Where Do Your Loyalties Lie?

Lightning began to stir in her bed. Stormy looked over at his sister from the desk chair in the corner of the room. "Ah, she awakes!" he said sarcastically.

Lightning looked up at her older brother, staring at him through her good eye, as the other was too swollen to open. "Fuck you," she muttered. She tried to get up, but felt a jabbing pain in her ribs. She cringed and laid back down slowly.

"Yeah, I wouldn't move around too much if I were you, " he taunted. He turned in the chair to face his sister more. "So, how does it feel to get the shit beat out of you by your older brother?"

Then, Lightning began to get angry. "You don't ever shut up, do you?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

"Not unless I have nothing to say, which happens more often then you might care to know." He shifted one last time and smirked. "You know, you're kinda funny lookin' when you're pulverized." he pointed out.

"You mind tellin' me why you don't seem to have a scratch on you, yet I'm... well, this!"

"Well, I do have a matching shiner, like yours, it just so happens that my sexy self dominated you in a fight, " he said matter-of-fact-like. "Now, if I was in your position, I'd consider myself lucky I'm alive. But, then again, one, I won the fight, two, I'm tougher, and three, this is my house, another reason to consider yourself lucky."

"So, now what?" Lightning asked.

"Well, either you get your act together and we try to be a family again and forget the past, or you get the fuck out of my house the moment you've healed!" he said smuggly. "Janus awaits your choice."

"Sure, whatever, but first, I want to know what happened to my sister." Lightning decided now was the time. One way or another, she would remember.

"Wasn't expecting that, but, oh well. I suppose you deserve the truth.

"Your twin sister, Thunder Dash, disappeared two days after the... incident. No pony knows what happened, but I'm guessing she saw more than you did and decided to leave, thinking she wasn't safe. You sister was very much like me, always skeptical of others and well capable of caring for herself.

"Although, after begging her to keep tabs on the situation, the Princess herself had sent me a status report from the Rainbow Factory, swearing to me the director was the spitting image of you.

"It was then I knew she was gone forever. You see, Lightning, no matter who you are, unless you're one of the Princesses, no pony leaves the Rainbow Factory. No pony."

He let this sink into Lightning's  mind, not wanting to go too fast. "

"So, the rumors were true."

"Why, whatever do you mean?"

"Ponies... disappearing... that's where they go... to be recycled. It was true, wasn't it?" she asked.

"Yes, Lightning, the Princess has informed me that the rumors were true, but the mass population aren't ready to accept that yet."

"Like I wasn't ready for the truth about Mom and Dad."

"Precisely, " he confirmed.

Lightning sank deeper into the bed. She wasn't sure if she could hold her emotions. "So, then, why couldn't I remember her?"

"That's just it. Given that the Princess was still coping with the loss of her Wonderbolts captain, along with his loss, she didn't want any pony else to suffer more than needed. So, with my consent and yours, she erased your memory."

"Well, it obviously didn't help!" she mused.

"Sure, it did, just not as long as I had hoped. Now, enough talk, why don't I get you some food?" he asked.

Lightning nodded. Stormy got up from the desk and trotted out of the room and downstairs into the kitchen. He pulled out a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jam, and a butter knife.

"Sandwich time!" he declared to himself.