Am I the only one that actually feels bad for this character? (I know I'm not ) This is what I think of her, she's got almost the perfect competitive, go-getter attitude. Yeah she is a bit mean at points, but Rainbow Dash isn't much of a saint either.
She got in trouble for things that really shouldn't have been her fault. One being Rainbow Dash hurting her wing, why is that Dust's fault? RD is suppose to be one of the best flyers even I would expect her to shake that off.
As for the tornado I do think it was rather wreckless, but I think she didn't know that the balloon was there. Besides RD's friends shouldn't have been up there, they just intruded into an obstacle course. It's like if a person was intruding into a military base, but was using a target on a targeting range for hiding.
Everyone is going to have they're take on this character, but I really think she didn't deserve the treatment she got.
I'm all for trying to paint villains in a sympathetic light to add depth to their character, but with Lightening Dust it just doesn't work. The mare nearly killed five ponies and pretty much BRAGGED about it. It'd be different if she'd shown a little remorse, but given the way she responded, I say being demoted was too good for her.
It may not work with you, but to me she isn't a bad character she just doesn't understand empathy and she's also clouded by her own ego to care. Demotion or being kicked out is reasonable since that would hurt her ego and make her think about what she did. There are people out there who have this problem and it may not be their ego, but they don't understand empathy. So whatever they do to other doesn't seem like a bad or good thing until it happens to them because then it would be sympathy.
I agree, I could feel sorry for Lightning Dust...IF she hadn't acted so callously about potentially killing the Mane Six and harming all the other cadets. That's the major reason why I don't like her. Other than that, she's just a ruder, bolder, more brash version of Rainbow Dash, and I do like RD.
Ponyone is different i actually liked Spitfire. She might have been a little overzealous but all she wanted to do was prove she was the best. No one here can say they have never tried to go above and beyond on something, as well as have something they wanted snatched from them.