Zathura: Sibling is Magic

by SuperWriter2329

Who's the Real Cheater Here?

The group had decided to take another small break with the astronaut wanting to have a bit of something to eat, so Applejack volunteered for making him a few more apple cobblers from the leftover ingredients that was not crushed or ruined by the Tsouris-3 sun.

While the cobblers are cooking, the astronaut took a whiff of it and sighed. "Huh, just like old times."

"Why did you say that?" Twilight asked, who have been watching him drink what's left of the apple juice, which was the remaining half of the container.

"You know, back before I became an astronaut, my sister's friend would make me something to eat just like this moment right now."

"Well, did you and your sister are like friends or..." Shining said, waiting for the true story with his sister and pretty much the rest of Twilight's friends as they each took a seat around the astronaut.

"The thing is, to be honest, she and I weren't really on good terms because we always fight with each other. But then, ever since she died, I felt really empty on the inside and I have come to realize how much I didn't talk to her and have fun with her, so, yeah..." the Shining lookalike sadly explained with a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"Oh dear. You poor thing," Fluttershy said, clearly feeling sorry for the astronaut's sad story.

For Twilight, however, she felt like that there was more to that story than meets the eye.

"Hey, did you really deserve this treat after you helped us with our Zorgon problem we had earlier?" Pinkie suddenly asked.

"Well, that and the fact that I only ate from a couple of small food tubes for the past fifteen years," the astronaut said.

"Wait, did you said fifteen years? Okay, is that how long did you become stranded or how long have you become an astronaut for?" Rainbow now asked.

"To answer that, five for the latter and ten for the former."

"Ten?!" The others, sans the cowgirl, shouted upon hearing the length of his time getting stranded in deep space without any help at all.

"It's okay guys, I've been through worse," the unicorn said, just in time for Applejack to come back with a huge plate of apple cobblers in tow.

"Hey girls, what'd Ah missed?"

---

After the young princess' friends has decided to explain the astronaut's story back at the living room, the two siblings watched the unicorn as he devoured the cobblers as if he was really hungry. After being stranded for quite a while, they can't blame him for such eating manners.

"You know Twily, for the help he gave us, don't you think that we should send him away?" Shining whispered.

"What, why? The Zorgons might come back if we are not careful enough. Plus, Pinkie did have a tendency of switching back a light in case she wanted to look for something," Twilight whispered back.

"Doesn't matter, I'm gonna make him leave," the older brother said before walking towards the eating astronaut.

"Wait Shining, what are you doing? Come back!" the lavender princess said.

But it was too late. Shining was already right beside his older doppelganger.

"Hey there. So, do you mind leaving after this?"

"Well, you didn't really summoned me. Your sister did. So, I think that she should be the one to decide if I should leave or not," the unicorn astronaut said, prompting Shining to look at his younger sister.

"Well Twily, do you wanna have him out or not?"

At first, the young princess was hesitant. After a while, she said, "Well, he did help us a little bit."

"Wait a minute. 'Help'? He put your last intact couch on fire and you call that helping?"

"Shining, please don't start this. The last thing I need right now was to fight you again."

"Yeah, you know what? I'm just gonna go anyway," the astronaut suddenly said, getting up from his seat at the dining table. "But I gotta hand it to you, the castle looks really fantastic. Thanks for the tour you gave me earlier. Now, I'm gonna leave you guys to fight the Zorgons alone, alright?" he continued, about to wear his gear again, but was stopped by Twilight.

"Wait!" she yelled.

Shining looked at her in disbelief. "Twily, whose side are you on right now? His or mine?"

For a while, the young alicorn looked back and forth at her brother and his older counterpart, thinking about what she should say to make both parties happy. However, she couldn't because every time she would, her brother would end up not talking to her for a while.

With that in mind, she sucked it all up and said to the astronaut, "You can stay if you wanted to."

Without saying anything, the oldest pony in the room put down his jetpack. And as expected, Shining was a bit irritated that his sister let him stay.

The astronaut then said, "Okay then, you want me to stay, then I'll stay. Come on, let's head to the living room. Your friends might be waiting." He then walked out of the room with Twilight laughing right beside him, with a frustrated Shining right behind them.

---

The trio finally made it back to the remains of the living room after a little bit of stumbling due to the lights having been turned off so that the Zorgons are unable to locate the castle again. The rest of the Mane Six have just told Applejack the astronaut's story. However, they have no idea on how did he got here so fast.

So, when the siblings have settled down by the magical game and the astronaut (who wanted to get the top part of his suit off, later revealing a green colored shirt, much to Rarity's horrified expression of the color of the shirt) later settled down beside them, Applejack asked, "So, uh, ya never mentioned how did ya got 'ere. Care ta explain that?"

"Well, I was wondering when this question is gonna pop out. But to answer that, I actually had to go through a sphincter to get here," the Shining doppelganger explained.

"Ugh, great, more words that I have no idea what it means. What the hell is a 'sphincter'?" Rainbow asked.

"Believe it or not, it was a wormhole, about this big," the oldest pony said, showing the group a small 'O' sign with his fingers, causing them to show looks of shock and horror on their faces. He then continued, "Yeah, it was that small. When you tried to squeeze your body through, it's like going through a really torturing ordeal. Also, it's really tiring that you really need a huge amount of food in your belly afterwards."

"Oh, so that's why ya wanted ta have as many cobblers as Ah can make. That makes a whole lotta sense now," the apple farmer realized.

"Okay, now that we got that out of the way, now I can have my turn now," Shining said, turning the key before realizing something amiss: Twilight's red ship was ahead of his blue ship. He then pointed that and looked at his sister, saying, "Twily, I was ahead of you the whole time. How come you were suddenly ahead of me?"

The rest of the group looked at the young princess in disbelief. She then said, "Don't look at me! Maybe somepony kicked the board game or something!"

"Nopony kicked the board! You gotta be cheating!"

"Oh dear Celestia, here we go again..." thought pretty much every single one of Twilight's friends.

"No Shining, I'm not cheating! Honest!"

"Guys, could you please stop bickering? This is getting us nowhere, alright?" the astronaut yelled, prompting the siblings to stop. "Okay, now Twilight, did you move that piece?"

"Well, I could have move it accidentally but that's it," Twilight meekly said.

"Seriously? 'Accidentally'? That's impossible! You're cheating!"

"Shining, for the last time, I didn't cheat! I'm really was ahead of you!"

"Guys, please stop using the word 'cheat' is this argument," the astronaut said, but sadly his words are on deaf ears as Twilight and Shining kept on yelling at each other.

"Yes, you do, you cheater!"

"Stop calling me that! I'm not a cheater!"

"Guys, stop this right now!" the Shining lookalike shouted, finally prompting the two to stop bickering.

"Okay, this is reaaaaaally getting out of hand now! This is officially the worst fight I've ever seen, and I thought that fight with Tirek couldn't be topped!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Okay then. Now Twilight, where did you last move your piece to?"

"Right here," the lavender alicorn said, pointing to where her blue ship was currently situated.

"No, you're not! You're like right back there!" Shining defended.

The older brother then did something shocking: he started to move the piece back to where he last saw it stopped, which was just after the game's bridge.

"Well, it's fixed now," his lookalike said.

However, the bickering finally came to a head when Shining said the words that really earned shocking gasps from the rest of the group.

"You're such a dumb filly."

"What did you just say?"

"Yeah, you heard me. You're just a weak dumb filly!"

"I'm not a filly anymore! And I'm not dumb!"

"Yes, you are!"

"STOP!!!" Surprisingly, it was Fluttershy who yelled that. "Shining, she's your sister, for Celestia sake! Calling her like that just means that you are better than her! But just because you married a princess which happens to be Twilight's former foalsitter, it doesn't mean that you're better than her!

"Siblings are supposed to look after each other. But they can also distant themselves like they were enemies. And you, you're neither of the two. You're just a mean brother who should not deserved to be called one!"

Silence soon fell within the castle. Everypony, even the astronaut, was in shock upon seeing the timid pegasus' assertive side took over. The pegasus then stormed out of the room, leaving the others perplexed.

"Fluttershy, wait up!" That came from the other pegasus in the room, Rainbow, who had shook off all of the shock she had in her systems.

"Yeaaaaah, what she said. Now could you please start taking your turn now?" the astronaut said, also having been off the trance he had thanks to Fluttershy's outburst.

"Uh, yeah," Shining said, shaking his head before finally taking his turn and pushing the button. As of now, the others have finally freed from the trance as well, the young alicorn being last.

"Uh, guys, something's wrong."

"What is it, Shining?" Applejack asked.

"The dial won't stop spinning."

"What?" the others asked.

True to his word, the dial should have stopped spinning on a random number, but instead, it just kept on spinning without any signs of it stopping at all.

"What happened?" Twilight asked.

"I have no idea," her brother said.

Then, another card popped out, but this time the card was yellow in color.

"Why didn't Ah like the looks of that?" Applejack nervously asked.

At that time, the pegasi have finally made it back to the living room after Rainbow consoled Fluttershy. The former then asked, "Looks of what, AJ?"

"Well, the card is yellow like the sun. Ah had a pretty bad feelin' about it."

With that, Shining picked it up and read it. "Wait, what? 'Caught Cheating: Automatic Ejection'?"

"Does that mean-" the young alicorn started and then realized something. "Wait, maybe the game knew who's cheating and who's not! When you moved my piece back, the game reacts as if you're the cheater!"

"Okay, that's bullshit. What makes the game think that-WOAH!"

The older brother never finished his sentence as he suddenly disappeared as if he got ejected from a capsule. The mares then looked out of one of the holes on the walls and saw something that scared them: Shining was hanging on to the broken ledge for dear life as he was pulled by an invisible force to his doom.

Wasting no time at all, the astronaut took off somewhere, preferably having a plan of his own. The Mane Six, on the other hand, panicked before the cowgirl called out to her princess friend.

"Twilight, ya got a rope or somethin'?"

"Yes, I do! Follow me!" Twilight said but she was stopped by Shining.

"Twily, where are you going?"

"Don't worry, I'll be right back, I promise!" the lavender princess said before taking Applejack to the storage room that has a few lengths of ropes that could be useful.

After a few minutes, the two came back with a rope in hand. Twilight then yelled at her brother, "Shining, I got a rope. Applejack is gonna lasso you with it, and we'll try to pull you in! Hang on, okay?"

"Come on, I can't hang on any longer!" the stallion said. As he had said, his grip strength is loosening bit by bit until he was seemingly hanging by the ledge with only one hand.

"Oh no! Applejack, hurry!" the young princess panicked.

"One second... And there!" Applejack said, finally managed to get the rope into a noose and, using her rodeo skills, was able to wrap it around Shining's legs. "Got 'em!"

However, the rope was a bit too fragile to hold onto the stallion's big body and causing it to snap in the middle and making the farmer stumble backwards from the sudden snap. That was not missed by the princess as she yelled, "Don't worry Shining, I'll get another rope!"

But it was too late. After holding on for a while, Shining's grip finally gave out, causing him to get sucked into the deep space without any safety gear at all.

And then, literally a second later, the astronaut came back with his jetpack - and only his jetpack - and said, "Hang on, I'll be right back!" He then shot himself out into the deep space with only having a few brief seconds of breath to catch the older brother.

For a while, nothing else happened, other than the Mane Six hoping that the two came back safely. However, Twilight fell to her knees and cried, "Shining... Please... come back... I-I'm sorry if I cheated, but... please... I need you back..." With that, all of her defenses fell down as tears now rapidly streaming down her face with her hands buried underneath it.

The rest of the group was misty eyed looking at the young alicorn, having potentially lost her only sibling for good. They could only hope that luck came to them soon.

And then, their prayers have been seemingly answered when Twilight's friends, including herself, can hear the distinctive sound of a jetpack coming closer. After that, they can see that the astronaut have finally came back - with Shining cradled in his arms.

Twilight couldn't believe it. Her brother is alive! She had a big smile on her face as she cried, "Shining!"

However, as the older brother finally managed to catch his breath (apparently oxygen was still available within the grounds of the castle only) he just said, "Just get away from me, will you?"

The bookworm princess was stunned upon hearing her brother said that. "Please Shining, I'm sorry, I really do! Please, look at me..."

Her pleas was ignored by Shining. "Look, I don't wanna talk to you right now, okay?" With that, he stormed off.

The others, even the astronaut, was a bit shocked when Shining said that. It had caused mixed reactions to come from the rest of the Mane Six. Applejack and Rainbow was fuming that Shining had treated his sister like a sack of pillows, whereas Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity went to the now sobbing and possibly broken princess in an attempt to console her as best they can.

"I swear, by Celestia's mane, that attitude is really unheard of! Honestly, even Trenderhoof was better then him! Poor Twilight, she did not deserve any of this at all!" the fashionista commented.

"Yeah, Rares! If I wanted to compare Shining and the Flim Flam brothers based on attitude, in my opinion, I'd say, and don't tell AJ, that the twins would be better candidates as her brother, or brothers in this case!" the party pony explained.

"Ah heard that, Pinkie. But, Ah had ta admit, them twins did care fer each other. Maybe they could be Twilight's brothers instead of that no goody two horseshoes there!" the cowgirl said, mentioning Shining.

"Uh, girls, can we get to that topic later? Twilight is still crying here," the animal caretaker said.

With nothing left to say, the friends, even the astronaut (who was looking at the Mane Six like they were sisters caring for each other), moved forward to group hug Twilight, who was still sobbing heavily as her so called brother just broke her heart without even a care of their current situation right now. She looked up briefly through teary eyes before hugging her friends back, clinging to them as she kept on crying with only them and the astronaut to hang on to.

Author's Note:

Well, the game can think now! What a surprise! Especially when Shining accused Twilight of cheating and then the game accused him for doing the same! After that whole soap opera, if you can call one that, can the siblings hold on long enough not fighting each other so that they can finally go back to Equestria? You'll have to find out!

As usual, leave a comment if you spot any mistakes, alright? See you all in the next chapter of Zathura: Sibling is Magic! Adios!

Comments

[SuperWriter2329]

Hey folks! So, I have a little bit of a bad news. My new semester of college is coming up soon, so I may have to put Zathura: Sibling is Magic on hiatus but keep it on the incomplete tagging, in case if I wanted to get back to it. I hope that you can understand my predicament.

P.S.: I will be doing online classes since this whole epidemic is still going on.

[natsnell75]

The shooting star comes next.

[SuperWriter2329]

10417943
I'm sorry, but this story is on hiatus right now. I will get back to writing it soon. Also, yes, the shooting star will come next alongside the astronaut's backstory.