Two Brothers

"Its so nice to be out of Canterlot. Now mom and dad can't stare over our shoulders." A gray pegasus with black and white mane spoke.

"Yes, and with a small settlement like Ponyville, maybe I could get some research done." A white unicorn with black and white mane smiled at his brother, "Though with you around, that might just be impossible." His smile faded.

"Oh come on Broken Shard!" The pegasus groaned, "It won't be so bad living with your brother." He grinned.

"Light Speed, you are living destruction." Broken Shard retorted.

The two brothers continued to walk down the streets of Ponyville. They had just gotten off the train from Canterlot and were looking for their new house. Broken Shard was looking at his map with concentration. Light Speed however was trotting down the path with the same stupid grin he always has on his face.

"So we take a right turn here..." Broken Shard mumbled as he turned almost mechanically.

Light Speed bounded after his mumbling brother without a second thought as he looked at the different buildings.

"Then a left here." Broken said after a few more minutes.

Light Speed was gazing at the houses with interet as he trotted after his guide.

"I wonder what our house will look like. It's so exciting!" Light hummed to his companion.

Broken ignored his brother's comment and kept studying the map.

"Another right turn here and... We should be home!" Broken Shard looked up from his map with an excited smile.

Before them stood a beautiful house made from the finest wood. The sturdy structure was complimented by a marvelous coat of paint and there was a beautiful view just behind the small hill. The brand new house practically glowed in the sunlight!

...

It was literally glowing. The house was consumed in flames.

The two ponies flicked their eyes from the house to each other and then back at the house. In a panic, Broken Shard galloped towards the burning home while Light Speed jetted off in the opposite direction. Broken levitated a blanket from his saddle bag and used a spell to make it grow larger. He then draped the blanket over the house. The fire seemed to die and Broken wiped the sweat from his brow in relief. Almost instantly, the blanket exploded in a ball of fire that engulfed the house once more.

"F*$#!" Broken Shard shouted in surprised fear.

Light Speed sped through the air and came back with a hose. He twisted the handle and began spraying the house. It didn't take too long to douse the raging fire, but so much damage had already been done while it was left unattended. There were large holes in the roof and ashes littered the ground. The walls were scorched and the ceiling beams had crumbled. The two ponies stared in amazment and disbelief as the smoke lifted itself higher and higher.

"Oh nononononono!" Broken Shard panicked as he paced, "It's destroyed! Completely destroyed!"

"Well, not completely." Light Speed muttered as he placed a hoof on his chin.

"What am I going to do? What am I going to do!?" Broken Shard cried out.

"Bro, calm down." Light hovered next to his panic stricken brother.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN!? My house is destroyed!" He screeched.

"Ahem, you mean our house." Light crossed his hooves.

"You can just live on a cloud!" Broken yelled up at his brother as he pointed at the sky.

"Touché"

"Ugh, I can't even buy a ticket back to Canterlot. You spent all of our bits on ice cream!" Broken complained.

"I was hungry." Light shrugged.

"Because you ate all your traveling food in the first few minutes..." Broken mumbled as he placed his hooves over his eyes. "Our house is destroyed..." He repeated.

As if in response to his words, the entire roof of the house caved inward.

"So then fix it." Light smiled as he flapped his wings.

"Fix it? How would I go about fixing it Light Speed?" Broken asked in annoyance.

"Well your special talent is making beauty out of what's broken. Sooo fix it with some kind of magical spell or something." Light waved his hooves towards the house mystically as if to prove his point.

"First of all, the house isn't broken, it's burnt. Secondly, I don't know of any spell that turns your house into Maretha Stewart's personal beach house. It's not that simple Light."

"Fine, sheesh what do I know?" Light crossed his hooves and frowned.

"Nothing... You know nothing."

"Maybe put in an order? For a new house?" Light asked himself as much as his brother.

"Oh of course! Here, I'll write a letter now." Broken levitated paper and a quill from his saddle bag.

"Hello, as I came upon my new house in Ponyville, I noticed that it was burning down in into a firey ball of ashes and smoke. So, I'd like to request a new one. Preferably one that doesn't come in the 'Smoking Hot Home' package of your catalog. This time, I'd like to add on the extended warranty." Broken read aloud as he stabbed the paper with the last period he wrote before crumbling it up and stuffing it into his bag.

"It was just an idea..." Light frowned, dejected.

"It was a stupid idea."

Light chuckled, "Yeahhh, it was pretty stupid."

"You're having fun with this aren't you?"

"Just a little."

Light flew into the sky leaving his brother wondering where he sped off to. Before he could do anything else, the pegasus soon returned with a puffy white ball.

"Don't worry, I have a place to sleep." Light hopped onto the cloud happily with his hooves behind his head.

"Thanks buddy." Broken lowered his ears in anger. "I'm going to go find something to make us a profit." Broken began to walk away.

"You mean like a job?" The pegasus rolled over so that his hooves hung off the front of the cloud.

"No- Wel- ...Maybe."

"Well if you need anything, I'll be on my comfy bed." Light mocked playfully.

"Don't talk to me."

Broken walked around the town thinking of what he could do. 'What are my strengths? Magic, crafting, cooking, and I love books. Good. What are my weaknesses?... Celestia, do I really need to get into that long list? This day was depressing enough.'

He wandered around the town trying not to think about the disastrous situation he was in. He needed to stay calm and just think of the solution instead of the problem. He turned a corner and his eyes drifted towards a gleam at his left. He saw broken glass scattered across the ground. Curiously, he made his way towards the sharp pieces and began to inspect them. They were in many different shapes and sizes that looked almost pattern like. An idea formed in his mind and he began to move the pieces in different positions as he formed a figure. It was spikey and rigid, though it did make a distinct shape. He moved a few move pieces around and took another look at it. Now some of the edges were smoothed out while others spiked in new places. It began to look faintly like a dragon breathing fire.

Perhaps he could make something out of this after all. He gathered the glass in his magic and placed the pieces in an empty part of his saddle bag.

He was busy thinking of his new project as he returned to his property.

Once he noticed the sun was setting, he realized the lack of ponies around town. In fact, he couldn't recall seeing anypony else other than his brother or the ponies at the train station. This was very weird indeed. He supposed that he was too caught up in finding his new home to notice... Before being too caught up in losing his new home to notice.

Then he heard a noise that seemed to originate from the other side of town. He turned his head and saw lots of lights along many different colored objects in the distance. He couldn't quite tell what it all was from this distance, though he expected some type of celebration.

He soon neared his sleeping brother and dropped his saddle bag before proding Light Speed with his hoof.

"Huh? What? Oh Broken Shard, what's up?" Light yawned.

"Do you hear those noises?" Broken asked as he levitated a sandwich from his saddle bag.

Light perked his ears and nodded, "Yep, sure can."

"And you've noticed that we haven't seen anypony since the train?"

"Well now that you mention it, yeah. That's strange."

"Yeah... So go check it out!" Broken pushed Light off the cloud and heard a loud thud.

"Ow!" Light rubbed his head. "I was not ready for that Broken Shard!"

"Too bad. Go find out what all that noise is." Broken bit into his sandwich.

"Why me?" Light pouted.

"Because you have wings."

Light Speed sighed before taking off in the direction of the commotion. Broken took out his crafting kit from his saddle bag along with the glass he found. He then began to construct his little glass dragon with his materials.

It had been a while since Light Speed had left and Broken began to wonder what became of him.

"Ugh, where is that airhead?" He asked aloud.

The unicorn continued to work into the night, thankful for the brightness of the moon. As he worked, he noticed the noises were becoming louder and louder. Now he was positive it was cheering. Just then, Light Speed had finally returned and landed next to his brother.

"Broken Shard! There's this awesome party going on. We're practically the only two ponies in Ponyville that aren't there right now, which would explain the lack of townsfolk." Light grinned widely.

"What took you so long?"

"I got a bit carried away at the party." Light smiled guiltily. "But I got you a cupcake!" Light thrusted forward a small frosted cake in font of his brother.

"Er, thanks." Broken hesitantly took the treat in his magic before biting into it.

"Hey, what's that?" Light Speed pointed at the glass.

"Oh, just my new project. Hopefully I can sell it once I'm finished."

As if the pegasus wasn't listening, he jumped straight into the next topic, "Hey, let's put our stuff in our... Um... Burnt Shack and go to the party!" Light hopped up and down excitedly.

Broken Shard debated the idea before realizing it could be a good chance to get some food in. Who knew when their next meal would be. Besides, a party could help his morale.

"Okay, I suppose." Broken answered finally.

"Hooray!" Light shouted in glee before rounding up all of their things and placing them in the newly named shack.

Broken approached the shack and made an unintelligible noise before halfheartedly locking what was left of the door. He then took another bite of his cupcake and began walking towards the noises.

"Dude, you are not going to walk to the party." His brother frowned.

"What do you want me to do? I can't fly."

"You should try this new energy drink I've been hearing about. It's supposed to give you wings. But seriously, c'mon!" Without warning, Light had lifted Broken into the air and started to fly towards their destination, causing his brother to drop his cupcake.

Broken Shard flailed his hooves around as he swung around in the sky, "LIGHT SPEED! This is HIGHLY dangerous!"

"It's only dangerous if you keep floundering around like a fish out of water! Just calm down you big baby, I won't drop you."

"But I am a fish out of water!" Broken wailed.

As they neared the party, Broken finally started to get his breathing under control and observed the area. He noted the amount of ponies present. It was true, the entirety of Ponyville seemed to be here.

"Is that an inflatable pool?" Broken pointed at the large mass of contained water.

"Looks like it."

As Light halted his advance over the pool, Broken caught on all too quickly at what was about to happen.

"Oh no. No no no. If you drop me in there, I'm taking you with me!" Broken threatened.

"And just how will you do that?" Light Speed challenged evilly.

As Light released his grip, Broken let out a terrified yelp as panic surged up his body. Mid air, he turned on his back and shot a blue bolt at his laughing brother's wings. The magic exploded in a colorful light show as Light Speed's wings froze up.

"Me and my big mouUUUUTH!" The two of them began to plummet towards the icy water below.

"IT'S TOO COLD FOR THIS!" Broken screeched with a mixture of annoyance, fear, and anger before they made contact with the cold water.

Broken Shard felt himself sink into the water quickly after impact. He saw as the water leapt out of the pool in response to the sudden disturbance. It was a large splash, and even larger when Light cannonballed into the pool. Broken felt his bones turn to ice and swiftly swam to the surface. He erupted from the water and took in large gasps of air while coughing up excess water. Despite his boiling rage at his brother, the cold was stronger and forced him out of the water hurriedly. He quickly exited the pool in a shivering mass and huddeled with himself, rocking back and forth while his teeth chattered.

"WOO-HOO!" Light Speed flew out of the water and shook himself.  "That was so cool! Oh Broken, let's do that again!"

"NO!" Broken spat in fury. "You can dive all you want, but I need a towel."

"Aw, you're just mad because we moved into a fire ball."

One of the staring ponies had approached them with a wide grin on her face. She was a pink earth pony with darker mane. She stood next to Broken Shard and held up one of his shivering hooves to his own surprise.

"We have a winner!" The pony called out. Her cheer was met with the excited roar of the crowd.

Now he was really confused.

"I- huh?" Broken asked through chattering teeth.

"You won the contest. Whoever could make the coolest cannonball into the pool wins a thousand bits and a new house." She smiled.

"H-h-house? I won a house?"

Light Speed for once was speechless as he stared at the pink pony and then at Broken Shard.

"You sure did!" The pony hopped excitedly.

"I- I just... No- ye- I- we- house... Gahhh." Broken somehow forgot how to speak.

"I know right! This must be amazing news considering the house you were going to move into burned down a few hours ago just as you found it." She finished happily.

"H-how did you know that?" Broken managed to communicate.

"Just a hunch."

Broken Shard slowly lowered himself to the ground and hugged himself.

"I think you just gave a new meaning to my brother's name..." Light Speed spoke nervously.