//------------------------------//
// Rhyme And Reason 
// Story: The Sun Rises, The Sun Never Sets 
// by BRBrony9 
//------------------------------//

"Shiny...?"

Twilight's heart, soaring for just a moment, began to sink again, plunging down into the icy depths of fear. "Shiny, what do you mean...?"

"You are accused of being a subversive," Shining replied simply, standing in front of her. "Do you deny the charges?"

"Of course!" Twilight gasped. "Of course I do!"

"Why? How can you deny facts, Twiight?" Shining asked, his face as stern as Applejack's before him, as stern as some of their surrogate-fathers had been when they had been giving them some lecture over stolen cookies or staying up too late. "The facts are undeniable."

"What facts?" Twilight asked. "What facts...?"

"We searched your apartment," Shining explained. "We know."

"Why would military intelligence search my apartment?" Twilight asked, confused, frightened by Shining's expression.

"I'm not with military intelligence," he replied. "Not for the last three years. I'm with the ASU."

Twilight's confusion turned to panic. Shining wasn't even who he said he was? He wasn't the pony his family thought him to be? The army was one thing, an old institution, ancient even, right back to the founding of the Celestial Era, back to the events she had been reading about in the musty old archives of the Academy and the observatory. They had honour, structure, a proud tradition of loyal service to the Sun, fighting her foreign enemies and now, in more recent times, keeping the Degenerate Zones under control. But the ASU was different. They were the ones everypony wanted to keep away from, the ones everypony was taught to, if not exactly fear, then certainly be wary of, for they were the ones who had to deal with all the nastiness that lurked beneath the surface of Equestria, and ponies worried that the darkness rubbed off on those who searched for it. 

Everypony knew the ASU was a vital cog in the apparatus of state security, for everypony knew that the rule of the Sun could not be challenged. But if they gazed into the abyss for too long in pursuit of their duties, the abyss might just gaze back at them. It was almost like a modern form of the witchcraft of old- could the witchfinders succumb to the plague they sought to eradicate, and if so, should they be kept at arm's length, just in case? Perhaps that was why Shining had not told his family he had been transferred; so as not to alienate them, for though the ASU's work was lauded and appreciated, especially by the State itself, the attitudes of individual ponies toward its members could be rather different in reality.

"The ASU...but why? Shiny, why? You were doing so well in the army!" Twilight lamented. "Why did you..."

"They chose me," he replied, looking down at her. "As you said, I was doing well. a fine, accomplished officer, a Major at my age? They wanted somepony with my talents. How could I refuse them? To do so would be to refuse the Sun herself."

"But the army wanted you too!" Twilight cried. "We wanted you! Your family!"

"And I'm still here, am I not?" He knelt down before her, his eyes level with hers. "I am still your brother. I am still the stallion you knew before. But I cannot say the same for you...dear sister."

His hand stung her face, making her draw breath and gasp as he slapped her, hard. "My own sister, a subversive...how could you do this, Twilight? How could you betray me, and your mother?" His eyes narrowed, his voice soft and probing, mournful. "How could you betray the Sun?"

"I-i didn't!" Twilight gasped, her cheek reddened from his strike, her brain momentarily numb trying to process it. Shining had never, ever hit her before. Never harmed her at all. He was always the pony to pick her up when she grazed her knee or took a tumble from her gyro-bicycle. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Shiny...!"

"Lies, lies, lies!" Shining roared, his voice suddenly laden with fury. "We have the evidence, Twilight! We know everything you've been doing. We know. The Sun knows. And she is as disappointed as I."

"But you don't understand it...I-i didn't mean for anything bad to happen!" Twilight moaned. "I didn't mean to upset you, or the Sun, or anypony!"

"But you did," he sneered at her, striding around the room as he talked. "You have committed crimes, Twilight. Not just subversion, either. Not even mere treason, no. Heresy." He snarled the last word, grabbing her mane from behind, tugging her head back sharply. "Heresy! Do you even understand what that word means?"

"A-all I did was tweak one egg!" Twilight cried, whimpering as she looked up into the angry, contorted face of the brother she thought she knew. "Just one, not even the whole tray! Please, I'm not a heretic, Shiny...stop it, you're hurting me!"

"One egg." He let her go, her head slumping forward. "We don't care about that egg. Your abomination is hardly the first, and it won't be the last. Sometimes ponies get the sudden urge to create something strange like that."

"Then what?" Twilight gazed up at him through eyes bleary with tears of pain and fear. "What did I do...?"

"You know exactly what you did, Twilight," Shining replied. "But nopony else does. If you tried to explain it to them, they would not understand. And that is exactly how it should be, because that is exactly what we have tried to create these past centuries."

"How can I...how can..." Twilight trailed off. "I don't understand..."

"Yes you do," Shining snorted. "You understand all too well. Why else would you have tried to cover your tracks, hm? There is no point trying to deny it, Twilight. We already know everything that is important. Well, everything except the answer to one question." He knelt in front of her again, cupping her chin with his gloved hand, his eyes boring deep into hers.

"Why?"




Another day, perhaps two, or three, on her bed in her cell. Empty, meaningless hours rolled by. She had not been able to answer her brother. She did not even know the answer herself, in truth. Why had she done those things? Why had she deviated so far from the good little mare she had been?

Was there something wrong with her? Had she been raised badly? No. Had she developed some disease, early-onset dementia or perhaps a magic-leakage issue? No, her last health checkup had been perfect. She was in fine form, no illnesses, no issues. Had the joy-pills driven her slightly mad? No, they couldn't do that. They had no side effects. That was why they were so popular, after all.

Was she fated to make this mistake? Destiny? Was it written in the stars that she was supposed to do this, to be here in this prison because she had made such a colossal error of judgement? A character flaw, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Or maybe it was just chance. Happenstance, a combination of unlikely factors culminating with Spike's curiosity piquing her own, which she never knew she truly had. Not about the things she had been investigating. She had always been a keen learner, eager to expand her mind and know more about the universe, about history, about science and culture and anything. Twilight was a voracious reader, whether in print or on the screen of her datapad or computer, but she had never once felt the need or the inclination to ask the kinds of questions she had started to ask after Spike had made her think in a certain way, just for that one moment in time.

What's Nigh? he had asked. Not Nigh, but Night, the banned, profane word she had almost uttered in front of him. That simple, innocent question had been enough to make her think. She knew what Night meant, yes, but she didn't know why it had been banned. Nor did she know why Moon was similarly offensive, but in that case, even its meaning had been lost to her. Only after her investigation did she know- or strongly suspect- that Moon was an old term for the Co-Orbital Body. Such simple facts, the etymology of a profanity. Surely that should have been common knowledge? Everypony knew what fuck meant, or shit. But the meaning of Moon had been lost over time. Why? Why had Night merely been rendered profane, but the very meaning of Moon had vanished entirely from the zeitgeist of modern ponykind? 

The guards dragged her back to the interrogation room the next morning (or possibly evening). They pumped some kind of drug into her, making her squeal as they stuck a needle into her neck, making her feel slightly dizzy and nauseous shortly after. Again, Shining returned.

"Are you ready to confess?" he asked her. "We'll make it simple if you do."

"Confess what? Shiny, please...why are you doing this to me?" Twilight sniffled. Seeing her brother again made her fearful he would act in the same, seemingly out-of-character way as he had the last time. 

"We have no choice, Twilight," he answered. "We do what must be done."

"So what, you're going to re-educate me, some spell to make me forget? And send me back home?" Twilight ventured. That was what had happened to ponies at the university.

"We can't do that, Twilight," Shining shook his head. "Oh no, not for you. Not for this. The punishment must fit the crime."

"But I'm a subversive, you said so yourself!" Twilight blurted out. "Is that not what you do to subversives? There were ponies at the university who..."

"I misspoke," Shining patted her head, like he used to when they were foals, a brotherly gesture of love which was now rather more sinister in its application. "You are a subversive, yes. Of course. Your genetic freak of a pet saw to that. But you are not just a subversive. You are a heretic."

"No...!" Twilight gasped. "No, no, I'm not! I would never think that way, never! I couldn't!"

Shining pulled something from his pocket, unfolded it, placed it upon her thigh. "Read it," he ordered. Twilight looked down and immediately recognised the writing she had uncovered in the observatory. 

"I've already read it..."

"Exactly," Shining nodded. "Now tell me, Twilight. Who signed this letter?"

"Princess Luna..."

"And who is Princess Luna?"

"I don't know..."

"Exactly. Because..." he grabbed her mane again roughly. "You were not MEANT to know!" He gave her another slap, this time on the back of her head. "Nopony is meant to know, Twilight. Only those of us entrusted with keeping the secret. Do you understand? Do you understand now? That name...that name is heresy!"

"Ahh...Shiny..." she cowered away from his hand. "Please don't hit me...I don't know anything about Princess Luna! That's all I know! I found that letter, s-she signed it, that's all I know...I swear..."

"That's all you know? Then that is enough," Shining replied, letting her go once more. "Enough to convict, enough to condemn."

"But why? It's just a name!" Twilight cried. "Just a name...that's all...what did she do that was so bad? That she had to be wiped from history?"

"Why does it concern you, Twilight?" Shining asked her. "You never cared about gaps in history before. Never noticed the rift she left behind. You never noticed, and why? Because you were raised not to notice. Everypony is. There is a reason you have never heard of her before. Quite simply, the Sun does not want you to know that name."

"It doesn't concern me! I don't care!" Twilight lied. "I really don't, so you can let me go now, Shiny, right? Send me back home...I-i have to...somepony has to...arrange Rarity's funeral, and..."

"Ah yes, the collateral damage of your inquisitiveness," Shining nodded. "Your poor, innocent friend and part-time lover. I have to say I didn't actually know you were into mares, Twilight. Although, we certainly have surveillance footage of you spending time with stallions, too. A good, healthy pony, aren't you? Having your fun, letting your joy-pills and alcohol numb your speculative side. Keeping your curiosity in check. So what changed, Twilight? When did you start caring about the things you were not meant to care about?"

"I-i don't know. I'm still the same pony you know, Shiny," Twilight sighed. "Nothing's changed with me. I...I'm still the same. I'm still loyal to the Sun. I like the same VR movies, the same songs, the same food. I'm the same pony I've always been."

"But you never used to ask these kinds of questions, did you?" Shining knelt by her again and placed a hand upon her arm- tenderly, he touched her, like he used to when he was a brother, not an interrogator. "You've always had an inquisitive mind, I know that. But you only asked the right sort of questions. What changed?"

She shied away from his soft touch as much as she had from his abusive one, for now she was confused and half-twisted around her own understanding of things. "Nothing changed...I just...I felt like I wanted a pet who could talk. I don't know why, I just did! Just, suddenly...an impulse, nothing more. I had the tray of eggs there in front of me, I thought 'why not?' and I just...did it. I didn't even think about it that much."

"So an impulse then? I see," Shining nodded. "That's understandable. We all get sudden urges sometimes. The urge to raise our voice, the urge to swear at somepony for something trivial. The urge to squeeze the neck of a traitor, somepony we thought was loyal and honest and true, somepony who betrayed everything we stand for, and just squeeze and squeeze until their eyes bulge and you feel the bones snap..." 

"Shiny...!" Twilight looked at him in abject horror. "H-how can you talk like that? What is wrong with you...?"

"Nothing, Twilight. Nothing at all." He stood up again, tall and proud, handsome in his uniform. A fine servant of the Sun. "You wouldn't understand, because I'm not sure you can even comprehend the true nature of a traitor, a heretic. Why? Because we make sure you can't. Every loyal pony is isolated from any such influences, right from birth. Most ponies stay that way until they die. Most ponies don't even understand the concept of heresy, because we keep them ignorant that such a thing is even possible."

He turned to her again, taking the letter from her, putting it back in his pocket. "I shall burn this later," he informed her. "And the other hateful letters you possess. Anything that mentions her name. I am not quite sure how these specimens escaped the purge...it is rare, extremely rare, to find anything that mentions her. When we do, well, we have to act. Act expeditiously, and judiciously. Otherwise the taint may spread to others. Do you understand, Twilight? It spreads like a disease, like influenza, from mouth to mouth. Like disease, it is very rare today, but when it does happen...it must be excised like a tumor, cut away before the rot can infect others."

"No! No, I don't understand anything, Shiny!" Twilight cried. "I don't know who she is! I told you already. All I know is what I read in those letters, that's all. The sum total of my knowledge, you hold in your pocket there. I don't understand why you have to act like this, w-why it's important that nopony hears of her, why any of this is happening!"

"If that truly is all you know, then that is good, because it means you won't have been able to spread too much poison to other open minds," Shining answered. "It would be a terrible shame if anypony else had to be arrested because of you. If anypony else had to die because of you. So tell me, Twilight. Who did you tell? Who did you mention this name to? Does anypony else know what you read?"

"No..." Twilight sighed. "Nopony knows. I swear, Shiny...I didn't tell anypony because...because I knew I-i might get in trouble and I didn't want to endanger anypony. Rarity, I...I mentioned the name to her. She didn't recognise it, and...it doesn't matter now, because you killed her."

"No, Twilight. She killed herself," Shining replied. "Or you could argue that you were the one who killed her. I watched the helmet-cam footage of that raid. Captain Applejack and her team acted exactly as we would wish them to, with professionalism and skill. Rarity had a gun in her drawer, you probably knew that. She almost reached for it. Then she ran for the door instead. Officer Starbuck grabbed her, and she used a spell to tear his arm off, throw him across the room. An offensive spell. One she shouldn't have even known, in truth, because it should have been limited to military and law enforcement and the families of those officers who are deemed to be in high-value roles. I believe you were 14 years old when I taught you that spell, Twilight. How did Rarity learn it? She was not a soldier. She was not a police officer or an ASU agent. None of her family were, either. How did she learn it?"

Twilight frowned and looked down at the floor. "It was for her own protection, I thought...I thought I was helping. She already had a gun from her mother's partner, but...I just thought it might help her in case anything bad ever happened."

"And instead, it got her killed." Shining turned and opened the door. "Take her back to her cell," he ordered the two guards outside. "Until we meet again, Twilight. It will be soon." He stepped out of the room, his polished dress shoes clicking on the tiled floor.

Back in her cell, Twilight had more time to think. Shining was wrong, but he was also absolutely right. It was a classic tactic; shift blame to her, to Twilight, away from Rarity and away from Applejack and the other agents who had opened fire. No accident, nor a deliberate act by the State. Her fault.

Twilight shook her head vehemently as she sank into herself on her bed. That wasn't true, it was a lie! A deliberate lie, designed to provoke her, weaken her, open her up for further questions once the mental damage had been done. Oh yes, her brother was a seasoned interrogator, it seemed.

Her brother.

How could he be doing this to her? Subjecting her to all this, without even a single kind word? Without any explanation? He had a job to do, she understood that. But why him? Why did they send him? And why was he so angry with her? But he had tried to explain, hadn't he? He had talked about a purge, about her name being outlawed. Twilight still did not know who Princess Luna was, but she began to realise that she must have done something very, very wrong. Very wrong indeed.