Spring
S P R I N G
Lightning Dust watched the latest prospect take to the skies for his tryout. Already she was taking points off in her head; the liftoff was sloppy, but he quickly straightened it out as he built altitude. She knew he was a good flier—every pegasus here today was—but nerves had cost him a few valuable points before his routine had even began.
Her wings fidgeted at her sides, her wingtips touching the paper of the numbers taped over her flanks. She stood under a tent with two dozen other prospects and their friends and families, waiting for their numbers to be called out. A hundred feet away, the tarmac runway of the academy practically glistened, the heat radiating off of its surface rippling the air in the springtime sun. And next to the runway, a table with blue and yellow tablecloth stood, behind which sat the three judges: Spitfire, Soarin’, and Fleetfoot.
A friendly blue wing nudged Lightning’s side, and she turned to see Rainbow standing next to her. “Nervous?” Rainbow asked, a cup of water in her feathers.
Lightning chuckled and shrugged. “Pre-show nerves, maybe. But it’s not that I’m worried I’m going to do poorly. It’s just that, well, last time I was here, I didn’t leave on the best of terms with everypony. Especially Spitfire.”
Rainbow wrapped her wings across Lightning’s shoulders and pulled the mare closer. “Relax, LD. I’ve already talked to Spitfire and the others. As far as they’re concerned, you’ve got a clean slate. Just do well today and you’ll be back at the academy in no time!”
“Well, that’s good then.” Lightning sighed with relief. “That was about the only thing I was worried about.”
“See? You got it, girl.”
A scattered applause momentarily distracted Rainbow and Lightning, and they turned to see the stallion from before land and start trotting back to the tent. By the runway, Spitfire and the other judges jotted some notes down on their clipboards, then moved the top paper to the growing stacks at their sides. Then, Spitfire picked up a microphone and spoke into it. “Number twenty-three, you’re next!”
A yellow mare with red and white stripes in her mane stood up, nuzzled her family and friends, and then flew out to the tarmac to await instructions. Shifting in place, Lightning glanced at the number on her flanks again. “Guess I better get ready to go next, then.”
“Psshh. If you ain’t ready now, LD, then I don’t know what we spent all of last year training for,” Rainbow said, rubbing her wing along Lightning’s shoulders. “You got the best training money could buy. For free!”
“Well, not for free,” Lightning said, pecking Rainbow on the nose and sticking her tongue out. “Some terms and conditions apply.”
Rainbow nuzzled Lightning’s cheek. “I think they’re pretty fair, don’t you?”
“Certainly nothing to complain about,” Lightning said with a teasing smirk. Sighing, she leaned against Rainbow’s petite frame and looked at the rest of the prospects under the tent with them. “Most of these kids are nineteen or twenty. I feel so old.”
“That just means you’ll be the wise old leader for them this summer,” Rainbow teased. “Whoever ends up being your wingpony is gonna be really lucky.”
“Yeah. Maybe I won’t make them try a tornado with me this year,” Lightning said. She shook her head and trained her eyes on the tail end of the prospect’s tryout. “You’re gonna be at the academy this summer, right?”
Rainbow nodded. “I mean, it’s during our mid-summer break where we get a few weeks off from shows before hitting the west coast, but yeah I’ll be here. It’s always fun to watch the new recruits fluster about, absolutely star struck just to be there.” Chuckling, she added, “It reminds me of how I felt when I got here for the first time, almost three years ago. But this year will be even better once a certain somepony shows up.”
She waggled her eyebrows at Lightning, who just flicked her ear with her wingtip. “Don’t you mean special somepony?”
“Right, that too.”
Pretty soon, the latest prospect landed on the tarmac to applause and cheers from her family and friends. The judges briefly chatted with each other, and smiling, shook the prospect’s hoof. “She’s probably getting in,” Rainbow said, watching the judges’ reactions.
“Good,” Lightning said, flexing her wings. “I can easily beat that.”
A minute later, Spitfire’s voice crackled over the speakers again. “Number twenty-four! You’re up!”
Smiling, Lightning took a step into the sun, Rainbow right at her side. “Here goes nothing,” she said, flashing a grin at Rainbow. “Gimme a kiss for good luck?”
“Who needs luck when they’re you?” Rainbow asked, but she leaned in and offered her lips anyway. The two kissed and parted after two seconds, and Rainbow pressed her wing against Lightning’s.
“Ah, you got me. I just really wanted a kiss before I go,” she said with a wink. Then, spreading her wings, she flew off to the tarmac, her heart light and fluttering.
As soon as she touched down in front of the judges, she snapped to attention and waited. Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot glanced at each other, but ultimately it was Spitfire who leaned in. “So, Lightning Dust. You’re back. I wasn’t sure if we’d see you again after the incident at the academy.”
Lightning took a deep breath to steady her voice. “I wasn’t sure I’d ever be back, ma’am. I have Rainbow Dash to thank for getting me here today.”
“So we’ve heard, so we’ve heard.” Examining her papers, Spitfire brushed them aside after a second and leaned back in her chair. “I remember your first tryout three years ago. You were a wicked good flier back then. If that same flier’s still in you, then this should be a breeze.”
“She’s not, ma’am,” Lightning said, making Spitfire raise an eyebrow. A second later, she added with a cocksure smile, “She got better.”
Spitfire chuckled. “Been awhile since I’ve trained somepony with your dedication, Lightning. But enough standing around.” She picked up her pen in her wingtip and set it on the paper in front of her. “You know the course already. Get it done.”
Saluting, Lighting turned around and trotted over to the center stripe painted on the landing strip. She spread her wings, plotted out her flight path in her mind, and stretched her wingtips out as far to her sides as they could go. She knew this course by heart; she’d flown it so many times with Rainbow at her side. She could probably do the whole thing with her eyes closed.
Taking a deep breath, she looked off to the side one more time. Her eyes locked on the colorful blue mare standing just in front of the tent, watching her with a proud smile. When they made eye contact, Rainbow winked at her and mouthed something from across the field.
Get it done.
That was all she needed. Goggles down and chin held high, Lightning Dust aligned herself with the first ring of the first loop. Now was her time. A time she never thought she’d have until her marefriend led he back to where she belonged. She was no weathermare. She was a stunt flier. And nothing was going to stop her from chasing that dream.
Wings extended, Lightning swung them down with every ounce of strength in her body…
…And she flashed into the sky.
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Ah that was nice. They make a good ship
This was a good story, no holds barred. I admit, I've always wanted to see what become of Lightning, if she grew up and moved on or is still nursing a grudge. I doubt we'll ever find out, but it's nice to ponder over at times.
The name of this fic alone is brilliant and inspired, safe to say I'll be reading it soon.
AAIQU
I've always had a soft spot for Lightning Dust, and stories popping up promising a redemption (and romance!) always catch my eye.
I'm happy I clicked on this one in particular, though. It was sweet, playful with the romance and interactions between Rainbow and Lightning, and, most importantly, fun. Part of me kind of wants the fight in the first chapter to have been longer, but at the same time I quite liked how, despite everything, Lightning still held Rainbow in high regard as her equal. That respect didn't really disappear, and it played out nicely over the story.
A shorter story, but wonderfully told. Rainbow and Lightning were delightful to read. I specifically liked some of the little details, like Rainbow being small enough that she had to lean up to kiss Lightning towards the end. I'm also a fan of this pair together the way you portrayed them, and want to see more in the future.
A very nice read before turning in for bed near the end of the week. Thank you for writing it.
I would have upvoted this merely for that amazingly awful pun of a title. Good thing the fic was a nice read too.
Always awesome to see more Lightning Dust / best pony
And holy shit man this is beautiful, nice damn work
Popping down before even opening the first page to praise the title. It's punny, yet poignant.
Dashes to Dashes, Dust to Dust
If these two were anthro, they'd both have big butts.
Got to say, I always liked Lightning Dust even if the episode did a poor job of the mare. Rainbow Dash 2.0 really needs more love. I will read this and get back to you in 45 minutes as that will be how long it takes to read it.
And now that I read it, it was just as great as it looked. Dash parings and pegasi parings in general are a soft spot of mine. Most of my favorites are pegasi after all and I am very fond of Dash ships, gay or otherwise. This was cute, sweet and wonderful. I just wish it was a little longer but I guess this works too! This was a great story
I enjoyed this quite a lot. The shipping was nice, and the Lightning Dust rehabilitation by Dash finding her and helping her pick herself back up was great.
Great story! I was pleasantly surprised by it. I like how you handled Lightning Dust, and it flows really well. I featured it on episode 186 of my podcast, Pony 411!
That. Title.
I can sort of see that you just HAD to use it once the thought entered your mind, but come on that's awful! Nice story though, even though the end felt a little sudden.
8265372 Your comment and avatar go amazingly well together =D
This was a nice read! The romance didn't feel forced or too sudden. Their relationship felt in character, as in not too sappy, but still loving. Nicely done, thank you for writing it!
Rainbow Dash does have a tendency to leave debtis in her wake. Good to see her take the time help a chunk out when she comes back across it.
This was solid feel-good storytelling with excellently organic and emergent romance. Great work overall. Thank you for it, and best of luck in the judging.
Not a bad conclusion to the tale. I hope that this does well in the competition because iI enjoyed it immensely. Subtlety is an art form, and you made a masterpiece of it.
Awesome story.
First off, I want to say how fundamentally mature this fic is. There's no wasting time on Lightning Dust angsting out or Rainbow Dash being torn up or the two getting into a spat or fight over the events of Wonderbolt Academy. Instead, LD goes off, RD accepts what happened and makes LD an offer, and LD accepts. The path this fic could have taken would have choked off a lot of oxygen, so it's good that it moves past that quickly.
For the rest of the fic, I much enjoyed the first three and a half chapters, as it was easy to see Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash reconcile, bond, and play off one another. Dust is the type of pony that Dash needs to be able to compare herself to and egg herself on to be even better at what she does. Their friendship moments are great in these chapters. I can tell their platonic friendship is building into something more after that, but I feel the end of chapter 4 suddenly rushes things fast-forward in order to meet a deadline. In-verse, they've spent the better part of four seasons together, but for us as readers, there's truly not that much word cout to really make that notion click for us, so it feels rushed hard.
I‘ve been reading this story a lot lately, kinda makes up for the incredible disappointing Lighting Dust episode this season.
I'm gonna give this one a thumbs up because I genuinely enjoyed reading it and there are some things you did great, but I can't really favorite this one.
Your writing, grammatically and structurally, is amazing in every level of detail and emotion. I can perfectly see every scene before me. You also did dialogue incredibly well, and your depiction of Lightning is not only believable, but pretty much spot on: close enough to canon to be instantly recognizable, yet I can believe her changing her personality over time. And the romance, as it is, progresses fairly well.
That being said, there are a few problems I have with this story. Probably the biggest issue is the length of the story: it feels...compressed is the best word I can come up with. There's not much substance to the story, and it's lacking a real conflict, rising tension, or climax. That's not a bad thing per se, but it does make the story kind of dull.
Also, the initial conflict between Lightning and Rainbow was resolved awful fast, I feel. Lightning seemed to quick to let go of her resentment and Rainbow too quick to forgive her. Plus, why is Rainbow apologizing? She did very little wrong, if anything in that ep, and apologizing to Lightning is honestly the wrong course of action here, since it affirms what she did instead of making it clear that it was wrong. I think if this story was longer (like, twice as long) to more properly develop the plot, it'd go into great instead of merely good territory.
Still, it was an enjoyable read and a well-executed concept. Good job!
I await a complete description of the test.