“It was an accident,” Derpy said in her defense. “I just don't know what went wrong.” Soarin looked at the gray pegasus with disappointment. It might have been an accident but it was no excuse for what happened. He needed to let her know that this was serious business, and that she should have known better.
“What went wrong was that you struck lightning at the other flyers,” he said in a stern voice.
“I was just trying to bust the cloud,” she explained.
“I told you specific directions on how to bust certain clouds and you didn't follow them,” he replied to notify that she should have listened to his instructions.
Derpy looked down at the floor with sorrow in her eyes. “I'm sorry sir,” she apologized in a soft voice. “I should have been listening to you.” Derpy turned to exit Soarin's office. “Maybe I'm just not cut out for this.”
Soarin stopped her before she made the choice of leaving. She might have done something wrong he wasn't going to let her leave. “You don't have to leave Derpy,” he said, getting up from his desk and flying over to her. “It's no big deal. Sure, you might have disobeyed my orders but you still have what it takes to be a Wonderbolt. I can see that you've learned from what you did and know how to avoid next time it comes around.”
The cross-eyed pony smiled widely. “ Oh thank you so much,” she squealed as she gripped Soarin into a hug. “Unfortunately,” he said gently pushing the pegasus off him. “this can't go untreated.”
Derpy began to grow a worried look on her face. “You have shown you still need a bit of work before you can become a Wonderbolt and that it might help if you had somepony to guide you to perfection. I'm afraid I'm going to have to demote to wing pony until you can learn to handle yourself in these situations.”
“Alright,” Derpy sighed in a depressing tone. It made her sad to not be a lead pony but she was still relieved she wasn't kicked out. She took the golden badge off her uniform and set in on Soarin's desk. He took the badge and replaced it with a silver one that was meant for a wing pony to wear. Derpy pinned the badge on her uniform and waited for further orders.
“Now, go join the others outside,” Soarin said in a commanding voice. “You're next task will be given to you.” Soarin put his hoof up to his head. “Dismissed.” Derpy returned the salute and began toward the exit as asked. Soarin followed with a smile on his face.
He felt confident that he handled the situation well. He always thought that being a little soft never made you disrespected. Spitfire, on the other hoof didn't agree. She always commanded with a harsh hoof. It's a good thing I was left in charge of Derpy, Soarin thought to himself. Spitfire would never let her actions slide. It would kill him to see anypony get sent home from the academy. He knew everypony had the guts to be a Wonderbolt if they truly had faith. He already knew his group of ponies were fit enough. He trained the ponies who had passed Spitfire's training. She trained the brand new recruits which she thought was a good idea since she figured that if they could handle the captain of the Wonderbolts, they should be treated with more respect and Soarin was good at respecting others, even Spitfire. She was always took being a Wonderbolt very seriously but Soarin wanted it to be fun at the same time. Maybe that's why she was the captain. Either way, he still took pride in being a Wonderbolt, even if he wasn't the captin..
When Soarin made it outside with Derpy, he called out for a pony to come see him. “Flitter,” he shouted to get the pony's attention. Flitter trotted over to him and waited for him state his reasoning for calling her over there.
“You have been promoted to lead pony,” he stated, handing the light purple pegasus the golden badge Derpy had turned in to him earlier. Flitter waited a moment before saluting him with an eager smile. “You have my gratitude sir,” she tried to say firmly, without sounding to pleased. She pinned the shinny, golden badge on her uniform and looked it over, liking it's appearance on her.
Flitter turned to Derpy and stated proudly, “Well Derpy, it looks like I'm going to be leading you to becoming a Wonderbolt instead.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Derpy moaned in an irritated voice.
“Alright you two,” Soarin said to get their attention. “go stand in line with your peers.”
The two made their way to the line of ponies and stood, firmly in a still position. Soarin walked toward the line in a sophisticated fashion. He turned to them to see them awaiting his orders. It was time for their next task.
“Alright everypony,” he said in the straightest way he could. “Today you w-.” He paused from what he was saying on account of something that caught his eye in the background. A tornado! Not to soon after he noticed the others looked behind them to see the twister nearing closer to them. In no time they all began to panic. Soarin was filled with fear but he knew he had to take action. These ponies didn't have enough expeirience to deal with anything as serious as a tornado.
“GET TO THE END OF THE PLATFORM! NOW,” he ordered to them. “I'll take care of this.” The ponies obeyed and raced to the end of the platform. Soarin flew toward the tornado and flew as fast as he could around it in the opposite direction the winds were heading order to counter the winds. Each gust tried to propel him away but he kept pushing on in order to protect his fellow ponies. It was as if he were flying right into a wall. Eventually, when he was almost beat by the force winds, the tornado began to slow down and soon stopped. Exhausted from the power of the winds the pegasus landed back on the ground fairly hard.
Just as he was about to see if his trainees, he heard one let out a loud cheer. “Alright Soarin! Woohoo,” Derpy cheered to the pony who had saved them from the terrible twister. Soon, all the others began to cheer along with her.
Soarin smiled, humbly and stated with pride, “And that, kids is how you deal with a tornado.” It was clear that they looked up to him. He enjoyed the feeling of being an idle. As interested as he was in what or who caused the tornado, he still had a job to do. “Now,” he reminded them. “back to the lesson.”
Chapter 1: Struck By Lightning
After his teachings were done, Soarin began to head inside in order discuss something with Spitfire. He wanted to see if she was aware of the tornado that had crashed through his session or if she knew anything about the incident. It wasn't likely for somepony to spawn a tornado so close to the academy and they weren't allowed to give orders like that to anypony else, so a trainee would not be authorized to make one. Then who started it. Soarin had no idea. This was why he had to ask her. He hoped she would know something.
As he walked down the hallway leading to Spitfire's office, he saw a cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane exiting her office. Hey, I've seen her before. Soarin thought to himself. But where? Oh yeah! She was the one who saved us back in Cloudsdale. Oh, and my apple pie. She seemed rather worried and bothered by something. He thought about asking what the problem was. Normally, Soarin would ignore something like this because he didn't want to get too nosey into one's personal business but she seemed like she could use somepony to talk to.
“Good morning,” he said with a smile.
The cyan pegasus looked up to see none other than Soarin himself standing before her. She quickly straightened up and formed a salute. “Good morning s-” she said before pausing. She was still trying to adjust from calling the Wonderbolts sir or ma'am. She lowered her hoof and let out a sorrowful sigh. “Good morning,” she stated blankly. Soarin could now definitely tell that she was troubled.
“Something on your mind,” he asked, concerned.
“Oh, nothing,” she responded trying to sound casual. “I just kinda forgot I don't have to address you by sir anymore.”
“Why not,” Soarin asked putting another smile on his face. “I like being called sir. Is it because I didn't call you ma'am?”
She smiled back for a second before being more precise on what she was trying to say. Soarin understood what she was saying the first time but he was just trying to cheer her up.
“It's not that,” she answered. “It's just that I quit the academy.”
“Oh,” Soarin said trying not to sound shocked. “What was your reason?”
“Well,” she said as she thought of a way to put it. “I just don't think that being a Wonderbolt is what I really want. I used to think so but know that I now what it's like, it doesn't seem right.”
“I see what you mean,” Soarin agreed with what she was saying. It did seem a little hard to relate to but he still understood. “Sometimes, behind the smoke and mirrors lays something you never wanted. It's until you get to a closer prospective that you can see past it all.”
The pegasus saw a good piece of advice he gave. She was glad somepony got it. Then again, he didn't know the entire story.
“You're probably right but still,” she added on to what she said. “I can't help but feel like I made the wrong decision.”
“You're going to have to stick to it,” he commented on what she said. “There's no going back after your actions are made. If you continue forward, it will all work out. Trust me.”
“I'll-, the pegasus hesitated, still moved by his words. “I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the advice.”
Soarin could now see a smile on the pony's face. It felt good to help others when they were in need whether it's physical or emotional. “It's been a pleasure,” he said with a nod. The rainbow maned pegasus walked down the hallway toward the barracks. He always did have a way with words and they clearly had an effect on somepony.
It's a shame she had to leave. She was a good flyer. Soarin thought as he watched her walk away. But hey, if she wanted to leave I see no problem with that.
After talking to the pegasus, Soarin had completely forgot the main reason he had come here. He had got so caught up in the conversation that he had to think for a while to remember his purpose for being here. When his memory clicked, he entered Spitfire's office like he was planning.
Inside, he was greeted by a silent Spitfire who was holding a silver badge in her hoof. She looked up to see her partner entering her office. “Oh, hey Soarin,” she said before looking back at the badge as if it was going to explode or something.
“Spitfire,” he said not as a greeting but to get her attention. “I was giving my lessons to the cadets earlier this morning until a tornado ran through are training grounds.” “So I've been informed,” she said putting down the badge and giving him her full attention. “Then you might have an idea on who caused it,” he concluded. “Indeed,” she answered. “I just hope it didn't harm anyone in your sector.” “No one got hurt,” he assured to her. “I stopped it before it did any damage.”
Spitfire began to get a surprised look in her eyes. “You took on a tornado all on your own,” she asked in disbelief. “I'm not a Wonderbolt for nothing,” he stated, puffing out his chest. “Wow, I'm impressed,” she admitted to him. She always hated to admit that Soarin was good flyer but she knew he was. She was the hard worker while he goofed off most of the time but they still got along no matter how annoyed they got with each other.
“So, you said you knew who caused it,” Soarin asked to get back on the topic.
“Uh, yes. I did,” Spitfire answered, remembering what they were discussing. “Don't worry about it. I'll deal with this whole situation.”
“I just hope you do what's right,” Soarin said, praying that she would deal with things well. She did have the tendency to get rather aggressive very easily.
“I couldn't agree more,” she stated, getting up from her desk and trotting to the door.
“Where are you going,” Soarin asked, looking rather lost.
“I'm going to make things right,” Spitfire replied as she left the office.
Later that day, Soarin sat in his office with many things going through his head while he graded his trainees' progress from this morning's lesson. He had trouble following through and asked himself many questions like was there a purpose for making the tornado, or did that rainbow pony have anything to do with it? As Derpy would say, he just didn't know what went wrong. Well, of course he knew that the the tornado was the problem but what he didn't know was why it was there in the first place.
He certainly couldn't work with all these thoughts running around. He had to ask Spitfire how things went. He got out of his office and headed down the hall to get to Spitfire's office. While he was walking along he happened to notice somepony in the barracks. He peaked through the doorway to see a light opal pegasus with a beautiful orange mane that matched her eyes. She had a sad look in her eyes as she took her belongings out of her locker and putting them in her saddle bag. Soarin didn't know why everypony seemed to be in a bad mood today but he was there to help in anyway he could.
He made the decision to go and talk her. As he approached her he let out friendly greeting. “Good afternoon,” he said which startled the pegasus enough to make her jump up. It would be reasonable considering he entered the room rather quietly. “Oh, I'm so sorry,” Soarin apologized, worried that she might get angry with him. “I didn't mean to scare you.”
The opal pegasus turned to around to shocked to see Soarin standing before. Her face turned to a bright shade of red as she looked at him. She felt humiliated with how she had acted in front of him. “Oh, uh, th-that's okay,” she said trying to make a better impression.
“Are you alright,” Soarin asked her.
“It's okay, really,” she assured him with an uneasy smile. “No sweat.”
“Actually, I asking about earlier,” he said, trying to explain it. “I noticed that you looked a little depressed about something. I was wondering if you needed somepony to talk to.”
“Oh, that,” she said with a sad tone of voice. “I kinda got booted from the academy.”
“Oh, I'm sorry to hear that,” he replied, feeling sympathetic for her.
The pegasus remained silent, staring at the floor until Soarin put a hoof on her shoulder. “It'll be alright,” he said in a soothing voice. “Not everyone is destined to become a Wonderbolt.”
The opal pegasus felt a flow of pain rush through her. It wasn't long ago that she had spoke those exact words to her partner. Now, hearing them being told to her by one of the Wonderbolts as she was on her way out felt like being stabbed in the heart. She tried her best to hold back the tears that tried to escape. She didn't want to be humiliated again.
Soarin took notice of the pain that went to her as he said those words which made him feel even worse. “Oh no no no,” Soarin said, trying to calm her down. “I-I didn't think you would take it that seriously.”
“You didn't know,” she said, turning her head the other way. She didn't want him to see her like this. “I'll be fine.”
Soarin felt horrible for making her feel that way. He had to do something. “You're not fine,” he protested.
“Look, I appreciate your concern,” she said, turning back to him. “But there's not much you can do to help.”
“Not even buying you a drink,” he asked, moving closer to the pegasus.
“Buy me a drink,” she questioned in a confused state.
“Sure,” he answered to ensure her he wasn't kidding. “I'll buy you a drink and you can tell me all about what brings you here.”
“Well,” she said, rubbing the back of head. “I don't know.” She did want to take the offer. I mean, who wouldn't? Then again she didn't feel like telling him about how all this happened.
“It'll be fun,” Soarin said, grinning widely.
“I guess I have time for that,” she said, smiling back at him.
“Great,” he stated rather loudly. “I'll take you to one of my favorite places for coffee if that's okay with you, uh.” Soarin paused from what he was saying. He didn't know her name. “You never really told me your name.”
“I'm Lightning Dust,” she said to introduce herself. “And yes. Coffee would be fine.”
“Mine's Soarin,” he said before getting hit with an almost immediate response.
“Oh, I already know who you are,” Lightning Dust told him.
As they both exited the barracks, Soarin smiled as he thought of her name. Lightning Dust,he repeated to himself. That's a nice name.
