Lightning Dust had finally reached her dream. After years of practice, broken bones, and sacrificed, she had finally been accepted into the Wonderbolt's Academy. But, not every dream ends in a happily ever after...
Lightning Dust had finally reached her dream. After years of practice, broken bones, and sacrificed, she had finally been accepted into the Wonderbolt's Academy.
When she got there, her plan was simple: push herself to the limit and prove to everypony (even herself) that she belonged. But after a series of unfortunate events, she got kicked out. Now, with her dream crushed, she sees only one pony to blame: Rainbow Dash.
Written By:DJ_Neon_Lights Edited by:Pegasus-Skip
Notes: First attempt at writing. I had to start somewhere, I guess.
In the early hours of the Equestrian morning, a dark figure sat upon a cloud high above the outskirts of Ponyville. The figure had arrived around sunrise; and had remained at that point for several hours. As the figure sat, it kept its eyes locked on a cloud house that floated not far from its current position.
After a few more minutes the figure stood up on all fours and walked over to the edge of the cloud. It stopped when it reached the edge, then muttered in an angry tone, “Time to show you who the the best flyer really is!” The figure then took a deep breath, before leaping off the cloud.
~Meanwhile in the cloud house~
Rainbow Dash rested peacefully in her bed. Her mane stretched out on the pillow like a rainbow spiderweb, and her dreams were filled with her doing all of her amazing tricks in front of a large audience.
The cyan mare wasn't one for waking up in the early hours of the morning; she would much rather stay happily in bed and sleep until the late afternoon. Sadly, this goal was usually unachievable due to the fact that she had to get up early for work on the Ponyville weather team. Thankfully, this goal was achievable today due to her having the day off. Because of this, she had decided the night before to shut off her alarm clock off so she could sleep in…or so she though. Rainbow was rudely awoken from her sleep by a loud 'boom' coming from outside her house. With the unexpected wake-up call, the cyan mare promptly shot up from her bed; sleep lingered in her dazed magenta eyes. After shaking her head and trying to clear out the ringing in her ears out with a hoof, Rainbow looked around to see what could have rudely awoken her. The mare’s eyes scanned the room, looking to see if anything had fallen off a shelf and broke.
Though it may be hard to believe, things can still break if they hit a cloud, especially the clouds that Pegasi used for building. These clouds were custom built to be able to support solid items--such as furniture--that normal clouds couldn't hold. This type of cloud, however, still couldn't support a non-Pegasus. Upon seeing nothing broken, she looked over to her pet tortoise to see if he could be responsible for the loud noise. As she located the tortoise she saw that he was still, somehow, fast asleep.
Looking to the window located on the opposite side of the room, she noticed streaks of multicolored light seeping through the blinds. Curious at this, the Pegasus walked over to the window and pulled up the blinds.
She realized her mistake instantly, her eyes burned from being introduced to the bright light that greeted her from outside. The mare quickly turned away and covered her eyes with a hoof.
After taking a few seconds for her eyes to readjust and blinking away the white that stained her vision she looked out the window. What she saw made her gasp, for outside her house lay the unmistakable remains of a sonic rainboom.
Dash was filled with awe at the spectacle,but was replaced soon after by a feeling of confusion. 'I am the only pony in Equestria who could do a Sonic Rainboom… right?' she thought to herself.
She then looked at the rainbow trail that was left behind by whoever had performed the trick. Dash quickly flew through open the window and began to fly after the rainbow trail. While she flew only one question crossed her mind, who could have just done that?
Applejack woke long before any of the day's excitement. She always had to get up at the crack of dawn to start her farm chores. For the past hour or so she had been awake she had done some odd jobs here and there, like oiling the squeaky barn doors, fixing broken fence posts, and doing other odds and ends. She was currently in the east fields getting an early start on her apple-bucking for the day.
Whew, nothin' like a lil' applebucking to wake ya up in th' mornin', the orange mare thought as she thrust her hind legs against the tree.
She had gotten an early start on bucking today because she would be tackling the trees in the east field. The trees in this part of the orchard were the biggest and consequently needed to be bucked the hardest. This made the process of collecting all of the apples take twice as long..
After taking care of a few more of the big trees, the earth pony was finally beat. She had decided that it was about time to take a break. Resting against a nearby tree Applejack stared out over the orchard. Sure, farming was hard work but the feeling of accomplishment after a hard day's work made it all worth it, and consequently being the strongest mare around from all of the physical labor wasn't a bad perk either.
After sitting there for a while, Applejack's eyes wandered to the cloud house that was floating not far away. “Ah bet RD is probably going ta sleep in again. Some hard work would do that lazy pony some good," Applejack chuckled to herself and shook her head.
The orange mare then lifted her head back up to watch the clouds above her float by, though Applejack would never admit it; she took great pleasure in cloud watching.
While she stared at the clouds she couldn’t help but notice a tiny dark dot on top of one of the clouds located high above her friend's cloud house. Sitting up, she squinted and tried to get a better look. Upon further inspection she recognized the spot as being in the shape of a pony.
“Ah wonder who that could be?” Applejack thought out loud.
She then witnessed the figure jump off of the cloud and accelerate towards the ground at an amazingly fast rate. Applejack kept her eyes locked on the figure while it plummeted towards the ground.
Then, in an instant, rainbow lights burst out from the area in front of the falling Pegasus and was soon followed by a loud boom moments later. Applejack continued to watch as the Pegasus then made a seemingly impossible 90 degree turn and started flying over the Everfree forest.
After a taking a few more seconds to marvel at the rainbow spectacle she spoke up, “Ah didn’t think that Dash could get up this early. Might have ta have a talk to her later about do’n Rainbooms so early, probably woke up half the town."
Getting up to return to her work but stopping when she saw something poke out of a window in the neighboring cloud house. Applejack tilted her head; slightly alarmed at what may be in her friend's house, yet before she could think further on the subject, the object in question shot out of the cloud house and start to fly away. She looked closer at the figure and saw that it was in fact Rainbow Dash.
This confused her and after a few seconds it finally clicked why in her mind, “Wait! If that's RD… then who the hay was the first pony?!”
Rainbow Dash continued to fly after the rainbow trail at a blazing speed. From the combination of just waking up and not having her breakfast, Dash was having a hard time keeping up her pace. She hated flying on an empty stomach.
Rainbow followed the trail as it led past Sweet Apple Acres and over the Everfree forest. With the trail dissipating in front of her, she started to fear she wouldn't find out who had done her rainboom. She picked up her pace. The trail eventually led her to a field on the opposite side of town.
Touching down, Rainbow began her search for the mystery pony. She didn't have to look long before she was greeted by a familiar voice.
“Took you long enough to get here,” the voice said with a mocking tone.
Rainbow Dash then turned around to come face to face with none other than Lightning Dust. Clenching her teeth the cyan mare grated out, “What do you want!?"
Lightning Dust the trotted around Dash, keeping a confident grin and spoke, “Oh, nothing. Just trying to check up on my old wing pony, that's all."
Dash instantly shot back with annoyance clear in her voice. “Whatever. I don't have time for this. I’m in the middle of looking for," she hesitated before continuing, "something.”
Lightning Dust noticed the hesitation and smirked. “Oh, don’t you mean somepony? Perhaps the one who did that sonic rainboom?” Lightning Dust said, leaning closer with each word.
Taken back by these words, Dash quickly responded, looking everywhere but at the pony in front of her as she spoke. “W-what makes you think that it wasn’t me?!”
Clearly seeing the nervousness in Dash's voice, Lightning Dust responded, “Oh that is simple, really, because it was me!”
Dash was stunned by this. She knew that Lightning Dust was fast, yet last time she checked, she couldn’t do a sonic rainboom. In fact she hadn’t seen Lightning at the academy in a while, so she figured that she had been demoted to someone else's wing pony. Getting back to the matter at hoof Dash replied, “Y-you can do a sonic rainboom!”
“Ha, well I just did! See anything different about this one?” Dust said, pointing with her hoof at the fading remnants of the rainboom.
Dash then looked at the rainboom in question and noticed upon further inspection that it had a slight tint of mint green and yellow,“T-that proves nothing!” Dash retorted, not wanting to believe the evidence before her eyes.
“Keep telling yourself that,” The mint-green pegasus said as she rolled her eyes.
Relying on the last ounce of belief that Lightning was in fact not the pony that did the rainboom, she spoke, “If you had done it, I probably would have seen you practicing it at the academy!”
When she heard this, Lightning Dust froze in place, her look of confidence and pride was soon replaced with one of both anger and sadness. She looked at Dash for a second, then to the ground and spoke, “You don't know, do you?”
“Know what?” Dash replied with genuine confusion.
Lightning Dust snarled then shifted her gaze from the ground to Dash, “After you got lead pony I wasn't demoted to wing pony” She paused and scrunched up her face “I was kicked out!”
Dash was shocked at this, she thought that Dust had just had a talking-to and was then demoted. She felt a slight pang of sympathy for her, but pushed it aside. She thought she deserved every bit of it. Rainbow Dash was about to speak before she was interrupted by Dust.
“I got kicked out for all of the stuff that you helped cause! You were equally responsible and did you get kicked out? No! You got praised and rewarded just because you felt bad about what you did. Don't you think I felt bad about what happened, too? And even if you felt like we were being irresponsible the whole time you didn't say or do anything until it affected your friends!" Lightning yelled. She then lowered her head and spoke in a quiet tone. "You ruined my dream, Dash.” She was now at the verge of tears.
Dash was taken aback by this information. Was she really partly responsible for what happened? She wanted to say 'no' but she couldn't convince herself of it. She had never told Spitfire about how she was a part of it. It was true that she didn’t fight back or question Dust’s actions until after it became personal. She felt a lump in her throat as she gathered her voice, “Dust… I’m sorry about what happened.”
Lightning Dust shook her head and responded, “It's too late for sorry now Dash! I’m out and there is nothing I can do about it. I tried to re-apply hundreds of times but they won't take me!”
“Well-” Dash started to say before Lightning Dust cut her off.
“After I got kicked out I trained myself harder than ever before and now I can even do the legendary Sonic Rainboom.” Dust walked closer to Dash, getting in her face “And now I'm going to prove to everyone who really deserved to be kicked out of the academy!” With that, Lightning Dust flew off.
Dash wanted to follow her but decided against it. With all that Dust had said, Dash now had a lot to think about. But one thing in her mind stood out the most, ‘Was it really my fault?'
Lightning Dust flew as fast as she could away from the field. She was at the verge of tears and didn't want Dash to see her if she broke down. She suppressed her emotions by focusing on flying. She could let it all out once she got to her destination. It only took her a few more minutes to arrive at the far side of Whitetail Woods.
This area of the woods was about a half hour flight from Ponyville. Because of its distance from any towns, this area remained isolated. If it weren't for the annual Running of the Leaves, this forest would be completely unnoticed.
Lightning Dust arrived at the area of the woods and landed in a nearby clearing. When she made contact with the earth she immediately started walking up to a small log cabin. She had to walk as there was neither the access or visibility from the air. Upon reaching the door, she walked inside. The cabin was small and only had three rooms, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a living room/kitchen combo.
She made her way to the bathroom sink that ran off an old-fashioned well pump, and washed off her face. Using a nearby towel to dry herself off, she made her way to the small bedroom.
When she reached the bedroom, she promptly threw herself onto the bed that lay in the center of the room. The bed let out a squeaky sound as she made contact.
Turning to face the nightstand that sat beside the bed, she picked up a small picture frame that rested upon it. Lightning Dust then took the picture frame and brought it to her chest.
The picture held in the frame was of of two Pegasi; a mare and a stallion. They were holding a smiling mint-green filly in their hooves. Dust took the picture off of her chest and looked at it. She smiled a little at it. “Don’t worry, I'll still make you proud.” Pulling the picture back to her chest, she started to cry. She continued to lay there until she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Lightning Dust awoke later that day around noon. Unlike Rainbow Dash, she wasn’t usually one for naps, but due to her emotionally tiring day so far, she didn’t mind the extra sleep. Raising from her bed she placed the picture frame back where it belonged on the small nightstand beside the bed. She was both happy and relieved to find that the picture frame had somehow managed to remain tightly in her grasp as she slept, rather than fall on the floor and break. She stared at the picture one last time before making her way over to the fireplace and carefully started a small fire. Since it was the beginning of autumn and the air was particularly cold she decided to light a fire to help warm up the cabin.
After that she made her way over to her bathroom. Looking in the mirror she noticed the tear stains that lead down from under her eyes. She stared at herself in the mirror. ‘You’re not supposed to cry. Crying is for the weak’, she thought to herself. She grabbed a nearby washcloth and wiped her face until the tear marks were completely gone. She then grabbed a brush from out of a nearby medicine cabinet and started to brush her hair. When she was satisfied with how she looked, she made her way out of the bathroom and into the kitchen to start her breakfast.
The stove that occupied the lodge’s kitchen could only run on wood, and because of her “complications” earlier that day Lightning had forgot to stack up some wood earlier that morning. She sighed before making her way to the entrance of the home. She made her way past the front garden on the outskirts of the lodge and over to the other side of the cabin. Lightning then took a log off the stacked wood that had been placed there some time ago.
She took the log and placed it onto the ground, before bracing herself and flaring her wings as she flew into the air with great speed. Once she was at an acceptable altitude she nose dived back down, smashing the wood into little fragments across the area.
Satisfied with her work Lightning picked up the pieces and took the now smaller stack of wood inside the cabin. Once inside, she placed the stack next to the stove. She used some of the wood to start the stove. She then made her way over to the icebox and grabbed a carton of eggs before making her way back to the stove. Lightning Dust liked to start her day off with a plate of scrambled eggs. It was a good source of protein, and it was delicious.
After finishing her meal Dust made her way outside to start her morning flight training.
She trotted her way over to the open field that lay not far from the house. Because she lived in the woods Dust had almost unlimited space for flying and practicing new tricks. But out of all the places she could find Dust liked this area the most. It had minimum trees and terrain was almost completely flat. But the best part was the decently sized lake that was located not far to the south of the field. The lake was an important feature because it allowed for a place to crash from a failed trick, without getting seriously injured.Dust then started her preflight stretches.
After she had completed all of the preflight exercises, Lightning cracked her back before flaring her wings and taking to the sky. The wind in her mane and the adrenaline in her veins was unbeatable. When she was in the air, she felt alive.After a few minutes of warm-up laps around the field, she was finally ready to start her actual training. Though her warm-up routine may seem a bit excessive Lightning felt it was necessary. After all, if she managed to pull a muscle in her wing or any other severe injury she was miles away from the nearest hospital.
Lightning Dust suddenly began to climb higher in the sky. It wasn’t long until she found herself high above the cloud layer. She finally stopped her assent when the thin air made it hard for her to breath. The Pegasus hovered in place while she stared down at the earth below. The field beneath her becoming nothing more than a mere spec.
Without warning Lightning pulled in her wings so that the were tight against her sides. The lack of upward propulsion caused the mare to immediately slip into freefall. She could feel the air rushing by her as she plummeted towards the earth below. Even though the rush of the air made her eyes burn she kept them open. As the field below her quickly came closer into view, she could feel mixture of fear and thrill start to build up within her. Watching as the gap between her and the ground became smaller.
500 feet. 400 feet. 200 feet.100 feet.
As she neared closer to the point of no return she flung open her wings. The force of the wind's friction through her feathers caused them to immediately burn. She pumped her wings as fast she could, making an almost impossible 90 degree turn. The added speed of the fall caused her to rocket forwards. Lightning loved to do free falls, the mixture of terror and thrill that it produced as she closed in on the ground, it was almost unmatched.
But even with all the excitement it produced, she couldn’t help but think about the time when she hadn’t pulled up… when she didn’t want to pull up. Lightning shook her head to clear out the painful memories from her mind. With the memories safely suppressed she then returned her focus to flying. With the extra speed that she had gained the pegasus began to practice her flight routine. She did many twists and turns that lead to more complicated tricks.
After Lightning had almost completed her flight routine she found herself once again in the high altitudes of the sky. She still had one last trick that she wanted to do, one that had taken weeks of backbreaking work to master, the Sonic-Rainboom. She once again looked down at the earth before she thrusted her wings and began to fly once again strait for the ground.
From the combination of gravity and the power of her own wing strokes, Lightning began to rapidly gain speed. It wasn’t long before a mach cone started to form around the speeding mare. As she got to the final stage of the Rainboom, she felt the air tighten around her body, like a slingshot being stretched to its limit. This was it, this was the point that many had reached yet failed to pass. With this Lightning pushed her wings as fast and as hard as she could.
With one last thrust of her mighty wings there was a large “boom” followed by an explosion of color. Lightning pulled up and made another impossible 90 degree, but unlike last time she was followed by a trail of gold and lime green. She flew around in a much rehearsed pattern, before touching down onto the field below.
Dust felt like her whole body was on fire from the extreme workout that she had just put herself through. Wiping some sweat from her brow she turned her view back up to the sky, smirking when she saw her cutie mark painted in the sky by the gold and lime green trail, which lay directly in front of the Rainboom.
Lightning Dust stared at her work for a few more minutes before she turned around and made her way back to the cabin.
Rainbow Dash flew through the skies above Ponyville, currently on her way to Sugarcube Corner. At first she was hesitant about going into public because of the events of earlier that day. She didn’t want ponies to know that another pony had mastered her trick. It was her trick after all. She had a reputation to keep. But eventually her hunger had gotten the best of her and, as she couldn’t cook for her life Dash had decided that Sugarcube Corner was her best option.
It didn’t take long until Dash had arrived at the front steps of Ponyville’s number one bakery. Taking a deep breath in she put on her signature cocky smirk and trotted into the bakery. Instantly she was met by the smell of freshly baked pastries and other confectionaries. Dash made her way over to the bakery counter and was greeted by none other than Ponyville’s number one party pony, Pinkie Pie.
“Hey Dashie! What can I get for you?” the pink mare said as she bounced around behind the counter.
“Hey Pinks. I’ll have umm,” Dash looked at the vast variety of sweets, “I’ll have one cinnamon roll, please?”
Pinkie nodded and pulled out a fresh cinnamon roll from out of her hair before placing it on the counter in front of her. Dash first inspected the roll for any loose Pinkie hair, and when she decided it was clean she laid a few bits out on the counter. Pinkie took the bits and smiled before going back to tend to other customers.
Dash made her way to a nearby table and placed her newly acquired sweet down. She was about to take her first bite before a familiar - and very irritated - voice caught her attention.
“Rainbow Dash!” the voice screamed.
Dash slowly turned to face one of the scariest things she had ever seen. She had faced dragons, Manticores, and even Nightmare Moon. But what was standing in front of her topped it all. For standing in the doorway of the bakery was a very, very pissed off Rarity. Her hair was a mess and she still was wearing her fluffy pink night robe with matching slippers. Rarity soon started to advance towards Dash’s table, her eyes shone like daggers.
Dash at this point had fallen out of her chair, threw her cinnamon roll halfway across the bakery, and scooted her way over to the neighboring wall. She usually would have been self conscious about her public image but by now everypony in the bakery had already fled out the nearest door, and one pony had even jumped out of a neighboring window. It was common knowledge to never cross Rarity when she was in a bad mood, and when Rarity hadn’t even taken the time to pretty her own hair…you knew to run. But when you were, like Dash, on the receiving end of her wrath, may Celestia help you.
Dash tried to stop herself from shaking before she spoke, “H-hey Rarity w-what’s up?” she tried to say casually, it failed.
Rarity inched forwards, almost face to face with Dash before speaking, “You know damn well, what’s up!” Rarity took a minute before continuing.
“Your stupid Sonic-Rainboom woke me from my beauty sleep!”
Applejack made her way down the dirt road to central Ponyville. She had finished her morning chores and was making her way to the family farm stand with a cart of freshly bucked apples. Big Mac had told her to bring the cart to the stand earlier when they had shared breakfast with the Apple family. But throughout the whole morning the Rainboom incident had still continued to bug her. ‘Who the hay else could have done that rainboom? Ah mean, isn’t Rainbow the only pony that can do one?’ she thought to herself.
Applejack was about to pass by Sugarcube Corner when she heard a loud and very irritated voice called out, “Your stupid Sonic-Rainboom woke me from my beauty sleep!”
Applejack instantly recognized the voice to be from none other than Rarity, and by the sounds of it she was pretty pissed off. She quickly unhooked herself from the cart and ran towards the bakery - hoping to save whoever was on the receiving end Rarities wrath.
Applejack burst through the door to the bakery. She looked around and noticed that the usually popular restaurant was completely empty - except for a cowering Rainbow Dash and a very pissed off Rarity. Before Rarity could cause any physical damage Applejack immediately sprung into action and tackled Rarity to the ground just as she was about to lunge at Rainbow.
“Let me at her Applejack! She needs to pay!” Rarity screamed as she flailed her limbs, trying to get to Rainbow.
Because of Applejack’s strength she could easily hold the very angry Rarity back. “Easy there sugarcube, now tell me what’s got ya knickers in a twist?” she said in a calming voice.
Rarity continued her tantrum. “That brute of a pegasus woke me from my beauty sleep with her stupid Sonic-Rainboom!” Rarity wailed.
“Uh sugarcube… That wasn’t Rainbow,” Applejack said flatly.
Rarity stopped her flailing and looked to Applejack. “Well of course it was! What other Pegasus in all of Equestria can perform a Sonic-Rainboom?”
“Ah don’t know, all I knew was it wasn’t Rainbow,” Applejack said as she let go of the now calmer Unicorn.
During this time Rainbow Dash had recovered and started to make her way to the back exit. Applejack noticed this and pulled out her lasso from under her hat. “Oh no you don’t, you ain't going no where until you explain some things!” Applejack said as she threw the lasso at the escaping Pegasus.
As soon as the rope had made its way around Dash’s hooves Applejack pulled it tight, making the Pegasus fall face first onto the floor. Rainbow looked unamused as she was unceremoniously dragged back over to the pair.
Applejack un tied the unamused Rainbow Dash. “You know, ya could have just asked,” Dash said as she rubbed the red areas on her hooves that were left by AJ’s lasso.
Applejack just rolled her eyes. “As Ah was sayin’ Rares it wasn’t Rainbow. Ah saw whoever did the Rainboom then Ah saw Rainbow flyn’ after em.”
Rarity - who was a lot calmer - turned to Rainbow. “Is it true, Darling. Was it not you who did the Rainboom this morning?” Rarity said, her previous anger replaced with curiosity.
Rainbow started to sweat as the eyes of both mares fell upon her. “Hehe well…you see…it may have not been me,” she said nervously.
“Well then, who was it?” Applejack asked impatiently.
Dash looked around nervously before speaking ,“Um, it was.” Cough. ”Lightning Dust,” she said muffling her last words with a cough.
“Lightning Dust!?” both Applejack and Rarity said in unison. They looked at each other for a second, shrugged, then turned back to Dash.
Rainbow Dash looked at both mares before sighing, there was no use in trying to hide it. “Yes It was Lightning Dust who did the Sonic-Rainboom. Apparently after she was...kicked out of the academy she went on an extreme training spree and, somehow managed to master the trick. She told me that the reason why she got booted was because of the whole incident at the academy and..and it was all my fault!” Rainbow said as she slumped down on her haunches.
By now Rarity and Applejack were both speechless from the shocking news. Applejack was the first to speak up, “Ah thought that she was demoted back to wing pony after the whole tornado business?”
Rainbow shrugged. “I thought so too but, apparently Spitfire had her kicked out.”
“Okay I get that Darling, but what do you mean that it was all your fault? Wasn’t it her idea to do all of that risky business?” Rarity said with a raised eyebrow.
“Yea it was but… I was a part of it and I didn’t do anything to stop it until it became personal, I was equally responsible! And look what happened, I get promoted while Dust got kicked out...her dream got crushed, and it was all my fault!” Rainbow almost screamed, she looked like she was on the verge of tears.
Rarity trotted over to her friend and started to rub her hoof along Dash’s back. Because she was still wearing her fuzzy slippers it added an extra comfort to the cyan mare. Noticing that Rainbow had calmed down Rarity took the opportunity to speak, “There, there, darling. It wasn’t your fault. Yes, you did aid in the...havoc, but it was all Lightning Dust’s idea. If it weren’t for her thinking so selfishly, she wouldn’t have been in this mess.”
Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement, but she still seemed a little put down.
Applejack noticed this and spoke up, “Rarity is right, Sugarcube. It wasn’t your fault. Lightning Dust dug her own grave. It’s not all your fault.”
Rainbow looked back up towards both mares “Thanks girls, this really means a lot,” she said. Rainbow then had a thought pop into her head. She looked around as she spoke, ”Hey...where did Pinkie go?”
As if on cue the Pink mare in question bounced through the open doors of Sugarcube corner. “Hello everpony! I’m back!” she cheered happily.
The three other mares in the room jumped at the sudden outburst. They all spoke up in unison, “Pinkie! Where the hay have you been?”
The pink mare put a hoof to her chin before answering, “Well, first I went outside to figure out where everpony was going. Then I chased after this one mare and tried to ask her why she was running. She didn’t answer me and just kept repeating something like ‘White Devil’ over and over again. I finally gave up and came back here so, here I am!” Pinkie said with a smile.
Rarity blushed when she realized what Pinkie was talking about. She then finally realized that she was still in her night robe her blush deepened as started to back up towards the door. “Oh...Uh…Will you please excuse me, Darlings. I must return to my house and get properly dressed,” Rarity said as she cuckled nervously. She continued her way out of the shop before stopping and turning once more to Dash. “Oh and sorry about that Dash, I didn’t mean to scare you and go all psycho.”
Rainbow Dash quickly snapped back, “I wasn’t scared...I was terrified.”
Rarity rolled her eyes and continued out the door of sugarcube corner. Applejack chuckled before turning to her friends. “Ah got to get heading out too. Got to get those apples to the farmers market, Big mac’s probably worried sick.” She waved her goodbyes before heading outside. She re-attached herself to the cart before continuing on her route to her farmstand.
With most of her friends gone Dash finally took the time to look around the bakery. She noticed that the place was a mess; chairs knocked over, tables toppled on their sides, and the entire floor was covered in pastries that were previously located on said tables. Dash couldn't help but let out a soft giggle when she noticed a familiar looking cinnamon roll stuck on neighboring wall. She then turned to Pinkie Pie who now had a dustpan and broom clasped in her mouth, she let out a goofy smile from behind the cleaning utensils.
"I'm guessing you're going to want help cleaning this up?" Dash asked.
Pinkie Pie nodded and Dash took the broom from her and began to sweep the sweets that covered floor. While cleaning Dash couldn't help but think back to Lightning Dust. Though her friends had helped clear her guilt she still felt sorry for the mare. After all, she did have her dreams torn away from her.
Rainbow Dash waved to Pinkie Pie as she trotted away from sugarcube corner, carrying a small bag in her mouth that was filled with freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Pinkie had given them to her as a thank you gift for helping her clean up the shop. The customers had slowly returned one by one after being scared off by the “White Devil”. Dash giggled at the name before jumping into the air, and began to fly back to her cloud house.
Rainbow Dash lay face first on the cloud couch in her living room. She moaned into the cloud pillow. It had been about an hour since she had arrived home from Sugarcube Corner, her activities from then to now had included pigging out on her cinnamon rolls and laying prone on her couch. Normally, she would be taking a nap right about now, but with all that had happened recently, Rainbow’s mind decided to hate her and not drop the topic. The topic of Lightning Dust. With an annoyed groan, Rainbow flipped herself over onto her back and stared at the cloud ceiling.
‘Stupid Lightning Dust, she doesn’t know what the heck she was talking about, It was all her fault that she got kicked out!’
‘Well she was kinda right, you did help get her kicked out…’
‘No! It was all her fault! She was the one who was irresponsible and brash! She started the tornado! She was the one who caused all of the chaos!’
‘Hello pot, meet kettle. For Celestia’s sake, can’t you see it?! You were as responsible as her!’
‘Really? How!’
‘Well, for starters, you could have stepped up and told her to stop, you could have prevented it! But noooo, the great Rainbow Dash didn’t step in until it concerned her and got personal!’
‘Well! You... Stupid brain!’
‘Just trying to show you the truth…’
“Shut up, brain!” Dash yelled into the pillow. She was getting tired of that stupid thing always using logic on her… it was like a mini Twilight in her head! Groaning, Dash pushed herself off of the couch. Rainbow flopped onto the floor, she wasn’t in the mood to use her front hooves, so she just dragged herself over to to her kitchen. Over the years, Dash had developed an annoying habit of eating when she was confused, angry, or anything of that sort. Luckily, her constant exercise routine and high metabolism kept her from getting fat. Dash pushed herself through the door and made her way across the cloud floor to her refrigerator. Dash pushed herself up off of the ground and open the fridge: it was empty.
“Buck me,” she whispered under her breath. “I knew I should have gone shopping…” With not food to indulge herself in, she slammed the refrigerator shut, and sat down with her back against the empty refrigerator. With nothing left to distract her, Dash let her mind wander. She remembered back to the beginning of the Wonderbolt’s Academy, when she and Lightning Dust had been friends. They had got along so well; Dash had finally found somepony who could actually keep up with her. Why did it all have to go down hill? Why had they both have to buck up so badly that one of them got kicked out… Then it hit her, why she felt so bad, why she wanted to drown herself in food, why she was yelling at her brain… she felt guilty. She felt guilty for being responsible for destroying Lightning’s dreams, she felt guilty for getting promoted, she felt guilty for not once going to see Lightning… stupid bucking feels.
Dash laid in her paralyzed position for a few more moments, before she came to her decision. Finding her hooves, she gingerly righted herself back onto all fours before trotting out of her home. Once she was on the porch of the cloud home, Rainbow flared her wings and took off in search of a certain opal coated mare.
Back in the streets of Ponyville, Lightning Dust was trotting through town, she made out like she was window shopping in the bustling market square of the small town, but she kept a close eye on the sky with a determined idea. She was just about to trot over to another stall when she saw a flicker of rainbow high above the ground. A wide smirk came to her face before she snapped her wings open and blasted off into the sky.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was scouring the ground below looking for any signs of Lightning Dust. She had only been searching for a few minutes, but an increasing thought kept amplifying in her mind that the mare might have already left town. This only gave Dash another pang in her chest as her guilt rose, she had to find that mare. Just then, Rainbow spotted a small speck which was rapidly growing larger as it advanced. Focusing her eyes, she noticed the opal and gold flare which appeared around the spec. Dash sighed in relief, but then she realized the spec was making a beeline straight for her. Dash’s eyes widened and she darted around, trying to avoid the oncoming missile of a pegasus. At the last moment, the spec turned, and the pony looped around Dash before stopping just a few feet away from her.
“Well if it isn’t you again,” Lightning said, folding her forehooves.
Dash hovered in slight shock before speaking up. “Lightning Dust?”
“No shit, Sherlock,” Lightning said, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, I’m gonna get right to the point.”
“Which is?”
“I’m here to challenge you to a race!”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “A race? That’s it…?”
Lighting chuckled slightly. "No not just a race, loser gets grounded.”
Dash blinked a few times. “Wait so...the loser can’t use their wings?”
“Yeah,” Lightning said plainly, “It’s not rocket science.”
With this new information, Rainbow’s old competitive self came back to her, overriding her previous reason to go searching for Dust in the first place. “You’re on, Lightning,” Rainbow Dash said, flaring her wings.
Lightning smirked. “Good. Meet me at the town’s fountain at three o’clock, bring whoever you like--they’ll only just laugh once you lose.”
With that, Lightning took off once again, leaving Rainbow to her thoughts. She had to go and tell her friends…
As the sun started it’s usual decent as per every evening, two pegasi where stood outside the town’s giant water fountain. Rainbow Dash had brought her five friends along to see the race and support her. Lightning just laughed it off and was currently doing wing press ups on the ground, waiting for the race to start.
“Do you really think Lightning will be able to beat you?” Twilight asked curiously, surprised to hear about Lightning’s earlier stunts. Rainbow held a nervous look at all of her friends still not sure about the race herself, but she couldn’t back down now.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine, besides it’s only a lap around Ponyville,” Rainbow said to her friend, reassuring not only Twilight, but herself.
“Come on Rainbow or are you too scared to challenge me now?” Lightning said with a smirk, egging the sky blue mare on. Dash grunted, before trotting over to the opal mare.
“Great! Okay, remember the deal?” Lightning asked as both Pegasi lined up parallel with each other.
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, of course! You’ll be regretting that decision when I win,” she said confidently flaring her wings.
Within a flash, both Pegasi soared into the air, taking a quick right turn as they started the race. Rainbow was so far keeping pace with her former wing-mate--Lightning clearly putting all she had into this.
Rainbow quickly spotted the next turn, turning her wings in a heartbeat the sky blue Pegasus rounded the corner with Lightning still neck and neck with the mare as they went into the next phase of the race. Rainbow Dash could just see her competitor out of the corner of her eye, she could tell the opal mare was now starting to tire slightly from the endurance, but she still kept pace with Dash as the turned into the second last corner.
Rainbow felt a smile come to her muzzle as she started to edge ahead of the mare. Lightning now slightly struggling to keep pace, but then Rainbow caught a glimpse of her old friend. Lightning trying with all her might to win as if her life depended on it. This started to bring back Rainbow’s concern for Lightning. She began to think all this was her fault, what would happen if Rainbow did win the race...would it just make Lightning more angry?
Suddenly, Rainbow was cut from her thoughts when she saw Lightning turn and soon realized that she’d forgotten about the last turn completely. Groaning, she quickly snapped back around and put all of her speed into the final straight to the finish. Her muscles burned as she poured as much strength as she could muster into her wings. She looked up, the water fountain coming into view. With a few more flaps of her powerful wings, Rainbow found herself neck and neck with Lightning. Dash turned, looking at the opal colored mare besides her. She could see the strain on her face and the the determination in her eyes. Turning her eyes back towards the fast approaching fountain, Dash returned her focus back to flying.
With a flash, Lightning and Rainbow crashed into the ground next to the fountain. All the ponies that had been watching jumped out of the way, several splashing into the fountain in a desperate attempt to avoid being hit. A large cloud of dirt and dust rose from the impact site. As the dust settled, Rainbow and Lightning lay on the ground, panting as their strained lungs gasped for air.
Lightning pushed herself up onto her haunches, stretching her wings. She then asked, “Who won?” aloud, not caring who answered. Everypony began to mumble and talk to each other, trying to figure out if anypony even knew who’d won.
Dash sat up, shooting a questioning glance to her five friends. Pinkie, Twilight, and Applejack shrugged, while Rarity dusted herself off. “C’mon,” Dash moaned, “Somepony had to see.”
“Weeeeeell,” Pinkie began, walking closer to Rainbow. “You did practically dive, bomb us. Teehee, everypony jumped out of the way so they wouldn’t be smushed.
Applejack rolled her eyes as she continued ringed out her hat, being one of the unlucky one of ending up in the fountain.
“Honestly, am I the only one who thinks ahead?” Rarity spoke as she trotted over to Rainbow, her white coat now clean of even a spec of dirt.
Rainbow cocked her head in confusion, not getting what the white mare had implied.
Rarity stopped and with her magic, picked up a small camera that lay perched besides the fountain. “I thought there might be a close call...or a great photo opportunity,” Rarity beamed, clearly pleased with her foresight. Rarity pressed a button, and a picture slowly slipped out of the front of the camera. Rarity’s eyes widened as soon as she saw the picture.
Rainbow quickly grabbed the photo from her friend, before her jaw dropped. Lightning looked over Dash’s shoulder, and soon began jumping up and down.
Rainbow Dash sat, practically motionless, at one of the many tables in Sugercube Corner. Here eye fixated on the photo that lay in front of her. One of her legs dangled Iimply off the side table, slowly rocking back and forth, as if blown in some invisible breeze. Although her body remained practically inactive, her mind was for from. In her head, Rainbow replayed the race over and over again. And no matter how many times she went over it, she still couldn't accept the fact that she'd lost. Though her ego was hurt for being beaten (in a flying competition) what hurt more was the price of losing: being grounded. Rainbow had been so sure that she was going to beat Lighting, that the consaquences of her losing had never even crossed her mind. The idea of living, without being able to use her wings, was practically too much to bear!
Rainbow shook her head, trying to break free from the mental tyrant her mind was putting her threw. She picked up her wings, which had been limp by her sides, and starred at her feathers. She russled them, watching as they fluffed up, and then fell. Some went into place, and some remained out of line. Instinctively, Rainbow went to begin preening them, straitening those which were out of line, but stopped, and brought her head away, and rested it back onto the table. There was no use in preening them now.
Twilight, and most of the rest of Rainbow's friends, whatched the district Pegasus from a table located across the room. Wanting to give her space, and time to recover, the group had decided to wait until Rainbow seemed ready to talk. Pinkie was the only one that wasn't sat at the table. She had wanted to comfort rainbow the moment she's lost, but was held back by twilight and rarity, who had insisted that Rainbow needed to be alone. Reluctantly, Pinkie had retreated to kitchen of Sugarcube Corner, saying something about making "I'm-really-sorry-that-you-lost" cupcakes for rainbow. But, in truth, she had gone because she couldn't stand seeing one of her friends upset, and my being able to do anything about it.
Twilight let out an audible sigh, and stood up. Applejack, Flutershy, and Rarity's eyes were instantly upon her, and Twilight immediately answered the unasked question.
"I'm gonna go and talk to her," Twilight spoke. "I figure we've given her enough time to herself."
"Ah agree," said applejack, who was about get up and join twilight.
"No," Twilight said, the words coming out more of a command then she had intended.
Applejack froze instantly, tilting her head at Twilight, confusion riddling her features. "Ah though y'all said it was time for okay fer us to confert her, now?"
Twlilight shook her head. "I meant for me to comfort her. I know you all want to help her as much as I do, but I don't thing it's a good idea to all hound her at once. I figure, it's better if we each go one at a time."
Applejack nodded in response, sitting back into her chair, and resting her head on a good. Rarity merely nodded her head in approval, while Fluttershy shrank down in her chair and nodded as well, her expression held the most sadness of the group.
Turning on her hooves, twilight trotted over to rainbow's table, and sat at one of the chairs. Rainbow lifted her head, looked at twilight's sympathetic smile, and then rested her head back on the table.
Twilight took a deep breath, raised the words she wanted to say in her head, then spoke. "Rainbow... I know that this must be hard for you, so I wanted you to know that me and the girls are here for you."
Rainbow gave twilight a light smile, before returning to her previous frown. "I know, Twilight..." Dash mumbled.
Twilight bit her lip, not knowing what to say next. She had thought of this large speech about several methods of dealing with loss, compiled from some of the psychology books she'd read in the past. But looking into Rainbow's broken eyes, the speech seemed like it'd be a lot less effective then she's anticipated. Figuring she couldn't make the situation worse, Twilight decided to just be blunt. "I know that the deal was that the loser of the race had to be grounded... But do you really have to follow it? I mean, it's not like Lightning's gonna follow you 24/7 and enforce this?"
Rainbow scoffed, and sat up. Her face switching from that on sadness, to anger. "Twilight, do you really think I'm that sense that I wouldn't have thought of that on my own?" Rainbow Dash asked, getting into Twilight face.
Twilight, in turn, shrank down her chair and clapped her hooves together nervously under Rainbow's stair. "Well...no."
Rainbow cut her off before she could finish. "If that was an option, I would do it. Hell, I'd do anything to get out of what I have to do now!" Rainbow threw her hooves up into the air for emphasis. "But I can't, you know why?"
Twilight shook her head.
"It's because I'm a Pegasus. And as a Pegasus, being grounded isn't a thing we take lightly. Twilight, this is super serious. Like, I could go to court if I don't go along with this. I can't just back out and say 'ha, just kidding, I don't think that I want to do this anymore'." Rainbow used as much sarcasm she could to emphasize her point. "I could be shunned, jailed, exiled! Unless I...unless I..." Rainbow's voice caught, not being able to get the word out. She tried, but she couldn't. Tears began to fall from her eyes as she desperately tried to get the word out. But she fell silent as somepony else answered it for her.
"Get clipped," Flutershy finished from besides Twilight, who jumped in surprise, not expecting Fluttershy to join the conversation. Fluttershy shrank a little, frightened a little by twilight's reaction, but managed to still stand, somewhat, tall.
Rainbow lowered her head into the table again, closing here eyes tight, trying to hold back the tears. Flutershy slowly trotted next to rainbow and gently wrapped a wing around her. She then turned to twilight. "What Rainbow means is that, when a Pegasus has to be grounded...they have to have her wings clipped," Fluttershy said, visibly shuttering at the mention of the word.
Twilight balked, not knowing what to say. She had never heard about this Pegasus "tradition" before, but she did know what clipping a Pegasus wings would do. "On my god..."
"Yeah, now you understand..." Dash muttered, trying her best to return to her normal, brash composure... it wasn't working.
Miles away, Lightning Dust zipped threw the air, her joy filled smile seeming to fuel her as she flew carelessly threw the air. She soared back and forth, doing any and every trick she had in her aerial arsenal. Even as her mind raced with glee and adrenaline, Lightning's destination was clear in her mind: her house. But Lightning didn't care how long it took her to get there; she wanted to relish in her victory as long as she could. She had done it.
After a prolonged flight home, Lightning Dust touched down at the entrance to her home with enough force to leave a small crater. She practically bounced threw the door, rushed threw the house, and then finally stopped when she reached her bed. Gently as she could, Lightning picked up the picture that lay besides her bed, and pressed it tightly against her chest. "I did it! I did it!" she screamed, jumping up and down. The picture lowered from Lightning's chest as she loosened her grip, and she gazed upon it with tear filled eyes. "You proud of me...?"
Lightning's gaze remained trained on the the cloud floor, tracing the tile-like pattern set into the floor. Currently, she was in a semi day-dream state, trying to push away reality. Lightning didn't want to focus on where she was, or why she was there -- she was completely content was content staring at the floor, remaining ignorant to everything. But, the world doesn't work like that; one can't just slip into a limbo and live there until all of your real-life problem go away, and she knew it. On top if that, reality doesn't seem to like being ignored, and always has a way of slapping you back to it. Lightning's "slap" came in the form of loud, commanding voice yelling, "Lightning!" right into face.
Lightning's head shot up, instantly focused my attention on the mare in front of her. Spitfire, the current captain of the Wonderbolts, sat behind her desk, a stonic expression plastered upon her face. She wore her usual captain jacket; her rank, name, and Wonderbolts emblem stitched into it's fabric. Her yellow fur and orange mane contrasted beautifully with the jacket, and it made it seem like she was born to ware it. The Wonderbolts captain gave away no emotions, other the slight annoyance from having to yell to her attention. Lightning couldn't argue with here there, as she herself didn't like being ignored. But, even though Spitfire shared no outside hints of her emotions, Lightning could clearly tell that she wasn't happy. Which brings my brain back to thinking about why I am here…damn. Spitfire glared threw her authoritative sunglasses at Lightning, and she could feel her bronze eyes boring into her soul. The opal pegasus shuffled a little in her seat, trying to get at least a little comfortable. Spitfire suddenly let out a loud sigh, shaking her head slightly, before taking off her sunglasses and setting them on the desk. Spitfire clopped her hooves together a few times, seeming to collect her thoughts, before returning her focus to me.
"You know why you are here, correct?" she asked, her face unchanged.
The young pegasus nodded, knowing fully well why she was there.
Spitfire rubbed her temples with her hooves. "Kid, you bucked up. You bucked up really bad." She stopped rubbing her temples and looked back towards Lightning. "Do you know the impact of what you've done?"
"Well, I'll tell you. Your reckless behavior and ignorance of others managed to put nine ponies in the hospital!" she spoke, raising her voice, her stonic mask breaking slightly as anger could be seen flowing throughout her features. then turned her gaze from me to her desk, as she shuffled threw the papers that lay on it, obviously looking for one in particular. As soon as she found the one she was looking for, she immediately began to read it aloud. "Daisy Blossom: Sprained wing and dislocated right shoulder. Recovery time: 5 weeks. Thunder Head: Broken wing. Recovery time: 3 to 4 months. Spinning Vortex. Broken hoof, fractured rib, and sprained wing. Recovery time: 5 to 6 weeks." She slammed the paper down on her desk and immediately pointed her gaze at me, and I could see that he right eye twitched ever so slightly. I assumed that it was from her effort to keep at least some of her anger in. I tried to open my mouth to say something, but the death glare I got in response made my close it immediately.
"These are just three of the ponies you've hurt. And if it weren't for the actions of Rainbow Dash, you might have had some death's on that list, too. Your irresponsibility caused all of this. Their pain is all your fault. You are a disgrace to this academy, and you are a disgrace to the Wonderbolt name!" Her rage suddenly subsided, and she suddenly turned towards the other mare with a with a serious expression. "Lightning, do you know what we stand for? Do you know what the Wonderbolts stand for?"
Of put by the sudden change in tone, it took a few second for Lightning to recover enough in order think of an reply. It only took her a second to think of as answer, as it seemed obvious to her. "Uh... they represent the greatest flyers in Equestria?"
Spitfire deadpanned, indication that Lightning had given the wrong answer. "You don't get it, do you?' she began, shaking her head at Lightning. "We don't represent the best flyers in Equestria, we represent what teamwork can accomplish. Each one of the Wonderbolts has to work together in order to achieve anything great. Granted, we may be good on our own, but only in combination are we truly the Wonderbots." Spitfire took a deep breath, then scowled. "And your actions were exactly the opposite of what we represent. You are selfish, ignorant, and dangerous! I want you out of my office, and out of this academy!" she screamed, pointing a hoof at the door. "You are hereby expelled from this academy!"
Lightning was speechless. More then that, she couldn't even function. Her mind raced with trying to comprehend what had just happened. How... how could this... How could this have happened? She thought to herself, completely in disbelief with what she'd just heard. No. Lightning turned her gaze from the floor and to Spitfire, tears beginning to sting her eyes. "You can't do this to me!" she screamed, the tears now flowing freely and down her cheeks. How could she do this to me...? How could she do this to me!? Her sadness was suddenly replaced with anger as Lightning wiped the tears away from her eyes. She glared daggers at Spitfire, who simply raised an eyebrow.
"I hate you! You were my hero once, but now you are dead to me!" the opal pegasus screamed, getting out of her seat and trotting towards Spitfire's desk. As soon as she got to he edge, Lightning jumped up slightly, slamming her front hooves into the desk, making files and other items on her desk shake and fall to the floor from the sheer force. A soft "crunch" could be heard over the sound of slamming wood. Lightning looked down to see the crushed remains of Spitfire's glasses under her hoof. A small trickle of blood began to pool under her hoof, most likely coming from wherever the shattered lens had dug into her hoof. But the adrenaline that coursed threw Lightning's veins was more then enough to mask the pain, as she turned her gaze back to a very shocked Spitfire.
The Wonderbolt captain had dealt with angry recruits before, or ex-recruits, but never had she seen one this, well, violent before. With a shake of her head, Spitfire regained her stonic composure, and glared back at Lightning Dust. "What do you think you are doing?" she asked. "I told you to get out, didn't I?"
Lightning, instead of replying, reached her hoof over the desk and grabbed the collar of Spitfire's jacked, and yanked her closer so she was only inches away from her face. "You ruined my dream... you ruined my life..." she spoke threw gritted teeth.
Spitfire, scared that the mare who was grabbing her was going to do something stupid, immediately screamed out, "SECURITY!!!"
Moments later, two large pegasus bucks rushed threw the door--one brown with a black mane, and the other black with a white mane--and tacked Lightning Dust, who managed to hold on to Spitfire enough to send her toppling forward. Lightning tried to flail her limbs as the two pegasus bucks pinned her to the ground, restraining her. She had been no match for their brute strength and training, but she had put up one hell of a fight. After about another minute or so of the security stallions wrestling with Lightning before they had her completely restrained and began to drag her flailing body out of Spitfire's office. The entire time screaming, "I hate you!" at the top of her lungs. As Lightning's cries died down as she was dragged out of the office, Spitfire remained in a seated position on the ground, eyes wide and both shock and confusion painted across her face. She'd gotten a few bruises from being dragged when Lightning was tackled, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. The only major damage had been done to her jacket, which was torn where Lightning had grabbed it.
Several minutes later, brown security buck from earlier walked into Spitfire office. "Miss Spitfire, are you okay?" he asked, his gruff voice holding concern.
Spitfire shook her head. "No... No, I'm fine. Maybe a few bruises from that fall, but nothing I can't handle."
The buck winced. "Yeah... sorry about that," he said, rubbing the back of his head with a hoof.
Spitfire chuckled. "It's all right, you were just doing your job."
"Thank's, Miss Spitfire," he said, visibly relieved. He turned and was about to walk out the door before he stopped, and turned back to face Spitfire. "If I may asked...why did that mare attack you, anyways."
Spitfire sighed, trotting over to her desk and sitting back in her see. She glanced at her shattered, slightly bloodstained glasses on her desk. "I don't know... I want to say that it was because I kicked her out of the Academy... but her eyes looked like there was so much more then that," the Wonderbolts Captain said with a shake of her head.
The buck shrugged. "Well, my job isn't to figure out this stuff," he said as he walked out of the office, shutting the door behind him.
Spitfire remained silent for some time after that, contemplating a few things in her head, before shaking her head and picking up her papers that had fallen to the floor...
