The sun slowly rose over Canterlot, only a few clouds dotted the sky. The city slowly came to life as ponies opened their shops and went to work. The castle opened it's doors for ponies who worked inside of it, and to tourists from around Equestria.
"Sergeant Thunderblast?" A voice called out.
A moment later, a grey pegasus guard stallion with a black mane on his helmet approached an earth pony guard, who had called his name.
"Yes sir?" Thunderblast said, throwing up a salute, the other guard happily returning it.
"Captain Shining Armor would like to have a word with you in his office. He said come anytime." The guard said, dropping the salute.
"Alright. Did he say anything else?" Thunder asked.
"No. All he said was he would like to talk with you." The guard said. "Carry on soldier." he continued, trotting away.
Thunderblast then resumed his guard duty, in the castle gardens. Knowing the captain, this could be anything.
"I didn't do anything wrong, did I? Maybe it's a promotion or something." Thunder thought to himself as he kept a straight face and slowly patrolled through the gardens.
Not long later, on his way to Shining's office, Thunderblast thought of the numerous things he could be in to talk about. He hadn't done anything wrong, had he?
"Come in." Shining said after Thunder's initial knock on his door, and a slightly nervous stallion slowly entered the office.
Thunder threw up a salute.
"At ease, soldier." Shining said, and Thunder walked up to the desk.
"You wanted to speak with me sir?" Thunderblast said.
"Yes, I did." Shining started, sitting up straight. "You are one of my best guards. You know that right?"
"No, sir. I didn't."
"Well, you do now." Shining replied, smiling slightly.
"Thank you sir." Thunder said back.
"You don't have to call me sir either, Thunder. We're best buds."
"Yes, but you're captain of the guard, so I think it's best if I call you sir when we're on the job." Thunder said.
Shining Armor sighed. "If you insist, but know you don't have to call me sir. Anyways, you've been very good at your duty here in the guard, and I'd like to personally thank you for your service."
"Just doing my job for the princesses, sir. But... What are you saying?" Thunder asked.
"I'm saying, you should go home for a little while. You're not in trouble at all, I'm just saying you should go home and see your friends and family." Shining said, putting his hooves on the desk.
"Are you sure sir?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Go home, take a little vacation. You've earned it." Shining said, smiling again.
Thunderblast smiled back. "Yes sir. Thank you sir." He said, saluting.
Shining Armor returned the salute this time, then turned his attention to the papers on his desk. "You may leave whenever you desire after today."
"Okay. Again, thank you sir." Thunder said, before walking out of Shining's office.
After finishing his guard duty for the day, Thunderblast went back to his apartment and packed a few things, then crashed on his bed earlier than usual.
A whole nights sleep later, Thunder rose out of bed, showered, put on his saddle bag, then flew to the train depot where he waited for his train to arrive. When the train arrived, and after ponies disembarked, he saw a familiar face.
"Diesel?" He said, trotting up to a sand-tan earth pony stallion with a brown mane and tail, wearing a basic blue-and-white striped engineer hat, and a red with white detailing bandana around his neck.
"Ah, Thunderblast!" The stallion said, after turning around from doing a check on his locomotive. "How're you doing?"
"I'm doing great! What about you? How have you been?" Thunder said.
"I've been awesome. I finally found a mare." Diesel replied, smiling.
Thunderblast's grin widened. "That's great!! What's her name?"
"Snowmight."
"Snowmight? I know her." Thunder said.
"Oh you have? She's a really sweet mare." Diesel said, smiling, then entering what appeared from Thunder's perspective, a daydream.
"She sure is, and uh... Don't mean to sound rude, but shouldn't you be doing your job?" Thunder asked.
"Oh dear, right. Anyways, you should come by again sometime. She's also a train driver." Diesel said.
"She is? Hmm. She never told me that. Yep, I'll definitely have to stop by again while i'm in town. I'll see you later, Diesel." Thunder said, before walking back to his car.
"Alrighty. See ya Thunder!" Diesel said back, then continuing his inspection of the train.
It wasn't long before Thunderblast was back home in his home town of Ponyville. Once the train pulled into the station, he happily trotted out and sniffed the air. To his surprise, it smelled a lot like Canterlot. He then left the station and pranced around town in an in-breakable cheerful mood. Though, there was one thing he tried his best not to think about, which he was very good at. After leaving his saddle bag at Sweet Apple Acres, where he was staying, he then decided to meet up with his good friend Blitz, Spitfire and wait...
"Hey Soarin." Thunder said, sitting down with them at a sports bar in Cloudsdale.
"Ah hey, Thunder! What's up?" Soarin asked.
"I'm doing great, I'm glad to finally be back in town." Thunder said.
"It's great to have you back here, bro." Blitz said. "Me and Soarin were wondering when you'd return."
"Really? Well, I'm only back for a week, so we could do anything we want I guess."
"Well that's awesome! I'm not off from the wonderbolts sadly, but Soarin here is." Spitfire said, taking a sip of her drink.
"Hehe yeah. It feels good to get some time off." Soarin said, then kissing Spitfire on the cheek.
Thunderblast's jaw dropped slightly.
"What? Didn't anypony tell you the news?" Soarin said.
"What news?" Thunder asked.
"Soarin and Spitfire are together, they have been since the incident." Blitz said.
"Wow, congrats you two! You make a great couple." Thunder said, smiling.
Spitfire giggled slightly. "Thank you, Thunder." she said, before nuzzling Soarin's neck.
"Hey, Thunder. You want some cider or something? Drinks are free tonight." Blitz asked, drinking a cider.
"Oh, uh, no thanks Blitz. I don't drink." Thunderblast said.
"Come on, just one drink." Soarin said, nudging Thunder.
"No. I don't like drinking." Thunder said, taking a sip of his water.
"Please? Just try it." Blitz said, giving Thunder a shot glass of strong cider.
Thunder stared at the glass for a few moments. "Eh, okay. Sure." he said, taking the small glass and looking at it, then gulping it down. Suddenly, his wings opened out straight, and his feathers fluffed up. "Whoa. That. Is. Strong." Thunder said, putting the glass down.
"Want some more?" Blitz asked.
"Oh, no no. That's way too strong for me." Thunder replied.
"Come on, Thunder. Just have some more, it'll wash the stress away." Blitz said, giving Thunder a larger glass of the cider.
"Why do you want me to drink so much? I told you I don't drink." Thunder said, putting the glass on the table.
"It's fun! Just drink with us please." Soarin said, sounding different than before.
"Ugh. If it makes you happy." Thunderblast said, picking up his glass and taking small sips at a time. After another glass, the room started to appear weird to him, and Thunder started to feel the full effects of the cider.
"Heeeey Thunder. Yooou alright?" A voice what sounded like Blitz's called out, slightly blurred out and sounding strange.
"I-I don't know.... I'm gonna g-go home..." Thunder said, slowly getting up from the chair and walking a few steps, before stumbling and collapsing on the floor.
"Thunder?"
"...Augh..."
"Thunder!"
Everything at that moment went pitch black.
"AAH!" Thunderblast woke with a scream, panting slightly after waking up. When he looked around him, he wasn't in his apartment in Canterlot or at Sweet Apple Acres. Where was he?
Then, the door opened, and a unicorn doctor trotted in.
"Ah, good. You're up." The unicorn said.
"W-where am I?" Thunder asked.
"You're in the hospital, you've been out for two days." The doctor said, writing something on some paper with his magic.
"Two days? What happened?" Thunder asked again, rubbing his head.
"You had a very powerful drink that your immune system is not used to. You're lucky to be alive." The doctor said, setting the paper and pencil down on a small table. "Had it been any stronger, you wouldn't be here talking to me right now."
Thunderblast was speechless at that moment.
"Now, would you mind telling me why you drank that cider?" The doctor asked, sitting down on a stool next to the bed.
"I...um...my friends pushed me to drink it. I had a tiny shot of it and I didn't like it that much." Thunder replied.
"Why didn't you just say no if you didn't like it?" The doctor asked.
"I did, they still pushed me and I finally gave in." Thunder sighed. "Were they trying to kill me?"
"I doubt it, they probably didn't know it would affect you as bad as it did, or how it could have affected you." The doctor said back, writing more things down on the paper.
Thunder laid his head back on the pillow. "When will I get out of here?"
"A day or two. Your immune system needs to recuperate. Again, you're lucky to be alive. If you need anything, just call for me." The doctor said, taking his paper and pencil and walking out the door and shutting it behind him.
A few moments after the doctor left, Thunderblast then thought of many things.
"I'm going to have a talk with them when I get out of here..." He said to himself, before turning over and snuggling into the bed more.