Faith

by Unknown-Brony

Losing Hope

Emerald opened her eyes. The first thing she felt was the beginning of a terrible headache. She has barely slept for three hours. Still tired, she crawled out of her bed and went to the bathroom. When she looked into the mirror that was hanging above a sink, she saw a complete stranger. A face of her she’s never seen before.The shine of her mane was all gone as it was only a big mess now. Dark bags were hanging under her eyes and her breath was worse than the one of a timberwolf.

“Why do I let myself get down because of him?...”, Emerald asked herself. Ever since Thunder left her, the white mare hadn’t set foot out of her house.

“Four days.”, Emerald mumbled to herself. For four days she had stayed in her hut located in Cloudsdale. Emerald sighed. It was time to move on.

The pegasus turned the water on, washed her face, brushed her hair, packed her backpack and flew out of her home. Emerald had to go to the marketplace.

After she arrived in Ponyville, she trotted to the stall with pastry she had visited five days ago. Inside the shop, Emerald was greeted by the dull face of the salespony. She felt his attentive look following every step as she looked through the freshly baked wares. The vendor seemed to have noticed that Emerald wasn’t alright.
When the white mare brought a loaf of bread to the counter, intending to buy it, the salespony put it in a bag and took her bits.
“Have a nice day.”, he said to Emerald.
“I wish it could be one...”, she replied with a husky and sad voice while leaving the shop.

Shortly after, Emerald visited a small shop with fresh vegetables and fruits, where she bought several apples, carrots and also some hay. After she paid, she walked out of the store and started to store the the food in her bag.

Suddenly, from the corner of her left eye, Emerald saw a lavender coat through the crowd. A wave of excitement shot through her. Dropping her groceries, the mare ran, pushing everypony aside from her way, shouting Thunder’s name. While she was taking off, flapping her wings to gain attitude, she looked around hectically, her eyes scouting through the entire crowd for Thunder.

But after ten minutes of flying above the market in circles, her wings started to ache, getting exhausted.
The mare was struck. Her stamina problem.
It’s something Emerald had to live with since she was born. The pegasus couldn’t fly for more than a handful of minutes without her wings failing on her, or her fainting from exhaustion. The cause for this problem were the muscles in her wings. They are much more weaker than the muscles of a normal, healthy mare. The white pegasus managed to strengthen her stamina with special workout methods and daily training. But now, after four days without training, she couldn’t fly for too long.
The headache grew stronger.

Emerald growled in disappointment and spoke to herself: “That’s what I get from sitting around in my house...”
The mare sighed before landing on a cloud. She looked up to the depths of the sky and mumbled: “Why him?...”
She closed her eyes for a moment and remembered the moment he left her house.
“Oh, how I wish he’d have...” But Emerald shook her head, trying to focus on what was going on with her life. Could she just leave everything for a pegasus who might not share the same feelings as she does?
Then it hit her.
She had nothing to leave.

She started to run as fast as she could to the hospital, trying to hold her faith together.
The exhaustion was making it's presence in Emerald's muscles as she was pushing herself over her own limits, but it wouldn't matter as her will was giving her strength.

After many minutes which seemed to never end, the mare reached the doors of a great white building. The hospital of Ponyville.

The white pegasus stepped inside the facility, breathing heavily. Suddenly, an employee noticed Emerald.
"Hello ma'am, how may I help you?" a unicorn nurse asked Emerald very polite. "Hey, I remember you! You came a couple of days ago with a ... lavender coated pegasus if I recall correctly."
"Yes, and I wanted to check some papers. Could you tell me what address Thunder Runner's house has? He is the lavender coated pegasus that has been here four days ago."
"Of course, ma'am!", the nurse replied before she started searching through many drawers. After mere seconds, the unicorn pulled out Thunder’s document.
“There we have it. Thunder Runner.”, the nurse exclaimed. She took a pen and paper and started to scribble the house address of Thunder on it.
“Thank you, have a pleasant day.”, Emerald said to the nurse before taking the note and tilting her head, trotting out of the hospital.

The pegasus looked at the little piece of paper. “Ponyville, Haystreet number 16.”, she whispered to herself. Emerald knew that place. It was right next to a nice café she likes to visit from time to time. The mare smiled and started walking to Thunder’s house. Maybe it wasn’t too late! Maybe she could still find him at home!

When she finally reached the place where Thunder lived, Emerald started to look at every house carefully, hoping to find number 16 somewhere. Then, the mare had finally found it. It was a cozy one-family dwelling, not too big but not too small either. The mare stepped in front of the main door and knocked on it a few times causing the door to open with a slight creaking noise. The door, surprisingly, was unlocked. Emerald felt a chill rolling down her spine.

Gulping, she entered the house.
“Hello?”, the mare called.
There was no answer.
The pegasus turned around and thought about leaving, but her curiosity took the better of her. Emerald looked around. She saw three rooms and a staircase leading to the second floor of the house.
The pegasus stepped toward a room that seemed to be Thunder’s work room.
It was rather messy. A few scrolls and letters were laying on the ground. It seemed like Thunder has been working on something. In front of the mare, there was a wooden table right under a window facing Cloudsdale. To Emeralds right were three big shelves, full of books and letters, and even a trophy. The mare stepped closer and examined the trophy.
“Best young flyer competition winner”
Emerald blinked in surprise. Thunder sure looked like a good flyer, but she wouldn’t have guessed that he had won the young flyer competition.

As the mare turned her head towards the desk, she noticed a pile of rather old newspapers. The white pegasus padded closer to the papers and carefully picked one up.
“New Captain of the Wonderbolt team elected!” was the headline.
Emerald picked up another newspaper.
“The best Wonderbolt show in history!” read the headline of this one.
The mare took a closer look.
“Unbelieveable! The first Wonderbolt show after the election of the new captain was sold out in less than 10 hours!”
Emerald looked through some more papers that stated how great the Wonderbolts leader is. Suddenly, she found a ripped newspaper. The mare looked for the second half of the paper and was lucky enough to find it.
“Leader of the Wonderbolts died in a tragic accident!”
“At one of the training sessions, the great captain tried to pull off a trick he had never done before. He was struck by the lightning part of his new trick and died immediately! All of Equestria is in deep sorrow as the Wonderbolts just lost their best captain in history."
Emerald didn’t understand. Why did Thunder keep all these newspapers? What did it mean?
The mare looked at the desk. She saw two letters. Both of them had the signature of Spitfire on them. She couldn’t help herself not to question why would he have two letters from one of the best fliers in Equestria. Ripping both of them, she saw that one of them contained two invitations for him and for a guest to the next Wonderbolt show, with a dedication from the actual Wonderbolts leader: “See you there hotshot. We will see if you are fit to join our academy and go on your father’s steps.”

Emerald was shocked. She couldn’t believe her eyes. But she still had to see what the other letter contained. In it, there was an invitation to the Wonderbolts Academy! Her limbs went numb. Did that mean that she was going to lose him? But she realized that Thunder has his own dream.
Placing the letters back where they belonged, she threw one more quick look at all of Thunder’s accomplishments. Her heart was racing. She was asking herself more than ever who Thunder actually was.

As she went to the door, she realized that somepony was in her way, staying right at the door. It was Thunder. Emerald’s heart stopped. Her eyes stared directly trough the lavender pegasus.
“Since when...”
“-What are you doing here?” He asked her on a serious tone. This wasn’t the Thunder she remembered. This one was more serious, leaving no place for no emotions.
“I only wanted to come and see you...” Emerald replied not being able to look him in the eyes.
“I’m asking again... what are you doing here?!” He asked this time louder, in anger. Closing the door behind him, he went at the desk and looked all over the newspapers and the letters.
“I... I didn’t mean anything bad Thunder... I-” But as she tried to put her hoof on Thunder’s shoulder he pushed her aside.
“Go,” He demanded her.
“But I...”
“GO!” He yelled at her, not even looking at her.
With tears in her eyes, Emerald went for the door, and after opening it, she turned around, looking at Thunder’s backside. “I’m glad to see you, too.”
The mare ran out of his house.
The door was slammed shut.
Thunder was once again... alone...

*****

Thunder’s breathing was heavy with furiosity. He stared at his wooden desk, his teeth clenched.
Then he realized what he had done.
As the pegasus looked out of his window, he saw Emerald flying into the sky.
“No! Emerald! I didn’t mean it!”, Thunder shouted, hoping the white mare would hear his words, with no hope left in his soul at that moment.

Tear after tear started falling on the newspapers on the desk. The only sound in the house was the clogged sob of the lavender pegasus.
“Why am I doing this... Why?!” He yelled at the ceiling as if somepony up there in the sky would listen to him and watch over him. Thunder hit the desk once as hard as he could with his hooves.

Now even newspapers were scattered around the room. Many images and articles about his father’s accomplishments were lying down on the floor. And one specific photo fell from a cracked foto frame on his desk, his only photo with his father, when he was just a colt, and his father just got his Wonderbolt captain suit.

Grabbing it, he collapsed in the middle of his room, crying.

The next morning, the sun shone through his window, revealing torn apart newspapers, his chair lying down in a corner, and a sleepless pegasus holding the only photo he had left with him and his father. Getting up from his bed, he looked through the glass at the calm and the beauty of that morning. But not everything was in order. A train of moral qualms suddenly hit him. He wasn’t sure what happened or why... the only thing he knew was that he was all alone.
Leaving the mess as it was, he went to the bathroom to see himself. Who was he? Who was that Thunder who pushed away the only important somepony that was left for him? He wasn’t sure who he was anymore.
As he went back to his work room, he saw the two tickets still on the table. He knew he had a chance, but he was nervous.

Grabbing some bits from a drawer and the two tickets, he rushed out locking the door behind him in a hurry. He had to make up for what he’s done. And even if she won’t accept to go further, he will at least know that he did his best to apologize for the huge mistake he had done, to the mare that has a special place in his life.
Shaking his head furiously he casted out the train of remorses that hit him. He had to do something special for Emerald.

Flying as fast as he could, he went straight to the Ponyville’s market to buy the most beautiful roses he could find.
As he arrived at the stall with lots and lots of roses, a bouquet of ruby red roses immediately caught his attention. Thunder bought the roses straightaway and put a small apology letter he had written just before he left his house. The lavender coated pegasus set off into the sky, flying to the place where Emerald lived.

Before he knew it he was standing in front of Emerald’s house with roses, a letter and the two tickets. He knocked on the door, but nopony answered. “Did she leave?", he asked himself cursing his behaviour from the other day. “Did she even fly back to her house since yesterday?...”
With retention, he knocked on the door once again, hoping that Emerald would answer, but once again there was only silence, the dim sound of his knock echoing through her house. Disappointed, he left the gifts for Emerald on her doorstep and left, not even looking back.

What he didn’t know was that the mare was in her room, still crying, and didn’t answer on purpose.

*****

Emerald froze when she heard somepony knocking at her door. The mare knew. It was Thunder. But if she would open now, what was she supposed to do after everything? After what happened yesterday... could that even be him? Emerald wouldn’t be surprised if Thunder would never want to see her ever again after what she did. The mare had went into Thunder’s house, without his permission. And then she even searched through his memories with his father that had passed away...
There was no excuse. She had to make up for it, one way or another.

Emerald jumped out of her bed, wiping away her tears, and ran for the door.
But as she got up to catch him he already left and was nowhere in sight... and she saw something in front of her door. She squealed in delight. It was the most gorgeous bouquet of roses she ever saw, and from what she thought, very expensive too. As she grabbed it to place it in a flower pot in her room, a letter fell right open on the floor.
Slightly confused, she picked up the letter and read out what was written on it:

“I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I never meant to hurt you, but... please understand that my father was the pegasus I looked up to my entire life, and since his death... I've been looking for a new purpose in life.
I wish I could make up for all this. Please accept this humble offer. And even if yoy decide to get me out from your life, I understand.
I hope I will be seeing you soon.
-Thunder Runner”

“Seeing me where?”, Emerald asked out loud after she turned the paper around to see if she can find an address or anything that would tell her where or when Thunder was awaiting her.
The mare looked inside the wrapping paper where the roses have been stored. Emerald couldn’t believe what she saw. Another ticket for the VIP seats at the Wonderbolt show that would take place at Canterlot the very next day!

Emerald swallowed. The mare knew she had to make up for what she had done, but she had never been to Canterlot before. She has heard a lot about the majestic big city at the edge of a giant mountain, but she never had the time to get there. She heard that everypony in Canterlot wears fancy dresses and suits. If Emerald will go there, she needed a dress. And she knew where to get one.

The Carousel Boutique.

Gathering all the bits she had left, she flew straight away to the best mare fit to make her a dress fancy enough for a Canterlotean event.

Upon arriving, she knocked on the door nervously. She's never done such thing before. What was she supposed to say? Did she have enough money?
But she was shocked at the moment when a white unicorn dragged her in.
"Bonjour! And welcome to my humble Carousel Boutique! How may I help you?" Rarity said with such enthusiasm, that she got Emerald even more nervous.
"I... I'd like a dress for an event in Can-" She could barely say, on a lower tone, before she got cut out by the fashionist.
"Canterlot? Darling! Such an event deserves a truly fancy dress! Don’t worry, my dear, I will make something absolutely stunning for you!"
“Maybe I should mention that I’m visiting the Wonderbolt-”, Emerald mumbled, bashfully.
“The Wonderbolt race at Canterlot?!” Rarities eyes went big.
“Y-yes... And I’m a V.I.P guest-”
“A V.I.P even?!” Rarity was close to fainting.
“May I ask whose dress I am designing?”
“I... My name is Emerald Thunder. I’m not a prominent pony. I just got the ticket from a pegasus called Thunder Runner, who-”
“Who's that?” Rarity interrupted her, again. Emerald started to get annoyed.
As soon as the fashionist noticed that, she cleared her throat and said: “I’m sorry I let my excitement take the better of me. We will get to your dress now, Miss Emerald Thunder, shall we?”
Before realizing, the white pegasus found herself on a pedestal, while Rarity started taking measurements of every body part and comparing different colored fabrics to fit together.
After Rarity chose a fine material that went very well with Emerald’s body color, she hasted to a wooden cupboard with a heavy chest on it. With the help of her magic, Rarity opened the chest and took something out.
“Darling, these will look absolutely fabulous on you!”, the unicorn exclaimed before trotting towards Emerald.

Hours have passed, and Emerald was finally given the final dress. Putting it on, she came out on the podium with Rarity as her audience.
Emerald stepped into the lovelight, wearing a wonderful dress. It was a light blue, one-strap gown jeweled with violet opals which shimmered in a bright blue whenever light would shine upon them.

"Darling... you look marvelous!" The white coated unicorn said, a big grin on her face, proud of her own work.
“But...”, Rarity said, stepping towards her, “You have to wear this, too.”, she ordered her before clipping a flower-shaped hair clip made of opals in her mane, right under the ear.
Emerald gasped. The hair clip seemed to be very valuable.
As Emerald tried to get her purse to pay her, Rarity stopped her, holding her hoof.
"Deary, you don't need to pay me. If you are going to an event in Canterlot, you must wear a dress that steals every stallion's eyes!”, Rarity exclaimed.
“Or the eyes of a specific stallion.”, she ended, with a chuckle. Emerald’s eyes went big.
“How did you-?”, the pegasus asked, just to have her word cut off by Rarity once again, who put her hoof on Emerald’s shoulder and smiled.
“Just be sure to enjoy your time in Canterlot. And when you come back, you will tell me everything about it!”
“I... I will, miss Rarity.”
“Please, darling. Call me Rarity.”
Emerald nodded, before carefully taking off the dress and the hair clip.
The mare headed to the door, opening it and looking back for a last time.
“Thank you, Rarity.”
The white coated pegasus was given a bag with the beautifully designed dress, carefully folded in. As Rarity wished her good luck once again, the mare couldn’t hold herself from squeeing in delight.
As the sun set, Emerald flew back to her house, with the thought of tomorrow in her head.