//------------------------------// // Mini-Chapter Five: The Bolts // Story: Lightning Dust Gets Drunk in a Bar Full of Strangers // by Fire Gazer the Alchemist //------------------------------// Lightning inhaled the thin, crisp air around her, hoping it would steady her nerves slightly.  As she landed on the rocky surface of the mountain and stared at the looming building before her, she realized it was a futile effort. Thursday had arrived all too quickly, and Lightning had failed so far to feel comfortable in her decision.  In fact, the only time she had been able to forget about it — albeit only for a few moments — was during her first date with Derpy last night. At Lightning’s insistence, their date had been as casual as possible, and so they ate a late lunch at the Hayburger, and ended up playing pool in the post office break room for hours.  It probably hadn't been the ideal first date Derpy had envisioned, but she didn't complain.  They both had a great time, and the best part of it was Lightning never once felt pressured because of Derpy's feelings. Sighing happily at the memory, Lightning glanced again at the building before her.  A streak of lightning with wings, the Wonderbolts insignia, hung right above the door.  She shifted her hooves nervously and swallowed. "Are you sure about this?"  Derpy asked. Lightning turned to her.  She was the only one who'd come with her for the interview.  Time and Dinky couldn't, and Rider said he had something important to take care of at work.  It was fine with her; had anyone besides Derpy come she might have been worse off than she was now. "Yes, this is what I want."  Lightning smiled at Derpy's unsure face.  "Don't worry about it." Derpy glanced between Lightning and the Academy.  "Are you sure you don't want me to walk in with you?" Lightning shook her head.  "No, this is something I need to do on my own.  Besides, I don't need you to hold my hoof everywhere." They both looked down to their interlocking forelegs.  Derpy offered a smile.  "But I like holding your hoof." Pink flickered on Lightning's face, and she laughed in an attempt to dispel it.  "Yeah, same here." "Good luck."  Derpy nuzzled Lightning's neck, a gesture she had been getting used to lately. "Thanks."  Their hooves reluctantly disentangled, and Lightning trotted through the doors. Inside, Lightning could still feel the nerves gnawing away at her.  Butterflies battered the insides of her stomach as she found the right hallway and walked down it.   Several steady breaths didn't quell them. Eventually, Lightning found the office she was looking for, with a door labeled in black letters: Spitfire. She swallowed again and knocked just loud enough to hear. "Come in," a recognizable voice on the other side called back. Lightning pushed the door open.  As it swung open it revealed an office chock full of Wonderbolts memorabilia.  Flags lined the walls, along with pictures depicting some of the major moments in Wonderbolt history.  Shelves were filled with first place trophies and medals, while the second place and lower could be found decorating the floor in the back corner.  Sitting at the desk in the center of the room was the mare Lightning had come to see. Removing her sunglasses, she gestured with an orange hoof to one of the chairs before her.  "Hello, Lightning Dust," Spitfire said, her tone unreadable.  "You're a little early, but I've got a free moment.  Come on in and take a seat." "I'll stand," Lightning said, taking a few steps in.  "I don't think it'll take long to say what I need to say." Spitfire raised an eyebrow.  "Okay..." Lightning forced away the butterflies in her stomach and stood tall.  "Ma'am, for as long as I can remember it's been my dream to make it into the Wonderbolts.  I pushed myself day and night training to make myself worthy, or at least, what I considered was worthy, to be a part of the best flight team ever.  Sometimes, I didn't sleep or eat.  The only real breaks I took from training were when I got to see a performance live, and even then I was doing wing-ups in the bleachers during intermission."   Lightning sighed, but didn't slow down.  "The point I'm trying to make is, I built my entire life around the Wonderbolts, and when I... pulled that stunt of mine and got kicked out, I felt like I lost everything.  And I was angry, too.  I was angry at you, at Rainbow Dash, and I was even a little angry at those five ponies who got in the way of the tornado.  But most of all, I was angry at myself. "I knew it was all my fault.  I was the one who bucked up and ruined everything, and I had no idea how to come to terms with that and move on.  At least... not until I made a few friends." She paused to catch her breath and continued.  "They were my first friends actually.  Without them I never would've gotten past my anger.  I also never would've learned just how much I was missing.  I spent so much time trying to become a Wonderbolt, that I'd never played pool before.  Or had a real job.  Or even touched the ground before.  And there's still a lot more that I haven't experienced." "So what are you saying?" Spitfire asked. "I'm saying that I don't want to come back to the Academy,  At least, not yet.  There's a ton of stuff I want to do before I spend the rest of my life as a Wonderbolt, so I'm putting my dream on hold for now." Spitfire nodded, reclining in her chair.  "I see, and this is your final decision?" "Yes, ma'am."  Her jaw loosened a little.  "I've made up my mind." Spitfire tapped her hooves together in thought.  "And I suppose there's nothing I can say to change it?" Lightning shook her head. "No ma'am, there isn't.  Now if you'll excuse me, there's somepony waiting for me."  Lightning turned, the butterflies all but gone now. "Hold it!"  Spitfire barked.  Lightning froze.  "I haven't dismissed you yet, Lightning." She turned.  "Ma'am?" Spitfire opened a drawer to her desk and dug around a little bit.  She pulled out a few sheets of paper and held them out.  Lightning reached for them, her eyebrows furrowed. "This is an application for the Wonderbolts Reserve Unit," Spitfire told her.  "It'd be a real shame if your talent was wasted for however long you want to spend exploring the world, or whatever.  Just fill this out, take a short physical, pass a written test, and we'll call you whenever we're short a few flyers.  Sound good?" "Uh... I..."  Lightning blinked and offered an open-mouthed stare.   "Kid, just take the damn papers." Lightning's hoof whipped out and snatched the form, a grin blooming on her face.  "Thank you, Ma'am!  I-I don’t know how I could ever repay you.” Spitfire leaned back in her chair.  “Just make sure you stay in shape; I won’t keep you on the reserves if you turn into a slouch.” Lightning couldn’t wipe the smile from her face.  “I won’t let you down, Ma’am!”  She saluted. The corners of Spitfire’s mouth tugged upwards.  “Dismissed.” Without missing a beat, Lightning pressed the paper against her chest and practically skipped out of the room.  She waited until the office door was shut before she squealed for the second time in her entire life. Holy shit, holy shit holyshitholyshitholyshit! Lightning was in such a giddy mood she didn’t see Rainbow Dash until she was literally on top of her.  Rainbow had been walking backwards, talking with another cadet, and with Lightning’s blind happiness it was a recipe for a crash. They went down, Rainbow landing underneath her with an “oof”. “Sorry about that,”  Lightning said, pushing off of her.  It was only then that she saw the tell-tale rainbow mane, rising up from the floor. “It’s o—”  Rainbow froze when she saw Lightning’s face.  She blinked twice before she really began processing it.  “You.” “Uh… hi, Rainbow.”  Lightning bit her lip, unsure how to act.  She hadn’t spoken to Rainbow Dash since her expulsion. Rainbow finished standing, and decided to look at the floor.  It seemed she didn’t know how to act either.  “So… I heard a rumor that you might be coming back.” “I got an offer,” Lightning said with a nod.  “But I turned it down.” Rainbow’s mouth tightened, and her eyebrows lowered.  “Ah… I… uh...” “Crazy, huh?” Dash nodded. Lightning clicked her tongue to the roof of her mouth.  “Well, I think I’ll just g—” “I heard you’ve been hanging out with Derpy a lot.” Lightning blinked.  “Uh… yeah.” Rainbow anstily chewed on the inside of her cheek.  “Why?” “Why do you care?” “Derpy’s a friend, and… I don’t trust you with her.” Lightning’s eyebrow crawled up.  “You don’t trust me?  Or you don’t trust her?”  Rainbow gritted her teeth together, giving Lightning her answer.  “Look, I know I was a bit of a bitch the last time we met, but a lot has changed, all right?  I’m not rushing into anything with Derpy, and she isn’t just fooling around.” Rainbow stared at Lightning for a little bit, trying to size her up.  “...Okay… I guess.  I’m still not comfortable with this.” Lightning shrugged.  “Well, I don’t exactly need your permission to date her.”   “Fair point.  Just… don’t hurt her, all right?”  Rainbow clapped her on the back.  “Or I’ll hurt you.  Got it?” “If I do hurt her, you won’t get a chance.”  Lightning gave Rainbow a soft smile and brushed past her without bothering to see her reaction. Derpy was waiting for her when she left the building, a smile slinking onto her face when she saw Lightning approach. “How did it go?” she anxiously asked. Lightning whipped out the Reserves application hight into the air.  “Better than expected!” “What’s that?  What happened?” Lightning grinned widely.  “I’ll tell you all about it, but first we should get the guys and grab a cider or something.  I feel like partying.”  She wrapped Derpy in a tight hug. “Oh, whoa, it must’ve gone really well then.”  Derpy laughed and hugged Lightning back.  “All right, let’s go to my place and call the guys.” Lightning smiled.  Life was good.