"Aw man, I hope I'm not late."
Thunderblast flew at a quick pace over the Everfree towards his home town of Ponyville, where he was running slightly late to meet up with his marefriend's step-brother. Today was one of his shorter shifts, so he could make it to town before the sun set around seven-thirty. Lucky for him, it stayed daylight long enough until he saw the lights of the small town, before landing in the square, outside of town hall. His journey wasn't over yet, as he still had to find Light Assassin's house, which from what he could remember, was located outside of town on the lake beach. Once again, lucky for him, there was a newly-built path that lead to the beach, which he followed under the constant darkening of the dusk sky. After a couple of minutes, he saw house lights just ahead.
"This must be the place," Thunder continued down the path towards the house.
He stopped at the door and knocked, like any good pony would, and waited.
"Who is it?!" A voice yelled from inside, most likely coming from the second floor.
Thunder then decided to mess with the stallion, and cleared his throat. "It's the Royal Guard! Open up!" He acted in a slightly gruff voice.
The door then opened, and Thunderblast was met with a blade in the stallion's hoof.
"Get off of m- Oh hi Thunder...um...sorry about that," The stallion said, tossing the blade over to the side.
"Uh, what are you doing pointing knives at guards?" Thunder said, his head recoiled back from the blade being pointed at him moments ago.
"That's...uh..."
*DING*
"Cookies are ready!" The grey pegasus said, quickly darting into the kitchen, avoiding Thunderblast's question. "Come on in, have a seat!"
Thunderblast entered the house and looked around for the living room, shutting the front door behind him and turning to his right, where a slightly modern living room set up sat. He then sat down on the couch, scanning the room around him to make sure this wasn't some sort of trap.
"He kills royal guards," Thunder mentally murmured, remembering what Diesel said about two weeks earlier.
After completely scanning over the room, a calming sense fell down his spine that nothing bad was waiting for him, allowing his muscles to ease gently.
What felt like forever due to some instant boredom the stallion picked up, but in reality was three minutes, Light Assassin cantered out of the kitchen with a plate of cookies on his back, and set it down on the coffee table in front of them, before sitting on the recliner to Thunder's right side.
"So, Thunder. Tell me a bit more about you, and please, help yourself," Light Assassin smiled, eating one of the cookies.
"Ah, thank you," Thunderblast smiled back, picking one up and biting into the warm cookie. "Well, as you know, I'm in a relationship with Rainbow Dash...I have been since my early guard days."
"Oh really now?" Light took another bite of his cookie. "I had no idea."
Thunder nodded and finished his cookie. "We had a conflict a little while back that would have destroyed our relationship. I found out she had been spending time with a Wonderbolt for about a year."
"What Wonderbolt?" Light swallowed the rest of the cookie, now eying Thunder.
"Soarin. He's with Spitfire now."
"Oh, good," Light then sat back into the recliner, releasing some tension from his body.
"Ever since then, we've kind of been talking about one of us moving closer. The problem is I can't really go anywhere," Thunder said, sitting back.
"I see," Light then picked up another cookie. "Do you enjoy being a Royal Guard?"
"Eh, yeah, I guess. The job does get boring on some days. Then again, it's not like we really want anything big to happen. Y'know, like when the changelings attacked last year. That was just plain horrible," Thunder looked down at his hooves in some embarrassment.
Light chuckled, despite having half of a chewed-up cookie in his mouth, then quickly swallowed. "I take it you do night shifts too sometimes?"
"Yeah, I do. How'd you know?" Thunder looked back up at the stallion.
"Most guards have night shifts." Light fiddled with his hooves. "I travel to Canterlot often, mostly since I do raves in cities from time to time, so I should know."
"You're a traveling DJ? Heh, I had no idea," Thunderblast smiled some. He had always wondered where the city-shaking music came from. Now he knew.
"Yup! Oh, silly me. Would you like anything to drink? I've got cider," Light stood up.
"No thank you, I don't like to drink. But uh, where is the bathroom? My stomach feels strange," Thunder winced at the slight pain in his stomach, most likely the cookies not setting right with what he had eaten just before his shift ended.
"Upstairs, go left, first door on the right," Light trotted into the kitchen, then poured himself some cider.
Thunderblast stood up and trotted up the stairs, following Light's directions. After doing his business, he went to go downstairs, but noticed Light's bedroom, as well as the edge of a table which seemed to have blueprints on it.
"Huh?" He slowly entered the room, feeling guilty for walking into somepony's room without prior permission. But, he had a strange feeling crawl up his spine. Thunder completely entered, now able to get a complete look at the blueprints. They were for a new castle.
"To be built on top of the remains of Ponyville..." He read the notes on a separate piece of paper. "What are you planning, Light?" He said to himself.
Shortly after getting somewhat of an idea that the stallion was in fact in the stages of planning something big, he stood and turned to the door. Before he could walk out, he saw Light Assassin standing there with a blank expression on his face, causing him to jump slightly.
"What are you doing?" Light asked.
"Uh...um...nothing," Thunder's pupils shrunk a bit, knowing he had been caught.
"Why are you spying on my stuff?" Light growled, slowly approaching Thunder.
"I-I'm not!" Thunder replied, backing away some.
The grey stallion stopped before stepping any further, and cocked an eyebrow. "Alright then," Light then turned around and walked out into the hallway, then trotted downstairs, with Thunderblast following close behind.
Light trotted into the kitchen, while Thunder sat back down on the couch, staring down some in a deep thought, before it was interrupted by a cup appearing almost in front of his face, causing him to jump again.
"Here, just try some cider. It's really good!" Light smiled.
Thunder took the cup hesitantly. "Thank you," He smiled back lightly, taking a sip of the cider.
Light then sat down, drinking some of his cider.
"You're right, this is good cider," Thunder was surprised about how the cider tasted, and it only took him a few minutes to finish it.
Light watched the stallion drink the cider the whole time, causing Thunder's irises to shrink slightly once again, but he quickly calmed. Somehow, the cider seemed to have soothed him to not worrying about anything. Soon after however, he begun to feel drowsy.
"Hey Light?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you put something in that cider?" Thunder yawned. "I feel tired."
"Nope... Just lay down, take a nap, I don't mind," Light smirked in a sinister way, causing Thunder to feel uneasy for a brief moment, before suddenly passing out on the spot.
"Wakey, wakey Thunder."
"Augh.."
Thunderblast opened his eyes, squinting them a few times prior to his vision completely returning. His mind was in a complete fog, and memory of just before he passed out was completely gone, which lead to a new question.
"Where am I?" Thunder's eyes hung open barely, he was still tired.
"Same place, Thunder," Light said, followed by a slightly insane laugh.
"Wha?" Thunder tried to sit up, but something stopped him. He looked to his side and saw his hooves were tightly tied to the bed he was laying on.
"Don't even try to sit up. I know what you saw, buddy," Light spoke in a serious voice, trotting over to the same table Thunder investigated earlier.
"Saw what?" Thunder lifted his head up, briefly pulling at his bonds while the stallion looked away.
"Don't lie to me. Tell me everything you saw," Light turned to face Thunder, a sharpened hunting knife now in his hoof.
Thunder's eyes met the knife being held in the grey pegasus' hoof, gulping at the sight of how sharp it was.
"You're not gonna use that on a guard, now are you?" Thunder smirked.
"I might if you don't tell me everything," Light smirked back insanely.
Thunder's smirk faded into a near-frown. "How about you tell me everything first?"
"I don't think that's any of your business," Light moved closer to the bed. "Now, tell me everything you saw."
"Or what?" Thunder glared up at Light.
Light then grabbed Thunder's right hoof, stripping it off his hoof guard, and setting the knife facing down against the skin.
"Or you'll be seeing your hoof on TV at the Manehattan Hockey Arena," Light replied, before slitting his hoof. "I will let you go if you explain."
"Gah!" Thunder yelped in pain, as his hoof bled a little. The cut wasn't too deep, but still enough to drip blood. He shut his eyes tightly for a moment, before reopening them.
"Tell me what you saw damn it!" Light shouted.
"Fine!" Thunder squirmed into a more comfortable position, where his head and his shoulders sat up despite being tightly bondaged down. "I saw those blueprints...about a castle. Why is it positioned dead center over Ponyville?"
"Is that all?" Light cleaned the blood off of his knife.
"Yes." Thunder spoke truthfully.
"Good, you didn't see it a-." Light stopped himself. "It's my new castle."
"I can see that. Why is it over every building in town?" Thunder continued staring at Light Assassin.
"Where else would I put it?" Light turned to face Thunder.
"Um, the Everfree?" Thunder sarcastically suggested.
"Why there, when I can put it right in my own back yard?" Light smirked, trotting back over to Thunder and putting a wet cloth over the cut he created.
Thunderblast winced in pain again and bit his lip.
"Quit being a wimp, guards don't whimper in pain," Light said, putting pressure on the cut.
"What is it you are planning, Light?" Thunder looked back up at the stallion, who's shades had fallen down some, revealing his eyes to be red, before Light pushed them back into their rightful position on his face.
"Not what I'm planning, what the master is planning," Light smiled insanely, before delivering a swift punch to Thunder's muzzle, causing him to yelp.
Thunder moved his jaw around to make sure Light hadn't broken it, before yanking on his hooves in an attempt to free himself from Light's trap.
"I always thought you were smart enough not come by my house, you had to have known I would do this to you sooner or later, right?" Light picked up his knife again.
Thunder continued to struggle against the ropes, before the knife suddenly pressed against his throat, causing him to stop.
"A-actually...I wouldn't have guessed," Thunder stared at Light, gulping again.
The knife pressed further against Thunder's throat. "Wow, that's surprising. Why else would I move out away from town?" Light then moved the knife away and sheathed it under his wing, trotting around his bed and over to the window, staring out at the lights of Ponyville. "The day is almost here, my friend. It's a shame you won't be around to see it."
"I thought you said you would let me go if I explained, which I did," Thunder stared at Light.
Light Assassin turned and faced Thunder once more. "I lied," He smirked.
Thunder rolled his eyes. "Of course," he struggled against the ropes some more.
As Light walked over to stab Thunder again, the doorbell rang.
"Ugh! I'll be back... Don't go anywhere," he winked, before flying downstairs.
Thunder waited until he was gone, then managed to reach his hoof into his armor for his combat knife, which he grabbed and quickly cut the ropes off of him, before quietly opening the window and flying out.
As Light trotted back in, he noticed the ropes being cut, then looked out his open window. Thunderblast hid himself in a cloud near Light's house, and flew out when he saw Light shut his window.
"I'll find you again, Thunder," Light then picked up a grey feather Thunder accidentally left on his bed, before smirking again.