Lightning Dust flew through the air with Keen Wit. He was almost late for his magic lessons with the princess.
They landed just outside the library where the princess stayed. Meeting her at the door he looked up at her. His face was relaxed and his smile was devoid of the subtle fear of his horn being discovered. It was an expression given only to a pony he felt completely comfortable around. Aside from family, he only looked at her and Lightning Dust in such a way. "I'm glad you're back in town. I missed you."
"So am I. I've missed Ponyville and I've missed you Keen Wit." Once Keen Wit had passed inside the princess looked calmly at Lightning Dust, who was still standing there. "Did you need something?"
Lightning Dust's knees had the urge to knock and her ears began to twitch. "Hello your highness... I have been meaning to apologize."
The princess tilted her head. "Apologize for what?"
"F-for causing that accident back at the ac-c-cademy." Lightning Dust bit her lip and her ears twisted backwards while she waited for a response.
The princess's eyes formed a glare as they filled with fire. "That was you!?" Her wings flared out and her voice gained an otherworldly resonance. "Seize her!"
Guards came out of nowhere and had Lightning Dust thoroughly restrained within seconds. Her mouth was gagged and her wings were tied up together and pointing away from her body, removing any chance of them slipping free. She fell to the ground and was dragged to a guillotine. She struggled with all her might against her bonds but they would not give in the slightest.
Just as her head was placed inside the guillotine, she saw her aunt flying in with all haste. Spitfire landed in front of her. "Princess, please," Spitfire pleaded. "She doesn't deserve death."
The princess came to face Spitfire with her regal fury. "Then speak. What does she deserve?" the princess demanded.
Spitfire's voice ceased to sound concerned and became cold. "Take her wings from her and send her home. Death is too kind a punishment." Spitfire looked at Lightning Dust with disgust. "I am ashamed to have ever called her my niece."
"So be it!" the princess declared. She levitated Lightning Dust out of the guillotine just to insert her wings instead. Lightning Dust still struggled frantically against her bonds as they became tighter and tighter.
She stopped struggling when she saw Keen Wit standing next to the guillotine. His breathing was heavy and his face was tear struck. "You didn't really do it, did you?" he asked her through his tears.
Lightning Dust gave him as wide and warm a smile as the gag would let her. She did her best to move her restrained forehooves in a caressing fashion despite not being able to reach him. Nevertheless, the remorse in her softened eyes gave the truth away.
All sympathy for her left his face to be replaced with loathing. "I hate you." His horn glowed with magic as he held the guillotine's rope in his levitation then yanked the rope. As the blade dropped she heard an odd voice come from him. "Good Morning! Bathro-"
Waking up violently as the blade made contact, Lightning Dust smacked Lyra's chin with her head when she lurched up. Lyra's head bounced into the edge of the low hanging bunk bed above her.
"Owie..." Lightning Dust heard Lyra whine as she got her bearings. Her blankets had wrapped around her body, pinning her legs and wings to her. Her left wing felt like she had been sleeping on it extended.
"What!? Lyra!?" Lightning Dust looked around and saws Lyra nursing a sore noggin a few staggered paces away from the bunk bed. "Three months and you still haven't learned to let me sleep?" She worked her way out of the blanket's bindings and scooted to the edge of the bed, careful to not hit the top bunk herself for the umpteenth time.
Lyra managed to pry her eyes open. "I just wanted to tell you I was done in the bathroom." She recovered her stance but her forehoof continued to rub the back of her head. "You can take your turn now."
"You didn't have to wake me for that!" Lightning Dust stated irately. She saw a pain in Lyra's eyes that wasn't from the bump on her head. Lightning Dust's face scrunched up for a moment. 'Don't get her upset. You still need her.' She relaxed her face and softened her voice. "Ugh... But maybe it was a good thing this time. I haven't been having all that nice of dreams lately. You alright?"
With the deposit for the room in Lyra's name, if it ever came to one of them being kicked out it would be Lightning Dust. Now that Lyra's 'short season' was over she didn't have to have a roommate anymore.
After seeing Lyra nod with a shaky smile, Lightning Dust began her morning routine. As she started preening her wing to fix the feathers that got messed up in the night, words from the past plagued her mind again. "From what she told me you still haven't apologized to them.", "You were taking responsibility for your actions long before you did them." She gave her wing a test flap to see if there was anything she missed then went back to preening to fix a spot. "Even now you're trying to be responsible and do everything you can to help whether you were to blame or not."
She did one final test flap then returned her wing to the resting position. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. 'You can't keep putting it off forever Lightning Dust. You need to apologize to them already.' After holding her breath for a moment she let out her frustration in one big sigh. "Dam it conscience! You're a real pain in the flank sometimes." She opened her eyes again and went downstairs for some breakfast. 'The princess and his tutor. Either one would have been bad enough.' "Of all the ponies it I could have hit with that tornado why did it have to be her?"
As she entered the kitchen to get some food, BonBon was there with some crazy confectionery project of her own.
"What are you doing in my house?" BonBon asked, not recognizing her.
"Mint, it's me," Lightning Dust answered her as if she was expecting this. "Lightning Dust? Lyra's roommate?"
"Never heard of you." BonBon responded as she started to get upset.
Lightning Dust groaned in frustration. She spoke in a gravelly voice just loud enough for BonBon to hear, "The crybaby..."
"He-he-ha! Oh yea!" BonBon cackled as she finally recognized her then went back to her project.
Lightning Dust calmed herself from her landlord's insensitive remark with another deep breath. "Can I fetch some milk from the fridge now?"
"Sure. Just don't touch the tray up top." BonBon said, not even looking away from her project.
"Wouldn't dream of it." 'It's not like you ever make anything I'd want to eat anyway.'
Lightning Dust took her cereal outside, finding it more comfortable than being cooped up with Mint. She saw Lyra waiting by the mailbox. "I still don't get how you can be so cheerful about having to live with her."
Lyra looked away from the street and towards lightning Dust, who had laid down on the grass to eat. "And I don't see how you can stand that tasteless food," she counterpointed. "Besides, I have nothing to complain about. I get five friends in one."
'She would say that,' she thought to herself while chewing the bran currently in her mouth. She swallowed just as a grey mail mare flee down to the mailbox. "If you had to eat what I had to as a filly you wouldn't have much of a sweet tooth either," Lightning retorted back softly. The noise of an egg timer going off in the kitchen followed by a loud bang distracted the three ponies for a moment before the mail mare went back to delivering the mail. "What did she do to get to be like that anyway?"
"Hey! It's not her fault!" Lyra exclaimed as her cheeks puffed out and her face scrunched up. She bolted over to Lightning Dust and stared her right in the eyes. "You try having your head hypnotically scrambled sometime!"
Thud. Lightning Dust and Lyra broke eye contact to see the mail mare picking herself up off the ground. "I'm fine! I'm fine!" The mail mare said as she shook off the fall then continued her route in some sudden hurry. As she rounded the corner, she passed a bouncing Pinkie Pie with a saddle bag strangely not filled with party supplies.
'Sure. Why not? It's not like the two regular nut cases are enough for one morning,' Lightning Dust thought as Pinkie came up to the yard.
"Good morning everypony!" Pinkie shouted loud enough for the whole block to hear.
"Good morning," BonBon hastily shouted from the kitchen.
"Good Morning Pinkie dear," a white unicorn with a well-kept purple mane and tail called out from the other direction. "Mustn't stay and chat, need to hurry home." She hurried past them with multiple shopping bags in telekinetic tow.
"Good morning Pinkie." Lyra said as she gave her a quick hug.
First Pinkie, then Lyra, looked at Lightning Dust expectantly.
Lightning Dust stared back at them with a deadpan expression while she finished her most recent mouth full of cereal slowly. Once she finished it she responded flatly, in hopes they would leave it at that, "Good. Morning."
"Don't mind her Pinkie," Lira responded. "She just doesn't know how to have fun."
"I do when it doesn't involve immature shenanigans," Lightning Dust muttered under her breath before returning to her breakfast.
"I brought you my old costume from last year." Pinkie brought out a chicken costume for Nightmare Night.
Lyra put on the head piece right then and there, ripping a hole in the top with her horn. "Oh this year is going to be so much fun. Are you ready to do the face painting with me this year?"
Lightning Dust watched them geek out about tomorrow night as she finished her cereal. 'Just like a pair of hyperactive fillies.' She heard Lyra squeal as she peeked at what must have been Pinkie Pie's new costume in the other side of her saddle bag. 'Except bigger and more annoying. Thank Celestia Keen Wit doesn't do that... often.'
"Are you sure you're sister has us covered?" Blackjack asked Silver Tongue as he stepped off of the train from Manehattan. "If they find out that we broke parole then we'll be in big trouble."
"Relax already will ya?" Silver Tongue said with complete confidence. "My little sister is the best at what she does. Just remember to use the alibi she gave you and nopony will be any the wiser." He nudged up on the third member of the group then wrapped his foreleg around him in a buddy hug. "Besides, you don't want Sledge here to be thrown out of the gang for not seeing his first dare through because of us do you?"
Sledge turned his head towards the pony that was slightly straining in his effort to wrap his foreleg around Sledge's large form. "A-a-are you sure she's gonna show up, Silver?"
At this, Silver Tongue gave him a sharp glare. "Hey! You're new. So I'm gonna let that slide this once but you need to understand." He unwrapped his gang buddy and leaned back on his hind legs, so that he could gesture towards himself with both forelegs.
"I might not always be able to get info for the gang, but when my contacts do tell me something-" He waved his forehoof outward. "-it's good." He pointed at Sledge as he stood back up. "So don't question my contact's word again." He looked out at the town of Ponyville with a smirk on his face. "Luna's gonna show up here again this year for Nightmare Night. When she does we will be there to watch you as you stay standing when everypony else cowers."
"Ha!" Sledge called. "If-" He stopped then corrected himself quickly when Silver Tongue gave him another sharp glare. "When Luna shows up I won't just stand up to her I'll-"
"You will just stand up to her Sledge!" Blackjack yelled at the large pegasus. "You might not be on parole but we-"
Silver Tongue stopped the worried gang member with a gently placed hoof on the chest. "It's OK Blackjack." He turned to Sledge. "But he does have a point. Just stay standing. The last thing we need is trouble with a princess. Our alibi won't work if we start trouble with somepony that important."
Sledge was taken back, then looked down to think for a moment. "But if it's somepony unimportant?" he asked as he looked back up.
Silver Tongue smiled. "Then we'll do what South Wings do best, and then after we go home we can have our fill of barley noodles at your favorite joint to celebrate."
With this, all three pegasi laughed loudly and launched into the air.
Lightning Dust was talking to her aunt at a local payphone. Gritting her teeth, she answered her aunt's question in a disgruntled voice, "He's. Fine." Her eye twitched as she spoke the final word. "I wish you'd stop calling him that."
~~~~~
"No," Spitfire responded mischievously while she sat on her secretary's desk. "I've let your tongue slip too often already. Now either I consider that adorable little colt my niece's honorary little brother-" She leaned forward and her voice gained a slight malevolent flare. "-or she's in big trouble for telling somepony that's not family."
~~~~~
Lightning Dust firmly planted her head against the phone booth due to the lack of an available hoof to slap herself with. "I still can't believe he went and asked you for an autograph."
~~~~~
'She should have known better than to set the phone down.' Spitfire tilted her head back again. "Still feeding yourself right?" she asked in a more upbeat tone to change the subject.
~~~~~
Lightning Dust smiled for a moment as she lifted her head off the booth wall. "Yea, I am. The one good thing about this place is the low rent." She thought about her search for a different place to live and her need for a deposit when she found it. "Not only has it helped me eat good, but it's let me put some of my pay back in my savings."
~~~~~
Spitfire's already smiling face brightened further. "That's great to hear!"
~~~~~
"Well that's the rundown this time," Lightning Dust said, having covered the basics. "Anything else?"
~~~~~
Spitfire's face lost its luster and her voice became more serious. "Actually there is. I don't want to pry but is something wrong? You've been on edge lately."
~~~~~
Lightning Dust's ears went limp as she looked down at the ground. "Rainbow Dash has been giving me all the grungy work at every opportunity that she can manage now that Wayside put her in charge again."
~~~~~
"Listen Lightning Dust. I've been your aunt your whole life. I can tell it's something else that's bothering you." Spitfire jumped off the desk. "Please don't shrink away from me. If you need advice I'm here. If you're in a pinch then I'll find a way to come." She leaned into the phone as if it would help. "I just got you back. I don't want to lose you again."
~~~~~
Lightning Dust looked out on the town nervously as if she were searching for something waiting to pounce. "I am ashamed to have ever called her my niece."
Lightning Dust's words were laced with a tone of melancholy as she answered her aunt, "I don't think it's something you can help with." She spotted Zecora heading for the hospital. An idea formed in her head as her ears shot to attention. "But I think I know just the mare who can," she said with enthusiasm. "I gotta go. Talk to you soon?"
She hung up the phone without waiting for a response and began to chase after Zecora. However, her plans were promptly stopped by Wayside flying in and landing in front of her. Though it was rare, when Wayside actually did use his wings for flight it was for something important. By the time Wayside was finished speaking with Lightning Dust, Zecora had entered the hospital. Talking to Zecora would have to wait.
Spitfire set down the phone and looked at her secretary with the signs of a stressed mind. "Thanks again for keeping my secret Paperclip. I don't think I could manage this without you."
Taking it in stride with a smile, the secretary comforted her boss. "I have been around the block a few times. I know keeping family off your back can be a chore." She looked down at the phone sourly. "Besides, Chocolate Dust always seems to have her nose in a budget book. What did your brother ever see in her?"
Spitfire closed her eyes in a subtle pain. Not one of regret. Just one of sorrow. "She wasn't always that bad." She looked over at the wall to the picture of her family.
The picture was from when Lightning Dust was coming home from the hospital after being born. The picture had Spitfire's brother, Plasma Wave, and her sister in law, Chocolate Dust, standing next to her in her wheelchair. It was taken just after Zecora fixed her paralysis. The doctor's ordered her to stay at the hospital for observation because they were skeptical of the so called 'healer'. Cradled in Spitfire's forelegs was the tiny filly that she had fallen in love with at first sight, wrapped in a foal blanket made of the rare fiber cloud cotton. Spitfire was told the blanket was originally meant for a foal that ended up being stillborn and its maker had given it to Chocolate Dust for her daughter instead. Those chance moments at that hospital had touched the lives of both Spitfire and her sister in law.
Spitfire ran her hoof gently across the frame of the picture. "Over time she just lost sight of what was important." She started shaking her head and looked back at her secretary. "Did I make the same mistake when I left?"
The secretary moved around the desk and placed a hoof on her boss's shoulder, in reassurance. "Even if you did, you've learned from it."
Spitfire smiled weakly at her secretary. She then moved out to the window where she could see the training grounds that she was due to be on in less than an hour. A voice from the past echoed in her mind. "Learn from your mistakes and let go of pride." She grabbed the symbol of her rank again and looked at it for a brief moment before letting it go. With her being a public face for the Wonderbolts, it would be at least another decade before she would be free of the obligations that kept her from her niece. "Have I?"
Twist was getting out of a half day at school and had been looking for Keen Wit. He hadn't been playing with her nearly as much as he used to. Instead, her friend was usually whisked away most days by 'her' for some reason.
Twist wasn't the jealous type. She tried to be as understanding as she could but something was nagging at her mind. Every time she saw him with her she could see something. For as long as she knew him Keen Wit was always nervous about something, but when he was around Lightning Dust he was completely relaxed. Though he was not as nervous around Twist as others he still held back. What made Lightning Dust so special that he could trust her even more than his best friend? This question hounded her more and more as they hung out less and less.
But that day Twist was bound and determined to figure it out. When she saw him on the top of the highest hill in the playground, she ran up to him with the intent of getting some answers.
After several minutes of trying every angle she could, Keen Wit still hadn't budged in the slightest. She tried making him slip up while talking about the Wonderbolts to guilt tripping him. She even tried to pull some tricks from Sweetie Belle's big sister with no better results. Instead of getting weak at the knees, he stared blankly at her as she blinked her eyes and asked if she had something in them. No matter what she did to pry, he just shrank away like he always did.
Seeing a figure approach from the air, he grabbed a hold of his hat. Keen Wit was plucked from the ground by Lightning Dust as he yelled back to her, "Sorry Twist. I gotta go!"
Twist stood there with a scowl on her face as they flew off. "I'm not giving up that easy Keen Wit. Not this time." She dashed off to follow them as best as she could.
Lightning Dust had literally picked Keen Wit up from school. She had been doing so every chance she got ever since she had recovered her stamina fully. She had even started considering it an easy way to get some exercise in. Rainbow Dash didn't dare mess with her while she carried their boss's son. As such she could get away with flying him to anywhere he wanted. She tried her best not to abuse it, mostly.
"So where are we heading today? The park? The arcade?" he asked excitedly as he held his hat on with both forehooves. "Or are we doing another long flying session? We haven't done that since your aunt left!"
Her wings flared with pain. "No. Can. Do twerp," Lightning Dust interjected as she struggled to keep her wings extended. "Your dad wants you home as soon as possible."
"What!?" he exclaimed as he twisted in her grip to look at her as best he could. "Why?"
"Something about you getting a package in." She turned to line up her flight path with the street in front of the inn to use it like landing pad. "I'm just supposed to get you home."
"Keen Wit I presume?" A large delivery griffin just outside the inn said as they land. "If I could get your signature I can give you your package and be on my way." He pulled out a clipboard with a quill and opened the ink well at the top of the clipboard.
Keen Wit looked at his dad with concern as Wayside came through the front door. "Go ahead Keen Wit," Wayside told him.
Keen Wit was still hesitant. "But you always signed before."
"Yes, but I didn't order this," Wayside explained. "It's from a friend of yours."
"Who?"
"The package is from one Iron Will," the griffon explained in irritation as his feathers ruffled slightly. "And I have prepaid orders to either get your signature for the delivery or return the package to him."
Keen Wit finally signed the clipboard. The griffon gave them the package then promptly took flight.
"Are you sure you don't want to come up?" Wayside asked Lightning Dust as he carried the package that was almost as big as his son inside. "If it's what I think it is you're gonna want to see it."
Lightning Dust rubbed her foreleg with her other forehoof. "It's tempting but there's something I need to take care of."
Wayside raised an eyebrow and looked keenly at her for a moment. "Alright. You go do what you have to. I'll fill you in later. Thanks for bringing him home."
With this Lightning Dust took her leave, Serra temporarily closed down the currently vacant inn and the Pepper family headed up to Keen Wit's room, package in tow.
Just as they headed upstairs, nopony noticed the curly red maned filly nudge the front door open quietly.
Lightning Dust was giving a hasty trot to the hospital when she saw Zecora leaving. As she approached Zecora, she tried to talk to her with limited success, "Hey Zecora. I was want... hoping... wonder..." She tried to get the question out but couldn't seem to find the words to ask Zecora what she wanted to ask.
Zecora looked at her with an insightful twinkle in her eye and a smile growing on her face. "Come speak to me your troubled mind, and together answers we may find." With this she turned and gestured Lightning Dust to follow her to what must have been her next patient in town.
Upstairs in Keen Wit's room, Wayside opened the letter that came strapped to the box and read it. He blushed half way through the letter. When he was finished he gave a small titer and smiled. He then gave it to Serra to read aloud.
Dear Keen Wit,
I, Iron Will, much to the astonishment of the village elders have passed my trials.
It is a custom of my people for one that has finally passed his or her trials to give a personal and meaningful gift to the one or few that had given the most inspiration to them. I cannot think of a single soul that inspired me more than you.
You were a little warrior standing your ground against a foe far more powerful than yourself. You showed me perfect examples of how and when to use both fury and mercy. It is those examples that were burned into my mind along with other revaluations I learned from the ordeal that gave me the clarity needed to pass my trials.
Before I left your small town of Ponyville, I explained to your father this custom-
Wayside turned away from his son with a grin of embarrassment as Keen Wit looked at him.
-and asked if there was anything that would be appropriate for this. Though he utterly refused to explain why you would need this exact material, I made sure to remember it well.
I give this to you now for both your inspiration and your forgiveness.
Eternally grateful,
Iron Will.
P.S. I hate to write this in but Faraji will not stop begging me. Please tell Zecora that he wishes to thank her for the contents of the medicine bag.
"It couldn't be..." Keen Wit said as he took off his hat. He used his magic from his fully recovered horn to remove the tape from the package. He opened it and looked inside. "It is!" he shouted as he jumped in surprise. "Wind thread!"
"And lots of it." Wayside said as he peeked at the package himself. He shook his head slightly as his son stared at the box with unbridled glee. "It looks like we're going to need a bigger chest to accommodate for parts now. There is too much here to fit in with your books." Wayside picked up one of the many industrial sized spools of pink metallic thread that resided in the box.
"Still." Wayside put the spool of wind thread back. "It looks like Lightning Dust will be teaching you to fly sooner than we thought. I didn't expect him to go all out on this. There's at least enough for four sets of wings in here."
A subtle noise of the door being bumped alerted everypony in the room. As they looked over they saw a small shadow peeping under the door where somepony must have been listening in.
Serra quietly gestured to Keen Wit as the two Peppers prepared themselves to face the intruder. Keen Wit got his hat ready to cover his horn as soon as he opened the door. With a quick telekinetic yank and loud bang the door slammed open. Serra pounced on the intruder.
"Twist?" Serra said with surprise at the pinned filly.
Twist wasn't even looking at Serra as the earth pony got off of her. "Keen Wit!?" Though the maneuver Keen Wit had done was very fast, if simple, it did have a brief moment of exposure. He could see it in her confused eyes. She had seen the glow from his horn.
"Twist..." was all he could say back as his head went down and his ears went back softly. His mind was screaming what seemed like a thousand things. Not one of them could reach his lips as he stared at her hardening face.
Before he could say anything else, she bolted to the stairs. She had stumbled down the last few steps, recovered and bolted out the door by the time he had given chase and reached the top of the stairs. She was gone. His heart sank like lead as he felt the loss of a friend hit him.
Keen Wit sat down at the top of the stairs with tears forming in his eyes as his mother came up behind him. Iron Will's gift long forgotten, he leaned into his mother's embrace, pouting. "Twiiist..."
Lightning Dust tried to apologize for rambling about her recent bad dreams instead of just saying what she was trying to say.
She was stopped suddenly as Zecora cut her off with a look of concern at the edges of her eyes. "Do not apologize for taking this healer's time. It is our purpose and-" She stopped and lifted Lighting Dust's sunken head just enough to look at her straight in the eyes. "-by no means a crime. I am here to lend an ear." She dropped her hoof and continued walking. "Navigate your thoughts one by one. We will find the problem's heart when you are done." With this, they spent several minutes rambling and stumbled over several pesky details before they finally got to the core problem, figuring out how to apologize.
"-I don't even know what this Rarity lady looks like and I can't ask around much without letting out what I did. So I can get back to her. As for Pinkie..." Lightning Dust closed her eyes and shivered for a moment. "I'll survive her somehow." Having her mind focus entirely on her dilemma, she absentmindedly followed Zecora into Sugar Cube Corner. Apparently the Cake twins were sick or something. "I already managed to apologize to Applejack when I asked her about who was in the hot air balloon with her, but what really scared me was..."
Lightning Dust stopped in her tracks. Zecora stopped only a step further and looked back at the pony that was doing her best to say what she needed to. "What scared me was when Applejack said it was Princess Twilight Sparkle in that balloon. I want to say I'm sorry for being so reckless and I know I need to but..." She looked Zecora right in the face. "How can I say it to her without her punishing me?"
Zecora gave a look of understanding and tried her best to answer her. "You are wise to be daunted by the size of your task. Forgiveness should never be an easy thing to ask. Though on the others I agree. A reason to forgive they will see, but if Twilight will see the same I must digress. What do you think-" She looked behind Lighting Dust to somepony behind her. "-princess?"
Upon hearing that last word, Lightning Dust's blood ran cold in fear. As she turned her head, she had a desperate hope that Zecora was just joking with her. Time seemed to slow as her eyes inched closer and closer to the table behind her and the cool colored pony that she was seeing in her peripheral vision. The pony that had just heard the bulk of her confession.
When her eyes finally landed on their target properly, she was numb with disbelief at who she saw. There sat a pony of royalty in a common catering bakery. She was dressed regally from her horn to her hooves. Lightning Dust's mind was doing a double check as it shut down.
'Horn, check.. Wings... check....' There was no mistaking this pony for just a normal pegasus or unicorn. It was a royally crowned alicorn princess of Equestria that sat in front of her. '...That's.... Prin.....cess......'
Lightning Dust wobbled a little as her mind tried desperately to restart. Now was not the time to freeze up. After several long seconds, she finally managed to get the words out. "P-P-P-Princess-"