Thunderbolts

by Beakwood

The First Choice

A deep silence prevailed over the library during the time Twilight has been organizing her books and scrolls, once in a while Spike would bring snacks or help the purple mare with her tasks.

Both of them being very quiet and respectful to the cyan pegasus present laying still over the same couch ever since she came by.

Rainbow Dash was fighting a lost battle with her inner self, the result of such being from everything she learned from Twilight regarding Lightning Dust and her doubtful feelings towards Gilda.

Part of Rainbow wanted to pretend she never heard anything at all, but the bigger part of her was suffering over extreme shame and guilt. Twilight may not have given Dash enough reason to forgive Gilda, but everything said about Lightning Dust cut deep at her consciousness.

The purple mare did have a point, and considering the things Lightning wrote in that scroll and how painful it was for her to write that down, Dash felt as if she betrayed Lightning when she most needed.

Was it unfair to kick her out? Did Spitfire punished her way too hard?

Lightning was reckless, yes. Did she knocked out her colleagues out of the sky? Yes. Did she unleashed the tornado that almost killed Dash's friends? Yes.

Rainbow tried to find a reasoning to lessen her guilt by dwelling into those arguments. But Lightning did those things along with Rainbow by her side, it was really unfair to pin those only on Lightning.

The rainbow-maned pegasus tried to find a reason to blame Lightning for something, but thinking better about the whole affair again, and with Lightning's point of view, was she really to be blamed?

Apparently Lightning was assured that Rainbow could handle herself just fine, no matter if with an injured wing or by saving friends falling to their doom.

This could explain a lot actually. Lightning Dust saw on Rainbow Dash a pony just like herself. No matter the odds she could do it.

Lightning put so much faith on Rainbow, only to end kicked out because of poor judgment from Spitfire and the lack of support from Dash.

It wasn't fair and Rainbow Dash finally realized.

And she hated it.

It was her fault Lightning was kicked, because she only gave importance to her own feelings and never stopped to think better of situation and understand Lightning's side.

Spitfire made clear that making that tornado wasn't forbidden, and there's no way anyone could know that Rainbow's friends would be visiting. Did her anger towards Lightning blinded reasoning? Or it was something else?

Was it because she was jealous of Lightning Dust?

'No! I wasn't jealous! I was doing the right thing, I never wanted to get Lightning Dust kicked out!' Thought Rainbow desesperately.

Then why didn't Rainbow said anything as those Wonderbolts escorted Lightning outside? She saw as the daredevil turned around and stared at her, Lightning's expression of complete pain and despair. Her golden eyes searching hopelessly for mercy.

To know how Lightning felt, through her crying words, made Rainbow wonder for a second where was her loyalty during the time her friend needed?

Was it too late to fix this mistake?

'No, she might have all the right to hate me now, but I own her at least this chance to make it right! For me to make it right...'

Rainbow's eyes rolled around looking for the alicorn princess. She knew that something had to be done, but Dash would rather not do it alone.

"Twi," Rainbow said after she located the other mare. "Could you help me to get in contact with Lightning Dust?"

To say that Twilight was surprised was an understatement, after a quick recovery she stared back at Rainbow with apprehension.

"Are you sure you want to get in contact with her first? If I had to advise you I would suggest going after Gilda primarily."

Rainbow Dash went from seemingly depressed to annoyed in the blink of an eye.

"And why would you say that?" She asked tiredly. Couldn't Twilight just let her be and make her own choices? Why did she felt it was a sensible thing to give such opinion?

"Because you're the one who's hurting because of Gilda. While on the other case Lightning is hurting because of you," Twilight replied with some seriousness. "Rainbow, maybe you should look for Cloud Chaser if it will make you less anxious. I'm sure she would be very happy to accept."

Twilight was trying her best to improve the pegasus mood, but she knew Rainbow would be having issues until something was done about Gilda and Lightning. Who knew that setting up a team for something she loved to do would be so agonizing?

"Also I made a list of pegasus you might be interested if you need reserves."

Now that caught Rainbow's attention and turned her mood upside down a bit.

"That's....cool. I....thanks for helping me Twilight. " Rainbow said somewhat sheepishly. Twilight nodded in response while passing a scroll with the possible candidates.

"You're welcome, just take your time with this, not all the pegasus will manage to rearrange their schedules. "

Rainbow studied the list with interest, some names were vaguely familiar to her while others were quite surprising.

Thunderlane, Jetstream, Night Glider, Stormfeather, Stellar Eclipse, Starbust, Pizelle, Star Hunter, Helia.

Rainbow's jaw dropped slightly, all the pegasus mentioned were excellent fliers of their own, and most of them were Wonderbolt cadets along with Rainbow. What impressed the cyan mare was the ammount of information that Twilight had about each one of them.

"How did you got to know so much about them?" Dash asked mildly impressed.

"Remember when we visited you at the Wonderbolt Academy?" Twilight asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah," Rainbow instantly reminded of Lightning Dust and that gave her a nauseous feeling.

"Well I took the liberty of socializing with each one of them before we left. I personally had a great time with Pizelle. She's quite a character once you get to know her better."

Rainbow remained quiet. She had few interactions with the other Wonderbolt cadets, but it never felt the same as the one she had with Lightning.

"Thanks again Twi I guess I'll look after some of those pegasus. I'll let you know how it goes. "

"I would like that," Twilight replied smiling appreciatively. "Just focus on those pegasus for now, the other two will be easier to handle after that."

With a final salute Rainbow gave her goodbyes to the alicorn princess and Spike before leaving the library.

It was a cloudy day over Ponyville, traces of the sunlight showing ocassionally as the wind carried the clouds on a constant movement. The village itself was peacefully quiet, not many ponies seemed interested on doing their daily activities as usual.

Rainbow went airborne without wasting time, her first stop being at Cloud Chaser's house, though most other ponies called her by the nickname of Stormwalker.

After few seconds, and a rough landing over a cart filed with hay, the cyan pegasus trotted towards the house that Cloud Chaser resided.

"Yo, Stormwalker, you there?!" Rainbow called after banging the door a couple of times. It went unanswered for few seconds until it opened revealing not Cloud Chaser, but Flitter.

"Rainbow Dash? Are you looking for Cloud?" The pegasus mare asked apparently surprised by Rainbow's visit. It was unheard of about Dash visiting anyone else who not one of the main six and, very ocassionally, the Spa.

But how Flitter knows that is an story for another time.

"Yeah, I am. Have you heard about the marathon event?" Rainbow replied hurriedly.

"Yes, I did. I think Cloud mentioned something about it earlier, but she dropped the subject after a while. I think she's disappointed that we only get to see a small part of it."

"Not if I have something to say about it!" Rainbow seemed to recover her usual self confidence and boasted pride while talking with Flitter. " In case you don't know, which you probably don't, Pon- I am gathering a team to compete at the marathon. It just happens that I want Cloud Chaser to make part of it." Dash said assuredly with her eyes closing slightly, a smug smile on her face while waving her hoof around casually.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!....did I heard that right?" Said a voice coming from behind Flitter.

A pegasus emerged next to Flitter, one that shared a similar appearance with the other mare.

She had a Persian blue coat, light blue mane and tail with white highlights, pink eyes, and a cutie mark of a shooting star. She also had a mane style seen on either one or no other pony.

"A team of Ponyville? Is that for real Dash?" Cloud Chaser was visibly excited, that glow of happiness in her eyes being the reflection of a dream she once thought unlikely to happen.

"That's right! We'll get a full team in no time. Do you mind helping me Cloud?" Rainbow asked sympathetically while retrieving a piece of paper attached under her wing.

"Ha, you bet! This is just awesome!" Cloud Chaser said pumping a hoof in the air on celebration.

"I know, right?!" Rainbow said losing a bit of her tomboy acting as she squealed like a fangirl. Flitter seemed a bit worried while both mares celebrated.

"But what about your foalsitting duties?" Flitter asked straight towards Cloud Chaser. The mare in question sighed heavily before answering.

" I know that Flit, but this stuff means a lot to me, it's a chance I might never have again. Remember what I told about being a Wonderbolt?"

Flitter slowly nodded, apparently whatever these two discussed made Flitter a bit unhappy.

"It's kinda the same, but this is even more important. "

Rainbow's eyes widened as if she just heard the most absurd thing ever. Nothing was more important than the Wonderbolts.

"If it means so much to you I guess I can make an exception," Flitter said sounding quite sad, but that sadness quickly morphed into an angry expression. "You and Rainbow better do nicely in the event, or else I'll have you two foalsitting the CMC's for a month."

Rainbow felt a chill run over her spine at the seriousness that Flitter displayed with such threat. She was okay hanging with Scootallo few times around, but a whole month with her?! She better take this event more seriously.

Cloud Chaser was well aware of how 'adventurous' the CMC's could get, she wasn't taking any chances if depended on her.

"Yo, Dash. Let me see the list," Cloud said with a hint of nervousness. She knew that Flitter would carry her threat if the mares failed the event. She wanted to make sure that Rainbow had selected a nice group.

She wasn't disappointed. Most of the list consisted of other Wonderbolt cadets that joined the academy along the rainbow-maned pegasus. She wasn't familiar with Night Glider, and she literally gasped at Thunderlane's name on it.

"What? Isn't it good? Rainbow asked getting visibly concerned.

"No, it's amazing! But....are all those pegasus?" She asked noticing they were missing an important detail.

"Yep! The best I could think of!" She stated proudly, thought that wasn't exactly the true. It seemed easy for Rainbow to forget that it was Twilight who came up with the names.

"But aren't we suppose to have a member that not a pony?"

It seemed that crucial detail has been forgotten by Rainbow Dash, whose mood
has dropped significantly in the blink of an eye.

"Oh, yeah....that....I'm...working on it."

Flitter and Cloud Chaser exchanged concerned glances.

"It's everything alright Dash? Flitter gently asked glancing at the visibly deflated cyan mare.

"Yeah, kinda thinking on some issues I gotta solve. I think I'll be out for the rest of the day. There's someone I need to see, that probably will take till tomorrow. " Rainbow replied sounding very unenthusiastic about the ordeal. "Nothing to worry about. You think you can get all the pegasus till tomorrow night?

Cloud Chaser blinked once she realized that Dash was directing that question towards her. She's been quite distracted while wonderings what could've dampened Dash's usual excessive confidence that easily, rarely anything could get at the rainbow-maned pegasus with such impact. It probably was something serious.

"Sure, apart of this Night Glider, the others will be easy to find. It will take a bit more to get to those living at Cloudsdale, but nothing I can't handle." Cloud Chaser replied assuredly while checking over the list with a bit of apprehension. 'Urgh, why it has to be me to invite Thunderlane? This will be awkward.'

"Don't worry about Night Glider, Twilight will be looking for that one. Thanks for the help Storm! I'll see you tomorrow, later you both!" Rainbow waved a quick goodbye while flying away. Both Cloud and Flitter watched her leave for a brief second before exchange another glance at eachother.

"I hope she's not getting into trouble, Celestia knows how Dash can be when she obsess over something. " Flitter said to her friend before getting back into the house.

Cloud Chaser nodded before following Flitter back inside the house.

"Time to hit the skies, this is going to be a long flight."

********************************************************************

Rainbow spent the rest of her day preparing herself for the flight to Griffinstone, which was only possible because Twilight gave her the precise direction. It was a quick visit back to the library, but the way Twilight reacted to Rainbow's unexpected visit was strange.

The purple mare was visibly caught by surprise. Once she managed to recover Twilight quickly covered a scroll she had been writing on by throwing few books over it.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at this oddly suspicious behavior, but luckily for Twilight the cyan pegasus decided to ignore the event. Once Rainbow asked Twilight where to go to reach the Griffon Kingdom, and was properly advised to carry a backpack, and some cover due the extreme conditions of the region.

It was a tecnical way of saying that Griffinstone was cold as buck.

Rainbow took a deep breath while looking at the sunset. Princess Celestia lowering her majestic sun as her sister, Princess Luna, would be rising the moon on it's place.

It was a long day for Rainbow Dash, last time she felt like this was during the chaotic times of Discord, Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra. Now all her anxiousness, anguish and several other bottled up emotions were coming to the surfice as she realized the two monumental tasks she has ahead of her.

Once her pride would have refused to accept even trying to do such thing, but Twilight with all her wisdom helped the pegasus to see the mistakes on her judgments. While it was not clear where she did wrong with Gilda, it was more than evident that she owned Lightning Dust at least a word of acknowledgement.

And if Rainbow succeeds on bringing those two back, will her team be competitive enough? Should she keep looking further?

Twilight obviously was already planning on making a team for Ponyville before Rainbow even knew about the event, it would explain why she had such list on her hoofs. The purple mare researched deeply about flying, pegasus abilities, strengths and weaknesses, and formulated a list with the most skilled fliers from Ponyville to Cloudsdale, at least those she knew would be interested on flying for Ponyville.

The moon has finally arised as it's glow illuminated the vast lands of Equestria. Rainbow normally wouldn't take flight during night, but she had a strong feeling that this event would test any flier through the most extreme conditions, choosing time or weather wouldn't be a thing.

With a final breath, once she made sure her backpack was secured, she projected herself to the path she would follow straight to her destination. Without much of an effort, despite the extra weight, Dash launched herself into the sky while leaving a faint trail of rainbow on her path.

'This is it, no turning back. I'm coming....for you both.'

Author's Note:

I would like to personally thank again for the support so far and the encouraging comments, it really means a lot. I wish I could've detailed this chapter more, but I just entered a week of exams and I need to study really hard. I'll see a rework on this chapter once I'm free again, have a nice week.

Comments

[Fire Seeker12]

Not bad. Not bad at all. Keep up the work.

[tuntematon]

Looks like the plan in in motion to get the team together. Great work keep it up!!!