Well some of this kinda happened

Ironically, this ended up only being half-foreshadowing, since Lightning Dust ended up part of such a team, but Wind Rider was nowhere to be seen.
 
I asked Jim about it the other day and he said that Wind Rider was never in the script for The Wash-Outs at any point.

@Background Pony #B7AB  
First there is the issue with the restricted military airspace and the fact that Dusty and Dashie did everything together.  
You also didn´t mention that it was Scootaloo who came to her and volunteered for the stunt. She knew about the lack of safety and she knew what stunt she was supposed to do.  
Dusty may be reckless but not a sociopath.
 
It is very interesting that only a few episodes earlier a certain yak was almost drowned and attacked by a bugbear.  
But of course that is different because of double standards.
 
No, Dusty has certainly not gotten the respect she deserves.  
When will you realize that humiliation does not work?

@TexasUberAlles  

Seriously. I mean, you would think her low point in the series would be the time she pushed for the creation of a tornado solely to win an event she and Dash were already way ahead in, lost control of it, knocked half of her fellow trainees out of the sky, nearly killed the majority of Rainbow’s friends, and then completely brushed off to everything that had happened as unimportant. But trying to guilt trip a filly desperate to prove herself into a dangerous and untested stunt, and then ignoring her desire to back out and forcing her to go ahead with it anyway? She’s either trying to set an academy record in callous indifference, or she’s legitimately a sociopath.
 
And you know, it’s not like I’m entirely unwilling to forgive her, but she’s never done anything to warrant doing so. Nor even the slightest hint she cares about the consequences of her irresponsible and negligent actions. So yeah, she really has gotten the kind of respect she deserves.

@TexasUberAlles  
I could not disagree more.  
She deserved so much better than she got.  
The ending of The Washouts was downright insultingly bad.

Lightning Dust has gotten exactly the respect she deserves. I really wish she’d gotten on board the redemption train and still think there’s time for it– and that she’d be a much better character for it– but the LD we’ve seen onscreen so far is a jerkass, and she got a jerkasses’s outro both times.

@genervt  
I’m not letting this series die without it.

@Red-Supernova  
Indeed.  
Hopefully she will get finally the respect she deserves in a future episode.

@genervt  
But the way she was written was still disrespectful.

And now Dusty formed the superior team, the Washouts.  
Without Wind Rider.

At least since Non-Compete Clause Dashie has lost the right to reproach Dusty.  
I demand a redemption.
 
 
@Yukito_097  

 
You are completely right.  
Wonderbolt Academy was an awful episode with a horrible ending.  
It was a mistake that needs to be corrected.

>to form the Anti-Wonderbolts
 
>Anti-Wonderbolts
 

Not sure if I should ship them or have them be master and apprentice Sith-style…

@TexasUberAlles  
Honestly I’d love a legion of doom minor antagonist situation (Lightning dust, suri, ect.), but since the comics are already running with that plot (And kind of wasting it, seeing as how its clearly a B plot to the actual going ons), I doubt we’ll get one in the show :(  

@TexasUberAlles  
Very true.

@Pagan  
he could be an interesting return character  
It’s even more baffling than Sombra being relegated to the Comic Continuity that LD hasn’t had a return episode, she seems tailor made for either a redemption story or a double-down villainy story. Maybe in the Season Finale; if Gilda– built from the start to be a one-off character with a beginning/middle/end story– can get a return as part of an interesting worldbuilding episode, anything’s possible.

This has been going on for awhile so I’ll just say this the episode was written in mind for LD to be the bad guy and RD to learn a lesson because of her and be the good guy so from an episode standpoint it’s black and white and LD was bad.
 
This does not mean however she cannot be redeemed she definitely could be and she could be an interesting return character.

@Yukito_097  
not necessarily a true reflection of their personalities  
No, it was the preceding 20 minutes of episode that reflected their true personalities, and all the way through LD demonstrated that she was selfish and amoral nearly to the point of sociopathy; at no point did she show any concern whatsoever for anypony but herself, and she only looked guilty at all after she got cut from the team. She never once indicated even the slightest amount of give-adamn for the teammates she had blown off course, and when Dash was injured because of her, her response was a dismissive, “Oh, you’re fine.”; When Dash ticked off a list of all the asshole things she’d done that had endangered the lives of both her teammates and a gang of random civilians, her response was, “Yeah… and?”, indicating quite clearly that she didn’t even understand why anything she had done was a problem at all. Her attitude was never anything but smug superiority, casual dismissiveness, and a total lack of interest in how her recklessness affected the other candidates, either as individuals or as a team. I say again, her personality was absolutely not appropriate for either military service or a precision flying team; she was a solo hotshot with no concept of teamwork, and that’s the sort of thing that gets people killed in the Wonderbolts’ line of work.
 
@Jarkes  
temporary suspension  
I actually hope that was the case, because the character has a lot of potential if she’s brought back- either as a hero or a villain– but the imagery of having one’s rank insignia ripped off in front of a crowd by an officer is pretty solidly established as being summarily drumheaded out of a service entirely.

@Jarkes  

 
Maybe she showed no remorse BECAUSE nobody got hurt. You know that moment where you’re with a group of friends walking through town, and one trips over? You’re concerned for a second but after they get up and show they’re not bleeding and aren’t suffering any damage, you all have a good laugh over it.
 
Same here. Had somepony been hurt, or even killed, the situation would’ve been difference. From LD’s perspective, nopony got hurt because her fellow cadets did a great job saving them. From LD’s perspective, there’s no reason to cry and, in fact, every reason to CELEBRATE.
 
Now I’m not saying whether her viewpoint is right or wrong, but I can certainly understand it and, yeah, no harm no foul. I guess you can call it ‘extreme optimism’ - looking so much on the bright side you miss the whole picture. What’s interesting is that when a main character has this trait in other shows, people tend to find them humourous and love the character for it, but I digress.
 
You also gotta consider that this was in the heat of the moment. Just as LD got a rush of adrenaline seeing everpony - including her wingpony - save the four mares’ lives (Fluttershy doesn’t count as… y’know, wings), RD herself seemed to suddenly snap and start telling off LD, talking to her like the two were mortal enemies. Now, in the original cut of the episode, we see them as friends again, with their roles reversed. In this cut, I guess it just ends with Dashie deciding that friendship is simply too much of a chore this time and cuts all ties with her.
 
Regardless, their words and actions right after the incident was resolved were most likely fueled by the heat of the moment, so not necessarily a true reflection of their personalities.

I still maintain that Lightning Dust merely got a temporary suspension to give her time to think about what she did and was let back in later.
 
@Telaros
 
Sorry, but no. Whether she intended to or not, the fact that Lightning Dust showed no remorse whatsoever and brushed off nearly killing several ponies just because nopony got hurt, and then trying to pin the blame on the Mane Six, which btw is basically saying, “It’d be THEIR fault if they HAD gotten killed, not Lightning Dust’s”, is the problem. I may think that she merely got a temporary suspension, but I’m not going to pretend that she did nothing wrong and is this perfect little angel whose “dreams were crushed.” Whatever ultimately happened to her at the end was HER fault, and hers alone.

@TexasUberAlles  
Equicidal behavior? Are you nuts? She’s brash, reckless, and a DAREDEVIL. She didn’t TRY to kill anyone. Don’t try to exaggerate events. She only got more daring with each praise Spitfire gave her. To prove they were the best. She believed that what she and Dash were shoe-ins and wanted to try something to speed up the cloud course.
 
HOW can you or anyone blame her for what almost happened to the ponies in the balloon? They were saved, by RD. Others already had things handled. It was an awesome display of heroism. So yeah, give Dashie a praise and she blows up on her, LD gets defensive and reminds RD about how Spitfire believes LD’s ways are the right way. LD BELIEVED she was made lead pony BECAUSE she always pushes herself to the limites, isn’t afraid to get creative and take risks.
 
Lightning Dust may be over competitive, but how else are you going to go into a place that will only pick a select few to join the Wonderbolts? That episode tried to make competition seem evil. But they wrote themselves into a corner and needed a fast resolution. So LD got the axe, someone actually cut the ending to decide that destroying a mare’s dream was the right course for the show.
 
Such a lovely episode that showed us the MAGIC OF FRIENDSHIP that RD would even leave Pinkie Pie sitting all depressed with the very cake, now crushed much like her spirits, behind as she ignored Pinkie and flew off with her sought after gold lead pony badge she lovingly got for throwing Lightning Dust under the bus.
 
Lightning Dust got screwed over. Oh, wow, she didn’t seem all that distraught because ponies were saved and she even dared to give a compliment to RD and defend her leadmareship. You act as if we were supposed to know those idiots be flying into the course on a balloon. THERE WAS NO PONY AHEAD OF THEM! ALL WAS CLEAR! SHE LOST CONTROL! ACCIDENTS THAT RD KNEW COULD HAVE HAPPENED HAPPENED.
 
The other stuff? Hey, sure, RD felt bad leaving the other teams in the cloud banks. But she got over those pretty fast. So whose the bad guy now? She relished in her victories, at others’ expense, with only a slight pang of guilt. Doesn’t excuse the fact RD agreed and went along with the stuff each time.
 
Lightning Dust is not a murderer. She’s out to prove herself to the world. She’s top tier flyer material. She worked hard to get there. More so then RD apparently given how she handled the dizzy-tron. And yeah, she’s reckless and a jerk. Something Spitfire supposedly TRUSTED RD to balance out. So in that sense, RD FAILED LD in being a good wingpony.

Factions will be a thing in MLP now? I like this idea.

@RaineV1  
FORESHADOWING.

@621Chopsuey  
Yes, actually. In one of the books Dash and Dust are still friends.

@Telaros  
Lightning Dust gets tons of undeserved hate  
She gets tons of bizarrely undeserved love, that’s for sure, but what you’re calling “hate” is completely justified; the character is an unrepentant asshole and a danger to everypony around her. Going all Ends Justify The Means about it and trying to excuse her almost-equucidal behavior because– thanks entirely to Rainbow Dash, by the way– nopony actually got hurt is ignoring the fact that not once did she show even the slightest amount of genuine concern for anypony but herself, and that is absolutely not an acceptable mindset for either a precision flying team or a paramilitary unit. Doing something which is violently reckless and has the potential to cause great harm is a moral and criminal offense all on its own, even if no actual harm occurs; yes, if somepony had been hurt Dash would have shared culpability for it, but ringleaders and instigators are always more culpable than those they convince to follow them, and once it was obvious that an unannounced airship was in danger, what was their reaction? While Dash– pushing herself harder for the sake of others than she had done for her own benefit– immediately rushed in for a desperate attempt to save the civilians, Dust literally flew around congratulating herself for being awesome.
 
I’m sorry, but while Lightning Dust is a great character and I sincerely hope she gets a return-and-redemption arc, she’s a great antagonist character, and 100% undeserving of praise or admiration.