Lightning Dust's Third Act

by Pip232

7: Late Night Letters

“Ok, now I am thinking about backing out.”

Lightning Dust looked at the so-called president of her fan club. Seeing the fear and shrunken pupils under Scootaloo’s lifted visor, she knew there was no way she’d go through with it. She huffed in annoyance, weighing her options.

Her gaze drifted to the bright red button begging to be pushed. She could give Scootaloo some involuntary encouragement, but another look at her scared eyes dismissed that idea. The crowd was expecting a show, the wagons were already lit up, and now her latest recruit had frozen up on her. “Fine, I’ll do it. Move over.”

Scootaloo didn’t need any further prompting to hop off the scooter, and as soon as Lightning Dust was standing on it she slammed her hoof down on the ignition. The rocket lit up and shot her forward, taking her down the hill. The rush was exhilarating, adrenaline and endorphins flooding into her system and setting every nerve ending alight.

Lightning Dust braced herself as the rocket shot up the ramp, suddenly feeling weightless as she went airborne. This was the feeling she craved, the feeling of weightlessness, the euphoria that came from skirting danger by a hair’s breadth. She turned to the crowd and waved, feeling a manic grin the whole time. When she looked at her friends she raised an eyebrow. They were shouting something she couldn’t make out and pointing at something ahead of her.

As soon as she looked she understood why, seeing the rocket pitching forward and heading towards the ground much faster than it had gone airborne. The euphoric afterglow shattered as she put her forelegs in front of her face moments before impact and everything went dark.

---

Lightning Dust bolted upright, kicking off her covers and panting as she looked herself over. It wasn’t the first time that memory had jolted her awake, but it hadn't got any easier. Seeing she was perfectly fine calmed down some and stood up, realizing she’d been asleep for more than just a nap. Her room was dark, the only light coming from the moonlight pouring in through the window.

“I slept all through the evening?” Lightning Dust asked and her stomach growled in response, confirming she hadn’t eaten in some time. It was an awkward hour, but with the shot of adrenaline that dream had given her, sleep wouldn’t come again for some time.

She made her way to the door intent on going to the kitchen but as soon as she opened it she saw a tray of food had been left there. After a moment of surprise she scooped it up and took it back into her room, setting the tray on her desk. She plopped down on the cloud chair and began to eat the sandwich she’d been left, making a mental note to thank Rolling Thunder in the morning.

As soon as her late dinner was done she set the tray aside and grabbed her trusty letter opener, turning her attention to the stack of mail on her table. Junk mail, some autograph requests she was happy to fulfill, but as she reached the bottom she was stunned seeing an envelope with an all too familiar shade of blue. She instantly recognized the Wonderbolts logo dominating the front, but the novelty stamp and the cutie mark printed on it were what caught her eye. She knew who it belonged to the moment she saw it.

“Soarin?” Lightning Dust asked in disbelief, blinking to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. Her eyes went to her torn trainee uniform then back to the envelope. Her curiosity winning out, she sliced the top and pulled out and unfolded the letter.

Hey Lightning Dust!

If you’re reading this you’re back home and hopefully all better! Sorry I couldn’t visit you in the hospital, the rest of our season kept me too busy. You sure know how to give your fans a finale (and probably some foal therapy bills from what I heard)

Our season’s probably gonna be over by the time you read this, and I’m looking forward to seeing my mom back home. I wanted to wish you the best and I hope to see you flying high again soon. By the way, if you want to write me back, the return address isn’t my reply address. It’ll be at the bottom of the page.

Hope to hear from you!
Soarin

Lightning Dust couldn’t keep the smile off her face. She could feel the excited energy he’d written to her with, and pulled out a paper and envelope as she began to pen her reply.

Hey Soarin!

I’ll admit I’m surprised a Wonderbolt wrote to me. I’m back home now but I have a long way to go before I’m back to my old self again. Just today I couldn’t make the trip from Ponyville to home more than once without help.

The first days in the hospital were really scary. My eyes were swollen shut so when I woke up in that cast I couldn’t see, move, or speak. I honestly wondered if that was what it’s like to be dead until Doctor Horse came in. It took a few days before I could open them again.

Once he told me what had happened I calmed down but the boredom almost made me wish for death. Just lying there helplessly listening to the clock ticking all day, I’d have gone insane if my friends didn’t visit as often as they did.

I’m glad you’ll get to see your mom again. I’m not judging here, I stayed with my meemaw well into my adult years. Tell her I said hi and I hope to hear from you again.

All the best,
LD

Her face mirrored the same excitement Soarin had written her with as she folded her letter, grabbed a black and green envelope, and stuffed it inside. Lightning Dust checked his letter and wrote down the reply address before carefully peeling a novelty stamp with her own cutie mark and placed it on the corner before setting it with the other mail to be sent out. Once she was finished she reached for another piece of mail, but her hoof only meant densely packed cloud.

Lightning Dust leaned back in her chair, debating on her next move. She wasn’t tired, her recurring nightmare and the accompanying shot of adrenaline had seen to that. She glanced outside at the calm night. A short flight sometimes helped her get to sleep, but today’s near-miss and the ache in her wings ruled that out too.

Her eyes went to her saddlebag and its contents, but it wasn’t time for that either. Her body wasn’t ready for that yet and the supplies would keep until then. She huffed in frustration as she got up and marched over to her bed, flipping down on top of the covers. Settling in her eyes slowly closed.

As she focused on relaxing her body her mind was racing. Soarin, one of the most prominent Wonderbolts, had written to her. Right alongside Spitfire he was the most recognizable and although she didn’t know his official standing in the organization it’d be an easy bet he was right behind his hotheaded captain. It wasn’t anything serious, just some friendly well wishes, but it still made her smile. At the very least she figured she owed writing him back just to let him know she got it, but the thought of him writing to her again made her smile widen.

With that thought squared away she was left alone with only the moonlight and silence for company. Her mind was still too alert to go back to sleep, and counting sheep was too tedious for her liking. Instead, her thoughts began to drift to when she was first learning to fly, when she was learning the most fundamentals of it.

The first thing you will learn in Junior Speedsters flight camp is the most important lesson you will ever learn about flying. There is only one absolute law that governs anything with wings: takeoff is optional, landing is mandatory. Gravity may only be resisted, never broken free of.

With that said, there is only one way to land, the safe way, back hooves followed by fronts. We will be going over technique and form long before you ever try to soar above the clouds. So pay attention, class is now in session.

Those were some of her first memories of flying, and while the other fillies and colts groaned, Lightning Dust’s attention was glued to the instructor and all he had to teach. While a terrible memory had woken her up, Lightning Dust eventually fell back asleep to a more pleasant one.

Author's Note:

Since this story essentially replaces Crashing To Rock Bottom, I borrowed some lines from it for this chapter and I'm glad with how it turned out.

So Soarin is writing to Lightning Dust, eh? Let's see where this could go.

Comments

[Xtr3m3nuk3]

And they were penpals~

Glad this story's still going; great chapter!