Thunderclouds

by Alaborn


Chapter 1

Thunderclouds

By Alaborn

Standard disclaimer: This is a not for profit fan work. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro, Inc. I make no claim to any copyrighted material mentioned herein.

Chapter 1


“This is it, son. Your new school!” a pegasus mare said to an eight-year-old pegasus colt, mussing his yellow mane with her hoof. “I’ll pick you up after school.”

“Mom! I’m a big colt. I can walk home myself,” the colt protested.

“I’m still coming. I want to make sure you remember how to get home,” the mare replied. “Now, Thundercloud, I want you to behave, and make some friends.” She grabbed the colt in a hug.

“Okay, okay! Just put me down!” The mare complied, and the colt pushed his mane back into its cool style. At least he wasn’t the only foal standing at the edge of the schoolyard with an overprotective parent.

“Goodbye, sweetie!” The mare turned and departed.

“Finally,” Thundercloud grumbled. But as he took his first step onto the schoolyard, he missed having his kind and supportive mother there. Memories flooded him of past occasions when he was a new student. They often didn’t go well. Would this school be better?

Caught up in his musings, Thundercloud didn’t notice as he stumbled into another pony. “Sorry! I’m sorry!” he quickly said. He extended his hoof to the pony he bumped into, a unicorn filly about his age. She had a sky blue coat and a light silver mane.

She ignored his hoof, getting up on her own. She looked at him and turned away in a huff.

Nice going, Thundercloud, he thought. You had to run into a stupid, stuck-up filly.


“Class, we have a new student today,” the teacher said.

Thundercloud stood nervously in front of the class. The teacher was a mulberry earth pony mare with a smile on her face, just like on the flowers that made up her cutie mark. Miss Cheerilee, he remembered her saying.

“Go on,” the teacher urged.

“Oh. Um, I’m Thundercloud. I just moved here from Cirrusburg, with my mom and dad. I hope we can be friends.”

“Thank you. Now, class, let’s go around the room, and each of you introduce yourself to our new student.”

Thundercloud tried to remember everypony’s name as they introduced themselves, but it was hard. It always took him so long to remember names!

“Now, Thundercloud, we need a desk for you. There’s one open behind Crystal Song,” Cheerilee said.

Thundercloud nodded. Which one was Crystal Song again? He looked where Miss Cheerilee was pointing, and saw the empty desk.

Right behind the snobby little filly he met that morning.

Thundercloud grumbled and dropped his saddlebags next to his desk. He looked up to the teacher.

“Class, today we’re going to practice penmanship. You’ll notice you each have an inkwell and quill at your desk. I know you’re all used to writing with pencils, but big ponies use ink and quills. So we’re going to practice writing with a quill in your mouth.”

A unicorn colt raised his hoof. “Miss Cheerilee, I can write with my horn.”

Cheerilee shook her head. “Even if you can write with magic, you’re still going to practice with the rest of the students. Remember that sometimes you’ll be sick, or you’ll need to rest your magic, so you won’t always be able to use your horn. It is a good idea to practice writing normally from time to time. Now, let’s first practice holding the quill.”

Cheerilee showed the class how to hold the quill in order to best control it. She then went through the class, correcting those foals who did it wrong.

“Now, class, let’s practice writing. Dip the quill in the inkwell, let it soak up the ink, and then write. Don’t move the quill too fast, or you’ll drip ink on the paper, or get it on your muzzle.”

Thundercloud grumbled as he wrote. He had to hold his neck at a weird angle in order to write with the quill, and he found it harder to avoid drooling than when he held a pencil. After another drip, he set the quill down. “Stupid quill,” he muttered.

He looked, and saw Crystal Song having no problems. She was writing smoothly, and from what he could see of her paper, with perfect penmanship. “Stupid snobby filly,” he muttered, even more quietly.

Thundercloud smirked as he had an idea. The inkwell was just big enough to fit a pony’s tail. Crystal Song liked writing so much? Time for the world to see!

He quickly grabbed Crystal Song’s tail and tried to stick its tip in his inkwell. “Eep!” she squeaked. Thundercloud smiled.

From out of nowhere, Cheerilee appeared. The teacher smacked Thundercloud’s hoof aside. “Thundercloud! I’m very disappointed in you. Your first day, and you’re getting detention.”

“But Miss Cheerilee, I was just having fun!”

“We’re going to have a little talk. At your detention.”


After school, Thundercloud was unhappily escorted to the library to serve his detention. Cheerilee directed him to a seat at a table, and sat next to him. “Do you know what you did wrong, Thundercloud?”

“I didn’t do anything!” he protested.

“No, you were going to dip Crystal Song’s tail in the inkwell. Can you tell me why that’s wrong?”

“It was going to be funny! And it’s just ink!”

“Ink is very hard to get out of your mane or tail, Thundercloud. It takes really strong potions that aren’t kind to hair. Plus, it takes time and money to clean it up.” She took out a jar of ink and placed it on the table. “Would you like me to pour this on your head, Thundercloud?”

“No!” he shouted, covering his head with his hooves.

From across the room, the librarian shushed him.

“I mean, no, Miss Cheerilee,” he said quietly.

“But wouldn’t it be funny?”

“Um, no?”

“And that is the lesson you need to learn, Thundercloud. One of the most basic lessons of harmony is to treat others the way you’d like to be treated.” She pulled out some paper “And to reinforce this lesson, you are going to write ‘I will not dip ponies’ tails in ink’ one hundred times, with quill and ink. And because you interrupted our lesson on penmanship, you will be graded on neatness.”

“Awwww,” he whined.

“Your detention will last until 5:30. When you’re done writing, you will read quietly until it’s time for you to go. Understand?”

“Yes, Miss Cheerilee.”

“And remember, Thundercloud, tomorrow is a fresh chance to be a better pony.”

Cheerilee departed, leaving Thundercloud in the too-quiet library. He picked up the quill and started writing. At times, the quill would slip, or he’s spatter ink on the paper. He swore under his breath, but never softly enough to avoid the library shushing him.

Finally, he finished. It took more than half his detention to complete his writing. He stretched, trying to work out the kinks in his neck. He glanced at the librarian, who was glaring at him. He very quietly got up and looked for a book to read.

Boring book, boring book, boring book. Thundercloud didn’t want to read about plants of the Everfree Forest, or the buildings of Manehattan, or even the battles of the Lunar Rebellion. Couldn’t there be at least one awesome book in this library?

One book looked promising. It had a serpent fighting a manticore on the cover. Monsters and Myths, it said. Thundercloud took the book back to his table and opened it.

The book had lots of illustrations; Thundercloud paged through the chapters, looking at all matters of creatures. Massive muscular bodies, vicious fangs, sharp horns, long claws; each monster gave young Thundercloud a fright and a thrill. But the last chapter caught his attention because it looked different from the rest.

The mythological creature in this chapter, called a “human”, didn’t look frightening. The picture showed two of them, labeled “man” and “woman”; peeking ahead, he gathered that was the equivalent of stallion and mare. They stood on two legs, something like the minotaurs in an earlier chapter, but they didn’t have those creatures’ horns. They didn’t have fangs, or claws, or anything. But the writer of the book called them the most feared creatures of myth.

The mythological creatures known as humans are said to be the only creatures that do not know magic. They cannot use it and cannot feel it, which of course means they cannot know harmony. Yet still they live. Without harmony, they spread across their land, subjecting all other creatures to their rule, until they turned on themselves.

Humans lack in natural weapons, but have sharp minds, and are said to have created countless inventions. Without harmony, these inventions were used to hurt others, more than any claw or hoof could.

Thundercloud was riveted. Something about these creatures spoke to him. At the same time, he wanted to yell at the author. How could he be so certain about the nature of humans when they didn’t even exist? His gaze returned to the illustrations, to the human labeled woman. It was her eyes. They didn’t look like the eyes of a monster. They looked kind.

“Thundercloud, your detention is over,” the librarian announced.

“Okay,” Thundercloud replied. He gathered his papers and dropped them in his saddlebags, reminding himself of how much he hated practicing penmanship.

His eyes again caught the illustration. Man. Penmanship. There was man right in the word! That couldn’t be coincidence.

“Come along, young colt. You don’t want to keep your parents waiting, do you?”

“Can I check out a book?” Thundercloud said.

“Of course.”

Thundercloud brought Monsters and Myths to the librarian. She scoffed when she saw the book. “While I am happy to see any young foal reading, I would hope you would graduate to more educational fare,” she said.

“Maybe when I’m done with this book,” Thundercloud said. He sensed the librarian didn’t believe him. But she did check out the book, and gave it to him.

Outside the school, Thundercloud’s parents were both waiting for him. His father gazed at him sternly; his mother had that disappointed look that always left him feeling bad. “Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad,” Thundercloud said.

“I’m disappointed in you, son,” his father said. He used his wing to nudge Thundercloud’s head up, and looked him in the eye. “We know you can be a good pony, yet you again followed the path of discord.”

“I just wanted to have some fun,” Thundercloud replied.

“We’ll talk about this over dinner,” his mother said. “You can have fun without hurting other ponies.

Dinner was a serious affair, with Thundercloud listening while his parents lectured him. The feeling of being lectured was a familiar one to the young colt. They talked about why he shouldn’t do what he did, making a lot of the same points that his teacher made.

“And you should apologize to this filly,” his mother added.

“Now, you’re going to wash the dishes, and as punishment, you’re going straight to bed,” his father said.

“Awww,” Thundercloud moaned.

“We love you, son, and this is for your own good,” his father said.

“And when you wake up, Thundercloud, remember that the new day is a fresh chance to be a better pony.”

Thundercloud finished his chores and went straight to his bedroom. Truth be told, he didn’t mind the punishment. He was alone, and wouldn’t be bothered at all. He crawled under the covers, taking his book and a flashlight with him.

He had all evening to read more about these humans.