The Silence Before The Storm
"So now that everyone is cleared up on what's supposed to go down, it's time for me to give out everypony's weather duties. C.C. and Flitter, you two are on cloud busting duty over Sweet Apple Acres, I don't want any traces of yesterday's rain shower!"
"Right!"
"You got it boss!"
"I want Mercury and Bulk to go around the evergreen border, you guys will make sure that no stray clouds make their way over to Ponyville!"
"Consider it already done."
"YEAH!"
"Raindrops, you take Cloud Kicker and get our supply of rain clouds for next month, and make sure it's RAIN clouds this time!"
"We won't let you down this time!"
"While you guys are handling all that, Thunderlane and I will prepare the storm clouds for next Tuesday!"
"....Zzzzz....."
"Thunderlane?"
"....Zzz......"
"THUNDERLANE WAKE UP!"
Thunderlane snapped awake from his somewhat peaceful slumber. However the sudden movement, combined with the fact that he was still in the air, caused him to lurch forward and impale his body into a cloud face first.
Naturally, all the other weather ponies began to laugh at his misfortune, well every pony except Rainbow Dash, who just glared at him.
"On second thought, Cloud Kicker you're coming with me." She then turned towards Raindrops who was struggling to pull the charcoal stallion out of the cloud bank. "When you're playing 'Cloud Fishing' with Thunderlane, take him to the pickup area and make sure he STAYS AWAKE. When you two are done with the delivery, tell him to meet up with me at Sugarcube Corner, every pony else, LETS GO!"
With that said, all of the other workers flew off, leaving Raindrops to pull tenderloin out of the cloud by herself.
"C'MON! ALMOST GOT IT!"
*POP*
"THERE!"
With one hard yank, Thunderlane was finally free of the confines of his cloud prison and was sent careening out of the sky. Unfortunately for Raindrops, she wasn't fast enough to get out of the way when Thunderlane was finally set free, so instead of watching Thunderlane's spectacular fall, she got close and personal with the ground alongside him.
"This is totally not how I was expecting to spend my morning..." Thunderlane groaned while rubbing his head.
"Speak for yourself." Raindrops grumbled, she then turned towards her former lead pony and crossed her arms, glaring at him the same way a mother looks when correcting her foal.
"What?"
"What nothing! This is the fourth time this week you've fallen asleep on us. Tell me Lane', is everything going alright with you?"
"It's nothing really, I just didn't get enough sleep last night, that's all." Thunderlane chuckled.
Raindrops stared at the stallion skeptically. She had spent more than enough time with him at the academy to understand the stallion's mannerisms, and while she can't ride ponies to the extent that a pony like Applejack could, she knew when some pony was putting up a front to hide their true feelings.
Right now Thunderlane was trying to hide Canterlot Castle behind Fluttershy's cottage.
"You're not buying any of that, are you?"
"Not one bit."
Thunderlane sighed and threw his body toward the ground; for the past two months Rumble, his little brother, had been very sick with the feather flu, so he was forced to take care of him until his feathers grew back. Normally, he would have asked Cloudchaser and Flitter to watch the colt, but they never had the feather flu, which made them liable to catch it themselves. Since he couldn't ask them to look after him, he was forced to watch Rumble, and somehow come up with enough money to pay rent. Fortunately for him, Rumble was feeling much better, and was able to go to school for the most of the week
Sighing, he turned his back towards Raindrops so he wouldn't have to face her questioning gaze, only to have her fly towards his side. This time her face was full of worry and compassion; she could tell that something was bothering him, but he wasn't about to tell her anything.
"Thunderlane you know you can't keep doing this right? As much you think she hates you, Dash actually counts on you to handle a good part of the work, especially the storm clouds. You're the only lightning handler's left ever since Derpy left the weather team, and even then she constantly got sent to the hospital. We can't keep sending other ponies in your place, which is probably why she wants to meet you at Sugarcube Corner after work."
"Again?"
Raindrops nodded her head slowly; 'meetings' with the rainbow pegasus more or less, turned out to be an exercise in patience. Dash meant well, but she didn't really know what lines she could cross with all of the other co-workers, and considering how often she Thunderlane had to meet up with her, she could tell he was more than miffed about talking to her. Especially, considering he was still angry about the whole tornado season.
Thunderlane huffed and rolled his eyes."That's funny, Dash actually needing ME of all ponies to help her." He then sat up on his haunches, blowing a leaf that had landed on his snout into the air. "Forgive me if I have a hard time believing that, after all she IS the 'most awesome pony in Equestria' if we go by what she says."
"You know better than to take Dash's bragging seriously. I would have thought that you would have been used to it by now. After all, you am the vice-captain of the weather team." Raindrops offered, trying to boost the stallion's spirits.
"You say that like it was a good thing." Thunderlane flew into the air and perched himself on the branch of a tree. He then started to speak in a raspy, high-pitched voice.
"Look at me, Rainbow Dash! I am the awesome captain of the Ponyville weather team, Element of Loyalty, and future captain of the Wonderbolts! I'm also the only pony to have successfully pulled off a Sonic Rainboom. Who cares about my second-in-command? That lazy Thunderlane, all he does is annoy everyone with his thunderclaps!"
"Hey! I think your shock waves are cool, it's like getting a massage at any time you wanted!"
"That makes you and Rumble the only ones that do." Thunderlane said, swinging his legs back and forth. "Every pony else either yells or throw things at me, especially Rarity."
"Rarity? I thought you two were going out, what happened there?"
Thunderlane scoffed, and jumped off the tree, landing perfectly on the ground. After the whole fiasco at the academy where he saved the unicorn's life, they had decided to date for a while. Unfortunately, saving somepony's means only so much, as they split up not too long after.
"She broke it off after two weeks, talking about how I 'wasn't her type'."
"What's her type then?" Raindrops asked.
"The mare likes hipsters Drops', the only reason she dated me was because she thought that I was some coffee guzzling prick."
"Oh... That's unexpected."
"You're telling me," he exclaimed, "I would have thought that a high profile mare like herself would've had better taste than that! You'd think she would be one of those 'knight-in-shining-armor' types. Eh, what does she know about fashion anyways. Don't answer that."
Raindrops quickly closed her mouth, she then shook her head in an attempt to stop envisioning Rarity trotting alongside a stallion with thick rimmed glasses and obnoxious blonde hair.
That does kind of explain why her sewing glasses are so thick.
"Anyways" Thunderlane began, "We should probably get those rain clouds before the Cloudsdale delivery team leaves. If we don't, I'm more than sure that the board will dock my pay again." It's not like those ungrateful, rich bastards ever had to take care of a child while working a dead-end job. Let's see them deal with overdue bills and no food in the fridge.
The dark coated stallion began to fly away, his mood now effectively soured. Raindrops soon followed, but not without adding her two-cents into the situation.
"Hey Lane?"
"Yeah?"
"You do know that I got your back, right?"
If the dark stallion had heard her, he made no indication that he had otherwise. Finally getting that her coworker was done talking, Raindrops fell silent. For the rest of the day, no words were spoken between the two pegasi, but everything that had needed to be said was clear on the stallion's father's.
~ ϟ ~
Rainbow Dash waited impatiently inside Sugarcube Corner for her assistant manager. Usually, she let other ponies go about their life just as long as the step up to the plate when they're needed, but lately, Thunderlane was holding every penny back, and when pony isn't being awesome, then the whole group wasn't being awesome as well.
As much as she hated to admit it, she needed Thunderlane. While she may be the best weatherpony to ever grace the skies, there were some things that not even she could just breeze through herself, one of those things being storm cloud management.
While it's true that pegasi are master of weather and the elements, not all pegasi are gifted in every single element and are magically divided into different categories. Where some pages are natural rainmakers, some were more attuned with air control, and others, while rare, are master lightning manipulators.
Rainbow Dash was a master of the air, and had no problems with making it rain, thunderclouds on the other hoof, was her main weakness. If she wasn't wearing a protective suit, she was forced to slow down and make sure that she wouldn't get shocked.
That's where Thunderlane came in handy.
If I didn't get my feathers burned off every time, I'd move the damn thunderheads myself.
Presently, the door to the shop rang, signaling the entrance of another customer. Rainbow Dash then heard Pinkie Pie greet the customer in her usual strange and energetic way.
"Hello Thunderlane! What can I get you today? A muffin? We've got blueberry, strawberry, banana, chocolate, macadamia. ORRRRRR! Don't tell me, today's your birthday!"
"Actually, I-"
"JUST KIDDING! I know that your birthday is not for another six months silly! If you're looking for Dashie, she's sitting over there! Or, you can just scroll down your window a little bit!"
Rainbow Dash turned around into to see her co-worker head towards her with a confused, yet annoyed expression. Before she could get a word out, the gray stallion quickly interrupted her.
"Look, if you don't have anything to say that you didn't say the last time we had this conversation, I'm going to leave. It's almost time for me to go and pick up my brother."
"Well, we wouldn't have to meet up if you weren't slacking off all the damn time!" Dash exclaimed. She then pointed a hoof at the irritated stallion. "If you hadn't fallen asleep again, we could have gotten thunderstorms ready for the next three months!"
"Not every pony is a one pony cloud buster like you Dash, and handling thunderheads are totally different from handling rain clouds." he accused, "Besides, you know that we're severely understaffed when it comes to a proper storm squad. I'm surprised that no pony has been sent to the hospital yet, considering that I'm the only one who's certified!"
Dash narrowed her eyes, and banged her hoof on the table, causing it to rattle noisily. "Maybe if you actually did your job and not complain all the time you could actually get your work done in time! I'm still trying to figure out why I made you vice captain!"
"DOES IT MATTER? That title has no meaning, you only made it up to make our weather branch sound more important than it really is! I don't get paid any different than any pony else besides you Dash, and you know it! If anything, I bust my ass ten times harder than you or any of the other guys!"
"I bet if I didn't have to save the world all the time, I could probably do your work TWENTY TIMES OVER AND TWENTY TIMES BETTER!" Dash retorted angrily.
It was at that moment that Thunderlane had reached his limit. He hopped out his chair angrily and began walking towards the exit, hoping that he wouldn't end up saying something that would cause him to lose his job.
"Hey, where are you going! We're not done talking!" The cyan mare exclaimed loudly.
"Listen, I'm TIRED and a little bit peeved right now. All I want to do is pick up my brother, and go to sleep. Unfortunately, I'm stuck arguing with a mare who thinks she has a say on how I should live my life. Now, I'm trying to stay calm in an attempt to not get fired, but if you won't leave me alone, I might end up saying things that you DEFINITELY don't want to hear."
With that being said, Thunderlane then flew out the shop, leaving Rainbow Dash and Pinkie completely speechless. That is, until Pinkie decided to break the silence.
"Wow, who put pickles on his hayburger?"
~ ϟ ~
Inside the Ponyville Schoolhouse, everything was quiet. Class had ended for all the foals thirty minutes ago, and most of the children had already gone home.
"Ms. Cheerilee, when can I go home?"
Well... Almost all of the children.
"Well Rumble, you can go home..."
The gray pegasus colt perked up and started to pack up his supplies into his saddlebag. He then started to fly towards the exit, but before he could leave, he found his path blocked by his usual cheerful teacher.
"I didn't finish! You can go home AFTER I have a talk with your brother."
Rumble groaned as he took his seat once again. There wasn't much for him to do except look at the clock, at least until his brother comes to get him out of colt prison.
I wouldn't even be here if Scootaloo didn't get me in trouble.
He huffed into his desk, as the memory of the earlier started to replay in his head.
Today, Rumble had decided to have lunch with Dinky, Pip and the CMC. Normally, he would have gone solo and practice flying after eating his sandwich, but after having to deal with Diamond Tiara literally making his sandwich taste like sand, he'd decided to group up with the other markless students. A little backup never hurt any pony after all, he figured.
Everything had been going along fine, until Dinky had asked every pony whom they had wanted to be like when they get older.
"I want to be just like Prince Shining Armor! That way I could be Captain of the Night Guard, so I could be closer to Luna!" Pip exclaimed, brandishing an invisible sword and swinging it through the air.
"Big deal! When I grow up, I'm going to be an awesome flier just like Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo bragged, polishing her right hoof against her coat. "Then I'm going to become captain of the Wonderbolts, just like her!"
"But she's not even in the Wonderbolts yet Scoots. How can you' tell that she's even going to' be the captain if she hasn't even made the darn team?" Apple Bloom inquired, "I'd rather be more like my big sis', at least I know for sure that my job will have sat-um-Starr..... STATILITY!"
"You mean stability." Sweetie Belle corrected smugly. She then turned towards Rumble, completely missing the nasty glare Apple Bloom threw her way. "You haven't talked all lunch Rumble, what's up?"
Rumble sighed and placed his sandwich back into his lunchbox. "I'm just worried about Thunderlane." The small colt flapped his wings to blow away some of the crumbs on his coat. He then continued, "This morning I had to wake him up before he fell asleep on the stove. I'm scared that he might hurt himself at work."
Dinky rubbed a small hoof under her chin. She then began to pace back and forth. "Momma said that when ponies start to fall asleep a lot, it means that they might be depressed."
Scootaloo scoffed; Rainbow Dash had always talked about the other weather ponies whenever they hung out, and more often than not, her charcoal co-worker would somehow be brought up into the conversation. It was made very clear to Scootaloo, that Rainbow didn't have a high opinion of the stallion. The times where she came to her house complaining, happened more often than she wanted it to.
"Don't be silly Dinky, only babies fall asleep that much. He's probably just faking it so he could get out of work again. Rainbow Dash told me so."
No pony could prepare for what happened next, as Rumble shot from his previous position and tackled Scootaloo into the dirt. Dust kicked up into the air, drawing stares from the rest of the children on the playground. The dust soon cleared, revealing an irate Rumble was held a struggling Scootaloo towards the ground.
"THUNDERLANE IS NOT A LAZY PONY!" Rumble shouted furiously, "HE WORKS HARD EVERY DAY, BUT EVERYPONY IS ALWAYS MEAN TO HIM! R-RAINBOW DASH DOESN'T KNOW EVERYTHING! SHE'S A LIAR!"
Now it was Scootaloo's turn to be upset, as she started to thrash violently. "TAKE THAT BACK! RAINBOW DASH IS THE MOST AWESOME PONY IN EQUESTRIA! SHE WOULD NEVER LIE TO ANYPONY, ESPECIALLY NOT ME!"
By now the two pegasi was rolling in the grass, exchanging punches. All of the school foals started to chant for either pegasus, placing invisible bets on the fight, while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle rushed over to try to separate the two. Meanwhile, Dinky and Pipsqueak rushed inside to get Cheerilee.
"Get a hold of yourself' Scoots! You're better than this!" Apple Bloom yelled, trying to pull the orange filly away from the angry cat.
"Rumble calm down, you're going to get in trouble!" Sweetie Belle shouted, with little success.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!"
The whole playground went silent as the angry voice of their usually cheerful teacher echoed through the air. The two Pegasi continued fighting, unaware of the approaching storm that was Cheerilee.
Cheerilee reached down to separate the fools, but not before Scootaloo got one last kick right between Rumble's...'thunderclouds'.
After the fight, Cheerilee had scolded both him and Scootaloo and forced them to apologize. Afterwards, she told them to stay after class so she could have a quick parent teacher conference.
For the rest of the day, Diamond Tiara took it upon herself to remind him of his humiliating defeat by the hooves of Scootaloo. The demon filly didn't stop until he had threatened to break her 'precious' tiara, after which he got further reprimanded by his already miffed teacher.
"*pant* Sorry I'm late Rumble I got held up by... who?"
Rumble's thoughts were broken, as his brother finally flew through the classroom door, exhausted. The dark gray stallion was about to check him, until Cheerilee ushered him into a seat.
"Good you'll here; please take a seat Thunderlane, I promise this won't be long."
Thunderlane raised his eyebrow and glanced at his little brother, who by now had hidden his face between his hooves. A sound of chalk being placed onto a rack, grabbed his attention, and suddenly Thunderlane felt as if he was back in school again.
"Earlier today I caught Rumble fighting with another student-"
"WHAT?" Thunderlane exclaimed. He whipped his head towards his brother, who flinched under the elder's gaze. "Rumble is this true?"
The small colt slowly nodded his head up and down in shame.
"I thought I taught you better than this Rumble!" Thunderlane scolded, "When we leave, we're going to have a long talk about-"
"Don't be too hard on him Thunderlane." Cheerilee interrupted, "From what I heard from the other students, this fight could have gone either way." She then pointed a hoof at Rumble. "As I said before, your brother got into a fight. However, he had been getting teased beforehand, and while I don't condone violence, I can understand why he reacted the way he did."
"Scootaloo kept calling you a lazy pony! She wouldn't believe me at all! She kept saying that you were just faking it, and that Rainbow Dash told her herself!" Rumble exclaimed. Tears started to cascade down the colt's face as he tried to explain his folly.
Even when I'm not at work, that mare STILL finds a way to FUCK my day sideways!
Thunderlane sighed, he rubbed his tired eyes before placing his hooves on the sniffling colt. "Rumble, you've known me for a long time, right?"
"E-Ever since I w-was a foal..."
"And you know what I do and how I act better than any pony else, right?"
"Y-Y-Yes..."
"So you should know that I'm not any of those things, no matter what any pony else tells you." Thunderlane said, wiping the tears away from the sobbing colt."You know better than to react to what you know isn't true."
"B-But, why would any pony say something so mean?" Rumble asked.
"Not everypony is going to like some pony else Rumble. There will be ponies in life who won't like you, and it's only up to you to ignore ponies like that, OK?"
Rumble nodded his head slowly, a small smile starting to appear on his face.
"Now come here and give your big bro a hug!"
Rumble hopped out of his seat and ran into the open arms of the dark pegasus. Thunderlane closed his wings around the smaller pegasus and held him tightly. In his mind, holding his brother in his arms made his life seem much more problem-free.
Cheerilee could of sworn she felt her heart melt at the sight.
After a while, the two pegasi let go of each other and started to ruffle their feathers, trying to appear more masculine after the affectionate display. Cheerilee just rolled her eyes.
Colts.
"I hate to be the one who spoils a good mood;" Cheerilee spoke up, getting the two males' attention. "But I gave Rumble an extra assignment that he's supposed to turn in Monday. He will write 500 word essay on why violence isn't the best answer to solve problems."
Thunderlane turned towards the smaller colt. "You hear that? As soon as you get home, I want you to start on that essay, alright?"
"...Fine..." Rumble pouted, crossing his forelegs.
Satisfied, Thunderlane began to usher Rumble out of the schoolhouse. Before he could leave, however, he felt a small tug on the end of his tail. He then turned around, coming face to face with a very concerned Cheerilee.
"I need to talk to you Thunderlane. Alone ."
Rumble poked his head around the corner. "Hey Lane, are you coming?"
"Go ahead and start flying back home, I'll be there in a minute to start dinner, just hold on." Thunderlane called back.
The small colt shrugged his shoulders and then went back to his business, leaving the two adults to fare alone for the time being. With Rumble out of the picture, Thunderlane began to feel really nervous. The fact that he was sitting in a classroom with a teacher staring at him expectantly did not ease the stallion's worries.
"As I'm sure you already know, Rumble is an excellent student." Cheerilee began, breaking the eternal silence that threatened to suffocate the air inside the room itself. "He turns in all of his homework on time, and he always pays attention in class. I can say that you've done your best in raising that colt Thunderlane."
Thunderlane rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks Ms. Cheerilee, I do try my best to-"
"However," she interrupted, "I care for my students, so I want them to be 100 percent every day. Your little brother looks up to you more than you know Thunderlane, and I think he's starting to pick up some of your traits. I just don't want him to start holding back his feelings like you do."
The dark stallion narrowed his eyes, he didn't like the direction this conversation was going.
"Fillies and colts are very impressionable at this stage in their life, so they tend to pick up on various social cues from the environment they're surrounded by." The magenta mare took a deep breath before placing a tender hoof on the anxious stallion. "What I'm trying to say is that I don't want to see Rumble making your stress his stress."
"What are you implying?" Thunderlane asked, becoming more and more irritated as the seconds passed.
"It's very obvious that you're going through a rough time period and I want to help you! Ever since Lightning S-"
Before Cheerilee could finish her sentence, Thunderlane yanked his hoof away from the mare. He then flew out of the desk and started to walk out the door.
"I appreciate your concern Ms. Cheerilee, but I would like for my personal problems to STAY personal." Thunderlane growled. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before continuing. "I know it seems like me and Rumble are going through a lot, but I'm doing the best I can, especially since that big argument with him ."
Thunderlane turned his back towards the mare, trying to block hot tears that threatened to escape from his eyes. Cheerilee tried to reach out to the gray stallion, but quickly ran out of the schoolhouse and flapped his way back home.
May Faust help that stallion.
~ ϟ ~
"Water bill. Rent. Bank statement. Insurance bill... Oh great the ERS, just what I needed..."
Before Thunderlane could relax at home, he forced himself to go through the tedious task of checking the mail. As usual, this served nothing but to remind him of how much unicorns loved are killing trees and wasting paper on their overpriced bills. Stack and stacks of bills and notices was crammed into the small container, eagerly waiting for the moment they could commit their dastardly deed.
I wish I could just make these things disappear, or at least make them appear on Filthy Rich's desk. He looks like a pony that could use a few more bills in their life.
Realizing that silently hoping for the paper to appear in front of some high-class businesspony wasn't getting him anywhere, Thunderlane slowly got up and started to search for a quill. As soon as he got up to begin his master quest, a small envelope dropped right in front of him. At first he assumed that Derpy must have given him another pony's mail by mistake again, but when he saw his name on the address line he scratched his head in confusion.
Strange, I never get mail EVER. Who could possibly want to talk to me?
Shrugging his shoulders, the charcoal pegasus began to read the letter:
Dear Thunderlane,
Hey what's up! I haven't heard from you ever since you and your fam' moved to Ponyville, but I guess you've been busy with Rumble and all that jazz. Anyways, you might be thinking; why the hell are you writing me? Well to be honest, I was hoping that you could help me out. Ever since you left, Bronclyn hasn't been the same. A whole bunch of unicorns from Canterlot started to invade the place, talking about making Bronclyn the next Manehattan. These rich snobs bought out about every store and company and then started firing all of the old workers. They're all basing it on this stupid new idea of unicorn magic being more efficient than the damn workers who mastered their craft the minute they obtained their cutie mark. If you can't guess by now, I've been 'laid off' from the Bronclyn Electric Grid. You know, the B.E.G? Anyways, Mr. Jolt Polomare, (Yeah, I know! Stupid ass name, right?) my short, fat unicorn boss, decided to replace me with his stuck-up bitch of a daughter. (I could of sworn nepotism was against the law...), so I'm out of a job, and I need money to help mom and grandma stay in their home. I heard that there are job openings in Ponyville for the weather team and at the P.E.G. I just need a place to stay while I make enough to get them back home to Jamaneca. Don't worry about bits, I can help cover some of the rent and bills while I'm there, and besides, it'll be just like that plan we had after graduating from high school. I understand if you can't afford to take me in, but if you can, please send me back a letter as soon as possible.
Your Best Friend,
Red Thunder
P.S. - If there are any Polomares in Ponyville, I'm going to wring their necks like a sponge.
Thunderlane read the letter seven times before putting it down. He then checked the envelope to see if it was some sick prank that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie did in an awful attempt to cheer him up. Upon realizing that the letter was indeed real, the gray pegasus finally picked up his quill, but this time it wasn't to pay notices.
And for the second time today, Thunderlane began to smile.
Dear RT...
