//------------------------------// // Chapter: 2 - A New Day // Story: Dust in the Wind // by dj_neon_lights //------------------------------// Dust in the Wind By Michael A. Chapter: 2 - A New Day Lightning Dust awoke later that day around noon. Unlike Rainbow Dash, she wasn’t usually one for naps, but due to her emotionally tiring day so far, she didn’t mind the extra sleep. Raising from her bed she placed the picture frame back where it belonged on the small nightstand beside the bed. She was both happy and relieved to find that the picture frame had somehow managed to remain tightly in her grasp as she slept, rather than fall on the floor and break. She stared at the picture one last time before making her way over to the fireplace and carefully started a small fire. Since it was the beginning of autumn and the air was particularly cold she decided to light a fire to help warm up the cabin. After that she made her way over to her bathroom. Looking in the mirror she noticed the tear stains that lead down from under her eyes. She stared at herself in the mirror. ‘You’re not supposed to cry. Crying is for the weak’, she thought to herself. She grabbed a nearby washcloth and wiped her face until the tear marks were completely gone. She then grabbed a brush from out of a nearby medicine cabinet and started to brush her hair. When she was satisfied with how she looked, she made her way out of the bathroom and into the kitchen to start her breakfast. The stove that occupied the lodge’s kitchen could only run on wood, and because of her “complications” earlier that day Lightning had forgot to stack up some wood earlier that morning. She sighed before making her way to the entrance of the home. She made her way past the front garden on the outskirts of the lodge and over to the other side of the cabin. Lightning then took a log off the stacked wood that had been placed there some time ago. She took the log and placed it onto the ground, before bracing herself and flaring her wings as she flew into the air with great speed. Once she was at an acceptable altitude she nose dived back down, smashing the wood into little fragments across the area. Satisfied with her work Lightning picked up the pieces and took the now smaller stack of wood inside the cabin. Once inside, she placed the stack next to the stove. She used some of the wood to start the stove. She then made her way over to the icebox and grabbed a carton of eggs before making her way back to the stove. Lightning Dust liked to start her day off with a plate of scrambled eggs. It was a good source of protein, and it was delicious. After finishing her meal Dust made her way outside to start her morning flight training. She trotted her way over to the open field that lay not far from the house. Because she lived in the woods Dust had almost unlimited space for flying and practicing new tricks. But out of all the places she could find Dust liked this area the most. It had minimum trees and terrain was almost completely flat. But the best part was the decently sized lake that was located not far to the south of the field. The lake was an important feature because it allowed for a place to crash from a failed trick, without getting seriously injured.Dust then started her preflight stretches. After she had completed all of the preflight exercises, Lightning cracked her back before flaring her wings and taking to the sky. The wind in her mane and the adrenaline in her veins was unbeatable. When she was in the air, she felt alive.After a few minutes of warm-up laps around the field, she was finally ready to start her actual training. Though her warm-up routine may seem a bit excessive Lightning felt it was necessary. After all, if she managed to pull a muscle in her wing or any other severe injury she was miles away from the nearest hospital. Lightning Dust suddenly began to climb higher in the sky. It wasn’t long until she found herself high above the cloud layer. She finally stopped her assent when the thin air made it hard for her to breath. The Pegasus hovered in place while she stared down at the earth below. The field beneath her becoming nothing more than a mere spec. Without warning Lightning pulled in her wings so that the were tight against her sides. The lack of upward propulsion caused the mare to immediately slip into freefall. She could feel the air rushing by her as she plummeted towards the earth below. Even though the rush of the air made her eyes burn she kept them open. As the field below her quickly came closer into view, she could feel mixture of fear and thrill start to build up within her. Watching as the gap between her and the ground became smaller. 500 feet. 400 feet. 200 feet.100 feet. As she neared closer to the point of no return she flung open her wings. The force of the wind's friction through her feathers caused them to immediately burn. She pumped her wings as fast she could, making an almost impossible 90 degree turn. The added speed of the fall caused her to rocket forwards. Lightning loved to do free falls, the mixture of terror and thrill that it produced as she closed in on the ground, it was almost unmatched. But even with all the excitement it produced, she couldn’t help but think about the time when she hadn’t pulled up… when she didn’t want to pull up. Lightning shook her head to clear out the painful memories from her mind. With the memories safely suppressed she then returned her focus to flying. With the extra speed that she had gained the pegasus began to practice her flight routine. She did many twists and turns that lead to more complicated tricks. After Lightning had almost completed her flight routine she found herself once again in the high altitudes of the sky. She still had one last trick that she wanted to do, one that had taken weeks of backbreaking work to master, the Sonic-Rainboom. She once again looked down at the earth before she thrusted her wings and began to fly once again strait for the ground. From the combination of gravity and the power of her own wing strokes, Lightning began to rapidly gain speed. It wasn’t long before a mach cone started to form around the speeding mare. As she got to the final stage of the Rainboom, she felt the air tighten around her body, like a slingshot being stretched to its limit. This was it, this was the point that many had reached yet failed to pass. With this Lightning pushed her wings as fast and as hard as she could. With one last thrust of her mighty wings there was a large “boom” followed by an explosion of color. Lightning pulled up and made another impossible 90 degree, but unlike last time she was followed by a trail of gold and lime green. She flew around in a much rehearsed pattern, before touching down onto the field below. Dust felt like her whole body was on fire from the extreme workout that she had just put herself through. Wiping some sweat from her brow she turned her view back up to the sky, smirking when she saw her cutie mark painted in the sky by the gold and lime green trail, which lay directly in front of the Rainboom. Lightning Dust stared at her work for a few more minutes before she turned around and made her way back to the cabin. Rainbow Dash flew through the skies above Ponyville, currently on her way to Sugarcube Corner. At first she was hesitant about going into public because of the events of earlier that day. She didn’t want ponies to know that another pony had mastered her trick. It was her trick after all. She had a reputation to keep. But eventually her hunger had gotten the best of her and, as she couldn’t cook for her life Dash had decided that Sugarcube Corner was her best option. It didn’t take long until Dash had arrived at the front steps of Ponyville’s number one bakery. Taking a deep breath in she put on her signature cocky smirk and trotted into the bakery. Instantly she was met by the smell of freshly baked pastries and other confectionaries. Dash made her way over to the bakery counter and was greeted by none other than Ponyville’s number one party pony, Pinkie Pie. “Hey Dashie! What can I get for you?” the pink mare said as she bounced around behind the counter. “Hey Pinks. I’ll have umm,” Dash looked at the vast variety of sweets, “I’ll have one cinnamon roll, please?” Pinkie nodded and pulled out a fresh cinnamon roll from out of her hair before placing it on the counter in front of her. Dash first inspected the roll for any loose Pinkie hair, and when she decided it was clean she laid a few bits out on the counter. Pinkie took the bits and smiled before going back to tend to other customers. Dash made her way to a nearby table and placed her newly acquired sweet down. She was about to take her first bite before a familiar - and very irritated - voice caught her attention. “Rainbow Dash!” the voice screamed. Dash slowly turned to face one of the scariest things she had ever seen. She had faced dragons, Manticores, and even Nightmare Moon. But what was standing in front of her topped it all. For standing in the doorway of the bakery was a very, very pissed off Rarity. Her hair was a mess and she still was wearing her fluffy pink night robe with matching slippers. Rarity soon started to advance towards Dash’s table, her eyes shone like daggers. Dash at this point had fallen out of her chair, threw her cinnamon roll halfway across the bakery, and scooted her way over to the neighboring wall. She usually would have been self conscious about her public image but by now everypony in the bakery had already fled out the nearest door, and one pony had even jumped out of a neighboring window. It was common knowledge to never cross Rarity when she was in a bad mood, and when Rarity hadn’t even taken the time to pretty her own hair…you knew to run. But when you were, like Dash, on the receiving end of her wrath, may Celestia help you. Dash tried to stop herself from shaking before she spoke, “H-hey Rarity w-what’s up?” she tried to say casually, it failed. Rarity inched forwards, almost face to face with Dash before speaking, “You know damn well, what’s up!” Rarity took a minute before continuing. “Your stupid Sonic-Rainboom woke me from my beauty sleep!” Applejack made her way down the dirt road to central Ponyville. She had finished her morning chores and was making her way to the family farm stand with a cart of freshly bucked apples. Big Mac had told her to bring the cart to the stand earlier when they had shared breakfast with the Apple family. But throughout the whole morning the Rainboom incident had still continued to bug her. ‘Who the hay else could have done that rainboom? Ah mean, isn’t Rainbow the only pony that can do one?’ she thought to herself. Applejack was about to pass by Sugarcube Corner when she heard a loud and very irritated voice called out, “Your stupid Sonic-Rainboom woke me from my beauty sleep!” Applejack instantly recognized the voice to be from none other than Rarity, and by the sounds of it she was pretty pissed off. She quickly unhooked herself from the cart and ran towards the bakery - hoping to save whoever was on the receiving end Rarities wrath. Applejack burst through the door to the bakery. She looked around and noticed that the usually popular restaurant was completely empty - except for a cowering Rainbow Dash and a very pissed off Rarity. Before Rarity could cause any physical damage Applejack immediately sprung into action and tackled Rarity to the ground just as she was about to lunge at Rainbow. “Let me at her Applejack! She needs to pay!” Rarity screamed as she flailed her limbs, trying to get to Rainbow. Because of Applejack’s strength she could easily hold the very angry Rarity back. “Easy there sugarcube, now tell me what’s got ya knickers in a twist?” she said in a calming voice. Rarity continued her tantrum. “That brute of a pegasus woke me from my beauty sleep with her stupid Sonic-Rainboom!” Rarity wailed. “Uh sugarcube… That wasn’t Rainbow,” Applejack said flatly. Rarity stopped her flailing and looked to Applejack. “Well of course it was! What other Pegasus in all of Equestria can perform a Sonic-Rainboom?” “Ah don’t know, all I knew was it wasn’t Rainbow,” Applejack said as she let go of the now calmer Unicorn. During this time Rainbow Dash had recovered and started to make her way to the back exit. Applejack noticed this and pulled out her lasso from under her hat. “Oh no you don’t, you ain't going no where until you explain some things!” Applejack said as she threw the lasso at the escaping Pegasus. As soon as the rope had made its way around Dash’s hooves Applejack pulled it tight, making the Pegasus fall face first onto the floor. Rainbow looked unamused as she was unceremoniously dragged back over to the pair. Applejack un tied the unamused Rainbow Dash. “You know, ya could have just asked,” Dash said as she rubbed the red areas on her hooves that were left by AJ’s lasso. Applejack just rolled her eyes. “As Ah was sayin’ Rares it wasn’t Rainbow. Ah saw whoever did the Rainboom then Ah saw Rainbow flyn’ after em.” Rarity - who was a lot calmer - turned to Rainbow. “Is it true, Darling. Was it not you who did the Rainboom this morning?” Rarity said, her previous anger replaced with curiosity. Rainbow started to sweat as the eyes of both mares fell upon her. “Hehe well…you see…it may have not been me,” she said nervously. “Well then, who was it?” Applejack asked impatiently. Dash looked around nervously before speaking ,“Um, it was.” Cough. ”Lightning Dust,” she said muffling her last words with a cough. “Lightning Dust!?” both Applejack and Rarity said in unison. They looked at each other for a second, shrugged, then turned back to Dash. Rainbow Dash looked at both mares before sighing, there was no use in trying to hide it. “Yes It was Lightning Dust who did the Sonic-Rainboom. Apparently after she was...kicked out of the academy she went on an extreme training spree and, somehow managed to master the trick. She told me that the reason why she got booted was because of the whole incident at the academy and..and it was all my fault!” Rainbow said as she slumped down on her haunches. By now Rarity and Applejack were both speechless from the shocking news. Applejack was the first to speak up, “Ah thought that she was demoted back to wing pony after the whole tornado business?” Rainbow shrugged. “I thought so too but, apparently Spitfire had her kicked out.” “Okay I get that Darling, but what do you mean that it was all your fault? Wasn’t it her idea to do all of that risky business?” Rarity said with a raised eyebrow. “Yea it was but… I was a part of it and I didn’t do anything to stop it until it became personal, I was equally responsible! And look what happened, I get promoted while Dust got kicked out...her dream got crushed, and it was all my fault!” Rainbow almost screamed, she looked like she was on the verge of tears. Rarity trotted over to her friend and started to rub her hoof along Dash’s back. Because she was still wearing her fuzzy slippers it added an extra comfort to the cyan mare. Noticing that Rainbow had calmed down Rarity took the opportunity to speak, “There, there, darling. It wasn’t your fault. Yes, you did aid in the...havoc, but it was all Lightning Dust’s idea. If it weren’t for her thinking so selfishly, she wouldn’t have been in this mess.” Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement, but she still seemed a little put down. Applejack noticed this and spoke up, “Rarity is right, Sugarcube. It wasn’t your fault. Lightning Dust dug her own grave. It’s not all your fault.” Rainbow looked back up towards both mares “Thanks girls, this really means a lot,” she said. Rainbow then had a thought pop into her head. She looked around as she spoke, ”Hey...where did Pinkie go?” As if on cue the Pink mare in question bounced through the open doors of Sugarcube corner. “Hello everpony! I’m back!” she cheered happily. The three other mares in the room jumped at the sudden outburst. They all spoke up in unison, “Pinkie! Where the hay have you been?” The pink mare put a hoof to her chin before answering, “Well, first I went outside to figure out where everpony was going. Then I chased after this one mare and tried to ask her why she was running. She didn’t answer me and just kept repeating something like ‘White Devil’ over and over again. I finally gave up and came back here so, here I am!” Pinkie said with a smile. Rarity blushed when she realized what Pinkie was talking about. She then finally realized that she was still in her night robe her blush deepened as started to back up towards the door. “Oh...Uh…Will you please excuse me, Darlings. I must return to my house and get properly dressed,” Rarity said as she cuckled nervously. She continued her way out of the shop before stopping and turning once more to Dash. “Oh and sorry about that Dash, I didn’t mean to scare you and go all psycho.” Rainbow Dash quickly snapped back, “I wasn’t scared...I was terrified.” Rarity rolled her eyes and continued out the door of sugarcube corner. Applejack chuckled before turning to her friends. “Ah got to get heading out too. Got to get those apples to the farmers market, Big mac’s probably worried sick.” She waved her goodbyes before heading outside. She re-attached herself to the cart before continuing on her route to her farmstand. With most of her friends gone Dash finally took the time to look around the bakery. She noticed that the place was a mess; chairs knocked over, tables toppled on their sides, and the entire floor was covered in pastries that were previously located on said tables. Dash couldn't help but let out a soft giggle when she noticed a familiar looking cinnamon roll stuck on neighboring wall. She then turned to Pinkie Pie who now had a dustpan and broom clasped in her mouth, she let out a goofy smile from behind the cleaning utensils. "I'm guessing you're going to want help cleaning this up?" Dash asked. Pinkie Pie nodded and Dash took the broom from her and began to sweep the sweets that covered floor. While cleaning Dash couldn't help but think back to Lightning Dust. Though her friends had helped clear her guilt she still felt sorry for the mare. After all, she did have her dreams torn away from her. Rainbow Dash waved to Pinkie Pie as she trotted away from sugarcube corner, carrying a small bag in her mouth that was filled with freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Pinkie had given them to her as a thank you gift for helping her clean up the shop. The customers had slowly returned one by one after being scared off by the “White Devil”. Dash giggled at the name before jumping into the air, and began to fly back to her cloud house.