"I still think this is a bad idea," Rainbow grumbled as the girls stood on the platform of Ponyville Station. "I mean, why not somepony else? There has to be somepony else?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "No Rainbow, there isn't. I asked Shiny about it. He said she's the only one who could qualify as it stands. No other mare is ranked high enough."

"And what about Spitfire?" Rainbow shot back.

"Is on 'Until the heat death of the multiverse' probation from Princess Celestia herself. All of the Wonderbolts are. After that mess with Wind Rider, her patience has worn even thinner with them," Twilight replied.

That shut Rainbow up, as she and Rarity shared a look. It was something that the fashionista was proud to have helped clear up, but it was still a sore spot in some regards.

Twilight hated to have to bring that up to her Pegasus friend. But she'd had a feeling that this would be Rainbow's reaction to the pony she had in mind for the role. She herself wasn't fully sure, but she wanted to hear it from the mare's mouth herself what her answer would be.

Twilight owed her that much after the last time they had met.

Rainbow growled at the reminder of how much thin ice she and the rest of the team were on. "Fine. But I don't have to like it, and you can't make me."

Twilight smiled as wrapped a wing around the Pegasus. "I'm not asking you to like it Rainbow, and I won't make you. But I know she deserves another chance. I saw it in her eyes. She's changed after what happened."

"Do ya even know where she is?" Applejack asked. She didn't like this much more than Rainbow. But she trusted Twilight to know what she was doing.

Twilight nodded, but it was forced. "I have an idea. But nothing concrete. The Night Guard has been keeping an eye on her ever since that day. They have a general idea of where she could be."

"And if they don't?" Fluttershy asked. They all knew how thorough Luna's guards were. Only Chrysalis had been able to get past them, and the shortcomings from that little misadventure were even now being fixed.

Twilight shrugged, her smile growing. "Well. I always wanted to see more of Equestria, and it did not involve the end of the world. I hope. That's why I can't say how long I'll be gone."

"Are you sure I can't go with you?" Spike asked, not bothering to hide his hurt at being left behind. What if Twilight needed him?

Twilight's ears fell as she hugged the drake. "Sorry, Spike. But this is something I have to do on my own. I'll write as much as I can, don't worry. I'll be back before you know it."

Spike hugged her back and was soon joined by the rest of their friends. "You better be," he grumbled.

***

With nowhere else in mind, Twilight's first stop was Cloudsdale. It was a long shot that it would be that easy. But she had to start somewhere. Plus she had wanted to visit the city more often after the Young Flyer's Competition some time ago now.

Luckily she didn't have to worry about casting the same spell she'd cast on Rarity on herself. She'd grown more comfortable with her own Pegasus magic ever since her ascension, so this was a breeze for her.

Unfortunately, the city was short of one Pegasus mare she was looking for. But it did help her get set in the right direction.

"Lightning Dust? Yeah, I know her. The poor kid needed something to keep herself busy, and we were short on staff at the time, so I gave her a spot. Best Lightning Beater I've met in a long time," the Cloudsdale Weather Manager said with a proud smirk.

Twilight chuckled, glad to hear that Lightning had found something for herself. "Is she still here? Or did she go home already?"

The stallion shook his head. "Sorry, princess. Lightning left not long after that whole mess with Wind Rider happened. Haven't seen her since." He leaned in closer. "Is it true the Wonderbolts are on super thin ice with Princess Celestia?"

Twilight nodded. It wasn't exactly a secret now. "She has the whole team on "Until the heat death of the Multiverse" probation. Even if it was just Soarin, there were too many rotten things going on. It took my friends and I nearly being killed to open her eyes to it."

He winced. "And then that mess at Rainbow Falls right? Hard to believe they would ever do something like that."

Twilight nodded. She could hardly believe it herself. But that was all beside the point. "You don't know where Lightning might be right now?"

The stallion shook his head. "Sorry, your highness. Wish I could help ya more. Hope you find her. She needs somepony like you in her life. Maybe now more than ever."

Twilight nodded. "I hope so too."

***

Twilight sighed as she descended through the clouds and away from Cloudsdale. Pulling out a list of possible places Lightning could be, she crossed the sky city out. "Well, that was a bust. Was it hoping for too much that it would be that easy?"

Apparently so, as the universe refused to answer her question. Then again, it never did, no matter how nice she was. Go figure.

Shaking her head, Twilight tried to put her mind back on track. While Lightning hadn't been as easy to find as she had hoped, this was still a good start. She already knew that the mare wasn't in Ponyville or Canterlot, having asked Princess Celestia and Princess Luna that before moving onto Cloudsdale. But that still left a lot of places the Pegasus could be.

If she was anything like Rainbow Dash though, she wouldn't be one to stick to the ground and would be somewhere in the sky, or as close to it as she could get. That narrowed it down to one place. But Twilight would try several other places before she went out west.

For completion's sake if nothing else.

***

Unfortunately, finding a lone Pegasus in Equestria turned out to be a lot harder than Twilight had thought it would be. Some of the places on her list had known her, and Lightning had even stayed a while. But she had long since moved on.

The only consolation Twilight took from these, was that nopony had anything bad to say about Lightning's time with them. Aside from her brash and pridefulness, the worst that she heard from ponies was that she hadn't stayed longer.

In other places, however, Lightning Dust was nothing but a name of a pony that made headlines sometime back after the whole debacle at the Wonderbolt's Academy. Those were the most frustrating for Twilight since it felt like she had lost more time.

And this whole idea was quickly feeling like a wild goose chase. She might have all the time in the universe to look for the mare. But there was no guaranty that Lightning Dust was even in Equestria anymore.

And Equus was a big planet, where it was easy to get lost or go into hiding if one wanted to. There was also the very real chance that something had happened to Lightning, and that Twilight was chasing a ghost.

But she refused to think about that. She would not even consider it until she had exhausted all other possibilities.

***

Twilight all but collapsed onto her hotel bed, groaning loudly as she did so. "How hard is it to find one darn Pegasus?! This is crazy."

She sighed in annoyance as she rolled onto her side. "I swear that if she somehow went to Canterlot High, Midnight Sparkle will look like a saint by the time I'm done!"

Luckily her cloud-soft mattress was wise enough to not offer its opinion on the matter. After a moment though, the princess sighed and removed her saddlebags, setting them down next to her nightstand, before rolling over and looking at the ceiling.

From outside, Twilight could hear the distant sounds of Vanhoover's docks. The window was open, allowing a cooling breeze off the North Lunar Ocean to keep the Penthouse Sweet nice and cool.

The Lumena Hotel, named in Twilight's own honor as the Manager had been proud to state to the alicorn in question when she had met the princess in the Lobby earlier, might not be as homey as the Friendship Castle. But Twilight was forced to admit that it was better than many she had slept in. And the Penthouse Sweet, while not having as many books as she would have liked, was just like her own room back home.

So there was that at least. But it did little to lighten Twilight's mood, as she pulled her checklist of all the possible places in Equestria and the Crystal Empire Lightning Dust might be. Most of the names had been crossed out, with no luck finding the mare in question in any of them.

One last place remained, and if she couldn't be found there, then Twilight would be forced to admit that this whole thing had been nothing but a wild goose chase. She hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Twilight giggled as she looked at the last place name on the list. "I swear that if she is in Las Pegasus, I'll go without reading a single book for a whole week. Pinkie Promise. I don't know where else to look. I hope she's alright. Wherever she is."

***

Several days later, Twilight stepped out of her hotel in Las Pegasus with a happy grin. While she was still not used to being treated like royalty, it had come with a few perks, she would have to admit. One of those being she usually got the best room in whatever hotel she stayed in.

But that was beside the point in this case. When Twilight had asked the receptionist the night before, if she had ever seen a pony like Lightning Dust, the mare had said she had in fact seen the mare in question only a few weeks earlier around town.

Whether Lightning was still in the city was another story of course. But this was the kind of news Twilight had been waiting for. And if for some reason she had missed her, then Twilight was ready to admit that this was going nowhere and she'd go home, and hope her open invitation for her newly formed Royal Guard regiment to any and all mares, might draw Lightning to Ponyville all by itself.

It wouldn't hurt anyway. She was getting homesick, and while she had enjoyed her time traveling around Equestria, Twilight just wanted to sleep in her own bed again, and spend time with her friends.

But what really had Twilight grinning in a way that Pinkie would approve of, was that apparently her quest had gotten out the night before, and she had just been told that Lightning was indeed still in town, working as a server at a local watering hole.

Twilight shook her head as she gathered her bearings. "This isn't what I expected to find. But at least Lightning's making a life for herself."

Turning, she began to trot in the direction she had been told the bar was located in. Las Pegasus was famous, among other things, for its bars. Twilight could've spent hours or days looking for the right one. As it was, she knew where to look.

A hop, skip, and a jump, as Pinkie would say, later, Twilight stood outside the Salt Lick. While it wasn't the fanciest or the most upscale place in the city, it was still a sight better than many other places in the city.

A bored-looking Bouncer stood outside the entrance. Being so early, there were few ponies she needed to look out for. He hoped to attend, though, when she caught sight of Twilight approaching. "Never thought I'd see a princess down here. To what do we owe the honor, Princess Twilight?" She asked. In a way that showed respect. But also made clear that she wouldn't get special privileges around here.

It put Twilight in a better mood at least. "I'm looking for somepony. A Pegasus. I was told that she was here."

The mare shrugged. "Depends. Only one Pegasus I know. Is she in trouble? Lightning's never said anything about being in trouble. Not like this anyway."

Twilight shook her head, her smile growing. "No. Lightning Dust is not in trouble. In fact, I've been looking for her for weeks now. I just want to talk to her."

The mare grinned. "That's all I needed to know." She stuck her head in the door. "Yo, Lightning! There's a mare here to see ya!"

A moment passed before a voice replied. "Yeah? Tell her to get lost. I'm busy."

The Bouncer smirked at Twilight. "Then you come out here and tell Princess Twilight that yourself. I'm not taking the fall for this."

Twilight could almost hear Lightning coming to a screeching halt at her name. She held back a giggle as she heard hoofsteps approaching. A moment later, Lightning Dust stuck her head out of the doorway, her eyes widening in shock at who was there.

Twilight's smile softened. "Hello, Lightning. Can we talk? Or is this a bad time?"

Lightning nodded numbly, before turning to her coworker. "Tell Salty that I'm on break. Princess's orders."

Her friend nodded. "Good luck," she whispered, but Twilight just heard it, before leading the two to a secluded corner of the bar so that they could talk.

***

A few minutes later, Twilight and Lightning sat alone, two mugs of Sweet Apple Acres best cider before them. Everypony else in the bar at the moment gave them a wide berth. But Twilight knew that tongues would be wagging about why she was here and why she was talking to who she was.

"So. What brings you all the way out here?" Lightning asked. "Never thought I'd see you again after the Academy."

Twilight smiled slightly. "I need to get out more. And the whole mess with Chrysalis just made that more clear to me. Among other things." Her smile softened. "And I know you're not the same mare I met that day. You've become a much better pony, Lightning. I don't need to be an alicorn to see that."

Lightning smiled a little at that. "Are your friends still mad at me?"

Twilight winced, but she couldn't avoid the question. "Most of the girls forgave you after I told them what you told me. Rainbow still hasn't, and I don't think she ever will. But she isn't the Element of Loyalty for nothing. But to be honest, I don't have much confidence in the Wonderbolts and their ability to think at all anymore. Any of them."

Lightning's ears fell. She knew all about that. "I used to look up to Wind Rider. I wanted to be like him when I was a filly." She snorted. "But with all that's happened with them, I'm glad I got kicked out. I want no part of that."

Twilight nodded. She couldn't blame the other mare for feeling like that. "That's part of why I'm here actually. You've shown you're a better pony. I want to offer you something that few have."

Lightning's brows rose. "Yeah? Like what? I'm not going back there, Twilight. And I don't care if you are a princess. You can't make me."

Twilight's smile grew. "Good thing that's not why I'm here then. I'm starting my own Royal Guard corps in Ponyville. And I can't think of anypony else I would love to join it."

Lightning's heart skipped a beat. She hadn't expected that. She knew about the news of course. It had gone out to all of Equestria the week before that Princess Twilight was forming her own, all mare, Royal Guard corps. It was a tempting offer to be sure. "But why me?" She asked. "I'm nothing special."

Twilight's smile grew as she lay her hoof across Lightning's, earning a blush from the Pegasus. "Why not? You're smart, kind, athletic, and you've got something the others won't. Military experience. Brief though it may have been, you still have that time at the Wonderbolt Academy." Her smile softened. "I can't think of anypony else I would rather have join it."

Lightning couldn't argue that. And she had thought about it plenty. It sounded more exciting than what she was doing now. Hay, she had thought about this since that day at the Academy. She owed Twilight so much.

Twilight, though, could see the hesitation in Lightning's eyes. "I'm not forcing you into this, Lightning. This is not a Royal Order, though I could make it one. But I refuse to that." Igniting her horn, she pulled something out of her saddlebags. "This is an express ticket back to Ponyville. It's good for however long you want it to be. I go home tonight."

She paused as she took a sip of her drink. "You don't have to say yes. Just. Think about it. Please."

Lightning didn't say anything. Only staring at her glass intently, deep in thought. Twilight didn't say anything more, and the two of them passed the rest of their time together in silence.

***

Later that evening, Twilight watched forlornly as the train pulled away from the station. As she had feared, Lightning hadn't come. What had she expected to happen? Maybe she had hoped for too much when she had started this whole thing.

Soon, the train was picking up speed, and the sights of the city began to pass in a blur. All Twilight could do now was to go home, and start putting all of this together. She was actually rather looking forward to the whole thing.

"Room for one more, princess?" A voice asked, causing Twilight to jump and turn to look at who had said that.

Lightning Dust grinned as she sat down next to Twilight, putting her bags under the seat as she did. Her smile softened. "You were right. And I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it."

Twilight couldn't help but squee and pull her friend into a hug. "Thank you! I'm glad you came, Lightning."

Lightning happily returned the hug. "That's Cadet Lightning Dust, Princess Twilight."

Twilight frowned as they pulled apart. "Please don't call me that, Lightning."

The Pegasus only shook her head. "No can do, your highness. Every Royal Guard has to show respect to a princess, no matter whose corps they belong to."

Twilight only groaned in response, while Lightning only made herself comfortable for the long ride to Ponyville.

Author's Note

So this is a total and complete rewrite of this chapter. Centurion Pike-Wall pointed out that I did too much info-dumping in the wrong way in the old version. Hopefully, I fixed that with this one. I admit that I also didn't show more of Twilight's journey because it would have been nothing but the same over and over again.

That's never been fun to read in my opinion. So I only glossed it over. And thanks to Emotion Nexus for pointing out my mistakes in past chapters. They've been fixed.