It was always easy to get carried away with things. Especially when those things included spacing out and getting trapped in your own mind. That much, Lightning Dust knew. After a stunt gone wrong left her unable to fly at her full capacity, she was grounded. Forced to find a new interest. There was no point in doing daredevil flying tricks anymore; she could barely get to half her old top speed.
So Lightning Dust did the only thing she could think of. She went back to school. Admittedly, she had never really finished school in the first place. As soon as she was old enough to drop out, she dedicated her entire life to flying.
"I guess it's as good a time as any to finish," she mumbled through the quill in her mouth to no one in particular. She stared at the blank page in front of her, unable to put down any words on it.
Lightning Dust growled in frustration and placed her forehead on a propped-up hoof. She knew the content, she really did! Her mind seemed to only be drawing up blanks, though. Typical. School was easier than she remembered. She was able to pass the placement test and enrolled in a class on physics, specializing in aerodynamics. Surely, that wouldn't be hard for her.
And it wasn't. Just as she expected, she was able to answer every question without hesitation. Years of learning advanced flying techniques finally came in handy. So why couldn't she just write down the stupid answer?
With a growl, Lightning Dust swiped everything off of her desk. The papers flew off and scattered around the room, each of them white as snow. A pot of ink clattered on the wooden flooring and spilt in a puddle around her hooves. Dejected, she spat the quill onto the now cleared desk and dragged her hooves under her eyes.
She took a deep breath and held it for a moment before letting it out slowly. The anger slowly bubbling up inside her simmered down into simple frustration - that was something she could handle. Getting a hold of her temper was something she had to improve on—or at least that's what Fiddlesticks told her.
Lightning Dust hummed quietly as she tried to recall what day it was. "Fiddles said she was coming over on Wednesday." She looked around her room, trying to find the calendar she must have thrown off her desk. "What day is it today?"
A question that would not be answered by any conventional means. A muffled voice on the other side of the door rang into the room. "Hey, Dust, you alright? I've been knocking for a while here." Another knock.
Even without hearing the mare's accented voice, Lightning Dust knew exactly who it was by the way she knocked. "Yeah, I'm alright Fiddles," she called as she frowned at the state of her house. It was mostly neat, save for the writing desk at the back. All of the writing instruments and decorations that once filled the desk were strewn about the floor. There was no time to pick it up, so the minty pegasus rushed to the door to open it. "Sorry I kept you waiting, I couldn't hear you."
Fiddlesticks smiled patiently at Lightning Dust, then looked around her and at the mess. Her smile turned into a slight frown. "Dusty, what happened here?" She walked slowly into the house as Lightning Dust sighed and closed the door behind her.
"Nothing, I just got frustrated at some schoolwork." She looked everywhere but at Fiddlesticks as she spoke. "I managed to calm myself down though, just like you taught me."
Fiddlesticks set down a black instrument case on the ground and lifted a hoof to Lightning Dust's face, lifting it up so they looked into each other's eyes. "Well, I'm proud of ya. Remember, if you stay positive in that big head of yours, then life'll treat you nice."
Lightning Dust snorted and pushed Fiddlesticks' hoof down playfully. "Oh yeah? Where'd you learn that?"
"From my therapist. She calls it the law of attraction. If ya think positive, positive things will be attracted to you. But if ya think negative…"
"Okay, I get it." Lightning Dust smiled weakly at Fiddlesticks. "It's just a bit hard when everything reminds me of flying, you know?" Fiddlesticks nodded, so Lightning Dust continued. "Don't get me wrong, I love that about this. It's a way of getting close to flying without actually doing it. But it's just hard because no matter how much theory I read, or how many scenarios I study, sometimes I wish I could just… Use these properly and fly again," she explained hesitantly. She extended her wings at her side. The right one extended fully, while the left one could only get halfway before Lightning Dust winced and retracted them. "Even after all this time, it still hurts."
Fiddlesticks frowned to match Lightning Dust. She raised a hoof and pointed it at the pegasus' left wing. "Hurts there?" She brought down her hoof and placed it on Lightning Dust's chest. "Or there?"
Lightning Dust almost flinched at the question. What was the answer? Could she pick both? She hadn't even thought of it before, but Fiddlesticks always had a way of knowing what Lightning Dust was thinking. Fiddlesticks' hoof didn't move from her chest, and Lightning Dust did nothing to remove it. "I think both," she admitted quietly. "I wish I never acted that way at the Wonderbolt Academy. I couldn't even handle my own group." With a slight chuckle, Lightning Dust realized something. "I washed out from the Washouts."
Fiddlesticks wasn't as amused by the half-joke. "The whole Wonderbolts thing happened, like, three years ago, Dusty. No matter what ya wish you had done, you can't change it. But ya can use that to improve yourself."
It was almost infuriating how helpful Fiddlesticks always tried to be. Lightning Dust shamefully looked away but pressed herself further into Fiddlestick's touch. Could she feel her heart beating? Feel that she was still alive? "As long as I'm still here, I think that's an improvement."
Slowly, Fiddlesticks dragged her hoof up from the middle of Lightning Dust's chest and around her shoulder, pulling her into a hug. The pegasus didn't object. Fiddlesticks rubbed Lightning Dust's back, making sure to be careful around her wings. "See, that's the kind of positive thinking I'm talking about, Dusty."
Lightning Dust smiled at the familiar, calming motion of Fiddlesticks' hooves on the fur of her back. "No offence, but your therapist was wrong. About the law of attraction." A small hum of confusion escaped Fiddlesticks, which made Lightning Dust retreat a bit from the hug. She looked the other mare right in the eyes. "I was having a bad time, but you came. That doesn't fit with the law of attraction."
Fiddlesticks shook her head playfully and pushed Lightning Dust away, leaving the pair laughing. "Alright, alright. Anyway, let's get this mess cleaned up so I can show ya what I've learned on my fiddle."
Who was Lightning Dust to refuse that? Obediently, she helped Fiddlesticks pick everything up off the floor and put it back on her desk. It was a simple gesture, but watching the fiddler show off her skills put a real smile on Lightning Dust's face. Maybe there was something to this whole attraction thing, after all.
Author's Note
Fiddledust.
Check out the audio reading by Rainbow Infinity right HERE!
