- “RIVALS FOR LIFE!!!”
- ―Lightning Dust's Last Words, The Washouts
Jennifer Kathleen Lillian Peterson, known professionally as Lightning Dust or LD for short, is a female Pegasus pony in the TV show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. She first appears in season 3 episode 7 titled Wonderbolts Academy and makes subsequent appearances in later episodes, IDW comics and magazines. Her human form appears in the film Malaysia's Most Wanted as a supporting character.
Portrayers[]
Britt Irvin previously played both Lightning Dust and Sunny Flare, but from May 2022 onwards, the 2 characters are voiced separately:
- Lightning Dust is voiced by Brie Larson.
- Sunny Flare is voiced by January Jones.
Appearance[]
Pony Form[]
Lightning Dust's pony form consists of a light turquoise coat, two-tone brilliant amber mane and tail with gold stripes. Her cutie mark is a white lightning bolt with 3 stars: 1 yellow and 2 gold.
Human Form[]
Her human adaptation consists of a dark blue jacket with golden stripes on both sleeves, light blue shirt with her cutie mark, dark green pants and a pair of color matching sneakers with brilliant gold velcro straps.
Depiction In Friendship Is Magic[]
Season 3[]
Lightning Dust first appears in the episode Wonderbolts Academy as a cadet at the Wonderbolt Academy who quickly forms a friendship with Rainbow Dash. However, she ignores Rainbow Dash's injury during an academy team exercise and brushes off the fact that her tornado put Rainbow Dash's friends in danger. Her recklessness and utter disregard for the safety of others eventually lead to her being kicked out of the academy and her team leader status being given to Rainbow Dash.
Season 7[]
Lightning Dust's name is mentioned by Scootaloo in Parental Glideance. She also appears in the same episode as a filly in flashback.
Season 8[]
Lightning Dust returns in the episode The Washouts as the leader and founder of the Washouts, a professional stunt team comprised of fellow ex-Wonderbolts. She and her team members do away with many of the Wonderbolts' safety regulations and perform far more death-defying stunts. Lightning Dust briefly recruits Scootaloo into the Washouts, intending to have her perform an extremely dangerous stunt (in spite of her growing protests) but Rainbow Dash intervenes before she gets seriously hurt during her debut. When Lightning Dust's hoof gets caught on a rope attached to Scootaloo's stunt rocket as it takes off into the sky, she is dragged along with it. As she is pulled into the sky, she declares that she and Rainbow Dash are rivals for life.
Depiction In MLP: EG x Jake and the Never Land Pirates[]
Malaysia's Most Wanted[]
Lightning Dust returns in the film Malaysia's Most Wanted as she bursts out of the portal that leads to Equestria situated just ahead of Canterlot High School (CHS). Upon her arrival to the human world, she began to scream in terror for losing her wings (the same way as Soarin and Spitfire in the second film). She feels uncomfortable at first, but she manages to do so, only to find Canterlot High School (CHS) ahead of her. A confused Lightning Dust left CHS and went to the car.
While on the run to the Mane 10's house, Lightning Dust finds a Yachting Blue Metallic 2010 Porsche Panamera Turbo parked behind the school, much to her joy. She scampered into the Panamera, finds the car's key fob and started the car. After starting the car, she turned on the air conditioning, turn on the cooled seats, wears her seatbelt and began to leave.
After arriving at the Mane 10's house, Lightning Dust is surrounded by an ocean of luxury cars on the driveway owned by the Mane 10 (including Fluttershy's 2013 Porsche Cayenne Diesel and Pinkie Pie's 2013 Porsche Cayenne GTS), leaving her excited. And thus, she spent a night sleeping at the Mane 10's house.
When Midny Sparkle came to the Mane 10's house the next morning, she finds Lightning Dust sleeping on the couch until she pours a red bucket of water onto her, making her wake up in the process. Given the fact that Lightning Dust came to the human world to make some research about a pirate guy with the spiky black hair, red bandana around his forehead and a sword made out of wood, Midny claims Lightning Dust that the pirate guy with the spiky black hair, red bandana around his forehead and a sword made out of wood happens to be Jake until she gives Lightning Dust a DVD of the old Disney Junior TV series Jake and the Never Land Pirates, leaving Lightning Dust shocked as the characters Jake, Izzy and Cubby are the first things that comes to mind when talking about Jake and the Never Land Pirates.
Throughout the film, Lightning Dust and Midny travels across Peninsular Malaysia (Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor) and back to Kuala Lumpur, its capital. After the post credits, she ended up teaching the Young 6 the Malay language.
Sherlock Brianna Motte[]
In the film Sherlock Brianna Motte, Lightning Dust is mentioned by Sweeten Sour to Nahwan Nafisah after meeting her for the very first time, but a boastful Nafisah snaps that she is 80% better than Lightning Dust.
Depiction In MLP: FIM x Jake and the Never Land Pirates[]
Briar Beauty Strikes Back[]
In the film Briar Beauty Strikes Back, Lightning Dust is mentioned by Princess Skystar to Nahwan Nadhirah, Nafisah's little sister becoming close rivals at the Wonderbolt Academy during their late night talk at Mount Aris.
Bouncing Around the World[]
Lightning Dust returns in the film Bouncing Around the World in which she is first seen sitting in the front passenger's seat of Nahwan Nafisah's Black Raven Cadillac Escalade V introducing herself to Alvin Bradley after the poor person climbs onboard.
Throughout the film, Lightning Dust meets both Johan and Jonna Jinton in Grundtjärn, Sweden, crosses every single country in Europe, Asia and into Africa crossing the borders of Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Cameroon and into Nigeria where their journey ends. After days of decontaminating the whole continent, LD is seen attending Nafisah's speech and she also attended the feast with all the other workers until Jake, Sofia and their kids, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, the Mane 10 and the Amber Crew showed up. She is last seen leaving Nigeria in Nafisah's Cadillac Escalade V.
The Secret Life of Brian Jenkins[]
After a long absence, Lightning Dust returns in the film The Secret Life of Brian Jenkins in which she and King Richard comforts a heartbroken Kerfuffle when the king and queen's alicorn daughter went missing for years. Despite being unaware that King Richard had an alicorn daughter, she is committed to ensure Princess Holly Stanton remains unharmed.