Chapters Lightning moaned as he slowly lifted himself from his bed. Letting out a silent groan, he rubbed his eye with a hoof and let out a quick puff of air through his nose. Clicking his dry tongue, he took a glance at his brother who was sleeping in another bed away from him.
Thunder slept letting out a few snores and neighs. Lightning blinked and rolled his eyes to the door, getting up to leave the room, careful to not wake up Thunder. Opening the door with his magic as slowly and quietly as he could and stepping out to the other side closing the door behind himself. His ears flattened on his head as the door clicked closed. Waiting a few moments he heard nothing.
Nodding to himself he walked down the corridor and grimaced at the taste of morning breath. Walking down the stairs and to his kitchen, he used his magic to get a glass from his cupboard and poured himself a glass of water. Chugging it down in an instant and letting out a satisfied groan, felling the cool liquid take care of the dryness in his throat.
Blinking, Lightning sat down at a table and laid his head on the table letting out a silent ‘huff’. Yawning gently he moved himself up and began to wonder what Thunder would want for breakfast.
‘Hm… we ate dandelions and hay all the time when we still hung out… maybe he’d want some of that...’ He pondered, getting up and walking over to his cabinets.
Lightning couldn’t say he wasn’t happy to see his brother, he really was. It was just a bit out of nowhere and kind off sudden. A note telling him he was coming to stay for a month would’ve been nice. Plus there was the fact it was only for a month. The two were twins, yet after they earned their cutie marks and got old enough to get into work they rarely saw each other.
Plus it had been a year. Thunder promised he’s come and visit every now and then but never did. Apparently, according to the letters his parents sent, Thunder wanted to, but his theatre work always got in the way. Now that he had a month off he came to visit and stay for a bit.
Lighting wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about it.
Finding all the ingredients for the meal he was about to prepare it all before a knock at the door stopped him. Raising a brow he walked over to his door and opened it it, to see a green and light yellow pony.
“Oh. Lyra, Bonbon, hey…” He greeted in surprise. Looking over to his kitchen clock for the time. ‘We were supposed to hang out at twelve weren’t we? Why’re they here at… twelve o’ nine?!’ He thought in surprise.
Lyra grinned and jumped in, pushing past Lightning. “Hey, Lightning! You ready to hang out?!” She asked excited before she suddenly stopped and stared at Lightning in surprise. “Wow, you look terrible!” She said in shock, staring at Lightning tired face.
“Lyra.” Bonbon gently scolded. Walking over to her she looked at Lightning, her face scruncing up slightly. “Um… not to be rude Lightning, but Lyra kind of has a point. You look like you were just in a stampede.”
Lightning blinked and sighed, rubbing his mane with his hoof. “Sorry guys, I didn’t have time to prepare. I guess I kind of slept in.” He explained apologetically. “It’s just my brother is staying for a month and we were setting up his bed--” He went on, not noticing Lyra’s and Bonbon’s eyes widen.
“Wait!” Lyra exclaimed, cutting Lightning off causing him to look at her with wide eyes. “You have a brother?!” She asked in shock.
Lighting blinked. “Um… Yeah...”
Bonbon blinked and grinned. “That’s incredible! How come you’ve never mentioned him.” She asked, raising a brow.
“Wait, what? I’ve told you about him before, haven’t I?” Lightning said, looking down and raising a hood to his jaw. “Eh, oh well.” He shrugged off lowering his hoof and rolling his eyes. “But yeah. I have a brother, he’s staying here for the next month.”
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Does he look like you? How come we’ve never met him? Is he older or younger? Is he cute?” Lyra asked questions rapid fire, not giving Lightning a chance to answer before she asked another.
“Lyra!” Bonbon exclaimed silencing the green unicorn. “What Lyra means to ask, Lightning, is how come we’ve never met your brother?”
“Oh, he has a job in a theatre group and they’re always busy making plans, doing shows, or moving around for the next show. So he’s always busy, so he can never visit.” Lightning explained, making gestures with his hoofs. “But he’s been given some time off, so he decided to come and visit and spend some time here.”
Lyra and Bonbon nodded in understanding. Lyra grinned brightly and leaned over to Lightning. “Can we meet him?!” She asked excitedly.
“Oh, um… sure. Let me just go and wake him.” Lightning said walking to the stairs.
Lyra grinned over at Bonbon, who just smiled back weakly. A few moments of silence followed before the two heard a door open and eventually close. Eventually the sounds of hoofs replaced the silence and Lightning and Thunder walked down the stairs.
Lyra and Bonbon stared in shock at Thunder. “Identical twins… but he’s a pegasus… and his eyes are...” Lyra trailed off whispering to Bonbon who just nodded.
Lightning and Thunder stepped in front of the two shocked ponies. Lightning grinned nervously and spoke. “Well, you two. This is my brother, Thunder!” He introduced Thunder, gesturing to him. Turning to his brother he moved his hoof that was gesturing to his brother so he could gesture to the two female ponies. “Thunder this is Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops, or you know, Bonbon.” Lightning introduced Thunder to the two nervously. “I became friends with them about a month after you left with your theatre group.”
Thunder hummed and nodded, smiling warmly putting a hoof out. “Nice to meet you, um… Bonbon.” He greeted gently.
Bonbon and Lyra shook themselves out of their shock and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you Thunder. Um… I see you’re a pegasus...” She observed staring at Thunder’s wings.
“Yep.” Thunder nodded, extending his wings slightly. “On my dad’s side and his granny, and also my dad’s granny's great, great uncle.” He explained. Bonbon nodded as the pegasus turned to his attention to the unicorn. “It’s nice to meet you too Lyra.” He greeted.
Lyra grinned and grabbed his hoof, shaking it like crazy, causing Thunder to flinch. “It’s super great to meet you too Thunder! It’s so awesome that you’re Lightning’s twin brother! And that you’re a pegasus and he’s a unicorn! And also that your...” She began going off excitedly, but surprisingly got distracted by Lightning who was behind Thunder, making wild gestures, which also grabbed Bonbon’s attention.
He waved his hooves from side to side, shook his head, gestured to his eyes and made a ‘ssh’ move. It was clear what he meant. Don’t talk about his eyes.
“Also… what?” Thunder asked in confusion. Lyra blinked and grinned at Thunder nervously.
“Well… It’s super awesome to meet you!” She exclaimed, dropping her last question.
“Um… okay. Uh, are these two going be staying for breakfast.” Thunder asked looking at Lightning who nodded.
“Uh… yeah. If that’s okay with you two.” Lightning said, looking to the two ponies. They both glanced at each other quickly.
“Sure.”
“We’d love too.”
Thunder nodded and walked over to the table to sit down. Lightning blinked and looked to at the two ponies who were looking at him in confusion.
“Hey, is there something up?” Lyra asked, surprisingly being quiet, so Thunder wouldn’t hear.
“Yeah, you seemed like you really didn’t want us talking about Thunder’s eyes.” Bonbon added narrowing her eyes confused.
“It’s nothing, it’s just that Thunder’s eye colour has always been kind off a sensitive topic for him.” Lightning briefly explained before shaking his head. “Look, I’ll tell you more later, once we’re in a place that’s slightly more, private.” He stressed the private part as he nodded his head to his brother who was tapping his fore hooves at the table, waiting patiently. “So how about we just got some breakfast, um… Lunch?”
The two ponies nodded quickly and walked over to the table to sit with Thunder as Lightning went back to work on the meal.
The four ponies walked through the town in peace. Thunder looked around the village curiously. He had never been there before now. Sure there had been that time when he had come for his brothers house warming party (Courtesy of a pink pony) but he had never really gotten the chance to look around.
Lightning hummed and looked to the ponies. “So, what do you guys want to do?” He asked curiously. The three hummed and looked at each other unsure.
Thunder suddenly grinned and looked at Lightning excited. “How about we go the bakery?” He had only been there once and it was to get a quick snack before he and his parents went back to manehatton.
Lyra blinked and grinned brightly. “Oh, yeah! I love cakes! Let’s do that!” She exclaimed excited. Bonbon and Lightning sighed, gaining a weak smile.
“Yeah sure. I’d could go for something.” Bonbon said, rolling her eyes a bit.
“Sure. Why not.” Lightning agreed, shaking his head bit.
With this idea in mind they all started walking again. After a few minutes of walking they made it to sugar cube corner. Thunder was about to walk in before a cough from Lightning made him halt.
“Hey, um… Thunder, do you mind getting the cakes while me, Bonbon, and Lyra talk for a bit?” Lightning asked gesturing to the aforementioned ponies.
Thunder blinked. “Talk? About what?”
“Nothing, just some stuff...” Lightning said, grinning weakly.
Thunder narrowed his eyes, but still nodded. “Alright… What do you guys want?” He asked, tilting his head slightly.
“I’ll just have a plain cupcake.” Lightning said, waving a hoof.
Lyra bounced up grinning widely. “Oh! And I’ll have an angel cupcake with extra frosting!” She practically shouted.
Bonbon sighed at Lyra, but still smiled. “I’ll the same as Lyra, but with a normal amount of frosting.” She said simply.
Thunder nodded and walked inside. Once he was gone the three ponies looked at each other and blinked.
Thunder walked to the counter of the bakery and looked around. Nobody was there. Blinking he looked down and saw a service bell. He narrowed his eyes and raised a hoof, ringing the bell once. Once he did a pink pony quickly ran out of the kitchen and jumped to the counter which made Thunder jump back bit.
"Hi! Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!" She shouted in a high pitched and squeaky voice. Thunder recognised her as the pony who threw Lightnings house warming party. It was rather hard to forget her. As Thunder stared at Pinkie with wide eyes, she blinked and stared back at him. "Woah! Lightning, when did your coat and mane get darker? And did you get rid of your horn and grow a pair of wings?!" She asked, leaning on the counter and stretching her neck to look all over Thunder.
The pegasus took a moment to stare at the ponys unnaturally long stretched neck before he realised her mistake. "Wait, Lightning? No, I'm not Lightning. Lightning is my brother." He corrected watching as Pinkies eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Thunder took a moment to gawk at the sight before he continued. "Uh... I'm his brother, Thunder." He finished.
"Oh my gosh!" The pony screamed in excitement. "So that means your new to Ponyville?!" She continued, her eyes sparkling with excitement. Before Thunder could responded she ran back into the kitchen leaving Thunder alone. The pegasus blinked and looked around awkwardly.
Just as he had thoughts of leaving the pink pony suddenly ran back in with a machine that began to play some sort of music. To add on to the surprise Thunder was feeling the pink pony suddenly began to sing and dance. Thunder stared bewildered at Pinkie as she bounced around singing some kind of welcome song.
Outside of the shop, Lightning, Bonbon and Lyra talked. "So, wait why are Thunder's eyes red?" Bonbon asked tilting her head at Lightning.
"I don't know. My parents told me they were like that when he was born. The doctor's tried to find out why, but they couldn't." Lightning said raising a hoof. "He can see just fine, and there's no damage in his eyes. They're just... like that." He finished, putting his hoof back down.
"But why are they such a sensitive subject for him?" Lyra asked narrowing her eyes in confusion.
Lightning suddenly looked uneasy and moved his eyes away. "He... got teased a lot by other colts and fillies when he was growing up, because of his eyes." He explained, rubbing his hoof across the ground. "It never really got easier for him. The colts and fillies never really stopped with their teasing and other ponies tended to stare at him when we went out for walks, as if there was something wrong with him." He continued, letting a huff through his nose. "It did eventually get better when he got older and eventually got his cutie mark. Ponies stopped staring and the ponies that teased him either stopped or moved away." Lightning added, gaining a weak grin, before he quickly dropped it. "But ever since then his red eyes have always been a sore spot for him."
Lyra and Bonbon stared at Lightning with wide eyes. "Wow... That... sounds terrible..." Lyra said slowly, her eyes dropping downward. Bonbon nodded her head slowly in agreement.
Lightning sighed and looked away. "Yeah... That's kind of why I told you two not to talk about his eyes." He said, stamping the ground softly.
"Don't worry about it. We won't." Bonbon said, with slight smile. Lyra mimicked her expression and nodded.
"Thank you." Lightning thanked, smiling lightly.
Back in the shop Pinkie finished her song and stood on the counter with a bright grin. Thunder blinked and forced a grin. "Wow... That was really something... thanks..." He said unsurely as the pony jumped back to the ground. "So... Can I order something now?" He asked watching Pinkie's eyes widen in realisation.
"Oh, right! Sorry. What do you want?" She asked, leaning on the counter again. Thunder smiled weakly and spoke.
"A plain cupcake, two angel cupcakes, one with extra frosting, and a vanilla cupcake please." He said, listing what his brother and his friends wanted, and something for himself.
Pinkie grinned and exclaimed. "Got it!" Running to the kitchen to get what Thunder asked for.
The pegasus sighed and brought a hoof to his face. Did Lightning really deal with this sort of thing all time? Thunder was hoping not all the residents were like this. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to handle dealing with that for a month, let alone a day.
Thunder let out a slight groan and lifted himself from his bed. Letting out a sigh he looked around, finding himself in an unfamiliar room. Quickly remembering it was his brothers bedroom he was letting him sleep in. Looking over to where Lightning slept last night he saw the bed was empty.
Letting out a sigh he laid back down and closed his eyes. He was tempted to go back to sleep, but refused to let himself do so and got up. Jumping out of the bed, Thunder let out a light yawn as he rubbed an eye with a hoof.
Stepping out of the bedroom and down the corridor, he thought back to yesterday. It hadn't been exactly has he had hoped... He didn't really get to talk much with Lightning and he didn't know Lyra and Bonbon well enough to get into any real conversations. They hadn't done much just ran around, sat around and went to nice restaurants.
Stepping off from the stairs he looked around the kitchen and saw Lightning painting something against a wall, humming lightly to himself. Thunder blinked, snuck up beside Lightning and looked at what he was painting. It was an interesting sight. It was a sky full of clouds with the sun shinning around it, with two pegasus' flying next to each other, holding a filly, the two pegasus' were smiling brightly.
Thunder took a moment to gawk at Lightning's artwork. The clouds were nicely detailed, the sun gave of a beautiful shine and the light it gave shined over surfaces nicely and the two pegasus' and fillies coat textures and mane style looked really well drawn and well shaded.
Lightning drawings looked good before he moved to Ponyville, sure, but they never looked this good. It was usually just well drawn environments and ponies. Thunder could tell his brother had defiantly been practicing in the past year.
Lightning didn't seem to notice Thunder's presence as he scanned the painting to make sure there wasn't any extra details he needed to add. Letting out a content 'Hmph' he turned to a water bucket and dropped the paint brush in, causing Thunder to realise he was holding it with his mouth and not his magic like his paint palette, and turned around, coming face to face with Thunder.
Letting out a yelp, he jumped backward a bit, staring wide eyed. "Woah! Oh, hey! You're awake!" Lightning said, before letting out a sigh. "Great, cool, great. Good morning." He continued tiredly.
"Um... Good morning." Thunder said blinking. Looking to the painting Lightning had drawn, he grinned a bit and turned to him. "That's a great painting you made there." He complimented, watching Lightning blink and glance at the painting before grinning happily.
"Oh, thanks. It took like a week to make." Lightning thanked turning to the painting and putting it aside with his magic.
A week?! Thunder would've guessed it had taken longer, considering how good it looked. Thunder blinked as he watched Lightning walk to a pantry and pull out an unfinished painting. Narrowing his eyes at it while Lightning used his magic to place it on the easel, Thunder let out an 'um'. "Is... is that?" He questioned.
Lightning grinned and looked over at Thunder. "Yup! It's princess Celestia!" He exclaimed excitedly. Thunder could swear Lightning read his mind, because he answered his question he was just about to ask. "I'm painting it because I was asked to make one for the Summer Sun Celebration next month." He explained waving a hoof, as he used his magic to pick up the paint pallet and paint brush, which he began to shake dry. "They asked me to make it so that it has Celestia raising the sun up high while the moon sets behind her."
Thunder blinked and watched as Lightning grabbed the brush out of the air with his mouth and began to dab it into the various paints. "Wait, why're you doing this now when you didn't do it yesterday?" He questioned, raising a brow.
Lightning took the brush out of his mouth with his magic so his speech wouldn't be muffled and began speaking. "Because yesterday was like, a... day off for me. Now that it's over I need to work on this." He explained grabbing the brush again.
Thunder blinked and looked at the painting he had put to the side. "But... wait, what about that one?" Lightning looked over to it and started levitating the brush again.
"Oh, that one? I was asked to make that one before this one. I was about half way done with it when I was asked to do the one for the Summer Sun Celebration." He explained waving a hoof, with a roll of his eyes. "I decided to go back and forth between the two, so I could work on both and not lose to much time on them."
"Who's it for?"
"Um... A family of Pegasi." Lightning stated, narrowing his eyes. Thunder guessed that should've been obvious.
"Well... Why don't you take it to them?" Thunder questioned, lowering a brow at Lightning.
"Well, one, they live in the Cloudsdale, two, I can't fly, and three, the paint's not dry yet." Lightning stated off, looking to the side as he did. Thunder hummed and looked at the painting.
"Okay then, makes sense. But how do you plan on letting them know it's done?" Thunder questioned. Lightning hummed and turned back to the portrait of Celestia.
"I'll send them a letter. I might not be able to fly but Derpy... sort of can." Lightning said, taking a moment to think about his words.
"Um... who's Derpy?" Thunder asked, raising a brow.
"The mail mare, Depry Hooves." Lightning answered but then passed and looked down in thought. "Well, I guess her name is Ditzy Doo, but most pony's call her Derpy Hooves." Lightning explained. Thunder opened his mouth to ask why ponies would do that but Lightning answered him before he could even ask. "If you're wondering why ponies do that, you'll know when you see her."
Thunder's lips thinned while he thought about what he had just been told. Ponies gave this, Ditzy Doo pony, the nickname 'Derpy Hooves' based on how she looked? That sounded a bit mean...
Thunder was brought out of his thoughts by a growl from his stomach. Letting out a slight huff from his nose he walked to the kitchen to get something to eat. Grabbing the left overs from yesterday, Thunder walked over to the kitchen, sat down placed his food and began to eat.
Looking over at Lightning he saw him start to paint some sun rays pushing against the shade of the night sky and light glow of the moon, right behind Celestia.
"Hey Lightning." Thunder called out to his twin and waited for him to turn and face him. "We're gonna be able to hand out today, right?" He asked, lowering his ears.
Lightning blinked and lifted the brush with his Lightning again. "Oh, yeah, sure. I usually stop painting for the day at five o clock in the afternoon, we should be able to hang out then." He nodded before picking up the paint brush and returning to his painting.
Thunder blinked, looked down at his meal and then to the clock. ten o' nine. Sighing, Thunder looked down and continued eating.
This month he was hoping to spend time with his brother was not exactly turning out the way he had hoped so far.