Author's Note

For Warning!

This was a very emotional chapter for me to write as I had to picture my poor baby like this, but don't worry, you get to see more of his siblings soon enough! Will Charter come to his rescue once again? What happened at the castle? Tune in for the next Chapter!

Chapter Fourteen

Strawberry's Point of View

The sounds of clinking metal were the cause for the bat-pony's ears to perk up. His head hurt and felt hot while his limbs felt like complete liquid but when his eyes painfully fluttered open to find nothing but empty darkness or at least that's all he could make out from his muddy vision. Getting tazed was not fun. Even as a foal he hated his sister for always tazing him in order to win at anything. Strawberry sluggishly tried to move his arms but he couldn't seem to find the strength. He found that he could move his legs and open his wings but he couldn't move his arms. He could feel them being spread outward but his movement was limited so he took it that he was suspended above the floor, or ground, though he would bet his last bits that he was inside. A loud slam caused the young stallion to jump in his shackles to be answered by somepony making 'tsk' noises.

Strawberry tried his best to look around but his vision was still clouded combined with the dark filled void that he assumed was a room. The tune of the voice was familiar though. It was even worse than his older sister, it was the voice that told him just what room he had been chained in... and it was one that made him extremely nervous with very good reasons. He swallowed the lump in his throat and cleared the foggy thoughts from his mind,

"Raspberry," was all he could say before a slap came to his face followed by a rag stuffed into his mouth,

"Sorry, my workers are new and apparently thought I wanted to hear your screams," the other stallion said along with the sounds of something thick hitting the floor, "You were the last person I wanna do this to, so let's not make this... too difficult," his words cut deep into the bat-pony's heart.

He knew that Raspberry meant every word but he also knew that the pony was good at his good, he knew when to turn the emotions off and let the professional side of him out. Strawberry closed his eyes to try and dry up the tears. They had no value in this place. He was back home after all. He disobeyed, fled, and joined the other team. Like father wanted. He knew that Blueberry was upset by him leaving, but she never stopped him. After mother passed the leadership down to Raspberry, he had to; however, now he was about to feel just how upset Raspberry truly is,

"As the eldest sibling, I do hate to have to do this, my dear, baby brother," his voice seemed as though it was a little shaky and that's how the younger bat-pony knew, death would be but a cruel, teasing mistress.

Pain. That's all Strawberry could feel as the first strike slashed his side. He quickly closed his eyes for he wished not to watch as his oldest brother began his work. His bite his tongue back from the screams that would be muffled. He wasn't about to let his brother win at this game because that's all it was to the older bat-pony, a sick game to try and make the target scream but with each scream, Raspberry would only make things worse. A few more slashes cut his skin. More pain echoed through his body. Strawberry sent a prayer to Princess Luna for maybe she could hear his internal cries, for if she really cared for all her subjects than she would truly send him help and that's when his mind flashed back to Charter. He jerked as something hot suddenly laid flat against the flat of his hooves. Strawberry tried to jerk his hooves back but his arms wouldn't move. He had to bite back another scream as the lilac stallion lingered in his mind.

He could remember just how close they were. Their chest nearly touching-another round of something hard and hot suddenly went across his stomach, he groaned in agony as he began to taste copper in his mouth-how close their mouths almost came to touch. Strawberry wished he could go back, he wishes he could've taken the chance to show Charter how he felt for the stallion but now he realized, he was too late. The truth about his family was now revealed and he was for sure that Charter will shun him. Something stabbed into Strawberry's left thigh but instead of getting torn out easily it stuck and tore a little as his brother let it settle in place. The black stallion's eyes rushed open as the tears came down in steady streams, a silent cry tore through him as his leg was suddenly jerked upward in a violent fashion. The pain burned its way through his entire body with such force that he was positive that it would tear off on its own accord, then suddenly it dropped down to allow him to sway slightly. He could hear the pony sigh right beside him. He looked around with watery eyes to find most of his vision back and he sorely wished it wasn't.

Bloodied instruments hung on the walls of all kinds of wicked. Raspberry much of upgraded from the doctor of the family to just straight up torture. Strawberry looked at his brother and the tears began to flow once again. His brother was taller than him, almost Charter's height with a smaller build than Maine yet it was more defined than Strawberry's very own. His fur was coal-black, his mane was trimmed down into a thick messy spiked mohawk of iris-purple with a goatee that was long enough to be tied with tan string. He still wore his wire-trimmed glasses upon his roundish face. Raspberry wore a torn look on his face once sunset orange eyes locked with his golden yellow ones. Raspberry held a freshly bloodied knife in his right hoof as a triggered mask slowly formed on his face,

"Stop, stop that!" he said sternly with another slash of his knife but Strawberry never broke eye contact.

The older bat-pony snarled before he threw down the knife,

"I-" he threw a punch to Strawberry's face, "said-" another punch, "to stop!" a third punch that completely broke the young bat-pony's nose and caused him to cough up blood, but still he never looked away from his brother with big, round eyes filled with terror and pain.

Raspberry's chest rose and fell as he began to sweat. Tears began to fill his eyes before he turned around in order to kick something metallic over spilling its watery contents all over the floor. A fire was burning in the fireplace to Strawberry's right, it must have been used to heat up one of his brother's tools. Strawberry kept his eyes locked upon his brother's back as the older pony began to thrash around the room. He was screaming something inaudible during his tantrum, one he must have been holding back because his final act was to double slam the wooden table a dead body lay upon and break it in half,

"I-You-" he slowly turned around his glasses so close to falling off, "Abandoned us, me... we needed you! Mother up and left us!" he snarled as he placed around hoof forward, "Father, it was all his fault... you stole you, kidnapped you!" Raspberry slowly spread his wings open inch by inch.

Strawberry knew his brother would be upset, but he didn't think he would've blamed father. It wasn't his father's fault, he wanted to go with him, begged even. It was their mother who drew him to that night. After she returned, she was never the same. The events of Nightmare Moon's return sent her down a path Strawberry couldn't follow. He remembers that night well. He found his father packing up his things with a ticket to Canterlot on his parent's bed. The foal had enough of his mother's "training" in how to hurt others, how to fight or use magic-in Blueberry's case-for the sack of Nightmare Moon. She twisted his siblings into her dark world but Strawberry didn't fit. Strawberry was snapped back into reality when his brother suddenly launched himself at him with his wings he tore out the cloth from his baby brother's mouth as he pressed his muzzle against his bruised and blooded one. Strawberry could now smell, no taste the liquor from his brother's rapid breaths,

"That's what happened, it's got to be what happened because-" he slowly pulled his head back, "You would never have abandoned me, us, your family to follow some-some traitor!" Raspberry's voice was deep, it held so little room for Strawberry to answer honestly.

The two brothers grew silent for a minute before the eldest one shook the later violently. He said nothing only banged his head against Strawberry's as he began to sob which caused the younger to wince. Strawberry didn't like where this was going but he couldn't lie either, he was terrible at it and his brother knew it-drunk or not. Still, what words could he say? His brother had a job to do either way and he knew that his time was limited. Raspberry buried his head into his brother's neck as he continued to sob; the only noise that came out of his brother's mouth was a sudden intake of air as something suddenly pierced the left side of his stomach. Strawberry looked down as Raspberry looked up to meet his gaze and with a broken, tear-filled smile said,

"Welcome home, Strawberry Nightshade," his words fell on deaf ears as he removed his knife from his brother's body with a sudden jerk.

Strawberry watched with blurring vision as his brother started his walk backward. Their eyes never unlocking. Raspberry looked as though he couldn't be prouder while Strawberry fought to keep his eyes open. It was a losing battle as his vision was slowly swallowed up by the blackness followed by the sound of laughter slowly dying out.