Broken Wings

by ComradeUncleJoe

Chapter 8: Casino Royale

Chapter 8: Casino Royale

Once outside, Rainbow Dash spread her wings and flew up into the air. She had honestly wanted to hang out with Lightning, but enjoyed stringing him along. She flew high and waited for Lightning.

Shortly after Lightning ran out of the hotel and looked around. Dash could tell he spotted her and she took off flying. Sure enough, he took the bait and began following.

“Bingo! Time for a little fun Mr. Bolt.” Said Rainbow Dash with a smirk on her face.

Rainbow Dash led Lightning through the streets of Las Pegasus; occasionally looking back to make sure he was still following. Sure enough, he was; although, he was trying to keep out of her sight. To be fair, he wasn’t too bad at sneaking around.

Rainbow Dash flew all over the city, making sure to stay just in Lightning’s sight. She flew through alleys, over buildings, and over the street. She looked back and saw Lightning struggling to keep up. Dash was having fun stringing him along. She had a plan if he kept up.

Every so often Rainbow would land and get something to eat or to watch some street performers or something of the sorts. When she landed, Rainbow would stay grounded and stroll around for a few minutes before shooting back into the sky. Finally, after an hour or so, Rainbow flew towards a bar and landed in front. Then she walked around into the alley next to the bar and hid behind a trash can and waited for Lightning.

Sure enough, Lightning ran into the alley. He walked right past Dash’s hiding spot and looked utterly confused.

“Where did Rain…”

Lightning walked outside of the hotel and started looking around. He was looking for Rainbow Dash. He intended to trail her and find out if she was telling the truth about this other stallion. Some may call this stalking, but Lightning preferred to call it espionage.

He spotted her in the sky before she rocketed off. Lightning quickly began tailing her, keeping to the shadows as he did. He learned all he knew about stealth from spy movies and such.

“Ok Lightning, let’s find out what Dashie is hiding.” Lightning stuck to the shadows as he followed her around the city.

Lightning followed Dash through alleys, around buildings, and across streets. Occasionally she’d fly over a building and Lightning had to quickly run around to find her again before she escaped. Lightning struggled to keep up with her, especially since he was grounded. Every so often, Dash would land and walk around. Lightning made sure to use this to keep up if he was falling behind.

Finally, after an hour or so, Lightning spotted Rainbow Dash land in front of a bar across the street then walk into the alley next to it.

“Well that’s odd. I wonder what she’s up to…” Lightning quickly ran across the street and ran into the alley. He looked around but Rainbow Dash had disappeared. “Where did Rain…Oof!”

Rainbow Dash shot out from behind the trash can and tackled Lightning harder than professional linebacker.

“Why were you following me?!” Rainbow Dash shouted at Lightning. She was pretending to be furious as best she could, but wasn’t sure if she would be able to hold in her laughter.

“Wh-what?! I wasn’t following you! I was just…going to this….gay bar…” it just hit Lightning that this was Rainbow Factory, the most popular gay bar. It was run by Gay Tony, a unicorn friend of Lightning’s.

“Oh, so you’re gay?”

“What?!?! No, no! I was just going for um…the music…it’s fun…” Lightning had turned completely red. He was so
embarrassed he could just die right there.

“It’s ok if you’re gay. I won’t judge you.”

“I’M NOT GAY!!! I was following you, ok?!” Lightning’s eyes widened and he quickly shut his mouth. Great, now Dashie was going to hate him and probably get a restraining order on him.

Rainbow Dash burst into laughter and got off Lightning. This left Lightning even more confused than before.

“BAHAHAHA!!! I can’t believe you fell for that.”

“Fell for what?” Lightning just sat there confused.

“I’m not mad at you. I knew you were following me since I left the hotel.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. Also, there’s no other stallion.”

“For real? You mean all this was a joke?”

“Yep.”

“Wow, I feel dumb.”

“So, where are we going on our date?”

“Do what? Oh…um…I’m not sure.” Lightning’s stomach let out a loud growl just then and he proceeded to cover his stomach.

“HAHA! How about we go to that breakfast place you wanted?”

“Yeah…sounds good.”

Rainbow Dash hopped off of Lightning and extended her hoof to help him up. Lightning took it and hopped back on his hooves. He then brushed the rocks off his back.

“So follow me I guess.”

Lightning led Rainbow Dash out of the alley and towards another a more residential area. After half an hour of walking, the two reached a small restaurant with a rickety sign over it.

“Here we are, Fat Earl’s Pancake Paradise.”

“Wow…looks nice.” Rainbow Dash said jokingly.

“It’s better than it looks, trust me Dashie.” Without another word, Lightning went inside the restaurant. Rainbow Dash quickly followed, so as to not be left out.

Lightning pulled out a chair for Rainbow Dash then seated himself. The two waited for a waitress of some sorts, and, after several minutes waiting, a large stallion with a crumpled chef’s hat and a dirty apron came charging out.

“Lightning! Good to see you again!” the large stallion slapped Lightning on the back, causing him to topple to the ground.

“H-hey Earl.” Said Lightning as he stood back up and seated himself again.

“How are you Lightning? Doing good I hope. Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Good; and who’s this?” Fat Earl turned his attention towards Rainbow Dash, “She’s certainly the looker.”

“This is Rainbow Dash. Dashie, this is Fat Earl.”

“Nice to meet you Earl.” Said Rainbow Dash.

“The pleasure’s mine Ms. Dash.” Fat Earl took Rainbow’s hoof and planted a kiss on it. Dash quickly withdrew when he released her hoof. She was a bit weirded out by this Fat Earl.

“So Earl, How about some pancakes?”

“Of course Lightning! I’ll give ya the Super Deluxe Special, on the house.” Before Lightning could say something, Fat Earl ran off to the kitchen.

“Um…Lightning, I’m not sure how much I like Fat Earl.”

“Yeah, he’s kind of a creep. I only show up every so often because his pancakes are rad.”

“Well I guess that makes it better…sort of.”

The two sat there; silence fell over the table and they sat awkwardly staring at each other. Lightning would occasionally shoot Rainbow a flirtatious look, smirking and winking to attract her attention. Rainbow would just roll her eyes and stick her tongue out at Lightning. Finally, Earl returned with a massive platter of blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes. Along with the pancakes he brought a tub of butter and a jar of syrup. He set the lot down on the table and returned to the kitchen.

Rainbow Dash fawned over the delicious and massive pancakes. The hotel had nothing on this place. The smell was intoxicating and made her drool. He continued to stare and drool until Lightning snatched up the first pancake and took a bit out of half of it.

“Wow, remember to chew Lightning.”

Lightning mumbled something along the lines of “I’ve eaten more.” And proceeded to swallow the large portion of pancakes he had eaten. “You should hurry up and get to eating. The pancakes will get cold.”

“Haha! You’re right.” Rainbow Dash began eating the pancakes along with Lightning. Soon it became a contest to see who could eat the most the fastest. It went on for a bit before all the pancakes were eaten. When it was over, Rainbow Dash claimed victory.

“HA! I won!”

“Damn. Can’t believe I lost. I never lose.” It wasn’t often he lost, and normally it’d leave him more upset, but today he was actually ok with losing, at least losing to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow stuck her tongue out at Lightning, “C’mon, I’m full now and I wanna work off this food.”

“Oh I think I know how to work it off.” Lightning said flirtatiously.

“Haha. Very funny Mr. Tough Guy. I meant walk around some and see the city.”

“I knew that.”

The two left the restaurant and began their date. Lightning began showing her certain spots that were more exclusive and less known. Finally the two walked down an alley.

“Where are we going now Lightning?”

“A place not many people know about.”

“Well duh…”

Lightning stopped near a stairwell leading down to a small door. Without a word he went down the stair and motioned for Rainbow Dash to follow. He then pushed the door open and disappeared inside. Rainbow Dash had a bad feeling about this whole thing, but decided to go down anyways. Rainbow Dash went down the stairs and pushed the door open and went inside. When Rainbow Dash went inside somepony put their hooves over her eyes.

“Guess who.”

Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure who it was. It didn’t sound like Lightning; it was a mare’s voice.

“Um…I don’t know.”

“Aw that’s no fun. C’mon, guess.”

“Pinkie?”

“Nope.”

“Twilight?”

“Nope.”

“Rarity?”

“C’mon Dash, we’ve met before. You know me. I’m kind of famous.”

Rainbow didn’t know who this pony was, so she just started naming off famous ponies.

“Spitfire?”

“Nope.”

“Soarin?”

“Come one Dash.” The pony removed her hooves and Rainbow turned around to see Vinyl Scratch. “Can’t believe you didn’t recognize me.”

“Gee, sorry.” It’s true, Rainbow Dash did know this pony, but she never really had a conversation with her. You can’t blame Rainbow for that.

“Nah it’s cool. So anyways, hear this is your first time in Las Pegasus.”

“Yeah. Where did you hear this?”

“Lightning told me. Duh.”

“You know Lightning?”

“Of course. The first time I’ve been to Las Pegasus I ran into him. We hanged out when I wasn’t doing shows. He’s a real cool guy.”

Just then Lightning walked up the hallway towards the two mares. The hallway was poorly lit with black lights, so it was hard to make him out, but Dash could recognize him.

“Hey there Dashie. Sorry I was in the bathroom.”

“It’s okay.”

“Vinyl, what are you doing? Don’t you have a show to do?”

“Yeah, but I figured I’d say hello to Rainbow here.”

“Oh, so you two know each other?”

“A little, but no more than just acquaintances.” Rainbow Dash stood awkwardly while the two talked to each other. “So anyways, I gotta get going. I need to get back to the DJ booth before something happens.” Vinyl Scratch left Lightning and Rainbow Dash alone in the hallway

“Come one Dashie, let’s go out on the dance floor.”

“I don’t know. I’m not usually one for the whole club thing.”

“Nah, come on. It’ll be fun.” Lightning took Rainbow Dash’s hoof and led her out to the dance floor.

Rainbow took a moment to observe the dance floor. There was a surprisingly small number of ponies dancing, or even in the club for that matter. It must’ve been one of those secret, hole-in-the-wall kind of places. It was dark, the only real light being the strobe lights and ponies with glowsticks. In the DJ booth was Vinyl with another pony; Rainbow couldn’t tell who it was or even if it was a mare or stallion. It was loud; large speakers lined the walls blaring loud dance music. Dubstep? Techno? Dash could never tell which was which; all she knew was that it was a form of electronic. Personally, Dash never liked dance music; she preferred Rock n’ Roll.

“Come on Dashie, let’s dance.” Lightning led Rainbow Dash onto the dance floor and began dancing. Dash couldn’t help but laugh as Lightning flailed around as if he was having a seizure; he wasn’t the best dancer in the world, but he looked like he was having fun.

“So do you come here often?” Shouted Dash as she began dancing.

“Not recently, I used to come here a lot before…” Lightning cut himself off before finishing his sentence. Dash noticed the sad look on his face as he said that, but he quickly rectified it and went back to smiling.

“You okay Lightning?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask Dashie?”

“It’s just…” Before Rainbow could finish her sentence, Vinyl began saying something and drowned out Rainbow’s words.

“Hey what’s up everypony? How’s everypony doing tonight?”

“WHOOOO!!!” the crowd shouted in unison

“AAAW YEEAH! Glad to hear it. Hope ya’ll ready cause we gonna go all night!”

Vinyl finished talking and turned the music back way up and everyone continued dancing.

“What were you saying Dashie?”

“Nevermind.”

The two kept dancing. Dash decided not to bring up his accident. It probably would not end well if she did.
After a while of dancing, Lightning tugged on Rainbow Dash to get her attention.

“What?”

“Follow me.” Lightning motioned for her to follow. Rainbow followed as Lightning led them out of the club and back into the alley. When they entered the alley, Dash noticed how dark it had gotten.

“What time is it?”

“1 AM.”

“Really?” Dash was having so much fun she hadn’t realized how late it had gotten.

“Yep. I lost track of time because of how much fun I was having. My bad.”

“Nah it’s ok. I was having fun too.”

“Come on, let me walk you home Dashie.”

“Ok, but are we really gonna walk all the way to Ponyville?”

“You know what I meant Dashie.” Lightning rolled his eyes at Rainbow’s joke.

The two ponies strolled through the streets of Las Pegasus towards Giovani Tower. Despite at how late it was, the streets were still crowded. The two weaved through the crowded streets until finally reaching the hotel Dash was staying at.

“So, you gonna walk me up to my room?” Dash said in a slightly flirtatious way.

“My mom always said if you’re going to take a girl to a hotel room it better be on the honeymoon.” Joked Lightning.

“Haha funny guy.”

“Come on Dashie, I’ll take you up there.”

Lightning and Rainbow stepped into the elevator together and Lightning pressed Dash’s floor. The two rode the elevator all the way to Dash’s floor then stepped out. The hallway was desolate, not a pony in sight.

“Which room you in?”

“Room 204.”

Dash led this time, leading to room 204 before stopping just outside.

“Well here we are Ms. Dashie. I have successfully escorted you to your hotel room without incident. Mission accomplished.”

Dash laughed, “Thanks Lightning…” Her words drifted off. She began staring at Lightning. That same feeling from when she first met him washed over her again. She froze, unable to move, or even think straight. Never had she felt this way about anypony, not her close friends, not the Wonderbolts, no pony, but now, she felt butterflies in her stomach, she choked on her own words, her eyes widened; she felt weird. She was in love.

Lightning stared back. He was having similar thoughts. Rainbow Dash looked immensely beautiful. Her messy mane, her way of acting, her attitude towards flying; everything about her turned Lightning on. He had been with plenty of mares, all of which tried so hard to doll themselves up and look good, all of which were shallow and only cared about him because he was famous, but Rainbow Dash was different. All these other mares disappeared after his accident, but Rainbow Dash was still here. Her way of not caring about her looks, driven spirit, and seemingly being not attracted to him (at least not being attracted to his celebrity); all of this made him immensely attracted to her, more than just attracted. Dare he say it? Lightning, loved her. The thought shocked Lightning; before he didn’t care about the girls not caring about him, he was living it up, he had no time to fall in love, but now, here he stood, in front of a beautiful mare, whom he loved.

The two ponies kept staring. Silence fell over the hallway. Slowly Lightning closed his eyes and began leaning in. Rainbow Dash began freaking out. Was he going to kiss her? What should she do? Should she kiss back? Before she could make up her mind, it seemed her body decided for her and she leaned in to kiss him back. Slowly the two came ever so closer; closer and closer. They were so close Dash could feel Lightning’s breath; her heart began beating rapidly. This was it; they were going to kiss…

The door to the hotel room swung open and Pinkie stood behind it.

“Hey guys! Whatcha doing?” shouted Pinkie.

Lightning jerked away from Rainbow Dahs before they could kiss, causing Rainbow Dash to topple over.

“ACK!” Shouted Dash as she fell forward onto the floor.

“You ok Rainbow Dash?” asked Pinkie.

“Yeah…I’m fine.” Lightning helped Rainbow Dash back to her feet. The two ponies began blushing.

“Sorry Dashie. Um…I best get going. Thunder is probably freaking out wondering where I am. See ya later Dashie. I had fun.”

“Yeah, me too.” And with that, Lightning ran off back to the elevator and disappeared behind the closing doors.

“Did I interrupt something Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash sighed, “No Pinkie, you didn’t. It’s okay.” Rainbow Dash didn’t say another word; she just went and flopped down on her bed. The events of today raced through her head, especially the almost kiss. She couldn’t believe it, they almost kissed. Today was amazing and Dash wanted to see Lightning again as soon as possible now. With the thought of the almost kiss in her head, Dash slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Lightning entered the elevator and hit the first floor. As the doors closed he took one last glance at Rainbow Dash. He couldn’t help but think of how incredible she looked. As the elevator slowly took him back to the lobby, Lightning leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He thought of how amazing Dash was, how they almost kissed.

“Damn, so close, yet so far. Dear Celestia Dashie’s amazing.” Lightning let out a sigh, “I hope I get to see her again.” Finally the elevator reached his floor and the doors opened. Lightning stepped off and left the hotel. The thoughts of the day’s events still fresh in his mind.

When Lightning reached his apartment, it was around 3 in the morning. He hurried to get back to his home before it got any later.

“Damn it’s late.”

Lightning ran up the stairs of the building and reached his floor; it was just as dirty and nasty as he left it. He walked to his door and opened it up, walking inside. When he entered, he saw Thunder just standing there. He was holding a letter in his hands and he was shaking.

“Yo T. what’s up bro? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I-I-I received a letter today…It’s from Canterlot.”

“What?!” Lightning jumped over the couch and hurried to his brother. “What does it say?”

“I-I don’t know, I haven’t read it yet.”

“Well go on! Read man!”

Slowly Thunder opened to letter and began reading.
After a short while Thunder Bolt looked up.

“T.?”

“Hehe….dude…I did it…I’m going to be Princess Luna’s student!”

“Congrats man!” Lightning patted his brother on the back, “so when ya leaving T.?”

“Immediately! B-b-b-but there’s so much I need to get! What do I pack for? I-I-I need to be prepared.” Thunder began frantically running around.

“T.! Calm down bro, just get packed, and then leave, ok? You got this man!”

“Y-yeah…Hey Lightning,”

“Yeah T.?”

“This is it, I’ve done it.”

Thunder ran off to his room to prepare and Lightning went to his room to sleep. He told Thunder to wake him when he was leaving so he could see him off. At this point, Lightning was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open; so he gently crawled into bed and underneath his covers. Before he knew it, he was asleep.

Comments

[Dementia Ravenmane]

I can not believe what i am about to say... Damn you Pinkie you party pooper! Did i just accuse the party pony for ruining a party?

[Prince Laviere]

1899108 because she did!
also. I really really want more of this story.