Armor

by 21latenighter

An explanation

Celestia weeped to herself as she began to trek back to Ponyville… what had she done? Her brother.. her only flesh and blood besides Luna, and she had just cast him out, because of a choice he made… a choice that she never wanted him to make.

As she took another step toward the town, she heard giggling and laughing approaching her, and tried to pull herself together, but failed miserably. She was grateful when she seen it was only Twilight and her friends.

When they stepped out of the bushes and onto the path, the six ponies automatically ran over to her, trying to find the cause of the princess’ distress.

“Princess!! What’s wrong, what happened? Did Luna run away again? Did something happen to her? Is the castle alright?” Twilight asked anxiously, but was cut off by Rainbow Dash.

“Where are they, I’ll find them and I’ll, Well I’ll pummel them, with a ya, ya yaaa!” She said as she began to demonstrate her moves.

“It’s alright girls, it’s alright,” Celestia said as she tried to soothe them out of a rage, but she stopped… it wasn’t alright… it was far from it, she had just potentially lost her brother, and it was all her fault.

“Actually…” she started, looking over at Rainbow Dash, “I’m very sorry Rainbow Dash, so very sorry,” she said slowly.

“Why are you sorry for me?” Rainbow asked, confused.

Celestia took a deep breath as she focused on her mistake. “I awoke a beast… one that has been dormant for nearly a thousand years…”

“A beast, what beast?” Rainbow answered.

“Fury Flight… I awakened Fury’s temper… all because of a stupid mistake..” she said as she began to break down again.

Rainbow cocked her head to the right a little as she thought about Fury, and the temper he had. She placed a hoof on Celestia’s shoulder as the alicorn cried. “It can’t be worse than the time he blew up at the castle,” she said, hoping to calm her down.

“Rainbow Dash, my brother was notorious for the temper he had… it usually took months to calm him back down, and in the meantime.. he was a live wire, a bomb ready to blow, either on the enemy or us,” Celestia said as she rose up, her tears ending.

“What did you say to him?” Came Twilight’s voice as she interrupted the two.

“I.. I said my feelings about him giving up his immortality..”

Twilight took a small breath before responding. “That’s it?”

“Well, I then basically all but banished him,” she said weakly.

At this, Rainbow began to shake her head and slowly trot off, murmuring something about finding Fury before he did something dumb.

Twilight gave a dirty look towards the Pegasus before returning her attention back to the princess, who had started to tear up again.

“Princess, you have been my mentor for a long time now, and I have felt your wrath more than once, so I know about your little outbursts, but Fury is your brother, and has known you for nearly two thousand years… so I’m sure he knows you like the back of his hoof,” she said as she brought Celestia into a tight hug, which she gladly returned.

Inside the castle of the royal sisters in the Everfree, or what was left of it, Fury sat, looking at a large mural. The mural shown Celestia and Luna setting upon a throne, while the leaders of the three tribes bowed to them. It had stood for the ending of an era, the end of pony segregation, and the beginning of harmony. He looked at the mural and tried to remember where he was, and then it hit him, he was in the cave of the Eternal Guardian, learning of his father’s story.

A twig breaking caught his attention, and turned to the source of the sound. He could hear the calls of Dash, outside the castle. He decided against calling back and instead found a spot in the shadows.

He soon heard the muffled clatter of hooves on carpeted concrete, and waited until he seen the silhouette of the Pegasus as she entered the room.

“..Fury!... Fury!....” she called out, before setting down on the very spot he was at a few moments before.

Fury watched from the shadows as Rainbow began to take a few deep breaths and slowly look around. She sighed as she began to talk to the wall.

“So.. I’ll bet you’re here Fury.. somewhere… listening to my voice, or trying to calm down, but if you are listening… I love you..” she said before standing back up. “And I know the sacrifice you made.. just to stick around and be an old fart with me, though sometimes I wish I knew why.. why you decided to cut your life short.. why now,” she said as began to examine the mural.

“You’ve done so many great things, met so many ponies… it makes a mare like me seem like nothing, but yet… you chose me,” she said as a hoof stopped on the drawing of Commander Hurricane. “I know I wasn’t your first, and I’ll never be as great as her…”

Rainbow then stopped and looked over at a patch of sunlight that had made its way through the ruins, and now reflected on a small trinket.. a blue gem the size of her hoof or a little smaller. It sat on a small pile of rubble, where it looked regal among the stones. As she walked over to get a closer look, she then heard the sound of Fury’s voice.

“.. it belonged to my mother… it was given to her by my father… she gave it to Celestia, who… left it when she left this place,” Fury said as he left the shadows. “I was going to give it back to her today… but things went.. it got complicated,” he said as he sat down beside the gem.

“We heard, Celestia was in tears, saying she had lost you, and it was all her fault..”

“She is scared, like she should be… when you are an alicorn… the thought of mortal life.. terrifies you, because you know that you can never obtain it. You have to live on, watching all those who you came to know, age and die.” Fury said as he closed his eyes. “She seen that in me today, my mortality… and it terrified her, because she’s not ready for me to leave..”

“I don’t think any pony will be,” Rainbow said as she sat beside him and gently nuzzled his neck.

He smiled as he nuzzled her back, “Do you want to know… why I chose you, why I chose now?” He asked. Rainbow looked up at him with her heart in her eyes as she nodded. “..I chose now, because I don’t wish to see the next century.. Twilight is destined to take my place, but not if I stay. And why did I choose you? I chose you, because you’re not afraid to wear your heart on your sleeves, to stand up for what’s right… and you happened to be in the right seat at the right time,” he finished as he pulled Rainbow close for a tight hug.

He took a deep breath before picking up the sapphire and motioning for Rainbow to follow him as they left the ruins of his former home in search of his sister.