Chapter 3
“Face in the Flags”
When Lightning Dust awoke the next morning, she was still trying to embrace the message that Rainbow Dash had invoked in her about having grace and humility, two important tools that she clearly didn’t have the first time around. In fact, Lightning Dust was hearing the voices of her two idiotic and egotistical brothers in her mind, trying to put her down.
“You think that pony know it all is going to get you to change?” laughed the voice of the red pony. “It doesn’t matter what you do, you will always be second rate to us, Lightning Dust.”
“Yeah,” added the voice of the blue pony. “Think you got what it takes to be better than us? Just try it!”
But Lightning Dust ignored the voices and followed Rainbow Dash to the flag hunting course, which had been made more tougher with the next level of the Wonderbolt academy. Upon arrival however, Spitfire was about to reveal that this would be a lot more different than the last time a flag hunt had taken place.
“Today you will be continue to be doing the next level of the academy with level two of the flag hunt,” said Spitfire. “The first change is that lead ponies and wing ponies will not be partnered together.”
This caused several of the cadets to gasp in shock as the two guards directed the lead ponies to one obstacle course and the wing ponies to another. Lightning Dust nervously followed the rest of the wing ponies thinking that without working alongside Rainbow Dash, she would be subjected to the voices of her brothers inside of her head telling her that she should be better off alone and out of the spotlight. However, Spitfire had a very good reason for splitting the lead ponies and wing ponies apart.
“When you become a wonderbolt,” she explained, taking to the air. “You will allow yourself to work alongside ponies that you are unfamiliar with. We stress the importance of diversity here at the academy and this flag hunt will demonstrate communication with ponies you have never worked before.”
Lightning Dust could see that she was most likely going to work with Bulk Biceps since the rest of the wing ponies had already selected their partners for this exercise.
“You want to work together?” she asked the muscular pony meekly. Bulk Biceps merely nodded nervously, remembering how reckless that Lightning Dust was. “I’ll go easy on you, big boy.”
Feeling slightly comfortable, Bulk Biceps joined forces with Lightning Dust as Spitfire had one final piece of advice for the cadets.
“If you think that this flag hunt is going to be fun,” she said. “You are sadly mistaken. Everything we do here is for training purposes and that this is not meant to be recess. Once you have found your partner, you must fly together and if anypony splits up, they will immediately be disqualified.”
The glare that Spitfire gave to Lightning Dust made her see sense, for the last she had taken part in a flag hunt, Rainbow Dash had hurt her wing.
“Do you understand?” asked Spitfire to the cadets.
“Yes, ma’am!” they replied and Spitfire placed her whistle to her mouth.
“Then, let’s go!” she called and blew into her whistle sending the lead ponies after the red flags and the wing ponies after the blue flags.
Lightning Dust and Bulk Biceps searched high and low for the flags, overcoming every obstacle that came their way. As they got to their first flag, Lightning Dust and Bulk Biceps came to the spot where Lightning Dust’s recklessness had caused Rainbow Dash to clip her wing. This caused her to stop dead in her tracks and the ghostly figure of her blue pony brother stood in the way.
“Think you got what it takes to get that flag?” he snickered. “Then come and get it without clipping your wing!”
Trying to not let the ghost of her evil brother get her down, Lightning Dust flew towards the flag and grabbed it, but then suddenly her wing got caught in the branch, causing it to clip.
“You okay?” cried Bulk Biceps, nervously.
“I’m fine,” whimpered Lightning Dust, trying to not let her clipped wing slow her down. “Let’s find some more.”
Struggling to fly, Lightning Dust and Bulk Biceps continued to find flags despite their respective handicaps with Lightning Dust and her clipped wing, while Bulk Biceps continued to fly despite his muscular size and tiny wings. It was because of this that the two of them were the last of the wing ponies to complete the flag hunt.
“Not bad,” said Spitfire as they landed. “Determination is something that we strive. The rest of you are dismissed until later. I want to speak with Lightning Dust privately.”
So the rest of the cadets saluted their trainer and went off on their separate ways while Lightning Dust remained behind with Spitfire.
“Look, Spitfire,” she said nervously, still wincing her clipped wing. “I know we were the last to arrive but…”
“I know what you are going to say, Lightning Dust,” interrupted Spitfire, placing a hoof to Lightning Dust’s mouth. “But, I wanted you to experience that being a wing pony is just as good as being a lead pony. In normal situations, a Wonderbolt who had been injured would have given up. You clearly didn’t do that.”
“So are you saying that you were intentionally trying to get me to clip my wing?” cried Lightning Dust, shocked at what her idol and superior officer had just said. “But, why?”
Spitfire removed her sunglasses and raised her left eyebrow the same way as when Rainbow Dash had questioned her on why she was named wing pony and not lead pony.
“When I discover ponies who have egos,” she explained. “I have to extract the ego out of them. If I am going to help you become a wonderbolt, then I have to take that ego out. I am not only producing the best flyers in Equestria, I am trying to make model citizens for this great land that we live in.”
Spitfire then led Lightning Dust to the edge of the cliff overlooking the land of Equestria. In the distance, they could see Ponyville, Appleloosa, Canterlot and the Crystal Empire.
“But why show me this now, Spitfire?” wondered Lightning Dust.
“Because this is where you go after you graduate from this academy,” replied Spitfire. “When I was a cadet here myself, I was told what I am telling you now. We all make mistakes and I made the biggest mistakes of my life.”
Lightning Dust was amazed that Spitfire had a sentimental side and thought back to the conversation that Spitfire and her had after she was demoted to wing pony.
“I made a vow to myself after I became captain,” continued Spitfire, the sun reflecting on her sunglasses. “That if I see anypony who made the biggest mistakes of their training, to the point that they face expulsion, it becomes personal to me that I give them second chances the same way I was given second chances.”
“Are you saying that I am one of the ponies whom is…?” gasped Lightning Dust.
“Yes,” replied Spitfire, looking at Lightning Dust right in the face. “I am trying to take you under my wing, similar to how Princess Celestia took Rainbow Dash’s friend, Twilight Sparkle, under her own wing. You have the greatest potential out of all the cadets here next to Rainbow Dash and I want you to succeed, but the methods you use are not what we want to see in a cadet.”
Lightning Dust took the matter deeply into her mind. With every word that Spitfire spoke, it was like she had been ripped from the self-proclaimed wonderbolt wannabe that she had proclaimed herself when she stepped foot into the academy.
“There is more to being a wonderbolt than just being great,” continued Spitfire. “I learned that the hard way myself and I now I am going to teach you the same thing whether you like or not.”
For the rest of the day, Lightning Dust continued to remember what Spitfire had told her. But, at the same time, the ghosts of her brothers continued to pop up in her minds, trying to get her to go back to her old ways. Lightning Dust bravely ignored the taunting and did her best to keep the voices out of her mind.
Still, there was the matter of Spitifre and her past that needed to be cleared up and when Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust met again that night, it seemed that Lightning Dust was finally going to get her answer, or so she thought.
“To be honest, Lightning Dust,” said Rainbow Dash. “I don’t know all that much about Spitfire’s past. I don’t like to get involved in other ponies’ matters unless if I have to.”
“Is there anything you might know about her?” asked Lightning Dust. “Something that may have made her into the pony she is today?”
Rainbow Dash wondered for a moment, but then her face revealed that even she didn’t know what to say.
“I’m sorry, Lightning Dust,” she sighed. “I just can’t do it. Spitfire is too important for me to upset her. If you want to find out the truth, you'll have to ask Spitfire herself.”
“She did mention something about making the biggest mistakes of her life,” said Lightning Dust, thinking back to the conversation that she had with Spitfire earlier in the day. “Could it be that she was once like me? A pony that would do anything to get a goal accomplished, even by being reckless?”
This caused Rainbow Dash to pause in shock. Even she began to wonder why Spitfire would do such a thing and was just as determined to find out the truth as much as Lightning Dust.