//------------------------------// // 340. Different isn't Bad - Epilogue // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// The candle provided an oddly dismal atmosphere, but that was no surprise given how grungy and spartan the room was. A barrel to use as a nightstand held the candle, which was burned nearly all the way to the candle-holder, her saddlebags were lumped in a corner, and the only other furniture in the room was the cot she was resting on. It'd been weeks since Lightning Dust had been... invited to join an "exclusive league of truly elite fliers". She'd accepted but instead of meeting her new team, she'd been subject to some of the harshest training she'd ever received! Really, even Spitfire would have been dismayed by what Lightning Dust had been put through. It'd almost been like Lightning Dust was being trained by herself, pushed to her limits, treated with dismissive condescension about her injuries and her insecurities, made fun of, literally pushed around! Okay, I'll admit I was a jerk back in the academy, Lightning Dust thought, but even I wasn't physical, I was... Uncaring. Selfish. Arrogant. Full of herself. Competitive. Especially after she put others in danger and didn't even care. This experience had helped Lightning Dust to take a good look at herself and the pony she was back then. The pony she'd been for a long-long time until she got kicked out of the academy. She'd disappointed her parents, her friends, but her brother.... Oh sweet little Hotshot, you never stopped looking up to me. I've got a lot to make up for once this is all over. I swear the next time I see you, I'm gonna give you the biggest hug I've ever given. She reached under her pillow and took out the photo that had been the guiding light for her all throughout this miserable period. Of her, her parents, and her little brother, around that sand castle they'd built during that trip for Horseshoe Bay for Hotshot's birthday. She touched each of their faces, missing them so much... ...when a knock at her door jolted Lightning out of her funk and she scrambled to her hooves before quickly hiding the photo back under ber pillow as the knocker didn't wait for a response... and in walked Wind Rider. The disgraced ex-Wonderbolt Veteran. He still wore his jacket but had thrown away his old scarf and replaced it with a new pair of flight goggles. The frames were dark gold and the lenses were a dusky orange and shaped sharp instead of round. Lightning Dust wing-saluted her teacher, who stated, "At ease." Lightning Dust tried to look relaxed but she still felt tense, as Wind Rider started, "Well, rookie, you're still here. Which shows just how stuborn you really are." "With respect, sir, I didn't put up with all your crap just to quit over a scraped knee," Lightning Dust responded in a collected tone of cool. "Heh, glad to see that mouth of yours hasn't lost its edge," Wind Rider remarked before regarding Lightning Dust fully, "But now let's get down to business, rookie! You've soldiered on through all the training, put up with all the BS, showed respect even when you didn't get it in return... My superiors have kept their eyes on you, and are satisfied." "Sir?" Lightning Dust gulped. "Congratulations, Lightning Dust," Wind Rider pulled something out he'd been keeping hidden under his wing, and held it out for his student to see. It was a folded-up flight suit, colored black and purple with dark golden lines, and a pair of flight goggles just like the ones Wind Rider had, set on top of it. Lightning Dust's eyes lit up as she gazed up at her teacher as he proudly said, "Welcome to the Shadowbolts." This was it. Her first obstacle overcome in her mission. With a satisfied smirk, she looked up into Wind Rider's face, secretly relishing that this has-been had given her the way in, as she responded, "Excellent."