Facing the Thunderstorm
Facing a Thunderstorm by Wings of a Butterfly
Perhaps, no one loved thunderstorms as much as Thunderlane did. .
It was always his dream to surpass the lighting, and on the first day he could fly, he raced the bright and marvelous sparks, milliseconds before they would touch the ground. He paid no mind to the spark burns he would get on his hooves when pushing the thunderclouds and he appreciated the deep timbre of the thunder. It was no surprise a thunderstorm eventually became his cutie mark.
But rather quickly, he learned that only few really appreciated thunderstorms as much as he did. As an adult, finding a job become more unrealistic for Thunderlane. The brutal reality was that most ponies demanded sunny weather and rain that did not threaten to crisp their homes. Ponyville was one of the few towns that permitted the intense storms, but even they were in low demand. Without a steady job, his situation would only become all the more desperate.
It had been a few hours since Celesta retired her sun, and Luna exchanged it with her moon. But in Ponyville, not even the moon was visible through the thick, miserable clouds. As scheduled, violent thunderstorms ravaged the night, leaving the streets of Ponyville barren from activity. It was a perfect time, thought Thunderlane. The perfect time to commit his perfect crime.
Thunderlane paused to look at the flamboyantly designed building. Out of others in Ponyville, it was the most ornate of them all, decorated to something like a French carousel. The color stained windows allowed for a very distorted vision inside and judging by door sign of a pony garbed in a pink saddle, Thunderlane guessed it to be dress boutique.
Had it really come to this? Thunderlane persistently questioned himself as he crept through the shadows outside the shop. He had to do the miserable deed for the sake his younger brother, Rumble.
The colt had looked up to him as a role model, especially after the death of their parents. But it also brought an unprecedented burden for Thunderlane to raise Rumble under his wing, as money had always been short and ever-shrinking. At his age Rumble was too young to understand any of it, but at this point, Thunderlane had to do it.
To his fortune, the cat’s door was left unlocked, granting him access without having to pick the lock. Thunderlane pressed his stomach flat on the filthy, wet floor as he kept his wings clamped closely to his sides. After much squirming, he managed to get through, picking up most of the dirt on his black coat and dust bunnies in his short cyan mane. The lights in the shop were completely off and by the still silence, he assumed the shopkeeper was snug warmly upstairs and asleep. All he needed to do now was to find anything he could steal, and then use his strong wings to take off and escape.
The shop was filled with extremely ornate gowns, uncommon from the casual fashion found in Ponyville. Each dress was bright and vivid in its own way, every stitch depicting the pain-stricken work of its creator. But what really caught his eye about the dresses were the gems that had been embedded in all throughout each. Sapphires, Rubies and Topazes, each gem played a role in making the dress more magnificent – and all the more valuable.
Thunderlane searched haphazardly throughout the shop for loose gems, the eagerness fueling his blood as he carelessly disorganized the dresses and pony mannequins. He managed to pick up a few gems that had been shaken off the dresses, but it still was not enough. In his near empty satchel, he had only an emerald and a few small rubies, but nothing he could really sell. In his frustration, he slammed his hoof down on the work table and in a small fit, kicked the leg of the table. But rather than kicking his intended target, his hind hoof stopped at something else – a chest.
Surprisingly unlocked, the chest had been filled to the brim with colorful gems of many hues and varieties. It was not light enough to take everything, but even a hoofful would be worth several hundred bits. With a wide grin on his face, he took a modest amount from the chest and dumped them into his satchel. This is all he needed to be okay and to not catch the suspicion of locals, he could easily fly into another town and sell them in secret. It was his perfect plan.
“I do apologize, but my shop is currently closed.” A mare’s voice called from above the stairs, the rhythm of hooves other than his own approaching closer and closer by the second. Thunderlane felt his spine freeze, unable to conjure an excuse. He was royally fucked and in quick moment, his life would be ruined. With the light tap of a switch, the lights flooded the room and revealed his identity. His blood had dropped dead cold.
She was white unicorn with a deep indigo mane, and sleepy azure eyes. An elegant silk robe was draped over her shoulders as Thunderlane watched her descend from the stairs. Though it appeared that she had just gotten out of bed, surprisingly she was more beautiful and better dressed other mares he had befriended in Ponyville. The curls in her hair remained still intact and though her make-up was off, there was still a natural beauty to her. Though she seemed harmless, Thunderlane feared that she would somehow find a way to kick his ass for what he had done.
“I recognize you. Aren’t you Rumble’s elder brother? He’s rather good friends with my Sweetie Belle.” The mention of his beloved brother only served to sink down the guilt and dread.
“Yes...Yes, I am.” Thunderlane replied, his voice sounding smaller than it normally was.
“Are you buying for a special someone?” The white mare asked, observing the disorganization her shop, yet somehow failing to notice her open gem chest. “If it is, I actually have a fabulous set of rain boots, which she would absolutely die for! Perfect for days like this.”
Thunderlane’s eyebrows rose at how welcoming she was to someone who had clearly intruded into her home. Rather than fear and terror, the white unicorn seemed to be purging from excitement, with a smile on her face. He began to wonder if she had more sinister thoughts.
“Not quite, I...I don’t have a special someone. ” he mumbled.
“So you’re shopping for yourself.” The strange mare corrected herself. Catching the demure movements of his nerve-racking shivers, she came to a different conclusion. “You must be cold, aren’t you?”
Using the magic of her horn, she picked up a golden scarf that was left in on a worktable and handed it to Thunderlane. “Perhaps this would suit you? I knitted it in a neutral gold so even a handsome stallion like you could wear it, especially when you fly. I know how you Pegasus ponies get cold when you’re up rather high.” Her azure eyes locked with his own gold eyes. “Though I didn’t quite intend to, it matches almost exactly with your eyes.”
The blood on his face rose, as he broke off from her gaze. At this point, there was no way he could just run from her; she had seen his face, identified who he was, but somehow she still seemed too naïve to realize what he was doing. It was difficult to bear running away from her, and he had to keep playing along to ensure his safety. Unwillingly, he looked at its tag showing the exorbitant price of 100 bits. If he forced himself to buy it now, he and Rumble would starve by the weekend.
“I...I don’t think I can afford this, so I really ought to go.” Thunderlane carefully returned the scarf to her hooves, a bit to the dismayed look on the mare’s face.
“Don’t speak such nonsense. It’s already yours. ”
With her own hooves, the unicorn gently tied the scarf around his neck, her floral scent tickling his nose. It fit snugly around his light blue mane, his neck immediately warming up to the yarn. “It seems as if the scarf was made exactly for you,” she gushed. ”It would be a shame to let something this beautiful be wasted on someone who isn’t as impeccable for it.” The mare had words that made him blush profusely, warming up his face faster than the scarf itself.
“Now if you don’t mind, I’ll need to take if off of you for a moment to finish up some loose stitching, and perhaps later we could have tea until this storm dies down,” insisted the unicorn as she pushed golden thread through a needle and began to weave in her final stitches.
A strange encounter indeed, but there was no way Thunderlane could carry out his plan at this point. He waited for her to become engrossed in her work. As soon as her back was turned, he threw the entire contents of his satchel back into the chest. His crime had been effectively ruined with the touch of a beautiful, yet generous mare.
“Miss? I apologize, but I never got your name. ”
“Myself? I am Rarity, designer and owner of Carousel Boutique.” She flashed a smiled toward him, as he stood right beside her.
“My name is Thunderlane. It was… rather pleasant to meet you, Miss Rarity.”
For the first time in a long while, Rarity had given him something to smile about.
Since his extremely brief life of crime, Thunderlane pushed himself into a more honorable direction - to become one of the Wonderbolts. Thanks to his strong wingpower from racing with lightning bolts, he was easily admitted into the Wonderbolts Academy on a full scholarship and in his very first week, he had been chosen as a lead pony. Back home in Ponyville, he had left Rumble in the care of a family friend where he was endlessly boasting about how Thunderlane would one day become a part of the elite group.
It was day like any other, and Thunderlane was still adjusting to his role as a lead pony to his friend and colleague, Raindrops. Captain Spitfire had assigned them to cloud busting duty with others, but the task seemed more daunting with a sky filled with the white puff. Thunderlane turned his head toward the east to calculate how many more clouds he had to bust but instead, in the far distance, something else caught his sharp eye. In a bizarre fashion, a pink hot air balloon peeked out from the clouds and headed toward the academy.
As the balloon neared his group, like a pulse of fate, he caught sight of one pony that he refused to ever forget: An attractive unicorn mare, her horn peeking out from under curled violet hair and a pure white coat – it was Rarity.
A hoofjab brought him back from the spectacle. “Hey Thunderlane! Pay attention, will ya?! We’re way behind the others because you’re not focusing enough! ”, whined Raindrops. “They should’ve made me lead pony if you were literally going to have your head in the clouds.”
“Yeah I’m sorry, I just saw Rar- I mean something really weird.” Thunderlane mumbled as he began to pound on the clouds. “Just a few more hits, and this one should be finally done.”
But before he could finish on the cloud, it seemed to run away from him. He turned to look at its direction, and found a tornado fully formed and consuming all the clouds. But something more drastic happened. As the tornado spun, it violently collided and dismembered the hot air balloon, leaving Rarity and her friends in peril. Right before his eyes, their basket snapped, dropping them 500 feet to the ground. To the surprise of Raindrops and the rest of the group, Thunderlane flared his wings and bolted toward her.
As Rarity descended from the sky, her violet mane floated right above her head as she used the last of her breath to exhale terrified shrieks. Thunderlane pushed his wings harder than he ever did in at that moment. He did not care if he if it was in the middle of his training, or the fact that if he pushed himself even harder, he could snap a wing. He had to save her, anything he could do, to save her. Fortuitously for them, Rainbow Dash had been the first to react and had managed to make a cloud dense enough for them to bounce back up.
With perfect precision, he caught her body in his arms as she soared up in the air. She looked up at Thunderlane, who had secured her from an unfortunate death, tears showing her eternal gratitude. To his surprise, the other Pegasi had followed suit and flew down with him to catch her friends, including a small care package. Unable to speak words, she grasped on to his neck in a passionate embrace. He felt her heart rapidly beating, as he wrapped his arms around her in return. In his arms, Rarity knew she was safe.
“Thank you, Thunderlane. Thank you.” She whispered as she left a small kiss on his right cheek.
On his first break from the academy, Thunderlane took a trip to the boutique since that very first night. But this time, he did not come in secret or with an ulterior motive. He came instead, simply to see Rarity. She was hard at work, just as usual, taking moments until noticing that Thunderlane had stopped by.
“Oh hello, Thunderlane. How is the academy treating you? Dashie always says that it’s rather exhilarating with all your drills.” Rarity said as she placed down the fabric she had been working with and welcomed him with a big smile.
“It’s been a blast. That is, except the part where you and your friends almost got smashed.” They both chuckled, the laughter breaking the ice immediately.
Rarity stopped her laughter for a moment, turning her gaze toward him, as if she had something more important to say. “Thunderlane, I’d like to sincerely thank you again for saving me. I know it was probably dangerous for you to dash out like that and you probably got Spitfire upset for not doing your drills, but I am utterly grateful.” She was sincere in her words, as Thunderlane patiently listened.
“Don’t worry about it; I’ve gotten my ass chewed out for other things.” Thunderlane shrugged, blushing slightly. Rarity sat beside him, using her magic to prepare him a cup of tea.
“But, if you don’t mind answering, why exactly were you so nice to me when I came in back then?” It was something that had bothered him for months under his guilty conscience, and only she knew the answer.
“You seemed like a nice enough pony. What harm could a little generosity and hospitality do?” She replied, stirring the tea with a spoon.
“But, I was intruding. I came into your boutique in the middle of the night, during a thunderstorm. Then I don’t think you noticed, but I was trying to take your gems. Why were you still so nice to me?” His tail ran between his legs, rather embarrassed by his confession.
She set down the spoon, her composure remaining prim and proper. Quietly, she considered his words but rather than a furious fit of anger, Rarity was still smiling. It was as if she had known the whole time, the surprise Thunderlane had expected from her was now plastered on his own face.
“I appreciate the honestly. You know, my sister Sweetie Belle would be eternally devastated if you hadn’t saved me and I would’ve died that day.” She turned to a family photo of a young filly, about Rumble’s age, with pink and purple hair and a resemblance to Rarity. “I believe it would’ve been also been a shame if Rumble lost his big brother for one pony’s silly mistake. Don’t you think so?” She said as took a sip of her own tea, glancing at Thunderlane with her Azure eyes.
It was not at all the answer he had expected. In a way Rarity would have never realized, she had effectively saved his family, the same way he had unexpectedly saved theirs. She looked beyond what was on the surface and like facing a thunderstorm, she only looked to its brighter side – what would come after. Thunderlane knew he would never find a more beautiful and generous mare than her who understood more than any other pony.
“Rarity.” He sputtered, Rarity’s gentle smile contagious enough to reach his lips. Quietly, he moved his head toward hers. Rarity’s cheeks uttered a flesh pink as their hooves began to touch and his left arm wrapped around her.
“Thank you for everything.” He whispered, as he carefully placed his lips on top of hers.
“I love you.”