"Soooo... ya wanna talk about it?"
"No! Why do you even want to talk about this!? You shouldn't be here! Leave!"
"But... I need to talk with ya... about... other stuff..."
"This isn't a good time. If Lightning finds you here I'm dead!"
"Just five minutes? Pleeeeaseee?"
Thunderlane flared his nostrils in contempt. He couldn't believe his terrible luck. Rainbow Dash, after the initial shock of her findings, and Thunderlane's heart returning to a healthy rhythm, revealed herself persistent about wanting a conversation.
He wanted to curse her outta his house, but he reminded himself they were trying to start things over. She needed help and kicking her out wasn't really going to make any amends towards their strained relationship.
"Fiiine. Just cause we talked about going better in regards to each other. So... what happened?"
Rainbow Dash wasn't expecting him to actually comply, her eyes widened at his change of mind, but she was thankful nevertheless.
"Well, Kicker and I had a big fight." She started, only to frown as the stallion snorted derisively.
"So? You two fight a lot. The amount you two bicker would have anypony think you're a couple or something."
"Well, we are not!" Rainbow Dash snapped. Thunderlane glared her way, irritated by how loud she replied. Rainbow realized the mistake right away, whispering as she continued. "Sorry, I just... this was pretty bad. She actually got so mad that she broke our friendship."
The stallion nodded. It explained how oddly stressful Cloud Cloud Kicker was behaving during her visit moments ago. Yet, such a thing shouldn't have evoked such a reaction from Rainbow.
"Are you sure you don't have feelings for her? You took it pretty bad." Thunderlane asked sincerely. Rainbow shook her head.
"That's because she is my best friend." Thunderlane raised an eyebrow. Rainbow, who raised her eyes after the silence that followed, noticed the skepticism. "What?"
"I thought Gilda was your best friend."
Rainbow winced. She didn't like talking about this particular issue.
"Gilda... well, she kinda is. But... I don't know."
"Are you still hurting because of what she did that long ago Dash? Even after you two finally went over your bullshit?"
Thunderlane couldn't help but smile in satisfaction as the mare produced a cute pout. Her body tensed at the way the stallion treated her disappointment with Gilda as something stupid.
"She was extremely rude and-
"She regretted immediately."
"W-What?!"
Rainbow Dash stared in shock, her eyes locked onto the stallion who had a sorrowful look on him. He sighed before laying his back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling hesitantly.
"I found her after the party. I was minding my own business. Laying off on a cloud, resting a bit after pulling through my shift."
Rainbow Dash eyed him in confusion.
"Wait, why weren't you at the party?"
"Because I wasn't invited, what else?" He retorted, clearly annoyed at her obliviousness.
"...huh."
"As I was saying, she landed on a cloud near me. I honestly was caught off guard by seeing a ghryphon on a place this far inland. I don't usually see them much, thankfully. I barely saw any in my life, but I could tell she was really pretty."
Rainbow's eyes narrowed at him, but she remained silent.
"She was an absolute wreck. Crying a lot, but it looked like she didn't want to. She tried really hard to fight her feelings on whatever had her so upset. I was worried for her, but afraid of getting close. I didn't feel like dying to a moody gryphoness." He paused as Rainbow chuckled.
"Yeah, Gilda was one of a kind, I know she wouldn't hurt you. More like scare you off or something."
"I kissed her."
"WHAT THE FUCK!?"
Thunderlane immediately regretted saying this. Rainbow's shriek was so loud that resonated across the entire house.
Not too long after Lightning Dust busted through the door, looking extremely worried and irritated.
She glared at both of them, yet Thunderlane was sure he was getting the most of her attention. Unfortunately.
"What the fuck you're doing here?!" She asked, pointing an accusatory feather tip towards Rainbow. "Trying to steal my stallion?!"
Rainbow was completely gobsmacked by Lightning's immediate mindset. Thunderlane wished he could laugh at everything, if only he could know that he was going to live through this night.
"I-I can explain!" Rainbow raised her hooves, suddenly terrified of the other mare. Lightning huffed.
"You better, otherwise we're having rainbow soup for dinner."
Thunderlane felt genuinely concerned about that threat. Lightning spoke way too seriously.
"Wait!! I'm not trying to steal anything! I just came to talk!" Rainbow desperately spoke. Lightning was clearly unconvinced.
"Hard to believe so. Yet, Thunderlane here is trustworthy enough. I know for a fact he wouldn't do anything with ya." Lightning's eyes focused at the mags laying over the bed in between them. "Gotta admit I wasn't expecting him to do stuff like that."
The stallion did his best to look away. He was sure this awful occasion would still bring him particularly embarrassing moments in future events.
"Well, huh, yeah. I was kinda hiding here cause I wasn't very sure if I wanted for Cloud Kicker to find me so soon." Rainbow replied nervously.
"Kicker broke her friendship with her." Thunderlane explained as he felt Lightning's predictable questioning glance on him.
"Pff, another friend ya lost? Why I'm not surprised? Also, why did ya yell earlier? That wasn't going to help ya hide in the slightest."
Rainbow paused, as she suddenly reminded the reason she yelled in the first place. She returned her attention back to the stallion with a seething glare.
"You kissed her?! How?! Why?! How you even alive?!" Rainbow couldn't picture how such even would've happened in the first place. Gilda wasn't not one you just walk to up to and kiss. Lightning eyed them both with confusion.
"What are you talking about?" Dust asked, perplexed at why the rainbow mare was so worked up.
"He kissed my best friend!" Rainbow replied, an accusatory hoof pointed towards Thunderlane. Lightning was struggling on how seriously she was supposed to take this kind of reply.
"Huh, who's your best friend again?"
"Gilda!"
"Yeah, but... who's Gilda?" Lightning asked again, frowning at Rainbow's lack of details. Thunderlane only rolled his eyes at the dramatization taking place.
"Oh, right. You never met her." Dash realized, feeling silly for not explaining it previously. "She's a griffon I knew ever since when I was at Flight Camp. Even before that actually. Best flying partner I ever had." She added with a bolt of pride filling her being.
"Really? A griffon? Wow, she must be something else if she can keep up with ya." Lighting replied, genuinely interested all of sudden. "Say, if she's so good, why she ain't a Wonderbolt?"
That question caught Rainbow off guard. The mare couldn't really think of a reason on why Gilda never tried to follow a flying career. Thunderlane huffed while grabbing the magazines that were sprawled over his bed.
"Since when the Wolderbolts had any kind of flyer that wasn't a pony? I know, the answer is never. Why? Because they couldn't care to think other creature to be a good flyer as Pegasi. Also, before we drift too far from the real problem here, the reason I said I kissed her Rainbow is simply because I wanted to offer her some comfort. Yeah, I thought it was a dumb move, I half expected her to beat me up or worse, but... she didn't really say much other than thank me for 'giving a crap'. Shortly afterwards she just left. I haven't seen her since."
Rainbow didn't say anything at first. The shock of learning of how bad Gilda took what happened years ago was much of a surprise and made the mare feel even worse about the event. Lightning shook her head once she understood what was going on.
"Hey, I gotta give it to ya. Kissing a griffon that you don't even know? Talk about stupidly brave. Heh, if she didn't mind it at the time it must mean she thought you worth of something, which is saying a lot coming from a griffon." Dust said, looking strangely pleased about hearing of this particular occasion. "Huh, so that was your first kiss?"
"Eh? No, not at all. She didn't really kissed back. It was just a cheeky kiss." Thunderlane replied quickly, looking at Lightning with a smirk. "Don't you worry. You will always be number one for me."
Lightning felt her face lighting up like a fireworks display and quickly looked away.
'Damn you and your corny words Thunder.'
"Well, since that's out of the way can we go back to discussing what are you doing here?" Thunderlane said as he shifted his eyes towards the mare at his side. Rainbow, still lost in thoughts, took few seconds to realize she was being addressed.
"Huh? Oh, right...I...I..."
Thunderlane sighed as she watched the poor display of stuttering. Rainbow was reaching on the verge of another breakdown. He didn't particularly like her, but this mental stress she is going through was somewhat relatable.
"Say, Rainbow, Lightning. Can we stop for a second and get a real talk here before anything?"
Both mares eyed him with genuine surprise and curiosity. They shared a quick glance before nodding in acceptance. Thunderlane breathed in deeply.
"Right. Let's try to make of this encounter something actually meaningful, other than just an awkward event." He said, pretending the ignore the funny look coming from the turquoise mare. "Rainbow, me and you have a lot of bad blood in between us, just as you and Lightning are not on best of terms. To that... how about we put all of that behind us? You know? No more hating on anypony for what they did months or years ago."
"Wait! So... you're forgiving me for what happened at that winter and all the other stuff?" Rainbow asked, incredulously to hear that such a thing would even be possible. She was well aware at this point on how much the stallion resented her for the problems she caused , not to mention the dismissive and disrespectful way she treated him ever since Flight Camp.
"Forgiving? Yes. Forgetting? No. I can't really. Neither should you. We only can become better by learning from our past mistakes. Say, Rainbow Dash, would you forgive Lightning Dust for what happened back at the Academy?"
Rainbow blinked as he inquired this. Her eyes found the expectant and apprehensive expression of Lightning, almost as if she was worried of what kind of reply Rainbow would offer.
Rainbow wasn't sure of what to say. What happened at Wonderbolt Academy still stung to this day, Lightning was a pony that gave Rainbow hope of finally having found somewhat she could truly relate, but the falling of said mare was something that Rainbow struggled to this day to get over with. If the mere possibility of getting that hope again was present, would she hesitate to take it? To finally find that wingpony she often dreamed about?
Although, Lightning is now a Washout and her special pony, which happens to be Thunderlane, is just somepony of a much higher importance than being Dash's wingpony. Why would Lightning care about flying with her again?
"The same I ask you Lightning. Would you be willing to forgive Rainbow Dash and start over? And by this I mean more than just an apology, I say this in a way the three of us can actually be somewhat friends again, at least when it comes to Rainbow." Thunderlane said, looking at Dust with something akin to pleading. "Of course I don't expect it to be right away, but there's some ground open for that feeling to grow. I just... I'm tired of this awkward relationship we have. We are all on the same side here. It's about time we stop bickering and feeling resentful of each other. It's... not really a nice thing to feel."
Lightning and Rainbow shared a look of awkwardness. They both could understand why the stallion wanted them to get over their silly rivalry. In Thunder's case, his strained relationship with the rainbow mare. None of them actually were even sure of how to start getting over such issues. Thunderlane, realizing what had them so hesitant, decided to offer a way to start over.
"Say, how about you stay for dinner? It's late and I don't mind having giving this a start. At least not anymore. Just behave, ok?" The stallion offered with a chuckle. Dust was about to make a complaint but he was having none of it. "I invited her Lightning, she stays for dinner and that's it."
"Huh, thanks?" Rainbow said, unsure of how to take upon such unexpected invite. Thunderlane never wished to have her around for anything before. This probably meant he was being serious on getting over the past. "So, what ya guys eating?"
"I don't know, Lightning was the one in charge of dinner this night." Thunderlane glanced at his marefriend with expectancy. "Say, what were you doing again?"
Lightning huffed before replying. She wasn't very thrilled about having Rainbow joining them all of sudden, but she had to go with it, otherwise Thunderlane would be upset with her.
"Carrot soup, also fried eggs if ya'll want something to feel more fulfilling. I just gotta rearrange cause I wasn't expecting another pony anyways. Get to the table and I'll be getting ya two set." She replied as she made her way towards the kitchen. "Just stop being loud, I think Rumble is already asleep." Thunderlane snorted.
"No, he isn't. I know him better than that. At this age he most likely is just playing around or readings mags. No, Rainbow, not that kind of mag." The stallion added quickly as he noticed the other mare immediately opening her mouth with a devious smirk on her face.
"How do you know that? You said yourself he's at that age of... well, being a pain. Just like Scoots." Rainbow frowned as she reminded herself of her current situation with the young filly. "I almost forgot how mad Scoots is with me. I wish I could understand her better. She feels so different."
Thunderlane could only smile empathetically. He was no stranger to dealing with teenagers, even if he wasn't really sure how to deal with Rumble.
"Trust me, I know how you feel. I'm not having a better time with my brother. I miss the days he still looked at me as if I meant something to him." The stallion replied, a tone of sadness that he couldn't conceal. Lightning glanced his way while working at the stove.
"Hey, maybe you're just taking it too personally? I had those kind of swings when I was younger. Didn't ya?"
"When I was a teen I was struggling to raise a foal and starving. I had no time to be a moody teen." Was Thunderlane's crispy reply. Dust winced at the tone he used, she should've know better.
Rainbow poked with her wing at a spoon distractedly. Every time Thunderlane talked about the things he endured few years back it always made her uncomfortable and out of place. It often happened for Rainbow to forget that not everypony had a good and easy life while growing up, she had been so alienated to the concept of misery that whenever it was brought up she had a hard time believing it to be true. She never asked Thunderlane what it was like to be on his own at such young age, carrying a foal around no less. Rainbow always imagined that a relative of Thunder was around to help him, but that never had been the case, he had no relatives aside his mother and father. When those passed away he trusted no one to look after him or his brother. Stubborn as he was, he always insisted that he could take care of Rumble on his own.
It was surprising that both pegasi survived for so long without any adults to support them, although Thunderlane had to come with terms that he wasn't going to last much further without any kind of help. Ponyville was the first town in which he had to stop by to reach for any kind of help. Which led to his first meeting with Cloud Kicker and Helia. Both families of said mares were more than welcoming to the young stallion and his little brother, helping him to settle in and find a place he could call home after months of wandering across Equestria. Even so the stallion had to work hard to earn enough keeps to raise the foal, for despite the insistence of many, Thunderlane wasn't trusting anypony else to take care of Rumble.
Rainbow hated to admit, but she envied the stallion. Despite how awesome, and often fast, Dash presented herself to be to anypony that dared to look at the sky, Thunderlane was always the pony to steal the attention whenever he did something even remotely impressive. He was nowhere near as fast as she was, nor the second fastest flyer, but regardless of talent, everypony liked him. No matter where or when, Thunderlane always made good friends with whoever cared to talk with him, and he never had any disagreements or arguments with anypony. He was in good terms with every stallion in town and almost all mares would swoon his way whenever he showed up. It made her upset simply because he was popular and not even a great flyer as she was.
She hated on him because she thought he had it easy while she worked hard to achieve perfection, but looking back at what happened these past years, Rainbow had to admit she wronged him. Thunderlane had it much worse than she had, she still has her parents, she never starved or feared sleeping under the stars, she didn't had a young sibling to raise on her own, she never went countless nights of sleep because of a crying foal, she never worked extra time to earn enough to keep her house or her family feed.
She never had anypony that hated on her for being popular. Sure, some townsfolk found the often praises she received rather questionable at times, but Rainbow did save few lives to earn their respect. Although she threw most of that respect out the window after several dangerous stunts she pulled recently.
Rainbow remembered how much in disbelief she was when she came to know that Thunder was accepted into the Wonderbolt Academy. She never thought him to be all of that, but Spitfire saw something on him, and whatever she saw actually graduated him and earned him a spot in their ranks a couple of years later. A spot that once would've been of Lightning Dust. Thunderlane becoming a Wonderbolt skyrocketed his popularity into unimaginable levels. Rainbow never thought she would see so many ponies at his show debut, in Ponyville no less. The amount of townsfolk, even from other towns, that came to see his first presentation was so abnormally massive that they had to perform twice that day so everypony could have a chance to see it happen, Ponyville wasn't prepared to receive so many ponies in their arena at that time. Even Spitfire said herself surprised at so many ponies at a member debut.
Rainbow Dash realized that she may have misjudged her popularity with expectations. Being an Harmony Bearer, the most promising cadet in decades, her undeniable success at the Equestrian Games, and numerous victories during her youth, gave Dash the impression that she would have a gigantic mass after her wherever she went to perform a show.
Yet, that only happened among her younger fans, most of her older admirers lost interest on her activities after quite some time. Cloud Kicker even commented on this fact once, but Rainbow didn't pay it any mind.
"Well, what did you expect Rainbow? You always win, you're always at the top. Things usually go your way no matter what. For kids you are a hero, for anypony else you became predictable. Nopony really cares much for a pony that faces no challenges. A pony that has a high chance of failing is way more interesting to follow than somepony that always succeed. They grew bored of you."
Those words that Rainbow ignored came to haunt her only few months later. It was only then, when she realized how often Thunderlane was approached by admirers after his debut, that Dash had to accept that Cloud Kicker was right on how she perceived the situation. To make matters worse, even most kids no longer followed her whenever Rainbow was in a Wonderbolt suit. Thunderlane had been the center of their attention for these last few months, something that bothered Rainbow immensely. Yet, she always had Scootaloo as a faithful supporter. Which made the situation of Scoots sudden Washout worshiping even more painful to accept.
Now in hindsight, Rainbow realized how stupid she was for acting up against Thunderlane because of such silly envy. He earned all he got as much as she did, but he struggled way more to get where she is now. She had no right to hate him for it.
"You okay? You look super depressed right now." Came the voice of the stallion Rainbow dreaded so much about for the past five years. It surprised her of how caring he sounded at that moment. No matter how poorly she treated him ever since they meet, he never stopped helping her whenever she needed. "Rainbow?... are you crying?"
"F-Fuck you. I-I'm not! I'm just sweating my eyes here because of the onions Lightning is cutting!" Dust glanced her way, wondering if she should even bother replying. Thunderlane eyed the other mare before looking back at Dash.
"But those ain't onions. Those are potatoes."
"Well, fuck! I'm guess I'm allergic to them!" Was Dash's quick reply, her face reddening as she looked away. Thunderlane wasn't sure what was going on, but he smiled nonetheless.
"Whatever you say Dash. Whatever you say."