Fear. Everything we know runs off of fear. From waking up in the morning, to lying to the ones you love, it all revolves around a form of fear. You seek companions for fear being of being alone in life, you lie to your significant other about something disgraceful you did for fear of losing them. Fear thrives in the hearts of every last creature and any that would deny this is a liar. So when a foal shudders when he hears about how scary the "evil king" is, he would be wise to know that such a king lives in perhaps more fear than his subjects. In my eyes I was not of the cruel kind, I was not malicious or evil, I was terrified and fear flowed in me as rich as sure as my blood. I just want history to know something...I did my best, even if that wasn't good enough to them. I want them to know that I did all I could to protect them, even if they were still hurt. I want the world to know I'm so sorry for everything...
"Alright, now that everything is filled out, the two of you are all set to go to Thunderbolts training, all new recruit are to report to Storm-Point by tomorrow night. My advice prepare immediately and pack light and resolve any personal issues before setting off, have a nice day." The older pegasus said what he had no doubt told countless others before taking their papers and heading back into an officer further within the recruitment center. Thunder Clap and Midnight were all set to begin Thunderbolt training, although Midnight's parents were fairly reluctant, none of Midnight's family had ever even been in the military so none of them has any idea what it would be like for what they still considered their baby boy. Serenity and I had accompanied Thunder Clap and Midnight and served to keep their spirits high and reassure them if need be.
"Wow...I remember when I was a foal I was so determined to fly I jumped off the room, I did glide for a little bit...before falling and breaking one of my legs, and in only a few months I could actually be a Thunderbolt." Thunder Clap said smiling, it was rather ironic how things might start and end in such a case.
"Well, I suppose we don't have much time to waste, we can help with the packing." Serenity told them both. We also agreed accompany them for most of their training when it was allowed, for obvious reasons we couldn't join them up close but there were areas where an audience was allowed to watch the training, so long as they remained quiet.
"Thanks for the offer but I don't think we'll need help packing, there won't be much of it anyway." Thunder Clap said quickly, grateful for the offer but knew they'd still have to get ready right away, not only would Midnight and himself have to pack, but say goodbye to loved ones for a few months and the travel to Storm-Point took more than an hour by train, they would have to hurry considering it was already late afternoon right now and they had until tomorrow night.
Once at Storm-Point we'd have to be careful of where we walked, it was after all a town built out of clouds much like Cloudsdale today, it was also home to the Thunderbolts. The town had noticeably less calm weather than almost any other civilized area in the Crystal Empire, thus making it almost ideal for training pegasi advanced flying skills.
After that brief discussion we all separated and head to our respective homes for an early night's rest, Serenity and I packed as well, and made sure to make reservations with the hotel we'd be staying at in Storm-Point while Thunder Clap and Midnight trained.
The next day went smoothly and on schedule thankfully, we all said goodbye to our families for a while and packed the essentials before heading to the train station that took us to just under Storm-Point, Thunder Clap and Midnight Hope flew up there while Serenity and I took a balloon up. Before we set foot I remembered to cast a simple cloud-walking spell on both of us, I had to remember to renew it at least once a week though, or else we would begin sinking into the clouds and fall when it completely wore off.
The four of us went straight for the main plaza, the sun had only just began head for the horizon and figured it would be good for us to relax and get a bite to eat before Thunder Clap and Midnight begin their training. We found this small restaurant called "Pie in the Sky" which, almost needless to say, sold pie.
We dug in and ate up the delicious pie we ordered, Thunder Clap and Midnight took smaller shares though, knowing it wouldn't be smart to fill up on pie with Thunderbolt training starting that very day.
Eating a little less than normal wouldn't be odd under the circumstances but both Thunder Clap and Midnight had also been silent as the breeze since we left the train station, which was rather concerning.
"Thunder Clap, Midnight, it looks like something is eating away at you guys, what's wrong?" I asked, hoping for an issue I could help with.
"I'm just trying to keep up my energy so I don't tire out before training even starts." Midnight responded, his expression softening from one of focus to relaxation.
"Fair enough, what about you Thunder Clap, you've been staring off into the distance for the past ten minutes." I said, trying to get his attention after it had already diverted to said distant object.
"Huh? Oh sorry, it's just the thunderheads out there, those clouds have been known to injure or even kill if you aren't careful, I just hope the weather team has those under tight control..." Thunder Clap swallowed as he gazed at them, he loved to fly but lightning was the one thing that made him nervous, not necessarily scared but he never took any chances when those clouds were close by.
"Try not to worry too much, you can't afford distractions while training, and I'm sure they keep those well away from the training area, they want to make you tough but they don't want you to get hurt." I said reassuringly, thankfully he accepted that as a good answer and eased up, hopefully they wouldn't make him fly too close to any of the thunderheads.
After we payed for the pie we decided to explore the town, it was smaller than the Crystal Empire city but had many interesting features and a colorful history. Before we knew it we had explored half the town and it was evening.
With night starting to creep into the sky we wasted no time in getting to the Thunderbolt's academy training area where one of the staff members guided Thunder Clap and Midnight Hope to a group of other recruits and soon a large pegasus, with two very large wings walked up to each of the recruits, and he began checking their names off a list.
"Let's see here...Razor Wind, Burst Fire, Jet, Blitz Wing, Thunder Clap, Midnight Hope, and finally Ice Mist...that's almost everyone, where is Ice Mist? I don't have time to wait around for lazy ponies that won't show." Just as the Senior Instructor began to look irritated a light blue pegasus mare rushed in from somewhere behind us and landed next to the others.
"Sorry I was late sir." She stood up straight and told the senior instructor, he walked up in front of her with the same look you would give someone if they had blamed you for something they did.
"I will accept it this once, and once only! Understand?" Then he raised his voice, now addressing the entire group.
"Let me make something crystal clear! I enforce discipline at this academy, being late, disobeying rules and being disrespectful will not be tolerated, each of you has exactly one warning, then you are kicked out of the academy. There is a very important reason for this. Make no mistake, ponies have died in this course because they were careless or not paying attention. Seven years ago a young stallion died when he was trying to pull out of a dive far too close to the ground while showing off, and he was the best in his class. This is not going to be a walk in the park, it will not be easy and statistically only two or three of you are going to make it through and become Thunderbolts."
This older stallion was clearly serious about keeping recruits in line, I noticed most of the recruits cringe when he told them about the pony that died, Including Midnight and Thunder Clap. Then he gestured over to Serenity and I, as well as the group of friends and families of the other cadets with us. "All of you, training will begin tonight for the recruits after they are settled into their barracks. You are welcome to watch their training from tomorrow onward unless told otherwise. Issue your goodbyes now and please head back to your homes or wherever you are staying, thank you." With that he turned away and went back to the recruits.
As the senior instructor passed out flight uniforms all of the friends and families of the recruits told their goodbyes, whether they were leaving for good or simply coming back tomorrow. Just as the others were, Serenity and I told Thunder Clap and Midnight good night and wished them good luck right before the senior instructor's voice broke the air once more.
"Time's up! I want all of you recruits to follow me to your appointed barracks, I will be showing you where you shall spend the next 3 months sleeping and a brief tour of the academy before I issue a flight test to see how well you fly right now."
As the senior instructor continued on talking to the recruits we waved goodbye to our friends and Serenity and found our way to the hotel room we had reserved, room 113. It was nice, the seats inside were comfortable, it had a desk, a bathroom, two beds and a nightstand, not much in the way of decorations but it didn't seem to need any.
"Dibs on the far bed!" Serenity shouted as she hit the top of her new bed with a flying leap.
"Ohhhh myyyyy gooosssh its sooo cozy...Sombra you have got to feel the beds!" She breathed out happily, it was as if she hadn't touched anything this soft in years, though cloud beds were famous for how soft they could be. I did as she suggested and it was even softer than I expected, it was as soft as an army of bunnies and as light as a pile of feathers.
"Wow, this is pretty amazing, well I don't know about you but I'm going to get to sleep as soon as possible, I'm pretty tired."
Then Serenity yawned wide enough that I'd swear she could have bit a watermelon in half. "Sounds good, I'm going to unpack in the morning, night Sombra." She yawned once more before slipping into bed.
I looked out the hotel room window for a short while, I had never been up in the clouds before, it really was a breathtaking view. After I had finished looking over the night covered Storm-Point I crawled into my bed for what would surely be a good night's rest.
It was probably only a half an hour later when Serenity woke up once again, struggling to get comfortable under the sheets, the bed itself was comfortable but she was half freezing, it was colder up in the cloudy city than it was where the two of us lived. She didn't want to wake me but the cold made her do it anyway.
"Sombra, hey Sombra! Psst hey!" She whispered just loud enough to wake me up.
"What? What do you want?" I asked, a little cranky from being woken up from a nice dream but not wanting to be rude to her.
"I'm freezing over here...do you think I could sleep in your bed?" She asked shakily, her tear were chattering as she said it, there was no way I could just let her freeze.
"Fine...come on."
"Thanks, I owe you one." She said as she walked lazily over to my bed and scooted in next to me, I was bigger and didn't get cold as easily so the area near me was warmer than it probably was in her bed.
It was another ten minutes before she'd finally quit moving around and found a comfortable spot. "Cozy yet? It is a cloud bed."
"Yep. Now I am, goodnight Sombra, and don't get any funny ideas." She chuckled to herself
"Alright, well goodnight, sleep well Serenity." With that, Serenity and I were out in a matter of minutes...until I was awoken by what sounded like a low growl.
I popped my eyes around and looked for the source of the noise, it sounded as if there was a dog or something in the room, I continued looking until I heard it coming once again, I looked right next to me to see that it was coming from Serenity. I always slept silently but apparently she snored like a wolf, fantastic.
After being scared by a mare's simple snoring I attempted to return to sleep, trying not to imagine I was sleeping next to a hungry wolf, eventually I managed to fall into a deep sleep easily despite the initially terrifying snore, at least I was in decent company. Not actually in that of a wolf but a kind and wonderful mare I was glad I could call my friend.