Under the Moonlight

by Thunderblast

It Happened Again

Thunderblast sighed. He laid quietly, and motionless in his bed. He didn't even have the will to open the blinds to allow the sunlight to enter his bedroom. The little grey pegasus colt stared at the wall, as two extremely small tears sat in his eyes. His irises stayed perfectly still. In fact, if somepony had poked them with their hoof, he wouldn't have flinched. The colt almost looked dead.

It had been almost a week since the confirmation of his mother's sudden death. Thunder's father was as distraught as himself, and was struggling to get answers from the hospital, who refused to pass any his way. Frustration came over him as now he had nopony to watch the colt while he was away in Canterlot for his guard duties.

The colt's eyes gazed slowly down his empty sky-blue wall with some small circular things painted on to represent what appeared to be clouds, and locked onto a stuffed white bengal tiger, not much smaller than himself. His hoof reached to it and grabbed the tiger, pulling it against his chest and hugging it with all his might. The worst part about it, was his mother gave it to him on his birthday a month ago. He didn't know what to think anymore. His heart literally felt like someone used magic to phase their hoof through his body, and out his chest, directly through his heart. Thunder's slightly-muffled whimpers caught the attention of his father and idol, who slowly walked up the stairs and opened the door to his bedroom, sighing some. What he saw, was something he never thought he'd see. Thunderblast, laying on his bed, not only hugging his favorite stuffed animal, but whimpering and crying into it.

His father slowly entered the small bedroom, moving a ball over to the side to avoid slipping on it, before sitting on the bed and resting his hoof on Thunder, who rolled over some, looking up at his father with glassy eyes. Thunder Strike looked down at him, his eyes also glassing up, before embracing each other.

"W-why did she leave us, daddy?!" Thunderblast whimpered and sobbed.

"I don't know, Thunder." His dad replied, shedding a tear as he hugged the colt tightly. "Stuff happens...it's just a way of life I guess."

Thunderblast opened his mouth to say something, a few stutters croaking out, before nuzzling Thunder Strike's chest and crying even more.

"Shh..." His father said, massaging Thunder's back gently. He tried his best not to cry for seeing his son cry, but his feelings were too much. Soon enough, Thunder Strike begun to cry slightly, but not as hysterically as Thunderblast.

No longer than a month later, the two slowly recovered back to their old selves, but still hurt in the wake of Winter's passing. Thunderblast's grades dropped, not enough to become a real issue, but it was definitely noticeable. A couple of days, he was caught not paying attention, with too many other thoughts on his mind, and was told to leave the classroom. His father was fed up with the school, and soon transferred him to another school house on the west side of Ponyville, near the infamous Sweet Apple Acres. The first days went like a breeze, and Thunder managed to make a couple new friends. Then, one day...

"Kiiiids! We have a new student in today! Oh Big Mac!" The teacher, an ice-blue unicorn mare, wearing a pair of black eyeglasses, called out in a cheerful voice. Moments later, an apple-red earth colt with an orange mane shyly walked in. He kept his head somewhat low, and looked at the other fillies and colts staring at him in curiosity. "Well, Big Mac?"

"U-Um...h-hi everypony." The colt spoke in a crackly, nervous voice. He had a bit of a country accent, but he tried his best to disguise it and put on a normal voice. "I-I'm...Big Mac..intosh."

"Hi Big Macintosh!" Some of the colts and fillies said simultaneously, and his ears perked up, as well as his head slightly.

"Care to tell us about yourself, Big Macintosh?" The teacher asked, smiling at him.

"S-sure.." He nervously replied. "I work over..a-at Sweet Apple Acres...with my sister Applejack...and my parents Golden and Stetson Apple." He stopped, then looked at the teacher. "C-can I sit down now, please?"

"Oh, certainly!" The teacher replied, then levitated a piece of chalk, standing from her chair and facing the chalkboard.

Big Macintosh slowly walked down one of the aisles between desks, and sat down at a vacant one, across from a mid-grey pegasus colt, who was looking at him.

"W-what?" Big Macintosh asked, looking at him nervously.

"Hi." Thunderblast said quietly, smiling at the colt.

Big Macintosh smiled some back. "Hi." Before turning to face the teacher at the chalkboard.

At recess and lunch, Big Macintosh sat under the shade of a large tree, opening his lunch box and pulling out a plastic bag with a sandwich inside, as well as some apple slices. A minute later, Thunderblast happily trotted over to him.

"Can I sit with you?" He asked, smiling.

The red colt looked at Thunder, then moved his lunch box to his other side. "Sure." He said, patting a spot next to him, where Thunderblast sat and opened his military-style lunch box his father gave him.

"I'm Thunderblast by the way." Thunder said. "I prefer to be called Thunder though." He giggled some, and begun eating his sandwich.

"I'm...well..you already know my name." Big Mac spoke, slightly muffled by the food in his mouth.

Thunder giggled some more, then looked around at some other foals playing.

"Nice day, ain't it?" Big Mac asked.

"Sure is." Thunder replied, opening his little wings slightly.

The two sat speechless after that, before finishing their lunches and standing.

"Hey, you wanna play a game?" Thunder asked.

"Uh...I-I dunno..." Big Mac replied, feeling nervous once again.

"Oh, c'mon. It'll be fun!" Thunder said, motioning his head for the colt to come with him.

"It's just...I-i've only played with my lil' sis before...not with anypony else." Big Macintosh said.

"Please?" Thunderblast looked at him.

Big Macintosh looked up at Thunder, who then put on the puppy face act. "Oh...okay fine." He said, smiling.

"YAY!" Thunder said, bouncing and fluttering his wings, but not staying airborne.

---

Soon enough, time flew, and thirteen months had already passed. It was already past the one year anniversary of Winter's death.

A young Thunderblast trotted home from school, pulling out a house key he got himself in case his father wasn't home, and trotted inside. Luckily for him, he was home, but looked very distraught.

"Hi dad!" Thunder said in a cheerful voice, shutting the front door behind him, before noticing his dad. "Dad?"

His father sat still as a statue, like a guard outside her highness' throne. His eyes stared at the fire in the fireplace, which he had just lit. Thunderblast hopped up on the couch and looked up at his dad.

"Dad!" Thunder yelled, and Thunder Strike snapped out of his trance and looked down.

"Oh...uh...h-hi son." He said, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Dad? Are you okay?" Thunder asked.

His father begun to tear up again. "Y-yeah...sure."

"Dad...no you aren't."

"Yes...I-I am!"

"No, dad, you aren't. You never say 'yeah'."

Thunder Strike stared down at Thunderblast, who stared straight back up at him, before sighing. "It's been over a year, Thunder."

"Oh..." Thunderblast replied moments later in a broken voice, his ears drooping down in sorrow, before he went up and snuggled against his father's wing.

Strike smiled some, wiping another tear away, then moved his hoof down and held Thunder against his side.

"I love you, Thunder. Nothing will ever change how much daddy loves you." Strike said.

"I-I love you too dad...i-is something else wrong?" Thunder asked, looking up at Strike with glassy eyes.

"No! Of course not... Yes, mommy is gone...I miss her and so do you...but I still have you, and that's all that matters." Strike replied, attempting to hold back a sea of emotions.

"P-promise me you won't ever leave me, daddy." Thunder said, burying his face into Strike's hoof.

"Son...I can't promise anyth-."

"Promise me dad! Please!!" Thunder cried, looking up at his father, who begun to tear up even more.

Strike then pulled Thunder into a tight hug, and begun to quietly cry. "O-of course son...I will never leave you...no m-matter what." He spoke in a broken, depressed voice.

The two huddled together for another hour, before Thunderblast went up to his room to play. Strike, however, had other plans. He snuck out late at night, and flew up to the hill where he played with Thunder a year back, and where his wife was buried. He then landed next to Winter's grave, and laid on the slightly snow-covered grass, staring up at the stars and sighing.

"I remember when we used to do this, Winter. Do you?" He said, looking at the tombstone, smiling with teary eyes.

---

Thunderblast yawned. After a late night of playing, he had fallen asleep just before dawn, and ended up sleeping the whole day. Lucky for him, it was a Saturday. He yawned and stretched his tiny wings, before looking off of his bed and tackling a royal guard doll that he must have set up standing on the floor over night. After wrestling with the already beaten toy, he trotted downstairs to see what his dad was up to. By now, the sun had already set, and it was barely blue outside from the remaining sunlight, slowly diminishing under the western horizon.

"Hi da-."

He stopped when he didn't see or hear his dad in the living room.

"Hmm...maybe he went out to do something." He said to himself, walking towards the kitchen. When he passed the dining table, he saw something that absolutely horrified him.

His father laid on the ground, a red fluid flowing down his white-coated chest and onto the floor, with his combat knife shoved deep into it.

"D-DAD!" Thunder screamed, running over to his side, beginning to tear up. He then grabbed the knife, and with all his might, struggled to pull it out.

"N-no...s-son...stop..." Strike barely spoke, his eyes hardly opening.

"D-dad...who did this t-to you?" Thunder asked, still gripping the knife, his eyes tearing up dramatically, before straining to pull the knife out.

"I-I did...son..." Strike stuttered, squinting his eyes.

Thunderblast stopped and looked at his father, square in the eyes. "W-what?!" He cried.

"I...c-can't take it...anymore...i'm so...so sorry..." Strike said, breathing heavily.

"No...dad...n-no!" Thunder said, now hugging his hoof. "Y-you said you'd never leave me! Y-you promised!" he cried more.

Strike breathed heavier. "Promises...can't be kept...I l-love you."

"I love..y-you too dad!!" Thunder cried more. "Please..d-don't go!"

Before anything else, Strike's body went limp. Thunderblast cried into his hoof, unsure of what to do.

"D-dad...please...! Don't...l-leave me..."