“Good, then you won’t mind how that rope’s about to coil around your hoof.” Rainbow Dash’s smug tone only added insult to the injury of Lightning Dust’s main event being ruined. She looked down at her hoof just as the rope pulled taut, and suddenly her back legs were pulled out from under her, the rocket that was supposed to be used in said event pulling her into the sky.
“RIVALS FOR LIIIIIFE!!” Lightning Dust shouted at the top of her lungs at Rainbow Dash as she was yanked away from the event grounds at a blistering pace. She saw Rolling Thunder and Short Fuse flying after her, but they would be little help. The only pony she knew of fast enough to catch up to the rocket besides herself was Rainbow Dash, and she knew she wouldn’t be willing to help.
Over the sound of wind rushing past her ears, Lightning Dust could hear Spitfire’s lecture right before she officially discharged her. The reason for safety regulations is so that you don’t wind up in a full body wing-and-hoof cast drinkin' through a straw, or worse put somepony else in one! Maybe someday you’ll understand that, but until then, dismissed!
She scoffed, looking at the rocket as it continued to climb higher. You really need a new warning about safety, Spitfire! What fun is flying without an element of danger to it? Besides, this is nothing I can’t handle!
Her attention turned to the rope around her back leg. If it was around one of her forelegs she could just undo it, but as it was it would take more effort than that to get free. She tried to reach her hoof, but the sheer wind resistance was keeping her from doing it.
Despite the danger of the situation, Lightning Dust couldn’t help but smile. This was what being a Washout was all about: the sheer rush of adrenaline, the lack of safety nets, and the anticipation of the endorphin high that would follow a successful stunt were all making her thoroughly enjoy the otherwise dangerous situation.
Lightning Dust looked at the rope and brought her free leg up, before lashing out and kicking at it as hard as she could. She hissed in pain as her hoof collided, but the rope was just a bit looser than before.
The flames on the back of the rocket were beginning to shrink. Lightning Dust figured it was beginning to run out of fuel, and her mind flashed back to her days at flight camp as a filly. The first thing every young pegasus was taught is that there is one universal and absolute law that governs everything that flies: takeoff is optional, landing is not. The irony of her takeoff having been not optional wasn’t wasted on her, and it added a time crunch to her escape. Far from making her nervous, it only made her more excited.
She kicked at the rope again, seeing it having grown looser, but still not enough to pry herself free. The rocket was considerably slowing down, but she was still facing the wrong way to just untie the rope.
Suddenly the tension on the rope slackened, and she looked to see the flames had completely run out. Not wasting this opportunity, she used this momentary lull to throw herself forward and grab the knot with her hooves, trying to get it undone.
She nearly lost her grip when the rocket started descending at an angle, rapidly gaining speed. Lightning Dust folded her wings up against her sides, pressing them tightly so they wouldn’t be pulling her back. Focusing on the knot she began feverishly working on it.
Her peripheral vision was focused on the rapidly approaching ground below, and she knew she had a limited time. This is it, time to do or die! Lightning Dust quickly banished those thoughts from her head. No, just time to do so I don’t die! Simple as that!
Working on undoing the knot was incredibly difficult. Keeping herself positioned so that her forehooves could reach the end of her hind leg under these conditions was taking a great deal of strength and making her back hurt. She wished she’d taken Rolling Thunder’s advice and stretched more often than she did.
The ground was getting closer and closer, and she could make out the outlines of buildings below. Time was running out. She could swear she heard Spitfire’s voice in her head again. Tick tock, Lightning Dust! Ground’s coming up fast!
Despite the potential deadliness of the situation, she still couldn’t stop smiling. The rushing adrenaline, the wind in her face, and her pounding heart all served to feed her excitement. Almost got it! Just a little more!
She chanced a look at the ground, and what she saw momentarily terrified her. She was hurtling towards a rock farm, the worst-case scenario, but her fear didn’t last very long. Instead, she began slightly laughing. For an adrenaline junkie like her, this was the thrill of a lifetime, and while she would love to keep it up, she knew she needed to get free.
The knot was coming loose, she was almost free! She could clearly see the blades on the windmill of the farm, and knew it was now or never. With a pull of her hoof her leg was free of the rocket. It continued forward, taking out the farm’s windmill before it plowed into the barn.
Lightning Dust opened her wings, trying to take control of her situation, but instead yelped in pain from the strain they were put under. The angle and speed she was going combined with her distance to the ground made recovering impossible, and she braced herself.
At the last moment she folded her wings up so they wouldn’t get broken as she slammed into the ground with a force that drove the air from her lungs. Momentum propelling her she rolled along the ground, tumbling forward before finally coming to a stop on her back.
Her suit had suffered a large amount of wear and tear from her tumble, but Lightning Dust felt fine.
Now that she wasn’t in mortal peril, she could fully enjoy the endorphins rushing through her. That was by far the most dangerous thing she’d ever done, and she couldn’t be happier about it.
For the moment, Lightning Dust was content to lie on the ground and ride out the afterglow of euphoria while she got her wind back. Suck it, Spitfire! I won’t be drinking through any straws today, and I didn’t even need a helmet. She weakly chuckled, her afterglow lasting longer than she thought it would.
She heard the crunching of pebbles getting closer, but she paid it little mind until a mare’s face came into view directly above her, glaring down at the pegasus. A look of barely restrained rage was present on her face. “Whoever you are, you’re under a mountain of trouble.”
Lightning Dust could hardly care that a very angry mare was staring down at her. She was still high off the endorphins rushing through her, a dopey grin on her face. “That was awesome…!” She said through a giggle, just a tiny bit out of it.
“Awesome? Awesome?! Come here!” Wrath dripped from her voice. In a flash she grabbed Lightning Dust’s flight suit, effortlessly pulling her up to eye level.
Lightning Dust yelped in surprise, her afterglow shattering as she was grabbed.
“You just destroyed my windmill, and wrecked my barn with that stupid rocket of yours! What do you have to say for yourself?!” She demanded.
Lightning Dust craned her head to look past her, seeing the rubble her rocket had created. She slowly inhaled through clenched teeth before turning back. “Ooh, uh, I’m sorry…?” She nervously offered with an unconvincing smile.
That only served to make the mare’s face grow angrier as she violently threw the pegasus to the ground.
When she landed she hit her head on a rock. Whatever was said next was lost as her vision began to blur and darken around the edges. Agh, my, my head! Oh sweet Celestia, I’m blacking out…!
Lightning Dust moaned as she slowly woke up. She opened her eyes, and was greeted by the greyest room she’d ever seen.
Did I go colorblind or something? She raised her foreleg to rub her aching head, and seeing her bright fur immediately dispelled that notion.
Feeling bandages under her hoof, the recent events all rushed back to Lightning Dust at once. She’d been violently dragged away from her show on a rocket, crash-landed on a farm, been knocked unconscious by who she presumed was the farmer, now she was lying on a very uncomfortable bed.
Wait, I can see my foreleg? Where’s my flight suit? Lightning Dust sat up quickly, but she immediately regretted it as pain gripped her. It radiated through her sides, her back, and especially in-
“My wings!” Concerns for her flight suit left her mind as she forced herself to look back at them, despite her body protesting and pain flaring up in her back. There were missing feathers, and parts of them were wrapped in bandages.
They stung and a dull ache radiated from them. She looked herself over, seeing all sorts of small cuts and bruises along her body, and she grimaced at the number of bandages on her limbs.
But why does it only hurt now? I felt just fine when I- She remembered just how she felt before she got knocked out. No wonder. I was so flooded with adrenaline and endorphins I probably could’ve broken every bone in my wings and I wouldn’t have felt it for hours. Come to think of it…
Lightning Dust slowly folded her wings, grunting in pain as she did it. It took much longer than it should’ve, but they folded against her sides. Well, nothing seems to be broken, just sore for a while.
She swung her legs around and got out of bed, grimacing in pain. She slowly walked over to a window and opened the curtains, seeing the sun was only beginning to rise. I was out the entire evening?!
As if to punctuate her realization, her stomach growled loudly, making her fully aware of just how hungry she was. She hadn’t eaten since before the show yesterday, and now she was feeling it.
With more sunlight allowed into the room she could fully appreciate how devoid of color it was. Everything was one shade of grey or another, and when she saw a black square on a table her attention was instantly drawn to it.
She walked over to it and picked it up, the green lightning bolts immediately telling her it was her flight suit. She slowly and heavily exhaled out her nose. A helmet might’ve been nice, after all. It might’ve kept that crazy mare from knocking me out.
As she ran a hoof over the soft material, a flap of fabric moved. It was a tear from the crash. When she unfolded it to inspect the damage her injuries were much easier to understand as she saw the multitude of rips and tears in the fabric. She looked at a tear over one of the lightning bolts, the green fabric stained red. Looking down at her chest where it would be if she wore it she saw a piece of gauze taped to her fur.
Before she could inspect herself or her suit further, the door burst open, revealing the mare from earlier. Lightning Dust gulped, a throbbing in her head reminding her of what she’d done to her the last time she saw her.
“Good, you can walk.” Her tone seemed calm enough, then again anything was calm compared to the fury she held the last time. She walked towards Lightning Dust and set a tray on the table.
“Eat up, you’re going to need your strength.” The glass and bowl on it were as grey as anything else, and when Lightning Dust got a better look at the contents of the bowl she felt a rising sense of dread in the pit of her stomach.
The glass was just filled with water, but what got her attention was the bowl. It had a sinisterly green liquid in it, but what concerned her most was the large rock in the center. Does this mare seriously expect me to eat whatever this is? Is this some kind of joke? Lightning Dust’s dread only deepened.
“Uh, what is this?” Her voice was very nervous.
“Breakfast.” The mare curtly told her. Her eyes were the same color as the liquid in the bowl and were every bit as unsettling.
“Breakfast? It has rocks in it!” Her expression fell, and a pang in her stomach reminded her just how hungry she was.
The mare’s expression hardened. “Yeah, what about it?”
“I’ll break my teeth, that’s what!” She protested, stunned that this mare would even suggest her eating stone like it was food.
The mare’s response was to pick the rock up out of the bowl and crush it in her hooves, tiny pebbles falling back into if. “Better?” Her tone made it perfectly clear that she didn’t care either way. “I’m going to get ready for the day. After your bandages get changed, we’re going to work.”
“Work?!” Lightning Dust desperately wanted to say no, that she wanted something, anything besides whatever rock-filled culinary disaster was before her. She wanted to tell her that she was a crazy mare who’d knocked her out and the last thing she planned to do was work with her. But when she thought about it, the pit in her stomach only deepened.
I really don’t want to make her mad again, she’s already knocked me out once. I can’t believe she’s strong enough to just crush a rock like that.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the farmer’s rough voice. “Yeah, and you’re going to be working for me for a long time considering what you did.”
She gulped, choosing her next words carefully. She knew what she was talking about: her rocket tearing up some of the farm. “Uh, exactly how long is that?”
“I don’t know, how long does it take to work off 25,000 bits?” Without waiting for a response, she turned around and walked out of the room, sharply closing the door behind her.
25,000 bits?! I don’t have that kind of money, and whatever I’d make on this farm would take forever to pay that back! Okay, calm down, when she gets back I just need to explain that whatever I owe her I could make faster with my team than stuck here with her. If she gets angry, I’ll just let her know that it’s the fastest way to get her bits.
Now that she was alone, Lightning Dust’s hunger was all she could think about, and now even whatever gruel was in that bowl looked like it was worth a shot. She sat down at the table, her limbs and body protesting with every single movement. She leaned down and sniffed it, relieved that there wasn’t any sort of foul odor coming from it.
Well, here goes nothing. She gripped the bowl with both her hooves, bringing it up to her muzzle, and took a cautious drink of it. Immediately her tastebuds were assaulted by a sharp, bitter taste, and a very gritty texture. Setting the bowl down, she forced herself not to spit it back out.
After a moment to collect herself, she managed to swallow it. Waiting a few seconds to be sure her body wouldn’t immediately reject it, she took another sip from the bowl, and this time got a solid piece of matter in her mouth.
She swallowed the liquid, but spat the pebble that had been in her mouth back on the tray. She put her hoof on it and pressed down, but as she expected, it didn’t give. Who in their right mind puts rocks in anything and tries to pass it off as food?! At least the liquid of whatever this stuff is is filling.
As she continued to eat, or rather drink, she looked at her flight suit. I’ll just have to patch it up later, or get a new one when I get back to my team.
Lightning Dust set the bowl down and picked up the glass of water and took a drink, swishing it around to get any small particles out of her mouth. As soon as she set it down she heard approaching hoofsteps. That was fast. Alright, here goes nothing.
She heard three light taps on the door, something she wasn’t expecting. “Come in.”
The door swung open, revealing a different mare than before. She was primarily grey like the other pony, but unlike her, she was smiling. One of her eyes was hidden behind her mane, but the one that was visible was a very lovely purple.
She felt compelled to look at her eye, given that it was the only thing she’d seen on the farm with any sort of pleasing color.
A few seconds later she noticed a red color flare up on the mare’s cheeks and she looked away, causing Lightning Dust to realize what she’d been doing. “Oh crud, sorry!” She felt a blush beginning to form on her own face. “I didn’t mean to stare.”
Whoever this new mare was, her smile seemed to widen a tiny amount. She walked over to the bed and reached under it, pulling out a first-aid kit. She set it on the bed and patted the mattress.
“One sec.” Lightning Dust stood up from the chair and walked over, her legs still protesting her movements. She winced as she climbed into a sitting position on the bed.
“Uh, this might uh, this could sting a little bit. Sorry.” She warned, her voice was hardly a whisper.
“Eh, it’s fine. Thanks, uh…?”
“M-Marble…” She replied, gently grabbing a length of tape holding a piece of gauze on Lightning Dust’s chest and peeling it off.
She winced as it was pulled off, inspecting how bad it was. Okay, not too bad. A few days and it’ll be as good as new. Now I just hope all of them are like that.
As Marble continued to treat her, Lightning Dust held still as best she could. Compared to the other mare, her gentle nature was a wonderful change. “So Marble, who’s the other mare?”
“Uh, that’s Limestone. She’s my big sister.” Marble answered, redoing the bandages on Lightning Dust’s wing.
She’s something alright. Lightning Dust sighed and closed her eyes. I can’t believe such a nice mare could be related to one so aggressive. “She always like that?”
She heard a sigh of… Discontentment? Sadness? Lightning Dust couldn’t quite put her hoof on it.
“Yes… Don’t take it personally, she’s like that with everypony and she’s under a lot of stress, especially this time of year.”
All the time?! Stress or not, I feel bad for anyone who has to be near her, let alone live with her. With that, she began to feel a tugging at the back of her head.
Marble pulled away the bandages, seeing no shortage of color on them. “Hold still.” She quietly instructed while she cleaned the back of her head as gently as she could. Despite her care, she could still see the other mare was in pain over it.
“I’m sorry, we’re almost there.” Marble began to wrap new bandages around her head. “There, all done. Despite everything, I think you’ll be healed up in a few days.”
“Let’s hope so. Thanks.” Lightning Dust had no sooner gotten off the bed than Limestone threw the door open, a scowl still clearly on her face.
“Time to get to work, farm wrecker.”
Lightning Dust took a deep breath, bracing herself for what she imagined was going to be an intense conversation.
Author's Note
Will Lightning Dust be able to reason with Limestone after her disastrous first impression? Will she be able to get back to the Washouts? Will she be able to make reparations for the damage she caused? Most importantly, will she survive what the Pie family regularly eats? Tune in next time to find out!
Also, I'll be using a handy counter to keep track of how much she still owes the Pie family!
Lightning Dust's current debt: 25,000 Bits