“Tia, are you absolutely sure that you’ve got everything?” Luna glanced over at her eager sister.
The retired sun princess gave a relaxed smile and a nod, the one and only suitcase behind her levitating back down to the ground. “Hmm, well, let’s see.” Celestia wasted no time in opening the suitcase. “I have winter cloaks, all of our presents, those cookies you made, a fruitcake? Extra blankets...” Celestia continued to list off items as she dumped them out, the pile on the ground becoming increasingly large as the surrounding ponies watched on with awe and confusion.
Luna cleared her throat and quickly stepped forward, throwing everything her sister pulled out back inside with her magic and locking it shut with a click. "Okay, I… get it.” She said with a blush as she pulled her cloak down to cover more of her face.
“Mom? When does the train arrive?” A small voice whined, tugging on Celestia’s green scarf as it hung low to the ground.
Celestia craned her neck down to the little white and golden-speckled griffon by her side. “Any time now, dear. Be patient.” She told her son while giving him a swift nuzzle.
He danced carefully around his mother’s feet, weaving in between them like an obstacle course. “I wanna ride the train now~” He sang with off-key notes happily.
Luna and Celestia giggled as Luna glanced down and hummed at the eccentric little griffon, “Excited to see your cousin, I see.”
He nodded rapidly as he ran over and stopped at her hooves. “Yeah! Every time we go to see them, Flurry always shows me the coolest tricks with her magic!”
Luna nodded slowly. “Aviri, do you know that there’s going to be another foal there this year?”
His eyes widened to max size as he stared at her in disbelief and gasped, “Another? Like somepony other than Flurry?”
Celestia hummed affirmatively, “I’m pretty sure you have a new cousin; his name is Kieran. And he looks just like Flurry.”
“Kieran, wow!” He said happily, in awe, before tilting his head in confusion, “What do you mean by that?”
Luna cleared her throat. “Well, Flurry did a really special magic trick this time and made a copy of herself. But Kieran is a completely different being who died before in an entirely different world.”
“Wow…” He muttered in disbelief, his head falling to stare at the ground for a moment. His head shot right back up. “So he’s like… a weird dead changeling? I can’t wait to meet him!”
“He’s not dead or a changeling, dear.” Celestia replied with a short sigh, raising a drink up to her mouth and sipping on it.
“Does that mean when I die I’ll become a dragon?” Celestia nearly spit her drink out at her son’s question as Luna laughed.
The train horn finally sounded in the distance, the brigade of stressed and eager ponies happily watching as it pulled into the station with heavy chuffs, the brakes screeching to a halt. It sounded its horn one last time as the doors opened, and a flood of passengers poured out.
Celestia had to hold the griffon still from running forward and getting lost inside. While they waited to board, the passing of ponies bowing in respect or otherwise shooting them surprised and elated looks never ceased. Yet this caused Luna to try and hide her face even more.
“Luna…” Celestia sighed. “Are you embarrassed by us?”
Luna scoffed. “I’m not. It’s merely cold out.”
Celestia hummed unsurely, “If you hide, it’ll only cause the mystique to extend for longer. Then you’ll never live normally.”
“It’s been so long already. We will never live normally, Tia; we’re alicorns.” Luna said with an exasperated sigh, as this was the hundredth time they’d had similar conversations.
“Look, look! The door’s clear! Let’s go!” Aviri dragged his mother’s front hoof gently as Celestia giggled and began walking forward.
The workers were quite surprised to see the two, yet they promptly asked for their tickets and sent the trio on their way. Such was the way they’d requested that all ponies act during their retirement. Not with special treatment or general worship, as some ponies felt inclined to give.
Aviri ran forward until he found an empty room on the train, the trio quickly piling into the cozy, secluded seats and shutting the sliding door. It wasn’t long before the train took off once again, in its ever-present time crunch. Aviri stared in awe at everything as it passed by, occasionally asking his mother for explanations.
“Have you heard from Twilight?” Celestia asked curiously.
Luna shook her head and sighed. “She’s been locking herself up, trying to figure out the...” Luna glanced at Aviri, “The… issue.”
Celestia nodded understandingly. “Hopefully she has remembered what day it is and won’t miss Hearth’s Warming tomorrow.”
Luna hummed, “Twilight wouldn’t miss it. Sure, she’s busy, but she wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to study Kieran herself.”
“I do agree. Twilight does tend to think a hundred thoughts a minute, but she’s very focused.” Celestia leaned back in her chair, happy to simply watch her son look out the window in wonder at the scenery.
Suddenly, in a puff of magic flames, a message appeared right above their heads, dropping unceremoniously onto the table in front of them. The two were surprised, but after seeing the seal from the Crystal Empire, they both smiled at each other. Aviri bounded over in excitement from the window. “We just got a message from Cadance!” He chirped excitedly.
Celestia nodded and quickly unsealed the letter before opening it. “Let’s see what she sent, hmm?” Aviri waited patiently for his mother to read the message to all of them. And Luna continued to rest her head on a hoof, waiting patiently with a smile.
Luna studied her sister’s face, waiting for some simple words and musings about the coming gathering.
But if Celestia’s face was anything to go by, it was anything but that. Her face quickly assumed a frown, which quickly turned to surprise and horror. And even tears began to well up in Celestia’s eyes.
Something was wrong.
Celestia looked up in shock as Luna’s wings stiffened in alarm, her heart beginning to race. “What’s wrong, Tia?” Celestia tried to speak but couldn’t find any words. Deciding to simply hoof over the letter.
“Mom, is everything okay?” Aviri asked with a very worried look as he hugged his mother’s side.
There was silence in the cabin as Luna’s look became horrified, more so than Celestia's, with understanding written all over her face. She quickly dropped the document onto the table and stood, her horn charging a spell.
“Luna, don’t be rash.” Celestia attempted to tell her younger sister calmly. Luna continued to ignore her as her horn began humming, “Luna, please wait!” Celestia asked quickly, holding her hoof out.
But the spell finished, rocking the cabin violently as a torrent of wind berated them, and Luna’s form disappeared in a cloud of twinkling dust. Leaving a shocked Celestia and a more than confused Aviri behind in the cabin alone.
“Mom, I’m scared…” Aviri mumbled, quivering against her side.
Celestia momentarily snapped out of it to comfort her foal, wrapping her wings around him and pulling him up to cradle him against her chest. “It’s okay, dear.” She reassured him, “Aunt Luna just forgot something at home, okay? She’ll be back.”
Celestia had no idea if Aviri believed that, but regardless, the foal said no more and stayed still in her arms. Celestia’s mind was preoccupied nonetheless. Feeling a slight bit helpless, she sighed and took a deep breath.
“Alright little ones, me and your father are going out for last-minute shopping because your father here forgot to get a couple things for our guests.” Cadence said, raising her eyebrows teasingly at Shining.
Shining laughed sheepishly and said, “It’s been a busy week.” He shook his head. “You two, just keep having fun; we’ll be back shortly.”
Shining began to walk away as Cadance gave a stern look and said, “Be good; Silver Drift will be here if you need anything.”
Me and Flurry both nodded as she closed the door, and after the distraction, we quickly returned to drawing in our artbooks. A few more minutes of drawing passed by, both of us focusing on our maximum capability. “Alright, time!” Flurry announced with a short giggle. “I’ll go first!” She quickly held up her picture, a very well-drawn and detailed cat, shaded and drawn perfectly with colored pencils. It made me instantly feel very self-conscious. “Your turn.” She pointed at me.
I continued to keep my artbook face down as I rubbed my neck worriedly. “Oh, uh, you win. It’s fine.” I said with a dismissive wave of the hoof.
She shook her head, “No, those aren’t the rules! There must be fair judgment!”
I shook my head and blushed deeply. “No, it’s bad…” I sighed.
“Come on, little brother…” She begged.
“Don’t call me little brother; we’re the same age.”
“I will definitely call you that until you show me.”
With a roll of my eyes, I sighed, “Fine, don’t laugh, please.”
She nodded and crossed her heart. “Promise!” I nodded and flipped my book over, showing her the excellency of my artistic capabilities.
A shrewdly drawn version of Pickles stared back at her. The legs were indistinguishable in distance and off in size. The head is something you’d expect a kindergarten child to draw. I hadn’t even been able to color inside the lines I made; it was a complete disaster.
Flurry tilted her head, and her eyes widened. “Oh! It’s nice…” She said with a small smile, “I like what you did with the whiskers here.
“Those were supposed to be legs.” I replied monotonously.
“Oh! Well, it certainly has a lot of... Uniqueness. It’s really a one-of-a kind piece.” She said this while nodding to her own words.
“It’s trash.” I replied, falling backwards onto my back and staring at the high ceilings.
“No..!” She said quickly, “It’s fine! Everyone starts somewhere.” She attempted to convince me. “Plus, you can’t even use magic or hooves to draw. I would probably do just as bad if I used my mouth like you.”
I laughed from my position on the ground. “Thanks. Maybe one day I’ll be better at something than you. And I’ll be just as nice about it.”
She put on a smug grin as she stood over me. “No~ I get to be the best at everything; a little brother is supposed to learn from their older siblings!”
I rolled over and half-glared exasperatedly at her. “Hey, I showed you the picture; the agreement was that you stop calling me little brother, and you’re still saying it. I thought you promised not to!”
She booped my nose. “I promised not to laugh; I still withhold the right to coddle my little brother.” She said it teasingly.
“You even failed to keep yourself from laughing!” I yelled playfully as I outstretched my hoof towards her to try and boop her back.
She quickly took a couple of hops backward and said, "Oh, did I? My mistake.” She giggled as I got to my hooves and began chasing after her.
I chased her around the room for quite a while, knocking over a few things along the way; however, I did manage to get closer and closer. I could feel victory quickly approaching my grasp. In the heat of our exciting game of boop tag, Flurry finally tripped over a lone toy. She turned and giggled, holding up her hooves in defense. Flurry’s horn lit up as it usually did in excitement: “Hey! You can’t catch me yet!”
I got closer. “Should’ve had better balance than!” I told her right back as I lunged forward and outstretched my hoof to boop her.
Though my body stopped reacting to my own desires, I stopped, unable to approach her anymore. I tried to move towards her but found I could only move away as if there was an invisible barrier between us. “Hey, not fair!” I said in genuine annoyance. “I was about to win fair and square; no magic barriers allowed!”
Her eyes were widening, and after a moment of confusion, she laughed it off and said, “Sorry. Instinct, I guess…” She trailed off as she looked down at the floor, confusion covering her face. Her horn unlit itself, and I found myself able to move towards her again.
I approached slowly, devastatingly slowly, and my hoof inched closer and closer until... “Boop!” I said with a giggle.
She was brought out of her inner thought, and she smirked at me, “Fine, you caught me. Maybe you are better at tag than me.”
“Tag isn’t a talent.” I said with a huff as I sat down.
“Tag is directly related to physical prowess,” she countered, “and you did a lot of that in the streets.”
I tilted my head at her and rubbed my chin thoughtfully. “I guess.” Then I smirked evilly and said, “You even tried to cheat with your magic.”
She laughed it off, but she seemed caught up in thought again. But before I could question her, she bumped into my shoulder, “Come on, let’s play video games.”
I hummed, “Okay, but you know I can only play the slow ones because of my hooves.”
She whined, “One game using your hooves wouldn’t hurt too much.”
I sighed and bumped her. “No, Silver Drift sees, and she’ll tell mom. If mom finds out, she kills me.”
Flurry was silent for a while as she stared at me with wide eyes. I raised my brow and asked, “What?”
She gasped, wrapped her arms around me, and squealed, “You called her mom; that's so cute!”
I blushed furiously. “I-I meant to say Cadance! Cadance will get mad!”
She continued to coo, “I’m gonna tell her you said it!”
I blushed deeply. “F-Flurry! Get off of me!.. I can’t breathe!”
Spike rushed down the hallway of the castle with purpose, as the day was growing later and he had just finished cleaning. Before being interrupted by a very important letter with the Crystal Empire seal.
He finally reached Twilight’s study room, knocking loudly, then, after a moment, swinging it wide open. Twilight was in the center of a mountain of books, with countless papers of theories scattered about and crumpled on the floor. Her head was on the desk, almost certainly completely passed out. She’d been working on the research daily from sun up until sun down, unless she was forced to do something else.
Spike sighed, approaching her side and shaking her gently. “Twilight, hey, Twilight, wake up.”
She stirred and moved away from him. “Five more hours... Shining… No school today."
Spike rolled his eyes with a smirk as he shook her a bit harder. "Twilight, wakey, wakey!”
She groaned yet still didn’t wake, and Spike felt bad as he cleared his throat, using his final weapon, “Princess Twilight, what can I do to serve you?” He asked loudly, as if trying to imitate a noble.
Twilight was instantly awake with a gasp, her entire body going stiff as her bloodshot eyes opened as wide as possible. “Yes! Yes, I need you to-” She stopped in confusion as the dark interior of the library met her.
Spike cleared his throat again. “Sorry, Twilight.”
She glanced over at the dragon, who rivaled her height in size. “Oh, Spike.” She was silent for a minute as her head cleared, and she rubbed her eyes. “It’s not a problem; it must be important, though. What is it?”
Spike laughed slightly and lowered the scroll down to her level. The instant she saw the Crystal Empire’s sigil on it, she squealed and took it quickly, holding it close to her chest with happiness. "Oh, I can’t wait to see everyone tomorrow!”
Spike hummed, “Speaking of which, you have already arranged your trip, right?”
She nodded. “I’ll have the guards fly you, me, and Starlight there later tonight, it won’t be an issue.”
“Have you packed?” Spike said with a raised brow and crossed arms.
She opened her mouth and closed it with a blush. “It’ll be fine; I know how to pack quickly.
Spike sighed, putting his claw to his head. “Twilight, I know how focused you are, but at least take a break for Hearth’s Warming Eve. Starlight’s been sitting alone waiting for you for half the day.”
Twilight sighed sadly and nodded. “You’re right, I’ll try not to do anything else until after Hearth’s Warming.” She turned her gaze back to the table, “After I read this letter!” She announced happily, her giddy expression returning.
Opening the letter to read it took merely a second, as she unwrapped it. More than anything, the first thing she noticed was how sloppily the writing had been done, as if in a panic. Yet it was still clearly written by them. “That’s an odd-looking letter,” Spike commented in curiosity as he leaned in.
Twilight nodded agreeingly as she held it a bit to the right so they could both read. The more she read it, the shakier her grip got, until she had to hold it in her magic instead. Twilight’s breath became shallow as if she were having trouble not holding it, and her eyes were locked onto the paper in horror.
“Twilight…” Spike spoke slowly.
She continued reading, her breathing increasing in speed as she reached the end. “Spike I…” She started before cutting herself off. Even Twilight’s magic grip was beginning to fade, as she had trouble keeping her emotions straight.
"Twilight, it’s okay, we can-”
Spike tried, but his words were promptly forgotten as Twilight stood, throwing the scroll to the ground with a grunt of anger. Afterwards, she swept the entire desk in front of her clean, the books and papers flying everywhere in her anger. “I’m so stupid!” She yelled angrily.
Spike carefully reached over, gripping her shoulder gently as she was shaking with emotion. “There’s nothing you could’ve done better, Twilight.” He reasoned with her.
“I’m the ruler of Equestria. There’s always something I could’ve done better.” She whispered quietly.
She turned and locked eyes with Spike, a more determined face even as tears streamed down it. “I need Starlight and half the guard in my throne room in the next ten minutes.”
Spike sighed and nodded. “Okay, I’ll have it done.” She nodded appreciatively as the dragon quickly exited the study.
Twilight held her head in her hooves for a minute and stared down at the scroll with too many emotions to process in her mind, locking onto it with a million unanswered questions. “Flurry, what have you done?” She said with a whimper.
Flurry boredly pushed her controller along, groaning when she stepped on a tile that sent her back five spaces as I snickered at her misfortune. That backtrack of five paces also put her on a random tile, and after scrolling through a bunch of positive things, she eventually landed on a skull and crossbones, which immediately took one of her stars from her with an evil laugh. "Oh, come on!” She shouted angrily, dropping her controller and crossing her arms.
I fell backwards and laughed eagerly at the mess of luck she had. “That’s… so unlucky!” I said between giggles.
She huffed, “There’s no way I can win now! You have two more stars, and there’s only eight more rounds left!”
I rolled back onto my stomach and said, "Aww, don’t be a sore loser. I won most of the minigames too!”
She rolled her eyes, standing up and stretching in her spot. “Why don’t we go play that eye-spy game you taught me out on the balcony?”
I shrugged. “I don’t mind.” I lowered my controller and followed her outside and onto the balcony.
We hopped up onto a bench to look over the streets. I’d taught her how to play this game, and since then we've played it every once in a while. The large assortment of decorations outside made it really interesting to play.
But before we could start, Flurry rested her head on her hooves, staring down at the city a bit sadly. “I’m really happy you’re still here, Kieran.”
I tilted my head, “Mhm, me too.”
She was quiet as I scoped out my first target once our game started. Her head slipped further down her hooves, and I found her resting her head against me. “And I’m really happy you're my brother.”
I nodded absentmindedly with a small laugh. “Yeah? Thanks; I know I’m pretty cool.” She didn’t seem to react to those words, so I hummed, “Also, you better be happy. You’re lucky; I even asked them to adopt me.” I giggled.
“Yeah. You wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t told you to.” She said teasingly with a huff.
I mean, she wasn’t wrong. She had peer pressured me into it after all. “Yeah, you kinda did tell me to. But I still followed through; I could’ve refused.” I shrugged leisurely. “Anyway, I spy with my little eye... something blue.”
“Blue?” She hummed and pointed excitedly towards her first guess, “The banner on the academy building!”
“Nope,”
“The clothes on display in that store!”
“Nuh-uh,” I firmly shook my head.
“The water pooling around that apartment?”
“What? No.” I said with a laugh.
It continued like that for a while, with us exchanging a few rounds between each other. But this time around, Flurry was thoroughly stumped and was past the couple of dozens in her attempts at guessing.
“You’re so… hahaha… bad at this!” I teased while I rolled around laughing on the floor.
Flurry growled in frustration, “There’s not a single other thing out there that’s orange! You’re pranking me!”
“Am not!” I defended as I rolled to my stomach, “I’ve given you plenty of hints.”
She stamped her hoof with a heavy breath of barely contained rage. “Gimme another one! I’ll guess it first try!”
“Nope, other than spelling it out for you, I can’t hint any more!” I said with a leisurely shrug.
She groaned and pulled at her hair. “Alright, I give up! Just tell me what it is. You win.”
I firmly shook my head no, “Nah, that’s good material for next time we play.”
She gave me the death stare of a lifetime and squinted angrily, “There will not be a next time if you don’t tell me!” Her horn glowed faintly atop her head. “Tell me now!”
“It was the poster in that back alley right there.” I said, pointing directly at it.
Flurry huffed and put on a winning smirk. “See? Was that so hard?” She said haughtily.
Wait, no… There was something off about that. I hadn’t really wanted to tell her; I knew that for a fact… But her horn was… and…
…
…
No, I wasn't going crazy; I had clearly not wanted to tell her. So then why did I..?
…
“Flurry..?” I asked carefully as she looked over at me with curiosity. She instantly dropped her act and seemed genuinely worried at my expression. I felt my blood running cold, and my heart rate was beginning to pick up. “What spell was that?”
She stayed silent to study my face worriedly; eventually it inched open. “What spell, Kieran?”
My heartbeat quickened even more, and I began backing away from her. “T-The one… that you just used…” I stuttered. I tried to control my breathing; maybe it had been a misunderstanding.
“I don’t… I don’t understand…” she said while shaking her head, following into the castle after me.
I swallowed the knot rising up in my throat and released a faint bit of laughter. “I… I get it… But it wasn’t a very funny joke, Flurry…”
…
…
“What is going on with you?” She asked incredulously.
My breathing pace increased, and Flurry was taken aback by my sudden, louder accusation, “I-I saw! I saw you do that!” I felt like I was going crazy, my body beginning to shake as my legs underneath me grew stiff. “You made me tell you what the answer was.”
“Kieran, are you okay?” She tried to approach again, but I quickly held my hooves up and took a few steps back myself, and she stopped in her tracks.
…
…
Flurry wouldn’t do that to me…
…
No… No, this had to be a misunderstanding or-
…
I sat and took a few long yet hasty breaths, trying to quell my heart rate. “Your… your horn! It glowed and… and you made me tell you!” I pointed to my own horn for emphasis, my eyes wide with apprehension.
Flurry tilted her head in confusion. “I told you too..?”
I nodded rapidly. “Yes! Against my will!”
She hummed before her horn faintly lit again. “Uh… stand up?”
And just as she’d commanded, my body had been overcome with the overwhelmingly forceful urge to stand up. I had made no conscious effort to do so; it was purely mechanical in nature.
Flurry took a few steps back on her own in denial as she stared at me with wide eyes. “Uh… um… Please don’t panic!” She asked desperately. Though it became an order as her horn continued to glow.
My mouth closed, preventing my heavy breathing, and my body stopped shaking. But it didn’t really get rid of any of the fear in my heart or stop me from feeling panic rise up in my brain. All it did was keep me prisoner, unable to speak.
Flurry was beginning to panic herself at my sudden catatonic state. "No, no! I mean, don’t listen to the things I just said!” She begged.
At once, my body was released, and I took a big, gasping breath of air. My body returned to shaking violently as I essentially cowered against the dresser that was standing right behind me.
She did do it; I wasn’t crazy. She was commanding me with her voice.
Why would she do that?...
…
…
How much has she done to me? How many times?
…
…
Is she trying to trick me right now?
…
She crouched lower to the floor, approaching with the same careful apprehension as you’d approach a terrified wild rabbit. "Kieran, this is great news!”
I stared at her with wide, horrified eyes. “H-Huh?”
She took another few steps forward eagerly. “We can fix everything now!” She said excitedly.
“F-Flurry… no…” I muttered out.
She got even closer to me. “Yes! I can help you!”
She reached her hoof out, and I jerked away so violently that the dresser behind me rumbled, “Don’t touch me!” I yelled.
She flinched away from me with a hurt expression. “But… little brother…”
“Stop! Stop it!” I yelled, standing to my hooves finally. She stared at me with her own horrified expression, finally coming to realize how serious I was about all of this. I circled away from her, getting myself uncornered.
…
She’s… She’s just trying to trick me. Make it all seem like some big accident or new discovery.
…
She knew the whole time, didn’t she?
…
Flurry stared at the ground for a long while before jerking her head up with a determined nod. I don’t know how much thought she was putting behind her actions right now. But it terrified me.
My whole body told me something was wrong; I felt a pit in my gut I couldn’t get rid of.
“I’ll make it up to you, right now.” She said suddenly.
…
No, Flurry… Please don’t…
…
“Flurry, you need to be careful.” I tried to reason.
Deep within her own thoughts, she ignored me. With her horn still lit, she looked me in the eyes and said, “I release your magic.”
My eyes widened with terror, the filly in front of me looking like nothing more than a horrific monster that had me puppeteered on strings of her own creation.
It started with a fiery feeling deep inside my chest; my body felt numb for a moment, and then I could feel something rising. My limbs felt stronger than they ever had, and my horn was thrumming to life with a glow the exact same as Flurry’s. I had actually made a magic aura around my horn for the first time.
But the rising feeling wasn’t stopping, and pretty soon I felt it bubbling up, as if my own body was a cauldron that was about to explode. “Flurry!” I yelled desperately to get her attention.
“That’s the first problem dealt with! How do you feel?” She asked ecstatically as she looked at my horn glowing.
I tried desperately to say something else. My mind was overcome with new feelings and emotions, and in that stupor, I couldn’t even force a word out of my mouth. The power in my chest and body continued to grow like a wildfire out of control.
…
…
It was too late now. Out of my wings, my hooves, my horn... I felt a release of power, and even though I’d never felt magic in my life, I could tell it was a lot. If comparing the feeling of magic from when Cadance was levitating me was anything to go by, this was disastrous.
My body began to rise above the ground on its own, as well as the furniture in Flurry’s room. Flurry’s eyes widened with a look of sudden realization for exactly what she’d just done, as she too began to levitate within my magic.
…
I tried so hard to get it under control. I thought of every breathing technique and mentally soothing technique I could… But nothing was able to hold back the pure amount of raw magic I felt coursing through me.
I released a yell as my horn erupted with a beam of energy. One long stream of magic erupted into the sky in a brilliant cyan light that shimmered and sparkled in the night sky like an aurora.
The beam was so large that it practically vaporized a part of the castle above us. Flurry was dropped from the antigravity and looked up with a gasp, but it was too late to do anything to stop it now.
I felt even more energy in my chest, threatening to rip me apart from the inside out. It was almost like an atomic bomb was about to be released from my body. It was painful. I didn’t know what else to do, but my body did. Through every single one of my leylines—my horn, wings, hooves, everywhere—I could feel it boiling over my whole body.
…
…
And all at once, it was released, sending the magic shockwave to end all shockwaves.
Flurry was blown black against the wall, and the furniture in her room turned to dust in an instant. In the distance, I saw buildings crack, windows shatter, and stalls and ponies alike get thrown large distances. I watched in horror as the entire city erupted into chaos, lightbulbs flickering or completely popping all together.
I heard a large sound, as if something were falling, and then a loud crash sounded. And after that, the barrier was gone. The Crystal Empire’s barrier had been shattered by the shockwave. Allowing the freezing cold blizzard to immediately envelop the Empire. It became nothing but white outside, white from the snow and wind.
I couldn’t stop it; I felt like even more magic would be released at any second. But with a hefty groan, Flurry struggled to gasp out, “Stop using magic!” She called out desperately. I immediately fell to the floor, the feeling of magic slipping away into my being like a sponge. The shockwaves stopped. My limbs felt numb.
I groaned as I sat back up afterward, my body feeling like it was hit by a million buses. All I could hear in the distance was shouting and even screaming. I ran over to the balcony and hopped up on the bench to look over the railing to get a glimpse of the destruction I’d just wrought, but it was useless. I couldn’t see anything, leaving what I had just done up to my imagination. “N-No…” I whispered shakily.
…
…
Why? Why, why, why, why, why?
…
Why did I... Why did she…
…
My panicked breathing returned in full force. The sounds of panicked ponies in the city below only fueled the flames. I heard rubble fall and turned my head to see Flurry inching herself out of the crater her body had made on the wall. One of her wings hung on her side, clearly broken.
Suddenly, a large piece of rubble hanging from the ceiling broke off, falling right towards her. My eyes widened, and I shot my hoof out and yelled, “Flurry!”
But just as quickly as I said it, she made a magic barrier around herself, and the rubble cracked in two. Flurry took a few minutes to take large gasping breaths before she looked up at me in obvious pain and said, “Kieran…” Tears welled up in her eyes. "Kieran, what just happened..?”
My breath caught in my throat, and I rubbed my fetlock nervously. “Why did you make me do that?” I asked quietly, turning my head and staring wide-eyed outside at the blizzard. My vision glanced up at the hole in the castle. One of her plants from the garden fell unceremoniously down and past me on the balcony, shattering on the pavement below.
I backed off the bench, off the balcony in horror. “I didn’t do this! I didn’t… You made me!”
I glanced at her as she clutched her wing with a hoof in pain, staring at me in a mixture of disbelief and guilt.
I shook my head wildly as I looked around her destroyed room and her broken wing. “I… I wasn’t trying to…” My eyes welled up with tears, and my breathing quickened as I held my head in my hooves. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone!”
Flurry took a cautious step toward me. “Kieran... I… I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.”
I looked up to lock eyes with her; I couldn’t tell if there was sincerity behind her words or not. Because at that moment, I didn’t see my sister; I didn’t see Flurry. I saw someone who’d just forced me to harm an entire empire with a few simple words from her mouth. And it absolutely terrified me.
And once again, the thought crossed my mind… How many times has she done this to me? How many times has she made me do something under her command and that stupid glow from her horn?
…
…
“I mean, I think you like it here, and we all like you being here… So I just think it’s a good idea…”
…
"Yeah, Kieran, you should go with Daddy!”
…
How many times?
…
“Okay… I’m sorry… And you better learn perfectly and be the quickest learner ever. Or else!”
…
…
Even when I asked them to adopt me..?
“You should go ask now; I think they’re still in the living room!”
…
…
“Little brother?” Flurry asked carefully with a whimper.
I turned on her, my chest on fire with rage again as I glared with my teeth gritted. “You didn’t listen to me! I-I tried to tell you!” I yelled desperately.
She recoiled downward in shame as tears continued pouring from her eyes. “I-I just wanted to help!” She looked down at her hooves as if they had the answer to her feelings at that moment: “I wanted to fix everything that was still wrong…” She mumbled.
“Nothing was wrong!” I screamed, “For once, I was happy; Cadence and Shining were happy!.. I thought you were happy too!”
She whimpered audibly, “I-I I was happy!”
I kicked a piece of rubble near my hoof and laughed soulessly. “Yeah, ‘was happy’, huh… until I ruined everything, right?”
“No! I was the one who... I made you do this!” Flurry reasoned.
My face darkened as I hid it from view. “How many things have you made me do?” I shot back venomously.
“I didn’t make you do anything!” She said desperately.
I growled, “So you don’t remember every time that your horn glowed, and you ‘commanded’ me!? You made so many decisions for me without a single thought for how I felt!”
Her eyes widened, and she stopped breathing as her mind seemed to reel. Eventually, she refocused on me with a new set of tears as she stepped forward. “I wasn’t trying to!” She defended meekly.
“And I’m just supposed to believe you?” I snapped right back in disbelief. “You made me stay, you made me actually trust Cadance, and you made me ask them to be my parents!”
Flurry backed away until she was cowering against the wall. She opened her mouth and closed it multiple times in uncertainty. “But we love you, Kieran…”
I took a step back. “And you made me ‘love’ all of you…” I said sourly, “I never actually wanted anything to do with any of you, did I? It was all just one big trick. A command of yours.” I huffed a bit of laughter.
Flurry stomped her hoof. “That is not true!”
“Who else was in on it? Cadance? Shining? Luna even?” I laughed in disbelief as I shook my head. “How could I have been so dumb? I ran from you guys for so long, trying not to get brainwashed into your perfect little sibling. And that’s exactly what you did! I was right the whole time!”
Flurry took a few weak steps forward. “No! All of it was real! I promise Kieran from the bottom of my heart!” She winced as her broken wing brushed over a piece of rubble on the ground.
Suddenly shouting was heard from inside the castle nearby, and the door to Flurry’s room was shoved open through all the rubble. “Princess!” Silver Drift said in panic as she stepped inside and took stock of the situation. There was blood flowing down the side of Silver’s head, but she seemed solely focused on her duty.
She saw Flurry and instantly ran over to her, “Princess! Your wing!” She said it in horror and disbelief.
Though Flurry never stopped making eye contact with me, even as Silver tried to get her attention. There was pain, confusion, and sadness in Flurry’s eyes.
…
I wonder what she saw in mine?
…
After multiple attempts at grabbing her attention, Silver finally drifted her view over to me. Her brow was furrowing, especially after a quick glance that confirmed that I was relatively unharmed. “What happened here?”
I didn’t like the way Silver looked at me. She almost seemed to be trying to shield Flurry away from me, as if I were some sort of threat or monster that was attacking the Empire. Though outwardly she seemed unsure, but a pony’s actions always betrayed their thoughts. I could get the message loud and clear.
…
I had forgotten how it felt.
…
…I hate this feeling.
…
I chuckled… I tried not to show emotion, but it turned sour. A sort of laughing whimper escaped me as I hid my face; it didn’t matter if they saw me crying, but it did to me.
Silver opened her mouth, but I cut her off with my own words first. “You got me, Silver! I’m the Crystal Empire’s boogeyman!” I said with another scoff of disbelief.
“Kieran..?” Flurry poked her head around worriedly.
Silver’s gaze softened a bit. “Kieran, are you alright?”
"Well, you know what!?” I started loudly, “I hate you all too!” I announced. They both recoiled at the word ‘hate’ as if it could actually hurt them. I took a long, shuddering breath as I continued to hide my face from them.
I trotted towards the door of her room and said, “Don’t you worry! Flurry’s little puppet won’t be making any more problems.”
Flurry struggled free from Silver’s confused grasp and took hasty steps towards me. “No, Kieran! Please don’t leave!”
“Kieran, don’t be rash!” Silver said worriedly as she stood up.
I glanced somberly at the filly in front of me. “Are you going to command me to stay, Princess Flurry?”
“No! Because you’re going to stay and… and…be my brother!.. And…” She muttered desperately as she tried to reach me with her limp.
I smiled sadly. “Then goodbye, Princess.” I said before turning my back, and I paused just outside the door. “And thanks for nothing.” Those were my final words before I kicked the door shut behind me with as much force as possible.
…
…I forgot how it felt.
…All the lying and manipulation of people trying to gain something from you.
…
Well, no more…
…Hopefully, they see me as a monster.