There was a flash of light, and the very air seemed to shimmer and wave like heat rising from the ground on a sweltering day. Then suddenly, some pony appeared in front of Twilight…some pony who had definitely not been standing there a second ago.
She saw the same stunned expression she assumed was on her face mirrored in this new pony’s face. The white unicorn stallion looked a few years older than her, with different shades of blue in his mane, matching his blue eyes that were very much wide in surprise.
“T-Twilight, you can see me?” the stallion asked, quickly looking behind him to make sure she was indeed.
Her shock changed to confusion, how did this pony know her? “Um, of course I can see you. But…you weren’t there a second ago,” she answered. “May I ask who you are?”
More surprisingly and even more unexpectedly, he placed both of his front hooves on her shoulders, causing her to try and back up from this sudden contact.
He let her out of his grasp, landing back on his hooves. “Twilight, listen to me. I know this is going to sound crazy…but my name is Shining Armor – you knew me as Shining Star – and I’m…your older brother.”
Just when the purple unicorn thought she had finally gotten over the shock of seeing him, this new revelation sent her into an even bigger one.
“What? No, that’s…I don’t have a brother. I’m an only child.”
“I know you think that, that’s what you were supposed to think,” he said, his face falling slightly in disappointment. “I’d hoped that when the barrier fell, everything else would be fixed, and you’d remember me.”
Twilight wasn’t sure what to think. All she had done was come home to Canterlot and stopped by her fillyhood home. She had been just standing there under her favorite old tree, when the flash occurred, and this stallion just appeared now claiming to be her brother. That didn’t make sense though; she knew she was an only child. It had always been so.
“Are you sure you don’t, just a little?” he asked. It was odd hearing this question from him – not only because she was still trying to wrap her mind around it – but his voice was almost that of a colt. His size and stature just seemed the picture of ‘strong’, ‘mature’, some pony respectable. Though the way he wilted at her backing away, it was quite the opposite of what she would have expected under some other, more normal circumstances.
The sadness in his eyes when she shook her head made her almost wish she could give a different answer.
“I’m sorry – I really am – but I think you might have me confused with some pony else.”
“No, I don’t,” Shining said, a sharpness now raising its head in his tone, and Twilight wasn’t sure if it was directed at her or himself. “I thought that finally, I could come home…” he muttered, barely audibly.
He slumped down before her, and it really hit Twilight how broken this pony was. She wasn’t sure what to do for him though, how to comfort him.
The unicorn mare looked around her old backyard, really stalling for time as she tried to think of something.
Thankfully though, that was when help arrived.
Galloping up behind them, splashing though mud puddles all the way was the brown pony of the time lords more commonly known as Doctor Whooves.
“So sorry there, Shining. Didn’t mean to be late, but you got away from me. I thought you’d be re-appearing somewhere closer to the castle…” The Doctor rambled as he approached the two unicorns. “…but I should have known you’d want to come back home,” he gave a sad smile as he spotted the white unicorn.
Shining stood straight up at his voice, a new hope returning to him. “Doctor, it hasn’t completely gone.”
“I could have told you that, if you’d just waited,” he shook his head at the unicorn, but his smile was still there.
“But you can fix it, can’t you? Like you did with the rest of the filter?”
The Doctor stopped close to Shining, looking for a moment over to the now very very confused Twilight then back to his – apparent – friend.
“I’m sorry Shining,” he said with a sigh. “All I could do was disrupt the filter. I don’t know what sort of magicy-sciency hybrid was done on you, but it appears that only part of it could be broken. The science part, I’d imagine.”
Both stallions looked back to Twilight now, and all she could do was blink.
“Thankfully though, you’ve got a sister who knows far more about magic than I could ever hope to.”
“Uhhh, not to be rude…” She asked the two males, managing to only sound a tiny bit freaked out, “But is this the part where you explain to me what is happening?”
The brown stallion nodded. “Of course, quick recap: I’m the Doctor, you might have heard of me, don’t think we’ve met yet on your side of things judging by your expression, but I know you quite well, Miss Sparkle.” He raised a hoof to indicate the unicorn next to him. “This is Shining Star, given the name Shining Armor when he joined the Princesses’ royal guard. Now I know this will be hard to process, but he *is* in fact your older brother.”
“But, if I had a brother, wouldn’t I know it?” She asked quickly as the Doctor paused to take a breath.
“Not when there’s perception filters involved,” he answered. “Perception filters mess with one’s memory. It can make everyone believe anything. You absolutely *know* that you are an only child? Your parents have never mentioned a sibling to you? “
Twilight shook her head. “That’s the filter. It works not only on the present, but on the memories of a person – or pony, rather,” he finished.
“The Doctor here could see me somehow, when no pony else could, and I asked him to help me break whatever the thing he mentioned was,” Shining chimed in.
“I don’t really know why the filter didn’t affect me at all; I’ve been affected by them before. I thought I could help him with part of it, and at least ponies can see him again, but restoring their memories of him seems to be a bit trickier here.”
“Wait, so I do have a brother… and this – perception whatever – made me forget? Made every pony forget?” Twilight asked.
“That’s the short version of it, yes.” The Doctor said.
“But-but…if you really are my brother, *why* did you need some sort of magic-science something to make us forget you?”
“You were at risk, every pony I knew was. Something I saw out there while serving in the guard…I’m still not sure what it was, bu-“
The Doctor interrupted, “Nuh-uh, that’s all she needs to know for now. If the thing we both know about is still tracking you, than the less she knows the better. Besides, she’ll find out the next time we meet anyway.”
Shining raised his eyebrow at the Doctor; apparently this was something the unicorn did not know about.
“Don’t worry about that, if I remember correctly it all ends fine. Right now we need to focus on restoring her memories of you. She’s the key to fixing the rest of your problem.”
“Me, what can I do?” she asked.
“You can think, Twilight, really think.” The Doctor spoke sternly and with such determination. “This is very important. If we can get *you* to remember your brother, than I think that will bring him back into the collective consciousness of all the other ponies who came in contact with him.”
“Ok, so…no pressure,” Twilight half-joked. Being the only thing keeping some pony from returning to his old life was a lot to put on her, especially so quickly.
She looked from the Doctor then back to Shining, that hope when the brown stallion appeared was still there. She still had no idea about any of this, but they both seemed to know what they were talking about…and Shining seemed so certain...she felt like she had to at least try.
She focused on the white pony, attempting to bring about any sort of recognition or feeling other than a wish to feel *something*. She rifled through the memories of her childhood, trying to find somewhere…anywhere where she felt this unicorn might fit.
“Shining, perhaps she needs some help. Try thinking of something that happened, that only the two of you could know.”
She saw Shining wrack his brain, and finally find something to try.
“Remember when my friend dared me to buck the birds’ nest out of that tree, and the mother bird chased me all around the yard, pecking me relentlessly? I ran inside and you scared her away with your magic.”
Twilight gave an involuntary chuckle at this story, though she didn’t know why. Strangely enough, it sounded vaguely like something she’d heard before. She could almost picture it, as if from a dream.
At her silence, Shining tried something else.
“Or, how about when you tried to make Mom’s favorite necklace glow for her birthday present? I told you that if you focused too hard on it, it’d explode…and that’s just what happened.”
Twilight’s brow furrowed, and a smile began forming as she pictured this event too. Now this one definitely had something to it. She definitely remembered trying to make the emerald in her mother’s necklace glow. It had exploded right in her face, shattering into a thousand little sharp pieces. She hadn’t been hurt, but she’d tried to use her magic to fix it. When she couldn’t…then what had happened? That part was fuzzy.
“I…I tried to fix it…” she said quietly, eyes closed now in concentration.
“Yes,” Shining said, his voice sounding much brighter now. “Then what happened?”
“I cried, I thought Mom would be mad, but some pony hugged me, and hid it for me. It wasn’t a every good hiding place, a cup at the top of the cabinet. She found it a few weeks later. More upset that we hid it than that I’d broken it…” She remembered the comfort of the other pony hugging her tiny frame, he not very much bigger than her.
And there it was.
“It was you,” Twilight said breathlessly, realization dawning on her. “You joined the Royal Guard academy right before I got into Princess Celestia’s school. I remember missing you, and you sent letters…I, I remember!”
Her eyes met Shining’s again, and this time it was like a mist had lifted.
“Shiny,” she chuckled, eyes now filling with tears for some reason. “That’s what I called you.”
For the first time since he appeared, Shining smiled. “Yeah, Sparky.”
He brought his sister into a hug, and suddenly a ripple was felt by both, it radiated from them and outwards, off into the distance.
The Doctor’s eyes watched the nearly-invisible ripple as it shot off. “That should have done it, great job Twilight.”
Patting the two still hugging siblings on the backs, the Doctor then began to walk away.
“Well,” he sighed with an air of finality. “Glad I could be of help, and glad things could all work out this time around, but I should think you have some catching up to do. So, be seeing you!”
Both Twilight and Shining looked up as he walked off. “But Doctor, you can’t stay? I have to thank you for this,” Shining called after him.
The Doctor turned back to look at them, paying no attention to the strange noise emitting from the big , blue, wooden box that had appeared behind him.
“Would if I could, but I’ve far too much to do. Places to go and ponies to see, and all of that! Don’t worry, you can take it from here.”
He opened the door to the blue box and paused, turning back once more and deciding to say one last thing. “We’ll see each other again, at the wedding. Early congrats, by the way, Shiny!”
And with that, the Doctor and the blue box faded away, leaving the siblings to their reunion.