Hajime no Thunderlane

by Omegafr

Setting the scene

It's been two weeks since I started "training the titans" as I like to call it, simply because it is IMPOSSIBLE not to suffer martyrdom after a full day of running, skipping rope and repeated jabs and uppercuts.

Honestly, if Rainbow Dash calls me lazy again now, I would put my dignity on the line and respond to her provocation with a duel. Hopefully everything I've learned so far will be useful to me, or I'll become the laughingstock of the wonderbolts.

Anyway, my legs are starting to put on weight... you'll tell me from running and jumping for hours day after day, they are getting stronger all the time. At least that's what Light told me as he saw my progress just by looking at me.

It's true that seeing him admiring me insistently makes me a little nervous, even though I have no reason to be. He's kind of my coach, isn't he?

"Well, today's a big day for your Thunderlane training, since you're taking it to the next level!" Is he announcing me by dramatizing his epiphany. "You're going to go rounds."

"Rounds... uh, what? ROUNDS, ALREADY???" Did I say, realizing what was in store for me today.

"Of course we have to start getting serious." my captain said to me as she walked towards us. "The international boxing tournament is in June, so let's get to work!" She said, continuing to paralyze me with her stunned look.

A tournament, wh-what tournament... I have barely started training and she is already registering me without my consent. I know she's my captain, but still.

"It's June, but it's January, I mean..."

"ALL THE MORE REASON TO GET STARTED! SOARIN, COME HERE!" She screams out.

"Yes, Captain!" He said as he swooped in and greeted her.

If there's one thing I don't like about my boyfriend, it's his formality towards Spitfire, he should assert himself a little more, I thought.

"Light brought boxing gloves, put 'em on, you're gonna go a round or two against your boyfriend!" She announced it with no difficulty at all.

"Huh... I... what? But Captain, you said it yourself, he's my..."

"EXECUTION !!!" she growled. "Before I take away your badge."

"Yes, Captain!" he said, standing up straight as a pole again.

"You should be cooler with your official members, Spitfire. Look at me, I'm buddies with everybody and he's doing great at the academy." said Rainbow Dash's boyfriend as he took out two pairs of boxing gloves from his bag.

"Maybe you want to teach me my job?" she let go before sitting on a nearby bench, giving the stallion a viper's look.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to offend you." he said, raising his hands defensively, but still smiling.

After this not very fruitful exchange, Soarin and I put red boxing gloves on our fists, clenching them tightly. This is the first time I've worn them, and I feel that my blows will be relatively softened. Is it possible to hurt with these? Ais I was thinking as I touched the rough material of the glove.

"So, where's your ring?" I innocently asked for the pegasus while looking at our captain.

I was surprised Spitfire didn't throw himself at him, content with an unamused look and clearly irritated by his behavior. He wouldn't last five minutes if Light had joined the wonderbolts. I couldn't tell if he was deliberately playing with his nerves, but from what I remember of high school, he was always like that, just their personalities clearly didn't match.

"Oops, sorry again, I guess we'll do it here," he said, pointing to an empty space where he laid several mats to make the floor more or less passable.

Soarin and I would stand in front of each other, each in a corner of the ring. I didn't really want to hit him, but I was going to have to, I had to realize what I could do now.

"Well, you're going quietly, aren't you?" He asked me nervously as he got into position, his fists aimed directly at me.

"No way I'm going easy, especially you Thunderlane." Spitfire nodded from the bench.

"Spitfire's right, we're here to see where you're at." Light said. "I understand how you feel, I'd feel weird going up against Dashie in a boxing match, just imagine another opponent." he suggested.

Imagine another opponent, well, I'll just do it like I do in my shadowboxing sessions. So I started drawing Drew instead of my real opponent's slender, supple build. It was quick, replacing Soarin with Drew in the blink of an eye, and when I saw my imposing opponent, I even started to react by spanking small jumps while staying in position.

"Fine, boxing!" Announced Light to which I could barely hear the voice.

Drew came at me with a wide blow, which I easily dodged to my right, before positioning my bust to prepare my counterattack. It was so much easier than rolling on the clouds below that I was ready before I even thought it.

Seeing Drew's lack of reaction, I saw his guard completely open at the jaw level and just cocked my fist half a second before striking. The acceleration of my arm had become so fast from kicking in the wind that it was fully stretched before I knew it again.

But I thought I had aimed at his cheek, yet I felt no impact, and I could no longer see my opponent in my field of vision. Thinking he had dodged, I instinctively moved backwards with my leg, returning to a defensive posture, my arms in front of my torso wrapped in my wonderbolt suit.

Then I heard a bell ringing behind me, which was used to announce the end of the rounds. It had already been three minutes, I wondered, it didn't seem like ten seconds had passed.

"End of the match, Soarin's out."

Hearing the end-of-match announcement made me realize what the situation is now. Also, I wasn't fighting Drew, but...

"Oh shit, SOARIN!" I screamed as I saw him slump to the ground, his cheek scarlet and seemingly motionless.

Did I knock him out in one fell swoop? WHAT????

"WHAT? DID I DO THIS?" I said as I rushed towards him, before Light stopped me.

"Thunderlane, YOU WERE FANTASTIC!!" He said to me with a gleam in his eyes as he shook me and grabbed my shoulders.

I stood there witnessing his euphoria as Spitfire carried Soarin to the bench she was on. He didn't look badly injured, but he looked just as shocked as I was by the blow I'd just given him without realizing it. Light finally let go of me and I could go to him.

"Soarin, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I swear, I imagined I was facing Drew and it just went off by itself..."

"Stop apologizing, that's exactly what we wanted to see." Spitfire smiled at me, the same smile she gives after a successful show.

"Uh... but... I..."

"Congrats Thunderlane." my buddy with the cheek mark on his cheek said to me. "I didn't expect such strength." he said, smiling at me with his teeth out.

I almost knocked him out, but he's still happy for me. I don't know whether to be sorry or proud now. Is this the result of this training? This is the results after only two weeks?

I still wasn't proud that I almost knocked Soarin out, but I could feel the satisfaction of predicting his game and knocking him out in one go. Despite the gloves reducing my strength, I could feel through it my phalanges that had touched his cheek. I wondered if this strength was also due to training in addition to agility and precision or if I had it before. Is this what Light meant when we talked about skills?

"THAT WAS SO COOL!!!"

I got cut off from my thoughts by a cheerful voice. And who else but Light could have said that, ah yes... Rainbow Dash. She stared at me with her eyes highlighted like Light earlier, which made me take a step back in surprise when I saw the proximity between our two faces.

"That was great Thunderlane, I didn't know you'd gotten so strong, I saw you through the window." She almost screamed with excitement, like when she first met the wonderbolts.

A compliment from Dash is fine, it's my lucky day. And indeed, as I turned my head towards the window, I saw a cloud of eyes staring at me, most of them admiring my performance, which soon made me uncomfortable. I looked away as Rainbow grabbed my forearms and pulled me towards her.

"You've made me want to try too hard, LIGHT, ANOTHER PAIR OF GLOVES!" She said as she walked towards the bag.

And I... I... Rainbow Dash... now? I don't really know how to react right now. There's a big difference between a race and a boxing match, though.

"Okay, I'm putting the field back in place, Thunderlane's back in the ring, your second match is about to start."

As I watched Rainbow Dash eagerly compete against me, I noticed that now the other wonderbolts were no longer outside the window. I sighed with relief that the crowd would be minimal.

"GO THUNDERLANE! YOU'RE GONNA SMASH HER!!!"

"IDIOT! IT'S RAINBOW DASH THE BEST!!!"

Until I turned around and saw that they hadn't gone at all, but they were set up as spectators. Some of them had flags and other props with my head or Rainbow's head on them, like caps or scarves that they wore over them, cheering their favorite.

Mostly I saw that Spitfire hadn't moved from its place, patiently waiting for the fight like everyone else. To make me run and exhaust myself to death, she's there, but when it comes to the others, she's immediately more merciful.

"COME THUNDERLANE, COME HERE!" Ordered my opponent, who was already in place, with a succession of blows in the wind and small nervous strides.

It seems I was the only one who didn't want so much excitement, but I resigned myself to position myself on my side of the field, still seeing the captain's lack of action. As long as she wasn't against it, everyone would sit tight.

"All right, are both fighters ready? Then BOX!" Announced Light by raising her arm as a signal.

I didn't have time to think that Rainbow Dash, true to herself, was on top of me even faster than Soarin and quickly made a series of blows. I lifted my guard and cashed in quite easily, I noticed that her blows were somewhat random, she had no real strategy except to attack me again and again.

"ATTACK THUNDERLANE!" Shouted a voice to me in the audience that I recognized as Cloudchaser's.

Yeah, easy to say, attack, always attack, but I could only swivel from one side of the field to the other without having the slightest offense within my reach. Rainbow wasn't the smartest, but she could attack like a champion. Luckily, I was holding my defense for a long time, wondering if Light would stop us after three minutes or let it go all the way down.

"What are you doing, Thunder, you lazy!" She provoked me by continuing her hammering.

I... have... enough... ENOUGH!!!

"For the last time Rainbow, I AM NOT LAZY!" Did I say before I prepared a straight like Soarin's.

Damn it.

*TOUCH*

Damn it, in wanting to prepare a blow and having responded to her provocation, she let my guard down and gave me a direct blow to the head, almost between the eyes.

I felt myself slipping on the very loose carpet, amplified with our tight suits. I stopped my fall by feeling that my toe was at the end of the mat, an inch away from falling. With Rainbow's fist covering the left side of my face, my right eye was facing directly towards the audience, who had calmed down, remaining silent as they admired the subjective pose I was in.

My eye then turned to my opponent, who remained frozen, to my astonishment, she didn't move. And once I had noticed her baffled head, I deduced that she didn't expect me to be still standing and in the ring after that direct blow to the face.

"What are you waiting for, fall down." she said, pressing a little more on my face.

At that point, she just wanted to push me out of the ring, but she was so focused that she was giving me a priceless chance. And no matter how fast she was, she couldn't react.

Her guard was up.

I stopped standing still by bringing my right fist to her face, performing a direct uppercut. It was so fast that even I barely noticed the impact, but unlike Soarin, I felt it this time, what a satisfaction.

I felt my cheek free from the grip she had with her fist and saw her staggering on the spot, her head in the air staring at the ceiling. It's time.

I cocked my arm for a blow to the stomach which hit and then I intended to continue with a left hook. Except she was no longer in front of me...

Rainbow had fallen to the ground, and Light raised his arms in the air.

"STOP, IT'S OVER!" He said, rushing towards her. "Thunderlane win!"

I won, I really won, over Rainbow Dash? After all these years of staying behind her all the time... All I could do in our races was watch her flank for the first five seconds before she completely outrun me. And now I had beaten her, I had found an area where I was stronger than her.

I was ecstatic and my eyes lit up as she finally got up without Light's help. She approached me with an almost bloody expression.

"I'll get my revenge, count on it." she said, which brought me out of my trance, only to find that she was right in front of me.

She had no apparent injury, so I was glad I didn't hurt her, but the satisfaction was too great to question me now. I decided that for once in my life I was going to strut my stuff like she had strutted me so many times.

"So Rainbow Dash... WHO'S LAZY NOW!" Did I scream in her face with a ridiculously big smile on mine...

Luckily Soarin and Spitfire came in time to keep her under control and get her back on the bench, I swear she would have strangled me when I saw the rage in her eyes.

"THUNDER, NEXT TIME I'LL KICK YOUR FLANK!" She swears.

"Don't worry, Dashie." Light said as I turned my head to see him approaching. "It's my turn to have fun," he said, staring at me with his griffin eyes and his carnivorous smile.

I immediately swallowed the horrible image he gave me, putting on boxing gloves in turn. The audience let out their most beautiful "ohhh" as they watched the ace of the Olympia academy stand in the ring in turn.

"Uh, Light, I'm not sure I can fight like this." I said in defense, wanting to stop before he killed me with his own hands for hitting and somehow humiliating Rainbow.

"This will be your last fight for a long time, so you better enjoy it!" He said to me as he warmed up and stretched... "Besides, you must have gotten a big head after her two victories, so..."

He stopped to drink some water, spanking a quick mouthwash with the liquid. He gargled his mouth before spitting the contents into the nearby sink. While everyone was looking forward to this last confrontation, he looked at me with one eye with his back to all of us and spoke.

"Ironic to say for a Pegasus, but you're going to have to go back to earth." he let go of me, jumping easily two meters to the improvised ring.

I feel like I'm going to regret my past action...

Spitfire took the referee's seat, leaving Soarin with the heavy task of calming Rainbow Dash. She stepped forward and announced.

"BOX!"

I put my fists in front of my face and my forearms protecting my body, being terrified of what he might do to me. Fortunately for me, he wasn't as aggressive as my two friends. The three fights had been going on far too fast for me, and even though Rainbow Dash couldn't get me off the field or knock me out, his blow had passed with some effectiveness.

"You know, basically, I wish I could have seen what Spitifre was worth in boxing." Light began to say as he approached me walking normally, albeit slowly, keeping his head down. "But I'm sort of your coach here, so to get an idea, I've got to get on with it." he announced about a meter away from me, stopping dead in his tracks.

I could try to hit him, but having played in a football tournament with him as captain, I know what he's capable of, and he's just terrifying in every way. I can't beat him, he's a real sporting genius, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's in the June tournament too. My only concern is to parry his next move, and at best to resist before he crushes me.

He finally got into fighting position and his head was down to my level. I could see his eyes piercing me, as a predator might look at its prey.

He raised his fist and I prepared to block him with all my body, but the speed at which he arrived surprised me.

And it surprised everyone.

He was so slow he couldn't do any damage to me. I didn't understand what he was trying to do, and it terrified me so much that I let him reach my forehead. His fist collapsed to it and he didn't move, leaving an incomprehensible silence in the room.

No one made a sound, they were clinging to what was happening on the field, or rather what wasn't happening. Not being able to move my arms or legs, I was able to articulate my thoughts.

"Wut?"

Then I felt an impressive pressure against my right cheek, which instantly threw me off balance and sent me into the scenery, even off the mats on the floor. It was when I landed heavily that I realized that Light had fooled me, it exploded at a speed corresponding to something like a Sonic Rainbow to do me so much damage so quickly.

I, who found my powerful punch, the one I had just received was devastating, I even wondered how I could still think at this point. Most ponies would have fainted, especially since I was feeling an unbearable tingling in my head.

"THUNDERLANE!!!" Somebody would yell when they came at me.

"The infirmary, quick!" Said another voice, belonging to a mare I think.

I didn't recognize any voice, except when I saw that my opponent came towards me, bent down to look at me better and said the last thing I heard.

"Rule number one: No talking during a game, remember that!" He proclaimed.

Ah, in the end, I fainted just when I thought I was stronger than that. At least I got Rainbow Dash, that's what I told myself before dozing off happily from my performance today despite the impressive knockout.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

"So, let me get this straight, you're telling me you knocked him out in one fell swoop, but I should be worried?" Asked for a pegasus someplace away from wonderbolt academy.

It was getting dark on Equestria, and Light, after being bailed out by Spitfire for what he'd done to Thunderlane, said goodbye to everyone and headed back to Canterlot. This is the home of the Olympia academy, the wonderbolt academy's biggest rival in terms of titular champion, although wonderbolts specialist primarily in flight shows and wingball.

But thanks to, or rather because of Light, it had taken a more... interesting turn according to him. And once again, he had to explain these choices of helping an enemy not to a teacher who understood his gesture, but to a student of the academy who seemed irritated by it.

"Believe me, he's barely begun his special training and he's already showing remarkable skills!" He retorted.

"Honestly, why did you help him in the first place?" She asked as she put her last few things in his locker.

She had Light's back and only wanted to talk to him halfway. Now the locker room lights were off and only the street lights and crescent moon outside lit up the scene. While Light only had her face in the glow that made it possible to recognize him, the other student was completely engulfed in darkness, so that one might wonder how she saw in her locker.

"Before being a member of the wonderbolts, he's mostly a friend!" He said with his hands in his pockets.

"Too bad for him, he'll be knocked down when he crosses my path." said his interlocutor, closing the locker with a padlock.

"But you never spoke to me about him before, every time the wonderbolts are mentioned, you only have two words in your mouth..."

Light was about to say them but was suddenly stopped when he was violently pushed against the locker behind him, narrowly missing the bench. But beyond that, the ease with which he was brought was surprising. Of course, he's not a heavy mass of muscle like his friend Drew, but his perfectly maintained body was a challenge to get him moving.

And she did it very easily, now bringing her hand to his collar and grabbing him firmly. Both students were now completely in the dark, only the glow of their respective eyes were visible, as well as a few features on their faces, but it was far too blurry to recognize them.

"SHUT UP, DON'T SAY THOSE WORDS IN MY PRESENCE!" Put her on her guard, at least before she really hurt herself.

Light to still take her hands out of her pockets and remove her usually charming and confident smile, it shows that the situation is serious.

"All right, all right, calm down!" He said as he put his hand on hers.

Keeping eye contact, she slowly detached her hands from the stallion's collar, before he started again.

"Would you like me to help you practice? I mean when I have some free time, because between my training, Thunderlane's training and my personal life it's hard to fit you in." he confessed.

"I don't need your help, I'll win this tournament for everything it entails."

"I wish you wouldn't kill him but... you can see this as the best way to get revenge!" He offered when he let go of his hand.

She was silent now, just closing her fist and looking away. She chose the window and the sky as her vantage point by pure chance, announcing what she was going to fight for. She brought her gaze back to Light, without taking into account the fact that they were extremely close.

"I have nothing against Thunderlane, and he must be the only one, but I'd knock him out." she said as she left her position and approached the exit. "Don't tell him about me, I don't want him to know." she said before finally walking away with her bag on her shoulder.

Light stood near the locker room, watching her leave, leaning his shoulder against the door, a look not very happy for once.

"Well... who do I have to cheer for?" He said, a big dilemma if ever there was one.