//------------------------------// // Chapter 3- Andulin // Story: Thirteen Little Ponies // by trombrony98 //------------------------------// By Andulin When everypony retreated to the bedrooms, most of them paired up with their closest acquaintance present. Bulk Biceps and Thunderlane were no different. The two spent the latter portion of the hour pacing through their room. Their combined nervous energy kept building on itself until they were about to burst. Just when they had reached their limit, a loud crash from down the hall. Thunderlane and Bulk Biceps burst out of their room and ran toward the source of the crash. They found the doorway to Twilight’s room blocked by a humongous crate. Beyond it they could hear somepony crying. “Hey, are you alright in there?” Thunderlane called out. When there was no response, he turned to Bulk and asked him, “do you think you can move that crate?” “Yeah!” Bulk loudly replied as he slammed his muscular body against the crate. After some effort, the crate toppled over to reveal what remained of Pinkie Pie. She looked like a grotesque, life size version of a Hearth’s Warming cookie. Her body was decorated with icing of blood and rainbow sprinkles of unknown origin. Her crushed bones protruded from her body like thin white chocolate chips. Sickened by the horrific sight, Bulk Biceps gagged and fled from room as fast as his hooves could carry him. Thunderlane stood there for a solid minute trying to process the scene before him: Pinkie’s body on the floor, Mr. Rich bound to a chair, and Twilight sitting there crying into her hooves. “Twilight, what the flying feather is going on here?” Thunderlane said with a little more anger than he intended. “I- she just came in and… I didn’t mean to. She pushed me out of the way and… oh Celestia!” Twilight was so shell-shocked that she couldn’t think clearly. “Oh, for Pete’s sake, tell it to me straight, Twilight. You send everypony to their rooms, and half an hour later I find you with Filthy Rich tied like a hog and Pinkie dead underneath a two ton crate. You need to explain this now!” Twilight looked up at him. “You- you think I did this?” Thunderlane glared at the princess. “It certainly looks that way.” “But I didn’t, I couldn’t! I would never dream of hurting anypony, especially not one of my friends. You’ve got to believe me.” Thunderlane backed down a little. He didn’t realize he was starting to hover over the unicorn. Looking at the distraught mare, he had to admit he wanted to believe her. Sighing, he responded, “tell me what happened.” Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself. “I brought Filthy in here to interrogate him about Ms. Jubilee’s death. After he gave me his testimony I decided to keep him detained in here until we contact the authorities. Suddenly Pinkie burst through the door and the pulley system dropped the crate… I was the one standing below it and she pushed my out of the way just in time... I’m the one who should be dead.” Twilight grew quiet as she mourned her friend. Thunderlane turned to Filthy Rich, who was in shock over what happened. “Is this all true?” he asked. Mr. Rich silently nodded in confirmation, his eyes never leaving the body on the floor. “Something’s going on here,” Thunderlane observed. “Two strange deaths in one night can’t be a coincidence.” Twilight snapped back to reality. “You’re right. This entire situation reeks of foul play. It’s too early to say for sure, but somepony or something in this house is definitely a murderer and I think that they intend to strike again.” She turned to her winged companion and ordered, “Thunderlane, you need to fly to Ponyville and get help immediately. Tell Spike to contact Celestia if you need to. Just get somepony down here before things get any worse. I’ll hold down the fort until help arrives.” Thunderlane saluted as he responded, “right away.” Quick as a whip, he flew through the window and out into the storm. *********** Thunderlane hated flying in the rain. It messed up all his feathers and it took hours to get them just right again. Not to mention the fact he could barely see a thing through it. He had to get above the cloudline. From there he could easily find his way towards Ponyville. He climbed and climbed as fast as he could. His wings were going numb from the exertion, but he refused to stop. Thunderlane knew that if he kept going up, he would eventually breach the cloud. He just had to keep going. Suddenly the ground appeared through the darkness in a flash of lightning. Thunderlane pulled up as hard as he could. His hooves scraped the ground as he barely managed to level himself out. “Strange, I swear I was heading straight up this entire time. Maybe the wind just turned me around.” He angled upwards once again. This time he made sure to fight the air currents and keep a straight course. After a few more minutes of climbing, Thunderlane found himself almost crashing to the ground again. “Fine, I’ll go through stinking storm.” He shot off into the darkness. Thunderlane was moving at top speed, but no matter what direction he went nothing changed. There was nothing but rain, mist, and darkness everywhere. In an attempt to clear his vision, the pegasus tried to buck away some of the storm clouds. To his horror, his hooves passed through them like they were nothing but thin air. He, a pegasus was lost in a storm and there was nothing he could do about it. “No,” Thunderlane thought to himself, “I have to get out of here. Rumble needs me to look out for him. Rainbow Dash needs me on the weather team. All of my friends, my family, everypony I know is expecting to see me again. I will NOT let them down.” A shot of adrenaline coursed through him as he braced himself. Beating his wings harder than he ever thought he could, Thunderlane pushed on through. Up ahead, he could make out the form of a building in the distance. “This is it. That must be Twilight’s castle ahead. I’ve made it! I just need to go a little-” BOOM! A bolt of lightning tore through the sky and struck Thunderlane. Ten thousand volts of electricity coursed through his body. It was too much, his already overworked heart burst and stopped completely. His dead body fell upon the front steps of the forest mansion. Deep in the mansion itself the dark, ominous clock struck the hour, the chimes echoing through the halls. ********** To be continued . . .