//------------------------------//
// Explusion 
// Story: Brothers 
// by Pennington Inkwell 
//------------------------------//

	"The earliest memory I have is of Discord and I playing together in the front yard... Mom and Dad were happy to see us having a good time..." Eclipse cringed a little. "They took us in, not knowing what they were in for, but that describes the Kirins as a whole, I suppos-"

"Wait! You knew the Kirins?" Celestia asked, leaning in towards the crystal-ball like moon on their end. Her face filled the orb, peering out at Eclipse to find some sign of deception. "You mean, THE Kirins? The mystical race that went extinct in a week?"

Eclipse nodded. "That was my first home. They were rather chaotic creatures, themselves. Not as potent as Discord and myself, of course. In the beginning, we were raised being told that we were their patrons, giving the land its vital chaos energy for them to feed off of..." He chuckled a little, shaking his head. "Of course, that was when we were just small children... As we began to mature, we started to generate more and more energy."

"So, what happened then?" Luna asked, pushing her sister back away from the communicator so that she could see. "If they thrived on chaos, wouldn't more energy be good for them?"

Eclipse raised a wary eyebrow at Luna. "Tell you what, I saw that you enjoy cannolis at dinner, Luna. Try stuffing thirty into your mouth at once. That would be the equivalent of what was happening to the Kirins. They couldn't handle it." He cleared his throat. "So, they took us and imprisoned us while they debated what to do... But Discord could see how things were going to work out, despite the fact that he was just a kid. They would eliminate the problem at its source: us."

"That's horrible!" Luna cried out as she recoiled in shock.

"Surely they must have tried to find another way!" Celestia's expression was one of horrified disgust.

"Did you?" Eclipse's voice fell flat, making the point even less subtle than it already was. "When your realm was in danger of being torn apart into utter chaos, did you 'find another way?'"

"That was different, Discord was a tyrant, and torturing ponies for his entertainment. You were just children!" Celestia's reply was ready, but she was clearly shaken.

Eclipse nodded. "I fell into despair, and did a lot of crying. Discord chose a different path: to fight for his life. That where our story truly begins, ladies. Fighting for our right to live, stolen from our friends and family by the cruel hand fate dealt us..."





It was in the dark, in the middle of the night, actually, that we made our escape. Discord was gripping my hand tightly as we ran through the trees, with only the moon to light our way. Discord seemed to be able to see things a lot more clearly than I could, because he didn't stumble once. I spat once again, trying to rinse the taste of black licorice from my mouth. We had eaten the bars to our prison with a little help from Discord's newly discovered abilities. 

"Dizzy, where are we going?" I asked as I tripped for what must have been the thousandth time. "They're just going to catch us again! We can't go home, we can't hide out in the woods. They'll be able to tell if we're anywhere in the entire country!" Discord stopped unexpectedly, throwing out his arm to stop me. In front of us, a large herd of ballet bunnies with extra-long legs came barreling through, trampling anything in their way.

"Then we can't stay IN the country, Eclipse." Discord was more solemn than usual. "They say that we're the cause of all of this, so they won't stop until we're gone... Or dead." He turned back to look at me, his red eyes glowing in the semi-darkness. He gave me one of his overconfident smiles, the ones that always popped up before he carried out one of his crazy plans. "So, let's get gone. If they want us to go, even our friends and family, then we'll be all we need. We'll stand together, you and me against the world."

"Dizzy..." Tears began welling up in my eyes as a throbbing ache grew in my chest. "I want to go home..."

He grabbed me, pressing my head into his shoulder to let the tears soak into his fur instead of my face. "Clips, I'm sorry... We just lost our home. We'll find a new one, I promise." He grabbed my hand again, leading me forward. "And until that day comes, we'll be our own home. Our own family. I know that all I need is my little brother..." He didn't turn back around again, and when I looked closely, I could see why. Tears were falling from his face, and he didn't want me to see.

"You there, stop!" An angry-sounding voice cried from behind us, and Discord ran faster, pulling me along behind. "By order of the governor, STOP!"

"The governor can go take a bath in the sewer! And so can you!" Discord shouted as we kept running. "I don't give a- AUGH!" We both fell back as the soldier teleported himself in front of us, something that we hadn't learned to do yet.

"You're going to regret saying that..." The kirin growled as he lowered his spear. He looked very intimidating, with a dragon's head, snake's body, eagle claws and wings, and a tapered, whiplike tail.

"YOU... are going to regret chasing us." I looked at Discord, wondering if my brother had gone completely mad. Instead, he raised his own eagle claw up into the air... and snapped his fingers.

A loud whistling sound filled the air. Not enough to to be deafening or incapacitating, though. The soldier only laughed at us. "You- you're joking, right, Discord? A whistle? That's what's going to make me regret chasing you?" Mockingly, he pursed his lips and pretended that he couldn't whistle, spitting everywhere. 

"A whistle is going to? Well, yes and no... It's not the sound. It's what's making it." Discord gave another one of his signature grins as a giant toy whistle fell out of the sky, knocking the guard unconscious and pinning him to the ground. Discord jumped to his feet, helping me up. "See, Clips? Told you I'd take care of you. Now, let's go before more come. The whistle was pretty loud..."

That was how things went for the next couple weeks progressed: running from everyone. A few of our dearest friends were still willing to help us get away: giving us food and a safe place to sleep every so often. I could count those friends on one hand. Discord was always leading me by the hand: he was strong enough for both of us, and I often cried myself to sleep on his shoulder. It was tough for him, I could see that, but he refused to show it. All he ever let me see on purpose was that smile... That stupid, crazy, completely nutty smile of someone who refuses to cry, but instead laughs at the ones he once knew.

Finally, we reached the nation's border. There, along with a huge fence, was half of the army, our parents, and the president.

"Discord, Eclipse!" Our parents ran to meet us, but Discord pulled me back and snapped his fingers, summoning a giant set of ivory chess pieces to block them.

"Discord! It's Mom and Dad!" I cried, trying to fight my way past him, but he had always been bigger and stronger than me.

"You mean the same Mom and Dad that turned us over because of a simple piece of paper? The same Mom and Dad who let us go to prison when we had done nothing wrong? Face it, Eclipse... They didn't care."

"Dizzy, honey, of course we care! We didn't have a choice!" Our mother cried as she tried to get past a bishop who seemed VERY intent on her not passing.

"They would have thrown us in jail, too! We had to-"

"STOP IT!" Discord snapped his fingers again, and the king and queen began moving towards our parents. "If you loved us, why did you hand us over! You ALWAYS had a choice! You taught me to stand tall and be proud of being different!" Discord's voice was starting to crack, and tears were falling freely from his eyes. "And now we're being hunted because we're different!" The chess pieces were bearing down, and burst into flames. The surprise shocked them both so much, both of our parents fell to the ground. "You said that being different was GOOD! You LIED to me!" Both kirins cornered, the pieces began to tip, falling like giant tree trunks towards our parents. "I'll never forgive you!" Both pieces turned a dark black and the flames snuffed out.

"Discord, NO!" For the first time, I snapped my own fingers. Two pterosaurs swooped in and grabbed out parents by their shoulders, pulling them out of the way in the nick of time. I grabbed Discord's shoulder and spun him around to face me. "No matter what, they're still our parents! And no matter WHAT," I stared him dead in the eyes, making sure my next three words sunk in as deep as they could. "We. Don't. Kill. Understand?"

"You can stay!" The president's voice echoed over the silence that had followed.

"What?" Both of us stared at him, completely incredulous. I looked over at our parents, whom the pterosaurs had placed on the top of the sentry post of the border fence. They both nodded vigorously.

"We did a lot of work to realize this: but you each amplify the other's energy! You're like 'nitro' and 'glycerin'! As long as you're together, the two of you release ten times as much energy! But if there is only one of you, the balance is perfect! We can keep one of you here, at home, with your family and friends. The other..."

Discord's eyes narrowed in anger. "The other will be forced to leave. Banishment! To keep your land from dying..."

"I am afraid that is the case to save OUR land, Discord... We will leave it to the two of you to decide who will stay and who will leave. You will have to say your goodbyes here."

Discord looked at me. "Do you want me to go? I have nothing to stay for... except you, Clips."

"But... You promised not to leave me! How can they split us up like this? There has to be another way!" I shouted, turning back to the president, who was sitting high and mighty in his watch tower. "There has to be another way! One where we can both stay!"

"That may be true, but by the time we found it... All the Kirins here would die from an overdose of chaos. We're giving you this chance to leave peacefully so that no one has to die!"

I turned back to Discord, looking up at the one who had kept me safe for so long, who had cared for me when he had been a fugitive himself, and had been my comfort for what felt like an eternity, even if it had been only a couple weeks. "Dizzy, don't go..."

"Eclipse, I promised you that we would stay together..." He whispered. "But there's only one way to do that... Neither of us stay. Why do you think they brought all of those soldiers? They knew that we wouldn't want to split up. It's your choice. You can stay, I won't force you to come with me, but no matter what happens, I'm leaving with or without you."

I couldn't believe the choice that he was presenting me with. Stay and have a home and my parents, or run away with my brother and best friend. I closed my eyes, weighing the options heavily. 

Mom! Dad! Don't let them take us! HELP!

I'm so sorry, honey, but you have to go with them for a little while! We'll come and get you soon! Those words had shattered my trust in my mother as she turned away, unable to watch us being stolen away. 

Without a word, I began walking forward, climbing to the top of the knight piece. Discord followed, and we both stared up to the president. "Sir, we've made our decision!" I turned to look over at Discord, praying to whatever deities existed that I was making the right choice. "And we're ready to say our goodbyes!"

With a silent nod of agreement, Discord gave me one of his insane grins, but it was MY crazy idea, this time. We both turned to the watch tower, waving vigorously to our once-parents. "Goodbye!"

Everyone's jaws dropped in horror as they realized what was happening, but Discord was unfazed. "Knight A4 moves to THE HECK OUTTA HERE!" The chess piece leaped up into the air, flying over the fence and out of the country, climbing its way up into the clouds.



Eclipse shook his head. "Neither of us realized that chaos was the lifeblood of that land. They needed one of us to stay, or the land would die even more quickly than if the two of us had stayed and choked it to death... The kirins, as you said, died within two weeks."

Celestia and Luna had hardly spoken a word after he had started to truly tell his story, except and occasional glance and whisper to one another.

"What happened after that?" Was Luna's first question. "How did Discord turn evil?"

"Luna, he tried to kill his own parents!" Celestia replied. "What makes you think that he wasn't already evil?"

"Celestia, you assume too much. Discord had just had his world thrown upside down, been betrayed my the two people that he loved as much as me, and was now face-to-face with seemingly insurmountable odds. The fact that he snapped for just a few minutes isn't a far-fetched concept to anypony..." Eclipse yawned loudly. "As for your question, Luna, I'll have to answer it later. I'm feeling really drained right now, and that bossy nurse is right, I need some sleep." He pulled up the covers and closed his eyes.

"Will you tell us more tomorrow?"

"Later. That's all I can promise... I might want to hear a story from the two of you, for a change." He lazily opened one eye and winked. "Goodnight, Luna. Goodnight, Celestia."

"Goodnight, Eclipse..." Celestia smiled, happy to see him resting. It was a sign that the worst was behind him, and that he was on the road to recovery.

"Get well soon, Eclipse!" Luna shouted before ending the connection. Back in her room, she looked up at her older sister and gave her a quick hug. "They were so close, what could have happened?"

"I don't know, Luna. Eclipse told me that by the time they had reached Equestria, Discord was 'beyond most kinds of help.' Maybe it was like what happened to us..." She gripped her sister tightly, holding the hug.

"Well, I wish that Discord could be helped. Eclipse misses him, I could see it..."

"So could I, Luna. I think that what he needs most right now are good friends like us. We need to make sure we're there for him." Celestia was surprised, but she was actually starting to feel... pity for Discord. She had always seen him for what he was when he came to rule Equestria: a sadistic, overpowered tyrant with a huge ego. Now... She was gaining new perspective that shook her views of everything.