There was only one sound that penetrated the otherwise unbearable silence of the ward inside Ponyville General Hospital that currently housed a lone pegasus occupant, Lightning Dust. The continuous, constant beeping of the machine attached to a mare who was almost unrecognizable to anyone from a distance. This was because she was in a full body wing and hoof cast, reduced to having to drink through a straw.
All because of a trick that was supposed to be done by the newest and youngest member of the mare's stunt team that she had founded and lead: The Washouts. But the filly had gotten cold hooves and bailed the second the trick went wrong.
And there was one pony to blame for that: Rainbow Dash. The bandaged mare growled as her blood boiled. Just thinking about the pesky do gooder pegasus that had once been her wingpony infuriated her to no end. It wasn't fair that she was now a Wonderbolt, and meanwhile Lightning Dust had nothing. The Washouts had been her first big break since being booted out of the Wonderbolts private academy and everything had been going so well prior to today.
"Why does Rainbow Dash always have to get in my way?! Can't she ever let me be happy?!" Lightning Dust thought to herself. She couldn't really do much else due to her current bandaged condition. Even her lovely light turquoise coat was covered up by miles upon miles of a full body wing and hoof cast. If not for her light orange eyes and the faintest tufts of her blonde mane poking up from the cast, there would've been no way for anypony to identify her.
Though that would've been for the better in Lightning's mind. If anypony could see her now they were sure to mock her to no end. "Look at what's become of this Wonderbolts reject. She couldn't even manage her own stunt pony troupe." They would surely say. Some might even bring their foals and use her as an example of what happens when you didn't follow every safety law ever made exactly to the letter.
Given the choice, Lightning would've rather been in Tartarus for all eternity than have to spend another minute in this agonizing and forsaken place. She should've been out there flying with Rolling Thunder and Short Fuse, recruiting more pegasi to join the Washouts ranks.
But now it would be a miracle if, by the time she was released from the hospital, either of them would ever speak to her again. The two were probably bickering right this very minute about who should lead the Washouts in their captain's absence.
Lightning was prepared to close her eyes and go back to sleep. Her next feeding wasn't for another hour at least and she had no roommate to talk to (not that anypony could understand a word she said with the cast).
Fate, it seemed, had different plans in mind. For at that very moment an instantly recognizable rainbow maned pegasus mare trotted into the room. Her moderate violet eyes soon fell upon Lightning Dust's condition and she had to restrain herself to keep from snickering. "Hey, Lightning Dust," She tried to greet as best she could. "Guess Spitfire's warnings were right on the nose after all. All this time I thought she was just using it as a scare tactic."
Lightning Dust said nothing, not even a muffled growl or groan. Her eyes appeared to narrow ever so slightly though.
"You're right, probably not the best time to bring up old wounds," Rainbow apologized as she approached the injured pegasus. "Bet you're surprised to see me here, huh? Well I'm not here to sign your cast if that's what you're thinking."
Again, Lightning was silent.
Rainbow pulled up a chair and sat down in it so that she could more easily make eye contact with Lightning. "I'm also not here to mock you, or tell you what you did wrong. That's Spitfire's job, and you can thank Celestia I haven't told her about you. Sorry, I know you probably wanted me to."
Lightning just turned her head as best she could do. If this was some thinly veiled attempt at pity she wasn't going for it. Pity was just as bad as mockery as far as she was concerned. "I don't need anypony's pity. I knew the risks when I formed the Washouts. Can't be a stunt pony if you're not willing to take risks." She thought to herself.
The brash speedster looked at her one time partner, now covered from head to hooves in bandages and gauze. "It's really too bad you ended up like this, you know," Rainbow went on. "In fact that's kind of why I came here today. I was originally just supposed to tell you Scootaloo's family found out about what you tried to do with her and they're not happy. They want you to stay away from her. I'll try to talk them out of a permanent restraining order, and you deserve to know the kid has a new fan club. One I started for her after I realized how much she deserves appreciation in her own right."
The injured Washout turned her head, reluctantly looking into Rainbow's eyes. Had she heard right?
"What I really came here to do though, is to get an answer to a question that's been lingering in the back of mind since you got kicked out of the Wonderbolts," Rainbow explained as she nervously massaged the back of her neck with a hoof. "Look, I'm not good with these sappy, emotional talks. I just can't help but wonder 'Could things have worked out differently between us? Is there anything I could've said or done differently that could've prevented all of this from happening?'" She didn't expect a reply and indeed there wasn't one. "Bet you're shocked to hear that from me of all ponies. The pony you blame for getting you kicked out of the Wonderbolts, which in turn is why you formed the Washouts."
Lightning nodded her head and seemed to grit her teeth. The last thing she needed was a reminder.
A sigh escaped the cyan coated speedster's lips. "Lightning, I don't regret the fact that I told Spitfire about your behavior. What you were doing was wrong and I couldn't live with myself thinking the Wonderbolts encouraged that kind of reckless behavior. You should know that I didn't do it to make you look bad or get you into trouble. I actually dropped out of the academy all together and was prepared to head back home. I was no party to Spitfire's decision to punish you the way she did," Her lips seemed to quiver a little. "At the time I didn't think anything of it. I was so excited to still have a chance at being a Wonderbolt, and I thought you being stripped of your lead pony status and sent packing served you right. I didn't even learn until after the fact that you were permanently booted out, you weren't going to ever be allowed to join the ranks. Part of me thought I should stick up for you, but another part of me was convinced that Spitfire was right and I shouldn't question her judgement."
Lightning didn't budge even the slightest. She at least appeared to be interested in what her former wingpony was saying. But then again she could just have been faking it.
Rainbow seemed to struggle to say what came next. "What really worries me though is that I could've turned out just like you, you know. There was a time when I only ever cared about myself, about my own personal glory. Whenever I interacted with somepony else it was always to be better than them at something."
Lightning's light orange eyes appeared to grow wide! Never would she have expected to hear such a confession from Rainbow Dash. "Why are you telling me all this, Rainbow Dash?" She thought. But of course she knew she couldn't ask it out loud, the cast would muffle and distort her voice beyond recognition.
"What helped me to change was simple, I gained friends. Friends who cared about me regardless of who I was or what I could do," Rainbow explained to Lightning. "Friends who if not for a strange stroke of luck probably never would've even associated with me," She tried not to blush. "Sorry. When you're hanging around an egghead like Twilight, you start picking up on some of her big words."
The injured Washout giggled. The cast covered it so well you could barely hear it.
"I know it's probably too late now to make the offer. But if I don't try I'll never know for sure," Rainbow nervously commented. "You don't suppose it's possible we can still put everything behind us and start anew, do you? Maybe I can help you become a better pony than you are, so you won't end up like this again, or worse."
There was a long silence. Lightning didn't try to say anything or attempt to do anything. Rainbow didn't either, she just sat there as the sound of the nearby machine droned on.
"You wanna know what the funniest thing about all of this is, Lightning Dust?" Rainbow commented after a while. "Even after all you've done, even after you endangered Scootaloo just because you wanted to get back at me, the Washouts are still going strong. They've still got their fans, old and young alike."
That comment took Lightning by surprise, she sat up in her bed in shock! A mistake, the sharp movement aggravated her injuries! She fell back on the bed and moaned as the pain coursed through her body.
Rainbow watched the display. It was hard not to feel the slightest tinge of guilt. It was easy to say Lightning Dust had done this all to herself, and maybe that was mostly true. But there was always going to be that small, nagging part of Rainbow's brain that thought otherwise.
But there was little she could do about it. She'd taken Twilight's advice and laid everything out for Lightning Dust to hear. Now it was up to Lightning Dust to consider it. Reluctantly, Rainbow got up from her chair and prepared to leave. Though not before she gave a parting statement. "Call me silly, or whatever, but I just had to get this off my chest while I could. If you wanna take up my offer, come and talk to me once you're out of that cast. I've gotten to know lots of ponies and non ponies who've done terrible things. Some of whom repented and others who didn't. It's up to you to decide which group you'd rather be a part of," Before she left she added. "Oh, and even if we become friends we don't have to completely abandon our rivalry. I still like a challenge as much as anypony, maybe even more. As long as it's all in good fun of course, nopony ever gets hurt and in the end we can both agree the best mare won." Then with that, the part time Wonderbolt departed the hospital room.
Lightning Dust was alone once again, alone with her pain and her thoughts. She still couldn't wrap her head around why Rainbow had told her all the things she'd did. "Is she trying to mess with me somehow?" Lightning thought to herself. "But if she was, why would she bring up the fact that I still have fans? That sounds like something you'd expect her to keep secret from me." Well, those were thoughts that weren't going to go away anytime soon. Maybe by the time she got out of this full body wing and hoof cast, and no longer needed to drink through a straw, she'd be able to consider whether or not to take Rainbow up on her offer.
Author's Note
I've done a few accusation fics and last year I did an apology fic. This is my first ever aftermath fic. It's not dedicated towards calling out a character or characters, or having them apologize for actions they did. It's basically a sort of mini-epilogue to an episode, sort of an "How should've ended" if you will.
I know I'm not the first one to write that kind of fic. But this one I wrote because Lightning Dust is very much what Rainbow Dash would be if her flaws (her ego, her desire to be the best, her inability to listen to reason) took hold of her and defined her. Like Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust is driven to succeed but unlike Rainbow Dash she's willing to resort to extreme measures to do so and without any concern for her well being or the well being of others.
