Washout For Your Feelings

by Beakwood

Inflaming Resolve

"Well, that went pretty nicely."

"Ya joking? That was awful! Now I gotta deal with Shorty and Rolling's attitude about this shit. Also, the whole thing about being their new course designer wasn't my idea! The heck they expect me to do? Everything?!"

Thunderlane could understand her frustration a bit. Sure, McFly and the other seniors talked about Lightning being in charge of setting the new designs, event schedules and training routines. She will have complete access to all the installations of the Academy, not to mention staff at her disposal. Although this would mean that the Washouts and Wonderbolts would be now practicing together, or far closer than anypony would've expected. Spitfire was muted through the entire talk, but the stallion could tell she looked absolutely devastated by the ordeal. Had it been any other pony he would've felt bad for her, but Spitfire hadn't done much to gain his sympathies.

"Dusty, they know... well, McFly and most of the Wonderbolts, they do know they can trust on you to help them out of this situation. There's finally something for us to look forward, don't think you will be doing all of this by yourself, we will help you."

"Urgh, there you go being all mellow and whatnot with me. Fiiiiine, I will do their tracks, if only cause I will get a good pay out of it, but it's going to be a pain to set so many individual courses, there's just way more Wonderbolts than I thought, that and the ones who joined my team."

"You mean, our team?"

Lightning blinked, her attention wandering back to the stallion trotting at her side as both made their way towards the recreation room. She had actually forgotten for a moment that Thunderlane dropped the Wonderbolts to join her cause, to which she was very surprised and extremely flustered about. She wasn't sure why he did it though, the stallion was often worried about her getting hurt by her intense stunts career, but it seems he decided to leave that worry aside for the moment.

"Look, let's just get out of here. I don't want t-

"Hey! Dusty!" A excited voice called from not very far away, one that Thunderlane had no problem recognizing. Also, judging by the way Lightning's face contorted in pure anger, he could tell she is also very familiar with that voice.

Lightning turned around reluctantly to face the stallion trotting their way, followed by a timid mare at his side. Both of them displaying completely different expressions as they made their way towards the other duo.

"Should've know I would find your sorry ass around this parts, what do you want?" Dust asked coolly. Sky Stinger scrunched his muzzle, looking mildly disappointed at the reception he's receiving.

"Awww, Dusty! That's no way to greet your cousin like that! You were always my favorite one of the family!" He replied, looking somewhat anxious for whatever reason. An unusual sight in Thunderlane's opinion. Sky Stinger was one of these stallions who thought very highly of himself, even after the embarrassment he went through during the Academy trials. Vapor Trail stood quietly at his side, looking nowhere to be comfortable with Lightning's presence. "Say, haven't seen you in quite some time."

"Yeah, ever since you rejected my offer of joining my team. Apparently you were decent enough to join the Wonderbolts." Lightning replied, looking extremely pissed off with that particular past event. "You were an absolute garbage flyer, yet I was willing to give you a chance and you just tossed it in my face. Enjoy the shithole Spitfire will keep putting you into, not like I care anymore."

"Wow, wow, wow, easy there!" Sky said, waving a hoof her way, looking torn between guilt and indignation. "I wasn't a 'garbage flyer' as you put! I'm a great flyer! And... well, I really was glad you asked me, but... I wanted to try the Wonderbolts, it was something I dreamed of since I-we were little foals." He replied sheepishly. Dust merely snorted.

"You mean your dream, you were almost a young colt already. I was barely getting my first flaps. Don't give me the sentimental crap. I wanted to join the Wonderbolts later on cause it was the greatest challenge I could face, where I knew I would find the best of the best. A place where I could find flying partners that weren't as pitiful as you were." Lightning narrowed her eyes towards the muted Vapor Trail. "Or you think I never noticed what she was doing behind your back? Only you could be such a dumbass to not realize it."

"Leave her out of this Dust." Sky quickly replied, looking annoyed for once. Lightning raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, getting defensive? I guess you two finally decided to get mushy with each other. Congrats, now piss off."

"Lightning, is this your cousin?" Thunderlane interrupted, looking at the mare with disapproval. Dust returned the attention back at him with a deadpanned expression. "I remember you mentioning him few days ago."

"So what if he is? I don't really care! I asked him one fucking favor during all the time I known him and he simply turned me down!"

"What does that matter?"

"W-what?!"

Lightning stared at the dark coated stallion with incredulity, noticing for the first time that Thunderlane wasn't really siding with her in this particular affair. Even Sky Stinger seemed somewhat surprised that the other stallion was confronting his cousin.

"I asked, what does it matter? He's your family." Thunderlane replied, looking slightly annoyed with Dust's disregard on that obvious fact. "You shouldn't throw away the very few of what family you have, you won't know how difficult it is until you have nopony left."

"I have plenty of folks in my family tree, don't you worry about it." Lightning retorted, glaring at Thunderlane before shifting her attention back at her cousin. "I don't need you for anything, go play Wonderbolt cadet somewhere else. I don't give a fuck about anything you have to say Stinger. I needed you and you turned your back on me, get the fuck out of my life!"

With that the turquoise mare merely turned around and trotted away from the group, her hooves hitting the ground with unnecessary strength. Thunderlane sighed, looking back the due apologetically.

"Sorry, I don't think I will get her to look past whatever happened between you two."

"It's alright." Sky replied, although the defeated expression on his face told otherwise. "I understand why she's upset, I just didn't think that me not joining would've hurt her so much. Lightning was never the kind of pony to show any appreciation for anypony else in the family. Well... not that I blame her, her parents were-

Sky Stinger cut himself short, seemingly upset at himself for getting into something that was not his business to talk about. Thunderlane took notice of his slip, but he preferred to ignore it.

"I better get going, see you around Lane, let's go Vapor." The azure stallion called towards the silent mare. Vapor quickly followed after him, looking too frightened to even look at Thunderlane.

Thunderlane sighed heavily, fully aware that he was now in Lightning's bad side after trying to speak in Sky's defense. He trotted back to the entrance, knowing that Lightning would be waiting for him to say his goodbyes to the cousin she despises.

His eyes narrowed as he went by the exit, the glare of the sun was intense and rather bothersome. As soon he felt the contact of sunlight on his fur he felt his body temperature rise at a rapid pace, a rather annoying outcome due his coat color. He indeed found Lightning waiting for him outside, her eyes following a pair of Wonderbolt members that were practicing over a field nearby. She watched the pair fly around, her attention unwavering even as Thunderlane came to her side, following the same pair with slight curiosity.

"It's kinda weird, ya know..."

Thunderlane glanced at his side, Lightning was sounding unlike herself and the stallion could tell she was about to get into one of these moments when she would say something she normally wouldn't. A very rare occurrence.

"I always thought about becoming a Wonderbolt, yeah, perhaps I even got a bit obsessed with it. But I don't think I would ever call it a dream. Maybe because I knew I could do it. It wasn't just something that was possible but unlikely to happen, I knew I would get there." At this a sad smile grew on her face, her eyes finding Thunder's. "And I didn't. I... I know I screwed up, but... I now know things could've been different if I had somepony I could trust. Somepony that wouldn't betray me like they did."

Unsure of how to reply, Thunderlane decided to dig in a bit further.

"They?" Lightning sighed heavily, looking tired all of sudden.

"Sky, Rainbow, Spitfire, my... 'family'." She strained the last word like it was a curse. "I believed in them, and all I got was a knife on the back, although with the family thing it was quite literal." She commented a bit too calmly. Thunderlane's eyes widened at that last part.

"What?!"

"Don't worry, just things in the past. Besides, not that it matters, they're both long and gone, good riddance."

Thunderlane stood speechless, looking at Lightning with extreme amounts of concern. What could have possibly her family done to her for Dust to be uncaring of their demise?

"So, as I was saying." Dust continued, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the way Thunderlane was looking at her. "I guess I wanted to be a Wonderbolt, but it was never a matter of accomplishing something, just felt like it was something I would do eventually. Now? Heh, I don't know anymore what I really want, well... aside you."

A cheeky smile played on her face, which made the stallion grow very hot in a matter of seconds.

"Oh, hmm, yeah. I... say... is there anything else you want to do for the day?" He replied while trying his best to not fumble over his own words. Dust merely chuckled at seeing how easily flustered the stallion became.

"Actually, yes. But something we could do at night." She replied, growing also a few shades of red on her face. Thunderlane immediately caught onto what was being implied.

"Huuuuuuuuuh. A-Already?" He asked, looking very unsure.

"What? Ya want to wait until we get married or something?" She replied back humorously. Although something in her voice sounded a bit like a warning.

"No, no, no. Not at all. I just... wasn't expecting it to be... today."

"Yeah, but not at your house. I'm well aware that Rumble still sleeps there." She continued, not looking slightly hesitant about the ordeal. "So, is there anything else ya have to do here? I'm ready to fly off. I don't feel like coming back here until the new season starts. Besides, winter is just around the corner, I wouldn't mind getting to travel somewhere that didn't involve business."

Thunderlane nodded, still too perplexed to think properly. His mind was racing all over the place at the perspective of getting that close with the mare. It was hard to believe somepony like her would be willing to do such with him, he was nowhere as well built as many other Wonderbolts, or even that much of a popular name around Equestria. Sure, they have been dating very shortly, but they weren't exactly that young to be worried about screwing things up for themselves. Lightning has a bit of a temper at times, but she usually would remain cool with him despite certain events that frustrated her to no end. He could only guess that the amount of stress was finally getting to her and she needed to let out some steam for once.

"Speaking of traveling," Thunderlane started distractedly. "You might wanna look after that whole griffon deal you were talking about again. Th-

"You mean, the one you were talking about? I wasn't really thinking about it that much." Lightning interrupted with a raise of an eyebrow. "Also, I rather not do anything until after Hearts Warming. I'm spent from this season, I need a break, and so do ya."

Thunderlane couldn't help but nod sheepishly. Lightning was entirely right, the season was over and now it was time to get ready for the peak of winter and the festivities. Still, it wouldn't hurt to let Dust know better beforehoof.

"True, that's what we will do from now on, but it doesn't mean you couldn't do without some info. I heard there's some really good flyers at Griffonstone, but if you want to get any hopes of them joining the team you will have to talk with them personally. When it's about work and stuff I don't think griffons really like receiving a bunch of letters trying to win them over. At least that's much I know of from what Rainbow has been saying the few times she mentioned Gilda."

"Speaking of that, how often does Rainbow visit Gilda? I guess they must be close friends." Lightning asked, looking slightly curious. Thunderlane sighed despondently.

"Not much at all, or barely even. Not that it's any of their fault. It's just that they live really far away from each other."

"How far is Griffonstone?" Lightning immediately asked, to which Thunderlane could feel the apprehension on her voice.

"About two days on train, few hours of direct travel. If you're okay with flying over the Celestial Sea for that amount of time."

Lightning swore under her breath, the idea of being stuck on a train for two days was nowhere inviting for her. Yet, she wasn't sure if it would take hours on direct travel.

"Hours? Maybe if whoever timed that was a real slowpoke. I bet I can do it in one or two." She said rather smugly. Thunderlane frowned at her.

"I don't doubt you can do it quick, but if anything goes wrong it's nothing but a fall to your death. There's nothing but dangerous waters in between Equestria and the other continent. You get a cramp or anything you might find yourself into some serious trouble getting anywhere."

Lightning, for once, seemed to easily acknowledge his concern for her safety. She had to admit he has good points, she wasn't really fond of the idea of risking falling into the ocean.

"Fine, train fucking ride it is. Crap, that will be boring. Are you coming with me though?" She quickly asked much to his surprise.

"Do I have to?"

"Of course, I need something to distract myself with." Her teasingly reply earned her an eye roll. "Oh, come on! It will be a lot better than going alone." Dust pleaded this time, to which he couldn't really say no.

"Okay, I'm going with you." Thunderlane said passively, before adding with a smirk. "If I get to be the lazy bum this night."

"Oh, fuck you! It's our first time!" She immediately complained much to Thunderlane's enjoyment.

"Okay, okay, I'm joking! Don't get so worked up!" He quickly tried to placate her between laughs. Dust huffed in annoyance, before her eyes shifted towards something coming their way.

"Well, fuck. Guess who's coming this way."

Thunderlane didn't bother guessing. There was only two ponies he knew that could make Lightning scrunch her face like the way she did. One was Stinger, which was very unlikely to dare approaching Dust again after the recent argument they had, which left only the most logical possibility left.

"So, huh, what brings you here Ca- huh, Spitfire?" The stallion asked, quickly correcting himself from an old habit.

Spitfire stood still a few paces away, her face completely devoid from any emotion, but she wasn't alone. At her sides were Soarin and Fleetfoot. Each of them carrying guarded expressions, although it was noticeable that Fleetfoot wasn't looking very happy to be there.

"What do you want? I'm pretty sure McFly already said what we needed to know." Lightning asked without looking at them directly, her words reminding of McFly's warning about the future need of both captains to be able to collaborate with each other, all grudges aside.

"That he did, but that's not why I'm here." Spitfire replied after a moment of hesitation. Her eyes shifted between Lightning and Thunder. "So... why did you refuse?"

Lightning frowned, unsure at what Spitfire was asking about. Feeling her confusion the mare clarified.

"The Wonderbolts. Why you refused his offer to join?" She asked. Soarin, who's attention had been slipping away for few seconds, looked at the duo more attentively. The stallion was very confused with all the events of the day and wished nothing more than end his shift and go home. Same could be said for Fleetfoot, although the mare was adamant about looking like she couldn't care less.

Dust wasn't sure she would even dignify the other mare with a response, but she could feel Thunder's glance on the back of her neck, he too was curious as the real reason for Lightning's refusal. It was his intention of helping Lightning to revive her chances on getting back into the bolts that brought them here in the first place.

"I refused because I had no reason to go back to a group of backstabbing a-holes."

Spitfire finally expressed something, and it was incredulity.

"How did I betray you? I was the drill instructor Dust, nothing else." She asked, sounding slightly exasperated. Lightning's reply caught her off guard completely.

"I looked up to you... a lot. And... I thought you were better than a pony that plays favorites."

Soarin winced, looking away for once. Fleetfoot only shrugged, not looking slightly surprised by what she just heard. Spitfire was left completely gobsmacked.

"I- what? When did I-

"Rainbow Dash?" This time Dust looked directly to face the other mare. Her eyes narrowed and a scowl on her muzzle that was impossible to miss. "And not just one, or two, but three times!" She accused.

"Oh, Oh! Tell us about each one!" Fleetfoot suggested eagerly, much to Spitfire's shock. The Wonderbolt captain looked at her friend with a mix of sadness and confusion.

"Fleet, don't make it worse." Soarin pleaded, sounding like he was struggling to remain at ease. Fleetfoot flipped him with one of her wings.

"Piss, I can say whatever I want, because it's fucking true. You were there Soarin, and you know exactly how that feels."

"Oh, right. The Rainbow Falls incident." Lightning said with a vengeful smirk on her face. To which Spitfire immediately understood what the mare was getting at. A cold shiver ran up her spine once she realized where Lightning would be taking the conversation through.

"Who told you that?"

"Thunderlane, who else? He was there too." Dust explained as if it was obvious. "But it's not like you would even bother with that, not since you had Rainbow Dash to snoop over and win, isn't that right? Now who's the fucking hypocrite?"

Spitfire remained silent, not really having anything to argue in her favor, knowing full well how bad things really went that day. A day that Soarin was still a bit sore about.

"I'm partially to blame too, since I helped to convince Dash to join the team." Fleetfoot admitted, looking very regretful about the ordeal. "We acted like complete jerks towards Soarin and it wasn't right. But... Rainbow kinda called us out on our bullshit. Honestly, I hadn't know about the Academy incident involving you Dusty, wish I had. Probably would've made me less of a prick later on. Well, most of the Wonderbolts are like that. So when we kick somepony cause they acted like a prick isn't really fair now, is it?" At this Fleetfoot looked at Spitfire, the mare returned the attention with a troubled expression. "Yeah, but it wasn't really the case with Rolling Thunder, she just didn't find us challenging enough. But Shorty? That was messed up Spitfire, it isn't his fault he has a condition. Dude is a pretty good flyer, you just couldn't have somepony yelling louder than you. I dunno what's your deal with yelling so much, but it's really annoying, especially when you yell at me and Soarin. He doesn't deserve the crap you give him."

Soarin closed his eyes, looking torn between agreeing and trying to justify Spitfire's behavior. Fleetfoot huffed once she realized that Soarin wasn't going to add anything to the conversation.

"Whatever, what's done is done and there's nothing to go back at now. Spitfire won't say it but we did fuck up big time. Yeah, she did play favorites with Rainbow Dash, a few more times than that Dash deserves to be fair. I guess the main reason we kept her is that she could, at times, get her head out of her own ass when things start to get out of hoof. Oh, and Thunderlane?"

"Huh, yeah?" The stallion asked, looking slightly scared by being mentioned. It was rare to see Fleetfoot this upset, and it was never a pleasant experience.

"Spitfire didn't pick you for shows cause she was always saving the newbie spot for Rainbow Dash."

Spitfire did look away this time, looking completely ashamed. She could feel the burning gaze of Thunderlane on her, not to mention Fleetfoot aswell.

"By the rules, and contract, all full members need to be in every show, but there's always a free spot for introducing new additions. Keep in mind that to be considered a full member you need to be in the active team for over two years. That being said, the choice for the vacant spot is always optional for any show. So she could've chosen you multiple times, but then..." Fleetfoot glared at Spitfire this time, looking very disappointed with her best friend. "... it's not like Spitfire would ever pick you over Rainbow Dash."

Lightning, surprisingly enough, burst out in full laughter. The others stared at her with surprise and incredulity. Thunderlane frowned even harder.

"And that's funny because?" He asked, feeling his temper rising quickly. Dust struggled to contain herself, a huge smile on her face that made no sense to anypony.

"I fucking knew it!" She exclaimed jubilant.

"Huh, knew what?" Fleetfoot asked, not sure if she understood the mare's triumphant behavior.

"Oh, what else? I got screwed up from the Academy because of Rainbow. A long time later I then learn many stories about other ponies, and even a griffon, that got screwed over by Rainbow. Now, I had to wonder, what was the reason that Thunderlane was getting screwed over with the Wonderbolts? Considering that he already has a past of getting screwed over by the same pony while he worked alongside said pony in the Weather Control team?" Lightning guessed aloud mockingly. "Well, who would've guessed that it had something to do with Rainbow fucking Dash?!"

"Lightning!" Thunderlane suddenly reprimanded, to which the mare quickly looked his way. "We talked. No more of this Rainbow stuff, you promised!"

Dust's sneer was all he got as a response before she turned away and took flight, leaving the stallion staring at the vacant spot she stood seconds ago.

Soarin, Fleetfoot and Spitfire looked at him with mixed expressions, unsure of what to say. Thunderlane sighed heavily, perhaps he shouldn't have called her out like that. This day was far from over.

"I better get going, take care. Oh, and..." Thunderlane looked at Spitfire, his eyes growing cold as he addressed his former captain. "...my father would've been disappointed with you. That much I'm sure of."

Author's Note:

Comments

[WARGAMES]

spitfire is a cockblock
that is all

[Bed Whisperer]

And this is the organization that Lightning Dust and co is supposed to work with.

Yeah.

[Omegafr]

You make my day with this, thank you and continu
You don't want to continu Losing make part of Winning ? i like a lot this story to.

[Beakwood]

10915020
I'm afraid not. I I had very unsavory 'attitudes ' in regards to that story.

[Omegafr]

10915035
That's not a big problem, just write what you want

[Shine Racer]

I'm late af commenting on this chapter because I haven't been on here in awhile. I'm glad you're still keeping it alive! We're still here for it bruh! Can't wait for the next chapter. :D

Ok this was a really good chapter and for pretty good reasons for me. Because for one you took the same idea as I always suspected of the wonderbolts, And that would be favoritism within the ranks of the team. And of course to no one's surprise it's because Spitfire was literally holding the spot for you guessed it Rainbow Dash. (Honestly she comes off as a kiss ass when it came to them, Like seriously I just get that vibe from her in this story.)

As for Spitfire? This chapter showed just how shady of an individual she really is for green lighting favoritism, And she's suppose to be the leader which means you're suppose to lead by example. And I like how her own best friend Fleetfoot ended up finally putting her in her place for her shit. (I always felt she was the one who would end up calling her out for the bs the others just come off as punks. No shade towards Soarin' and Rapidfire xD)

I wanna touch on Sky Stinger 'almost' mention why Lightning acts the way she does, And that's when he was about to mention her parents. 🤔 (Possible abuse? Verbally physically? It could be anything regarding them.) 🤔

And as for you Thunderlane... Would you just smash Dusty already?? Bruh she clearly wants it! xD (She's gonna keep bringing it up lol) Relieve some of that stress from her. 😂

[Beakwood]

10947294
:) Haha, true in all of that. I'm sorry for the delay, but I'm really struggling with writing for the past weeks, especially since I'm writing another story that's building on a 10k words chapter routine and I'm finding hard to adapt to this change. :(
This story is much easier for me to write, but time has not been kind or life itself. Yet, I'm willing to keep working with this as far as possible. Thanks for sticking around!