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Brace For Impact1,162 words
What's the Damage?2,164 words

What's the Damage?

Lightning Dust could hardly care that a very angry mare was staring down at her. She was still high off the endorphins rushing through her, a dopey grin on her face. “That was awesome…!” She said through a giggle, just a tiny bit out of it.

“Awesome? Awesome?! Come here!” Wrath dripped from her voice. In a flash she grabbed Lightning Dust’s flight suit, effortlessly pulling her up to eye level.

Lightning Dust yelped in surprise, her afterglow shattering as she was grabbed.

“You just destroyed my windmill, and wrecked my barn with that stupid rocket of yours! What do you have to say for yourself?!” She demanded.

Lightning Dust craned her head to look past her, seeing the rubble her rocket had created. She slowly inhaled through clenched teeth before turning back. “Ooh, uh, I’m sorry…?” She nervously offered with an unconvincing smile.

That only served to make the mare’s face grow angrier as she violently threw the pegasus to the ground.

When she landed she hit her head on a rock. Whatever was said next was lost as her vision began to blur and darken around the edges. Agh, my, my head! Oh sweet Celestia, I’m blacking out…!

Lightning Dust moaned as she slowly woke up. She opened her eyes and was greeted by the greyest room she’d ever seen.

Did I go colorblind or something? She raised her foreleg to rub her aching head, and seeing her bright fur immediately dispelled that notion.

Feeling bandages under her hoof, the recent events all rushed back to her at once. She’d been violently dragged away from her show on a rocket, crash-landed on a farm, been knocked unconscious by who she presumed was the farmer, now she was lying on a very uncomfortable bed.

Wait, I can see my foreleg? Where’s my flight suit? Lightning Dust sat up quickly, but she immediately regretted it as pain gripped her. It radiated through her sides, her back, and especially in-

“My wings!” Concerns for her flight suit left her mind as she forced herself to look back at them, despite her body protesting and pain flaring up in her back. There were missing feathers, and parts of them were wrapped in bandages.

They stung and a dull ache coursed through them. She looked herself over, seeing all sorts of small cuts and bruises along her body, and she grimaced at the number of bandages on her limbs.

But why does it only hurt now? I felt just fine when I- She remembered just how she felt before she got knocked out. No wonder. I was so flooded with adrenaline and endorphins I probably could’ve broken every bone in my wings and I wouldn’t have felt it for hours. Come to think of it…

Lightning Dust slowly folded her wings, grunting in pain as she did it. It took much longer than it should’ve, but they folded against her sides. Well, nothing seems to be broken, just sore for a while.

She swung her legs around and got out of bed, grimacing in pain. She slowly walked over to a window and opened the curtains, seeing the sun was only beginning to rise. I was out the entire evening?!

As if to punctuate her realization, her stomach growled loudly, making her fully aware of just how hungry she was. She hadn’t eaten since before the show yesterday, and now she was feeling it.

With more sunlight allowed into the room, she could fully appreciate how devoid of color it was. Everything was one shade of grey or another, and when she saw a black square on a table her attention was instantly drawn to it.

She walked over to it and picked it up, the green lightning bolts immediately telling her it was her flight suit. She slowly and heavily exhaled out her nose. A helmet would’ve been nice after all. It might’ve kept that crazy mare from knocking me out.

As she ran a hoof over the soft material, a flap of fabric moved. It was a tear from the crash. When she unfolded it to inspect the damage her injuries were much easier to understand as she saw the multitude of rips and tears in the fabric. She looked at a tear over one of the lightning bolts, the green fabric stained red. Looking down at her chest where it would be if she wore it she saw a piece of gauze taped to her fur.

Before she could inspect herself or her suit further, the door burst open, revealing the mare from earlier. Lightning Dust gulped, a throbbing in her head reminding her of what she’d done to her the last time she saw her.

“Good, you can walk.” Her tone seemed calm enough, then again anything was calm compared to the fury she held the last time. She walked towards Lightning Dust and set a tray on the table.

“Eat up, you’re going to need your strength.” The glass and bowl on it were as grey as anything else, and when Lightning Dust got a better look at the contents of the bowl she felt a rising sense of dread in the pit of her stomach.

The glass was filled with water, but what got her attention was the bowl. It had a sinisterly green liquid in it, but what concerned her most was the large rock in the center. Does this mare seriously expect me to eat whatever this is? Is this some kind of joke? Lightning Dust’s dread only deepened.

“Uh, what is this?” Her voice was very nervous.

“Breakfast.” The mare curtly told her. Her eyes were the same color as the liquid in the bowl and were every bit as unsettling.

“Breakfast? It has rocks in it!” Her expression fell, and a pang in her stomach reminded her just how hungry she was.

The mare’s expression hardened. “Yeah, what about it?”

“I’ll break my teeth, that’s what!” She protested, stunned that this mare would even suggest her eating stone like it was food.

The mare’s response was to pick the rock up out of the bowl and crush it in her hooves, tiny pebbles falling back into it. “Better?” Her tone made it perfectly clear that she didn’t care either way. “I’m going to get ready for the day. After your bandages get changed, we’re going to work.”

“Work?!” Lightning Dust desperately wanted to say no, that she wanted something, anything besides whatever rock-filled culinary disaster was before her. She wanted to tell her that she was a crazy mare who’d knocked her out and the last thing she planned to do was work with her. But when she thought about it, the pit in her stomach only deepened.

I really don’t want to make her mad again, she’s already knocked me out once. I can’t believe she’s strong enough to just crush a rock like that.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the farmer’s rough voice. “Yeah, and you’re going to be working for me for a long time considering what you did.”

She gulped, choosing her next words carefully. She knew what she was talking about: her rocket tearing up some of the farm. “Uh, exactly how long is that?”

“I don’t know, how long does it take to work off 25,000 bits?” Without waiting for a response, she turned around and walked out of the room, sharply closing the door behind her.

25,000 bits?! I don’t have that kind of money, and whatever I’d make on this farm would take forever to pay that back! Okay, calm down, when she gets back I just need to explain that whatever I owe her I could make faster with my team than stuck here with her. If she gets angry, I’ll just let her know that it’s the fastest way to get her bits.

Now that she was alone, Lightning Dust’s hunger was all she could think about, and now even whatever gruel was in that bowl looked like it was worth a shot.

She sat down at the table, her limbs and body protesting with every single movement. She leaned down and sniffed it, relieved that there wasn’t any sort of foul odor coming from it.

Well, here goes nothing. She gripped the bowl with both her hooves, bringing it up to her muzzle, and took a cautious drink of it. Immediately her tastebuds were assaulted by a sharp, bitter taste, and a very gritty texture. Setting the bowl down, she forced herself not to spit it back out.

After a moment to collect herself, she managed to swallow it. Waiting a few seconds to be sure her body wouldn’t immediately reject it, she took another sip from the bowl, and this time got a solid piece of matter in her mouth.

She swallowed the liquid but spat the pebble that had been in her mouth back on the tray. She put her hoof on it and pressed down, but as she expected, it didn’t give. Who in their right mind puts rocks in anything and tries to pass it off as food?! At least the liquid is filling.

As she continued to eat, or rather drink, she looked at her flight suit. I’ll just have to patch it up later, or get a new one when I get back to my team.

Lightning Dust set the bowl down and picked up the glass of water and took a drink, swishing it around to get any small particles out of her mouth. As soon as she set it down she heard approaching hoofsteps. That was fast. Alright, here goes nothing.

She heard three light taps on the door, something she wasn’t expecting. “Come in.” She called.

The door swung open, revealing a different mare than before. She was primarily grey like the other pony, but unlike her, she was smiling. One of her eyes was hidden behind her mane, but the one that was visible was a very lovely purple.

She felt compelled to look at her eye, given that it was the only thing she’d seen on the farm with any sort of pleasing color.

A few seconds later she noticed a red color flare up on the mare’s cheeks and she looked away, causing Lightning Dust to realize what she’d been doing. “Oh crud, sorry!” She felt a blush beginning to form on her face. “I didn’t mean to stare.”

Whoever this new mare was, her smile seemed to widen a tiny amount. She walked over to the bed and reached under it, pulling out a first-aid kit. She set it on the bed and patted the mattress.

“One sec.” Lightning Dust stood up from the chair and walked over, her legs still protesting her movements. She winced as she climbed into a sitting position on the bed.

“Uh, this might uh, this could sting a little bit. Sorry.” She warned, her voice hardly a whisper.

“Eh, it’s fine. Thanks, uh…?”

“M-Marble…” She replied, gently grabbing a length of tape holding a piece of gauze on Lightning Dust’s chest and peeling it off.

She winced as it was pulled off, inspecting how bad the wound beneath it was. Okay, not too bad. A few days and it’ll be as good as new. Now I just hope all of them are like that.

As Marble continued to treat her, Lightning Dust held still as best she could. Compared to the other mare, her gentle nature was a wonderful change. “So Marble, who’s the other mare?”

“Uh, that’s Limestone. She’s my big sister.” Marble answered, redoing the bandages on Lightning Dust’s wing.

She’s something alright. Lightning Dust sighed and closed her eyes. I can’t believe such a nice mare could be related to one so aggressive. “She always like that?”

She heard a sigh of… Discontentment? Sadness? Lightning Dust couldn’t quite put her hoof on it.

“Yes… Don’t take it personally, she’s like that with everypony and she’s under a lot of stress, especially this time of year.”

All the time?! Stress or not, I feel bad for anyone who has to be near her, let alone live with her. With that, she began to feel a tugging at the back of her head.

Marble pulled away the bandages, seeing no shortage of color on them. “Hold still.” She quietly instructed while she gently cleaned the back of Lightning Dust’s head. Despite her care, she could still see the other mare was in pain over it.

“I’m sorry, we’re almost there.” Marble began to wrap new bandages around her head. “There, all done. Despite everything, I think you’ll be healed up in a few days.”

“Let’s hope so. Thanks.” Lightning Dust had no sooner gotten off the bed than Limestone threw the door open, a scowl still clearly on her face.

“Time to get to work, farm wrecker.”

Lightning Dust took a deep breath, bracing herself for what she imagined was going to be an intense conversation.

Author's Note:

Will Lightning Dust be able to reason with Limestone after her disastrous first impression? Will she be able to get back to the Washouts? Will she be able to make reparations for the damage she caused? Most importantly, will she survive what the Pie family regularly eats? Tune in next time to find out!

Also, I'll be using a handy counter to keep track of how much she still owes the Pie family!

Lightning Dust's current debt: 25,000 Bits

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