11 years ago
(Crystal and Thunder were only 7, Sky was only one (though not adopted yet), and Snow was only a few months old. plus, Diamond wasn't been born yet.)
In the living room of their old apartment in Canterlot. Crystal was in tears after being bullied by a bunch of older ponies. "Why? why was I born an earth pony?" He mumbled to himself.
His mother Silver Love walked in and noticed her crying son. "What's wrong Crystal? Where's your brother?" She said looking concerned.
"*sniff* Thunder is still at Joe's. They're probably not even bothering him 'cause he's a unicorn." Crystal muttered.
Silver sits on the couch next to her distraught son and hugs him. He hugs back, now letting tears fall on his mother's lap. "Who was bothering you?" Silver questions.
Crystal moves from his mother and wipes a tear, saying the names of the bullies. "Golden Flash, Crimson Spirit, and Emerald Aura."
"*Annoyed sigh* those three again?" She said annoyed.
"I want to be an alicorn so I can fight all the big meanies in Equestria!" Crystal said standing on his hind legs.
Silver put her hooves together and closed her eyes "My hero." She says bowing to Crystal. He rubs the back of his head chuckling. Crystal's face slowly turns sad and sits back down. "Now what's wrong honey?" Silver says worried.
He looks away from his mother and whispers "It's nothing.... just a wish that will never come true."
Silver pulled her son closer to her to hug him. "What's your wish then?"
Crystal stayed silent while Silver silently sighs. she gets up and walks away, to find Thunder. but before she reached the doorknob. "I wished I had soul magic...... like Thunder," he said wistfully. "And to get my cutie mark." he thought.
Silver stayed silent and bit her lips, she then went out to get her other son. Crystal got up and walked to his room. "I wish I could have been born a unicorn. So that every pony can stop seeing me as the weakest pony in Equestria." He thought shedding a few tears.
He entered the cramped room that had two beds with a small dresser in the middle. Crystal then crawled into his bed and pulled the covers over him. He'd hoped that one day, he could be as strong as his hero "Applejack". Crystal reached under his pillow to grab a drawing of applejack on a pedestal with crystal holding it up. He puts it back and digs his face into his pillow and returns to crying.
While he was crying, he didn't notice Thunder (who just got back) was standing in the doorway.
Thunder's pov
Thunder has always felt sorry for his brother, for not being able to use both normal magic and soul magic. but...... to not have earth pony strength.... is something that Thunder wishes to rectify one day. Thunder walked to his bed and sat on the edge. He thought about how to cheer up his brother, but he couldn't think of anything. So.......... he improvised. "Hey, Crystal. Want to go to the arcade and try to beat our high score? Or maybe get as close as we can to the castle and see Celestia and Luna. *Pretend dreamy sigh* Luna is honestly the best and the prettiest of the two sisters, right?"
"No thanks." Crystal sighed under his covers.
Thunder was disappointed at his attempt. He then got off his bed and walked out of the room. But before he did, he heard Crystal giggle. "*giggle* Luna being the prettiest. You're not wrong on that."
Thunder then smiled. "Looks like my attempt to cheer him up worked." he thought (respect+).
He closed the door to let his brother calm down and to go study soul magic with Grandma Earth Heart.
Present
Thunder saw Crystal and Aukie at the bottom of the hill waiting for him. They both smile and wave at him. Thunder meets the two at the bottom, then Crystal speaks up. "Morning bro." He says smiling.
Thunder then remembers him finding Crystal's bed empty when he woke up. "I'm sorry I interrupted your time with Cloud, Crystal." He says in a soft tone so nopony hears him.
Crystal shrugs and says "It's fine. I can just come back after I drop off the squirt trio." Thunder was relieved that Crystal doesn't mind. He then takes off the strap to hug his brother.
Thunder now worries about how his siblings will do without him. His anxiety starts to flare up, and he starts to shake.
Crystal broke the hug and said "Don't worry. We'll be okay." He gave his brother one last hug before Crystal walked up the hill. It didn't help calm Thunder down at all. Since he could still feel something about to go wrong.
Aukie looked over to her anxiety-filled boyfriend. She walked over to him and hugged him. He was shaking as hard as a blender. She then tried to calm him down and stroked Thunder's short mane. "Sssshhhhh it's okay thunder...... they're going to be okay."
"I know that. It's just...... I'm still worried they may need me while I'm gone." Thunder says still shaking. He then starts forming tears in his eyes.
Aukie moves her head back to look Thunder in the eyes. "Look at me thunder." She says dead seriously. Thunder looks Aukie in the eyes still filled with tears. "The best thing you can do is to be brave for them. You're the bravest pony I know. I mean...... nopony would stand up against golden flash and his two minions."
She was right. He did stand up against Flash and his cronies, Multiple times. This filled Thunder with a lot of confidence. "Yeah, you're right. *Deep breath* I can do this."
He pecked Aukie on the cheek and thanked her "Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you." Aukie blushed after the short little kiss. She gave him a peck back and hugged him.
After they broke the hug, Thunder put the wagon straps back on. They looked back at the house one more time. He thinks about Crystal's and Cloud's relationship along with his and Aukie's. "It feels so long ago, and yet. It wasn't long ago that we meet each other for the first time, 5 years ago." He thought smiling. "You ready?" Aukie asks. Thunder nods and they walk north to meet this pony who is going to buy the heirlooms.
But before they could they heard Crystal yell "HEY THUNDER! Have you seen Sky anywhere?!"
Thunder looked confused as he just saw Sky an hour ago. "NO." He yelled.
"HAVE YOU CHECKED THE PARK?" Thunder asked.
"I'LL CHECK," Crystal responded.
Thunder became a little worried about Sky's disappearance. But he knew that Sky could take care of himself when he needs to. "Strange. it's not like Sky to just disappear like that. *grunts* I can't worry about that right now. Sky is 12 now, but he is mature enough to not get into trouble." He thinks. Thunder shrugs and walks north to the meeting point. Aukie stayed behind for a few seconds before running to her boyfriend's side. "You, okay? leaving while Sky is missing?" She says with concern.
Thunder nods and responds with "Yeah. I know Sky wouldn't leave town on his own. he's not the type to just leave without telling everypony. So, I'm sure he's in the park relaxing."
10 minutes later
They arrive at the meeting point at a clearing in the forest. They both look around to find the pony they were supposed to meet. "Are you sure that this is the right location?" Aukie asks in confusion. Thunder reads the letter front to back again to make sure he didn't miss anything.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Thunderheart
It is your lucky day. I am willing to buy those heirlooms for a generous price. Of course, you'll have to meet my associates in the forest past the train station to the north to get to me. It's just for safety, yours and mine.
And because of my safety you will have to know the passwords, so my associates know you to trust you.
The passwords are
Star, Moon, Blaze, Storm, and Pedals.
I hope we can come to an agreement of some kind.
From an old family friend
P.s Only bring the most trustworthy with you, or else we might have a problem.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Thunder read the letter again and can confirm that they are in the right location. "Yeah...... this is the right place." He says. Thunder then says the passwords to bring out the associates. "Star... moon... blaze... storm... pedals." And like magicians, they appeared. They walked into the clearing so Thunder and Aukie could see them. There were 2 unicorns, 2 griffins, and one hippogriff in weird-looking armor. Like they were made to look like a dragon.
One of the unicorns spoke in a chilling female voice "You must be thunder heart. correct?"
"Yes," Thunder answered nervously.
The unicorn turned away and signaled them to follow. "Follow us. and keep you and your associates close. All the fish in one barrel." She lowered her voice to say the last part. Thunder became confused about what she meant by all the fish in one barrel. Then the unicorn silently ordered one of the others. They moved to the cargo and started to smell the air. Thunder and Aukie looked at each other in confusion.
"What are they doing?" Aukie whispered
"I have no idea." Thunder quietly responded.
One of the griffins jumped on the wagon. They began to sniff the cargo. They rip open one of the crates. Thunder angrily tried to tell them off "Hey!! What are you........" but before he finished, they pull Sky out of the crate. "*gasp* Sky?! What the hay are you doing here?!!" Thunder furiously asked.
Sky waved to his big brother and smiled. "Hey, Thunder. Thought you may need some help hehe." The griffin holding sky dropped him to the ground.
They went into a circle formation. This made Sky panic and ran to his brother. The lead unicorn ordered Thunder, Aukie, and Sky to follow. "Now we continue, and don't bother trying to turn." Then she ordered the hippogriff to take the wagon. The three guests now have no choice but to follow their armored bodyguards.
Sky's pov
Thunder was not happy that Sky snuck into a crate to follow. He scolded Sky for putting himself in danger. "I can't believe it. You would put yourself in danger, just for what?" Sky flinched when he said that.
"I'm sorry Thunder. I didn't know that you would try to sell things to sketchy ponies." Thunder glared at his little brother and walked away from him. Sky knew that when Thunder isn't talking, it means he was really pissed.
Aukie looked at the young griffin, looking sorry. She got closer to Sky and whispered, "I know you want to help but......"
"I know I know... I just wanted to help my family. With the financial situation... I thought I could help somehow." Sky said trying to be quiet.
Aukie let out a silent gasp. "You shouldn't worry about that. You're still young and still have a lot to learn. Let Thunder and Crystal worry about that."
Thunder walked faster to catch up to the unicorn leader. He began to speak with her, but Sky couldn't hear it. "I totally screwed up now. If we get out of this, I am definitely getting grounded." Sky thought biting his lip.
Sky put his head down in shame. "I just hope I don't end up getting us killed, please don't let it happen world.... please." He mumbled to himself, crying in fear. Sky then felt a nudge on his side. He looked up to see Thunder was right beside him.
"I'm sorry for getting angry with you. I should have seen it coming... But I didn't. *sigh* I at least want you to know that...... I appreciate your bravery. I know how much you've stuck your neck out for Diamond and Snow when they needed you. But doing something like this... it's reckless." Thunder said in a low tone of voice. He got closer to his little brother's ear and whispered "I love you Sky. No matter what happens... you're my brother."
Sky formed a big smile with tears running down his face. "Thanks, Thunder. I love you too." He whispered back.
The lead unicorn stopped and signaled everypony to stop. "We stop here to rest. " She said.
Everypony stopped where they were and sat down. Flopping on the ground Sky closes his eyes. Some of the bodyguards take their armor off.
The mysterious mare walked up to our trio and tossed some fruit to each. "I would suggest eating up, it'll be a day till we reach the village."
Thunder and Aukie raised an eyebrow, then they questioned the armored unicorn. "Why do we have to go to a village?"
"Because somepony decided he was hungry in the middle of the night. Artic!!!" the mare says turning to the griffin. Artic shrugs like they don't care. The irritated unicorn walks away to rest on a rock and sulk.
Sky opens his eyes to the open sky and noticed that they have been traveling for 3 hours now "If it's been this long. Crystal must be so worried right now. But he's probably staying calm right now. right?" He thought.
Crystal's pov
Crystal was freaking out about Sky going missing. He was pacing around the dining table, where Cloud was sitting. "*groan* Where could he have gone?" Crystal said sweating a little. He began to pace faster and faster. until Cloud got up and held Crystal by his shoulders.
"You need to calm down. Pacing around isn't going to help find your brother." Cloud said his face deadly serious. Crystal was surprised to see him like this.
"I've never seen him so serious before." He thought.
Crystal took deep breaths to calm down. "You're right." He. Cloud let him go and smiled.
Crystal began to think of where Sky would go. "If he's not at the park then where would he be? hmmmmmmm. I should've asked Diamond and Snow. *Facepalm* Yeah, I should have asked them first."
Crystal both knew that the train heading for Ponyville was already gone. So, he thought he would have to wait to pick up Snow and Diamond to ask. "*sigh* I guess I'll have to wait for the squirt duo to come back." He said a little frustrated. "I'm at least glad that Tink was willing to take them to school." He also mumbled to himself. "Ah well. At least I can hang out with Cloud some more and bring his confidence like Diamond said. But it already seems it won't be long before we can come out. Hopefully." He thought with a smirk. Cloud looked at him completely stumped.
"What are you thinking about?" He asks.
Crystal gives him a flirty look and winks at him. "Don't you go worrying now. I'm just happy I get some alone time with you. My little Cloud bear." He said teasing his boyfriend.
Cloud held his cheeks to hide the blush rising up his face. "Ummmmm thanks. Do... you... mind... if... I call you Crystalbug?" He let out still blushing.
"Sure," Crystal whispered.
They hugged each other for a minute before they let go. Crystal then whispered something into Cloud's ear. "Could you help me find something please?" Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Sure. what do you need to find?"
"My father's research notes on soul magic."
diamonds pov
It was now lunchtime at school. Diamond and Snow were sitting across from each other. "Hey, Snow," Diamond says staring at her daisy sandwich looking gloomy.
Snow stops eating her blueberries and looks at Diamond. "Yeah?"
"I'm worried about Sky. I mean... the last time I saw him was at breakfast." She says holding back a tear. Snow puts down her pouch and looks down.
"I don't know where he went ether."
They stare at the ground, scared about their brother. The only thing they can hope for is that Sky is somewhere safe. (don't worry my little muffins he'll be safe....... for now.)