//------------------------------//
// Chaper 1 
// Story: Blizzard Warning 
// by DemyxNocturne 
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Chapter 1

A day off. Finally a day away from training, warm ups, shows, everything really. Ultimately, a day to relax!

Sighing to himself in content, Thunderlane fell backwards and allowed himself to sink right into a nice fluffy white cloud with his forelegs spread out at his sides. His dark gold eyes were gently closed and wings stretched out just as all four of his legs were in exhaustion. Even his short silver-blue streaked tail was practically wagging at the enjoyment of finally having a day to himself and away from the Wonderbolts.

Now don't get him wrong here. Thunderlane totally loved his new job and the crew he was on as a Wonderbolt. Hay, it's practically almost everypony's dream to before one if they're a pegasus and he got to his of someday becoming one come true. Just sometimes it could get a little bit stressful and tiring to the point where somepony would just wanna toss up their hooves and yell out that they needed a break!

...Which...is kinda what he had actually done during practice the other day with Spitfire, Soarin, and Rainbow Dash...Whoopsie...

As he laid there upon the pillowy softness of the cloud, almost actually drifting off into a light slumber, something cold and wet suddenly landed on his muzzle causing his nose to scrunch up slightly and snort in an effort to get it off. However, when he felt a few more land on his dark grey coat in other places, he finally opened up his eyes and rolled himself to lay on his side and stomach with his legs folded up somewhat under himself. Lifting his head up, he glanced around curiously, only to realize that what had been landing on him were actually light flakes of snow.

Blinking slightly in surprise and confusion at this, the stallion glanced above himself towards a few more clouds where his confusion only seemed to grow even further as more snowflakes landed in his silver-blue mohawk styled mane. "The hay? Where's this snow comin' from? There's no snow clouds around me and it's the middle of summer...Well, this is weird; huh?"

Just as Thunderlane mumbled this to himself, he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. It was only for an instant, but he saw what looked to be a flash of colors whisp on by and through one of the clouds. Becoming curious now about what it was and thinking that, perhaps, it was the cause of this light snowfall, he rose up onto his hooves and stretched out his muscles and wings before leaping off the cloud. Flying through the skies as he looked around carefully for whatever that had been earlier, he caught sight of something on a distant cloud and quickly dove into the nearest one to himself. Peeking carefully out of it so as not to be spotted, his dark gold eyes soon widened at the sight before himself in the slight distance.

Standing there on the cloud was a slender pegasus with an ice blue coat that held what looked like three silver snowflakes on their flank as their cutie mark. Their slightly long, wild mane and tail seemed to be a mixture of white, light blue, and mint with quite possibly a single streak of lavender at the top of their mane and tail. Strands of their mane fell into their face a bit, almost obscuring their left eye, which said eyes looked to be maybe teal? He couldn't really be sure at the current distance he was at, but there was definitely something he could see very clearly. In fact, anypony, even ones with all brawn and no brains like Dumbbell and his group, could tell this was most definitely a mare...

As he was lost in thought over this, he was suddenly pulled out of it in realization that the little mare was gone and no longer on the cloud she had been on just a moment ago. Perking his head up out of the cloud completely now, he glanced around a bit in a panicked search for her again. That is...until she suddenly popped up out of knowhere!

"Hey!"

"Whoa!"

Jolting at being taken by surprise, he lost his balance on the cloud he had been hiding in and fell right over the side of it. Quickly catching himself in the air, Thunderlane flew back up and rested a hoof over his chest. "Jeez, way to give somepony a heart attack. Is that how you greet everypony you meet?"

The mystery mare arched a delicate brow at this through her bangs and crossed her forelegs over her chest. "Is spyin' the way ya meet everypony?"

Ooookayyy...So Thunderlane had that one coming; he could be a stallion about it and admit it.

Chuckling sheepishly at being found out about it though, he lifted a hoof and rubbed the back of his head guiltily. "Eheheh...Not exactly. This is actually the first time I've ever spied on anypony before." Ok, so maybe that was a bit of a lie. He mayyy have done a little bit of spying back when he was still just a little foal and then admittedly a few times when Soarin claimed to be going out to get himself some pie. It was true enough that everypony else on the team believed him, but he figured there had to be more to it than that so Thunderlane had actually followed him in secret. Turns out, his spying had led him to actually discovering that Soarin had been slipping off to meet and spend alone time with a certain little rainbow maned Wonderbolt recruit that he personally trained, himself. Who woulda thought that the pie lover, himself, actually had a secret marefriend?...Course, that secret was out now. Actually, it had come out a few weeks ago when they confessed to their entire team and all their fans after completing a show, but that was besides the point.

The sound of a throat being cleared got the dark grey pegasus to snap out of his thoughts as he blinked slightly out of his daze and brought his full attention to lock with the mare's own gaze before him. Huh...So her eyes really were teal...A really bright, pretty teal actually.

'Gah, no. Stop thinking how pretty she is, Thunderlane! Focus!' Shaking his head a bit roughly, he snapped out of it completely and gave the mystery mare an apologetic smile. "S-Sorry. I didn't really mean to spy. It's just that the snow caught me off guard while I was napping a bit in one of the clouds and then when I caught a glimpse of you, I got curious and followed. I uh...take it you're the pony that made the light snowfall?" The curious look in his dark gold eyes had returned at this point and the irritated one in the pegasus before him's seem to gradually vanish with his apology along with his question.

Seeing her slowly begin to relax, he smiled faintly as she nodded her head lightly to confirm his theory. "Yeah, actually. I'm a weather pony like my cousin, but my special talent deals with snow. I bring in the winter winds and snowfall when the weather for the day calls for it. I can even make or lighten of blizzards of different sizes if I feel like it and I always leave a snow trail in my wake when I fly."

As she told him this, Thunderlane was actually a bit amazed. After all, one hardly ever saw snow fall in Cloudsdale and it wasn't too often that any did so in Ponyville either since Rainbow Dash handled the weather there despite her duties as a Wonderbolt so this actually excited him a tiny bit. It also gave him something in common with the mare. After all, his own cutie mark was of a storm cloud with a lightning bolt striking out of it. The more he continued to think about this, the more curious he got about the slightly smaller mare before him.

...Which was rather strange since in all honesty, it was the mares that loved him. None had ever really gotten him curious like this before.

Dragging himself out of his thoughts once again, Thunderlane blinked slightly, only to have his eyes widen when he noticed that the unknown mare wasn't in front of himself anymore. Quickly glancing around, he spotted her casually flying off towards Ponyville and immediately flew off after her in a rush. "H-Hey! Wait up, will you?!" As he saw her halt and turn her head to face him, he noticed that she seemed almost annoyed with him now. Maybe she was needing to be somewhere? "Uhhh...I mean,...I've never seen you around Ponyville or Cloudsdale before. Are you um...new by any chance?" 'Smooth, Thunderlane. Real smooth. Of course she's new around here, you idiot!' Thunderlane couldn't help but mentally beat himself up over his own stupid question.

The pegasus gave him a strange look from his question and he honestly could have facehoofed over how he seemed to just trip over his own words and at his utter stupidity at the moment. However, she surprisingly still replied to him, though thankfully, her tone wasn't all that annoyed. "I guess ya could say that...I visited a time or two back when I was still just a li'l filly with my parents and older brother before I ever got my cutie mark, but that was a long time ago. I'm visitin' my cousin again since it's been a while since I last seen her, given I live all the way in Los Pegasus and all..."

"Oh, I see. So it's been a while since your last visit. In that case, would you like me to show you around? After all, I am a gentlecolt." Well,...maybe not entirely, but he was pretty smooth and a gentlecolt sometimes. It was her answer though, that caused the stallion to force himself to restrain from showing any excitement.

"Sure, why not. Just no more spyin' on me, got it?"

Her eyes were narrowed in a glare towards him when she said that last part, but the sight of the faint smirk told him that she was actually joking a little with him now. Laughing a bit at this, he shook his head and lifted a hoof as he used the other to make a cross fashion over his heart. "I promise. No more spying on you. Next time, I'll just sneak up and scare you like you did to me earlier." Smirking back in response as he said this, both pegasus flew off as they headed towards Ponyville together.

"I'm Thunderlane, by the way; what's your's?"

His attention was almost fully on the mare with him as they flew since they were still high enough in the air to not cause him to crash into anything while he looked at her and the number of clouds around them were pretty sparse. Whether or not she noticed this though, he had no clue at all. "Name's Blizzard Rush, but my friends back in Los Pegasus, and then my cousin, call me Rush...Oh yeah, speakin' of which, ya might know her. Her name's Rainbow Dash."

That...actually sent him into shock as his eyes widened and he suddenly put on the breaks in mid air causing her to halt as well as she held a sudden look of confusion towards him. Then again, he probably couldn't blame her since the look on his face was like that of a fish out of water or something cause his jaw was, quite literally, dropped.

"You're...Whoa, whoa. You're Dash's cousin?! Seriously?! Celestia, I really never would've guessed." Slowly coming down from his shock, Thunderlane gave her a closer look before he started to actually notice a few things. Her mane and tail were styled a bit similarly towards Dash's, though both were slightly longer and her tail also had a bit more of a wave to it and her eyes were the same shape as Dash's too. Hay, even the way she spoke was similar despite where Blizzard Rush said she lived. However, no matter how anypony looked at it though, the mare before him was definitely cuter than his friend, Dash. 'Wait,...did I seriously just think that?!'

Seeing that she was still confused, Thunderlane blushed and ran a hoof through his mohawk styled mane. "Uhh...Sorry about that. It's just that I know Rainbow Dash and she and I are kinda friends; we even work together, but I never woulda guessed you were her cousin. I mean,...yeah, now that I get a better look at you, you have similarities to her, but at first glance, no pony woulda been able to see it..."

Shaking his head as he said this, Thunderlane smiled again and finally pointed towards the town in the slight distance that was Ponyville. "Well anyways, lets get going, okay? I did promise to show you around after all, heh."

Blizzard Rush seemed to relax again as she actually smiled lightly and nodded her head once towards him before they continued their flight course towards Ponyville.

Upon arriving at their destination, they landed in the streets and the older of the two pegasi began to show her around. As they walked around and chatted though, Blizzard Rush became more and more grateful that he offered to show her around. A number of the shops that were here now hadn't been when she had last visited. Of course they ended up talking bout a number of different subjects as they wandered, only to finally end up at Sugarcube Corner.

Offering a smile, Thunderlane nodded his head towards the cafe; his left foreleg raised up off the ground slightly with the motion. "You'll really like it here. My little brother, Rumble and I used to come here often. They have the best sweets."

As they stepped inside, with Thunderlane actually opening the door for the younger mare, causing the bell above said door to chime lightly, an older mare stepped out of the back and smiled sweetly towards them. "Well, hello there, Thunderlane. I've just finished baking some fresh blueberry cupcakes. Would you like some?" It was then that she seemed to take notice of the fact that he didn't have his little brother with him this time, but instead, a mare. "Oh my...And who's your little friend, dear?...Hm?" As she asked this, Miss Cake seemed to halt all words the more she stared at the smaller mare beside him. It was then that her eyes widened and she slowly stepped out from behind the counter; walking towards them. "My word...Is that really you, Blizzard Rush? Oh my dear, you've grown so much." In an instant, the earth pony had her forelegs around the younger mare as she hugged her closely.

Seeing Blizzard Rush return Miss Cake's embrace for a few seconds before pulling away, Thunderlane watched as she smiled sweetly at the much older mare before speaking. "Yeah, it's me Miss Cake. It feels great to be back visitin' Ponyville again after so long. I might actually stick around a while with my visit, ya know? Think Dashie would tie me up if I didn', hehe. Just...don' let her know yet. She hasn' a clue that I decided to come visit yet. I kinda wanted it to be a surprise." Her smile only seemed to grow a tiny bit more when Miss Cake nodded her head in understanding of this and even promised to make Pinkie Pie swear later on when she returned that she would keep quiet as well and not...throw any parties for once, which Thunderlane could actually find himself being grateful for.

Don't get him wrong, he loved parties as much as the next pony, but a Pinkie Party tended to get a bit too much what with her...excessively bubbly personality and near endless amount of cheer and energy. He could get tired just from watching or listening to her excited rambling.

With things settled, he and Blizzard Rush walked over to a booth and ordered up some of the fresh cupcakes that she had mentioned earlier as well as two apple smoothies. Needless to say, what started off as a relaxing day to take a nap turned into an enjoyable day with a new mare that he had become fast friends with despite his first impression having not bee exactly the best... 'I'd like to think that it was my overall charm and good looks that got me on her good side...Yeah, it was totally not my absolute awkwardness at all...'

Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end at some point and that included this day as much as he was silently wishing for an extension on it.

Walking out of Sugarcube Corner and onto the streets, Thunderlane began to notice that the skies were beginning to take on shades of purples, darker blues, reds, and then the clouds took on a pink hue along the edges. He hadn't even realized how fast the time went by and here it was, already sunset. As he glanced over at his new friend, he was almost stunned as his dark gold eyes widened faintly at the sight before him. The shades of the sunset's light bathed a curtain along her ice blue coat and made her bright teal eyes practically sparkle. At this point in time, he didn't care if he had never noticed details like this before with other mares, but the one before him at this very moment was the most breathtaking sight he had ever seen. Unfortunately, that realization didn't really help him out much at all as he was currently flying the friendzone.

...Now he knew how everypony else that was ever friendzoned by somepony felt. Only difference was that Blizzard Rush had absolutely no clue that Thunderlane just might have been starting to form a little crush on her...

"Well, I best get goin'. I'm stayin' in a hotel back in Cloudsdale for the night till I surprise my cousin. I had a great time with you, Thunder." Casting a smile towards him, her words snapped the stallion out of his train of thought again as he glanced down at her and saw the smile she was giving him. Managing to smile back in return, he nodded his head lightly before she actually took him by surprise and gave him a hug. Standing there for a few seconds with his mouth hung open and a blush upon his features, he quickly snapped out of his shock and returned the hug before they both pulled back at the same time, though Thunderlane was more reluctant. "We should do this again sometime. It'd be great to see ya again since we're friends now and you're, ya know, not spyin' on me, heh..."

Nodding his head lightly, he chuckled a bit in amusement towards her joke at the end. "I had a great time too and getting to hang out again definitely sounds like a blast, Blizzy. You oughta come visit Pegasus Stadium sometime since I work there with the other Wonderbolts just like your cousin does." As he said this, she seemed surprised, but he couldn't really tell what had caused that reaction. At first, he actually thought it was towards him being a Wonderbolt, but then he remembered that, that had been one of the topics they had spoke about while he was showing her around along with his training as a recruit.

It was then that he spied the faint blush that colored her muzzle and he realized what the cause of it had been. It had been completely subconscious, but he had actually called her 'Blizzy'. "Uh...sorry...D-Do you not want me to call you that?"

Blizzard Rush snapped out of it quickly when he asked that and quickly shook her head. "N-No! Ya can call me Blizzy if ya want. Ya just caught me by surprise, I guess. I haven' been called that since I was a li'l filly still and even then, only my big brother had ever called my that. Anyways, I best get goin' before it gets too late. Bye Thunder." With that, she smiled a bit shyly and gave him a little wave before quickly flying off, leaving a snowy trail behind herself in the process.

Watching her leave, Thunderlane couldn't help but smile a bit to himself. This mare was definitely different from any other he had ever met thus far, save for her cousin of course. For one, she didn't adore him in that manner like other Wonderbolt fanmares did and despite having just shown a bit of a shy side to herself, she had a playful attitude and was also spunky. As he headed back home himself, he chuckled lightly. One thing was for certain out of all that had happened.

...Thunderlane was gonna enjoy getting to know and be around Blizzard Rush even more during her visit and maybe even win over her heart. After all,...he was a Wonderbolt. How hard could it be since they'd already hit it off great as friends?