Lives and Deaths of Thunder Crasher

by MattReverse

0 - Prologue

Rushing his way to his home, the gray pegasus could barely breathe. He knew this would happen eventually, it was just a matter of time. When he got to his house, the door was open and the place was empty. Seeing that he had gotten there, one of the neighbours had the task to inform him what had happened.

His mother tried to kill herself.

"Rain Dasher is fine, Crasher." The mare said, whose name Thunder Crasher had never bothered to learn. "She was taken to the hospital and she is fine, now. How about you, dearie?"

The pegasus was barely paying attention, looking at the ground, where his mother probably was. There was nothing anywhere that would cause somepony to think a pony almost died in there.

"...what?" He said, almost a full minute after the neighbour had stopped talking.

"Well, you haven't talked much since- ...the accident. And my sister passed through something similar, you are probably not okay. Between your weather duties and coming back to check on your mother from time to time... I'm just worried you haven't stopped yet. You need to stop and to feel. Bottling everything up is not a good idea."

"Well, I need the bits. And my mother can't work anymore. And she can't even care of herself." He said, defensive. "Let me just... she's in the hospital, right? I need a minute alone. I'll be there soon. I just... need to be alone right now."

"We're all here to help you, dearie. Your mother used to tell me how alone you always were, but... we are here if you need anything. We are all very sorry for your loss." Without another word, the mare left the house, leaving Thunder Crasher alone with his thoughts.

He thought about how his mother could even attempt die in a spotless living room. He already knew the answer. He looked at the table next to him. There was a painting. He always liked to look at it when he felt sad or lost.

Three colorful and cheerful pegasi. A young gray colt, with a big smile and dark gray mane, with a hint of blue on the tips. Completed with a pair of sparkling blue eyes and a dark gray cloud with three lighning bolts coming out of it adorning his flank. The cutie mark was still shining and new.
By his left side, a blue mare, with a very big gray mane and pink eyes, with the expression of a proud parent. her cutie mark, barely visible in the painting, was a very bright blue thunder.
By his right side, a yellow stallion with hazelnut mane, and eyes as pink as the mare's. His expression however, was much calmer than the mare's, with his eyes resting on the colt, looking very happy and serene. His cutie mark was of a blazing comet. He was bigger than the mare, and sturdier.
Both of the older ponies were wearing silver armor with bright red cloth.

It was obviously a somewhat old family painting. Thunder Crasher is one of the lucky kids who could hit it off with their parents, even after the Pegasus Flock Academy. Which he hated every second. An endless line of ponies telling him what to do, in a place where he wouldn't even get to grow some steps because they only give real power to the mares.
Thunder Crasher was having none of that. He decided to go work on a weather factory. Which he was good at, given his special talent to manipulate lightning better than most pegasi. There, he grew quickly, becoming responsible for scheduling lightning storms, which was a job he loved.

But that was worth nothing right now; His life was in pieces.

Thunder went further into the house, looking at a set of shiny armor neatly put on one corner. Some ponies, wearing the same armor, had already tried to take it back, but it was still too soon and the reception they got was the one of a very angry pegasus. Thunder Crasher still remembers every sound he heard at his father's funeral. Some ponies paying respect. A priest saying a couple of words Thunder was not listening to. The only corner of that funeral that was completely silent was where he and his mother stood. Not a tear. Not a sob. Not a sound came from either of them.
After his father's body was cremated, as all pegasi bodies are, the gray pegasus moved on the best he could.

His mother didn't. She just stopped. She didn't say anything. Or moved. For days, now. Thunder Crasher was the one who would have to wash her, feed her, and put her to bed.
What he didn't count on was the fact that she would just stop breathing. He was very lucky his parents knew their neighbours and they helped out when they did.
Thunder Crasher still wasn't going to learn their names, though.

While looking back at the painting, Thunder Crasher sighed, with a weak smile. "...a dragon attack. Because how else would you go out, eh dad?"

So now with his father dead and his mother gone insane with trauma, Thunder Crasher decides to do what he had planned to do, but didn't have the courage to do, or the opportunity, that now appeared since his mother would be in the care of others. He goes to his parent's room, finding a leather barding his father used to use. Strapping on a saddlebag and filling it with some supplies, a map, and a hunting knife, he leaves the home he grew up in. But he would be back. Or so he thought.

Below on the ground, a couple of days away, was the Wild Lands. The land of nobody, between the Pegasus Kingdom and the Unicorn Kingdom. Where the weather works on its own and all sorts of creatures lives.
Legends say a pony comes out of there changed forever.
Legends say anything is possible in those forests.

So Thunder Crasher decides to do whatever he needs to do to bring his father back to life.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Before I read this, I must know: What does "life does not travel backwards" mean?

[Discord12]

I feel like it moved a bit fast for my tastes. I might have enjoyed a scene with him sitting next to his mother in the hospital before he decides to leave on an adventure but it was enjoyable so what its worth.

You crammed a lot of exposition into a 1000 word chapter and I think you made it work well.

Hope you write some more!

[MattReverse]

8959541
It simply means that the past is the past. It'll make more sense down the line.

8959729
I thought about doing that, but it's just not relevant. I just wanted to not linger too much on the "before" part of the adventure.