Chapter 4: A Bolt of Shadow
The electric blue pegasus opened her bleary eyes as her alarm clock rang. She reached out a hoof and silenced the alarm with a click. She rolled out of her cloud bed and onto the white floor, stands of yellow hair in her face. She wiped her eyes as she walked out of her bedroom and into her bathroom. She splashed the cool water onto her face, and brushed her mane back into its proper place.
She tiredly walked into the kitchen of her cloud house. The coffee maker was ready from last night, and it began to produce it's dark brew with the push of a button. The pegasus waited a few moments until the white porcelain mug was filled. She silently picked the mug up and took a long drink of the bitter brew. She didn't mind the foul taste of the coffee, at least she was feeling something.
After leaving the mug half empty, she casually walked around her home until her eyes found something in particular.
Her Wonderbolt poster, showing three proud pegasi in uniform standing proudly as pegasi silhouettes flew above them.
At first, the poster had been a form of motivation.
Now? It was a way to make sure she never forgot how she was wronged.
But this time, she couldn't stand looking at it.
She yelled in rage as she threw the coffee cup at the poster. The mug smashed and the poster was stained black.
The mare stared at the aftermath for the longest of times, and was interrupted by a knock at her door. She just turned to the door and stared at it for a moment, and the knocking continued. After about two minutes of continued knocking, the pegasus finally walked towards the door, and opened it.
"Hello, Lightning Dust."
Lightning Dust stared in shock at the pegasus at her front door. She knew this mare very well. After all, this was the mare that had ruined her life.
Rainbow stepped into the room, her dark black shades covering her eyes, and held a serious facial expression as she addressed Lightning Dust. "Long time, no see," she remarked.
Lightning got over her shock, and then shot glares of hatred at the now gray maned pegasus. "You have five seconds to explain why you're here. Then I kick you out. Go."
"You were right and I was wrong."
Lightning Dust blinked her eyes. "What?" she asked.
Rainbow smiled and went on, "You wanted to push yourself. You wanted to go beyond your limits. You wanted to achieve true power in your abilities. I agreed with you, and we were a good team. Then those five lame ponies had to come in and ruin everything." Rainbow shook her head and continued, "I was kinda stupid and soft back then. I mean, come on, there's always collateral damage when real pegasi are flexing their wings. And those wimps were safe and sound afterwards."
"Hang on a minute," Lightning said, holding a hoof out, "You ratted me out to Spitfire, didn't you? So why are you coming here talking like this?"
Rainbow smiled sheepishly and hovered into the air. She rubbed her right leg and said, "Well. . .I guess I just wanted to keep my nose clean. You know, I thought I had to be a good girl all my life. I figured the Wonderbolts would reward that. I had no idea that they would kick you out of the Academy, Lightning. I'm being honest here. Actually, I hoped you'd become my wing-pony."
Rainbow stepped forward and put a hoof on Lightning's shoulder. She flinched at Rainbow's touch, but didn't push it away.
Rainbow smiled, "But you know, you getting kicked out helped me realize something about the Wonderbolts." Rainbow smirked and looked over at the ruined poster, "Something you seemed to have figured out as well."
Lightning Dust looked back at the poster, and the back at Rainbow.
"The Wonderbolts are pathetic," Rainbow said bitterly, "Compared to you and me, the Wonderbolts are just a bunch of fillies. They couldn't save that unicorn from falling in Cloudsdale's' Young Fliers' Competition, they couldn't stop that dragon that attacked Ponyville, and they were totally useless against Lord Tirek. Letting you go was another mistake they can add to their growing list of failures."
"And you've only realized all of this just now?" Lightning Dust said angrily.
Rainbow shrugged, "What can I say, those friends of mine are all goody-four-shoes. They held me back with their silly scruples and ordeals for the longest time." Rainbow looked to one side, holding her forehooves close to her chest as she spoke in a mockingly innocent voice. "'Ooh! That tornado was too dangerous! What if some stupid ponies carelessly float a lame hot air balloon into the pegasi's flight zone!' Aww, give me a break!" Rainbow landed back on the ground, adjusting her dark shades. "It took me a while to break free. I even changed my hair to symbolize my new outlook on life." At this, Rainbow ran her hoof through her grayscale mane, it's seven shades of gray waving as the blue hoof tossed it.
Lightning couldn't help but let out a grin. "Doesn't look too bad. Like a rainbow of gray," she remarked.
"Darkness. . ." Rainbow corrected in a quiet, barely audible mutter.
"Huh?" Lightning asked, her ear twitching.
"We can harness our might in a way that the Wonderbolts don't have the brains or the guts to," Rainbow said. She prodded Lightning Dust in the chest and said forcefully, "They used me as an excuse to kick you out. They wronged you. They ruined your life." Rainbow then put her hooves on Lightning Dust's shoulders and said, "And I'm here to make it right."
Lightning stared at Rainbow's glasses, then frowned and slipped out from under Rainbow's hooves. "Make it right? Really? How can you make it right. My chances of joining the Wonderbolts are destroyed. Unless you're buddy-buddy enough with them to make them-."
"NO!" Rainbow shouted, slamming her hoof down hard, "NO! Don't you even think of crawling back to them!" She marched over to the surprised mare and said, "We are going to get revenge. The Wonderbolts aren't so great, we both know that now. What we need to do is rise above the Wonderbolts. Outfly them. Replace them. Once we do that, all of Equestria-! . . .All of Equestria's praise and adoration will be ours."
"Hold up," Lightning said, "So, what you're saying is that you want the two of us to start our own flight team? A flight team better than the Wonderbolts?"
"Yep," Rainbow said, "We already are better than the Wonderbolts. We just have to knock them off their little high cloud, and win the submis- adoration of Cloudsdale. Then, we will gain more members and become the new gold standard for pegasi fliers. You'll get back everything you lost, and more. You and I will be two of the most famous pegasi in history."
Lightning Dust nodded to herself soundlessly. "I. . .like the sound of this," she said slowly. But then she looked at Rainbow and said, "But why are you coming to me with this?"
"Because you're one of the best. I know you are," Rainbow replied, "I'll never forget that tornado we made together. And don't you go and forget about it. Spitfire got cold hooves at the last moment and decided to give you the ax to save face. They don't deserve all their honor. But you do. Because you push yourself, and you don't let anything stop you. If anything, or anypony, is in your way-."
"I take 'em out so they don't get out of my way," Lightning finished confidently.
Rainbow patted Lighting on the back, "Yeah, that's the Lightning Dust I know. Are you ready to seize the day and take back what the Wonderbolts took from you?"
Lightning Dust gritted her teeth, and then she said, "I've been hating those blue buffoons for a long time. I've been ready to take my life back for months ago!"
Rainbow held her right hoof out. "Then seal it with a hoof bump; and from now on, you will be a part of the most powerful flight team in Equestria. Are you with me?"
Lightning Dust nodded, and she lifted her hoof up. "Yes. I. Am." She bumped hooves with Rainbow with great force.
The bump of hooves echoed throughout the cloud house, odd because clouds usually absorb sound. As Lightning Dust looked at Rainbow, the pegasus suddenly raised her black shades with her left hoof. Lightning's Dust breath caught in her throat as she saw the dark purple eyes and the black slit-like pupils. Black lightning snaked out from Rainbow Dark's mane and tail, and then raised along her hoof and onto Lightning Dust's leg. The electric blue mare would've stumbled back if the dark magic hadn't attached the two ponies together by the hooves.
"There are a few things I didn't tell you right of the bat," Rainbow Dark said, "The grand plan I have involves killing any hope Equestria has, starting with Cloudsdale and it's surrounding areas. I also need an army, and pegasi soldiers sound good to me. To cut to the chase, you are going to help me take down the Wonderbolts!"
Lightning Dust let out one last gasping breath as dark magic completely covered her body. In a burst of black smoke, Lightning Dust was revealed to be wearing a dark uniform with a purple body and black legs and head. A pair of purple goggles with yellow lenses were down over her eyes. On the flank of the costume was an image of a grinning pony skull with a wing sticking out of it. It was a uniform that was the exact opposite of that of the Wonderbolts.
"How do you like it?" Rainbow Dark said as she put her shades back over her weird eyes.
Lightning Dust looked over the uniform, flapping her wings comfortably. She smiled. "I like it. . .a lot," she said in a cold, calculating, and smooth tone, "I feel like I can break the wings off of every Wonderbolt in one fell swoop!"
When Rainbow Dark smiled, she showed her razor sharp teeth.
"Welcome to the Shadowbolts, Lightning Dust."
The pegasi waiter brought out a pair of oats and honey smoothies out to the two famous pegasi who were sitting outside the cafe in Cloudsdale.
"Here you are, great Wonderbolts," he said to the two pegasi, currently out of uniform.
"Thank you," Soarin said with a smile.
As the waiter re-entered the cafe, Soarin turned to Spitfire, who seemed unable to meet his eyes.
"Come on, Spitfire," Soarin asked, "You've been acting strange around me for weeks. You said you wanted to come here to talk. Well. We're here now. So start talking."
Spitfire glared hard at the clouds that made up the ground beneath them for a good moment. Then she took a deep breath in through her nose, and turned to look at Soarin. "Do you resent me?" she asked.
Soarin looked like he had been punched in the gut. "What?! No! Why should I resent you?"
Spitfire reared up on her hind legs and slammed the table hard with her forehooves. "Quit being so dense, will you? I'm talking about Rainbow Falls!"
Soarin blinked. "Rainbow Falls?" he asked.
"Don't 'Rainbow Falls' me!" Spitfire hissed, "You know what happened there! I know you're not stupid! Quit hiding it, Soarin! Do you think I don't know what I did? Well I do! I abandoned you! Me and Fleetfoot! We cast you aside like a used tissue! We connived and plotted to keep you out of the Equestria Games and to steal Rainbow Dash from the Ponyville team! Don't you see how sick that was?" Spitfire buried her face in her hooves and took a few deep breaths. She rubbed her eyes dry and continued, "The Wonderbolts are supposed to be a team who strives for excellence. But what did I do? I turned my back on a team member and pressured somepony else into stooping to my low!" Spitfire looked down at her hooves and said, "If Rainbow Dash hadn't stood up for what she believed in. . .if she hadn't taught me that lesson. . ." Spitfire closed her eyes as tears began to slowly leak out.
"You know why I don't 'resent' you?"
Spitfire felt a hoof lift her chin. She opened her eyes to see Soarin smiling calmly.
"Because all you did was make a mistake," Soarin said kindly, "Everypony in this world makes mistakes. Me, you, everypony. You wanted the Wonderbolts to win it for Cloudsdale. You saw how good Rainbow Dash was in the Young Fliers' Competition and at the Academy. Then I hurt my wing. Rainbow Dash was the perfect substitute. Heh. I'm actually kinda flattered. Anyway, you had an Ace ring in your hooves, so you didn't want to let it go. I was already in a hospital bed, so you figured you could just keep me there and hang onto your Best Young Flier.for the Equestria Games." Soarin frowned and lowered his eyes. "Sure, I wasn't very happy when I found out what you girls did. It was wrong, and it hurt me very much. But I soon realized that you simply made a terrible mistake. You were sorry about it. You learned a lesson. And you made it right. Sure, Rainbow Dash had to help you along, but it all got better in the end." Soarin but his smiled back on and looked Spitfire in the eyes, "And seeing how guilty you still seem to be, I'd say that I made the right choice in forgiving you. I'd say our team spirit is stronger because of that whole ordeal."
"Soarin. . ." Spitfire whispered, suddenly wishing she had her sunglasses to shield her emotional eyes.
"Come on, Spitfire? We're friends, aren't we?" Soarin asked innocently.
Spitfire smiled and took Soarin's light blue hooves in her own yellow ones. "Yes. . .yes we are Soarin. . .and thanks you so much for forgiving me. . .I was afraid that you might quit-."
"And what? Let the Wonderbolts collapse without me?" Saorin joked.
Spitfire laughed and said, "Oh, just for that, you're buying!"
"Oh no you don't! Your feminine charms down't work on me!"
"Or really? How about we split the bill."
"Deal."
The pair of top fliers walked into the Wonderbolts' HQ, all smiles after their little smoothie talk. They headed down to the barracks, continuing their conversation as they branched out to other topics.
"I'm guessing Fleetfoot didn't share your unneeded concerns," Soarin commented as they walked down the hall towards the changing rooms.
Spitfire shook her head, "No. Although I talked to her about it. She just said we just made a mistake, and that you forgave us once it was over. I don't know, but something in the way she said that just didn't sit well with me."
"Well what you did didn't sit well with me!" a harsh voice said.
Spitfire was suddenly hit hard by a flying blur of black, yellow, and blue. She and her attacked were thrown into the mares' changing room.
"Spitfi-" Soarin started to call out, but he was suddenly slammed into the stallion's changing room by a blur of black, yellow, and white.
Spitfire found herself pinned to a wall by her attacked. She struggled against the attacking mare, but it was no use.
"Who are you?" Spitfire demanded into the pony's masked and goggled face.
"What's wrong, Spitfire? Don't you remember the ponies you kick out of your precious academy!?" the dark costumed pegasus spat in Spitfire's face.
Spitfire narrowed her eyes contemptuously. "Lightning Dust. . .the selfish loose cannon who doesn't care about anypony but herself."
Lightning Dust slammed her hoof into the side of Spitfire's face. This turned out to be a mistake, because in the brief time frame that she had her hoof lifted, Spitfire slipped out of her grasp, slid down, and bucked her in the chest. To Spitfire's shock, Lightning Dust took the blow pretty well. Whether it was Lightning's own strength or some kind of magical property of the purple and black flightsuit, Spitfire didn't know. She didn't waste time thinking about it, and flew to the door. However, Lightning dust bit her tail and swung her hard into the lockers lining the wall. She walked over there with eyes for vengeance, a hoof raised and ready to smash Spitfire's jaw.
Luckily, Soarin suddenly flew in and caught Lighting Dust in the side, smashing her into the lockers on the opposite side of the room.
Soarin had his hooves at Lightning Dust's neck, and was only just barely keeping himself from going full force and strangling her. However, this moral dilemma was discarded when Lightning Dust kicked him in the lower abdomen, sending him backflipping through the air.
Spitfire, seeing her partners plight, got up to aid him. However, she was blindsided by Soarin's original attacker.
Lightning Dust flew at Soarin with forehooves outstretched, but the light blue stallion grabbed Lightning's hooves, whirled around twice, and slammed her into the wall. Soarin turned back into the room and saw, in horror, that the Shadowbolt with the white hair was standing victoriously on top of an unconscious Spitfire.
Enraged, Soarin prepared to charge.
Then the Shadowbolt took her goggles off.
Soarin's rage disappeared and was replaced by disbelief when he saw those unmistakable purple eyes, coupled with the white hair and arctic blue ears and mouth. There was no denying it.
"Fleetfoot?" Soarin asked in shock.
Using the confusion as an opportunity, Fleetfoot flew at Soarin's face with a smirk, just as Lightning Dust simultaneously flew towards the back of his head.
WHAM!!!