Rainbow Dash smiled as everypony in the stadium cheered on Spike once more. The baby dragon had been feeling down for most of the Equestria Games due to his perceived screw-ups (not that Rainbow blamed him; his attempt to sing the Cloudsdale anthem was just painful), only to step up and save the day when one of the ice archers accidentally hit a cloud and caused it to start falling.
He really has grown up, she thought. Of course, he’ll never be as awesome as me, but still, no wonder the Crystal Ponies love him so much. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed somepony in the distance staring at her, and when she turned to look, the other pony dashed off in a very familiar trail of green and orange that almost resembled lightning.
Was that who I think it was? Rainbow Dash thought as she headed in the direction she saw the pony heading, pushing past several ponies and yelling, “Hey, wait!” The pony she was pursuing turned left, heading for the practice field that was used in-between games.
What’s Lightning Dust of all ponies doing here? Rainbow Dash thought as she headed towards the practice field. …And why am I going after her to a place where nopony else is? For all I know, this could be some crazy revenge scheme. Rainbow Dash stopped right in the middle of the field, weighing her options. If this WAS a crazy revenge scheme, it’d be best to have it happen where nopony else could get hurt.
“So you followed me…” Rainbow heard Lightning’s voice as her former teammate from the Wonderbolt Academy flew down from a crystal tree. “Right here, in this small, empty field. With nopony else and nopony to see or hear what’s about to happen. Just a private moment between old friends, where I can finally unload everything I’ve wanted to say to you since that day at the Academy. You see, I--”
“Oh, don’t act like a victim here!” Rainbow Dash said, cutting Dust off. “Your recklessness got several cadets injured. You didn’t try to help me when my wing was injured by YOUR grandstanding. You nearly got my five best friends in the world killed. You deserved to get kicked out of the Academy after all the crap you did. You’re dangerous.” Rainbow Dash didn’t know how Lightning Dust would respond to that, but the response she got was completely unexpected.
Lightning Dust laughed. “Ha ha ha… you… actually thought… I was kicked out? Spitfire never even told you?”
Rainbow was nonplussed. “Told me what?” she asked.
“I was never kicked out,” Lightning explained. “When I nearly… killed your friends with the tornado and you called me out on it, I didn’t really care at first. After all, in the end, nopony got hurt, right? But then I overheard you telling Spitfire about what happened, and when I heard you say that you were willing to give up your dreams to stay true to yourself… that’s when the full implications of what I had done hit me.
If you hadn’t been there to save your friends… I would’ve been a murderer. And if I kept doing what I had been doing all that time, next time there might not be somepony there to save them. So right then and there, I swore that there would never BE a next time.”
Rainbow Dash was still confused. “But Spitfire went through the whole ‘rip off the insignia’ thing that they do when somepony’s dishonorably discharged…”
“Oh, that?” Lightning replied. “Apparently they still have to do that even if somepony’s just put on a temporary suspension, and they get a replacement badge and uniform once they get back. I was on suspension for two weeks, and I had hoped that I’d see you again when I got back. But by the time I did, you had already left and I had trouble getting in touch with you. Still, I certainly took advantage of the time I had. Remember those three brothers of mine that I told you about?”
Rainbow Dash nodded; she vaguely remembered Lightning mentioning that she had three older brothers -- Tornado Spin, Hurricane Eye, and another one whose name Rainbow couldn’t remember.
Lightning continued her story. “Well, the day I got back to my home, I immediately contacted them and asked them to come over. When they arrived--” She blushed. “I pretty much got on my knees and begged for their forgiveness. And you know what they said? They said --pause for dramatic effect— ‘Dustie, there was never anything to forgive you for.’”
“We spent the next two weeks catching up, hanging out, and just… well, being a real family again for the first time in years. I was surprised to learn that my oldest brother had actually joined the Royal Guard and ended up stationed here in the Crystal Empire. It was actually his idea to arrange this little meeting here.”
Rainbow Dash was getting impatient. “Okay, so what’s the point of this? Why are you telling me all of this?”
Lightning smiled. “My point, Rainbow Dash, is that without you, I never would have been able to turn my life around or patch things up with my brothers. I know now that recklessness isn’t the way to get things done, and a true leader works WITH their team.”
Before Rainbow Dash could respond, Lightning suddenly pulled her into a big hug, tears of joy streaming from her eyes. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash. For everything.”
"Whoa there, we got a hugger here," Rainbow Dash said, still not sure how to take these events.
“Hey, Dustie, you done yet?” a voice called out. Rainbow Dash pulled herself out of the hug and saw an orange pegasus stallion with a wild blue mane standing several feet away.
“I’ll be right there!” Lightning called back, smiling.
“Wait…” Rainbow Dash said, recognizing the stallion. “HE’S your brother?”
“Oh, have you met? I guess that saves time for introductions later…” As Lightning Dust began to leave, she said, “I’ll be taking my test for the Wonderbolt Reserves soon. I’m sure I’ll pass, since I’ve been studying a lot with my brothers. Who knows? Maybe we’ll end up working together again at some point. I’ll bet I could make a good wingpony for you. That is, if you’d be willing.”
Rainbow Dash smirked. “Lightning Dust, you can be my wingpony any time.”
Lightning laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.” With that, she headed off with her brother.
Rainbow Dash stood there staring in the distance where the two had headed. Well, that was unexpected. Next thing I know, I might even be able to patch things up with Gilda! …Nah, that’ll probably never happen.
Flash Sentry hadn’t seen his sister so happy in a long time. I’ve got to remember to thank Captain Shining Armor for making sure that field was conveniently empty so Dustie and Dash could have their chat. “So how did it go?” he asked his sister.
“It went great, Flashy,” Lightning replied. “You were right; talking about these things DOES help.”
“No problem, Dustie. Say, Shining Armor and Princess Cadance are having their anniversary party in a couple months. Shining said that I could bring up to 3 guests. Maybe we could invite Tornie and Hurc over and the four of us can attend together. What do you think?”
Lightning smiled. “…Maaaaaybe.”
Author's Note
Yes, I totally just had Flash Sentry appear in the end without putting him in the character tags. Take THAT, drive-by downvoters!
Ahem, anyway, this is just a light little something about what I think happened to Lightning Dust after the events of Wonderbolts Academy. I got tired of seeing all the "her life was ruined and she became a miserable wreck" stories, so I decided to write what was basically a counter to that where her life actually got BETTER thanks to Rainbow Dash.
And yes, I DID reference "Anniversary Mayhem" at the end of this, though this story isn't necessarily canon to that story. But who knows? Maybe we'll see Lightning, Flash, and those other two brothers of hers if and when I ever get back to that story.
And before I forget, the names Tornado Spin and Hurricane Eye as the names of Lightning's other brothers came from twilightsparkle3562's fic "Redemption of a Wonderbolt Cadet." Though if I ever actually use them in my stories, they'll definitely be a LOT nicer than they were in that story.
Please leave a comment. Constructive criticism is welcome. Trolling or commenting solely to bash Flash Sentry is not.
