//-------------------------------------------------------// The forgotten brother -by lighting dash 13- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// chapter 2 //-------------------------------------------------------// chapter 2 Where we once had millions of ponies  now our numbers were less than a  thousand within 2 years time. Celestia gathered the last of us remaining in her local  palace city of  canterlot so that we could at least enjoy what time we had left together. We were scared , and  so worried that my sister and I hardly talked as we traveled from our home town of ponyvile towards canterlot. It took roughly 3 days to get there. When we had arrived, we were told to  all gathered outside the palace of the three rulers  as we did we learned celesta was to  come out to give a speech to us. I didn't even notice it until rainbow dash had nudged me and asked "  where are Discord and Luna at shouldn,t they be here as well?" " Hmm your right   "  I said " every pony is suppose to be here without exception, so we may look into that  huh sis?" I gave her a quick wink  and she smiled very weakly me. ( Strange I  its not like her to be so lethargic like that I hope she is okay). I  tried to get her attention to find out what was wrong, then noticed a couple of ponies giving me the evil eye so I realized I needed to go silent for Celestia,s speech. My sister glanced at me as she noticed others starting to look in my direction. I silently signalled to my sister to zip her lips for now and she nodded that she understood.We both listened as Celestia gave her speech:    "My loyal subjects   there is no need to be afraid as I can assure you even now we are closer than ever to finally developing a cure for the dreaded  blood moon marks." " In fact as I speak my fellow rulers discord and my dear sister Luna are combing through every last inch of the ancient magick texts to find an answer. "Be strong my Ponies through this dark time." "Let us give a moment of silence to remember all the loved ones we have lost  and the ponies that poured their very souls into finding a cure for this dreaded affliction." " ............................................" "Now I must retire my subjects and I assure we will never give up on the  hope or love of saving you all  because as long as there is a spark of light left in this world  then  neither hope nor love for our fellow ponies will ever cease." Celestia then entered into her palace  leaving us to explore the city of Canterlot. All the ponies had left ,leaving just me and her at the edge of palace / city grounds to ponder her speech. " Lighting what do you think she meant by that, do you really think they might find a cure?" 'I simply don,t know Rainbow I replied I just don,t know" and as I said that I could not help but form a sly stupid smile on my face. I knew she was worried so I made a funny face to ease her mind. She tried to smile at the face I made, but stopped as she began to cough up blood ".RAINBOW!!!!" I gasped as she tried to turn away from me " its...... nothing ... I ... just... um...I..er. ."Although she tried to hide it from me, I saw it the mark was on her flank. A nearly three quarters full moon. "No not you Rainbow I cried". "I ... .. can,t .....lose ...my...  only ....sister ." She tried to talk, but struggled to do that. "Bro......ther ....you know me... I am..... Rainbow ....Dash and I will not .....die so ..easy after all I am a proud sister of the stallion That saved Equestria by.... by * cough*  performing the first sonic lighting cut aerial mmm .. move  ." "Yes I did, I said and I did that move not only to save our world of Equestria but  for you as well" When I saw  the rock slid going to crush you and  that  village I flew straight through all those the clouds of lighting  heading towards  our  cities I knew I had to act quickly. I knew I had no other way to fly towards you, but through the lighting itself. The lighting burned as it struck at my wings and fur as I charged through  the dark clouds head on  . I felt like the pain would kill me at any moment, but when I reached the very center of the first cloud my leg jerked and kicked at the center of the cloud. The cloud then disappeared and I had learned that we Pegasus ponies could control the effect of clouds by striking at them. Before I could test my theory, though I had to save you from the rock slide so I poured all of my energy into flying towards forcing myself to reach a level of speed I never knew existed. I was moving so fast the lighting  itself seemed to be unable to anything but trail behind me  and from there I grabbed you then my trail of lighting struck the rocks completely obliterating them into dust before they fell towards that local village. " I... re...m..ember" she told me. "You .ll...lo..oked like you were at death's door  by the time we made it to the  hhhh .osptial even ddd.. doctors said you living was a true miracle". //-------------------------------------------------------// chapter 3 //-------------------------------------------------------// chapter 3 " YOU were that miracle that kept me going through all that pain and  kept my will to live strong enough survive the impossible" I said . " Now I can be your miracle." " Never forget how strong you really are, my dear sister and know that I will always there for you even all I am is just an extra wing  for you to cry on. " "ppp lease  I..I..I .. am too s..tt.rong to cry like a baby" she said, trying to hide  her pride  from her from big brother, but I could see tears forming in her eyes and felt my own eyes beginning to swell up through tears streaming down my cheeks . I then flew her into a local hospital where she  resided for the entire day and was given a sedative to help her sleep through the pain. I walked out of the hospital after she fell asleep as my head was swimming in fear and I just couldn,t  stand to look at her in that state. My world was spinning as I just wandered around aimlessly in the city trying to find some peace from  this nightmare I was in and that is when I spotted them. Luna and Discord were trying to sneak into the city so I quietly followed them as I thought if  they HAD INDEED FOUND   A CURE  I would get it for Rainbow Dash. I listened in on their conversation as I concealed myself within the shadows. "Tomorrow  night Discord we'll meet  in the forbidden ever free forest area so we can discuss that spell I talked to you about". Discord lowered his head as he slowly replied " Are you sure about this princess I mean, even if it does work you know Celestia will never allow you to stay if you perform such a dark power." "........... If i......it... it  is the ONLY way  to save our fellow ponies I must do what I  can and whatever punishment I face as princess of the night will be worth it to save them." "I am more worried about you though are you really sure you are ready for this  Discord?" I did not bother to hear out the conversation  at that point as I walked  away I thought I had heard enough to get the gist of what I needed to do. //-------------------------------------------------------// chapter 4 //-------------------------------------------------------// chapter 4 I didn't really sleep that well that night as my emotions were running wild. The fact remained that although it seemed a cure was possible through magick the very fact that Luna would risk banishment by performing said magick meant it clearly had  very DANGEROUS RISKS. Celestia was never known if at all, to give long or hard sentences for anything but the WORST of crimes and even then I had never heard of a crime so bad it risked banishment. Rainbow Dash didn,t look well at all when I visited her  later in the day as her mark was growing closer a full moon  and I knew what that meant. I told her about going to the ever free forest on the outskirts of the city to gather herbs that grew within that to help her feel better.It was a weak lie, but she didn't seem to question it too much just asked me to watch myself out there. I gave a long sigh as my mind raced with anticipation and smiled at her before I left. (Poor thing here she is  in such bad shape as to be near death, but she worries about me.) What a loyal mare she will become one  day I thought to myself. I searched around the library  after  my rather short visit and found a map of the  general area of the forbidden forest those two would be at during the night. The rest of my time was spent studying the map inside and out, then as I went to check the map out of the library. Now it was simply a matter of  locating then trailing those two and finding out what their " cure" was. Let me tell you it was not easy to find them as they were very careful to blend themselves within the forest so as to hide their presence. Whatever they were up to they sure wanted  their privacy from prying eyes. //-------------------------------------------------------// chapter 5 //-------------------------------------------------------// chapter 5 When I at last found them, I crept very low and silently to the ground hiding myself along the shadows of the trees so they couldn't see nor hear  me or so I  had thought." "My friend Discord this spell are sure you willing to take the brunt of it you know how deadly black magick is?" " Black magick" I blurted out loud ?!?! ( Damn it, you idiot you just exposed yourself) " WHOSE THERE COME OUT OF HIDING NOW OR WE WILL FORCE YOU OUT" they bellowed! Realizing I just made the mistake of exposing myself to them, I stepped into the clearing  so they could see me. Discord just gave me a cold look as Luna was the one that spoke. "What do you think you are doing eavesdropping on us like this and for that matter, how did you know we were here?" I couldn't even speak . " I ... Uuu uhh .. I ... I". " WERE YOU SENT BY MY SISTER TO OBSERVE US ??!?" .... "ANSWER ME NOW  !" I tried to think of something to say, some clever excuse, but Discord stopped that in its tracks." Don,t even think of trying to lie to us or we will know" *sigh* Alright I said and I told them everything I had overheard. They both frowned as I explained myself and thoroughly convinced them I was not sent by Celestia . "I am sorry I was so cold "Discord said " you must understand what we are planning is grounds for at best permanent banishment and  at worse  possible public execution ." " Public execution "  I stated in shock!?! "Yes Luna replied and believe me, I would never wish to use such  evil power if I felt there were any other way. " Wait a minute, I said  , I mean, didn't Celestia say you were almost to a cure though?" They both shamefully stared at the ground as they explained it was nothing more than a lie to keep ponies from losing hope. " You see, the very truth is that although Celesta puts up a brave face she was practically working herself into near exhaustion trying BADLY to find a cure   " "I ..I ....  I had no idea " I said. "There were only  a few of us did as she didn't want ponies aware of the fact  she was working herself   so hard she was drugging herself  on a daily basis just to be able to function" Discord replied . " Everything is on the verge of collapse Luna cried out our kingdom, my sister   , our lives and even our very world itself could all be lost very soon." "The two of us looked for anything to cure this, but the only solution was a spell forbidden and sealed away by our ancient rulers" she said as they both cried. The realization, then hit me just how bad our situation really was and hard it must have been on both of hem  to know that even the solution would leave scars on the already wounded world. "What will your spell do and what is required to make it work Your highness" I inquired? They quickly explained that the spell would serve two functions. The first would grow a mighty tree of intense magickal power that would serve to protect equestra from any type of future disease of such high power as it would constantly  generate a kind of  " barrier" . The second power, albeit temporary at best granted the castor or castors of the spell the ability to manipulate time and space  at will so all of the deaths and events of the blood moon  would be in a sense  erased. "Wait a minute  MANIPULATE TIME AND SPACE  I said in disbelief?!?!" "NO magick is that powerful I mean such a concept alone breaks nearly all laws of physics we know of." Luna simply looked into my eyes and sighed as she said. "I don't expect you to believe it, but I assure this spell  and it,s power are very much THE  REAL DEAL." "So what's stopping you from casting this spell already I asked?" "We...I...  uh .. that is, uh.... there is a major catch to the spell you see, it requires a live sacrifice and not only that, but the pony sacrificed will be erased from the memory of this world FOREVER ." " WHAT!?!?" "Yes the pony will cease to be in this world so in effect it would be like they never existed at all and only those performing the spell will keep their memory of the pony sacrificed." "Ohhhhhh..... yeah.... I can ......see why you hesitate" I replied. //-------------------------------------------------------// chapter 6 //-------------------------------------------------------// chapter 6 I looked at them both straight in the eyes and said point blank "very well  I will be your sacrifice." "W..what  they said in disbelief!?!" "No I was and still AM  to be sacrificed" Discord argued back. No YOU are one of the great leaders of this world and losing you would have too many consequences I pointed out. It was only then that I heard sounds from a bush and saw her coming out of the bushes. "Ss.. SISTER " I exclaimed in shock !?!? She looked horrible both sets of wings were raw to the stumps and she looked an apple after it was squeezed through a juicer. She clearly used all of her effort just to stand up, how she was able to follow me I couldn't even begin to grasp. " Pp ..... p  .. pp .. ple..  * cough*  * cough* please  ddd . Do.,n,t ddd .. doo it b bb rother" " I wa..s..s worried and knew you...w..e...re hhhh hiding secret about forest so I followed yy .. you here as I was soooo worried about you." "I knew you were  lying to me, but  tttt thisss!?!" "I....... I . am .. sorry  bb but  I have.. to..  do this " I said as I cried my eyes in painful tears. " Nn nnooo I ddd o n   ott want to lose you." "I am so sorry, but you know this the only way to save the world." Bbb ut W..H.Y Y yyy ou ii isn,t there annn yy. pp pony else?" Wwww..... hh...a...tt..aa..b..o..utt  me can I tt take your place instead?" "NO  ABSOLUTELY  NOT   you are only a young pony and I have lived my life here as an adult please forgive me, but I MUUST DO THIS!" I tried to then walk around her but she then jumped in front of me blocking me from moving forward . " I DON,T CARE WHAT IT TAKES AFTER LOSING BOTH OUR  PARENTS AND ALL MY FRIENDS TO THIS DAMN DISEASE I WON'T LOSE YOU AS WELL  "   She screamed through her tears  ! "I will STOP you no matter what it takes as I love you too much to lose you brother  and You are a.....l....l..I...h..a..v..e left in this world brother." "I know and love you as well my... little sister and that's exactly why I am doing this for you so that you can  have a chance to grow up  ." "Please understand I will NOT stand by and watch you die." "Now Please ...... move my sister ...you... the future name of a Wonderbolt   captain my sister Rainbow Dash." "Nnnoooo  brother  please ddd don,t leave me, I cc an,t and won,t lose thh the only family I h.... hhh...havee l .  l l..le...f t.." She began to let out all of the emotions she had buried over the years in trying to keep herself composed after all that had occurred . " B..bb ro tt her you  said you wouuld alwayss bbbbe there for me, but YOU LIED TO ME YOU * sob* FUCKING BASTARD YOU LIED  *sob* t...tt.to mmm ughhh ." She then began to lose  what little strength  she had left and slumped forward from sheer exhaustion, I saw tears in her eyes that silently begged me not to go through with it before she fell after slipping into  unconsciousness. I knew she was just as hurt as she was in so much pain over losing nearly everyone she ever loved and didn,t really mean it when  she said those last words. "Sist said to her "I am going to miss you so much and know that I will never forget you even though I may be leaving my body behind my spirit will always be here watching over you." "You have no idea how much this hurts me  to have to leave you or this world behind, but I would rather leave you alone  with a chance to live and grow up to be happier than to see you die by  staying at your side". I then looked at Discord and Luna "please  will you watch over her  when I am no longer of this world" I asked? " yes of course we will " they said, and "I will make certain that she grows up strong  by throwing many challenges her way to make you proud" Discord stated as he wiped tears from his eyes "and I Luna shall watch over  her like I do our own moon" "Now  if you are ready, we will begin the ritual "  Luna said as she finished wiping out her own eyes. There was nothing left to say so with  that I entered into the cave where I was to sacrificed in as  this was  to create the new magick tree that would be called the elemental tree of spiritual harmony. The last thing I saw was my sister  waking up as Luna plunged the ritual  athame knife into my body. I  cried tears of both pain and joy as although I was going to  miss my sister, I knew I  had succeeded in protecting and saving not only her life but that of  the world as well. The world blurred as I felt my life  force begin to seep out of my body, then into the ground and onto the tree seedling as Luna performed the dark ritual further with aid from  Discord as he joined in. Rainbow Dash  looked at me in horror  as  she became aware of what was going on, she struggled to move her bloody stump of a  body to save me from dying. Her mouth silently formed protests to the ritual as Luna and Discord continued to spill my blood. My strength fading from me, I formed a smile at her and my very last thought was how proud I am of my sister. "Sooo much heart for  a  such sss small pony to save the ones ss she loves , what l loyalty" I said to myself as my world grew cold and dark. //-------------------------------------------------------// epilogue //-------------------------------------------------------// epilogue Once I  had died my soul went through the standard process of reincarnation into the human world. Although from the process of birth my mind forgot my previous life my heart never did. I learned that after the ritual was completed Luna and Discord used the power to rewind time on that world up to the point where the disease had first begun to bring back all of the ponies that died . The tree and those two were the only things unaffected by the time  spell and as the tree grew the once fatal moon marks faded away like a bad dream. They both worked quickly and even went   back 10,s of 1000,s of years into the past. Discord allowed himself to become the " bad guy " so that Luna would have a reason to "discover" the tree , then  use its power with her sister  to turn discord into stone. They  did this to fill in several memory , time and historical paradoxes created from my absence. Before he was turned to stone  Discord purposefully created high levels of chaos to keep all ponies  in the  dark forever burying the tragic events of the plague from the memories of all. Luna eventually went completely mad from guilt over my death and was banished to the moon for insanity at claiming  that the night should never end. One can only speculate as to why, perhaps believing  to herself that she could bring me back  to  life in Equestrea if her power was strong enough in the forbidden dark arts I suppose . I believe that was when their ability to manipulate time stopped working so both were stuck 1000,s of years in the past until new heroes would be  born including ......my.... little... sister. //-------------------------------------------------------// prologue //-------------------------------------------------------// prologue I stood there in my home with my girlfriend the nine tailed fox both of us are physical human beings on the outside, but at our very core we were both far from human on the inside. She was called winter kiss and my former life,s name was Lighting Dash. These were the names we had before we both had our souls reincarnated into this world. If you were to be interested  in our current names mine would  be Jessie and hers would be Akemi the Japanese word for beautiful light. She was once one of the legendary nine tails whose  beauty and rank was legendary even among her own kind  . I was another mythical creature  a pony with wings  from a world where the deepest imagination of children's lives. You would never think that a predator like a fox would go out with a pony, but somehow we found each and feel  deeply in love with each other. One of life's little ironic jokes I suppose. She taught me the ways of magick and of the occult. She was a wonderful and patient teacher teaching from sun rise to sun set the  ancient knowledge of her former life. The training was brutal, but I gained much through it and slowly rose from  a novice witch in a master level. It was during these training sessions that I learned I had not always been a human but had once been a creature of myth and dreams. My life in the world of ponies was both one of the happiest lives and yet its ending was sour/ painful like a lemon being squeezed on  a raw sore tongue. Although I could never verbally communicate nor visit my former friends and family from that realm I could view them by means of magick My latest being to be able to view and listen them by using my crystal ball. My favorite one to view was my former sister a young  flying pony named Rainbow Dash. She had worked very hard in her life to realize her dream of joining the wonderbolts a group of elite Pegasus that are the equivalent of our worlds blue angels. My last crystal viewing of her  was her  seeing her heart's desire come true and as I viewed that I began to think of the events that lead to me facing  the cold shoulder of fate. //-------------------------------------------------------// chapter 1 //-------------------------------------------------------// chapter 1 The world of Equestria that I grew up in as a young pony was a world full of magick and wonder. we had very similar things in this world like  a warm sun rising in the morning and a moon appearing with the stars at night. The difference is that ours worked under the power of beings that used magickal powers. Our leaders were two very power princess  sisters named Celesta   the ruler over the day court and  Luna  the   princess in charge of ruling in the night along with one  mischievous   male dragon Chimera named Discord. Celestia could control the sun , Luna the moon and  Discord could bend reality itself as the master of chaos magick. All three were immortal beings. When I was 9 my younger sister pony rainbow dash was born into this world and it was one greatest joys of my life as a flying  Pegasus pony. Seven years of  sibling love we had together and we thought that time  of brother and sister would last forever but we were both oh so naïve. No pony knows how it happened, perhaps a spell  had gone wrong or perhaps discord,s constant  meddling with reality had taken its toll on the fabric of space that held Equestria together in harmony. Whatever the cause, things began to take a turn for the worst. First our cutie marks which were a symbol that appears on a pony's left flank when they experience a coming of age event to show a symbolic tattoo of the destiny of that pony began to vanish without reason. It was then a new symbol started to take the place where our cutie marks once were and  while many disagreed what the source of disease was being it a curse , a plague ect we all agreed on one fact.. It was bad  news as  over time the doctors working on it named it  the " blood moon mark".It would start with a very black circle appearing and blacking out the previous cutie mark then as if the new tattoo were actually alive it would begin to change form. A moon like crescent would appear within a few days and  as time went on, more and more of the moon would appear until it went from a black circle into a full moon. Those with the mark would only have mild symptoms at first like a cold or a sore throat, however as the tattoo gradually shifted from the dark circle into a full the pony became far more ill   and eventually open sores would leak blood around the full moon ,  thus creating the " blood moon" . Once the  blood moon appeared it was simply over for that pony and while some lasted for longer periods than others in the end nobody lived longer than a few days once it reached that state. Due to their extreme magickal power and highly refined  immune systems it was discovered that all 3 rulers were immune to the disease. Every day  it seemed as  more were succumbing to this disease  and we could not find any way to stop it  as it seemed even our mighty " gods"  work to find a cure seemed fruitless.