Thunder opened her eyes and blinked in confusion, she appeared to be in the middle of the large field but no where she recognized, just an endless green, some patches growing so high that she could easily disappear inside them. When she looked up she could see every star clearly, as if she were looking through a high-powered telescope she spun around in circles pointing out a few she recognized to herself until her own dizziness caused her to lay flat on the grass. Thunder rested her head down on the tall grass and took a deep breath enjoying the wild scent all around her content in this mystery land. Thunder looked up once again, remaining in her grassy nest, looking at the moon it was large and bright glowing a golden white. Wait...what was that on the moon? It almost looked that a pony, a unicorn, Thunder tilted her head a little to try to see it clearer but to no avail she just wasn't going to see it down here no matter how good her eyesight seemed to be in this place.

Suddenly a thought struck her, she stood and unfurled her wings from her sides could she get close to the moon in this place? She took to the air surprised to find that her wings seemed to be cooperating with her, she might even be able to compete with Rainbow Dash for wing power, though certainly not speed. With a quick flap Thunder took to the air feeling her wings move smoothly through the positions needed for flight, passing it off as unimportant for the moment as she flew toward the beacon of light that was the moon.

As she got closer she could hear a soft voice singing the voice soft but so full of love it was almost heartbreaking. "Hush, little star, darkness is here, but sleep easy, for we are now home dream easy now my star. Softly swaying in the breeze, let my song drift like leaves, to the skies where stars dance I'll show you the way, take a chance wander free, only with me..." Where had she heard that song before? She often found herself humming to very same tune from time to time but couldn't quite place where she had heard it before.

"Alone, no more, I'm here little star" Thunder found herself singing with the voice finding her curiosity dulled as she stared at the moon. She had been right, it was a unicorn in the moon she wondered what it meant, wishing Twilight was here sure that the alicorn would know, she seemed to know everything. She had started to wonder where she was at before she realized the voice seemed to be coming from the moon, from the unicorn on its surface.

"There was once a mare in the moon, she was consumed by the darkness of her own jealously, blinded by her rage and pain she threatened those closest to her to leave them in the same darkness that filled her heart. But while she was trapped by herself something changed, she felt a life growing inside her, felt love growing in her heart again." The voice spoke, a great deal of sadness in its tone. "But try as she may she couldn't fight the evil that had taken control of her, and she was sent away. But even that didn't seem to be enough for fate had more hardship for her to bare, her foal was born there with her while she was exiled to the moon that foal was so weak, barely managing to breathe on its own." the voice paused, seeming to try to gather strength before it continued "For brief moment the mare's love overpowered the nightmare that had taken her and she called to her closest family for aid, who took the foal and cared for it, that foal was-"

"Thunder!" the dark blue pony jerked awake her wings flaring out as a weight landed onto her, a quick look showed her it was Red, the small earth filly had leapt onto her back to wake her. "You can't sleep all day you know, we're going to park remember?" she said in teasing tone before leaping off her sister and eagerly cantering out of the room to make sure she had everything prepared.

Thunder got up with a stretch, almost hearing her muscles sigh in response to the action as they woke though Thunder was slower to gain the desire to leave her bed, her dream had been interesting even if the details were starting to blur together as the sun drove away her sleepiness, a mare in the moon...who would've thought. She chuckled a little under her breath going to the bathroom to freshen up, taking two of those pills the doctor had given her before swallowing a gulp of water to help the medicine go down she still had to deal with the bitter after taste but another quick glass of water washed that away as well.

Thunder jumped into the shower quickly washing out her coat and mane humming that song again as she stepped out a few moments later grabbing a towel and roughly drying herself pondering over her dream again, she felt like she had heard that voice before but it was so hard to remember it exactly. Slipping her vest on and zipping it up finally walking downstairs stopping for a moment when Red skidded into view then hurried out again. Rolling her eyes with a slight grin at her siblings eagerness Thunder grabbed her hat near the door and slipped it on, grabbing Red's while she was there, and went off to find the filly.

Finding her sister in the living room trying to squeeze a large ball inside her backpack, which she had emptied onto the floor to fill it with things she appeared to find vital for their day at the park. Thunder had told Red two days ago when she got back from Rainbow's that they'd go to the park and to invite her friends, unfortunately it seemed her sister had invited the other element bearers as well. It's not that Thunder didn't like them, she did, they seemed like nice ponies but Thunder wasn't sure about being friends with them. They already seemed to get around so well and she was just the odd pony out, how do you go up to six ponies and try to bond with them? She didn't know, it was easy for Red she was young but Thunder wasn't, how did a grown pony who doesn't understand friendship make friends at all? Maybe she could ask Twilight for pointers, she was the princess of friendship after all...Pushing her worries aside for the time being she walked over to her sister sliding her blue cap on and deflating the ball so that they could fold it up and slide it inside.

"You do realize we're only going there for the day, we aren't moving there" Thunder teased an easy grin on her face as Red Comet zipped up the bag sliding it onto her back. The easy-going air drained away the moment the pair stepped out into Ponyville Thunder's social anxiety, though it had lightened with her move and the accepting air of the town, she still didn't quite feel comfortable going outside. She swallowed her fear at least a little because she knew how much this day would mean to Red and she didn't want to let down her sister. It took all of her determination and willpower just to keep walking when she knew safety was just behind her, beckoning for her return. A quick shake of her head snapped her from her daze we're just going to the park, nothing to be afraid of she tried to convince herself yet the fear lingered.

Waving awkwardly to a few passing ponies the sisters walked into the park approaching the place where they were going to have their get together Red bouncing excitedly when she saw that Rarity and Applejack were already there with their sisters. The three fillies, with the energy that only the young can manage so often, emptied out Red's backpack to try to find something to do deciding for now to play with a small green Frisbee until the others arrived.

Thunder shifted uncomfortably on her hooves as the other two ponies walked toward her what should she do now? Should she say something? Ask them something? She took a deep breath trying to calm her racing heart, her hooves digging into the ground, as a smile tense and slightly terrified made its way onto her face. "He-" her voice came out as a quiet squeak but she cleared her throat and tried again "Hey guys, how are you doing?" she said, the orange earth pony giving her an odd look while Rarity smiled in understanding.

"Happy to get together with the others without having to worry about the safety of the town" Applejack replied only partly joking and based on what Thunder had heard that wasn't much of a stretch, with them being so busy with their daily jobs to Ponyville and every other world destroying threat they probably didn't get a lot of chances to just relax as friends.

"This season has been lovely, I've been able to try out all sorts of different designs, you both should come in some time and look at them" Rarity said with another smile, but Thunder merely nodded unsure what else she should say. Thankfully they were saved from any sort of awkwardness by Pinkie Pie who seemed to appear bouncing out of a bush, from where was anyone's guess cause they hadn't seen her approach but Pinkie was one of those things in the world no pony could explain if they tried. The random pink party pony was quick to put everyone at ease, and was probably the only pony other than Red that Thunder could truly relax around.

Not that was much of a surprise, it was impossible not to have fun when Pinkie was around, her smile was infectious. But even with the pink party pony to lessen the tension while the others arrived and more ponies came, drawn in by the fun and joyous air of the gathering Thunder still found herself on the outskirts of it all just watching and thinking.

She was chosen by the element of courage to be its bearer but...was she really the best choice? Watching the other element bearers it was obvious that they were chosen Twilight was the best magic user in all of Equestria, maybe in all of history, Fluttershy was understanding and willing to put her own needs aside for others. Rainbow Dash was quick and fiery never leaving a friend behind, unless they were racing of course, Applejack was stubborn but always able to offer advice to anypony. So why was she the element of courage when she couldn't even manage to mingle with the small crowd of ponies that had arrived to have some fun? She didn't have the spine to get a glass of punch with so many ponies around that only made her repeat her pondering any pony here would be a better choice so why out of all the ponies in Equestria did it chose her? Thunder was so deep in thought that she didn't realize that the element of honesty herself had approached her until she sat down and sighed in relief.

"Got something on your mind?" Applejack had seen her sitting here for a while now her eyes not quite focused and her entire composure growing heavier and darker each passing second. Concern and curiosity in equal measure had led her to go over not that the dark blue mare had even noticed.

Thunder looked over at Applejack a lump forming in her throat before her looked away again watching Red run around with the Crusaders, watching her sister have such a great time helped her relax at least enough to speak in a quiet mumble. "Just not the most social pony, is all" she shuffled her hooves a little watching a ladybug crawl along the grass. "I grew up knowing where my place is and how to keep it, I'm used to being the odd pony out, when you grew up being the only pony around with wings it's kind of expected" she tried to joke though the humor didn't reach her eyes. "I'm not brave or courageous like you guys, I can barely manage to walk about of my house, the only time I hadn't been self-conscious was when I had spent the day with Discord" something about the chaos loving being had gotten past her walls and set her at ease the whole day of course she had been mortified of her behavior the next day, but thankfully it appeared that Discord was a common troublemaker in town so she was easily forgiven for her part in his pranks. Sure she was friendly enough with Rainbow Dash too, but that was different Rainbow didn't really care much for mushy stuff as she called it so just being able to relax without worrying about being examined was an easy thing to do.

"Well I don't know much about how you grew up, but I know you're a great big sister, I'm one myself and I do my best to make Applebloom as happy as I can and just doing this for Red even though you were self-conscious well that makes you brave doesn't it?" Applejack smiled a little under the brim of her hat "Take Rarity for instance, if you just met her on the street would you think she's one to be called generous?" the country pony pointed toward the white unicorn who at the moment seemed to have pulled the CMC and Red from whatever they had been doing so they could set up a canopy to keep her out of most of the sun.

Thunder opened her mouth about to lie and say yes but a raised eyebrow from Applejack halted her words ".....no" she admitted with a guilty sigh, she knew Rarity wasn't as bad as she seemed, in fact she was actually very nice a bit of a drama queen mind you but she meant well most of the time.

"Exactly but her element chose her didn't it? Cause in her heart she's unshakably generous to those who need it, sometimes she can be selfish and from time to time she forgets to think of others, but when push comes to shove she is the best pony around to represent her element, just like you are the best around for yours." Applejack nudged the dark blue mare with her shoulder with a small smile before continuing "Besides it takes a pretty brave pony to face off a dragon their terrified of to help six strange ponies who had only appeared the day before" the orange earth pony paused a moment to let her words sink in before continuing "The way I see it, each of us is connected, sure the elements may have been the thing to connect us like this, but it isn't the only reason we're all here today. When Twilight first came to Ponyville our lives had been only half lived, sure it didn't seem that way back then but once we found friendship with each other we found ponies we could trust and lean on. We weren't unhappy the way our lives had been, but looking back we weren't as happy as we are now, you're past might be something that haunts you for the rest of your life but at least now you have more ponies around who won't let you suffer on your own, we're all connected and now you have six ponies ready to help you carry your burdens and make you smile...and that's pretty amazing if I say so myself, and I'm not the element of honesty for any old reason." Applejack gave Thunder a playful grin and trotted away to free the young fillies from Rarity reign of terror allowing the mare to slip into her thoughts once again.

Perhaps Applejack had a point, she might not seem very brave but even if she wasn't the bravest pony around she had others around who would help her just because of the bond they shared. A bond that Thunder was still trying to sort out for herself. Maybe she wasn't the coward she thought she was and she wasn't the bravest pony either, but maybe that was enough for now. She may never understand why she had been chosen to bare an element like the other ponies she was just beginning to call her friends but she had been chosen and that had to mean something. Thunder picked up her cup of punch and took a small gulp of the sugary purple fluid inside the sweet taste of grapes hitting her tongue before she set the cup down again. Maybe being brave wouldn't be so bad. That last thought in her mind she took a deep breath and slowly, carefully, stepped toward the small tightly crowd of ponies ready to at least try to overcome some of her fears. Hopefully...

Author's Note

sorry for the wait gang for the chapter I feel terrible making you all wait for long, but I hope you like it :) at first I actually wanted Rarity to have this talk with Thunder but as I was writing I thought it might be easier for Thunder to accept and be put at ease by Applejack instead as they have many similarities, well nonetheless I hope you enjoyed the chapter, we're going to see more bond building with the other element bearers in future chapters, but as for the next chapter I think I might focus on Twilight and her ever curious mind :)