I hadn't gotten any sleep by the time that dawn broke. I'd spent most of the night just staring at the ceiling thinking about everything. I wasn't holding my breath that TD would give Klugetown its freedom back. He'd think that what he was doing was all for the greater good. I quietly scoffed t myself. "The greater good" was one of the worst phrases in all of language. With an entire town unwillingly under his hoof, who was the greater good really for? I know that he insisted that it was for everybody, but I wasn't so sure.
I slid out of bed once it got bright out enough that the sun illuminated the entire area. Skystar was still fast asleep, but it was time to be on the road again. I went over to her bed and gently shook her.
"Hey Skystar? Time to get up. We need to hit the road."
Skystar groaned and turned away from me. "Five more minutes," she groaned.
"Come on, it's time to get going. I materialized a cup of coffee and turned her back around. "Here. This should help you wake up."
"I don't like coffee," Skystar grumbled as she sat up and glared at the cup.
I rolled my eyes and waved my hoof over the cup. "There. Now it tastes like orange juice."
"Okay, okay," Skystar replied, taking the cup and draining it all in one go. Her eyes widened as the coffee hit her, and she shot right out of bed. "Whoa! What the heck was that?"
"Just one of the finest cups of chaos-brand coffee, guaranteed to get you out of bed with enough energy in the morning." I dissipated the cup and motioned to the window. "It's dawn. Time for us to be headed out."
"Oh yeah." Skystar got out of bed and stretched out her wings. "So where are we going first? I know that you said that you wanted to go to the Storm Kingdom to make sure that everything was okay, but how are we getting there?"
"Well, we're going to fly, I guess," I said with a shrug. "At least until we find a better way to get there."
Skystar frowned and tilted her head. "But we wanna get to it through the most direct point, right?"
I raised my eyebrow. "Yeah... and?"
"Well, the most direct point is through Equestria."
My eyes widened, and I spun around to face the window. No, she couldn't be right. I hadn't thought about that! Given that there wasn't anything to the south of Mount Aris, and when I took into account the direction the Storm King's airships had come when they attacked Canterlot... I groaned and facehooved.
"Yeah. Equestria. Right."
Truth be told, I was hoping to avoid Equestria entirely on this trip. I mean, sure, I could go through disguised, but that would be a touch harder with Skystar. I wasn't good enough to straight change her species, and last I'd heard from Novo, TD's spy network was almost as extensive as Cadance's. He wasn't on some 1984 kick, I doubted that he knew every single thing that every one of his subjects was doing, but a pony with a hippogriff coming in from the south would probably grab his attention, and he would put it together pretty easily.
"So what do you want to do?" Skystar asked. "Should we just... go around Equestria?"
"Only if we want to add another month to our trip," I grumbled, tapping my hoof on the floor in thought. "I mean... obviously I can disguise myself pretty well, but you stick out a touch. Obviously hippogriffs aren't unheard of in Equestria since the end of the Storm War, but traveling with me would make you stick out more."
"I get that, and I know that Prince Antares would probably know where you were, but would he actually do anything about it?"
"I don't know," I said through gritted teeth. "I know he knew where I was when I was helping you and your mom with rebuilding Mount Aris, but I think that since I was living in Mount Aris which is a sovereign nation, he wasn't going to do anything."
Not that that helped with Klugetown, but Klugetown didn't have a ruling monarch, and TD shot an icicle through the eye of the closest thing Klugetown had to a ruler.
"Yeah, that might be part of it, but..." Skystar uneasily rubbed the side of her leg. "What if, I dunno, you're being a little paranoid about your brother? He knows you're here right now, and we're technically in Equestria. He's not breaking down the door to force you back to Baltimare, right? Maybe he's fine with you doing your own thing for a bit."
I scoffed and shook my head. "Yeah, no. He's probably hoping an opportunity to really confront me arises, then he'll pop out of nowhere and give me some politician-speak about why I should come back, then wave away anything I say." My jaw tightens and I let out a quiet growl. "It's pretty much what he just did to the Klugetown council he set up."
"Yeah, I get that, but you know why he annexed Klugetown," Skystar said. "What reason does he have to force you to come back?"
"Oh, he'd think of something," I replied. "He'd probably give some spiel about how we're siblings and need to stick together and we're the only connection the other has to Earth."
"Does that sound like him?" Skystar asked.
I whirled around and glared at Skystar. "I don't know what's left of my brother anymore! All of the fighting and political stuff and murder and torture and everything else I've seen and heard him do shows me that I don't recognize him at all! The TD that I knew had empathy and listened to people and wanted to make sure that everything was okay in the end. This 'Prince Antares' guy saying he's my brother isn't like that! He doesn't care what Klugetown wants, just what he thinks is best for his subjects. when I saw him in that meeting, it was almost like he was annoyed that these children were bothering him when he had actually important stuff to deal with."
Skystar flinched back. "Kristen..."
"What, are you going to try and say that I'm overreacting and that I'm just being silly and naive? Maybe I'm just being stupid and the wonderful, all-knowing Prince Antares is going to make everything better and he always knows what he's doing and it's always awesome and wonderful and amazing!"
"N-no, that's not what I was going to say at all," Skystar whispered.
"Maybe something about he has responsibilities now and can't be bothered to think about his silly sister and her stupid ideas!" I growled and began pacing back and forth. "Maybe 'eh, he's in a rough headspace right now because of the war, but give it a few years and he'll go back to the brother you've always known!"
"Kristen, I don't--"
"He's the 'God of War' now!" I said, making quotation marks with my wings. "He has to be more violent. He protects Equestria from all kinds of nasty things! Sure, sometimes that includes torture and murder, but if it's for the greater good of Equestria, who cares? They're all just faceless threats to him! No more real than a bad guy in a video game! I just..."
All of the energy from my rant evaporates, leaving me more tired than I've felt in a long time. I collapse down onto my haunches and put my hooves over my eyes. I take in a deep, shaky breath as Skystar takes a few steps toward me and puts her claws on my shoulder. I flinch at the touch, but don't shrug her off.
"I just want my brother back," I whispered. "I lost him for five years, then when I finally get him back, he's this whole other person. What he's gone through would change anyone, I get that, but I didn't think he was that far gone."
"It's okay," Skystar said, sitting next to me and putting her wing over my shoulder. "I know it's gotta be hard to see him like that."
"He just doesn't seem to care anymore," I groaned. "It's like everyone except his family and maybe his subjects are just... complications or things to be manipulated. Faceless. When I see him kill so casually, it scares me. When I killed Tempest, she looked so scared of me. I could have just let her get back into the palace. Maybe we could have talked something out. Instead I just shattered the balcony and let her fall. I couldn't hear anything but her screams, and for the briefest moment I saw her falling. She was trying to find something to break her fall, and... I've never seen anyone look so scared."
"Yeah, but she was trying to kill Maia and Nymeria," Skystar pointed out.
"I know, I know, and the Storm Creatures I killed were taking over Equestria," I muttered. "I get why all of that had to happen, but that doesn't make it any easier. I'll remember what happened to Tempest for the rest of my life. I'll always be able to hear her scream and see her face. For TD, though, he wouldn't have given it a second thought. He didn't really seem to care about what he did to the Storm King. It was just something that he had the right to do, or something like that. However he wants to justify it to himself. And that's the entire point, isn't it? all of this, everything I've seen him do in the past few years, it's freaking me out with how he justifies everything to himself. Nothing he does is bad because it's always for the good of Equestria."
Tears began welling up in my eyes, and I leaned in a little closer to Skystar's hug. "I just want my brother back. I don't know how to handle this high-and-mighty pony prince that everyone assures me is my brother. People change, I get that, but he's gone in a direction that scares me."
"I know, and I can't imagine how that feels," Skystar said. "But if you went back to Equestria, do you really think that he'd appear and try and force you to go back to Baltimare with him?"
"I dunno. Maybe," I muttered.
"I don't think so," Skystar replied, standing up and extending her claw to me. "And let's say he does. Let's imagine that he appears out of nowhere the second you step hoof inside of Equestria. Well, it's a good thing that I'm here, isn't it?"
I wipe my eyes with the back of my hoof and give Skystar a frown. "Huh?"
"Well I'm obviously not going to let him manipulate you or force you to go back," Skystar replied. "If he tries, then our resolve will make him go away and leave you to travel the world and make it a better place! He won't stop us."
I let out a weak chuckle and take Skystar's claw. "I guess so. I guess I'm just not ready to talk to him again."
"Well then, if he does show up, let me do the talking," Skystar replied. "And I really don't think that he's going to. I'm sure he misses you a lot, but if he tries to force you back, he's only going to drive you away further, and he's smart enough to know that. Besides..." Skystar shrugged. "You two are immortal. You have literally forever to make up with each other."
"Yeah, I guess so." I took a deep breath and looked back out the window. "So we should probably get going, then, I guess. Wasting daylight."
"Yeah, we should," Skystar said. "And who knows? All of this could turn out much better than you think it will."
"Yeah. I guess it could."
Maybe it could. Maybe Skystar was right. I still wasn't putting all of my chips on it, though.