The New Pony in Town

When he woke up, Thunder Shock went through his normal morning routine. Eating breakfast, watching TV for a while, talking to Lyra, looking for a job in the newspaper while doing all this, and waiting for Celestia to take him to the castle for magic lessons. After some time, he heard some rapping on the door. He got up to see who it was.

"Well Lyra, guess it's time for me to go for the day. See you later tonight."

"Bye. Good luck."

Thunder Shock opened the door to find a black alicorn waiting for him.

"ARE YOU THUNDER SHOCK?" she asked.

"Yes, can you quiet down a bit please?" he responded

"Oh, sorry. So Thunder Shock, I am princess Luna. I am here to take you to the castle in place of Celestia."

"Oh, umm, ok."

"Climb upon my back." Luna said as she lowered her wing so Thunder Shock could get on her back. When he was up Luna asked "Are you ready to fly?"

"I guess." he answered.

Luna jumped into the air and flapped her wings. She flew to the castle at a much slower and more comfortable pace than Celestia did.

"We have arrived, Thunder Shock." she said when she landed.

Thunder Shock climbed down. "Ok, so what am I learning today?"

"Some more combat training. You have learned an attack and a shield spell. So today we will work on self levitation and invisibility."

"I'm gonna learn how to be invisible? AWESOME!"

"First, self levitation. I've heard that Celestia tried to teach you already?"

"Yes."

"Ok, so, show me how good you can do the way she taught you."

Thunder Shock took a deep breath and shut his eyes. He focused on his horn and imagined him flying. He felt himself lift off the ground. He closed his eyes tighter and clenched his teeth. He strained and used every ounce of energy he had to go higher. Then he saw a faint glow through his eyelids and he felt his spell did nothing now. So he stopped casting and just floated. He didn't feel like he was falling. He didn't feel the ground. Thunder Shock dared to peek. He opened one eye halfway and then opened both completely. He looked around. He saw that he was just below the ceiling. The faint glow was slightly black. He looked around and saw Luna's horn glowing the same color.

"Luna, did I get up here by myself?"

"Yes, but I stopped you for you were about to crash into the ceiling." she said slowly letting him down.

"So did I pass?"

"Yes, but work on doing it with your eyes open."

"Oh, heh, ok."

"Now, you will learn, or attempt to learn, how to turn invisible."

"Great, bring it on!"

"This spell is hard to master. You must focus your energy, not on your horn, but on your whole being. Spread your energy throughout your body. Imagine you are a panther in the shadows. A mouse in the woods. A cheetah in the bushes. Now imagine these creatures being combined into one being, you."

Thunder Shock focused hard. His main focus points were his horn, hooves, tail, and back. He tried hard. He could feel his power pulsing.

"Good, good, you are now translucent, just a little more."

He focused harder. He clenched his teeth. His eye started twitching.

"More, you are almost there, I'm starting to see through you."

He focused as hard as he could. His teeth at the point of nearly breaking. Both eyes twitching now. He was trying to keep them open, but was losing the battle.

"Just a little more."

He focused so hard that he could feel his eyelids about to rip and his eyes pop out of his head. His eyes closed to slits.

"Good, if I didn't now any better I'd say you left the room."

He breathed out quickly. He took a deep breath and resumed normal breathing patterns. When he let his breath go he just appeared.

"Good job Thunder Shock, you know, most ponies take weeks to learn that spell."

He was panting too hard to say anything.

"Well, we have a little more time. Do you think you could try to learn one more spell?"

"Depends on how hard it is for most ponies to learn it." he said with a breath between each word.

"It takes 3 days for average ponies." Luna said.

"I guess I could try." Thunder Shock replied gasping at the end.

"Ok, this is transportation. It does not take much energy at all."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"All right, why not?"

Luna grabbed Thunder Shock's face, a cheek in each hoof. Then she turned him so he was looking at a chair.

"What are you doing?" he said, his words muffled through the fish lips he was forced to have.

"That chair, you must see yourself sitting on it. Imagine you vanish, like the invisibility spell then you reappear on that chair."

"Can you let go of my face?" he asked.

"Oh, sorry, forgot I was holding it." Luna said releasing Thunder Shock from her grasp blushing a little.

Thunder Shock didn't give a second thought about this. He looked at the chair and imagined what Luna told him to. When nothing happened, he tried harder, and harder. Eventually he was back to practically killing himself when he gave up.

"Why did you stop?"

"I'm too tired, I can't do it."

"All right, Celestia will pick you up again tomorrow, would you like anything to eat while your here?"

"Do you have some tacos?"

"Sure, how many would you like?"

"Three please."

"Ok, here." Luna conjured up three tacos in a sack.

Thunder Shock grabbed the sack and asked Luna a question. "Can you take me back to Lyra's house please?"

"Sure, climb up." Luna said lowering a wing so he could get on.

When he got on, Thunder Shock nodded at Luna and she nodded back then flew off at the same comfortable speed. This is a nice thing you got going on here. He thought to himself. I can just bring the food and Lyra should not make me pay for my chunk of the bills.

When they arrived, he got off and walked in. He waved goodbye to Luna and shut the door when she flew off. Thunder Shock turned around and went up to the couch. It was difficult walking on three legs, so he decided to levitate the bag with him. He flew it right in front of Lyra and Bon Bon's faces. They watched as he put the bag on the table and took out three tacos. The two mares ran up and asked who the tacos were for.

"They're for you two." he said. "One for each."

Everyone took one taco and ate it.

"Hey Lyra, I was wondering."

"Yes." she said, her heart pumping. This is it, hes asking me out, I just know it!

"If I bring food from the castle every night for dinner, can I skip out on my chunk of the bills?"

Damn she thought then looked at Bon Bon. She just shrugged and continued eating her taco. "Sure." Lyra said. "But only if you bring is whatever we want."

"Deal. What do you want tomorrow?"

"Well, Bon Bon and I were discussing ordering pizza before you arrived. So maybe we could have pizza tomorrow."

"Ok, what kind?"

"Cheese, Bon Bon is kind of against meat." Lyra said pointing to Bon Bon as she picked out the taco meat from her taco.

The three finished their tacos with uninteresting conversation, trust me, you don't want to hear it. When they were done, Bon Bon went to her bedroom and Thunder Shock started heading to his.

"Wait Thunder." Lyra said.

"Yeah?" he asked.

She hesitated, she was originally going to ask him out, but now she lost almost all of her nerves. "Uhh, sweet dreams." she said quickly and darted into her room then slammed the door.

Thunder Shock shrugged and went into his room and tried to fall asleep, but he couldn't. He heard some talking from the room on the other side of his wall. It was Lyra.

"Oh stupid. I'm n idiot. I should've just asked him out. I'll do it tomorrow, and I won't wuss out. Whats the worst that could happen? I mean really, all he could really do is say no." her voice lowered. "Then he could move out and then into some other mare's house." then she started growling. "Then he'd go out with her. Or worse, he asks out Bon Bon and she says yes." She continued to list very bad things that Thunder Shock could do. But he decided to stop listening and go to sleep. He found some ear plugs and put them in so he couldn't hear Lyra.

"Guess we'll see what tomorrow brings." he said with a yawn to himself as he fell asleep.