//------------------------------// // Chapter six: Dust // Story: Broken Promise // by Nailah //------------------------------// Lightning Dust groaned; she felt her body aching and struggled to gasp for air.  All around her, she realized that there was nothing left. Nothing but dust. “Ugh… where am I?” Lightning Dust asked herself, rubbing the temples of her forehead. Her once brightly golden blonde mane was now a dusty dirty blonde. Her once fierce yellow eyes were now a dim golden brown. Her eyes shimmered as she held back a tear. Lightning Dust scoped the void. Its emptiness swallowed her.  The immediate thing she noticed was the bleakness of the space she was in. If there was any light where she was, it was so dim and faint, it was  almost a flicker. In the same way, she felt her heartbeat flickering with each and every breath. Everything felt fuzzy, like she could feel her weight upon the ground, and yet she also felt as light as a feather. Reality shifted, and she didn’t know where to turn. No matter which way she glanced, or shifted, the entire area around her was lifeless. Lightning remembered feeling like she was on top of the world, when she had been made Lead Pony, and Rainbow wing pony, but this… There was nothing left but dust. “Is this how it ends?”  Lightning arched her back as she shifted to stand up on all four hooves. Her body ached from the constant strain, and as she fought to stand, she felt herself aching for something. Anything, really.  “I was once a Wonderbolt recruit, I had Rainbow Dash as my Wing pony, and now what do I have?” Lightning asked herself, even as she was already painfully aware of the answer she sought. Was she nothing more than a broken promise?  Lightning could barely make out a sound, the growly fierce feminine voice, she recalled from before; it sounded like that griffon. The one that wanted her dead, if she dared to mess with her dweeb. She could just hardly make out what she was saying, but it sounded very much like she was shouting, directing her aggression not at her, but at Rainbow Dash. “You’re an idiot! You never should have let it go this far,” Gilda growled, her voice raspy from the strain of raising her voice. “What? How is this my fault?” Rainbow asked, her wings stiffening against her barrel, as she felt backed up into a corner.  “Lightning Dust is unconscious because you wouldn’t listen!” Gilda shouted, as she pressed her figure snuggly to Rainbow Dash’s frame.  “You know if this was any other situation this would be really hot…” Rainbow half whispered, half pouted as she saw Gilda’s cold stare glaring at her. “Rainbow Dash!” shouted Pinkie suddenly. “Wait, what? When did you get here?” Rainbow asked, half tilting her head to glance at Pinkie, but also trying not to choke on her own breath. “Oh silly, that's easy. I just walked in through the door. You really should lock the door if you don’t want visitors!” Pinkie suggested, while bouncing over to where Lightning Dust laid on a bed. Pinkie stared at the pegasus with intense interest and seemed to “hmm” under her breath every few seconds. Rainbow blinked, furrowing her brows and tilted her head to the side. “Huh?” She never really knew how to respond to Pinkie’s antics, and right now, she was already dealing with one problem, before another. “So…” began Pinkie Pie. “Have you figured out why Lightning won’t wake up?”  “Not really, no. I don’t even know why she went unconscious in the first place.” Rainbow Dash replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "Oh my, she looks awful! Dashie, why haven't you called for a doctor?" Pinkie rushed forward and began frantically pacing around Lightning Dust. "Hmm...yep yeppers. I’m almost positive of it. I mean, I’m no doctor, but my Pinkie sense is all twitch, pull, ear wiggle.  “Pinkie, can you please make half a lick of sense?” Rainbow Dash asked, groaning.  “She’s not doing well,” Pinkie replied, looking at Rainbow Dash. “What are we going to do, Rainbow?” “How am I supposed to know? It’s not like I have all the answers. I still don’t even know why she bothered coming to Ponyville.” Rainbow Dash shouted, quickly catching her breath. “Sorry, Pinkie. I shouldn’t be yelling at you, or Gilda. You two are both just trying to help.” Pinkie Pie began to open her mouth again, when a claw covered her muzzle and shook her head. Gilda was right there beside her.  “This is something  that only Rainbow can figure out. If we just tell her, she’ll never learn.” Gilda instructed Pinkie. Pinkie Pie nodded her head in understanding, and only then did Gilda move her claw away from her mouth.  Rainbow Dash took a moment to look at Gilda, really look at her. She still remembered their talk a few days ago, about how Gilda used to not be so good herself, and that the two of them managed to work things out, so why wasn’t she giving Lightning a chance? The more she thought about it, the more of a headache she was getting. She rubbed at her temple, and looked over to the unconscious Lightning Dust laying on the bed. She was breathing heavily, and almost seemed to be gasping for air in her sleep, as her body seemed to tremble. “Is she having a nightmare?” asked Pinkie Pie, noting the twitches of Lightning Dust, and tilting her head back and forth. “LIGHTNING, wake up! Whatever you are dreaming about isn't real, wake up!” Rainbow Dash groaned, and hoof palmed. “Pinkie Pie, she’s unconscious. Shouting isn’t going to magically wake her up.” Lightning heard a loud voice calling out to her  from the depths of nothingness. Struggling, but burning with a desire to cling  to something, she tried to stand up and move. “Shut up the both of you, and look,” Gilda demanded pointing her claw right at Lightning Dust, who was starting to move. Lightning Dust opened her eyes. She wasn’t sure what she expected to see but she felt almost relieved to see; the voices from her dream were very real.  “Ugh. What happened to me?” Lightning asked, rubbing the temple of her forehead, groaning. She noticed how Gilda, Rainbow, and Pinkie Pie were just staring at her. Why are they looking at me like that? Do they enjoy humiliating me at my weakest point? “Lightning Dust, we are so happy you’re awake!” Pinkie exclaimed, wrapping both hooves around her neck, and embracing her. Lightning groaned, and bit her bottom lip at the gesture.  Why does she care? I'm nothing. Nopony has wanted me around before, why is this different? ...Have I changed? “Just let go,” Lightning Dust complained, pushing Pinkie pie off of her. Her amber eyes focused directly on Rainbow Dash. “I know you won’t believe me, I don’t care anymore. If you can’t forgive me, then there’s no point. There’s nothing left.` Gilda put a claw on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder and looked at Lightning. The two of them were very similar, even if Gilda’s crimes weren’t as severe as the ones Lightning had caused. She related to the struggle Lightning was going through, fighting herself.  “Please, Rainbow Dash,” Gilda said, her voice low and growly, but yet utterly vulnerable. It was very rare Gilda allowed anyone besides Rainbow to see her like this, to see that she was still weak.  Rainbow Dash turnt to look at Gilda, her wings tightening against her barrel, sighing.  “Listen, Lightning you did a lot of bad things and you just sort of showed up here, expecting me to forgive you,” began Rainbow Dash, feeling Gilda jab her in the side with her elbow, and coughing. “But, I can see that you are trying to be better, to improve on your failings. Gilda hit her again, this time hard enough to make her twitch. “Trying to be a better pony, and I will need time to truly forgive you, but I can accept you are improving.” How long would it take? Days, months, years? I don’t know if I can handle waiting forever for a broken promise. It was such a simple gesture, Rainbow Dash held out a hoof, offering to help her up.  Lightning Dust bit her bottom lip, and hesitated to accept it.  What if this was just another illusion?  She cringed, and felt her body aching from being stiff for too long. If this wasn’t real, then why did her body ache so much? I have to believe, I have to at least try. For if I don’t… Then what will become of me? This was what she wanted right? So, why did she feel ashamed for accepting Rainbow’s help now.  I’m not a good pony, but if there’s any hope for me, I have to be willing to accept it. In order to heal. Lightning took her hoof, and allowed Rainbow’s strength to lift her to a sitting position on the bed. She swung her hindlegs over, feeling the floor beneath her. Feeling like it might cave out from under her, at any moment she stood up for the first time since the blackout. Her memory was hazy at best, she remembered being here before, going to seek Rainbow Dash’s forgiveness and being turned away, and even now she was so unsure about everything. But, one thing was certainly different from then and now, Rainbow Dash was willing to try to forgive her, and that’s more than anyone else had offered to her. “I’m sorry,” Gilda said, staring down at the floor, and rubbing a talon up and down her front left foreleg. “I shouldn’t have judged you, before I even knew you.” “You still don’t know me,” Lightning replied defensively, and then remembered instantly, she needed to be better. “I mean, maybe that can change if Rainbow would allow us to be friends again.” “Woah, there. One thing at a time,” Rainbow interjected. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you’re a good pony now, and not the ass I knew from the academy.” “You truly are trying to forgive me…,” Lightning Dust said, biting her tongue. She turned away and looked up at the sky.  Hope filled her yellow eyes, they burned with a desire to fly high again. To become the pony she always knew she could be. Lightning Dust wasn’t just a washout, she was a former Wonderbolt recruit, and she’d make everyone remember why.