Thunder & Lightning

by Jetto


Chapter 4: I have a name, you know...

Lightning Dust closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to scavenge as much oxygen as it was possible, even though there wasn't that much around here. She opened her eyes and looked down from the cloud. She squinted her eyes as she tried to estimate the rough height she was at. She shrugged, deciding that whichever number of hooves she was, as long as other ponies looked liked microbes from her perspective (literally), it was just enough. Good thing about rural areas- the space was unoccupied by anypony or anything. Nothing to stand on, unless you bring a cloud with you, like she did. She leaned at it and bit a little bit of the fluff then released it to let it show her how was the wind up there. She didn't need to know that, but it's what professionals did, so who was she to question them.

Finally, she closed her eyes again, got up on her hind hooves, extended her fore hooves to her sides and allowed herself to slowly tilt backwards, and finally fall of the cloud, plummeting towards the ground with increasing speed. As she soared through the air, she felt wind rushing around her body and sparks starting to ignite as she went even faster. Eventually she reached the proper speed and opened her eyes, smiling, instantly extending her wings against the air current. Normally, that much pressure and air resistance could break some poor ponies wings, but hers didn't. She was a Lightning, both in name, and in function currently. The moment she lived for, her special talent appeared as a visible, bright yellow surges of electricity going around her body, filling her with enormous amounts of pegasus magic. Unlike unicorn's magic, the pegasi had a more innate, instinctive type of magic that most pegasi discover when they grow up. Some discover a lot more of it and can do miracles with it, mostly related to flying. Which was a good thing Lightning Dust was all about it.

Just as she was about to slam headfirst into the ground, she turned upwards and recovered from the fall, flying past the open, grassy field, leaving only a class full of fillies, colts and one teacher, large surge of wind, dust and harmless electricity that surged through them as well, leaving only their manes electrified and jaw dropped, soon followed by awe, hoof clopping and cheers.

"Wooo! Go Lightning Dust!"

"That was awesome!"

"Do one more!"

Cheerilee, as much as she wanted to chew out Lightning Dust for potentially endangering the foals, couldn't hide her enthusiasm as well, She stopped once she inspected her reflection in the nearby window. Her smile faltered as she noticed her hair, which she desperately tried to fix.
"Great, it's like 90's all over again..." she mumbled, thankfully ignored by the cheering foals. And none cheered harder than a certain purple maned pegasus.

"AH YEAH, THAT WAS THE BEST THING EVER!" Scootaloo screamed, flapping her tiny wings to go along with her hooves.
Lightning Dust turned around and finally landed in the middle of a circle of her new fans.

"Don't mention it. It's a work in progress, I'll get this stunt finished by the end of the month. THEN you can mention it to everypony you know!" She smiled smugly and allowed herself to be praised by her new cult. She caught the glimpse of the teacher, giving her mean looks. Lightning Dust rolled her eyes and proceed. "Oh yeah and don't do this at home, or anywhere really. I am a trained, certified professional, yadda yadda, stay safe and don't do drugs and all that jazz."

She was enjoying the attention, until a familiar voice had to ruin it.
"WHAT. Are. You. DOING. Here?"

"Oh boy, here comes the drama queen..."

Rainbow Dash landed nearby and walked towards the crowd. The fillies were at first excited to see not just one, but two best fliers of Equestria, but soon their smiles faded when they noticed the rage in the Captain's eyes. They played it safe and walked away, avoiding her gaze, letting her reach her original destination, which wasn't in any way, shape or form phased by it.

"Hello, Rainbow Dash," Lightning Dust waved at her "I was just entertaining the nearby school with some..."

"Why are you here?"

"I just told you, I was..."

"I know what that was!" The two pegasi met eye to eye. "Why are you HERE, instead of working on the snow cloud, like you were supposed to?"

The other flier still wasn't even a little bit intimidated, or at least didn't show any of it, as she shrugged nonchalantly.
"Well, first of all," she took a step forward, forcing Rainbow to take a step back to avoid collision "I don't work for you! I'm an independent consultant, I only answer to HQ, same as you, which basically means we're equals and I have my own responsibilities, which by the way, I'm following to a tee."

"Secondly, when I offered my help, I did it strictly out of kindness and boredom, so if I don't do my part, it's because I'm a lazy pony and I'm bad at keeping promises," she raised her hoof to silence Rainbow Dash before she was about to say anything.

"Which by the way, and that's third, I already finished everything, so I'm free until the debrief this evening."

Rainbow Dash blinked. So did Lightning Dust. So did Cheerilee and all the foals witnessing the entire conversation.
"You finished?"

"Yup."

"All of it?"

"Yep."

"But that was..."

"Two tons."

"But... it's only 12 A.M.!"

"Yeah, I did it all in a single run. Took me about, I dunno, ten? Eleven? Maybe twelve minutes to get over it? I don't count the boring stuff."

Rainbow Dash's eye twitched.
"Hold that thought!" She said, then zipped out of the field, leaving only flying dust and rainbow trail after herself.
One minute later, the same rainbow blur came back the same way it came. This time, the mare in question wasn't as angry or surprised as before, instead ore ashamed, blushing.

"I... I checked the warehouse."

"And?"

"Well, you see... you were right..."

"See? Next time check these in advance before you start making a scene, in front of school-foals at that!" She pointed her hoof at the dozen or so foals, now busy whispering amongst themselves, probably judging Rainbow Dash. Harshly. "So Rainbow, what do you say in time like these?"

Rainbow Dash covered herself in even deeper blush and opened her mouth, letting no words come out.

"I can't hear you!"

"I'm... I'm..."

"Well?" Lightning Dust raised an eyebrow and waited patiently, so did the foals (and Cheerilee). Rainbow Dash finally gulped and let out the real magical words.

"I'm... sorry." She said, ear dropping and knees shaking, feeling more humiliated than ever before in her life. Lightning Dust went over to her and patted her on the back, smiling.

"No problem."


"Did you see that?" Said the small, chubby unicorn colt, addressing his other classmates that gathered around. "That was the most awesomestest thing ever!"

"Yeah!" His taller unicorn friend slowly nodded. "She made my hair all funny!" He said, pointing at his still standing mane.

"I say Lightning Dust is the coolest and best flier in the world!" Snips added, earning some nods of agreement. But not everypony shared his opinion and some of those ponies were eager to say it out loud.

"That? Please, Rainbow Dash could do that with her hooves tied up!" Scootaloo went up against Snips to defend her idol. "She's just too busy with actual work to be awesome!" She proudly announced. Meanwhile, in the background Sweetie Belle and Applebloom shrugged at each other and decided not to interfere.

"She is so last week!" Snips hoofwaved. "Can Rainbow Dash turn into lightning like Lightning Dust? Huh?"

"Well, no, I don't think so..." scratched her head "...but she can do something way, way cooler than that!"

"What? Sonic Rainboom?" Snips snorted loudly. "That's all just a story!"

"No it's not! It's true! Rainbow Dash told me, herself!"

"Then she was lying!"

"No she wasn't! You are lying!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

At this moment the conflict had to be resolved with help of Cheerilee, who slapped detention left and right, trying to separate two groups of rabid fans and keep them under control. Only select few from the classroom didn't get involved in the conflict.

"Pfft, buncha losers!" Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes, as she and Silver Spoon went towards the school building "Like, who cares about lame stunts anyway. If I wanna see some good fliers, I'll ask daddy to take to an actual Wonderbolts derby! Hmm, maybe I will ask him today? Wanna come with, Silver Spoon?" She asked. And waited for a response. She looked at her friend, totally not paying attention. "Silver Spoon?"

"Wh-what? I mean, yeah, sure!" The gray filly jumped and nodded, hoping she wasn't caught red hooved when watching somepony that wasn't Diamond Tiara. The latter didn't show any signs of knowing, instead caring about one thing she cared the most- herself.

"Silver Spoon, are you sick or what?" She went over her friend and put her hoof on her forehead. "Eww, You're sweating like crazy!" She wiped her hoof on the grass. "I love you like a sister I never had and hopefully never will, but seriously, I'd rather spend a few days alone in class than get your germs all over. Yuck!"

Silver Spoon smiled. That had to be one of the most heartwarming things she heard from Diamond Tiara in, well, ever.
"No, I'm fine, just... tired. Yeah, I'm just tired because, uhm, too much homework?"

"Ugh, yah, I know! Like, when am I supposed to have a life when all Miss Cheerilee ever does is give us more and more homework! Gah, what a chore!"

"I heard that!" Cheerilee yelled from afar. Diamond Tiara smiled widely and pretended innocence at her teacher, while Silver Spoon allowed herself a small chuckle, almost forgetting the colt that already left. With somepony else. With her...


"Achoo!" Dinky sneezed, as she was walking with Rumble, as far away from the fighting crowd as possible.

"Allergy?"

"Nah. I think somepony was thinking bad things about me," She casually mentioned, earning herself a puzzling glare from the colt "at least, that's what Doctor says." she shrugged and so did Rumble. The pair walked a little more, mostly in silence, until Dinky decided it was time to ask the important question.

"So... what do you think about all this?"

"About what?"

"You know. About Lightning Dust, stealing Rainbow's thunder?" She asked, then chuckled when she repeated that sentence in her head. Rumble chuckled as well, noticing the subtle joke in that statement. Then they sighed, realizing they were too old for their age.

"I dunno, I don't really care. Not after I got to hear Thunderlane's rants about Rainbow driving him insane. And now, there's another."

"Ouch. That bad?"

"Well, she keeps ignoring him for the most part. And when she doesn't, she keeps mixing up his name, calling him 'Plumber Mane', or 'Smuggler Flame' or... Dinky, stop laughing!" He ordered his giggling unicorn friend, but as much as she tried to cover her mouth to stop the laughter, there was no stopping the tears she shed. As much as Rumble sympathized with his brother, he had to admit, it was pretty funny. Once she finally calmed down, Dinky wiped the remaining tears and continued the conversation.

"Did he do anything to her? Did he, I dunno, say something bad?"

"No, I don't think so. He's as clueless as we are."

Dinky hummed, then smiled.
"Maaaybe..." she looked around to ensure nopony was in the earshot, then whispered "... she lllikes him!"

Rumble took his time, then answered accordingly.
"What."

"Oh, you know," she waved a hoof "Momma says that sometimes when somepony likes somepony, they are mean to them."

Rumble tilted his head. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"I know. She said it's because they are shy and afraid that other pony will hate them for who they really are, so they act in reverse, so they'll hate the pony they aren't. That way in the end they won't become a couple, but not because they don't like-like each other, but because one of them is shy and other doesn't catch on." She stopped, hummed for a moment, then shrugged. "Or something like that."

Rumble blinked. "Well, that's just stupid! If you like somepony, why won't you just tell them?" He resumed his trot, shaking his head on the way. "Sheesh, as if girls weren't complicated enough!" He groaned at nopony in particular "I'm glad at least you're normal, Dinky."

Dinky paused and blushed lightly "Yeah, thanks..."


"This sure feels nice." Said Thunderlane, sitting at yet another batch of paperwork.

"It sure does." Raindrops confirmed, taking her eyes of her own share of papers.

They both picked their mugs, took a long sip of their teas and sighed with relief. There was no emotional time-bomb Blossomforth around. Nor was there clingy-friendly-molesty Cloud Kicker. Or Rainbow 'Look at me' Dash anywhere to be found. Or Lightning 'New girl' Dust. The bliss of sharing the office with only other sane member of the team was a rare occurrence, so they both cherished it while it lasted.

"Sure is quiet."

"Yeah, it sure is."

"I like it like that."

"Me too."

A moment passed. Birds chirped outside, while a small gust of wind passed through the white curtains.
"Too quiet."

"Something will ruin it soon."

"True."

SMASH!

"That damn !@#$%" Announced Rainbow Dash, dramatically smashing the door open and entering, with smoke coming from her ears, as she accentuated every single step with a loud thud. Thunderlane and Raindrops sighed and shrugged at each other, then looked at Rainbow, as she continued. "She humiliated me! Right in front of the foals! I mean, who does that?"

Thunderlane sighed heavily and massaged his head. He contemplated telling Rainbow Dash to shut up, but decided against it. Let her vent right here and now, when only his and Raindrops' sanity would suffer.
"I came to her, all work and stuff, and what is she doing instead of her job? She's showing off! To a bunch of school foals! And Cheerilee!"

"Wow, how horrible," Raindrops deadpanned "unlike anything you would ever do."

"And then I'm asking, politely, about the clouds, she's all over me! She's like 'Rainbow, you dumb dummy, I already made it all in
like, ten seconds flat and you're not a boss of me so get outta mah face' and all that! So what was I supposed to do? Argh, what's her deal anyway? Who gave her to the right to waltz into Ponyville and butt in to my life? My work? My team? My friends? My audience? My fans?"

"Your pride?" Thunderlane deadpanned.

"Yes, that too!"

"I stole a what, now?" Asked Lightning Dust, as she just appeared in the doorway. Rainbow Dash didn't wait before she went over to her, faces almost touching, eyes glaring at each other.

"You did this on purpose!"

"Again, what did I do?"

"You humiliated me! In front of a whole classroom!"

"Oh please, like I don't have anything better to do than attacking your so called reputation," she shrugged and smiled "you're doing a bang-up job all by yourself."

"Why you..."

That was Thunderlane's cue, as he leaped above the desk and landed right next to the pair, separating them before anypony ended with bruises and lawsuit.
"Okay girls, that's enough!"

"She started it!" Rainbow Dash pointed at Lightning Dust.

"Shut up Sunday Rain, mommy and mommy are talking!" Lightning Dust waved her hoof at him, shooing him away.

"It's Thunderlane!"

"Yeah, yeah, sure it is." She rolled her eyes and went back to Rainbow Dash. "What, you're jealous because I showed some foals a few tricks?"

"Yeah... I mean, no, but, uhh... stop messing with my fans, okay?"

"Fans?" She snorted. "Sorry, I didn't see anypony wearing a badge with 'Rainbow is Awesome' anywhere."

"Because they don't wear them in school, duh!"

Lightning Dust snorted and was about to reply, but went silent and looked closer at Rainbow Dash, then at Thunderlane, finally at Rainbdrops. She blinked.
"Wait, you're not kidding?" Her eye twitched. "She's not kidding?" She looked at the other two pegasi, but only got their resigned shrug as the answer. "You REALLY have a fan club?"

"Yup. With badges, clubhouse and regular meetings every Saturday. And that filly that you like so much? She's the founder AND chairpony. NOW who's jealous?"

Lightning Dust was at a loss of words. It took her a moment to recover and shake her head.
"Whatever. Should've known this little backwater village is boring enough that even somepony like you can get fans."

"Cloudsdale, Manehattan, Canterlot, name the place," said Rainbow Dash nonchalantly "each will get their own awesome fan club once I become a Wonderbolt!"

"You? A wonderbolt? Ha, hilarious," she chuckled and waved her hoof, dismissively "last time I checked, they don't accept lazy bums. No offense." She shrugged, meaning all the offense in the world. She expected Rainbow to lash out on her and others to at least call her out on it, but for some reason, they didn't. She saw Rainbow Dash scratching her head and smiling sheepish. The others had a similar reaction, but she never learned why.


"ACHOO!" Soarin sneezed, sending a few papers from his desk flying. Either he just got himself an allergic reaction to taxes, or somepony was thinking some nasty things about him. Probably taxes. He shrugged and ignored it.


"Well, she IS new in town, so that's to be expected." Raindrops noted, shrugging. She received a few nods from her team, except the ever confused Lightning Dust, who took a longer while to recover this time.

"Whatever. So what if you have a few overzealous fillies watching you like you're some speed princess or whatnot? Just shows that they never saw anything truly cool from a future Captain of the Wonderbolts... until today morning, that is."

"You? The captain?" Rainbow Dash snickered, before unleashing the laughter, full force. "Now who's getting full of herself! You'll be lucky if I let you join the team once I become the Captain first!"

"Yeah, likely story!"

"Grr!" Said Rainbow Dash, glaring at her rival.

"Grr!" Replied Lightning Dust, doing the same thing.

Meanwhile, Raindrops and Thunderlane smacked their faces, hard. That hurt a lot less than prospect of having to deal with two of them.

The storm was still far away.