It's been 15 years since Shining Armor has last seen his dearest little sister. Alot has changed, and so has he. Will Twilight still remember his B.B.B.F.F?
It's been 15 years since the Crystal Empire incident. Shining Armor, now known as Macel, was sent to a very distant land for very important duties. 7 years after the Crystal incident, Cadence died. That day, Shining Armor lost something inside of him, something that can never be remade. When Princess Celestia brings Twilight to that land to view the important duty, will she still remember her B.B.B.F.F?
I had just walked Twilie back to the train, and stood there as it slowly vanished out of sight. Most of the blizzard had simply vanished every since Twilie, or should I say Spike and Cadence, had rebanished King Sombra. I trotted back toward the empire with a smile on my face, yet, I felt so empty. Most of the crystal ponies had gone home, but a few remained by the side of Cadence, the Crystal Princess, asking her questions, or just plainly trying to make friends. She seemed to be having a great time, so I attempted to sneak past without her noticing, but failed.
"Hey Shiny, where you going?" Cadence had just appeared at my side, "some of these ponies want to get to know you." I smiled at them, and offered to answer some questions. It surprisingly went by quickly, considering the amount of ponies waiting in a line that seemed to go a mile back. One of the more insensitive ponies asked my why I would toss my hurt and famished wife like a football across a span of 143.8 meters (according to him, measured by hand). I just waved him off, rather rudely, and answered the next pony in line.
When the last person in line came up to me, Cadence started to the sky, "Im really tired, I'll be in the castle if you need me!" and flew off. The last person's questions was really short, "What's your name?" He was in the adolescent years, or atleast from what I could tell. "Shining Armor," I said proudly, like there was nothing else in the universe that sounded better. "Cool, my name's Flik," and that blue and yellow pony galloped off to another group of adolescents, probably his friends.
I could still see Cadence, merely a spec, but still halfway to the castle. As usual, my taste for showing off got the best of me. This would take a lot out of me, and I would probably throw up after this, but I still did it. The tip of my industrial white horn glowed with a bright bulb of light, and it expanded, and in mere seconds, a flash of bright light encased my body for no more than half a second, and I was gone.
I didn't really land where I expected. I was aiming for the couch, but it was just a little bit off, and I fell flat faced on the coffee table's glass pane, just in time for Cadence to watch me sit up, rubbing my snout. She looked away, stifling a laugh, "Always showing off aren't you?" I snickered in amusement and awe to how she always get's me and what I'm doing so well. "If you were going to teleport such a long distance, you should've done it in seperate, shorter distance teleportations, to increase your accuracy, and conserver energy," and yet again, Cadence's vast knowledge on magic amazes me, and I began to wonder if she were really Celestia in disguise, as she demonstrated her explanation by teleporting around the room, not damaging or touching a single unwanted object. "How do you do that Cadence? After all these years, you still never answered my question," I lied down on the couch and watched as she lie down beside me. She opened her mouth, as to begin to speak, but hesitated for some reason then said instead, "Can't tell you Shiny, it's a secret," Cadence explained with a grin. I smiled back at her. She rested her neck atop mine, tilted her head sideways, and managed to whisper these few words before dozing off to sleep, "I love y- ZZZZZZZZZZ." My smile widened, "I love you too, Cadence," I put my arm around her body, and daintly fell asleep with her, wondering how she snored louder than myself.
It wasn't a very long nap, about half an hour at the most. I was awaken when the window shattered into a million pieces, just to be remade and the shards put back in place. My vision was still a little groggy so I was confused at what was going on. I just realized that Cadence wasn't next to me anymore, and terror struck my mind, "Has Sombra returned?" This thought was soon to be proven wrong as Celestia was standing over me. Her face wore the usual nonchalant smile, "Hello Shining Armor, I am very sorry for the rude awakening, but there is important business needing attendance to. And don't worry about Cadence, she's in the kitchen."
The next thing I knew, I was in the carriage and flying away. I caught the final glimpse of Celestia and Cadence chatting, probably explaining what was going on. My magic wouldn't work, and I wouldn't dare jump the carriage. The two royal guards flying the carriage could pay no less attention to me, but there were several more guards beside and behind me. Just then, something that felt of electricity zapped my back, I fell forward, my horn painfully hitting the rail of the carriage, and my vision went dark, and I was fast asleep.
It's been 15 years since that happened, 15. I can still remember the face of the stallion that knocked me out. He could've just told me that we were traveling across the globe, and that I would need to sleep alot of the way. Well, here I am now, in the outskirts of Equestria. It's a very green place, and I don't see anything that could need guarding or protection, but Celestia said that there was something here, and that I needed to watch out for any suspicious activity, otherwise, it would've been like asking me to move to another part of Equestria without telling friends and family.
I looked into the mirror to see my past youthful and energetic self, turn into somone who's blue and aqua mane is now navy in some spots, and a little grayish in others. My coat was tanged with darker spots near my hind quarters and cutie mark, and besides that, my name was now Marcel.
I didn't really hate this new life, it's just that I never get to see any old friends or family. My body shovered when I thought the word family. I can still remember seeing Cadence's face one last time in that picture that was sent to me with her funeral letter. I cried that day, but not like a little wimp, manly tears were shed that day. I looked at the picture for more than 3 hours before another one of the assigned guards slapped me, saying that he's been trying to get my attention for a couple hours. Naturally, the first thing I did was fall forward and face plant myself into the door of my house. My housemate was standing by me, "You okay Marcel? Looks like you hit your snout hard." Haltine, always the kind and caring, stating his cutie mark a fluorescent orange star with a blue diamond in the middle. His lemon yellow mane and neon green coat always greeted me with a sense of warmth.
Haltine died, too, fell down a cliff a few days later. I felt sad for him, yes, but now how I felt for Cadence. I just realized I was pacing in a circle, mumbling to myself, and a few people gathered around to watch as I made a rivet in the dirt, deep enough for a pony to sit on the edge, and stretch their legs all the way and touch the bottom. "Sorry," I said quickly, and galloped off.
I didn't know where I was going, just anywhere but there. I found a moderatly remote area and sat down on a soft patch of grass. I thought about my old life, my old friends, my old family, making a tear swell in my eye. It dripped down over my snout, barely touching my lip. I could taste the bitter sweet saltiness in it, and then it dripped down, and dropped to the ground, similar to what happened to my life. I felt that I would never laugh again, never be happy again, never love again. No, I wasn't the Marcel that everyone knew 7 years ago, the one that would trot around in the morning saying hello to everyone. I wasn't the Marcel they knew that would love to bake muffins and share it to everyone. I was Shining Armor, and I felt like suicide.
I once again began to cry about what happened. I cried because all that I had loved is gone now, and I would never see them again. I stood up, and trotted home, probably to take another nap. My stomach growled. I looked down at the grass and thought why not? I bent down and took a bite. I chewed the grass, and savored its fresh, cool taste. I swalloed. Suddenly, I felt lightheaded. My knees felt weak. Then everything went black, once again.
I woke up in the middle of the night, expecting to be in a hospital, under the care of RedHeart's brother, BlueLung, but I didn't. I was on my back, a notch in my spine growing larger every second, but I didn't care. I looked up at the stars. and saw the constellations. There was the Ursa Minor and Major, the Big and Little Dipper, Luna's Horshoe, Celestia's Horn, and many others. The moon was as bright as ever. Luna did a good job today, a slight grimace tugging at the edges of my mouth. Then it occured to me that I'm never going to see her again, either, and the tug dissapeared. I rolled over, and immediantly threw up on the grass, which had no effect, since I had was grass. I don't really remember what happened. I do recall eating some of this grass, then fainting. Was that it? No, there has to be more to it. I saw a bunny hopping around in circles close by, like It was chasing it's own tail, but the radius of the circle he was hopping in as too large for that. I didn't care, bunnies did whatever they wanted to do.
There was no point in going home now. I trotted of away from the barf and sat down about 30 meters a distance. I saw a frog near a pond, also hopping in a circle, strange. The bushes and trees also seemed to be swaying in circles, weird wind patterns? Even the water was moving in circles. I accepted the fact that It might have been myself hallucinating due to that, poison grass stuff. I looked up once again, and saw a dark shape flying above. A pegasus on a night fly? No, this one had something sticking out of it's forhead. I flew by the moon and I saw the cutie mark, matching that of what it was silloheutted on, a moon, and before I knew it, Luna was trotting up to me.
"Hello, Shining Armour. Long time no see? Did I say it right?" Luna's dark purple body as automaticcly illuminated as the moon's light followed her. "Yeah, you said it right, no problem," I watched as she sat down by my side. I saw her glance to her sides as she noticed the strange patterns of things moving in circles. Before I could react, she grabbed my head and I realized that I was also spinning, "Thanks." I looked over her shoulder to see, but everything was still going in circles, well atleast now I know it wasn't me, "Anytime, Shining Armour." "So, why are you here Luna? Or do I need to call you Princess Luna?" "Luna is fine, thank you. I saw you from my moon, and I thought you were taking a nap, but have you noticed the animals and plants spinning in circles? "Yeah, yeah I have." "A strange magic is at work here, you best keep an eye out, and don't eat the grass, or lick your hooves, something's wrong with it. "Yeah, I've noticed," if she saw me apparently taking a nap, I didn't see the necessity of asking that question, "yeah." "It is all right Shining Armour, you will see them again," and she took off. "Wait! Who's them?" I shouted in vain to the sky, but she was already gone. I had so many questions, and the only answer lied with Luna. I sighed, and looked down at the grass. I had just noticed that it was glowing a little. I looked closer, yeah, it was definitly glowing.
My ears perked up. I shot up like a bullet and looked around, but no one was there. I found it best that I go home. It started a trot, and then I began to hear voices. I picked up my pase, and then, before I knew it, I was on full gallop. I arrived at the front door in my house, and opened it. That wasn't right, I usually kept my door locked. I walked inside, and found that the front table was knocked over, with broked shards of the vase that I kept on it spilled across the floor. The staircase railings were broken at the handlebar, and the wall as dented. There was a silver stream of liquid across the floor, unicorn blood. I didn't dare go in further. I turned around and galloped full speed out. I knocked on somepony else's door. I anxiously looked around. I heard a nearby bush rustle, and a ponylike shape dashed out of it, and into the forest behind. The door opened, and standing there was least who I'd thought it would be.
Standing in the doorway was a lavender coated mare, whos mane was a mix of dark blue, purple, and some navy blue. She was obviously younger than me, the horn with 5 rivets shows that it's been 7 years since adolescence. And what struck me most of all, was the cutie mark. It was a 6 pointed pink star with a smaller white 6 pointed star behind it, only the tips showing, and 5 other six pointed white stars surrounding it, "Twilie?"
"Please, if you're going to say my name, please call me Twilight, or Ms. Sparkle. Hey, you must be Marcel, I've heard of you," Twilie stated. What came to shock me first was that she didn't remember me. I looked back at my cutie mark, and almost half of it was gone on each side. I sighed. "Don't you remember me Twilight?" She stared at me, and her eyes squinted, finally she said, "Nope." That hurt me alot. "But I'm your brother!" She looked at me weirdly, "My brother died 8 years ago, now get away from me liar," she attempted to close the door with her magic, but I stopped her with mine. Her thinking me dead hurt me more, "Are you sure you don't remember me?" She nodded. That wounded me, and killed me. She shut the door closed. I stood there for hours.
The sun came up, and I was still there. The door swung open and hit me square in the snout, and I was propelled backwards, "I am so sorry Marcel, my fault, but what were you doing here?" She walked by me, and waited for an answer. "I'm your brother for Discord's sake, don't you remember?" "Nope." "But-" "No, I don't remember, now please, get out of my life."
I sat there, and began to cry. The last thing I loved that was still alive, thinks I'm not. No, I'm not going to let her get away. It's a one in a million chance she's here, and she's my last chance at happiness. She wasn't too far away. I galloped quickly over and almost caught up to her, then something hit me in the side. The next thing I knew was that I was on a mountain. It was that kind of mountain in movies where there wasn't any space too move, and it was so high, and the camera would take a 360 degree circle around the guy on the mountain.
It was snowing, heavily. I could barely see my hoof in front of my face. "What the?" and I couldn't even hear my own voice. "Hello Shining Armour." something spoke silently, yet I could still hear it. The voice sounded familiar, a female one. The sun wasn't visible, yet its rays still protruded through the clouds and snow, to make visible, Celestia, flying there, not moving. "Let her be Shining Armour, she won't remember you," I felt like punching her in the face, and breaking off her horn with a bonesaw right now. How would she know if my little sister would remember me or not? She's not one to judge! Right before I was sent back, I saw her eyes flicker green, and then everything was gone.
Twilight was looking straight into my eyes when I regained sight of the real world, "Are you okay, Marcel?" I looked at her, big, purple eyes. I blinked and the faze was gone, "Just, just leave me alone." I galloped away, a tear in my eye. For some distance, there was nothing, then Twilight just appeared out of nowhere right infront of me. I galloped in a different direction, but she kept following me. "Stop Marcel, tell me, what's wrong?" I did something that I would never have done to her normally, I cast a curse on her that would keep that mare from using magic for the next ten minutes. I teleported away, far, far away.
I ended up near that spot I was last night. I could still see the faded green spot where I threw up, and the blackened grass of where Luna was sitting. I forgot what Cadence had said, so I fell on the ground almost instantly. I regained my self and sat up. I thought about what Celestia had said. Life isn't fair, then again, life is overrated. I slammed my head into the seemingly soft dirt, and was greeted by stone hard earth. I heard a crack, felt major pain, look up to the sky, saw the light, and maybe or maybe not saw my life flash before my eyes, and everything was black.
Once again, expecting to be woken up in a hospital with BlueLung looking over me, but no. I was being shaken by familar hands. I opened my eyes, and saw Twilie, no, Ms. Sparkle shaking me. "Hello, I found you asleep over here, are you okay?" I looked up at her, and pain immediantly shot down my horn and neck, "Ow!" I shouted out. "Whoa you okay Marcel? Here lem'me check," a purple beam shot out of her horn, and acted as a scanner, going up and down, "oooh... that's not good. Your skull is fractured in two places, and yor horn is cracked almost halfway through, you need to get to a hospital, here, I can take you." She used her magic to make a cast around my neck, and told me to walk along with her.
To be sure that this was the right Twilight Sparkle, I asked her to recall her life, and if she ever lived in Ponyville. She talked to me about her life, from when she was a little filly, to her exam for magic school, and her gaining of Spike the baby dragon. She recalled her unwilling moving to Ponyville, and told me about all her adventures with her friends; Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Yep, this was her.
We heard a large explosion, and both of us looked in the general direction of the noise. Snapping my head in that direction shot more pain down my neck, and I nearly blacked out. There were black dots dancing across my vision. "What could that've been?" Twilight said. I could barely see her face, but I bet the expression on it would've been funny, if not in these circumstances, "c'mon, keep walking."
I could kind of see the hospital, as we arrived. I saw that it was just a large rectangular building, with a hole in the side. Wait, a hole? That couldn't have been right. I rubbed my eyes with my hoof, and there was a numb pain on my skull, but nothing I couldn't handle. "Whoa, a ho-" that was the last thing I heard before I blacked out, once again.
I woke up, expecting not to be found, but the universe seems to hate confirming my thoughts. The first thing I saw was the worried, yet determined face of Doctor BlueLung, and next to her was Twilight Sparkle. "Is he okay, Doc?" "He's had more than just two fractures, and a cracked horn. He's had a major concussion, the neckbone is broken, and the ulna is fractured all the way through."
Seriouly? I'm that hurt? I felt sleepy, so I tried to fall asleep, but sleeping after anethstetic isn't that easy. "So what's about that hole in the wall?" Twilight asked BlueLung. "Someone snuck inside our hospital at night, and planted high explosives in the left wing. We lost 13 patients, and 3 were found fatally injured." "Do you have any idea who did it?" "No, not yet, but he left some clues. The security and the D.P.E had lifted a couple fingerprints, 829 total. We cannot confirm that any of them are the terriost's'."
I overheard it all. I remember the end of my conversation with Celestia on the mountain. I remember at the end, her eyes turned green. Could it have been her? No, right? BlueLung was the first to speak up over a while, "He's still awake, he needs a stronger anethstetic." My snout was opened against will, and some liquid was poured into my mouth, and I fainted, losing all consciousness.
It was a long sleep. When I woke up, the calender besides my bed clearly stated that it's been a month since I first checked in. Ms. Twilight was resting her head against my hooves. As she was still my sister, I tried not to move and wake her. I sighed, and she woke up. Her big eyes rested on mine, "You're my brother, aren't you, Shining Armour." Her saying that brought warmth to my heart. A smile, wider than anything before, spread across my face, "So you finally remembered didn't you?" I jokingly stated. I still remembered my last words to her, "See you tommorow Twilie?" Ever since Cadence died, Twilight was the last thing I loved.
"So how'd you finally figure it out?" I asked Twilight. She's known for her smarts, but she lacks common sense. "Well, when the doctor tested your blood, he told me that the strange thing was that both of our genetic strands are remarkably similar, and asked if we were siblings. Then it occured to me, Derpy is not the smartest pony." "What do you mean Derpy?" I asked. She didn't seem like she felt like explaining. "Well, the day after I got back from the Crystal Empire, Derpy said that he saw you were taken away by some people, and that you died. I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have trusted, Derpy." I get all the stupid things she's done, but trusting Derpy Hooves on account of something. No, just no.
The skeletal view of my vitals was displayed in front of me. The live-action reader displayed what was currently happening to me. Just when I was about to say that I was fine, the door opened, and BlueLung's younger brother, YellowBone trotted in, "You are free to go, Shining Armour. Our new techinques have healed you quicker than we have expected. Here is your injury report, and you may leave when you wish in the next half hour," and he handed me some papers.
"Ready to go, Shiny?" Shiny, I still remember Cadence's little nick name for me. I got up and trotted around in a circle in front of the bed. I turned my head this way and that, and there was no pain. I stretched out my self and said, "Ok, let's go."
The hole was fixed, and the sun shind so much brighter than before. The grass seemed just a little greener, and the color just seemed a little, well, more colorful. That struck a thought, "Any more attacks from that guy who blew up the hospital?" Twilight thought for a minute, then shook her head. This day was going to be perfect.
I raced Twilie to my favorite coffee shop, which of course, I cheated and teleported there, and she slapped me on one side of my face, and backhanded me when the hand was coming back, "Cheater," she played around. We ordered a double foam mocha cappucino decaf with extra sugar and a cherry on top, a home favorite. Twilie, who's appetite had expanded since the last time I saw her, chugged the whole thing in less than 2 seconds. I looked at her with a confused face. "It was a bet from Rainbow Dash, and I found out I'm good at chugging." That made me smile. I sipped mine, too hot. I cooled it off, and it was fine again.
I heard a rustleing in the bushes behind me, and I turned to look. It sounded like the one on that night, but nothing was there. I continued to drink my coffee as Twilie explained what's been going on in her life before now. She said that Applejack had gotten a big time job bucking apples for this professional apple everything company for 100 bits an hour. Good for her! Pinkie Pie had become a professional party planner reccomended by everyone. Rainbow Dash had finally got into the Wonderbolts, and that Rarity, is working around the clock for many different people, from Sapphire Shores to Fancy Pants. Fluttershy is still at her ol' cottage caring for animals, and had opened a pet sitter center in her cottage. These all seemed great, until Twilight mentioned that they have all been into some physical accidents. One of Rainbow Dash's partner, Soarin, had eaten too much pie, and had thrown up on her, which blocked her vision, and she crashed into Spitfire, and they both crashed into the rock below. Rainbow Dash was fine, but Spitfire had major, maybe fatal injures. Pinkie Pie had ordered too much fireworks, and litterally blew up a house into a large ball of fire. She had 4th degree burns. Rarity stabbed herself one too many times with her sewing machine, which I found hilarous, until Twilight stabbed my chest with her horn. Fluttershy got mauled by someones pet tiger, and she is currently recovering in a hosptial under tender care by RedHeart. Applejack bucked a large tree with so much apples, that all of it came down on her, and, like me, fractured her skull in to areas.
I felt sad for them, and some tears came to my eyes, which Twilight quickly saw and made up for it. She told me about herself, and said that she got a job working by Celestia's side. She doesn't get payed though, but she said she did it for the fun. She would go on all these secret missions, such as the one she was on now, where there was something strange going on in this town. She also learned a couple secrets, like how her current age is equivlant to Celestia's when she stopped aging, so techinaclly, they are the same age.
"Wait wait wait, go back, something strange, such as random objects going in circles?" She didn't answer, she just stared into my coffee cup. I looked, and it happened again. The coffee was spinning in circles, and the cherry, too. "Oh no," I threw the coffee on the ground, and it shattered. Another strange thing is that the coffee was immediantly sucked up bye the grass, and after a few seconds, the coffee, the cherry, and the cup were gone. "Twilight?" "Yeah?" "What's going on?" "I'm here to figure out."
There was an ear deafening scream, and we both passed out.
The black coated pegasus trotted up and knealed before his master, "The job is done, as you requested, sir." There was a loud rumbling, as the entire cavern shook. A couple stalagmites fell from the roof, none hitting the black coated pegasus. A larger than average unicorn came from the depths. Completely black, like the shadows. It trotted up to the pegasus, and tilted its head as if looking at him.
The thing, the large unicorn's color began spreading from its so-called-excuse for a cutie mark. It was still black, just a brighter shade, like a pencil led grey. It's mane was clear white, such that it was supposed to represent heaven. The so-called-excuse for a cutie mark had nothing wrong with its features, it's just that, is it supposed to be cute? It was a flaming skull with red eyes, and blood dripping from the jaw. The color spread further, and the unicorns hooves were also matted with blood, all kinds. The eyes opened, a bright red filliment, like the devil had its entire eyehole painted red. One of the ears were missing, and there was a hole in its horn. "Good," it said in a deep, dark voice.
The pegasus lay out the contents in its sack across the floor. The maroon blood of a pony, the silver blood of a unicorn, the bronze blood of a pegasus, and hardest and to get, and scariest of all, the gold blood of a alicorn, all concealed in 4 vials. "Yessss... Good job, now we can commence phase two..." it rumbled.
It walked up to a small bump in the ground, and spilled the four vials' contents all over the bump. Nothing happened for a moment. As it was just about to speak, a large rumbling, much larger than his intial one, occured. The stone where the bump was cracked, and an object shot up out of it at gut-splattering speed. A golden fountain appeared out of it, with four seperate oblong sections arranged in a circle around a single pillar with four nozzles pointing at each section. Seconds later, the nozzles began to hose out four different colors of liquid. Maroon, silver, bronze, and gold, the blood of the pony world. After the four sections were filled, they started to glow a malelovent greenish orange, and the nozzels each exploded with black liquid. One drop touched the large grey unicorn, and the holes in it's bodies, and the ear reappeared and healed, and he became normal size. "I have no use of you anymore," the unicorn said the the pegasus, and the unicorn stamped his hoof on the ground. A hole appeard beneath the pegasus, and it fell down the hole, and the hole closed before the pegasus could escape.
"Yes, finally, now I can comeplete my mission," the unicorn trotted this way and that, until it reached the entrance of the cave, and exited. The newly raised sun's rays cast across his eyes, which he squinted. His pupils adjusted, and he trotted down the hill, and became Celestia once he reached the foot of it.