Day 1
Meet Lilly. Lilly’s coat is a light shade of pink with a straight aqua blue mane and the image of a Violette on her flank. Unlike most Pegasi, Lilly suffers from a rather peculiar case of Acrophobia. She tends to enjoy peaceful walks rather than risk the terrifying prospect of flying more than a few feet above the ground. On one occasion she was feeling rather brave and decided to participate in the annual Tornado Duty which resulted in a well-executed nose dive into the local reservoir. Many of the residents of Fillydelphia agreed that it was “rather funny”.
Today however she isn't in any mood to embarrass herself in front of the local populace, she has plans. Yesterday she had been invited to have lunch with one of her friends, a pegasus pony named Lightning Dust. The invitation came as a bit of a surprise to Lilly at first, after all the pair had very little in common and often resulted in Lightning Dust rambling on about the Wonderbolts while Lilly sat and tried to stay awake.
Coming up just around the corner is Lightning Dusts home, a small cottage lying near the edge of the city. She’s been renting the place for a couple of years, pitting all her hopes of buying her own home on her future career as a Wonderbolt. It’s nothing grand, just a contemporary home made out of brick, timber and thatch. But the most interesting thing Lilly notices in the cyan mare standing out on her front yard like a watch dog.
“Lightning,” Lilly calls out as she draws closer. “what are you doing standing out here?”
Lightning Dust’s head slowly cranes around to face Lilly, her pupils narrowing and a slight grin fixed on her face. “Waiting here for my acceptance letter for the Wonderbolts Academy. I have to remain focused and alert otherwise I may miss it.”
Lilly’s head slightly tilts out of confusion, blowing aside a light strand of her mane that fell in front of her face. She knows how important this is to her, in fact she couldn't stop talking about it since the day she came second place in the Young Fliers competition. Her demonstration of the "Lightning Blitz" was perfect, but even after that it wasn't enough to win. She hasn't really stopped training since, this means the world to her.
“How long ago did you send it exactly?”
“Oh, about an hour ago.”
This is rather concerning. “You do realize that they probably haven’t even received it yet?” Lilly responded.
“I can’t take that chance. I asked the mailmare to be extra speedy when delivering this letter and I have to be ready for when it arrives. Heck, it could be here any second for all I know.”
“So does that mean you’re-“
“Not leaving the mailbox?” Lightning abruptly cut in. “Yes.”
There isn't much use in fighting it, once lightning sets herself to a task she tends to stick with it. Lilly lets out a rather disappointed sigh upon this new revelation. “So I guess the lunch is called off then?”
The grin on Lightning Dust’s face quickly disappeared. “Oh… that. Look I’m sorry Lilly, but this is just more important right now. Once the letter gets here and I’m an official Wonderbolt Trainee, all of us girls can go out and celebrate. That sound cool to you?”
Lilly gives a slow nod, her head hung low. “Sure, whatever.”
“Awesome, I’m sure you have plenty of stuff you need to do today without me keeping you.”
“I guess.” Lilly decides to just turn to walk back home. She can try to find something else to do with her day.
“Oh, and Lilly,” Lightning Dust quickly adds before resuming her post. “could you bring some snacks up later? I could be here for a while and I gotta keep up my diet.”
Lilly lets out a rather audible sigh. “Sure.”
“Thanks! Seeya later.” She locks her head back into position, looking wide eyed and eager down the road for the arrival of the much anticipated letter. Lilly, feeling rather dejected, heads off in the opposite direction.
“Maybe next time, I guess.”
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.”
Day 3
“Three days…” Night Cloud grumbles as she looks down the street to see Lightning Dust still at her post. “She’s been at it for three. whole. days!”
All of her friends at this point have left concern behind and moved on being rather scared for her. Red was off to fetch the others while Lilly and Night Cloud wait here for them. If anything was too be done they have to intervene.
“She has been out there for a pretty long time.” Lilly added rather meekly. “Maybe she is sick.”
“Obviously, what kind of pony would stand out by their mailbox for 43 hours straight? As much of a relief it is to have her not wreaking stuff and not being her usual egotistical self, this has to stop.”
Lily gives a soft nod of agreement. “I guess so. When did you say the others were getting here again?”
“They should be arriving any second, unless Red gets distracted by another “pretty butterfly” on her way over.” Night Cloud sticks out her tongue for emphasis.
“Nope, right here.” The sudden appearance of Red sends Night Cloud leaping a good few feet into the air before landing rather awkwardly. Red gave an impressed whistle. “Good hang time.”
“Damn it Red, don’t do that again!”
“Ha ha, sure thing Cloudy.”
“And my name is Night Cloud!”
“I know. Oh, I also fetched the others like you said. Here they are now.”
Two more ponies trot up behind them after failing to keep up with Red for most of the way. The first of them to arrive is a pegasus known as Charis. Her coat is a pale green and her mane a soft yellow, the image of three hearts decorating her flank. She smiles warmly as she approaches the others, earning one in return from Lilly and Red. Night Cloud rolls her eyes at the spectacle. The next of the pair of them was a unicorn, she had a burnt yellow coat and a yellow and red mane. Her cutiemark depicted a fiery star.
“Hello Sunset.” Chimed in Lilly. “I’m glad you could make it.”
“Sure Lilly.” She trots past the pink mare and stands next to Night Cloud. “How long has she been like that?”
“Three days, and still going.” She replies. “Know any spells to snap her out of it?”
“No, but I can sure try.” Sunset starts to move toward Lightning before Red steps in between them.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea girls.” Sunset simply chooses to ignore Red’s constructive criticism and shove her out of the way. “Seriously, maybe we should just talk to her first?”
“I- I like that idea.” Lilly steps forward.
Sunset lets out an annoyed groan, forcing her to rethink tactic. “Alright fine, we’ll do it your way. Let’s go talk to her and see if we can snap her out of it.”
“I think that could work” Said Charis. “If we approach the situation calm and collected manner we might be able to persuade her.”
“And if we don’t?” Night Cloud inquires.
“Then that’s where I step in.” Sunset lets a small grin creep up onto her face, her horn starting to glow with anticipation.
Charis steps in front of Sunset, waving off her magic. “No, we have to be reasonable. I know you mean well, but we’re her friends. Let’s try and look at this from her point of view, then we can-”
“Are we going to do this or are you just going to keep on talking.” Night Cloud interrupts before she can finish. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
The group slowly moves towards the statue resembling Lightning Dust, all of them keeping a quite step as to try and not disturb her just yet. Once they were close enough Sunset Shimmer was the first to make herself know.
“What are you doing Lightning Dust?”
If any of the five mares said they weren't even a bit scared by what they saw is lying. Lightning Dust’s eyes were bloodshot with massive bags hanging from the underside, her mane was out of control, or more out of control than the usual. Her head spins to look at her friends with a staunch unchanging expression, her eyes unable to focus on the ponies standing on front of her.
“H-hey girls.” She mumbles out incoherently. “Still waitin’ on my letter… still. Any of you girls seen it coming by any chance?”
“No.” Night Cloud said bluntly.
“Darn, I guess I’ll be here for a while.”
“You've already been here for three days.” Said Lilly. “You need to come inside and rest for a while, let one of us wait for the mail.”
“No!” Lightning Dust blurted out, pointing a hoof towards the pink mare. “Last time I did that Red got bored and left to go do Celestia knows what!” Suddenly all eyes narrowed on Red Dust who’s attempts to whistle away the situation were failing.
“You can trust us,” Charis said speaking in the softest tone she could. “we’re your friends after all.”
“No, I’m staying here. I've come too far after failing at the young fliers competition! I may not get this chance again, I may not even get noticed! I don’t want to hear any- whoa… my hooves… are huge!” Lightning exclaims. “They can touch anything… but themselves.” She puts her hooves together, looking rather shocked yet disappointed. “Oh wait.”
Night Cloud facehoof’s. “That’s it. Sunset, that’s your cue.” The yellow unicorn horn lights up as she prepares for Plan B.
“Hang on a second.” Lightning begins to catch on as Sunset’s horn begins to glow a bright blue. “You’re here to take me away, aren't you?! You’re not going to take me away!”
“Just sit still and this won’t hurt a bit.” Just before she casts the spell however Lightning Dust spots a figure approaching from the horizon. A small grey pegasus slowly floated towards them with a brown bag hanging at her side.
“Is that the mailmare?” Red tries to say but Lightning’s already speeding off towards her.
In a rather clumsy fashion, Lightning Dust powers towards the unsuspecting mare with whatever energy is left in her. By the time her victim realizes what’s about to happen it’s already too late. Lightning collides with the grey mare head on, sending letters and parcels flying in all directions.
When the dust clears and her friends have finally caught up, they arrive to find two very dizzy pegasi sprawled out on the road. The letters slowly float down to the ground, one in particular landing on Lightning Dust’s nose as she slowly opens her eyes. It’s sealed with a shiny lightning bolt with a pair of wings, the emblem of the Wonderbolts.
“Yes!!!” Lightning cries, seizing the envelope firmly with both hooves. “Yes yes yes yes yes!!!” Leaping up into the air she allows her wings to catch her. Her friends gather around eagerly awaiting the news.
“Well go on then,” Red gestures towards the letter expectantly. “what’s it say?”
Lightning didn't need a second hint, she was already ripping open the seal and pouring over the letter with beady eyes. They began to grow wider and wider as she read on, taking in every last scrap of information while she can.
“I’m… I’m in. I’m going to be a Wonderbolt!” Lightning cries, clutching the letter close to her chest. “This is the happiest day of my-” About this point is where she collapses to the ground, out like a light.
Her friends can’t help but laugh at the spectacle, in fact they were there for a good few moments just laughing. They collected up the mail and sent the rather confused mailmare on her way, Red and Lilly offering to carry Lightning back home and slip her back into her own bed.
“I guess we should leave her to rest now?” Lilly suggests. The five mares chat for a while on their way home about how big headed Lightning will be about the whole thing, and how she’ll keep bringing it up every chance she got. But they all figured that this time she had probably earned some bragging rights for now.
Lightning Dust slept soundly in her bed that night, still hugging the letter tightly as if she would never let go. We really don’t know what she’s dreaming about, but I think we can assume it’s pretty darn awesome.
