Thunderlane performed the same routine every morning.
The dark grey pegasus would get up at the crack of dawn and begin his stretches, doing push-ups and sit-ups and leg lifts and crunches. He would give his wings a few stretches and would fly out of the door of his cloud home near Ponyville, soaring into the cool morning air that whipped his mane around and gently caressed his wings. He would fly once around Ponyville and soar off over the Everfree Forest, the dark forests surprisingly quiet in the early morning hours, and sometimes touch down at a cool stream to take a drink of water before galloping off as fast as he could and rocketing back into the air.
It wasn’t exactly his talent – that rainbow-maned mare could beat him in a race any time she so desired – but flying was an art to him, an art that took much patience and even more careful practice. Now he would go into a barrel roll that could pull almost 5 G’s, before rocketing up and creating a giant loop in the sky. He would finish the loop going straight down and come to within feet of the ground before pulling himself up in a V-shape with a noise that sounded like the rumbling of far-off thunder, pulling a corkscrew with a dark blur and a yellow line down the middle.
And every day’s flight would end with a simple rising into the air before gliding gently, swaying to and fro in the warmth of the morning sunshine and letting the currents take him where they may, though somehow always flying over the house of a grey unicorn with a purple mane and somehow always ending with a gentle touch-down right at his own home.
At home, invigorated by his morning flight, Thunderlane would settle down into more domestic patterns. He lived with his younger brother, Rumble, and he would being creating breakfast for them before Rumble would have to leave for school. Breakfast was usually simple; eggs with toast and jelly, an apple, and a glass of milk, and occasionally some hay bacon if it was cheap in the market. Thunderlane would mix in a protein supplement with his own milk as he called out Rumble to breakfast, one that would give his brother the energy to get through the day and would keep he in shape.
“Rumble!” Thunderlane called for the third time that morning. “It’s almost eight o’clock! You need to have breakfast before you go!”
“Coming!” The little light-grey pegasus galloped out from a room at the end of a short hallway, carrying his packed saddlebags in his mouth and setting them aside as he sat himself at the table. “Sorry; I couldn’t find my math homework.”
Thunderlane gingerly set a plate down at Rumble’s place and went back to get his own. “I thought I told you to pack those up last night,” Thunderlane said, gently but not angry at the young colt.
“I thought I had.” Rumble dug into his meal as Thunderlane sat at the seat across from him. “Turns out it was just hiding under the bed where I dropped it.”
“Did you get it done? I know you’ve been having problems with math lately.”
“Yeah, I got it all done. I’ve been getting some tutoring from Miss Twilight and she’s been helping out a lot lately.”
Thunderlane smiled. “Good to see you getting help. You’re a smart colt, Rumble, but math’s always been a problem for you. You need all the help you can get.”
Rumble looked up from his meal and gave Thunderlane an inquisitive look. “Will I need math if I want to work in weather? Or in the police?”
“Depends on where you go,” Thunderlane said. “Sometimes ponies can choose to work in the weather factories and become accountants or statisticians, which need math. Same with the police.”
“Where do you work again?”
“I work with storm clouds. I test to make sure the clouds are stable and won’t hurt anypony when they go out, as well as making sure they have enough thunder and lightning.”
Rumble nodded. “Does that need math? I think I want to do that someday.”
“I don’t know. I’ve seen you fly, and you’d probably be good with tornado creation or storm management.”
“Do those need math?”
“A little, but it’s mostly in your training where they’ll give you the skills you need.”
Rumble nodded.
Thunderlane looked at the clock on the wall; it would soon be time for Rumble to go. “Do you have any extracurricular things going on today?” he asked.
Rumble drained his milk in one go; Thunderlane chuckled to himself as he looked at the little white milk mustache across his brother’s top lip. “I’ll be meeting with Pipsqueak and Featherweight to work on our science project.”
“Alright. So you probably won’t be home for another hour.” Thunderlane nodded. “I’ll probably go play cloud soccer with some of the guys from work when I’m done, but I should be home before you get back.”
“Okay. I’ll make sure I have my key.” He finished up his last few bites and got up, looking as though he was about to go down the hall.
“Make sure you rinse off your dishes and put them away before you finish getting ready,” Thunderlane called, taking his own dishes to the sink.
Rumble skidded to a halt in the hallway and came back down, picking up his dishes.
“Go ahead and set them on the counter,” Thunderlane said, already rinsing his own dishes and taking a small towel full of soap. “I’ll go ahead and wash them before I go.”
Rumble examined his brother curiously for a moment that made Thunderlane wonder what he was thinking of. “Your hair is all windswept. You should keep it that way; Helia might like it.”
Helia was one of Thunderlane’s coworkers. She also made sure the clouds were stable, but was more in charge of rainwater and making sure that they weren’t over-filled to cause floods nor under-filled to cause drought. They’d worked next to each other for a few years, and they had grown friendly with each other.
“Yeah, sure,” Thunderlane said noncommittally. As much as he liked Helia and often hung around her at lunch and in events with others from work, that was about as far as it went. Helia was nice, and that was nice.
“Or Flitter,” Rumble added. “You seem to be going pretty steady with her for a while.”
Thunderlane gave another noncommittal grunt. Sure, he’d gone on a few “dates” with Flitter lately, but there was something about her that Thunderlane just wasn’t interested in. He wasn’t entirely sure what.
Rumble gave Thunderlane an even more curious look than he did before, yet said nothing. It was almost as though Rumble was suspicious of something, but before Thunderlane could ask what it was exactly that Rumble had looked at him for the little light-grey colt turned around and grabbed his saddlebags. He picked up a set of keys from a nearby rack and opened the door.
“I gotta go. See you later, big brother!”
Thunderlane, holding a dish in his hoof, carefully set it down and ran out to try and catch Rumble, but his brother was already too far gone; he was heading down to the ground and Ponyville in a series of lazy circles that, in retrospect, were almost the perfect size for tornado construction.
Thunderlane gave another chuckle, thinking it was simply the over-active imagination of Rumble’s young age that led to the looks on his face, and walked back inside to finish getting himself ready.
Next was a shower. Thunderlane always found himself sweating and tired after his morning flight, and a shower was the perfect thing to wake him up and get him cleaned for work. He turned the water on lukewarm – not warm enough to steam but not cold enough to make him shiver – and scrubbed his body down. He paid extra attention to his wings and let the feathers get nice and fluffy before stepping out and toweling off.
Thunderlane looked at himself in the mirror as he arranged his teal mane into its usual mohawk. He thought himself a fine specimen of a pegasus stallion – finely-toned chest, strong hooves, wings powerful enough to whip up a tornado, a good offensive cloud soccer player, and a good sibling that took care of his younger brother and took care to make sure he would grow up the same way. His coworkers viewed him positively and he liked them in return – even if he didn’t have much interest in Helia or Flitter, they were still quite nice and liked him the same as the rest of his coworkers did – and was even the envy of some of the stallions, who said he was only matched in his looks and temperament by Big Macintosh. Thunderlane felt no competition from the Earth pony stallion, who was shy and currently spending more time with Miss Cheerilee than he had before.
Scrubbed off and dry, Thunderlane preened his wings in front of the mirror. It was a sort of personal satisfaction that he looked as good as he did. But it created a problem in looking for someone; no one he’d met save Cloudchaser he deemed fit enough to match the picture of stallionhood he had created of himself, and even then the mare had certain qualities that he had found repulsive for one reason or another.
Himself now in top physical condition, Thunderlane got his own saddlebags packed and flew off to work.
Work at the Cloudsdale Cloud Factory was simple. He checked in at 9 with the head of his department, a young mare named Cloudy Skies. His first hour or two was sorting through paperwork; filing away clouds by the date they were needed that month and the type of cloud necessary, marking it on a little calendar. Sometimes cities would commission clouds and he’d have to manage the production and shipments before continuing.
Once the clouds were sorted, he’d send the orders to Cloudy Skies and his true job would begin. Clouds would come through the factories through the production lines, starting at the formation of aerosols and their eventual saturation to form clouds. Light, fluffy clouds would pass through inspection and be released almost right away, but storm clouds then were colored, filled with rainwater or snow, and then passed to Thunderlane’s station for thunder and lightning.
Adding lightning to clouds was something of a dangerous process; Thunderlane’s hooves were protected by rubber coverings to avoid getting shocked by either the cloud itself, or the spark plugs that were placed into the cloud, or the generator that added the lightning to the cloud. Twenty pegasi worked at Thunderlane’s station besides him; eight to manage the clouds, eight to manage the spark plugs, and four to man the generators; four working with each cloud. Thunderlane worked as supervisor, and worked closely with Helia, a rain-water pegasus, in order to make sure the storm clouds were ready to go.
Today, the storm cloud levels were low, and so Thunderlane often flew quietly over the work floor, making sure that the pegasi weren’t slacking off. He shared this job with Helia, and the two would fly back and forth over the floor making sure the pegasi were cleaning floors, or managing spark plugs or rainwater vents, or checking and re-checking the calibration on the generators.
At the 12 o’clock lunch time, the whistle rang and Thunderlane watched as his charges slowly shut down their stations and cleaned up. A small storm was due later that day, but work on it wasn’t to start until after the lunch hour. Thunderlane landed on the floor and he and Helia whistled over their coworkers.
“Alright,” Thunderlane called out to the group of about forty pegasi. “We’ve had an easy morning, but we can’t go light yet. Ponyville’s ordered a small storm for later tonight, and we’ll need to get about two hundred clouds ready by tonight. Ponyville’s pegasi will take over, but we’ve got to get those clouds done by four. So, take your break, but be ready to come back ready to go.”
The pegasi gave an approving nod and headed off to lunch. Helia stayed behind and walked with Thunderlane.
“I’m surprised they haven’t voted you to head storm supervisor,” Helia said. “I swear you’re the one that keeps this section running smoothly more than Cloudy Skies.”
“Cloudy Skies just cares if the quota is met,” Thunderlane replied. “Someone needs to make sure we make that quota and exceed it.”
Helia chuckled. “Still, you’re one of the best here. You’d probably do a better job than Cloudy Skies.”
Thunderlane smiled. “Don’t say that,” he said. “I probably could, but you could get in trouble.”
“I don’t care,” Helia said. “I speak the truth. You’re really good and I’m surprised they haven’t recognized that yet.”
“I’m fine where I am,” Thunderlane said. “I have enough for a home, anything extra I want, and enough to take care of my little brother. I have that, I’m fine.”
“Oh?” Helia questioned slyly. “The house isn’t lonely at all?” And she gave him a wink.
If Thunderlane saw the wink, he acted as though he didn’t. “I got my little bro around,” he said with a straight face. “And I’ve got my buddies with cloud soccer or hanging out at Ponyville Square, and Cloudchaser likes coming by to take care of Rumble. At the end of the day, I’m just tired and like to have a little time to myself.”
Helia rolled her eyes. “You need to get out more. Like, heading out to that dance club DJ Pon3 works at. Or that other tavern closer to the Everfree.”
“I don’t like that. And as much as Cloudchaser likes coming around, I don’t like leaving Rumble by himself.”
Helia grumbled for a minute under her breath.
By now, the two had made it to the cafeteria with the rest of the ponies. Lunch was picked up by the two and Helia followed Thunderlane to a table and sat down across from him.
“So, how is Rumble doing?” Helia asked, opening a small package of salad dressing. “I heard he was at Twilight’s a week or so ago.”
“Yeah, he’s going there for math tutoring,” Thunderlane said, putting a little mustard on a sandwich. “He’s a bit behind, but Twilight’s catching him up.”
“Yeah, but someone said they saw magic going on in there. But Rumble’s a pegasus.”
“It was just some sort of magical malady,” Thunderlane said. “It’s all cleared up, now, but thanks for asking. Twilight found the problem and solved it right away.”
“That’s good to hear. Heard from your brother Thunderclap lately?”
Thunderclap was Thunderlane’s twin. He’d started where Thunderlane was now, but had gone off into administration and was frequently circling the other cloud factories. “Yeah; he just came back in last night from his trip to Manehattan.”
“Has he hooked up with anyone yet?”
“Yeah. Managed to find some mare around here named Clear Skies. He’ll probably want to spend some time with her now that he’s back.”
Helia finished chewing a bite of her salad. “What about Flitter? Are you still going steady with her?”
“Kinda. She’s coming over for dinner tomorrow night, but I’m not sure if she’s the one.”
“Can’t keep up with you?”
Thunderlane looked up from his sandwich and over towards Helia, looking back at him with a small smile. For some reason – probably due to the amount of time they had been working with one another – it seemed Helia understood him better than quite a few others, even better than some of his cloud soccer buddies. “Yeah. She’s easier than Cloudchaser was, but somehow is a little slow and not as energetic as I want.”
“You could always try with Ms. Dash again.” Helia said with a light chuckle.
“Pfft. You know how bad that went.” Thunderlane took his orange and peeled it. “It wasn’t the same. And Dash was way stubborn.”
“Yeah. You butted heads a lot when you were together. You do better as friends.”
“Same with Cloudchaser.” Thunderlane ate a slice of his orange, savoring the citrus flavor before swallowing. “You know, I think that’s the same with a lot of marefriends I’ve had. I keep getting into a relationship thinking ‘Oh, this time it’ll work out’ and suddenly we’re fighting with another.”
“And when you finish and decide to stop seeing each other, you become friends again.”
“Exactly!” Thunderlane exclaimed. “It’s like I just can’t find some mare to settle down with.” He placed his head on a hoof and sighed. “Thunderclap was always better at that.”
“You don’t need to compare yourself to your brother,” Helia said gently. “You’re nice enough as is, not to mention handsome.”
“Thanks,” Thunderlane said. “I just wish this whole dating business was a lot easier.”
Helia smacked her head with a hoof, but said nothing in response.
Lunch was finished at 12:30 and Thunderlane went with Helia back to their stations. Thunderlane watched over his coworkers as they picked up their equipment and safety gear and got into position.
“Alright, ponies!” Thunderlane called out over the floor. “We’ve got an order of two hundred storm clouds for Ponyville tonight. We need you all in top form. Are you ready?”
A great cheer came up from the ponies at each station.
“Alright. We can do about sixty an hour and be done by four. But I say we try and pick up the pace a little and do seventy an hour and be done before three thirty. I know we can do it. Do you think you can?”
Another large cheer came up from the crowds.
“Alright. Ready yourselves; first cloud coming in!”
A pegasi took a cloud and pushed it over to one of the generators. Two ponies plugged the spark plugs into the cloud and the pony at the generator pushed forward a small lever. There came the hum of an electrical current as the cloud became charged with electrical energy and slowly began to turn a dark grey like Thunderlane’s coat. Once the cloud had achieved the desired color, the pegasus on the generator pushed back the lever and the ponies undid the spark plugs before the cloud was moved on and another moved in place.
Thunderlane worked tirelessly, flying back and forth and inspecting every process; he knew every part of the job in adding the thunder and lightning and would relieve anyone who had to have an emergency break and could even pick out who would be needing the relief. It was all part of the job and trying to keep production going.
For over two hours, the pegasi worked tirelessly and without stopping. It was then that one of the generator ponies called out to Thunderlane amidst the din of machinery and electricity.
“I can’t take it anymore!” a mare called Cloudy Skies called out. “My generator’s starting to overheat!”
“Alright,” Thunderlane called. “No more on that lane. Cloudy Skies, go ahead and shut her down, then call the mechanics to come and check for problems. On the spark plugs, clean them up and store ‘em and head off to find somepony to relieve. Same with the cloud pushers.”
The five ponies saluted and went about their jobs.
Thunderlane headed over to the back of the room, where a shipping and delivery pony was waiting in the wings. “How much more we got left?”
“We’re at a hundred and seventy right now,” the mare called back. “Keep up the pace and we’ll have ‘em early; keep us in good standing with Ponyville.”
Thunderlane nodded. “Alright, ponies! Keep it up! We just have thirty more left to go!”
“Final cloud just entered the room!” Helia called from the other side. “This is number two-hundred!”
“Alright! We’re almost done.”
Thunderlane watched as the final cloud went down the line and was sent through to shipping and delivery. As it left, he wiped the sweat off his brow with a hoof.
“That’s a wrap. Everyone, check your equipment and clean up.”
Cloudy Skies was motioning him over. Thunderlane came down to check on what was going on; a mechanic was busy working away at the inside of the machine, a small panel being taken off and the mechanic’s head shoved inside the hole and tinkering away.
“I had a bit of an overheat earlier,” Cloudy Skies said as Thunderlane landed next to her. “Monkey Wrench said there was a small blockage in one of the pipes that prevented the steam from going through.”
“Is the machine going to be alright?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t much, but we probably can’t use the machine tomorrow to let it cool down and for them to run a cleaning solution through the pipes.”
“What should I do, though? I’m not going to have a machine tomorrow if they’re cleaning the pipes.”
Thunderlane thought for a minute. An idea came to his head and he smiled warmly at the mare. “Go ahead and take tomorrow off. I’ll report it to the supervisor; she’ll understand.”
“But I’ve been off so many days this month. I’m afraid she’ll fire me if I’m gone again.”
“Was it because of machine overheat?”
“No… well, one or two were, but I did just not come one or two days when I wasn’t feeling good.”
“Sick? I can get those cleared up too.”
Cloudy Skies shrugged. “Well, not sick. I just… didn’t want to come.”
Thunderlane cocked an eyebrow. “Are you alright?”
Cloudy Skies blinked a few times, and Thunderlane could see a few tears forming in the mare’s eyes. “Well, not really. I’m just really tired lately. And my mother’s in the Ponyville Hospital with some medical problems.”
Thunderlane smiled again and put a hoof on Cloudy Skies’ shoulder. “Go ahead and take a few days off. We can get a substitute for you for the rest of the week; you can help take care of your mother.”
Cloudy Skies wiped her eyes and smiled sweetly at Thunderlane. “You would do that? Oh, thank you so much!” She jumped up and wrapped her front hooves around him in a hug, which Thunderlane returned with one hoof. “Thank you! You… you must be the best supervisor we’ve ever had.”
Thunderlane shrugged and smiled good-naturedly at the mare as she let go. “We need productive workers, and it’s important you maintain in top condition. Finish up your work today and go home; the rest of the week is yours.”
“Thank you again.” Cloudy Skies’ hoof swung back and forth and she suddenly looked very shy, her eyes not meeting Thunderlane’s. “Um… do you… do you want to go out to dinner sometime?”
“Can’t do. I work the evening shift later this week and I’ve got cloud soccer tonight.”
“Oh…” For a moment Cloudy Skies looked even worse than before, but she gulped and returned to a more sunny disposition. “Thank you again, Thunderlane!”
“No problem. I’ve got to go check in with my supervisor and the shipping department. I’ll see you later!”
And Thunderlane flew off, not seeing the somewhat impatient and irritable huff Cloudy Skies was giving him.
“Coming your way, Thunderlane!”
With a graceful spin, a stallion with a dark grey coat and a bright blue mane launched the cloud over to Thunderlane. The stallion shot upwards with three quick wing flaps and grabbed the cloud in his front hooves. Kicking it lightly down the field, he dribbled it past two other pegasi and pulled a fast one on a third, acting like he was going to go up before shoving the cloud forcefully towards the ground.
“Up here, Thunderlane!”
Thunderlane shot down, grabbed the cloud, and gave it a swift kick to a green pegasus with a purple mane, who caught it and kicked it up again to the other grey pegasus. The dark grey pegasus shot it back to the green pegasus, who started going for a goal set up on one side of the valley.
“He’s gonna get you, Open Skies!” Thunderlane called, flapping his wings at high speed. “Over here!”
The pegasi kicked it back towards him before the other team realized what was going on. With a quick flip, Thunderlane did a graceful loop-the-loop, firing the ball towards the goal. It landed square on the goalie’s head, who launched backwards and against the net. An unconventional point, but it was worth it.
A dark blue pegasus sitting on the sidelines blue a whistle. “That’s it! Game over! Blue Team wins 4 to 3.”
Thunderlane cheered, along with Open Skies and the other dark grey pegasus, who joined him with their goalie in a team hug and raising their hooves with a blue cloth tied around them in the air. The Red Team was mad for only a moment, but soon came over to the Blue Team and hoofbumps were passed around. A small crowd that had gathered began clapping.
“That was close,” said a Red Team mare, the only one on the field. “We almost had you there for a second.”
“Yeah, you would have,” the other dark grey pegasus said, placing a hoof around Thunderlane’s shoulders. “If it weren’t for my bro’s strategy here.”
Thunderlane ducked down so that the other pegasus’ hoof slid off him. “Come on, Thunderclap. You know we’d never have done it if you never approved it.”
“Hey, it worked.” And Thunderclap caught Thunderlane with his hoof and gave him a noogie.
The nine pegasi who were playing the game quickly disbanded and sliced through the clouds they’d used for their game. The sun was beginning to take on a brilliant orange hue as it descended. It wasn’t long before Thunderlane and Thunderclap were saying goodbye to the rest of the pegasi and flying towards Ponyville.
“So, besides getting better at cloud soccer the last time we met,” Thunderclap said jovially, “how is my twin doing?”
“Alright. I got promoted to storm supervisor at the Cloudsdale Weather Factory.”
“Nice! You’re cut out for the position, you know. You never got distracted by all the mares around.”
“A job’s a job,” Thunderlane said matter-of-factually. “If mare’s want to talk to me, they can do so afterwards.”
“Harsh, brother,” Thunderclap said with a hint of a laugh. “How’s the relationship status going? Still going out with Flitter?”
“Well, kind of. She’s supposed to be coming over to dinner sometime this week.”
“I hope you’re getting take-out,” Thunderclap said; Thunderlane bonked him on the head. “Worth it.”
“Yeah, but I’m also thinking about trying to do something with Helia. You know, green coat, yellow mane, sunflower cutie mark?”
“Ah, then I’ve got an idea, but I don’t know how receptive she’ll be.”
Thunderlane cocked an eyebrow at Thunderclap. “What do you mean?”
“You know your favorite author?”
“What? You mean Written Script? The author of theSpace Quest series of novels with that Roger ‘Deep Clean’ Wilco? Or the author of ‘The Ponyville Horror’ and ‘The Case of Dexter Ward’?”
“Yeah. He’s going to help kick off the opening of the new Ponyville Library by doing a little signing event tonight.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s cool!” Thunderlane gave a whoop of pleasure. “Awesome! I heard he only rarely makes appearances like that.” But upon further thought, Thunderlane realized a problem. “But yeah, I don’t think Helia is much interested in that.”
“He’s had some other short story collections and a romance novel or two, along with some poetry. It’s possible she could be.”
Thunderlane nodded. “Yeah, I’ll call up Cloudchaser when I get home and ask if she can watch Rumble, then call Helia and see if she wants to go.”
“That’s the spirit, bro,” Thunderclap said. “I’ll just head on to your house, though; I can watch Rumble if you want. My own marefriend isn’t coming around tonight.”
Thunderlane nodded.
Helia had been ecstatic.
“Oh! You mean the author of ‘A Trot to Remember’ and ‘Nights in Baltimare’!? Oh, Celestia, yes! Yes, I can’t believe it! I cried over both his works. And you say he’s also written things like ‘The Ponyville Horror’? I’ve heard of that one. A far cry from what I’ve read, but perhaps still worth a look. Of course!”
According to Thunderclap, because it was a somewhat large event, a light supper was being provided and there was a modest entry fee. Thunderlane and Helia touched down at almost seven o'clock in front of the new Golden Oaks Library, a small one-story thatched-roof establishment and a shell of both its former self and quite small next to the new castle that had sprouted up nearby; with the streamers around and the lively chatter of the growing crowd, it seemed a warm and welcoming place.
“Where is he?” Helia asked, hovering over the crowd. “I wanna see him. Oh, dear, did I forget ‘Nights in Baltimare’?”
“I have it,” Thunderlane said. “Along with A Trot to Remember.”
“Oh, perfect.” Helia rummaged around the saddlebags Thunderlane was carrying and pulled out her two books from them. Thunderlane counted bits as Helia continued. “Wow… I-I didn’t think you’d actually invite me to this. I thought you’d go with Flitter.”
“Yeah, well… things weren’t working out as well as I’d hoped.”
“…bored of her?”
Thunderlane nodded slowly. It was a sad fact, certainly, but it was the truth. Flitter, though a charming, sensible, sweet, intelligent, even somewhat athletic companion, was not quite what Thunderlane had been looking for. After trying and going steady for almost a year, Thunderlane thought it about time to stop being romantic.
But all he told Helia was “She’s a good friend. But I can’t see more than that.”
Helia’s face turned into a sympathetic frown.
The line began to move forward. Thunderlane paid for himself and Helia and were directed into a spacious room with neat rows of books and a few large tables. Off to one side was an almost buffet-style lunch staffed by Mr. and Mrs. Cake boasting sandwiches, roasted eggplant, cheese-stuffed tomatoes, vegetable trays, and various small cakes and cookies. Around the whole place were little booths, and Thunderlane saw even more rooms through other doors that had other booths. Soft music played in the background, a white unicorn with an electric blue mane sitting at a makeshift DJ booth and playing a mix of soft classical and acoustic music through the speakers.
“Which do you want to do first?” Thunderlane asked Helia.
“Perhaps a sandwich,” Helia replied. “I haven’t eaten anything.”
Thunderlane nodded and the two picked up a plate and served themselves. With two full plates and a glass of apple cider balanced carefully on their wings, Thunderlane and Helia walked over to one of the tables and sat down to eat.
“Quite a lovely little place,” Helia said. “Not quite as homely as the old Golden Oaks, but certainly has it’s charm.”
“It looks like a library I once went to on vacation in Manehattan,” Thunderlane replied.
A young stallion – a grey unicorn with a purple mane wearing a yellow shirt with a sort of bluish-grey heart – came and sat at the table with them, carrying a small plate of his own. He looked with an odd smile towards Thunderlane. “I believe that was the point,” he said as he sat down.
Thunderlane and Helia looked at each other, neither one knowing who exactly the stallion was nor why he had chosen to sit with them.
Thunderlane didn’t mind the stallion, but he certainly didn’t look like most of them he’d seen; he looked rather delicate compared to most of his companions at the factory and with cloud soccer. His bright green eyes kind of sloped down at the edges and gave him an either soft or apologetic gaze, he looked thin and had a small stature standing at full height a few inches shorter than Thunderlane slouching. Even his horn looked soft, having a more rounded point and being smaller than most normal ponies.
“What do you mean?” Helia asked the stallion as they finally turned back to him.
“Well, the architects decided that, with the destruction of the old library, it was time for a new one. A sort of modernized thing with more available for the new generations. Of course, there was also the concern of the old library being rather homely and the new one not having that, and so a few modifications were made to accommodate it.” He spoke softly and quietly as though afraid he’d startle them, and at a fair higher pitch than Thunderlane would have expected.
Thunderlane titled his head. “Um… are you one of the designers of the place?”
“No, no,” the stallion chuckled. “Just a donor and an avid reader. I used to spend many hours in the old place, enjoying the quiet and reading as much as I liked.”
“Right,” Thunderlane said. “Are one of the people working here?”
“Hm? Oh, in a sense, you could say that.”
“Do you know where Written Script is going to be doing his signing?” Helia stepped in.
For just a moment, the stallion’s eyes suddenly became shadowed where Thunderlane couldn’t see his expression quite clearly though he could see a smirk on his face. When he looked up there was a certain glint in his eye that Thunderlane couldn’t place, and his voice had gained a little extra fire.
“Oh, yes. He’s in the blue booth in the next room over. Though, I don’t believe he will be there until eight o’clock. You have forty-five minutes.”
“Thank you so much,” Helia said with a polite smile.
“You’re welcome,” he said. The stallion shrugged, and his voice returned to its soft tone. “Well, I should leave you alone. Enjoy yourselves.”
Thunderlane watched the stallion leave – he even walked delicately, as though with direct emphasis on the placement of his hooves – in a state of confusion.
“Who was he?” he asked nopony in particular.
Helia merely shrugged.
One their dinner was completed, Thunderlane and Helia walked around the booths. They were introduced to a new digital library – “Over a thousand articles and books sent from Canterlot right to one of these computers,” an attendant boasted – and a myriad of study rooms – “Complete with computer and available to rent on an hourly basis” – before heading to the room with the blue booth.
It was only a quarter to eight.
“I think I need to use the fillies’ room,” Helia said. “Do you might waiting for me before getting in line to sign?”
“Sure,” Thunderlane said. “I won’t get in line until you get back.”
Helia smiled and headed off.
Thunderlane went and sat down at a quiet corner out of the way of the seemingly ever-growing crowds. It was a nice little reading nook with two plush chairs and a small circular table in between next to a window that looked out on a small rose patch. No one seemed to bother him here.
“You mind if I sit here?”
Speaking of Tartarus… “No, not really.”
“Thank you. Say, you were the stallion I was speaking to earlier, yes? Where’s your mare?”
Thunderlane looked up. It was the grey and purple stallion from earlier. “Off. She’ll be back in a minute.”
“Ah.” He sat down. “You much a fan of Written’s work?”
Thunderlane nodded. Depending on how things went, this stallion might not be so bad. “Why, yes. I love his Space Quest series staring Roger ‘Deep Clean’ Wilco.”
“Not a big fan of that one.”
The stallion said that so venomously that all Thunderlane could do for a few moments was blink awkwardly. When he finally regained his speech, he tripped over himself often. “B-But they’re cult classics! Particularly books one and four.”
“Shoddy,” the stallion spat. “They’re some of the earlier pieces where the work isn’t as refined. Choppy sentences, poor dialogue, absolutely dominated by slang and cheesy one-liners, and inconsistent characterization of anyone who isn’t named ‘Roger’, who’s flatter than the face of a bit.”
Thunderlane opened his mouth to argue, but he couldn’t. He thought of his beloved copy of book four in his saddlebags and wondered if it was right to mention he was getting it signed. “Well, what about ‘The Case of Dexter Ward’?”
“Ah, much better,” the stallion said with a look of contentment. “The dialogue has been cleaned up considerably, characterization is a little more on-point, the writing is much more stream-lined, and the language is much cleaner and simple while retaining it’s complexity. Rather not a fan of the nihilism present, though.” The stallion looked curiously over to Thunderlane. “Have you ever read ‘The Infinity Complex’ or ‘Dream-Quest’?”
“I rather liked ‘Infinity Complex’,” Thunderlane said. “It’s rather intricate while still being easy to follow. It’s almost made me want to write a book of my own like that.”
“A particular favorite of mine,” the stallion said. “Much for the same reasons you mentioned.”
“Still, it is rather dark. And you complained about the nihilistic tendencies of ‘Dexter Ward’.”
“A little dark is not bad,” the stallion said. “It is when it becomes inescapable that it has problems. I’d never write something like that; it’s too depressing.”
“What of ‘The Ponyville Horror’, then? It’s supposed to be one of the greatest horror pieces of all time, and inspired so many others.”
“Ever notice it ends on a happy note?” The stallion picked up a hoof and turned to look at it as though examining the nail. “As dark and as complex as it gets, the main villain is defeated. So it is with all things; as many hurdles as we find, the spirit of being alive drives us forward to a place that was brighter than it was before.”
“Where, then, do you place things like ‘A Trot to Remember’?”
“Well…” the stallion motioned to the large group of females clustered around the booth, all of them holding a copy of either the previously mentioned novel or ‘Nights in Baltimare’. “…they have their place.”
Thunderlane thought of Helia’s own copies in his saddlebags.
The stallion looked at a nearby clock. “I believe I’ve run a little late. It’s after eight and he’s not there. Well, I don’t suppose I shall be seeing you around?”
Thunderlane gave a shrug.
“Ah, what does it matter? If I do, I would like to speak with you more.” The strange glint came back into the stallion’s eyes. “I probably know a good teacher or two if you want to write something yourself.” And he started to leave.
“Hold on a minute!” Thunderlane called. “Who are you? A literary critic?”
“You could say that,” the stallion said. “I’ll see you around, then.” And he left before Thunderlane could come up with another question.
Helia returned a few minutes later to find Thunderlane sorting through his saddlebags.
“You have your books ready?” she asked.
“Yeah. One second, I’ve got yours here, too.” He pulled out the two romance novels and gave them to Helia.
“Thanks. Shall we get in line?”
The line started in the entry room and went through the door. Guests were being encouraged to enter the line in one door and leave through the other to avoid crowding. Thunderlane and Helia got in line and Thunderlane pulled out his own copies of ‘The Infinity Complex’ and ‘The Case of Dexter Ward’.
“I wonder what he’s like,” Helia said. “I mean, he writes both romance and science fiction or horror. I wonder which way he leans.”
“Who knows,” Thunderlane said. “I’ve never even seen him. He’s supposed to be a recluse.”
The line progressed a little further.
“Wonder how many ponies are stopping for photographs,” Thunderlane said.
“I don’t know,” Helia said. “Might be mostly the romance fans or the die-hard science fiction ones.”
They moved a little further. They were almost in the room now.
“Thunderlane…?”
“Hm…?”
“You seem distracted by something. Are you alright?”
“Yeah. Just… just thinking.”
The line moved into the room, but a crowd of ponies around the booth prevented them from seeing much more than two guards dressed in full armor with their spears. Sure enough, a few ponies had cameras out and a few were leaning over the booth to take pictures.
“About what?”
Thunderlane shook his head. “Not much.”
“Come on, Thunderlane,” Helia said. “You can tell me. As a friend, if you want.”
Thunderlane sighed. “What… what if we started dating?”
“What do you mean? Are you asking me to start a relationship?”
“No. Just… do you think it’d still be like this? Going out to have fun like this without me getting mad at you for some reason?”
Helia shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s always worth the try.”
Thunderlane smiled sadly. “I… I kinda don’t want to ruin it.”
Helia smiled at him. “Look, if you want to, you can call me up at any time. But please… make sure you’re done with Flitter first.”
Thunderlane nodded.
The line approached the booth.
“There’s a saying I’ve heard around Manehattan: the first time is happenstance, the second time is coincidence, the third time… is enemy action.”
Thunderlane just about hit the ceiling.
“You!?”
“Yes, me,” the light grey stallion with the purple mane said. “I am Written Script, and it was me you were talking to earlier.”
Thunderlane was dumbfounded. So was Helia. “You didn’t tell me you were speaking with Written Script earlier!” she said.
“Neither did you tell him,” the unicorn said with a playful grin. “I thought it amusing.”
Thunderlane wanted to either break out laughing out of disbelief or punch him out of anger. But before he could, Written Script took the two novels from Thunderlane and opened them up, levitating a pen in his light blue aura. “Now, who do I make these out to?” he asked.
“T-Thunderlane.”
The unicorn scribbled a little note on the copy of ‘The Infinity Complex’, scooted it aside, and placed a much smaller signature in ‘The Case of Dexter Ward’. He slid them both back to Thunderlane and asked Helia – giddy to the point of being unable to stay on the ground – how he was to address her books.
The dedication in ‘The Infinity Complex’ read: “To Thunderlane. Keep reading. And hopefully I’ve inspired you to write your own” and was finished with a rather impressive signature of Written Script’s name. In ‘Dexter Ward’, a simple “To Thunderlane” and a signature.
Helia, giddy about her own dedication, turned to Thunderlane. Both of Helia’s read: “To Helia. Keep reading and keep dreaming; your stallion will come in time.” A rather less ornate signature adorned the bottom of the small paragraph.
Thunderlane walked away somewhat dumbfounded. He walked with Helia, making relatively small talk though not paying much attention.
“Well, that was fun,” Helia said as they left the library.
Thunderlane nodded. “That Written Script sure is an odd fellow, isn’t he?” he told Helia.
“Yes, he is. Well, I actually should check on my cousins here in Ponyville, so I’ll catch up with you later.”
Helia came forward to give Thunderlane a kiss, but the stallion swiftly moved his head to the side so that Helia only caught his cheek. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow,” Thunderlane said.
“Thanks for taking me,” Helia said.
“It’s nothing. Hey, and if you want to do something like this again, call me.”
Helia smiled at Thunderlane. “Thanks.”
With that, Thunderlane took off into the dark night sky.