//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Flying in the Wrong Lane // by soothsayer //------------------------------// Flying over Ponyville I couldn't help but notice the layout of the homes across the landscape. It wasn't that the houses themselves were very interesting, it was all the ponies that lived in them. We are taught during the Hearth's Warming celebration that once the three pony tribes hated each other. But, they came together in a time of crisis and formed lasting friendships. They said that an individual tribe no longer looked down on any other and that they saw each other as equals. I never really bought that. Just looking at Ponyville you could see there was still some hostility. The unicorns mostly lived around the heart of the town, centered around town hall. The earth ponies lived in the north end of town and the pegasi lived on the outskirts. It wasn't deliberate. I don't think anypony ever really though about it. It's one of those things that ponies chose unconsciously. Besides, I think we all look to others like ourselves for comfort. The pegasi are the worst. You have to be harboring ether a major superiority or inferiority complex to build a city like, Cloudsdale. A city that only pegasi can visit without a bit of spell work. Spotting my house I dropped in altitude and landing just outside my door. My house wasn't anything special just a single floored bungalow. If it was daylight I could have made out that its exterior was panted rustic red with white trim. The lights were still on so I assumed that somepony was still awake, more than likely just the colt-sitters. That's right I said sitters. I had left Cloudchaser and Flitter to watch after my brother but I seldom came home to just the two. They had a habit of inviting others over to make things more interesting. I didn't mind. It wasn't like I was paying them to watch Rumble. They still ate my food stores but I was just as guilty of doing the same at their house. Opening the door the first pony I spotted was my friend Cloudchaser leaning against my fridge trying to open the beer she had in her hoof with her eyes. "Hey, I thought told you no drinking while looking after my bro!" She looked up at me as I closed the door behind me. "Hey! Hey, its my colt Thunderlane!" she sounded off as she walked my way, "I wasn't going to drink this until you got home. But your home now so, here to staying young forever." She popped the top and started to chug the ice cold beer. Watching the lavender blue coated mare chug my beer was more than enough to make me thirsty so I headed for the fridge to grab one of my own. As I passed my sofa I heard the sound of snoring so I turned around to see who was the culprit. Laying on my sofa was Chase's twin sister Flitter. At first glance the twins looked almost identical except for their differences in hair style. Chase's hair was high and spiky. Flitter's on the other hoof was long, silky, and was usually held in place with large bow. Which she wasn't wearing at the moment. But if you were to set back and really look at them you would notice they were as different as night and day. Chase's body was toned from head to hoof from the rigorous exercise routine that she put herself through. She is every bit the athlete that our rainbow manned weather manger was. Flitter was sylph like and had much softer features. She was what a stallion would want in a mare. Flitter would often wear makeup and would curl her eye lashes. The only makeup Chase wore was mascara and if she was really getting dolled up, eye shadow. Flitter was wearing a black t-shirt that hung loosely around her. It had some bald earth pony with a comic talk bubble saying, "Who loves you baby!". Laying in Flitters arms was a mare with watermelon colored hair. She was very cute in an adorkable kind of way. Her eyes were swollen and puffy. I swear to Celestia if that punk Dumbbell hurt her I'll kill him. Blossomforth had a date tonight as well. She and Dumbbell were supposed to go out dancing but seeing as Blossomforth was here I knew that something must have happened. But, I wasn't about to wake her up to find out. I can always find out latter. She was still wearing her date clothes. She had on this long sleeved frilly top and a short pleated skirt that matched her mane. I really felt for the little mare. She had only been a resident of Ponyville for a little over a year now and unlike many of the other pegasi residents she didn't move from Cloudsdale. She came out here after she graduated from some college in Fillydelphia. She was the only member of the weather team that actually had a degree in meteorology. The rest of us were just ponies with high school diplomas with more than a fair share of seminars under our belts. Reaching the fridge I pulled out a cold beer, popped the top and took a swig. I had a mouthful of the hops flavored liquid when Chase broke the silence, "So you're back kind of early. I take it that you didn't stick your stick in the marshmallow." The statement caught my off guard and I sprayed the beer that I was just about to swallow out into the air, "No! It was our first date. I wouldn't dare! And besides I'm not about to go into the intimate details of my love life with-you." I said before wiping off my dripping chin. "Oh, come on Lane! Me and you were like so four years ago. We weren't even a couple. We were just buck buddies, that's it." Blinking at her, I thought that I might just be over reacting. Chase was my best friend. And even given our history if I couldn't talk to her, who could I talk too. "You dared during my first heat! And we weren't even dating," she added with a devious grin. "You started that, not me!" I said pointing a hoof at her. "What ever!" she said with a snarky smile, "So, uh, what did you do?" "All I did was take her out to a nice rest-" "You took her to a nice romantic restaurant. Chatted like you were old friends! Flirted and played hoofsies under the table. And then you took her back to her place like a gentlecolt and gave her a sweet kiss goodnight! It so romantic, Laney!" squealed Cloudkicker as she bounced out of Celestia knows where. Sighing I pointed a hoof at the bouncing romance novel gorging mare in front of me, "Chase! Your little sis, is right. What she said was pretty much how it went down." Chase shot me a bored look, "Sorry, I didn't know you were looking for Mrs. Right! I just knew that that frou frou mare was going to give you some. You practically had her at first catch," she replied sarcastically. Knowing that she was referring to the incident with the balloon I couldn't help but wonder if that is why Rarity had asked me out in the first place. Perhaps it was just her way of thanking me for helping her out of tight spot or that she might have a crush on me for saving her. I don't know. I don't care. I just want to be happy. "I don't know what I'm looking for, I'm just looking." I answered flatly. "What ever makes you happy. Well I don't know about the rest of the girls but I'm heading home. I got a early morning workout session planned so I'm going to bounce,' said Chase as she waved and headed for the door. I watched her leave and then turned to CK, Cloudkicker. She looked like she was about to explode. Her eyes were bulging and she had a hoof pressed against her mouth. I assumed that she was trying not to talk. "Well, CK?" I asked as a turned my hoof in the air, motioning for her to speak her piece. "I'm sooo glad you had a fun time with Ms. Rarity! She is like one of my best friends. We always catch up on the latest gossip and sometimes I go to the spa with her and Fluttershy. You wouldn't think it but Fluttershy loves to hear gossip, and she even spreads some. Well, only to me and Rarity. But, that's besides the point." she rambled on. Raising my eyebrow I had to put an end to this before she talked my ear off, "Get to the point, please." I groaned. "Oh! The point is... I never thought you and Rarity would hit it off. But you did and it makes me like sooo happy!" she chirped. Rarity and I were different. I was a weather pony who spent most of his off days bowling or playing horseshoes or some other recreational game. I spent quite a bit of time at the gym with my only real stallion friend, Snowflake. Me and Chase would often set up impromptu races between the two of us. Sometimes we even got Flitter and Blossomforth to race. And if we were really lucky and if she wasn't too busy we would hang out with Rainbow Dash. And it was no secret that me and Dash had started arranging little play dates just the two of us, my little brother Rumble, and Dash's protégé Scootaloo. It was Dash's idea. She thought that it would do the filly some good to hang around other pegasi. I giggled at the promise I was keeping for Scootaloo. One day I had discovered her and this fragile looking pegasi colt named Featherweight having a little picnic not far from Fluttershy's cabin. I asked them if it was a date. Scootaloo insisted that it wasn't but Featherweight said that it was with a huge grin on his face. Ever since then I've kept it a secret. Scootaloo didn't want her friends to think she was into anything, well fillish. "We are different, but opposites attract!" I rebuffed. "I don't care if they do or don't. I'm just glad to of my best friends are dating," she said with a smile. It wasn't long before she left to go home as well. Blossom and Flitter were still a sleep on the couch so I left a note taped to the front door telling them that if they woke up sometime during the night they could just stay here. And if the couch got uncomfortable they could crash in the spare bedroom. I don't even know why I bothered with the note. They would have stayed anyways. I walked down the hallway to my little brother's room. He was snuggled up in his Wonderbolt pj's in under a Wonderbolt themed bed spread. He was smiling in his sleep. I did my best for the little guy. It was hard sometimes being a parent. Mom had died of cancer over seven years ago and dad a few years after that. Looking over at his bed side table I spotted two pictures. The first was a family portrait. It was the last one we took as a family. Dad stood behind us with a foreleg wrapped around mom's waist. His hoof was laying gently over my shoulder he wasn't looking at the camera like the rest of us he was gazing down at me with the biggest smile on his face. That was a great day. Before we went to the camera shoot we had just come from a Wonderbolts show, and I still had my flight goggles dangling from my neck. Moms smile was faint she was happy but the smile hid that she was in almost constant pain and she had a turban wrapped around her head that hid the fact that the chemo had left her once beautiful mane nothing more than a few ragged locks. Rumble was almost too big to be toted around by then but Mom had him cradled in her arms anyway. He was wearing a onesie styled after the wonderbolts' flight suits. His smile was forced and hid how grumpy he was about having to stay up past his nap time. I had a duplicate of the picture on my night stand. I loved it because it reminded me of the time when we were all together, when we were all a family. The other frame held an autographed picture of the Wonderbolts Co-captains, Soarin and Spitfire. Me and Rumble had to wait for five hours in a line after a Wonderbolts show. It was hot and it was sticky but Rumble didn't seem to mind. He was grinning ear to ear and he didn't complain at all. When we finally got up to the autograph table he handed them the picture and the two athletes signed it and asked him if he wanted to be a Wonderbolt one day and his answer took the two ace's by surprise, "Nope! I love watching your shows but I'm going to be paramedic pony like my mommy," he pointed up too me and then added, "But watch out cause my big bro here is going to be the best Wonderbolt ever!" Spitfire eyed my and then shot me a cocky smile, "Is that true, kid!" I nodded yes. Jumping over the table she rose up on her tippy hooves trying match my height and barked, "You will address your superior officer correctly or you will be doing laps around the colosseum! You got that cadet!" How on earth the sexy mare laying across a cloud wearing her Wonderbolts letterman jacket with such smoky eyes on my pinup at home was actually this fiery mare in front of me was beyond me. Not wanting to disappoint one of my idols I raised my hoof and saluted her sounding off, "Yes, Sir Capitan Spitfire, Sir!" She relaxed and placed a hoof on my shoulder, "That's better kid, now what's you name?" I gulped and then answered, "My name is Thunderlane Cloudstorm." Behind Spitfire, Soarin looked up from his latest signed work and asked, "Are you Hammerthrough Cloudstorm's son? "Yes, Capitan Soarin," I said as I saluted him. Smiling at my gesture he got up from his seat and walked around the table. Holding his hoof out he said in a voice sounding like it was about to break, "I want to shake the hoof of the son of my hero!" I gazed at his hoof and then up to Soarin. I didn't know how to react to his words. I could feel tears start to pool at the corner of my eyes. I knew he didn't mean anything by it but he had poked at a still fresh wound. "Laney? Aren't you going to shake cap'in Soarin's hoof?" asked Rumble innocently. I looked down to Rumble and he was giving me a look that mirrored my own. I shot my eyes back up to Capitan Soarin and then reached out and shook his hoof. "Our job as Wonderbolts is to encourage other ponies to join the military. It's ponies like Sergeant First Class Hammerthrough Cloudstorm that makes me continue to do my job. I had the pleasure of serving with your Dad during the boarder disputes not long after I graduated from the academy. If there ever was a pony that I would want to have my back it was him. If you ever need a reference letter or anything let me know. I'll be glad to put in a good word for you." After he shook my hoof he offered Rumble the same. By this time I was crying. Spitfire didn't look so hot. Her wings had drooped and she couldn't even look me in the eye. All she offered was a weak apology and that she was sorry for my loss. It was a hard day but it was one I would never forget. I looked down at Rumble as I sat down on the edge of his bed. I lowered myself down and nuzzled his cheek. It must have been cold because he shivered. I edged back and then I ran my hoof through his charcoal mane. He was going to be a handsome stallion one day. He looked so much like dad that sometimes I thought I was looking at some of the old pictures Grandma used to show us of when dad was just a foal. The only difference was that Rumble had mom's eyes. After dad died I stepped up and raised my little brother. I was just out high school then and although I wanted to go to college I had other responsibilities. Grandma and Grandpa Cloudstorm tried to get us to move in with them but I felt that I had to do this on my own. I had more or less raised Rumble since mom died and I thought that given that dad was rarely at home anyways that it would be any different now that he was gone. For the most part it wasn't but Rumble would sometimes get sad and I would do my best to console him. But, Rumble didn't have as much luck consoling me. I leaned over and kissed his forehead and then headed off to my room. It was simply furnished, just a bed, a couple of side tables and a few other odds and ends. After brushing my teeth I slid into my bed. In those fleeting few moments I thought of my friends, my little brother, and finally my most recent date, Rarity. She was everything I was looking for in a mare. She was smart, beautiful, and hard working. She had great taste in food and clothing. I could honestly imagine myself spending the rest of my life with her. As my mind gave way to sleep, a lone thought escaped into my head. Still something was...missing.