Chapter 29:

'The Captain's Confession'

Not long after Burning Mace's betrayal, Celestia had the castle maids clean up the mess that was made in the hallway, while Luna had her guards take the wounded and unconscious Sky Shadow to the castle's medical quarters after Cadence healed most of his wounds. After all was taken care of, everypony followed Celestia and Luna back to the throne room, the table and all of the food for the royal banquet remained untouched, save for the bottles of poisoned wine which were taken away.

Celestia and Luna stood at the bottom of the podium where the throne stood, whereas Dusk, Black Lance, Freed and Snow Charm stood near the balcony, watching with interest as Shining Armor stood in the middle of the throne room, with a very angry Twilight Sparkle standing in front of him.

Twilight's friends, Cadence and Cloud Hunter stood beside Celestia and watched as Shining Armor was taking a moment to think of what to say.

When Twilight Sparkle heard Shining Armor call Sky Shadow 'brother', she literally bombarded him with questions. He asked to wait until they were in the throne room before he could start explaining, but Cadence insisted that Night Light and Twilight Velvet be present before he started his explanation. This only made Shining Armor even more nervous, as he knew Twilight would most likely get angry at their parents aswell.

They waited for seemed like a good while, and surprisingly nopony broke the silence. They seemed quite interested in what Shining Armor was going to say so much that they were willing to be patient until Night Light and Twilight Velvet arrived, even Dusk was being patient.

Finally, after waiting in silence for what Shining Armor assumed was twenty minutes, the two Unicorns they were waiting for arrived in the throne room, followed by a few Lunar guards.

What Shining Armor saw however made him feel guilty. Twilight Velvet was crying and Night Light was trying to comfort her as much as possible while holding in his own tears, but that failed miserably. It was clear to the Captain that his parents were told about what happened, and that they had went to see their second son before coming to the throne room.

As the two reached Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle, Night Light looked at Shining for a long moment before facing his daughter, who had a mixed expression of rage and sorrow.

"Twilight Sparkle, I guess this would now be the perfect time to give you some answers..." Night Light said as he held his crying wife closely.

The purple Alicorn glared at Shining and said, "Oh really...you think?"

Shining Armor sighed. "Twilight, I know you must probably be angry with me right now but-"

"Angry? ANGRY?!" Twilight shouted. "I HAD A SECOND BROTHER ALL THIS TIME AND I NEVER EVEN MET HIM! YOU KEPT THAT FROM ME ALL THIS TIME AND YOU THINK I'M JUST ANGRY?!"

Twilight Velvet managed to stop her sobs as she faced her daughter. "T-Twilight...please hear him out..."

Knowing she couldn't bring herself to yell at her heartbroken parents, Twilight nodded and faced Shining Armor again. "Tell me, what happened?" She said, trying to keep herself composed.

Shining took a moment to think carefully on what to say before replying. "His name is Luster Shield. And just like you already know, he is your brother. He was just a colt, around the same age as me when we found him. When our parents and I were on our way back home from a little walk..."

________________________________________________________________________________________

"It's always nice to go out for a morning stroll." Twilight Velvet said as she nuzzled her husband.

Shining Armor walked in between both of his parents, smiling up at them happily as the three were walking along the pathway back to their home.

Night Light returned his wife's nuzzle and said, "And it's even better when you're with your loved ones. Isn't it?"

The two older Unicorns continued to look and smile at each other lovingly, while Shining Armor merely rolled his eyes and increased his pace, allowing them to close the gap between them.

As the two continued to talk and nuzzle each other, Shining increased his pace to get a little further ahead, eager to get some exercise. However, as he made it over the small hill where the town was eventually in sight, his smile was immediately lowered upon noticing something up ahead on the grassy field at the side of the pathway. It looked like a Pony, a small one, probably a colt he assumed. He was going to assume the colt was just playing around in the grass, but as he stared longer, Shining Armor noticed the colt was literally not moving an inch, causing him to worry as he yelled out. "Hey!"

Night Light and Twilight Velvet noticed him running off and increased their pace to catch up.

As Shining Armor reached the colt, his worries were confirmed as the colt looked exhausted and, to his shock, half-dead. The colt was a small blue Pegasus, he had a slightly long and messy fiery orange mane and tail.

The Pegasus colt slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Shining.

"Are you okay?!" Shining Armor asked as he gently shook the small blue Pegasus. After sitting down on his haunches, he turned around and yelled, "Mom! Dad! Over here!"

Twilight Velvet and Night Light rushed over to the two to see what was going on. Upon seeing the exhausted Pegasus colt, Twilight Velvet let our a horrified gasp. "Oh my!" She said before rushing over to the Pegasus colt's side, she picked him up and held him gently in her forelegs. "Are you alright dear?"

The small blue colt slowly opened his eyes again and looked at them for a moment before closing them again.

"Oh dear. He's so exhausted. Hurry, let's get him inside somewhere!" Twilight Velvet said as she got up and levitated the small Pegasus onto her back.

Shining Armor trotted alongside his mother and father as they rushed down the path, not taking his worried eyes off of the Pegasus, who opened his eyes slightly to look back at him. As the colt slowly closed his eyes again, Shining Armor panicked a little and muttered, "Just hold on..."

________________________________________________________________________________________

Twilight Sparkle continued to stare in shock as Shining Armor explained how he first came across Sky Shadow. His story was exactly the same as how Sky Shadow told it, except it was from Shining Armor's point of view this time, it all made sense now.

Knowing his son was having a hard time explaining everything, Night Light spoke up for him. "After we found him, we took him to our home..."

Twilight Velvet wiped her tears as she continued for her husband. "He was such a good colt, I don't understand why his parents would abandon him..." She felt more tears pouring down her face and quickly wiped them away. "We kept him for a few days...and it was on that one day that we decided to officially adopt him. He was all alone and abandoned, we believed we could be the parents he never had..."

________________________________________________________________________________________

"Are you feeling any better dear?" Twilight Velvet asked as she sat down on the bed next to the blue Pegasus.

The colt slowly looked up at her and nodded. "Y-Yes..."

"That's good." She said with a smile. Suddenly, her smile lowered when she saw tears forming in the young colts eyes. "What's wrong dear?"

Looking away, he closed his eyes and attempted to stop the tears from flowing out. "I'm sorry."

Twilight Velvet tilted her head in confusion and put one of her hoofs on his shoulder. "What are you sorry for dear?"

"You took me in and gave me food, a place to stay, and I have nothing to repay you with. I'm sorry." The colt replied.

The Unicorn mare gave him a warm smile and pulled him into a hug. "Oh my little pony, you don't need to repay us at all. We were just happy we could help, if we hadn't then who knows what would have happened."

Holding him for a good long moment, Twilight Velvet eventually felt the colt return her hug as he began to sob into her fur.

"It's ok, you're going to be okay." She said as she stroked his spiky fiery mane.

Night Light entered and sat down next to them. "Is something wrong?"

"No dear, he's just a little upset that he can't pay us back for taking him in." Twilight Velvet replied.

"Haha, I see." The Unicorn Stallion said, laughing slightly before rubbing his hoof gently against the colts head.

"You don't need to pay us back son."

The colt slowly looked up at them, eyes widened. "S-Son...?"

Night Light nodded. "My wife and I talked for a bit, and we decided that...since you don't know where or who your parents are..."

Silence followed as Night Light paused for a moment to think of the right words.

Twilight Velvet spoke up. "What he's trying to say is..." She stopped when Night Light held his hoof up, stopping her. He looked back down at the colt and smiled at him.

"If you'd like...we can be your parents."

The colt looked up at the stallion, his expression was beyond shocked. "W-What? What do you mean?"

Twilight Velvet smiled as she gently pulled him into another hug and stroked his mane. "We can't even begin to imagine how awful it must have been for you to be abandoned by your real parents. So, how about this, we'll be your parents from now on. And our son, he can be your brother."

"I...I've never had a brother before either..." The colt said.

"Well...you do now."

All eyes moved towards Shining Armor, who was standing by the door. "Nopony should have to go through what you did, it just isn't right." He said as he trotted over to the bed before jumping up to sit beside them. "And besides, I've always wanted a sibling of my own. I think it'd be great to have a brother. A Pegasus brother at that!"

The Pegasus colt looked up at the two older Unicorns. "You don't have a problem with that either? I mean, you're all Unicorns, and, I don't know if it would seem right-"

Twilight Velvet hugged him again. "You are who you are. You're future is for you to decide. We won't pressure you or anything into making a decision. But..." She slowly pulled away and smiled at him. "You deserve better, and I'd like to believe we can give you what you never had."

The colt looked up at her, he then turned to Night Light, who was also smiling at him.

He felt a hoof on his shoulder, causing him to turn to Shining Armor, who, just like his parents, was also smiling at him.

"What I never had..." He muttered to himself. He looked up at them again. "I...have always wanted...a real family..."

Night Light and Twilight Velvet smiled at each other before turning back to him. Night Light shuffled closer so he could put his forelegs around his wife and the colt.

Shining Armor moved over to them and hugged the colt also. "And I've always wanted a sibling."

Sobbing into Twilight Velvet's fur, the Pegasus colt finally managed to smile.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Twilight Velvet managed to smile slightly as she remembered that day. "That was one of the most wonderful days...of...of my life..." She stuttered slightly as she attempted to hold in her tears.

Twilight Sparkle continued to stare at her and Night Light in shock. Tears were forming in her eyes as she recalled Sky Shadow's story. Again, it was the exact same. She remembered when he had described his parents and his brother in story, she knew the description sounded familiar somewhere, because the description was the exact same as her parents and Shining Armor herself.

Night Light looked at Twilight Sparkle again and said, "It wasn't long after that, that we named him. His parents, whoever they were, didn't have the decency to even give him a name, so like the parents we wanted to be to him, we gave him his name. Luster Shield."

After taking in a deep breath, Twilight Sparkle slowly turned to Shining Armor. "One day, the two of you wandered up to the Frozen North, and then you accidentally started a cave in."

Shining Armor stared at her in shock, as did her parents. "How do you-" Shining started but Twilight interrupted him.

"He told me his side of the story..." Twilight Sparkle said. Her expression changed to one of anger again as she looked back at him. "I want to know yours..."

Shining Armor sighed. "The cave was collapsing all around us...and we ran as fast as we could to escape..."

________________________________________________________________________________________

Shining Armor and Luster Shield ran for their lives as the entire ceiling of the cavern was collapsing. "I can't believe a little echo would end up causing this massive cave in!" Shining shouted.

"I can't believe you thought it was a good idea to shout at all! You knew something like that was bound to happen if you kept it up!" Luster shouted back.

Shining Armor growled as he barely dodged a rock. As they got further, they noticed that the tunnel up ahead was also collapsing, and, thinking fast, Shining Armor used his magic and attempted to slow the rocks down, giving him enough time to pass by them and make it outside.

The glow around his horn disappeared immediately as soon as he made it outside. He sighed with relief as he heard the tunnel collapse behind him. All of the dust shot out and covered the area around him, he coughed and waved it all away. "Phew, that was a close one, eh Luster Shield?"

No reply.

"Luster Shield?" He repeated.

Still no reply.

As soon as all of the dust cleared, Shining Armor swiftly looked around for the Pegasus.

"...Brother?" He muttered out.

It didn't take long for the realization to kick in. He stared at the blocked tunnel in horror. "N-No...NO!" He rushed towards the rocks and started banging on them with his hoofs. "LUSTER SHIELD! LUSTER SHIELD! BROTHER! ARE YOU THERE?! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

Knowing his efforts to remove the rocks even with his magic were futile, he sank to the ground and felt tears pouring down his face. "No...Luster Shield...brother..."

He looked back up at the rocks again before burying his head in his forelegs. "I...I'm so sorry...Luster Shield...I'm so...so sorry..."

________________________________________________________________________________________

Everypony stood in silence as Shining Armor finished.

Twilight Sparkle, aswell as Celestia and Luna, and everypony else, were at a loss for words.

"I'm sorry Twily..." Shining said.

Twilight merely looked down at the floor, her eyes covered by the top of her mane.

Night Light then spoke up. "We didn't want to tell you about him because...we...we didn't want you to be upset."

No response came from the purple Alicorn.

Twilight Velvet wiped away her tears again before speaking. "When you were born, you filled the hole that he left behind. We were finally able to be happy again. We never forgot him, but we swore to each other that we would never mention him to you. We knew you would have been heartbroken if you found out that you had a second brother only to find out that he was dead, so we kept silent. We're sorry Twilight dear, we really are. I know you must be really furious with us...and you have every right to be."

Again, no reply came from the young Alicorn.

Shining Armor slowly took a step towards his sister. "Twily I..."

The next thing that happened, shocked them all.

Twilight Sparkle swiftly raised her forehoof and slapped Shining across the face. This earned her shocked glances from everypony in the throne room, even Dusk's eyes widened slightly in surprise at her action.

Shining Armor remained where he stood, slowly raising his forehoof to his face to touch where she slapped him before looking back at her. Her head was still low and her eyes were still covered by her mane, but Shining could now see tears falling from her face.

Twilight Sparkle was shaking as she slowly lowered her foreleg before muttering, "H-How...how dare you..."

The Captain didn't make any attempt to reply and remained silent.

"How...how dare you k-keep this...f-from me..." She slowly looked up at him, revealing her bloodshot and tear-filled eyes. "I...I can't...b-believe you would...keep such a...thing...from me..."

Before Shining Armor could reply, Twilight Sparkle swiftly turned around and bolted towards the throne room doors.

"Twilight!" Applejack called out.

"Where are you going?!" Rarity added as she attempted to follow, but was stopped by Celestia.

Twilight Sparkle opened the throne room doors with her magic and didn't look back as she shouted a reply. "TO SEE MY BROTHER!"

As soon as the throne room doors shut, everypony stood in silence. Cadence made her way over to Shining Armor and nuzzled him as he stared at the floor. She knew he was worried that he may have just lost his sister. She exchanged glances with Night Light and Twilight Velvet before nuzzling him again. "Let's...let's go and get some rest."

Luna turned to Celestia. "I believe that would be best for everypony. The banquet can...be put on hold for now."

Celestia nodded at her sister and ordered the castle maids and chefs to take everything away. She sighed and turned to the five mares next to her. "My little Ponies, perhaps you should all go and get some sleep too."

They all nodded in unison before leaving the throne room.

Celestia turned to Cloud Hunter. "Go with them and they'll help you find a room."

"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude-" Cloud Hunter couldn't finish as Celestia spoke over him.

"I insist, it's the least we can do to repay you for what you've done for us." The white Alicorn said with her usual friendly smile. "Now go and get some rest."

Cloud Hunter rolled his eyes. "Of course, Princess." He said before trotting off to catch up with the others. Night Light and Twilight Velvet left next, followed by Cadence and Shining Armor.

Magister Snow Charm turned to Dusk and whispered to him. "She is your future wife...who better to go and comfort her?"

Dusk shook his head. "She has her brother." He stated coldly before leaving the throne room with Black Lance.

Snow Charm shook her head in annoyance before leaving after.

Celestia turned to her sister and said, "I hope Twilight Sparkle doesn't let her hatred get the better of her..."

Luna gave her a warm smile. "Shining Armor is her brother, she won't stay mad at him for long. She's just confused and upset at the moment, give her time."

Celestia returned her sisters smile. "I will..." She turned to leave. "I will go and get some rest too, goodnight Luna."

"Goodnight sister, as always, I shall guard the night." She said as she watched the white Alicorn leave.

As soon as the doors closed again, she turned and noticed Magister Freed standing on the outside balcony.

Curious, Luna walked outside to join him and looked up at the starry sky. "I never expected this..."

Freed remained silent for a good long moment before replying.

"...I did."

Luna faced him. "You knew Sky Shadow was Luster Shield. You knew he was Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle's brother the whole time...Why didn't you say anything?"

Freed sighed behind his helmet and slowly looked up at the sky. "It wasn't my place. They needed to find out for themselves."

"...Why didn't Sky Shadow say anything?" Luna asked.

Turning to her, Freed said, "Because...he hates Shining Armor with all of his heart. He didn't want to reveal his identity, but I guess it was only a matter of time until they found out."

Luna let out a sad sigh as she sat down. "And now Twilight Sparkle hates Shining Armor."

"Don't worry..." Freed replied as he placed an armoured forehoof on the Princess's shoulder. "Like you said, she is just confused and upset, she'll forgive him eventually. I just hope Sky Shadow can find it in his heart to forgive Shining Armor."

Luna faced the Magister. "I hope so too. Because if he doesn't, I fear Twilight Sparkle may end up having to choose between the two of them."

Freed let out a soft chuckle. "It won't come to that."

"How so?" Luna replied, raising a brow at the armoured Unicorn.

Freed smiled behind his helmet before turning to leave. "Goodnight Princess Luna."

Luna just sat still and listened as Freed's metal hoofsteps got further and further away, until she heard the throne room doors close.

With a sigh, she turned to head back inside the throne room. The Princess of the Night made her way up the podium and sat down on the throne, staring off into space as she recalled everything that happened today.