//------------------------------// // Rolling the Dice // Story: Washout For Your Feelings // by Beakwood //------------------------------// "So, if I get this right, ya just wanna me to give up my team, my time, and to make it very obvious, my fucking hatred for this fucking bitch? To join your bunch of elite pussycats? How about you go fuck yourself?" Thunderlane stared. His eyes not really focusing on anything in particular, a strange feeling taking over his body. It was almost of a part of him was floating away from inside of his chest, it took him few seconds to realize that he might have just died on the spot and didn't notice. He swore under his breath, unsure on what he was cursing about. He felt sick, wouldn't surprise him if his face was on a shade of light grey at that very moment. He could hear the shocked gasps resonating all around the room, some even muttering offenses in return. The atmosphere around suddenly lit up into a ball of fire about to explode. "What the actual fuck you just said?!" Spitfire raised from her seat, looking ready to pounce on Lightning at any second. The sight of the very same triggered something in Thunderlane, before he even registered on his mind, he was already standing on his hooves facing Spitfire with a combat stance. "Thunderlane, get out of my way!" The stallion didn't budge, Lightning scoffed at seeing the captain of the Wonderbolts ready to assault her, but it surprised Dust to see Thunderlane blocking her way. McFly stared at the display, seemingly amused for whatever reason. Stormy rolled her eyes as she addressed the general with a touch of disdain. "You knew this would happen, and yet you dared to ask her such anyways. Are you done having fun?" "Maybe." He replied evasively. "But I've got an idea of what is their standing overall. So.... Spitfire! Enough! Take your seat, same for you Thunderlane. That's an order for both of you!" Spitfire glanced at him with incredulity, all her bravado died down as she reluctantly went back to her seat. She stared back at the stallion with confusion. Thunderlane took a bit longer to move, he wasn't keen on going back to his seat until Spitfire was at a safe distance. "Of course, I wouldn't expect any other kind of reply from you Lightning. Stubborn and bold, just like your grandfather." McFly replied with something akin to appraisal. Lightning frowned, the mention of her old feather wasn't something she knew how to react. "Your loyalty to your team is something we both have in common. That being said, I have a more decent proposal to make, one that you won't have to worry about giving up on anything." "Is that so? Well, let's hear it them, not like we have anything better to do." Dust replied with a chuckle. Spitfire grunted, shooting daggers at her fellow members that were snickering in the back. McFly nodded thoughtfully, his hooves slowly moving papers left and right, looking for something in particular. "Say, a few questions first... I believe you're the one that designs the courses for your team?" He asked with mild interest. Lightning nodded. "Is there a specific way you make those designs?" "Well, most the stuff we do is meant to look as difficult as it goes. Yet, we're not really on a rush to make excellent timing or looking insanely fast, just sharp and precise enough to go through without problems." Dust replied slowly, thinking her words carefully as she explained the idea behind her projects. "I don't really care much if it takes ten seconds longer to do something or not. Every track, or obstacle, is carefully placed to accommodate my team's individual flight style." "Individually?" Soarin asked, seemingly perplexed. "But that's such a hassle, we wouldn't be able to do that with the numbers we have." "Of course ya wouldn't." Lighting replied, looking back at him with mirth. "But then it's not like it would really be an issue, since ya'll fly pretty much the same." "Excuse me?" Fleetfoot replied, looking slightly offended. "How do we fly the same? I'm sure as Tartarus that I do not fly like Spitfire, Soarin, Rapidfire, Misty, Blaze or any other for that matter. We have our own flying techniques." "Really now?" Dust mocked, glancing at her with a raised eyebrow. "When was the last time any of you performed in a show by doing whatever the hell ya wanted? Without being told to fly in formation with somepony else?" "Huh..." Fleetfoot glanced around her, looking at her teammates in hopes of finding an example of sorts. The amount of clueless faces returning her attention was enough of an answer. Lightning snorted. "Rolling and Shorty don't follow me wherever I tell them to, they have their own thing going and I mostly just fly on my own. The few times we do collabs is for the grand finale, when you see us three going full in there no one is keeping track of the other, we have our own presentations printed in our memories. We train several times a week, with that training I modify the set to accommodate the three of us to avoid collision mid flight. Everyone has their own individual route to follow and a different way to go at it, I make the adjustments that they request as to improve their safety." Lightning paused as she threw a glare back at Spitfire. "We started slow but quickly got the hang of it. I always tell my teammates what I will be doing, so they will be aware of where to expect me to be, or come through, during a sprint, a halt or a loop. We don't hide what we do from each other, that way we don't need to be stupidly shouting as to avoid incidents, nor waste time looking around in fear of a possible collision." McFly nodded, the raise of eyebrow indicating he was slightly impressed with their tactics. Even Spitfire, begrudgingly, seemed to be surprised by such take on their performances. Mutterers followed Lightning's words, as other Wonderbolts started to express their excitement at the idea of showing off without being held back by a routinely tight formation. "Say, you guys never repeat any of your stunts?" Rapidfire asked, looking genuinely curious. Lightning shook her head. "Nah, that ain't our thing to do, every show is a different stuff, which is why we always make a full crowd. They will never see whatever we do in a show ever again, it's a one time thing. Shorty and Rolling don't like repeating courses, neither do I. We already do plenty enough from spending weeks to perfect our timing, not to say it gets boring quick. We are always looking for a different challenge." "Damn, Spits, that's so cool!" Fleetfoot was clearly enthusiastic by the different approach. "Our fans decorated all our choreographs at this point, no wonder is getting so hard to impress them." Spitfire wasn't looking nearly as excited as her team member, but she had to agree that a different approach was a must at this point. "Ain't that the truth? Which is why I propose we do something in a way we all can benefit from this exchange." McFly said, looking pensive before returning his attention back to Dust. "Equestria has been going thorough some cultural changes. I assume you've heard of the School of Friendship?" Despite the seriousness in his voice, the general couldn't help the touch of disdain as he mentioned such facility. Even most of the other Wonderbolts were rolling their eyes at the notion of a school to educate ponies on how to make friends. Although Rainbow Dash has been quite insistent for the members to understand the need to be more sympathetic to each other, something that Soarin and Fleetfoot learned fairly quick, especially when the rainbow mare was picking on Thunderlane. "Yeah, I know of Twilight's school." Dust replied with a shrug. "Princess Twilight." McFly corrected with a raised eyebrow. Lightning didn't even bother to reply. "Anyways, I've been wondering... what do you think of the idea of including members from different species in your group?" "I really don't care as long they are great flyers. Even if they're not, we can arrange something for them to do from the ground, but they have to be impressive stuff. I've been looking for a Gryphon actually, say... Dash? Do you know any good Gryphon flyers I can pick?" Dust asked, turned her head around to face the cyan pegasus sitting near the entrance of the office. "Huh? Eh, not really? I know of some from the Equestrian games actually. Giselle and Natalya, I think were their names." Rainbow replied, looking bewildered that Lightning would ask her right away. Thunderlane was quick to address Rainbow's negligence of one specific Gryphon. "What about Gilda, Rainbow? Isn't she a really good flyer too?" The stallion asked, curious as how would Dash overlook such obvious fact. Rainbow frowned, looking very uncomfortable all of sudden. "I don't know. I mean, Gilda has her own thing going with her bakery career." "Pfff! For real?! Life couldn't be more boring than that." Lightning replied, looking thoroughly amused. "As soon she learns that she can do crazy on the air, and make good bits out of it, she will drop that lame job real quick." Rainbow was about to retort, angry that Dust made such demeaning comment about Gilda's choice of work. Yet, Thunderlane beat her to it. "There is nothing wrong with baking, or cooking for that matter." The stallion replied, looking slightly offended. "Perhaps I look lame to you every time I'm home making something for launch or dinner." Lightning stared back at him with incredulity. "For real? I don't say what you do is useless but, if that's all you do for a living, when you have talent to do so much more, do you really wanna throw the sympathy card for Gilda?" Thunderlane grunted, fully aware that Dust already won the argument. "She can fly as good as Rainbow, if what you told me is true, then why the fuck waste yourself with only doing pastries when she has potential to earn herself so much more and buy a fucking pie store with it?! Fuck off you and Rainbow, cause I know Dash will just say some bullshit about Gilda living her dream or some other crap." "Ain't you living your dream, though? Of being a flyer?" McFly asked, looking slightly curious and amused at the exchange. Rainbow was looking particularly pissed off, and Thunderlane exasperated. Lightning bit the inside of her cheek. Her eyes darting around, her expression forlorn as she hesitated to answer to that. Thunderlane was well aware of why she was cautious of her response. "My dream was to become a Wonderbolt." A silence hang over the room. Few ponies exchanging glances here and there, Fleetfoot gave Spitfire a sidelong glance, which in turn made the Wonderbolt captain feel very self aware. Soarin winced, feeling somewhat guilty for not being at the Academy during that time, for he was the one that usually stayed at the sidelines during recruitment, aiding Spitfire when she was overloaded. He actually was the one who appointed Lightning to be accepted into recruitment by his captain. Lightning looked impassive, but McFly could tell how much the mare still resents that incident. He hoped that he can deal with that problem by finding a solution that would get Lightning some recognition and help the Wonderbolts to stay afloat. Yet, he needs to make sure that this bad blood in between her and Spitfire will end. "Dreams may not come true, but it's never late to achieve them." McFly said, his eyes landing on Lightning's file. "Say, perhaps I cannot grant you to be a Wonderbolt again, not even sure that's what you still want." He paused, looking at her with mild curiosity, but Dust only shrugged. She had no reason to believe in becoming a Wonderbolt. "Yet, in light of current circumstances, we could use of some changes, not to mention expanding our branches." "Sir?" Spitfire asked, looking perplexed at what was being said, but the general ignored her. Lightning and the other Wonderbolts regarded him with confusion, except the senior officers. "We've been discussing in regards to our... policies. We came to a conclusion that we should keep old members in the corporation for the sake of their experience, not to mention that, well, Princess Celestia has personally requested for us to develop a new branch, something about Equestria being in dire need of a specific set of flyers during trying times." At this the McFly paused, it was clear that Celestia's lack of faith in their skills regarding combat stung, but he could not deny the logic in her words. The Wonderbolts failed far too many times when it came about keeping Equestria safe from significant threats. "What if I told you... that you can have your own elites? Funded by the Kingdom? You design the uniforms, the courses, the squads and schedules. Recruit whoever you wish and get a say on whatever event you want to participate? No setbacks, no drawlines, no nonsensical rules, just commitment." Lightning shared a suspicious glance with Thunderlane, the stallion was also finding that offer to be a bit strange. "Huh, and what's the catch?" She asked, not looking very impressed. McFly hesitated, wondering how to phrase his answer without making it sound frightening somewhat. "You can have that, but only if you can commit as a secondary military branch. Celestia wants flyers that have more... daredevil in their wings, more than it would be considered sane. In other words, flyers that can take risks and succeed by performing the most dangerous tasks." "That's it?" Lightning replied, looking fairly excited all of sudden. The idea of being an active military elite was rather surprising, but the challenge on it sparked her interest, not to mention it would boost her reputation tremendously. "Sounds great!" "No, it doesn't." Lightning blinked, her eyes quickly found Thunderlane's irritated expression staring right back at her. "What?! Why not?" She asked, bewildered that he's not fond of that offer. McFly was giving her all she could ever hope for, and even allowing her enough of a rank to rub on Spitfire's face. How could she say no? Thunderlane looked even more upset with her answer. "Are you joking?" He asked, sounding perplexed while maintaining the frown on his face. "You're being offered a job that will put you against things that will actively try to kill you." He nearly hissed those last words, such was his frustration with the lack of perception she displayed. "What's the point of going from a job that can get yourself killed, to another that will end up killing you regardless?!" Lightning, for the first time that day, had no idea how to rebuke his words. He wasn't wrong, not at all. Lightning saw the dangerous things that Equestria went through, it was well know how many times they would be doomed if not for Twilight and her friends using Harmony to save their lands. She couldn't blame him for being so angry, Thunderlane was looking after her after all, and this deal was far from ideal in regards to her safety. The office was fairly silent during their discussion, to which Lightning was thankful, having a bunch of smooth feathers trying to talk her into this idea would've made the moment a lot worse. McFly's silence during the exchange was a huge giveaway of how right Thunderlane's opinion is. Dust couldn't help but feel unsure of what to do, the idea of having her own elites surpassing the Wonderbolts is very tempting, but Thunderlane's care meant so much more to her than anything else at this point, definitely way more than some petty revenge against Spitfire. "I... well, yeah, ya right. But... what we do then?" She asked, looking lost as all the previous excitement left her. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that he wouldn't support her on something that genuinely caught her interest. Thunderlane remained stoic, his eyes shifting back towards the general. McFly was motionless, awaiting for them to come to an agreement on their choice but, for his unexpected surprise, Thunderlane had other ideas. "I don't think being a military branch is anywhere near of what we need to improve the situation. Sure, I suppose Celestia- "Princess Celestia." Spitfire corrected. Thunderlane glanced at her briefly, his shift of attention enough of a warning for those who wished to interrupt him further. "As I was saying." The stallion continued, pointedly ignoring his captain's remark. "Celestia is absolutely right on thinking we need to improve the way we do things when it comes to a combat perspective, but we will never get there if we cannot improve how we present ourselves to the public. The Washouts blew us out of the sky for months now, or is there anypony who begs to differ?" He paused, awaiting for somepony to contradict his statement, but the room remained silent. He sighed, as the amount of information that he would provide started to overflow his thoughts. "I've been thinking on how to settle this issue between us." He said as he also addressed Lightning into the conversation. "I don't think joining ranks is going to do any good. Even with a specific division, just as General McFly said, a different branch, or team for that matter. One that can expand from the Wonderbolts, but also work on coalition. It's too much to hope that it will last, this is merely a testing idea." "So... you think that we should have the Wonderbolts and the Washouts work along temporarily?" McFly questioned, still unsure of what was being proposed. Thunderlane nodded briefly. "We can share knowledge, tactics, resources or whatever to help each other improve. The Washouts have the public attention cause they are far more daring and creative than we are, but we still have far larger numbers and resources, even if their income is surpassing us at the moment. We can learn from each other, instead of just being bitter and resentful. I don't say we should be friends." He quickly added, as Lightning opened her mouth to protest, which was imitated by Spitfire. "No, but at least try to be professional, that much you can do. We will never get anywhere if we insist on never changing, it's time to try something new." "That sounds great and all, but what about that need of a better air military branch?" Fleetfoot asked, not really disregarding Thunder's reasoning. He merely shrugged. "I'm no military expert, but... maybe it's time we start looking at magic users more often, cause there's not really much we can do in regards to strong magicians. Like Tirek or Chrysalis." "Urgh, don't remind me." Soarin said, looking mildly disturbed by the memories of these awful encounters with the powerful vile entities. "I don't think we will ever live down that Canterlot incident." "Magic is a real issue, and has been our downfall far too many times." McFly said, as he looked around to see his fellow seniors nodding in agreement. "Expanding our recruitment to also include unicorns may become more of a necessity than we could've anticipated. That being said, as our society is expanding our relations with other nations, we've been thinking on looking after the griffons. We've been very impressed the few times we saw their teams at the Equestrian Games, not to mention they seem to have a better resistance to magic than we do, for whatever reason." He added, frowning at the advantage the winged cats have over them. His attention returned back to the black coated stallion. "You are suggesting for us to form an alliance of sorts with the Washouts, and we will exchange with each other as a way to benefit and better ourselves as time goes. I can see that idea has its merits, and also it's good thinking on the magic issue." He turned his attention back to Dust. "Say, do you wish to include any of our members to your team?" Lightning blinked, stupefied as the General addressed her with a question she never would've expect. "Say what?! Are you offering me to pick Wonderbolts to my team?" "Sir?!" Spitfire looked absolutely infuriated and spooked. "What could you possibly achieve with such?" "Anypony interested on joining Lightning's team?" The General asked, once again ignoring the captain. Spitfire was about to unleash her fury, but a stern look from Stormy Flare set her silent. There were moments of muttering following his words, not all Wonderbolts found that idea of siding with the Washouts so amazing, but the very few who could see the benefits of such incorporation were more than ready to jump at the chance. Especially the pony that meant to Lightning a lot more than her career does. "I'm in." Several heads turned, astonished that Thunderlane did not hesitate on the offer. Lightning was baffled, she really didn't expect him to join at all, she was perfectly fine with him staying a Wonderbolt. "Thunder, are you sure? But..." Dust paused, unsure if she has the liberty of bringing his parents into the conversation. "What about that promise of being a Wonderbolt?" The stallion merely shrugged, a smile forming on his muzzle that surprised her. "I did carry that promise, didn't I? I am a Wonderbolt, so that's done. Now? Well, I can move on to something else, honestly I was getting bored. I guess that's what happens when you do nothing but training every time you come here." He added with a bit of spite. "Well, we have one candidate already. Anypony else?" McFly asked, not surprised but sad that Thunder choose to leave their ranks so soon. Something that his father would've been deeply disappointed about, but he couldn't be blamed for wanting to leave. "Me!" Several gasps followed this exclamation, to which Spitfire joined while adding her words of utter disbelief. "Fleetfoot?!! What!? What the fuck?! Why?!" Much to Spitfire's shock, and dismay, the mare merely shoved her tongue back at her captain, looking like she couldn't care less. "I was getting this far," Fleetfoot said, raising a hoof way above her own head. "With all the pointless stuff we kept doing, it was obvious we were lagging behind and you were too proud to admit. I want to do new things, Spit! No more repeated training that will add nothing to my flying! It's cool and all to be a Lieutenant or whatever, but I don't want to waste my life getting nowhere. I joined the bolts cause I wanted to be the best flyer I could make myself to be, but it's been stale for years!" "Urgh, I can't believe you! Are you for real!? It's not like we can't improve!" "I don't doubt that, but I rather not wait that many extra months for an actual change. Don't worry, we still will get to see each other often." Fleetfoot joked, much to Spitfire's chagrin. Lightning and Thunderlane watched as the argument kept going, especially as few other bolts started to express they desire to switch teams. "So, how are you going to tell this to Rolling Thunder and Shorty?" "Pfff, don't worry about them. I can talk their minds into this crazy stuff later on. Still, this will be a lot of extra work, can I count on you?" She asked, worried that the decision to change away from the Wonderbolts would weight on his consciousness, she didn't want him doing it only for her sake. Thunderlane chuckled, looking relatively at ease for the first time that day. "Hey, we're more than partners now. You can always count on me, no matter what."