CHAPTER 3
THE BROTHERS' ISSUES
"No..." Equinox said almost dropping the test tube Scar had given him. Just ten minutes after Scar left the apartment, he reached his dad, briefly explained everything that had happened so far, saw his dad face-hoof for the very first time at the mess they got into, handed him the test tube and left.
Since then, he and Solstice had been performing several tests on the soil sample. He had an initial suspicion when he saw the scales tip, a suspicion that had just been proven true by his latest test. His first test was a simple physical analysis, the result of which said that it was just regular soil, but those were only the physical components. A later magical analysis of the soil confirmed his worst fear.
It was going to be exactly like all those years ago...
"Father, what is it?" Solstice asked worriedly running up to him. He had been pouring over a few books when he heard his dad speak. He was very alarmed when he saw the look of panic on his face.
Equinox gulped and magically passed the test tube to his son who held it in front of him with his own magic. "Perform a magical analysis." he said which puzzled Solstice. Soil was just soil; what else could possibly be in there?
Nevertheless, he did it anyway and cast the spells necessary to perform the test. His horn glowing with a teal aura, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the test. After a few seconds of finding out what was it that made his dad react that way, a blinding flash erupted from the darkness. It caused him to gasp, stumble back and drop the test tube he was levitated, shattering it against the floor.
"Light...light..." he said stunned. He tried to calm down, but the memories started to pour in, the ground shuddering uncontrollably, screams of fright and terror, and light, pure light everywhere destroying everything like an unstoppable force. It was all he could just to stop himself from passing out.
"I see you've come to the same conclusion." Equinox said as he helped his son up. "For some reason, the ground beneath Ponyville is saturated with light. If it continues to build up..."
"They need to hurry." Solstice said before his dad could finish.
Equinox nodded. "I've already asked for daily soil samples from Scar. That way, we can monitor the amount of light in Ponyville."
"That...that's good." Solstice managed to calm down.
The alicorn patted his shoulder. "Son, perhaps it's time you got some rest.; you've been working non-stop for hours. You haven't eaten anything at all."
"Neither have you father." Solstice pointed out. His dad sighed.
"I can manage. Why don't you find Ash and Psych? I'm sure they could use some company."
"I suppose." Solstice then eyes the broken test tube shards and soil on the floor. "Allow me."
The shards and soil were brought into the air by Solstice's magic. The shards converged on each other and started piecing themselves together like a puzzle. Soon a cracked test tube was formed, but the cracks too slowly vanished. He placed the soil back in, gave it over to his dad and left deep in thought.
I hope Ash and Psych are in the mood for talking...
Said ponies were busy playing a game of chess. They were in Ash's room, on his bed, and absorbed in their game. Ash used his knight to take out Psych's remaining bishop which he baited with one of his pawns. After that, Ash looked up at his brother. "You could've avoided that."
Psych raised an eyebrow. "What're you talking about?"
Ash picked up the bishop and placed it with the other pieces his brother had lost. "You should've seen how much attention I've been paying to that pawn and known that I was baiting it. Nothing gets past your kinetic vision."
Psych thought about what to say. Ash was right; aside from the powers he gained after the incident, he also had kinetic vision, a talent that took him years to master fully. By at looking another pony, he can figure out what they were feeling at the moment from the small ticks and unconscious actions their body displayed. He could see eye twitches, slight spasms, flushed faces and the like as clear as day.
He did indeed see Ash's eyes travel over that pawn several times, telling him that he was planning something about it, but he allowed it to happen anyway even though he could've found a way to avoid it. Ash was really talented at chess; he didn't get that cutie-mark for nothing, and Psych had his own talents. Matches between them took a while as they were equally matched.
But sometimes, Psych would notice that his brother was having a bad time; now seemed like one of those times. Whenever this happened, he'd lose the match on purpose just to make Ash feel better. The good thing about these chess games was that Ash managed to focus on something else than his own misery for a change.
They heard a knock on the door, but they both just ignored it. A few seconds later, it swung open making Psych give an annoyed sigh, and Blues stepped into the room. "Er, Ash, Psych, having fun?" he asked trying to sound cheery.
Both ponies just ignored him. Psych moved his rook forward and took out one of Ash's pawns. "Er...Scar came back from Ponyville; see said it was quite the cheery town." Blues continued.
"What do you want?" Psych said not looking at him.
Blues was taken aback but remained calm. "Listen, I understand you two have...issues." The three of them knew just how much of an understatement that was; what Psych and Ash had was more than just a simple issue. "But can't you put them aside and help us? It will happen again. I'm sorry to reopen old wounds, but can you remembered how you both suffered back then? How all six of us suffered? Can you honestly wish the same for others?"
"Uh yeah. Yeah I do." Psych said finally looking at the unicorn who's eyes widened slightly at his brother's words. "Why should we give a damn those who hate us? Who reject us?" Psych jumped off the bed and walked towards Blues.
"They've never rejected you; they don't even know you Psych." Blues argued.
"Oh they know me alright." Psych cast a side-long look. "Every minute they spend enjoying themselves, every moment they comfort others in pain, every moment they smile, hope, dream and laugh, they reject me!The minute I come into their lives, they try to get rid of me as fast as they could!" His hooves were starting to shake in anger. If Ash wasn't in the room, he would've unleashed his powers and break Blues to pieces. "You reject me too."
"Psych, you're my brother. I would never reject you." Blues said trying to calm him down.
Psych just gave a cold, sadistic laugh at that. "Brother? Yeah right. The only reason we're a 'family' is because that bastard you call a father turned us into freaks!"
"Father saved our lives!" Blues shouted back. "He took you in, he gave you a home when your previous one was lost, he raised you like his own son! We are not freaks!"
"That's so easy for you to say. Look at you." Psych waved a hoof in his direction. "Greed. That's what he turned you into. Some ponies actually accept you! They choose to be you just so they can get whatever they want! The desire and hunger for everything this world could possibly offer...that's what you truly are!"
"I am not Greed! You and Ash are not who you believe you are!" Blues argued.
"And you're not being true to yourself!"
"I am being true to myself." Blues put a hoof on his chest. "We can choose Psych; we can choose what or who we want to be regardless of what happened to us!"
"Choose?...Choose?" At that, the maroon pony let out a long, high, cold, sadistic laugh before stomping his hoof against the floor. His voice suddenly became venomous. "That choice was ripped from us years ago! D'you think Ash and I asked for this?! Because of what he did, he branded us for life! You're so-called ability to choose is just meaningless! It just blinds you from the inescapable truth! By choosing what you want to be, you lie to yourself because you know deep down what you really are!"
Psych was panting after that outburst. Ash just turned his head away from the two, not wanting to get involved. The truth was that he disagreed with most of what Psych said. He wasn't afraid of him though; in fact, he thought that he and Psych were the same, despicable...unwanted...hated...
And he didn't blame anypony else but himself.
"I...I don't believe you Psych." Blues said calmly to his enraged brother causing the latter to roll his eyes and shake his head. "I still believe that we can choose who we wish to be, and I don't choose what you think I am." At that, Psych waved his hoof dismissively at him.
"Yeah yeah go on. You do that." He challenged. "But no matter what you do or say or think, nothing will change what you are deep down. Go ahead; choose who you wanna be, try to care for others, make them happy with that damn music you love to play." He poked Blues in the chest where his heart was. "But both of us know what's really in here, something that neither of us could ever change."
Blues was utterly speechless for a while. He had arguments like this with Psych before, and they were all just as bad as this one. "Look at me." Psych put his hooves on his own chest. "I'm Grief, sorrow, pain, everything anypony would hate in their lives. I have way more fun living up to what I am. If you guys would just let me do what I want-" He stopped and gave another laugh. "Oh yeah, you'd never do that; I know it. Deep down, you all fear and hate me."
"I...We..." Blues took a step back.
"See? You just gave yourself away." Psych said pointing at him before coldly hopping back on Ash's bed. "Get out before you really piss me off."
"Psych-"
"NOW!"
For a brief moment, Blues thought he was going to use his powers on him even with Ash still in the room. He just sighed and stepped out of the room allowing the brothers to resume their chess game. Once outside, Blues closed the door, sat on his hunches and covered his face trying to hold back tears.
"Blues?" Solstice said as he saw him. He ran over to his brother and patted him comfortingly. "Sweet Celestia, what happened? Did Psych use his powers on you?"
The beige unicorn shook his head. "Just...the same as always." Blues sighed and got up.
Solstice pursed his lips together and looked at the door. He was the eldest of the six of them, making him responsible for his younger brothers. Like Blues, he had tried to talk to Ash and Psych about their problems, but they refused to listen to him as well. He wished that there was something anypony could do, but for years, they shot down every attempt to comfort them.
"H...How were father's tests on the soil sample?" Blues asked wanting a change of topic. Solstice explained the results, stunning his brother. "This...Solstice, we must do something!"
"I know, but we can only assist father and wait for Ironhead and Scar's results. If they can successfully stop whatever is causing light to flow into Ponyville's soil, they all is well. The worst-case scenario is that it becomes too late. If we aren't united when that time comes, Ponyville is lost." He looked over to the door before him. "Until then, we must help our brothers and father as best we can."
"Check-mate." Ash said moving his rook in its final place. Psych looked around and found no way out and hung his head.
"Ah it was a good game anyway." His smile quickly turned into a frown. "Stupid Greed, ruining our game..."
"He was just trying to be nice." Ash said as he packed his chess set away. "You can't really blame others for rejecting us..."
Psych shook his head. "Ash, Ash, Ash." He patted his brother's shoulder. "You're much too swallowed up by your own self-loathing to understand the truth. When will you learn that none of this is your fault?"
Ash sighed feeling miserable once again. "Psych, can you honestly blame others? What we are deep down is just horrible; if nopony will accepts us, it's because they'd be much happier without us."
"You mean happier rejecting us? Hating us?" Psych replied. "Ash, we're a part of this world, a part that's not nice nor pleasant but is an inevitable truth that's never gonna go away. We'll always exist, and they'll always hate us. And for what? Because we're a part of this world they don't like?" He stomped his hooves angrily. "They hate us just because we're a harsh bitter truth in this world that they just can't accept!"
"But Psych, the world would be better off without us...Everypony would be much happier if we didn't exist..."
What is this? Actual care coming from you? That's just not possible, and you know it.
Ash growled and jerked his head as that thought crossed his mind. He covered his ears and tried to fight off the pain coming from his thoughts. The sight of his face going through so much pain made Psych sigh; their chess game was suppose to make Ash feel better, but Blues had to ruin it.
"Ash?" Psych asked worriedly. After a few seconds, Ash shook his head a few more times before uncovering his ears. "There there, it's OK." He went over and gave him a comforting hug. "You don't have to worry Ash. You...are the only real brother I have...I'll accept you no matter what you are."
"H...How can you Psych? Even after all these years, I still don't understand. You know what I am deep down. In fact, I'm worse than you." Ash pushed his brother away lightly. "I'm supposed to make ponies suffer. I'm not suppose to care about anything. There's nothing I can do about it."
"Well, you could at least fix up your attitude." Psych told him. "It's others' fault you're hated in this world, not yours. Quit blaming yourself for everything Ash; turn that anger and hate to those who deserve it."
"...I am..." Ash said gloomily. Shaking his head, Psych sighed and jumped off his brother's bed.
"I'm...gonna get some rest. Night Ash." He always hated seeing Ash like that, almost as much as he hated everypony else for hating and rejecting them. Psych hung his head and left his brother's room still thinking of how he could pull Ash out of his self-loathing.
Ash was now alone with his thoughts which to him was always bad. He always looked for something, anything that would distract him from his own misery; that's what he had chess for. With nothing to do, he sighed and laid on his bed. Hoping for a dreamless sleep, he closed his eyes and slowly drifted off.