Attempt One- Troubled Skies
Dawn crashed trough the windows of Thunder Blitz’s cloud house. Irritation was apparent on her face as she turned in her bed to try to grab a few more winks of sleep. Alas, this was futile. Thunder had the unfortunate misfortune to never be able to beat back waking up at dawn. She scowled as she forced her body out of bed. It was a habit that she hadn’t been able to kick since her time in the orphanage. As she stretched, a sigh escaped her lips. Maybe it was time to let go of trying to fight it. After all, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, even if it left her a mite irritated in the morning.
She shook off her thoughts as she went down to have some breakfast. She grabbed the milk from the fridge and a box of Wish Bites. Sure, some might give her grief about her choice, but she could care less. Sugar was her best bet to power through her mornings. After polishing off her cereal, she made sure to put it away. Just remembering the unpleasant stench of spoiled milk was enough to never make that mistake again.
After that, she made sure to brush her teeth and take a quick shower. If she was going to be awake this early, she was going to make the most of it. Today, she was aiming to perfect her form for her Thunder Boom. Sure, she had pulled it off a few times before, but it wasn’t as consistent as she would like. So After she dried off, she flew out the front door to find a good spot.
My Little Pony,
My Little Pony,
Ah, Ah, Aaa~ah!
My Little Pony!
Friendship used to mean nothing to me,
My Little Pony!
But now with you around me, I start to see!
Exuberant laughter,
Tough through scrapes,
True to our word,
A kind gesture,
A giving heart,
Truest vision of art,
And magic makes it all complete!
My Little Pony!
I’ll trust in my new friends!
She found an ideal spot after a bit of searching. She grabbed a nearby cloud and wrangled it for her purposes. Thunder Blitz landed on the cloud, and found her way to the edge. She had practiced for this moment for the past several weeks. Nothing stood in her way. She took a deep breath before jumping off the cloud which stood 30 leagues above Ponyville. It was time. She took the leap and dove straight down. She could feel the speed building as she fell. About ten furlongs down, she could feel herself brushing up against the sound barrier, lightning sparking from around her hooves. This was absolutely the most tricky part. She had only pushed past it a few times before, and she wasn’t exactly sure what commonalities there were between the performances. But she had to figure that out. The Flier Talent Showcase was on the horizon, and she had to be ready.
She pushed harder, the lightning crackling at a more volatile pace as a cone of heat formed around her hooves. A little over 3 miles down, and it was looking good. Still, she chose her starting height for a reason: It gave her enough wiggle room to slow down in case something went wrong. But now was not the time to think about failure, it was do or die time. She pushed harder than before, and started to feel the barrier cave. She was almost there. She tried to push through, and something went wrong. The lightning around her hooves crashed together too soon, and she was thrown back from her goal. She was spiraling down to the ground again. She quickly got a hold of herself and started easing up on the speed.
She was a bit embarrassed that it had blown up in her face, but at least nobody got hurt. Dejected, she slowed herself down enough to halt about 20 leagues above Ponyville. She could try again, but she preferred to take note of what went wrong. Shaking off her disappointment, she made time to stop by her house. She went to her room and pulled out her Attempt Journal. She jotted down what happened and tried to puzzle it out. It seemed that brute forcing it wasn’t the key. She looked back through her journal for some hint from the successful attempts, but she stopped when she remembered- Her weather duty shift was closing in. She groaned. She hated it, but it needed to be done. She put her journal away and started to get ready for work.
As she made her lunch, a stray thought crossed her mind. She could ask Rainbow Dash for advice, she supposed. However, just the thought of that caused shivers to run down her spine. Knowing Dash, she would enter the competition. And since she was super-competitive… it was highly unlikely for her to help out the competition. Thunder brushed that thought away as she braced herself for another dull day at the Ponyville Weather Facility. She only had a good day at her job when they had a high workload. But she had a sinking feeling that today would not be like that. She popped a few joints before flying off to work.
The flight there was uneventful. After clocking in, she found her way to her station. The call came from the Supervisor that the workers were keeping the sky clear today. Thunder raised an eyebrow, uncertain if maybe she was wrong about today. She did a few stretches before getting out there. Unfortunately, she found herself to be right. Today was only plagued by pathetic wispy clouds. The busting was so easy that she could do it in her sleep! Still, this was what she needed to do. She just zoned out and let muscle memory take care of the rest. After a while, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. It was hard to make out at first, but she looked closer and rolled her eyes. It was Sunshower, her ex. He was likely trying to bother her again with getting back together. Her suspicions were confirmed when he approached. A cocky smile was plastered on his face. “Hey babe! I-”
She wheeled around to face him, anger hotter than Sunshower’s scarlet coat. “We’ve been over this a hundred times already! It’s over, done, finished! Stop trying to get back with me! No matter how many times you do this, nothing will change! Now, buzz off!”
Sunshower’s orange mane was blown back by the force of Thunder’s shout, and Sunshower was stunned for a moment. However, he composed himself quickly, amber eyes glistening with confidence. “You say that now, but you’ll change your mind soon enough. After all, who else-”
Lightning crackled from Thunder’s coat spontaneously as she glared even harder at him. The audacity of this guy! To imply that she couldn’t find somebody else! However, she knew that getting angrier would not solve anything. She took a deep breath before giving Sunshower a deadpan look. “Listen to me, Sunshower. You are a sad excuse of a pony. Our relationship was far from healthy. You used to be a good guy, but you turned sour. Or maybe you were always that way, and I came to my senses. It doesn’t really matter. You don’t own me. It’s time that you accepted that we are never getting back together. So stop trying to win me back. There’s no force on Mytharia that can change my mind.”
At that, Sunshower blinked. He was not giving up though. He shook his head, a smirk still visible on his face. “I’ll back off for now, Thunder. But know this-” He looked her straight in the eye, oozing confidence. “I always get what I want. I’ll be seeing you soon, babe.” Before Thunder could yell at him again, Sunshower flew off.
Snorting angrily, she tried to not think about it. She had work to do, and she couldn’t afford to be distracted by that fool’s actions. She pushed his arrogance out of mind as she went back to work. It was easy enough losing herself in her work. No matter how much she hated the slow days, she couldn’t deny that it was oddly relaxing on days like this. She was knocked out of her thoughts when the lunch bell sounded. Had it really been that long already? She pushed that thought aside as she went in for lunch. She sat down at her usual table and started to dig in.
Soon after she started eating, she noticed one of her coworkers standing at the table. It was Moonbow Rush, a dark gray thestral stallion that had been transferred from Thestropolis. He was a bit shy, and never talked to anyone. However, Thunder had seen him in action. He was easily as good as Thunder on a normal day. She had a sense of what he might be standing there for, so she gestured to let him know it was okay for him to sit with her. Apprehension was clear on his face, but he soon sat on the opposite end of the table. He took out his lunch and blew away a stray strand of blue hair. As he started to eat, Thunder felt a bit awkward sitting with him and not chatting a bit. So she decided to alleviate the silence. “So, how are you liking work so far? Is it anything compared to Thestropolis’ weather facility?”
Shock and terror appeared on Moonbow’s face. He stammered a bit as he replied. “U-uhm, i-it’s nice, actually. N-not as much pressure w-when compared to the big city, you see? D-do you miss it? Is that why you ask?”
A wince appeared on Thunder’s face. A few people in Ponyville knew her upbringing through an orphanage, but she didn’t want to talk about that with Moonbow. Still, she didn’t want to lie to him either. She decided to meet him somewhere in the middle. “No, I’ve never been there. I was just a bit curious is all.”
However, Moonbow was much sharper than she thought as panic seeped into his emerald green eyes. “Oh I’m so sorry! I-i didn’t mean to bring up something so painful! C-can you forgive my insensitivity?”
A blank stare consumed Thunder’s visage for a moment before it melted into a bashful look. “I-its alright, really. You had no way of knowing. You don’t need to apologize. Let’s just put this awkwardness behind us, okay?”
A pregnant pause seeped in before Moonbow let himself sigh with relief. “Y-yeah, that would be great. I-i’ve never been good with talking to people, s-so I was afraid of offending the one pony I’ve t-talked to in this town.” He shook himself off a bit and relaxed. “I-i’m just glad you weren’t angry.”
The conversation faded as the two of them started eating again. Thunder felt better having gotten to know Moonbow, if only a little bit. She hoped that, in time, the two of them could be good friends. However, there was a bit more of a selfish reason behind it. She wanted to know more about Thestropolis. He was her only insight into that city, and she had to know more. Maybe, if she was extremely lucky- and she knew that it was a longshot- Moonbow might be able to help her find whatever was left of her family. However, Thunder could not rely on that possibility. As far as she knew, her family might not even still be alive. But she was unable to shake the feeling that they were still out there.
She was knocked out of her reverie as the bell to sound the end of lunch rang. She got up from the table and put away the rest of her lunch. Time to go back to work, she mused. She left the lunch room, and went back to the sky.
To Be Continued…
Author's Note
Alright, here we are! Yes, another new story. I'm pretty proud of how this inaugural chapter turned out. The updates might take awhile, though. I'll be seeing you around!
