"Mr. Blast?" A voice rang out from outside the room. "May I come in?"
No response.
"Mr. Blast? A-Are you there?" The voice called out again, with no response from the stallion occupying the room.
The door then was unlocked and opened, and the doctor, a unicorn, dropped his board from his magic to the sight of nopony in the bed, and the window opened with the breeze flowing through the curtains, before running out to alert security.
"Blitz..."
. . .
"BLITZ!"
"Hmm what?"
"Wake the buck up!"
Blitz reached his hoof out from under the blankets of his bed, and turned on a lamp on his night stand, which hurt his eyes at first.
"Thunder?" He said, rubbing his eyes and stretching some, before receiving a hoof to the throat, which remained there.
"Were you trying to kill me?" Thunderblast angrily asked, holding Blitz's throat, pinning him against the back of his bed.
"W-what are you talking about, Thunder?" Blitz asked, scared out of his mind.
"You know damn well why. You and your friends made me drink that stupid cider that almost killed me." Thunder said, putting more pressure on Blitz, completely pinning him down.
Blitz winced, unable to get up, his heart close to beating right out of his chest. "I-I-I didn't know....N-none of us knew Thunder...We just know not to do it again..."
"You obviously knew something if you kept pushing me to drink the damn thing." Thunder said in a loud voice, and not long after, a sleepy Soarin walked to the door crease, wiping at his eyes, then gasped once he saw the scene in front of him.
"Thunder what are you doing?!" Soarin yelled, standing perfectly still in shock.
Thunderblast turned and looked at the stallion, examining him. "What are you doing here?"
"I live here..." Soarin said, and Thunder slowly took his hoof off of Blitz's neck.
Blitz coughed some after being released from Thunder's grip, then slowly caught his breath and calmed down, while Thunder lowered his head, ears drooping down in shame that he snuck into his friend's house and came close to possibly choking him to death. Before anypony could say anything else, Thunderblast flew out an open window and away, Soarin running over to check if Blitz was okay.
"Thunder?" A southern mare's voice said, and an orange earth pony mare with bleach-blond hair and a stetson trotted up to Thunderblast's bedroom door, who at the time was reading a book in bed.
Thunder looked up from his book at the mare. "Hey AJ." he said, putting a bookmark in his book and setting it onto his night stand, and the mare walked over and sat down on the bed next to him, leaning against his side.
"Are you ever goin' ta forgive yerself after what happened back in July?" The mare asked.
Thunder sighed. "Probably not. Just like I won't forgive myself for what happened sixteen years ago."
The mare held Thunder's hoof and nuzzled his neck, being a head shorter than the stallion. "Listen big brother, it hurts me too that we couldn't save them, but there was nothing we could do. And I know it hurts you that you nearly killed one of your good friends, but i'm sure by now he's forgiven you and moved on, just like we all have."
"I don't see how I can move on from any of this, Applejack." Thunder said, looking down at her. "Wounds heal, but mine don't, and probably never will."
Applejack then rubbed his hoof gently. "They will someday, big brother. It takes time."
"How much longer can it take?" The pegasus said, getting out of bed and walking over to the window, looking out at the pitch-black sky. "It will be sixteen years in just a few days. Sixteen years is a long time for wounds to heal if you ask me."
"Thunder, what ah'm saying is, they will heal someday, but ya have ta do something about it before that happens, to make way for the healing process. Ya have to...ah dunno...think about it...do whatever it takes. It worked for me, sugarcube." Applejack said, looking at Thunderblast from the bed.
"Hmph." Thunder said, walking to the desk in his room and picking up a picture frame and looking at it, trying his best not to tear up, before feeling a hoof on his shoulder.
"Ya have to let it go, brother. There's no other way. If ya don't now, it will only make yer future worse." Applejack said in a stern yet calm and quiet voice.
Thunder set the picture back down, and trotted over to his bed, crawling in and pulling the covers over himself. "I can't. Can't you see that, AJ? It hurts too much. Maybe I should just give up." he said, sighing and turning onto his side, his sister walking over to him and sitting in front of him, next to the bed.
"No. You should never give up, no matter the circumstances. You have to keep fighting the emotions. If ya give up-."
"Maybe things will get better. You never know." Thunder said, cutting Applejack off.
Applejack sighed. "If ya say so." she said, standing up and turning off his lamp. "Get some rest, sugarcube."
"I'll try." Thunder said, completely snuggled into his bed, as Applejack went to her room. He turned onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, while down the hallway, Applejack took off her stetson and slowly walked over to her wall, which had pictures of her as a filly, Big Macintosh as a colt, a stallion with a blue bandana around his neck, and a mare with a similar stetson on her head. As she looked at the picture, she put her hoof up to it and begun to tear up.
"Ah miss you. Ah wish you could come back." she whispered, then crawled into her bed, trying not to let her emotions take over.
"Thunder? Thunder wake up!" Another southern accent, yet higher pitched voice called out, waking Thunderblast up from his sleep. When his eyes opened, he was staring straight up at a yellow filly with a red poofy mane, with a pink bow the size of her head in it.
Thunder yawned. "Good morning, Applebloom."
"Good morning, big brother. You said we were gon' play today!" The filly said, standing on Thunder's chest.
"I did, didn't I?" Thunderblast said, yawning again. "How long have you been up?"
"A few hours." Applebloom replied.
"A few hours? What time is it?"
"Seven AM." The filly said, smiling.
"Seven? So you've been up since..."
"I never went to sleep!" She said.
"Aren't you tired?" Thunder asked.
"Nope! Not one single bit!" Applebloom said back.
Thunderblast tiredly sighed, and the little filly hopped off of his chest and onto the floor, and the grey stallion rose out of bed and walked out of the room with Applebloom, who was hopping like Pinkie Pie, then outside.
"What do you wanna play, big brother?" Applebloom said, smiling widely.
"Whatever you'd like." Thunder said back, putting down some parts of his mane that were sticking up from being in bed, and rubbing his eyes as they adjusted to the brightness of dawn.
It wasn't long before Applebloom started to slow down, no longer hopping, but walking slowly and head hanging low.
Thunderblast watched her for a few moments, before she collapsed onto the ground, flank in the air, eyelids hanging down, and he chuckled. "Everything alright little sis?" he said, trotting over to her.
"Y-yeah, everythin's fine." Applebloom said, yawning.
Thunder laid down near her, and a very sleepy Applebloom crawled over and snuggled against his side, Thunder putting his wing over her like a blanket, watching her grow more and more tired.
"I think i'm just gonna....lay down for a few minutes. Alright Thunder?" She said, closing her eyes.
Thunder chuckled lightly, still looking down at her. "Alright, little sis."
Less than a minute later, Applebloom begun to snore quietly, snuggled against Thunder's left side, his wing still around her, blanketing her completely.
"Ahem..." Another voice, this time unfamiliar, called out, and a slightly startled Thunderblast looked up.
Just a few feet away, a light grey pegasus stallion just slightly smaller than Thunder stood. He had a green and black mane, slightly like an afro, but also curved around the right side of his head. He had light blue eyes, and a video game controller with a pair of headphones for a cutie mark.
"Oh, um. Can I help you?" Thunder said quietly, trying not to wake a sleeping Applebloom.
"Uh, yes. I'm here to buy some cider." The stallion said, also quietly.
"Ah, alright. Just go knock on the door and AJ will get you some." Thunderblast quietly said back.
"Okay." The stallion said, before trotting up to the door and knocking, then talking to Applejack once she opened the door, before handing him a keg of cider, the stallion trading her for a few bits, before walking by with the keg on his back. "Have a nice day." He said, walking by.
"You too." Thunder said back as the stallion trotted down the path into some apple trees towards town. He watched him leave, not recognizing the stallion at all.
It wasn't long before Thunderblast carefully got up, and carried Applebloom to her bed, where he tucked her in snug as a bug in a rug, then walked out quietly to avoid waking her up. After putting her in bed, Thunder showered and decided to go to town. On his way there, he trotted down the path to town from the barn, the sight was breathtaking. All of the leaves in the trees shimmered orange and red, some leaves floating down to earth in the cool autumn breeze, covering the path with hundreds of multi-colored leaves of different shapes and sizes, some making a crunching sound as the stallion walked over them. When Thunder reached town, he casually trotted through the open streets, past many ponies, ranging from fillies and colts playing by the fountain, to mares shopping at stores and open stands, to stallions, whom one or two might have been trying to impress some mares sitting on a bench. Thunderblast continued his way through town, before noticing a tan earth pony stallion with a brown mane and tail, standing in front of a much shorter blue mare with a blue and dark grey mane, her left eye was completely greyed out, meaning she was half blind, and had a horn and wait what?
"Horn and wings?" Thunder said, before chuckling to himself. "Must be Snowy."
Thunder trotted over to the two, the mare out of nowhere tackling him and pinning him down.
"Who are you?!" The mare asked, pinning Thunder down.
"Jeez, she's gotta be ten times stronger than me..." He thought to himself. "Snowy get off!"
The mare gasped, then pushed Thunder further into the dirt. "How do you know my name?!"
Thunderblast rolled his eyes. "It's me, Thunderblast! Your brother!"
The mare gasped again, then quickly got off of the stallion, who slowly rose from the ground. "Oh my, i'm so sorry Thunder." she said, as the earth pony stallion laughed some, before being nudged by the mare.
Thunder dusted himself off after being taken down by a mare much smaller than him. "It's fine, I would have done the same thing most likely." he said, chuckling. "It's great to see you two again."
"It's great to see you too, Thunder!" Diesel said. "Wait a minute, brother?"
"Yeah, me and Snowy here decided we should be brother and sister." Thunderblast said, smiling.
"Yup!" Snowmight, who goes by Snowy to many ponies, said, before giggling.
"Oh, I see. Hey, Thunder. Did you hear the news?" Diesel asked.
"What news?"
"Me and Snowy..." Diesel started, moving closer to the mare.
"Yeah?"
"We're getting married!" Snowmight said in a cheerful voice.
Thunder smiled. "That's awesome! Congrats you two!" He said, before hugging Snowmight and Diesel.
"Thanks, Thunder. We can't be more excited." Diesel said, smiling.
"What about you, Thunder? And that mare of yours?" Snowmight asked, holding Diesel's hoof.
"Oh, uh... I'd like to propose...soon. I just don't know when." Thunder replied.
"Just propose anytime you want, or listen to your heart." Diesel said.
"I know, it's just i'm too chicken to propose." Thunderblast said back.
"I was scared proposing to Snowy, but I still did it." Diesel said, nuzzling her.
"Yeah, but." Thunder said.
"But what?" Snowmight asked.
"What if she doesn't like me enough to marry me?" Thunder said.
"Why wouldn't she? You two are a match made in heaven." Snowy said back.
"Maybe..." Thunder said, before being nearly knocked over by another stallion. "HEY! Watch where you're going."
"I'm so sorry..." The stallion said, before helping Thunder up. "Wait a minute...Thunder?" he said, pulling down his green shades, revealing a pair of light blue eyes.
"Do I know you?" Thunder asked.
"Yeah, we met at Sweet Apple Acres earlier...and my sister is your marefriend." The stallion said.
"Wait, you're Rainbow Dash's brother? She never told me." Thunderblast said.
"Well, adopted brother. She told me about you a little while back, and it's great to finally meet you." The stallion said, putting his shades back up and smiling.
"Adopted brother eh?" Thunder said.
"Yup. The name's Light Assassin, but you can just call me Light if you want." The stallion said, extending his hoof, Thunder happily shaking it.
"Light Assassin? Why does that sound familiar?" Thunder said, putting his hoof up to his chin after shaking the stallion's.
"Well, i'm a disk jockey. I go on tours sometimes around Equestria, mostly Manehattan and Canterlot." Light Assassin said, kicking his hoof into the dirt a couple of times.
"Disk jockey? Oh yeah! I remember now." Diesel said. "You were on my train a few times."
Light then looked at Diesel. "That was you?"
"Yup!" Diesel said, smiling.
"Well, no offense, but you need to work on stopping the train without slamming on the brakes at the last minute." Light said.
Diesel's smile dropped into a bit of a disgusted face, before trotting away.
"Diesel wait!" Snowmight said, running after him.
Thunder watched his sister and Diesel leave, then turned to face Light again.
"So, I guess since you're my sister's coltfriend, that makes us brothers." The stallion said.
"I guess..." Thunder said.
"You should totally come by my house sometime and we could hang out!" Light Assassin said.
"Sure." Thunder said, smiling back.
"I live in a house on the lake, it shouldn't be too hard to find. Anyways, see ya later!" Light said, before flying away.
"Alright, see you!" Thunder said back, waving, before trotting away to find Diesel and Snowmight, before they pulled him into an alley.
"Hey what are you-."
"Shh!" Diesel said, putting his hoof on Thunder's mouth.
Thunderblast then calmed and moved Diesel's hoof off of his mouth. "What was that all about?"
"Ugh, I never liked that guy." Snowmight said.
"Why was he so rude to you, Diesel?" Thunder asked.
"I have no idea." Diesel replied, looking out of the alley, watching Light Assassin from a distance.
"He moved here a year or two ago, and not many ponies like him. Some say he's killed fillies and royal guards before." Snowmight said.
"R-royal guards?" Thunder said, gulping, his heart sinking.
"Yeah, he hates royal guards to death. He must not hate you if he was happy around you." Diesel said.
"Or, he could have just been happy around you now because it was in public." Snowmight said.
"Maybe. But, he...wants me to come over to his house...to hang out." Thunder said.
"What did you say?" Diesel asked.
"I said....sure."