Featured on 4-16-23!? Holy crap!
Thunder Strike. Ask anypony who's ever met him and they would probably describe him as proud member of Royal Guard; specifically a Lieutenant of the Palace Division. Always doing his very best to maintain the safety and security of the staff and visitors alike, and never hesitating to do what's needed of him.
Ask those that know him and they might tell you how he's a chronic workaholic who's maintaining unhealthy, unreasonable standards for his own conduct and performance leading him to slowly but surely working himself to death, and who desperately needs a vacation before it's too late.
Like it or not, he's going to learn the hard way that nopony, no matter how dedicated they may be, can possibly burn the candle at both ends indefinitely. And perhaps something else along the way.
Interesting start
Looks good, look forward to seeing how this plays out.
always nice to see a royal guard stories, poor guy though.
Does he require a fellow guard to help?
This is very good. I'm giving you six stars for doing a good job. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ya know there ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees.
This is very good, and I've been where this character is. Solid stuff.
He was very lucky. You got me laughing with luna's line
Good chapter
This will be interesting
Good chapter
It will be hard but nesasary, his health is important
I am guessing that his behavior is motivated by trauma.
Thunder Strike should remember anatomy training. You can only push yourself so far for you can only take so much. If he hadn't broken his leg I am sure cardiac arrest wasn't too far away, your heart is a muscle that functions involuntarily after all and no amount of self discipline will change that.
Thunder Strike may be a good guard, but he's pretty much self doubt personified. Needs to work on that.
I bet Luna isn't used to being caught off guard in the dream realm, somepony like her probably thought she had seen it all by now.
Oh dear. But Fritz and lily, simple yet good names you got here. Is Fritz german? Little joke
What would Thunder Strike had done if he had been present for the time Zephyr Breeze has Imitated a guard, making a mockery of everything they stood for?
Dang, they're really going to have to send a memo to inform everyone about certain guards working themselves to death
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Did you try to spell "Imitated" there?
Loved the Kiss on the head. And sometimes, you got to take things by the root
Good chapter
Good grief even Rarity wasn't as diligent, even when faced with a deadline.
I am going to guess that Thunder Strike was abused at the orphanage and mitigated said abuse by stringently adhering to the rules set for him by the staff.
However, the abuse proved to be too much and Thunder Strike ran away. Afterwards, he joined the Royal Guard and, motivated by the fear of returning to his old life, stringently adhered to rules set to him by the organization so as to not be kicked out.
Now stringently adhering to rules has become ingrained in him and he is incapable of reversing it.
I like where this is going. I feel bad for Thunder Strike, I did kind of see coming that he doesn't have a life outside of his job. I'm interested in seeing more of what happened to him.
I am curious about how he got away with that for so long. Even if nopony was looking into him, there should be records indicating that he doesn't have a residence outside of the barracks, and that he basically never leaves the palace.
What a Twist and cant blame the doctor, its sometimes nessesary. But you quite surprised me with the german
I don't see many stories where the usual latin equivalent is german. Neat
I wonder if there are any family members referenced in his file, specifically parents. I'd assume there must be something of his past existence in his file when he first joined: school, parents or guardians, place of birth, whether he was from an orphanage. If those can be found, then the investigation could potentially move to there at some point. But it seems he has begun to open up by the end of this chapter. He's been operating on lockdown, and that's finally been cracked, he seems to have come to a realisation about his life. Still, I'm curious how the story will actually go, there's still plenty to uncover and I have been enjoying it so far.
Good chapter
short but good. now i wanna see that stepladder memory too
Realy nice story so far. Realy strating to like it.
What would happen should Thunder Strike use the mirror pool? The Pinkie's were halfbaked, what would an army of halfbaked Thunders be like?
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In all fairness, Pinkie is often half baked.
But if Thunder had the bright idea to use the mirror pool for whatever reason?
I imagine the first clone created would more or less be identical to him, minus a minor degree of refinement that might be lacking that wouldn't drastically impact the final product.
But if the clone got the bright idea to make a copy of itself? That's when the degradation would start to become more noticeable, with every subsequent cloned generation becoming steadily worse than the last.
If Thunder's sense of duty was as strong in the clones as it is in him, but they lacked the basic sense of self preservation to eat and sleep, they'd be dropping like flies in a matter of days by working themselves to death. All the while annoying their coworkers while trying to secure the palace against all invasion.
what a twist. Makes me wonder about foalhood friends for him
still exited for the actual main story of his healing process and him meeting the main 6
Things seem to be progressing slowly. I would really like to see some more investigation outside of just asking Thunder. If he was an orphan, then he likely went to an orphanage. Other ponies would have gone to or worked at the orphanage, they would have been present when he was younger and may be able to give more insight into his character from an outsiders perspective.
As much as I enjoy this story, I can imagine it getting boring soon if it doesn't stop running in circles soon. Thunder is suppressing his emotions and memories, even to the rulers of Equestria, who are the highest authority. I think that if they could get him to interact again with ponies who were at the orphanage he was in at the time he was in it, it might awaken old memories.
Is this before or after Celestia interviews him to be captain in HIE?
I have a question.
Is there no support service for unadopted orphans after they grow up? Not speahing about houses or alartments, not even a room in the dorm?
And what the hell was he doing all his childhood? Stood around like a bloody idiot? No hobbies, no side interests, no nothing? I highly doubt Equestrian orphanages are akin to concentration camps with wasps for mosquitos and slavedrivers for personnel.
interesting
Is the changeling invasion they're referring to the one Ulquiorra thwarted?
Interesting. So he either seriously hurt someone else or killed them and that's way he throws himself into his work
that was nice,loved the short german too
There's not a single person out there who hasn't daydreamed about breaking his bully's arm
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So...PONIES ARE GERMAN!?
And Thunder Strike...Poor guy.
Trauma from being bullied, seeing others bullied, mocked by old guards and getting yelled at(which CAN cause PTSD) by his caretaker.
But the guilt he feels as well, the suppression and/or repression of emotions plays into it, and he finally cracks.
No matter how stoic you are for too long, you will one day crack. Your mask will break. Nobody is truly invincible to their emotions.
Good chapter. I soo read the German bit wrong.. XD
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Indeed and I just find it a nice touch
And still, you did well
Somewhere a purple alarm light goes off and we get a montage of the Mane6 assembling like it was a fire station going to full alert.
I’ll be honest. I did not know what I was expecting when I started this out of pure boredom and mild curiosity at the thumbnail. And for once I am glad it is just that good. I resonate with Thunder so hard to the point it’s not even funny anymore. Of course I am extremely grateful I haven’t worked myself to death like he almost did, but everything about the self-worth and all the recent revelations hit home hard. I love this story, and I can’t wait for more. Wish you the best of luck, as always.
I half expected Pinkie Pie to pop out of the ether at that no friends comment. Cranky looks mild in comparison. He at least had Steven Magnum and Matilda.
Should we call the Mane Six for some tactical friendship?
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At this point in the story, even they can't help him yet.