//------------------------------// // A Little Less Conversation // Story: Washout For Your Feelings // by Beakwood //------------------------------// The first beams of sunlight finally broke throught the small kitchen's window, poorly illuminating the anxious atmosphere that paired in between it's current inhabitants. The sound of utensils was the only thing heard in that moment, the pony that consumed her food casted worried glances at her table partner, the other pony kept staring away from her, seemingly unaware of her presence. The mare wasn't sure what was going into the stallion's mind. He was adamant about them having a serious conversation, yet insisted on her finishing off her breakfast before they could proceed. She couldn't help the sinking feeling in her stomach, which wasn't related with anything she was eating, that something was wrong and the stallion was about to tell her off. She hated to admit but she was worried. Worried she messed up somehow, worried he might end what they have for a reason she couldn't really understand. No, she wasn't worried. She was afraid. Afraid of losing a friend again, not really knowing why until it was too late. Yet, she couldn't afford the effort to ask him what was wrong, especially because they've been doing fine ever since they met at the gym. There was no reason to be upset. Unless.... Lightning chewed the last remains of her fried eggs, she made sure to hide her surprise at how well he tempered her plate, although he exaggerated when he decided to add a ton of vegetables to it. She wasn't a filly after all. "So... " She started hesitantly, hopeful that the stallion would finally break off of his weird trance. He didn't budge. "...what did ya want to talk with me about? " Thunderlane remained silent for few more seconds, pondering whether or not he should go down with this. He knew that there was a road full of problems ahead of him, and the only way to clear those obstacles was to avoid them before they got in the way. Lightning Dust at Ponyville was one thing. Lightning Dust AND Rainbow Dash in Ponyville was a huge thing. Thunderlane couldn't fathom a bigger obstacle than that. He didn't like bringing this up. Hay, Lightning hated having this being brought up, but either they talked this out or neither of them would ever be able to live it down. "Dust, do you hate Rainbow Dash?" Lightning raised an eyebrow, an unimpressed look on her face as she stared him down. "Seriously? THAT'S what this is about?" She asked, already sounding annoyed. "Yes or no? Just answer the question." Thunderlane requested, he moved around so he could finally face the mare, his eyes locking into hers with a surprising amount of intensity. Lightning was about to reply fervently how she hated the mare with no doubt, but something about the way the stallion looked at her made Lightning pause. That stare wasn't demanding nor judgmental, it was more of a pleading one. "What do ya want me to say Thunder? Why does it matter anyway?" The stallion blinked at the way she addressed him, it felt strangely off but he pushed that thought aside, there were more important things to discuss. "I just want you to be honest to yourself. I don't want you to lie to me by saying yes, neither you to lie to yourself by saying no. Just how you feel about her." He replied coolly, a hoof scratching under his muzzle. 'Urgh, I'm getting itchy. I really should've taken that bath.' Lightning broke eye contact, her sudden crestfallen expression caught the stallion by surprise. "I...I don't really hate her. I'm...mostly jealous of her. Rainbow always get everything somepony could possibly want, and I always end up with nothing." Thunderlane was pretty sure she couldn't have sounded more bitter even if she tried. Yet, he was confused at what she was talking about. Lightning Dust jealous of Rainbow Dash? "What do you mean?" He asked, hopeful she would go into an explanation without the need of much persuasion from his part. Lightning made a very unlady-like noise with her muzzle. "This is kinda of a crap story that I don't really like to go into detail, so I will keep it short for ya to spare ya the bullcrap ya don't need to hear." Thunderlane nodded. He was pretty sure that was the best he was going to get from her. "Alright, let's hear your sad life story. It can't be worse than mine." He said jokingly, a weak attempt to lighten up the atmosphere. "Oh, I wish it was. Perhaps I would've been better for it." Lightning replied with such seriousness that Thunderlane couldn't help but stare. "Anyways, let's get this over with. Keep your damn mouth shut. I'm not doing this twice." "Can I do any questions along the way?" The stallion asked, his intent of making these questions was clearly inevitable. "Sure, if I find convenient to answer them." The mare replied with a smirk. Thunderlane rolled his eyes, though the grin on his face betrayed his annoyance. "Anyways, how do I start? Right. Way back at Flight Camp. Ya do remember those days, right?" She asked hesitantly, averting her eyes toward the table. "The times when you won every event and adressed me as spearhead? Yeah, I do." Thunderlane replied warily. This was a bit too close from when his mother and father were still around. "Ya remember Rainbow's parents? Loud and obnoxious? Even when she didn't win anything?" Thunderlane nodded. "Yeah, they were crazy, but...they had her back all the time. Even when Rainbow failed, they supported her. I...I wish I had parents like that." Lightning tensed up, not really sure if it was a good idea to keep talking about things she hated to talk about, but one quick glance Thunderlane was all she needed to keep up. For some unexplainable reason she felt more at ease with him around, something that happened way more often as time went by, probably a result of their time spent togheter. She saw on him a pony she could trust. "My...I won so many times...but it never mattered to them...not even my uncles. They were too busy looking up to my stupid cousin to bother with the young filly that was way more promising than that spike-headed moron." Thunderlane eyed the mare carefully, her visible irritation wasn't enough to mask the clear pain that particular memory brought up. Still, there was something oddly curious about this particular event. "Hum...what was so great about your cousin that made them ignore you?" Thunderlane asked with genuine interest. Lightning laughed, her laugh was somewhat mixed bitterness and irony. "Some idiot that actually thought he was a good flyer. His family looked up to him as far I was aware of the world around me, but I spent enough time living with them at Stratousburg to discover the truth. That fucking idiot was never a flyer, the only reason he seemed a good flyer was because of his marefriend blowing him off." Thunderlane blinked in alarm, unsure if he heard it right. "Come again?!" "What? Ya got something in your ears? I said she was blowing him off. Ya know, instead of him actually flapping his wings and getting lift she was blowing wind at him to keep him on the air." Lightning explained, sounding annoyed at Thunderlane's lack of attention. The stallion deadpanned at her feigned ignorance at the clear cheap sex joke. Yet, something about this tale sounded oddly familiar. "What was the name of your cousin again?" Thunderlane asked with a strong suspicious forming inside his head. "Oh, dunno. I think it was Sky Wanker or something like that." Lightning replied, trying too hard to sound innocent. Thunderlane let out an exasperated sigh. "Stop doing that, you're not fooling me around." The stallion complained, clearly bothered by the mare's antics. Lightning merely shrugged. "Dunno what ya mean, but I think his name was actually Sky Stinger. He's your average idiot that think he's hot stuff but ain't nowhere near it." The turquoise mare poked her empty plate, a thoughtful expression adorning her features. "He probably would've noticed how much he sucks if his marefriend wasn't sucking him up so much." 'Gosh, you're impossible Dust.' Thunderlane shook his head, accepting his ineptitude at diverting the mare away from inappropriate conversation. 'I'm glad Rumble won't be up until a couple of hours.' Yes, Lightning Dust was occasionally crude during their conversations, it took only few days of interaction for the stallion to allow himself to submit through such unashamed topics. Obviously her language bothered him at the start, but he managed himself to get acquainted with it, as long the mare did not use such words near the wrong kind of audience. But this wasn't the case anymore. He felt for her, way more than he ever felt about any other pony(in a romantic sense), and this kind of explicit topic was going to put him on edge more than anything. "But why do ya ask? It's not like he matters that much." Lightning wondered, crossing her forelegs and staring down at him with a frown on her face. Thunderlane was almost fully certain that Lightning has no idea of where her cousin stood at the moment, and his current status might infuriate her instead of alleviate her tension. "Well..." He started hesitantly, a tinge of concern noticeable on his features. "...your cousin kinda is a Wonderbolt reserve." Thunderlane braced himself for the impact, ears folding at the back of his head in an attempt to avoid possible hearing issues caused by brutal yelling. But nothing happened. The stallion tilted his head, confused at Lightning's unusual lack of response. She stood still, eyes locked on him with the utmost seriousness. Until she suddenly cracked. Thunderlane stood jaw agape as he watched the mare double on herself, the unmistakable sound of laughter followed right after, her forelegs clenching at her sides as she couldn't control herself, thrashing around in utter joy. Never before Thunderlane thought in his life that hearing somepony laugh would bring him such a dreadful feeling. He remained motionless while the mare slowly brought herself under control. Thunderlane wished she actually could be laughing for a good reason, but this wasn't going to end well and it saddened him to think about it. The stallion learned among the last few weeks that Lightning was a very difficult pony to entertain with any kind of jokes, her kind of humour was one that he simply could not fit. Maybe there was a way to get her around during a bad mood, but he was yet to find out. "N-now that...that's how ya make a good joke!" She praised in between chuckles. Thunderlane couldn't help but feel guilty under her gleeful eyes. A few seconds of awkward silence followed, in which the sound of Lightning 's ragging breath slowly faded, the joy on her face slowly evaporating at the sight of Thunderlane's frozen stance. "Are you...." She paused. Her hooves started trembling, her eyes narrowing dangerously but not really focusing on the stallion in front of her. "...is this true?" "Ye- "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!" In a flash Lightning tossed her empty plate at the nearest wall, the resonating impact of shattered little pieces exploded in Thunderlane's eardrums fiercely. Yet, the stallion remained motionless. "How that fucking bastard made it?! HOW?! He can't even fucking fly for fuck sake! What is this bullcrap?! Does Captain Bitch knows he's my cousin?!" Thunderlane remained in silence, fully aware that arguing with her was pointless. Letting her vent was the only way to work throught this issue, he could only blame himself for bringing that up. The sound of a door opening at distance was the only warning Thunderlane got before working himself to bring Lightning's anger to an end. The mare, who was currently pulling her ears in utter frustration, was on an onslaught of unimaginable curses and swears. The stallion slowly approached her as he made his way around the table, his eyes shifting from the agitated mare to the hallway entrance. Once he reached by her side a hoof made his way towards one of the mare's forelegs. It took a huge amount of effort for Thunderlane to perform that action, while the intent was to calm her down(or bring her swearing to an end) the stallion was worried about how a simple gesture could be easily misunderstood by something else entirely, the mare clearly wasn't on her best mindset after all. The gentle touch of his hoof stopped Lightning's wild tongue in an instant. Her eyes were filled with surprise and confusion as she stared back at him. "I get you're upset, you have your reasons for it and I don't blame you for it. Anyways, I would kindly ask you to tone down on the language, my little brother isn't ready to learn such strong words." The stallion said, firm and apologetic at the same time. Before the mare could reply the faint sound of hoofsteps brought their attention towards the kitchen's door. There stood a small figure, sleepy and confused while staring at the older ponies currently standing near eachother. "Thunderlane? What's going on? I heard something break and loud voices." The colt said, his voice somewhat groggy. His eyes focused on the mare while Thunderlane struggled on a proper answer. "Wait...ain't she one of the Washouts?" Thunderlane's feeble attempts at thinking on an explanation were evaporated and replaced with genuine astonishment. How did Rumble knew about the Washouts? The stallion did not recall ever mentioning them before to his little brother. Lightning's behavior went on a complete circle as she saw herself in the presence of a kid, and the fact that the little colt heard about her group was a huge boost to her pride. "Yeah, ya got that right kid! Ya brother probably told a lot about me." Lightning said, the smug grin on her face didn't last though. "Actually, no. He never told me anything about you. I only heard about the Washouts because one of my friends was at one of your shows last weekend." The colt replied while looking at his brother for an explanation. "Oh." Lightning couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. She gave a sidelong glance towards the stallion, who seemed to be avoiding looking at any of them. Rumble's hald-lidded eyes went from the shards of the broken plate, scattered on the floor, to his brother's hoof, currently laying over Lightning's foreleg. "Huh, bro? Are you...huh...doing things?" The colt asked warily. Rumble couldn't help his current trail of thought, especially with a mare in their house this early in the day. Both older ponies seemed puzzled with his question, not sure at what the colt was referring to. Seeing their confusion made Rumble even more uncomfortable. "You know, that....stuff you told me. That ponies do when they get older." Lightning's eyes blinked, realization at what the colt was trying to get at dawning on her. "Oh, ya mean semffffhh?!!" Her answer was brutally cut short as Thunderlane muffled her reply with both his forelegs gripping her muzzle, his clearly panicked and infuriated glare being the only warning for Lightning to shut it up. "Yes! Older stuff Rumble! But we were doing none of that! Hehe, since you're up perhaps you could get ready for school? Right?!" The stallion laughed nervously, his grip on the mare remaining firm, a huge amount of embarrassment weighing on his conscience due the current circumstances. Rumble's eyes widened at the incredibly weird display. Not really sure of what to make of it, he decided to follow Thunderlane's suggestion. "O...kay?I will gather my stuff." The colt replied hesitantly, not really buying his brother's acting in the slightest. The stallion let out a sigh of relief as the younger pony left for his room, but a solid hoof hitting his ribcage turned that sigh into a sharp intake of breath. Lightning, who clearly had enough of her muzzle being held shut, was the obvious responsible for the assault. She glared at the other pegasus, annoyance was her most predominant facial expression. "Mind telling me what was that all about?" She asked with a tone of clear irritation. Thunderlane had to delay his response due the lack of oxygen in his lungs. "That... " He started, pausing for deep intakes of air. "...was due....my brother being...too young to hear....about grown up stuff. It doesn't...surprise me...how clueless you are...about dealing with kids." "Oh. That." Lightning replied, the plain obliviousness in her voice was incredibly frustrating for the stallion to hear. "And here I was hoping you would have a better understanding of that kind of stuff." Thunderlane quipped, disappointed at Lightning's lack of subtlety towards younglings. "Guess you and Rainbow have more things in common than I thought." "Haha, congrats for figuring that out." She replied sarcastically, clearly on edge about the mention of Rainbow Dash back at the conversation ."How about we get over that talk about Rainbow? We got really sidetracked here." Thunderlane had to agree with her on that, though they only changed the topic of the conversation due Lightning's tantrum about her cousin. The stallion, with a hoof still massaging his pained chest, returned to his chair. The mare can hit pretty hard. "So...you said that, aside your cousin being the center of the attention in regards to your family, Rainbow's parents made you envious of her due their support. What else? It can't be just that Dust. There has to be more reason for you to hate her like this." "Urgh. Yeah, sure there is. That parent thing was way long ago. By the time we met at the academy I don't think we really remembered eachother. Me and her never talked when we were fillies, so...yeah. " Thunderlane nodded absentmindedly, suddenly fascinated by the glow of Lightning's mane, a consequence of sunlight reflecting on it. He never realized how astounding she was under daylight. Yes, he may have taken a closer look at her attributes during their gym sessions, her toned muscles and rebellious-looking appearance rubbed on him in a way he didn't thought it was possible. Metaphorically speaking of course. Lightning Dust wasn't an exclusive example in terms of tomboy mare. Rainbow Dash, Cloud Chaser, Helia, Cloud Kicker, Fleetfoot, Misty May and High Winds were other fine mares with a tomboyish appeal to them. Yet, none of them caught his eye like Lightning did. Not only her golden, with streaks of orange, mane, but her amber eyes(though they seemed orange at times) shone like precious jewels under the brightness of the external light coming throught the small window. The effect was mesmerizing and the stallion couldn't help but keep staring at them, his fascination towards her appearance deafening Thunderlane to the world around him. Lightning, who was currently going on a not very enthusiastic monologue about her adventures in the Wonderbolt Academy, paused once she took notice of the stallion seemingly lost in a trance while looking at her. She raised an eyebrow, confused at what was going on with her table companion. Perhaps he was getting sleepy or something? "Yo, Lane. Ya alright? Ya kinda zoning out on me." She asked worriedly. Thunderlane blinked, awareness returning to his senses at a slow pace. He tilted his head to the side, feeling displaced and confused for a second. "He's probably admiring how pretty you are." Came Rumble's monotonous voice from the door, dropping a bucket of ice into his brother's dullness. The stallion shook fiercely as he heard such coming from his little brother, a look of clear shock and betrayal on his face. Lightning, in the other hoof, chuckled nervously at his reaction. "Hum...okay?" She replied awkwardly, her eyes switching from the colt to the fidgeting stallion. Thunderlane was thankful that his coat was dark, otherwise the mare would be able to notice that his face was about to explode from sheer embarrassment. Unfortunately things were going only downhill from there. "Yeah. He doesn't get out much. You're probably the first mare to ever get this far into our house. I guess that means he likes you a lot." The colt added, throwing more fuel into the raging fire of pure shame that his older brother found himself into. Rumble had no idea his simple words could easily be misinterpreted by something much more serious. There were things that Thunderlane never considered teaching to his brother in regards to mares and relationships. Tact was definitely one of them. Lightning wasn't sure of what to make of this conversation. She could easily tell that Thunderlane wished nothing more than to evaporate from sight, and the young colt didn't seem intent on making the stallion embarrassed, his words sounded truthful yet naive. His clear inexperience at the matter was causing his brother unnecessary trouble as it is. "I'm sure he does and so do I. I'm glad I've become such a special friend for him." Lightning replied, pitying the poor fella and coming for his aid. "But don't worry, I will keep him out of trouble." Thunderlane's flabbergasted reaction was too much for the mare. She laughed heartedly at his utter puzzlement, her odd reply driving him paranoid. The stallion felt he was missing some important detail in regards of their interaction. He wasn't sure anymore if Rumble was being naive, or Lightning silly, or both if them were out to get him somehow. He never felt so uncertain before in his life. And it was somewhat entertaining. Thunderlane decided now was a good time to calm down his heart, which had nearly imploded due Rumble's silly rambling. 'Never thought my brother would terrify me this much because of a mare.' Thought the stallion as he mustered enough courage to face the amused turquoise pegasus. He felt his insides tremble as she stared back at him with a cheesy grin. 'Okay, maybe I do need to get out more.' "S-so...y-you...huh..." Thunderlane felt like a total idiot with his nervous stuttering. He knew he looked like a huge goof at this point, but Dust wasn't at all bothered with his nonsense. "Hey, chill. It's okay. Don't let it get to ya. We are grownups after all. I'm not gonna judge ya for admiring a good looking mare." She said, shrugging nonchalantly in regards to the importance of such topic. Her sympathetic stance was a huge stress relief for him. She was far more understanding than he would ever been able to give her credit for. "Besides," She continued, a nervous grin tugging on her muzzle. "I'm sure ya have some special stallion out there waiting to meet ya someday." .... ..... 'What?!' Thunderlane tilted his head sideways, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Come again?" Lightning, noticing his reaction, suddenly seemed way more hesitant on her movements. "Huh, you're a coltcuddler...right?" She asked, the sudden anxiety in her voice a huge sign of how much she got it all wrong. Thunderlane couldn't help but stare speechless, baffled that she thought of him in such a way. What could possibly have given her the impression that he was into stallions? Lightning, who realized she screwed up big time, brought both hooves to her face, clearly distressed and embarrassed by the wrong assumption. She let out a muffled groan of agony, feeling like the greatest moron of all time. "Fuck, I such an idiot! I knew I should've asked this before." Her words coming out forcefully behind her hooves, unable to look the stallion in the eyes. "Now I feel like a fucking perv." "Huhhhh." Was the smartest thing Thunderlane could think of to come out of his mouth. He had no idea at what the mare was getting at. A silence followed this very awkward moment, but it didn't last long enough due the forgotten presence of Rumble. "What's a coltcuddler?" Rumble asked, intrigued by the word he never heard of before. Thunderlane's face went pale, he had completely forgotten that his little brother was still there in the kitchen. Now he had to deal that a mare that thought he was gay and a kid that didn't even know the meaning of it. "Huhhhhh." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The familiar sound of food being cooked over a frying pan was the only thing that distracted the ponies currently present in the small kitchen. After spending half an hour explaining a very complicate subject to his little brother, Thunderlane saw it fitting to make breakfast for the young colt. His mood wasn't the best, still somewhat upset after listening Lightning's excuse for assuming such things about his sexuality, he wanted nothing more than dispatch Rumble away to school and finish the conversation with Dust some other day. He wasn't alone on that thought. The mare has been oddly quiet ever since, clearly still ashamed of her equivocation. Her eyes wandered towards the dusty wall clock above the kitchen's door, fully aware that she has to leave soon if she wanted to avoid Rolling Thunder having to chastise her again for being away on merry errands at the wrong time. Suddenly everything felt weird. All her commitment to the stallion, their time spent togheter, all those times she wasted staring at him, searching for something to work on and improve. She truly believed she was looking up for him, for a friend that was in a similar situation of hers, interested on the same gender. She never saw him around other stallions, it was always mares, and he seemed to get along pretty well with them. There was none of that usual awkwardness stallions have when near a mare. Hay, Thunderlane never had any of it with Lightning either. Until now. Dust couldn't help but think he had become more on edge these last few days, but she never understood why. She assumed it was just his jobs stressing him out, it never occurred that she could be the one stressing Thunderlane out. And now that she knew, that Thunderlane probably was into her, that Rumble's naive words held a huge amount of truth that not even his brother would be able to admit. Lightning felt a quick surge of panic inside of her. What was she supposed to do? How could she lay him down without crushing the fella apart? She was into mares, not stallions! All this felt a bit too sudden and out of the blue, but now that she was aware of his preferences she couldn't deny that this was sort of inevitable in a way. She needed to get out, she needed time to think. Staying here was just making things worse in the long run. Yet, she couldn't help but wonder if he suspected that she was into mares. Shouldn't that keep him from harboring any kind of feelings towards her person? 'Crap, this whole feeling stuff is driving me nuts!' Lightning thought while standing on her fours, finally deciding on leaving for once. 'I will just go back and busy myself with what matters. I'm sure this can wait for another day." She trotted quietly towards the door, ignoring the looks of surprise from both colt and stallion being throw at her. "Dust? You leaving already?" Thunderlane asked. The mare cringed at the clear disappointed in his voice. "Y-yeah. Got work to do, ya know. " It was a half-truth from her part, she wasn't gonna bother going into full detail. "We can catch up later,I guess." For the first time in months she wasn't really looking forward to see him again. The thought of it made her feel awful. "Alright. We see you at the show then?" He asked, sounding more hopeful than it would be usual for a simple friendly meeting. Lightning frowned, she had forgotten about the weekend show. "Yeah, sure. I will be there being awesome and all that jazz. I'm sure ya will be...satisfied with our presentation." Lightning was about to say 'entertained', but she had an odd feeling that this wasn't going to be the case. Thunderlane nodded thoughtfully, unsure of what to think of her sudden departure. "Yeah, I'm sure it will be fine. I hope you get to visit more often. It was nice to have you visiting. Wasn't it, Rumble?" Thunderlane asked, addressing his brother with a withering glance. "If you say so." The colt replied distractedly, his eyes occupied with a superhero comic. Thunderlane huffed, annoyance at Rumble's trash behavior more than obvious. Lightning couldn't help but chuckle at the scene. Even despite all the awkwardness of late, she couldn't help but admire how these two managed to make her day way more interesting. Thunderlane led her way back to the front door, his eyes casted downwards as she followed him throught the hallway. "Hey." Lightning called, bringing his attention towards herself, an idea on her mind that could help alleviate his consciousness. "What's with the long face? Cheer up, Thunder. We still have a long time ahead of us, I don't know what to say in regards to....you know. But...after the show...if ya wanna talk about...stuff. I will be in Ponyville until Sunday. It's up to you." Well, there wasn't anything clear on what she just said, and neither it sounded like a good idea either, but somehow it cheered him up. Whatever it was, it definitely had nothing to do with her terrible horse joke. "I guess it's better than nothing." He replied with a sheepish smile of his muzzle. "There's a lot I want talk about. That we need to talk about anyways." He added with some seriousness, opening the front and giving the mare free room to pass by. "Yep, but I gotta a lot of ponies here to show that The Washouts are here to stay. I do have a lot of awesomeness to share." Lightning replied, proud swelling her words in a similar way it did with Rainbow. It was surprising how Lightning got back to her old self with no issues. "I don't doubt that for a second." Thunderlane replied while clearly rolling his eyes to annoy the mare with his sarcastic disbelief. "Just...take care of yourself, all right?" He added sincerely. "Dude, ya worry too much. Ain't nothing that can stop me! See ya at the show spearhead!" Lightning yelled excitedly before launching herself into the air, her brutal take-off leaving an explosion of dirt and dust in her wake. Thunderlane coughed, his eyes closing in an attempt to stop the hundreds of particles from entering and causing some severe irritation. 'It is because of things like this that I worry. Just don't get yourself into trouble again Lightning Dust.'