//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2  
// Story: Wings 
// by The Infinity Doctor 
//------------------------------//

Thunderlane and I trotted through Ponyville on our way to Mane Street, or more specifically, to the pizza shop about a block from Thunderlane's house. I had finished my homework quickly, finally deciding to pick Commander Hurricane's helmet, and had written about giving it to the historical museum up in Canterlot, somepony steals it, and then gets hurt by a curse put on it by Sombra.

"What kind of pizza do you think we should get?" Thunderlane asked as we walked into the shop.
"I dunno, how about just cheese?"
"Sounds good to me" he said.
He stepped up to the counter, and gave the mare behind it our order, then returned with a slip of paper in his teeth. He set it on our table and sat down with me.
"They'll call us up when our order is ready" 
"Okay"
"So how have things been going at school?"
"Great" I replied.
"Really? How has your homework been going?"
"Good, the assignment I got today was kind of interesting"
"Oh? What was it about?"
"We had to write a report on what we think would happen if we found one of these artifacts stolen by King Sombra"
"Who did the artifacts belong to?"
"The founding ponies of Equestria"
"That sounds like your kind of thing"
"Yeah...I guess it was kind of fun...for homework..."

Thunderlane and I both grew silent as we sat at our table, listening to the din of the pizza shop as we waited. A stallion in an apron trotted up to our table and set a flat box on it.

"Order 83?" he asked.
"Yup, that's us" Thunderlane replied, checking the slip of paper he'd been given earlier.
"Five bits" the stallion said.
Thunderlane took the money out of his saddlebags, and hoofed it to the stallion. The stallion placed the money into the pocket of his apron, and left for the counter. 

"You wanna eat this here or at home?"
"Can we eat it at home?"
"Sure"

Thunderlane took the box in his teeth and we walked out of the pizza shop, and into the busy streets of Ponyville, ponies passing us in a hurry to get home.

We reached Thunderlane's house not long after, I opened the front door as Thunderlane walked in after me. He set the pizza box on the table and went to the kitchen cabinet, took out two plates, and set them on the table. 

"You want to hoof-wrestle for the first slice?" he asked.
"You're on!" I replied.
Thunderlane was way better at hoof-wrestling than I was, but he let me win...some of the time...
He set one of his hooves on the table, I did the same. Our hooves were interlocked as we tried to force the other's hoof down, Thunderlane pretended he was putting up a fight, and seconds later, his hoof hit the table, mine covering it.
"Looks like you win" he grinned "I'll get you next time"
"Sure you will" I returned.

He smiled as we dug into our pizza, Thunderlane shouted in pain as he dropped the slice he'd been eating, a long strand of cheese connecting the slice to his muzzle.

"What's wrong?"  I asked.
"Ish hot!" he said, waving a hoof in front of his muzzle, trying to cool it off.
I shrugged as I blew on my slice and bit into it, savoring the taste.
"Not if you wait for it to cool off"  I said, my mouth full of bread, sauce, and cheese.
He smirked and finally stopped fanning his tongue, he then proceeded to take the slice he'd dropped and bit into it again, this time taking the time to make sure it wouldn't burn him.
I rolled my eyes as we continued our eating contest, Thunderlane taking out over half the pizza before I could finish my third slice.

'So...it's come down to this...'

Both of us were eyeing the last slice in the box, the age-old battle of who would get the last slice, was about to have one more battle added to it.

"Hoof-wrestle for it?" 

X X X X X X X 

"'Night, bro" Thunderlane said as I got under the covers of his guest bed.
"'Night" I replied, my head hitting the cloud pillow.

Thunderlane turned out the lights as he trotted down the hall, into his own room.
I curled myself into a ball as I snuggled against the soft mattress, letting its comfort ease me to sleep. We didn't have cloud mattresses on the ground, back at mom and dad's house, given that mom was a pegasus, and dad a unicorn. So...yeah...
But not that I didn't like my bed back home, I did, it's just that...well...both the beds are soft, okay? That's my point.
My eyes watered as I yawned, I felt my eyes droop as they closed, and I drifted off.

X X X X X X X 

*Knock Knock*

'Huh? Wha? What's going on?' I thought, being pulled from sleep.

The knocking came harder this time.

*Knock Knock Knock*

"Thunderlane!" came the voice of Cloudchaser "Get your flank out here! We need all the help we can get wrestling this storm!" 

I grumbled as I threw off the covers of my bed, I shook my wings as I tiredly trotted into the guest room, where Rumble was fast asleep.

"Rumble..." I said, softly shaking him "Rumble"
"What?" he asked sleepily.
"I've gotta go and do weather patrol...don't leave the house...this storm sounds like a real roof-shaker..."
"Okay..." he yawned, slipping back into sleep.

'Lucky...'

I trotted out of the guest room and into the living room, I opened the front door, and was jolted awake as the stinging rain, thunder, and lightning roared outside. I closed the door and jumped, spreading my wings as I flew towards the black thunderheads dominating the skies over Ponyville.

'How did we sleep through this?' I thought, almost getting knocked off course by a sudden gust of wind.

"There you are!" Cloudchaser said, over the noise "Rainbow Dash and the others are already up there, trying to break up those storm clouds! The rest of us are down here, trying to keep the damage to a minimum"
"Okay!"

I looked at the thunderheads above, lightning flashed, just for a brief second, giving me a glimpse of what I thought was a winged Diamond Dog.

'I need to get more sleep...I'm starting to see things...'

"Hey! Thunderlane! Quit daydreaming and help us out!" 

I shook my head, and flew towards an impatient Cloudchaser.

X X X X X X X 

'I really wish Thunderlane hadn't woken me up...'  I groaned inwardly, covering my head with my pillow, trying to block out the noise coming from the storm outside 'now I can't get back to sleep!' 
I tossed and turned, trying to fall back asleep- long story short, I couldn't...I threw my pillow to the end of the bed, and hopped to the floor.
'Well I'm up...maybe I can find something to eat...'

I walked into the kitchen as the storm continued to rage outside, the thunder and lightning making their prescence known.

'I hope Thunder's okay out there...'
I shook my head.
'He's Thunderlane...of course he'll be okay'

Thunderlane was one of the best cloud-busters on the weather team, if he and the others can't beat back this storm, nopony can. Besides, there've been worse storms than this, right? 

I jumped up to the couch and stretched, my wings popped as I laid down.

'Maybe I can get to sleep out here...'
I prepared to try to fall asleep, but didn't get my wish as a particularly loud crack of thunder made me jump.
'This storm is really getting bad, where'd it come from, anyway?'

I looked around the house, nothing seemed to be out of place.

 *Crack* 
*Boom*

Suddenly, the ceiling caved in, a heavy-looking object quickly following. Rainwater leaking into the house through the newly-made hole, doused both the floor and the figure.
I peeked out from behind the couch as debris from the roof lay everywhere, I turned as I heard an almost silent groan.

'Please don't let it be Thunderlane, please don't let it be Thunderlane...  I thought, approaching the figure.

The figure's lower body was covered by a piece of the roof, it looked like a mare. She groaned softly again as she tried to move, her coat and mane were sopping wet, rainwater continuing to fall on her. The mare thrashed once, giving me a glance of a horn sprouting from her rasberry red mane...maybe her mane was more rust colored? Somewhere in between, I think...her cream colored coat glinted in the lightning as I slowly walked away. What was it that Nurse Redheart had said? Never move somepony...Never move somepony that's injured...unless you know what's wrong! That's it!

"I'm sorry miss" I said, glancing up at the hole in the roof "I'm afraid I'll hurt you more if I try to help..."
Seconds after I'd said that, Thunderlane burst into the house, rain dripping from his body.
"Rumble, go and get a blanket, we can cover the hole in the roof, that should stop the rain from falling on her for at least a little while"
I nodded and went to the guest room to get what he wanted as he trotted to the mare. 
I returned with the blanket as Thunderlane stood up, he took the blanket and flew up, tacking the blanket over the hole. He landed on the floor and turned to me.
"I still need to get back out there and help with the storm, I want you to keep her as comfortable as possible until I get back, okay?"
"Thunder-"
"Rumble, listen to me, this is important," he said, poking me in the chest with a hoof "I need you to do this, there's no other way around it...it's very crucial for her right now"
"O-okay..."
"Good" he said, quickly ruffling my mane "she'll pull through, you'll see"
Thunderlane looked to me once more before leaving the house, flying back into the storm.

I looked down to the mare, who appeared to be unconcious.

'Wait a minute...how'd a unicorn get up there in the first place?'