986 years after the banishment of Nightmare Moon
They stood facing each other on a high mountaintop. the wind tugged at their manes, the cold, crisp air a reminder of the fact that they were alive.
Blueblood stood there, his teeth clenched.
"I can't support you in this."
His brother, the younger by six and a half minutes, spoke. "Why not? You know that the nobles are chafing at the restraint that Celestia forces upon them. We can tap into that resentment to build up support for us. The peasants will fall into line, and we can build a new nation, a global government. Think of all the inequity we could undo!!"
Blueblood shook his head. "And how many ponies will die in the struggles that follow? How many will die to fufill your made dream of a world without freedom?"
"They will be happier than they've ever been, even under Celestia. And sacrifices have to be made."
Blueblood stood resolute. "Drugging ponies? Magically-imposed limits? Ponies that will never think for themselves? You're sick, brother. Come home. We can fix this sickness that-"
His brother interrupted him, his eyes blazing with fury. "You have never known me!! I'm tired of the insults, the sickening arrogance, the contemptuous looks, the disdainful dismissal that they treat me with!! They respect you, the heir to the family's fortune, power and influence. But I'm the mistake. The unwanted twin!!" His voice continued to rise, losing itself in fury. "And I will make them beg for mercy, make them suffer. Let's see how they like it when I'm in control!!!"
Blueblood took a step back. "Mother and Father have never considered you a mistake. They love you just as much as they love me, and treat you in exactly the same way."
His brother spoke again in a low, furious whisper. "I know that. But nobody else treats me like that!! They give you breaks, preferential treatment, fawning over your hooves, worshipping the ground you trot on. But me", he spat out, "they treat like dirt."
Blueblood looked at his twin. "I understand your pain, broth-"
"No, you don't! No one does!! AND NO ONE CARES!!!"
"But I care for you. And I can try to minimize what comes your way-"
"It's too late for that! Are you with me or against me??!!"
Blueblood braced himself. "World domination is not the way to fix this, brother."
His brother looked at him, and he spoke with a suddenly cold voice. "Then you must die."
He charged, and Blueblood leapt out of the way. Blueblood came to his hooves just in time to see his brother, unable to check his momentum, run off over the edge.
"BROTHER!!!" Blueblood screamed, and his world shattered completely as his brother plunged to his death.
The brother who'd been his closest friend from childhood, his most trusted ally.
The brother who'd just tried to kill him.
He howled in grief and pain and loss, a howl that tore out of his throat, a scream that hurled itself out into the night air, a cry that seemed to reach up to the moon itself, where Nightmare Moon was imprisoned, waiting for its impending release.
Blueblood never knew how long he was there on that mountaintop, how long he wept. How long before he stumbled down the mountain, the dawn spilling across the barren rock, his eyes still blurred by tears.
All he did know was that nothing would ever be the same again.
990 years after the banishment of Nightmare Moon
"Why do you have to do this again?" Jonathan asked his wife.
Lightning Hammer paused before answering, tucking in her third child, who definitely needed a nap. The infant protested sleepily, her orange-red eyes barely managing to stay open. She was an adorable filly, with Lightning Hammer's red hair and her father's eyes, though her yellow skin had been somewhat of a surprise. Lightning Hammer smiled at her second daughter before pulling the covers over her. She turned back to her husband, noting that his skin seemed even redder than usual.
"Because Celestia commands it", she said gently. "Somepony has to do it."
"But why you?" he shot back. "You're the captain of the Royal Guard, and a mother who's just had her third foal to boot! You are far too important to risk on a routine scouting mission!!"
"But this isn't a routine scouting foray, and you know it", she retorted softly. She stared into his orange-red eyes, her tall frame enabling her to look at even her tall husband on an equal level. "Time is running short. The Elements of Harmony were left at the Castle of the Two Sisters nine hundred and ninety years ago. A path to the ruins will need to be cleared, if nothing else." Her eyes softened slightly. "And I'm the toughest pony in the Royal Guard. No one else is as well-suited as I am to lead a mission into the Everfree forest."
"
