Dust in the Wind

by dj_neon_lights

Chapter: 5 - Dreams of the Past (Pt. 1)

Dust in the Wind

By Michael A.

Chapter: 5 - Dreams of the Past (Pt. 1)

Lightning's gaze remained trained on the the cloud floor, tracing the tile-like pattern set into the floor. Currently, she was in a semi day-dream state, trying to push away reality. Lightning didn't want to focus on where she was, or why she was there -- she was completely content was content staring at the floor, remaining ignorant to everything. But, the world doesn't work like that; one can't just slip into a limbo and live there until all of your real-life problem go away, and she knew it. On top if that, reality doesn't seem to like being ignored, and always has a way of slapping you back to it. Lightning's "slap" came in the form of loud, commanding voice yelling, "Lightning!" right into face.

Lightning's head shot up, instantly focused my attention on the mare in front of her. Spitfire, the current captain of the Wonderbolts, sat behind her desk, a stonic expression plastered upon her face. She wore her usual captain jacket; her rank, name, and Wonderbolts emblem stitched into it's fabric. Her yellow fur and orange mane contrasted beautifully with the jacket, and it made it seem like she was born to ware it. The Wonderbolts captain gave away no emotions, other the slight annoyance from having to yell to her attention. Lightning couldn't argue with here there, as she herself didn't like being ignored. But, even though Spitfire shared no outside hints of her emotions, Lightning could clearly tell that she wasn't happy. Which brings my brain back to thinking about why I am here…damn. Spitfire glared threw her authoritative sunglasses at Lightning, and she could feel her bronze eyes boring into her soul. The opal pegasus shuffled a little in her seat, trying to get at least a little comfortable. Spitfire suddenly let out a loud sigh, shaking her head slightly, before taking off her sunglasses and setting them on the desk. Spitfire clopped her hooves together a few times, seeming to collect her thoughts, before returning her focus to me.

"You know why you are here, correct?" she asked, her face unchanged.

The young pegasus nodded, knowing fully well why she was there.

Spitfire rubbed her temples with her hooves. "Kid, you bucked up. You bucked up really bad." She stopped rubbing her temples and looked back towards Lightning. "Do you know the impact of what you've done?"

"Well…not completely," Lightning answer truthfully.

"Well, I'll tell you. Your reckless behavior and ignorance of others managed to put nine ponies in the hospital!" she spoke, raising her voice, her stonic mask breaking slightly as anger could be seen flowing throughout her features. then turned her gaze from me to her desk, as she shuffled threw the papers that lay on it, obviously looking for one in particular. As soon as she found the one she was looking for, she immediately began to read it aloud. "Daisy Blossom: Sprained wing and dislocated right shoulder. Recovery time: 5 weeks. Thunder Head: Broken wing. Recovery time: 3 to 4 months. Spinning Vortex. Broken hoof, fractured rib, and sprained wing. Recovery time: 5 to 6 weeks." She slammed the paper down on her desk and immediately pointed her gaze at me, and I could see that he right eye twitched ever so slightly. I assumed that it was from her effort to keep at least some of her anger in. I tried to open my mouth to say something, but the death glare I got in response made my close it immediately.

"These are just three of the ponies you've hurt. And if it weren't for the actions of Rainbow Dash, you might have had some death's on that list, too. Your irresponsibility caused all of this. Their pain is all your fault. You are a disgrace to this academy, and you are a disgrace to the Wonderbolt name!" Her rage suddenly subsided, and she suddenly turned towards the other mare with a with a serious expression. "Lightning, do you know what we stand for? Do you know what the Wonderbolts stand for?"

Of put by the sudden change in tone, it took a few second for Lightning to recover enough in order think of an reply. It only took her a second to think of as answer, as it seemed obvious to her. "Uh... they represent the greatest flyers in Equestria?"

Spitfire deadpanned, indication that Lightning had given the wrong answer. "You don't get it, do you?' she began, shaking her head at Lightning. "We don't represent the best flyers in Equestria, we represent what teamwork can accomplish. Each one of the Wonderbolts has to work together in order to achieve anything great. Granted, we may be good on our own, but only in combination are we truly the Wonderbots." Spitfire took a deep breath, then scowled. "And your actions were exactly the opposite of what we represent. You are selfish, ignorant, and dangerous! I want you out of my office, and out of this academy!" she screamed, pointing a hoof at the door. "You are hereby expelled from this academy!"

Lightning was speechless. More then that, she couldn't even function. Her mind raced with trying to comprehend what had just happened. How... how could this... How could this have happened? She thought to herself, completely in disbelief with what she'd just heard. No. Lightning turned her gaze from the floor and to Spitfire, tears beginning to sting her eyes. "You can't do this to me!" she screamed, the tears now flowing freely and down her cheeks. How could she do this to me...? How could she do this to me!? Her sadness was suddenly replaced with anger as Lightning wiped the tears away from her eyes. She glared daggers at Spitfire, who simply raised an eyebrow.

"I hate you! You were my hero once, but now you are dead to me!" the opal pegasus screamed, getting out of her seat and trotting towards Spitfire's desk. As soon as she got to he edge, Lightning jumped up slightly, slamming her front hooves into the desk, making files and other items on her desk shake and fall to the floor from the sheer force. A soft "crunch" could be heard over the sound of slamming wood. Lightning looked down to see the crushed remains of Spitfire's glasses under her hoof. A small trickle of blood began to pool under her hoof, most likely coming from wherever the shattered lens had dug into her hoof. But the adrenaline that coursed threw Lightning's veins was more then enough to mask the pain, as she turned her gaze back to a very shocked Spitfire.

The Wonderbolt captain had dealt with angry recruits before, or ex-recruits, but never had she seen one this, well, violent before. With a shake of her head, Spitfire regained her stonic composure, and glared back at Lightning Dust. "What do you think you are doing?" she asked. "I told you to get out, didn't I?"

Lightning, instead of replying, reached her hoof over the desk and grabbed the collar of Spitfire's jacked, and yanked her closer so she was only inches away from her face. "You ruined my dream... you ruined my life..." she spoke threw gritted teeth.

Spitfire, scared that the mare who was grabbing her was going to do something stupid, immediately screamed out, "SECURITY!!!"

Moments later, two large pegasus bucks rushed threw the door--one brown with a black mane, and the other black with a white mane--and tacked Lightning Dust, who managed to hold on to Spitfire enough to send her toppling forward. Lightning tried to flail her limbs as the two pegasus bucks pinned her to the ground, restraining her. She had been no match for their brute strength and training, but she had put up one hell of a fight. After about another minute or so of the security stallions wrestling with Lightning before they had her completely restrained and began to drag her flailing body out of Spitfire's office. The entire time screaming, "I hate you!" at the top of her lungs. As Lightning's cries died down as she was dragged out of the office, Spitfire remained in a seated position on the ground, eyes wide and both shock and confusion painted across her face. She'd gotten a few bruises from being dragged when Lightning was tackled, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. The only major damage had been done to her jacket, which was torn where Lightning had grabbed it.

Several minutes later, brown security buck from earlier walked into Spitfire office. "Miss Spitfire, are you okay?" he asked, his gruff voice holding concern.

Spitfire shook her head. "No... No, I'm fine. Maybe a few bruises from that fall, but nothing I can't handle."

The buck winced. "Yeah... sorry about that," he said, rubbing the back of his head with a hoof.

Spitfire chuckled. "It's all right, you were just doing your job."

"Thank's, Miss Spitfire," he said, visibly relieved. He turned and was about to walk out the door before he stopped, and turned back to face Spitfire. "If I may asked...why did that mare attack you, anyways."

Spitfire sighed, trotting over to her desk and sitting back in her see. She glanced at her shattered, slightly bloodstained glasses on her desk. "I don't know... I want to say that it was because I kicked her out of the Academy... but her eyes looked like there was so much more then that," the Wonderbolts Captain said with a shake of her head.

The buck shrugged. "Well, my job isn't to figure out this stuff," he said as he walked out of the office, shutting the door behind him.

Spitfire remained silent for some time after that, contemplating a few things in her head, before shaking her head and picking up her papers that had fallen to the floor...

Author's Note:

Just as a little note, I will be having more chapters of this in the future. I planned on making one large chapter explaining Lightning Dust's past 'n' stuff, but after thinking about it more I decided to break it up into mutable parts, and try and work it into explaining Lightning's reactions to certain events. I don't know yet. I may start writing longer chapters, but I think I'll keep them short for now, until I get more experience. This story is more of a learning curve for me, and I'm shocked that anypony even likes it. It's funny, actually. I can really see how my writting has changed while reading this story. I thought about changing the earlier chapters, but I kinda like to see the improvements I've made.

And I got two updates in two days... I don't know how I did it, but I hope it doesn't go away!

~ Michael A.

Comments

[ferret]

Sweet! Spitfire isn't a total goddamn asshole! What an accomplishment!

Good filler I guess. We all assumed something of this sort had happened so it wasn't a big revelation or anything. I loved how Spitfire focused on the things Lightning did before tornadoing Dash's friends. That's something they never went back to in the episode. Lighting really can't claim favoritism in that case, since it wasn't just Dash's own friends that Lightning fucked up.

[Chapter 13]

5385008 I thought of using the latter, but I figured clipping them was worse enough. Though, I do have a head cannon that pegasi can't regrow feathers unless there are certain conditions, but I figured that having her not be able to fly for months and having the regrown feathers not as strong -- meaning that they aren't as good (tho I know how that doesn't work in real life, but screw it!) -- and she can't fly the same ever again. I also wanted to make the flashback just so that it isn't favoritism, it's more of the actual damage that she caused. Though, I made sure to have spitfire give Lightning most, if not all, of the blame, because I feel like she didn't really notice the Dash helped caused the issue, and Dash is too stubborn to even realize that it was her fault. I wanted some sort of realism, and correct/include aspects that the show missed. I'm really glad that I'm getting that across!

I know that chapter's kinda a filler, but I wanted to imprint my "continuation" of the episode into the reader. I could've used less direct means, but I'm too lazy for that.

~ Michael A.

[Chapter 13]

Sometime soon, I shall make right by the "Romance" tag.

~ Michael A.

[omnifire]

I saw the title and this was what I did immediately after , exactly what you see here. [youtube=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=12DeNdF0KPA]

[omnifire]

[youtube=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=12DeNdF0KPA]

[Chapter 13]

I need to fix this junk... Someday.

~ Neon Lights

[Chapter 13]

This hurts to reread...

~ Chapter: 13

[zzzzzz]

4568636
Sure. We repeat the race again and again until Rainbow wins.

[zzzzzz]

5389037
Everything Dust did Rainbow did too.

[ferret]

8806058

And which of them had the shiny gold responsibility badge?

[zzzzzz]

8806095
CAPTAIN Spitfire?

[ferret]

8806260
CAPTAIN Spitfire wasn't doing everything that Lightning Dust did.

[zzzzzz]

8806426
Rainbow Dash did everything what Lightning did.
CAPTAIN Spitfire kept encouraging Lightning instead of correcting her. As soon as something went wrong she humiliated her in public and kicked her out without a warning.
Twilight and her friends entered a restricted area in a ballon during training.

But sure, everything is Lightnings fault.

[Chapter 13]

8806450 8806426 In a chapter, in a different story, I go into detail on how I personally break down the incident via a conversation between Soaryn and Rainbow. Just for context: Soaryn was really hungover.

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/327533/7/fools-paradise/part-7-preview

...“As much as the rest of the ponies at the academy. I wasn’t there during the accident, but, well, word travel fast. Not every day a recruit gets kicked out that spectacularly.” Soarin’ paused when he noticed Rainbow flinch. He decided to continue with caution. “And, uh, I know you were her wingpony, for a time.”

Rainbow fidgeted. “Anything else?”

The stallion thought for a moment. “I guess? I mean, I heard her was a loose cannon. Exceptional flier, but reckless. Rude. Unpleasant.” He had heard some other… choice words for her from the other cadets later on, but he decided not bring them up now.

Soarin’ flinched when he heard Rainbow groan. “Ugh! Of course that's what you heard!”

“Pardon?”

Soarin watched as rainbow changed from nervous to mad. “Of course that's what they said. Did you hear anything about me around that time?”

“No, not really…” He thought for a second. “Well, ponies did say that they felt sorry that you had to deal with her. And about how you chewed her out in the end. Other than that, nothing.” He looked to her. “Why?”

Rainbow exploded. “Why?! Because that's all bullshit!” She began to pace. Soarin flinched in pain. "They didn't mention that I did everything she did? That I was all part of the problem. That I never said or did anything until it was too late!” She took a deep breath. “Of course they didn’t…” Her head fell.

Soarin, after recovering from the outburst, looked to the mare, confused and worried. He kinda understood what she was saying. Apparently she had been doing the same thing as Lighting, yet had taken none of the blame. “So,” he began, “you feel guilty that you weren't punished?”

“Exactly!” she exclaimed. “See, it's all my fault!”

The stallion cocked his head. “What's your fault?”

“That she got kicked out!”

Soarin flinched. He almost dropped his coffee. Ir felt like nails were being driven into his skull. He let the mare relax and his headache subside before he responded, “No, Rainbow. It's not.” Rainbow opened her mouth, but Soarin raised a hoof. “Give me a second to explain, and please stop yelling.”

The winced and shrank a little. “Sorry. Forgot.”

Soarin waved her off and took another sip. “It's okay. And it's not your fault. She did what she did of her own free will. Not yours. You didn't force her to do all those things, did you?”

“But I--”

“You were following her lead, right? Not the other way around?” Rainbow nodded, slowly. Soarin’ smiled. “See? You were followingherlead. She was your lead pony; it was your job to do as she she does. You were her wing. Her shadow. If that's what you did, then you did your job well.”

“But--”

“I'm not finished!” Soarin interrupted, only to wince in pain. He needed to stop that. “Yes, you should have said something earlier, but I can't fault you that much. She was your superior. You had no authority over her, and she had no reason to listen to you.” Soarin paused. A thought breached his mind. “Actually, now that I think about it, I blame whoever made her lead pony. I mean, if what they say is true about how reckless she was, only an idiot would have kept her lead pony. I would have made her wingpony to someone with discipline.” Soarin paused once again. “Huh. Now that I think about it, kicking her out was a bit harsh. I mean, the job of the Academy it to teach you guys discipline.” Soarin shrugged, then turned it face Rainbow. “So, no, it's not your fault. Sure, you should have gotten talked to about not reporting reckless behavior, but I can't fault you for the actions of your incompetent leader.”

~ Chapter: 13

[zzzzzz]

8811400
Actually, now that I think about it, I blame whoever made her lead pony. I mean, if what they say is true about how reckless she was, only an idiot would have kept her lead pony. I would have made her wingpony to someone with discipline.” Soarin paused once again. “Huh. Now that I think about it, kicking her out was a bit harsh. I mean, the job of the Academy it to teach you guys discipline.”
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Exactly.
If Spitfire actually did her job and talked to Lightning about her behaviour she would have never created that tornado.
The least she could do is make Lightning Rainbows wingpony. But no, incompetent Spitfire has to humiliate her and kick her out.
I really hope that season 8 corrects this injustice.