"Dashie, wait!" Yelled a mid-blue, rainbow-maned stallion as he ran out of his house, after his fleeing daughter.
"No, dad! Leave me alone, just this once!" Rainbow Dash yelled back, running down the cloud-built sidewalk and onto the street.
Soon after, a slightly larger grey pegasus with a black mane trotted out, wondering what just happened. He, however, was too late. Rainbow Dash was already flying out of sight. He then turned to the stallion standing to his right.
"Dash...please..i'm sorry." The blue stallion said, watching the mare fly into the distance, past some taller buildings. The stallion then turned to Thunderblast, with an angry look on his face. "Come back inside...I need to speak with you."
"Wh-... What did I do?! I didn't even say anything!" Thunderblast replied, looking back at Rainbow's father.
"You did enough!" The stallion yelled back, before grabbing Thunder by his chest and dragging him inside. Luckily for Thunder, the stallion found it harder than it looked to grab him and throw him wherever he wanted. He did manage to at least push Thunderblast down, who also managed to stop himself by flapping his wings.
"What is your problem?!" Thunder yelled at the stallion, turning to face him.
Thunderblast flew around Cloudsdale, desperately looking for a familiar rainbow-maned mare before the sun officially set. Cloudsdale was a big city, perhaps larger than Canterlot and the other villages on the mountain combined. He scanned over every inch of town, as if he was some sort of living computer. After about an hour of searching, he flew down to the park where he spent time with his marefriend earlier that day, to find her crying next the exact tree they cuddled against.
"Dashie?" He said, floating just above the cloud-ground, eying the sobbing mare closely.
"Go away, dad!" Rainbow cried, not checking to see who was present before her.
"It's me, Thunder." He said, landing and folding up his wings.
The mare didn't say anything else, but continued to cry.
"Shh...Dashie..." Thunder said, trotting up and hugging her tightly. The mare then turned and cried into him. It comforted her some to know her coltfriend was there, and that she had a warm chest to nuzzle whenever. She wrapped her hooves around his waist and squeezed, while Thunder brushed his hoof through her brightly-colored mane.
"W-why is my dad...so mean?" Rainbow sobbed.
"I don't know, Dashie...i've never seen him this angry before." Thunder replied, trying his best to calm Rainbow Dash.
After a few minutes, he finally managed to calm her down, and Rainbow pulled her tear-soaked muzzle away from his chest and noticed he had some cuts and bruises, as well as his eye slightly turning black.
"What did he do to you?!" Rainbow teared up even more at the sight of her coltfriend.
"He...um...it's nothing bad..." Thunderblast replied.
"You have a black eye!" Rainbow yelled.
"It's nothing, really. It doesn't hurt." Thunder said, smiling lightly. "Hey, don't worry about me."
Rainbow sniffed, Thunder wiping a tear from her face.
"C...can I stay at your place? Y-you know, until it's safe to go home?" Rainbow asked, trembling lightly.
"Of course." Thunder smiled more, wrapping his wings around his marefriend.
"Thanks...Thunder." She said, nuzzling his chest.
A day later, Thunderblast returned to Canterlot, with his marefriend, who now temporarily resides at his apartment. Once again, he had his duties in the royal guard. Security was still bumped up after the strange occurrences the night Thunder begun his night duties. Once he arrived at the castle, on his way to his post, he was stopped by some strange-looking stallions. Instead of golden armor, or dark blue lunar armor, the color of their armor was dark grey, with a darker shade of red star emblem.
"Halt!" One of the guards spoke, in an extremely gruff voice. The two stallions were slightly larger than Thunder, and they both narrowed their shaded eyes onto him.
"I.D please?" The other asked.
"Oh, er, of course." Thunderblast reached under the front of his armor, taking off his dog tags and presenting them to the two stallions, who looked at each other, then back to the grey stallion.
"Alright, you may enter, Sergeant." The guard said, moving their spears, allowing Thunderblast to enter. Before he could enter, however, one of the guards put his hoof on Thunder's wing, causing him to jump lightly, but not enough to be noticed.
"Captain Armor demands to have a word with you in his office." The guard said.
Thunderblast nodded and trotted into the castle, and stopped outside Shining's office, preparing to knock.
"Come in, soldier." Shining Armor said from behind the closed door.
Thunder then entered his office, wondering how Shining knew he was outside the door. He greeted him with a salute.
"You wanted to see me s-...Shining?" Thunder spoke, hoof still at his forehead.
"Yes. Please, have a seat." Shining said, eying Thunder.
Thunderblast sat, setting his helmet on the floor next to him.
"As you know, you reported the strange occurrence to Corporal Night Shadow and Princess Luna, am I correct?" Shining Armor said.
"Yes sir." Thunder replied.
Shining nodded. "And security has been bumped up ever since. I'm sure you've bumped into some...different...guards, right?"
Thunder remembered the stallions at the front door, and slowly nodded.
"Yes sir, I have...but, who are they?"
Shining put his hooves together. "They are the elites, best of the best. A mix of the Solar and Lunar guard. It was decided by both me and Captain of the Lunar Guard, Fallen Star, that elites might be necessary in future times. Anyways, back to security. I have decided, that after a week of little to no strange activity in and around the castle grounds, the security block will be lifted city-wide. Unless something else happens, things won't be as tight, and you certainly won't have to go through the elites at the door." He chuckled lightly. "Also, I am putting another guard with you on your post. I know how you are when you are alone, on duty. You may know him from what happened a year ago."
The grey pegasus in fine golden armor trotted out onto the castle bridge, where he was stationed for his post, to find a dark grey unicorn stallion with a greyish-white mane and tail.
"Ah, Thunder! Great to see you again!" The stallion said, smiling.
"Sharp?!" Thunderblast's irises shrunk at the sight of a familiar unicorn.
The unicorn then trotted up to Thunder, who was still in some shock.
"Miss me?" The stallion asked, smirking.
"You got let back into the guard after last year?" Thunder asked.
"Yup!" The stallion replied.
"I thought you were punished."
"Technically this is punishment, as well as having most of my spells removed. Oh well, as you can tell, i've changed since the attack on the city. Oh, by the way." The stallion said, before flashing his dog tags. "Bam."
"Lieutenant Sharpblade?" Thunderblast said, looking at the tags, then back at the unicorn.
"Yup! I got promoted just last month."
"Celestia help us."