//------------------------------// // Take Your Pick // Story: Thunderlane's New Life // by The Delirium //------------------------------// Ever since they had learned about Thunderlane's disappearance from Ponyvillle, Thunerlane's friends had been desperately searching for him all over Equestria. Rainbow Dash had flew to Canterlot to look for him there, Flitter and Cloudchaser were searching for Thunderlane in Manehatten, and Blossomforth had taken a train all the way to Apploosa. They had all been searching for a day, but still had not even the slightest clue to their friend's whereabouts. Eventually, they decided to call it off for now and head back to Ponyville. They had met up back at the weather patrol base, where they were one by one telling each other that they hadn't found Thunderlane. "I looked all over Canterlot, but I couldn't find him. Princess Celestia even had a few guards helping me search for him." "We couldn't find him either. Flitter and I went to every tourist attraction in Mahehatten and asked if any pony had seen Thunderlane. No one had, sorry." Every pony then looked at Blossomforth, who was staring at the floor. "Well, Blossomforth. Did you find him in Apploosa?" Every pony gasped when Blossomforth looked up and they saw that she had been crying. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, and fresh tears were falling freely from her eyes. Blossomforth couldn't talk and only shook her head. At the sight of her friend, Flitter flew over to Blossomforth and embraced her tightly. "It's okay, Blossomforth. We'll find him. We only checked three cities. He could be in any other one of them." Blossomforth smiled at her friends words and eventually stop crying. "Th...thank...you." she said shakily. "No problem." Just then, Rainbow Dash stood up on the table they were sitting around and spoke triumphantly. "Alright, team! Thunderlane is still missing and we need to find him! Like Flitter said, we've only checked three cities. Tomorrow we need to check three more. Any ideas what those cities should be." "We could try Las Pegasus. Thunderlane always liked gambling." "Ok, good start. I'll head their tomorrow. Any more Ideas?" "He might have really wanted to get away and be in the Crystal Empire." "Smart thinking. The Empire's pretty big, so Flitter and Cloudchaser will head their tommorw and split up to cover more ground." "He used to live in Cloudsdale. He's bound to have a few old friends there." "That's true, but he also used to go to that bar in Trottenham. Alright Blossomforth, you can go to either one tomorrow. Take your pick." "Something tells me you're right. I guess I'll go to Trottenham." "Ok, then. It looks like we have another big day ahead of us, so we should all get some rest." All four pegasus mares started making their way out of the base. Rainbow Dash immediately flew out as fast as she could, but Flitter, Cloudchaser, and Blossomforth took their time. Blossomforth had started crying one again and Flitter and Cloudchaser were trying calm her down. "H...he's...just...always...b...been...there...for...m...me...and...n...now...he's gone. And it's all our fault!" "Hey, it's okay. We'll find Thunderlane. We'll apologize to him and everything will go back to normal. Trust me, we'll have him back in no time." "Cloudchaser's right. I'm sure he has to be in one of the cities were going tomorrow." "I guess you're right. Thanks, Cloud, Flitter. You two are great friends." "Don't mention it. Anyways, we got to get home. Rainbow was right when she said we needed a good night's rest." With that, Flitter and Cloudchaser flew out of the base, leaving Blossomforth by herself. "Oh, Thunderlane. Where are you?" After Thunderlane had been given his new clothes and had the chance of eating pizza taken away, he made his way to Soarin's place. He had a lot to tell him, after all. Thunderlane smiled to himself as he flew threw the air. Things were finally looking up for the stallion. He had gotten a job, a new look, and, for the first time in a while, a burst of self confidence. Soon enough, Thunderlane spotted Soarin's house and he descended down to it. He walked up to the door and was about to knock when he remember he was living there for now. Thunderlane opened the door and walked inside. He tried to hold back a laugh at what he saw. Soarin had fallen asleep while eating a pie and his his muzzle was buried into the pastry as he snored. Thunderlane walked up to his sleeping friends and roughly shook him. "Soarin, wake up." "Huh!? What!? Oh, hey Thunderlane. You find a job?" "Sure did. I work for a delivery company that pays pretty well." "That's great!" "So...Do you notice anything different about me?" "Did you get a haircut?." "How about the fact that I'm wearing clothes and I have in nose and mouth rings." "That was my next guess." "Anyway, I didn't get a chance to eat. Got anything for me?" "Sure." Soarin made his way to the fridge and openned it, revealing a large assortment of pies. "Take your pick." On the other side of Cloudsdale, a shadowy figure was flying through the sky. It bolted through the air, above the clouds. Eventually, they made it to a small apartment complex on the very edge of the city. The figure touched down and landed on the roof of one of the buildings. With a flap of their wings, they hopped down and landed on the clouds. They then walked straight forward until they approached one of the apartments. The figure slowly pulled out a key, opened the door, and walked inside. They then walked towards their bedroom, and jumped onto the bed. Gilda the griffon had met some pony interesting today. Usually, whenever Special Delivery gave her another newbie to train, she scared them off and they quit immediately. However, today was different. The stallion named Thunderlane had not been the least bit afraid of her demeanor and had lasted the entire day. Gilda noted that he was unlike any other pony he had seen. Thunderlane was the only pony she knew that had a mohawk and she overheard he used to work on weather patrol. Gilda knew that it took a lot of effort to be on weather patrol. An old friend of her's was on weather patrol and she was tough as nails. "Who is this guy?" Gilda asked out loud. "He's not like any other stallion I've met, that's for sure." She smiled at that thought, but it instantly turned into a scowl. "What am I doing!? I can't think like that." Gilda then turned over on the bed, before smiling once again. "But then again, why not?" She got up and made her way to the bathroom. Gilda stepped into the shower and turned on the water. She moaned as hot water rained down on her. "So, Thunderlane. What should I do with him? I could leave it alone, but what's the fun in that? Or, I could pursue him." Gilds once again smiled as she thought of pursuing Thunderlane. "Come on, Gilda. Take your pick."