At about one in the afternoon, the train pulled into Canterlot station and in the blink of an eye, ponies were flooding out of the train cars and onto the platform, while the conductor stood by Thunderblast’s car and welcomed everypony to Canterlot.
Thunder stepped out of the train, mane blowing to the left slightly from the breeze. The temperature outside was so perfect, it the air could not be felt at all. He then took a deep breath and walked through the station building and out to the street, which was full of many different ponies.
After going to a hotel to check into a room to leave his bags, Thunder searched and searched the city for a Royal Guard recruitment station, not getting any luck for at least thirty minutes. Finally, he found one, stood in front of it and looked up at the two-story high building. He took a deep breath and trotted in, feeling so nervous he could just scream, but he couldn’t knowing that there was a royal guard at the end of the hall sitting at a desk, shuffling through piles of papers.
The guard kept his head down as he read a list of all of the new recruits, not noticing Thunder approaching him.
“Ahem.” Thunderblast said, hoping to get his attention.
The guard looked up at Thunder and investigated him for a couple of seconds. “Can I help you sir?” he asked.
“Uhh, well. I’m here to sign up for the royal guard,” Thunder replied.
“Oh, uh, okay.” The guard then turned his chair around and grabbed a piece of paper and handed it to Thunder. “I need you to sign this for me.”
“Alright. Thanks,” Thunder said, taking the paper and sitting down, going through some questions about himself.
A few minutes later, Thunder turned it in to the guard and he examined it.
“So, Thunderblast.. You’re from Ponyville and you’re….” The guard then noticed his birth date. “You’re fourteen. Is that correct?” he asked.
“Uh…yeah…is that a problem?” Thunder nervously asked.
“Well, a little bit. There’s a new rule in the guard, and the youngest you can join is at least seventeen, which means you can’t join for another three years,” the guard explained in a serious tone.
“Oh…” Thunder said, feeling upset.
“Don’t worry, I can still hire you, but not as a royal guard. All guards who join a year or two before regulations are hired as either coffee servers or janitors. You can choose whichever, although we really need more coffee servers,” the guard said.
“Coffee server then,” Thunder answered.
“Alright. I’ll call Iron Armor down here and he’ll interview you. Okay?” The guard said.
“Iron Armor?” Thunder asked, gulping. “Y-you mean… Captain Iron Armor?”
“Well, yeah,” the guard picked up the phone and dialing the captain’s office.
Thunder then felt a wave of fear hit him, knowing that the captain of the Royal Guard will be sitting right in front of him in just a few minutes. He somewhat managed to keep his fears inside of him.
“Alright, bye,” the guard said as he hung up the phone, which snapped Thunder out of his trance. “Iron will be here in a few minutes. Come with me,” he said, getting off of his chair and leading Thunder to a small office. After Thunder sat down, the guard noticed Thunder was worried.
“You alright?” he asked.
“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” Thunder nervously said, squeezing in an awkward smile.
The guard raised an eyebrow. “Don’t be nervous, Iron doesn’t bite.” He said, trotting out of the room before stopping at the door and turning his head to look at Thunder. “That hard..” he said chuckling slightly, shutting the door behind him.
Thunder’s eyes shrunk at the guard’s last two words, causing him to shake slightly.
A few minutes later, the door opened, and a large white pegasus stallion with silver armor with a red mane and tail trotted in. “Are you Thunderblast?” he asked.
“Y-yeah,” Thunder stuttered, shaking enough to be seen by the stallion.
The guard raised an eyebrow before sitting down at the desk across from Thunder. “I’m Iron Armor. Nice to meet you.” He said, extending his hoof across the desk to Thunder, who kindly shook it.
“Nice to meet you too, sir.” Thunder nervously said.
“So, you’re here to join the guard eh? Think you’ve got what it takes?” He said, smirking a little.
Thunder then nodded, still smiling at Iron.
Iron then noticed Thunder’s slight body build. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to catch his eye.
“I see you have a slight build there. Do you work out?” Iron asked.
“No sir, I actually bucked apple trees back in Ponyville.” Thunder replied.
“Oh, okay then. I’m happy to see you’re in shape.” Iron said, writing down on a piece of paper. “So you’re an apple farmer?” he asked.
Thunder stopped for a second, wondering if he would laugh if he said yes.
“Yes. I am.” Thunder answered.
“Hmm.. You’re probably the 4th farmer stallion this month to sign up for the royal guard. I’ve never seen a pegasus farmer though.” Iron said, before returning his attention to the paper and writing something down on it.
Thunder nervously sat there for what seemed like hours, when in reality it was only a minute.
“So. Thunder.” Iron said, putting his pen down and his hooves together. “You know you can’t join at your age, right?”
“Yeah… That’s what that other guard out there said.” Thunder answered.
“Don’t worry, if you do really good, you might get promoted to a recruit.” Iron said, smiling at Thunder.
“And if I don’t?” Thunder added on.
“If you don’t, you’ll still become a guard in 3 years time.” Iron continued.
“Okay.” Thunder said, feeling a bit sad that he couldn’t join today.
“In your spare time however, we can still have you go through training if you want.” Iron added. “Mostly physical training and aerial acrobatics.
Thunder stopped and looked down, catching Iron’s eye.
“Everything alright?” Iron asked.
“No, sir. Here’s a thing.” Thunder said, looking back up at the stallion.
“What is it?” Iron asked.
“I…I can’t fly…” Thunder choked up, closing his eyes and lowering his head slightly.
“You can’t? But…You’re a pegasus.” Iron said.
“I am, but I never really learned how to fly. I tried my hardest, I just couldn’t do it.” Thunder said back.
Iron Armor then sat back in his chair, looking down at Thunder, feeling sympathy for him.
“I can sign you up in a flight program if you’d like.” Iron offered.
“No, sir. That won’t work. I give up on flying.” Thunder said.
Iron then sighed. “Well… If you can’t fly, I’ll have to consider you an earth pony guard, so they don’t send you through flight training.”
Thunder couldn’t say anything at that moment.
“Look, kid.” Iron said, standing up much taller than Thunderblast. “It doesn’t really matter if you can fly or not, you’ll still get accepted. You’re already off to a great start in physical terms, which means basic training won’t be as hard for you when you start it.”
“I know, sir. It’s just, I’d like to be able to fly as well. I don’t want to be an earth pony with wings, sir.” Thunder said, looking up at Iron.
“I know you do, Thunder. Someday, I’m sure your chance will come and you’ll learn how to fly.” Iron said back, bringing a small smile to Thunder’s face.
“Thank you, sir. I have a feeling that time won’t come for a while though.” Thunder said, looking back at his folded up wings.
“Well, not everypony learns how to fly at the same time. If it makes you feel a little bit better, there’s a couple of other guards i’m training who are still having trouble flying, so you’re really not alone.” Iron replied.
Thunderblast looked back up at Iron. “Really?”
“Yep.” Iron said back. “Well, it was great meeting you, Thunderblast. Your shift starts next Monday, I want you at Outpost 54 at 0700 hours to start your job.” He said, extending his hoof.
“Thank you sir, it was nice meeting you too.” Thunder said, shaking Iron’s hoof and standing up. “0700 hours?” Thunder asked, confused by what he meant.
“7 AM, Thunder.” Iron answered. “I’ll have to teach you the times we use in the guard as well.” He said smiling, before walking out with Thunder.
After that, Iron Armor went his own ways, and Thunder decided to take a walk around town and admire the scenery, looking at a map he brought with him so he doesn’t get lost.
“Wow, what a view!” said an earth pony stallion, standing dangerously close to a cliff which wasn’t blocked off by barriers.
“Sir, I’m gonna have to ask you to back away from the edge.” Said a unicorn guard as he trotted up to the stallion.
“Why? I’m not gonna jump.” The stallion said back.
“Still though, please, step back.” The guard replied.
Thunder was trotting by at the time and looked over and saw the two arguing, before stopping to look at his map.
Just then, there was the sound of concrete cracking and slight rumbling. At that moment, the edge where the unicorn guard and the earth pony stallion were standing gives way, causing the earth pony to fall. The unicorn grabbed hold of the edge and was holding on for dear life.
Thunder looked up and saw the guard hanging on to the edge, and quickly dropped his map and ran over to help the guard, only to get there one moment too late. The two ponies screamed as they fell from the edge.
Thunder then had a million different thoughts of what to do going through his mind, not focusing on any of them. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he too was falling out of control.
“Oh, crap! Why on earth did I do that?!” He shouted as he tumbled through the air. Thunder then locked his eyes on the guard and the earth pony, and gradually stopped his tumbling, gaining control over his fall.
Thunder opened his wings and kept them straight out, finally catching up to the guard and grabbing him, still far higher than the earth pony.
A moment later, there was a sound louder than anything Thunder had ever heard before, which somehow caused him to black out, and when he woke up, he had the earth pony in his grasp.
Thunder then started flapping his wings and began flying quickly back up towards the city, where a crowd of ponies had gathered after seeing him jump after the two stallions.
After landing just outside of the crowd, he set the two down, still a bit confused about what just happened, only to have the sounds of hooves clapping and cheering break his trance of thought.
“Th-thank you…” The guard stuttered, missing his helmet from the fall.
“Yeah… Thank you.” The earth pony said to Thunder, shaking like a leaf in the wind.
“You’re welcome. But, what just happened?” Thunder said, still very confused.
The crowd soon stopped applauding and cheering and bowed down, confusing Thunder even more. He turned around to see a much taller white alicorn mare with a wavy blue, pink and green mane, which made his heart stop.
“P-Princess Celestia..” Thunder stuttered, bowing down to her.
“Are you Thunderblast?” Princess Celestia asked, smiling.
“Yes, your highness. That’s me.” Thunder said, standing up straight again.
Celestia’s smile widened slightly as she looked down at the colt.
“I have never seen bravery as much as yours, Thunder. You jumped after two ponies who most likely wouldn’t have survived their fall. Thank you for that.” She said, still smiling. “I also saw your sonic boom, which was magnificent.”
“Huh? Sonic boom?” Thunderblast's head tilted, confused once more.
Princess Celestia then brought him over to the edge where some ponies were standing, looking down at a large fiery ring in the colors of a rainbow, with a trail of grey smoke traveling in the same path Thunder took when flying down then back up.
Thunder’s eyes widened at the trail, then realizing that was what caused the loud boom during his fall. “I…did that?” He asked, still looking down at it.
“Yes, you did.” Celestia smiled, too looking down toward the magnificent formation. “One more thing, Thunderblast.” She added, then pointed to his flank.
Thunder glanced at his flank, and saw something amazing. His cutie mark, a lightning bolt surrounded by a silver ring, resembling the sound barrier being broken, had appeared. His eyes widened even more, causing him to squeal.
“Oooooh my gosh!” Thunderblast squealed, fluttering his wings and bouncing up and down in the air, then looking back at his wings and flapping them, causing him to rise just a few feet in the air. “I-I’m flying?” Thunder said, tearing up some. This was now the best day in his life.