Under the Radar

by Mystery1

Embarrassing Outcome

At the entrance stood Soarin and Misty Fly, both in their Wonderbolt jackets. They peered into the small tavern, analyzing their surroundings.

Lightning Dust was completely wrong and underestimated the efforts of the Wonderbolts. She kept her eyes on the two and tried to get off of the stool she was currently sitting on. Of course, she couldn’t balance herself and fell on her plot, grabbing the attention of other patrons in the bar. She grunted slightly and blushed red in embarrassment as she tried to stand by balancing herself with her wings. Taking a look back to the entrance, realizing she lost sight of the Wonderbolt pair, Dust started frantically looking around to find them. She stumbled towards the exit to leave the area, but she felt some pony put a wing on her back. The warm touch made her wings curl to her sides, and she froze.

“And where are you going exactly?” a mare asked from behind her.

“I….uhm…..” Lightning Dust mustered out, not wanting to turn and face the pegasus behind her.

At that moment, Lightning Dust bolted away from the mare behind her, turning to see Misty Fly smirking.

She wondered why she was grinning, and quickly found out for herself. As she turned to see where she was running to, she instantly screeched to a halt, falling on her ass. Directly in front of her was Soarin, wings outstretched, blocking the only exit. Averting her gaze from Soarin’s, she froze on the floor, unable to speak or move.

“Horseapples” was the only word that came to mind, as Lightning Dust was surrounded with nowhere else to turn.

“How bad can my luck be? I just ran into the one stallion I wished I wouldn’t see,” Lightning Dust rapidly thought in her mind.

“Well…aren’t you gonna say something?” Soarin asked calmly, still staring at Dust. He used his wing to push her chin up to look at his face.

Lightning Dust blushed as she locked eyes with Soarin. She quickly looked away, and a few tears fell from her face. She felt defeated and ignorant for trying to pull an escape in the first place.

“Maybe we should talk to her, I think she’s done running,” Misty Fly suggested to Soarin.

Soarin used his hooves to carry Lightning Dust to a table, shielding away the forming crowd with his wings. They managed to get Dust seated and tried to calm her down, but she was still drunk-crying.

Misty Fly wrapped a wing around Lightning Dust and managed to stop her from crying any further. Dust sat there in silence, frowning and averting her eyes from the two. Soarin took her saddlebag off and examined its contents on carefully on the table.

“I’m really sorry…I…I-I didn’t know….” Dust whispered, slurring her words. She realized too late that Soarin had taken her notebook, which held personal information about her and the Washouts. She grabbed for the notebook but missed, smacking into the table and sighing in disappointment. Misty Fly didn’t have to hold her back, as Dust slowly buried her face into Misty’s wing. Misty rested her hoof on Dust’s back to comfort her, as Soarin began reading out some of the notebook’s contents.

January 14th - The tour went better than I expected! The cannon fired me through three burning hoops, and I was able to do some arial flips over the crowd. Everyone was cheering, and I can’t wait to do it all again. Next time, I might add more burning hoops. The Washouts have way better stunts than the Wonderbolts, but we barely have any members besides me and a few other team members.

January 15th - Biggest mistake of my life. Apparently I was given notice to appear at the Wonderbolts Headquarters, and I am now being hunted for missing the date. I’m completely bucked and have no idea what to do. I’m thinking about hiding out somewhere, though I’m not sure if I should leave. I hope this thing just blows over. The Washouts are just a group I started to continue my passion for stunt flying along with others. I hope I can get past this and forget about all the mistakes I’ve made, from the Wonderbolts accident to missing this interview.

Soarin stopped reading, turned to look at Misty Fly, and then at Lightning Dust. Dust had burried her head into the safety of Misty Fly’s wing, shielding herself from the eyes of them both. Misty Fly gently prodded her with a wing and she finally turned to look at Soarin. Lightning Dust was worried about what was to come, but no-pony said a word. Instead, Soarin flashed a reassuring smile at Lightning, letting her know that she would be okay. She was past her crying phase and was drained. She turned around, hugged Misty Fly, and passed out in her hooves.

“Cider’s pretty strong here, don’t you think?” Soarin chuckled. Misty Fly giggled at the comment, holding Lightning Dust in her hooves.

Soarin found the Washouts uniform and bits from her saddlebag. He found the folded He carefully placed everything into the saddlebag, including the notebook.

“We need to take her to headquarters. Misty, can you carry her to the station? She seems very afraid and enjoys your comfort. I’ll grab her bag,” Soarin urged.

“Sure thing,” Misty responded.

The two Wonderbolts left the tavern, taking Lightning Dust with them.