker, well known for the paralyzing nature of its venomous bite.
“Give me the lid Scootaloo,” Firefly growled.
“Sure you don’t just want to take it from my trunk without asking!”
“I saw the spider and caught the glint of glass out of the corner of my eye! Did you want me to just let it bite her?”
“I would have passed it to you! You didn’t have to just rummage through my stuff like a burglar!”
Lightning rubbed her temples, sighing very deeply. “Recruit Scootaloo? Give her the lid.”
Scootaloo acquiesced, tossing the circular lump of cork over to Firefly with a grumble. In one smooth motion, Firefly tipped the bottle back, scooping up the spider and capping it.
Sunflower shuddered. “How did that thing get in here anyway?”
“Well, they’re a species native to the Everfree, so one of them wandering their way here isn’t out of the question,” Lightning mused, tapping the glass.
“Why were you even carrying that around?” Firefly asked.
Now that Firefly had brought it up, it was oddly convenient that Scootaloo just happened to have an empty jam jar in her trunk.
“What? It’s a useful container. I wasn’t going to just throw it away after shelling out good livres for it!”
Sunflower blinked. “Livres? Just what kind of jam was it?”
“Zap Apple!” Scootaloo said cheerfully.
“Oooo!” Sunflower cooed, suddenly much more interested in the jar.
A similar round of appreciation rippled through the recruits. Even Lightning felt her mouth starting to water at the thought of zap apple jam and all of its richly layered flavors. It was expensive enough to be a yearly treat at best for most ponies.
“Alright everypony, that’s enough excitement for the day. I’ll deal with our spider friend,” Lightning said.
But as she flew off to release the creature with the paralyzing bite, Lightning could only wonder if there was a little more to its presence than met the eye.
- - - -
Later that night, Lightning crept back into the barracks with a lantern hidden under a blanket.
Those recruits that weren’t on watch duty at the moment slept deeply in their beds. The antique clock on the wall softly ticked away as she slinked across the floor, towards Scootaloo’s trunk. The thought of the spider had remained in the back of her mind, skittering around like the creature itself. Though it wasn’t alone, scrabbling around back there. It had a friend in the form of a realization. A realization that had crept up on her, vice like with its dread. Scootaloo’s fighting style was very acrobatic. The assassin’s fighting style was also acrobatic. And a paralyzing spider would be a very easy thing to help with an assassination.
Coming to Scootaloo’s trunk, Lightning carefully lifting the lid. The collection of items inside were sparse. There were a few cloaks, a collection of dried fruit and nuts, what looked like a water skin and a small book. No daggers or other weapons from what she could see. Turning her attention to the book, Lightning ducked under her blanket and flipped the book open.
Poetry.
Rather bad poetry at that, judging by its overuse of lavender unicorn syndrome.
Dropping the book back into the trunk with a sigh, Lightning closed it back up and snuck back out of the barracks. Maybe she had been mistaken.
- - - -
The rest of the next two weeks practically crawled by for Lightning Dust. The healing still felt like it was going particularly slow from her point of view. The presence of Iron Will standing at her side didn’t do much to help her mood. Not that she didn’t appreciate his efforts but he was a constant reminder of her current situation.
Lightning sighed and rubbed at her side as she watched her trainees do their daily training on the spider. The numbers had dropped by now from thirty eight to twenty seven. It was a bitter pill for Lightning, as their numbers had dropped under the full complement for the lodge.
I just know that Harshwhinny will hold that against me, she thought. Of course the fact that I’ve not been able to refill the ranks will land on some damnable checklist of hers that’ll be used to hang me! I bet that she’s got some plan of her own to take control of the Rangers. I don’t care what Adagio says. No pony could exist in that den of vipers that is Heartlands’ politics without also being at least a little corrupt themselves. Even Adagio slips into scheming on occasion, and she’s been chosen by Harmony itself. I-
Something bounced off the side of her head.
It took a moment for the reality of what just happened to sink in. She glanced down to find a rolled up scroll laying at her hooves. Looking around revealed no ponies, ravens or other means of delivery in the immediate area. Now thoroughly confused she stooped down and unrolled the message.
Friend Lightning Dust,
There are matters of great importance that must be discussed. Meet me at the edge of the Everfree Forest tonight.
-Master Tirek
Lightning blinked a few times at the name. She hadn’t really thought about the wild old centaur who lived in the depths of the Everfree since she and her friends had claimed the Elements of Harmony. She had assumed he had gone back to wandering the world now that he no longer had to guard six of the most powerful artifacts known to ponykind. But if he was still lingering in the area…
Matters of great importance. Did he know about the attempts to ruin her lodge? Was it Echidna up to some new plot? Or was he speaking about some new threat in the Everfree? Were the caprataurs on the march again? Whatever the case, her actions were clear enough. She’d be paying the Everfree a visit tonight.
“I don’t like it,” Iron Will said.
Apparently, Will had been reading the letter as well.
“You don’t trust Master Tirek?”
Will shrugged. “Haven’t met him. I’d be inclined to believe his intentions based on what Adagio told me about your meeting with him. I’m just not sure it’s actually from him.”
“You think it’s the assassin drawing me out?”
Iron Will nodded, crossing his massive arms. “It’s possible. ...I won’t stop you from going. But I insist on coming with.”
A loud cry of pain pulled their attention away from the missive. Sky Stinger was laying on the ground and clutching at his snout with both hooves. It seemed that Scootaloo had managed to catch him with a solid blow. But he was glaring not at the training spider and thusly Scootaloo within, but at the form of Sunflower.
“You stupid pony, you screwed up my shot!”
“What? No! I’d never try and do that!” Sunflower exclaimed, her eyes wide.
“Maybe not intentionally, but you got too close to me and threw off my balance!”
Sunflower looked crushed. “But...I could have sworn I was moving to give you some room.”
Sky Stinger threw up his hooves. “Well, you clearly didn’t! I mean, why are you even here? You were afraid of a spider! A spider of all things!”
While Sunflower recoiled and pressed her hooves to her muzzle, Icy Mist coughed to catch Sky Stinger’s attention. “Pardon me Sky. But we were all watching what happened. I don’t think it was any pony’s fault. You took a hit. It happens sometimes.”
“It doesn’t happen to me! I’ve fought monsters before! Have you ever clashed with a bandersnatch?” He waved a hoof dismissively at the massive wooden spider. “Those things move way faster than this training dummy!”
Vapor Trail placed a hoof on her side. “Sky, that still doesn’t mean you’re perfect-”
“It wasn’t my fault! It was hers!”
Sunflower, now quivering with a mixture of anger and sadness, snapped back at Sky. “Oh, go b-buck a b-beehive!”
Sky Stinger whirled about to glare at her. “What was that?”
“Y-you don’t do a-anything here without Vapor Trail b-backing you up!” Sunflower shouted, jabbing a hoof at her. “If I didn’t know any better.” She took a shaky, deep breath before shouting again. “I’d say that she’s carrying you!”
Lightning grit her teeth. Sky Stinger’s attitude that was getting under her coat today. Two weeks of listening to his self important preening without seeing any of the supposed combat brilliance he had was beginning to take its toll on her mood.
“Carrying me? If anything, I’m carrying her! I could beat any of you here! Even Lightning Dust!”
That tore it. Sure, it was just another little bout of bravado from a pony that had done nothing but bravado. But between the assassin and hearing Adagio and Starlight yell at each other Lightning Dust was on her last nerve.
“Prove it,” she snarled.
Immediately, she felt one of Will’s heavy hands on her withers. “Lightning, be careful.”
“...What?” Sky Stinger asked.
“I’ve been listening to you talk about how great you are for weeks! But Sunflower’s right. You’ve always had Vapor Trail at your side. If you’re so amazing, come over here and prove it!”
Now Sky Stinger was nervously glancing around at his fellow recruits. All eyes had suddenly landed on him, the question of whether or not he’d have the guts to actually face down Lightning hanging in the air like a vile curse. Lightning was honestly unsure if he’d rise to the challenge or not. He was full of himself, but was he so completely stupid as to not recognize when his commander was laying down the law-
“All right teach. I’ll take you on. Nothing personal of course.”
Stupid it was!
“Let’s get to it then,” Lightning spat.
Sky Stinger swagged forward with a smug smile. “So, what are the rules teach? Hooves, weapons, what?”
Vapor Trail ran after him. “Sky! Don’t do this! You can’t just fight your boss! Even Queen Chrysalis got ambushed by Chroma! Taking one hit to the snout isn’t the end of the world!”
Icy Mist nodded in agreement. “Really! Show some sense my good stallion! You’re going to get thrown out of here at this rate!”
Sky ignored both of them, instead fixing his glare on Lightning Dust. “What are the rules?”
“Hooves. First to three falls. And let me make something clear here, Stinger. I am not ‘teach’. You address me by Lodge Master or ma'am. Or I’ll have you scrub every floor in this place for a week!”
“Heh. Like you’d really take your best pony off the line for that long.”
“You haven’t proved that yet,” Lightning practically growled.
That was a half lie. He was one of her best recruits. But at the moment, there was no way she was going to let him know that.
“Well then, perhaps you’ll like...this!”
He sprang forward bringing both his forehooves down in an over the head smash. Lightning snorted and shot to the side with a simple flap of her wings.
“Free piece of advice. Don’t signal your attacks by shouting ‘this!’ like a rank amature!”
She charged. Grabbing Sky Stinger around the neck, she threw her weight forward, transitioning into a martial throw. The move came fast enough that Stinger hadn’t had time to react beyond a strangled cry as he was slammed to the ground.
“And don’t stand around like a slack jawed idiot when you’re in a fight!” she shouted.
Sky Stinger grunted and lashed out with a hoof. It was a dirty, wild strike but it clipped Lightning’s wounded side all the same. She grit her teeth through the pain and bodily yanked Sky Stinger back to his hooves. After all, this utter waste of time wouldn’t actually be over until the damn fool fell three times.
But this time, Sky Stinger proved to be a bit more willing to move. Giving his right wing a flap, he seemed to be trying to throw his body into a twisting roll. But it was a pathetic little squib of a flap, that propelled him absolutely nowhere. Lightning practically roared as she threw him like a rag doll across the grounds. He bounced and rolled across the grass, pathetically trying to spring back to his hooves before he came to a stop. It was only after he came to a stop that he managed to stumble back to his hooves.
“That’s two,” Lightning said. She took the moment to circle Sky, glaring down at him with all the anger and frustration she could muster. “Care to yield now and save yourself the embarrassment?”
“Never!”
Stumbling for a moment, he shook his head to clear it and charged again. His stance was absolutely horrible, more of a loping shuffle than a true charge. Lightning moved to meet him, her hooves hammering hard on the ground as she lowered her head in a true battle stance. At the last second before they collided, Lightning kicked off with her hind hooves and shot to the right, Sky’s clumsy strike passing through the air where she had been a moment before. Spinning neatly in place, Lightning lashed out with her hooves again in a powerful buck. The strike sent Sky sprawling to the ground with a pained groan.
“That’s three! Yield!”
“I will not!”
Sky jumped into the air, wings beating furiously as he tried to transition into a loop. Lightning assumed that he was trying to swoop in behind her, but he was clearly not going to make it. As hard as he was pumping his wings, the loop was still in danger of falling apart. It was sad, really. Clearly he had been coasting on his own ego for long enough that he had completely neglected the basics-
A gust of wind cut across the field and surged up under Sky Stinger.
In a moment, Sky was propelled through the air and slammed into Lightning from behind. The impact sent her sprawling forward, her snout ripping up a few tufts of grass as she face planted right at the hooves of her other recruits.
“Ha! That’s one!” Sky Stinger crowed, practically hopping around the parade grounds.
But Lightning wasn’t focused on him. Instead she was focused on the form of Vapor Trail and her outstretched wings.
“Was that your breeze recruit?” Lightning asked.
She realized that her voice was calm. Unnervingly calm in fact. Yet despite that calm Lightning Dust felt ready to explode. Her own recruits wouldn’t even let her discipline one of them without undermining her? Vapor Trail was decidedly not looking her in the eye. Lightning hauled herself up and glared at her all the harder.
“I asked you a question recruit!”
“Leave Vapor Trail alone,” Sky Stinger shouted. “I keep telling you, that I don’t need her help!”
For a moment, all was quiet. Then Icy Mist spoke.
“We all watched her do it.”
Sky Stinger blinked. His eyes flicked to Vapor Trail, who looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here right now. “Vapor? Why?”
She looked about, searching for some manner of support from her fellow recruits but most of them just looked away, unwilling to dive into the brewing conflict they saw rising. Vapor Trail looked back to Sky Stinger, biting her lip nervously.
“Vapor?”
“You’re not as good as you think you are!” she shouted before slapping her hooves over her mouth.
Now Sky Stinger rocked as if he had been struck. Vapor Trail immediately began to qualify her statement, almost tripping over her own words. “I’m sorry Sky! But you’ve been coasting on your laurels for years now! I’ve been trying to help you the best I can-”
“How? By making me look like a fool in front of everypony?”
“You needed help! Lightning is wounded and she was still kicking your flank all over the place!”
“Well thank you for that! Now I look like I don’t belong here at all!”
“Your words, not hers,” Scootaloo chirped in.
Sky Stinger glared at her before storming off for the barracks. Vapor Trail galloped after him shouting apologies that fell on deaf ears. Scootaloo watched them both go with a smug smile on her face. At least until Firefly poked her in the side.
“Way to make things worse!”
“What? We all know that he didn’t belong here! His arrogance was grating beyond belief!”
“Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t!” Firefly snapped. “But that’s Lightning Dust’s call to make.”
Scootaloo’s eyes narrowed. “I think Lightning made her stance clear, when she beat him like a sack of potatoes.”
“That’s enough recruit.”
Scootaloo shrugged, but fell silent. Sunflower looked on the verge of tears, while Icy Mist was just gnawing on her lip.
“With all due respect ma’am,” Icy said after a few moments of very awkward silence. “Perhaps it would be best for us to stop for the day? I’m not sure how much more progress we’ll be making today.”
Lightning nodded. “Agreed.”
“What?” Scootaloo exclaimed. “We barely got started! Just because Sky can’t handle things, doesn’t mean that we should stop!”
Icy turned towards her with a frown. “With all due respect Scootaloo, I don’t see how pushing things are going to help us today. Let us take some time to clear our heads and-”
“Oh, drop it you stuffy windbag!”
Icy blinked. “...I beg your pardon?”
“The way you throw your weight around here, you’d swear you’d think that you’re in charge!”
“...I just feel that as a member of House Mist, it is my duty to provide an example for the other recruits.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Yeah...House Mist. I can’t say I’ve ever heard of it.”
A twitch ran through Icy Mist’s right eye. “I would stop right there Scootaloo.”
“I mean, we only have your word to go on that you’re a member of a noble house.”
Icy Mist snorted fury creeping into her eyes. “I would be very careful about your accusations!”
“All right! Enough from the lot of you!” Lightning shouted. “You’re Ranger trainees! Not a squabbling group of foals!”
“If we’re a squabbling group of foals, it’s because you’re doing a bad job training us!” Icy Mist snapped at her. “The Black Rooks were so united that they almost all played follow the leader to betray The Heartlands! I don’t think that any of us actually like each other! And you’re a horrible leader! Are you a tough mare or a joker? I have no idea!”
“Maybe you’ll figure it out after you scrub every inch of the barracks by yourself with your tooth brush!”
Icy recoiled in horror. “I am a noble! I’ve been trying to help you!”
“Birthright means nothing here, or did you miss that part when you first showed up? If I tell you to clean, you will clean!”
A mutter rummaged through the crowd of recruits, more than a few backing away from Lightning and Icy Mist. Lightning grit her teeth, jabbing a wing towards the barracks.
“We’re done for today! You’re all dismissed!”
She didn’t even wait to see if they went back to the barracks, instead turning and storming for her office without another word. Her head was swimming as she slammed the door closed behind her, hard enough to make it rattle from her rage. As she slid into a seat behind Spitfire’s...her desk, her emotions were storming through her head like one of Chroma’s monstrous creations. It felt like everypony was against her now. Even her friends weren’t doing much to help her situation, with Adagio and Starlight more concerned with arguing with each other!
Tears were leaking from her eyes before she even realized it to stop it. Her lodge was falling apart again and before it even had a chance to pull themselves back together. The legacy of the organization that had helped raise her up was going to end here...and nothing she was doing was going to be able to save it. She slumped, resting her head against the desk as sobs began to wrack her body.
She did not know how long she sat there, venting her misery against the hardwood of her desk, before a new sound reached her ears.
Somepony was knocking.
She took a few deep breaths to clear her mind, wiping the remains of the tears from her eyes. Then holding her head high, she trotted over to the door and yanked it open.
“Go screw a knot hole!” she snarled.
“Permission to enter ma’am?”
It was Firefly.
“Uhh...sure,” Lightning said after a few stupid moments of silence.
Firefly trotted in, kicking the door closed behind her before following Lightning over to her desk. Lightning took a few more moments to shuffle and arrange her collection of papers and quills before finally looking Firefly in the eye.
“What can I do for you recruit?”
Firefly stood at attention. It was almost enough to make Lightning smile again. The mare before her was still the most professional of all the recruits she had gotten so far.
“Permission to speak freely ma'am?”
“Sure. Firefly away.”
Firefly slammed her forehooves on the edge of the desk. “With all due respect ma’am, you need to get your shit together.”
“...Why is it that everytime a pony says ‘with all due respect’ it ends up coming across as ‘go buck a beehive’?”
“I’m serious! Scootaloo may be an irreverent ass and Sky Stinger may be a lazy, vainglorious fool, but these ponies need you to pull them together, not tear them apart!”
Lightning glowered back. “I’ll point out that you weren’t exactly doing anything to diffuse the situation out there.”
Firefly shook her head. “Not my job. It’s your job. That’s why you’re sitting behind that desk right now. Though in light of that performance out there, I’m seriously questioning if you should be.”
Lightning stood up, slamming her own hooves down on the desk. “Are you saying that I shouldn’t have disciplined him?”
“Don’t play obtuse with me! That wasn’t enforcing discipline out there. That was a frustrated commander, beating one of her recruits because she let the situation get out of hoof! I’ve been watching you since I joined this lodge and do you know what I’ve seen?”
“Enlighten me,” Lightning hissed.
“I see a pony so desperate to rebuild her surrogate family that the minute things didn’t go well, she lost her damn cool! You are either going to drive away these recruits with that tainted attitude of yours, or you’re not going to pass inspection thanks to your confused training!”
“That is rampant speculation at best!”
“You do know that Chroma drove large swathes of her own army away from her with similar tactics, right? Her paranoia crippled her!”
Lightning actually did know that particular part of the legend. Equestria’s legions had fractured over who to support in the civil war that would go onto fracture the country itself, but the mass defection of Chroma’s own legion to the Republic’s forces was a particularly striking moment in that conflict. The defecting legionaries had left in the middle of the night, leaving their swords buried point down in their tents to represent the way Chroma had metaphorically stabbed them all in the back.
“Really, history lessons are a bit more Starlight’s thing-”
“Stop dodging the issue!”
“I am not dodging the issue! He needed to be put in place! And, I will point out, that it's not paranoia when an actual assassin has tried to kill me!” Lightning threw up her hooves. She was beyond shouting now. She was bellowing. Venting every bit of fury she had on the pony in front of her. “I’m trying to save my damn lodge! What in the name of Equestria do you know about any of this? You’re a mercenary! When have you ever had to try and rebuild something that meant the entire world to you?”
Firefly sighed. “Now.”
Firefly reared back, spreading her wings as wide as they could be. Then she brought her forehooves down again, smashing them an inch from Lightning Dust’s. And as they impacted against the wood, she changed. Colors swirled and fitted about her, the blue mane giving way to a multicolored hue, the pink coat giving way to a sky blue coat. In that moment, all of Lightning’s anger melted away and she stumbled back from her desk with a strangled, mouse like cry.
Chroma glared down at her, jaw set in a mixture of determination and anger. “And since the moment you and your friends freed me.”