Love's Lost Decade

by Priceless911

Bk1/Ch2 My Brother

Book 1 / Chapter 2
My Brother

Year 0 Month 0 Day 04

Zeil sat in his Zebra form as he meditated in the center of what was now his makeshift cell. As he sat there he mumbled in annoyance, “Where are you?... why aren’t you here to help me?...”
Too annoyed to focus, Zeil opened his eyes as he stood up and started pacing around the hole he was in, “Darn it Rafi… what are you doing?... it’s been two days and you haven’t even made an attempt to help me. I only need advice… or guidance or something.”
Zeil stopped pacing as he sat down and put his hoof on his head in irritation, “If you’re not going to help me… then I guess… I’m on my own.”
Trying to decide his next action, Zeil sat down as he started clearing his mind to meditate more, however as he started feeling the airflow around his surroundings, he immediately sensed a presence entering the tunnel to his pit as he stopped meditating, looked up, and waited for it to approach. Waiting for his guest, Zeil spoke loud enough so it could be heard, “Hey brother, how’s the rehabilitation going… not well I’m guessing.”
Sonic sighed as he approached the edge of the pit and replied, “That depends… do you still like ponies?”
Zeil shrugged his shoulders, “More or less… I told you it isn’t the ponies I want to get back to.”
Sonic replied with an annoyed tone, “Then no… the rehabilitations isn’t going well.”

Zeil smiled with sarcasm, “Pity, I was so looking forward to you fixing my cursed and confused mind.”
Sonic sighed, “Is this some kind of joke to you?”
Zeil carelessly paced around his pit, “I make it what I can since I’m the one stuck in the hole.”
Sonic replied, “If you don’t get over this obsession with Equestria soon, the princess is going to kill you.”
Zeil replied with an annoyed tone, “Yea, and reiterating that doesn’t make it any less true.”
Sonic gave Zeil a strange stare, “Reiterating?... seriously?”
Zeil stopped pacing, “It means repeating.”
“I know what it means… I just don’t know what’s gotten into you. Not enough you’re betraying the hive with this love crap, but now you’re using words you never use.”
Zeil sighed in irritation as he turned away from his brother and replied, “You’re one to talk… I told you the truth because of all the changelings here, you’re the one I trust. And look where it’s landed me.”

Sonic replied in anger, “This is all your fault. Ever since the Canterlot incident you haven’t been yourself. All you do is sit sleeping in this pit. The Zeil I know would at least try to escape.”
Zeil shook his head, “The Zeil you know would have worn himself ragged trying before realizing that the walls are too steep to climb. He would have wasted all of his energy trying to escape that even if he had succeeded, he would have been too weak to fight his way to the surface, especially since he wouldn’t have taken the time to seek out the route like I’ve been doing.”
Sonic was confused, “Seek out the route? What are you talking about?”
Zeil smiled as he replied, “That sleep sitting you’ve seen me doing… that isn’t sleeping. It’s called meditation. With it, I can see beyond my line of sight, I can hear beyond my ear shot, I can even project my thoughts beyond my own comprehension. It’s because of that, I felt the air as it enters the hive and mapped out every inch of this place.”
Not buying it, Sonic replied, “So what?... it’s some kind of super power or something.”
Zeil shrugged his shoulders, “Sure… to save time, let’s just call it that… a super power.”

Sonic sighed with hopelessness, “What a joke, looks like your condition is worse than we tho-“
Before he could finish Zeil spoke up, “Out the corridor behind you is the main hive. Travel up the spiral pathway three flights, and we will find the entrance to the princess’s chamber. Up two more is the nursery, then one past that will lead to the exit and a side chamber which I can only assume is a supply cavern… am I right?”
Sonic gave him a curious look as he replied, “Big deal, you could have easily memorized that when you were brought he-“
Zeil continued, “Currently, there are two thousand, five hundred, twenty six changeling in this hive, counting myself and the twelve that left for this evening’s search team… from which, four have returned… so far.”

Sonic was now surprised, he himself didn’t know exactly how many changeling were in this hive but if he were to make a guess, it would have been almost the same area as Zeil’s words. So even though he wasn’t fully convinced, he still wanted to ask, “Your… medita-whatever word you said… did it tell you that?”
Zeil Shook his head, “No… it showed me that.”
Sonic replied with confusion, “How?… you never left this pit… how did it show you anything?”
Zeil continued, “There is more to this world then what the queen tells us. There are mysteries in everything around us. Magic… And when we understand it, we can unlock things about us that we never knew possible.”
Sonic replied, “And this zebra you know… she taught you this?”
Zeil nodded, “Yes and I’d prefer you call her Zecora since that is her name.”
Still skeptic, Sonic thought to himself for a few second before replying, “Cute trick brother… but it will take a lot more than that to fool me.”
Zeil nodded, “Of course it will, you know that out of the two of us you were always the brains while I was the brawn. How else could you have kept up with me all these years? One of us had to do the heavy lifting.”

Turning away as if the conversation was over, Zeil trotted back to the center of the pit as Sonic replied with a sarcastic tone, “Oh really? Are you sure it wasn’t me holding you up all these years?”
Zeil turned back and shook his head, “No... I’m pretty sure I was dragging you with me as I did all the lifting.”
Sonic smiled jokingly, “Really? Don’t make me challenge you to another spar, I may have lost last time but I’ve gotten better since the attack on Canterlot.”
Zeil Thought to himself as he replied, “Are you sure… you look a little pudgy since our last fight.”
Sonic replied, “That ain’t fat brother, its muscle.”
Zeil smiled sarcastically, “Are you sure? Muscle usually doesn’t jiggle when you trot.”
Sonic gave him a skeptic glance, “Says the changeling who lasted only twelve seconds against Pharynx in a fight. At least I was able to last a full thirty second before he knocked me unconscious.”

Zeil smiled as he replied with sarcasm, “Good… then you should challenge him again, let’s see if you can work off that flab a little.”
Sonic shook his head, “Oh no… I’m not falling for that again. List time I took him on, I couldn’t fly strait for a month.”
Zeil laughed, “I warned you about him, he like to change into large creatures when he fights. That’s what you would expect from someone who’s gun-hoe all the time.”
As Sonic laughed and continued with a snappy comeback, the two brothers continued with their sibling banter. They continued their talks as if Zeil wasn’t trapped in a pit, and the Canterlot incident never took place. They talked like they used to, about everything from pranks they used to pull, to times they one upped another changeling, even times they were tricked by others.

For hours, the conversations continued, until finally their topics went stale while the two laughed about a previous subject. As Sonic’s laughter faded he remembered his task and sighed, “Are you sure about this?”
Thinking they were on the previous subject Zeil replied, “What? About throwing that rotten apple at Apex? What you think we should have hit Thorax instead? Pharynx would have beaten us to a pulp if we did that.”
Sonic smiled as he shook his head, “I’m not talking about that.” his expression became serious, “I’m talking about what you’re doing here… now…”
Zeil smiled and hesitated for a few seconds before replying, “Didn’t you hear the princess?... I’m not in the right state of mind. I’m supposedly under some pony curse. That’s why my wing looks like this.”

Sonic shook his head, “I call bull… Zeil we’re brothers, and I for one know exactly who you are. You’re the strongest, and bravest of us both, and no matter how much your ideals change, I can always tell if you’re in the right state of mind, or if it’s something else.”
Zeil gave him a curious look, “And?...”
Sonic sighed, “Your mind isn’t warped. It seems confused, but I for one know that there is nothing wrong with you. Everything you say, or been saying is true… at least in your own opinion.”
Zeil smiled, “Good… but that doesn’t fix my problem now does it?”
Sonic nodded, “yea… in fact it only makes it worse… so… what’s your plan?”
Zeil thought to himself as he replied, “Well, I can only wait till the opportunity to escape comes my way.”
Sonic replied, “Kay… and if it doesn’t?”
Zeil spoke with a disappointed tone, “The princess will execute me.”

Sonic didn’t like that answer, “There has to be something we can do… maybe I can talk to her. I might be able to convince her to change her mind about killing you… maybe I can talk her into banishing you instead.”
Zeil shook his head, “It wouldn’t work.”
“Sure it would, Princess Mira has always been more merciful then the queen. Maybe we can appeal to her be-”
“We can’t…”
“But if we try ma-”
Zeil interrupted once more, “I told you we can’t! Princess Mira may be more merciful then her sister, but she is still a queen who was spoken down to by an underling. So what would you do if you were in her situation? She won’t simply let me go… if anything she is devising a reason to execute me no matter what happens. Remember we are talking about a mare who overreacted and banished herself from the swarm simply because she couldn’t stop the Marble Oasis from killing each other. How do you think she will react when word of an alpha drone disrespecting her goes around the swarm? She would see me as a threat to her throne and probably worry about an uprising. If anything, killing me under suspicion of mental instability will be the only way to redeem her control over the swarm.”

Hearing what seemed to be a logical statement, only worsened Sonic’s worry as he tried to reply, “Then… why not fake your rehabilitation? Maybe if you admit you had a problem and run away when no changeling is looking you could escape.”
Zeil shook his head, “It would only insult her more. Then she would send changelings to kill me out of spite. It will take easily two years to get back to Equestria by hoof. I don’t need to spend that time looking over my shoulder as I try to make my way back to Zecora. Besides, it’s too much of a coward’s tactic. If I’m going to escape, it will be on my own terms.”
Sonic sighed, “Yea, yea, you said that before… So… what are you going to do?”
Zeil thought to himself as he sat back down in his usual meditation stance as he replied, “I can only wait and hope. Eventually I'll figure out a way out of here… but till then… that’s all I can do.”
Trusting his brother, Sonic nodded as he turned to leave, “Then… I’ll let you get to it… just… be careful alright? I'd rather you get out alive then not at all.”
Zeil nodded, “yea… me too.”
Zeil closed his eyes and began meditating as Sonic turned and left the room.

Minutes later just passed dawn, Princess Mira was seeing to the hive’s operation as Sonic flew into the chamber as she saw him and spoke, “Captain… what is the progress of Sir Zeil?”
Sonic sighed, “Honestly your majesty… it’s not going badly… but it hasn’t gotten any better either. I'd say… fifty-fifty.”
Princess Mira nodded, “I see… No matter, he will remain here till I decide he is beyond help. Till then I can only ask that you be patient with him. Sir Zeil may not be in the right state of mind, but he is still an alpha drone, and I still need him to see to the hive’s future.”
Sonic nodded as he replied, “Your majesty… may I… speak freely?”
Concerned with his next words, Princess Mira nodded her head, “If you must…”
Sonic spoke cautiously, “If he is beyond saving… are… you really going to kill him?”
Princess Mira replied, “Please captain, I would prefer you use the word dispose. It at least sounds less vulgar… but yes… if we cannot save him, then we must dispose of him. For the good of the swarm.”
Sonic asked, “Why… why can’t we just… exile him instead. Should we really ki… dispose of him if he isn’t cured? Why can’t we just let him go?”

Princess Mira sighed as she replied, “Because he will remain a threat. As an alpha, he is still revered as a higher authority amongst changelings. If he were to spread his dangerous thoughts over those who are influential to his words, it could condemn them to a horrible or traitorous whim. For example, say we release him and he stumbles onto a group of survivors in the desert. He could confuse them and lead them to fall victim to the sun, or trick them into an attack on this very hive.”
Sonic tried another option, “What if we escort him passed the desert. What if he truly wants to return to Equestria of his own free will?”
Princess Mira nodded, “Then too will he remain a threat. If he returns to Equestria with his less then stable values, he may corrupt the changeling kingdom to his claims. As stated before, he is still an alpha drone, and his influence as a better can be dangerous to the rest of a hive. In order to ensure the safety of both this, and my sister’s hive. We must remove him before he can bring further harm.”
Sonic tried to reply, “I understand bu-”
Princess Mira gave him a skeptic look, “I sense doubt in you captain… I pray your faith in me isn’t misplaced?”

Seeing the skeptic look given to him by his princess, Sonic quickly replied, “Of course not your majesty…I-I am only concerned for… well… uh-”
Princess Mira approached Sonic as she replied while hiding her anger, “You see… he is already beginning to sow seeds of doubt within you. If his influence can corrupt one as loyal as my captain, then consider what it can do to a weaker mind. With his words, he can bring in many followers and use them to do his bidding. Even if his bidding is to dethrone his queen.”
Sonic felt concerned, though the princess seemed to be speaking logically, he could tell that she was really trying to hide her worry that what she said could actually happen… that Zeil could lead an uprising to take her throne away from her. But in the attempt to avoid suspicion, Sonic nodded as he replied, “I… I understand now your majesty… forgive me for ever doubting you.”
Princess Mira smiled as she patted his back, “There is no need for apologies Captain… as long as you remain loyal to me… there will never be a need for apologies. Just remember that what you do is for the good of the swarm.”
Princess Mira turned and trotted away as Sonic nodded and replied while hiding his worries, “Yes… I understand. For the good of the swarm.”

As Sonic turned to leave another changeling rushed to Princess Mira as he stopped her, “Your majesty!”
Although he knew his conversation was over, Sonic still paused and listened as the princess replied, “Yes what is it?”
The changeling continued, “Just before dawn, we discovered a survivor in the desert. He spoke of a cave that some banished changelings were hiding in about fifteen miles from here. He says there are about twenty of us there all taking shelter from the sun.”
Princess Mira smiled as she replied, “Twenty… that’s excellent news, we shale send a team to rescue them at dusk.”
The changeling continued, “That’s not the best part your majesty. Turns out the one leading them is Apex.”
Princess Mira was surprised, “Sir Apex? He is here as well?”
The changeling nodded, “Yes, he got banished few weeks back and is gathering survivors to that shelter.”

Sonic became nervous as Princess Mira smiled with joy, “Another alpha, this is a momentous occasion… Gather a squad together and retrieve the sun cloaks, we will escort him to the hive at once.”
The changeling replied with a nervous tone, “Um your majesty, I’m afraid the cloaks won’t protect us during the day.”
The princess was concerned, “Oh? Am I mistaken? Those cloaks were made specifically to protect us from the sun’s rays?”
The changeling replied, “They do, but I’m afraid they have a temporary use. They do block the sunlight but after a few minutes in the sun they will start heating up and can be fatal to the wearer. I’m afraid the journey to the cave is just too fare for us to make even with those cloaks. That and, we only have three cloaks to use. I’m afraid we can only wait until dusk before retrieving him.”
Princess Mira sighed with disappointment, “Very well, assemble a team and make sure they are ready to depart at dusk. I will be joining you when you retrieve Sir Apex.”
The changeling bowed, “Yes your majesty, I will have a team ready an hour prior to dusk.”

Worried, Sonic asked, “Your majesty? If Apex is with those other changelings, then… what will happen to Zeil?”
Princess Mira sighed in a disappointed way as she looked back onto her working hive and replied, “If Sir Apex is with them… then I’m afraid Sir Zeil must be disposed of. But not now, to ensure that this information is just, we must wait until Sir Apex has been properly escorted back to the hive. Then and only then will we precede.”
Sonic could only hide his worry as he replied “Understood your majesty… what should we do with him in the meantime?”
Princess Mira replied, “Leave him be… With only one wing, Sir Zeil will not be going anywhere.”
Sonic nodded, “As you wish your majesty.”
With that Sonic left Princess Mira as he casually made his way back to where Zeil was being kept. As he left, Princess Mira watched him closely as she spotted something that worried her. On the tip of Sonic’s wings were slight spotting that resembled the glitter-like spots on Zeil’s only wing. Seeing this, Princess Mira looked at a working changeling as she commanded, “You there… Come here.”
The changeling approached his princess as he bowed, “Yes your majesty?”
She replied, “You were amongst the changelings banished after the attack on Canterlot. I have a request to make regarding Sir Zeil and his brother Sonic… but first… tell me about their… relationship.”

A few minutes later, Sonic arrived in the chamber that Zeil was in as he saw Zeil siting in his meditative position, only this time, Zeil’s head was slightly tilted indicating that the zebra disguised changeling wasn’t meditating, he was asleep. Seeing this made Sonic roll his eyes as he mumbled, “Some super power…” he called, “Zeil, wake up!”
Snapping out of it, Zeil shook his head as he mumbled, “Wh-what?...”
As soon as he realized he was sleeping, Zeil looked up at his brothers expression as he replied to the hopeless stare, “Um… hey… even I have to sleep from time to time.”
Sonic replied, “True… but now’s not the time… while you were in la la land, the situation just went from bad to catastrophic.”
Sonic had his attention as Zeil replied, “Really? How?”
Sonic replied, “The search party found Apex.”
“Apex?”

Sonic nodded as he sat down and replied, “Yea… as in Apex, the alpha drone… as in, you’ve been replaced, and are now expendable. Or in this case.”
Zeil rubbed his head as he replied, “Disposable.”
Sonic nodded, “Exactly, so your time left just went to less than twenty-four hours. Its morning now, but Princess Mira already decided that at dusk they are going to get him from a nearby cave and bring him back here. Prior to killing you.”
Zeil thought to himself as he mumbled, “Then… I got to get out before that happens.” He looked up to Sonic and asked, “So… what’s the plan?”
Sonic was confused, “Plan?”
“Well yea… what, you came all the way down here and woke me up just to tell me that the princess was going to kill me?”
Sonic shrugged his shoulders, “Well… yea, kinda.”

Zeil gave him a hopeless look, “Supersonic… you don’t think that for one second I would even consider my brother, the one changeling I know better than even myself to just sit by and lead me to my death do you? You may have had me thrown in this hole, but that was for the good of the swarm, NOT to have me killed. I know you wouldn’t have done that if you knew it would end this way.”
Sonic nodded as he sighed, “I just… I just want to know if this is truly what you want. This Zecora… and your love for her… is it truly real?”
Zeil nodded, “Yes… it is.”
Curious Sonic asked, “How do you know it’s real?”
Zeil sat down as he thought to himself, “It’s hard to explain… but we’ve tasted it a number of times, and we can feel it when we are close to those who have it… but… to actually experience it… It’s nothing like what we know. For example, whenever I’m with Zecora… I feel happy and confident. Like I could easily take Canterlot if we tried again. But at the same time… it hurt fare worse than when I lost my wing.”

Sonic was confused, “It hurt? Why?”
Zeil replied, “Because… I was keeping something from her that… could make her look at me differently. And disappointing her was something that I never wanted. If she ever looked at me in any other way then she did, I don’t know what I would do. But before I could even tell her, I was casted out. And now… now…” He sighed in disappointment, “I have to get back… I have to tell her the truth. I don’t care if it takes the rest of my life, I have to get to her and tell her who I am. I owe her that much.”
Sonic rubbed his head in irritation as he hesitated for a few seconds, after seeing the sad expression on his brothers face he sighed in irritation as he replied, “Ah… Fine… I'll help you get out of here.”
Zeil replied with curiosity, “What?”
Sonic repeated, “I said I will help you get out of here. But… I will only help you get out. I for one will be staying. You may want to leave, but I have a life here.”

Zeil smiled as he replied, “Deal… so… what’s the plan?”
Sonic replied, “What? Why do I have to come up with the plan?”
Zeil gestured to his surroundings, “Cuz I’m the one in the hole.”
Sonic sighed, “Yea but you’re the brains in all this.”
Zeil rubbed his head in irritation, “Let’s not start this again…” He thought to himself before replying, “Before I was brought to the hive, I remember seeing some changeling in a shiny cloak or something.”
Sonic nodded, “Yea, the Sun Cloaks… what about them?”
Zeil continued, “Sun Cloak?”
Sonic explained, “It’s a reflective cloak that is supposed to allow us to travel during the day.”
“Does it work?”

Sonic shook his head, “Sorta, it lets you trot through the sun for a few minutes but after a while it heats up and acts as a hot box. Basically it’s only good for short term use.”
“How long?”
“Only two minutes or so, it depends on how direct the light is.”
Zeil smiled, “And they are kept in that storage chamber just before the exit aren’t they?”
Sonic nodded, “Yea… but there are only thr- wait…”
Sonic realized something as Zeil nodded, “Yea… that’s my way out. Meet me here a few minutes before dusk. If you can get me one of those cloaks then I'll leave moments before the dusk makes it safe to travel.”
Sonic nodded as he replied, “Sound good. Is there anything else?”
Zeil nodded, “Yes there is… I need you to get me a few things before we leave. I’m sure that storage cavern has things left over from the fall of the Marble Oasis?”
Sonic nodded, “Yea, I think so.”
Zeil smiled, “Good then if you can, I need a few things from that room. Most of it are basic supplied, but some are important ingredients so, listen closely.”

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

The princess is suspicious!
Seems like Sparkly Wing Syndrome is spreading!