Thunder Storm

By Tornadopelt

• July 27, 2015
, No, Not Cast Young Stallion

Thunder Storm, the Pyrotechnician Pony of Ponyville (self-proclaimed) is an off-yellow pegasus stallion with a dark grey mane and tail, bluish eyes and a firecracker for his cutie mark. He can sometimes be seen with a soot mark here and there, and oftentimes he'll be seen with his lab coat. It's pure cotton, made so that Thunder Storm won't have to worry about static sparks blowing his store and himself to kingdom come if something goes wrong. He always wears it when in the store as well. When doing a display, his lab coat will be accompanied by a shirt that reads on the sides, "I am a Fireworks Expert, if you see me running, try to keep up".

male Pegasus A standard firecracker that's been lit. https://buffy.mlpforums.com/c48873cc98c1ecf1762a1919ac30b1ab.png

Thunder Storm is quite the outgoing pegasus pony, having a bit of a soft spot for children. However, despite his outgoing personality, he still has trouble with his social skills. When he's not on the job, he can be seen doing some laps around the park, reading, or trying to strike up a conversation. He may also be thinking about Princess Luna, the pony he most looks up to. And sure, he's quite carefree and friendly most of the time, but he will get serious when the need arises. He classifies displays, tests, and not-so-careful ponies getting near "the big guns" under "when the need arises", although disasters may also qualify. Oh, and another thing is that he can't stand jerks.

 

Other than that, some of Thunder's motivations are being able to demonstrate chemistry in action, giving science lectures that actually get those he's teaching engaged in the subject, and (chief among them) blowing *yay* up for a living. Some might say his hobby is also his livelihood, and they wouldn't be wrong. He mostly got into fireworks by accident, but discovered that he could make something out of it. He does his best to help out around the community, too, although when he's not helping or on the job, he just likes to be a good friend as best he can. He may be a tad upset, though, considering he hasn't found a mare yet. Oh, and if he's in a library, expect him to be targeting the science section like a feral eagle does its prey. While outgoing and kind, he can sometimes be quick to anger if somepony makes harmful jest towards him or someone with him.

Likes: Jerks, having ponies injured by a pyrotechnic accident, being woken up way too early, not waking up early enough, some types of vegetables

Thunder Storm had always been a bit of an oddity among pegasi. Where many pegasi were into air/weather professions, he was more content with solid ground beneath his hooves. To this end, he employed flight to quickly get away from an issue. It would serve him well later on as he learned that there was a whole open world that nopony had actually ventured into yet, or so he thought. One of his favorite subjects was science, and he delved into the many books that were always at the local library. Every time he was at a library, he always hit the science section to study something. His interests in specific sciences changed with the moon, but it was always in a general section. It was on one visit that he opened a chemistry book, flipped to a random page, and discovered fireworks.

 

Intrigued by the idea of fireworks, he went to a general store and picked up a small bag of party poppers with a small bit of his weekly allowance. Many foals would pull at the odd string until a bang sounded off and colored paper flew out of the wide end of the popper, at which point they'd either look down the popper and see what made that funny noise and caused the funny paper to shoot out or drop the now spent firework and cry because the loud bang scared them. Thunder did the former, at least the first time around. He pulled another string on another party popper and got the same result.

 

Earlier books he had read had informed him of something called the "scientific method" - observation, a hypothesis, an experiment, and a conclusion. He knew that if the results from something he did didn't live up to his expectations, then something else was most likely a reason for the strange new occurence. When he pulled the two strings, he got two loud bangs. So, as was completely disadvised against by the warnings on the party popper, he proceeded to dismantle it and found a strange cylinder of paper. He pulled the string, only to find it was attached to something on the inside, so he unrolled the cylinder to find an odd brownish substance. "What is this?" he asked, then headed to the library.

 

Once there, he picked up a book specifically on fireworks. He learned that the brown substance was actually a mixture of a couple somewhat volatile chemicals, caramelized and gently put to the paper, where a string was added and it was then rolled up into a cylinder about two millimeters wide. The conclusion he came to was that the odd substance was responsible for the funny noise... but what caused the paper to fly out? He read further to find that the noise had another property - pressure. What had happened was a small explosion. He found that there were more types of fireworks and hit upon an idea. "If I could make my own," he said, "then maybe I could make more money." And thus, Thunder's business was born.

 

Business was slow, but it was manageable. He had been steadily gaining customers due to the good reviews of his poducts. He also found his calling at quite the young age when he set up a mini display for his family - Fire Flower and Storm Chaser, his mother and father, respectively - and listened to their shouts of joy. He went to sleep that night, not knowing that there was now a firecracker emblazoned on his flank... however, he found out in the next few mornings to come that he had gained his cutie mark, and oddly enough, a Junior Pyrotechnician's license as an early birthday present. His mother had gone to Canterlot to fill out the required forms, and within a couple days, a fully legal Junior Pyro License had been granted. This meant that Thunder could legally make and sell everything bigger than party poppers but smaller than bottle rockets - meaning sparklers, small poppits, small fountains, and ground bloom flowers.

 

This kept him going until he sought out a Fully Certified Pyrotechnician's license when he became a full-fledged stallion. When his application was accepted and his certification earned, he expanded his business to sell every firework under the sun. The gains from this were enough to build the Fireworks Shoppe, a little ways away from Ponyville, where he could test, sell, and make his fireworks. Such a store needed precautions, so he took care to install necessary safety features so as not to blow himself up. And, now, Thunder has his business open again for a bit of the morning and mostly at noon and evening, for the Night of Fire is close at hand.

Thunder Storm has a couple of mental issues that hinder his social skills. However, said mental issues allow him better processing power and a higher intelligence in place of the social skills, which he has been working on.