Breakfast finished without incident, which considering the ponies present was a small gift from above. However, for two ponies, their eye kept glancing up at the stairs, wondering just what was going on with their parents and sister.

“After that I could use a nap,” Icarus patted a full stomach. He had not slept well on the trip up here. Worry for his wife causing him to stay awake for more of the journey than he cared to admit.

“You’re not worried about…” Night pointed up the stairs with a hoof.

Icarus shook his head. “No, I’m sure that Twilight will be able to help her,” he really was, his trust in the purple princess was absolute. The stories he heard from Aurora combined with the years of experience from knowing his mother-in-law removed all doubt from the griffin’s mind.

Night did not share his viewpoint and neither did Taz. They both knew that their parents should have been back downstairs by now. After they missed their meetings on Thursday, Twilight had rescheduled them for today.

She was late.

It was small, the first meeting was secluded for eight thirty, and she was only four minutes late. However, no one who knew her would count any amount of tardiness as a small thing. There could only be one of three options for this:

One, Rainbow had somehow managed to convince her to take the day off, again, for the second time this week.

That was unlikely to happen back to back, albeit it was not impossible.

Two, whatever Aurora wanted to talk about was more important… so much so that Twilight did not take three seconds to send a notice that she would be late.

Possible, although it would mean something was really wrong with her. Judging by what little they had to go on and that Icarus was not too concerned, that was less likely than one; unless he was just putting on a show to keep his kids from worrying about their mom.

Three, something happened that was really, really bad. It would have to be something that required their immediate attention. This one worried Night. Given that large magical buildup she sensed from upstairs thirty minutes ago, this one was very likely.

Night just wished she had acted upon it instead of dismissing it. Sensing magic was never her forte; she figured if it were something important that Luna, Ataxia, Starlight, or even Radiant would have said something.

Looking across the table she realized just how foolish she had been for dismissing it. It was slight, barely noticeable save for someone looking for it, but all four of them were worried. It was in their body language, their casual glances up the stairs, almost as if they were waiting for the other horseshoe to drop.

“Hey Night, you mind showing me that… that photo album in your room?” Taz asked, stumbling over the lame excuse.

Night caught on to the true comment in a second, he did everything but say, ‘Hey Night, let's go check on our moms’.

“Sure, I think I remember where it is.”

Night got up, followed by Taz, and then Ataxia. “Honey, can you go check over the signatures on the night court transcripts? I think I might have missed one.”

Ataxia glared at her, “You checked those three times before we came to eat breakfast.”

Night wanted to facehoof, she forgot how dense Ataxia could be at times. “Check again,” her tone brokered no argument, drawing strange glances from everyone around the table, “for me,” Night corrected her voice to try and cover her small gaffe.

Ataxia rolled her eyes and frowned, “Fine.”

Night kissed her on the horn. “Thanks,” she said before following her brother up the stairs.

“Wow, your wife,” Taz said as soon as they got out of earshot.

“Shut up.”

“What… what do you think happened?” the stallion looked at his sister. Concern was evident in his voice

“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out.”

The two walked in silence after that. Any thoughts of idle batter were forgotten, something happened, and it was bad.

Something that was only confirmed by the crying they heard on the other side of the doorway. For Taz, he could not register who it was, as at thirteen he had never heard it before. Shimmering Night had heard it before, rarely, but she heard it before.

It was Aurora crying. Her big sister was crying over something. That alone was enough to cause Night’s blood to run cold. She threw open the doors to her parent’s bedroom, not caring about interrupting anything that might be going on.

When it comes to your family’s safety, privacy is the least of your concerns.

“Night?” Aurora looked up from off the bed at the sudden intrusion.

“Aurora, what’s going on, what’s wrong?” Night looked around, looking for something, anything out of the ordinary. She could not help but notice the lack of her parents in the room.

“It… it… it was me.” Aurora said as she lowered her head back down to the bed, “Someone implanted a memory in me, I… I almost attacked my son.”

“Who?!”

That voice startled Aurora; she looked up to see her brother walk into the room. “Taz, whatever you’re going to do, please, not now. I can’t take it, not right now.”

“Who did this to you?” Taz spoke with a maturity that belittled his years.

“Twilight and Rainbow went to find out,” the words flew from Aurora’s mouth unbidden. She could not-not answer her brother’s question.

“Problem solved then,” Night said with a conviction that she did not entirely feel. Given, when Rainbow caught up to whoever did this to her oldest daughter, Hades itself would tremble before her wrath.

“If you say so,” Aurora laid her head back on the bed. Even with the faux memory removed and the knowledge that what had happened was not her fault. It did nothing to change her feelings on the subject. Regardless of the situation, she had almost attacked her son.

Such things do not go away overnight, nor are they ever truly forgotten.

Night picked up her brooding sister with her magic and placed her hooves first on the floor. “Let’s go,” she said. Thanks to her brother’s earlier comment, she just got an idea in her head.

Aurora just looked at her sister with a look of indignation on her face at being handled like that. “Don’t do that.”

“Come with me and I won’t have to,” Night gestured to the door.

“I’m not going anywhere, mom said to stay here.”

“Aurora, you’re either coming with me of your own volition or I’m carrying you with my magic. Those are the only two options.”

“But mom said-“

“She told you to stay here, right?”

“Yeah,” Aurora looked unsure what Night was getting at.

“Here would be the palace, dummy, not their room.”

“Oh…” it was as if someone slapped her across the head with the truth, “okay.”

As they walked past Taz, Night turned around and looked at him, “You’re coming too.”

“What?” both Taz and Aurora said at the same time.

Night just laughed, “This is a family issue, and our family will deal with it, I don’t care If you don’t like her Taz, you’re coming along and you will play nice.”

“Fine,” Taz said as he looked down at the floor and followed his sisters.

“Where are we going anyway?” Aurora asked.

“The storage room, top tower.”

“Why are we going there?”

“You’ll find out,” there was a spring in her step as Shimmering Night led her two reluctant siblings to the room.

Taz and Aurora reluctantly followed the alicorn. Neither of them felt like saying two words to the other, so they went with the golden rule, ‘silence is golden’. For her part, Night wanted to slap them both upside the head. Taz because she had no idea why he did not like his sister, they hardly ever saw each other; there was no reason for it. She wanted to slap Aurora because; to her at least, Taz seemed to be making an effort to not do anything. This was a great time to bridge that divide.

One of them just had to go first. Since they were both stubborn jackassess, she’d force it.

Although, first she had to cheer up her sister, ‘How do they say, two birds, one stone?’ she thought with a smile.

…

The storage room was a mess. In retrospect, Night figured that she was to blame for that. Ten years ago, Twilight asked her to oversee the move of all their belongings from their house in Ponyville to Celestia’s Palace.

Even then she knew they would never return. Celestia’s Palace was their new home.

Night said she took care of it, she said she organized everything properly and put it in the storage room.

She had meant too, she was going too, and then Ataxia got involved, wanting her own personal attention. So Night lied, then she lied about the lie, and then she lied to cover up the lie about the lie. It was only by happenstance that Twilight never found out.

This was that lie coming home to roost.

“Night, what are we doing here?” Aurora asked, again, for the third time.

“Hey, shut up or help me look.”

“You won’t tell us what we’re looking for,” Taz complained, again, for the sixth time.

“So I guess that leaves you with only one option right? Shut up.”

“This is stupid, Night.”

“Taz, what part of shut up do you misunderstand? The ‘shut’ or the ‘up’, I’ll gladly explain both.”

Taz sat back on his flank and sighed, loudly, but said nothing. Night took that for a win and went back to searching.

It was in the third box on the latest stack that she finally found it. “Ah ha!”

“Finally? And only after thirty minutes of searching.”

Night glared at her sister, but said nothing. “Come here you two.”

Aurora and Taz both walked forward, they glared at the book that Night held in her hooves like it was a snake that would bite them.

Night noticed this and smiled. After she blew the dust off the book the look on Aurora’s face turned from one of confusion to recognition. “I know what that is!”

“I figured you’d remember,” Night said with a smile.

“I don’t get it, what is it?”

“Come here little brother,” Night patted her left wing on the ground as an indication for Taz to join her. After a moment’s hesitation, he did just that. Aurora took a seat on the other side of the book. It had been decades since she last saw its contents.

“This is a very special book,” Night began the lecture as if she were talking to a little filly and colt. Taz rolled his eyes, but it was only for show. He would never admit it, but he was enjoying this moment. Times like this, when he could simply be around family, they were rare as of late. He suspected it would only get worse the older he got. “For this is a book on our family.”

Shimmering Night opened the first page. It had a picture of Rainbow in a hospital bed; she was holding a little light-purple unicorn with a rainbow mane in her hooves. Twilight lay next to her, and a little dark-blue pegasus lay between them.

Rainbow looked exhausted, more so than Taz had ever seen her before. Despite it all, she had the best smile on her face. Her smile spoke of happiness, joy, love, laughter, and friendship all in one look. How such a thing was possible Taz could only guess at.

“This is the day your older siblings were born,” Night said with a smile as she slowly ran a hoof over the picture. Aurora gasped as her sister’s hoof was about to touch the image of her lost twin. “Don’t worry sis, mom cast one of her most powerful enchantments on this book, it would survive a volcano eruption unscathed.”

She turned the page.

The next thing they saw was a picture of the two in diapers; they were both playing in a crib in what Taz could only assume to be the crystal castle in Ponyville. “I… I remember, we used to live there.” Aurora said with recognition fresh in her mind. Night nodded, it was before her time, but she had heard the stories.

Night smiled as she flipped the page again, on and on the memories came back. On the next page the twins were learning to walk, they were sitting being potty trained; they were flying and casting spells for the first time.

Rainbow and Twilight each had their own fair share of pictures in it too, they were vacationing on the beach, holding hooves, laughing together.

It was at times like this, times when the situation seemed hopeless, that one only needs reminded of family, of everything that family represented: Love, hope, and friendship.

It was not long until the pictures started including a purple alicorn with a rainbow mane. Night laughed at pictures of herself as a filly, the silly antics and games she used to play.

Even Taz had a smile on his face as the story of his family played out. Given these pictures occurred decades before he was born, but it did not matter. Seeing them happy made him happy,

Aurora felt a tear fall down her face as the story continued. Pictures of Dayspring soon became prominent as he hit the apex of his life. There were magazine articles that features his theories and accomplishments, his high-profile visits to the Crystal Empire, his time working with the earth pony, unicorn, and pegasus guard, and even his graduation from the highest schools of learning with record speed.

Aurora looked at her sister with a smile on her face, “Thank you for this.”

“I figured you’d like it,” Night said back as she placed a hoof on her sister’s.

She flipped the page and then immediately flipped it back, a blush on her face.

Both Aurora and Taz looked at her, a puzzled expression on their faces. “What?”

“Maybe we should call it here?” Night asked with a sly smile.

“Night, just flip the page,” Taz said with a groan.

“Yeah, let's see,” Aurora found herself actually agreeing with her little brother.

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea, Aurora.”

“Just flip it.”

“You sure?”

“Night. Flip. The. Page.”

“Ok, you asked for it.”

When she did, Aurora immediately regretted wanting her to do so. This was not a picture but a magazine, somehow magically held into the book despite the fact that it was larger than the book itself. She had no doubt that Rainbow had insisted that the magazine be kept in the book, and that it was Twilight’s magic that made it so.

Regardless what her kids did, Rainbow was proud of all their accomplishments, this magazine just proved it.

It was not just any magazine at that, Luna knows that at one point in time or another Aurora had been featured in every magazine in Equestria. That was precisely the problem right now. She was in every magazine. Including this one.

Playcolt Magazine, and they had no problem putting risqué images on the cover. The picture was a rear shot that showed Aurora lying on her side, her face looking down the curves of her body and towards the camera. Her face was that of the seductress, of the mare that knew you wanted her and loved it.

Her tail was flared out behind her, clearly showing the not so subtle curves of her flank, the engorged folds of her slit, and the puckered little hole of her anus.

The magazine sold out five minutes after reaching the shelves.

Night whistled as she admired the pic, Aurora’s jaw dropped, and Taz just blushed. The poor colt could not look away to save his life.

“I had no idea they had a copy…” Aurora stared at the picture. It was twenty years old, but you could not tell by looking at her. She still looked just as good today as she did back then.

“Damn, Aurora, you’re looking fine!” Night joked. Aurora slammed the book closed with a hoof.

“That’s enough of that.”

“Ahh c’mon, you’re not embarrassed are you?”

Aurora shook her head no.

Night kept going, it was rare that she got to tease her sister; as such she would not let a moment like this simply pass by. Moments when Aurora was flustered and did not have the upper hoof were rare enough. “Let's see some of the old moves then,” Night said with a grin on her face.

“Night, no. I’ve got a family now. That part of my life is done.”

“C’mon it’s just us.”

“Exactly,” Aurora gestured to the colt still sitting by the book. His jaw had yet to pick itself up off the floor.

“Bad news for you there, sister, he’s seen it,” Night said with a grin, “It’s not a mystery anymore,” the obvious discomfort it was giving Aurora was simply goading Night on. She could not-not poke the bear on this one. Sister law would not allow it.

Aurora sighed, her pictures really did not embarrass her, and in truth, she was flattered that so many wanted to see them. However, she did not want to do this, but she knew that her sister would be insistent.

She actually found herself laughing at that. Growing up, Night would have been embarrassed by the sheer thought of such pictures, but now she was actually egging her on. ‘It seems Ataxia has a bigger influence on you than I thought.’ A fact reinforced by the large hickey plainly visible on Night's neck.

“Fine but only two poses,” Aurora reluctantly agreed. When it came to her younger sister it was best to just give her what she wanted. As far as Taz goes, well judging by the obvious discomfort on his face it was simply payback for all the hell he put her through. Besides, Night was right. He had seen it all already, that magazine took care of that little tidbit.

“Sweet!” Night used her magic and constructed an impromptu catwalk for her sister's performance.

“You seem really excited by this,” Aurora joked as she walked to the other end of the ‘walkway’.

“What can I say,” Night said with a smile, “I’ve developed a healthy appreciation for the female form.”

Aurora laughed about that. One of the benefits of being a famous model was that the job came with its fair share of admirers. Over the years she had tried both mares and stallions, they each had their pros and cons.

She got up and started trotting to the other end of the room. Night whistled as Aurora put a little more bounce into her steps than was necessary, causing her well-developed flank to jiggle as she walked.

Despite herself, and the fact she was basically putting on a show for her sister, Aurora found herself excited by it. It had been years since she last performed on a stage. She knew it would not lead anywhere. It went unspoken but they both knew this was a competition to see who would put a stop to it first.

It was a competition they were both determined to win.

Her first pose was nothing special, she trotted down the makeshift runway and paused at the end, her body stretched out and her butt arched back in the just the right way to show off her finely tuned muscles. She tilted her head up and away from her sister as she did so. The look all but said, ‘Yeah, I’m hot, what of it?’

If there was one major difference between now and the pictures from back then, it was that Aurora was not quite in such good shape. Rearing two foals would take their toll on anyone. It was small, a tad bit of extra fat she just could not work off regardless how much she tired.

You would never know by the cheers Night gave out. “Yeah, keep it up!”

The catcalling only served to drive Aurora forward. The promise of two poses was quickly forgotten as she sought to win this, to do more and more. Her poises quickly became more lewd.

Soon her stances from the professional magazines were quickly forgotten; she started pulling out tricks from the less-reputable ones. After a few minutes, all else was forgotten; the only thing either sister cared about was winning this immature contest to embarrass the other. Neither of them noticed, but their brother was quickly becoming flustered about the whole situation.

After the latest pose, one in which Aurora lay on her side and slowly moved one leg from behind her, as far up as she could take it, and all the way in front of her, Night did something she never thought she would do. She smacked Aurora’s flank with a hoof while calling out, “Yeah, who’s a good slut?!”

“Don’t call her that!”

The yell put an end to their fun. Both ponies immediately stood up and looked at the yeller. Taz was glaring at them both, an angered expression on his face.

Aurora started blushing, in truth she forgot that he was even here. Her competition to embarrass her sister became all-consuming in her mind.

Night just glared at him. She figured he would have left, looked away, or been to dumbfound to say anything. “What, are you the only one allowed to pick on her?” Night asked with a smile.

“Don’t call her that,” Taz repeated with a snarl.

Princess Shimmering Night was taken aback by that; however, she was not in the mood to let him win. Too many times Taz would automatically get his way, he would be right simply because he was the younger one.

“Maybe we did go a little overboard, Night?” Aurora tried to defuse the situation.

“Why do you care?” Night did not listen to her older sister, “You do nothing but pick on her the entire time she’s here. It’s been a small miracle to all of us that you’ve done nothing today, but I guess the day’s still young, huh?”

“Night, let it go,” Aurora placed a hoof on her sister’s shoulders. She could tell that this might go someplace bad.

She was right.

“No,” Night shook the hoof off her, “I want to know. What the buck is wrong with you Taz? What makes you care now? Why are you always such a little shit to Aurora?!”

Taz did not reply. He merely kept up the death glare he had been giving her since his impromptu shout.

There is a problem with being a night-black pony. It does nothing to hide dirt or stains. When you get dirty, it stands out, when you get muddy, it stands out, and when you bleed, it stands out.

The same is true when you blush.

“Sweet Luna, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you’re in love with her or something!” Night shouted.

Taz blushed.

They both saw it. Aurora found herself returning the blush as that realization kicked in. Night found her rant stopped dead in its hooves. Her mind finally started putting the pieces together:

He always made her mad because he wanted her attention.

He always went out of his way to bother her because he did not understand how he felt.

His sudden turn around, his sudden nonchalant attitude with her around, after not seeing her for two years; it occurred after he hit puberty. After he finally knew what these feeling were.

“Taz, I-“ Aurora was cut off from finishing that sentence.

“Oh. My. Luna. You love your sister. You want to fuck her, don’t you?!”

“No, I-“ Taz’s anger was quickly forgotten, his reply sounded weak even to him. He had never imagined in a million years someone would discover his secret, his hidden shame.

“You do?! You sick fuck. My brother is in love with my sister.”

Thoughts of how wrong that was came to Night’s mind, thoughts of how disgusting it was. Night’s thoughts were aggravated by the knowledge that her daughter Ana was in the same boat, although she was much less subtle about hiding it. That was something that just made the whole situation worse.

This was not Night thinking, this was her taking out her aggression over her daughter's sick inflation with her uncle, this was Night taking out her pent up anger on an easy target before her.

It did not matter that it was her brother.

If anything, that just made it all the sweeter. After all, you can only truly hurt the ones you love, simply because you have to trust someone for them to be able to hurt you.

And whom do you trust more than your family?

“You want to rut your own sister. You want to stick your dick in her, don’t you?” Night softly spoke the words as she walked towards the flustered stallion. “You imagine how it feels at night, don’t you? I bet you rub yourself raw thinking about her. The fact that she’s your sister just gets you off, doesn’t it? I bet you cry out ‘sister’ when you cum, don’t you?”

“NIGHT!” Aurora shouted, this was way too far, way too far.

Night ignored her. Her mind was not in the right place of mind for anything resembling rational thought; rationality went out the window as soon as she learned her brother’s disturbing secret.

She had three more steps to take before she was face to face with the red-faced stallion. “You do, don’t you? You masturbate to her every night.”

Two more steps. The obvious hurt on his face from her words only served to drive her on.

“I bet you got hard seeing those pictures, didn’t you. I bet you’re thinking of a way to take them to your room right now.”

One more step. Every word she said stabbed him like a knife.

“You sick fuck.”

She was face to face with him. Rational thought was gone, Night logically knew she should not do this, she knew this was bad, yet she did not care. This was payback for every imagined slight against her. Despite herself, she wanted to hurt him, in ways that only a sibling possibly could want to hurt someone.

“I’m going to tell everyone your filthy little secret.”

Taz lashed out with a hoof and struck her in her face. She fell on her side as the earth pony exploded on her.

Aurora could only stare on, dumbstruck as her little brother rained blow after blow dead center on Night’s muzzle. Taz was crying as he landed each and every blow.

Shimmering Night momentarily tried to lift her little brother off her with her magic, the spell failed, as it could not land purchase on the colt. So instead she punched him in the gut with a hoof as hard as she could.

As an alicorn, Shimmering Night had the flight of a pegasus, the magic of a unicorn, and the strength of an earth pony. She put that strength to use now. The blow landed squarely on his exposed barrel with all the power she could muster. It knocked him several hooves off her and onto his side.

They both quickly recovered. Taz groaned from the bruise to his ribs, Night wiped away the dripping blood from several cuts on her face.

Both of them were glaring at each other. This was not the fight of enemies; this was not some epic duel to save the word. This was a fight of siblings, of family. This was a fight between two ponies that simply wanted to hurt each other, who wanted to cause as much pain and suffering on the other simply because to them it would prove they were right.

In many, many ways, it was so much worse because of that fact.

Gone were the barbs and words, this had evolved far beyond that. Shimmering Night flew forward, intent on making the little shit pay for the blood she lost.

What she failed to realize was that the next generation loved to wrestle with each other. Often Taz, Blaze, Flash, and even Vela would get into sparring matches for the fun of it. As such he had more than his fair share of experience dealing with ponies that flew.

Aurora could only get out of the way at this point. She knew this had proceeded far beyond any hope of a semi-peaceful resolution. They each wanted the other’s blood and only someone more powerful could stop it from happening.

With Night involved and her parents away, there was no one around that fit that bill.

Taz ducked low and spun about at the last possible moment. Night’s momentum worked against her, with the slight change in direction from Taz’s hoof, Night crashed into a pile of boxes. Breaking Luna knew how much stuff in the process.

She got up, a fresh cut over her right eye bled freely. The stinging from that eye only caused her anger to grow. “You little shit, I’m the demigoddess of magic!” Night powered her horn and caused all the inanimate objects in the room to levitate upwards.

Aurora cried out in surprise as she felt that much raw magic activate in the room. The sudden unexpectedness of it caused her to fall back as the box she had been hiding behind lifted away.

That cry only served to anger Taz. “You think that matters to me, you stupid bitch!” The control, the walls he had hidden his own abilities behind crumbled. His own power, the power to negate magic spilled forward. This was not focused, this was not targeted, this was raw and unfiltered. It created a large bubble around him several hundred hooves wide. All magic in that zone was nullified in an instant. All the boxes and supplies that Night had levitated fell to the ground as gravity asserted its rightful dominance over them. All around the palace several pegasi that were caught in the bubble fell out of the sky, their flight cut off with the sudden loss of their magic. Unicorns in the bubble found that their magic was suddenly gone.

Aurora managed to avoid any of the objects crushing her, but her tail was not so lucky. She found herself trapped in place as a large pile of boxes fell directly on it.

As the realization that she was without her powers dawned on Night, Taz sprang forward. He ran and jumped at his bigger sister with as much speed as he could muster.

The impact caused them both to hit the door, hard. It shattered under the force and their combined weight. The impact carried them through the door, causing both ponies to roll out the room and down the hall. Blows landed on each other as they continued what was now an all-out physical brawl. As an alicorn, Night was stronger, but Taz was faster. For every hit she got in, he got in three.

Aurora heard them carry on outside the room, based on the fading volume of it, the fight was moving away from her. Where it would end up was a mystery to the mare but she had a feeling that everypony in the castle would soon know what was happening.

She ‘felt’ every single blow. Every time Night would yell out ‘sick fuck’ or Taz would reply with ‘stupid bitch’ she empathically felt it. They were her brother and sister, they were her family, everything they said to hurt each other, to scar the other, it left that mark on her too.

“I have to stop this,” Aurora said as she looked around for something, anything to get her unstuck. The box was way too heavy for her to lift, but she needed to be free.

Her freedom came not by removing the boxes, but by cutting off a large amount of her tail. When all the boxes fell, a mirror must have shattered nearby. She found a shard of glass and went to work cutting off the portion of her tail that she could not save.

It took awhile, but when it was over Aurora was left with a super short tail and the taste of copper in her mouth. She spat out the glass noting with some distain that a small amount of blood went with it.

It did not matter, she spread her wings to try and fly after her siblings.

She went nowhere. ‘Taz’s power, it must be out of control,’ she thought.

With no way to fly after them, Aurora took the only option left, she ran.

Their trail of violence was easy enough to follow down the stairs. Broken statues, pictures, and a small trail of blood were all left in their wake. At one point in time the two ponies had managed to crash through a wall. Aurora noted with some distain just how many ponies were aware of what was going down. Several royal guard platoons were mobilizing even as she ran by them.

She could hear the yelling, blows, and shattering glass in the distance. Aurora found the window they crashed out of soon enough. Looking down from the second floor window she could see that the two were in the courtyard. From the looks of things, Taz was losing, and badly.

Night had a large gash across her body and a broken wing lying limp on the ground. She was cut and bleeding from multiple locations. Taz was nursing a bruised rib, his own body layered with new cuts, bruises, and blood. Most of it his own.

It was easy enough to tell that Taz had landed on his sister's now broken wing. However, the alicorn's endurance was greater. Taz was spent, Night could keep going.

All around the two royal guards looked on, unsure just what to do in this situation. Starlight was down there too, a look of horror on her face at her mom’s actions.

Aurora jumped down and rolled with the impact. She suffered a few cuts herself, but having been prepared for the fall she got off with no impediments.

“Stop please!” she yelled at the top of her lungs. All around other ponies were showing up, more and more royal guards were arriving by the second, Icarus, Radiant, Blaze, Flash, and even Vela were appearing now. Each alerted to the situation by the sudden onset of violence in the palace.

“Don’t come any closer!” Taz shouted at the approaching ponies, “I can’t control my power right now!” he had lost himself in the battle before, but now his body was exhausted beyond his ability to continue the fight.

They all paused, giving the two combatants a wide birth.

Night looked around, as if she was just now noticing the huge crowd that built up around them. She turned back to her brother and grinned an evil grin.

‘Don’t do it,’ Taz mouthed the words.

Night was far, far beyond rational thought, or caring about the consequences. She practically shouted the words, “All this because you're a sick little fuck that’s in love with Aurora.”

There was a collective gasp from all the assembled ponies. They all stared at him in shock. A collective murmur started between the watching groups, one that grew louder as the seconds went by.

Finally Taz could not take it anymore, “She’s not my sister!” he shouted as loud as he could.

Everything stopped, dead. He continued as he looked at Aurora, “Not really, we didn’t grow up together, we weren’t raised together, I’ve barely even seen you. I… I’m sorry I treated you so poorly when I was younger. I didn’t understand how I felt. Every time I saw you, you were always so beautiful. I just wanted your attention, I… I wanted you to notice me. It was only a year ago that I realized how I felt,” Taz sat back on his haunches crying as he said those words. He wrapped his tail around his hooves and stared at the ground.

“I know it’s wrong, I know were related, but I can’t help how I feel. I do love you, Aurora. I always have.”

Aurora actually found herself blushing at that. She was used to sudden declarations of love from her fans, but this was different. This was from her brother.

Even with the knowledge that this was from her brother, she could not help but feel touched. However, it would never happen. “Taz, I’m honored, really. But while I love you like a brother, I’m married, I already have a husband that I love. You had to know that it would never happen, that it could never happen.”

Shimmering Night smiled. Even if her sister was letting the little freak off easy, it was still satisfying to see the look of hurt on his face. “How does it feel knowing everyone knows your sick and twisted secret? You’ll never be able to show your face around here again without getting looks of disgust from everyone you meet.”

“Night! Shut the fuck up!” Ataxia yelled as she ran forward. She did not know how this started, but that comment was too far. Even by her standards.

Night glared at her wife and then back to her brother.

He was gone, just gone. Everyone in the crowd, everyone present did a double take, then a triple. They all knew of his ability to practically go invisible, but this is the first time he had ever done so in front of so many sets of eyes.

“Fre-“ Night’s final insult died in her throat as she turned to walk away. Her eyes, as if magically drawn to them, fell upon Ana’s. Who looked as if she had just crawled out of bed. The reality of what Shimmering Night just did hit her like a ton of bricks as soon as she saw those eyes. In that one look every vile thing she had said to her brother was thrown back at her a hundred times over.

The look on her daughter’s face spoke of someone that felt utter betrayal, and venomous hatred. All of which was directed right at her mom.

Author's Notes:

It is said that we only hurt the ones we love. They should say we can only truly hurt the ones we love.

Note: It's gonna be awhile until the next chapter. I got some RL stuff coming up and won't be able to work on this story again until (prob) Friday.

So don't expect ch 11 until next Sat/Sun