The Raging Thunder Act-1

by Thunder Bolt

The Storm

Authors Note: This is a long one! I didn't have time to give it a full and proper proof-read, so I'll do that as soon as I can, and remove this note once I have.

Chapter 6

The rain washed down along the softly sloped sides of the white buildings of Cloudsdale’s lower town that day. Overcasting shadows of the high clouds giving the entire city a more gray and gloomier feel. Not a single bird was flying through the air either, rather, they were hiding away to shelter themselves from the chilling rain. Fewer pegasi flew through the air, and even the streets below the rooftops seemed much more bare. Most of the pegasi were in their homes, shielding themselves from the rain and cozying up with their families. Though with all the widespread comfort, it seemed a bit unfortunate to most, as many pegasi were looking forward to the graduates’ race today, which seemed as though it would have to be postponed.

Not all of the pegasi looked upon these circumstances with such a gloomy outlook though, as there was one that was rather quite content with postponing the race, and lazing back for a day. He was actually enjoying the rain quite frankly. Relaxing on a rooftop, he gazed up at the darkened sky and held his eyes tenderly shut as he felt the cold trickles of water run down his amber face, and through his thick, black mane. It had been quite some time since it had rained over Cloudsdale, and he appreciated the nice cool break from the summer’s heat. Thunder looked down at the streets below him and sighed calmly. He gazed at the empty paths silently for a few moments, then averted his eyes towards Cloudsdale’s high town, where most of his peers had gone for the day.

“I wonder what they’re all doing up there.” A question which Thunder felt silly to ask, even to himself. Of course his classmates were training, there wasn’t anything else they could be doing. If the rain refused to subside, then the race would have to be tomorrow, meaning his classmates would be training, in the event they needed to keep themselves in peak condition for a another day.

Thunder only sighed once more and fell back onto the roof, looking up into the sky. In a time that has seemed so short, he had changed so much from the young determined colt that lived in the forest. With life being as simple as it was here in the city, Thunder became much more passive, preferring to lay back and reserve himself, rather than push himself to exert unneeded strength. He had even begun to forget the events of his first days here. Even that one particular event. That event which carved his image into the minds of all his peers, an event that scared him away from showing his full potential. Laying there in the rain, Thunder began to realize that he’d grown accustomed to turned backs and fearful eyes, and that annoying itch of a pain it caused him inside. He had grown accustomed to being complacent, to the point that it was sort of a part of who he was now. Thunder closed his eyes again and breathed out slowly, the warm air lightly brushing him before lifting off above the cool rain breeze.

“I wonder if Fluttershy is up there with them?” He said aloud to himself, rather than in his mind. He had obtained the habit of speaking to himself, seeing as he was so used to speaking to small birds on his head now.

Thunder sat up again, a thought suddenly entering his mind, a thought which hadn’t caught his attention this entire day until now. He looked up at the rain clouds above him and around him, an expression of curiosity crossing his face.

“Hold on...Rain wasn’t even scheduled today was it?..’n’..would the upper pegasi even schedule rain on a day with this kind of event?” Thunder sat back down and placed his chin on his hoof, trying to think a bit deeper into this for a moment as to come to a conclusion. Ultimately, he decided it wasn’t really his problem and went to lay back down.

As Thunder was doing so, he was abruptly interrupted by a small tremor, shaking the roof beneath him. “GAH!” Thunder jumped in surprise, immediately followed by a blinding light and a loud crack in front of him, sending him tumbling backwards off the side of the rooftop. Catching himself in mid-air, Thunder flew back up onto the roof top, only to be frozen in shock, his eyes going wide as he gazed at the unbelievable sight before him. Some far distance away, was what appeared to be an immense rainbow, spanning for what seemed like miles and expanding further. His eyes could see nothing but the vast array of color that glowed from its trail, creating more colors than he had ever even imagined. Hovering there slack-jawed, his eyes held wide, Thunder came out of this trance-like state a short moment later, looking around as if he had forgotten where he was.

Setting down on the roof where he had been setting, Thunder looked over to where the other source of light he had seen had emanated from, and found a dark scorch mark in the marble tiles. He only stared, unsure what to think, then looked up at the sky, realizing that the rain had stopped, the sun now shining brightly in the sky, and already birds were beginning to take to flight high above him. Thunder heavily sighed once more, seemingly unaffected by the events that had just occurred, and lowered his nose towards his front hooves.

“I was enjoying that..”

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Thunder sat on the marble tile, watching as the numbers were gradually placed up on the board, high up on the wall. Looking at all the other classmates around him from his position in the back of the room, Thunder examined each individuals number, then looked back up at the board. He sighed and gave a small inward groan. ‘Why did the rain have to stop?’ Thunder thought to himself. For him, it was bad enough that he had to race, and against Dash, but against them? He looked over at the trio of jocks sitting in an opposite corner of the room, laughing and chuckling about one thing or another. Groups were announced a long while back, but they must have made some last minute readjustments, so Thunder wasn’t expecting to be grouped with them. He wondered if he could figure out what they were laughing about, but chose to never mind it and look away when Dumbbell saw him and gave a dirty look.

Continuing to look around the room, ignoring the noisy announcers calling off numbers, Thunder was trying to see if he could find Fluttershy anywhere in the room. She was nowhere to be found. He wondered if she had backed out of the race, which in all honesty wouldn’t have surprised him, but he didn’t get much time to think about it. All of the numbers had just been listed, and students were now being called out onto the track to begin racing. Thunder looked up at the board and down to his number one last time. ‘Just my luck,’ he thought, ‘I just had to go out with the first group.’ He got up and followed the rest of his race group out onto the track, while the jocks all glared at him from behind.

As Thunder stepped out into the light, he was momentarily blinded by the bright light of the sun, after waiting inside so long. He shielded his eyes with a hoof until they readjusted and then gazed up at the massive crowd filling the stands. The coliseum was certainly packed today, but this was a pretty big event, after all. Immense cheers rung out from the crowd as the participants walked out onto the track, readying themselves up for the race. Many of them were doing some last minute stretches, but not Thunder, he just walked awkwardly out onto the track, finding his place and standing there with a detached expression on his face. Rainbow was the next to find her place, which was right of Thunder. She looked at him and smirked.

“Well waddya know. I get that race after all.” She said to him with a cocky smile on her face, but to no avail as he gave no response, causing her to in turn lightly scowl and turn her head away. The trio of jocks were the next to come up, Dumbbell positioned just to the left of Thunder, followed by the two others.

“This ‘s where I get my pay-back, spahkles.” The jock mumbled at Thunder. ‘Sparkles?’ Thunder thought, ‘now that’s clever.’ He rolled his eyes, failing to hold in one very soft chuckle.

As the final racers in his group got to there places, the referee stepped onto the field. He stood on his hind legs and raised a checkered flag into the air, taking a moment to speak to the crowd around them. Thunder didn’t pay much attention, though, he just wanted to get the race over with and leave. It was actually quite a shock to Thunder how uncomfortable he felt here, as if the years at the academy had driven him to prefer solitude over a crowd. The referee said some things about ‘tradition’ and ‘proud students’ and various bits about life after the academy. Then everything got quiet, the referee, the crowd, even the birds it seemed. This lead to those last heart pounding seconds as the referee called out, ‘On your mark!’ All of the racers lowered their heads and bent their legs, as they opened their wings to the fullest extent, ‘Get set!’ Thunder squinted his eyes, preparing, pushing his back hooves hard into the track. Then last moment seemed like an eternity, heart thrashing and thoughts racing. Then without warning it came, ‘GO!’ The flag was dropped and like a flash of light the entire group was off.

The wind rushed past Thunder at a nearly blinding speed, forcing his and the other racers eyes nearly shut. As he flapped his wings, the blood began to pump through Thunder at incredible speed, driving him into an incredible rush. He came here only to race and then leave, but now he really wanted to try, he was going to win! The wind ripped past Thunder faster and faster as he forced his way up through the places, working his way closer and closer to Rainbow in the lead. As he passed Dumbbell, who was right behind Rainbow, he was shoved to the side, forcing him to fall back slightly. He snarled inwardly and picked up the pace, almost shooting right by Dumbbell and slowly advancing beyond Rainbow. She tried to go faster but could only watch as the young colt slowly gained a head in front of her.

They were down to the last lap by this point and making their way round the first turn of the final lap. It seemed like Thunder was actually going to win, that he was going to triumph. As it seemed so, Thunder was suddenly struck by an odd pain. “Agh!” He clutched at his forehead and closed his eyes in pain for just the moment that it was present, but by the time he had opened them, he found that he had gone off course and was just about to run right into the wall of the coliseum. He gave a short shout of shock, and managed to quickly turn around just in time, actually pushing off of the wall. He caught up just as they were making the final turn and pushed it to his very limit. The air began bend around him, and a dark conic shape was beginning to form around his body. He could no longer hold his eyes open and shut them, now knowing right where he was headed. The air was pushing past him so fast that he began to burn from it, but, strangely, there was something else happening. It appeared as if small sparks, or, more accurately, arcs of electricity were weaving around his body, hopping from one point to another in and out of him, along his body and wings.This was only for a short moment though, as the race was over within seconds of this odd occurrence.

Dust flew high in every direction as the racers pushed down into the dirt to halt themselves at the finish. Thunder was going so fast ,though, that he nearly hit the wall trying to stop. The entire arena grew quiet again, not a single pony making a sound, but a few moments later, this ceased as the entire crowd broke out into a jubilant roar. Not as curious to who one as he was tired, Thunder just collapsed on the ground in a heap, and waited for the final calling.

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By the time all the other groups had gone and finished their races, and all the place medals were given out, the sun had begun to lower over the horizon, night slowly making its way into the sky. Thunder walked out of the coliseum and slowly began his trek back to the academy, to sleep away his final night there. Just as he turned off the path leaving the coliseum and down into the lower town, some pony set down behind him.

“Hey Thunder!” He stopped and turned, seeing Rainbow Dash standing there, sporting her shiny new golden medal.

“Oh, hey, what do you want?” Thunder said in response, turning away and slowly resuming his walk, followed by Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, wait up! I was just wondering if, you’re okay?” This made Thunder actually look up at her, curious as to why her of all pegasi would ask him such a question.

“Am I okay? Why?”

“Well. It’s just that you were going so fast in there, I was afraid you’d beat me. Then I saw you grab your head and you flew right off the course. What was that all about?”

“Oh, I, uh. It was nothing. I’m fine.” He picked up his pace a little, hoping she would leave.

“Hold on!” Rainbow jumped out in his path and stopped him from walking. “You didn’t do that on purpose did you?” She asked, giving him a nasty look.

“Wha?-”

“B’cuz I won’t ever forgive you if you did that to me! If I’m going to be the best, I want to be the best fair and square!” Thunder was a little disgruntled by the sudden accusation, but he put his hoof down and stood up straight with a face of indignation, nearly feeling rather offended.

“Now why would I bother doing that? I don’t like competing that much, but if I have to I at least do it fairly!” He replied strongly, pushing his face back towards hers. “Now if you don’t mind, could you step back? You’re a bit close.” Rainbow suddenly blushed and backed out from in front of him, her angered face somewhat fading.

“Well...whatever! Even if. Whatever happened back there didn’t..you’d still end up with less than gold!” Thunder just kept walking, his face down towards his hooves. He didn’t care what she said, because he never really cared about winning. Yet, as he looked down at the small bronze disc dangling from his neck, he did somewhat feel that it might have been nice to at least show that jock up.

Rainbow flew off in a huff only a few seconds after making her last statement. This left Thunder alone once again on his trek back to the academy. He made his way gradually down the pathway, and it wasn’t long before the large white building was in sight. As he approached, he looked up at the sky above him and noticed that the stars were out now. The sky was so clear tonight, and as tired as Thunder was, he just couldn’t help but to stay out a little bit longer just to stargaze. He turned away from the building and went up a different path, which led him to the ledge where he always loved to lay.

Having arrived at the top, Thunder sat down and looked up at the stars. The beautiful twinkling lights reflected in his eyes as he gazed at them, watching how they all seemed to just dance in place throughout the entire sky. He began to wonder if Zecora was watching the sky as well. He missed Zecora so much, having been away from her for so many years. Thunder moved his eyes down towards the ground below Cloudsdale, gazing out accross the dark landscape. He sighed, and looked down at his hooves. Not a single friend did Thunder make in the academy, and at this moment, he was feeling very alone.

Thunder was given a sudden shock then, as he heard an old voice speak up from behind him.

“Hey there Thunner.” The voice said softly, and somewhat slow. He turned around and saw Mrs. Whisp standing there; she was wearing a scarf and a fall coat around her, likely because it was a bit cold for her. She walked over and sat down next to Thunder, looking at him and giving him a warm smile.

“Mrs. Whisp? What are you doing out here?” He asked her, looking a bit confused.

“Ohh, I jus’ wanted ta come see how yer doin’. I saw yer in that race, hooh nelly were you a fast ‘n.”

“Oh.” Thunder replied, looking back down at his hooves. “I’m fine, really Mrs. Wh-”

“Will yer stop that?!” She spoke up. “I known you a long time Thunner, so stoppit with the ‘Mrs.’ jus’ call me granny. Okay?” Thunder looked at her a little shocked as she said this and nodded slowly. “Well okay then. Now. Don’t you be tellin’ me you ain’t got nothin’ wrong you either. I weren’t born yesterday ya know?” Thunder looked up at her face, then dropped his eyes down from her.

“I’m really alright, okay?” His face slowly began to droop down again after saying this, and Granny Whisp just stared intensely at him for a moment, then sighed softly and put a hoof over his shoulders.

“Oh Thunner. Yer such a nice ‘n ya know that? Y’ve helped me such a bundle over the last couple years, ‘n ya don’t ever get angry at nopony. Ya don’t even try ta burden others when yer the one that needs help.” He looked up at her again, a glum expression on his face. “Thunner. Ya gotta know that no matter how tough life gets for ya, you’ll always have some pony there. Just remember this. When yer feeling all alone, just look here.” She then poked a hoof softly at his chest. “‘N y’ll always find some pony.” Thunder’s expression slowly melted into a soft smile, then he abruptly threw his hooves around her, giving her soft, but firm hug.

“Thank you Granny Whisp.” She laughed heartily as he hugged her and then set him down.

“Don’t mention Thunner. Oh! ‘N one more thing ta remember. If yer ever feeling hungry, jus’ stop by ol’ Granny Whisp’s and sh’ll have a nice hot meal for ya! Speakin’ a which, I got me some apple fritters from me ol’ friend down on the apple farm. How ‘bout you stop at my house n we heat us up some hot ones!” Thunder chuckled at this and she got up, grabbing him. “‘N I ain’t takin’ a no! A youngin’ like you’s gotta eat somethin’ nice after a race like that!”

“Alright, alright Granny! You can put me down!” They both laughed as she took her grip off the young colt, letting him walk beside her down to her small Cloudsdale home.

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The light of the midnight sky shined brightly off the green canopy of the forest that night. Only the sound of the crickets could be heard through the almost dead silence. Darkness was painted across the face of every tree that could be seen, except for one. This tree was one of the largest in the forest, and was the home to one particular zebra, named Zecora.

A fire burned bright and hot inside the cozy forest home, a cauldron boiling above it. Zecora stood beside it, stirring it with a large wooden stick, while she hummed and sang to herself in her native dialect. She stopped signing for a moment and tasted the brew she was stirring, then she walked over to a large table along the wall to grab a bottle filled with spices of some sort. She walked back over to the cauldron and sprinkled a bit of the bottle’s contents into the mixture. Setting it aside, she stirred it a moment longer then gave it another taste. Smiling and satisfied, she turned and went for some water to halt the fire, but was interrupted by a noise outside her house. She stopped and looked over her shoulder at the door, then turned and made her way outside. Looking around, she called out somewhat softly.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” Another noise came from behind her, like the snapping of a branch, causing her to jump and turn around.

“Who is it? I’m not an easy one to scare!” It was silent for just a moment, then Zecora heard a laugh come from behind a tree. It sounded familiar to her.

“Thunder?” She said, but the laughing continued. All of a sudden Zecora heard a loud crack from the sky above her, causing her to look up. Through the holes in the canopy, she could no longer see the usual lights from the night sky, everything had gone black. Zecora looked over at where she heard the laughing, and took a step forward, now feeling unnerved. She was about to speak but was stopped by a large flash of light from the corner of her eyes. Having jumped once more, but this time out of fright, Zecora looked over and saw a large scorch mark on the ground near her home.

“What is this!” She looked over at the laughing and the bushes began to shake violently, followed by another crack of light on the ground. “Stop!” A wind swept up, shaking the trees and blowing back Zecora’s mane. The cracks of light became more frequent, and the laughing became louder, the bushes shaking harder. Zecora backed away towards her door, beginning to cower in fear. Then suddenly her eyes were brought up towards the sky as another crack of light hit, but this time striking her home. She screamed shortly as the top of her tree was blown apart, splinters and chunks of wood flying in all directions, and a hot blaze was left atop her torn home. The trees in front of her parted, and the source of the laughter was revealed. Her eyes tore open in disbelief and she screamed in fear and in pain. “NOO! Hakuna! Hakuna!”

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The next morning, Thunder awoke to soft sound of rain pattering against the roof of his academy dorm room. He got up slowly, yawning and rubbing the grogginess from his eyes. A faint, gloomy gray light shined through the window, casting very soft shadows throughout the room. Walking over to the window, Thunder looked out and up at the sky above him, which was, for as far as the eye could see, completely shrouded in a gray blanket of cloud. ‘Weird,’ he thought to himself, ‘I don’t remember rain being scheduled today either.’ Choosing to assume he must have missed the announcement, thunder hopped out the window and flew off to the other side of Cloudsdale, towards his usual ledge.

When he arrived, he sat down and looked up at the clouds once more. They seemed much darker today than they were yesterday, as if they could start to thunder at any moment. The prospect didn’t really bother him though. He laid down and enjoyed the cool pitter-patter of the rain across his back and through his mane. This, he thought, was a nice treat to make up for the rain that ended shortly yesterday. The rain made him feel good, and it began to lull him as he closed his eyes and began to doze. Slowly the sound of the rain faded as he began to fall into a short state of slumber. This was short lived though.

Thunder was shocked back awareness and stood bolt upright, to the sound of a loud crack, which came from the town behind him. After his muscles relaxed from the shock, he wiped the water from around his eyes and yawned.

“Oh come on..can’t I just get a short nap in once in a while?” He groaned aloud as he turned around and looked back at the city where the sound roughly came from. Standing there and turning he head from left to right, he tried to see where the sound came from. Then suddenly the sound came again, but this time Thunder saw right where it was. Lightning shot down from the sky and struck the town, this made Thunder jump in shock again. “That’s. Not good.” He lifted himself into the air and slowly began to glide towards where the lightning had hit, but soon halted himself. Once again lightning hit the town, then a moment later once more. It picked up and several more lightning bolts struck, all hitting in roughly the same area. Thunder hovered in place, fear overtaking him, not understanding what was happening. He set down on a nearby roof and watched for a little longer, until he was sure that the strikes had ended.

Feeling safe, Thunder flew back into the air and towards the location of the strikes, but as he got closer, something began to fill his mind. It was a sense of panic, and horror, but, why? He quickly recognized the area and sped up, horrible thoughts and fears filling the back of his mind, working their way into his thoughts. Finally he arrived, and set down on the ground, staring in agony at the sight in front of him. Standing up, Thunder walked towards the rubble, afraid to look inside, his mind so full that he didn’t even notice the other pegasi standing around, or the gasps and shrieks of fright some of them gave.

He entered the charred remains of the building, working his way around the piles of rubble and ash, now made muddy by the rain. The rain seemed to pour down harder on the small pegasus, his fur completely soaked and matted as he searched desperately. He looked slowly, keeping himself cautious, but soon caution faded from his thoughts as desperation took over, and he began to search more frantically, hoping to Celestia that he wouldn’t find what he was searching for. This wasn’t to be for Thunder, unfortunately.

The search went on for a while longer, until Thunder’s attention was caught by a small bit of color poking out from beneath a pile of rubble, which stood out from the gray and black all around him. He approached it slowly, and immediately recognized the blue color. He began to panic, and dug frantically at the rubble, trying his hardest to pull away the bits of charred wood and muddy ash. He breathed heavily, his small fore legs straining under the stress. Finally he revealed most of what was under the pile, and Thunder sunk down, tears forming in his eyes and meshing with the rain as they began to fall down his face.

“G-Granny...” He began to choke, and fell down on her, wrapping his little hooves around her neck and holding her tight. “This can’t be real...Wake up!” The small pegasus screamed at his friend, trying to shake her with his hooves. “Please! Wake up..” He cried and cried, trying futilely to wake the old pegasus.

After a short time, he sat up and wiped his eyes, hope fading from his mind. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do, and the shouts from the crowd of pegasi outside the destroyed home didn’t help him either. He stood up slowly and turned around, now acknowledging the crowd for the first time. They all looked at him with fear in their eyes, and several ran when he turned. He couldn’t understand what it was all about, but wasn’t given much time to think about it when three large pegasi set down in front of him. They were much larger than any pegasi he’d seen living in the town. Their entire bodies were covered in armor, and their fur was so dark that it looked black beneath the clouds. The three looked down at him with accusing faces, and the one in the middle stepped forward, scaring Thunder and causing him to back away.

“Halt! By royal proclamation of Princess Celestia! You are to be seized at once!” Thunder backed away more, confused and scared. He looked down at Granny Whisp, then back up at them, now walking towards him and circling him into a corner. His face began to show the fear building up inside of him, and he screamed out, flying into the sky to flee. Flee. The little pegasus couldn’t handle any of this, it was too much for him. He needed to get away from everything! Images of the forest began to seep into his mind. Images of Zecora and Razzle, and the small home where he lived.

He looked over his shoulder and saw that the three pegasi were coming after him! He sped up, trying to get away from them, strain beginning to enter his tired wings. The pegasi chasing him sped up as well, and were soon gaining on him. Thunder had to get away, he couldn’t let them take him away. He flew faster and harder, pelting himself mercilessly with the rain falling from the sky. He pushed himself hard, trying the hardest he had ever tried to fly as fast as he possibly could. The wind began to shift and warp around his small body, sparks starting to weave their way through his fur. Thunder needed to lose the pegasi who were still chasing him, and as Thunder looked down at the dark landscape below him, he could just make out the tops of trees through his nearly shut eyes. An idea formed in his mind, and the pegasus began to shift his direction, aiming down towards the ground below and using gravity to pull at his speed. A dark cone began to form around him as the wind shifted and warped, quickly engulfing his small body. Sparks arched and flew across him, growing longer and larger with each second, the point of the cone growing longer and thinner. Then finally, the pegasi behind him were halted, and sent flying back as a large explosion of sound hit them like a brick wall. A massive dark trail rippled out through the sky, sending blasts of electricity out in every direction. From the center of the ripple, was left a black path that faded quickly, and was nearly invisible under the storm.

Thunder tried to aim himself as best he could, hardly being able to open his eyes under the stress of his speed. He shot through the canopy of the trees and slowly his path descended towards the ground as he weaved through the brush and trees. Finally he managed to slow down enough that he attempted to make contact with the ground, digging his hooves in as best he could. He was so weak though, that they almost instantly flew out from beneath him, forcing him to face plant several yards of dirt. When he had finally come to a stop, he slowly forced himself up onto his hooves, his legs wobbling beneath him. He looked around, and after a moment or two realized that the area around him seemed familiar. He began to walk off in no particular direction, not entirely sure which way to go.

It seemed like he had been walking through that forest for ages, gradually making his way through all the brush and low branches. He thought that he would pass out from exhaustion, but his spirits were soon lifted when he saw a very small light in the distance.

“Zecora?” He said quietly, slowly picking up the pace with his limp. He shuffled his way towards the light as fast as he could, shouting out the name of beloved guardian. For the first time in a while, he actually began to smile. This wasn’t to be his lucky day. Coming out into the clearing, Thunder stopped stock still and look up in shock at the remains of his guardians home. All that was left was a charred stump, with small cinders smoldering brightly in the holes that were guarded from the rain.

Thunder approached the remains slowly, looking around at the splinters of wood and char, littering the forest around him. He walked into what was once her house and looked around. Everything was completely gone from the place. Her cauldron, her potions and bottles, everything. He didn’t know what to think, but then was struck by a memory. He turned and limped as fast as his little legs could carry him, heading away from the wreck and down what he was sure was the old path he used to walk when he lived here. After a short while he found what he was looking for. It was the old tree that he used to go to ever day. He put his hooves up on it and shouted. “Razzle!” He pounded on the tree as hard as he could, and then tried to flap his wings to get a look inside, but he was too worn out.

Gone. He had finally come home and everything was gone. He turned and began to limp away, not sure of what to do or where to go. He just limped. Thunder went past the remains of his old home and into the forest, moving as fast as he could. Fear began to overtake him once again, the shadows of the forest growing closer and closer, choking out all the light from his eyes. He began to hear things, like distant cries of pain and booming thunder. His little hooves moved faster and faster, as he tried to flee whatever invisible force was chasing him. All the sounds then began to break away into menacing laughter, and Thunder became more afraid. He screamed out at the invisible laughter. “Stop! Leave me alone!” He ran to a tree and huddled down against it, holding his hooves over his ears and screaming out. All of a sudden light began to fade in through his closed eyes and loud booms of sound emanated form all around him. His eyes snapped open and he looked up. Splinters of wood surrounded him once more, and he saw that a large whole had been torn open in the forest canopy. The rain had stopped.

In that moment, Thunder began to realize something, something about himself. He fell over in pain as a burning sensation began to flood up through his body from his flank. It lasted for only a moment, then, once he had gathered himself back together form the pain, he looked down. There was something new there, that he’d never seen there before. “Why?”

Thunder slowly stood back up, and wobbled away, all feelings flooding from his as agonizing weakness filled him. He went through the forest canopy once more, and before his realized it, it had faded away, and light from the night sky beamed down upon him. It was just a little bit further, before Thunder finally collapsed, and his eyes snapped shut. With the only bit of strength left in him, he struggled his eyes open and tried to look at something, anything.

“Flowers....” a small figure then appeared in front of his gaze, and leaned down to sniff him, “..Razzle?” His eyes shut, and he was quickly pulled down into unconsciousness.

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Senses were filled with darkness, creating an entire void of emptiness and silence. Gradually ,though, it began to fade, as light slowly seeped in, and senses made their way back, allowing for the sound and feel of a soft breeze, and the rustling of leaves and grass. Thunder’s eyes slowly began to open, and he could begin to make many dark shapes around him. Some pony was speaking.

“..found him...”

“Perhaps...with...parents.” He began to make out some words, but they didn’t make any sense to him. “Oh look! He’s coming to!” Thunder’s eyes opened fully and he blinked his eyes a few times, before slowly looking up to be met with the faces of two pegasi. Wait. One of them was different. It had a horn. “Well hello there. Are you alright you poor thing? I was just talking to my friend here about renovations, then we came across you. You looked dreadfully hurt so we helped you into the shade and cleaned the muck off of you.” Actually it didn’t even have wings. Was it a unicorn?

“I..uhm...hope you don’t mind..” Thunder recognized this voice and looked over, his eyes widening.

“F-Fl..Flu..”

“Ohh! I think he’s trying to speak deary! What is it, hmm?”

“..Flutter..Shy..” The two ponies looked at each other then back to him.

“Oh my. Do you know him?”

“Well...I..” Suddenly Thunder was struck with panic, and quickly scrambled upright, scaring the two ponies and causing them to shriek. Paying them no mind he ran off and vanished into the forest.

“Oh dear...What a peculiar pony. Should we do something?

“Y-you mean...go, after him?

“Well, of course! Although...He did run into the Everfree Forest. Ohh well. I’ll pay it no mind. Besides, I’m late for the spa with my ma. Ta-ta!” The horned pony walked off, leaving Fluttershy standing there alone, unsure of what to do.

“Oh-o...kay.”

End Chapter

Comments

[Thunder Bolt]

1010381 Wow, I really appreciate the comment! In fact ever since I posted this story and began showing it to friends, I believe this is the first real critique I've received, in my opinion. So, first of all thanks for the complements, I have worked for quite some time with grammar and my vocabulary (Thesaurus are also great resources for creative writing). As for the commas, I do agree that I overdo it with them at times. I recently went through an English course at my highschool which had a large segment focusing on commas, so I try hard to be careful about how I use them and I always try to double check each placement. My biggest issue is that when I use commas, I've made a bad habit of writing the story how I would speak it out loud, which usually involves me using a lot of dramatic pauses.

As for names, yes, that was intentional. I may change the way I format their names later and remove the mid name capital. I also sort of left their appearances to debate on purpose when I wrote the first chapter, but I do plan on revising this chapter and changing the story around a little bit sometime in the future. I don't want to reveal anything, but there will turn out to be another reason for his choice, which is a bit more reasonable, and it will link to the end of the story (which is probably a long ways away).

One more thing, just keep in mind that this story of mine is, amongst other things, a bit of an experiment to test myself as far as story, characters, and plot, as well as to stretch the creative portion of my mind.

[Thunder Bolt]

1017240 Hey, again, as I said in response to your last comment, what I said about my comma usage remains the same. As for words, thanks for point out "weather" I'll fix that shortly when I have a moment. With the character Thunder, though, I made messed up the grammar there intentionally, because he is a very young pony at this stage, and is bound to mess up his speech.

In response to the query about how sad the plot will be, yea it will start to get a bit tragic, but not for another few chapters. I just posted that on this chapter because of how happy and uppity it was. Oh, and another thing to keep in mind when you continue reading this, is that the main area of this story will take place in Thunder's adulthood, so the first several chapters have large gaps of time between them.

[Thunder Bolt]

1022765 Well usually when I don't use a capital 'T' in thunder, it's because I mean actual thunder, not the character Thunder, but I suppose I'll check to make sure I didn't miss any capitals by mistake.

As for how fast he is, you'll just have to read a bit more to find that out.

[Whisper The Saint]

Woah, it was been more than a month. Sorry about that.

Well, back on my reading schedule. Chapter read!

I got the story very well. The only thing I wonder is how the guards already had a royal proclamation of the princess? Perhaps when the first incident at that race happened she warned her soldiers to keep her eye on him?

Back to the chapter, now that is what a call a circle of misfortune. I think that Diabolous Machina had a lot of fun with this chapter, lol. XD

Also, shouldn't Rarity be a bit more compassive? Well, until the next chapter.