In the beginning of the war, Princess Luna and Shining Armour had been fine. Though Princess Celestia had been turned to stone by Tempest Shadow, they had both stepped up as leaders and managed to keep the invaders back, if only just. They had kept to their principals and never resorted to extreme measures.

Then the box had arrived.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Twilight Sparkle and the other Elements of Harmony alongside Spike had been sent on a quest to find the hippogriffs and request their aid. Based on their past experiences with both Nightmare Moon and Discord, we had been confident that it would only be a matter of time before Twilight would return victorious, new allies in her stead.

She was Twilight Sparkle. Success was an inevitability, we had all thought.

It had been a few weeks later when a delivery had arrived at the Canterlot Castle. I had been chosen as one of the throne guards that shift and had admired the Captain of the Guard from afar as he spoke with his then marefriend Princess Cadance.

Back then it had been respect and admiration that drew me to him. The untouchable Shining Armour. The shield that protected Equestria. The brother of one of our greatest heroes and coltfriend to a Princess.

I remember that particular day vividly. They had been discussing the recent loss of Dodge Junction. Brainstorming counter measures to present to Luna to counteract the Storm Guard.

Shining had been mid debate on the viability of a siege when a guard had entered the throne room.

A quick salute followed by a proclamation that an urgent delivery had arrived for Shining from an unknown source. They were unaware of what was contained inside and, for the life of me, I will never understand why they hadn’t checked.

Frustrated by the interruption, Shining had told the guard to bring in the package in an exasperated tone.

We had all watched perplexed as a wooden crate was dragged into the room. It was roughly 5 feet long by 4 feet wide with a strange blue sap leaking out from the bottom. It stained the floor wherever it fell and emitted a sickly sweet scent that choked the air all around us. It had been tied by several bundles of twine tied into a bow with a tag attached reading “TO: SHINING ARMOUR” in a thick blocky font.

With a puzzled frown on his face, Shining had undid the twine with his magic causing the box to burst apart at the seams.

Amongst hundreds of hydrangeas was the desecrated corpse of Twilight Sparkle. She had been laid facing up inside of the box — the casket — with her hooves crossed over her chest and her limbs severed from her body. A gaping cavity in her chest showed where her heart had been removed.

I remember the silence. It had been deafening. Not a single pony even dared to breathe as they stared at the horror that had been brought before us.

Confused and unable to comprehend the sight before us, we, the guards, had focused our attention on our Captain, hoping for guidance.

He had looked fragile at that moment. On the verge of devastation. He had turned towards Cadance, a hoof outstretched seeking comfort. Shelter in the storm of his emotions that threatened to overwhelm him.

Cadance had looked back at him, her expression equally on the verge of breaking down.

Then she left.

Trotted out the door without a single glance back.

Shining had stared after her retreating form, his hoof dangling uselessly in the empty space where Cadance had been.

Then he broke.

He screamed. He cried. He cradled his baby sister’s head within his hooves as his heart shattered into pieces. I witnessed the untouchable Captain of the Guard become a broken stallion.

In time, he would become a monster.

In time, I would follow after him and become one too.

At that moment, I felt nothing but heartache for the stallion who had lost everything.

Flash and Shining trotted alongside Night Light down the brightly lit street lined with two story stone houses. Night jabbered about some minor disputes from the observatory he worked at, while Flash and Shining tried not to dwell on their impending doom.

Dinner at the Sparkle household always broke down into three broad categories.

The first was the silent treatment. The rarest scenario in which no one would speak a single word excluding Night who would try to desperately fill the silence with incessant chatter.

The second would be that Twilight Velvet, Shining’s mother, would be absent, resulting in an inoffensive, if boring, meal.

Both stallions dreaded the most frequent third scenario.

As the small abode of Shining’s foalhood home came into view, they couldn’t help but feel that they were walking towards their execution. The house feeling taller than it should be, the glare off the windows seeming for a moment like the gleam of a guillotine blade held up by frayed rope.

Making their way into the well tended yard — Night always brought up how well the white lilies were growing at every opportunity he could get away with — Night stopped just short of the door and turned to face Shining with a companionable grin on his face. “You go first, bucko. I’m sure your mother will be ecstatic to see you.”

Snorting in disbelief, Shining trotted to the door with a scowl. He paused before the threshold, took a deep breath, and knocked lightly three times on the solid wood.

Swinging inward abruptly, the doorway revealed the unamused form of Twilight Velvet.

Before Shining could even speak, Velvet wound her hoof back and punched him in the face. Knowing better than to dodge, Shining rolled his head back with the punch.

“Hey, mom,” Shining greeted as he rubbed the red welt on his cheek with a hoof, “good to see you.”

The door slammed shut. Night, a strained smile adorning his face, raced past his son and pushed open the door calling after his wife.

“You okay, Captain?” Flash asked as he tenderly touched the bruise with a wing.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just another dinner with my parents.” Shining sighed heavily. “Let’s get this over with.”

Entering the house, they stood awkwardly in the common room. Flash took in the familiar homely interior of wood furniture grouped haphazardly close together and pointedly ignored the empty wine glasses that littered the shelves near cracked family photos and broken momentos.

He didn’t need to survey the damage to confirm the common theme of Shining Armour amongst the broken memories.

Past the seating area was a dining room table with several chairs lit by a low hanging chandelier. The table was oddly shaped with one side roughly shorn off and a makeshift table leg grafted underneath to ensure it could stand level. An incident from a particularly nasty argument between Shining and Velvet that had resulted in the use of an arcane made saw.

At the table was Night Light with a too wide smile plastered to his face. He fidgeted in place, his hooves bunching up the floral tablecloth underneath them. “Take a seat, sons,” he said with a gesture towards the remaining chairs.

A disgusted scoff from the kitchen indicated where Velvet was.

Shining took a seat directly across from his father, while Flash took the seat next to him. As he passed by the chandelier on his way to sit down, it flickered brightly before dimming down to a small ember of light.

“Is that chandelier still not working properly?” Night tsked, a hard sound of his tongue popping off the roof of his mouth. “That thing is always on the fritz.”

“I’ve already been telling you, Night, that it’s because of that horrible biofuel our son—” Velvet said the word with the same tone one would use to describe a stain on carpet “—has provided us. Wholly unreliable.”

“It’s probably just an issue with the wiring,” Shining said dryly, “Give me a few minutes and I can—”

“Absolutely not! You can just continue to sit right there,” Twilight hissed as she poked her head out of the doorway to the kitchen, a glare firmly affixed to her face, “I will call a mechanic later to deal with it.”

“Not to cast judgement on your decision, honey,” Night started, “but wouldn’t the inventor of the energy in question—”

“I don’t care, Nighty. He touches nothing.” Twilight pulled her head back into the kitchen. “I swear, everytime that abomination comes over, those lights act up, and now they do it with just the two of you.”

Seeing Shining tense at the word abomination, Flash gently laid his wing over Shining’s withers. He relaxed, if only just.

“Honey, I believe Spike prefers to go by his name,” Night chided.

“The abomination is not my sweet youngest boy; just a monster wearing his face,” Velvet said as she trotted into the common room, four plates of veggie casserole following in her wake. “I can’t believe you are even entertaining this delusion.”

She gently placed two plates in front of herself and Night then slammed the last two in front of Shining and Flash with enough force to splatter both of them with food.

“Velvet, please—”

“Eat your food, Night,” Twilight tersely replied.

Night looked downcast as he resigned himself to quietly eating his dinner. Velvet used her magic to grab a wine glass and bottle from a neary cabinet. She poured a hefty portion of the bottle into the glass and took a swig of the bottle before she returned it to the cabinet. Flash set about chomping down on the admittedly delicious food.

Shining just glared at his plate.

“He’s not an abomination, he’s Spike,” Shining stated firmly, a dangerous edge to his voice.

“He’s a monster you raised from the dead,” Velvet coldly replied.

“He’s my baby brother.” Shining turned his glare on his mother. “Should I have just let him die?”

“Yes,” Velvet said, “you should have done just that.”

A tense silence grew within the gap in conversation. Both Night and Flash looked at each other then at their respective partners. Shining’s jaw slid from one side to the other as he ground his teeth together, his expression promising retribution.

Velvet took a large swig of wine, and slammed the glass back on the table causing some of the contents to spill and stain the tablecloth in bright red. “It’s disgusting,” she said.

“What, necromancy?” Shining snorted. “It’s perfectly safe.”

“It’s dark magic, Shiny,” Velvet spat out, “that you even considered—”

“It’s just magic, mom,” Shining spat back, “there is nothing inherently evil about it.”

“And yet it’s used by nearly every unicorn villain in Equestria.”

“That’s not true and you know that, since we’ve discussed the statistics. Besides that, I didn’t really have a choice the first time. It just happened!”

“How do you ‘just happen’ to use dark magic?”

“Again, just magic, and I don’t know!” Shining threw up his hooves helplessly. “I was watching my little brother die, and then desperately used my magic to save him. That it came out as necromancy wasn’t intentional, I was trying for a healing spell!”

“Oh, so you could pull that one out for the dragon but not your own sister?”

“She came to me cut up in a box without her heart,” Shining roared as he slammed his front hooves on the table, “what the buck do you want me to do about that?!”

“No hooves on the table,” Velvet said petulantly.

“I will put my bucking hooves wherever I please.”

“How rude,” Twilight scoffed, “who even taught you manners?”

“You did,” Shining hissed as he leaned across the table.

“Clearly not, as you would know not to backtalk.”

“Well, if I didn’t learn manners I at least learned how to be a massive—”

“Don’t even think about finishing that sentence, young stallion,” Velvet cut in.

“Or what? You’ll start introducing me as an estranged cousin instead of the usual nephew stupidity you do now?”

Velvet pursed her lips. “At this rate, yes.”

“Oh wow, glad you seem to want to hurt me as much as possible.” Shining snorted. “At least I know which foal you actually cared about.”

“Please.” Velvet rolled her eyes. “Twilight Sparkle was more than you could ever hope to be. Also, really Shining, what do you expect me to do? Tell ponies I raised you? A monster?”

“Yes!” Shining yelled, “I expect you to at least say I’m your son. That is the bare minimum I expect of you.”

“Then expect less, as I refuse to do so. I can’t be associated with Luna’s dark magic goon alongside his abomination and pet.”

“Flash is not a pet,” Shining roared.

Velvet laughed harshly. “Really? Because to me it seems he just follows you around to take orders and suck you off.”

“He’s my partner and I won’t stand for you insulting him like this.” Shining snorted angrily.

“I’ll talk about him as I please since my failure of a son dates a stupid dog instead of a stallion, who relies on filthy magic to get ahead. Honestly, Shining, you’re worse than that damned Storm King.”

Shaking in pure rage, Shining stared at his mother as she took another sip of wine, a smug look on her face. He pulled himself up higher, looming over her seemingly ready to shout, but instead smiled brightly.

“What?” Velvet asked as she swirled her glass.

“Well, I was just thinking that I might be a monster, but at least I don’t have a daughter who hated being around me so much that she moved out at the first opportunity to get away from me.”

The sound of shattering glass reverberated through the room. Velvet stood panting, a look of rage clear on her face. Shining’s head was turned away from where her wine glass had impacted his face. Blood from the cuts mixed with the wine as it flowed down his cheek.

Velvet stomped past the group, sounds of rage and frustration emanating from her as she walked up to the second floor.

She didn’t look back.

With the initial shock over, Flash leapt out of his seat, grabbed several napkins from the table, and started trying to clean up the mess.

“Stop,” Shining commanded. Flash did as he was told, dropping the used cloths onto the floor. “I’ll handle this myself.”

“But, Captain—”

He stopped as Shining shot him a glare. He stood up from his seat, and trotted into the kitchen where he knew the medical supplies would be located.

Staring off at him in concern, Flash’s ears perked as he heard a subtle cough. Looking in Night’s direction, Flash was met by a bittersweet smile and tired eyes.

“Would you be willing to go for a walk with me?” Night asked.

Flash looked towards the kitchen then back to Night.

“Sure,” he answered.

Flash and Night trotted side by side along the winding paths of the park behind the Sparkle abode, the prior wearing his usual jacket, the latter in a sweater vest. Shining had told Flash that he had had many adventures in this place, playing make believe as a guard defending the princesses from threats.

Memories that when Shining talked about them now were tinged with bitterness having experienced first hoof what the life of a guard really was.

Glancing at his traveling companion, Flash wondered what Night wanted to talk to him about. They had done several laps around the park in silence, which Flash hadn’t minded as he’d become content with quiet companionship, but he found it hard to believe that Night just wanted his company.

Night stopped before the last turn that would lead them back to the house. Flash paused next to him and waited patiently as Night gathered his thoughts.

Using his magic, Night took out a small package from his vest pocket. He popped open the lid to reveal a row of purple sticks. He put one in his mouth and offered one to Flash. “Want one?” he asked.

“Are those… manasticks?” Flash asked as he narrowed his eyes at the strange objects.

“They are,” Night answered, “a coworker gave them to me after…” he trailed off, staring into the distance, “well, he gave them to me.”

“Thanks for the offer, but Captain said I have to refrain from toxic substances with my condition.”

“Fair enough.” Night shrugged and put the package back in his pocket. He lit the end of the stick in his mouth with a burst of magic and took a quick puff. Purple smoke billowed from his mouth and formed strange amalgamations of monsters coiling in on each other. They played for a moment before rising up into the night sky, fading the further away they got. “The effect is quite beautiful,” Night commented.

“That may be, but manasticks are also really bad for magical beings since they cause mana rot,” Flash recited from the many lectures Shining had given him. “Overtime, they’ll eat away at the smoker’s magic until they die.”

“Unfortunate that it doesn’t do it faster.” Flash tensed at the statement as Night gave a bemused chuckle. “Come now, Flash. You’re dating my son, I’m sure you’re familiar with this already.”

“I don’t—”

“On a surface level, Shining seems to take after his mother, and Twilight after me,” Night interrupted, “but when you look past that, Twilight took Velvet’s worst traits, and Shining mine.” He looked at Flash with a look of understanding that made Flash uncomfortable. “I can’t imagine you are oblivious to it.”

“I…” Flash gulped. “Yeah, I know.”

“Like father, like son.” Night took another drag of his manastick. “Wish he would have taken after my love of academics instead.”

“Has he always been like this?”

“He hid it better as a foal, but yeah. He tends to hide behind stoicism or goofy optimism.” Night shook his head. “To be fair, it's only become a problem recently.”

“You said Shining takes after you,” Flash said, “does that mean…” he trailed off, unable to voice the question.

Taking another long drag, Night billowed out a cloud of smoke that coiled in on itself into the shape of a snake. After a moment, it dissipated into the air, taking a bite of its own tail.

“I’m divorcing Velvet,” Night said with the same tone one would describe the weather.

Flash stayed quiet.

“I got a new job in a smaller lab in Hollow Shades. I’ll have to teach foals alongside my usual work, but that’s hardly a bad thing for me.” He threw the stick in his mouth to the ground and squashed it under his hoof. “Hollow Shades is the least affected town in Equestria from the war, and I can’t stand to stay in Canterlot anymore. I need to get away from all of this.” He frowned. “To stop trying to make things work with my wife.”

“I’m sorry,” Flash said guilty, knowing he was part of the reason things were so bad between them.

“For what, existing?” Night scoffed, “my wife made her choice, and I don’t stand by it. You’ve been nothing but good to my son and, as far as I’m concerned, you’re family even if Velvet refuses to acknowledge it.”

“Thanks, Night.” Flash smiled.

“Anytime, but I have a proposal for you if you’re up for it.”

“Sure, what’s the proposal?”

“Do you want to come with me? You, Shining, and Spike?”

“You want—” Flash stumbled over his words then said, “you want us to go with you?”

“Yes.”

“I-I don’t know if Shining would be okay with that between his work and assisting Princess Luna.”

“Really? Because I’m sure Shining can continue his work anywhere and I hardly feel Luna would begrudge Shining a change of scenery.”

“W-well, we’re established here, and—”

“Flash, answer me honestly.” Night held Flash’s gaze. “Do you think Shining wouldn’t want to move because of the reasons you made up or because he doesn’t want to feel better?”

“H-he wants to—” Flash shrunk in on himself. “—there’s legitimate reasons for why he wouldn’t want to.”

“I’m sure there are, but from what I’ve seen, Shining doesn’t want to improve his condition, he just wants to keep suffering.”

“He—” Flash rubbed his forelegs together nervously “—doesn’t like change.”

“Then I suppose I’ll just leave it as an open invitation and you can bring it up with Shining. I’ll also stop trying to invite you both to these pointless dinners.” He chuckled at Flash’s sheepish look. “It’s fine. I kept trying to force things and that clearly hasn’t been working. No point in continuing.”

“What are you going to do now?” Flash asked.

“Have another smoke, comfort Velvet, then probably fall asleep on the couch,” Night answered. “You have more important things to worry about like comforting your crying colt friend.”

“H-he isn’t—” Flash stopped as Night gave him a withering look, “—he doesn’t like others seeing him like that.”

“Another trait he took from me, but thankfully he has someone to keep him stable.” Night gave Flash a wide smile. “I’m glad you’re there for him.”

Flash returned the smile. “I’m glad too.”

“Now get going.” Night waved a hoof. “This old stallion wants some time alone.”

With a nod, Flash trotted away back towards the house. He turned back once to see Night glare at the remaining manasticks in his magic before he tossed them into a garbage can.

He smiled to himself as he continued to walk away.

Flash stepped carefully into the kitchen through the back door, so as not to startle the sole frustrated occupant in the room.

Bloodied cloth was strewn across the floor surrounding a struggling Shining. Several lengths were wrapped uselessly around his snout. His magic shook as he failed to apply ointment to his cuts. He swore as his magic cut out and dropped the tube onto the floor where several dallops squirted out.

Wrapping his wings gently around Shining from behind, Flash pulled him in closer. Shining’s heavy breaths began to ease into a steadier rhythm as he allowed himself to sink into Flash’s embrace.

They stayed like that for a moment, breathing perfectly in sync.

“I’m not a failure,” Shining whispered.

“No, you’re not,” Flash replied as he stroked Shining’s mane.

“Did I do the right thing raising Spike with necromancy? Should I have—” Shining choked on a sob before he continued, “—let him die?”

“I don’t know, but you saved your little brother.” Flash rested his head on Shining’s taking in his scent. “And I think that’s important to remember.”

A few tears gathered in the corners of Shining’s eyes. “I hate this.”

“I know,” Flash said.

“I hate me.”

“I don’t.”

“Why?” Shining asked as tears flowed down his face.

“Because I love you,” Flash answered in a tone that suggested it was obvious.

Finally having reached his emotional limit, Shining buried himself in the fluff of Flash’s chest and cried.

Author's Note