The Raging Thunder Act-1

by Thunder Bolt

Lost Hopes

Authors Note: This chapter has yet to receive a properly thorough proof-read. I'll remove this note once I have done so.

Chapter 7

Everfree forest was filled with the sounds of the many animals that inhabited it. Birds sang and flew above the tree tops, occasionally flying down to the land below the canopy. Many such birds would do so to search for food, just as one in particular which was hopping its way around the large opening of a forest cave. The bird pecked at the ground searching for small insects to return to its nest, until it was disturbed by a sound from the cave. Hopping back from the cave, the small bird then went forward a bit, looking into the cave out of curiosity. A long and loud groaning sound boomed out of the cave, frightening the bird and causing it to flee back into the sky.

“Aaaaoh!” Came the sound once more, as a shape began to appear at the mouth of the cave. Light beaming down through the canopy illuminated the shape, revealing it to be the pegasus Thunder. He walked just outside the cave and stretched himself out far, yawning loudly. As he stood from the stretch, he blinked a few times, readjusting his eyes to the dim, yet brighter lighting outside of the cave. While he stood there looking up at the tree tops, another shape appeared in the opening cave, this one was a bit rounder and much larger than Thunder. Two large eyes reflected the bits of light emanating into the cave, as it began to growl and slowly approach Thunder. He looked over his shoulder and rolled his eyes, just before lifting a back leg and giving the approaching shape a firm bop on the nose.

“Oh give it a rest Barnabee.” Thunder said, light now revealing the large bear that had just exited the cave. He sat back and rubbed his nose with a paw, letting out a short whimper.

Thunder just ignored him and walked out from the cave a bit to the large flat area of dirt that he had formed over time from walking on it so much. He looked around for just a second and quickly found the small bowl which was set right in the center of the circular area, gently placed. It contained a mixture of several types of green vegetables and a bit of fruit, and looked to have been put together quite carefully. He sat by the bowl and stared down at it. Eating these things just felt different ever since he found out who had been leaving them two weeks ago. A small growl came from Thunders belly and without further thinking he dug in, finishing off the small meal in a short time.

Once Thunder had finished eating he walked back over to the opening of the cave and sat down at the small pool of water which was placed just next to the cave’s opening. Thunder wetted his hooves in the water and scrubbed his face, then stood up and moved his head over to the very small stream of water which flowed off the top of the hill above the cave. He shifted the water through his mane and soaked it down, his eyes closed lightly as he enjoyed the rinse. He then shook his mane out and wiped it back over his neck. Now standing, Thunder looked down at himself in the puddle of water below him. Thoughts weaved their way through his mind as he looked at himself, now noticing how long his mane had grown over the years. He thought about how long it had been since he first ended up in this place, and about how long it had been since he had heard Fluttershy’s voice, let alone anypony’s. Most of all, he thought about Zecora. It had been so long since he had seen her last, and so long since he had found her old home destroyed. At times it seemed like he would never find her, like there was no hope, but he refused to stop trying. He would keep searching.

“How long has it been now? It feels like I’ve been here forever.” Barnabee walked past Thunder, giving him a funny growl as he headed into the forest to do whatever bears do. “Oh who asked you?” Thunder said back to the bear in an annoyed tone.

Later that afternoon, after Thunder was finished going about his usual business of gathering wild fruits and other plants to keep on hoof in the cave, he headed deeper into the forest, going a bit off of the path he took yesterday to search. He shifted quietly through the forest, weaving around the tall trees and through thick bushes. Thunder had certainly re-accustomed himself to living in the forest through the past few years, and making his way around within it had become relatively simple for him. This was little comfort to him though, as his hopes would still chip away for every day his search failed, but regardless, he never gave up.

“I just know I’ll find her, I know I will.” Thunder would say to himself everyday as he searched, trying desperately to hang on to what he felt was his final hope. He moved restlessly through the forest, going as far as his legs could carry him. Oh how he wished he could fly, but he knew that under such a thick canopy, he’d never find anything from the sky. So he walked through the forest, never leaving the ground in fear that he might miss his long lost guardian Zecora.

Unlike other days when Thunder searched, his mind began to wander this time, as he thought about how every attempt to find her thus far had been unsuccessful. He never found a trace or even a hint as to where she had gone or where she could be now. The thought also crossed his mind that this was the first time he had gone a direction other than into Deep Everfree. He new Zecora liked the solitude, so he naturally thought that was where she would go, but unfortunately, searching there never resulted in any progress at all. There was one thought, though, which perplexed Thunder the most, and that was why he could hear somepony talking. He snapped back to reality and looking down, he realized that he had stumbled across a small path which cut off into the forest. Quickly hiding behind a bush, he poked his head out slightly and saw that there was actually a group of ponies running down the path. Fearing that he might be recognized if he were spotted, Thunder hid himself in the bush until they had passed. He looked down the path which they had just gone down, then back down the way they had came. It seemed unlikely, but being the first odd thing he had ever observed in this forest, Thunder decided he would try trailing behind them to see where they were going. He got up and was about to step out of the bushes, just as another pony suddenly flew pass him by surprise, causing him to stumble and fall backwards into the bush.

“Ouch!” Thunder shouted, before removing the pointy stick from his flank as he got back up on his hooves. He looked down the path again where the crazy flying pegasus had just gone. “That pony looked, familiar somehow.” Thunder thought aloud to himself.

A warm light shined through the trees as Thunder slowly approached the voices of the ponies he had been following. He stayed behind a large tree close to the path and poked his head slowly around it. The first thing he saw was the hut, which was built into a large twisted tree that went high up into the canopy. There was a small wooden door with a mask hung just above it, and several glass bottles were hanging from branches. The familiarity of it all gave Thunder an immense urge to run towards the hut, but he stopped himself from leaving his hiding place as he took notice now of the ponies out front of the hut. They looked a lot stranger than the pegasi from Cloudsdale. One of them was white and had a massive amount of thick matted fur covering its body, leading him to the question of whether it was really a pony or not. There was also a purple unicorn there, but her horn seemed a bit out of whack. It was covered in blue spots and hung from her forehead, wobbling whenever she moved. Thunder couldn’t help but have to muffle a chuckle when he saw this, but then he noticed the pink pony. She had an inflamed tongue which was forced to hang from her mouth, but it was also covered in blue spots. He sat down for a moment and put his chin on his hoof to think. ‘Now why in Equestria would they have blue spots on them?’ He thought to himself, but then as he looked around in thought, he noticed a blue flower growing by itself on the other side of the path. ‘Of course! Poison Joke!’ He thought with a smile as he came to this realization. ‘But why are they out here?’ Standing up, his eyes suddenly widened a bit as he noticed the yellow pony standing a bit further back next to the pink one. ‘Wait. That has to be..’ His thought was cut off when he suddenly heard her begin to sing in a deep earthy voice. Thunder promptly fell flat on his back with his hooves straight in the air, as he tried desperately to muffle the laugh trying to escape him. ‘Poor Fluttershy.’ He thought while calming himself down.

A few moments after Fluttershy was done singing, which Thunder didn’t even understand, the ponies seemed to go in a panic all of a sudden, and without warning a blue flash came down out of the sky and crashed through the front door of the hut, which was followed by the other ponies running in and a large commotion of noise and shouting. Thunder snuck over to the side of the hut and hid beneath a window, trying to listen in to what was going on inside. Everything seemed a bit loud for a moment, but after a while everything quieted down, and Thunder could actually understand what was going on. He listened until he heard a very familiar voice. His heart jumped in his chest and his wings tensed up. It just had to be her. Thunder stood up on his hind legs very slowly and attempted to peak through the window. His heart once again jumping inside him and his eyes going wide. ‘Zecora! It’s Zecora! I’ve found her!’ Was one thing that went through Thunder’s, which was only one thought out of the many that clouded his mind. He wanted to run in so much, so that he could speak to her again, but he had to wait, he couldn’t risk being recognized by the other ponies.

Time passed by slowly for Thunder, as he peered through the window every couple minutes, watching as the ponies spoke with Zecora. This eventually died down a bit as the ponies began to help Zecora clean up the mess they made out of her home, and then after some time they finally left her hut, and Zecora walked out to wave at them from her door.

“Just run ahead you pony folk!

I need to grab the things, for curing that joke!” She then turned and walked back into her home, and Thunder slowly walked out and around towards the door, which she left open. He walked inside with some caution, observing the home within which she now lived. It was a bit smaller than her last home, but had many of the familiar looks. She had the same cauldron which she always kept in the center of her home, and various bottles were hung from the ceiling or placed on a shelf along the wall. Stopping a few feet inside the door, Thunder just stood there and stared blankly at Zecora, her back turned to him as she was gathering herbs together at a small table mounted on the wall. She was humming a little tune to herself as she did this, which he recognized from when he was very young. He wished he wouldn’t have to interrupt it, but he needed to speak. He stood up as straight as he could and took a couple more steps quietly.

“You know, I can hear the patter of a mouse

Who is it now to have intruded my house?”

“Zecora.” Thunder spoke to her, his voice somewhat quiet as if he spoke out of disbelief. A bottle that Zecora had just picked up slipped from her grip and fell to the floor, smashing loudly and splattering its contents. She turned her head slowly, her eyes widened and shaking as if in a state of severe shock or fear. Thunder walked a little closer and she quickly turned around completely, backing up as he approached.

“Th-Thunder?” She stuttered.

“Yes Zecora, it’s me. I’ve been looking for you for so long, and, I’ve finally come back!”

“NO!” Zecora screamed, her eyes shutting tight, causing Thunder to halt his approach, taking a step backwards.

“Zecor-?”

“NO! Get away!” Zecora grabbed a bottle from the table and tossed it hard towards Thunder, which smashed against the leg he used to shield his face. He put his leg down and tried to approach her again but she through another bottle, which barely missed him this time.

“Zecora..What’s-”

“Get away! Leave me be you ungrateful beast!

Go away and leave my home in peace!” Zecora continued to scream at Thunder, backing away and tearing two glass bottle from the ceiling, one of which was still shattered from earlier. Thunder was confused, and still tried to go towards, but only to result in her throwing the broken bottle at him. He twisted his head away and the bottle struck him in the shoulder, cutting him. A cry was let out by Thunder and he looked back at his shoulder, watching the warm liquid that began to secrete from his cut. His eyes were now full of fear and tears began to fill them, as he looked back at Zecora, whose eyes now seemed to be full of anger now, blinding her to the defenseless pony that seemed to grovel in front of her.

“Z-Zecora..” Thunder whimpered, as he tried desperately still to get closer to her, Zecora still screaming louder and louder. She seemed almost hesitant now to throw the bottle that she held, but as Thunder got closer her anger began to lose to fear once more, and she threw it at him as hard as she could. Thunder couldn’t manage to move fast enough this time, and the bottle struck him in the face, shattering against him and dousing him with its contents. He screamed and stood up on his hind legs, flailing wildly in the air. The screams that Thunder created were so loud that the entire house shook, making Zecora fall onto the floor, and actually cower in fear. Thunder turned and ran out the front door, fleeing from Zecora’s home, and the monstrosity that had become his reality. Zecora was left shaken and trying to steady herself as what sounded like a storm boomed outside her home from the direction in which Thunder had ran.

The branches and thick bushes of the forest scraped against Thunder as he ran, stumbling through. He couldn’t open his left eye, and his vision was starting to blur. He didn’t know what was happening, but he just wanted to make it back, back to his cave where he would forget this all. This wasn’t what Thunder wanted, and he now he only wanted to forget. He only wanted to go back to cave and return his ways to what they had been before. Thunder would sleep, he would eat, and he would spend his days wandering lost in the forest. It would be good enough for him if it would just allow him to forget all these horrible events. Forget Cloudsdale. Forget Granny Whisp. Forget Zecora. Just forget. How?

Thunder never stopped running, his breathes becoming raspier and his chest growing tighter. It didn’t help that his mind was now flooding with an uncountable number of thoughts, all of which did nothing to ease his pain. He did his best to run as quickly as he could, and finally after what seemed like ages, he finally found himself in front of his cave. Standing there, fur matted with sweat, Thunder staggered slowly over to the puddle of water next to the cave and drank deeply before making an attempt to scrub the dry blood from his shoulder. He then lifted his hoof to his eye and touched it softly.

“Guh!” Thunder muffled in pain, as he felt the large shard of glass protruding from his eye. He sat down and breathed hard as he placed a hoof on either side of the glass, gripping it tight, and attempted to pull it from his eye. “Aaaghh!” Unfortunately, Thunder couldn’t manage more than a soft tug before screaming in pain. It obviously wasn’t going to work, but he couldn’t think of what else he could do. He reached up and touched the shard gingerly, wincing a bit in pain, and felt as a bit of liquid, other than blood, wiped off onto his hoof. He held it up in front of his good eye and tried to examine it, but his vision was blurring out. Holding his hoof close to his nose, Thunder sniffed the liquid lightly and as he was coming to a realization he clutched his chest with his forelegs and cried out in pain. “P-..Pois-..” He managed to speak out loud through his drying lips and throat. Collapsing onto the ground, Thunder’s vision blotted out completely as he passed into unconsciousness.

End Chapter

Comments

[Whisper The Saint]

Chapter read.

First thing I noticed: I liked how you did your best to avoid a time paradox. Really, those things are serious!

However... I kinda got creeped at the eye scream part. You know, when I read something I try to imagine every scene... that was kinda disturbing.