New World, New Life

The carriage arrives in the Canterlot square.
The streets were hustling and bustling, packed with ponies with places to be.
Lightning, Twi and co. Step from the carriage onto the street, the sunlight beating down on their heads.

“Jeez, Ah’ really shoulda gotten some more shut-eye...” Says a sleepy AJ.

Lightning starts weaving through the ponies.
“C’mon, we need to get to the castle.” He says.

Lightning hears multiple moans of disappointment from his companions.
“But, we’re in Canterlot! We may as well live it up!” says Rainbow, gleaming with excitement.

Keith sighs.
“Fine. I want to do some shopping, anyway.” He says.

He taps Twilights’ shoulder.
“Twi, how’s your brother doing?” he says.

Twilight stops to think about this.
She hadn’t heard from Shining Armour since the wedding.

The wedding...

Damn, THAT’S gonna be one interesting story for the grandkids...

The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to see her brother.

Suddenly, he was she could think about.
“Shining...” She mutters...

Keith could hear her.
“Heh, you want to see him?” he says.
Twilight nods.

Twi turns to her friends.
“You guys can head around town, me and Lightning are going to go visit Shining and Cadance.”

Her friends nod and they all run off, enjoying the City.

Twilight begins to walk towards the castle.
“Wait, I thought we were going to see your brother?” Keith says.

“We are.” She says.

“He’s on duty.”

Keith kinda felt bad for him.
“Jeez, does her EVER get a day off?” He says.

Twilight bows her head.

“He hasn’t had a day off since the wedding, and that was still a full assault on the castle.” She says.

Keith was pretty surprised at that.

The wedding was 2 months ago.

TWO months.

Keith couldn’t go a full two months without a break.

Then again, he was only a Secondary School Student.
He barely was able to get out of bed in the morning.

“Well... It’ll be good to finally meet him...
I’ve... I’ve always looked up to him.” He says.

Twilight was confused.
“Looked up? How?”

Keith felt a pang of pain tear him up inside.
“Before I came here, I had a little sibling on the way.” He says, barely able to hold back his tears.

Twilight stayed silent.

“After the wedding... I tried to be like him, I promised, promised to try my hardest for them.
And now... There’s no point.” He says, letting his tears flow down his cheeks.

Twilight felt sad just looking at him.
“You would have been good at it... Lightning.
But, this is a whole new world, you’re going to need to forget about your past life.
Family.
Friends.
Everything.” She says.

Keith takes in a gulp of air.
“Right...”

“Just need to forget...”

Lightning and Twilight had made it to the castle gates, and were greeted with warm smiles.

Well, TWILIGHT was, at least.

The guards kept on giving Keith these odd looks.

Maybe it was because he was a fresh face.

Keith was feeling very odd today.

Slightly pissy.
Good.

He worked best when he was pissy.

But... Something else, too.

Queasy?

Yeah, probably that.

“It’ll be good to see the happy couple again.” Twilight says, a warm smile on her face.

Keith’s eyes wander around he court-yard.

Huh...

It didn’t seem as “regal” as it should have been...
The place was in bad condition back here.

“Twi?” Keith says

“Yeah?” she says.

“What HAPPENED to this place?”

Twilight sighed.
“The Changlings really took a toll on this place.” She says, a dull tone in her voice.

“I imagine” Keith says.

Keith wondered, how could so little repair be done in two months?

What about back home?
How long had it been?

A Day?

A Year?

He’d probably never know.

He observed the barracks more closely.
It definitely was a darker part of the castle.

No wonder it wasn’t in the show.

He wondered if -

It was probably best to stop over-analysing everything.

Twilight stopped.
“I think this is it...” she says.

Keith thought about this, How often did she see him anymore?

Did she even go to the barracks?

Keith shakes his head.
“Bleh, Brain, stop THINKING.” He says to himself.

She raps her hoof against the door.
“Shining, are you there, brother?” she says.

A familiar hoof pulls open the door. Shining stepped out the door.
“Twi? Twi!” he says, pulling her into an attack hug, spinning her around.

Lightning ducks, avoiding the legs of the swinging mare.
“Jeez... Watch it!” he says.

Shining sets his sister down and turns to Lightning.
“Heh, sorry about that, I -... Who’re you?” He says.

Lightning Outstretches his hoof to Shining.
“Lightning Storm, nice to meet you.” He says.

Shining shakes his hoof.
“What brings you to The Royal Castle?” He says.

“I’ve requested an audience with Princess Celestia.”

Shining laughs.
“Hah! Good one...” he says.

“I’m not joking” says Lightning.

Shining rolls his eyes.
“Well, good luck... You’re lucky you have Twi with you, it’s not easy to just WALTZ up to the princess and start asking questions...” he says.

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do” he says.

Shining didn’t know what to think of Lightning, Twilights’ friends were all respectable ponies...

But, Lightning...

There was something more to him.

Keith turned on his hooves and started trotting back towards the main castle.
“Sorry I can’t stay longer, I really need some answers...” he says.

Shining turned without a word and lead his sister inside.
She felt bad leaving Lightning on his own, but... He really needed those answers.

Lightning stared up at the castle, he could see inside the throne room, the princess sitting there, quietly.

“Well, no point standing ‘round here.” He says, slowly trotting towards the castle.

The Dark Stallion stood by the castle gates, obscuring himself from the guards view.
“Hehehe... So, he’s here, is he?
He really thinks Princess Celestia is behind this?
Simple, Simple young one...”

The Dark Stallion drew an egg from his pocket, a fire red egg with black spots.
He taps the egg against his horn, a slither of black energy penetrating the egg.

The egg begins to shake and crack.
“Let’s see if he can handle my little friend here.” The stallion says, leaving the egg and stepping onto the pathway, in front of the guards.

“Hey, you! You don’t have access to this area. Leave immediately!.” Says one of the guards.

The Dark Stallion doesn’t move, only smirk.

“HEY! I’M TALKING TO YOU!” Says the guard, quickly trotting up to the stallion.

But still, the stallion does nothing.

“REMOVE YOURSELF FROM THESE PREMISES, OR I’M AUTHORISED TO USE DEADLY FORCE” Shouts the Guard.

Blood spurts from the stallions mouth.

A Black spike had penetrated his lower jaw, and had shot up, straight through his head.

The guard slumps, blood pooling around him.

The second guard stands there, stricken with fear.

The stallion trots up to him.
“I need your armour, your weapons and your castle pass.”