Thundershield

by TheTautomer

Chapter 1

The air was cracked and dry as a saltine cracker. A very hot saltine cracker. Every inhale of the air could make an average pony beg for water in two minutes, though the ponies of Hooverston didn’t mind. But Thundershield did; almost late to class, Thundersheid needed every parcel of moisture the air could muster to keep him going. Thankfully, Thundershield’s hooves and strong legs made him the fastest Arlicorn in Hooverston. In fact, he might as well have been the fastest pony in Hooverston. But a previous accident while helping an old lady move her piano to her home made him sprain his leg (He wanted to do his good deed for that day. Deal with it.). While it’s healed now, the doctor told him to wait at least a week before doing anything normal. It was day six and the arlicorn’s leg didn’t stop him from running to school. The school was about twenty miles from his home. “Crud, I wish the school could go over here!” thought Thundershield, “I also wish I could fly or use magic to teleport me, but of course this town is filled with earth ponies. I wish there was someone who could teach me. Mom is way too busy. Sigh…. What am I running for? OH RIGHT! CLASS!”

He looked at his watch and saw that it 8:50 A.M., ten minutes before class started. “By the mane of Celestia, I’ll be late at this rate! Hey, that rhymed. I wonder what else rhymes with late. Maybe master- what am I doing?! I’m late!!”

Thundershield quickened his pace. He couldn’t be late again. The teacher would kill him! His mom would kill him! What would his dad say to him when he came back from the royal guard to find Thundershield late for school?! “Okay I’m halfway there with about six minutes left. If I keep this up, I’ll be there in no time.”

Suddenly, he felt a tense tug on his leg and stopped running. He looked at it and found that his leg had not fully healed, just as the doctor predicted.

“Strudel cakes! I thought I could make it,” thought Thundershield. He looked back at the time with only three minutes left. ‘I could fly there, but then I run the risk of breaking my wing again. Plus, I’m five or six miles away, I still need to learn to fly faster from mom.’ Then he thought about magic. ‘There was that teleportation spell I read about. It should be easy enough for me… I hope this works!’

Thundershield got up and then charged his horn. The tip of his horn shone a yellow ball of light. He focused all of his energy on the classroom. The more he focused, the brighter it got. He kept struggling to charge his horn. What seemed like minutes but was sooner than a blink of an eye, the light engulfed him and he appeared in the classroom. He smiled at his achievement, not many his age could teleport. But then he looked around the half destroyed classroom and lowered his head. Some of the books were burnt black, the desks were scattered all over the place and his classmates were all stunned- one complaining about his leg- at what they saw. His teacher, Miss Delphinetly, looked disappointed. An educated earth pony, she took her classroom with anything but humor. She loved her students, but was really fond of Thundershield. She saw much potential in the young arlicorn, but not right now. Her classroom was in a chaotic- and slightly crispy- mess. “Thundershield, you’re late,” she said. “for the sixth time.”

Thundershield pleaded with her. “I’m sorry Ms. Delphinetly! I’ll be early next time and-”

“And you wrecked the classroom.”

“Again, I’m really, really, really sorry. I’m so sorry, you have no idea. In fact, I’m so sorry, I’ll do any-”

Miss Delphinetly raised her hoof at Thundershield. “I’ll speak with you after class Thundershield.”

Thundershield lowered his head. “Yes Miss Delphinetly.”

Ms. Delphinetly nodded and said, “Okay class, let’s rearrange everything and start the lesson.”