//------------------------------// // Opening up? // Story: Brothers // by Pennington Inkwell //------------------------------// After we left our homeland, things only became harder. I knew that I was taking a big risk to choose my brother over a home and parents, but I never regretted the decision. Even when our flying knight landed in the heart of a massive den of wraiths, Discord refused to drop his ridiculous grin. Their shadowy forms swirled around beneath us, and a few of them began extending shadowy tendrils over the shining ivory. Discord snapped his fingers again, and the chess piece suddenly changed, feeling waxy and not as cool to the touch. "It's white chocolate! Go ahead, eat!" Discord cried as he took a large bite. After taking a moment to try and understand what kind of change had occurred, the wraiths began showing their pearly teeth and ripping off chunks of chocolate. I couldn't help but become a but nervous as I watched large chunks of our chess piece disappear. "Um, Dizzy, what's going to stop them from eating us?" "Simple, Eclipse! What makes you think that they're going to want to eat us Everyone loves chocolate!" He indicated the giant treat with a wave of his hand. "They're going to thank us for this!" A single wraith, climbing higher than the rest, jumped up like a trained fish and snapped off Discord's extended hand. "AUUUUGHHH!" I screamed in fear and began to look around for other attackers from below. "AUUUUGHHH!" Discord screamed, looking at the stump where his hand used to be, then shrugged and pulled out the rest of his fake arm, tossing it over the side. "Okay, so maybe they won't. So maybe they're more like piranhas made out of shadow and able to live on land. We can just leave!" He pulled a toy life raft out of his pocket, and it immediately began to grow. Finally, it became life size, sprouting a pair of wings. "All aboard?" Without hesitation, I leaped into the boat. Discord stepped in, and the wings began to flap, trying to lift off. Just as we were getting up into the air, a wraith jumped up from the top of the giant candy and took a huge bite from our raft! "Dizzy? DIZZY?" I began to panic, and I had no idea what to do, and we were falling into a veritable pit of fangs. "DISCORD!" Without warning, we landed in something soft. Something sticky. Something... Pink. I opened my eyes, and found that Discord and I had landed in a cloud... of cotton candy. "I didn't do this..." Discord muttered, inspecting our new ride. When he turned back, his grin was bigger than ever. "Clips! You did it! You saved us!" "We're not outta the woods yet..." I pointed down at the wraiths, who were leaping up to try and get at us. Out of nowhere, one leaped up towards us, sending a thrill of panic through my chest. in perfect sync, a rainbow-colored lightning bolt lashed out, sending the wraith spiraling back to earth. "Way to go!" Discord gave me a hardy pat on the back. "Clips, I've never seen you do stuff like this!" I could only nod in agreement, because neither had I. Somehow, I had figured out how to defend myself and my brother, and the road ahead seemed a bit less scary. "You mean, the moment you left home, you wound up in the middle of a wraith nest?" Luna shook her head. "Either you're lying, or you have the worst luck I've ever seen!" She looked up at her sister, who nodded her agreement. "I've never been well acquainted with good luck." Eclipse smiled. "At least not until now, but every word happened!" He looked around at the room that Celestia and Luna had prepared for him, and couldn't help but be impressed. They had placed Luna's gift moon in the corner of the room, decorated it in an array of dark mottled greens and blues. His bed was soft and very plush, the perfect size for a draconequus to stretch out and relax. The walls were painted in a forest mural, with parasprites dotting the treetops, and a large skylight with an awning that could come down to form a roof. Best of all, it was in the same hallway as Celestia and Luna's rooms, so anyone wanting to come and see him would have to pass them. "I still can't believe that you two put this together while I was in the hospital!" "Well, it's surprising what can happen if you put your mind and enough bits to it..." Celestia laughed. "You two didn't have to spend money for me... I would just want a quiet place to sleep! All of this..." He laughed and fell back on the bed, sinking in. "This is more than I could have asked for..." "Of course! That's why we didn't wait for you to ask for it!" Luna laughed and jumped onto the bed, bouncing next to him. "Is that all that you're going to tell us today? That's hardly anything!" "Luna, it's the beginning and ending of the story that are most important, and that hold most of the answers that you can Celestia want. If I told too much of the middle part at once, if would begin to seem terribly repetitive to the two of you!" "No way! If it's all near-escapes and close calls like that, how could it get boring?" Luna gave one final jump, coming close enough to Eclipse to bounce him back up into a sitting position. "They're not. That was the end of the beginning. The wraiths lived just outside of Kirin Country, that's why there needed to be a fence around the border. After that, we made our way into other countries dominated by sentient beings... That's where things fell into a pattern." Celestia thought for a moment, trying to ignore Luna's childishness. "You told me that four words had been haunting you your whole life... back at your camp." "'We don't want you.' Yes. That's it." Eclipse rolled his eyes. "No one wanted us in their lands, probably because as we grew stronger, just being in a country would turn it into the chaos capital of the world... So, just like with the kirins, we were driven out time and time again. Sometimes, Discord would stand and fight." "Wait, we read about that!" Luna picked up a book and began flipping through it. "There's an account here of Discord fighting a large dragon! It's rather exciting to read, and it mentions you, too! It says that you stopped Discord from striking the killing blow..." "I remember that..." Eclipse thought. "That was getting close to the time we reached Equestria... We had been kicked out of at least a dozen countries by then... Discord had taken to doing all of the fighting, and letting me stay behind..." He sighed and put his head in his hands. "I should have seen it coming. Discord was always protecting me... Always fighting." "See what coming?" Both sisters leaned in. "His descent... He started to think of fighting as the first choice. He decided that to be welcome, we had to rule..." He shook his head. "It was with this mentality that we arrived in Equestria." "Is that where you two... split up?" Luna knew that this was skipping to the end of the story, but if Eclipse was right, there was nothing more than Discord fighting over and over again, becoming more and more violent. "Yes... It is. But, that's a story for later." "How much later? Tomorrow?" Celestia asked, taking a bit of Luna's enthusiasm. This was the part of the story that she had been waiting for, where the two of them split up. "Maybe." Eclipse laid back down on the bed. "I'm not sure... I'm trying to leave my past behind, like you said, but still remember it for the two of you..." He closed his eyes. "I'm going back and forth... Past and present. Discord's voice is still playing over and over again in my memories... In my brain. Then what you told me plays over again, Celestia. About leaving what happened with Discord behind and trying to make myself happy." "Eclipse, if you don't want to tell us until your mind has settled, we won't make you..." "I would like to take a little time..." He muttered, keeping his eyes closed. "Maybe after I... get used to being here, around ponies..." "Right. How do you want to do that?" Luna asked. "We could make an announcement to the servants here at the castle... Tell them that you're NOT Discord, for one thing..." "Or, we could go for the more personal approach, and only introduce the ones that need to know you until you feel better about the rest of the staff being informed..." Once again, the difference in tactic between the two sisters was obvious. "Celestia, I really appreciate the thought, but I think that it might be best if we did this Luna's way and dove right in... It's going to be like getting into a cold river to swim." "If you say so, Eclipse... We'll make the announcement tomorrow. It would be best if you came..." Celestia placed a hoof on his shoulder. "We'll be right there with you..." Eclipse nodded. "I'll try. Diving in headfirst isn't my normal way of doing things..." He glanced over at Luna. "Don't worry, Eclipse. We'll be there to make sure you don't get in over your head!" Eclipse shook his head. "Somehow, I'm getting stage fright already!" "Everypony, I know that it's very strange for me to call you all out of your duties to speak to you, but this is very important, and requires your complete attention!" Celestia stood tall in front of the assembled workers and servants. "We both would like you to meet someone new. Someone who will seem a bit strange at first. Let me tell you, he doesn't like being in the spotlight, but we all agreed that this would be the best way for you all to get used to him being around the castle." Luna continued her sister's announcement in their usual style of working together, as of late. "Now, I'm sure that you're all familiar with Discord, correct?" Celestia's question was greeted by large amounts of booing, stomping, and even a few hisses. "Quiet, quiet! Discord is a creature known as a draconequus, correct?" Luna shouted, making sure that she was heard. The booing was replaced by murmurs of curiosity, though the tension still hung in the air. "Well, it is our honor to present..." "The last member of the draconequus race, and our HONORED GUEST, Eclipse Tumult!" Celestia motioned to the podium between them, where first a pair of mismatched horns, then a pair of blue eyes rose up. All was silent as he stood to his full height, rising above the podium. "Eclipse is our guest, and as such must be treated with respect. We do not wish for you to associate him with Discord, but to treat him as if you didn't even know Discord existed, understood?" There was a general mumble of consent from all of the gathered ponies. "Can he talk?" One pony shouted. Celestia and Luna both looked over at Eclipse, who was being very fidgety, tapping the pulpit nervously. He snapped to attention. "Oh, what? I- um... Yes, I talk..." "So, you're the last draconequus? Are you the one we've heard was in the hospital?" Another pony shouted. "Well, yes... I've been rather sick as of late, and your princesses used the facilities here to help me..." "OUR princesses? Don't you consider them royalty, draconequus? Or do your loyalties lie elsewhere?" one pony heckled from the crowd. "Yes! They're royal! Of course my allegiance lies with them, they're my friends!" Eclipse was beginning to pale and shake under the pressure of a hundred pairs of eyes. I wasn't expecting the royal guards to come... Especially not in uniform... A single cotton candy cloud appeared above his head, showing that he was losing her nerve again. Both Celestia and Luna knew that it was time to go. Eclipse had done his best, but was cracking under the pressure. Celestia grabbed the cotton candy cloud before it could start to rain. "Thank you, Eclipse! How did you know that I wanted some cotton candy! It's been ages since I treated myself to some!" She took a large bite. "Everypony, we would like you to treat Eclipse with the same love and respect that you give to us, and make him feel welcome here in Canterlot Castle!" Luna shouted as Celestia escorted Eclipse off of the stage. "After seeing Discord's imprisonment, he hid himself away and refused to do anything that would draw attention to himself or cause ponies trouble! We are trying to convince him that ponies are not prejudiced against his race because of one deviant Discord! Prove us right!" With those words, Luna joined her sister and Eclipse, and the crowd dispersed. "Good job, Eclipse. Was that so bad?" Celestia asked, giving the colorless friend a pat on the back. "Indeed, you displayed greater courage than I expected, going out there like that..." Luna smiled. "I half expected you to run away!" Eclipse's pallor only grew as they kept walking. "I... never... felt so exposed... in my life..." Eclipse finally managed to choke out as he reached out for his door. When he pulled it open, parasprites, real ones, not painted, were buzzing about everywhere. Without even the slightest indication that he had noticed this, he walked inside and shut the door behind him. "You know, Tia... Eclipse is a far cry from the state he was in when we first met him..." "So are we, Luna..."