Rainbow Dash finds Lightning Dust and offers her a second chance to be a Wonderbolt.
At the behest of Twilight and Rarity, Rainbow Dash sets out to find Lightning Dust who is down on her luck after running away from the wonderbolt academy. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire give Lightning a second chance at the Academy, but the moment Lightning returns, things start going wrong and it looks like Rainbow Dash is the target.
What is going on At Wonderbolt HQ and who is really behind all the chaos?
Lightning Dust trudged through the streets of Manehatten, it had been a long time since she'd had a bath and she'd been working herself thin, almost even sleeker than she'd been at the Wonderbolt tryouts.
A few days later: Sugarcube Corner.
“Rainbow Dash darling, you won't believe who we saw in Manehatten.”
“You saw, you mean” Interjected Applejack.
“Yes, Yes, I saw that turquoise pony who was at your Wonderbolt Academy. The one who lost her badge.”
It had become an unofficial ritual after a cutie-mark map mission to sit down at sugar cube corner with the girls to discuss what had happened. They had been talking about Twilight and Rainbow's mission to the academy now that Rainbow Dash and finally returned from her emergency.
Rainbow Dash's eye's narrowed. “You mean Lightning Dust?”
Twilight said “Isn't she the one who created that tornado?”
Rainbow Dash looked guilty “Well I admit, I helped her but it was her crazy idea.”
“No-one blames you Dashie, without you and the other fliers we'd all have been splat”
Pinky Pie added to the conversation, with a demonstration by flattening a cupcake with her hoof before gulping it down whole.
Rarity continued with her story “The point is that she really looked like she could do with a friend. I know we were already in the middle of remodeling the shop with Applejack's help. I know it's none of my business but I really think she needs someone to give her a hoof up, or at least help her find a bath, the poor dear.”
Fluttershy asked “Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean she didn't seem very nice.”
Twilight spoke up “Actually, I'm with Rarity on this one. I'm supposed to be the Princess of Friendship and we wouldn't be good ambassadors of friendship if we turned our back on a friend in need.”
“Fine!” Said Rainbow Dash as she crossed her arms. “I'll go and see if I can help her out. Spitfire did tell me that Lightning had bolted rather than wait in her office. Spitfire was going to give her a second chance but never got the chance to talk about it. So I guess as a Wonderbolt, it's kind of my duty to give her a second chance.”
“Wonderful” Rarity chimed, I'm heading back to do some final touches the morning, that is if you wouldn't mind helping to carry a few things too and from the station, I can at least make sure she gets a bath if she hasn't had one by then.”
Fluttershy asked “Do you want anyone else to come? I mean to lend a wing if you need it? I'm sure I can get someone to watch over Angel and the other animals for a couple of days?”
Rarity said “Thanks for the offer dear, but I think me and Rainbow can handle everything.”
“Yeah, sorry Fluttershy, but this is really my problem and with a little bit of help from Rarity, I think I've got this, but if you don't mind looking after Tank that would be awesome.”
At that moment spike jogged into the cafe, carrying a letter from Celestia with Starlight trotting in behind him.
Twilight facepalmed the table “Not another letter? What is this torment?”
Starlight chuckled “The problems of leadership, I'm just glad I'm just a student again, I don't have to plan things out, I just have to learn.”
Twilight raised her head again. “About that, did you-”
“All done.”
“And did you also-"
“Yep.”
“What about-”
“It's all done with the friendship lessons and no magic spells, well unless you count levitation of a cart that had it's wheel come off, I'm now free for the day right?”
There was a collective sigh of relief as everyone remembered recent events of Starlight doing friendship lessons unsupervised.
“What are these suggestion letters Y'all talkin about?” asked Applejack.
“Well ever since that 'spell' Starlight put you through, I've had an endless stream of suggestions and idea's the princess about how to teach students. I could almost fill a whole book with them.”
Starlight blushed with embarrassment.
Pinky Pie asked “You're a Princess too, you could just remind her that you have your own way of teaching that's your personal style.”
“Actually … I hadn't thought of that, thank you Pinky Pie, Spike. Take a letter please?”
“Err, Twilight, I don't have a pen or paper on me.”
“Don't worry, I've got this.” Said Starlight as she teleported some paper and a pen from the castle.
As a collective the group face hoofed.
“What?” Starlight asked. Then looking at the paper and pen she was levitating. “Oops, Sorry. I guess I should add one teleportation spell to my list of used spells today.”
“It's fine” Twilight confirmed, the mane five looked at her in mild surprise. “This is really going to help if I can just get a break from all these letters.”
The following day: Manehatten
Rarity said “Thank you for helping me carry all these bag's Rainbow, it was a great help.”
Responding “No problem Rarity, I'm just wondering what I can do about Lightning Dust?”
“I wouldn't worry about it too much, I'm sure you'll figure out what you need to do when you find her. Now let me go run a bath while you see if you can find her, in case she still needs it, if not I'd hate to waste a good bath time. Oh and maybe bring her in around the back, as much as I want to help, it won't do my reputation much good if a dirty pony walks in through the front door.”
“Ok, I got it. Bring her around the back. And thanks again Rarity.”
“You can thank me once we've got your friend all cleaned up.”
Over the next hour, Rainbow Dash flew across Manehatten, up and down every street and every back ally in a vain attempt to find Lightning Dust. Finally, she grew tired and stopped at a cake stand by a park. After buying a cake and wandering into the park to find a place to sit for a while, she noticed a familiar looking pony who looked like they'd been dragged through a hedge sitting on a bench.
Walking over, Rainbow Dash asked, “Mind if I sit here?”
“Sure, whatever.” Said the pony with her head down deep in thought with her mane over her face so she couldn't see who she was talking to.
After sitting down, as she bit into the cake Rainbow said: “It's a nice day, shame about the clouds though.”
The pony grunted in response.
“You know what would really lighten the place up though? A Tornado!”
Lightning Dust lifted her head letting her mane flow back. “Look I don't know who the hell you are, but just leave me alone.”
She turned to Rainbow Dash and dropped her jaw.
“You. What are you doing here Dash?”
“Well, I'm taking a break from searching for a Wonderbolt dropout and enjoying a cake while admiring the weather today.”
“A dropout? You mean another pony who quit the Wonderbolts? Good luck but they're not here.”
“I rather thought I found her actually a few minutes ago when I sat down on this bench.”
“Like I said, they're not here, there's no-one else here.” As Lightning gestured to the otherwise empty park.
“I'm looking for you, you dummy. A friend of mine said they saw you last week while they were fixing up their shop. So I thought I'd come and see for myself.
“Me? Your friend talking about me? I nearly killed them. Why should you or any of them care about me?”
“I care because I'm your friend and they care because they're my friends. So what happened to you anyway?”
“After I was disgraced in front of everyone, I bolted. I knew Spitfire was going to kick me out for good and I didn't want to wait around to hear it. And if word got back to Baltimare I knew I'd be kicked out of the cloud team. So I came here. Done a few odd jobs, but mostly just had nowhere else to go.”
“Actually Spitfire said she wanted to give you a second chance. So how about we get you cleaned up and go talk to Spitfire? I've got a friend who has a bath waiting, it's probably gone cold by now but it'll at least get you cleaned up. And Rarity knows some good places to get a decent meal. I'll pay. Just as long as you agree to hear Spitfire out ok?”
“Fine, it's not like I've got anything better to do.”
"Dearie, your mane is in an awful state" Rarity was helping Lightning wash her mane. "I'm just glad I got to it when I did."
Lightning replied sheepishly "thanks Rarity, it feels great just to be able to wash again."
"WHAT?" yelled Rainbow Dash who was in the room next door.
"Rarity, you have to hear this," she said as she walked through the doorway and began to read from the paper.
"The paper reported Wind Rider's dismissal from the Wonderbolts, that was like forever ago."
"Wait? Wind Rider got dismissed?" Said Lightning "He's one of my Hero's"
"Hold still" Rarity protested.
"I can't fix your mane if you keep moving."
"Sorry again Rarity for all this trouble." Lightning submitted.
Rarity followed up "It's really no trouble, a friend of Rainbow's is a friend of mine, and I simply could not let a crime like your mane go unfixed."
Rainbow explained, "A few months back when the Bolts were doing a show in Canterlot, I was there as a reserve and Spitfire might have dropped a hint to Wind Rider that someone might be getting close to beating one of his old records."
"Don't be so modest dear" Rarity interjected, "he was jealous that you might beat his record could, it's not nice to be superseded, but there was no way to behave the way he did."
"As I was saying" Rainbow giving Rarity an annoyed glance "He tried to frame me for Spitfire's disappearance, but thanks to Rarity and her investigation skills, she helped clear my name and show his true colors."
"I always thought he was always so nice. When he retired It was one of the saddest days of my life. I'd hoped one day to fly with him." Lightning said disappointedly
"Turns out he's just a selfish jerk, all he thought about was having an unbeaten record." Rainbow explained.
"There we go, it's not my best work but at least you should be presentable," said Rarity who had finally finished washing and re-styling Lighting's Mane and tail.
"If we had more time, maybe we could get it done by a professional"
"who wouldn't faint now." Rarity said to herself.
"I believe someone promised a meal" she continued "It's not quite The Tasty Treat from Canterlot but there is a restaurant just around the corner it's really quite good, they serve a very filling meal for a very reasonable price."
"That sounds good to me," said Rainbow Dash.
Half an hour later:
Sitting down at a table in the Restaurant Rarity asked
"So what are your plans now?"
"I don't know, Rainbow said that Spitfire wants to talk to me, maybe give me another chance?"
"Yeah. That's right." Rainbow said
"If your willing to rein in that show-boating ego of yours and just show Spitfire what you've got, and not cause a disaster. Knowing when not to push yourself and your partner too far. Then I think she'll give you a serious chance."
Lightning Dust cringed "I will try."
"No need to be so hard on her Dash" Rarity said "Just remember, they're looking for people who can work well in a team, just remember that and you'll be fine. They already know you're a good flier, otherwise, they would not have accepted your application in the first place."
“I think I got it, less reckless and more responsibility. I've had a lot of time to think about it. I owe the pair of you for giving me a chance.”
"You can pay us back by becoming a Wonderbolt reservist," Said Rainbow.
“Quite.” Agreed Rarity.
“A good show is always worth watching and a good excuse to show off my own fashion designs for the common pony.”
"But you've got some stiff competition, Twilight and I spent last weekend training Sky Stinger and Vapor Trails while helping them with their friendship problem. Spitfire seems to be very keen on putting them straight into the reserves once they've finished the Academy Training."
"Oh? A couple of excellent fliers?" Lighting said picking her voice.
"Yeah, they'd been holding each other back by not being honest with each other. After we finished setting them straight, they both qualified as lead ponies at the academy. Spitfire even jokingly said they had more potential than me." Dash explained.
By now Lighting was sitting straight up in rapt attention.
Rarity added “Well it sounds like you really do have your work cut out for you Lightning. I guess when Rainbow joined the reserves, they really raised the bar.”
"But I know you can do it Lightning," Rainbow replied, "You just need to cut the attitude and however good they are, I know you can give them a run for their money."
"That sounds like a plan," said Lightning. "But I'm really not sure about Spitfire."
"Hey" Said Rainbow "I'm going with you. I didn't search the entire of Manehatten just to get you cleaned up. Besides Spitfire wants me back, and if I can make sure everything is fair, then I'll be helping a friend get on the team, but remember this time you'll be my wing pony."
"Duly noted."
Mid-afternoon: Wonderbolt Academy
Two Pegasi landed on the Academy lawn as a bunch of ponies flew past, around the track. Lightning Dust kept her head down but stuck close to Rainbow as they watched the ponies finish another lap before being dismissed.
"So," said Spitfire walking up. "What have you got here Dash? Finally found Bite I see?"
"Bite?" Lightning asked
Spitfire explained. "Lightning Dust, Bite the Dust Bite"
Rainbow Dash "It's a nickname, all the Wonderbolts have one. Because your the first pony to 'disappear' you were awarded an honorary nickname, but don't expect it to last, you still have to earn it."
Spitfire followed up. "Earn it? The whole team wants to see what you've got. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to give these ponies a dressing down. So I'll see you in my office in 5 minutes if you can find your way this time? I'm sure Crash here can make sure you don't get lost again!"
After Spitfire had jogged off to yell at some other ponies. Lightning said "I must need my ears cleaned. Did she call you Crash?"
"Crash is my Wonderbolt nickname. It's a long story but when I got bumped up from the reserved, I maaay have tried to showboat a little, yeah it might have backfired a bit."
"What did you do? Crash into a thundercloud in the middle of a routine?"
"Now that is a Wonderbolt secret! You get into the reserves and maybe you'll have earned the right to hear the story, Maybe."
5 minutes later they were waiting in Spitfires office when the door burst open.
"RIGHT! Now would you two mind explaining what the hell you're doing here? And why the hell every post from the runway to my office is broken?" Spitfire demanded.
"Wait, what?" Rainbow said.
"You heard me Crash, why did the two of you break a load of posts?"
"It wasn't me and the only time I took my eyes off Lightning was when she needed the toilet."
"Well someone broke them and I don't like sabotage, So is that why you came back Lightning? To trash the place?"
"No!" Lightning looked horrified. "I would never. Being a Wonderbolt is my dream."
"Well if you didn't do it, then I need to find out who did. So your here to try out for the Wonderbolts?"
"Yes Ma'am, I will do whatever it takes ma'am"
Lightning said Saluting having taken pointers from Rainbow Dash while they had waited.
"Really? Because I'm not going easy on you, just because you've proven to be a capable flier. We're halfway through a recruitment process at the moment and I would not normally add another pony into the roster at this point, but we've got an odd number of fliers and Sky and Vaper both need a wing pony and I've got one wing pony left to assign. I don't have time at the moment to oversee your tests, so I'll leave that up to Rainbow to get you up to speed. Depending on how you do, I'll see which one I'll assign you to tomorrow evening. Now get going before I change my mind. Oh and Lightning. Don't blow this chance, you won't get another."
"Sir, Yes Sir!" Lightning replied before Rainbow ushered her out of the room at the Dismissal.
Once the door closed behind them Rainbow gave a sigh of relief.
"Well, that went worse than I expected. With someone breaking things, that makes things more complicated. But I know it wasn't you. I hope Spitfire catches them quickly because with Cadets running around it makes it a lot easier to point hoofs at people falsely."
"Like that story, you told me about Wind Rider framing you?"
"Yeah, Lightning. Exactly like that, which is why I need to solve it."
"I thought you were supposed to be 'bringing me up to speed'?"
"Yes, but if you help me find out who was responsible then that'll go along way to getting Spitfire to trust you again."
"I don't know, this sounds like the sort of reckless thing I'm not supposed to be doing remember?"
"Well we've got a lot of ground to cover and a lot of things to do, so I can at least ask around the other recruits if they have seen anything suspicious."
"Yeah, I guess it wouldn't hurt."
"Good, Now get your lazy ass moving Recruit. 1, 2, 1, 2, Hop to it."
Lightning tilted her head at Rainbow Dash. "Seriously? You haven't even told me where to go."
"Well, first of all, you need to get changed and then to the Dizzitron to start with obviously. Now get to it!"
As they emerged into the sunlight out of the shadow of the building, the rest of the recruits had all lined up having caught their breath from their endurance flight. Vaper Trail and Sky Stinger were standing at the head of the group.
Vaper Trail stepped forward and asked "What's going on Dash? We heard the commotion about the broken posts."
Sky Stinger stepped up next to Vaper Trail and asked "And why is there another pony in Training gear?" indicating Lightning Dust.
"An Investigation is ongoing, and I'd like you all to meet Lightning Dust."
Rainbow gestured Lightning to step forward having taken a position a couple of steps behind Dash although she kept her head down. She's going to be training with you all starting tomorrow evening."
murmured voices came from the assembled crowd.
"Training with us?" Vaper asked.
"Yeah," Rainbow confirmed. "It's a long story, Lightning Dust actually trained as part of my group and could have been a Wonderbolt by now, but she dropped out. Because of how well she excelled, Spitfire has agreed to make an exception and submit her into your group since your a pony down. Vaper Trail, Sky Striker. Spitfire told me Lightning Dust WILL be one of your wing ponies. And some of you might think Lightning Dust should be a Lead Pony when you see her fly. But because of the manner in which she dropped out, Lightning Dust is not ready to be a lead pony. So haven't you all got some exorcizes to be doing?"
This brought a collective groan.
"And if you do see, something suspicious, you tell me or you tell Spitfire right away."
The group reluctantly trotted off to another part of the training ground for their next session while Rainbow Dash escorted Lightning to the Dizzitron.
"So do you want to do normal or push yourself this time Recruit?"
"It's been a while since I did any excessive flying. So I'm gonna go normal and work my way up from there," said Lighting Dust half confidently
"Good choice. Not that you had one."
Lightning flew up to the Bar while Rainbow took the stopwatch and adjusted the controls.
"Are you ready?"
“Ready as I'll ever be.” Lightning gulped as she silently prayed to be able to maintain her composure.
Rainbow Dash started up the machine and let it get up to speed before letting Lightning Dust fly.
“9 Seconds Lightning. Your slipping.”
“Again. I want another go.”
“Are you sure Lightning?”
“I said, I want to go again. How can I hope to match up if I can't come even close to my original time?”
“You make a good point. Ok, get back on while I reset the controls.”
This time while Lightning was spinning she saw someone meddling with the Dizzitron and saw it begin to topple over towards Rainbow Dash.
"LOOK OUT" Lightning try to yell out, but she was still coming out of her spin to get the words out clearly.
Rainbow was still oblivious to the falling Dizzytron so Lighting zoomed forward as fast as she could knocking Rainbow Dash over as the machine finally fell over missing the pair of Ponies by inches.
"GET OFF ME!" Rainbow yelled.
Finally standing up she said, "What the hell happened?"
"I don't know, I saw a shadow at the back of the machine while in spin. I tried to warn you."
"Just great, what we really needed, a saboteur at the Academy."
Spitfires Office: 10 minutes later
"WOULD ONE OF YOU PONIES LIKE TO EXPLAIN HOW MY DIZZITRON BROKE?"
Lowering her voice Spitfire continued.
“That's going to cost a lot of bits to repair. And it just happened to be right where you were at that precise moment to save the day Lightning Dust? A likely story. I don't know how yet, but when I catch you, you'll be expelled from the academy for good. It's only because you saved Rainbow Dash that I haven't expelled you already!”
"I swear, I saw a shadow when I was in the spin."
"A likely story, more likely that you broke it to fall as you used it."
Spitfire was nose to nose with Lightning Dust.
"Next time I'll catch you breaking something, I'll expel your ass so hard you'll be looking for it all the way from Saddle Row to Saddle Arabia. Is that understood Cadet?”
“Yes Ma'am,” said Lightning who was shrinking under spitfire's burning gaze.
By the time Spitfire had finished giving the two pegasi a bollocking for destroying the Dizzitron (aiming most of the blame at Lightning Dust), the sun was beginning to set as they made it back outside. The rest of the cadets were beginning to traipse in for the night. Sky Stinger and Vaper Trail trotted over to the paler looking than normal ponies.
Having had a barrage of berating from Spitfire, Rainbow and Lightning were both feeling a little drained. Sky Stinger spoke up first. "That was landing was awesome. Did you get your time for that Dizzitron run?"
"No," Rainbow Dash replied, "Unfortunately in the crash I lost the timer."
“Don't worry about it," said Vaper. "We actually found it when we were helping to clean up, and we kinda also timed it ourselves from the other side of the field."
"Yeah," said Sky, "Both watches agree it was 6.5 seconds, it was amazing."
Lightning blushed. "I only did what any pony would have done,"
"6.5? It looks like you really are back on form already Lightning." As Rainbow took the two stopwatches and looked at the time."
Vaper and Sky looked at each other nervously. “So that isn't some kind of Academy record?” Vaper queried
“What did I say about when you saw her fly?" replied Rainbow Dash. "She's nearly as fast as I am, nearly."
"I did 6.5 seconds before, but that was at the Dizzitron's top speed, I haven't really done all that much flying since then, so I wasn't expecting such a fast time, but it's no academy record."
This prompted the remaining cadets still outside to start to crowd around to ask the pair questions about the Dizzitron record."
"Woah, calm down" Dash protested.
"Last I heard, Rainbow holds the record." Lightning explained, "6 seconds."
While this prompted more questions thrown at Rainbow Dash, this gave Lightning the opportunity to slip away. Still wanting to get the nerves out of her from Spitfire's ranting, she set herself up to run a couple of laps of the course the other ponies had been doing in the afternoon when they first arrived.
After finally finishing answering everyone's questions, Rainbow Dash finally noticed Lightning's absence but quickly spotted her completing her first lap and going around again although most of the machines had been turned off for the night. Rainbow pocketed the Dizzitron stopwatch in a uniform pocket to show Spitfire later, Resetting the stopwatch the group had used she set herself up at the finish line to time the next lap. She was joined by some of the ponies and staff watching Lightning go round, again and again. She just kept flying.
Having pulled a small crowd to watch her performance, it slowly drifted away as people began to retire once the sun had finally set. When the moon was well into the sky. Spitfire finally came out to join the now lone observer." I heard the chatter inside, How long has she been going?"Without taking her eye's off Lightning, Rainbow replied "Almost since we got out of your office. Here, take a look at the time from the Dizzitron." Rainbow passed over the stopwatch without taking her eyes off Lightning."6.5 Seconds? Was that at normal speed?"
"Yep. You know I believe her about seeing someone right? After it happened I had a good look at it myself and I don't think an amateur would know how to make it fall."
“True, but then she also knows how it works from last time.”
“I can't deny that, but she's been with me nearly the entire time. I can't see how she'd have had the time to do anything.”
“I've only got your word on that, Wonderbolt or not. I can't ignore the timing. Thing's started going wrong the moment she turned up.”
Rainbow yawned.
“She's been at this for a couple of hours?”
“Yep, go hit the hay Dash, that's an order. I'll call her in when she's finished doing the endurance run.”
“She's coming up on 35 laps, but I didn't start timing until lap three. You know she started this on her own, you really rattled her.”
Rainbow handed over the active stopwatch she'd been using and left Spitfire to watch Lightning keep flying. Lightning was oblivious to everything but the course. It was midnight when Spitfire finally called Lightning Dust in to stop.
"That's enough," Spitfire called.
Screeching to a stop on the finish line, Light could barely stand given how tired she was. Looking around, she noticed that she finally noticed how high the moon was in the sky and the realization of just how long she'd been flying for finally dawned. Then she tried to focus her blurry eye's on Spitfire.
"Whatever it is, I didn't do it. I've been flying here the whole time."
"I noticed. Seems like you caused quite a stir with the other cadets. I finally had some free time to supervise you myself and I sent Rainbow to bed. Come inside, I made sure they kept some soup hot if it hasn't gone cold by now."
“Th. Thanks, I think?"
"You were not supposed to be doing the endurance run until the morning, but it looks like you've skipped ahead. And by my count, you went halfway round again."Lightning tried to stand up but fell back onto her haunches. Spitfire then helped Lightning back up to her feet and let Lightning lean on her as they made their way to the mess hall."Don't think for one moment this means I'm letting you off the hook cadet. I'm still keeping my eyes on you. But that doesn't mean I don't respect someone who goes above and beyond."
Lightning said nothing as she hobbed alongside Spitfire. Too tired to see straight, she managed to make it to the mess hall and gobble down the soup greedily before promptly falling asleep at the table. After helping her to the Mess and finding the food, Spitfire had already left to retire for the night herself.
The next morning, one of the staff found her fast asleep at the mess hall table and with some help, managed to carry Lightning to a spare bedroom and let her sleep the rest of the morning.
Lightning finally woke with a start about 10 am, her body aching all over. It took her some time to remember the events of yesterday, wondering why she was wearing a uniform and why there was lots of shouting going on outside. Her head was pounding from having spent most of the night laying on a table. By the time she'd had a wash, a change of clothes and something to eat from the mess from a less than happy chef despondent by the late sleeper, she wandered outside to witness the other Cadets begin a cloud-busting exorcize.
Trotting over to Rainbow Dash and Spitfire as the other ponies lifted off. "What time do you call this sleepy head?" Rainbow teased.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what happened last night. I started flying and I completely zoned out."
Spitfire looked over at Lightning, pulling her glasses down to look over the rim. “It's called Highway Hypnosis. I've only read about cases as bad as that, for most ponies it only lasts a few minutes. But you were out there flying for nearly 5 hours straight.”
Lightning took a step back. “What? I was out of it, flying for 5 hours?”
Rainbow turned to Spitfire in mild disgust. “You let her fly for 5 hours? The endurance is supposed to be no longer than 4?”
“She was either going to stop or fall out of the sky."
"Should have let me fall, it might have hurt less" groaned Lightning.
"Well, you've certainly impressed everyone else. Rainbow, why don't you get Lightning started up on some 'gentle' exercises."
"You don't want me cloud-busting?"
"Cadet, After that stunt, you must be stiff as a board. I don't want you even flying until you've got some of those muscles loosened up. And for that matter, do you really think I want to see your cloud busting moves? That's what got you into this mess."
"ow," Lightning's headache chose that moment to throb. "Damn headache, but point taken."
“Talking of points," Spitfire turned back to the cloud-busting scorer. "How are they doing?"
Taking that as a cue that they'd been dismissed, Rainbow and Lightning wandered over to a distant corner at a pace comfortable for Lightning, where some training equipment had been set up yesterday. The other cadets had already made use of them after their own endurance run.
A few minutes later, Rainbow had started Lightning on some general weight lifting exorcizes and was turning back to have a word with Spitfire when Lightning suddenly said: "I don't think I feel well."
Rainbow turned back to Lighting and seeing her look like she was going to hurl up.
“Look at me.” taking Lighting's head in her hooves and looking into her eyes.
“What did you drink last night?” “Nothing. Just the soup, then I fell asleep and woke up in a bedroom.”
Rainbow quickly grabbed a nearby bin for Lightning to throw up in.
"You're hung over. Seems like someone is playing a practical joke at your expense. I need to tell Spitfire. Keep using the bin, I'll be right back."
Spitfire took her eyes off the cloud-busting efforts of the recruits to glance over at Dash and Dust, still suspecting Lightning of foul play, when she saw Rainbow standing over Lightning holding a bin which Lightning was unceremoniously throwing up in.
Spitfire took a few steps towards them noticing that Rainbow Dash was doing the same. Just then, there was a shout behind her as one of the cloud makers exploded in a puff of smoke before spewing clouds everywhere.
“Great!" she exclaimed, "Just what we needed, another mess to clean up."
Rallying all the Wonderbolt's and academy staff within earshot, as well as the recruits already in the air. Spitfire began organizing a plan to both disable the machine and clear the clouds before they became hazardous.
"Whatever it is Rainbow!" Spitfire yelled over the chatter and the continual bangs from the machine. "It can wait, I need you on this NOW. See if you can get that machine turned off! Lightning, You. You just stay there!"
It took them 10 minutes before Rainbow was finally able to get a clear path to disable the machine and reach a point where the clouds were beginning to look manageable although the recruits were starting to flag, having already done plenty of cloud-busting beforehand.
Touching back on the ground to re-access the situation and to talk, Spitfire and Rainbow discussed notes. "It looked like someone had sabotaged the machine. And we can rule out Lightning."
"What's wrong with her? No pony randomly throws up"
"It looks like she's hung over. I don't know how yet, but I suspect someone must have put something in her soup, I was just coming to tell you when this happened." Rainbow directed a hoof towards the smoking remains of the machine she'd turned off before
"Hmm, Alcohol?” puzzled Spitfire “The only alcohol permitted on academy grounds is in the wine cellar and the only key to the wine cellar is in my office. Access to it is strictly limited because the wine is for special occasions only."
"We have a wine cellar?" Rainbow asked surprised.
"Like I said, it's only for special occasions such as important celebrations or for retirement. Since you joined from the reserves, we've not exactly had a special occasion to open it. There is some very strong alcohol in there, that's one of the reasons I have the only key. Don't want somepony taking a quick drink before flying."
"Better make sure the key is still in your office, I'll go and check the kitchen, see if the chefs haven't washed up the bowl yet," Rainbow suggested
Spitfire dismissed the recruits letting the Wonderbolt's finish cleaning up the clouds. They'd done the job well, although she asked if Vaper Trail and Sky Stinger could check on Lightning.
A few minutes later Rainbow trotted into the kitchen to find the chef already washing up.
“The bowl of soup from last night? Did you wash it up yet?”
“Nope, I was just about to though.”
“Hold on, I need to check it. It might be evidence.”
“Evidence?”
“Yeah, the pony who ate the soup last night looks like she might have been slipped some alcohol."
Rainbow then trotted over to the soup bowl the pony had pointed her to and took a sniff.
“Yep," she said wrinkling her nose. "This stinks of alcohol. I need to take this to show Spitfire."
“That's fine," called Thunderlane who had overheard the conversation. He was pitching in, to work in the kitchen this week. "The sooner Spitfire stops spitting fur over this saboteur, the sooner things will calm down around here."
The odd phrasing from Thunderlane caused Rainbow to pause for a moment before issuing a chuckle. "Spitfire spitting fur, yeah, that's a good one Thunder. Thanks, I needed the cheering up, I better get this to spitfire and check on Lightning."
"Oh before you go, do you want me to make up a special Wonderbolt hangover cure?"
"That's probably not a bad idea. But I didn't know we had one?"
“You don't know the legendary story? Bit of a fairy tale really but the story goes all the way back to General Firefly sharing a drink with Princess Celestia after the first Wonderbolt performance, I'll have to tell you about it sometime."
“Less talking, more washing" prompted the chef who gave Thunderlane a prod. That gave Rainbow the cue to leave.
She reached Spitfire's office as Spitfire was coming out, carefully closing the door behind her. Spitfire was going as red as her fiery mane, which seemed to almost have taken on its own flame-like quality of flickering at the slightest breeze.
"Spitfire?" Rainbow asked carefully.
Spitfire turned her head slowly with her eye's glowing red full of rage. Rainbow quickly took two steps back suddenly remembering Pinky and Applejack's depiction of the time Twilight put herself on fire.
“Spitfire? I'm your friend, you remember that right?”
Focusing on the multi-colored tones of the mane of the pony in front of her, Spitfire breathed out slowly, slowly returning to her normal color in the process.
“Somepony has destroyed MY OFFICE!"
“What?” Rainbow moved to step pass spitfire to open the door but Spitfire put up a hoof. “Don't! It's not pretty.”
Rainbow pushed passed Spitfire anyway and looked inside. The desk was overturned and smashed to bits. The frames on the wall were all torn up and the pictures inside torn to shreds. The trophies were the only things remaining whole but they were nearly all badly dented and misshaped.”
With tears rolling down her muzzle Rainbow turned to look at Spitfire. “Who did this?”
“I have no idea, but I'm two steps away from calling the royal guard to turn the whole academy over. This is clearly getting out of control and I'm not sure we have the wing power to manage this chaos in house.”
“Chaos?” Rainbow asked herself. “This doesn't sound like Discord's doing. He messes things up, but he doesn't destroy things.”
“I had already ruled out discord," Spitfire said as she removed the bowl Rainbow had been balancing on her back. "So this is the soup bowl Lightning had last night?"
Sniffing it, she almost dropped it. “bleh”
“Yeah. Whatever it was, it's damn strong.”
“One of the cadets found the bottle dumped in a bin outside the cafeteria. It could only have come from one of two places, either our cellar, or I don't want to think about the security breach at the other place the bottle could have come from.”
“Breach at the other place?”
“Long story, but there are only a limited number of bottles of that make. The only other place the bottle could have come from is VERY heavily guarded. But I checked the serial number and it's ours. It's the bottle I opened when Firestreak retired”
“Oh that reminds me, Thunderlane said he was going to mix up some kind of historic hangover cure for Lightning?"
"Good thinking, she's probably going to need it given that it was half a bottle of the stuff unless somepony else had some."
"He said something about an old legendary story?"
"You don't know?"
"Spitfire!" Rainbow exclaimed, "I didn't even know we had a secret cellar until half an hour ago."
Spitfire explained as they walked back outside to check on Lightning.
"The legend goes that after the first Wonderbolt show, Celestia invited General Firefly to share in a drink from her private drinks collection. It's said he drank nearly a whole bottle before he became violently sick. After the Princess cured his hangover. Because he loved it so much she offered him and the Wonderbolt's access to her wine cellar and her private hangover cure. Whenever we have a toast, We always have the chef make a cure on standby because we've not had a Wonderbolt at least in my time whose not demanded the hangover cure within a couple of hours of having more than a mouthful."
"Just what in Celestia's name is in that wine?" Rainbow asked."I have no idea but do you really want to ask the ruler of Equestria what her private drinks collection is made of? Drink that have sent some of my best fliers into a paralytic state?"
"Well, when you put it like, that I guess not."
“And now you know why we save it for super special occasions. And we keep it locked up because it's the best damn tasting alcohol this side of Griffinstone.”
“So what about the key?”
“It's gone, but it's hard to tell if it was stolen last night or while we were dealing with the Cloud machine this morning. The office was fine earlier, but checking the key was not exactly a top priority this morning, and I'm not in the habit of sleeping in the office!”
By the time they made it back to Lightning Dust, someone had managed to fetch her a blanket and a new bucket to throw up in.
“How are you feeling Lightning?” Spitfire asked.
“Like death" came the weakened reply."Well, that's not surprising." Spitfire continued. "It looks like someone slipped half a bottle of Molotov Phoenix Tail in your soup. Normally that much would a pony out of action for a couple of days but I guess the soup absorbed some of it you slept off some of it must have helped."
"That's not a lot of comfort."
Rainbow butted in. "Thunderlane is cooking up a hangover cure for you. Apparently, It's some kind of secret Wonderbolt recipe."
Lightning lifted her head at Rainbow. "Apparently? You don't know?"Spitfire interrupted. "That's enough, no more talking about Wonderbolt secrets. Let's get you inside and see if Thunderlane has finished making it yet."
“How are you feeling now Lightning?” Vaper asked with Sky standing next to her. The pair of ponies having managed to recover from their busy morning.
Meanwhile, It had taken some encouragement from several Wonderbolts to persuade Lightning to take the hangover cure. She was now finally beginning to feel normal enough to risk a couple of small bites of food.
Word had also managed to travel to all of the staff and the Wonderbolts on the base about Spitfire's office, at her behest, they'd tried to keep it from the cadets. Although it was hard to hide that there was something going on in there.
Soarin, Fleetfoot and Blaze had spent the rest of the morning shut away in trying to clean it up. After leaving Lightning under Thunderlane's supervision, Spitfire and Rainbow had gone to take a look at the cellar, only to find that the door was left ajar with the key still in the lock.
Upon a proper examination of the room, Spitfire confirmed that nothing else had been taken apart from one and a half bottles of drink. The half a bottle as Spitfire had explained to Rainbow being a bottle she'd opened the last time they'd had a celebration.
Locking the door and reclaiming the key, Spitfire said “Dash, you can't tell anyone about this cellar, not even another Wonderbolt. Now that you know where it is. My “predecessor” left it to my discretion how much I told new recruits. I made the decision not to share it with everyone encase anyone got any smart idea's. Sure, every Wonderbolt knows the cellar is somewhere in the academy grounds. But only maybe a dozen ponies alive know where, and now so do you.”
“So that narrows down the suspects right?”
“Not really. everypony but myself and Soarin are either retired or no longer a Wonderbolt for 'other' reasons. So we're back where we started. Someone might have found the entrance by dumb luck.”
“But why did you show me where it was?” Rainbow queried
“Because Soarin was away and I know you didn't know about it, so that means your both clean. Look Dash, I know I made Lightning your responsibility while she's here. This seems so unlike her, but we have to face facts. If you can prove she's not guilty, I'll let this go. But the timing is too coincidental. Either she's behind it or she's working with whoever it.”
“Spitfire” Rainbow protested. “You didn't see the state she was in when I found her, she was living in a park. A literal park, sleeping on benches and stuff. There is no way she could be working with someone.”
“Maybe.” she conceded. “But as I said. The timing is really bad for her if she is innocent. Otherwise, she won't have to worry about running away again, I'll kick her out for good.”
Seeing that the corridor was clear, the two of them stepped out from the hidden entrance and walked down the hallway like they'd been walking the whole time.
Rainbow then split off to check up on Lightning while Spitfire headed for an update on the office repairs.
Spitfires Office:
Stepping inside, Soarin turned to look at Spitfire with a grim expression. “We've had to take the desk from the classroom. It's not ideal but it should be serviceable. I've also sent Tight Ship off with most of the trophies to see if he can find a smith in Canterlot to repair them.”
“Good work.”
“So?” Fleetfoot asked “Did you find any clues as to who did this yet? Because this is not what we wanted to be doing returning from our vacation.
“No, but I can't rule out a Wonderbolt whose been at the academy. I asked you three to clean up the office because you only came back this morning. Whoever was responsible has been here since yesterday.”
“Is it true Lighting is back?” asked Blaze
“I saw her downing a cure special” Soarin interjected.
“Circumstantial!” Interrupted Spitfire before the three of them could make any assumptions “These strange occurrences started happening the moment she arrived with Dash yesterday. So far Rainbow has been vouching for her every step right up until someone poured half a bottle of Molotov Phoenix-tail in Lightnings soup last night.”
The three ponies gasped.
“Half a bottle? On an empty stomach!” Soarin was the first one to get any words out.
“Poor girl,” said Blaze
Fleetfoot followed up “That totally sucks.”
“To follow it up,” continued Spitfire “A second bottle is missing. Rainbow didn't know about the cellar, Thunderlane confirmed Rainbow's surprise at not knowing about it, that doesn't rule out the cadets, but that makes it more unlikely.”
Soarin face hoofed “You gave her the old no pony knows where it is routine?”
Spitfire replied haughtily “Wonderbolt tradition, besides she wasn't lying when she didn't know about it.”
Soarin followed up “You actually showed it to her? You made me take an oath not to reveal it's exact location.”
“Circumstances prevail Soarin. Besides, she's seen what half a bottle can do on a full stomach, that should deter her from trying anything”
“So have you got any suspects?” Blaze interrupted
“None!” Confirmed Spitfire “But this attacker seems to know us inside out, well enough to wreck both the Dizzitron and a cloud maker, plus they seemed to know where the cellar was.”
“I don't know what I'd do next” Soarin spoke up after a few moments
“But If I was responsible, I'd probably be out to get somepony specific with stunts like that. Certainly, everything so far has looked like the person has been able to make a quick escape or move unseen.”
“That's not a lot of help,” Spitfire added. “Although good idea trying to get into the saboteur's head. We can't set some sort of trap when we don't know who is doing this or why. The only problem is the only people involved so far have been Dash and Dust.”
“hmm” Soarin thought. “Who would be out to get either of them?”
“Well not a lot of Wonderbolts are exactly thrilled with Lighting Dust” replied Fleetfoot.
“On the other hoof, everyone has got to be at least a little jealous of Rainbow Dash. I mean her speed and that Sonic Rainboom.” Blaze followed up.
“So” Spitfire concluded “Either it's one of them or possibly someone out to get them. That just makes the list of suspects longer!”
The Other side of the Academy:
Rainbow finally sauntered into the cafeteria striding up to the three ponies huddled in one corner of an otherwise vaguely bustling room.
“So what's the verdict? Feeling better Lightning?”
“I don't want to know what was in that stuff, but I'm feeling much better now I've had something proper to eat.”
“That's good. I don't know what Spitfire has planned for this afternoon but she said you're still grounded for now Lightning, but she still expects you to fly for something special she has this evening.”
“Any idea's what it is?” asked Sky Stinger nervously.
“Nope, and even if I did, I couldn't tell you.”
Vaper narrowed her eye's looking at Rainbow “Is there something your not telling us? We heard there was a lot of commotion going on in spitfire's office.”
“Look, I can't say anything. If there is anything to tell you, Spitfire will let you know. All I know is the same as last night. Someone is going around and messing things up. Just as we were starting to get this one up to speed.” Rainbow idly ruffled up Lightning's mane.
“Quit it, I'm not a child. Rainbow.”
“Oops, forgot myself there for a moment.” apologized Rainbow, “I went into mentoring Scootaloo mode.”
“Scootaloo?” Lightning said. “That kid you told me about who can't fly?”
“Yeah” replied Rainbow. She'll get there someday, or if she doesn't she'll still be awesome.”
“What good is a Pegasus who can't fly?” huffed Lightning.
Thunderlane who was walking past carrying some washing up replied: “You don't know Scootaloo, she's inspired just about every Pegasus in Ponyville, she and the cutie-mark crusaders work harder than nearly any pony else I know.”
Vaper and Sky looked at each other, then at Thunderlane and then at Rainbow who confirmed.
“Yeah, she's like a little sister to me. The only person more awesome than her is me.”
“And where do I come?” Lighting scoffed.
“Your as awesome as you want to be Lightning But if you can make it as a Wonderbolt, maybe just then you'll be a close second to Scoots.”
“She must really be something then,” replied Lightning.
“You betcha.” Rainbow turned to Vaper and Sky “Haven't you two got some drills to be doing? But don't work too hard. Remember, Lightning will be right on your tail when your flying tonight.”
The pair of cadets saluted and took their leave. Rainbow took the opportunity to sit down opposite Lightning after getting some food for herself.
“What's really going on Rainbow?” Lightning asked, acutely aware that while she might appear to be the center of trouble, was as much a victim as anyone else.
In hushed tones, Rainbow explained. “Spitfire's office got trashed. We're keeping it from the rest of the cadets. You knowing at this point is mute, either you did it and so you would already know, or if you didn't then you must have been out of it when it happened.”
“Well, I didn't put that stuff in my own drink. Seriously I don't know what was worse, the hangover or that god awful cure.”
“Better that cure than keeping the hangover.” Rainbow pointed out, I'm not sure I want to know what's in it.”
Thunderlane was returning from the kitchen to collect more washing up. “You really don't want to know if you don't have to.” he winked at Lightning.
“So?” Lightning enquired. “What are we doing now?”
“If you're up for it, Spitfire wants you back on the equipment. She emphasized a light workout. She has something planned for this evening, an exorcize we're both familiar with.”
Lightning thought this over a bit. “Wait, Spitfire said about assigning me as a wing pony tonight. That can only be for a flag hunt.”
Rainbow looked around to check the room to make sure all the cadets were out of at least earshot, relieved to see there were no cadet uniforms in the room. “Silver Zoom is running some sort of observation training or something to prepare and keep them distracted. Spitfire didn't tell me the details, but the flying they've got it down, those that are going to make it to the reserves at least.”
“Those that are going to pass?”
“No.” Rainbow stopped Lightning before she could finish that thought. “You're still a long way from passing the grade. As it is, half the Wonderbolts have some respect for taking half a bottle of that stuff, the other half want to see you gone. It's not a team decision though. Even without this chaos, Spitfire still wants you flying through flaming hoops to convince her you're serious about this second chance.”
Lightning balked.
“Metaphorically” Rainbow explained, quickly realizing her bad analogy.
“Well, that's a relief. I'm still not sure I could fly straight at the moment.”
“That brings us getting you back on the exorcize equipment. You're still in no condition to fly. Apparently, there is a normal rule that after a drink Wonderbolt's are grounded for a full day for their own safety. But Spitfire is making an exception, partly because you're not a Wonderbolt yet. That drive to push yourself recklessly might just be needed this one time after all.”
Half an hour later out on the field:
Spitfire came out to give the cadets a quick check on their progress before walking over to properly check on Rainbow's supervision of Lightning.
“Well, nothing else has gone wrong yet I see!”
“It looks like it” Rainbow agreed, Did they turn up anything in your office?”
Shacking her head Spitfire replied “No, nothing. Unless one of your Ponyville friends has made another untimely surprise visit without me knowing, all we can tell is that whoever is responsible is a Pegasus who is likely still here!”
“Well is that good?” Lightning asked.
“No, not really,” Rainbow said signaling Lightning to move onto to wing press-up bench
Spitfire waved Lightning over to the pair of them overriding Rainbow's direction.
“Actually Lightning, you might want to hear this. I finally got the full report on the cloud machine from this morning. Looks like it had been building up for a couple of hours. So you're in the clear on this one. If I had to guess, based on what we know, the person thought you would have been flying the course when it went off. Probably a backup plan encase the drink didn't work. I'm not saying it's the same person as before but it certainly looks like someone is out to put you out. So it could still be a Wonderbolt behind at least part of this.”
“No, they would never” Rainbow tried to protest before Spitfire shut her up with a wing.
“Currently the only ponies I can account for are myself, Soarin, Fleetfoot, Blaze, Thunderlane and you two. I'm beginning to wonder if I need to call in a favor from Fire Streak. Somepony who knows things around here as well as I do.”
“If you're going to bring somepony in, How about Rarity or Twilight?” Rainbow suggested pushing Spitfires wing away.
“I've already ruled that out. This isn't a fashion parade or one of your friendship problem's Dash, This is a Wonderbolt problem.”
“So that's a no on an outside investigator?” Lightning piped up reminding the two Wonderbolt's of her presence.
“No, and I'm not going to call in Fire Streak unless I have to. Dust, you're currently in the clear. In the meantime, Rainbow you know Sky and Vaper, what's your current recommendation? Who should I pair Lightning with? Because I've still got Mountain Haze to assign to a Lead Pony.”