The Tale of Two Brothers Part 2: The Downfall of Equestria

by SirBitterheart

Rating: teen
Tags: Thriller, Mystery, King Sombra, Radiant Hope, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 7906

Sir Bitterheart is called upon to aid in the final battle for Equestria, and his brother, Tough Luck, is there to watch his back. But when the enemy gets the drop on them, the day they were dreading may finally come to pass.

Sir Bitterheart's brother, Tough Luck, has not been doing well since his criminal activities were stopped by his brother. But when Celestia calls him to aid in Equestria's final battle, the brothers meet once again. When every goes horribly wrong, the brothers may very well kill each other.

Published 2017-09-22 23:20:07 UTC
Last updated 2017-09-22 23:20:07 UTC

The Tale of Two Brothers Part 2: The Downfall of Equestria

The Tale of Two Brothers Part 2: The Downfall of Equestria

By SirBitterheart

Congratulations if you got this far in the story. If you know the first part already, you probably didn’t believe a word my brother said. I wouldn’t blame you if you denied all this. He was on the brink of insanity when he wrote it. You also see Equestria as this great, magical, sinless land, free of anything that could possibly be bad. I guess you could be right. Many of it’s citizens are happy, and it is a beautiful land despite of itself. Let me lay out some details you should know that wasn’t detailed in the first part. First, a little Equestrian history that’s hidden from everypony else in Equestria, and told to only ponies that can be trusted with secrets. Ever wondered why Celestia is called “Princess”? Well, it’s because she doesn’t rule the entire land. The Equestria we know is only a fraction of a vast empire circling the globe. The Capitol of this empire is located in The Undiscovered West, emphasis on “undiscovered”, ruled by a corrupt system as of now, obviously since guys like me were so successful in not getting in trouble for what we do, descending from the infamous Alicorn family. It seems they were hidden for years until a opportunity for ultimate power was brought into the world. The emperor is Celestia’s father and he needed help expanding his power.

After the three tribes united in the new land and established Equestria, Celestia’s father sought out to take it immediately. He started by sending Celestia and Luna when they were just fillies. I’ll just point out really quick that Luna really isn’t Celestia’s sister, just some other random alicorn that appeared out of nowhere it seems. Also, Nightmare Moon’s banishment actually happened sooner than you think, along with Discord’s first attack. The weirdest part was Celestia and the rest of her family were the only known alicorns in history. It was easy for Celestia to take power in Equestria, even at such a young age. Things were going pretty smoothly until the new prime minister took his place at the emperor’s side and secretly killed him, his youngest son taking his place as a puppet pulled by the strings of the minister’s manipulation.

Celestia found out and sought to take vengeance immediately, but the minister had follows under his command that could destroy Equestria in a matter of hours. He promised protection and that her rein would be a peaceful one if she ruled in his favor. After that, the real fun began. As the years went by, Celestia got older and Equestria as a nation expanded on the map. Other nations had to live with some fair but sometimes uncomfortable regulations. The worst was they had to pay very high taxes in cash, resulting in widespread poverty. You can imagine many citizens did not like this and tried to have a word with Celestia, but she was too concerned about the ponies, except many of them didn’t fair well either. Many of them were drafted into the imperial army, including me and my brother, and were either forced to fight in the war or secretly work in the so-called “Peace Factories.” The peace factories were some of the many ways rebels were made an example of. They were tortured and mutilated, and made into something to sustain Equestria’s image as a peaceful nation. If you heard of the Rainbow Factory, that is one of them. And so, all other nations in Equestria unleashed riots. When the minister heard about this, he sent the empire’s best forces to silence it. Now the most important and common law for every non-pony species in Equestria is “Stay out of Equestria or else.” Nopony anywhere knows about this scandal other than the leaders of each nation and criminals who use it to make sure things go smoothly. So, if the inhabitants of whatever land was taken accepted the way of life Celestia commanded of them, they would be able to live their lives in peace without any trouble. For some creatures like the yaks, dragons, and griffins it seemed it was an easy way to adapt to. However, the Changelings, Umbra, and Sirens were not so easily convinced. After “peaceful negotiations” so to speak failed, force was called upon and it started what was called in secrecy, The Great War.

Everypony who dared to go up against Celestia ended having their entire nation crumble in about a year or two. I may be held accountable for such things since I used to be in the army. I definitely can take responsibility for helping to take over the Crystal Empire, which was originally part of Umbra Lands. They weren’t always dark and ugly. They looked like ordinary ponies, except they were less colorful. If you were wondering why King Sombra attacked the Empire, you know now. If you heard the story about Sombra being an orphan in the Crystal Empire who was destined to rule it with hatred and fear, that was pretty much a lie. Just ask his so-called girlfriend Radiant Hope. As Celestia’s student at the time, she was the main negotiator of Equestria. When negotiations failed with the Umbra, Celestia took their land by force. After the Empire was taken over, every Umbrum was imprisoned underground. It was the exact same thing with the Changelings and Sirens. I don’t know why, but orders are orders for every soldier.

If this part is the first you heard of this story, my name is Tough Luck. I get my name for making my own luck in tight situations. It comes in handy a lot. If heard about Harsh Truth, or Sir Bitterheart as others call him, he is my brother. Not by blood since my family adopted him, but whoever spends enough time in the family can become a brother. Plus we were both drafted in the army and we trained together, but we were placed in different squads. So we have not seen each other since we had a argument in Manehatten. I did “odd jobs” in Manhattan and Bitterheart did not like it one bit. Especially since he and I were the only people my mother had left after my father committed suicide. I had no idea why and he didn’t leave a note either. Bitterheart and I never got along, and with my line of work, one of us might end up killing the other. I saw him again, but not the way I expected. My brother and I pretty much have the same story. I just happen to be in a better spot, probably because I decided to quit the army or maybe the army quit me. Hard to tell. We got the Umbra and Changelings on the run and I was discharged. I thought about trying to get back in, but then I decided I was better off out. When it comes to facing death, I always wuss out. The job seemed thrilling at the time, but it was just too scary. Too much of a wimp to stay in I guess. Having people I care about in danger didn’t matter too much either. Still a big coward.

Without work, I went back to my “odd jobs.” Yes, if you heard, I am a criminal. I kept Celestia’s dirty secrets for profit and I did everything I want. I worked in Las Pegasus as a casino manager and made sure the streets were clean. Somepony else was the manager when it came to being legitimate, but the place was mine. But when the ponies I trusted to help me out made some huge mistakes, and a few small mistakes of my own. we lost everything. All my workers made the whole operation a huge disaster, but I made big mistakes when I kicked Prince Blueblood out really hard for causing some trouble and made it public. I felt like Celestia had no right to do that, but it turned out I was the only pony in recent Equestrian History to question her authority. Celestia was still under my hooves, but now we are trampling each other o the ground. I was right at the top and could have gotten back up, but when my brother ratted everyone supporting me out, I was left with nothing. I ruined a lot of lives, so I guess it is fitting. Not to mention my mother decided to try a “product” I sold and she completely lost her mind. She does not freak out, but her brain is dead. She don’t say anything and hardly do anything anymore. So eventually, I decided to smother her with a pillow ‘cause I was tired to seeing her that way. After that, I found a few small jobs and eventually got the chance to join another gang. But after sustaining some bad injuries on a job, I decided to bail. I shot my way out of the gangs sight, and then I found out I made the third worst mistake of my life. I already told you one and two and I won’t repeat myself. I was in a bad spot for a long time until the unthinkable happened.

I was lying on the streets of Ponyville under a false name. When I saw my appearance change for the first time, I decided to stay out of sight until I felt the time was right in my gut. Some guys on the street could make you disappear on paper very nicely for the right price, so I stole as much as I could. After getting false papers, I decided to finally get some rest. First night on the streets was tough, but I never slept well anyway. The next morning, Royal Guards were standing right above me. They asked me to come with them and I obliged without any question. I just wanted get whatever was happening over with. I was taken to the Royal Castle in Canterlot and brought before Celestia in the throne room. We knew each other long enough to know each others tricks. Right when I was going to ask her why I was here, it came in with an angry entrance. A Royal Guard in his formal uniform (which is usually worn during funerals, social gatherings, or peace negotiations) came barging in with other guards trying to hold him back. He looks worse than I do. Not too surprising. It seems any living thing that goes bad mentally in Equestria will go bad physically as well. I once had a golden coat and a awesome white mane with dashing blue eyes. Now my coat is a gross shade of green, my eyes are yellow, and my mane is grey. I am not happy with it. But this guy was just a disaster to look at. He looks like some monster that just had his fun in Tartarus. His coat was grey, darker than my mane, and I do not know what was with his coat, but it looked like it was covered in blood. His mane was black with only one strand of white escaping to the top. His eyes were the scariest part. They were crimson eyes that came right from the scariest dragon you would ever know. The guard came right up to me, knocked me on the ground, stepped on my throat, and asked me what I was doing here. Celestia answered his question by saying,

“You, Lieutenant Bitterheart. You’re the reason he is here.”

It confused me. I asked Celestia what was going on and who was this guard. He than lifted himself off of me and showed me his cutie mark, or “destiny emblem” as the guards like to call it. I didn’t know this guy, or at least I didn’t know who he was until I saw his cutie mark. The sword I saw could never be mistaken to anypony else. My brother was standing right in front of me. Now I was really confused. What am I doing here and why is my brother here? Celestia told me that enemy activity in the Great War has gotten worse thanks to my brother. Hundreds of prisoners were executed under his orders for absolutely no legitimate reason at all As a result, his outpost was attacked and he was taken prisoner. Celestia managed to negotiate his freedom, but now Equestria is in some deep shit. Now the enemy is as hateful as my brother, and seeing what I heard about him, and his new look, from a ice, pale white to a terrifying dark grey, he must hate a lot of things. I also got the sense he hated me when he stood on my throat, but I have no idea why.

With the enemy super mad now, Celestia proposed a final battle to the enemy leaders to end this war once and for all. No guns, no swords, no armor, no magic, and no tricks of any kind. Both armies charge at each other with only their hooves. If the enemy wins, Equestria is theirs. If Celestia wins, the enemy will bow down to her so-called “will”. Bitterheart was going to be placed second in command to the Captain of the Royal Guards, Shining Armor. But seeing as how he can make too many grave mistakes, she called me in to be his advisor. I was told he killed his commanding officers when there was a riot at the prison he worked at, afterwards he slaughtered almost every single pony there, prisoner and guard alike. Hearing this and knowing how he is during battle, I said,

“ Are you crazy? He’s going to kill any pony who gets in his way. If you put him in battle, who knows what could happen.”

Celestia told me as his older brother, I was responsible for for him, as it was when our parents died. I was always bad at arguing with ponies as stubborn as she was, especially when they kept repeating the same thing in different ways every time I finished talking. I took the job. What else was there to do? I still felt like he was going to kill me. Or maybe I would kill him. The last time we saw each other, when we argued on that bridge in Manehatten, it seemed like we were heading towards sometime like that, even though I hoped with everything I had it wouldn’t come to that. I get one look at him now, and I know one of us is going to end up killing the other.

The battle was to take place that very night. Celestia dismissed us to get prepared. Then from out of nowhere Bitterheart screamed “What are you going to do during this fight?” Celestia said she had no power to fight anymore. Bitterheart thought it was all bullshit and he charged at her. Tackling her and strangling her, he screamed like a crazy pony,

“YOU ARE A LIAR AND A COWARD! YOU SAY YOU WANT HARMONY WHERE YOU ONLY CAUSE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION!”

Celestia then blasted him in the face and threw him in all four corners of the throne room with her magic, sending him flying out the doors lastly, nearly sending him out a window. Levitating him again, she pinned him to the wall and yelled in the Royal Canterlot Voice,

“DO NOT QUESTION MY AUTHORITY AGAIN! MY MAGIC MAY BE FAILING, BUT I CAN STILL HOLD MY OWN, ESPECIALLY WITH SOME PATHETIC MAGGOT LIKE YOU! QUESTION ME AGAIN AND I WILL PERSONALLY SEE TO IT THAT YOU PAY TRIBUTE TO ALL OF YOUR VICTIMS! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!

Bitterheart nodded. Celestia put him down and we all carried on. The fight took place late at night in the vast grassy terrain surround Canterlot Mountain. Our army got there to find an army of Changelings, who had the usual black alien appearance everypony was used to seeing them in. If you are wondering about the ones that look like weird giant parasprites that were literally birthed from a pony, don’t ask. I have no idea why they look that way. I liked their old look better really. Anyway, both armies walked to meet each other at a distance and Queen Chrysalis approached us. Shining Armor approached Chrysalis and my brother and I followed. They asked each other if they kept their promise for a fair fight and both confirmed so.

Chrysalis struck first after Shining Armor harassed her a little bit, calling her a “bug”. The armies followed in a fast blaze. The result was a fast victory for Equestria in a record time of five minutes. It’s really sad. Poor bugs must be starving to death. No wonder they hate us so much. They barely held their own in a mere fist fight. We even saw some of them dead on the field. As the deal was, Chrysalis and the other enemy leaders would surrender tomorrow. Equestria would finally be able to live in peace, secretive or not. Every soldier went home knowing everything would be solved tomorrow. This whole “Great War” thing would be behind them. But I was worried. Was Celestia going to keep me here so I could advise my brother and maybe get myself killed one day, or was she going to send me out on the street and leave me to die? There may be possibilities that could work to my advantage with either one. My brother did not know how to fight in a street, so it could be easy to put the odds in my favor if I had to. Plus, if Celestia just left me on the street, I could ruin her by telling all of Equestria her dirty secrets. She would try to kill me for it, but I could set her off easy enough so everypony could see her for what she truly is. I’m not sure what to call her exactly, but I feel like she and I are a similar type of “bad guy” so to speak. We just have different motives and beliefs. All these thoughts were running through my mind when the first explosions hit the Gates of Canterlot.

The second one came from the gates of Canterlot Castle, and the third from the top of Canterlot Mountain, sending an avalanche down towards the city. I just stood looking out the window, not knowing what to do. Then some castle guards ran toward us, and told us to follow them, and I did so without hesitation while the others followed. We were led to the back of the castle and behind the waterfall that borders it from the observatory building. Right in the middle there was a large set of stairs going way down below the mountain. It took us about ten minutes to get to the bottom, where a door with a sliding peeking hole stood immediately before us. One of the guards knocked, the slide opened, and the door opened to reveal a large underground complex. We took an elevator to the ground floor and were led down a long hallway to a small conference room. All four Princesses were there along with The Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. We were all wondering what happened. Well, it turned out every single other nation in Equestria has decided to burn Canterlot to the ground, and end the corruption once and for all. They have had enough I guess.

I sat in one of the chairs not knowing what else to do, or caring for that matter. I knew it was only a matter of time before Equestria faced its downfall. So nothing left to do but to listen to every pony else talk as best I can. I was expecting Celestia to debrief the Elements on what they had to do, but it turned out Princess Twilight Sparkle was the one who called the meeting. Twilight was looking for an explanation, but Celestia was just as surprised as the rest of us. At least that’s what I thought. She looked like she was going to have a heart attack soon. She was breathing hard, her mane started to dim, and tears were forming in her eyes.There was something fishy going on here. Then Cadence got up from her seat, put her right foreleg around Celestia’s neck, then suddenly a gun shot sounded and the Princess of the Sun fell in a puddle of her own blood. The shot was fired by Shining Armor, who was standing right behind her the whole time. Every pony else in the room bowed down before her except for me. Once Armor shot the Princess, I lifted up from my chair and stood complexly petrified after backing toward the wall. Cadance walked right up to me and I slid on the floor with my back still against the wall. She patted by head and said there was nothing to worry about. She said everything will be fine as soon as you help us find the traitor. That did not reassure me in the least. I just got more confused and scared. I was sweating like some grandma dying in the hospital and I was choking on my own breath.

“What could I do?”, I asked.

“I don’t care what you do. You can be as quiet as a mouse if you want. It won’t change a thing. We don’t suspect you of anything at the moment. Whatever goes for you goes for every pony here. But you are not leaving this room. Because if you do, you will be shot on sight. Got it?!”, she said calm and coldly.

I nodded my head and stayed quiet. The room stayed quiet until Princess Twilight spoke. “Some of you ponies have no idea what is going here, so I’ll explain it. The deal and the fight with Chrysalis we just had was just a diversion for the enemy to set up positions for an ambush. It seems whatever past victories we had against them was just some kind of show they helped put on for our dear Celestia, but I think it’s time to take things seriously. If Canterlot falls, there will be a much bigger disaster for the rest of the world.” After that question, I could help but ask another one myself.

“What do you mean the rest of the world?”, I blurted out of nowhere.
“What do you care?!”, she snapped back.

“If it effects the entire world it effects everyone you know, and it is certainly effecting me right now. I would have been dead if I was in that city. It may would have been a mercy, but that’s beside the point. I wanna know why I was dragged in here. Are you suspecting ME of this helping them?! Huh?!”

“Is that a confession?!”, she asked me, stepping closer to me. Then Shining Armor placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Now let’s get hostile just yet, Twily. He was on the battlefield with me, and so was his brother. So as of now they’re fine. My theory is the traitor was in the castle, where they could watch everything that was happening. They’d have since the castle is located high on the mountain, which brings me to another theory. There is more than one traitor in here,” he said, after letting go of the princess, pacing and looking all around the room.

How did I get myself into this mess? I thought every fucked up thing in my life would one way or another. If the authorities just arrested me when the first came to take me to the castle, all I would have to do was sit in a cell and mind my own business. Even if they didn’t, I still might have got compensation after making sure my brother didn’t go crazy again. Now everything has gone straight to Tartarus. I can feel it in my gut. I may deserve whatever is coming to me, but just can’t help but put this thought in my head. Equestria faces it’s downfallll tonight, and I’m caught right in the crossfire. Then some pony kicked me in the head. It was Twilight.

“You do realize I’m reading the thoughts of every pony in this room? Didn’t know I could do that, huh?! Nothing is happening to Equestria on my watch, so shut up. Now, so far we know whoever is a traitor is smart. They were able to consider magic like that and clear their minds just in time. Don’t worry, Mr.Luck. You are definitely in the clear now. That goes for every pony except the the rest of the Elements and other two princesses in here,” she yelled. With that, the rest of the Elements vanished quickly in a yellow-green light, leaving Changelings in their place.

Everypony started fighting so fast. I crawled for the nearest cover I could find. all I could do was try and run for the door. I don’t where I go, just as long as it’s out of this room. With a few kicks and buck, I ran out of the room, down the hallway, and up the elevator. I was so scared I didn’t notice the guards at the door were gone, but I don’t care. I’m done here! I am out! Out of Equestria, out of sight, out of memory. Even Tartarus is a better place than this. Besides, Equestria is finished, and something new will replace it. Soon I’d be nothing but a myth, at least I hope so. Aside from all the bad things I’ve done, I might be able to sleep in peace eventually if I escape. But then once I got to the top floor, the enemy was standing right at the door. Whatever their plan was, it was a great success. Not knowing what to do I just stood there frozen. As if the possibility of being attacked right now wasn’t, I recognized the voice that told them to stand down. The army made a small opening in the middle and my brother came out smiling. When I asked him what he was doing here, he just stomped his right hoof down and an Umbrum came flying out right at me, fast as a bolt of lighting. Everything went black.

Next thing I remember, I found myself walking on the Brook Mane Bridge with my brother. He was back to his normal self with his white coat and mane and his gray eyes. I also got my golden coat and white mane back along with my blue eyes. The only downside is that this wasn’t some good time family walk. My brother just bailed me out of prison and we were walking home. He was pissed off, lecturing me on how my friends were using me, how I might get killed if I continue living my life this way, leaving mom even more broken than she already is. Then I told him he was being used too, that mom is doing horribly by herself and she needs him, he will get killed sooner then me, and maybe that I’ll be the one to do it. After that he just told me the rest of the way home and walked back the way we came. After watching him disappearing in a bright light, I found myself on the floor of what I remember as the Canterlot Watchtower. It was dark except for an orange light I assumed was the flames burning down Canterlot right now. I instinctively got on my hooves, remembering what happened and wondering why I wasn’t tied up or worse. When I turned to the window, I saw Princess Luna and a pony with a dark green cloak standing to her left, and another shorter figure with the same kind of cloak, both of them covered by a hood. Then the door to the room opened, and Chrysalis, Sombra, and Discord entered, along with a griffin and some zebra.

Luna walked right up to them and spoke to the griffin first. “Gilda, report. What is the status on Cloudsdale?”, she asked.

“The government was successfully tricked into evacuating Cloudsdale’s citizens, and just as I figured, the weather team refused to leave, including Rainbow Dash. They were ready as soon as we entered the city,” she replied.

“Excellent,” Luna exclaimed. “And Zecora, what have you to say?”, she asked the zebra. “Twilight Sparkle was a trusting leader, although the evacuation could have been easier. No pony expected the attack, and to Canterlot, it was easy to drive them all back.”
“Sombra?”

“It is done. There was no need for evacuation or bloodshed. The citizens of the Crystal Empire were informed of the truth and now help us in our cause.”, he replied.

“Chrysalis?”

“All Equestrian forces in every other pony territory have surrendered. And you remember our deal, right?”

“Yes, I do,” she answered in a reluctant voice. “I am a mare of my word, and your subjects will be supplied with food monthly.” Luna then turned to the hooded figures, speaking to the shorter one first. “Did the dragons succeed in their task?”

The short one removed his hood, reading himself as Spike, Twilight Sparkle’s dragon assistant. “Yes, Princess. All of the magical beasts of Equestria have been united into one army,” he answered.

“Perfect,” exclaimed Luna. “We will join them in invading the Undiscovered West once we take care of things here. Turning to the taller figure, she asked, “Lieutenant, what about Canterlot?”

“Don’t worry, princess. I personally made sure nothing will bother them again. It took quite sometime to make sure of that, so that’s why I was late getting back, but they will be happy, and soon all of Equestria will know the same happiness they do,” he said in a triumphant and satisfied manner. I recognized that voice. It was a long time since I heard that triumphant voice, as it once filled me and other soldiers on the battlefield with pride and determination. Whenever young colts heard it, they wanted to be just like the stallion who spoke it. Now it sends a chill down my back, makes my blood run cold, and takes the breath out of my lungs. Something tells me things will go from bad to worse now. It was my brother’s voice, and he removed his hood to prove it. I could not stop breathing as hard as I did. My nerves were shot, my mind was blank, and my all senses gave me a cold feeling. Starting to cry right then and there almost seemed impossible to resist. I stood there petrified, and the only thing I could do was scream, “WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?!” That’s when all the luck I never knew I had ran out. Everypony turned their attention toward me.

My brother approached, smiling in a way that made me want to puke, and started walking around me in a circle. “Hello. I almost forgot you were here, Lucky. Are you enjoying the party?” Fear turned into irritation. “THAT DIDN’T ANSWER MY QUESTION, HARSH. WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!”, I yelled.

“Now, now,” he said in a reassuring tone, at last coming to a halt. He was only circling me for 10 seconds, but looking in his eyes I can tell this all involves me somehow. You that type of look in the eyes of all your enemies and comrades. It’s all a matter of instinct in terms of seeing it. “You may think this all has something to do with you, but you would be wrong,” he said walking back toward the window. “All this,” he continued, turning around, gesturing toward the flaming ruins of Canterlot. “All this you must not be concerned about. I have good news. The Great War of Equestria is coming to an end starting today. Celestia has been killed, and soon Equestria and every single living being within it will know true freedom. That includes you” This confused me. “What’s that supposed to mean?!, I asked.

Luna came towards him. “What do you mean Celestia has been killed?”

Bitterheart said it again. “Celestia has been killed,” he said in a calm and casual manner.

“Celestia was supposed to be taken prisoner, Lieutenant. Those were your orders!” Just then, every pony else in the room, except Discord, turned into Changelings in a puff of green fire. Bitterheart stepped off the balcony. “I’m sorry, Princess. But if Equestria is to be truly free, it must not exist anymore,” he chuckled. Then Discord snapped his fingers and Luna’s horn and wings disappeared, and the Changeling tackled her off the balcony and fell with her into the depths of the burning city. “Oh hoo hoo hoo hoo. Simply fantastic,” cackled Discord. He teleported next to my brother. “Nicely done my friend, nicely done. Now that the princesses are out of the way, Equestria can finally become what it was meant to be. Thank you and congratulations on a job well done, Sir Bitterheart. I leave the rest up to you.” With that, Discord vanished, leaving me and my brother alone.

Now I got back to being scared shitless. “Harsh?”, I asked again more quietly, “What’s going on here?”

He turned to face me. “Freedom, Lucky. Freedom. I intend to free the world from the chaos that poisons it. Now it may seem strange now, but it will be worth it in the end. Everything you heard regarding all the other places is true. Ponyville, the Crystal Empire, and everywhere else are just the way every pony would leave it, and every pony in them are safe and sound. But as you can see, Canterlot is not doing so good. As for the citizens, Was telling the truth, but not with too much detail. Before I begun during this city, I had my forces take all the citizens to the Everfree Forest and shoot them down into the Ghastly Gorge. Every single one. Equestria’s freedom starts with Canterlot, and soon after, the flames of freedom will spread all over Equestria.” His voice was starting to get louder and more intense. “YOU CANNOT STOP THE SAVGE THOUGHTS THAT EVERYPONY KNOWS THEY FEEEL IN THEIR HEATS, AND SO I REALISED THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO DESTROY THEM. I HAVE EMBRACED MY SAVAGERY AND NOW I WILL GIVE IT THE WORLD. TO DESTROY ALL CHAOS, CHAOS MUST DESTROY THE WORLD!, he shouted, standing on his back legs with his forelegs brought towards the ceiling. I could not believe any of this. First he shows up in my life again looking like a wolf who just finished dinner and now he wants to destroy all of Equestria.

“Okay, we can talk about that later. But why am I here?”, I said, regaining all the feeling in my body, at least some of it. “Because you are my brother, and I love you. Since I cannot stop this, I have to take your word for it in terms of our relationship,” he said, now frowning. “What do you mean “Take my word for it”?”, I asked, beginning to back away. He then pulled out his pistol and pointed it at me. “One of us must kill the other, and the one who dies must be you. I’m sorry.”

“Harsh, come on. You are talking crazy. You’re probably as confused as I am right now.”

“YOU SAID IT YOURSELF! YOU KNEW THIS DAY WOULD COME! YOU SPENT YOUR ENTIRE LIFE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF OTHER PONIES, AND CELESTIA JUST LET YOU! Now she has paid for it, and so will you. I understand why. I don’t like being told what to do either, especially because of my job. You just expressed it the wrong way. Well now, I show you the right way. Saving Equestria,” he said in a hostile then kind tone.

“BY BURING IT TO THE GROUND?! THAT’S THE STUPIDEST THING I’VE EVER HEARD!”, I yelled.

“It matters not anymore. Soon there will be no need for matter. Goodbye, brother.” He pulled back the hammer and I made a run for it. The shot missed when my hooves tripped on the stairs. I rolled the whole way down the first set, my right back leg hurting when I got back up. My brother came down in seconds and fired 6 more shots. Most of them missed, but he got one in my left shoulder. I tried my best to go down the next set of stairs quickly and carefully by using the railing and my back legs, but there was only one railing on the left. I ended up tripping again, hitting my head on the railing before rolling down again. I landed on my back and I lay with my back hooves pointing back the way I came. Hoof steps approached. In a split second, I found a marble column, grabbed it, and pulled myself toward it using my right foreleg. The shot barely missed. I got myself up as fast as could limped to the nearest doorway. Two more shot fired without success before I heard a click, just when I got to the nearest doorway. In that short time, I found out I was in one of the guest rooms in the castle, and a big one at that. It was too dark to see anything, but my brother turned on the lights. I found I landed in the lounge, escaped through the restroom in to the bedroom. “You can’t escape, you know,” he said after the sound of his gun reloading. He was getting close, but my way out came fast. The bathroom entered the bedroom right next to a closet, leaving corner next to the entrance. I quickly made my way to it, then I found a tall table lamp right in front of me and grabbed it. It’s weird to be saying I do know what I’m gonna do, but I hope it works.

The lights came on and flung myself to the wall with the the lamp, hitting my brother the nose. I then pulled him to the floor and tried to get the gun away from him. We rolled around in the struggle, being evenly matched with none of us being successful in getting the gun. My eyes started going red, but managed to wipe it off just in time. I then grabbed his mane, hit his head on the bedframe three times, and tried again for the gun. He got close to shooting me before we wrestled on the floor again. Looking around during that short time, I noticed a tall mirror before the red came again to block my vision. Without hesitation, I rolled us towards the mirror and managed to smash it with his face. My back was on the floor when he started screaming out “I’M BLIND. I’M BLIND!” in agony, while I wiped my eyes again. My hooves jumped my body upright instinctively, and my eyes found the gun on the floor in seconds after I wiped the red from them once again. I grabbed it and unloaded it point blank range into what was left of his face. After that, I found myself crying out in agony this time. My head hurt like hell and my back felt punctured. The red came back to my eyes again, but I didn’t wipe it away this time and let it completely blind me. The next thing I remember was waking up in a hospital bed.

It was as if everything that happened that night was just a dream. If it were true, it would have been a relief. Although whatever happened to me would have a big chance of putting my life more downhill than it already is. Maybe some chariot hit me, desperate mugger attack, attempted suicide. Any of those things would have been better than my brother going insane and trying to destroy all of Equestria. My life may get get worse than it already is, but it could still be worse. That dream i thought I had would be a prime example, so I’m glad this bad life is what I have. But all hopes of that were shattered right when I heard the door to the room open. At first I thought it were Royal Guards looking to give me what I deserve. There were guards, but they just came as insurance it seems. You could not mistake the sound of their big horseshoes for anything else, which stopped right after the door opened. I tried to get up, but I had a pain in my back that wouldn’t let me.

“You need to maintain you’re rest, Mr.Luck,” said this gentle and kind voice. Hoof steps approached me to reveal this mare who looked a lot like Princess Luna. I thought she was Luna for a second until I noticed her eyes were much more of a bright blue, since Luna’s eyes were a little more dark green. It was that Radiant Hope girl I was telling you about at the beginning, you know, King Sombra’s girlfriend. If you ask me, her name is an irony to me, since knowing why she was here practically killed me inside. You ever felt like meeting some pony for the first time was the worst thing that ever happened to you? That’s literally what I felt like when I saw her. That’s when I knew everything I told you about my brother was true. Since that was the case, she didn’t have to explain why I was in the hospital, but she did say I wasn’t going to be there very long. But I was still bummed about what happened. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she explained the rest of everything to me. I knew a good deal of Celestia’s secrets, but she knew even more.

It was as if I was just some kind of cheap plaything in this whole sick game. Just about everything Celestia told me was a lie. It turned out she was the daughter of that corrupt minister I told you about. The power expansion thing was true, but she took Equestria by force. She wasn’t even a princess after all. I don’t know how it could have been true, but my gut told me it was. My brother and I did fight together, but we were told Equestria was in danger. We thought we had a good reason. I was also surprised to find out the Elements were officers from the Imperial Capitol who were in charge of keeping Equestria in its place, the real Royal Guard I guess you could say. Hope also told me about how just about every other creature in Equestrian nations were kept out of the land. There were somethings I never even heard of described. If you read the first part of this story, you already know a good deal of it. I say it again. I could not believe it, but my gut did. I could deal with criminals getting away with the most despicable crimes you could describe, but this was something else. I would not keep my mouth shut about this if I knew what was happening. The worst part was that my brother went along with it all. What was all this? I say it once again. I could not believe any of it. It just seemed to nuts to be true. I would have denied it later if Hope would have just thrown the letter she had for me away. Yeah, she gave me a letter, or she read it out loud to me, which took an hour. Who would write a letter that long? I wished she would just get the hell out or that I could throw myself out the window and die on the street, but as she read the letter somethings started to sound familiar. At first it was probably a coincidence and tried to put everything aside, but something told me I had to listen. It all ended with her reading my brothers name, or at least what everypony was calling him before he died. Left me speechless. She began to leave, but not before I told her to leave the letter somewhere in the room. After two weeks, I was out of the hospital.

It was in the Crystal Empire that I made my recovery. My brother wasn’t lying when he said it was okay, except they had some kind of camp set up in the castle. I was taken there after I got out of the hospital. More detail regarding Equestria as a some inane corrupt government came when I saw wounded and dying gryphons, changeling, dragons, and Equestrian soldiers. I was brought there to King Sombra. He knew the secrets I kept, but said it wasn’t enough to label me as a conspirator, even though I helped take the Crystal Empire. He knew I was technically tricked into it, but I still thought he held a grudge. Anyway, every pony else was caught. Cadence, the Elements of Harmony, and any pony else who had something to do with Celestia. He told me Luna was killed after those Changelings tackled her off that balcony. Shining Armor was killed by that ambush in the bunker. I already knew about the Sun Princess herself, so he didn’t need to tell me that. Discord surrendered, but every pony had enough of him and the rebellion made sure he would not show his face anywhere ever again. EVER. So, anyway, Sombra wanted me to help testify against the ponies that were caught. Without hesitation or thought, I said “yes” right there. I don’t know why I did that, but I didn’t regret it. And so everything was set up for that.

If you are wondering what the letter from my brother said, it was the first part of this story, the part my brother wrote. Unlike him, I know I’m writing this because I need to, since I kept my mouth shut for too long. I now feel responsible for everything and I decided to make up for it. There are so many things I wanna make up for now. Guess that’s why I decided to testify. After all that, I’ll help rebuild Equestria. It seems I also have a debt to repay to all the lives I ruined, so there’s another reason. Hey, even criminals pay debts. It’s a way to ensure eveypony wants to keep the peace. If you don’t believe any of this, I don’t judge you. I don’t have enough things to prove. Just the words my brother and I wrote. And I wouldn’t believe it if I heard it either. Celestia just had this appeal to her when you saw her, and you couldn’t believe she was responsible for massacring thousands of innocent gryphons, dragons, changelings, ponies who had another idea on how things should go, and other creature you never even heard of. Whatever you decide to do about this is fine with me. I just felt like I had to write this. So, are you asking what am I gonna do when this is all behind me? Well, that’s just it. I can’t put this behind me.