It was rainy in Canterlot that night. A thick blanket of cloud stretched from one end of the sky to another dropping torrents of rain on the heads of the ponies below it in the grand city, noble and commoner alike. The denizens of Canterlot not yet indoors rushed through the streets to their destinations, drawing coats and cloaks close to them to stave off the damp chill of the night.
“...The magi-sustainable binding has the load bearing capacity of 153.29 equivalent forces, just enough so that the reinforced flux accelerator and de-accelorator will not collapse under the pressure of both the industrial particle mixer and the...”
Despite the weather being as weary and dreary as it was, the ponies of Canterlot were just as lively as ever, not willing to let a rain interrupt the fun times that they had planned that night. Pubs, concert halls, and social clubs all had lanterns hanging above their doors on on windowsills, promising warm food, a strong fire, and good times within to any who were looking for it. Throughout Canterlot, if one listened very closely, the sounds of merriment and laughter as mugs of stiff alcohol and cups of hot tea were clinked together could be heard around every corner. It was the shelter of these establishments, the places where good times were to be had and good friends to be found, that most ponies out of doors were looking for.
“...If I double the conductivity matrix, the resulting spike of thaumaturgical energy output should send the localized electrical current into over drive which would cause sub-atomic vortex to mix both the inner and outer flows of my magic, which would result in...”
Of course, there were exceptions to every rule, and this was no exception.
High above the city, in one of the tallest towers that Canterlot's castle had to offer, was the domain of young researcher famed for incredible intellect, magical prowess, keen wisdom, and odd choice of musical attire. A young stallion with a dark blue coat and short, neat mane of silver lived here, where the castle stretched highest into the heavens, and he very rarely left.
The stallion glided across the cold wooden floors of his private hold, driven by what some what call purpose, and others would call madness. In actuality, it was a potent mixture of both that drove him from instrument to instrument, checking gauges, metres, and indicators, adjusting the occasional piece as he saw fit. Purpose and madness, mixed with a healthy amount of ingenuity and insomnia.
The bells that lined his long, swishing cloak jingled with each movement. The stallion claimed that they helped him concentrate by overshadowing any background noises with their own merry sounds and keep his mind sharp and focused. It was because of them that he didn't hear the front door to his apartment opening.
“Conditions are optimal...everything is...ready.” The stallion muttered, hovering over his creation that he was about to breath life into. A form lay on a long metal table, a creature made of a mishmash of many parts that the stallion had made with his magic and his wits. It was a creature that the world had never known before.
Not yet, at least.
Outside, as the world continued to storm, an errant spear of lightning flashed down from the sky and struck the long, metal rod that the stallion had painstakingly installed to the roof of apartments. The metal implement glowed red hot as it was struck with enough energy to bring down a full grown dragon, and wires leading from the rod down to his room crackled with barely contained electricity.
“It's time...” He said, turning away from the lifeless form as he eyed the energy fueled machinery around him, whirring buzzing and whistling as they were energized by the very forces of nature. It was now or nothing.
Next to the table, a long lever jutted out of the floor, a red rubber handle with a skull and crossbones on it a warning to foolish and curious ponies to stay away. The wrapped his magical aura around it and braced himself to pull, for while he was endlessly curious, he was no fool.
“For science!”he announced triumphantly to the dimly lit interior of his domain before pulling the lever-
“SURPRISE!”
-and snapping it off right from the base as a pair of hooves closed over his eyes and a voice yelled straight into his ear, startling his concentration and causing him to put much more force into the pull than he had intended. The lever flew out of his magical grip and sailed across the wide expanse of the room, crashing through his a large stained glass window depicting the sun and moon in their everlasting dance of the day and night cycle. It was now sporting a good sized hole where the sun once was.
“Wooaah brother, what are you doing up here? I mean, I know that window was ugly as sin, but you don't need to destroy it. It was a -hic- gift from Celestia for...Celestia's sake!” The decidedly male voice said as it removed its hooves from his eyes.
The stallion took a deep, shuddering breath, his eyes traveling from the sparking base of the lever on the ground to his still lifeless creation to the hole in his window. He knew that voice, and by the Gods above it was the last thing that he wanted to hear right now.
“Brother...” he said with barely constrained fury bubbling just under the calm surface. “Do you know what you just did?”
“Hm? Me? Well...” there was a pause, and the stallion turned to get a good look at the intruder. The two ponies could almost be twins by the looks of them, both had dark coats and silvery hair, and both sported cutie marks depicting magical symbols and runes that most ponies didn't know the meaning of. The only way one could tell the difference between the two was that one was smiling broadly with cheeks tinged red, and the other scowling profusely.
Finally, the intrusive pony shrugged, smiling without a care in the world. “I damn near gave me li'l brother a heart attack, that's what!” he said with a cackling laugh, slapping the angry magician on the back.
Something in the poor stallion snapped. “No you colossal nincompoop! My experiment! You ruined my experiment!” he hollered as loudly as his voice could go, which admittedly wasn't very loud. The other stallion didn't even blink at the verbal assault as he went digging through his soaking wet robes for something.
“Easy there, brother dearest...” he mumbled distractedly as he rifled through his pockets, bringing out all manner of garbage and trinkets. A yo-yo, a bear carved out of soapstone, a tooth that once belonged to a dragon, and one of those ridiculous little black balls that was supposed to tell the future all fell out across the floor, among other things, which only served to fuel the flames of the magician scientists brother. “I'm sure your -hic- super duper important experiment can wait for another day. Besides, isn't your older brother coming over to tell ya how much he loves ya more important than a silly -hic- science project?”
“Starswill...” the younger of the two replied with gritted teeth. “I appreciate the sentiment, but must you be so boorishly, obnoxiously, oafishly-”
“Found it!” the pony know as Starswill cried out victoriously, lifting his prize in the air for the world to see. Clutched in his hoof was an old flask made out of tarnished and worn silver, and he eagerly unscrewed the top and took a long swig of his contents.
“Oh for the love of...” the pony known as Starswirl said, kneading his brow with a hoof as he watched his brother gulp down whatever heinous concoction of his was in that dirty flask. “I should have known.”
The pony let out a sharp sigh as he took the flask away from his mouth, screwed the top back on, and hid it back in his damp clothes. “Aw, c'mon little brother! What are you doing cooped up inside on a nice ol' night like this?” Lightning flashed once more outside the broken window behind them, and the new hole in the glass giving them an unimpeded view of the howling wind and rain. “You should be out 'n' about, living your life! I'm sure that your-” he eyed the mishmash of different animal parts that lay motionless on the table. “-whatever that is...can wait.”
“Whether it can or can't is irrelevent, brother. I have no desire to go out right now.” Starswirl spun his tipsy brother around, making sure that he didn't accidentally knock him over his own hooves, and started to walk him to the front door. “Now if you could please leave so that I-”
He was cut off as a blue aura surrounded his body, lifting his hooves off the ground. “That's spirit brother! Let's ditch this dump and find some real fun!” he said jubilantly as he walked out the door and started down the stairs with his confused and upset prisoner floating behind him.
“Wait, no! That's not what I said you drunken oaf! Put me down!” Starswirl protested, his magic working ineffectively. As powerful as he was, his brother was in a league of his own, partly because he was born with immense magical strength for a unicorn, and partly because of his years in the Royal Guard as a battlemage. All he could do was squirm ineffectively in midair.
The last thing he saw before the door closed behind him as his brother started to painfully sing one his favourite drinking songs was the forlorn and forgotten machinery from his experiment, still powered on and waiting to be used.
The rain splattered ineffectively against the small arcane barrier that Starswirl had conjured to protect himself from the elements, just big enough to shield him from the dismal weather, yet small enough that it protected only him. His brother could soak in the rain until morning came for all he cared, even if the drunk pony didn't seem to at all.
He sighed as he floated beside the teetering and tottering pony, taking occasional swigs from his favourite flask as he made his way down twisting alleyways side streets. Starswirl tried his best to commit the directions they were going to memory so that he would be able to get back when he managed to get away from his inebriated captor, but even his powerful mind wasn't up to the task. Canterlot was notorious for having some of the most confusingly designed streets in all of ponydom, and he didn't get out often enough to know them too well.
“Stars-s-swill...” he muttered, clutching his robes close to him. His shield may have blocked the rain and most of the wind, but it didn't do much to keep the chill out of him. He wasn't as hardy as his older brother, hardened as he was by the rigorous training that he had went through to be accepted as a battlemage, so his teeth chattered and his legs quivered as he tried to talk. “W-where under the m-moon are you taking me?”
The pony looked over at his prisoner hovering beside him and grinned. “Don't worry your fancy little bells ya big lug! We'll get there pronto like, for sure! No need to tie your tail in a knot. Here...” he rummaged through his robes a bit before pulling out something metal and tossing it unceremoniously behind him. “take a whiff of that and you'll feel much better!”
Starswirl caught it in his magic and peered closely at it in the dim light that the night afforded him. It didn't take long for him to recognize it.
“Oh for the love of...” he sneered in distaste at the flask, a picture of a svelte mare grinning coquettishly at him behind a lace fan engraved on the metal. “How many of these things do you have?”
“Eh? What, lost your taste in brandy, have you? Don't worry, don't worry, I'm sure I have some gin in here somewhere...a mite easier on the gullet, it is...”
Starswirl growled as he started to tip over until he was hovering upside down, the blood rushing to his head as his robes fell away from him, dragging across the ground and causing the numerous bells that lined its stitches to ring as it started to soak up water. “I don't want any alcohol, brother!” he snarled, throwing the flask as hard as he could at the other pony's head. It bounced off of his skull without even eliciting a flinch from him. “What I want is to go home!”
“Ah, c'mon you cantankerous crybaby! Didn't mum say the other day that she wanted you out o' that bloody tower and meeting other ponies? You spend so much time cooped up in there that you don't even know the difference between night and day!”
Starswirl fumed as he glared at him. “That's ridiculous and you know it. As for what mother said to me, it has nothing to do with you.”
Starswill looked at the pony with wide, offended eyes. “Swirly! How could you say that?” he asked, the picture of affronted. “I'm your brother for aether's sake! I'm only looking out for your wellbeing! 'Sides...” His eyes turned serious for a moment, and much more lucid seeming than any pony who had ingested as much alcohol as he had right to be. “she asked me to look for you, get you out of your shell and such. She ain't happy with all that hermit business you've been up to ya know.”
Starswirl's fuming stopped abruptly as his brow furrowed in confusion. “She...did? Why didn't she talk to me about it?”
“Aye, she did. As for why she di'n tell ya...” Staswill said before he took another long swig from his flask, breathing a sharp, satisfied sigh as the alcohol burned his insides just the way he liked it. “She might as well have if you spent a bloody moment to see her every now and then, you li'l twit.”
Starswirl frowned indignantly. “I'll have you know that I spoke to her just last...” he paused for a moment to recall the exact day. Surely it couldn't be more than a month ago! Starswirl was many things, a scholar, a magician, and a genius all of unprecedented levels, but he was also a dutiful son, that was for sure. “Just last mother's day!” he finished triumphantly, glad to prove his brother wrong. Now if he would only let him go for a second...
“That was six bloody months ago Swirly, ya daft dodderer.” Starswill growled, digging through his robes for doubtless another piece of alcohol, once again letting loose a slew of knick knacks and baubles from his pockets. In his lapse of concentration, Starswirl started to drift away from the pony, which unfortunately resulted in his older brother floating him headfirst into streetlight.
“Eh? Ah...sorry 'bout that mate...” he said halfheartedly as Starswirl let out a string of dark curses and nursed his sore nose. The upside down stallion glared murder at his older brother, his teeth gritting themselves to nubs.
“Could you...please...put me down?” he seethed. The drunken pony looked at him skeptically for a moment, although his eyes seemed to drift away from him every now and then. Starswirl found himself wondering how much his brother had had to drink already. Knowing him, he'd already put a few bars out of business this night alone.
“Will ya go gallivantin' off to tha' tower o' yours?”
Starswirl opened his mouth to answer, but hesitated. From what he could tell, it didn't seem like going back home to salvage what he could of his experiment was going to be an option. He was going out tonight, whether he liked it or not, and he might as well get there on his own hooves than in the precarious grasp of his drunk off his flank brother. There were probably plenty more signposts and streetlights from here to their destination after all.
He sighed dejectedly. “Alright brother...I'll come with you.” He might as well. If his mother really asked Starswill to get him out of his apartments, then he was going to no matter what Starswirl said. The stallion always was a momma's boy through and through.
Has it really been six months? he thought to himself.
“Tha's the spirit!” Starswill cheered, righting Starswirl with his magic and dropping him on the cobblestone street, very nearly depositing him in a massive puddle. Starswirl took a moment to reorient himself after being upside down for so long, drawing his robes in close before a hoof wrapped around his neck and drew him in for a tight squeeze. “Ya won't regret this Swirly! I'm gonna show ya the time o' your life!”
Starswirl gave his elder brother a halfhearted smile as he tried in vain to pull away. The pungent smell of alcohol wafted off of him as though he had bathed in the stuff this morning. “I'm sure you will Starswill...I'm sure you will...”
“An' mum'll be so pleased! Y'know, you really should see her more often, the only thing the poor lady does is garden all day and talk to that neighbour o' hers. You know, the young one with the muscles who helps clean out her pipes? She says he's a right gentlecolt, but she needs more than just...”
Starswirl suppressed a groan as they continued tramping through the streets of Canterlot, the rain hitting his magical barrier and sliding off around him but still feeling the harsh chill. His brother, alway with a constitution that Starswirl was envious of, didn't give the night a second though as he rambled on and on about whatever crossed his mind. It was at that moment that he did something that he didn't normally do even in the worst situations.
Celestia, I know you're not actually a goddess, but if you're listening...please let me make it through this night. he prayed.