Lightning Dust's Broken Dreamsby SirRageChaptersI: PrologueII: The Morning AfterIII: RevelationsI: Prologue“Ten minutes. I’ve been stuck in this office for ten minutes already!” thought Lightning Dust. Lightning Dust was losing her cool. She needed to put on a good show for Spitfire, otherwise this would be her last day at the academy. Normally that would not be an issue for her; being cocky and confident came naturally to the athletic mare. However, Spitfire humiliating her in front of the other cadets had shaken her resolve. “I don’t get it! Everything was going fine until twenty minutes ago! It was all just praise, praise and more praise! Then all of a sudden two instructors detain me, Spitfire gets in my face and rips the lead pony badge off of my chest! In front of everypony! “I mean what in Tartarus was she thinking?! Sure, the tornado may have been a little –” Spitfire slammed the door open, causing Lightning Dust to jump to attention. What little resolve she'd managed to gather in the last ten minutes evaporated instantly. Her hooves were trembling and her breathing began to falter. Spitfire didn’t say a word, instead she slowly walked around the cadet and behind her desk. Spitfire was staring at Lightning Dust with an intensity she had never seen before. She could tell this was not good, and swallowed the enormous lump in her throat that had developed only moments before as beads of sweat started to form from the stress. Spitfire did not relieve the cadet from attention, instead she slowly took off her aviator glasses and folded them up. Setting the glasses down on her desk, Spitfire waited patiently for the door the close and click before having words with the cadet. From outside the office, one could hear the muffled shouts of Spitfire reprimanding Lightning Dust. This went on for some time, before stopping as suddenly as it had started leaving a lingering silence in the hall outside of Spitfire's office. The door opened and a broken Lightning Dust left her office, head down. There was a letter tucked in flight suit pocket. No salute was given, nor were any other words exchanged as the door closed behind her. She slowly made her way to the barracks. In the sky above, the other cadets were busy practicing, but she could not bring herself to look. Instead, she continued to walk with her head held low. The barracks were empty save for a few guards. There was no reason for other ponies to be there at this time of day, so it was to be expected. Still, she hated how hollow and empty everything seemed. Every step she took toward the locker room echoed through the empty halls. When she got to her locker, she sat on her haunches and looked at it for moment. She glanced down at her flight suit pocket and pulled the letter out to read it once more. The letter was her admittance papers, and it had one bold red stamp on it. Discharged. Effective Immediately. With a heavy sigh, she set down the letter and took her time opening her locker. When the door swung open she could see her yellow saddlebags in there, with all of her belongings unpacked. Lightning Dust removed the bags from the locker and began tossing her things into them. With each passing item, her anger grew and she became more forceful. It wasn’t long before she was just shoving her things into her bags with no regard to their well-being. She peeled off her ripped flight suit and was about to stuff that into her bag as well before a thought stopped her. “What’s the point...?” Letting her anger get the better of her, she wadded the suit up into a ball, took aim for the trash can at the far end of the row of lockers, and forcefully threw it in with a frustrated yell. Part of her hated what she had just done; up until an hour ago, that suit had meant the world to her. But now, that suit represented something different. It was all of her humiliation, pain, and failure in physical form. She was still panting with anger when she turned and looked back at her locker. It was empty save for one item: her spare flight suit, hanging in the back. She stopped and gazed at the suit as she felt her anger melt away. After she had calmed herself, she gently reached out and picked the suit up and held it in her hooves. This wasn’t just some piece of fabric. It was far more precious than that. It was untarnished, clean, devoid of the stain of humiliation. It represented a dream, her dream. She clenched the suit tight to her body in a tight embrace. After taking a deep breath, she carefully laid the suit down and began to neatly fold it. Satisfied with her work, she smiled and gently placed it in her saddlebag. It was the last thing she put in, and the only thing she handled with care. With her bags packed, she headed for the academy's exit. Once at the guard post, she gave the envelope she was carrying to one of the guards, who looked it over. He nodded and gave it back before returning to his post. There were no exchanges of words or salutes, just a numb look from the guard who simply didn’t care. Lightning Dust took the air and flew in the direction of home. Home, it was the last place she wanted to be. Being discharged from the academy was a big setback, but Lightning Dust was far from ready to give up on her dream of being a Wonderbolt. As she left the academy she lowered her head, contemplating what her next steps should be. Mulled over all of her options, Lightning Dust spending most of her flight exploring in her mind what may or may not work. “...No, that’s not going to work either. I definitely need to reapply next year, but what else can I do to make this better? Maybe Spitfire will reconsider after she has had a chance –” She was so lost in thought that she didn’t even notice the carriage in her flight path. Striking the carriage at full speed, Lightning Dust smashed through its side. The contents of her saddlebags tumbled through the air as she slammed into the other side of the carriage, causing the wall to buckle and crack. Her form went limp and she went crashing to the floor. As she tried to come to her senses her vision blurred, she could hear voices around her but couldn’t make out who they belonged to or what they were saying. Lightning Dust struggled to get to her hooves and for a moment it felt like her body was doing what she asked of it. But then she felt the floor strike her in the barrel as she collapsed. The voices became more distant and her eyelids became heavy as the world around her slipped into darkness. II: The Morning AfterLightning Dust felt the fog of sleep lifting as consciousness took hold once again. “Ugh… My head!” said Lightning Dust as she sat up in her bed, massaging her temples. After taking a moment to glance around at her surroundings she froze. She couldn’t tell for sure, but it was either some kind of military-style hospital or she was back in her bed at the barracks. “What the hay is going on here?” she said out loud while throwing the covers off her bed. She got to her hooves and began surveying her surroundings. Lightning Dust was shocked to find herself standing beside her old bed in the communal sleeping quarters of the barracks. Oddly enough, however, there were no personal effects from other ponies in the room. No photos, no books, no nothing. All the beds were made, but looked like they had never been used in the first place. In fact, the entire room looked new and unused. “This isn’t right…” Lightning Dust thought to herself as she scanned the room. Lightning Dust froze when she heard a soft giggle echo through the room. Her ears flicked every which way, but try as she might, she was not able to identify the source of the haunting sound. She put on a fake smile to stave off the uneasy feeling that had just started to develop. “Ha. Ha. Very funny guys. Joke’s over! You’ve had your fun, so come on out!” she shouted. Her voice echoed through the room, but there was no response. The room was still and silent. “Ugh…! They’re probably outside, those stupid jerks! I bet Rainbow is responsible for this! Her and her stupid pranks.” Lightning Dust trotted out of the room and made her way out of the barracks. Her pace quickened as she moved through the building, scanning the halls and rooms she passed. “Not a single pony, not even staff! Ok, this is starting to freak me out…” Her heart was racing. “This isn’t normal! I should be seeing at least some guard ponies by now!” It wasn’t long until she was at a full gallop, trying to get out of the building as fast as she could. She burst through the main entrance of the barracks scanning frantically for signs of other ponies. After seeing no one Lightning Dust came to a halt as the realization struck her. The complex was completely deserted. “I… I don’t get it? What in Tartarus is going on here?” Lightning Dust heard the soft giggle again, but this time she could identify where it was coming from. She whipped around as fast as she could and to her surprise she found a filly, sitting on her haunches giggling just a few feet behind her. Lightning Dust was shocked; there was no way the filly could have snuck up on her! The filly had no cutie mark, but shared Lightning Dust’s colors: same coat, same mane and even the same eyes. It was those eyes that gave Lightning Dust a very unsettling feeling. They were familiar, too familiar, and it frightened her. “Hi there!” said the filly with a smile. Lightning Dust choked back the lump in her throat so she could speak. “W-Who are you?” “Silly! You know who I am! I’m you, Dusty!” replied the filly as she giggled and grinned. “The only pony that has ever called me ‘Dusty’ was Mom. And I don’t even recall telling Rainbow that!” Lightning Dust frowned, realizing this had to be some really elaborate prank Rainbow Dash had setup. “That’s not funny! Did Rainbow Dash put you up to this?” The filly tilted her head in confusion. “Rainbow Dash?” Dusty shrugged off the expression and smiled. “Nope! This is all my doing!” There was an uneasy feeling in Lightning Dust’s stomach when she said that. “What do you mean, ‘This is all my doing’?” Dusty could see the emotions on Lightning Dust’s face, but dismissed it. “Yes, my doing. You see, I know you’ve had a tough time at the Academy. And all you could think about was getting back here, so I made an Academy just for you!” she said as she stood up on her hind legs and waved her hooves in the air. “…Wait, what?!” Dusty dropped back to all fours and lowered her head a bit. “But I didn’t want you to be sad anymore. You were trying so hard and the other ponies didn’t stand up for you when Spitfire kicked you out!“ the name of her former captain left the filly’s mouth with as much distaste as a rotten piece of bread. Thoughts of those last moments at the Academy flooded Lightning Dust’s mind. The humiliation, the yelling, Spitfire discharging her. Even the way the guards ignored her as she left. “So I decided you didn’t need them any of them. That’s why when I made this Academy for you, I didn’t bother to make any of the ponies you knew from the old Academy.” “Wait, wait. What do you mean you ‘made’ the Academy and that there are no ponies here?” “Well, what do you think it means, silly?” Lightning Dust was struggling to find words. ”There’s no way she could be telling the truth, but… then again, there were no ponies anywhere! How in the world did Rainbow Dash pull this off?” “Well, I’d better get going! There’s a playground waiting for me, and I just wanted to stick around long enough to tell you all about you're new playground!” Dusty turned around and started trotting away. “I miss my playground, it’s so much better than the one we had in Cloudsdale. A nice, empty playground, where nopony will ever make fun of me or tease me or hurt me!”. Lightning raised a hoof and shouted. “Wait! If what you’re saying is true, then what am I supposed to do here?” The filly stopped and rubbed a hoof under her chin while she thought for a moment. “You know… I don’t know! You were so focused on being here that it was hard to tell what you were supposed to do here. But that’s okay, you can figure it out now that you’re here again! And you have the whole place all to yourself! I’ll see you later!” Dusty smiled as she trotted behind a building. Lightning Dust took off after the filly, but once she cleared the building the filly was gone. “No! Wait!” That could not have been me! What’s going on here? Tears started to form in Lightning Dust’s eyes as she started to panic. Holding onto the last threads of hope that this was just a prank, she shouted out, “Alright, Rainbow Dash, you’ve had your fun! I’m serious this time!” She paused for a moment to catch her breath. “You win, okay? I said it! YOU! WIN! This is WAY beyond messed up! You hear me!” screamed Lightning Dust as a stream of tears rolled down her face. Panting, Lightning Dust looked around frantically for somepony—anypony—to reveal themselves. But none did; she was still alone. She collapsed to the ground, choking back tears as best she could. “Come on, guys… you win… please come out.” Lightning Dust buried her head in her hooves, quietly sobbing and waiting for somepony to say something. Time seemed to stand still while Lightning Dust sat there waiting. After some time had passed, she finally accepted what she feared was the truth. “This can’t be really be real… I just… I want to wake up. I don’t want to be here any more!” She wished this was just a dream she would wake up from any moment now. She closed her eyes tight and imagined herself waking up in her nice warm bed back home. “Please, just let me wake up…” Lightning Dust’s eyes shot open and she heaved forward, drenched in a cold sweat. She was panting and everything felt alien to her, but once her senses calmed down she noticed she wasn’t at the Academy any more. She was back in her bedroom. She gripped her temples with her hooves to massage the throbbing headache that only now revealed itself after she’d calmed down. “Ugh… My head!” she moaned out loud. She took her time soothing her headache before throwing the sheets off of her bed and walking out of her bedroom. As she walked through the house, she made a visual inspection to make sure things were where they were supposed to be. The house was empty for the most part, devoid of most things you would find in any other pony’s home. There were no photos, no pieces of art and very sparse furnishings. But that was to be expected; Lightning Dust never felt the need to be distracted by other ponies or waste time looking at art. These were things that simply took time away from her achieving her dream of being a Wonderbolt. She walked over to the sink and splashed some water on her face to help her focus, thinking about the nightmare she had just woken from. It was hard to remember exactly what had happened, but she remembered the filly clearly: her voice, the way she looked. Not so much what they had talked about, but she did remember the terrible feelings she felt. Come to think of it, she wasn’t even sure why that dream was so terrifying in the first place. She couldn’t really remember anything about it. Still, she was glad that dream was over. She grabbed a towel, wiped off her face, and trotted to the front door to go outside. She tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “Huh…? Is the door locked?” “Oh, now I suppose you want to go outside too.” Lightning Dust froze at the door. That voice, she knew that voice. She slowly turned around, silently praying that her mind was just playing tricks on her. But standing a few feet behind her, with an annoyed look on her face, was the same filly from her dream. “You know what? I was really happy to get back to my playground until my head was full of all of your whining! That’s all you kept doing after I left!” shouted Dusty. “This is not real! This is not real!” “And quit telling yourself ‘this is not real!’ I can hear your thoughts and all you’re doing is making my head hurt!” Lightning Dust’s mind just froze, she couldn’t think of anything to say to the irate filly. Dusty brought a hoof up to her face. “Ugh… Can’t you just make up your mind? I thought you wanted the academy so I made the academy, but no. That wasn’t good enough for you!” She stamped her raised hoof to the ground and looked away from Lightning Dust. “Ungrateful mare, no wonder you have no friends.” “Hey, I have friends!” shouted Lightning Dust. The filly locked eyes with Lightning Dust and raised an eyebrow. “Oh Really? Name one, just one.” Not really thinking about it, Lightning Dust blurted out the first name that came to mind. “Rainbow Dash!” “Ha. Ha… Really? The mare that you trusted when you got to the academy? The same mare that you thought pulled the greatest prank in Equestria by putting you into an empty academy? The mare that went to Spitfire and got you discharged from the Academy? And did nothing to stop it? You call that a friend?” Dusty filled that last word with venom. Lightning Dust was at a loss for words. She tried to think of something to say, but no words were able to come out. “Please, I know you better than you know yourself, Lightning Dust.” “Then why are you keeping me here?” Lightning Dust asked. “Because you’re tired of being hurt, we both are. We’re safe here. Nopony will ever hurt us again, and that’s the way I intend to keep it. You have all day to do whatever it is you want before the dream resets again, or you can just go back to bed. It’s your choice. At any rate, I’m done trying to make you happy today.” And with that the filly got off her haunches and started trotting in the direction of one of the walls. “Wait!” called Lightning Dust, but the filly did not responds, instead she kept trotting and passed through the wall in front of her as if it wasn’t even there. Lightning Dust trotted over to the wall the filly passed through and tapped it with her hoof. “Solid… how did she do that?” she said out loud. “Well… that’s just great!” she said as she stamped her hoof on the floor. Looking around her nearly empty home, Lightning Dust figured if she was going to be stuck here, then she might as well figure out a way to pass the time. “Oh buck this… I’m going to go have a shower.” Lightning Dust thought outloud as she made her way to the shower, “Hmm… Maybe I have some books or something around here. Actually, I don’t even remember if I own any books, now that I think about it…” III: RevelationsLightning Dust sat on her haunches with her eyes closed, focusing on the sensations around her: the water droplets bouncing off of her wings and the hot water flowing through her fur and mane. Even how her ears would occasionally flicker when a droplet hit them just right. “How is this is not real…?” She turned off the water and shook herself mostly dry, leaving the shower, she reached for a towel to finish the job. The sense of the towel gliding over her fur felt familiar, no different that any other time she had dried herself. Lightning Dust started to place the towel back on the hanger, then hesitated. “What’s the point? I really shouldn’t care.” With that, she let the wet towel slip from the towel rack to the floor. Leaving the bathroom, Lightning Dust frowned at the sheer lack of anything of interest on the walls of her home. “You would think I would have made this place look better, maybe some paintings or something, given it is my dream after all…” she grumbled as she continued to walk out of the bedroom. Making her way to the middle of the living room, Lightning Dust stopped. Her ears fell flat and she frowned as she looked around. There were a few trophies and other relics of her childhood on a bookshelf next to a red velvet sitting cushion, as well as some workout equipment in the other corner for those days when she wanted stay active without leaving her home. “Well, if I’m stuck here then I might as well do something interesting. Perhaps I could read something to pass the time?" she said as she walked over to the sitting cushion. She scanned the contents of the bookshelf. There were more trophies, papers, and even some old toys, but no books. “I should really stop using this bookcase as a dumping ground for stuff… there has to be at least one book in here somewhere,” Lightning Dust said as she rummaged through the clutter of old trinkets from her past. She poked around for some time until her ears perked up. “Aha! Found one!” She pushed some papers off to the side to uncover the lost treasure. ”Hey, I remember this book. It’s the first book of that mystery novel series written by Novel Tale.” She picked up the book and placed it on the cushion. With a smile on her face, she lay down on the cushion. “I remember the reviews on this one were pretty good, now I’m starting to wish I’d bought the other books in the series….” She glanced at the bookshelf with a rather disappointed look. Her gaze returned to the book she managed to find and she smiled again. “Oh well, it’s nice having something to read to take my mind off things.” Lightning Dust opened the book to the first page and immediately her smile faltered as one of her eyes twitched. “What the…” She continued to flip through more of the pages, but they were all blank. “Ugh!” She closed the book and threw it to the ground, wrapping her hooves around the top of her head burying her face into the soft cushion. “This dream sucks,” she said in a muffled voice. She looked up from the cushion and grabbed one of the papers she moved while looking for the book. It was an old past-due bill, and she had no trouble reading it. “I guess I can only read things I’ve seen before? Well that’s just dumb…” She looked once more at the book in front of her and frowned with her ears pinned back. “I suppose I should’ve read that novel when I had the chance…” Pushing the book and paper aside, she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Lightning Dust’s mind drifted and she started to think about the filly she saw earlier. She was young, she couldn’t fly, and she was determined to keep her “safe”, a word that Lightning Dust was unsure the little filly understood completely. If the filly was truly her, or at least a younger version of herself, then she could see where Dusty was coming from. Lightning Dust remembered when she was that small, her favorite swing on the playground, her favorite stuffed bear, and how she loved to play alone because the other foals would tease her over her inability to fly. Lightning Dust hated the teasing, but the bullying was far worse. She couldn’t just fly away like the other foals, and one griffon took advantage of this. She would routinely harass Lightning Dust and take her lunch money. Lightning Dust couldn’t recall her name, but to be honest, she would rather forget all about that griffon. ~~~ The griffon’s eyes narrowed as she clenched her claws and enunciated every word with spite as she spoke. “What did you say?” “You heard me, bird brain, I said no! I’m not giving you my bits anymore!” Lightning Dust stood as stiff as she could, wings flared out and staring daggers at the griffon in front of her. The griffon slowly walked toward Lightning Dust, closing the distance between herself and the steadfast filly. “And why should I let you do that? You can’t fly away, and I’m not going to let my meal ticket get away that easily.” Lightning Dust didn’t let an ounce of her courage falter as the griffon stopped just mere inches from her face. “What are you going to do about it? You can’t hurt me, the teachers will –” Lightning Dust was cut off by a swipe of the griffon’s talon, which crumpled her into a heap before the bully. The griffon smirked at the sight of the injured filly. “Still feeling strong, little foal?” Lightning Dust rose to her hooves and stared down the griffon despite the pain in the side of her face. “I am not going to give in! This ends today!” shouted Lightning Dust as her voice cracked. The griffon’s eyes narrowed. “You bet it does!” she said as she lunged at Lightning Dust, grabbing her by the neck, forcing her to the cloud surface. The griffon got up and dragged the struggling filly along the cloud. Lightning Dust grabbed the griffon’s claw in an effort to pull herself free. “Hey! Get off! What are you…?” Lightning Dust felt her hooves collapse under her, and she glanced down in horror. She was being held over the edge of the cloud with nothing to support her. “Now hoof over your money and we can get back to where things were before you stepped out of line.” Steeling herself with what resolve she had left, Lighting Dust grabbed her bits and extended her shaking hoof away from the griffon. “Y-You want them? W-Well go get them!” And she let the bits fall from her hoof. The griffon’s eyes went wide and followed the bits as they disappeared into the vastness of sky and land below. Her gaze returned to Lightning and her eyes narrowed with anger. “You know what? Why don’t you go get them…” Lightning Dust’s eyes went wide, and she clutched onto the griffon’s arm with both hooves. “I… I can’t! I’ll scream if you let go!” The griffon raised an eyebrow. “Good point,” she said. Lightning let her grip relax slightly. “Oh good, she’s finally listening to reason. She’s not going to let me fall. Hehe… She really had me going there for a –” Lightning Dust’s eyes went wide then squeezed tightly shut as the griffon curled her claw into a fist and hit Lightning right in the gut. She tried to scream but only a gasp came out, she’d had the breath knocked out of her. “There, now you can’t scream,” the griffon said with a smirk, “now try to get those bits back before lunchtime.” With that, she loosened her grip on Lightning Dust’s neck. Lighting Dust frantically struggled to grab onto the griffon, but it was too late. She slipped from her claws and was now plummeting to the earth below. Lightning Dust tumbled through the air as she descended from Cloudsdale. Frantically hyperventilating, she managed to right herself as she flapped frantically in the air. She had only seconds left to slow down or she would hit the ground with too much force. The pain in her chest was making it nearly impossible to focus on slowing her descent. She pushed herself to flap her wings as hard as she ever had in her life, and she could see the horizon’s approach start to slow, but it wasn’t enough. She crashed through a tree and plummeted through the foliage, crashing onto the ground. Dazed and confused, she tried to get to her hooves, but collapsed as the world spun into darkness around her. It would be hours before anypony found her, and when they did, she was crumpled into a quivering ball. ~~~ A shiver went through Lightning Dust’s body at the memory. She ran her hoof across her neck, reminding herself where the griffon’s talons had grabbed her. “I pushed myself for years to be the best flyer in Equestria after that. Nothing else mattered to me anymore…” She unclenched her wings for just a moment before tucking them back to her side. “Ugh… I need to get my mind off of this,” she said as she got up off of the cushion and started looking for something to do. Lightning Dust kept walking around her home in circles, trying to think of things to do. She glanced at the weight set in the corner, “I could, but… what’s the point?” Lifting weights and doing wingups seems kind of pointless in a dream. She stopped in the middle of the living room and reared up on her hind legs, bringing her hooves to her temples. “Ugh… this is stupid! I need to figure out how to get out of here. Why can’t I just wake up?” She dropped to all fours and started to ponder the last thing she remembered before going to bed when a realization struck her. “Actually, come to think of it, I don’t remember ever going to bed the day I was discharged. Or even making it home for that matter.” She walked back to her cushion and sat down to think. “The last thing I remember was reviewing some ideas I had to get readmitted and then… nothing.” Lightning Dust blinked in surprise at that realization. “I just… I don’t remember anything. Why don’t I remember?” She brought a hoof to her chin. “There has to be some reason why I can’t remember this stuff. I kind of remember things from the previous dream, but not really… I remember Dusty, but not leaving the Academy.” Lightning Dust’s eyes went wide, and the hoof supporting her chin went down to the floor. “Wait, if I can’t remember what happened before, then I’m probably not going to remember this dream either. Which means I’ll wake up again and won’t even remember I’m in a dream at all! Oh Celestia… if that’s true, then I’d be a prisoner in my own mind and wouldn’t even know it!” She got up from the cushion and trotted around in circles in the middle of the room, trying to think what to do. “I’m not going to let that happen, I have to remember this is a dream! I need to remember this is a dream!” she came to a halt as the obvious solution came to mind, “No, wait… I have to wake up. That’s the only way this is going to end.” Lightning Dust made her way to the bedroom and slipped into bed. As she lay there waiting for dream to restart, she kept repeating to herself her mantra: “This is just a dream, and I’m waking up… it’s just… a dream… and…” Lightning Dust stirred in her bunk as consciousness took hold once more. She lifted her head up and rose to her haunches as an all-too-familiar pain in her head pounded away that needed soothing. After massaging her temples for a moment she felt the pain subside. “Ugh… My head. Horsefeathers, I probably drank too much last night. Or something. I’m not even sure…” She muttered to herself as she looked around the empty barracks before her. “Well… This is kind of strange, I… guess the instructors are moving us around or something. Still, it’s kind of odd that the other ponies' stuff isn’t in here yet.” Lightning Dust scanned the room again but shrugged off the unsettling feeling she had. “Spitfire and her ways, I guess.“ Getting out of her bunk, Lightning Dust made her bed to Academy specifications before leaving the room. “I hope I’m not late. The other ponies are probably already warming up.” Lightning Dust was walking out of the room when she stopped at the door and put a hoof to her chin. There was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she'd forgotten something, but she couldn’t put a hoof on it. Shrugging it off, she smiled and continued walking down the hall. “Well, if it’s important, I’m sure I’ll remember it…” she said as she continued down the corridor.
I: Prologue“Ten minutes. I’ve been stuck in this office for ten minutes already!” thought Lightning Dust. Lightning Dust was losing her cool. She needed to put on a good show for Spitfire, otherwise this would be her last day at the academy. Normally that would not be an issue for her; being cocky and confident came naturally to the athletic mare. However, Spitfire humiliating her in front of the other cadets had shaken her resolve. “I don’t get it! Everything was going fine until twenty minutes ago! It was all just praise, praise and more praise! Then all of a sudden two instructors detain me, Spitfire gets in my face and rips the lead pony badge off of my chest! In front of everypony! “I mean what in Tartarus was she thinking?! Sure, the tornado may have been a little –” Spitfire slammed the door open, causing Lightning Dust to jump to attention. What little resolve she'd managed to gather in the last ten minutes evaporated instantly. Her hooves were trembling and her breathing began to falter. Spitfire didn’t say a word, instead she slowly walked around the cadet and behind her desk. Spitfire was staring at Lightning Dust with an intensity she had never seen before. She could tell this was not good, and swallowed the enormous lump in her throat that had developed only moments before as beads of sweat started to form from the stress. Spitfire did not relieve the cadet from attention, instead she slowly took off her aviator glasses and folded them up. Setting the glasses down on her desk, Spitfire waited patiently for the door the close and click before having words with the cadet. From outside the office, one could hear the muffled shouts of Spitfire reprimanding Lightning Dust. This went on for some time, before stopping as suddenly as it had started leaving a lingering silence in the hall outside of Spitfire's office. The door opened and a broken Lightning Dust left her office, head down. There was a letter tucked in flight suit pocket. No salute was given, nor were any other words exchanged as the door closed behind her. She slowly made her way to the barracks. In the sky above, the other cadets were busy practicing, but she could not bring herself to look. Instead, she continued to walk with her head held low. The barracks were empty save for a few guards. There was no reason for other ponies to be there at this time of day, so it was to be expected. Still, she hated how hollow and empty everything seemed. Every step she took toward the locker room echoed through the empty halls. When she got to her locker, she sat on her haunches and looked at it for moment. She glanced down at her flight suit pocket and pulled the letter out to read it once more. The letter was her admittance papers, and it had one bold red stamp on it. Discharged. Effective Immediately. With a heavy sigh, she set down the letter and took her time opening her locker. When the door swung open she could see her yellow saddlebags in there, with all of her belongings unpacked. Lightning Dust removed the bags from the locker and began tossing her things into them. With each passing item, her anger grew and she became more forceful. It wasn’t long before she was just shoving her things into her bags with no regard to their well-being. She peeled off her ripped flight suit and was about to stuff that into her bag as well before a thought stopped her. “What’s the point...?” Letting her anger get the better of her, she wadded the suit up into a ball, took aim for the trash can at the far end of the row of lockers, and forcefully threw it in with a frustrated yell. Part of her hated what she had just done; up until an hour ago, that suit had meant the world to her. But now, that suit represented something different. It was all of her humiliation, pain, and failure in physical form. She was still panting with anger when she turned and looked back at her locker. It was empty save for one item: her spare flight suit, hanging in the back. She stopped and gazed at the suit as she felt her anger melt away. After she had calmed herself, she gently reached out and picked the suit up and held it in her hooves. This wasn’t just some piece of fabric. It was far more precious than that. It was untarnished, clean, devoid of the stain of humiliation. It represented a dream, her dream. She clenched the suit tight to her body in a tight embrace. After taking a deep breath, she carefully laid the suit down and began to neatly fold it. Satisfied with her work, she smiled and gently placed it in her saddlebag. It was the last thing she put in, and the only thing she handled with care. With her bags packed, she headed for the academy's exit. Once at the guard post, she gave the envelope she was carrying to one of the guards, who looked it over. He nodded and gave it back before returning to his post. There were no exchanges of words or salutes, just a numb look from the guard who simply didn’t care. Lightning Dust took the air and flew in the direction of home. Home, it was the last place she wanted to be. Being discharged from the academy was a big setback, but Lightning Dust was far from ready to give up on her dream of being a Wonderbolt. As she left the academy she lowered her head, contemplating what her next steps should be. Mulled over all of her options, Lightning Dust spending most of her flight exploring in her mind what may or may not work. “...No, that’s not going to work either. I definitely need to reapply next year, but what else can I do to make this better? Maybe Spitfire will reconsider after she has had a chance –” She was so lost in thought that she didn’t even notice the carriage in her flight path. Striking the carriage at full speed, Lightning Dust smashed through its side. The contents of her saddlebags tumbled through the air as she slammed into the other side of the carriage, causing the wall to buckle and crack. Her form went limp and she went crashing to the floor. As she tried to come to her senses her vision blurred, she could hear voices around her but couldn’t make out who they belonged to or what they were saying. Lightning Dust struggled to get to her hooves and for a moment it felt like her body was doing what she asked of it. But then she felt the floor strike her in the barrel as she collapsed. The voices became more distant and her eyelids became heavy as the world around her slipped into darkness.
II: The Morning AfterLightning Dust felt the fog of sleep lifting as consciousness took hold once again. “Ugh… My head!” said Lightning Dust as she sat up in her bed, massaging her temples. After taking a moment to glance around at her surroundings she froze. She couldn’t tell for sure, but it was either some kind of military-style hospital or she was back in her bed at the barracks. “What the hay is going on here?” she said out loud while throwing the covers off her bed. She got to her hooves and began surveying her surroundings. Lightning Dust was shocked to find herself standing beside her old bed in the communal sleeping quarters of the barracks. Oddly enough, however, there were no personal effects from other ponies in the room. No photos, no books, no nothing. All the beds were made, but looked like they had never been used in the first place. In fact, the entire room looked new and unused. “This isn’t right…” Lightning Dust thought to herself as she scanned the room. Lightning Dust froze when she heard a soft giggle echo through the room. Her ears flicked every which way, but try as she might, she was not able to identify the source of the haunting sound. She put on a fake smile to stave off the uneasy feeling that had just started to develop. “Ha. Ha. Very funny guys. Joke’s over! You’ve had your fun, so come on out!” she shouted. Her voice echoed through the room, but there was no response. The room was still and silent. “Ugh…! They’re probably outside, those stupid jerks! I bet Rainbow is responsible for this! Her and her stupid pranks.” Lightning Dust trotted out of the room and made her way out of the barracks. Her pace quickened as she moved through the building, scanning the halls and rooms she passed. “Not a single pony, not even staff! Ok, this is starting to freak me out…” Her heart was racing. “This isn’t normal! I should be seeing at least some guard ponies by now!” It wasn’t long until she was at a full gallop, trying to get out of the building as fast as she could. She burst through the main entrance of the barracks scanning frantically for signs of other ponies. After seeing no one Lightning Dust came to a halt as the realization struck her. The complex was completely deserted. “I… I don’t get it? What in Tartarus is going on here?” Lightning Dust heard the soft giggle again, but this time she could identify where it was coming from. She whipped around as fast as she could and to her surprise she found a filly, sitting on her haunches giggling just a few feet behind her. Lightning Dust was shocked; there was no way the filly could have snuck up on her! The filly had no cutie mark, but shared Lightning Dust’s colors: same coat, same mane and even the same eyes. It was those eyes that gave Lightning Dust a very unsettling feeling. They were familiar, too familiar, and it frightened her. “Hi there!” said the filly with a smile. Lightning Dust choked back the lump in her throat so she could speak. “W-Who are you?” “Silly! You know who I am! I’m you, Dusty!” replied the filly as she giggled and grinned. “The only pony that has ever called me ‘Dusty’ was Mom. And I don’t even recall telling Rainbow that!” Lightning Dust frowned, realizing this had to be some really elaborate prank Rainbow Dash had setup. “That’s not funny! Did Rainbow Dash put you up to this?” The filly tilted her head in confusion. “Rainbow Dash?” Dusty shrugged off the expression and smiled. “Nope! This is all my doing!” There was an uneasy feeling in Lightning Dust’s stomach when she said that. “What do you mean, ‘This is all my doing’?” Dusty could see the emotions on Lightning Dust’s face, but dismissed it. “Yes, my doing. You see, I know you’ve had a tough time at the Academy. And all you could think about was getting back here, so I made an Academy just for you!” she said as she stood up on her hind legs and waved her hooves in the air. “…Wait, what?!” Dusty dropped back to all fours and lowered her head a bit. “But I didn’t want you to be sad anymore. You were trying so hard and the other ponies didn’t stand up for you when Spitfire kicked you out!“ the name of her former captain left the filly’s mouth with as much distaste as a rotten piece of bread. Thoughts of those last moments at the Academy flooded Lightning Dust’s mind. The humiliation, the yelling, Spitfire discharging her. Even the way the guards ignored her as she left. “So I decided you didn’t need them any of them. That’s why when I made this Academy for you, I didn’t bother to make any of the ponies you knew from the old Academy.” “Wait, wait. What do you mean you ‘made’ the Academy and that there are no ponies here?” “Well, what do you think it means, silly?” Lightning Dust was struggling to find words. ”There’s no way she could be telling the truth, but… then again, there were no ponies anywhere! How in the world did Rainbow Dash pull this off?” “Well, I’d better get going! There’s a playground waiting for me, and I just wanted to stick around long enough to tell you all about you're new playground!” Dusty turned around and started trotting away. “I miss my playground, it’s so much better than the one we had in Cloudsdale. A nice, empty playground, where nopony will ever make fun of me or tease me or hurt me!”. Lightning raised a hoof and shouted. “Wait! If what you’re saying is true, then what am I supposed to do here?” The filly stopped and rubbed a hoof under her chin while she thought for a moment. “You know… I don’t know! You were so focused on being here that it was hard to tell what you were supposed to do here. But that’s okay, you can figure it out now that you’re here again! And you have the whole place all to yourself! I’ll see you later!” Dusty smiled as she trotted behind a building. Lightning Dust took off after the filly, but once she cleared the building the filly was gone. “No! Wait!” That could not have been me! What’s going on here? Tears started to form in Lightning Dust’s eyes as she started to panic. Holding onto the last threads of hope that this was just a prank, she shouted out, “Alright, Rainbow Dash, you’ve had your fun! I’m serious this time!” She paused for a moment to catch her breath. “You win, okay? I said it! YOU! WIN! This is WAY beyond messed up! You hear me!” screamed Lightning Dust as a stream of tears rolled down her face. Panting, Lightning Dust looked around frantically for somepony—anypony—to reveal themselves. But none did; she was still alone. She collapsed to the ground, choking back tears as best she could. “Come on, guys… you win… please come out.” Lightning Dust buried her head in her hooves, quietly sobbing and waiting for somepony to say something. Time seemed to stand still while Lightning Dust sat there waiting. After some time had passed, she finally accepted what she feared was the truth. “This can’t be really be real… I just… I want to wake up. I don’t want to be here any more!” She wished this was just a dream she would wake up from any moment now. She closed her eyes tight and imagined herself waking up in her nice warm bed back home. “Please, just let me wake up…” Lightning Dust’s eyes shot open and she heaved forward, drenched in a cold sweat. She was panting and everything felt alien to her, but once her senses calmed down she noticed she wasn’t at the Academy any more. She was back in her bedroom. She gripped her temples with her hooves to massage the throbbing headache that only now revealed itself after she’d calmed down. “Ugh… My head!” she moaned out loud. She took her time soothing her headache before throwing the sheets off of her bed and walking out of her bedroom. As she walked through the house, she made a visual inspection to make sure things were where they were supposed to be. The house was empty for the most part, devoid of most things you would find in any other pony’s home. There were no photos, no pieces of art and very sparse furnishings. But that was to be expected; Lightning Dust never felt the need to be distracted by other ponies or waste time looking at art. These were things that simply took time away from her achieving her dream of being a Wonderbolt. She walked over to the sink and splashed some water on her face to help her focus, thinking about the nightmare she had just woken from. It was hard to remember exactly what had happened, but she remembered the filly clearly: her voice, the way she looked. Not so much what they had talked about, but she did remember the terrible feelings she felt. Come to think of it, she wasn’t even sure why that dream was so terrifying in the first place. She couldn’t really remember anything about it. Still, she was glad that dream was over. She grabbed a towel, wiped off her face, and trotted to the front door to go outside. She tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “Huh…? Is the door locked?” “Oh, now I suppose you want to go outside too.” Lightning Dust froze at the door. That voice, she knew that voice. She slowly turned around, silently praying that her mind was just playing tricks on her. But standing a few feet behind her, with an annoyed look on her face, was the same filly from her dream. “You know what? I was really happy to get back to my playground until my head was full of all of your whining! That’s all you kept doing after I left!” shouted Dusty. “This is not real! This is not real!” “And quit telling yourself ‘this is not real!’ I can hear your thoughts and all you’re doing is making my head hurt!” Lightning Dust’s mind just froze, she couldn’t think of anything to say to the irate filly. Dusty brought a hoof up to her face. “Ugh… Can’t you just make up your mind? I thought you wanted the academy so I made the academy, but no. That wasn’t good enough for you!” She stamped her raised hoof to the ground and looked away from Lightning Dust. “Ungrateful mare, no wonder you have no friends.” “Hey, I have friends!” shouted Lightning Dust. The filly locked eyes with Lightning Dust and raised an eyebrow. “Oh Really? Name one, just one.” Not really thinking about it, Lightning Dust blurted out the first name that came to mind. “Rainbow Dash!” “Ha. Ha… Really? The mare that you trusted when you got to the academy? The same mare that you thought pulled the greatest prank in Equestria by putting you into an empty academy? The mare that went to Spitfire and got you discharged from the Academy? And did nothing to stop it? You call that a friend?” Dusty filled that last word with venom. Lightning Dust was at a loss for words. She tried to think of something to say, but no words were able to come out. “Please, I know you better than you know yourself, Lightning Dust.” “Then why are you keeping me here?” Lightning Dust asked. “Because you’re tired of being hurt, we both are. We’re safe here. Nopony will ever hurt us again, and that’s the way I intend to keep it. You have all day to do whatever it is you want before the dream resets again, or you can just go back to bed. It’s your choice. At any rate, I’m done trying to make you happy today.” And with that the filly got off her haunches and started trotting in the direction of one of the walls. “Wait!” called Lightning Dust, but the filly did not responds, instead she kept trotting and passed through the wall in front of her as if it wasn’t even there. Lightning Dust trotted over to the wall the filly passed through and tapped it with her hoof. “Solid… how did she do that?” she said out loud. “Well… that’s just great!” she said as she stamped her hoof on the floor. Looking around her nearly empty home, Lightning Dust figured if she was going to be stuck here, then she might as well figure out a way to pass the time. “Oh buck this… I’m going to go have a shower.” Lightning Dust thought outloud as she made her way to the shower, “Hmm… Maybe I have some books or something around here. Actually, I don’t even remember if I own any books, now that I think about it…”
III: RevelationsLightning Dust sat on her haunches with her eyes closed, focusing on the sensations around her: the water droplets bouncing off of her wings and the hot water flowing through her fur and mane. Even how her ears would occasionally flicker when a droplet hit them just right. “How is this is not real…?” She turned off the water and shook herself mostly dry, leaving the shower, she reached for a towel to finish the job. The sense of the towel gliding over her fur felt familiar, no different that any other time she had dried herself. Lightning Dust started to place the towel back on the hanger, then hesitated. “What’s the point? I really shouldn’t care.” With that, she let the wet towel slip from the towel rack to the floor. Leaving the bathroom, Lightning Dust frowned at the sheer lack of anything of interest on the walls of her home. “You would think I would have made this place look better, maybe some paintings or something, given it is my dream after all…” she grumbled as she continued to walk out of the bedroom. Making her way to the middle of the living room, Lightning Dust stopped. Her ears fell flat and she frowned as she looked around. There were a few trophies and other relics of her childhood on a bookshelf next to a red velvet sitting cushion, as well as some workout equipment in the other corner for those days when she wanted stay active without leaving her home. “Well, if I’m stuck here then I might as well do something interesting. Perhaps I could read something to pass the time?" she said as she walked over to the sitting cushion. She scanned the contents of the bookshelf. There were more trophies, papers, and even some old toys, but no books. “I should really stop using this bookcase as a dumping ground for stuff… there has to be at least one book in here somewhere,” Lightning Dust said as she rummaged through the clutter of old trinkets from her past. She poked around for some time until her ears perked up. “Aha! Found one!” She pushed some papers off to the side to uncover the lost treasure. ”Hey, I remember this book. It’s the first book of that mystery novel series written by Novel Tale.” She picked up the book and placed it on the cushion. With a smile on her face, she lay down on the cushion. “I remember the reviews on this one were pretty good, now I’m starting to wish I’d bought the other books in the series….” She glanced at the bookshelf with a rather disappointed look. Her gaze returned to the book she managed to find and she smiled again. “Oh well, it’s nice having something to read to take my mind off things.” Lightning Dust opened the book to the first page and immediately her smile faltered as one of her eyes twitched. “What the…” She continued to flip through more of the pages, but they were all blank. “Ugh!” She closed the book and threw it to the ground, wrapping her hooves around the top of her head burying her face into the soft cushion. “This dream sucks,” she said in a muffled voice. She looked up from the cushion and grabbed one of the papers she moved while looking for the book. It was an old past-due bill, and she had no trouble reading it. “I guess I can only read things I’ve seen before? Well that’s just dumb…” She looked once more at the book in front of her and frowned with her ears pinned back. “I suppose I should’ve read that novel when I had the chance…” Pushing the book and paper aside, she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Lightning Dust’s mind drifted and she started to think about the filly she saw earlier. She was young, she couldn’t fly, and she was determined to keep her “safe”, a word that Lightning Dust was unsure the little filly understood completely. If the filly was truly her, or at least a younger version of herself, then she could see where Dusty was coming from. Lightning Dust remembered when she was that small, her favorite swing on the playground, her favorite stuffed bear, and how she loved to play alone because the other foals would tease her over her inability to fly. Lightning Dust hated the teasing, but the bullying was far worse. She couldn’t just fly away like the other foals, and one griffon took advantage of this. She would routinely harass Lightning Dust and take her lunch money. Lightning Dust couldn’t recall her name, but to be honest, she would rather forget all about that griffon. ~~~ The griffon’s eyes narrowed as she clenched her claws and enunciated every word with spite as she spoke. “What did you say?” “You heard me, bird brain, I said no! I’m not giving you my bits anymore!” Lightning Dust stood as stiff as she could, wings flared out and staring daggers at the griffon in front of her. The griffon slowly walked toward Lightning Dust, closing the distance between herself and the steadfast filly. “And why should I let you do that? You can’t fly away, and I’m not going to let my meal ticket get away that easily.” Lightning Dust didn’t let an ounce of her courage falter as the griffon stopped just mere inches from her face. “What are you going to do about it? You can’t hurt me, the teachers will –” Lightning Dust was cut off by a swipe of the griffon’s talon, which crumpled her into a heap before the bully. The griffon smirked at the sight of the injured filly. “Still feeling strong, little foal?” Lightning Dust rose to her hooves and stared down the griffon despite the pain in the side of her face. “I am not going to give in! This ends today!” shouted Lightning Dust as her voice cracked. The griffon’s eyes narrowed. “You bet it does!” she said as she lunged at Lightning Dust, grabbing her by the neck, forcing her to the cloud surface. The griffon got up and dragged the struggling filly along the cloud. Lightning Dust grabbed the griffon’s claw in an effort to pull herself free. “Hey! Get off! What are you…?” Lightning Dust felt her hooves collapse under her, and she glanced down in horror. She was being held over the edge of the cloud with nothing to support her. “Now hoof over your money and we can get back to where things were before you stepped out of line.” Steeling herself with what resolve she had left, Lighting Dust grabbed her bits and extended her shaking hoof away from the griffon. “Y-You want them? W-Well go get them!” And she let the bits fall from her hoof. The griffon’s eyes went wide and followed the bits as they disappeared into the vastness of sky and land below. Her gaze returned to Lightning and her eyes narrowed with anger. “You know what? Why don’t you go get them…” Lightning Dust’s eyes went wide, and she clutched onto the griffon’s arm with both hooves. “I… I can’t! I’ll scream if you let go!” The griffon raised an eyebrow. “Good point,” she said. Lightning let her grip relax slightly. “Oh good, she’s finally listening to reason. She’s not going to let me fall. Hehe… She really had me going there for a –” Lightning Dust’s eyes went wide then squeezed tightly shut as the griffon curled her claw into a fist and hit Lightning right in the gut. She tried to scream but only a gasp came out, she’d had the breath knocked out of her. “There, now you can’t scream,” the griffon said with a smirk, “now try to get those bits back before lunchtime.” With that, she loosened her grip on Lightning Dust’s neck. Lighting Dust frantically struggled to grab onto the griffon, but it was too late. She slipped from her claws and was now plummeting to the earth below. Lightning Dust tumbled through the air as she descended from Cloudsdale. Frantically hyperventilating, she managed to right herself as she flapped frantically in the air. She had only seconds left to slow down or she would hit the ground with too much force. The pain in her chest was making it nearly impossible to focus on slowing her descent. She pushed herself to flap her wings as hard as she ever had in her life, and she could see the horizon’s approach start to slow, but it wasn’t enough. She crashed through a tree and plummeted through the foliage, crashing onto the ground. Dazed and confused, she tried to get to her hooves, but collapsed as the world spun into darkness around her. It would be hours before anypony found her, and when they did, she was crumpled into a quivering ball. ~~~ A shiver went through Lightning Dust’s body at the memory. She ran her hoof across her neck, reminding herself where the griffon’s talons had grabbed her. “I pushed myself for years to be the best flyer in Equestria after that. Nothing else mattered to me anymore…” She unclenched her wings for just a moment before tucking them back to her side. “Ugh… I need to get my mind off of this,” she said as she got up off of the cushion and started looking for something to do. Lightning Dust kept walking around her home in circles, trying to think of things to do. She glanced at the weight set in the corner, “I could, but… what’s the point?” Lifting weights and doing wingups seems kind of pointless in a dream. She stopped in the middle of the living room and reared up on her hind legs, bringing her hooves to her temples. “Ugh… this is stupid! I need to figure out how to get out of here. Why can’t I just wake up?” She dropped to all fours and started to ponder the last thing she remembered before going to bed when a realization struck her. “Actually, come to think of it, I don’t remember ever going to bed the day I was discharged. Or even making it home for that matter.” She walked back to her cushion and sat down to think. “The last thing I remember was reviewing some ideas I had to get readmitted and then… nothing.” Lightning Dust blinked in surprise at that realization. “I just… I don’t remember anything. Why don’t I remember?” She brought a hoof to her chin. “There has to be some reason why I can’t remember this stuff. I kind of remember things from the previous dream, but not really… I remember Dusty, but not leaving the Academy.” Lightning Dust’s eyes went wide, and the hoof supporting her chin went down to the floor. “Wait, if I can’t remember what happened before, then I’m probably not going to remember this dream either. Which means I’ll wake up again and won’t even remember I’m in a dream at all! Oh Celestia… if that’s true, then I’d be a prisoner in my own mind and wouldn’t even know it!” She got up from the cushion and trotted around in circles in the middle of the room, trying to think what to do. “I’m not going to let that happen, I have to remember this is a dream! I need to remember this is a dream!” she came to a halt as the obvious solution came to mind, “No, wait… I have to wake up. That’s the only way this is going to end.” Lightning Dust made her way to the bedroom and slipped into bed. As she lay there waiting for dream to restart, she kept repeating to herself her mantra: “This is just a dream, and I’m waking up… it’s just… a dream… and…” Lightning Dust stirred in her bunk as consciousness took hold once more. She lifted her head up and rose to her haunches as an all-too-familiar pain in her head pounded away that needed soothing. After massaging her temples for a moment she felt the pain subside. “Ugh… My head. Horsefeathers, I probably drank too much last night. Or something. I’m not even sure…” She muttered to herself as she looked around the empty barracks before her. “Well… This is kind of strange, I… guess the instructors are moving us around or something. Still, it’s kind of odd that the other ponies' stuff isn’t in here yet.” Lightning Dust scanned the room again but shrugged off the unsettling feeling she had. “Spitfire and her ways, I guess.“ Getting out of her bunk, Lightning Dust made her bed to Academy specifications before leaving the room. “I hope I’m not late. The other ponies are probably already warming up.” Lightning Dust was walking out of the room when she stopped at the door and put a hoof to her chin. There was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she'd forgotten something, but she couldn’t put a hoof on it. Shrugging it off, she smiled and continued walking down the hall. “Well, if it’s important, I’m sure I’ll remember it…” she said as she continued down the corridor.
