A Tale of Two Brothers

by Zonagon

Chapter 1

The ponies collected the two mysterious foals and set up a camp near the temple to discuss their so-called “Gifts from Heaven”. They had never seen ponies such as these two young foals, possessing the horns of a Unicorn and the wings of a Pegasus. Never had they heard of ponies like this in any of their story books. They did however know what their purpose was, to usher in a new age of harmony for ponykind.

First things first, they needed to name and raise them to become the leaders the ponies so desperately needed. The first foal, golden was he and what a dark crimson mane he had. They saw how much he resembled the great sun in the sky, and thus named him Helios. The other however, was as pale as a ghost and haunted the hearts of the poor ponies that gazed into his cold, blue eyes, all but one. The unicorn who had found the book that led the ponies here trotted up to the pale foal and smiled at his inquisitive face.

“Your name will be Nocturn.” She told the pale foal.

The pale foal, now called Nocturn, gave her a small smile in response to her gentle nature. The other ponies had silently agreed amongst themselves on who should be the one to raise the young foals, as long as she agreed to do so. Which she did, for not only did she thought it was a true honour to raise the future of their society, she had long sought to be a mother to somepony. So now it has been decided, the names of the foals, who shall raise them, and their destiny to bring together ponykind in true unity. Thus was the unchangeable fate of the young Princes; Helios and Nocturn.

The ponies soon built a home for themselves not far from the temple where they had found the Princes, they had small cottages built to store their beds and whatever possessions they had brought with them. The unicorn who was now the mother to the two princes had a home filled with all of her favorite books she owned and had the Princes’ shared room built right next to her’s in case they were troubled in the night. Though as they all prepared building the home of their two princes, three elder ponies had come together to discuss the future of their pony society, and of their vision for the fate of the young Princes.

Sleeping soundly in her cot was a unicorn; tired from the stresses of yesterday’s antics of her two rambunctious young colts. Sunlight gently peered through the window of her cottage and onto her muzzle. Her room was riddled with story books she’d read to her little foals and of the silly little niknaks they’d make her. One such niknak was a colorful drawing they made of the themselves and their mother. Helios was triumphant and adorned in red and gold, Nocturn was outlined in blue and had two blue dots as eyes, and their mother was holding them close with a warm smile on her face. The comfort of this room left her in such a state of comfort… And open to attack.

“WAKE UP MOM!” Shouted Helios as he bounced up and down on his mother’s cot. “It’s time to wake up!”

She lept up from her sleep to see her energetic son, Helios, bouncing up and down in front of her. Hiding behind one of her stacks of books was her shy son, Nocturn, looking quite worried to say the least. She gave her best grin to her silly colts, despite being tired and groggy at the moment.

“I’m up boys, were you two hungry for breakfast?” She kindly asked them with a drowsy look in her eyes. “What time is it anyway, Nocturn?”

“Pfft, don’t worry about feeding us.” Helios told her. “Noccy’s good at making us food when you can’t.”

“It’s noon, mother.” Noccy said in his soft tone. “We were supposed to see the village elders earlier today.”

Her face suddenly went almost as pale as Nocturn’s at that moment. Leaping out of her bed she bolted towards the mirror to fix her mane and quickly grabbed her two colts in a frenzy out the door. As she dashed past her fellow (slightly bewildered) village ponies, Helios gave his brother a grumpy stare, and Nocturn returned his stare with one that he tried his best to seem apologetic. Helios wasn’t too fond of the village elders, always making Nocturn and himself fall in line to their so-called “Destiny”.

Helios wanted to prove how amazing he was without those dummy old ponies telling him how to be the servant to his ponies who need him. Sure he knew he’d be an amazing ruler to ponykind, but he wasn’t going to get far with a bunch of old ponies hanging over him his whole life. Sure, maybe drinking one of his brother’s potions was a bad idea when it turned his crimson mane brown. Thankfully Nocturn cooked up an elixir for Helios’s hair to make it appear crimson again. He didn’t want to risk something worse happening to him if Helios drank another magic potion. Sometimes Helios wonders how he’d ever survive without his brother looking out for him.

Nocturn on the other hoof, was always worried he wouldn’t be as great a leader his brother was going to be someday. He wasn’t as strong willed as brother, or as courageous. One time Nocturn found a gang of young dragons loafing about and thought this would be his chance to finally learn about the mystery of dragon lore, however these dragons were less than friendly and saw Nocturn as easy prey. He would have been doomed had Helios not lept in to pulverize those dragons bullying him. Sometimes Nocturn wonders how he’d ever survive without his brother looking out for him.

Both of their trains of thought were interrupted by their mother rushing into the tent of the elders to convene with them after being as late as she currently is. The three of them were met with disapproving faces of an Earth Pony, a Pegasus, and that vile Unicorn. While Nocturn and mother looked upon them with sorrowful regret, Helios just scoffed at them and rolled his eyes at them. As if they could make him cower in fear. Then his mother gave her own stare down on Helios. She however had a better chance of scaring him.

While his brother was starting to cower in the face of their mother, Nocturn felt an ominous pressure coming from the elders. He saw contempt and disgust emanating from the elders’ spirits. Nocturn was already aware that these ponies weren’t fond of mother’s way of nurturing Helios and himself. These ponies had once trusted mother to protect the Princes of this World’s Future, but as time passed these same ponies now see mother’s way to be too coddling for their princes. They would have taken them away had the rest of the village ponies intervened, claiming that the two princes were too young to be taken away from their mother.

However, now their princes were of age to finally begin their true training to become the rulers that these ponies have desired for so long. Nocturn could sense their cruel intentions long ago, and feared they’d do the worst thing possible to them. Take them away from mother and separate them to grow and learn as two different rulers. Eventually to come together to combine their different wisdoms to rule their kingdom in perfect symmetrical harmony. The worst part was that he didn’t know how could these once kind ponies grow to so cruel and manipulative over their many years.

“It is time, my dear.” The elder unicorn in the center spoke.

“I… Don’t understand what you mean by that.” Said mother, caught off guard. “Time?”

“It is time you relinquish your guardianship of the Princes over to us.” The elder spoke with a slight presence of contentment engulfed him, one that Nocturn saw clearly.

Helios and mother were shocked at this brash judgement made by the elders. Nocturn however kept his head down in an attempt to block out the overwhelming pressure of the elder’s vile confidence.

“But… I am their…” Mother was saying until she was cut off my another elder.

“The young Princes no longer have need of their overbearing mother now.” Spoke an old Pegasus Mare. “They have reached the proper age to begin their true training to be the rulers of our future.”

“I’m sorry it has to be this way.” Said an elderly Earth Pony. “If there was some other way, we would have leapt at the chance to allow you three to stay together.”

Helios could not believe what he was hearing. They couldn’t just tear his family apart like this without everypony agreeing to it. Could they? No. He wasn’t stupid, all of his friends told him what the adults had been planning to do with Nocturn and himself for years now, and it wasn’t like the adults were denying it. He looked up at mother tear-stricken face as she kept pleading to the elders to allow the three of them to stay together. Then he looked across mother to see Nocturn facing his head down without a single tear in his eyes. All Helios could think of was how much stronger his brother was than himself.

Nocturn however was raging inside his mind, carefully not letting his face show it. He knew that this was the elders’ plan for the longest time now. He’s already shed his tears of sorrow long ago, but his anger was boiling up inside. ‘Why?’; he kept thinking. Why could they be this cruel to children without even batting an eyelash? What could have happened to them to cause them to be this manipulative of children?! Suddenly, amidst the overwhelming pressure of the elder’s contentment, Nocturn sensed the presence of his brother. He turned to see his brother looking straight into the eyes of the elders without an ounce of fear. All Nocturn could think of was how much stronger his brother was than himself.

“Everyone has agreed to this decision.” The Unicorn elder admitted. “Our kingdom needs truly great and wise rulers governing it.”

“Say your goodbyes to one another and be on your way to your separate schools.” The Pegasus elder commanded. “You may have different instructors, but they will both have little patience for tardiness.”

The princes’ mother felt defeated, not only has she lost her children for who knows how long, but she fears she may never see her boys ever again. She told the elders that the boys will be ready to leave and brought them close to her as she left the elders’ tent. Usually Helios would try to struggle out of her mother’s grip, but this time he was afraid if he did, he’d never feel his mother’s warmth again. Nocturn however was feeling very cold right now, and was trying his best to keep warm. Before the doors shut behind them, Nocturn shot an Ice Cold Stare at the elders just at the last second.

The three of them stood before a pair of carriages sitting side-by-side together on a dirt road. They would have looked almost identical had they not contained the bags containing the supplies the princes needed for their separate scholarships. Crimson red for Helios and Dark blue for Nocturn, further trying to separate the two then the actual separation. Before the brothers entered their separate carriages, they leapt into their mother’s embrace one last time. They all sobbed as their hearts began to knot and twist. Their embrace was cut short by a grumpy stallion trying to get going to the destination he was paid to send one of the princes too.

They let go of each other one last time to embark on their separate destinies, much to all of their dissatisfaction. The two brothers trotted slowly to their separate carriages, very unwilling to leave the other behind. The moment before the two had to leave the other’s side, Nocturn slipped his brother a note for the ride. Caught off guard, Helios stood there with his brother’s parchment in his hooves as Nocturn took his seat on his carriage. An angry pony shouted at Helios to get on his carriage so they could leave, which he did, all the while not letting his brother out of his line of sight.

Both of the carriages started moving at that point, making their way to the fork in the road just up ahead. Nocturn couldn’t bear to let his brother see the look of anger and despair on his face. He just wanted to move on and forget this crippling sadness that’s afflicting him right now. The thought of being all alone both eased and troubled him. Despite his personal enjoyment of silence, the idea of being alone all the time crushed what happiness he tried to muster. Helios would never allow such feelings take hold over him. Helios… He’s going to miss him.

The carriages finally turned away from each other at the fork in the road. Helios could only watch as his brother grew smaller and smaller until he was gone. He turned forward and sobbed with tears gushing out of his eyes. He was really gone now wasn’t he? Looking back down to his hooves he saw he still had that note his brother gave him. With what strength he could muster, Helios opened up his brother’s note and read what Nocturn had to say to him on paper what he couldn’t in person.

“Dear Brother, I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything to stop this from happening. I know we’ll meet again someday, but I know that we both want that day to come sooner now than later. However I did leave you several bottles of the You-Know-What and a recipe for when you need to make more. I hope to see you once again very soon someday. Goodbye for now. Your Brother.”

“Until next time Bro.” Helios choked out of his big grin amidst his flood of tears.