“Lightwing!”
The young pegasus’ head snapped up when he heard a familiar voice call his name. Captain Charm Blitz, an older unicorn, stood in front of him. He quickly saluted. “Yes, ma’am?”
She cracked a smile. “Nice work today, kid,” she told him. “Keep going like that, you’ll outrank me in no time.”
“I’m sure you’re overstating, ma’am,” Lightwing replied humbly, but inside he was glowing. “I’m just doing my best for all the ponies out here.”
Before she could answer, a light flashed a few buildings down, accompanied by a loud crash and a rumbling in the ground. While other ponies glanced around, startled, Lightwing groaned, bringing a hoof to his face. “I just wish I could say the same for my hopeless brother…”
*o*o*o*o*
“Another explosion? Really?”
“Nice going, genius.”
“Don’t worry, guys, with Cuckoo Clock on our side, there’s no way the monsters will win.”
Lightwing shoved through the crowd, the sarcastic comments of the other ponies only fueling his anger. Not only was Tick Tock weakening their fighting force, he was humiliating their whole family!
He pushed to the front to find a smoking hole in the side of Tick Tock’s workshop, the colt inside dazed and faintly singed. “Oh, great,” he snarled, vitriol filling his tone. “What did you destroy this-”
The insults died in his throat when his brother turned to look at him.
Where Tick Tock’s left eye should have been, there was nothing but blood.
For a second, Lightwing stared, horrified. His shock wasn’t broken until Tick Tock cocked an eyebrow (as well as he could) in confusion. “Is something wrong, Lightwing?”
He couldn’t feel it. He couldn’t feel his face well enough to know that he just lost an eye.
Lightwing wheeled, turning to the ponies gathered behind him. “Somepony get Nurse Shamrock!” he shouted, desperation filling his tone. “Hurry!”
Not a single pony moved.
Grinding his teeth in anger, Lightwing took off like a rocket. Shooting overhead, he promised himself that if Tick Tock never saw out of that eye again, he would rise through the ranks and make all those ponies pay.
*o*o*o*o*
In the end, it turned out that Tick Tock had not damaged his eye at all - merely gotten a gash above it. Nurse Shamrock had offered him some of their limited supply of anesthetic, but Tick Tock had refused, claiming that “it wouldn’t matter”. And he was right - even as she was putting eleven stitches above his eye, in some of the thinnest skin of his face, he never once flinched.
There was something terrifying in watching that, Lightwing decided.
Once he returned from the medical wing, General Lionheart gave Tick Tock a lecture the likes of which he’d never received, as well as the harshest punishment he’d ever doled out to the young unicorn - two days grounded from his workshop. Anything more, and they’d learned that Tick Tock would start destroying useful objects in order to fiddle with their parts.
Lightwing left the house as soon as Tick Tock retreated to his bedroom. He might fight with his brother all the time, but knowing how close the other colt had come to being seriously hurt that day unsettled him. What if it happened again?
The traders would be coming to town that day, only a few hours from then. He’d been saving for months to buy some real food. He tried to distract himself with that.
*o*o*o*o*
The next evening, Tick Tock dragged himself out of bed - a lengthy process even on the best of days, when he had a day full of tinkering to look forward too. Already his mind was ticking, churning out new ideas. In his short life, he’d experienced no greater torment than being unable to create the things he thought up. His father knew this, which is why being grounded from his workshop was rare.
Eventually, he made it onto all four hooves. He headed to the door, swung it open with his magic - and stopped short.
There, on the floor in front of him, lay a pair of bright green goggles. He’d never seen anything like them around the town before - there was no way they’d ever stock up on something with so little tactical use. Besides, these were too bright, too clean. Too new to have been in Neighers long.
Hesitant to claim something that might not be his, he carried them in a cloud of sparkling green magic into the kitchen, hoping to ask his father if he knew anything about them.
Lionheart wasn’t there. Neither was Jot, the only one likely to know where he was at any given moment. But Lightwing was, sitting at the table and eating a bowl of cold mushroom stew for breakfast, and suddenly Tick Tock understood.
He’d never tell Lightwing how much the gift meant to him. He’d never let his brother know how much it shocked him and warmed his heart to know that, even after all his mistakes, the pegasus still cared. It was clear by the way that Lightwing wouldn’t look at him that it wasn’t something that he wanted to discuss. But, as Tick Tock settled his new eyewear about his neck, he made a silent vow to both that, if possible, he would never take them off. Their weight was a new experience, but he found it reassuring. It reminded him of the days when his brother fought against his bullies, not with them. It made him feel safe.