Blood Brothers To The End

'Nice tea...' thought Lewis to himself as he sipped the uniquely flavoured tea from the rather expensive looking gold trimmed china cup, Though would it really be called china here? He'd have to ask at some point.

The room, if it could be called a room, resembled a grand hall in both size and decoration. Its lavish interior was decorated entirely in gold and cream colours. There were beautifully crafted, hand-made shelves made from the finest wood money could buy. At least, that's that's what Lewis assumed. The carpet was a beautiful crimson colour, that both contrasted and blended perfectly with the cream and gold. They were resting on what seemed to be designer chairs, the golden trim, still remaining. Lewis began to wonder if Celestia's favourite colour was gold. The ceiling had beautiful paintings all across it. They depicted the two sisters standing at the height of their power in front of a massive crowd on ponies. The interior decorator must,ve had a field day. But it did look nice. William hadn't touched his cup yet, he was too busy staring at the ceilings paintings.

"Whoa, how did they paint those? They're crazy!" exclaimed William, his voice filled with wonder and awe.

"Well it was much easier to do with our magic, but the painter was using a multiple cast point spell. Like one big spray of paint covering the ceiling."Celestia explained, admiring the paintings as she had done many times in the past. The detail still amazed her, the unicorns new spell meant artists everywhere flourished. He had gifted the art world. Its a shame she was basically immortal, she had wanted to see what more he could've done.

"Well it certainly looks good." said William, looking down for a second.

"Well, now that thou art comfortably settled, we would like to discuss with thou just how thou defeated the Hydra so easily." Luna interjected, her voice anxious, with a hint of desperation. She was either really scared, or really excited. Lewis' bet was on nervous.

"Well, it wasn't easy" replied Lewis, giving in to Luna's silent plea "First i had to figure out a way of cutting of all the heads within a short period of time, so as to ensure it went down without much of a fight. I started by surveying the landscape with the Night-stalker spell, then i had to figure out if i could use anything in the surroundings to my advantage. It didn't take long before i'd figured it out. You see, on our planet, there is a traditional death penalty method that was used to kill the most dangerous criminals in existence at the time."

Celestia turned in surprise.

"You punish your own kind with death?.." Celestia said, her face uncertain.

"Only if they committed a serious offence, like mass murder or something" replied William, finally taking a sip of his tea "Good stuff..."

"Ah i see, well i hope your planet has moved on from such barbarity?" Celestia spoke, her voice lilting slightly in abject hope.

"Sort of" said Lewis in return "Our kind no longer rolls out the death penalty like hot cakes anymore, instead it's only used on the literal, worst of the worst, and even then, we have found a better way of doing it. But returning to the topic, this method of execution was know as the guillotine. One of the most famed methods of execution on our planet."

"Yea, its nuts. Basically, the convict sentenced to death is forced to put their head over a thin, indented piece of wood so that their neck is resting on the indent. High above them, lay a massive angled metal blade. This blade is suspended by long ropes and will only fall when the ropes are released by hand, or cut. When that happens, bye bye head." finished William, his most apt description causing slight panic to spread to the two sisters.

They must not have seen that side of him yet, he was dark like that.

"Oh my goodness..." said Celestia, covering her mouth like she was about to vomit.

Luna simply stared forward at William, seemingly unfazed by it all. Perhaps she had seen death more than her sister had, who could say.

"Hmm, thou planet seems twisted in nature, yet thou seem relatively normal in retrospect. Perhaps there art some hope for thou yet." spoke Luna softly her eyes drifting vacantly to the floor.

"Maybe..." said Lewis.

"Ok, we need to get back to what you were saying, the guillotine came to you after surveying the city with the spell. Then what?" Celestia said, rather unceremoniously trying to change the subject from twisted death.

"Oh yes, from there it was relatively simple, i needed something that would be capable of acting like a blade, but couldn't see anything. So instead i focused on the length and side, rather on sharpness. I calculated the length and width of the hydra, and used time based variables such as distinctive sounds and elements to calculate the movement of the heads. Not easy. Regardless, i did it, then i looked about for something standing tall that would be the right length when landscape to do the job. I found it when i happened to glance at the castle, i saw all these, rather fancy marble columns and pillars just sitting here. I analyzed them to see which one would cause the least structural damage if removed and then began working out how to sharpen it." Lewis finished in a rather succinct manner.

"Well that is some rather impressive forethought and analyzation. That spell of yours is really something." Celestia pondered for a moment, about what Lewis couldn't tell.

"My guess is that Lewis realized I could concentrate my flames into a concentrated beam, strong enough and precise enough to cut the marble. Am I right?" William said, turning to Lewis in expectation.

"Yep, that's pretty much it." said Lewis, staring at the cups wondering how he had managed to get into this situation.

Having tea with royalty, whilst discussing the details of a fight he had been involved in with a mythical beast was not something Lewis expected to be a part of. Ever.

"From there it was pretty straight forward, lure the hydra to a large open space, that was Lewis' job, and then drop the sharpened marble guillotine on all of its heads, my job. " William wrapped up.

"Yes well i suppose that is quite impressive planning for someone who knows nothing of hydra's." Celestia spoke, her tone rather amused. She was liking these two even more than she thought she would.

"Yes, twas a marvelous victory, we can see the headlines in the news now. 'Unknown heroes save our kingdom'." Luna said in a mocking tone, it was light however and was meant to amuse. And amuse it did.

It must've been a trigger for William as he simply burst out laughing, Luna joining him, their voices loud and clear as they giggled away. Celestia and Lewis simply chuckled, they both knew the quirks of having younger siblings.

"So" said Celestia, William and Luna still giggling " What do you plan to do know?"

"I'm not sure. You mentioned as were walking here that we could stay in the castle?" Lewis asked lightly.

"Indeed, and the offer is still open." Celestia said thinking back to it.

She wasn't sure why she was asking them to stay, perhaps it was her maternal instincts besides having the mind of a 20 year old. Perks of being an alicorn, your body reaches peak fitness and shape rather easily and your mind doesn't age, therefore she could always be sharp and ready, never feeling withered or tired. Her young mind wouldn't allow it. They had been walking through the halls when she simply blurted it out.

"Would you like to stay at the castle with us?" she said, not even looking back at them.

At the time, they had said nothing, most likely assuming she had just spoke to herself or had gone nuts. No-one in their right mind would let the people who killed a Hydra stay in their home with them. Yet there she went, simply asking out of the blue, expecting no response, and receiving none.

Celestia focused once more onto the real world. Lewis had cast his eyes down pondering what to do now.

"I think we will accept your offer. Who better to show us the ropes of this world than the rulers of a nation!" Lewis answered, his tone slightly elated at the idea that they wouldn't be begging for a place to stay.

"Of course, myself and Luna shall ensure you fit in well here." Celestia said, smiling gently, her lips curling upwards in the gentlest of ways.

"Tis settled then!" Luna said, returning to the conversation after finally calming down from her giggle fit "You shall stay here with us, and we shall have a most merry ti..."

Luna was interrupted by the large doors to the chamber being flung open and a large white furred, two toned blue haired man rushing in. he was wearing purple Armour with golden trim. Lewis was right, gold was her favourite colour. He had removed his helmet upon entry, he seemed flustered. Something about him seemed familiar, maybe his eyes. He looked young, but not too young. When he spoke his voice was young and filled with vigor, but had a slight croak to it, like he had been yelling for a large portion of his life.

"Your highness' we found no trace of those creatures that defeated the Hydra, we are on the hunt now though, rest assured these monsters will be found and..." The man had stopped speaking as he began to register the other company in the room. His eyes widened.

"The monsters they're here!" he yelled "Get back your grace's who knows what they're capable of!"

The man had drawn a large silver broadsword from a sheath on his back. He had a horn which crackled slightly as he began to charge his magic.

"Shining Armour, what is the meaning of this?" declared Luna in a most displeased tone.

"But your grace. the beasts are sitting right over there!" the man now known as Shining Armour exclaimed.

"Yes Mr Armour, we know. We invited them to do, as we would do any savior of Canterlot." Celestia said in an unamused tone.

"Bu-Bu-But they're monsters! They killed a Hydra. A HYDRA!" he yelled once more.

"Yes they did, and they did an excellent job, now please Sir Armour, put that sword away before you embarrass us and yourself further." Celestia said rather sternly. That was new.

Shining Armour sheathed the large blade, and bowed to the princess'.

"I'm so sorry your Highness' i meant no disrespect." He blabbered.

"Tis not us thou should be thanking..." said Luna, her chin up, eyes cast down like she was staring at dirt.

Shining Armour turned to face the two brothers, who had been sat there awkwardly since he had barged in.

"I'm so sorry sirs, if you are sirs." said Shining Armour

"We are sirs.." replied the brothers simultaneously.

"I'm sorry, i meant no disrespect to you." he stuttered "Please forgive me!"

"Not a problem Mr Armour" replied William "We forgive you!"

"Thank you, you are too kind." Shining Armour breathed a sigh of relief " if there is anything i can do to repay you, just please let me know."

Lewis looked out of the large stained glass windows of the room, each one depicting the same ponies. the two sisters and their ponies. The sun was setting, yet it was, stopping in midair and the moon was stuck near it. Lewis dismissed it as just another weird thing about this world. At that moment, William chose to yawn rather loudly.

Lewis chuckled.

"Well, for a start how about you show us to our rooms?" Lewis replied, smiling gently "Because right now, I just want some sleep."