Washout For Your Feelings

by Beakwood

Outta Mind, Outta Sight

"But I didn't do it on purpose!"

"Are we supposed to believe that? We saw you flying at him!"

"I thought he was going to stop!"

"Since when is that even a thing Rainbow?! You don't fly into a pegasus flight path and expects them to instantly stop midair! Do you even understand physics?!"

"Of course I do! I'm always on shape!"

Cloud Kicker stared at the cyan mare in utter disbelief. Her sanity and patience already being tested after being informed by Cloud Chaser of Rainbow's suicidal pull in front Thunderlane's flight path. Needless to say that Rainbow got into a heated argument right away, but the stallion vanished after the infuriated mare was confronted by other weather ponies.

Cloud Chaser and Blossomforth saw the event unfold, both were already watching Thunderlane as the stallion was racing through the town after Lightning Dust. The mares had no idea why both ponies were flying so low and so fast, but whatever confusion they had was replaced by shock and indignation as Rainbow decided to park herself right in front of the stallion.

"Look, I will pretend I didn't hear that, and you are explaining me why you even would do such thing." Kicker replied, her voice edging on a dangerous tone. "And you better don't lie to me."

"Like she wouldn't." Said Chaser all of sudden, sound bitter and exhausted. "Always the same Rainbow Dash, making trouble without thinking afterwards. I honestly don't know how Thunderlane manages to put up with you till this day."

"It's not my-

"What?! Not your fault?! Really? Again?! How many times we had to hear Twilight pull up excuses for all the damages you caused these last years?! You saved less ponies than you endangered them Rainbow Dash! And no, being an element doesn't count. You *helped* Twilight along others to save Equestria, not like you had much of a choice. Anypony in your place wouldn't. Because not helping them would've meant letting Equestria to be destroyed, and since you live here that's not a desirable option!"

"That's not fair Kicks..."

Cloud Kicker paused. She immediately recognized the strain in Rainbow's voice, a very familiar one that could be used as a sign that Rainbow Dash was about to break.

Kicker sighed. Despite all the headaches and misunderstandings she saw Rainbow Dash as some sort of younger sister. Sure, an incredibly naive and stubborn sister, who often went around blaming the world for the few occasions she committed mistakes or failed somehow. Yet, Cloud Kicker couldn't bring herself to ever dislike Dash, the cyan mare may have her head above the clouds but her heart was always in the right place.

"I don't wanna upset you or anything but, Rainbow Dash for the love of... well, whatever matters to you out there, you need to stop being the way you are. What I mean by that is.... well, it's about time you quit whining so much and behave more like an adult."

Rainbow's reaction was predictable, Kicker was already expecting Dash to become defensive almost immediately.

"But I am! Why do you say that?! What gives Kicker?! You never talked like this before!"

"I didn't because you were younger! That's why! Yet, after seven damn years you still behave like a filly!" Kicker snapped in return, her patience running thin. " You know what? I know what's going on with you and Thunderlane, but I can spare you the embarrassment, since we are still friends."

Rainbow flinched at her words, they sounded like a warning and that scared Dash a bit.

"Chaser, Blossom, leave. I gotta talk with Rainbow in private." Kicker said with a tone that left no room for argument.

Both mares left as they were told, fully aware that arguing with a moody Cloud Kicker was far from being a sane thing to do. Rainbow watched with a sense of dread as she found herself alone, standing on a particular small puffy cloud that she shared with her upset friend.

"Rainbow, do you know why I fired you from the Weather team?"

The sudden question caught the other mare by surprise. Rainbow Dash wouldn't forget the day that Cloud Kicker chased after her, yelled and complained spontaneously about Dash's lack of commitment and disregard for her colleagues, and above all, how dismayed she was from seeing Rainbow going for a teaching career that she had zero qualifications to perform.

Kicker spit painful truths that day and they still stung. Rainbow Dash knew the main reason Kicker got so upset was because they had this unspoken belief they would always watch over Ponyville together, something they harbored for almost a decade, but Rainbow simply abandoned the team without any reasonable explanation. The fact Kicker had no choice but to be the one to fire her best friend was just too much for her to keep a level head.

And Rainbow Dash knew it was her own fault.

"Since you have no answer I will start it for you." The blonde said, looking slightly less angry at this point. "As you know we have to do constant reports on the team's activities for each week, organize them properly and report to HQ as soon as possible. Naturally your lack of.... let's say, presence forced me to report your multiple absences to work. So imagine how Mayweather, who you know very well how uptight she is with those things, reacted to your monthly infractions."

Rainbow felt like she just got hoofed in the gut. Mayweather was the most organized and demanding Weather manager to ever take place since the creation of the very same. She has thin tolerance for mistakes and underperforming members. She was the main reason Dash herself freaked out when misplacing previous papers for dispatches and delivery incomes.

If Mayweather, who knew Rainbow Dash personally, thought she deserved to be dismissed, then Dash couldn't blame Cloud Kicker for following orders from the higher chain of command.

But only then Rainbow Dash realized how much Kicker was hurt by being forced to do this. To fire her best friend from a lifetime job that both of them cherished so much, simply because Rainbow overloaded herself with other jobs and projects that were completely unnecessary.

"Kicks, I..." Rainbow Dash didn't know what to say. Would an apology even matter at this point?

Kicker saw Rainbow's attempt of a meek apology, but she wasn't sure she would even care about that.

"Rainbow, I do not want your apologies. I want you to change! Even if it's just a bit. You have your insecurities, fine, whatever. Still it doesn't excuse you from doing the most absolutely stupid and insensitive things! I like you because you're tough and straight to the point, but sometimes you just don't seem to get the mood of things. Gilda and Lightning weren't the only ones you had a fallout with. Remember Clear Skies? Sunny Rays? Hefty Wind? Compass Star? Bright Leaf?"

"Bright was a jerk." Rainbow muttered under her breath.

"Oh, yeah? How funny is that?!" Kicker immediately replied with a touch of irony mixed with frustration. " You said the same thing every time you had a problem with somepony or, in Gilda's case, a griffon. Unless they are cool to you they are jerks otherwise! Is that how the world works for you?! Remember Quibble?"

Rainbow Dash was struggling to respond, the way Kicker was going out on her was digging deep into her head and her feelings, especially because it was hurting to admit that the blonde had a lot of truth going for her words.

"You told me the whole thing Rainbow! You thought Quibble was nice because you two love Daring Do, but as soon he disagrees with you on something you just decide he isn't worth your time! Grow the fuck up already!"

Rainbow flinched hard, mostly due the way Kicker raised her voice at the end than the colorful words she used.

The blonde was breathing heavily, lashing out on Rainbow Dash after so many years of frustrations was starting to get the worst of her. Kicker didn't mean for things to go like this, but she simply had no real reason to believe Rainbow Dash would ever become a better pony, especially by how bad Dash regressed on her behavior as of late.

Rainbow, whose head was downwards, her eyes boring holes through the cloud in utter shame, suddenly perked up as she heard a sniffle coming from her partner. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized that Cloud Kicker, for the first time she would always remember, was actually crying in despair.

Rainbow Dash felt as if her soul left her body at that very instant. She was fully aware this wouldn't be happing if not for her actions.

"I- I love you l-like a sister Dash... and... you just keep breaking my heart... you say awful things, to ponies I also care about... that you should care about... and you act like it's nothing..."

Rainbow Dash couldn't reply, she was just too scared to say anything at this point.

"And... you go and play hero, b-but then put us in danger for no good reason. You almost killed yourself during one winter. I-if not for..."

Cloud Kicker paused, closing her eyes forcefully, deep intakes of breath following her sudden stillness.

" I could forgive many things." Kicker said, her voice changing from the wavering to a cold and indifferent one. "But I won't ever forgive the way you treated a pony that saved you from drowning. The way you've been treating him to this day."

Rainbow Dash felt her face growing hot by the second, every word coming from Kicker hurting more than the other, and the fact she was bringing that particular incident into light again was just too much for Dash to bear with. Not soon after tears followed, gently caressing her fur as they made their way towards the world beneath.

Then Cloud Kicker, ignoring the mess on Rainbow's face, decided to say something that she wouldn't ever forget.

"Friendship isn't magic. The feeling of being friends and sharing experiences is what might make you think it's somewhat magical. Yet, the road to get that far is complicated, for some the roads might be short, for others it might be long, and for some it's not even a road but rather a busy street, in which several things go across, either good or bad. You can choose which side you wanna go, but you will never know what's at the end of it, that's why you need somepony at your side to help you to reach the end and go back if necessary. You might not get along with your companions, but if you give them the proper value you won't ever find yourself alone in your next journey. The roads and streets are filled with strangers and adventures, but they won't stay at your side if you ignore them, nor help you find your way to the end or back to the start. And the way I see your road Rainbow... the further you go, the more deserted it gets."

Kicker slowly raised on her fours, her wings slowly unfolding as she prepared to leave.

"Friendship is magic... " She uttered to herself slowly. " There's a bit of truth on that, but it isn't a proper definition, not that there is just one anyways. There are many forms of friendship, but they can viewed in different ways by different ponies or other creatures. I understand that the Elements of Harmony have some of its characteristics. Kindness, love, virtue, sympathy, empathy, honesty, altruism..." Kicker paused, giving Rainbow a sideways glance. "Loyalty, generosity, and perhaps one that I feel Twilight is more in common with, forgiveness. Which, if I had to be honest Rainbow, you would do well to understand more about empathy and forgiveness. You already failed a fair amount of times at your supposed loyalty."

Rainbow remained silent, incapable of forming any response or have the will to do so. Kicker sighed, she had nothing else to say and it would be up to Rainbow to decide what she wanted to do with her life.

The blonde slowly turned around, her eyes glancing towards the town below, she deeply hoped she was making the right call.

"Let me know when you've decided to change a bit. Until then... I'm no longer your friend."

Cloud Kicker flew off, not daring to look back and regret it immediately.

Leaving a completely heartbroken pony behind.

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"What the fuck did you do?! Why you didn't wait!? What were you thinking?!"

Lightning Dust was not having a good afternoon.

The day had a great start, she enjoyed her time with Thunderlane, despite Rainbow Dash getting in the way once, but everything else was just too good to deny. Thunderlane actually put good effort on giving her a good time and, despite her whining, seemed genuinely happy at how things turned out, although Lightning committed herself to train him more throughly.

But now?

Her time spent with Thunderlane made her forget about her final presentation of the season, and since Lightning was thirty minutes late Rolling and Shorty decided to start without her.

Which was a near fatal mistake.

Lightning Dust spent weeks redesigning the courses, not only for the sake of safety, but so each of her teammates could perform them accordingly to their limitations. Shorty has his own flight path and designed tasks that could be executed for somepony of his specific height, just as Rolling had hers. The size difference among the three, aside weight and speed, proved to be challenging for Lightning to adapt.

Under no circumstances they were allowed to do somepony's else job. Yet, Rolling, being more daring than Lightning Dust would ever dare, decided to perform the role of her captain for the sake of saving time.

Needless to say, Lightning's flight course was not designed for a taller pony than Lightning herself. That weight difference was a major factor that inflicted a nasty injury on one of Rolling's hind legs.

Rolling came out of the Crushinator by an inch, but one of the spikes caught on her leg on the way out, this happened due Rolling's legs being considerably longer than Lightning's. The wound was bleeding profusely by the time Lightning reached the barracks.

Rolling Thunder is lucky she still has her leg.

"Well, whadda ya know?! Finally gettin caught with us, eh? Missed quite the show cap." Rolling replied, completely ignoring Lightning's infuriated expression. " Ah can say we did pretty woosh for this last-

"Are you fucking drunk?" Lightning cut her abruptly. "What's this bullshit?! You wanted to die?! Is that what you want?!"

Both Shorty and Rolling stared in shock at their captain. They knew Lightning well enough to know well she was actually angry, but they slowly realized that some sort of line has been crossed.

A line they thought never existed.

"I told you both several times to not do this crap!! DO NOT DO OTHER'S JOB!! You think I was just being overdramatic or something?! I spent several days working my ass through these fucking death traps so you both fucking lunatics can fly through them without being torn into pieces!!! Or you think that seeing your guts all over the place would make for a good show?!"

Rolling's ears folded back, her gaze lowering towards the ground. She did not expect this kind of reaction. Sure, they hurted themselves before but they always brushed it off as part of the job. But seeing Lightning losing it like that made her realize that she wasn't taking her job as serious as she should. Rolling could tell that Shorty wasn't feeling great either, the fact that the tempered stallion was completely quiet spoke volumes about the severity of what they have done.

"I don't care how good of a flyer you are!! You can't just do whatever and think it will be fine!! I may do crazy shit Rolling, but I don't feel like getting myself killed for no fucking reason!! Spitfire has no idea how we do our job and yet she likes to talk shit to me about danger!! I'm well aware of what's gonna happen if something goes wrong, which is why I lose so much sleep the days before every fucking show!! I care more than any of you think!! Now do me a favor and don't waste my fucking time doing stupid shit like this again!!"

Lightning took a deep breath, her lungs were aching and her throat was starting to feel extremely sore. She couldn't recall ever yelling so much in her life before, it wasn't her thing to yell at others.

"I was late? Yes, I was, fucking me forgot about the show. Forgive me if I was spending some time with my special somepony. Yes, I call him that Shorty." Dust added as a response to the stallion's eyebrow raise. "But you couldn't wait forty fucking minutes!! Who cares if we start late?! It's not the first time we are late and won't be the last. We are meant to be fast, but going fast without a plan is nothing but stupid rushing!"

Dust wanted to yell more, but she couldn't. She had said enough. Her head was aching, she desperately needed to go away and cool off somewhere.

And only one place came to mind.

"I'm outta here. Don't bother going after me for anything! Show's over. Give their money back if you have to, I don't care. Get everything set and go home or whatever. Maybe you will realize how much you have to live for."

Lightning trotted towards the exit with a furious pace. She saw few ponies gathering around the barracks, probably wondering what happened with the wounded Washout.

"She will be fine. No, no more questions. The show's over. Dunno, ask the staff, it's not up to me to- JUST GET OUTTA MY WAY!!"

She didn't ever bothered to wait for a clearance, immediately taking off and shoving few ponies aside with surprising ease. Lightning ignored their shouts of protest, she had enough of dealing with crowds for this year.

It would be night soon in a few hours, she realized she hadn't planned a place to stay over the night. The barracks usually would accommodate the team but they would be long gone by the end of the day.

'Great, gotta ask Thunder a place to stay.'

She couldn't shake the terrible thoughts of what happened from her mind. If anything really bad happened, Lightning knew it would be her fault. Unlike what happened back at the Academy, she would have to take responsibility over whatever happens with her teammates. Still, nothing was stoping her from hating Rolling for not listening to her and Shorty for not saying anything on the matter.

'Is this how Thunderlane felt? But instead of anger and frustration he felt afraid and desperate? I just lashed out at them because of a nasty injury, but if something worse happened...'

Lightning felt guilty for thinking that Thunderlane overreacted on the first show. He feels so strongly for her, and after all the loss endured in his life, she couldn't just think of him as being oversensitive.

'Maybe he's got a point. This stuff won't last forever. I won't last forever doing this... I just hope this talk with McFly goes well. I don't think I will be able to go along with my team like this any longer.'

"Huh, excuse me?"

Lightning paused her wing flaps momentarily. A familiar voice caught her by surprise. Who actually followed her across the sky?

She craned her neck around, spotting a pegasus right nearby her. Except it quite wasn't.

"Princess Twilight? Why ya here?" Dust blurted out, astonished this particular mare followed after her.

Twilight smiled sheepishly, her wings adjusting to Lightning's more demanding speed. She was doing surprisingly well on her flight coordination, at least in Dust's opinion.

"Well, I just happened to be at the show, which was great! I might add. Even if one of your teammates got injured, I couldn't help but be concerned that you weren't present during the event. I decided to, huh, understand what was happening but I only got in time to see you flying off rather abruptly." Twilight explained, slowing her words towards the end, indicating she expected some answers.

Lightning sighed. Being interrogated by a princess wasn't on her 'to do' list. Not that Lightning even bothered with having lists.

"Look, I have rules when it comes to this job. They didn't follow it and they got hurt. I got really mad with them because of it. Now I just want to go somewhere to relax and work my head around it. I don't feel like talking for too long, if ya see where I'm getting at."

Twilight nodded thoughtfully. The silence that followed annoyed Dust. Why was Twilight still flying near her?

"Princess, don't ya have stuff to do? I will be heading to my, huh, special somepony's house, so..."

Twilight blinked, suddenly realizing she was indeed still following Lightning.

"Oh, right, right. Silly me, it's just...."

"What? Spit it out, I ain't gonna judge ya."

Twilight chuckled. Lightning reminded her of Rainbow Dash with that particular line.

"It's... I have been dealing with a lot in regards to Rainbow Dash."

Lightning groaned.

"Look, Prin- ah, screw it. Twilight, I really don't wanna talk about Rainbow Dash, my head is not in the right place right now." Dust complained, shutting her eyes as her headache intensified.

"I'm sorry. It's just... I don't know who to talk about this anymore. I was hopeful that you coul-

"Why me? Do you honestly think I would want to talk about a pony that backstabbed me? I don't hate her, but I don't wanna see her face either."

"I understand... do you know somepony else then?"

"Not a pony Twilight."

Another familiar voice entered the conversation, but Lightning didn't even bother to check, she kept her half lidded eyes looking towards the houses below. Dust just wanted to land, at least that sounded better than telling the princess to fuck off.

"Cloud Kicker? What you're doing here?" Twilight asked. Lightning noticed a strain on her voice that wasn't there before. Dust couldn't do nothing but smirk deviously.

'Damn Kicker, you tried to swoon the princess before?'

"Oh, just trying to get my mind outta trouble. The usual." Kicker replied, a forced smile on her face. "Fancy finding you two here."

'I would find fancy if you two crashed and left me alone.' Dust thought bitterly.

"What problem would that be?" Twilight asked in curiosity.

"If you really wanna know." Cloud Kicker saud rather dramatically. "It's Rainbow Dash."

"For fuck sake." Muttered Lightning. Twilight gasped.

"Lightning Dust! Language please!" She scolded the Washout captain, looking flustered all of sudden.

Lightning almost, almost, replied Twilight with a 'fuck you', but then Lightning had enough problems and making a princess angry wasn't one she wanted to add.

"Yeah, I rather spare Dust of trouble." Kicker replied, failing miserably at hidding her giggles. "How about we go somewhere else Twi? My treat."

Twilight gave Kicker an unimpressed look in return.

"Actually I need to talk with Thunderlane."

Lightning instantaneously halted on the air. What was this sudden crazy talk?

"May I ask why?" Lightning asked, tired and upset at this change of events.

Twilight bit her cheek, she glanced between Kicker and Dust, clearly apprehensive.

"I shouldn't say this to anypony at all, but you two are fairly close to him from what I heard."

"Huh, yeah. No doubt, but what is this all about?" Kicker asked, sounding agitated at whatever information Twilight was keeping guarded.

"Well, this might sound strange but... it's about his mother."

Author's Note:

Yo, another update.
I'm reworking pre written chapters to accommodate an extra event, which might explain a bit of delay.

And my laziness too.

Comments

[WARGAMES]

It’s back! Yay

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

Solid work as always. Though it needs an editing pass, mainly just for some minor stuff, no real major typos.