A week had passed by since Lightning Dust received her wing pony badge, along with the fact that she was also a lead pony. Working alone by herself is perhaps the best way to keep her skills consistent and well developed. At least that was what Spitfire originally had in mind. There were no "commotions" this time about the rash pegasus creating tornadoes or innocent bystanders involved this time around, and the whole academy seemed calm enough, lacking of any conflicts or hot jealousy enough for potential violence.

Morning yawned across Equestria when the sky was forged with ocean blue and useless armor of clouds, perhaps to cover its nudity, insecure that it is not what everypony deemed it to be. Maybe the sky was not as good as it had sounded. Rumors come and go, and fly away or then come back when a similar controversy has been leaked. White lies either blind the eyes, or they illuminate the obvious truth that attempts to hide behind.

The mare's pupils gripped onto the passing leaves ascending into the upper air, before consumed by the blunt patches of white clouds. A hoof on her chin, she leaned against the window of the academy dorm. She looked as if she was either deep in thought, or that she was deeply lost with confusion. For the first time she had to pause and hesitate on her past behaviors and the ups and downs she had to go through with them. She earned herself enough honor, yet she has lost many from other ponies, who just turned their backs on her and walked away without care.

How she ever ended up like now was no longer an option to ponder on, for she can only see what was ahead of her.

"Hey Dust," another mare who shared the same dorm room with her called over from her bunk bed, "you up for today?"

As much as she wanted to ignore her roommate, Lightning Dust took a glance at her from the corner of her eye. She was a pink pegasi with a well brushed tail and mane, whose colors resembling to that of the fictional filly named *Girthilocks. Whenever Lightning saw her, she always thought of her to be a stallion, due to the short length of her recently cut mane as the mare had once told her. She was also the pony who was first chosen to try out the Dizzitron, where she took a decent time of fifteen seconds. From then and on, she has improved her speed, agility, strength, and stamina.

Even then, she was nowhere close to Lightning Dust's capabilities, and she was definitely not worth to be her "wing pony" ever since she once partnered up with Rainbow Dash. Snorting, she let out a small sigh and responded,

"Yeah sure, Meadow Flower. I'll be there in a moment. Just give me some time on my own right now, okay?"

Struck by awkwardness, Meadow Flower turned her head back in disappointment, another chance to get in touch with a popular figure has failed because of her own social clumsiness. Then again, Meadow had not completely forgotten about when Lightning Dust shoved her aside in the obstacle course, and the ugly tornado that was attempted to blow her away. But selfishness replaces selfishness, as her own desires to get along with her roommate far exceeded how Lightning had once mistreated her.

The pink mare opened her wings to stretch herself before walking out of the room for breakfast. Once she took a step out of the doorway, she stretched her head back.

"You sure you don't want to come eat with us? It'll be fun."

"..." Was all the lead pony responded with, and as a result of that her roommate reluctantly left without another hoof step to be heard. As her thoughts followed her impatient and fast paced vision, scribbles of a pencil vibrated in her eardrums.

Scratch scratch scratch.

She turned around to check whether she was hearing things, but not a soul was seen near her. Once silence returned, the same noise repeated itself at a subtler rate, as if a propaganda was being planned.

"So have you heard of that recent news on Equestria Daily? There was a mysterious crater located near Macintosh Hills!"

"You're kidding! That thing was huge! It just mysteriously appeared without any signs of asteroids hitting there!"

"I heard that a nearby scout of the Nature Perseverance Organization went to investigate a couple of days ago, and still haven't heard anything from him."

"You're not serious—"

"Was he writing letters as reports though?

"He kept it to a consistent schedule, which is freakin' daily!"

"Are you still being serious right now?"

"Yeah obviously!"

As the news heated up the cafeteria like wildfire, Lightning Dust entered to grab food the second she stepped into the cafeteria. A cup of milk and an egg were good enough for the morning, until lunchtime she had enough energy to outlast everypony else with ease. That was all she cared about so far, regardless of a couple of others glaring at her as she walked by. She went to an empty table near the window, and she placed herself by the window just so she can continue her train of thought from earlier today.

However, that was ruined once again as history repeats itself. Irritated, she quickly slammed the table with her fork before Meadow Flower came over to sit across from her.

"Hey again Lightning Dust." She greeted her happily. But Lightning Dust grumbled under her breath, continuing to stare outside the window. Meadow Flower sucked her teeth, she did not expect another greeting ignored by her roommate again. The two mares sat under the gleaming sunlight. To Meadow Flower, however, it felt as if Lightning Dust has shone more than she ever has, particularly was because of her golden striped mane that glinted at least five times a second.

'Maybe just another academy record, why is being good so challenging for me?' She eventually lost her initial idea to socialize and created a bubble that shielded her from insecurity. Soon she no longer had the warm welcoming face and expressed her feelings of perhaps an emotional breakdown. Noticing Meadow's distress, and did not want to be condemned as guilty. Lightning Dust sighed in annoyance before attempting to comfort her.

"What now?"

As much as she knew it would not work because she never had sympathy for other ponies, Meadow Flower looked up to the turquoise mare and put her hooves onto the table. Lightning Dust slowly backed off in disgust. She was not used to showing much feelings, not that she actually cared. But they are roommates, and she realized that she must deal with her every day from now and then. So why not just give it a shot?

"Lightning Dust, I know that you are one of the best flyers in the academy, and I know that I'm one of the mediocre ones" —

"Change it to the best for me, and the worst for you, annoying prick." The zapping mare muttered under her breath, leaning her elbow and head towards the windows as she could not help but hear every word Meadow articulated in her eardrums, her veins popped out in response.

— "but I just want you to know, that I'm lucky to get the opportunity of knowing you better. Maybe with you by my side, I can always seek guidance and extra practice from a fine flyer like you..."

She blushed while she merely yapped away like wild animals calling for their mates, a "herbivore" to be exact, for Lightning Dust can easily swallow her whole and it will be the end for poor Meadow Flower. But Lightning did not pluck one petal of sympathy for her roommate at all. Instead, she grunted and took another bite of her cornbread.

Though, Lightning did feel a gist of ingenuity coming from this underachiever. Day by day, Meadow Flower constantly broke her personal record each time the trainees repeated their activities despite the fact that she was still a weak flyer. She still lagged behind other ponies during laps and always had something coming up such as a hamstring injury or a mild collision. If she can train Meadow Flower and promote her to the second best flyer in the academy after her, she would take more than majority of the credit, and others will honor her even more than ever.

'Perhaps, I can even make my name printed onto Equestria Daily!' The mare giggled in her mind. When Meadow suddenly gave a suspicious look, Lightning Dust adjusted her sitting posture and took a deep breath to control her ambitious excitement. Grinning, she opened her mouth to reply to Meadow's indirect request.

"Then come."

Meadow was too retarded to respond. "W-w-what?"

"I said come, what are you waiting for then? I doubt anypony else can be as lucky as you are, Meadow Flower. With me by your side, we can achieve the impossible and break through even the limits of the sky. By then, Spitfire will definitely take notice of your innate talent."

"Y-you think?"

"Yeah, sure!" Lightning Dust paused for a short while, not used to such welcoming acceptance of other ponies. "I mean, think about it!"

And they talked on and on about the dull and simple minded topic for a quarter of an hour more. Sooner than thought these mares fell victim to the ignorant and meaningless chit-chattering of random topics through the deceitful mouths of other ponies.

Scratch scratch scratch.

Scribbles on paper continued to rumble across Lightning Dust's eardrums, but low and quiet enough to avoid even her keen senses. The clouds began to slip away at a quicker speed than usual.

Still, these signs were not enough to prove anything yet so far.

Author's Note

This was a short one. I initially decided to write more here, but I figured that separating this whole chunk of idea into two chapters would do fine likewise

*"Girth" is an equestrian term meaning a flat leather/canvas/cord strap to secure different types (mainly English and Australian) of saddles on a horse's back. And of course, Goldilocks and the Three Bears.