Under the Moonlight

Summary
Thunderblast is a young grey pegasus, to-date still suffering the loss of his parents, and his step-parents. After spending time under the light of the moon, mourning by their graves, he sets off for Canterlot to fulfill his dream of becoming a royal guard, just like his late father. Unfortunately, the rules have changed and ponies at his age could only be accepted if they remained in training until their 17th birthday, which for Thunder, was three years away.

He meets Shining Armor, also a royal guard recruit and the two grow a friendship through time. At the same time, the two of them deal with a boot camp-bully, Spear.

Two years later, an annual Royal Guard Sparring event in which all are required to attend to show off their sparring abilities comes about, and during it, Shining Armor is left out from an injury, and the event's final round starts with Thunderblast fighting Spear, and unexpectedly winning the final round. In turn, the winner is given a sword to kill their opponent. Not finding it right, Thunder disregards the rules and spares Spear and gives a small speech saying just how ridiculous the winner's reward was. Spear apologizes to Thunder for everything he's done, and the two become friends. At the same time, Thunder is promoted into the guard a year early.

Some time later, Shining Armor's uncle, Iron Armor, endures medical issues and is forced to leave his position, which is then forced onto Shining. Nervous, he goes to Thunder, and the grey pegasus comforts him just before he is sworn in as captain of the Royal Guard.

A few more years pass, and Thunder is assigned to the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville, where he meets up with Rainbow Dash, a pony he was happy to call his marefriend. Just before the festivities begin, Princess Celestia is missing, and an evil entity, known as Nightmare Moon, injures Thunder and the other guards assigned to escort the princess there. Rainbow Dash, as well as five other mares, venture into the Everfree forest to search for the princess. After waiting, Thunder grows anxious and goes in after them, alongside two of his friends, Stormfire and Blitz Cronut.

The three come across obstacles along the way and persevere, reaching the lost castle in the forest and witness the six mares defeat Nightmare Moon just before the sun rises, many hours late. The mares are then given six magical necklaces, known as the Elements of Harmony, and for coming to protect them, though they did not manage to, Thunderblast, Stormfire, and Blitz are given their own elements--though they are connected to the actual elements in a way, they are not actual elements, but instead weapons personalized to their wielder's personality, and Celestia mentions how everypony in Equestria is special, and that everyone is their own element.

Three more years later, Thunderblast is a sergeant in the Royal Guard, and after some rough times, is slowly overcoming the hardships of his colthood. He then meets a pony disk-jockey, Light Assassin, and despite the pony being strange, they befriend each other when Light mentions to Thunder that he is Rainbow Dash's cousin. Thunder meets up with Light at his lakeside home and they hang out for a bit, before Thunder accidentally discovers dark plans being prepared by Light, and that he is actually the reason behind disappearances of royal guards over the years.

Thunder is captured by Light and is tortured, but manages to escape and flees back to Canterlot. Shortly afterwards, the palace suffers guard kidnappings and Thunder witnesses one.

A few more days pass, and Light Assassin's plans are revealed to Equestria: a revolution against the monarchy and Equestria's cities begin to fall. Thunder gathers Blitz and Storm and they go into hiding, gathering a plan to fight back against Light's revolution while also gaining help from other ponies they know.

Soon, the fight is taken to Light's army, and after a massive battle between them and evacuees hiding in Cloudsdale, Thunder and his friends go after Light, who was working to restore the castle in the Everfree for his own use. At the same time, they unlock their elemental weapons and it is soon revealed that Light's brother, Mountain Ash, was the real mastermind, and he betrays Light after capturing Thunder and his friends. Light then kills Mountain and frees the trio.

The story ends with a cliffhanger of Thunder meeting with Shining Armor some time after the revolution, and it is revealed that Thunder is being transferred to a military base in Manehattan.

Characters

 * Thunderblast: A grey pegasus guard with blue eyes and a black mane, his cutie mark being a lightning bolt breaking the sound barrier. He learned how to fly, ironically, the same day he enlisted for the Royal Guard, and is one of the few ponies other than Rainbow Dash to perform a sonic rainboom, despite it being accidental. His parents, in present time, are long dead and their deaths are revealed in flashback chapters within the story.
 * More coming soon

Reception
The current version of Under the Moonlight has received mostly good criticism, as well as some bad criticism, likely due to some of the plotline and the characters. It is known that Under the Moonlight was initially uploaded in March of 2014 and was deleted that same day after receiving all bad criticism. The first chapter was later revised and the story received much better criticism. The likely reason for the current bad criticism (despite it being small) is because of the OC-Canon shipping done within the story, which the author has stated, will be gone in the fourth story of The Thunderblast Chronicles.

Currently, Under the Moonlight has 28 likes and 7 dislikes, and over 530 views. Total views are over 8,600.

Trivia

 * Under the Moonlight, like most of the author's stories, is set in an alternate universe where most modern technology exists, though the author, Thunderblast, stated he tried his best to avoid it during the writing of the story. Another reason it is in an alternate universe is because in it, Thunderblast's marefriend is Rainbow Dash, and for that reason, is the most likely reason it receieved many dislikes.
 * Under the Moonlight is the author's second story, despite the description stating it was his first. This is only because his first story was deleted because he simply did not like it being set in a different universe than his own, and it was just silly.
 * A sequel named Before the Dawn was released in October of 2014 and was cancelled in July of 2015. The reason for cancellation was lack of interest in the story.