Before the Dawn

by Thunderblast

Prologue

The sun slowly rose over the magnificent Equestrian capitol of Canterlot, it didn't warm the late autumn air much, but the ponies didn't mind. The city came to life in the blink of an eye, birds filled the air with impeccable singing that no pony could truly master, as well as other small animals that hopped and scampered the streets.

In his apartment on the third floor of a Manehattan-style brick building, above a newly-refurnished café, slumbered a grey pegasus stallion in bed, snoring quietly. His bedroom was decorated with a queen-sized bed, a finely-polished wooden nightstand with a lamp and a small simple clock, as well as a picture of the pegasus dressed in shiny golden armor, standing beside two other stallions wearing similar armor. On one side of the room, against the exterior wall, sat a wooden three-drawer dresser with a large mirror above.

Opposite of the dresser, was a small one-door closet, which was half opened to reveal a sloppy placement of a full set of Royal Guard armor. Instead of the typical blue or white mane seen on most guard helmets, the mane piece was black to fit the stallion’s appearance.

The clock’s hands clicked to the next minute, before ringing out as loud as possible and buzzing. The stallion jumped, his wings flaring open and out of the sheets that covered his body. He rose out of bed, his blue eyes just a shade lighter than navy opened wide in shock. His face changed to a bit of an angry scowl as he faced the clock which woke him, before grabbing it and beating on the poor lifeless thing, folding his wings back up to his side.

“Shut up, you stupid clock!” He shouted, constantly hitting the snooze button on top to silence it. It took two minutes, but the small clock finally went back into snooze mode, and the stallion tossed it back onto the nightstand. He yawned and stretched his forehooves into the air, as if he were rooting for his favorite team at a game. He then climbed out of bed and opened the curtains, recoiling back at the bright sunlight coming from outside.

He sighed. “I guess it’s the day to break the news to everypony.”

The pony walked in front of his bed and begun to perform simple stretches with his wings and all four hooves. He started with flexing his wings out to their full length, giving off a faint pop as the muscles un-tensed. The following exercises were push-ups and wing-ups. His muscles became visible with every movement the stallion made, a likely fainting moment for a group of mares had he been in public.

After the morning exercises, he stood tall and took a deep breath, before trotting into the adjacent bathroom and starting a warm shower. The stallion stepped in and soaked his jet-black mane in the warm water and eased his entire body at the feeling. He shut his eyes and entered a clean pool of thought as he showered, groaning some at the feeling of the water temperature getting to some old bruises from almost two months earlier.

“Even two months later, I still haven’t fully healed,” Thunderblast thought to himself, sighing. He then grabbed a bottle of shampoo, squirted some in his hoof, and brushed it through his thick, black mane and washing it out with water.

Minutes later, he stepped out of the shower and dried himself off. He then trotted up to the sink and mirror, yawning again and picking up his mane brush and brushing his mane back to it’s normal slightly-messy appearance. Thunder set the brush down, then picked up a bottle of cologne and sprayed it a couple of times onto himself, sneezing once a moment later and shaking his head.

“Strong cologne…” He mumbled to himself, picking the brush back up and quickly brushing his wing feathers, before walking back into his bedroom and taking the set of armor out of the closet, assembling it onto his body piece by piece.

Thunderblast then walked over to his dresser and looked at himself in the mirror to make sure everything was perfect. He smiled and puffed his chest out a bit. “Looking good, Thunder,” before walking out into the living room and opening the balcony door, and flying out towards the Canterlot Castle a few blocks down. Today he would be announcing the news he’s dreaded for quite some time now to his friends.

He landed in one of the barracks wings of the castle, which was full of activity ranging from recruits practicing push-ups, to guards marching in a perfect line behind their squad leader. It was nice to be back where he first trained, but his job then was to break the news.

“Hey, Thunder!” A voice called out to him, before he could move a muscle.

Thunderblast turned and saw a white pegasus guard trotting over to him. It took a moment to recognize him, considering there are thousands of white pegasus guards.

“Ah, hey Spear, great to see you again,” Thunder smiled, and the two grabbed each other’s hooves and gave each other a chestbump with a faint clank of their armor, followed by chuckles from both of the stallions.

“Great to see you again too brother, what brings you back so early from injury leave?” Spear smiled.

“Just to make an announcement, have you seen Night Shadow or Shuriken around?”

Spear shook his head. “Nope, but if you’d like I can help look for him, I’m on break for a little while as it is.”

“Are you sure? He could be anywhere right now,” Thunder raised an eyebrow.

“It’ll give me something to do other than sit around and do crossword puzzles for thirty minutes every day,” Spear chuckled.

“Well, alright th-“

“Aye! Guys!” A new voice called out, seemingly from a distance. Spear and Thunderblast glanced up to a cloud and saw a dark grey head peering down at them, smirking. The pony then stood up, and lept off the cloud and dived towards them, opening his wings to slow himself, and landing in front of them. “I heard you mention my name, what’s up?”

“Oh hey Night, just wanted to tell you guys something. Have you seen Shuriken anywhere?” Thunder smiled at his friend.

Night shook his head. “Nuh uh, Shuri’s home sick today, why?”

“Aw, I wanted to tell him too. Oh well, one of you will have to tell him if that’s okay,” Night and Spear nodded in response. “Alright,” Thunder took a deep breath. “I’m being sent away to Manehattan for military training.”

Night Shadow and Spear’s jaws both dropped. “What?!” they squealed out, catching unwanted attention of a few others.

Thunder sighed and sat down. “I was hoping this wouldn’t happen, I could be gone for up to a year with little to no time to come home.”

“Man, that sucks, what are you going to do?” Night asked.

“What can I do? I’m already supposed to leave tonight. Captain Armor told me two weeks ago that I’ve done so well here, it’s time for me to move on to something ‘better’,” Thunder motioned his hooves in quotation then groaned.

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Spear kept an eyebrow raised.

“Not really, because if I do so good, they won’t let me back into the guard and I’ll be stuck in the military for a year, maybe more,” Thunderblast begun to panic, his irises shrinking to little blue marbles and staring down.

“Oh,” Night and Spear said simultaneously, Night’s ears drooping down. “Will we ever see you again?”

Thunder looked back up at them. “Of course,” he teared up and hugged the two pegasi in front of him, who hugged back tightly.

“Isn’t there something we can do?” Spear asked, still hugging Thunder.

“I’m afraid not, but hey, it’s better to get it over with,” Thunder replied, smiling a bit.

“I guess. That doesn’t mean you won’t be missed though,” Night sighed.

“Thanks you guys,” Thunder smiled more. “I’ll certainly miss hanging out with you two.”

The three friends hugged each other for the next minute, before finally breaking the hug. Night Shadow then flew off to do his own thing, while Thunderblast and Spear talked for a little while more, before he had to resume his shift. Instead of sticking around, the grey pegasus then flew up and away from the castle and headed into downtown.

He landed on one of the less-busier streets and walked down it casually, looking around at some ponies as they went along their day. Some stands were set up on the street as well, mainly fruit stands, while others sold things such as purses, wallets, lamps, and other household items. Soon enough, Thunderblast found himself with a growling stomach. Right there, he confirmed to himself it was time to find someplace good to eat. It didn’t take long before he found a nice sized two-story restaurant on the same block he had been walking on. He walked up to the light pink unicorn mare at the outdoor stand.

“Good afternoon sir, are you expecting anypony?” The mare cheerfully asked the larger stallion and smiled.

“Nope, just me today,” Thunder smiled back.

“Outside, or in?” The mare picked up a menu and held it, before looking back up at him.

“Outside, please.” Thunder removed his helmet and held it in his hoof.

“Great! Please follow me.” The mare smiled still and led Thunderblast through a wrought-iron fence and to a four-person table with an umbrella on the restaurant patio. “Your waiter will be here shortly, if you need anything else, let me know!”

The mare giggled and walked off as he sat down, setting his helmet on the ground next to his chair. He picked up the menu and opened it, slowly glancing at the long list of dishes he could order, ranging from spaghetti and meatballs to hay fries and different assortments of…fruit sandwiches? He continued to look through the menu, before something caught his eye. He glanced up momentarily, grabbing a glimpse of what appeared to be another guard, except he wasn’t white or grey.

No, instead, his coat was dark orange, and his mane was midnight grey, close to Thunder’s own jet-black mane. The stallion across the patio wasn’t looking at him when he glanced up, and Thunder quickly returned his attention to the menu. It was hard to read however, every time he looked through, it seemed every dish they had was placed on the menu a hundred times.

It took him a minute to realize he was just reading the same meal description over and over again, before looking back up at the stallion across the patio, who was now staring at Thunderblast directly. He was too far to see his eye color, but Thunder had a hunch on who it might be, knowing there’s no other guard with that coat and mane color. It was-

“Here is your water, sir.” The waiter stallion set down a glass of water in front of Thunderblast, before trotting off.

“Oh, er… thank you.” He stuttered, watching the waiter leave, before glancing back over to where the guard was sitting. When he looked, there was now another pony on another table sitting and blocking his view of the guard.

“Strange.” Thunder thought to himself, before returning his attention to the menu in his hooves.

After a nice lunch, time flew quickly, and it was already past five o’-clock. Thunderblast flew back to his apartment, taking deep breaths of the cool autumn air as he did. To his surprise, the balcony door leading into his living room was open. But that’s impossible, he closed it! He landed on the balcony and stared at the door, the curtains were swaying inward slightly from the light breeze. He walked through the curtains, shutting the door behind him and sighing.

---

Later that night, the sun had already set, and half of the city slowly closed up for the night, while other ponies went out to have fun at clubs, restaurants, or other twenty-four hour venues. Thunderblast walked to the train station wearing a simple zip-up hoodie as the air got cuddle-up chilly, he was sad knowing this would be the last time he would see Canterlot for a long time, but he also knew going to Manehattan for military training and discipline might also be worth it. He walked into the station and gave his ticket to the conductor, before sitting down in the waiting area, which wasn’t as packed as it usually is in the daytime. He sighed and fiddled with his hoodie while looking down.

“Hey Thunder!” A voice echoed through the waiting room in the station, and he looked up to see Blitz and Night Shadow trotting up to him.

“Hey guys,” Thunder smiled a bit and stood up.

“We thought you were already gone, thank Luna you’re still here.” Night smiled and wiped at his forehead and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Stormfire couldn’t come, he had something to take care of in Cloudsdale,” Blitz frowned a bit.

Thunderblast frowned in response. “Aww, that sucks.”

Night nodded. “Yeah. When do you think you’ll be back?”

Thunder shook his head. “I’m not sure you guys. It could be anywhere from four months to a year, but I’m afraid if I do too well, they might keep me there and kick me from the guard.”

Blitz gasped. “What?! They can’t do that!”

“I’m afraid they can bro,” Night looked over at Blitz and sighed.

“Train two-o-four to Whitetail Woods is now boarding.”

“Sounds like I better get going,” Thunder sighed.

“She said Whitetail Woods, you’re going to Manehattan aren’t you?” Blitz raised an eyebrow.

“I am, but my connecting train is in Whitetail Woods. From what I know, the base I’m being sent to is on a separate track, a bit north of the track to Manehattan,” Thunder grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

“I see. I’ll miss you man,” Blitz hugged him tightly and teared up a bit, followed by Night Shadow who hugged him as well.

“See you later, I guess,” Night lowered his head and ears.

“Cya, guys,” Thunderblast frowned and walked onto the platform, before boarding the train. He sat in one of the passenger compartments, sliding his bag under his seat and waving to Blitz and Night Shadow as the train departed downhill, towards the small town of Whitetail Woods.

“Goodbye, Canterlot.”

Comments

[Thunderblast]

One dislike already? Aw, come on! The story hasn't even really started yet! Give it a chance!

[Poniezez]

awesome story so far

[SeaBreeze173]

I haven't read it yet but I went ahead and gave it a upvote because Under the Moonlight was awesome

[Thunderblast]

5201054 Thank you! I hope you enjoy this story as much as it's predecessor!