'Shining Armor' and I had been wandering around for some time.
Well... okay, my brother was the one doing the wandering while Lola and I simply enjoyed the ride from his back, but he hadn't led us to a dead-end yet, therefore I had a certain measure of hope that he knew where he was going. He already seemed to be more lucid than earlier too, because he had stopped staring in suspicion at most of the ornaments along the way.
He was still merrily skipping about, though.
"(You know, sometimes I wonder why I'm so happy, and I tell myself: 'Shining, this isn't you being happy, it's all an illusion. Snap out of it,')" he suddenly switched tones half-way into his sentence, as if miming someone else talking. "(But then I realize, why would I not want to be happy? Why would anypony, for that matter, want to be anything but happy? Happiness feels too good, tastes too good, is good.)" He turned his head around to face me afterwards, giving me an extremely wide smile. "(You know what I'm talking about, right Twilight?)"
Unfortunately, he still refused to speak in our native language, therefore I could do nothing but listen to him babble in what seemed to be the ponies' tongue. Except this time he seemed to be waiting for an answer from me despite the fact that I had no idea what he was asking. He also kept referring to me as 'Twilight' for some annoying reason I couldn't fathom.
Nevertheless, I answered with a smile that reflected how happy I was to have him, letting out a content chirp as I threw myself at his neck in a loving hug.
Had I been watching, I would've seen his eyes become unfocused for a very brief moment. I did notice that his gait slowed down to a complete stop, though.
"(I love you too, little sis,)" he softly said, bringing his gigantic muzzle closer to gently return my display of affection.
His head briefly twitched.
Shortly thereafter, we resumed our travelling with my brother being noticeably more energetic than he had been mere moments before.
Luckily, we still hadn't run into anyone. I could sense a few stray presences here and there, but they weren't close enough that we had to worry about them, and most of them were congregating in a few select locations if the large concentrations of distant emotions meant anything. Must've been around dinner time, I supposed.
However, despite my... temporary preference to my base form, I knew that I couldn't stay as I was and risk getting us captured for whatever reason. A random encounter seemed inevitable, and I had to be ready.
The question was, what should I look like?
In fact, would I have to worry about what colors to use for my appearance? Did they have the same general meanings here compared to Earth?
Were some of them frowned upon and/or were associated with negative things such as bad luck?
What would a male of my 'current' age look like?
Could I turn into an animal and follow my brother around? Perhaps a dog, or something?
Would that even work? Do they allow animals around here?
...Did dogs exist here to begin with?
Much question. Quite mystery.
Never mind that; a pony would obviously be the safest form to take for a disguise.
Pegasus, unicorn, or vanilla?
Hmm... I would be momentarily depriving myself of a useful tool in case of an emergency, but being a wingless and hornless pony felt like the right choice if I wanted to attract the least amount of attention to myself. From what I could tell out of everyone I had seen during my search for 'Shining Armor', all three races were taking part in the roles of both the maids and the guard patrols, therefore I could pick any of the three without having to worry about looking out-of-place.
A regular pony also seemed to be the most non-threatening form to take, which was kind-of the impression that I was trying to give off.
Though... I would already be appearing as a baby, and babies were generally considered adorable by default. Maybe I was putting too much thought into these things.
...Yeah! I mean, what was I thinking? 'Appearing as non-threatening as possible'? Who would even believe that a tiny foal could pose any kind of threat whatsoever? Heh, as if my mere presence would cause someone to run away shrieking in terror...
Oh, wait, that did happen.
...
...
Shit.
'Alright, pulling all the stops for this one.'
I stuck my tongue out in concentration, aaand...
*Fwoomph*
My brother paused his gallivanting to turn and look at me, the flash from my transformation having attracted his attention.
"(Huh. You look... different, somehow.)" He narrowed his eyes. "(New manecut?)"
I shuddered, feeling naked and unprotected without my shell. I wished I had a mirror so that I could see myself better, but until then I would have to make do with my flexible neck to check myself out and potentially make adjustments to make sure that my disguise was optimal.
My sibling resumed his joyous prancing in the meantime.
I obviously couldn't outright copy anyone I had met or seen so far, yet I still felt like borrowing something from Lara and Cadance, therefore I gave myself a coat with a similar shade to the alicorn's while my hair and tail took on the pegasus' coloring and style.
Magenta-colored eyes seemed to be a trend from what I had seen so far as well. Perhaps it was the norm here, much like how brown eyes were the majority on Earth? Too bad I couldn't really see my face, for now.
I think felt... 'okay' with how I looked, to a certain extent. As long as I didn't think too hard about it and that I reminded myself that the whole point was to 'blend in', that is. I wasn't sure how a, uh, colt would look like—if there was much of a difference to begin with—but I didn't want to risk playing around with changing my anatomy, yet. Maybe there were rules, or restrictions to my transformations, or something that could go horribly wrong if I made a mistake somewhere during the metamorphosis...
In any case, while I was assuming and hoping that the standards for appearing 'adorable' were the same here as on Earth, I was satisfied enough with my disguise. The only part left was to test its effectiveness, though I wouldn't mind avoiding anyone until we left; however unlikely that would be.
Though... it would be nice if we came across Lara one last time before we left.
My brother froze mid-step, promptly doing a one-eighty and going towards a different direction.
'Lara...'
Sure, I was going to be reunited with my family sometime in the near future, but Lara was still... someone who had loved me since almost the very beginning. Someone who genuinely cared for me, who kept me warm during the night, who fed me and... even bathed me. Heck, at this point I wouldn't hesitate all that much to label her as family, too.
And I was leaving her.
Something told me that this would be the part where I would be 'sad'. Where I should be 'sad'... but I still couldn't even remember what that felt like.
What did Cadance do to me back there? She was feeling so bad that it made me puke... blue stuff... and then I just sort of decided I didn't want to feel that ever again...
Did I purge myself of an emotion? Lock it away?
What if I wanted to feel it again, just to remembe—
"Oh f-fuck! No, no, n-no!" I whimpered when I accidentally did... something that felt like I had released all of the pent-up sorrow that I had bottled up in a while.
All at once, I felt what I would've felt at discovering my dead sibling, what I would've felt at discovering Sparkles' true motives after thinking that she could be considered a 'friend', what I would've felt at merely thinking about my adoptive parents, and what I would've... what I was feeling at the thought of leaving Lara behind without saying goodbye.
A large part of me wanted to wail and cry like one should when feeling this much sorrow.
Another part reminded me of where we were and that doing so would attract unwanted attention on my brother and I.
Yet another portion of me managed to focus enough to 'close the floodgates' so-to-speak, and once again locked away the unwanted emotion, to my immense relief.
My shivering abruptly stopped, though I still had to wipe some tears away from my furry face to notice that my brother had stopped to stare at me in an oddly serious and concerned manner. I smiled at him to let him know that everything was fine, and he nodded before moving on with his current destination.
I probably shouldn't be bottling up emotions like this, but... if it felt so bad, then perhaps it was a good thing that I got rid of it. I couldn't afford distractions right now; not when we were undercover and trying to escape this place. Once this was all over and that we got out of here, I could let it all out and properly... mourn.
Or... maybe I could stop myself from feeling sad for a few days longer.
Maybe a few weeks, actually.
Forever seemed like an even better idea, though. I mean, who would ever want to feel sad?
...Whatever that felt like. I just knew that it was a 'bad feeling' at this point.
Though, back on the previous topic of Cadance, she was distressed an awful lot at my departure. Lara probably wouldn't fare too good as well, especially since she was with me for quite a bit longer...
...
I let out a resigned sigh.
While I may like those two ponies a lot, I knew that Mom must've been worried sick at my disappearance. Even now, no matter how much I strained myself or how many times I had tried to check during my entire stay here, I couldn't sense any other changelings besides the brother that I was in the process of cuddling from atop his back.
...Yeah, it was probably for the best that we exit this place as soon as possible before I bonded any more with Lara and Cadance. I would've ended up leaving to meet Mom no matter what happened anyway; no point in making it harder on everyone involved.
My brother stopped, then turned around and merrily backtracked up to where we had previously been going towards.
"Uh... are you lost?" I stared at my sibling, wondering why we switched directions again.
"(Nay! I know this castle like the back of my hoof!)" he answered, persisting with his usage of the ponies' language to my dismay. "(Every secret passage, nook and granny! Every tapestry, ornament and candle! There is nothing here that has escaped the might of my scrutinizing gaze— Ooh! That's new.)"
He stopped to stare at a particularly large stained glass window in a hallway that was filled with them on one side, though this one had an actual illustration on it, unlike the others.
On it, a unicorn that seemed to be in a uniform and a pony that looked quite a lot like Cadance were forming a heart with their oddly-bent bodies, their horns intertwined. They were both in the middle of a pinkish orb that appeared to be expanding, with a little castle in the background.
"(I thought Cadie told me that she denied their requests to put a stained glass window of this...)" For the first time, my brother seemed to exude something other than happiness, a frown creasing his face in the beginnings of anger. Which only turned into annoyance once he looked around us, his muzzle scrunching itself in the process. "(Ah, sneaky nobles; she denied it from being showcased in the throne room. This isn't the throne room.)"
He maintained his conflicted stare on it for a little while before he eventually resumed trotting. Which was good, because I could sense more and more presences roaming around, and one was actually getting pretty close from ahead of us.
Okay, never mind, it seemed my disguise was about to receive its first test.
Peeking from around my sibling's hair, I spotted a maid that was headed in the opposite direction. My brother had slowed his gait down to a 'normal' level as soon as she came into his view range, and from the way she shrank down a bit when she noticed him watching her, I'd say that he was giving her a sort of intimidating look.
Her entire posture changed once she noticed me atop his back.
I totally wasn't nervously squeezing Lola in a fluff-crushing hug while concealing myself a bit behind the aforementioned doll at that very moment. Nope. I was just maybe a teensy tiny slight bit worried that I messed up my disguise somewhere somehow and that she would figure out that I wasn't actually a pony because I forgot some minor detail and then she would run screaming like that other guy did and...
To my relief, all she did was throw me a bright smile; her sudden joy providing me with a quick snack that simultaneously had the side-effect of dispelling any nervousness I had.
I-I mean, uh, I wasn't really nervous to begin with. It was all a ploy to get to that mare's motherly side!
...Yeah, I'm going with that.
In any case, the maid returned to whatever duties she was performing, leaving my brother and I alone. Shining returned to his prancing, and I mentally high-fived myself at my first real deception through shapeshifting. I couldn't wait to tell Mom! She would be so proud of me, I was sure.
Unfortunately, judging by my senses, we were headed straight towards a part of the building that had a lot of traffic. But that was fine! I was emboldened by my success, and I was sure that everything from here on out would turn out to be alright.
With the next stranger that walked by—a pegasus maid—I decided to take it to the next level by waving and squealing happily (as babies tend to do when they feel like it) once she'd spot me. Unlike the previous pony, she actually stopped right in the middle of the corridor to keep gazing at me intently, like she wanted to pinch my cheeks and hold me and pet me and...
...pretty much enact everything I just named.
"(Oh, aren't you just the cutest thing!)" she cooed, having scooped me off of my alarmed brother's back and fluttering a few feet away from the ground, whereupon she rubbed her cheek against my own in a delicious nuzzle. The maid then proceeded to lovingly gaze upon my bewildered form, giving me some sort of 'baby talk' with puckered lips as she held me with one foreleg while waving the other in front of my face for me to interact with it, occasionally poking my soft pink belly with it.
"*Ahem*," my brother sharply interjected.
The pegasus abruptly stopped playing with me, having the decency to blush when she noticed that 'Shining Armor' was glaring at her. Quite strongly, I might add.
"Eheh, s-sorry," she nervously squeaked, carefully setting me down on my bro's back and picking Lola off the ground to return my fluffy companion to me. "(I'll just, um, go back to work... yes.)" She cleared her throat. "(Pardon me for the disruption, sir.)" The maid quickly bowed and hastily went on her way with flushed cheeks.
She still gave one last glance and smile while waving a foreleg at me right before she went out of sight, though.
I happily sighed, basking in the burst of love and joy that I had just received, making sure to send a large portion of it to my brother. Wouldn't be fair for me to hoard everything, after all. As usual, his wide smile quickly returned and the skipping across the hallways that I've become accustomed to continued.
You know, a part of me honestly disliked that I was so small. Being picked up and manhandled constantly... I felt kind of powerless.
At the same time, however, I kind of dreaded the day where I wouldn't be so tiny. Where I once towered over my friends, my now smaller stature gave me a different and admittedly interesting view on everything, besides the fact that this was a different world. I mean, back in that kitchen with Lara, Cadance and... Sparkles, the food looked absolutely huge.
Heck, everything looked huge; the plates, the furniture, the rooms, the world, the ponies...
How big would Mom be?
It really sucked that I couldn't enjoy 'regular' food as much as before, though. 'Wanted pancakes? Well here's a stack that's literally bigger than you are; enjoy!'
Except not...
Oh well. Love was still amazing. What I'd really miss once I'd grow older—and subsequently less adorable, maybe—would be how easy it is right now for me to get these ponies to love me. And how great it felt to be held despite the 'being picked up' thing. Perhaps I'd figure something out along the way, unless someone from my family already knew and would teach me about it.
While I was mentally rambling, my brother and I had walked past what I assumed was a butler who had managed to maintain his composure despite my cuteness (though he was sweating profusely) as well as another maid that 'Shining Armor' actually had to pry me away from.
I thought I also heard Cadance's name being mentioned in hushed whispers from a couple of passing ponies.
It was as we walked through another secluded section that I got worried again, because this time we were about to walk by a pair of guards. Trained guards that carried themselves as if they were part of the military more than anything else. If my earlier near-encounter with them taught me anything, it was that some ponies actually knew about changelings somehow, and they certainly didn't have nice feelings for us. What if the guards were trained to detect us? What if these two knew how to figure us out?
No, no, I had to stay calm and smile. If I fooled a bunch of other ponies, then I could fool these two, especially if it had taken almost no effort on my part to do the deed.
Unfortunately, things wouldn't be as simple, it seemed.
"(Whoa, look! It's the Captain!)" one of them exclaimed, losing his serious demeanor in favor of pointing at my brother.
"(Where've you been, sir? Nopony's seen or heard of you for days!)" the other added while they both approached.
Shiiit, they both knew 'Shining Armor', and I was pretty sure that the drugs hadn't worn off on him yet!
"(I wasn't feeling so well a few days ago,)" my brother solemnly informed them in a serious demeanor, in such a way that it gave me hopes about how well he could handle himself right then and there. "(I was afflicted with an illness that nopony had ever encountered before. Nothing seemed to be able to fix it, whether it was magic or medicine.)"
The guards looked absolutely enraptured by whatever my sibling was saying.
"(Things looked bleak, I felt weak, it was painful at first and ended with an unending thirst...)"
They leaned in closer when my brother remained silent for a few seconds in suspense.
"(...But then the doctor gave me happy pills, and everything was K.)"
The armored ponies stared, blinked, then looked at each other, and then back to my brother.
One of them narrowed his eyes in suspicion while the other decided to voice his confusion. "(Sooo... you were sick, went to some doctors, and they gave you a prescription? Are you, uh, sure you're allowed to be out and about right now? You don't really look like you're 'kay'—)"
He was interrupted when his unicorn companion suddenly shot a beam of magic straight at my brother, and I could do nothing but watch on in horror as the unknown magic pierced through the air to finally hit him right on the face.
Besides 'Shining Armor' looking a little dizzy and staggering backwards a bit, nothing else happened for a second.
Nor for a second second.
Not even for a second after the second second, when the pegasus guard turned to face his compatriot with a questioning look.
The unicorn breathed out a sigh of relief, relaxing his stance as my brother shook his head to clear it. "Phew, he's not a changeling."
...Wait, what?
"What the hay was that?" 'Shining Armor' inquired once his bout of dizziness passed.
The unicorn stood straighter, giving off a salute. "(Oh, uh, sorry about that, Captain! I guess I've been a little paranoid nowadays. It was just a spell that your sister told the guard about right after the invasion. It's supposed to tear off a changeling's disguise, though I modified it to also incapacitate those bugs. If it did remove anything, at least.)" He looked sheepish for a moment and turned away. "(Of course, I'm not even sure if it works anymore with the modification, but it hasn't hurt anypony yet, so there's no harm in trying, right?)"
The guard then stared at me, and I couldn't help but shrink back a bit from his scrutinizing gaze devoid of happy-feels.
"(So you told us what happened to you, but who's this little filly that you're carrying... around...?)" he asked before frowning. "(Wait a minute.)"
Wait a minute...
The unicorn slowly narrowed his eyes at me. "(Didn't Blueblood say something about a tiny changeling with a Daring Do doll?)"
These were the two guards that were brought up by the one pony I revealed myself to!
"(Oh yeah! He totally did say that,)" his fried replied, nodding sagely.
My smile had long-since faded away, the angry look from the unicorn and the curious stare of the pegasus forcing me to nervously try and hide behind Lola and my brother's neck, more so from how my insides felt like they were burning from the unicorn's disgusting rage.
The winged one's eyes finally widened. "Hey! That's a Daring Do doll!"
I felt my pupils shrink in realization.
That one pony had seen me with Lola! He probably told them about her!
They knew!
"CHANGELING!" the pegasus shouted, pointing while the unicorn aimed his already charged horn.
This time the beam was hurtling straight towards me, and I knew it wouldn't do anything even close to being remotely good with how angry the unicorn was.
I should've moved.
I should've dodged.
I should've done something, yet I hadn't budged. Panic had immediately taken hold of my mind, my body was frozen in fear, my short life flashed before my eyes, and before I knew it the laser had found its mark right between my eyes.
Pain.
Agonizing, excruciating pain surged through my entire body, making that time where I had intentionally smacked my own horn seem like a slap on the wrist in comparison. My skin felt like it was doused in oil and set on fire while simultaneously being ripped away from my very being in such a slow manner that the seconds stretched into minutes, and the minutes into an eternity.
I roared in anger. Or maybe I was screaming in agony. I couldn't tell; the torment was just too much for me to bear. It was all I could think about. It was all I could feel.
I wasn't sure how long I had been writhing around on the floor, but I eventually realized that the pain was nowhere near as bad as it recently was. And yet, while I no longer felt the hurting as much, the memory was still fresh and I could still hear someone screaming.
It took me another moment to realize that it was none other than myself.
My blurry vision was suddenly filled with white, along with two large light-blue orbs. Or maybe they were light-green.
"—wilight! Twilight! It's okay! Calm down, everything's alright! I'm here!"
I tried to scramble away from whatever that thing was—run escape find safe spot hide—but all my efforts were for naught since it promptly grabbed me into a strong embrace before I could put any distance between it and I.
"(Come on, sis! I took care of the bad guys! Talk to me! What's wrong?!)"
I faintly registered the concern emanating from very, very close, and it was only when I soon ran out of breath from screeching that I finally stopped and somewhat partially returned to lucidity, coughing from how raw my throat felt.
"...You okay?"
Warmth. Warmth. Whoever was holding me was slowly making the pain go away, making my tremors go away...
I hadn't even realized just how much I was shaking, let alone that I was to begin with.
"(We've got to go right now, I think others heard us.)" I felt weightless for a second and I tried to resist whatever was going on, but I couldn't even muster any strength whatsoever before I was set on top of something squishy. "(Those two were some of my best friends; I can't believe they attacked you! I don't even know if we can trust anypony right now.)"
I let the worried voice ramble on. It was at least nice to listen to, and it helped take my mind off of my sore body that I still felt occasionally twitch.
'Just don't think about the pain. Don't think about t-the unicorn that was angry, so very angry at me for no reason and who s-shot me with something that hurt so much, just like he did with— Oh, oh fuck, w-where's my brother?!'
"Sh-Shini— *Cough*!" I desperately tried to call, yet all I managed was a weak cry before my sore throat immediately protested against the action.
"Shh, shh, it's okay, I'm right here!" the voice soothingly said while something brushed against my face.
Opening my eyes and letting my vision refocus itself a bit over a few seconds, I realized that the squishy surface under me was in fact my brother's back, and that he was at that very moment staring back at me in concern.
I quickly closed my eyes. Things were too bright; I was getting a headache on top of my current headache and my... everything. But at least my brother was there with me. He was okay after whatever just happened. He would take care of me. He knew this place better than I did. He would find a way to get us out of here safely. Preferably without meeting any more p-ponies.
"(Alright, I know a secret passageway that will get us out of here quickly, and it shouldn't be too far. You just... rest, and don't worry about anything. I'll handle it. I'll protect you.)"
His concern, his love; he was slowly chasing the hurt away, but my shuddering wouldn't stop. I just couldn't forget what I had just felt. I couldn't forget the raw hate on that one guard's face, and how it made my insides feel as if someone had put some acid in there.
Why would that unicorn do that to me? Feel that way towards me? What had I ever done to him to possibly deserve any of th-that!?
I warily looked around once more. Things weren't spinning nearly as much as before and it was still hazy, but I could easily tell that my brother was moving at a hurried pace with a lot of care to not make the ride a bumpy one. We passed by a lot of things, not one of them being a living entity if my scrambled but semi-functional empathic senses were right.
Oh, f-fuck, what if we ran into someone else?! My muzzle wasn't pink anymore, I, I could tell that much. I had to quickly change back! I didn't want Shining Armor to get hit and experience what I did, I didn't want to be the one to get us caught and captured, I...
I grit my teeth and tried to mold my energy back into a disguise, but I couldn't manage to control or direct the magic I possessed in any way. Where it once flowed gracefully at my command, it now forcefully rammed chaotically around my insides without restraint, and I finally realized the cause of my lingering torment.
Whatever that unicorn had done messed up my magic pretty bad. It was running rampant across my whole being, overloading my senses wherever it went; something that might as well have been constant with the amount of magic I apparently had.
All I wanted was for the pain to go away. I wanted to, to go home. I... I wanted... w-wanted my Mom...
"(Should be right over here...)" Brother muttered.
Despite how difficult it was to see, I could barely make out that he was messing with a wall until I... I heard a muffled 'click'. Then he did something to... whatever that thing next to us was, and after that he stepped on some part of the ground before he fiddled with the wall again, more clicks sounding with every step.
I shut my eyes again due to another wave of unintentional shuddering, but by the time it passed and that I took notice of our new surroundings, I came upon the realization that we were in a sort of cave network.
One that seemed to be composed entirely of crystals wherever I looked, and it was an expansive cavern if the echoes from the clacks of my brother's footsteps were any indication.
Before I knew what was going on, I found myself being gently levitated off of my brother and I panicked because I was separated from safe warm family and I would be left alone and—
"(Hey, hey! It's okay... it's okay, shh, I'm here for you, sis. Shhh. We're safe for now. Nopony ever goes through these tunnels anymore, and very few know about them to begin with.)"
White fur surrounded me and... and I quickly calmed down when Shining Armor embraced me in a hug, stroking my hair while whispering comforting words.
His concern at my shaking and the brotherly love he was exuding helped me feel substantially better, the positive emotions having the side-effect of stabilizing my magic, like some sort of soothing medicine that washed through my body as soon as it was being applied.
The pain very slowly went away, as did my constant twitching.
We stayed like that for just about a few minutes, though with the relief I was experiencing during that time, it might as well have felt like a couple hours. Shining Armor held me and continued his ministrations the entire time, until I finally believed that I was... probably well enough to be able to try to walk on my own again.
I wouldn't tell him that, though. Being carried meant I would be closer to him, and being alone was the last thing I wanted. Without his calming presence and the comfort he was providing me with, I... I wasn't sure what I would be doing right now, nor did I want to know or even think about it.
I promptly sensed something trying to escape from me, however. A sort of... accumulation of emotion that had been piling up until now. I even felt tears beginning to form from the meager amount that had managed to leak out, while my body resumed shaking f-from the sorrow—
I quickly and forcefully pushed it back down, though it took significantly more effort than last time to do so. I didn't want to deal with that yet.
If ever.
While I stopped my mild shaking, 'Shining Armor' paused to give me a scrutinizing look with his worried, somewhat unfocused gaze.
"You feeling okay now, Twilight?"
...
Oh for the love of—
"I am not Twilight Sparkle!" I hissed, wincing afterwards at the effort it took and at his surprised expression.
He jerked his head back at my sudden display of anger, but I had honestly had just about enough with everything that happened recently. Being constantly reminded of the unicorn that had been studying me and my relatives was most definitely not helping.
Why the heck would Shining even refer to me as the pony that had been holding him captive?! In fact, every time he called me 'Twilight', he sent a little extra burst of love my way...
My eyes widened while his own seemed to somehow lose a bit of their green'ish hue.
<"...W-what? (I'm not mom,) I'm Twilight! Twilight Sparkle! (Your s-sister!)">
<"I AM Twilight Sparkle! And you're Shining Armor!">
The memories echoed as I remembered how she had been frustrated with him at the time, yelling her name at him.
Had Sparkles been trying to...?!
Shock "A-Artem—!?"
"How dare she try to brainwash you into caring for her!" I angrily chittered after throwing myself at his chest and wrapping my hooves around the base of his neck as best as I could, swearing vengeance upon Sparkles for whatever she had subjected my brother to.
No wonder his name felt wrong! It was probably one that Sparkles made him believe was his!
My frown turned into a confused one when I felt my sibling's shock devolve into panic and fear in equal measures, and he began to backpedal while I still clung to him, looking as if he was trying to get away from me.
Shit, this was worse than I thought!
I sent through our frazzled link a large burst of love in order to snap him out of it and remind him that we were in this together, that we were brothers, siblings, family, and that I would love him just as much as everyone else in the hive had loved me despite the fact that they hadn't even met me outside of the egg.
Had I even sent anything to him during that entire period where I suffered from the aftermath of that... that evil unicorn's spell?
He soon calmed down and relaxed, the 'levitation magic' that he had begun surrounding me with disappearing as I used my severely diminished stores of emotion-food to refill his own reserves... which were significantly larger than I remembered.
His eyes returned to their normal light-green tint and the link we shared was once again filled by the brotherly love we each felt for the other, at which point he nuzzled me while I happily returned the show of affection, seeing that he was as close to 'normal' as I knew him to be—
"I love you, Twilight."
...
I sighed.
"L-look, can... can we just go home, please? I just... I want to see Mom and meet everyone else..."
'She can probably help cure you, too,' I almost added.
Shining Armor's radiant smile returned and he began wandering deeper into the cave as I clung to the back of his neck, nestling myself comfortably, relieved as I was that we were done dealing with ponies for the foreseeable future.
For a moment or two, I stared in wonderment at the multitude of shiny crystals that formed the entirety of the cave's insides, watching with awe as light shows occurred left and right from my brother's charged horn reflecting light off of practically everywhere as we moved along.
But in the end, I closed my eyes, exhaling a sigh of contentment while I deeply buried my muzzle in Shining Armor's hair and strengthened my embrace on him.
Sure, the glittering scenery surrounding us certainly was entrancing and beautiful to look at, but it simply couldn't compare to the physical and emotional comfort that my brother provided, on top of the fact that we were finally going somewhere that most certainly wouldn't have evil unicorns shooting death beams at me for no reason whatsoever.
However, while I may have loved my brother just as much as the many siblings that had visited, fed and talked to me during my time in the egg, what I truly yearned was to be with my... with my new mother. To be held by her, to listen to her singing once more, to feel her loving embrace, to have her teach me how to fly, how to be a changeling, to have her show me the world while I'd happily ride on her back...
It was a nice thought.