> A day in the life of Rain Storm
>  by Askre
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1

I really hate two things. When my oldest brother calls my Babyface, just because I still sort of look like a teenage colt even if I’m well in my twenties and when I’m rudely awoken the next morning after some heavy partying. I mean seriously, is it too much to consider that some of us like to sleep it off? So what happens when both of those are combined together? Oh you wouldn’t believe how much I’m tempted to kill my brother.

“Hey Babyface! Get up!” The loud voice of my oldest brother Tornado interrupts my blissful dreamless sleep as he loudly lets a hoof hammer on my bedroom door.

“Get lost, I have a hangover!” I try to speak loud enough to be heard but without causing me too much pain. And it is Rain Storm, you bucking idiot.

“Suck it up and get up. The boss needs us for something.” Tornado shows his usual tenderness towards his youngest brother. It’s almost tempting to just ignore him, but unless I want the door kicked down have him come drag me out of the bed, I had better listen.

“Fine I’m coming,” I grumble and drag myself to my hooves. I wonder what in Tartarus the boss wants with us so early in the morning, I don’t have a shift in the gym until the afternoon and far as I know nothing needed fixing in the building.

Alright, so looking at the clock and seeing it’s seven in the morning tells me I should be in bed. Now I really want to kill Tornado even more, seriously what could the boss be wanting so early? He probably drank the most at the party last night.

Another knock and I sigh relenting to the reality that I really do not control my life. I live here under the good graces of Tornado, I stumble to the door and open it, half ready to tell him to buck off and that I’m coming. It’s not him however on the other side this time, it’s my second oldest brother, Thunder Cloud, the one I like more when he isn’t being too lazy.

“Hey Rain, Tornado was just stepping out, told me to check if you weren’t coming,” he says and chuckles. “Wow, you still look wasted.”

“Gee I wonder why that is?” I snort and push past him, not caring if I’m late or not for whatever our employer wants us for. I go to the bathroom.

“Don’t be too long, we’ll meet you downstairs,” I hear Thunder call after me.

“Get lost, I’ll take as long as I want!” I snap, in no mood to feel polite with this killer hangover. My brother just chuckles and I hear him leave the apartment.

The mirror tells me what Thunder Cloud was talking about. My mane is messy, my coat is messy, I think the only thing that’s not a mess is the bathroom around me. I take a moment to make myself a little more presentable with the brush, after cleaning it since both Tornado and Thunder used it first.

Once that’s done and other necessary business taken care of, I head out. My brothers and I live on the top floor of the apartment building, we don’t necessarily have the best one but it’s still big enough to contain the three of us. I’m just grateful we don’t have the ugly green wallpaper that’s out in the corridors, Thunder and I had painstakingly painted ours white after moving in with Tornado.

I don’t bother with the stairs, one good thing about being a Pegasus is that you can just glide down. Once I’m on the bottom I can see several ponies, including my brothers clearly waiting for me just outside the apartment building. Only Tornado looks impatient, the others look chill enough so I figure I’m not as late as I thought.

As I suspected, only my oldest brother turns to glare at me when I step outside, the others just look up, some nod my way and I hear tired ‘hey Rain’ from others. Tornado looks like he’s about to say something to me but then the dark gray Unicorn standing close by interrupts him. He’s called Barricade, though most of us call him the boss, because he is in charge of everything, the apartment building, the gym and the gang.

“Save it, Tornado, he’s no later than the rest of you,” he snorts and puffs on a cigarette. Looks like he’s in no better shape than the rest of us. Barricade rarely smokes but he can be found with a cigarette when he has a hangover.

“Great party last night, so why are we awake?” I hear someone say, I glance over it’s a dark green Earth Pony, Blazer, I don’t think he lives in the apartment building though.

“Oh believe me Blazer, I wouldn’t mind still being in bed with Goldie, but do you remember what I told you before the party? Don’t drink if you can’t handle waking up before seven and be here. You remember why I said that?” Barricade growls and takes the cigarette out of his mouth using his magic, twirling it as he glares at the pony whose only answer is silence.

“Uh because you want the gym cleaned before it opens?” a big blue Earth Pony speaks up instead, Barricade’s right hoof stallion, Blue. What an original name his parents thought up.

“Blue, remembers it, hang your heads in shame guys, Blue could remember it and none of you could,” the boss berates us. Of course, the party was at the gym and before midday Barricade likes to keep it presentable enough for ponies not in the gang and are just there for the exercise and not hanging out with fellow members.

I notice that Blue didn’t seem bothered by Barricade’s remark, it was no secret the big guy wasn’t the sharpest around, but the fact that he took no offense at the jabs was nothing short of amazing. Have to admit, it is rather bad when it is Blue who is the first one to catch on, he’s usually the last.

“Barbell opens the gym in one and half hour, if you want to crawl back to your beds, you better march over there and clean it up in less than that time,” Barricade growls and flicks the cigarette away, then starts to head down the street. None of us say anything and just follow.

I hang back a bit, walking next to Thunder Cloud. Tornado as usual walks right behind Barricade and Blue who are in the lead. Our dear older brother is always ready to kiss the boss’s ass, probably thought he could get some extra points for getting me and Thunder out quickly.

“Ugh, I can’t believe we drew the short straw to clean up after the party,” I hear Thunder remark with a halfhearted chuckle. I frown, I don’t recall drawing anything.

“Wait, we drew who would have to drag themselves up at this hour to clean up?” I whisper to him; my brother looks at me mildly confused.

“Yeah, don’t you remember drawing the cleanup duty from the basket?” he asks.

“No, no I don’t,” I growl and glare at the backend of my other brother. There was absolutely no need for me to be here, Tornado just dragged me out because he is a prick.

“Look if you didn’t draw cleanup duty, go talk with the boss, I’m sure you can go back to bed,” Thunder says and nods his heads towards the front line.

“Ugh, might as well just tag along,” I mutter. I really don’t want to admit it but, Barricade scares me a little bit and I try avoid having to talk with him too much first hoof. Sure he has given me orders, telling me what to do and stuff like that, but I tend not to address him first unless I absolutely have to.

Thunder shakes his head, yeah I know I’m being a pushover, you don’t have to remind me. Then he unfolds his wings and takes off, flying over to Barricade. Oh please don’t tell me… he isn’t….

“What?” I hear Barricade snort then he glances back in my direction. “Rain, you didn’t draw from the basket?”

“Um… ah… ye…no… not really?” I fumble with the words.

“Buck that, get lost then, go back to bed,” Barricade snaps at and waves his hoof dismissively. “Just don’t forget your shift!”

This stops me in my tracks, I can hear Tornado snort, but Thunder just tells him to shut up and the group continues on without me. Damn, I’m free to go home, Sweet Celestia, I waste no time to fly right back.





It’s eleven when I wake up again in much better mood, but my shift at the gym isn’t for another two hours so I just lay still in bed staring at the ceiling. It’s then I realize how little I actually do these days. I have a shift in the gym either in the morning or in the afternoon. Then it’s really just doing nothing unless Barricade needs help fixing something up in the apartment building, he usually only has Blue and Tornado help him, but sometimes Thunder and I help as well.

Then in the evenings it’s just hanging out with the gang, Barricade’s managed to get a good tight hold on the Hoofington area here in Manehattan, so we don’t get as much trouble as I’m told they always had in the early days. There are other gangs from other areas that sometimes come to cause us trouble, but they are usually beat back quickly. We sometimes retaliate but I rarely take part in that unless they really need more ponies.

I didn’t use to take part in any of that. Heck I used to have a far more respectable job as a weather pony in Manehattan. Thunder was working there as well. The problem was, because I was the responsible brother, our supervisor felt I should keep Thunder in check. Yeah sure why not, I’ll order the guy around who's been raising me since our parents died. That’ll work. Braindead idiot. It worked so well that when Thunder slept on the job one day and I wasn’t even aware of it, he got fired and me too for not keeping an eye on him.

We had been aware of Tornado’s involvement in Barricade’s gang, but decided not to take any part in it before. So, you can imagine how much the bastard laughed his rump off when we had to come crawling to him for help landing jobs and a place to live, because we lost our apartment as well since we could no longer make the rent.

Barricade turned out to be fine though, eh he can be a brash jerk but he isn’t unfair. When Tornado thinks he can saddle me with dirty work, he’s turned it around and had my brother do it instead. It also helps to have Thunder around; he often keeps our brother off my back when he can.

Still doesn’t change that I think that Unicorn is scary as Tartarus. He could probably snap my spine in half if he wanted too. I’ve seen him lift weights I can barely budge and yes I use the gym equipment. It sucks being so small and everybody else is so large. Seriously I’m over twenty and I still look like I’m 16.

The clock is now eleven thirty and my stomach is growling. Food is necessary I suppose, I think I ate something before crashing back in the bed, then again maybe not. I crawl once more out of bed, but hey at least it’s voluntarily this time and head out of my room. I head into the kitchen which actually shares space with the living room. Crashed on the couch is Thunder. Guess he didn’t make it to his own room after cleaning the gym.

I let him sleep, the least I can do after he got me out of cleaning duty. So I just busy myself making a sandwich. I can’t see Tornado, he’s either asleep in his room or stayed at the gym, unless Barricade has dragged him off somewhere to help him.

Wonder how much work he managed to evade, I wonder as I glance at my sleeping brother. As much as I care for him, it can’t be denied that if Thunder thinks he can get away with it, he will skip a job.

Once my sandwich is ready I head to an unoccupied seat and start eating. I wonder what I should do before heading to the gym, it’s almost tempting to just show up early. Thunder Cloud then wakes up in hilarious way, he sort of gives this loud snorting snore sound, then sits up like a spring and looks half dazed around, his wings all over the place and his yellow coat even more a mess than mine was earlier in the morning.

“What the Tartarus was that?” I laugh.

“I’ll get back to you on that,” Thunder mumbles clearly not sure what just happened either, he slumps off the couch and drags himself to the bathroom, he doesn’t even bother folding his wings.

Well this sandwich isn’t going to finish itself so I continue eating. I can hear the shower start so I guess that’s where my brother will be for the next few minutes. Once my breakfast is done, I grab a magazine from the table and start reading, then throw it back because it’s one of Tornado’s porno magazines.

I don’t mind a bit of erotica myself, but Tornado has this habit of recoloring the mares and even draw wings on them. He is fixated on this mare that lives in Fillydelphia he tried getting to by stupidly dating her sister first like that was going to help him, so if Tornado owns the magazines he tries to change them to satisfy himself.

Even Barricade has told him he’s being pathetic about it; he’s also told him to stay away from that mare. Apparently, the sister in question later dated Barricade and they had a kid. They broke up but apparently Barricade still has some feelings for her and has told any of us that we better stay away from both her and her sister, they are off limits to any of us even him.

Carefully I go through the pile of magazines to find something that’s not been vandalized by Tornado. I also ignore Thunder’s because his entertainment has bit too many stallions for my taste. Can’t find nothing that Tornado’s crayons haven’t touched, damn, the bastard even “fixed” some that I know I bought. That does it, I’m keeping mine in my room from now on.

“Horseapples,” I grumble and stand up. Thunder returns to the living room at that moment. “Tornado ruined my magazines.”

“Well crap, I’ll buy you new ones,” he offers as he heads to the kitchen area.

“You don’t have to,” I say and follow since I want to get another soda.

“Eh, need to buy myself something new anyway, might as well use the trip,” he counters me as he begins fixing his own breakfast, though at this point it’s more correct to call it lunch.

“Wish we could get our own apartments or something,” I grumble and lean on the wall as I drink my soda.

“Yeah well you know what the boss says, if we get our own apartment, we don’t get any special privileges, we pay the same as everypony else and we can’t afford it, better stay in this one and split the rent three ways,” he points out. “I know Tornado is a prick, but until either of us can find and land a better job, we need to suck it up and just live with him.”

“Yeah I suppose,” I mutter not really in a mood to argue, besides he’s right. The only thing we’re properly qualified for is weather service. Considering how our last job there went, I doubt we would be getting glowing reviews from our old boss to give a prospective employer.

Would be more tolerable if he stopped calling my Babyface. I finish my drink and throw the can away. “I’m hitting the gym early.”

“What?” Thunder looks at the clock on the wall. “You shift isn’t for another hour?”

“Yeah, but not all of us are lazy asses who come an hour late to their shifts,” I chuckle with a smirk.

“Oh buck off then.” Thunder mock glares at me before grinning and starts digging into his breakfast, lunch, brunch or whatever it would be called by now.





Even if Thunder and I didn’t join the gang until later, we were members of The Barricade as the gym is named. Weather ponies do have to keep in shape and we figured even if we didn’t approve of our brother’s life style, we might as well exercise in the place he worked in. So when Thunder screwed up our old job, Barricade didn’t mind take us on as part timers in the gym since we knew everypony and were familiar with the equipment.

I head inside once I land in front of it, ah love the music they have on now, it’s a classic with Sapphire Shores. Great rhythm in it to work out with. I don’t get very far, the moment I enter I notice Barbell, the boss’s main girl and Blue’s sister, is immediately signaling for me to come to the counter.

“Hey Rain, could you take over here at the counter for a second, I need to go to the bathroom, badly,” she says. Well crap, I had hoped to get in some reps before my shift started. Then again she only has to go to the bathroom.

“Uh sure,” I shrug and jump behind the counter. Barbell immediately runs off to where the bathrooms are located.

The counter is in such a location near the door that you can see immediately who enters, but you can also if you turn slightly see over most of the gym. I can see that Blue is hard at work in one of the presses and Tornado is lifting further inside. I see no sign of the boss, but that could mean he’s either not in or in his office. A lot of ponies are in today but I notice immediately that these are just regular gym members. The only gang ponies in right now is my brother and Blue.

Ugh I’m already getting bored, I don’t like counter duty. I much prefer helping the ponies with the equipment, I might not be a qualified trainer but I can show the newbies how things are done, it also helps burn the energy. Thunder loves being at the counter, then he rarely has to do anything. Typical.

The door opens and a golden brown mare with red stylish mane enters, wearing a black jacket. Gold Shovel, the boss’s other girl, we really just call her Goldie most of the time. She spots me at the counter, smiles and swings herself over.

“Hey Rainy, where is Barbell?” she asks as she places one front leg on the table.

“Peeing, crapping or both,” I shrug and lazily trace a circle on the counter with my hoof. Goldie giggles at my description.

“Is Barricade in?” she then wonders.

“No idea, was just arriving myself when Barbell asked me cover for her while she went to the bathroom,” I say and lean forward until I lay half on the counter now. I glance at her. “I thought you didn’t work on weekends, needed to study.”

“Eh, finished everything, hoping Barricade or Barbell allow me to work a little today, could use the extra money,” Goldie says and shrugs.

“You really think you’ll get a respectable job as a journalist after working here and be associated with a gang?” I can’t help but wonder, Goldie is actually studying journalism and by the looks of it is doing well. Barricade tends to have her work in shifts that don’t conflict with her studies.

“Hey, I don’t have to tell everything about me, besides I have never done anything illegal, I got no record.” She just smirks cheekily at me.

She got a point there I suppose. Then a shadow falls over us as Barricade is suddenly with us. I have no idea where he came from, I was too busy talking with Goldie. I jump back when he slams his hoof on top of the counter.

“Wake up Sunshine, thought you would have been more awake after all this extra bed time I gave you,” he snorts at me but is smirking. Then he looks at Goldie. “What brings your sexy rump in here? Don’t you know it’s Sunday?”

“My sexy rump wants to work for few hours,” she simply responds and wags her rump back and forth.

“Celestia and Luna, if you need money, Goldie, I can just give it to you,” Barricade grunts and doesn’t look too convinced.

“Yeah no, you are behind in those foal supports you still owe to those foals you seem to have all over Equestria, Barbell has told me. I will work for the money,” Goldie says and puts on a far more serious face than I usually see her with, then again she and Barbell seem to know how to handle him.

“First of all, I only have three confirmed kids and one of them lives with me, second…” Barricade halts and seems to be considering, before he sighs in surrender. “Fine, get changed and go see if there are any gym members who need help.”

Goldie smiles, pats the boss on the cheek before heading to the locker rooms. Barricade shakes his head before looking at me, I half expect being berated for having looked lazy on the job, but he just grins before heading further into the gym.

Speaking of the boss’s kids, the door opens again and I see a dark grayish brown filly flutter inside, Cara, Barricade’s daughter that lives with him. She is carrying a saddlebag and I can see it’s stuffed with something. I’ve sometimes been roped into looking after her, even if she declares she doesn’t need looking after.

“Hey kid,” I greet her and she stops to glare at me.

“I’m not a kid, I’m almost twelve,” she snaps, I just chuckle and raise my hooves.

“Don’t shoot, I know how you feel.” I grin. She is small for her age, ponies have often thought she was seven or eight, so I kind of do know she feels.

Cara flies over and lands on top of the counter, she is still glaring at me. It’s really easy to tick the kid off, she really has a temper. Barricade swears it comes from her mother and not him, still it’s amazing how well the two get along.

“I’m sorry I called you kid.” I’m so trying not to laugh, but Cara looks so cute trying to intimidate me with her glare. “Your dad is in here if you’re looking for him.”

“I’ve always wondered, are you dark blue or dark gray?” she asks, that does cause me to look at my coat. I would have personally just called myself dark blue gray or something like that, but we apparently got million and one words for the same color, so apparently on official records I’m dark Persian bluish gray, whatever that means.

“Let’s just go with dark blue gray,” I say, not really wanting to go into color discussion with her.

“Cara!” We look over when hearing Barricade shout. He’s clearly noticed the arrival of his daughter.

“You know you’re not supposed to bother the ponies that are working.” He then pointedly waves her to come over, right now. Cara gives an indignant snort before flying up and heads over to him.

I just wave her as she leaves. Cara then starts talking with her father, but I’m too far away to hear it as now they talk in lower voices. She then struts to the office and disappears inside. Finally, I see Barbell come from the bathroom, must have been one big dump, I’m almost ready to change place with her when much to my horror Barricade calls her over.

Great, I’m going to be stuck with counter duty aren’t I? Oh this is just so typical of my luck, but I just can’t work a nerve to protest. If Barricade wants me to be at the counter, I best be at the counter.

Resigning myself to my fate I just get more comfortable behind the counter, hopefully I can get Thunder to take over when he comes for his shift. Barricade doesn’t care which duties we take care of, just as long as the customers are happy and nobody is complaining to him that they don’t receive assistance from the staff.

“Hey Rain, thanks for covering for me, you can go do whatever, the boss might know if someone needs help.” I’m a little surprised to hear Barbell address me. I look to my side and there is the grayish opal mare.

“Uh sure, I thought the boss already wanted you for something,” I say as we switch places. It’s a little weird sometimes hearing her refer to Barricade as boss, since they live together in the same apartment.

“Nah, just telling me that Cara was here and remind me to take her with me when I leave in an hour,” she says and shrugs.

“Something wrong? He’s never minded the kid being around before,” I ask as I lean on the counter on the other side this time around.

“No it’s nothing, she is just getting older, just a year until she hit’s the teens and she’s already becoming a hoofful and she was that already as little kid, he just isn’t in a mood to deal with her, you know how the boss is.” Barbell rolls her eyes and shakes her head.

Wonder if it had something to do with the backpack she was carrying, I wonder, she didn’t steal tools from the hardware store again did she? Ever since she got her cutie mark, a screwdriver and a wrench forming an X on her flank, I’ve heard she keeps badgering her dad for more tools. She also managed to dismantle one of the machines here in the gym, then put it back together.

Well whatever it was, nothing I need to deal with. Since I don’t need to change, as I’m already naked as most other ponies, I just head to the gym proper. I’m in the process to decide where to do my warm ups when Barricade is suddenly right next to me, I didn’t even notice him standing there nearby.

“Rain, I need the core guys to be around after closing time, so don’t head home when your shift is over,” he tells me and gives me friendly slap on the back. I inwardly cringe, this means something is up and he only wants the core members to be present for it. That’s Blue, both my brothers and I. Barbell and Goldie are also part of the core, but they usually refrain taking part in the more violent part of the gang. Though they will show up when we do a gathering just hang out somewhere else than the gym. I don’t even know how I managed to be part of the core, can’t be because of Tornado like that prick treats Thunder and I at times.

It’s almost tempting to ask what’s up, but I know better. Too many regular customers around to be talking about that, Barricade has a strict rule of no gang related business in the gym during opening hours, even if the gang usually comes here to hang out in the afternoon.

Well nothing much to do but nod and acknowledge that you got it. Barricade walks away to talk to Blue. I decide to go to the treadmills to warm up and get a little exercise going before my shift starts.


End chapter 1
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2

I’ve been working for few hours now and I’m taking a break near the snack machine when I see Thunder arrive for work. Amazingly he is only half an hour late, that has got to be a record for him. Tornado is by the counter and stops him to talk by the looks of it.

My brothers don’t look to happy though, I decide to sneak closer to see if something is up. Then again it could just be Tornado trying to lord it over Thunder and our middle brother is having none of it.

“…call me irresponsible when you can’t even show up on your shifts in time,” I hear Tornado snort. Well granted, he does have a point there, this is not the first time Thunder is late for work. On the other hoof, Barricade doesn’t really care what we part timers do as long as we show up within a reasonable margin. I’ve heard the boss joke that I balance thing out for Thunder because I show up early.

“Oh I’m sorry, I forgot you’re suddenly in charge here,” Thunder says mockingly. “It’s of course the high and mighty Tornado who rules all. Tell you what, when Barricade gives me flack for being late, I’ll stop coming late okay?”

That can’t be good, they are going to argue. Thunder might just get his wish, especially if they are going to continue in public. They haven’t noticed me and I think I’m just going to keep it that way.

“Hey, you and Babyface would be out on the streets if you hadn’t come crawling for me for help!” Tornado growls, his wings are rising in irritation. I roll my eyes at the usual hated nickname, but don’t do much more because I also notice that other ponies are noticing the argument.

“Will you stop calling him that. His name is Rain Storm, you braindead idiot! Why are you always belittling him? You treat him like trash, make him do work he doesn’t even have to do. Barricade is maybe a jerk at times but he isn’t a bloody tyrant like you’re apparently trying to be!” Thunder snarls, his own wings flaring up in anger. I should step in; I’m just loving it too much seeing my second oldest brother chew out our oldest.

As lazy and irresponsible as Thunder can be, I’ve always looked up to him. He didn’t even hesitate to take me in when our parents died. The thing is, he just likes to take life easy, he’s in no rush. Sure this attitude can sometimes bite him in the rump, but he just shrugs it off and says life goes on.

The argument is getting heated, they are speaking loudly enough that it can even be heard over the music. This can’t end well, I wonder if I should just go and get Barricade. I can’t see Blue anywhere, Barbell is long gone home and Goldie is further inside the gym.

“I could ask you why you are always defending that little snot. Our parents couldn’t care less about us after he was born, it was all him, him, him. We were just second fiddle to him, he got away with everything. You should have just let that runt go to foster home.” Tornado’s words, sting. I didn’t know that’s how he felt about me. I am the youngest by far, I’m ten years younger than him, nine years younger than Thunder, they had both moved out when I was still a kid.

I start to back away, just don’t have the energy to intervene. Thunder’s gotten really mad, he is already swinging his hoof to hit Tornado. I cringe and just wait for the eventual fight to commence.

The kick never connects. An indigo magic aura has grabbed Thunder’s hoof holding it in place, another aura has grabbed Tornado by the throat. I blink in confusion for a moment, but then glance to the boss’s office. Barricade is out, his horn is glowing and he’s scowling at my brothers.

“The two of you! My Office! NOW!!” the unicorn snarls and gives them such a death glare that Thunder’s anger vanishes and Tornado’s wings drop and hang limp from the sides. Barricade let’s go of them and waits until my brothers’ shuffle over and disappear into the office before following them.

“Well, uh sorry about that, now let’s get back to exercising,” I hear Goldie shout trying to sound cheerful, I wonder if she witnessed Thunder almost hitting Tornado.

“Rain, can you take the counter?” she then calls to me. I’m in no mood to argue so I just go do that. I’m once again behind the counter though this time I’m not sure if I would have had the energy to do anything else.

Wow, this was not the direction I expected this argument to go in. Sure Thunder and Tornado have argued before, but it’s usually just name calling and crap like that and once they have cooled down they go back to barely tolerating one another. I suppose it was only a question of time it came to blows.

“Hey, Rain, ya know what that noise was all about?” Blue is suddenly by the counter; I think I saw him come out of the bathroom.

“Huh? Oh, just Tornado and Thunder arguing… again. Thunder came in late, Tornado didn’t like it, so they started arguing about it.” I shrug halfheartedly.

“What business is it of Tornado’s if Thunder Cloud is late? The boss doesn’t care as long he isn’t too late.” Blue arches his brow in mild confusion. This really further shows that Tornado isn’t has high in the pecking order as he likes to think he is, Blue for all his slow uptake has pretty firm grasp on who is in charge of who.

“He’s an…” I stop myself and sigh. “He just always thinks he can order me and Thunder around.”

“Something wrong?” he then asks and doesn’t know what a loaded question that is right now.

“Oh it’s nothing, just learned that Tornado hates me because apparently our parents paid more attention to me than him when I was born,” I mumble and stare down at the floor.

“What? That’s stupid. Aren’t ya like ten years younger? He is what, ten when you are born? Babies need much more attention than older kids,” Blue remarks, he’s not wrong and I guess he never experienced jealousy towards his baby sister, Barbell.

“I mean sure, ya can get a little jealous sometimes, but that’s just normal, doesn’t mean your parents don’t love ya.” Blue then proves me wrong, then again maybe his parents sat down with him and explained to him that they still loved him.

“Try telling Tornado that,” I grunt, before Blue can respond somepony calls his name. It’s Goldie she is pointing to some ponies by the ski simulators, seems they need some assistance and she is already helping others.

“I better get back to work, talk to ya later, Rain,” Blue says before he turns and walk away.

I can’t help but wonder what Barricade is saying to my brothers, aside from the obvious, like don’t argue in front of customers and absolutely don’t fight. He certainly takes his time chewing them out, it’s another ten minutes before Thunder comes out. Tornado doesn’t follow so apparently the boss has more to say to him.

My brother spots where I am and immediately heads over to me, he looks ashamed and apologetic, his ears still haven’t risen. I silently watch him come behind the counter and sit down right next to me, it’s like all wind is out of him.

“Is the office sound proof?” he asks quietly.

“I think so, why?” I wonder at the question.

“Because I have never seen the boss so freaking mad, he figuratively tore me and Tornado a new one, I was half expecting him to geld us where we stood,” Thunder tells me and shudders. “Not that I blame him, I lost my cool there… did you hear any of it?”

“The argument between you and Tornado? That would be yes, yes I did.” Thunder looks even more devastated at my confession.

“Oh man, Rain, you shouldn’t have had to hear that. I’m sorry. Look, don’t take it personally. Tornado is a self-centered insensitive prick, life has always been about him, even when we were little, even before you were born,” he tells me.

“Is it true then? He resents me simply because I was born and my parents had to pay more attention to me than him?” I ask, trying not to sound a little bitter that he hates me for something I couldn’t even help.

“Oh buck… look Rain, Tornado has never been able to accept that it isn’t all about him, the only one he doesn’t act this way with is Barricade and that’s only because he knows the boss will trash him around if he tries,” he says and places a hoof on my back.

“Yeah of course mom and dad had to pay especial attention to you, you were a baby after all and you went all over the place, you really kept mom and dad on their hooves. Tornado and I were not shafted like he seems to imagine it, we got just as much attention when needed, but we were nine and ten, we were maybe still kids but we could take care of ourselves much more than you could,” Thunder continues and smiles a little. “They loved us all equally much, Tornado is just too stubborn to admit it.”

“So you never resented me?” I ask, Thunder immediately pulls me closer in a hug.

“No, never, you’re my little brother and nothing will change that. Look now you got me all sappy.” He chuckles and I can’t help but smile a little, my question was unfair. Thunder has never shown any resentment towards me, sure he’s gotten angry at me but I’ve gotten angry at him in turn.

“Have I told you I’m sorry I messed up the weather service job?” he asks when he let’s go.

“Many times, especially when you’re plastered,” I inform him, however, that is one of the few messes he’s genuinely sorry for, so I allow him to apologize when he feels he needs too.

“You weren’t… you shouldn’t have been dragged down like that with me, I should have suffered this alone.” Thunder continues and sighs a little bit.

“Well to be fair, our supervisor was an idiot,” I remark, causing both of us to laugh.

“So how did you escape and not Tornado?” The office door still hadn’t opened, meaning Tornado was still being chewed apart by the boss.

“Well when my feminine charms didn’t work on the account of me being a stallion and unfortunately for me, Barricade is straighter than the lamppost outside, I just promised next time to deck Tornado in the privacy of our apartment,” Thunder jokes and we laugh again.

“Seriously though, I just got a word in first. Before Barricade went off, I asked to speak first and he permitted that under the condition that it had better be a good one. So I just went all out on Tornado, how he’s been more of a jerk than usual, keeps pushing you around and acts like he’s in charge of everything. So, I told him I just finally lost it and decided to deck him, the last straw being him thinking he could give me crap about when I came to work,” he explains and grins.

“About that time Barricade went off, my ears are still ringing, but then he told me next time to do crap like this in our apartment or out in the streets not in the gym. Then he told me to buck off and start working, then turned his ire towards Tornado, I think he was spitting our brother’s bones out when I was leaving.” Thunder and I look over to the office when the door opens. “Looks like he’s managed to reassemble himself.”

Tornado quietly shuffles himself out, looking so utterly downcast that I almost feel sorry for the sap. His head is near the ground, his ears are so low that they almost stroke the floor, the wings are still hanging limp from the sides. Wow Barricade must have really let him have it. I’m actually a little confused why the boss would care so much about our sibling rivalry. Maybe because this time it happened during work hours?

Barricade appears in the doorframe, still looking pissed. I can see him say something more to Tornado, but can’t quite make it out as he wasn’t speaking very loudly this time. It’s addressed to our brother, who just nods before slinking off into the part of the gym where we can’t see him from the counter.

“Rain Storm!” the boss suddenly shouts and looks over to me and Thunder.

Oh boy… what did I do? I blink and wonder if it’s time for me to be chewed apart and spit out. Maybe for not stopping my brothers when arguing in full view of the customers.

“I’ll be sure to write you a nice obituary.” Thunder looks unsure as well, though considering he’s making that stupid joke he probably doesn’t think I’m in too much trouble.

“Thanks,” I mutter dryly before steeling myself and head to Barricade who disappears into the office when he sees I’m coming. I follow and close the door behind me. The boss is standing by his desk, looking at me critically.

“Rain, I usually don’t butt into the business of the members of my little group, but when personal problems like these come up during opening hours, when ponies who are not in our gang are here to train and exercise, I’m afraid I must. These ponies, even if I couldn’t give a manticore’s ass about them, are the ones who are paying the bits that keep this gym running. They see something like this happening, they might get scared, think this is not a place to come,” he starts talking though he sounds much calmer now.

“I allow the gang to hang out here as long as they do not cause trouble for the regular customers. I would hate to have to end that. We are maybe not the most respectable ponies here in Hoofington, but there are still certain limits of what we can do here in the gym.” He continues.

“Yeah I… guess I should have tried to stop them when I saw the fight was escalating,” I mumble and look down.

“This is what I like about you, Rain, I don’t have to spell things out for you. You catch on,” he says with a chuckle. “Look, I don’t expect you to be able to physically stop them, but I know Thunder listens to you.”

I suppose he does, I nod without saying a word. Yeah it’s not untrue, Thunder usually listens to me. I suppose that’s why my old boss thought I could constantly keep him in check.

“Now, I know it’s none of my business, yet thanks to your brother I have to make it my business to ensure this no longer comes up here in the gym. I’ve told Tornado in no uncertain terms that it’s either me, Blue or Barbell who call the shots here. He can’t order you to do stuff, he can ask you yes, but he is not your boss, I am,” Barricade continues to speak, these words cause me to look up in mild surprise.

“You and Thunder are also in the core, but you are equal to your brother, not his underlings. I’ve made sure he remembers that for now on. I brought you two into the core not just because I like you two, but I figured having all three brothers gave me a little aerial advantage when dealing with punks that are trying something with me.” He keeps talking and reveals one mystery, always did wonder why I was considered in the core group.

Barricade falls silent suddenly and starts rubbing his muzzle with one hoof, like he’s thinking. Then he looks at me again and looks much more contemplative and serious in a different way, not angry kind of serious, more like regret?

“Remember that stupid stunt I did when I was trying to get my brother and his friends to stop messing in my business?” he suddenly asks me.

How can I get forget? The boss wanted to scare his twin brother who according to him has a habit of noising in his business with his two roommates, who both happen to be the mares we’ve all been told are off limits to us. Anyway, that plan went down the drain when some punk former police officer who lives here in Hoofington interrupted us. He knocked out Tornado and Blue, then managed to duck a dive bomb from me and Thunder causing us to slam into the sidewalk. My head smarted for a week after that.

I don’t know all the details after that, I just decided, screw it and went home because my head was seriously ringing and that’s not good for flight. What Thunder told me later was that the opposite happened, his brother went hopping mad and chewed Barricade out. He silenced the boss, we could barely believe it and nopony dares bringing this up least either Barricade or Blue get ready to punch them. Anyway, from what I understand Barricade has managed to alienate himself from his entire family because of this stunt.

“It was the most braindead idea I ever had, I got cocky and too full of myself. I forgot that you just don’t do that to family. I don’t hate my brother, it irritates me when he and his friends butt into my business, but I would take a blast for him any day,” the boss says and sighs and glances over to picture frames on the desk. I don’t see the pictures from where I’m standing, but I know at least two of them are of his daughters that live with their mothers.

“Tornado is a blasted idiot for taking it out on you that he didn’t get the attention from your folks that he thought he deserved. I’ve no idea if it’s possible to patch things up between the two of you, I know you and Thunder are pretty tight, I can’t expect something like that to happen between you and Tornado at this point. However, if you want my advice, I would at least try and get some peace between you and Tornado. I think if Thunder sees that you two get along, the two of them will get better along as well. I don’t need the three of you to be the bestest buddies. However, I hate to see siblings not acting like siblings.” Barricade sounds sincere enough, guess with his own family problems, he hates seeing something similar happening within our own group.

“You think your brother would do the same with you?” I wonder.

“I don’t know.” Barricade shakes his head. “I hope so, but doubt that’s gonna happen anytime soon. He has a legitimate reason to be mad at me.”

“Look, I don’t care what you do, it were Thunder and Tornado who almost came to blow out there. I’m just throwing this idea in, you do what you want,” he then says. His horn starts glowing and the door behind me opens. “You can go back to work.”

I nod and step outside and the office closes as I do. Thunder is busy by the counter, some teenagers have come and by looks of it are buying a day pass to train in the gym. Although it looks like my brother is in a middle of a story as he looks much more chipper and the kids are all chuckling.

Tornado is assisting some pony with some lifting. Well there is little point in talking with any of them right now, we are all on the clock so I go search for somepony in need of assistance.





Evening arrives and the gym is empty. Thunder and I stand outside waiting for the rest. Blue soon comes out and walks over to us, hardly anypony else is on the street except the three of us. Well I did see one but that one hurried away when seeing us and realized who we were.

Tornado finally comes out, I noticed he did seem to linger more than usual. Barricade must have finally chased him out. He doesn’t come too close to us, just stands near the entrance. Finally, the boss leaves the gym, closes and locks it before turning towards us.

“Alright, here’s the thing, Brass and Knuckles have told me they have been seeing Hair Spikes mucking around in Hoofington. They saw him chase Paper Scribbler, but the kid managed to evade him. They chased him off and cornered Scribbly to ask what that had been all about, turns out this is not the first time Spikes is coming here,” Barricade tells us in a quiet voice.

“So here is what we’re going to do. We are going to make sure Spikes learns, again that he’s not welcome here in Hoofington. If we have to smash his muzzle in to do it, we will do it,” he explains and we all nod.

Hair Spikes is a member of a rival gang, the second in command if I recall correctly. Then again for all I know he is in charge, considering this bold move of his he could be trying to tell Barricade he isn’t afraid of him.

“Thunder, Rain, you scout from the air, Tornado, Blue, you’re with me.” Barricade then gives out the orders. Looks like it’s gang business now, so without hesitation I take to the air with my brother. We quietly agree to split up to cover more ground.

It’s not that long ago that a rival gang tried to attack us. We had been gathering in Hoofington Avenue just for some rough housing fun, nothing big planned, just out and about and hanging around with our friends. But some idiot apparently took this as some sort of a challenge, got his boys and girls together and came down to Hoofington to rough us up. We all turned them around on their tails.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t without incident, a mare who wasn’t even part of our gang but had mistakenly come across us had been killed in the crossfire. Barbell had been escorting her home and the other gang mistook the mare as a member of our gang and attacked her. We were just a little late to come help her.

We make a point to avoid death in our scuffles. Dead bodies bring police and even worse the royal guards if they think it’s serious enough. The police in Hoofington is useless, but there is always the danger they ask for help from other districts or even request royal guard presence.

Because of what happened with the mare, Barricade ordered low profile for the gang. No more meeting out on the streets unless absolutely necessary. We needed things to quiet down. Fortunately for us, the papers in Manehattan barely pay attention to Hoofington. A mare dies in a gang fight? It got a small little side column and her name wasn’t even given. The police had nothing on us, we had tried to help after all. Thus their focus had to be on the other ponies so the investigation quickly left Hoofington. Still it took weeks before even Barricade relaxed.

Nothing down here. I think as I fly over another street. The sun was already down and most respectable ponies are off the streets, so they are empty of life.

Then I notice something, somepony is using the alleyways to move along. I land on top of a building so it’s not as obvious that I’m in the air. I look down the ledge and spot a pony quickly moving across the street to the next alley. It’s a sea green Earth Pony, his brown mane is styled into several spikes. Couldn’t see the cutie mark in this light though but I don’t need to. That’s Hair Spikes.

So the idiot is actually in Hoofington, I frown. We are actually close to Avenue right now. I look over to the next building when seeing Thunder land on it, he had seen me and gives me a signal I know means he wants to know what’s up. I point to the alley, then mess my mane to make it spikier looking. My brother nods in understanding.

We just have to wait; the alley Spikes had gone into leads to a dead end. It doesn’t take long until we both see him peek out between the buildings. I glance down the street and see that Barricade, Blue and Tornado are walking towards us, but haven’t noticed us yet. Spikes has noticed them, he could escape. We need to catch the boss’s attention and keep our quarry where he is.

Quickly I signal Thunder that I’m going down. He nods and as soon as I’m drop down from the building I can just see him do the same. Quickly we land down in front of the alley and Spikes who backs a step in surprise.

“Going somewhere, Spikes?!” Thunder says loudly and smirks. I briefly glance in the direction I had seen the boss and the others, it had worked they were coming at greater speed.

“Don’t you know we don’t allow trash around here?” I remark myself, I don’t look nearly as intimidating as my brothers, let along Barricade and Blue, but I make up for it with speed. That totally counts.

Spikes doesn’t waste any words, suddenly he has a knife in his mouth. Where was he keeping that? Up his rump? Well there is no time to contemplate that, he suddenly throws the knife at Thunder. Good job, throw your only weapon away. The knife never even makes it; it’s suddenly bathed in indigo colored magic aura. Thunder stops in mid take off as he had been prepared to evade the blade.

“Spiiikes,” Barricade purrs in that voice he has that makes it sound like he’s so happy to see you, yet you know he is not and is so ready to mess you up and leave you in a ditch. The boss has arrived and grabbed the knife with his magic, he twirls the blade while pulling it to him. Blue and Tornado take positions beside him.

“Before I tell my friends to make your ugly mug even uglier, care to explain to me why you are here, mucking around in places you shouldn’t be mucking around in?” Barricade continues, still speaking in that cheerful yet eerily creepy voice.

The guy still isn’t talking, he is eyeing all of us, licking his lips nervously. Spikes glances back like he’s trying to see some kind of way out but he’s already learned that is a dead end. The boss just waits, lazily twirling the blade in the magic.

“If I tell you, will you leave me alone?!” Spikes finally snarls and looks at Barricade.

“That will depend on what you will tell me and how quickly you will leave my turf after you tell me,” Barricade counters. “I’m not happy to hear how you were harassing little Scribbly, the little guy lives here in Hoofington, ergo, he kind of lives under my protection.”

What the hell does ergo mean? Eh whatever, the mention of Paper Scribbler seems to enrage Spikes. Scribbler is a local teen who is not in the gang, in fact we have sometimes had to shoo him away as he’s sometimes spying on our activities. Barricade says he’s harmless, but too curious for his own good. We think he just likes to keep on top of things, I’ve heard he writes stories for the local newspaper. Fiction that is.

“That snot nosed little prick is the reason I’m here!” Spikes shouts and glowers around as if he expects to see the colt. “He gave a tip off to the police so it could clear out my entire gang. I’m the only one left!”

“Wait, you honestly think Scribbler did that?” Barricade laughs and so do the rest of us. Yeah Scribbler spies on us, I know some of his stories are made up crime stories inspired on us, but he’s no snitch. He has no more love for the police than the rest of us, he just isn’t interested in joining our gang.

“I saw him on our turf few days before our gang got busted. Nosing around!” Spikes growls.

“I would suggest that we go and ask Scribbly, but I honestly can’t be bothered because I honestly don’t care,” Barricade snorts and now points the knife towards Hair Spikes. “Blue, Tornado, rearrange his face”

Tornado and Blue immediately start approaching, while Thunder and I take a step back. Spikes growls and to his credit gets ready for a fight. The boss resumes lazily twirling the knife as he watches.

Blue and Tornado lunge for Spikes, but turns out he was just bluffing. The bastard quickly ducks out of the way and tries to make a break for it. The others are a little late to react, I’m not. I spring from my position and make attempt to tackle the pony down.

“Get off of me!” he snarls and manages to land a hoof on me, it’s really hard, my head snaps up and I can feel blood in my mouth. Damn Earth Pony strength! I’m almost thrown off him and then he rear kicks which sends me off.

This had been enough of a delay, as I crash on the ground Tornado and Blue have already turned and jump on top of him kicking and hitting. I meanwhile lie in a heap on the ground, Thunder is already by my side and helps me rise up. I use a hoof to wipe my mouth and see blood on it, damn must have cut my lip.

Meanwhile at the fight, Blue and Tornado are really letting Spikes have it. Tornado is slamming his head again and again at the pavement and Blue is kicking him repeatedly in the gut. I think the only reason the guy is alive is because he’s an Earth Pony.

I then notice how mad Tornado looks, I’ve seldom seen him this angry. Even during the argument with Thunder earlier tonight he didn’t look this pissed off. Finally, Barricade calls our brother and Blue off, but Tornado isn’t quite done, as he steps away from Spikes, he spits on him then proceeds to kick him one more time in the chest.

“Right, thanks Tornado, I think he’s got it!” Barricade snaps and then looks at the bloody heap that is Hair Spikes. Yeah the guy is still alive, but seriously messed up after the beatings from Tornado and Blue. Cuts, bruises and gashes all over. His face looks like it should after all the contact with the pavement he got, smeared.

I put a hoof on my stomach, damn that rear kick hurt. I’m lucky if nothing is broken or ruptured. Thunder keeps by my side just in case if I feel faint or something, but so far I’m still standing up on my power.

“Right, Spikes, we are going to have it like this. I’m going to tell my friend Blue here to drag your sorry carcass to the hospital. If I hear about you coming anywhere near Hoofington again, Blue will deliver you to the morgue instead. Got it?” Barricade growls as he points the knife down at the pony.

“F…F-fine…” Amazingly Spikes can spit out a word in response. Barricade nods to Blue who grabs the sorry carcass on the pavement and heaves it to his back, then he trots away not bothered much by the extra weight.

“And Tornado, I know I said rearrange his face and I don’t mind seeing Spikes kiss the pavement a few times, but what in Tartarus was that?” the boss then turns to Tornado who had never stopped glaring at Spikes the entire time.

“Sorry boss, lost my head again,” Tornado mutters.

“That’s not what I asked, I wanted him roughed up, not killed. You know what dead bodies can bring,” Barricade growls and steps closer to him. My oldest brother sighs and hangs his head.

“I thought for a moment he killed, Rain,” he says quietly.

My jaw drops a little. Granted when I was thrown off and landed on the ground I did black out for a second mostly because my head had just been punched then hit the pavement. However, I didn’t think anyone, least of all Tornado would have seen it as me being killed. Oh and did he just call me by my actual name?

“What, you actually care?” I hear Thunder remark. I half expect Tornado to get angry again and we’ll have another argument, but the wonders don’t stop, our brother drops his head looking shameful.

“I’m sorry... I care, I do…I just… I’m an idiot,” he mutters and gives us a furtive glance before looking at Barricade who raises his brow.

“What, did what I told you actually go through?” the boss looks bemused for the most part. Now Thunder and I look at him, he shrugs when noticing.

“I told him earlier today that we’ve both now managed to make our brothers mad at us. I regret it because I love my brother, so I asked him, do you love your brothers? Would you die for them? Would you take a blast for them? Would you bucking go out of your way to be with them if they were in a hospital in another city?” Barricade tells us. “I then told him that I would do all of those things for mine. Even if right now I’m the last pony he wants to see, ever.”

Now both Thunder and I looked at Tornado. It’s no secret in the gang that Tornado looks up to Barricade and most of us think he is such a jerk because he thinks he’s emulating the boss trying to be like him. Failing miserably at it, but still trying. Did it really shake some sense into him, hearing that the pony he actually respects would go out of the way to help his brother, even if said brother hates him right now?

“Look, Tornado. I can’t change what happened and I couldn’t help being born, did mom and dad give me more attention than you? I honestly can’t tell; I didn’t know them for as long as you did. I mean, I was nine when they died and I had to move in with Thunder Cloud,” I speak up.

“I’ve known you and Thunder longer than our parents and the way things are going, I’ll be knowing the gang longer than them in the end. You guys are the only family I have, the gang is the only family I have.” I start to walk closer, Thunder follows me and Barricade takes a step back.

“I’m willing to do a do over if you are,” I then conclude and am now right next to Tornado. He raises his head to look at me, wow, I think it’s the first time I see him actually smile, that is when he’s not mocking somepony. It’s a weak smile, but still a smile from Tornado.

“Do over? Sure, I can do that… little brother,” he chuckles weakly. Well it’s better than Babyface.

“Come on, Thunder, better get the kid home, we need to put something on that lip.” Tornado then looks at Thunder who looks somewhat surprise, before nodding in agreement.

Both my brothers then help me walk home, I already found out that my legs are a little shaky. Barricade comes from behind, but I can’t see how he’s looking, though I suspect he’s smirking. Yeah Tornado hasn’t apologized yet for his behavior, but that can come later.

Now that I think about it, it’s going to be strange not hearing Tornado call me Babyface anymore. Wait I’ve never really told him that I hate that, I’m going to have to remember to mention that too him.

Right now I’m just ready to head to bed. It’s been quite a day.


The end