//------------------------------// // Tattered Past // Story: Troubled Twins // by Wayofthepen //------------------------------// A/N: This was written in third person as it was both easier and tied with the flashbacks. Just a bit of warning before you start reading. As Kin approached the destroyed doors, an eerie feeling overcame him. He searched the broken windows of the castle for any sign of life, but found nothing. He shook the feeling off as well as he could and trotted inside. “You need to stop treating her like a foal, Tia!” He scanned the hallway for anything alive, but found nothing but the skeletons of ponies and nearly destroyed rusted swords. As he kept on trotting, he found himself unwillingly following a familiar, yet unfamiliar, path. “The matter is not up to you, Shadowkin. Leave it be.” The garden outside of the tower was void of flowers, as it once was. The only thing of beauty being the fact that there are no skeletons lying here. He climbed the stairs, his hooves echoing throughout the tall, hollow passageway. “Like hell I will! I get the feeling I am the only pony caring for her feelings.” There was a door that was intact blocking his way inside. Putting his hoof on the door, he found that no amount of physical force could open it. In response, he put his horn to the door and used magic to break the spell. As a result, the door slowly inched its way open. The room was barren of anything but symbols on a wall. Trotting closer, the symbols formed writing covered in dust. Unknowing why, a tears formed from his eyes. He read the words aloud, “The only way this would be able to be read is if the sun shines, as it won’t for many years. I am sorry to leave my home, my country, my ponies, my...” He paused, amazed at the words before him. He took a deep breath and continued, “My lost love. I know it’s you who is reading this, and I am sorry for what she did to you. Kin...Turn around and brace yourself.” Shadowkin stood there dazed, reading over the last words. As if for an answer, he felt something slam into his side and launch him into the nearest wall. Struggling to get to his hooves, he felt another blow connect to his jaw, sending him upwards. He collided with the ceiling and fell back down. As he was falling, yet another blow connected with his pack, forcing him to break through the floor and descend at a quickening pace to the bottom of the tower. Kin could no longer move after his body met the ground. The pain he felt couldn’t be compared to anything else he knew. The figure of white dropped right in front of him, kneeling down to his level. He heard a gasp as his vision started to go blurry. All he could make out before passing out was, “You?” - - - - Throne Room (Past) - - - - Shadowkin trotted towards Celestia with concern in his steps. Concern for his Luna, and not for the so-called princess who ruled single-hoofedly an entire country. “More of a queen, if you ask me,” he thought silently to himself. He didn’t bother to bow before speaking to her, “What is it I have done to upset you this time?” The princess stepped down from her throne and moved directly in front of him. With her unreadable face, she spoke in a tone to match, “It is about Luna. She has been spending most of her time in her room, rather than the other facilities in the castle. You being with her most of the time, I wanted to ask what was wrong.” “She doesn’t even have the guts to talk to her own sister. Sad, really.” He flipped his mane out of his eyes and took a deep breath. Opening his eyes, “Yes, she told me what was wrong. No, I won’t tell you.” She shook her head, “And why not? She is my sister, and I have a right to know.” His wings began twitching with his growing anger. “The same thing that’s bothering me.” Celestia gave him a questioning look, “And that would be?” His wings were now fully upright from his full anger, his voice matching the volume of it, “You need to stop treating her like a foal, Tia!” He had raised his voice to her, something that no pony ever does. Celestia’s face was finally showing emotion, the same emotion as Shadowkin. Anger. “The matter is not up to you, Shadowkin. Leave it be.” Kin tensed up, speaking even louder, “Like hell I will! I get the feeling I am the only pony caring for her feelings.” Celestia’s wings shot up, being only slightly taller than Kin’s. “I care for my sister, but the country comes first.” “Is that supposed to be an excuse for you to not spend time with your family? You don’t even let her do anything!” Celestia stomped her hoof on the ground, causing a loud cracking sound to emit and echo through the large room. She glared down upon him, “We are done here.” Kin didn’t budge. His wings folded back down, but were still twitching. He returned her glare, “No, we’re not. The ponies across Equestria play and work in the sun, but sleep through her beautiful night. You have no idea what she feels like because you neglect your responsibilities as sisters. She stopped looking to you when you started ignoring her.” He stood triumphantly, but he soon began backing away hastily, still facing the princess. Celestia had begun charging her magic into her horn, pointing it directly at Shadowkin. He began charging his own magic, already knowing where this was heading. A bright beam of white shot from her horn, aimed directly at his head. He discharged his own beam, but it’s colors being a swirling mix of black and red. “I will not back down to the likes of her,” Kin thought as he put more of his magic into the beam. The two were evenly matched, but that only last a few short moments. Celestia’s beam began to overpower his own, sliding him back a bit. “I...See how it is...” He mumbled as he fell to a kneeling position, still trying to keep her attack at bay. Still sliding back, “Have fun explaining...This to Luna...” That was all he could say before his magic reserve emptied, dispelling his only protection from the opposing force. He closed his eyes as the beam hit him head-on, emitting a blinding white light. Celestia opened her eyes and looked at the spot where Shadowkin once was. All that was left was black scorch marks in his form. She trotted back to her throne and sat. Putting a hoof under her jaw and letting out a sigh, “What have I done...?” - - - - Present - - - - His eyes flashed open and he bolted upright, finding himself in a different area than where he blacked out. In the distance he could hear two feminine voices arguing. “I told you it was him, but you didn’t believe me. I knew it was time when the sun rose, and you neglected to listen.” “I had other issues on my mind, little sister.” “Still having the same issues as when I left, Tia?” There was silence before the door swung open. His eyes adjusted to the light of the room to find it was nothing but a bare white room, minus the open door that stood before him. Luna charged in the room like a rhino, somehow coming to a complete halt right in front of Kin. She scanned him over, as if she couldn’t believe he was really there. “I remember. All of it. And I thought I was rough around the edges now...” The two let out a laugh as Celestia entered the room, a look of shame on her face. “I let my jealousy of my sister take over that night, and I am sorry.” Her head hung low, as if it has bothered her all this time. Kin smiled at her, “If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have my sister. Although, getting cast into the lapse between time and space grew boring.” She loosened at the sound of his kind words. His happy smile was replaced by a grim frown soon after, “You left to find a way to fix the wrongs. Then you asked Luna to aid in your quest, and left the moon in the sky for me to change, to signal my return.” Celestia gave a nod, as well as Luna. Celestia gained a large grin, “I found it, too. The way to send both you and your sister back. Should I bring her here?” Shadowkin nodded his agreement. Celestia’s horn glowed brightly as a figure began to form right in front of him. When the particles of magic subsided, his sister appeared fully and confused. She swayed a moment before getting a grasp on herself. As her eyes landed on Kin, she leaped and tackled him. “We heard loud sounds coming from the castle as one of the tower collapsed, and thought that you might have been in it. I was afraid when there was a lot of blood coming from the debris...” Tears formed in her eyes and she just wrapped her forehooves around his neck. “Tia, it’s time to send us back. Right before we broke free, if you would be so kind.” He gave her a quick smile and looked over to Luna, “I’ll see you when you get back from the moon, my night princess.” She gave him a teary nod as the two were engulfed in the same light as before. The scene around them faded into nothingness, and then they were stripped apart and placed back into their bodies before the outbreak. Him in his bed sleeping, and her doing the same in her own bed. “To think, I have had one hundred years with Luna taken away from my memory because of a lack of self control. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have Silent, though. There are so many tiny things that could have changed the entire course of history, as I am now. Wonder if Tia realized this when she sent us back...”