...For You To See?
It was time. Lightning Dust had spent countless hours of practice for this day, the day to meet Spitfire back at the Wonderbolt Academy. She was happy to finally be going back there only a few months after her major incident rocked the entirety of the academy, but a part of her was anxious—no, anxious and nervous at the same time. What was she going to run into here? Was there another disappointment leering over the horizon?
She had gotten up extremely early. She had watched the sunrise from her rickety old balcony, and now was just sitting there on her couch for Celestia knows how long. She didn’t want to leave her apartment without her… without her best friend by her side.
Knock. Knock.
“Who’s there?”
“Wait, you actually know that?”
She rolled her eyes. “Just go with your joke—”
“Sorry, you’re right,” Anon said through the door. He cleared his throat and did it twice.
Knock. Knock.
“Who’s there?”
…
“Anon?”
“...a stray in our apartment building?!”
“Anon?!”
“Sorry, your neighbor was saying I was an animal or something and… could you just open the door? I’m getting stared at more than you now!”
She half-suppressed a laugh behind her hoof, and chose to hop off the couch to let the poor guy in. She flicked her wing at the door handle just enough to open it, presenting Lightning Dust with a very humble and totally not embarrassed Anon, who stood there looking at her like he had just seen something he didn’t need to see. She laughed and dragged the poor human in and clicked the door shut.
“Glad you showed up, Anon.”
He rapidly shook his head, shaking off whatever he was dealing with before she opened the door. He smiled at her and brought her close. “Hey, I told you I’d be here through thick and thin, right? Even if it means that I’ll freak out your neighbors in the process!” He picked her up and took a good look at her and promptly tilted his head, eyebrow raised to the occasion. “Uh… did you sleep?”
She half-nodded. “Yeah, and then I woke up and watched the sun rise.”
Anon hummed to himself before placing her back down. “Well, good to see you appreciate a good sunrise. Although, I thought you were late to rise type of mare?”
“Yeah, but this time's different…”
She felt her voice waver for a moment, before she closed her eyes tight. She took a deep breath and opened them to see Anon’s face right in front of hers. She yelped, falling straight on her flanks. “A-Anon what are you doing?”
“Making sure I don’t lose you to your scattered emo-storms you’re apparently brewing this morning. You should really start investing in a guilty pleasure that’ll distract you from all that. Like coffee or whiskey.”
“Or what?”
Anon sheepishly smiled. “Actually, let’s avoid the whiskey. Don’t need you to become a less-than-functioning alcoholic. Besides, flying and drinking don’t mix well.” He cleared his throat. “Coffee, on the other hand, now that stuff really works well with flying. You may jitter after a few cups though, so I’d probably limit you to… two cups max.”
Lightning Dust blinked hard. “Uh… okay?”
“Good!” he chirped, before clapping his hands together. “Anyway, enough lollygagging around, Lightning. We got a really energetic Spitfire to meet!”
“Are you sure she’s going to be happy to see me?”
Lightning Dust had that one roll right off her tongue without any issue. She gasped and clamped her muzzle with her forehoof, leaving her friend to stare at her with a very odd-looking glare. It was odd because his eyebrow was twitching almost like it was threatening to leave his face. Was that his cup of coffee kicking in? She couldn’t tell, she hadn’t had coffee in such a long time.
He stopped glaring at her and laughed. “Between you and me, Spitfire was ecstatic when she heard that you wanted to talk. Granted, she wasn’t expecting me to tell her that, but she knows me pretty well, so…”
It was her turn to tilt her head at Anon. “Wait, you were the one that got the audience with Spitfire for me?”
Anon threw his arms into the air. “Of course I did! Didn’t I tell you that?”
“No!” Lightning Dust said, throwing her forelegs up almost in solidarity. One of her forelegs came back down though, pointing a hoof square at Anon’s forehead. “You told me that Princess Celestia was the one who helped you get that meeting.”
“Well… I was partially telling you the truth there. I did ask Celly for help,” Anon began, taking in a deep breath. “But then her way of ‘helping me do this’ was sending a letter to Spitfire telling her that I was going to talk to her about something and that we must set some time aside to meet in Canterlot to talk about it.”
“And… so you met?”
“Yeah, I met her. She’s cool, but she’s also very… what’s the word…?” He tapped his chin and snapped his fingers. “Persnickety! That’s the fancy one that Twilight said would ‘be apt to use’.”
“Persnickety? Never thought Spitfire would be described that way.”
“For that meeting?” Anon said with a raised brow. “She was… really worried. I think she was worried about what you’d do and didn’t realize that I was really good friends with you. Safe to say, she had to retract what she said and ‘withhold her judgment until further notice’.”
Lightning Dust blinked at that. “Huh…” She could feel her ears twitching out of control after hearing that. “So you’re saying I do have a shot?”
“A shot? Maybe,” Anon began, shrugging his shoulders. “All up to you on how you want to portray yourself to Spitfire.”
She was about to say something, but decided to close her mouth. She knew what she needed to do. And she had Anon’s support, even if it was… uh…
“Anon?”
“Yeah?”
“We should get going. Can’t keep Spitfire waiting, right?”
Anon smiled at her, which made her feel a bubbly sort of feeling at the pit of her stomach, while her face warmed up to unfamiliarity. “Yeah, you’re right. Want me to lead?”
“Well, I would let you lead, but you don’t have wings. Let’s try seeing if I can carry you there with a cloud.”
He rolled his eyes. “Alright there, weatherpony. Lead the way.”
“Sounds good, but gimme a second,” Lightning Dust responded. She flung her saddlebags on her back and kept them tight (with Anon’s help). He set them straight, which she thanked him by giving him her brightest smile (hopefully it didn’t blind him).
With a nod, she walked out of her apartment with Anon in tow, her mind cycling through the different ways this could all go wrong.
And then she smirked. She locked the door and placed the key in her saddlebag.
It was time to make her dream become a reality.
The way to the Wonderbolt Academy was rather arduous, for some reason. Lightning Dust, once again, misunderstood how heavy Anon was when he was on a cloud. Moving him all the way over to the Wonderbolt Academy was like moving through sludge in a swamp. She had to flap her wings harder than before, and quite frankly, she had to muster all her strength just to move him just a smidge forward.
Safe to say, they made it (just barely), and now she was hobbling forward on the green grass that the Academy was situated on.
“Remind me—ah—to never do—ah—that again, A-Anon!” Lightning Dust breathed out, panting in-between her words. She looked over at Anon, who hopped off his cloud and onto the solid ground of the Academy premises. He walked over and picked her up. “A-Anon?”
“Can’t have you walking like you just went through a marathon,” Anon said. “It’s the least I can do.”
“But—”
“Nope. Selective hearing is on.”
She harrumphed and furled her wings as he held her like a baby, cradling her gently. She craned her neck around to see that, well, nopony was really around. A couple were still on the premises, but they were mostly security, and well, they were too busy looking elsewhere.
She sighed. “Where are we supposed to meet her?”
“In her office, apparently,” Anon replied dryly. He licked his lips. “Hoping not, though.”
“Why?” She asked, tilting her head at him. “Wouldn’t that make the most sense?”
“Yeah. She’s pretty by the book, but a guy can dream of her breaking her own rules once in a while.”
Lightning Dust rolled her eyes. “Spitfire would probably give you a nasty look if she heard you say that.”
“Let her do it then, I welcome it. Would rather have her do that to me than you.”
For some reason, Lightning Dust felt her heart leap at that comment. She didn’t know why though, choosing to shake the feeling off by slightly unfurling her wings, before closing them again.
“Got an itch?”
“Yeah…”
“Need me to scratch it out?”
Lightning Dust blushed tenfold. “Anon, that’s not even remotely appropriate!”
“Yeah, listen to her, Anon.”
“Yeah—wait what?”
Lightning Dust blinked rapidly at the pony that jumped in. “F-Fleetfoot?”
Fleetfoot stood there with a slight smile. “Welcome back, Lightning Dust. Heard from Capt’ that you were going to be stopping by with this big guy.” She laughed. “Didn’t expect him to carry you around, though. Is that comfortable?”
“I—”
Anon interrupted her, making her puff her cheeks at him. “Hey, she actually carried me over here by herself on a cloud. You should—”
“Wait, she ferried you over here on a cloud?!” Fleetfoot asked, her jaw hanging just slightly.
“Yeah, is that more impressive than I thought?”
Fleetfoot’s eyes widened, and then looked over at Lightning Dust. “You are going to be so much trouble when you join, I swear…”
“Trouble?” Lightning Dust whispered, her eyes wider than before. She brought a forehoof to her lips. “I… I don’t know about that.”
“Pfft, well hopefully it is only that type of trouble. We don’t need another tornado leaving a warpath all over the academy grounds,” Fleetfoot said, giggle-snorting. She tapped Anon on the shoulder. “If you’re looking for Spitfire, she’s over on the other side of the academy’s main building, tending to our practice equipment that we used yesterday.”
“Why’s that?” Anon asked with a raised brow.
Fleetfoot shook herself before unfurling her wings. “While she could do it in her office, she said something about hating how her office smelled like a dead skunk.”
Lightning Dust saw Anon’s eyes widen. He blinked rapidly before shaking his head. “Okay, got it. Thanks for the heads-up, Fleety.”
She promptly rolled her eyes. “Anon, it’s Fleetfoot.”
Lightning Dust tilted her head. “Are you close with every Wonderbolt?”
He smirked. “Let’s just say, I have connections and—”
Fleetfoot butted in before he could lie straight to Lightning’s face. “He attended two security meetings and basically met all of us, and now he thinks that he could start throwing nicknames around.” She glared at him. “I don’t know how you got into those meetings by the way. They were top secret.”
Anon kept that winning smirk on his face. “I am him. That’s all you need to know.”
“Whatever, Anon.” Fleetfoot bent low and smiled. “I would stick around, but Soarin’s probably waiting for me. Hope your meeting with Spitfire goes well, Lightning Dust!”
With that, the two exchanged their goodbyes before Lightning Dust took off into the sky. Anon still held onto Lightning Dust, his grip still as gentle as before. She stayed there, pouting, her ears splayed against her head. Anon just looked at her while laughing softly, which annoyed her.
“Do you have to laugh at me?”
“Y-Yes,” Anon said in-between bouts of laughter. “I didn’t e-expect you to p-pout this much!”
She bapped him on his nose as gently as she could, which made Anon stop his rancorous chuckling.
“Hey?!”
“Don’t complain, big guy. Besides, you’re the one that wanted to carry me.”
He snorted. “Alright there, Lightning Dust. Calm down. Let me just take you the rest of the way so you don’t look like your legs are about to fall off.”
She frowned, but nodded. “Alright…”
With that, she sat there as Anon walked across the lot, her mind restlessly hoping that maybe, just maybe, Spitfire won’t roast her as much as Fleetfoot did.
“So, what’s with Anon here holding onto you like you’re his pet cat?”
Lightning Dust was wrong. She was so wrong it hurt. Spitfire was calling her his pet? What did she do to deserve this treatment?
…
Oh wait, the tornado. Now she remembered.
“She’s actually resting her legs a bit. She had to push me on a cloud and—”
“By herself, Anon?”
Anon blinked. “Is this actually an achievement of some kind?”
Spitfire snorted as she fiddled with some of the weighted uniforms. “Look, most pegasi couldn’t do what she just did for you. Granted, it is a cloud, but you are massive and—”
“Okay, now I know for a fact you just called me fat.”
The Captain of the Wonderbolts dropped her weighted uniform she had in her hooves and busted out laughing, clutching her stomach. “Okay, yes I did. Sorry! Just lay off the amount of meat you eat and you wouldn’t have this prob—”
Lightning Dust’s scrunched up muzzle became less scrunched as she spoke, “Am I missing something here?”
Anon and Spitfire both looked at her like she had two heads. What was with these two?
Spitfire shook her head. “No, you’re not. Sorry, we should actually be talking about you and your request.”
“Request?”
“Was it not a request?” Spitfire raised a brow. “I thought that’s what we were talking about, Anon?”
“Well, partially a request. More like a plea deal without the case attached to it.” Anon set Lightning Dust down (finally, thank Celestia) before he continued, “The request was—”
“—to possibly let Lightning Dust the opportunity to join the Wonderbolts, correct?”
Lightning Dust felt herself gulp by reflex, but the saliva built up wouldn’t go down. She sputtered out a cough, which made Anon look down at her with concern.
“You… alright—”
“Yeah, don’t worry about me,” Lightning Dust said, waving a wing at them nonchalantly while her voice remained strained.
He shook his head. “Anyway, so about the request…”
Spitfire smirked. “Now, now, Anon. You need to abide by our part of the deal.”
Lightning Dust’s eyes darted between the two again. “Deal?”
“I would entertain the idea of meeting with you, Lightning Dust, as long as Anon held up to his end of the bargain.”
Anon frowned and held out a crudely written IOU on a piece of paper. “Here you go.”
“Perfect,” Spitfire said, smiling happily while her ears perked up. She fluttered her wings before she grabbed the piece of paper. She carefully stuffed it in her saddlebag that she had on. “Okay, now that that is all taken care of, Lightning Dust, I’m going to need you to pretend Anon isn’t there.”
“What?”
“You heard me, pretend he’s literally not there and we’re in my office.”
Anon raised his hand. Spitfire ignored it. And so did Lightning Dust.
“Okay, ma’am.”
Spitfire approvingly nodded once, before she smiled. “So, what may I do for you today, Lightning Dust?”
She looked at her with a confident smile (but her lips were twitching!) and puffed out her chest. “Ma’am, I request to try out for the Wonderbolts again and—”
“No.”
“What??”
Anon’s shriek threw Lightning Dust in for a loop, while Spitfire’s denial turned her heart inside out and she was panicking internally.
Spitfire held her hooves up, one pointed toward Anon, the other toward Lightning Dust. “Hear me out, I’m going to give you several reasons—”
“She’s one of the best flyers ever to grace Equestria and you’re going to just—”
Lightning Dust tuned Anon out. She needed to hear these reasons, even if they hurt. “Go on, ma’am. I need to hear this.”
Spitfire smiled. “Now this is the attitude I wished you had when you first tried out for us. Poised, responsive, and quite frankly, timid. That last part was crucial.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, the main reason why I can’t give you a tryout currently is because the Wonderbolts aren’t taking any new recruits.”
“Wait, really?” Lightning Dust asked.
“Yep, full house. Reserves included.”
Lightning Dust began to feel her wings sag. “I see…”
“But, even if we did have a roster spot, it’s complicated for you in particular.” She kicked the box full of weighted equipment aside. “Look, you have the passion for flying. That much is obvious. And while it is true with what Anon said, you are incredible at flying… you have a major flaw that would definitely deter us from picking you up.”
Lightning Dust blinked. “And what might that flaw be, if I could ask?”
Spitfire smiled. “I’m glad you asked, Lightning Dust. See, when I removed that lead pony badge from you and told you to leave, I thought that would’ve been the end of it. There wouldn’t need to be an explanation for your actions, but I see I should’ve at least told you before sending you off.”
The breath that Lightning Dust took nearly made her sputter a cough, but she kept herself composed as Spitfire continued, “I’m going to be brutally honest with you. Every task that I had provided for you to do, you used it as a way to stroke your own ego. While the Wonderbolts are no strangers to having ponies in our ranks with egos, I cannot and will not allow your ego to compromise our team’s chemistry. We already have Fleetfoot for that anyway.”
Lightning Dust tilted her head. “Fleetfoot has an ego?”
Spitfire let out a half-suppressed chuckle. “Oh, you’d be surprised. She has the biggest ego in the Wonderbolts that I’ve ever seen. I’m surprised she hasn’t exited Equestria’s atmosphere with how inflated her ego is. It’s twice as large as one of those hot air balloons we use to ferry up spectators of the cadets and—”
“She seemed fine to me, ma’am.”
“Seemed is a word that does all the lifting there, Lightning Dust.” Spitfire walked forward and laid a wing around Lightning’s withers. “Trust me when I say this, if we decide, in the future, to let you in the Wonderbolts, you would want to sacrifice both your wings to Celestia to have her somehow permanently fuse that muzzle of Fleetfoot’s shut within the first week.”
Lightning Dust shivered as a piece of her anxiousness raced up her spine like a frozen dart. “Uh… that’s quite a descriptive end to my non-existent career, ma’am.”
“Hey, like I said, I’m just being brutally honest, Lightning Dust. You’d have to set aside your ego just to exist here.” She licked her lips. “And that’s not even all. We still haven’t crossed the bridge of the accident you stirred up.”
Lightning Dust kept her brave face up, but she felt her mask start to crack, her lips now twitching. She could feel them start to crumble. “I…”
Spitfire stopped to pull the mare close. “Don’t worry, Lightning. This one is going to be actually doable to remove from your record on our end.”
Lightning sighed one of relief and looked up at Spitfire. “Oh thank you for at least some good news—”
“It would just take a year or two to expunge it and—”
The face of Lightning Dust turned sour. “Uh… ma’am?”
“Yes?”
“A year or two?”
Spitfire nodded. “That incident of yours was a major blunder, Lightning Dust. It’s technically a fitting punishment for endangering not only the Wonderbolts, your fellow cadets, and the one guy that was drawing on a piece of chalkboard for some reason, but also for endangering the lives of the Elements of Harmony, a protected group of individuals under the royal crown.” She cleared her throat again. “Wow, I need to get some water after this—look, I think you need to understand that our hooves and wings are tied when it comes to that. And—”
Anon popped up suddenly in front of them. “Hey, Spitfire. Permission to interject?”
“Granted, even though you need to move back at least twenty steps. Your breath smells like my office.”
“I’m not a fan of skunk, especially in that way and—”
“Get on with it, Anon.”
He groaned. “Is there any way we can expedite the removal of her blacklist?”
“Any way? Who do you think I am, a miracle worker?” Spitfire asked, her ears perked up. She pointed her other wing at Anon. “Sir, I am a Captain, but my boss still owns the Wonderbolts and will gladly tell you in a twenty page declaration that the blacklist is not—”
“I could have Celly give you a royal decree to remove it that way you can actually pick her up when the time comes and—”
Lightning Dust shook her head. “There’s no reason to jump in for me, Anon. I don’t want to be given pity just because I messed up that much.”
Spitfire gasped and looked at Lightning Dust dead in the eyes. “Are you sure? I mean, what he’s saying would definitely convince my boss to—”
“I’m sure,” Lightning Dust muttered. She hung her head. “I want to be respected for being in the team. Not grandmothered in because Anon here has connections.”
Lightning Dust could feel their stares. She could feel them as she stood there, ramrod, her eyes now shut tightly. It was over. Her dreams of being a Wonderbolt? Shattered. Her apartment? No longer. She was totally going to get evicted, an unsightly casualty of the war on living. Now she’s going to be stuck at some dead-end job with no way up, just trying to make it by until she gets another chance to be in the Wonderbolts…
And based on what Spitfire was saying, that may be a couple years.
Her heart fell just thinking about it.
Lightning Dust felt that nervous feeling exit her stomach and proudly present itself in a form of water racing toward her eyes. Any moment now, and she’d crack. She wasn’t going to cry though. She couldn’t. Not in front of them.
Suddenly, Lightning Dust felt something pat her on the back. “Look up at me, Lightning Dust.”
She did. She saw Spitfire’s slight smile. Her eyes were solely looking locked onto Lightning’s, a fire surging in them with a certain passion—no, a certain understanding that wanted Lightning Dust to not only see this through, but to hear every word. It… enticed her. It enticed her so much that part of her didn’t know this was real still. So, she surrendered to Spitfire, Lightning’s attention now captured in full.
“Lightning Dust. This isn’t the end of the world, and I’m glad you don’t want to be given any sort of pity, because I’m not going to. No one can sugarcoat what had happened, and quite frankly, no pony should. But I don’t want you to think you’re not wanted here, that you can’t change. There is potential in you still.” Spitfire spared a glance over at Anon, who was leaning forward way too much. She rolled her eyes and continued, “You can redeem yourself. Even with that hairless diamond dog over there—” Lightning Dust heard Anon say ‘Hey!’ but chose to ignore it (although she definitely giggle-snorted at his antics), and so did Spitfire “—and whomever else you run into, I can see things going your way eventually.”
Lightning Dust couldn’t help herself. She smiled slightly. “Thanks ma’am, but he’s the only one who actually gave me a chance after everything that happened.”
“Then you better keep him close,” Spitfire leaned closer and whispered softly into her ear. “And to be honest, I think he’s a good guy, but don’t tell him I said that. He’ll start thinking I have feelings for him.”
The words that Spitfire said made Lightning Dust’s face heat up. She was definitely blushing now. “Uh… I won’t, ma’am.”
“Good, but to be honest, you need to get some more friends. If you only have him around, he’ll drive you nuts.”
“Am I being defamed right now with no means of defending myself?”
“Yes,” Lightning Dust replied, earning a rather boisterous laugh from Spitfire. “And to be honest, Spitfire’s right. I have to be careful around you.”
“Careful? Oh god, please don’t turn into your neighbors. I don’t need to be compared to Bigfoot!”
At first, the conversation fell off. The three were silent, with Anon still looking at them with a rather worried expression. However, Lightning Dust couldn’t contain herself. She started busting out laughing, nearly keeling over onto the ground. Spitfire followed suit, and then Anon joined in. The three laughed altogether. It was a chorus of ugly laughs. Spitfire was a hyena, Lightning Dust sounded like a kettle going off, and Anon… was just Anon.
After the laughter subsided, the trio got themselves sorted. Lightning Dust was the first to get herself together. “Thanks for that, Anon.”
“No problem,” Anon said with a toothy grin.
Spitfire was still panting as she sputtered out a reply, “B-Bigfoot! Hah, you—ah—certainly are one, A-Anon!”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Lightning Dust chuckled. “So, ma’am. Is that all you wanted to tell me, then?”
“Well, there’s a couple things I did want to mention, but Anon over there can’t behave himself.”
Anon threw his hands up in a mock surrender. “I plead the fifth and I’d like to speak to an attorney—”
“This isn’t your made up country, Anon,” Spitfire riposted, deadpanning. She then glared at him. “Anyway, let’s get back on topic.”
“Okay…” Anon muttered, his gaze downcast.
Lightning Dust nodded and waited patiently for Spitfire’s advice (at least, that’s what she hoped this was).
“Lightning Dust, if you do get a blessing from Princess Celestia, I can see us giving you some wiggle room and—”
“But ma’am, I didn’t want to be pitied by you or Princess Celestia—”
Spitfire shook her head. “Look, it’s not a pity move. Think of it as… as a loophole in a contract drafted in a rush. Lightning Dust, if you do as I say and really change for the better, we’d want you in a heartbeat.”
When Lightning Dust heard the word heartbeat, it was, as if, her own had stopped. All she could focus on was Spitfire. Her eyes were defintely wide open now, and she could feel her jaw slightly hanging loose.
Did Spitfire just say that? To her?
Then, suddenly, Lightning Dust felt her heart kickstart back to life. Her heart was racing so fast that not only it passed her brain, but also it nearly veered off course for taking a curb too fast. “Uh… really?”
“Yes. Lose the ego, keep fostering that timid and nice attitude you got going, and keep practicing your flying, and there would be no question about you joining when the time comes. The only thing that I’d advise you to do is keep in mind the bigger picture and—wait, one second.” She flicked at her nearby saddlebag and picked up a photo she had with her forehoof. “See this?”
It was a picture of the Wonderbolts with a few new ponies suited up. And one of those ponies was Rainbow Dash, her goofy grin staring at her with excitement that Lightning Dust wished she had. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Tell me, what do you see?”
“A picture of the Wonderbolts. Most likely the current roster, ma’am.”
“Perfect, although who else is in the picture?”
Lightning Dust scanned it and gasped. “Why are the Elements in the picture?”
“Photo-op for Princess Celestia’s calendar. We should be getting a copy of it sometime soon in the Equestrian summer celebration official calendar, but right now, this is all I got of it.” She chuckled and set it back in the saddlebags. “It’s a core memory for me now, but this also served as a way for me to test you a bit. You passed with flying colors, by the way.”
It felt like Lightning’s face was burning up again. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“No, thank you for still having faith in us after we decided to toss you to the wayside. Granted, it was for a perfectly good reason, but…” Spitfire sighed. “It’s the way businesses work. We have to keep ourselves afloat, so we have to find the best candidates out there that want to join us. You are so close and yet…”
“...so far,” Lightning Dust mumbled, finishing Spitfire’s thought.
“Sorry, Lightning. It’s… it’s the truth. I want to recruit you someday though. You… you think you’d be fine with receiving a letter of correspondence from us about it?”
Lightning Dust’s ears perked up. “Really?”
“Yep!” Spitfire chirped. “We do offer that still even to blacklisted cadets. It’s usually in case we re-evaluate and come to the conclusion that you are no longer blacklisted from the Bolts. Now, in your case, I believe you and Anon are going to go the ‘get Princess Celestia to help’ route, which I still ‘advise’ by the way despite it being more roundabout.” She threw her right wing into a circle. “Some processes are meant to be broken to make them stronger, and thankfully, we just so happen to have one that needs to be entirely rethought of for situations like you.”
The words that Spitfire said felt like a sense of hope that filled Lightning Dust’s heart with a false hope, one that she pushed down until she got some form of confirmation. And, looking over at Anon, he was definitely scratching his chin with one of his hands, while he hummed to himself. Then he raised his hand, like he was some colt in a classroom. Lightning Dust giggled to herself.
“Anon, what do you want?”
Spitfire eyed him down and raised a brow. “This better be good for you to recreate a foal’s way of jumping into a conversation.”
“Excuse me for wanting to be nice,” Anon chided before clearing his throat and promptly bringing his arm back to his side. “You think you could have that letter sent to me instead?”
Lightning Dust could feel her eyes bug out at that one, which Spitfire caught a glimpse of out of the corner of her eye. “Okay, Anon, and why would that be the case?”
He walked up beside Lightning and held her close, making her squeak. “She’s with me. Going to take her back down to Ponyville because she is not living up in Cloudsdale any longer.”
“A-Anon?” Lightning Dust stuttered out, her wings slightly lifting all on their own. She tried to push them down with one of her hooves, but they both itched, making that feeling rush tenfold.
Spitfire chuckled. “Looks like there’s more to this than I know, huh?”
“Don’t worry, she’s made it amply clear that I’m not her type yet,” Anon replied, his tone calm and collected, which made Spitfire all the more chuckle. Lightning Dust glared at him but he kept talking, “Besides, this is more of a ‘get her out of her apartment because it sucks and looks like a prison cell’ type of issue. I’m not a fan of it, so we’re finding her some place where she can attempt to wipe her slate clean and get a nicer place to boot.”
“Attempt?” Lightning Dust and Spitfire both said in unison, which made them both tilt their heads at each other.
Anon snorted as his gaze darted between the two of them. “Yes, attempt. She may even have to stay with me for a while. Look, Lightning Dust, this will be a way to start anew and not get glared at by everyone in a mile radius for simply existing.”
Spitfire’s eyes widened. “That’s what you’re dealing with?”
Lightning Dust meekly nodded. “Yeah. It’s tough. Everypony has essentially alienated me. Anon’s the only one who’s stuck by me, so…”
“Wow, I didn’t know it was that rough.”
“It would’ve been worse, ma’am, if Anon hadn't been there. He’s been a bright spot in a dark place. I wouldn’t be this confident still if it weren’t for him.”
For a moment, silence pervaded the area. Trees gently swayed in the wind, the lights on the runway flickered on and off, and a few clouds went adrift overhead. But that’s all that was heard, as Lightning Dust could only help but marvel at Spitfire’s and Anon’s frozen appearances. Spitfire was gobsmacked, blinking only a bit as she was trying to comprehend what she said. Anon, on the other hoof—er, hand was currently eyes closed and arms limp against his sides. His cheeks were currently flushed.
Spitfire was the first to speak up, swallowing down whatever was stuck in her throat. “Uh… Lightning Dust?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Are you sure he’s not your type?”
Lightning Dust blinked, before shouting out a little bit of a cross between a yelp and a questionable neigh. “Ehhhh?!”
Her face was on fire. Her wings were on fire. Her brain was on fire. Her mind was on fire.
Everything was on fire.
And then Anon spoke, “That wasn’t a no.”
Lightning Dust belted out a mile wide stutter. “I-I… I don’t—”
“Wow, you really got her good, Spitty.”
“It’s Spitfire, Anon,” Spitfire growled out, glaring at Anon. He just shrugged, which earned him a brief blow of most likely hot air from Lightning Dust’s soon-to-be-teammate/captain.
Those words that Spitfire had said definitely weren’t bouncing her head at a rapid pace. No, not at all.
Lightning Dust cleared her throat, which made both Spitfire and Anon look at her instead of at each other. “You guys are something else.”
“I think I remember saying that to you this morning and—ack!”
“Don’t ruin the moment, jerk!”
Spitfire whistled. “Tough love. Wow, you really do like him!”
“I—agh, whatever!” She shouted, throwing her hooves up in the air before plopping down on the grass. She looked at the box of practice equipment. “You need help with that, ma’am?”
Spitfire shook her head. “Nope. I should be good to go here once we finish up. Speaking of,” She trailed off for a moment to bring Lightning Dust close. “This isn’t the end of you being a Wonderbolt, Lightning Dust. This is just a new opportunity down the road. Just make sure you not only stay true to yourself, but also to others. Like I said before, it's better to see the whole picture, not just the part with you in it.”
Lightning Dust smiled. “Yes ma’am.”
“Good,” Spitfire said curtly. She bent down to pick up the box of equipment. “I’ll make sure to send that letter to Anon as I’m pretty certain he’ll be still with you by the time you actually get cleared for a tryout.”
Anon smirked. “Damn straight I will be!” He looped his arm around Lightning Dust’s withers. “Well, with that being said, we’ll leave you to clean up the place.”
Spitfire rolled her eyes. “Glad you’re letting me clean now, Anon.”
“Somebody has to,” he replied, earning him a glare from Spitfire. He laughed and directed Lightning Dust in the other direction. “See you around!”
Lightning Dust looked back and waved with her wing. “Thank you, Spitfire! Hope you have a great rest of your day!”
Spitfire waved back before returning to her clean-up duties. It left the two of them walking towards where they came from, with Lightning Dust leaning into him.
Halfway through, Anon smiled and patted her side with his hand. “So, better than you expected?”
Lightning Dust smiled, but she wouldn’t look at him. The grass was more interesting— “Yeah… I was worried that I’d never get a chance again. I’m glad that she told me what goes on behind the scenes. It’s different.”
“A good kind of different,” Anon murmured, which made her look at him. His face was blank, looking out at the clouds around them. “Seems like we need to keep that train up.”
Lightning Dust knew what he meant there. Ponyville was a place she was not fond of going to, as she valued her life and her feathers. “Are you… sure I can—”
“Lightning, they forgave pretty much everyone who walks into their airspace. I’d be shocked if they said no to you.”
“But I almost—”
“Keyword, almost,” Anon interrupted. He brushed his free hand through his hair, slicking it back. “You can make it up to them by just showing that you mean well and that you’re not the same pony you once were. The proof is in the pudding.”
“What pudding?”
Anon groaned. “It’s a turn of phrase.”
“Oh,” Lightning Dust mumbled out, her muzzle scrunching up. Her ears splayed against her head, before they slightly rose back up. “I guess I have a lot more of your phrases to learn.”
“I’ll teach them all to you when we get back to your place.”
“You’re staying the night?” she asked, her brow rising to the occasion.
He smiled at her. “Of course I am. That’s what friends do. They have sleepovers, help them pack, and then have them possibly move into their spare guest room because I am not allowing you to stay there another night alone.”
She blinked. “Am I being evicted by my own friend?”
“Yes. I’m evicting you with kindness instead of because you owe me five bits.”
“You’re still holding me over that drink you got from the vending machine?!”
“Yes. That’s more manageable than an expensive rent payment for a hole in a wall, right?”
She shook her head in disdain, and sighed. “Alright, that does sound better.” She smiled and nuzzled his leg. “Lead the way, big guy.”
Anon raised a brow. “I thought you said I couldn’t lead the way because I didn’t have wings?”
“Their balloon service over here is still running. We just have to ask one of the security ponies walking around here as to where it is.” Lightning Dust could feel her cheeks heat up with what she was about to say. “And I still feel like I’m leaning on you while we walk, so…”
“Are you tired?” He asked, looking down at her.
She leaned into him and yawned. “D-Does that answer your question?”
He rolled his eyes and picked her up. “Alright, get yourself comfortable. I got this!”
She wanted to ask him why, but she didn’t. She couldn’t care, her body was too tired to even mutter another word let alone act embarrassed. Instead, Lightning Dust let herself go, cuddling straight into him. She nuzzled into his chest and she closed her eyes.
She trusted him. Not only now, but with her future.
After all, he was the only one who cared enough to give her a second chance. And she wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.
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What will it take?
Does this answer the question?
static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/The-Elden-Beast-Elden-Ring-How-To-Cheese-Guide.jpg
Fun story. I like this take on Lightning. With Anon around, there's no need for Washouts.
Yes! A sequel!
As with the previous story, rough here and there but very enjoyable with an italicized very.
Lovely image there, i like that
LOLOLOLOL, how sweet
11831780
Yes.
11831868
Thank you for the feedback! Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the Washouts episode, so I'm glad that I was able to create something that deviated from that episode entirely, and focused more on what could've been. Happy you enjoyed the fic!
11831933
Yep. The sequel is finally here! I'm super happy about it as well.
11832137
Thank you for the feedback too. Happy that you enjoyed this very much.
Going to take another editing pass over this once everything is said and done on both fics, but that won't be until I get some other stories I got in mind out of my noggin. Also got some stories that are set to incomplete on my account as well to tackle first. If you have any advice on how to correct some of the roughness, let me know in private messages! I don't mind at all.
This was really good. Certainly a much better direction for Lightning than the show decided to take her. But then, I'm a sucker for a good redemption story, so well done. I can only imagine what kind of shenanigans Lightning and Anon will get up to back in Ponyville, and how things will go with the inevitable confrontation with Rainbow Dash. I know this is likely your intended end for this story, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye open in case Lightning strikes thrice.
Love it!😋
I had to shake the amount of surprise that came from the Wonderbolt interaction.
You've written extremely well, Wordsmith!
The way a captain, specifically all officers, talks to their men and woman speaks volume of their character. You've decided to portray a realistically flawed but compassionate leader very well!
I could have easily mistaken this version of Spitfire as any real life army officer.
I can't overstate how well done you've written their interactions out to be. These kinds of characters change lives!
Awesome writing, again, Wordsmith!
11832574
Happy you enjoyed the fic! I'm down to write another story in the future, but we will see. I have to an idea scream at me for me to write it, and I have a lot of projects to work through before I can return to this one.
11833658
11833742
Thank you, Screw! I was working through how I wanted to portray Spitfire in this fic and based on comments I got from the original, the thought process was to make Spitfire very much like an officer that would be understanding of Lightning Dust (LD) but definitely firm in making LD wait to possibly get that second chance as Spitfire's hooves and wings are tied. Thought that would be a nice touch and it seems I nailed that scene entirely! Happy you enjoyed that scene and the fic!
11834202
I can t wait for that sequel once you finished your other stuff