Chapter 33: Thunder Sees the Truth and Lucky Helps the Twins
After school Lucky had to go to the office. Lucky wanted to research Fire Reader and wanted to know if Fire Dancer had any connection to her by her mother's side of the family, or even if Lucky herself was a reincarnation. Lucky did a lot of digging through archives at the Town Hall, but she didn't get very far in her research. She huffed. "Maybe I'd have better luck in the Canterlot archives. Canterlot castle has a huge archive room... but... right now, I gotta focus on this paperwork now." Then she got to work. She got out at 7:23 and arrived home at 7:27. "Ma, mama. I'm home." Lucky walked in the kitchen. To her surprise, Lightning and Thunder were there in the kitchen. Thunder did not look too happy, neither did Lucky's parents.
"Thunder, Lightning, what are you two doing here?" Lightning looked at Lucky, "Oh thank goodness you're here Lucky. Could you break this tension in the room? It's unbearable." Lucky nodded, then got in between Thunder and her parents. She stood up on her hind legs and then outstretched her forelegs, pushing them away from each other, looking a bit steamed. "Y'all better stop this right now. This ain't what's s'posed ta be taught ta a little filly like me. Ah gotta look up ta y'all as adult ponies 'n role models. Ah can't do that when y'all're (y'all+are) fightin' n' feudin'." Thunder's and Lightning's jaws dropped. They never expected to hear a country accent come from her. Rainbow and Applejack are surprised, though they don't know why. They heard her speak with an accent and with such wisdom before. Lucky smirked. "That's better now, ain't it? Now, what the hay happened here? What're y'all fightin' about?"
Rainbow spoke up, "Thunder here said she doesn't want to be here in the apartment of a show off, gloatful, hubris-like filly like you." Lucky frowned at Thunder. "That's not fair. I never was hubris-like or gloatful. I just wanted to prove myself, prove I was better than 5th. I was wrong. If only you were there when I, by myself, suggested looking up the addresses, then did as I suggested, then when I was able to, go to their homes, and apologized for my actions. They all forgave me and now we're friends again. Just yesterday I helped Wishful Comet find her special somepony, Cherry Blossom. Yes, the same Wishful Comet and Cherry Blossom we went to Flight Camp with. They respect me now. Everypony does. Well, almost everypony." Now Lucky's getting really pissed. Her wings flare to their full extent, her Princess aura comes out and with every word she steps forward, jabbing her right forehoof at Thunder, who takes steps back, who is now actually afraid of Lucky, until her plot hits the wall.
"You're jus' too stubborn, arrogant, bully-like, cloud headed, hard headed, negative, 'n a not 'give a pony another chance' Pegasus who can't get a clue from watchin' her twin communicate with the little blue Alicorn filly who was laughin' n' talkin' nicely with said twin ta not see that the little blue filly wants ta be liked again 'n be fergiven fer her mistakes. Don'tlet the past cloud yer judgment 'n make it permanent. Ponies can change y'know, or maybe ya don't. No, Ah don't think ya do know, 'cause if ya did, you'd already have fergiven me fer what Ah did. Ya prob'ly heard from the other Cloudsdale ponies that Ah went ta Thunder Storms' 'n Flash's homes 'n apologized. That plus seein' me shoulda changed yer judgement of me, yet it hasn't. Ah proved mahself to ya already, maybe not by talkin' right to ya, but to yer twin, who most likely told ya that we had a normal conversation 'n said fer mahself that Ah apologized. If not by me, but by yer twin who got the affirmation by me ya coulda given me another chance, but ya didn't. Thunder Crash, you disappoint and disgust me..."
Lucky looked away after giving Thunder a dirty look after saying that she disgusted and disappointed her, then went to her room, shut the door and fluttered onto her bed and cried silently into her pillow. Back in the kitchen, all of the older ponies' jaws were hanging open, astonished at Lucky. Applejack was first to break the silence, after quite a while. "Um... what jus' happened?" Lightning gulped. "Lucky's Princess aura just became prominent and her anger triggered a country accent and she just chewed Thunder out, as Thunder would say, epically." Thunder was stunned. That was Ponyville's 8 year old Princess? "I'm going to talk to her.", Rainbow said, then went to Lucky's room and knocked on the door. Her knock was met with a muffled and quiet "Go away". Rainbow shook her head fast a couple times. She would have expected that from a teenage filly, not an 8 year old filly. "Lucky, it's your mother. Open up." Lucky shouted out a "No!" Rainbow's eyebrows shot up into her hairline, then she got annoyed. "Ok Miss Princess. I expect this kind of rebellion from a teenager, not an 8 year old. Now, let me come in or you'll be grounded for a week."
Silence... then Lucky opened the door, then flew back to her bed. Rainbow went in and closed the door, then sat on the bed. "Come on Lucky, let me talk to you. Heh, actually, what you did and said out there astonished us all. Thunder was actually afraid of you. Your Princess aura came out too. It was unbelievable. You should have seen and heard yourself." Lucky just shook her head. "I actually was hurting saying them things, but they had to be said. I didn't like it, but she had to know what I felt, she had to know what she was being like." Rainbow nodded and hugged Lucky close. "I know, you actually made the right decision. You had to tell her how ridiculous she was being, how unseeing she was. You have changed, you have apologized. Besides, ponies make mistakes. We aren't perfect. You should have said that in your tirade too."
Lucky just nodded, and cried into her mother's chest. Rainbow rubbed Lucky's back. Back in the kitchen, and this was after Rainbow left. Like, when she went into Lucky's room. "Lucky sure is a heck of a filly...", Lightning said. "Yeah. Ah expected the country accent when Ah saw her gettin' mad, but Ah never expected the words that came outta her mouth. Unbelievable. So, Thunder, whaddaya think of Ponyville's Princess now? Not all bad behaviored right? She told ya off, as would anypony. She's right though. Ya gotta get past what she did at flight camp. She changed, she apologized , it really was her idea, she went to the foals' places ta apologize. Come on Thunder, we're all beggin' ya, give her another chance. Don't let the past cloud yer judgement. Don't let yer first impression of her keep ya from seein' the real Lucky." Thunder was just silent. Lightning went next to Applejack. "Come on twin. Don't make us a stereotypical twin. I want you to be a good twin too. I don't want this good twin/bad twin thing going on. Be a good twin and give the Princess another chance. We all have."
Thunder sat down, shaking her head. "That 8 year old chewed me out. I'm older than her. This can't be happening." Lightning glared at Thunder, wings are open, lightning crackling between them. "Thunder, her status in society is way above yours. Even though she's younger than us, she's still allowed to give you a piece of her mind or even tell you what to do. She's a leader." Thunder looks at Lightning. The lightning thing going on with her wings does not look like a good sign. That's the first time that's ever happened. Thunder gulped. "Thunder. Why are ya like this? Do ya have any problems with other ponies bein' mean ta ya that ya think ya gotta be tough 'n mean ta others? If ya got any problems, bring 'em ta Lucky. It's her job ta help citizens from Ponyville or even not from Ponyville, or leaders from other countries or places. Let her help if ya got anythin' ya wanna get out or need somepony ta talk ta besides Lightnin' or yer parents." Thunder scoffed. "'Parents'", she said scathingly. Applejack raised an eyebrow.
"Wha?" Lightning sighed and looked down. "Our parents... let me just say they aren't the best parents around... I wanna talk this out with the Princess. I want her wisdom, even if it's the wisdom of an 8 year old. Thunder, please." Thunder looked down and away, trying to hide tears. Lightning went to Thunder, sat down next to her, and hugged her. "Come on..." Applejack looked at the twins with a gentle, sympathetic look. "Fine.", Thunder said eventually. Then the three went to Lucky's room. Lucky was still crying into Rainbow's chest, but then a knock on the door had her lift her head. She wiped her eyes and said, "Come in." Thunder, Lightning, and Applejack went in. "We want to talk to the Princess alone.", Thunder said firmly. Rainbow and Applejack nodded and left and went into the living room.
"What's your decision Thunder? Will you give me another chance, or will you not?", Lucky asked with an authoritative voice. "I will accept you, on one condition. Hear me and Lightning out. Hear our story of what it's like to live in our home with our so-called parents." Lucky was intrigued. "Well, tell away. I will listen with no interruptions. Come, sit on my bed." Lucky then sat against her headboard and the twins climbed up on the end of the bed and sat down, facing Lucky. Thunder sighed, "Ever since we were born, at least we think, our parents have been verbally abusive, neglectful, and cruel. I keep my twin and I safe by being tough. I stand up to them. They say that I will never amount to anything, and that Lightning is a freak for her high IQ. Lightning has straight A's and she has perfect scores in school. She's the top student in our school, at number one.
"Me, I'm at the very bottom, I hate school, I don't really care for it. Lightning tries to help, but I don't like accepting or asking for help. We've been this way since we first started school. Lightning was always smart, and she was an early flier too. I couldn't believe it. I tried to fly, but I couldn't. Lightning is one of the advanced foals. I'm an epic late bloomer... though not too late to figure out my gender preference. I'm a filly fooler as the others call it. It's a degrading name for 'my kind'. Even our parents call me that. Lightning is normal, she's straight. I'm lesbian. Even though Lightning's straight, our parents still are horrible to her, because of her being an epic early bloomer. We've never told anypony this before, and we want it kept confidential."
Lucky nodded, "Before I say what I want to say about your situation, I'm just like you Lightning. I'm an epic early bloomer too. I'm very smart, and I'm second in my class, under Sweetie Belle. I actually am studying the same thing as the rest of my class, I'd be studying my age stuff, but I was advanced into 10 year old stuff. You and I are the same." Lucky grins, then she gets down to business, and her voice is all 'now I mean business'. "I will keep this meeting and this information you have just shared with me confidential, but if your parents are verbally abusive, neglectful, and cruel, somepony should get foal services and get them to where they can get help or get locked up. It's not right. Don't worry Thunder, it is all confidential and anonymous. They don't need to know who's contacting them, just the fact foals are being abused." Thunder and Lightning looked unsure.
"But where will we go if that happens? We have no place else. No other family we can go to. We don't want to go in an orphanage..." Lucky looks down, thinking. After a while she says, "Maybe you could stay here. Do you guys have sleeping bags or something? You could sleep in my room." Lightning looked unsure. "What about your parents? Would they be able to afford us as well?" Lucky sighed, "Probably not. Dang it. Well, which would you rather, stay under your abusive parents' home or be in an orphanage where you would get treated better?" They both looked at each other. "Well, I think... the orphanage might be a better deal... if it can get us away from that Tartaros of a place.", Thunder said. Lucky nodded, then went over to her desk and got a paper, quill, and ink pot out of the drawer. Then she writes,
"To the Foal Services,
Twin Pegasi have come to me with a problem at their home. I'm being a good friend and writing to you about this problem so they can get out of that house and away from that situation. They agreed with me that I write to you. Their parents are being verbally abusive, neglectful, and cruel to them and they won't stand for it any longer. Will you please help them out?"
"Um, what is your address?" Thunder gives their address. Lucky writes it down.
"They would really appreciate you going to this address. Also, whatever their parents may say, I am extremely confident these twins are telling the truth. Please, help them out. They're calling out to you.
Anonymous"
"There, what do you think?" The twins looked it over and smiled. "That looks excellent. Thanks also for getting my help with spelling some of these words. That way they know it's not from the 8 year old Ponyville Princess.", Lightning said. "Yeah, Lucky, you really are a good pony. I guess I can give you another chance. You're actually pretty cool helping us out like this, anonymously.", Thunder said. Lucky grinned, then hugged Thunder. "Thanks Thunder, that means a lot to me." Thunder looked awkward. "Um, you're welcome?" Lucky giggled and let go. "So, now we're friends. I'm so happy." Thunder waved a hoof dismissively. "Yeah yeah. Well, how about we go back to your parents?" Lucky nodded, she folded up the letter and put it in an envelope and then put a stamp on the envelope. Tomorrow at the office she will look up the address of the foal services place in Cloudsdale.
Lucky took them out to the living room. "So, did you two become friends?", Rainbow asked. "Yup! We're friends now and I'm very happy about it." Applejack and Rainbow smiled. "Good." Lucky sat in between them. "Well, we better get going Princess. We gotta get home before it gets any later.", Lightning said. "Ok, will we see each other again?" The twins smiled and nodded, then they bid the three goodbye and went out of the apartment and to home. The three got supper, showers, and to bed. The next day after school, Lucky went right to the office and to the archives that they have. She looked in the Cloudsdale section. Of course, there are only two sections, Ponyville and Cloudsdale. Lucky then found the foal's services' folder. She pulled it out, sat down, and looked for the address. In like, 5 seconds she found it, she rolled her eyes, of course it'll be the first page. She shoulda known. She then took out the letter and wrote the address down on the envelope and then put the folder away. She then put the letter to the foal's services back in her saddlebag. After work she'll mail the letter out. She got to her own office and got to work. She finishes at 7:00.
Lucky went out of the Town Hall, and to the nearest mail box. She took out the envelope and put it in the mail box. Lucky smiled, then went home. So in 2 days, it's Thursday. Foal's services are just arriving at Thunder's and Lightning's home. "Sir, ma'am, we got an anonymous letter saying you're not treating your twins right and to not believe you if you say different. This pony has total faith that your twins are telling the absolute truth." The twins' parents looked at each other, ears flattened. The stallion from foal's services raised an eyebrow. "You haven't tried to argue, you just looked at each other flattening your ears, so, is what your twins said to this pony true? Are you treating them horribly?" The twins' mother sighed, "No point telling you no. This pony warned you not to believe us if we told you different. What will you do to us?" The stallion looked surprised to hear a confession so easily. He expected them to put up a fight. "Well, there are two options. You could either get help, or you could be locked up in an asylum."
The father said, "We can't promise getting help will help much, we never took to getting help very well... it looks like the asylum for us." The stallion just nodded and took them with him. "Somepony will be here to get your things and somepony will come here after school gets out and get your twins and take them to the orphanage. Do you agree to give them up to the city of Cloudsdale, until somepony adopts them who will treat them how they should be treated?" Both parents nodded a small nod once. "Good." After school, the twins walked home, and when they got there, somepony is outside waiting. "Um, who are you?", Thunder asked, not so politely. The mare raised her eyebrow. "Defensive are you? Well, no need. I'm the assistant to the leader of the orphanage you'll be going to. Pack your things and we'll go to the orphanage. You'll be welcomed warmly, the leader of the orphanage is very kind. You'll like her."
The twins nodded, and then did as asked. After a few hours, they are all packed, the assistant helped them. They got going to the orphanage and when they got there, the assistant wasn't lying. They really were welcomed warmly, by everypony in the orphanage. The twins looked at each other, smiled, and went to their room, led by the leader of the orphanage this time. "Welcome to Cloudsdale Orphanage. I'm the leader of this place, you two must be Thunder Crash and Lightning Sky. I was told by the foal's services that you'll be coming. We have a room ready for you, you'll be sharing. Two foals to each room. This place has rules, as does everywhere else. Rule number one, be respectful to everypony. Rule number two, be kind to everypony. Rule number three, please share with the others. Rule number four, be back here before curfew, which is 9 PM for the older ones and 6 PM for the younger ones. You two will go under the 9 PM curfew. Reasonable, is it not? Rule number 5, always keep your room clean. Rule number 6, if you have homework, you better do it when you get back from school, that way you have enough time to hang with friends afterward. There are more rules, but there's too many even for me to remember."
She chuckles, "I'm getting too old, but not too old to run an orphanage still. Supper is always at 7 PM, breakfast at 7 AM and lunch for when you don't have school, basically weekends or holidays, at 12 PM. Well, here you are, your room. Come on down to the hallway from the door to outside when you're done putting things where you'd like them to go. I'll show you around before supper." The twins nodded. The leader of the orphanage went out of the room and downstairs. The twins then unpacked, putting everything where they go. They then went downstairs and met with the leader in the hallway. Their leader showed them the whole orphanage. When they finished the tour, they heard over the loudspeakers, "Dinnertime everypony, come on down to the dining hall."
The leader and the twins went down to the dining hall, which is really big, accommodating all the foals and the staff. The foals range from baby foals to age 18, though skipping some years. In the baby foal area, there are 5 of them, the next age is 3 years, there are 5 of them, for 7 year olds, there are 3 of them, in the 10 year old group, there's 2 of them, then the 13 year olds, there are two, the twins who just arrived earlier. Going right to 18, there's only one, he's trying to get a job so he can get out of the orphanage, because unfortunately, 18 year olds can't stay, because by law, they are adults. So there's 18 orphans. After supper, they ask their leader if they can go to Ponyville. The leader let them, but reminded them to be back before 9. They agreed and went to Lucky's and her parents' place. When they got there and to their apartment door, they knocked excitedly.
They heard a giggle and then 30 seconds later the door opened. "Thunder, Lightning!" Lucky tackle hugged them both. "Normally I don't say this, but I'm happy to see a 'storm'." Lucky giggled again. Thunder chuckled and Lightning giggled. "So, how did it go? Are you guys out of the house and in the orphanage?" They both nodded. "Alright!" Lucky said, jumping into the air and spreading her wings to glide back down. The twins grinned. "Can we come in? We have until 8:45, that way we can get back to the orphanage before 9. 9 is our curfew, and I say that's a very reasonable time to be back for us older ponies. The orphanage is really nice. I love it, but hopefully somepony takes us in and adopts us though. Somepony nice.", Lightning said. "Yeah, hopefully that does happen. I wish you luck. Also, yes, you can come in." Lucky stepped aside to let them in. The twins smiled and went in, "Thanks Lucky." So, they talked until it was time for the twins to go. Lucky went to bed, happy that she helped those two get out of a bad situation.