@Background Pony #00E4  
I agree.

@Badumsquish  
Havin’ now seen the finale, I feel she was entirely in her right to send her straight to hell, honestly should have been deeper.

chick ’n shake

@royalbardofequestria93  
No.

@Badumsquish  
S8 Finale? You mean when Spike met his dad?

@Red-Supernova  
No argument here XD
 
@Background Pony #00E4  
Don’t click this unless you’ve seen the Season 8 finale: She was totally cool with sending a little kid to literal hell for doing things that were not nearly as bad as other villains she tried to redeem, so it’s like 50/50 odds either way. I think she just flips a coin to decide if to reform or to obliterate :P

@Fwelin  
Not even close.
 
The only problem with Dusty is that she never got a chance in the first place.  
Instead of of getting the additional training and guidance she needed she was humiliated and expelled.
 
All what Dusty needs is a positive influence and some motivation so she can work on her flaws instead of being humiliated again and again.  
Sadly Spitfire completely failed to give her that.
 
Hopefully one of the Mane 6 or Glimmy can help her out.

@Background Pony #00E4  
Lightning Dust is harder to reform than Discord because of their types of behavior. Discord didn’t understand anything about friendship or being an adjusted member of society, so as soon as he learned he could change.
 
Lightning Dust already knows, but refuses to change because she doesn’t care.
 
That doesn’t make it impossible, of course, but saying “x did z, so x could do y” isn’t good evidence.

@Background Pony #00E4  
I would like an episode where that happens and she helps her to become a better pony.  
After all, Twily is a big fan of the Washouts.  

 
 
@Red-Supernova  
Exactly.  
If even Discord can change for the better, Dusty can certainly do that, too.  
All she needs is some motivation.

@Badumsquish
 
I’m sure if twilight was around for any substantial period she’d have tried to help LD.

@Badumsquish  
PFFT! Discord was ten times worse than Starlight and Lightning Dust combined!

Anybody remember when in Men In Black Agent K shook the hell out of Frank? Yea… this reminds me of that.

@Background Pony #CEB7  
Like, I agree that Dust did a ton wrong. Just, if there was like an asshole scale with 1 being like a snide comment and 10 being Kanye West, Dash and Dust were both 4s and Spitfire was like a 6. Conflicted or not, Dash was too absorbed with what SHE wanted to do anything about such reckless behavior. There’s literally zero difference between what Dust did and what Dash did: they both knowingly and willing endangered others to get what they wanted :P
 
I still think Starlight was much worse than Dust, too. Dust had a motive and an end game: be the best at any cost. Starlight was just making people suffer because that made her feel better about being dumped like 20 years ago, and endangering some people on an obstacle course pales in comparison to outright imprisonment, psychological abuse, and borderline torture. Dust is a dick but she’s LEAGUES above Starlight (nevermind Dust was also punished and exiled without a chance to change rather than being given all the second chances and freebies) :P

@Background Pony #CEB7  
Being flawed and reckless doesn´t make her a sociopath.  
Neither does trying to safe face.  
She is just a pony that has still much to learn.  
If you want a sociopath, take Cozy Glow.

@Badumsquish  

Actually Rainbow Dash is clearly conflicted by what is going on well before that point in the story. She tolerates it (uneasily I might add) when the other teams are only being inconvenienced and it’s just herself getting hurt, but the out of control tornado putting others in actual mortal peril is clearly and understandably a step too far. And let’s not forget Lightning Dust’s response to what she’s done.  

For as much as certain parts of this fandom love to whine (incorrectly) about Starlight Glimmer being a “sociopath”, Lightning Dust is a far, far more accurate depiction, given that she literally could not care less about the safety of anyone around her so long as she gets attention.

@TexasUberAlles  
Not enough to do anything about it until her wing was clipped and her friends were endangered, though she wasted no time crying to her boss because she didn’t get the special treatment she believed she deserved. It REALLY shows that up until a rewrite of the ending Dust was supposed to get a second chance, because she and Dash, and Spitfire are all real equally rotten in that episode. Honestly I still think Dust was the least bad of the three; I’d rather have to rely on a jerk-ass like Dust than a selfish whiny little wuss like Dash, or have female Doug Neidermeyer there in charge of me any day of the week D:

She visibly cared all the way through the episode, she was just actin’ the Fluttershy about it and going along with the more dominant personality in the group.

@genervt  
No more reckless or uncaring than Dash, honestly. Dash never cared that her actions were wrong or her teammates in danger either; just that her personal friends were in danger. Really the only depicted difference between Dash and Dust was people Dash DID care about happened to (very VERY stupidly) show up and be endangered. There was seriously never a point in that episode where Dust’s actions or moral scope was any worse than Dash’s (or Spitfire’s, for different reasons); I’m not saying don’t punish Dust, but there’s no fair or moral scenario where only Dust gets punished (let alone one where Dash gets rewarded for some reason) :P

@genervt  
Yes, she’s narrowed her focus from “doesn’t give a damn about anyone” to “doesn’t give a damn about a smaller group of people”, that’s definitely character growth or… something.
 
Both the acting and character animation in that scene made it perfectly clear that she still doesn’t really care, but she’s learned that she needs to act like she does. I still hope she gets the chance to come back again for a story where we find out that she faked it ‘til she maked it and genuinely is sorry for her callousness, but that’s not the story we got this time.

@TexasUberAlles  

 
And no, she is not a scumbag.  
Just reckless.

@Red-Supernova  
She was SAD  
Yeah, lots of scumbags make sadface when the Judge pronounces their sentence and the Bailiff leads them to a cell. It’s not remorse if someone is only sorry because they got caught and punished, and at no point in either of her appearances has LD ever acknowledged that anything she did was wrong in any way. She may not be a “monster”, but she is demonstrably a terrible person, with no regard whatsoever for the welfare of others.

@Red-Supernova  
I know, she was completely heartbroken and devastated when she got kicked out.  
She still waved Dashie goodbye, so she did care for her.  
Dusty might have had a very rough time after her expulsion and developed a grudge against the Wonderbolts.
 
It is really sad to see a great character with much potential wasted like that.  
Hopefully she gets another chance; this time with better writing and a happy ending.

@genervt  
Everyone needs to look at the ending of Wonderbolts Academy again. She wasn’t pissed about being expelled. She was SAD. Either emotion leads to resentment but the latter is proof that she’s not a complete monster as this episode tried to portray her.
 
@Badumsquish  
@genervt  
I remember in the comics, Spitfire said that she had no interest in being a leader and BOY does it show here.

@Badumsquish  
Dusty was indeed resentful about the Wonderbolts.
 
And Spitfires cringy appearance bordered on child abuse.  
It would have been much better if she had a stern but reasonable talk with Scootaloo.

@Red-Supernova  
Even ignoring the likely possibility that Dust being genuinely wronged in Wonderbolts Academy changed her for the worse (an excuse used to justify the awful behavior of countless others in the show), someone else being bad doesn’t automatically put Spitfire in the right. Besides, violently shaking someone else’s child by the throat/shoulders like in this picture is just as bad as Dust’s disregard for Scoot’s safety so she STILL doesn’t have the high road :P