Forgetting by Going Back

Fluttershy and Mrs. Cake came downstairs, noticing Rainbow and Pinkie talking on the sofa.

Pinkie asked of her habits, “So, we’re friends. And, friends have stuff in common that they can talk about. What are both of our interests, then?”

Rainbow bite her lip, answering as something popped into her head, “I think...I’m into the Wonderbolts?”

Pinkie shrugged, scoffing as well as she replied, “Buck are the Wonderbolts?”

Fluttershy had slipped behind to the back of the couch, wrapping her hooves around both teens’ necks, bringing them near her head, “They’re Dashie’s idols! She loves their acrobatic prowess. She thinks they have the flying skills that...possibly pay their bills.”

Pinkie pulls herself away from Dash and her ‘mom’, responding to Dashie’s apparent opinion, “Laammmeee. You’ve got your mom trying to be hip for you? Ugh, might need a bath to wash all that pathetic off.”

Rainbow pushed herself off the couch, taking flight to over Pinkie, “Hey, no need to be so rude, Pinks.”

Pinkie used her Earth-Pony strength to pull Rainbow down onto the cushions, getting upset, “Don’t hover over me!”

Fluttershy jumped onto the couch, in-between the two teens before hooves entered the fray.

She said in an attempt to defuse the situation, “You two don’t usually fight. This isn’t like you at all.”

Dash and Pinkie looked away, confused at what that meant about them. Their memories of bonding with each other weren’t floating to the top of their thoughts, sunk in a lake of their mental regression.

So, instead of trying to conjure up ‘past’ memories, they simply decided to say sorry instead.

Fluttershy heard muffled apologies slip from their lips, acknowledging it was okay for them to not be separated anymore.

Princess Cadence sat on the train, her husband by her side.

He asked her as they both stared at the other guest tagging along with them, "So...honey, can you just explain it one more time for me? Please."

Cadence felt a headache pulsing through her forehead...again, as she explained for the tenth time, "They're my brothers, Shining. As far as I'm concerned, every orphan from that town is family to me."

"Okay. I get that you see him as fam-"

"Them, babe. Them."

Shining was on the verge of a mental breakdown, nearly shaking from frustration, "But, that doesn't make any sense! How is he two ponies at once?!"

"All I've been able to get from th-em is that a spell went wrong. Lightning and Striker were inseparable, but I guess they took the meaning much too literal after years of hearing it. Maybe. I'm not really too sure. Maybe I can get them to open up down the line on what happened."

"I'm still calling...them him."

Lightning-Strike woke up from their sleep, providing a bit of knowledge, "You both know you weren't whispering, right?"

Shining's face slipped into a nervous smile at how the...pony's voice was so distorted. Every word would toss to the other host residing in their shared twisted body. Sort of akin to a roller-coaster. One softer, making up for their almost whisper by being well-spoken. The second deeper and more of a lengthy mess.

He felt a shiver rumble through his spine, could tell his lips folded into his mouth at the sight of Cadence's...whatever speak to them.

This is too odd. I hope Cadence's other 'family members' aren't as...well, creepy as this one is.

Lightning-Strike stroke up a conversation with their sister, "We will see the little princess on this trip, right?"

Cadence gladly smiled back at their...good try at a grin, which only appeared as twitching of their face, "Yes, brothers. We'll meet the little cutie herself."

"What of Equestria's heroes?"

"Twilight and her friends?"

"Yes. Yes."

Cadence flipped the idea like dough in her mind, before deciding in the end, "Sure. Maybe on the last few days of our trip we can."

"We heard one of them lives in the woods."

"You're right, sweeties."

"Another in a cloud."

"Uh-huh."

"One in a dress shop."

"It's pronounced boutique, but correct."

"Your sister-in-law lives in a tree."

"Heh, close. Treehouse. Like the one Mr. Logrin was going to build for us one year until his back went out?"

"We remember."

...

A silence enveloped the room as Lightning-Strike never mentioned anypony else.

Cadence was waiting on them to ask, but decided she should just prod them back into the train of thought they had rolling before, "Anything else you two wish to say?"

They shrugged.

Cadence spread her hooves out, eyebrows raised as she practically spelled out for them, "One's a party-animal. The other is known for her family tree. Come on, guess about them."

Lightning-Strike scoffs rudely as they look out the window, away from Cadence's eyes, "Who cares for Earth-Ponies?"

Cadence was stunned by her younger siblings's racism, which soon transformed into a tone only used for disobedient little ones, "Lightning and Striker, I don't ever want to hear such insult be told to me or anypony else again. Ever. Do you both hear me? Without the love of the Earth-ponies from our village, neither of you nor I would be half as lucky as we are. To be even more direct, we most likely would not even be here to be talking on such an insensitive subject. Now, apologize."

Lightning-Striker, for once, held their emotions together long enough to keep a glare going, but Cadence getting up from her spot to stare down at them told the bonded-pair to abandon the standoff, mumbling out, "Sorry. Sorry."

Cadence happily sat back down, content she had dealt with their misbehavior...for now. She might need to talk with them later, but everything was settled until they arrived and unpacked at the royal sisters' castle.

Lightning-Strike was currently deep inside their own head, speaking.

About Earth-Ponies.

About two, in particular.