What Will It Take?

by Soaring

Rating: teen
Tags: Spitfire, Lightning Dust, Slice of Life, Human, Sad, Anon, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy
Length: 12738

Months after running into Anon in the bar, Lightning Dust meets with him to ask him for his help. He offers it willingly, which makes Lightning Dust grateful. Neither knew what was going to happen. And neither did Spitfire.

Months after her sudden encounter with Anon in the bar, Lightning Dust meets with him to ask him for his help. Anon provides all the help that he can, but he's unsure if he can really be of use. However, he does have a plan, one that Lightning Dust is dead set on setting in motion.

She just hopes that his plan will work. She’s got nothing left to lose but herself.

Inspired by Thrown's Guilt and Kardashev's Beyond Sun and Moon/Torchpassing.

Art by DragonAtaxia.

Published 2024-02-22 09:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2024-02-22 09:00:01 UTC

What Will It Take...

Part of Lightning Dust believed in Anon.

She believed in him like he believed in her. That night at the bar, they had spilled their guts out over a few drinks and really had made a name for themselves. And Old Red’s comment had her blushing tenfold when she and Anon had walked out. He had been laughing all the while, but she hadn’t. She… she had been too busy thinking about what to do next, just like what Anon told her to do. It had taken her a few days (and a bit of prodding from Anon) to really get herself all sorted. Even the simplest of things had begun to trouble her…

“Anon, I need your help.”

“With what?”

Lightning Dust raised a brow and tilted her head.“Are you serious? You’re the only one that can help me with this!”

“What do you mean? Do I need to beat someone up?”

“No!” she squeaked, throwing her hooves at him as if she was paddling at the air. “Stop. I don’t need you to hurt somepony.”

“Then what do you need?”

Lightning Dust sighed. “Can you… can you walk with me to the market?”

Anon’s look of confusion made her second guess herself. “The market? Why can't you go yourself?”

“...Ponies have been staring at me.”

“Oh… word traveled fast, huh?”

“I wish it didn’t.”

“Pardon?”

“Nevermind,” Lightning Dust muttered. She mumbled some more under her breath before continuing, “So, are you coming, Anon?”

“Yeah, I will,” he began, bringing her close. He ruffled her mane, which made her whinny out of reflex. “Promise me though that if I do need to hit somepony, that you’ll let me at least suplex them in the middle of the market. Please, it would be so funny!”

“I’m not letting you catch an assault charge for your own entertainment!”

“It’s not for my entertainment. It’s for Celly’s!”

Lightning Dust rolled her eyes and tugged at Anon’s pant leg. “Come on, Anon. Let’s get going.”

He swatted playfully at her, which made her giggle-snort while she continued to tug at his pant leg. “Let me walk at least!”

“Awww, you’re no fun!”

…to moments where she felt like she couldn’t get out of her own mind…

“Stupid…”

Lightning Dust nuzzled into her pillow. She was on her couch, at home, sitting in her apartment like it was the only thing she could do at that very moment. Unfortunately for her, her mind was ravaging her psyche. She kept telling herself that she was stupid over and over and over until her uncreative jabs turned into an obscenely loud noise that smothered her. She closed her eyes and hoped that her mental anguish would go to the wayside.

Then, she heard a knock on her door.

“Who is it?”

“Pizza delivery from Anon’s Food-On-The-Go Services!”

“What?”

She rushed to the door and opened it, revealing Anon holding a couple of boxes. He walked in and set them aside. Then, he turned to Lightning Dust and picked her up, making her squirm in his grasp.

“A-Anon! What are you doing here?”

“Hey, friend. Had to come visit after you wrote to me telling me I was…” He stopped to grab a note out of his pocket and flicked it up toward his face. Carefully, he unwrinkled it and squinted at the words he needed to read out loud. “The most important thing in my (your) life.”

Her face felt like it was on fire. “Too strong?”

“Yeah, it felt like I was receiving a confession letter from high school.” He crumpled it back up and put it in his pocket. “Regardless, I had to come see you, because that usually tells me one of two things.”

“And what might those be—eep!”

Lightning Dust squeaked as she was squeezed tightly against her sides by Anon’s hands. He walked her over to her couch again, before dropping her onto it with no regard for her safety. She bounced a tad (thankfully not off it), before laying happily against her pillow again, hugging it for dear life.

She flicked open an eyelid to see Anon sit down beside her. He looked at her with a rather blank expression. “Those two things are either a depressed pony needing a helping hand, or…” His pearly whites showed happily. “You really really love me and that blushing act at the bar while saying we weren’t making out was a play of your true feelings for me and—ack!”

Lightning Dust deployed a swing of one of her non-slobbered/tear-ridden pillows onto Anon’s shoulder, leaving him to stop his evil tirade of misinformation. The first thing was true though, and Lightning Dust knew that. She could feel it in her heart, and her ears laying flat against her head already gave her away.

She shakily exhaled and looked at Anon, her lips forming into a slight frown. “I was definitely pony number one. Sorry… if you thought that I was attracted to you like that.”

“Not your type?”

She snorted. “You’d need to do a lot more to be my type, Anon.”

“Guess I have my work laid out for me,” he stated with a grin. That stupid toothy grin of his…

“Anyway,” Lightning Dust said, punctuating it with an eye roll. She watched as Anon’s grin was wiped completely off his face.“Now that you know…”

He shook his head and sat his arm against the couch rest. He angled it up towards his head, holding it there, while his eyes meandered over her. “So what do you want to do?”

She twiddled with her forehooves (was that a scratch on her left forehoof?). “Could you just talk to me about your world?”

“Why mine?”

“Because yours is so much more out there than ours.” She briefly paused and stopped playing with her hooves to look elsewhere. “Plus, I don’t want to think about ours, let alone Cloudsdale so…”

“Again?”

She looked back up at him and nodded.

He snorted and got off the couch, his legs carrying him to a nearby chest… wait, that was—

“Is this where you still hide that rope and whip of yours? Or did you give them away?”

“W-Wha… how?!”

…and even those days where she was practicing, where things weren’t exactly going her way.

Somewhere close to Cloudsdale, Anon and Lightning Dust stood together, one panting heavily while the other patted the first on the back. Lightning Dust was the first one.

“Thank you for getting me up here, Lightning Dust.”

“No—ahh—problem,” she said, gasping for breath. “How did you make that cloud that much heavier?”

Anon shrugged. “I don’t have anything in my pockets that would do that.” Suddenly, he licked his lips. “But I did have steak last night.”

“What.”

“Oh, sorry, I thought I told you I ate your ancestors.”

“???”

“Just kidding, I ate the ancestors of the cows that were at some farm up by Griffonstone.”

Lightning Dust stood there, gobsmacked, her jaw hanging by a thread. She picked it up and smacked it back in place, wincing as she had bit her tongue. She rubbed her cheek gently.

“You bit your tongue?”

“Yeah… hey, wait, how did you get imported meat?”

He wiggled his brows. “Princess Luna was curious about my diet and she specifically recommended a seller out there because ‘getting all your food groups was essential to a healthy mind and a healthy life’. Either that, or she said that she was afraid I was going to turn into an eldritch demon if I didn’t eat some of it.” Anon shrugged. “To be honest, she might’ve been calling me fat now that I think about it!”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, so Princess Luna helped you?”

“Yeah,” he muttered and looked at her with some concern. “Sorry, I thought I told you about it before.”

She walked up to Anon and hugged him as best as she could, looping her forelegs around his legs. “You don’t need to worry. I’m okay with it.”

He smiled. “Good. I know some of you ponies are squeamish about it so…”

“Lucky for you, I’m not. I was just… surprised.”

“I tend to be full of those,” he said with a smirk.

“Pfft, okay. I highly doubt that.” She smirked at him before shaking her head. “Anyway, now that you’re over here, what do you want me to do?”

Anon grinned and pointed upward. “See those clouds up there?”

“Yeah?” Lightning Dust said, squinting at the clouds he was pointing at.

“I need you to destroy the biggest one in that group of ten, but I want you to assess which one is the largest, and I want you to identify a way that will not destroy or harm the other clouds.”

“What’s that got to do with fly—”

“Just do it. Trust me, there’s a lesson here.”

“Great, a friendship lesson?”

Anon snorted. “Uh… no. I’m not Twilight, the Princess of Friendship. This is more like a ‘Please, oh god, please save us from a possible tornado, Anon’ type of moment that you will cherish and remember for the rest of your life.”

“You and your ‘moments’,” she said with a chuckle. She paused and flapped her wings a tad. “Alright, I’ll play your little game of whack-a-cloud. Do you need me to do anything else while I’m up there?”

“Make sure you’re not going to slam head first into anypony.”

She tilted her head. “Dude, we’re way further out from anypony else! Like, no joke.”

“You’d be surprised… non-communicated courses of travel can lead to unintentional concussions, or worse.”

Lightning Dust winced. It was like she was being called out by an encyclopedia. “Okay, I’ll be sure to note where my flight paths are.”

He gave her a thumbs up. “Good. Now get flying, Lightning. I’ll watch you from here.”

She rolled her eyes. “You better. Otherwise, I’ll have to fly back down to catch you.”

He sputtered out a chuckle. “Don’t worry, I won’t practice my ‘walking the plank’ routine on this cloud while you’re planning on your ‘hopefully not mass destruction’ above us.”

“Just… stand there and look less goofy, Anon.”

He saluted her and smiled. “Aye, I will be the least goofy of humans!”

She shook her head while letting out a brief blow. Unbelievable, he was. She kept thinking about how stupid he was as she took off to the skies above, leaving Mr. Not Goofy in her wake.

Safe to say, she actually almost did collide with somepony that day. They had been a rogue mailspony who had way too much mail in her bag. She had a blonde mane and had gray fur, and she had the audacity to say ‘watch where you’re going’ like she owned the skies. Lightning Dust hoped that the mare hadn’t gotten lost. That bag she had had ‘Ponyville Mail’ stitched on it… and she had been flying in Cloudsdale.

Lightning Dust sighed. Anon had been there for her in all of these situations. And now she was waiting for him again to save her tail, if by saving her tail meant ‘watch her fly again to make sure she had her routine nailed before she showed it to Spitfire at their meeting (if Spitfire allowed Lightning Dust to even show it to her) that was coming up in a few days’. She laid there by the tree, her body submerged in the taller grass, her flight goggles just a ways away.

Suddenly, a cracking of what Lightning Dust presumed was a twig caught her attention. She peered her head up just enough to see over the grass she was in, and waited. Was it who she thought it was? She kept her eyes placed solely behind her, as a familiar someone loomed over the path…

“Hey, Lightning Dust. Sorry I’m late.”

“Hey, Anon,” she chirped, her voice peaking with a titter. She folded her wings to her side, grabbed her goggles (and threw them on her head), and walked over to the human. He made himself smaller, bending down and folding his legs. She rushed up to him, nuzzling his cheek. “Glad you finally showed up!”

She felt the human wrap his arms around her, along with a very gravely chortle. “Yeah… sorry about the whole lateness thing, really. I would’ve been here sooner if it weren’t for the balloon services being unexpectedly closed this morning. Had to go straight back to Twilight just to ask her if she could magically yeet me up to where you were at. However, she wouldn’t let me go until she made sure I had a long enough cloud-walking spell cast on me. She’s a bit of a stickler of other ponies casting spells on me, for some reason.” He returned her nuzzle with one of his own, while one of his hands reached for her mane. “Looks like you had quite the session, huh?”

Lightning Dust shook herself, getting all that sweat out of her mane, which caused Anon to pause. She laughed. “Of course. I’ve flown through my full flight routine at least five times now!” She watched as Anon groaned, flicking his hand of whatever bit of sweat was on it. “Also you asked for that when you went for my mane.”

“Fair enough,” he muttered, wiping his face off with his shirt. He sighed, probably because his shirt was more soaked with her sweat—had she been sweating buckets? “Well, with how much sweat was absorbed by my sweater, it may seem you need to hit the showers.”

“Pfft, not yet. I gotta get one more pass through my routine while you watch me!” Lightning Dust exclaimed, fluttering her wings. She smirked and gave him a half-lidded gaze (at least, that’s what she hoped it was). “Are you still going to spot for me?”

Anon nodded. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I want to watch one of my favorite mares fly?”

“One of?” She raised a brow at that one.

“A man can never spill his secrets.” He rubbed his chin momentarily, before snapping his fingers. “Although, if you pay me a sum of bits, I will—ack!”

“Goof,” Lightning Dust replied, giggling behind her hoof. She retracted her wing that she used to bap him on the side of Anon’s head. “Did you learn anything?”

He rolled his eyes, cradling his head with his palm. “You are something else, Lightning.”

“I will take that as a compliment from you, big guy,” she said before parting from Anon and walking towards the edge of the cliff she was on. She unfurled her wings again and shook her body, getting the discomfort out of her left wing and that itch off her right. She smiled and craned her head back to take one last look at Anon.

The goofball was looking directly at her while giving her a thumbs up, which was apparently a sign of him approving whatever she was doing (or whatever she did, she didn’t know which). “Is that thumbs up for the view or for my next flight?”

“Yes.”

…

She blinked and laughed. “I should’ve known you were going to say that!”

“Looks like someone still needs to learn!” Anon riposted with a chuckle. He shook his head. “Alright, get going. I’ll make sure to spot for you, just in case you make any mistakes.”

“Wow, you don’t have any faith in me being perfect this time around?” Lightning Dust asked, her muzzle slightly scrunching up.

To her surprise, he shrugged at her! What was he trying to say? That she was questionable? That she was not even remotely good enough?

Anon cleared his throat, stopping her train of thought immediately. “I mean, I know I’m your spotter, somewhat coach, and an unlicensed trainer, but I know for a fact that striving for ‘perfect’ is the last thing you should do. Why not strive for what actually makes you, you?”

She blinked. What did he mean? “What do you—”

“Mean?” Anon interrupted her, which earned him a brief blow and neigh accompanying her head check. “Pfft, don’t worry. In this context, I value you in two ways.” He held up two fingers briefly as he continued, “Your flying, which is usually what gets ponies looking at you, and your willingness to view your surroundings closely.” He smirked as he balled his hand back up in a fist. “That second one is where you usually need work.” The dirt behind Anon was kicked up by his foot grazing against the dirt path. “Thankfully I can help you out with that too.”

“How?”

He held his hand up with a singular finger pointed up, while the rest balled into his fist. Then, he checked his pockets, and held in both his hands a bunch of rocks. What was he planning with those?

Anon flicked one up and grabbed it easily without dropping any from his hand. “Got these. Don’t worry, they’re too small to really hurt you, and I’m not going to be whipping them at you like I’m some wannabe professional pitcher. These are mostly to test your agility in seeing not only yourself, but others.”

“The others are going to be the rocks?”

“Unless you have any better ideas,” Anon answered, frowning. “Kind of hard when everyone in Cloudsdale is allergic to you specifically. Me, on the other hand, I have to deal with ponies staring at me like I’m some alien.”

“But you are an alien.”

He blinked. “Oh.” He facepalmed shortly after. “Well, then put it this way, I understand what you’re going through.”

She was about to ask what he meant, but then she realized what he was trying to say, which made her wings sag just a tad. “Word must have really spread since you and I went out to that bar.”

He nodded. “Yeah… which is why I’m considering if I should take you back to Ponyville with me.”

“And deal with the ones that I almost killed?” Lightning Dust raised a brow. “Do you want me to have a target painted on my back?”

“No, I don’t shop there,” he said, holding his hand up with his palm flat. “Besides, I haven’t worked there in such a long time! Remodeling that whole store was not fun, let me tell you. Just a sea of red and white paint cans and—”

“Anon, stop! Stop.” She turned and threw her forehooves at him and sighed. “What are you talking about?”

He wore the most confused look of all time, if his lips tugged inward and wide eyes were apparent of that. “You asked me if you wanted a target painted on your back, and so I gave you my entire work history at Target and—”

“Okay, but why?”

“Because… I thought it would be funny.” He rolled his lips inward before popping them back out. “The joke didn’t land?”

She snorted. “Didn’t think I ordered a comedian today.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t quit my day job,” Anon said, waving a hand at her dismissively.

“Way to make me feel guilty. I’m strapped for bits as it is!” Lightning Dust whined. She could feel her lips sag, twitching as she continued, “All of this banks on me getting another shot at the Wonderbolts.”

“Lucky for you, I’m a betting man,” Anon replied, twirling one of the rocks in his hand. He caught it with ease, but not without grunting. “Almost lost that one—anyway, don’t worry. Best thing to do is just focus on the task at hand… er, hoof in your case. We need to get you ready for that meeting with Spitfire!”

“And what if all this practice is just a waste of time?”

Anon tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

Lightning Dust blinked, not even registering that she even asked the question. Was that how she was really feeling? Was this…

Her train of thought warped into a new one, one where she remembered it all: the tornado, how it spun her out of control along with Rainbow Dash, how Rainbow’s friends were sucked into it, and how all the ponies nearby were affected.

She winced and closed her eyes tightly. “What if Spitfire doesn’t want to see me anymore? What if she sees me and goes ‘Yeah, you’re not worth the effort.’ What if… if I don’t—”

“Lightning Dust…”

“What if I don’t make it again? I don’t want to be denied, Anon. I don’t…”

Silence reigned for a moment. Then, she heard some pitter-pattering against the dirt, before she felt his arms around her, pulling her into him.

“Hey, look at me.”

She peered an eye out and gasped. He had pulled her from the edge, right back into his arms. Her head was nestled into his chest, while her wings had naturally folded against her sides without her even noticing. Now with both eyes wide open, she peeled her face away from his chest to look up at him.

His gaze pierced hers without a moment for her to think.

“There we go,” he said with a smile. He patted her mane, much to her chagrin. “You’re right. She could say those things. She could also not say those things. It’s never healthy to operate on just hypotheticals, you know?”

She nodded. “I know, but—”

“Then let’s instead focus on what we both know. And, if I’m not mistaken, you’re one of the best fliers I know. The reason why you’re worried is that… well you’re lacking in some areas. You’re not the most spatially aware, and you sometimes fail in considering others overall. That right there is making you second guess yourself.” He rubbed the back of his head, his smile now a bit more awkward. “Now, we can address these things, but it’s hard to teach them. Granted, the spatial awareness is a bit easier, but the other is… something you have to do through interacting with others other than just me.”

“Why can’t I just use you for all that?”

Anon raised a brow. “Does it look like I have wings?”

She laughed. “But you’re aware of others when you’re running, right?”

He hummed to himself, tapping his chin. “Sometimes, it really depends on the situation. I could get into my own little world once in a while.”

“And who’s in that world?”

“Me, myself, and I.”

Lightning Dust’s muzzle scrunched up at that one. “Ugh, sounds pretty lonely.”

“Not as bad as you think to be honest. But suddenly having you there has been a major improvement.”

She paused, feeling some sort of new feeling that she didn’t want to feel. Embarrassed and thoroughly confused.

…

Okay maybe that counted as two feelings.

“A-Anon?”

He tilted his head, and then realized what was going on. She could see his cheeks become bright red. “Uh… sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

She smiled and shook her head. “Silver-tongued, aren’t you?”

“Yeeeaaah! Six shooter on my hip, rizzing all the mares. That’s me.”

“Please seek help and a possible dungeon sentence from Princess Celestia for that one,” Lightning Dust said, facehoofing. She groaned as she had hit herself a tad too hard with that one, rubbing the spot gently with her wing.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Anon said. He chuckled before peering down at her, his hand slowly returning back to her mane despite what happened last time. “Did that help?”

“With what?”

“Your feelings. They were a bit charged there.”

She sighed as his hand slithered up her neck. She felt his finger scratch an itch behind her ear, which made her lean into his hand. She smiled as her eyes fluttered to a close. “Hmm, yeah I’m a bit better.” She snorted. “But this is a bit of a distraction don’t you think?”

“Have to press the reset button somehow,” he snarked. She flicked open one of her eyes to see him grinning. “You know, you can admit that you like my ear scratches.”

“I could, but then that would mean you’ll not stop and I won’t get my flying session in!”

She growled that last part out, which made Anon laugh. She gritted her teeth, not being exactly angry with Anon, his teasing definitely pressing all the wrong and right buttons for her. All of this was a lot to deal with at the moment. She needed to just focus on what she does best: flying. She needed this last run. She needed this to solidify herself, to get that edge when she spoke with Spitfire.

And it was only a few days away—

“Alright, but before you do it…”

“Yes?” Lightning Dust asked, tilting her head.

“Are you all set?”

“Yeah.”

“Focused and poised?”

“Like always.”

“Nothing else?”

“Anon, stop prodding.”

He brought his hands up. “Just making sure. Don’t want you to second guess yourself mid-flight and—”

She peeled away from his scratching to nuzzle his cheek. “Trust me. I got this. Anon, with your help, I will go back to Ponyville as a Wonderbolt. Nothing more, nothing less.” She furrowed her brows as she continued, “I want Rainbow Dash and her friends to see that I’ve changed. I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.”

“Well, then what are you waiting for?”

She looked up and smiled. “You.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you still have your arms around me!”

Anon yelped as he let his grip go around her. “Sorry, didn’t mean to—”

“Don’t worry, I don’t mind,’ Lightning Dust began. She gave him a very comfortable smirk, her eyes half-lidded. “But let’s keep that for after practice.” She had breathed out those last couple words before punctuating it with a wink, which made Anon turn into a few different shades of red. His eyes widened momentarily, before he clapped his hands against his head, blinking rapidly. She mentally chuckled at the display, turning back to the task at hoof.

Carefully, Lightning Dust moseyed over to the edge of the cliff, looking down and taking in a deep breath. She closed her eyes and unfurled her wings again, before she lowered her backside to prepare for takeoff. With one final huff, she spread her wings and took one last look at Anon, giving him a smirk. “Remember to keep your eyes on me!”

“I’m not your unpaid spotter for nothing!” Anon shouted. He went over to a nearby tree, the only tree on this landmass that didn’t look like the world was over. She saw as he leaned against it and looked at her. “Good to go?”

She tapped her goggles with her forehoof. “I’m ready!”

With that, she looked above, watching the clouds around her tower high in the sky. She waited, and waited, and waited. It was only a matter of time before Anon gave her the signal. She was ready to sear her routine into the sky, not only for herself, but for him too. That’s what mattered anyway. That’s all that mattered.

She furrowed her brows and scuffed her hooves into the dirt.

Phreeeeeeeet!

A dirt plume was all that remained as she soared into the sky.

Lightning Dust stood under the shower head, letting the flow of water soak her coat. She hummed quietly to herself, her mind drifting back to the end of the session.

Her flight was great. Anon had tossed those rocks toward her, and she was able to dodge or recognize where the rocks were in regards to her own routine. The only one that did get her was one that was directly thrown at her, right between the eyes. It almost made her veer off course, but Anon was regretful… well, long after her routine had finished. While she was flying, he was laughing so much that he fell into the dirt behind him, clutching his sides while his legs wriggled about. Once she noticed him, she flew directly towards him to check on him. She growled at him to stop, but he didn’t. She just stayed by his side as his laughter eventually subsided, leaving her to purse her lips and hang her head. He just petted her in response, which definitely netted her a sigh of relief, but not one that was settling on her nerves.

Her nerves, they were still on fire, even as the hot water drenched her fur. She…

She was at her apartment now, taking a hot shower. Anon was just outside the door, probably sitting in her poor excuse of a ‘living room’. It was the cheapest place she could get in Cloudsdale: a little one room apartment with a shower/bathroom connector giving her a little bit of privacy. It was the only one that she could afford, if by afford meant that she could stay for another month or two before she’d be tossed for ‘missing too many payments’, and knowing her reputation, her landlord was probably going to knock on her door soon.

Lightning Dust shook that last thought right out of her head. She let the water splash against her mane and now against the walls of the shower. She slicked her mane back with a hoof, before shaking the rest of her body. She sighed and flicked the shower off with her forehoof. The remaining water rushed down the drain, spiraling.

Spiraling.

She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. She needed to talk to Anon. He was right, she was still a bit of a mess. Focused and poised? Not anymore, not when she wasn’t flying.

Quickly, Lightning Dust dried herself off as best as she could with the towel that she had. She’ll have to get it washed later, but right now, she had a guest she had to entertain. He had waited long enough.

She walked out of the bathroom and looked around to see Anon lying on her couch, as expected. He raised a hand high and waved. “Yo, had a nice bath?”

“Shower, Anon. And yes,” she said with a slight smile. She walked over to him and pushed his head slightly, making him sit upright. She hopped on the couch and slid right next to him, getting herself comfortable. “Pet me.”

“Forward, huh?” he asked, but she didn’t care. She just laid her head on his pant leg and waited for the inevitable.

Then, she felt his hand slowly pet her now dried mane. She didn’t even care to style it, her hair now straight as can be.

Anon hummed. “Interesting that you actually have straight hair, Lightning.”

“It takes me a while to style it,” she groggily mumbled. “Too tired unfortunately. I didn’t want to keep you waiting.”

“Want to take a nap?”

She unfurled her wings for a moment, stretching them, before furling them back up and letting out a rather lengthy moan. She felt a heat rise to her cheeks, but she kept those eyes of hers shut. “I… I’d like to talk, actually.”

“Think you’ll stay awake?”

She opened her eyes and looked up at him. “Definitely, just—give me a minute.”

He rolled his eyes and stopped his petting. She could feel his eyes looking all over her as she settled next to him, opting to instead scoot her body closer to him. She let out a brief blow.

“All good?”

She peered over at him, chuckling. “Best as I will be.”

Anon raised a brow. “Any reason why you sound like you’re unsure about that?”

“Because I am.”

“Because…?”

“I’m worried about meeting Spitfire, Anon.”

He scratched at one of his cheeks. “Oh.”

“That’s it, just ‘Oh’?”

“Yep. I mean I could ask you why, but you’re going to tell me either way.”

“Disinterested?” She asked, tilting her head.

“Nope,” he replied, shifting on his side of the couch. He rested his hand furthest from her on the arm rest, the poor thing was discolored now. She needed to find new furniture. “Was waiting for you to initiate the conversation.”

“I… I see.”

“That bad?”

“Yeah, I feel like I’m about to fly again, but out of desperation.”

“Yikes.”

“Yeah.”

“...”

“Is that okay to feel, Anon?”

He hummed momentarily, before speaking, “Yeah, until it doesn’t feel okay.”

“I don’t think it feels okay at all.”

“Then it’s not okay.”

The two spared a glance at each other. She could feel her muzzle scrunch up, and her eyes begin to water, but she wasn’t going to say anything.

He, on the other hoof, looked a bit more aloof, but something was different. He was propping his head up now, looking elsewhere.

“Lightning Dust?”

“Hmm?”

“You want my advice?”

She nodded. He sighed.

“Stop worrying.”

“Huh?”

“You and I will go over there on the day of the meeting. We’ll go talk to her, and we’ll see what she says.”

“Are… are you sure?”

He wrapped an arm around her and brought her closer to him. “I know so.”

“Why?”

“It’s eating you up. All this anxiety you got. No one should go through this much of it.”

“And your solution is to face it head on?”

“Got any other bright ideas?” He asked. She shook her head, earning her an eyeroll. “Exactly. Learned that from Rainbow Dash. She’s like that always, stubbornly looking forward instead of waiting for it to happen.”

Rainbow Dash. That was a name she didn’t want to hear just yet. “Sounds like she’s another step ahead…”

Her voice fell apart at the end, making her hang her head in shame. She could feel her feelings bubbling up. Another good cry might be in order, one that made her throat feel like it was about to close. She could feel the water now, racing up to her eyes. She blinked them away and looked elsewhere.

She squeaked as Anon brought her even closer to him somehow. “A-Anon?”

“Take your time. I’ll be here.”

“Y-You… mean that?”

He nodded. “It’s better to get this out of the way before we meet Spitfire, right?”

“Yeah…”

She sniffled. “I don’t want to cry, though. I’ve done enough of it.”

“Tough mare to the end, huh?”

She wiped her face of a tear, only to realize that it was no use, it already had wetted her cheek. She shook her head. “No, I just… I’m tired of all this stress, Anon. And you must be tired of it too.”

“I just hate seeing you this way,” Anon replied, cupping her cheek. She gasped as she felt his fingers flick part of her mane away from her face. “You deserve to get a second chance, at least, from what I’ve gathered.” She was about to open her mouth when he tilted his head at her. “By chance, you weren’t lying about murdering anyone, right?”

She giggle-snorted, feeling the tenseness around her throat begin to fade. “I-I wasn’t lying, Anon! I didn’t kill anypony.”

“Good,” he said, rubbing her cheek. “Then you’re fine. I’ve stuck around this long so far, and I intend to stick around as long as you need me.”

“Even if things don’t go well?”

“Well, there’s always Ponyville…”

She frowned. “I really don’t want to go there if I can’t prove myself—”

“Tough, I’ll take you with me.” He looked around the room, marveling at the lack of… well, what she calls, nothing. “You really need a new place of scenery.”

Lightning Dust growled. “Sorry, I don’t have the money to decorate my apartment—”

“I know. It just doesn’t feel like someone’s home. More like a prison cell or something.”

She sucked in a deep shaky breath. “I know. I know…”

Anon sighed. “Then hopefully once Spitfire tells you what she wants to tell you, we can figure out a different place for you to live.”

“I’d…” she began, only for the words to clog in her throat again. She gulped back whatever tension remained and continued, “I’d like that, Anon.”

He smiled. “Good, because you’re not paying another bit for this place.”

“I’m actually behind on payments and—”

“What?!”

She planted her head on Anon’s pant leg once again. “Like I said, I’m really banking on this working.”

“You really need to invest better,” Anon said, groaning. She tilted her head at him, which made him grab her and prop her up against his chest. “You, silly pony, need to have a backup plan for your plans.” He booped her snout—why did her eyes just go cross-eyed? She shook her head, attempting to focus on Anon’s words. “...and I really think you—are you okay?”

“You just hit the reset button,” Lightning Dust replied. “I think I missed something that you said.”

He laughed. “Note to self, poking Lightning Dust’s muzzle gives her a hearing impairment.”

She jabbed her forehoof into his side. “You’re terrible.”

He shrugged, and smiled through what pain she probably put him through. “Worth it.”

They laughed. They laughed and laughed until their session turned into just Anon petting her mane while she closed her eyes. They let the world pass them by, idly talking about the future.

And she was excited. Excited to know what her future really held.

...For You To See?

It was time. Lightning Dust had spent countless hours of practice for this day, the day to meet Spitfire back at the Wonderbolt Academy. She was happy to finally be going back there only a few months after her major incident rocked the entirety of the academy, but a part of her was anxious—no, anxious and nervous at the same time. What was she going to run into here? Was there another disappointment leering over the horizon?

She had gotten up extremely early. She had watched the sunrise from her rickety old balcony, and now was just sitting there on her couch for Celestia knows how long. She didn’t want to leave her apartment without her… without her best friend by her side.

Knock. Knock.

“Who’s there?”

“Wait, you actually know that?”

She rolled her eyes. “Just go with your joke—”

“Sorry, you’re right,” Anon said through the door. He cleared his throat and did it twice.

Knock. Knock.

“Who’s there?”

…

“Anon?”

“...a stray in our apartment building?!”

“Anon?!”

“Sorry, your neighbor was saying I was an animal or something and… could you just open the door? I’m getting stared at more than you now!”

She half-suppressed a laugh behind her hoof, and chose to hop off the couch to let the poor guy in. She flicked her wing at the door handle just enough to open it, presenting Lightning Dust with a very humble and totally not embarrassed Anon, who stood there looking at her like he had just seen something he didn’t need to see. She laughed and dragged the poor human in and clicked the door shut.

“Glad you showed up, Anon.”

He rapidly shook his head, shaking off whatever he was dealing with before she opened the door. He smiled at her and brought her close. “Hey, I told you I’d be here through thick and thin, right? Even if it means that I’ll freak out your neighbors in the process!” He picked her up and took a good look at her and promptly tilted his head, eyebrow raised to the occasion. “Uh… did you sleep?”

She half-nodded. “Yeah, and then I woke up and watched the sun rise.”

Anon hummed to himself before placing her back down. “Well, good to see you appreciate a good sunrise. Although, I thought you were late to rise type of mare?”

“Yeah, but this time's different…”

She felt her voice waver for a moment, before she closed her eyes tight. She took a deep breath and opened them to see Anon’s face right in front of hers. She yelped, falling straight on her flanks. “A-Anon what are you doing?”

“Making sure I don’t lose you to your scattered emo-storms you’re apparently brewing this morning. You should really start investing in a guilty pleasure that’ll distract you from all that. Like coffee or whiskey.”

“Or what?”

Anon sheepishly smiled. “Actually, let’s avoid the whiskey. Don’t need you to become a less-than-functioning alcoholic. Besides, flying and drinking don’t mix well.” He cleared his throat. “Coffee, on the other hand, now that stuff really works well with flying. You may jitter after a few cups though, so I’d probably limit you to… two cups max.”

Lightning Dust blinked hard. “Uh… okay?”

“Good!” he chirped, before clapping his hands together. “Anyway, enough lollygagging around, Lightning. We got a really energetic Spitfire to meet!”

“Are you sure she’s going to be happy to see me?”

Lightning Dust had that one roll right off her tongue without any issue. She gasped and clamped her muzzle with her forehoof, leaving her friend to stare at her with a very odd-looking glare. It was odd because his eyebrow was twitching almost like it was threatening to leave his face. Was that his cup of coffee kicking in? She couldn’t tell, she hadn’t had coffee in such a long time.

He stopped glaring at her and laughed. “Between you and me, Spitfire was ecstatic when she heard that you wanted to talk. Granted, she wasn’t expecting me to tell her that, but she knows me pretty well, so…”

It was her turn to tilt her head at Anon. “Wait, you were the one that got the audience with Spitfire for me?”

Anon threw his arms into the air. “Of course I did! Didn’t I tell you that?”

“No!” Lightning Dust said, throwing her forelegs up almost in solidarity. One of her forelegs came back down though, pointing a hoof square at Anon’s forehead. “You told me that Princess Celestia was the one who helped you get that meeting.”

“Well… I was partially telling you the truth there. I did ask Celly for help,” Anon began, taking in a deep breath. “But then her way of ‘helping me do this’ was sending a letter to Spitfire telling her that I was going to talk to her about something and that we must set some time aside to meet in Canterlot to talk about it.”

“And… so you met?”

“Yeah, I met her. She’s cool, but she’s also very… what’s the word…?” He tapped his chin and snapped his fingers. “Persnickety! That’s the fancy one that Twilight said would ‘be apt to use’.”

“Persnickety? Never thought Spitfire would be described that way.”

“For that meeting?” Anon said with a raised brow. “She was… really worried. I think she was worried about what you’d do and didn’t realize that I was really good friends with you. Safe to say, she had to retract what she said and ‘withhold her judgment until further notice’.”

Lightning Dust blinked at that. “Huh…” She could feel her ears twitching out of control after hearing that. “So you’re saying I do have a shot?”

“A shot? Maybe,” Anon began, shrugging his shoulders. “All up to you on how you want to portray yourself to Spitfire.”

She was about to say something, but decided to close her mouth. She knew what she needed to do. And she had Anon’s support, even if it was… uh…

“Anon?”

“Yeah?”

“We should get going. Can’t keep Spitfire waiting, right?”

Anon smiled at her, which made her feel a bubbly sort of feeling at the pit of her stomach, while her face warmed up to unfamiliarity. “Yeah, you’re right. Want me to lead?”

“Well, I would let you lead, but you don’t have wings. Let’s try seeing if I can carry you there with a cloud.”

He rolled his eyes. “Alright there, weatherpony. Lead the way.”

“Sounds good, but gimme a second,” Lightning Dust responded. She flung her saddlebags on her back and kept them tight (with Anon’s help). He set them straight, which she thanked him by giving him her brightest smile (hopefully it didn’t blind him).

With a nod, she walked out of her apartment with Anon in tow, her mind cycling through the different ways this could all go wrong.

And then she smirked. She locked the door and placed the key in her saddlebag.

It was time to make her dream become a reality.

The way to the Wonderbolt Academy was rather arduous, for some reason. Lightning Dust, once again, misunderstood how heavy Anon was when he was on a cloud. Moving him all the way over to the Wonderbolt Academy was like moving through sludge in a swamp. She had to flap her wings harder than before, and quite frankly, she had to muster all her strength just to move him just a smidge forward.

Safe to say, they made it (just barely), and now she was hobbling forward on the green grass that the Academy was situated on.

“Remind me—ah—to never do—ah—that again, A-Anon!” Lightning Dust breathed out, panting in-between her words. She looked over at Anon, who hopped off his cloud and onto the solid ground of the Academy premises. He walked over and picked her up. “A-Anon?”

“Can’t have you walking like you just went through a marathon,” Anon said. “It’s the least I can do.”

“But—”

“Nope. Selective hearing is on.”

She harrumphed and furled her wings as he held her like a baby, cradling her gently. She craned her neck around to see that, well, nopony was really around. A couple were still on the premises, but they were mostly security, and well, they were too busy looking elsewhere.

She sighed. “Where are we supposed to meet her?”

“In her office, apparently,” Anon replied dryly. He licked his lips. “Hoping not, though.”

“Why?” She asked, tilting her head at him. “Wouldn’t that make the most sense?”

“Yeah. She’s pretty by the book, but a guy can dream of her breaking her own rules once in a while.”

Lightning Dust rolled her eyes. “Spitfire would probably give you a nasty look if she heard you say that.”

“Let her do it then, I welcome it. Would rather have her do that to me than you.”

For some reason, Lightning Dust felt her heart leap at that comment. She didn’t know why though, choosing to shake the feeling off by slightly unfurling her wings, before closing them again.

“Got an itch?”

“Yeah…”

“Need me to scratch it out?”

Lightning Dust blushed tenfold. “Anon, that’s not even remotely appropriate!”

“Yeah, listen to her, Anon.”

“Yeah—wait what?”

Lightning Dust blinked rapidly at the pony that jumped in. “F-Fleetfoot?”

Fleetfoot stood there with a slight smile. “Welcome back, Lightning Dust. Heard from Capt’ that you were going to be stopping by with this big guy.” She laughed. “Didn’t expect him to carry you around, though. Is that comfortable?”

“I—”

Anon interrupted her, making her puff her cheeks at him. “Hey, she actually carried me over here by herself on a cloud. You should—”

“Wait, she ferried you over here on a cloud?!” Fleetfoot asked, her jaw hanging just slightly.

“Yeah, is that more impressive than I thought?”

Fleetfoot’s eyes widened, and then looked over at Lightning Dust. “You are going to be so much trouble when you join, I swear…”

“Trouble?” Lightning Dust whispered, her eyes wider than before. She brought a forehoof to her lips. “I… I don’t know about that.”

“Pfft, well hopefully it is only that type of trouble. We don’t need another tornado leaving a warpath all over the academy grounds,” Fleetfoot said, giggle-snorting. She tapped Anon on the shoulder. “If you’re looking for Spitfire, she’s over on the other side of the academy’s main building, tending to our practice equipment that we used yesterday.”

“Why’s that?” Anon asked with a raised brow.

Fleetfoot shook herself before unfurling her wings. “While she could do it in her office, she said something about hating how her office smelled like a dead skunk.”

Lightning Dust saw Anon’s eyes widen. He blinked rapidly before shaking his head. “Okay, got it. Thanks for the heads-up, Fleety.”

She promptly rolled her eyes. “Anon, it’s Fleetfoot.”

Lightning Dust tilted her head. “Are you close with every Wonderbolt?”

He smirked. “Let’s just say, I have connections and—”

Fleetfoot butted in before he could lie straight to Lightning’s face. “He attended two security meetings and basically met all of us, and now he thinks that he could start throwing nicknames around.” She glared at him. “I don’t know how you got into those meetings by the way. They were top secret.”

Anon kept that winning smirk on his face. “I am him. That’s all you need to know.”

“Whatever, Anon.” Fleetfoot bent low and smiled. “I would stick around, but Soarin’s probably waiting for me. Hope your meeting with Spitfire goes well, Lightning Dust!”

With that, the two exchanged their goodbyes before Fleetfoot took off into the sky. Anon still held onto Lightning Dust, his grip still as gentle as before. She stayed there, pouting, her ears splayed against her head. Anon just looked at her while laughing softly, which annoyed her.

“Do you have to laugh at me?”

“Y-Yes,” Anon said in-between bouts of laughter. “I didn’t e-expect you to p-pout this much!”

She bapped him on his nose as gently as she could, which made Anon stop his rancorous chuckling.

“Hey?!”

“Don’t complain, big guy. Besides, you’re the one that wanted to carry me.”

He snorted. “Alright there, Lightning Dust. Calm down. Let me just take you the rest of the way so you don’t look like your legs are about to fall off.”

She frowned, but nodded. “Alright…”

With that, she sat there as Anon walked across the lot, her mind restlessly hoping that maybe, just maybe, Spitfire won’t roast her as much as Fleetfoot did.

“So, what’s with Anon here holding onto you like you’re his pet cat?”

Lightning Dust was wrong. She was so wrong it hurt. Spitfire was calling her his pet? What did she do to deserve this treatment?

…

Oh wait, the tornado. Now she remembered.

“She’s actually resting her legs a bit. She had to push me on a cloud and—”

“By herself, Anon?”

Anon blinked. “Is this actually an achievement of some kind?”

Spitfire snorted as she fiddled with some of the weighted uniforms. “Look, most pegasi couldn’t do what she just did for you. Granted, it is a cloud, but you are massive and—”

“Okay, now I know for a fact you just called me fat.”

The Captain of the Wonderbolts dropped her weighted uniform she had in her hooves and busted out laughing, clutching her stomach. “Okay, yes I did. Sorry! Just lay off the amount of meat you eat and you wouldn’t have this prob—”

Lightning Dust’s scrunched up muzzle became less scrunched as she spoke, “Am I missing something here?”

Anon and Spitfire both looked at her like she had two heads. What was with these two?

Spitfire shook her head. “No, you’re not. Sorry, we should actually be talking about you and your request.”

“Request?”

“Was it not a request?” Spitfire raised a brow. “I thought that’s what we were talking about, Anon?”

“Well, partially a request. More like a plea deal without the case attached to it.” Anon set Lightning Dust down (finally, thank Celestia) before he continued, “The request was—”

“—to possibly let Lightning Dust the opportunity to join the Wonderbolts, correct?”

Lightning Dust felt herself gulp by reflex, but the saliva built up wouldn’t go down. She sputtered out a cough, which made Anon look down at her with concern.

“You… alright—”

“Yeah, don’t worry about me,” Lightning Dust said, waving a wing at them nonchalantly while her voice remained strained.

He shook his head. “Anyway, so about the request…”

Spitfire smirked. “Now, now, Anon. You need to abide by our part of the deal.”

Lightning Dust’s eyes darted between the two again. “Deal?”

“I would entertain the idea of meeting with you, Lightning Dust, as long as Anon held up to his end of the bargain.”

Anon frowned and held out a crudely written IOU on a piece of paper. “Here you go.”

“Perfect,” Spitfire said, smiling happily while her ears perked up. She fluttered her wings before she grabbed the piece of paper. She carefully stuffed it in her saddlebag that she had on. “Okay, now that that is all taken care of, Lightning Dust, I’m going to need you to pretend Anon isn’t there.”

“What?”

“You heard me, pretend he’s literally not there and we’re in my office.”

Anon raised his hand. Spitfire ignored it. And so did Lightning Dust.

“Okay, ma’am.”

Spitfire approvingly nodded once, before she smiled. “So, what may I do for you today, Lightning Dust?”

She looked at her with a confident smile (but her lips were twitching!) and puffed out her chest. “Ma’am, I request to try out for the Wonderbolts again and—”

“No.”

“What??”

Anon’s shriek threw Lightning Dust in for a loop, while Spitfire’s denial turned her heart inside out and she was panicking internally.

Spitfire held her hooves up, one pointed toward Anon, the other toward Lightning Dust. “Hear me out, I’m going to give you several reasons—”

“She’s one of the best flyers ever to grace Equestria and you’re going to just—”

Lightning Dust tuned Anon out. She needed to hear these reasons, even if they hurt. “Go on, ma’am. I need to hear this.”

Spitfire smiled. “Now this is the attitude I wished you had when you first tried out for us. Poised, responsive, and quite frankly, timid. That last part was crucial.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, the main reason why I can’t give you a tryout currently is because the Wonderbolts aren’t taking any new recruits.”

“Wait, really?” Lightning Dust asked.

“Yep, full house. Reserves included.”

Lightning Dust began to feel her wings sag. “I see…”

“But, even if we did have a roster spot, it’s complicated for you in particular.” She kicked the box full of weighted equipment aside. “Look, you have the passion for flying. That much is obvious. And while it is true with what Anon said, you are incredible at flying… you have a major flaw that would definitely deter us from picking you up.”

Lightning Dust blinked. “And what might that flaw be, if I could ask?”

Spitfire smiled. “I’m glad you asked, Lightning Dust. See, when I removed that lead pony badge from you and told you to leave, I thought that would’ve been the end of it. There wouldn’t need to be an explanation for your actions, but I see I should’ve at least told you before sending you off.”

The breath that Lightning Dust took nearly made her sputter a cough, but she kept herself composed as Spitfire continued, “I’m going to be brutally honest with you. Every task that I had provided for you to do, you used it as a way to stroke your own ego. While the Wonderbolts are no strangers to having ponies in our ranks with egos, I cannot and will not allow your ego to compromise our team’s chemistry. We already have Fleetfoot for that anyway.”

Lightning Dust tilted her head. “Fleetfoot has an ego?”

Spitfire let out a half-suppressed chuckle. “Oh, you’d be surprised. She has the biggest ego in the Wonderbolts that I’ve ever seen. I’m surprised she hasn’t exited Equestria’s atmosphere with how inflated her ego is. It’s twice as large as one of those hot air balloons we use to ferry up spectators of the cadets and—”

“She seemed fine to me, ma’am.”

“Seemed is a word that does all the lifting there, Lightning Dust.” Spitfire walked forward and laid a wing around Lightning’s withers. “Trust me when I say this, if we decide, in the future, to let you in the Wonderbolts, you would want to sacrifice both your wings to Celestia to have her somehow permanently fuse that muzzle of Fleetfoot’s shut within the first week.”

Lightning Dust shivered as a piece of her anxiousness raced up her spine like a frozen dart. “Uh… that’s quite a descriptive end to my non-existent career, ma’am.”

“Hey, like I said, I’m just being brutally honest, Lightning Dust. You’d have to set aside your ego just to exist here.” She licked her lips. “And that’s not even all. We still haven’t crossed the bridge of the accident you stirred up.”

Lightning Dust kept her brave face up, but she felt her mask start to crack, her lips now twitching. She could feel them start to crumble. “I…”

Spitfire stopped to pull the mare close. “Don’t worry, Lightning. This one is going to be actually doable to remove from your record on our end.”

Lightning sighed one of relief and looked up at Spitfire. “Oh thank you for at least some good news—”

“It would just take a year or two to expunge it and—”

The face of Lightning Dust turned sour. “Uh… ma’am?”

“Yes?”

“A year or two?”

Spitfire nodded. “That incident of yours was a major blunder, Lightning Dust. It’s technically a fitting punishment for endangering not only the Wonderbolts, your fellow cadets, and the one guy that was drawing on a piece of chalkboard for some reason, but also for endangering the lives of the Elements of Harmony, a protected group of individuals under the royal crown.” She cleared her throat again. “Wow, I need to get some water after this—look, I think you need to understand that our hooves and wings are tied when it comes to that. And—”

Anon popped up suddenly in front of them. “Hey, Spitfire. Permission to interject?”

“Granted, even though you need to move back at least twenty steps. Your breath smells like my office.”

“I’m not a fan of skunk, especially in that way and—”

“Get on with it, Anon.”

He groaned. “Is there any way we can expedite the removal of her blacklist?”

“Any way? Who do you think I am, a miracle worker?” Spitfire asked, her ears perked up. She pointed her other wing at Anon. “Sir, I am a Captain, but my boss still owns the Wonderbolts and will gladly tell you in a twenty page declaration that the blacklist is not—”

“I could have Celly give you a royal decree to remove it that way you can actually pick her up when the time comes and—”

Lightning Dust shook her head. “There’s no reason to jump in for me, Anon. I don’t want to be given pity just because I messed up that much.”

Spitfire gasped and looked at Lightning Dust dead in the eyes. “Are you sure? I mean, what he’s saying would definitely convince my boss to—”

“I’m sure,” Lightning Dust muttered. She hung her head. “I want to be respected for being in the team. Not grandmothered in because Anon here has connections.”

Lightning Dust could feel their stares. She could feel them as she stood there, ramrod, her eyes now shut tightly. It was over. Her dreams of being a Wonderbolt? Shattered. Her apartment? No longer. She was totally going to get evicted, an unsightly casualty of the war on living. Now she’s going to be stuck at some dead-end job with no way up, just trying to make it by until she gets another chance to be in the Wonderbolts…

And based on what Spitfire was saying, that may be a couple years.

Her heart fell just thinking about it.

Lightning Dust felt that nervous feeling exit her stomach and proudly present itself in a form of water racing toward her eyes. Any moment now, and she’d crack. She wasn’t going to cry though. She couldn’t. Not in front of them.

Suddenly, Lightning Dust felt something pat her on the back. “Look up at me, Lightning Dust.”

She did. She saw Spitfire’s slight smile. Her eyes were solely looking locked onto Lightning’s, a fire surging in them with a certain passion—no, a certain understanding that wanted Lightning Dust to not only see this through, but to hear every word. It… enticed her. It enticed her so much that part of her didn’t know this was real still. So, she surrendered to Spitfire, Lightning’s attention now captured in full.

“Lightning Dust. This isn’t the end of the world, and I’m glad you don’t want to be given any sort of pity, because I’m not going to. No one can sugarcoat what had happened, and quite frankly, no pony should. But I don’t want you to think you’re not wanted here, that you can’t change. There is potential in you still.” Spitfire spared a glance over at Anon, who was leaning forward way too much. She rolled her eyes and continued, “You can redeem yourself. Even with that hairless diamond dog over there—” Lightning Dust heard Anon say ‘Hey!’ but chose to ignore it (although she definitely giggle-snorted at his antics), and so did Spitfire “—and whomever else you run into, I can see things going your way eventually.”

Lightning Dust couldn’t help herself. She smiled slightly. “Thanks ma’am, but he’s the only one who actually gave me a chance after everything that happened.”

“Then you better keep him close,” Spitfire leaned closer and whispered softly into her ear. “And to be honest, I think he’s a good guy, but don’t tell him I said that. He’ll start thinking I have feelings for him.”

The words that Spitfire said made Lightning Dust’s face heat up. She was definitely blushing now. “Uh… I won’t, ma’am.”

“Good, but to be honest, you need to get some more friends. If you only have him around, he’ll drive you nuts.”

“Am I being defamed right now with no means of defending myself?”

“Yes,” Lightning Dust replied, earning a rather boisterous laugh from Spitfire. “And to be honest, Spitfire’s right. I have to be careful around you.”

“Careful? Oh god, please don’t turn into your neighbors. I don’t need to be compared to Bigfoot!”

At first, the conversation fell off. The three were silent, with Anon still looking at them with a rather worried expression. However, Lightning Dust couldn’t contain herself. She started busting out laughing, nearly keeling over onto the ground. Spitfire followed suit, and then Anon joined in. The three laughed altogether. It was a chorus of ugly laughs. Spitfire was a hyena, Lightning Dust sounded like a kettle going off, and Anon… was just Anon.

After the laughter subsided, the trio got themselves sorted. Lightning Dust was the first to get herself together. “Thanks for that, Anon.”

“No problem,” Anon said with a toothy grin.

Spitfire was still panting as she sputtered out a reply, “B-Bigfoot! Hah, you—ah—certainly are one, A-Anon!”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Lightning Dust chuckled. “So, ma’am. Is that all you wanted to tell me, then?”

“Well, there’s a couple things I did want to mention, but Anon over there can’t behave himself.”

Anon threw his hands up in a mock surrender. “I plead the fifth and I’d like to speak to an attorney—”

“This isn’t your made up country, Anon,” Spitfire riposted, deadpanning. She then glared at him. “Anyway, let’s get back on topic.”

“Okay…” Anon muttered, his gaze downcast.

Lightning Dust nodded and waited patiently for Spitfire’s advice (at least, that’s what she hoped this was).

“Lightning Dust, if you do get a blessing from Princess Celestia, I can see us giving you some wiggle room and—”

“But ma’am, I didn’t want to be pitied by you or Princess Celestia—”

Spitfire shook her head. “Look, it’s not a pity move. Think of it as… as a loophole in a contract drafted in a rush. Lightning Dust, if you do as I say and really change for the better, we’d want you in a heartbeat.”

When Lightning Dust heard the word heartbeat, it was, as if, her own had stopped. All she could focus on was Spitfire. Her eyes were defintely wide open now, and she could feel her jaw slightly hanging loose.

Did Spitfire just say that? To her?

Then, suddenly, Lightning Dust felt her heart kickstart back to life. Her heart was racing so fast that not only it passed her brain, but also it nearly veered off course for taking a curb too fast. “Uh… really?”

“Yes. Lose the ego, keep fostering that timid and nice attitude you got going, and keep practicing your flying, and there would be no question about you joining when the time comes. The only thing that I’d advise you to do is keep in mind the bigger picture and—wait, one second.” She flicked at her nearby saddlebag and picked up a photo she had with her forehoof. “See this?”

It was a picture of the Wonderbolts with a few new ponies suited up. And one of those ponies was Rainbow Dash, her goofy grin staring at her with excitement that Lightning Dust wished she had. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Tell me, what do you see?”

“A picture of the Wonderbolts. Most likely the current roster, ma’am.”

“Perfect, although who else is in the picture?”

Lightning Dust scanned it and gasped. “Why are the Elements in the picture?”

“Photo-op for Princess Celestia’s calendar. We should be getting a copy of it sometime soon in the Equestrian summer celebration official calendar, but right now, this is all I got of it.” She chuckled and set it back in the saddlebags. “It’s a core memory for me now, but this also served as a way for me to test you a bit. You passed with flying colors, by the way.”

It felt like Lightning’s face was burning up again. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“No, thank you for still having faith in us after we decided to toss you to the wayside. Granted, it was for a perfectly good reason, but…” Spitfire sighed. “It’s the way businesses work. We have to keep ourselves afloat, so we have to find the best candidates out there that want to join us. You are so close and yet…”

“...so far,” Lightning Dust mumbled, finishing Spitfire’s thought.

“Sorry, Lightning. It’s… it’s the truth. I want to recruit you someday though. You… you think you’d be fine with receiving a letter of correspondence from us about it?”

Lightning Dust’s ears perked up. “Really?”

“Yep!” Spitfire chirped. “We do offer that still even to blacklisted cadets. It’s usually in case we re-evaluate and come to the conclusion that you are no longer blacklisted from the Bolts. Now, in your case, I believe you and Anon are going to go the ‘get Princess Celestia to help’ route, which I still ‘advise’ by the way despite it being more roundabout.” She threw her right wing into a circle. “Some processes are meant to be broken to make them stronger, and thankfully, we just so happen to have one that needs to be entirely rethought of for situations like you.”

The words that Spitfire said felt like a sense of hope that filled Lightning Dust’s heart with a false hope, one that she pushed down until she got some form of confirmation. And, looking over at Anon, he was definitely scratching his chin with one of his hands, while he hummed to himself. Then he raised his hand, like he was some colt in a classroom. Lightning Dust giggled to herself.

“Anon, what do you want?”

Spitfire eyed him down and raised a brow. “This better be good for you to recreate a foal’s way of jumping into a conversation.”

“Excuse me for wanting to be nice,” Anon chided before clearing his throat and promptly bringing his arm back to his side. “You think you could have that letter sent to me instead?”

Lightning Dust could feel her eyes bug out at that one, which Spitfire caught a glimpse of out of the corner of her eye. “Okay, Anon, and why would that be the case?”

He walked up beside Lightning and held her close, making her squeak. “She’s with me. Going to take her back down to Ponyville because she is not living up in Cloudsdale any longer.”

“A-Anon?” Lightning Dust stuttered out, her wings slightly lifting all on their own. She tried to push them down with one of her hooves, but they both itched, making that feeling rush tenfold.

Spitfire chuckled. “Looks like there’s more to this than I know, huh?”

“Don’t worry, she’s made it amply clear that I’m not her type yet,” Anon replied, his tone calm and collected, which made Spitfire all the more chuckle. Lightning Dust glared at him but he kept talking, “Besides, this is more of a ‘get her out of her apartment because it sucks and looks like a prison cell’ type of issue. I’m not a fan of it, so we’re finding her some place where she can attempt to wipe her slate clean and get a nicer place to boot.”

“Attempt?” Lightning Dust and Spitfire both said in unison, which made them both tilt their heads at each other.

Anon snorted as his gaze darted between the two of them. “Yes, attempt. She may even have to stay with me for a while. Look, Lightning Dust, this will be a way to start anew and not get glared at by everyone in a mile radius for simply existing.”

Spitfire’s eyes widened. “That’s what you’re dealing with?”

Lightning Dust meekly nodded. “Yeah. It’s tough. Everypony has essentially alienated me. Anon’s the only one who’s stuck by me, so…”

“Wow, I didn’t know it was that rough.”

“It would’ve been worse, ma’am, if Anon hadn't been there. He’s been a bright spot in a dark place. I wouldn’t be this confident still if it weren’t for him.”

For a moment, silence pervaded the area. Trees gently swayed in the wind, the lights on the runway flickered on and off, and a few clouds went adrift overhead. But that’s all that was heard, as Lightning Dust could only help but marvel at Spitfire’s and Anon’s frozen appearances. Spitfire was gobsmacked, blinking only a bit as she was trying to comprehend what she said. Anon, on the other hoof—er, hand was currently eyes closed and arms limp against his sides. His cheeks were currently flushed.

Spitfire was the first to speak up, swallowing down whatever was stuck in her throat. “Uh… Lightning Dust?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Are you sure he’s not your type?”

Lightning Dust blinked, before shouting out a little bit of a cross between a yelp and a questionable neigh. “Ehhhh?!”

Her face was on fire. Her wings were on fire. Her brain was on fire. Her mind was on fire.

Everything was on fire.

And then Anon spoke, “That wasn’t a no.”

Lightning Dust belted out a mile wide stutter. “I-I… I don’t—”

“Wow, you really got her good, Spitty.”

“It’s Spitfire, Anon,” Spitfire growled out, glaring at Anon. He just shrugged, which earned him a brief blow of most likely hot air from Lightning Dust’s soon-to-be-teammate/captain.

Those words that Spitfire had said definitely weren’t bouncing her head at a rapid pace. No, not at all.

Lightning Dust cleared her throat, which made both Spitfire and Anon look at her instead of at each other. “You guys are something else.”

“I think I remember saying that to you this morning and—ack!”

“Don’t ruin the moment, jerk!”

Spitfire whistled. “Tough love. Wow, you really do like him!”

“I—agh, whatever!” She shouted, throwing her hooves up in the air before plopping down on the grass. She looked at the box of practice equipment. “You need help with that, ma’am?”

Spitfire shook her head. “Nope. I should be good to go here once we finish up. Speaking of,” She trailed off for a moment to bring Lightning Dust close. “This isn’t the end of you being a Wonderbolt, Lightning Dust. This is just a new opportunity down the road. Just make sure you not only stay true to yourself, but also to others. Like I said before, it's better to see the whole picture, not just the part with you in it.”

Lightning Dust smiled. “Yes ma’am.”

“Good,” Spitfire said curtly. She bent down to pick up the box of equipment. “I’ll make sure to send that letter to Anon as I’m pretty certain he’ll be still with you by the time you actually get cleared for a tryout.”

Anon smirked. “Damn straight I will be!” He looped his arm around Lightning Dust’s withers. “Well, with that being said, we’ll leave you to clean up the place.”

Spitfire rolled her eyes. “Glad you’re letting me clean now, Anon.”

“Somebody has to,” he replied, earning him a glare from Spitfire. He laughed and directed Lightning Dust in the other direction. “See you around!”

Lightning Dust looked back and waved with her wing. “Thank you, Spitfire! Hope you have a great rest of your day!”

Spitfire waved back before returning to her clean-up duties. It left the two of them walking towards where they came from, with Lightning Dust leaning into him.

Halfway through, Anon smiled and patted her side with his hand. “So, better than you expected?”

Lightning Dust smiled, but she wouldn’t look at him. The grass was more interesting— “Yeah… I was worried that I’d never get a chance again. I’m glad that she told me what goes on behind the scenes. It’s different.”

“A good kind of different,” Anon murmured, which made her look at him. His face was blank, looking out at the clouds around them. “Seems like we need to keep that train up.”

Lightning Dust knew what he meant there. Ponyville was a place she was not fond of going to, as she valued her life and her feathers. “Are you… sure I can—”

“Lightning, they forgave pretty much everyone who walks into their airspace. I’d be shocked if they said no to you.”

“But I almost—”

“Keyword, almost,” Anon interrupted. He brushed his free hand through his hair, slicking it back. “You can make it up to them by just showing that you mean well and that you’re not the same pony you once were. The proof is in the pudding.”

“What pudding?”

Anon groaned. “It’s a turn of phrase.”

“Oh,” Lightning Dust mumbled out, her muzzle scrunching up. Her ears splayed against her head, before they slightly rose back up. “I guess I have a lot more of your phrases to learn.”

“I’ll teach them all to you when we get back to your place.”

“You’re staying the night?” she asked, her brow rising to the occasion.

He smiled at her. “Of course I am. That’s what friends do. They have sleepovers, help them pack, and then have them possibly move into their spare guest room because I am not allowing you to stay there another night alone.”

She blinked. “Am I being evicted by my own friend?”

“Yes. I’m evicting you with kindness instead of because you owe me five bits.”

“You’re still holding me over that drink you got from the vending machine?!”

“Yes. That’s more manageable than an expensive rent payment for a hole in a wall, right?”

She shook her head in disdain, and sighed. “Alright, that does sound better.” She smiled and nuzzled his leg. “Lead the way, big guy.”

Anon raised a brow. “I thought you said I couldn’t lead the way because I didn’t have wings?”

“Their balloon service over here is still running. We just have to ask one of the security ponies walking around here as to where it is.” Lightning Dust could feel her cheeks heat up with what she was about to say. “And I still feel like I’m leaning on you while we walk, so…”

“Are you tired?” He asked, looking down at her.

She leaned into him and yawned. “D-Does that answer your question?”

He rolled his eyes and picked her up. “Alright, get yourself comfortable. I got this!”

She wanted to ask him why, but she didn’t. She couldn’t care, her body was too tired to even mutter another word let alone act embarrassed. Instead, Lightning Dust let herself go, cuddling straight into him. She nuzzled into his chest and she closed her eyes.

She trusted him. Not only now, but with her future.

After all, he was the only one who cared enough to give her a second chance. And she wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.

Author's Note

Cracks fingers.

Done. This sequel is finally done. 12.6k words.

Well, onto the next fic. Shoutout to Kardashev for literally keeping me the most focused I've ever been when it comes to writing/editing this one. One of the best deathcore metal bands I've heard.