A Mare Named Lightning: Part 1

by lightning_dust_12

Part 2: Lightning Dust's Story

"So, what all do you do again?" Octavia asked Alez.

"Oh, let's see...I make pony music videos and episode trailers, I make music, and I write fan fiction."

"Hmmm. Fan fiction. Strange stuff. I mean, I guess some of it is good, but a lot of it is just boring walls of text."

"Yeah, like mine," Alez replied. Octavia laughed, but gathered herself and said, "we're here."

---

"This doesn't look like a very good place to live," Alez commented.

"Unfortunately, not all ponies are as fortunate as me or Vinyl. I'll lead the way. Oh, and by the way, whatever you do, don't mention Rainbow Dash."

"Why not?" Alez asked.

"They've got history."

"Oh, okay. I won't say a thing."

They reached the door, which had a turquoise-colored placard that read "Lightning Dust," with little silver-plated lightning bolts on it. Octavia gestured for Alez to knock, and he did. He heard heavy hoofsteps, and then the door unlocked and opened, revealing a turquoise-colored mare with a strong, well-built body. She frowned at Alez, then saw Octavia, and broke into a wide grin. "Octavia! It's been ages!"

"And Lightning Dust! You were up to here last time I saw you," Octavia said pointing to her chin.

"Oh please, I was just as tall as you were!"

Octavia winked, and said, "so anyway, a certain somepony wants to meet you," she said, elbowing Alez. He stepped forward, and introduced himself to Lightning Dust. When she heard him say that he makes music videos, she smiled, and invited him inside, along with Octavia. Inside, Alez was surprised by the sheer number of trophies on the walls and shelves. "Equestria Games, 2nd Best Flier," read one. There was a photo frame of her and Soarin holding hooves, and lastly, a newspaper clipping that read: "Lightning Dust Enters The Wonderbolt Academy, Ponyville Asks: 'Does She Really Need It?'" Alez suddenly felt the urge to ask for her autograph. She wasn't just a videographer, she was a seriously good flier, even famous! She brought his attention back by asking what software he used to make his videos.

"Oh, uh, just iMovie. On my laptop. Do you want to see some of my work?"

"Sure! I would love to!"

Lightning Dust opened her laptop, and double-clicked on the Firefox logo on her desktop. After 30 seconds of waiting for it to load, she rolled her eyes and turned back to Alez, "sorry, my laptop is immeasurably slow."

"That's okay. So, um, you fly, right?"

Lightning Dust raised an eyebrow. "Well, yeah. I'm a pegasus."

Alez blushed. "No, I meant competitively."

Lightning Dust laughed, "Well in that case, yeah, I fly!"

"Its so cool to meet somepony that's won that many trophies," he said, flapping his small wings.

The web page finally loaded, showing his youtube channel. "That's my latest video," Alez said, pointing with his hoof.

Lightning Dust looked at her screen closely, then frowned. "The one called 'Rainbow Dash is Under Appreciated?'"

---

Alez realized his mistake far too late. "well duh, my latest video is about Rainbow Dash! Great job, smart colt. Oh man, right in front of Octavia too," but he pushed the thought out of his head, and took a step back. Lightning Dust just sighed, and spun her chair around. "I suppose you want to know. Don't worry. I'm not going to go crazy."

Alez took a step closer, and Octavia came and stood beside him, almost a full three inches taller.

Lightning Dust began her story: "About a year ago, I was at the height of my excellence. I was winning every competition I attended. That's when Spitfire announced the Wonderbolts' Academy, a training course for aspiring Wonderbolts. I immediately signed up, but as the press viewed it, the course would be way over my head," she said, pointing to the newspaper clipping on the wall. "I was very excited, when I got paired with the second best young flier in Equestria, Rainbow Dash. Of course, we hit it up together. We had a blast!"

Alez nodded, having seen Rainbow's amazing flying skills.

"But then I ruined everything," Lightning Dust sighed. Octavia gasped, "Don't say that! You didn't-"

"Thanks for trying to defend me, Octavia, but it was my fault. I became over confident, reckless even."

Alez tried to imagine Lightning Dust as reckless, but quickly pushed the image out of his head.

"I convinced Rainbow Dash to help me with a flying trick that would create a tornado to clear the sky of some rain clouds. Some innocent ponies in a hot air balloon got caught up in it, and almost fell to their deaths. It turns out they had come to wish their friend Rainbow Dash good luck. Of course, Rainbow, being a dirty, selfish-"

Lightning Dust stopped herself, and sighed. "Rainbow Dash went to tell the instructor, the world-famous Spitfire, about what I had done. That fool listened to her, and kicked me out, literally," she said, rubbing her flank.

"That's terrible," Alez exclaimed, sympathizing with her. "You must be really mad with Rainbow Dash. I'm surprised that-"

"No, Alez," Lightning Dust said sadly, using his name for the first time. "I'm not mad. I've learned to forgive her. In fact, I would love to go and apologize for what I did, but, quite honestly, I'm afraid of her now. Anyway, thanks for showing me your stuff! Maybe we can organize a date sometime-"

Alez's eyes grew wide.

"-To work on a video together." Lightning Dust finished.

Alez found himself sighing with relief. "That sounds great! I'll keep in touch!" Alez wanted to talk with Lightning Dust longer. She seemed like such a kind, yet edgy mare, but she obviously didn't want to hear about Rainbow Dash any more.

"Oh, and, Alez," Lightning Dust put her hoof on his shoulder, "don't tell Rainbow Dash about any of this, okay?"

Alez mocked zipping his mouth shut, then said bye to her, and trotted out the door, with Octavia at his side.

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