Celestia's Brothers

by CaptainSanchez

A Family Reunited

Celestia's Brothers

Chapter 2: A Family Reunited

Terrestrion and Nightshade strolled along the streets of Canterlot, their presence met with equal shock, awe, and puzzlement. Many had difficulty believing what they saw, since they didn't know of the Alicorn Twins, and few ever seen a Night Guard during the day.


 "Nightshade, is it normal for the citizens to stare like that?" Terrestrion asked, scorn dripping from his voice, as he trotted through the streets.


 Nightshade chuckled a little before replying. "Normal? What's normal about a Prince nopony's ever heard of walking down the city streets alongside a Night Guard in broad daylight?"

Terrestrion groaned. I hate to admit it, but he's right. I need to reconnect with the public if I want them to stop looking at me like that. Well, only one thing I can do now. "Nightshade, we're getting donuts!", he said, in as heroic a manner as possible.

 "Your Highness, shouldn't we be heading to the castle?", asked Nightshade. "Surely your sisters are expecting you to arrive as soon as is possible. Besides, Donut Joe's is closed on Thursdays." Nightshade was still struggling to keep pace with the Prince. Hey, you try keeping up with somepony whose legs are longer than your torso.


 Terrestrion looked at Nightshade, surprised. It's Thursday? Hm, interesting. "What do you mean? Why Thursdays?", he asked.


 "Well Your Highness, to be honest, I've never really thought about it before," he said. "Anyhoof, it would seem that we have nearly reached the Castle." Nightshade was getting ever more curious about things he hadn't noticed before, but traveling with Terrestrion does that to you.


 "Really?", Terrestrion asked. "That seems remarkably quick. I had thought that we'd have time to socialize a bit, but we haven't. I could've sworn we just landed on the outskirts of town a few minutes ago." Terrestrion was amazed at how odd Canterlot was. It looked so big, but it had taken them a remarkably small amount of time to cross the city.


 "Hm, you're right, Your Highness. I've never thought about it before either, but It's incredibly easy to reach destinations in this city." Nightshade spoke, his head reeling from all of the unusual observations that the Prince had made over the past few minutes. Then he noticed something. "Oh, look, it's Captain Armor and Princess Cadence! I wonder if they'd like to meet you."

 Terrestrion look din the direction that Nightshade was pointing. "Don't you mean Princess Cadenza? I was under the impression that that was her name." he asked.


 "Well Your Highness, she actually prefers to be called Cadence, and seems to dislike being called by her full name," Nightshade said. "Though I suppose you can call her whatever you want, being her uncle and all." Terrestrion noticed that Cadenza was staring at him. Now why would she be doing that? He wondered.


 "Excuse me!" Terrestrion called to his niece, "I would like to meet you, Cadenza!" He began trotting towards Cadence with a serious look on his face, which always seems scary on him. Cadence was terrified. She knew she had an uncle, but she had never met him, and didn't really know what he was like. In fact, she didn't even know if this tall stallion was her uncle.


 "Oh? And why would that be, sir?" She asked, trying desperately not to appear as though she was terrified of him. Please be my uncle, please be my uncle, please be my uncle… she thought. He glared at her, then he did the last thing any of them had expected from him. He chuckled.


 "Why, because I'm your uncle Terrestrion!", he said, almost angrily. Cadence stared at him, dumbfounded. Can this stallion really be my uncle? She thought, unsure of whether or not she could trust him. Nightshade and Shining Armor noticed her internal distress, and glanced at each other, silently agreeing that Nightshade should reassure her.


 "Princess, if I may," Nightshade began. "I can assure you that he is indeed your uncle. I had similar doubts myself, but he is most definitely the Prince." Nightshade then decided that he had done a sufficient job of convincing her of Terrestrion's identity. Cadence slowly grew a smile so large that it didn't seem like it stayed on her face. She was clearly far beyond overjoyed at meeting her uncle for the first time. She then hugged him. Not a big deal, you think? Well, you try being the Princess of Love and hugging an uncle that you never met without squeezing too hard. Not easy, is it?


 "Uncle Terrie! I'm SOOO happy to finally meet you!" Cadence said, squeezing even harder. "You're gonna have so much fun catching up with everypony! Auntie Tia's going to be so happy you made it, and Auntie Lulu is gonna be even happier that her favorite brother made it home, and--" She stopped to gasp for breath and continued. "You haven't met my husband, have you?" Cadence released her uncle, and before he could catch his breath, shoved him closer to Shining Armor. "Shining Armor, Uncle Terrie. Uncle Terrie, Shining Armor! So Uncle Terrie, how long will you be staying at the Castle? I hope you stay for a while, Auntie Lulu would be just SOOOO happy!" said Cadence, with so much joy that it would probably make a Teletubby vomit. Yes, I went there.


 "Um... Cadenza, please let me go, so that I may go and see my sisters," Terrestrion said, trying his best not to hurt her feelings. Cadence nodded, and Terrestrion motioned to Nightshade that it was time to go. "I'll see you later, Cadenza," he said as he went forward. "It was nice to meet you, Shining Armor." That filly is just a bit too happy to see me. What could have gotten into her? he thought.

"Your Highness," Nightshade informed. "We've arrived, and I was told to report to Princess Celestia as soon as we did, so we should probably be heading to the Throne Room." Terrestrion nodded, thinking it best to see Tia as soon as he could.


 "Alright, then," he said. "Lead the way, Nightshade." Terrestrion decided to let the Guard lead. Nightshade knew where the throne room was, after all.




***


 Celestia had noticed the change in Aquinus almost immediately. There was a whole different air about him now. She didn't realize the extent of his personality change, however, as being around her awoke the flicker of joy he still had.


 "Ness," Celestia said, staring at her brother. "Why didn't you write me? You promised that you would, and for a while I even sent a mail carrier to your island. You never replied to my letters, so after a few hundred years, I just stopped." Aquinus was dumbfounded by her question, he hadn't even thought about that promise in centuries, since his work required his full attention, almost continuously. The last time he'd had a chance for a break, he'd fallen asleep just about immediately. Realization of this mistake hit him like a ton of bricks.

How could I have been so stupid? thought the stallion. Prince of the Seas or not, I still have to pay my sisters some attention. After all, I've been manipulating the seas for so long, I barely have to put in any effort these days. "You're right, Tia," he said, "I was-" he stopped himself when he heard the distant sound of heavy hoofsteps. Very heavy hoofsteps. Familiar ones, too.




***

Nightshade entered the Great Hall, followed by the mighty Prince whom he'd come to know rather well. Indirectly, since Terrestrion hated talking about himself, through observing the Prince's mannerisms, attitude, and overall behavior during their long journey. He trotted in front of the throne at which Celestia sat, and began reporting in.

"Princess Celestia! Nightshade, returning with Prince Terrestrion!" He said, making sure to maintain his military bearing. Not an easy task, considering that it required him to mask his pride at having found, travelled with, and returned a long-secluded Prince.

"At ease, Nightshade. Now, you should be getting to your Captain, so please leave me with my brothers, now," said the Princess, in her usual calm, caring manner.


 "Yes, Ma'am!" The Night Guard responded before exiting the room. Terrestrion was rather excited, having not seen any of his siblings in far longer than most ponies live. Then he saw his brother. Any nervousness he had previously felt was gone now, replaced by unbridled rage. You see, the twins hadn't parted on the best of terms...




***


 The brothers were preparing to leave. Neither had been acting much like themselves recently, but nopony had really given it much thought, attributing it to the stress of their life-altering decisions. They didn't even consider that their actions were influenced by a desire to prove superiority. Each brother had long been eager to prove his worth. Terrie did so through his kind deeds, and Ness through his tidal manipulations.

Following a rather heated argument, the Twins decided to prove themselves in the greatest manner they could. Ness would keep the oceans under his complete control. Terrie had decided to do the ultimate good deed: preventing the eventual
destruction of thousands. Chronos was worried for his sons, since as the Time King he already knew the outcomes of this journey. He looked at his eldest foals with worry deep in his golden eyes, his white mane flowing in a subexistant breeze.


 "My sons," he said in his deep, caramel voice. "Are you certain that I cannot persuade you to cease this course of action? It will not end well." To all who knew Chronos, this was an extremely powerful sentence. He was very careful to never warn anypony, especially his foals, and he almost never showed even the faintest hint of emotion. The Twins knew this, but refused to acknowledge his warning. Each sincerely believing that he would be the victor of this battle of the wills.


 Celestia and Luna were shocked at their brothers' recent actions. Cosmia, however, knew that her sons were too intent on their actions that absolutely nothing could convince them to abandon their present course. Chronos knew as well, but he had insisted on changing their minds. Even the young Luna knew how unusual this was. Her father was constantly reminding them that even though he knew everything that would ever happen, he must under no circumstances interfere. To see him try desperately to do just that was, and still is, the most unexpected sight of Luna's entire life.


 "Chronos, my love," Cosmia said, her Crimson mane flowing in the same breeze as her husband's. "You know that they won't change their minds, you always have, so why are you trying?" She was hoping that his answer wasn't what she thought it would be, as that would confirm her fears. The slate grey King looked at his ivory bride, his golden eyes heavy with sorrow.


 "Because, my dear, if they go into this Seclusion, it will begin a chain of events that together will bring about the single worst event in Equestrian history," he said to the Space Queen, a tear rolling down his cheek. Cosmia couldn't believe this, Chronos had once told her that there was an upside to every event in history. Every event, except one. One single event that was so horrible, nothing even remotely good would ever come from it. He can't mean It, can he? The silver mare thought to herself, he can't be serious. How can it be a bad thing that our sons are honing their skills?

The King, already knowing what she was about to ask, sighed. "Cosmia, our sons are not simply honing their skills," he began, "one will be harboring a hatred so pure that even he will not be aware of it until it is too late. This was the last point before it was too late. Their minds have been made up, the Event is inevitable now." Once he finished his statement, Cosmia looked out towards her sons' paths. They diverged almost immediately after exiting the palace gates, and both rulers knew they wouldn't join again for many centuries.




**Back to the Grand Hall**

Terrestrion had been standing still for a several minutes now. From the moment his eyes locked with those of Aquinus, he had been unable to think. The same was true for his brother, whose newly rare laughter had stopped at that very instant. Celestia was beyond worried for her elder siblings, and any thought of Luna's party had been shoved into the back of her mind. Are they broken? she thought, terrified for her brothers' health. She had already tried everything she could think of to get to snap them back into reality. Then she heard something that made her shiver. A sound that could make even her Father flinch, and had on many occasions. Luna's Royal Canterlot Voice.


 "SISTER! HOW GOES THINE SUN LOWERING, AND--" Luna stopped, astonished at a sight she didn't think she'd ever see again. "... Terrie?"

To Be Continued in Chapter 3: Luna's Brothers

Comments

[Bbot]

1382387
That gets me all the time.

[Night Sky]

1382294 yes and no. While he is putting up a choo choo related thing, who's to say he's there on TWE buisness? maybe he's on leave and just posting the train video for fun

[oceanblue86]

Cant wait for the rest of the story to be posted

[CaptainSanchez]

1491631 It'll be awhile.

[SP00KY NINJA-PON3]

HI, I'M THE DOCTOR. I "JUST MET" YOU AND I LOVE YOU.

ANDIAMO!!!