//------------------------------//
// Blood is Thicker 
// Story: BROKEN 
// by WolfoftheWaves Pony 
//------------------------------//

	I want to know what is happening and I want to know right now!" River screamed at me while I was trying to get Broken's attention.
"Why are you asking me?" I snapped back. "I have no idea!"
"Well, you have to know something!"
"No! I don't! Trust me, I really, really don't."
River stared at me for a moment, then shook her head. "He really wants to join the revolution, doesn't he?"
I looked down at Broken. "Yes. And I do, too." I glanced at the bullet hole in the wall, then nodded. 
I heard River sigh. "Why, why don't we give him some space, and let's, let's talk in private."

She led me down another long series of tunnels before we finally stopped at the familiar door. "In here," She gestured with her head. 
"This is, this is where Pole and Broken-"
"Yes," River said, interrupting me in mid sentence. "But it is almost completely sound proof near the door, and completely sound proof away from it. It is the safest place to talk." She pulled out a key and with her magic she unlocked the door. "Come on," She said.
"What do you want to talk about?" I asked while following her in. I watched as she slammed the door shut. She turned around to face me.
"Okay. So maybe you don't know why he asked about my pen pal Mockingbird, but the least you could do is tell me why he wants to join. Come on, you have to know at least that."
She's right. I did know that. But I wasn't going to tell her Broken's secret on my life. "No." I said with all the confidence that I could muster.
River gasped. "No!?" 
"No."
"Is that your favorite word? No?"
"Yes. It must be. I said it all the time when I was little."
"Listen here, Blossom Wing," River said. "This is not a joke." She got up close to my face. "And it is not funny."
"And I'm not joking either," I said, pushing her away. "And I said no."
River's face grew red. She screamed. "Tell me or I break your neck!"
"I guess the whole, 'nice mare thing' was just an act," I said, putting as much anger in that sentence as I could.. River banged her head against the wall three times. 
"I will break your neck!" She shouted at the wall.
"How do you break a wall's neck?" I said, realizing that I had just crossed the line of no return. River looked at me, her eyes dilating until they looked like pin pricks. "Uh oh," I said, dodging her attack. She threw her self at me, then got up from the floor. Strands from her mane fall on her face, and she looked at me, breathing hard like a maniac. 
"BLOSSOM!" She screamed. I panicked, running away from her next flailing attack. But she just kept going. Soon, I found myself trapped in a corner. I turned around and saw her lumbering towards me. I was trapped. "WING!" She screamed. Wings. That's it! I know that it might hurt, but it's all I have. 
I ripped of the bandages with my hooves and flared my wings, trying to stifle a cry of pain. I flapped them, but I only flew a few inches off the ground before I came crashing down. I looked up and saw her galloping towards me. I got up and flapped harder and harder, until finally I was 6 feet off the ground. I pumped my wings as hard as I could and headed towards the door, which I knew wasn't unlocked. I crashed into it and was sent sprawling into the tunnel on the other side. I landed on the floor, wings bleeding and aching, no, screaming with pain. I glanced behind me and saw her as she spun around, seeing that I had escaped. 
"BLOSSOM WING!" She screamed, galloping towards the door. I must have broke an Equestrian record for reactions because I slammed that door in one second. Finally, I gave myself a moment to breath.
"You can join" I heard her mumble through the door, but couldn't quite understand what she said. Against my better judgement, I cracked the door open and little. 
"What?" I asked.
"You, you can, you can join," River said, breathing heavy. "You can join the revolution."


*****************

I stare, empty-eyed at the wall in front of me. I do not know for how long I have been waiting here. A long time though, I think. But nothing matters to me at the moment. Nothing matters anymore.

Nothing matters at all. And I watched as I fell into darkness.

******************

Let me tell you the truth: Yes, my family did die in an explosion. But that explosion was from the missiles of a Robot Unit. My older brother had decided to join a protest in front of the mayor's house when I was seven. My mother and father begged him not to go, but he went anyway, saying that it was his right.
Of course, being so young I didn't really understand back then why they were so worried. To me, it was just big brother doing his, big brother, things. So, while my parents were crying, I was playing with my dolls.
But then I did start to wonder where he was at after a couple of hours. And my parents were border-lining hysteria. 
Finally, the door rang, and my parents were overjoyed, thinking that he had returned. But when they opened the door, it was not big brother, it was a Robot Unit. 
"YOUR SON HAS BEEN SHOT AND KILLED IN FRONT OF THE MAYOR'S HOUSE TODAY. WE MOURN YOUR LOSS."

Mother broke down crying, but father just grew angry. "Oh, you mourn my son? You MOURN him? Well, mourn this!" He reached into his uniform and grabbed the pocket knife he always carried around. He reared his hoof back and threw it at the Robot Unit, hitting it right were the neck and head meet, severing it. My father had thought he had won. But he didn't. And a few seconds later, we learned that. Because right after the Robot Unit had died, a hoard of Robot Units came and opened fire on us. The house went up in flames. And I watched as my father got blown to bits, blood painting the floor. And I screamed. Mother yelled at me to run as fast as I could.
I tried to get out of the house, and eventually found a broken window in my room, and climbed out of it, landing in the grass below. I turned around to look at the burning building, but then another explosion hit and sent glass flying, cutting my face. 
I fell backward, landing on my side. I glanced up and saw a Robot Unit landing next to me. At first, I felt nothing. Just the pain in my face and the warm, sticky blood. Then I heard my mother's screams, and grew very, very angry. I got up, and yelled at it. All the nasty words that mother told me never to say, and the Robot Unit responded by showing off it's knife. Bad choice.
Because I ran forward. grabbed that knife and swung it around, breaking the Robot Unit. After it had died, I pulled the knife away from it's host's body, and levitated it with my horn.
I turned around and saw another one coming after me. And it ended up just like his friend.
And then I ran. I ran away, as fast and hard as I could, still levitating the knife. Eventually, I made it to the revolutionist's cave entrance. I didn't know what it was at the time, but I curled up next to it, and cried myself to sleep. And when I woke up, I was on a bed deep within the tunnels. I had joined the revolution at the age of seven.

And I had earned my cutie mark that awful day. It was a river, and a sun, with two swords Cris-crossing it. I was a fighter.
And suddenly I was glad that we had uniforms, because then I wouldn't have to look at it. It reminded me too much of that night.
I ended dying my mane red and black, just to forget about everything.

But when I saw Blossom, scared and terrified of, well, me, I had flashed back to that night, when I had felt the same terror. And I realized, that if she wanted to join, she should join, because, at the moment, it is the only thing she has.

Just like me.

And as I am helping her up, her blood drenching my hooves, it also reminded me of that horrible day, when my own blood stained the ground.
But she does have secrets to tell. And I will discover what they are.