Thunderbolts

by Beakwood

Escalated Schedule

"Now that everypony calmed down I can start explaining how our training routine will work from today till the next two weeks. Any questions?“

One pony raised their hoof rather hesitantly. After the heated debate between Gilda and Rainbow Dash everypony else was wary of being under the griffon's glare.

"What is it?“ Gilda asked while hoping the dweeb wouldn't make any dumb question about something she already explained.

"Does our team have a name yet?“ Star Hunter asked with a rather shaky voice.

Gilda chuckled. Not a bad question at all.

"Not yet. We will sort it out and figure something with the rest of you once we get some nice suggestions. Also easy up dweeb, I'm not gonna eat ya."

Star Hunter laughed nervously in response. Gilda eyed him carefully. The blue stallion has been on edge ever since they arrived for the meeting. Whatever was disturbing him wasn't really visible unless somepony talked with him about it.

Also it was more than evident the huge smile on Lightning's face. Whatever put her in such a good mood was a mystery they couldn't yet figure it out. Thunderlane was clearly the responsible for her mood but the stallion seemed more confused about it than anypony else.

"Before we continue I need to inform all of you to pass by Rarity's boutique during the afternoon." Twilight said as she trotted back towards the group in the company of another purple unicorn.

'How many purple ponies this damn town has?!'

Gilda stared in bewilderment as she noticed the newcomer nearby the alicorn princess.

"Why do we need to pass by miss frissy's boutique?" Cloud Kicker asked looking quite unamused.

Twilight frowned at the purple pegasus. She didn't got around Kicker's mannerisms despite living in the same town as her for around two years.

"Because Rarity will take measurements so she can work on your outfits. " Twilight explained while shooting a warning glance back at Cloud Kicker.

"Oh, sweet! Can we ask her for personal designs? “ Rainbow Dash asked sounding extremely excited. "I always wanted to customize my own outfit."

"What's wrong with the Wonderbolt uniform?" Cloud Chaser questioned. It surprised her that Rainbow wouldn't like the traditional Wonderbolt design that much.

"Please, that's the reserve uniform we're talking about. I want something awesome!! Don't get me wrong, the Wonderbolt uniform is cool but having something of your own is even cooler!!“

"Oh, around twenty percent cooler?“ Twilight asked with a knowingly smile. Rainbow rolled her eyes at the reference.

"Yeah, yeah. You known me too well. We will be at her boutique in the afternoon. No worries." The cyan mare replied while waving a hoof dismissively.

"Hey! Can we get to the point already? I thought we were here to start the training, not chit chat all day." Lightning Dust complained, her voice sounded tired and annoyed.

Most pegasus muttered their agreement as others remained in silence while looking at the griffon.

"Sure thing. Since every dolt in this list is actually here I guess we can skip the formalities and get to the matter in h...urgh...hoof," Gilda was going to have a hard time getting used with pony slang.
"I will ask something really simple and whoever gives the wrong answer is doing twenty wing ups. Got it?"

Nopony replied. Twenty wing ups didn't sound really bad but the way Gilda says it makes it sound like a terrible experience.

"What's the first thing we do before training?"

"Eat breakfast?" Sassaflash asked sounding very unsure. Gilda narrowed her golden eyes towards the oblivious mare.

"Twenty. Now."

Sassaflash quickly obeyed. She wasn't going to be the one to test her captain's nerves, much less a griffon.

An air of hesitancy paired over the group of pegasus. Nopony wanted to give away a wrong answer more due how scary Gilda could react than having to endure physical punishment.

"We....warm up?“ Cloud Chaser said hoping that she got it right.

Gilda seemed to ponder on her answer for few seconds. For a brief moment Cloud Chaser thought she got it wrong.

"That's another way of saying it. Meh, close enough. What's your name again?“ Gilda asked sounding way more friendly than before. At least the griffon was able to ignore that this pony was also purple.

"Cloud Chaser." The mare pegasus replied sounding relieved she gave away a good answer.

"Come and stay here," Gilda instructed as she pointed towards a specific point nearby. "Next question might be a bit more difficult. How many G's can you pull on a full dive?“

Twilight let out a gasp of surprise and excitement as she heard that question. The alicorn would never have imagined that Gilda had any aknowledgement of gravitational forces.

"G's? Huh....what's that?“ Cloud Chaser asked in bewilderment. Gilda huffed in disbelief.

" Does anyo-pony here knows what I'm talking about?" The griffon asked as her eyes scanned through the oblivious crowd. "G stands for the effects of gravity over you body at each high speed turn or pull you execute during flight. Didn't you dweebs learned that in the Academy?"

"We probably slept through that part." Rainbow Dash replied unashamed.

"Speak for yourself Rainbow," Lightning said with a narrowed glare. "Yeah, we went through basics back then, stuff was kinda too boring for any of us to have absorbed for future use somehow."

Gilda rolled her eyes at their disregard for such elementary lesson. No wonder these pegasus were ages behind griffons in their turning ability, pegasus are way too worried with performing fast, overextended loops than actually saving time. Of course that most times the Wonderbolts are not racing but rather performing stunts. Perhaps Ponyville actually could even the odds a bit.

"Good! This means I'll be teaching you the basics but in real living grounds with no books!“ The group of pegasus cheered excitedly at the perspective while Twilight was somewhat disappointed. "And its gonna hurt a lot."

A quick silence followed her eerie words, the sadistic smile on Gilda's face didn't make it any better.

"Uhhh....we won't get any dirt, right? I just came from my hooficure." Blossomforth asked fearfully.

Audible groans were heard as their respective owners expressed their frustration towards the white coated mare.

Gilda refrained from badmouthing Blossomforth so much that it could've reduced the white mare into tears. Instead she breathed deeply as possible before regaining her focus.

"As I was saying," Gilda continued forcefully. "We will perform some basics so I can wrap around your big rounded heads the concepts of gravity. Which you all should known about since Flight Camp!"

"How come you know about it so much?" Sassaflash asked, her voice filled with suspicion. Gilda shrugged off any doubts with a simple answer.

"If you were trying to be cool, and keep up with Rainbow Dash, you gotta learn stuff to improve. I would never race against her and win at-

"Luck!“ Rainbow Dash yelled while looking flustered.

-a few times if I didn't have some tricks of my own," Gilda finished with a chuckle. She seemed incredibly smug while thinking on her own accomplishments. "Luck can only get you to a certain point, Dash. You waste too much of it."

"Wow, you actually beat Rainbow? Now I really wanna race you once I get in shape." Lightning Dust commented out loud.

Twilight noticed how Lightning and Gilda were quickly succeeding on making Rainbow Dash extremely upset. She wasn't sure if she should take their behavior as friendly banter or a personal grudge towards the cyan mare.

"Today I will just lay out our schedule for the next days. We will get to know each other and do all that boring stuff of forming bounds and whatever. We get going to meet Haggity at her boutique after launch." Gilda informed while pretending to not notice the angry glare coming from the alicorn princess.

Cloud Kicker was starting to admire Gilda at each insult she made towards somepony, she felt she could get along with the griffon without any trouble. Her personal view of Gilda was similar with the ones of Lightning, Chaser, Thunderlane and Star Hunter. Most other pegasus were still doubtful if they could trust the griffon to lead the team.

"She's quite the charming type." A voice said from behind Twilight. Gilda instantly turned around to face the unicorn that Twilight brought from her hiding spot few minutes ago.

"And you would be?“ Gilda asked, her voice carrying an undertone of threat. The mare unicorn widened her eyes as the griffon came right into her face. Apparently she misjudged the griffon's hearing.

"I-I'm S-Starlight Glimmer," She replied nervously while stepping back a bit. "You must be the griffon that Spike was b- huh....talking about."

Starlight hoped the griffon didn't caught on her little slip up. Gilda seemed eager on finding an excuse to chew her.

"Urgh, what's with ponies and those names?" Gilda, feeling annoyed with a lot of things at the moment, decided to not push the subject and just return to her own business. "Whatever, nice to meet you and and all that stuff. Now if you gimme a- huh...you excuse me, I gotta get this tropes to get on their routine."

"Oh, sure! No problem," Starlight replied seemingly relieved to avoid a conflict. The unicorm waited until the griffon was out of hearing range before sharing her thoughts qith Twilight. "Are you sure she's up for the task? She seems a bit on edge for a team leader."

Twilight, who would've agreed few months back, was assured of her choice more due the lack of better options.

"I trust her to take care of the team more than Rainbow or Lightning Dust. I think the scary factor will help to keep them on check. I know that an angry griffon it's not something to take it lightly."

"If you say so. Do you still want my help to set up Ponyville's stage course?“ Starlight asked as both mares observed Gilda leading the group away back to the town.

"We will need all the help we can get. Besides, how could I leave my student out of such important event? “ Twilight asked with a certain degree of affection.

Starlight did not reply. She still had a lot of things to cope with since Twilight took her under her wing. There was a long road ahead of her, which she could only hope it would bring the answers she was looking for.

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"Mind telling me what was all that about?"

Lightning Dust blinked in surprise as she stared to her side. The whole group was ordered to move back to town to work on their 'socializing' before lunch. Since most ponies already knew each other Dust had a bad feeling she was the only one who was going to endure this task since nopony knew her that well.

"What ya talking about?“ Lightning asked as she tried to ignore the ponies nearby that were trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"I'm talking about your crazy fit of laughter few minutes back," Thunderlane replied distractedly. He just caught on how Dust seemed way less healthy than the last time he saw her. Her coat was a bit pale, her mane and tail lost its brightness and her muscles weren't that much visible as before. "I wasn't even trying to be funny."

"Don't sweat it, it's just something personal." Lightning was not in the mood for talking. The perspective of going back into a routine again was making her anxious. It's been a long time since she had anything to focus on.

"Why don't you talk about yourself more?“ Cloud Kicker decided to join the conversation without being invited, not that she would ever expect one. "I've heard only bad things about you so far, I would like to hear the rest."

Talk about being blunt. Thunderlane shot a warning glance towards the blonde mare but she only grinned back at him. Lightning Dust was visibly uncomfortable with her approach.

"There's not much to say about me. Besides, shouldn't we be asking stuff about each other? There's plenty of ponies around for you to ask." Dust pointed out hoping this would make Kicker leave her alone.

"Oh, yes. If you didn't notice you're the only pegasus in our group who doesn't live in Ponyville. Which means we all know each other just enough, but you....you look like a deliciously newcomer."

If Lightning Dust wasn't comfortable before now she was on total edge. She trotted away from Kicker but the mare refused to let her go. All the other pegasus were watching the exchange quietly.

"Way to make it relaxing Kicker, you and that tongue of yours never fail to impress." Thunderlane commented sarcastically as possible. Cloud Kicker fixated her eyes on the stallion with a sheepish grin.

"I'm sure my tongue would amaze you alright, if you catch my drift."

Lightning wondered what in Tartarus she was doing with her life right now. She heard things before but she would never imagine she would be hanging out with a pony so....open.

Ok, not the best way to describe Cloud Kicker.

Or is it?

"I'm sure Amethyst would love to hear that." Thunderlane shot back with clear threatening.

"Oh, I bet she was totally enjoying it last night, I can tell you that." Kicker replied looking incredibly smug.

"Can we go back to poking into Lightning's personal life, please?“ Helia asked nervously. The mare and the others around her were getting edgy by Kicker talking about her 'intercourses'.

Dust was far from pleased by that question, but the alternative was way worse so she had no choice but to falter her resolve.

"If you really wanna know about my life I can tell as much. But don't think for a second I want your stupid sympathy or pity."

This surprised the group. Even Gilda and Rainbow Dash, that had been leading the group while constantly arguing, stopped to listen.

Lightning felt odd with so many ponies staring expectantly at her. She was worried about how much it would be wise to reveal without cause trouble towards things that weren't needed.

"You could tell us what you did after the Academy." Star Hunter suggested rather sympathetically. Many ponies nodded in agreement at his suggestion.

"I....didn't do anything." Lightning said with clear hesitancy. Cloud Chaser huffed in disbelief, it was very unlikely to believe Lightning Dust couldn't find somewhere else to make use of her talents.

"How is that even possible? You probably had a job waiting for you somewhere." The mare with rebellious mane asked, her face one of incredulity.

"I had a job and I dropped once I got accepted into the Academy. I took for granted that I would become a Wonderbolt that I saw no need to waste my time with anything other than training." Dust responded bitterly. She wasn't even sure if keeping her job at that time would've made any difference.

" Didn't you had any friends that could help you to find anywhere else to work in?" Helia asked worriedly. It was unlikely somepony would leave their friends hanging at such desperate times. Lightning stared towards the ground in resigned acceptance.

" I didn't have any friends. Never had one."

Never the ground felt utterly fascinating as Lightning thought it never could be, but right now she felt herself fixated on the irregular surfice she never enjoyed setting her hooves on. The silence that fell around her felt extremely embarrassing and sufocating. The concept of a pony without any friends was probably inexistent for those equines.

Even Cloud Kicker, among the many other ponies currently standing there, was feeling extremely sorry and downright astonished that a pony could've gone this far through life without making a single friendship.

"How?“ Cloud Chaser asked, her voice trembling at the mere possibility of living through life without her friends. "How did you do it?“

The group stood in mortified silence, none of them expecting for the turquoise mare to actually respond to that question. But surprisingly she did.

"I guess....I never had anypony to help me believe other ponies would actually care about me."

Thunderlane's ears perked in alarm at the implication behind those words.

"Lightning," The stallion sounded awfully serious even for those who knew him long ago. "What about your parents? Didn't they taught you the values of love and friendship?"

"My parents?!“ Lightning's response come out quite brutally, her voice filled with such venom and disdain that it scared few ponies nearby. "Oh, yes! Let's just go there and poke at my stupid fillyhood, why the hay not?!“

Thunderlane winced at the way she reacted, perhaps he should've kept his big mouth shut. Gilda and Rainbow Dash stood at his side watching the development of things with mixed feelings.

"I didn't mean t-

Thunderlane tried to apologize but Lightning already made her mind on the matter.

"Too little, too late, Thunderump! You wanna plot in into my life?! I'll give all you need to know why this dumb mare here became the bucking failure she is!!! ALL BECAUSE SHE WAS STUPID ENOUGH TO BELIEVE THE FIRST FRIEND SHE MADE WOULD STOOD UP FOR HER WHEN SHE NEEDED!!!“

Everypony was too shocked to say anything. Lightning was having a breakdown similar to the one from the party, but she seemed to be more in control of her emotions this time around.

They finally realized the kind of pony Lightning Dust was and still is. Egotistical, fierce, dedicated, independent to an extent. Yet beneath all of those layers of bravery was a pony who suffered through unknown amounts of pain and negligence, a pony who never understood the concept of love or friendship, a pony whose betrayal of the only friend she made left a wound worse than any other.

While everypony stared dumbfounded towards Lightning Dust, whose breath was still somewhat unstable and very noticeable, Cloud Kicker slowly went around the circle to catch up with a familiar rainbow mare standing petrified few meters away.

"Rainbow," Cloud Kicker called as she was right near the perplexed cyan mare. "Rainbow Dash." Cloud Kicker poked her on the ribs with her hoof.

"What?“ Rainbow Dash asked distractedly, she was feeling a huge amount of unexplainable guilt on her conscious.

"We gotta talk, for old times sake." Kicker's voice sounded demanding but pleading at the same time.

"Now? I don't th-

"Now or never, Dash."

Comments

[Fire Seeker12]

Why do I get the feeling Kicker is about to give Rainbow a chewing out.

[Grekoy]

Finally I caught up. I am loving this story so far. Still waiting for Luna to make another appearance though.

[Beakwood]

8621356

Oh. Thanks! I was busy working on few other fanfics (FanFiction and Equestria Amino included) so this story was on hold for few months. Hopefully I will be back at it soon. Happy Hearts Warming Eve!

[Beakwood]

9626491
Hum... I might?
I've struggled with time to do this and five other stories in different platforms. I will see if I can work on something next month. Thanks :)

[Whooves235]

9629691
Is there a Link or something to the Cover Art? I cannot seem to find It and It looks really cool

[Beakwood]

9707862
The artwork is a mix of several pieces from Inuhoshi Dark Pen and Tsitra360.

[Omegafr]

Reprenez la s'il vous plaît, c'est vraiment très plaisant à lire.
Surtout qu'il y a du ThunderDust !!!