Seeking Approval

Day 2

Another brilliant sunrise over the land of Equestria, the crimson hills basking in the first warmth of Celestia’s embrace. The residents of Fillydelphia were slowly waking from their sleepy haze. But their peaceful morning is very quickly interrupted by a sudden disturbance.

“How long is this going to take?!”

Lightning Dust is in a rather poor state and a little bit cross. After a whole nights worth of waiting there’s still no sign of that blasted mailmare. Her legs are barley holding up under her weight, her eyes still wide open and her pupils shrunk to pinpricks.

At the sound of Lightning’s distress a few of her friends drag themselves from bed to see what the heck she’s complaining about. After a bit of moaning and general annoyance, a couple of rather unhappy ponies finally arrive at the scene.

The first of them is Night Cloud, a unicorn with a grey coat, white mane, storm cloud cutiemark and rather short temper. She’s some fully prepared wearing her morning robes with obligatory matching slippers and an expression that can kill a sparrow on site. The other is Red Dust, or Red for short, an earth pony mare with a beige coat, vibrant red mane and a red monarch on her flank.

On first inspection Red is a bit shocked at Lightning Dust’s appearance, Night Cloud however is angrily oblivious to her friend’s current condition and has no second thoughts in telling her so.

“Lightning Dust, why exactly am I here at six in the morning!” She barks, the shock enough to jolt Lightning out of her fixed state.

“Hwa! What?!” She regains her focus quickly. “Oh, right… sorry. Just waiting for that darn stupid letter to arrive. You’d think that after eighteen hours-”

“You've been standing out here for eighteen hours!” Night Cloud interrupts loudly, forcing the cyan mare to cover her ears.

“Jeez, do you have to be so loud?”

“I’m not being-!” Night Cloud corrects herself. “I mean, I’m not being loud. Just explain to us why you though this was such a great idea in the first place.”

“Yeah,” Red adds. “You’re lookin’ all funny there Lightning. What’s it this time; restraining order, speeding ticket?”

“No and no.” Lightning shakes her head before realizing her headaches still around. “I sent off my application to the Wonderbolts Academy yesterday, and until it arrives I’m not leaving this spot, no matter what the circumstance.”

“What about a hurricane!?” Red jumps in.

“Even a hurricane.”

Night Cloud still looks rather unconvinced. “Really? That’s why? Do I have to tell you why that’s a stupid idea, or can you figure that out for yourself?”

Lightning waves off her comment. “It’s not a stupid idea; this is my entire future on the line here. My dream, everything I've worked for. Wouldn't you be excited if you were this close to achieving your dream, wouldn't you want to be there when the good news arrives?”

“Right now my dream is to go back to bed and forget this happened. You’re on your own for this one old pal.” Night Cloud turns and starts to trot away before Lightning can add anything else.

“Fine, be that way!” She shouts in no direction in particular.

Red still sits there on her haunches with a perplexed expression on her face, trying her best to understand Lightning Dust’s view on the matter. “Well… I guess if it’s important to you then who am I to tell you it’s wrong? You should really get some sleep though, it’s not good for your noodle.”

“Sleep? Sleep is for the weak. And I’m not weak, I’m awesome.” Lightning puffs out her chest in pride before quickly deflating and yawning. “Maybe a couple of minutes won’t hurt, but you have to stay here and keep watch! Wake me up if you see that mailmare, I don’t want to miss this!”

Despite being more of a demand that a request, Red salutes and agrees to her assignment. “Yes sir, mam sir.”