Should I feel bad for Lighting Dust?

[Cygnus 60]

I think if she's been recklessly endangering others at the academy it's fair to kick her out. I can sympathize with her lack of empathy towards others, strangely enough, but I think a good, hard shock is what usually wakes those types up to the fact that what they're doing is just not going to fly.

[Scootaloo Is Best Filly 578]

I kinda do. I mean she's just like RD in a lot of ways. If Rainbow hadn't learned about friendship, Rd would have probably have done the same thing. But, in another way, I really don't cause she did need a little dose of punishment. 

[Doc. Volt 2,561]

i don't know in others countries but in the aeronautica militare (italian air force) but also in all level of the army, showing off, doing something very spropositate compared to the things requested, puttin fellows on risk without real purpose, it's an offence to the code and to the superiro official... probably if something like that happened for real in my army she would be forced to leave with dishonor... not only de-ranked... it's considered a real offence... but again i don't know somewhere else... i feel bad for her... she was the best it's true but nobody need  hot-steam-heads.. they at the end of the day will surely do something to regreat... just like the rammstein incident....

 

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

I feel the fact she just should've gotten demoted and not kicked out of the academy.

 

She had the fire the Wonderbolts are looking for within a flier but she's was just reckless.

[Megas 28,373]

I don't think so. If you want sure go ahead, but me personally, it sucks that she might not be a Wonderbolt anymore, but at the same time it was her own fault

[VenomTrixie 57]

Her reckless behavior was followed by a "who cares" attitude so I didn't feel bad for her getting kicked out of the Academy. But I do think she deserves to be in another episode and get a second chance to be a Wonderbolt. I believe if they ever bring her back she will be a lot better.

[Dark Qiviut 22,656]

Well while it may not COMLETELY let Lightning Dust off the hook, the original ending of the episode had LD redeem herself by apologizing and realizing she was out of control and commends RD for turning her in, and LD becomes Rainbow's wingpony. Which I think would have been a better ending, as it takes away the ambiguity of the ending

Quite honestly, the drafted ending is objectively terrible. Although it gives Wonderbolts Academy much more closure, it sacrifices REAL consequences for Dust's actions. Since coming to the Academy, she got too brash for her own good, and her attitude and recklessness worsened every time. Her actions first affected Rainbow Dash, then her fellow cadets, and finally her friends. All of them with remorse and care for no other pony except herself.

 

To go by how Thomas & Friends (Classic/Series 17)/The Railway Series handles dangerous stunts: "Dangerous Stunt, followed by Consequences, and finally Resolution."

 

The drafted ending gives Lightnng Dust suprficial consequences, not genuine ones, and makes her develop unrealistically. The published ending (Dust's badge being ripped off, and then sent home in disgrace) shows everyone how damning Dust behaved and acted in WA and is more impactful.

 

As such, I don't feel bad for Dust at all. She created her own trouble, disregarded everyone's well-being, and suffered the consequences as a result. She may have a dream to become a Wonderbolt, but until she cleans up her horrid behavior and reckless abandon, she won't get far at all.

Edited November 18, 2013 by Dark Qiviut

[skylights 127]

Reckless or not, she was still an extraordinary flyer. And as someone pointed out earlier, everypony makes mistakes. I feel bad for her, but I don't think that was the end for her. I think she'll get another chance. Rainbow Dash might even talk to the Wonderbolts on her behalf to get her back in on a probationary basis. She isn't so hard-headed that she can't learn and grow from her earlier behavior.

[RWB2 17]

So after looking at this it's kinda the same reason I don't feel bad for Trixie. They were both jerks to everypony and only cared about themselves. They had it coming to them for things that they did.

 

So what does everyone else think?

 

 

Trixie was doing her job and was the victim in that episode, and every main character that had a line in that episode except Twilight was a jerk.

 

 Boast Busters is arguably the worst written and mean-spirited(and not in a funny way like Invader Zim) episode of the entire series. Putting your hoof down was probably the only one close to being as mean, and it was far better written. People say MMDW is the worst episode? This episode does everything that MMDW does wrong just as wrong, and more so.

[Doc. Volt 2,561]

Reckless or not, she was still an extraordinary flyer. And as someone pointed out earlier, everypony makes mistakes. I feel bad for her, but I don't think that was the end for her. I think she'll get another chance. Rainbow Dash might even talk to the Wonderbolts on her behalf to get her back in on a probationary basis. She isn't so hard-headed that she can't learn and grow from her earlier behavior.

even that pilot on my video was an extraordinary flier... lot of people died by the way...

[FNGRpony 658]

Ever seeing tommy olivers video and his points?  Yeah.

Bear with me.  their in a wonder bolts achedmy.  It's a school slash boot camp.  Yay or nay?

She's really good?  Yay or nay?

I'm not saying she's not a jack ass, she is.

but its a place where they correct and teach you.

 

Seeing as how spit fire didn't even see  lightening dust screwed up in the first place,

Yeah.  you should feel bad for her.

She would got away with it to if it wasn't for those meddling ponies.

 

Technically positions of authority shouldn't swing that hard, for someone like spit fire

who didn't even remember rainbow dash.

saving her sorry ass.

Edited November 18, 2013 by FNGRpony

[Doc. Volt 2,561]

Technically positions of authority shouldn't swing that hard, for someone like spit fire

who didn't even remember rainbow dash.

saving her sorry ass.

she probably remember RD.. but it's a military camp.. everyone start like a nothing.. what happened before doesn't count.. trust me i've been in the army for one year... banning her was the right decision... in a real air force acts like that are worst than adirect superir offence.. at least here

[FNGRpony 658]

she probably remember RD.. but it's a military camp.. everyone start like a nothing.. what happened before doesn't count.. trust me i've been in the army for one year... banning her was the right decision... in a real air force acts like that are worst than adirect superir offence.. at least here

I understand that concept, I totally agree with her going out of her way to give rainbow dash a hard time.

 

but I think when she decided to go go with rainbows call, I would liked "we're even" and a wink. 

and yeah i understand why Lightening dust is arguably one of the evilest villains on the show.

(totally elements of disharmony mater rail)

but Spit fire doesn't have this moment of "oh shit." even to herself "I almost really screwed up."

"Or i learned something."

cause that should been her lesson.  Dash already knew what to do.

[Seaweed-Headed Dragon 359]

Lightning Dust? Yeah, I feel bad for her I think she was just like RD, trying to be the best flyer. She just needed some sense knocked in her like Rainbow did. 

 

I wonder what she would be like if she was in season 4......mmmm....who knows maybe

[FNGRpony 658]

Lightning Dust? Yeah, I feel bad for her I think she was just like RD, trying to be the best flyer. She just needed some sense knocked in her like Rainbow did. 

 

I wonder what she would be like if she was in season 4......mmmm....who knows maybe

 

Okay Their doing the E.Games. 

If she's not there I'd be pretty damn pissed.

 

Yeah she's out of the wonder bolts, are you telling me there's no rival team that wouldn't pick her up in a heart beat?

Really?

[skylights 127]

Okay Their doing the E.Games. 

If she's not there I'd be pretty damn pissed.

 

Yeah she's out of the wonder bolts, are you telling me there's no rival team that wouldn't pick her up in a heart beat?

Really?

Maybe she'll be captain of the Shadowbolts :3

[Seaweed-Headed Dragon 359]

Yeah I think that goes for all the characters. I want to see all the old ponies in the new season

Maybe she'll be captain of the Shadowbolts :3

Oh That's a nice idea, Captain of the Shadowbolts..................mmmmm

[FNGRpony 658]

Maybe she'll be captain of the Shadowbolts :3

oh does that make the shadow bolts like cobra ki in karate kid?

 

,,,ooooo i like where that's going.

[Grumpy Enchantress 587]

Yeah, I don't think she did anything wrong and Rainbow Dash was kind of a dick to her and lied about her to get her kicked out. 

[Philocleon 27]

I think that what LD had was a winning at all costs attitude. Even Rainbow Dash, a pony who strives to be her best, knows that the ends don't justify the means. She saw what LD was doing and I think that's one of the reasons why she turned in her badge before LD got the boot.

[Never2muchpinkie 211]

Okay Their doing the E.Games. 

If she's not there I'd be pretty damn pissed.

 

Yeah she's out of the wonder bolts, are you telling me there's no rival team that wouldn't pick her up in a heart beat?

Really?

That would be AWESOME! You've given me something to hope for in the next season!

Yeah, I don't think she did anything wrong and Rainbow Dash was kind of a dick to her and lied about her to get her kicked out. 

Now that's going a bit too far, to say she did NOTHING wrong at all. She had as much attitude as Dash, but none of the compassion behind it. You can't call it a lie, because all the rest of the Mane 6 and all the cadets could corroborate her story. You're making her far too blameless.

[Hive King 2,001]

Lightning Dust was monster that would probably grow up to be a serial killer. She showed no care for the lives of other ponies and only cares about herself. Lightning Dust is the closest thing to a sociopath in MLP. Lack of empathy, poor impulse control, a huge ego, and fake emotions up the wazoo

[Scootadress 361]

On one hoof, she earned what she had done. She earned the fact she was kicked out. She didn't care about what she had done to the other ponies, even going as far as pushing the competition away. This is VERY bad on many levels alone. She pushed herself way too hard, reminding me of the episode of Spongebob that dealt with "YOLO", Larry made everyone feel like she should live higher standards, throw caution in the wind. This was even demonstrated when Spongebob, who previously was the smarter one who AUTOMATICALLY ended up like Patrick later, is sitting on an arrow (a giant Crossbow somehow out of no where) with Patrick and fires off. Larry didn't care that they HAD the giant crossbow, but that they would land and hurt themselves on the sharp thorny island thing. Giant cross bows are allowed, falling into the island thing is not. If they were to NOT fall there, Larry wouldn't have cared. This reminds me of Lightning Dust pushing herself because Larry pushed HIMSELF harder, in in turn, pushed people (er, fish) to do the same when they could have easily been hurt. Except, Lightning Dust doesn't recruit ponies willingly, RD followed her though. 

 

Lightning Dust and Larry are similar suit in the fact they WANT to push themselves, but the idea that others would get hurt make them two very different. (Though, in retrospect, Larry approved of Patrick and his scooter trick.) She was very reckless and didn't care for the ponies she would and did hurt. However, before the tornado, can you really say that they were harmed by the clouds they landed on?

 

This brings me to my other point: The other elements just came there unexpectedly. If they hadn't, how many ponies would be hurt? Would they have managed to steer it away before the others would have been hurt? I can't blame her for hurting the Mane 5 because she wouldn't have known about them in the first place. They were arriving unannounced, I can't really pin her for that. Though, I can sense the Hub made her do that. Remember how Lightning pushed herself on the dizzytron? She's faster then Rainbow Dash but she can't hold the twister? That sounds like a quick fix considering they did the same for Discord before ROH ended.  Anyway, I say half and half.

 

First:

She's very reckless

Cares not for others

Selfish 

 

Second:

I can't fully blame her for the twister because the mane 5 popped up randomly.

Plus: She lost her dream to a pony who WAS just like her to a point. Wasn't that covered in Mysterious Mare Do Well and just in Season 1 alone? RD was just like her. She just needs to learn just like RD had. 

Circumstances too.

 

She should be there, but NOT be in a position of power and should be monitor. Though, part of me says no to that to...

Edited November 19, 2013 by Scootadress

[Hyper Tumble 1,483]

Why should you be? All she did was look out for herself, and that's not how you're supposed to do things in the military (or so I think) 

[Scootalove 10,692]

I do not feel bad for her, and neither should you. Lightning Dust was totally out of line by being reckless, not caring for the safety of others, and pushing herself to the limit only to the point of putting others in harm to get what she wants. If you feel bad for her, good for you but I just feel that putting others in danger especially in the Wonderbolts is something against their protocol.