“Ana, can we go?” Starlight complained as her sister sorted through yet another stack of books. It was almost funny, six months ago she would have been shocked, happy, and supportive about her sister spending so much time in the library. Now… now it was becoming tedious and boring to the extreme.

Given, she had been supportive at first. They would come here as soon as possible each and every day looking for a clue, some sort of evidence of where Taz might be. Something their grandma might have overlooked. They found nothing, because, well, there was nothing to find.

It took three months to beat that lesson into Starlight’s head; it seemed that Ana had a harder head than even Starlight thought.

“No, I haven’t found what I’m looking for yet!”

“Ana, do you even know what you’re looking for?” Starlight asked the rhetorical question.

“I’ll know it when I find it.”

Starlight sighed, loudly. This was the part she could not support, not anymore anyway. It is fine to spend this much time researching something specific, when you have a goal in mind. This… this was trying to find a three inch needle in a stack of four inch needles, without even knowing if there was a three inch needle in the first place.

She had enough, charging her horn she teleported the two out of the library with absolutely no warning at all. Ana was still in the same standing position she had been in when she was pulling books off the top shelf of the stack. The sudden change of perspective and loss of the ladder she was standing on caused her to fall to her flank with a loud thud. Starlight cringed, she had not intended to physically hurt her sister and knew it would cause another set of problems.

“What the buck, Starlight!” Ana shouted as she got up and rubbed her sore flank. Starlight smiled, on the inside anyway.

“You need a break, heck, I need a break. We’ve been spending way too much time in the library and watch your language,” Starlight gestured to where they were. Ana looked around and noticed that they had not been teleported anywhere in the palace; rather, they had been teleported somewhere else entirely: Joe’s Doughnut Shop and every head was turned to the new arrivals.

Ana just glared at her sister with a look that said ‘this is not over’; however, her growling stomach ended any further debate on the subject, “Fine, let’s take a fiver.”

Starlight smiled, she just wished she could have gotten her sister to take a shower first. They both kind of stunk, “We’re taking a shower tonight,” Starlight said in no uncertain terms.

Ana glared up in insult, then got a whiff of her own scent. She just nodded her head at that comment. Starlight was right; they had been spending way too much time in the library these days.

……………………….

Taz sighed as he picked up the bowl of food with his mouth and began the long trek down the stairs. As with every time he made this journey the hallways were too bucking dark, the stairs made too much bucking nose, and the ‘food’ stank in his noise.

But he would not let anyone else do it. This was his journey to make and he would be the one to get it done. Even still, he could complain about it, at least to himself anyway.

There were three different doors he had to pass through; each of them was magically sealed to prevent anyone other than the caster from opening them. They never stood a chance against his power. He directed the tiniest amount of his ability to them and they popped open like they were nothing. The thought of just how easy it was to override such powerful spells almost made him smile, almost.

He arrived at the last door; of course door was not the correct word, not for this one anyway. Sure it was technically a door, a door to a cell. This one he would not open, he had no reason to open it.

Taz placed the food bowl down on the ground and scooted it into the cell. It was with a heavy heart that he pulled the old bowl out. He noted with some distain that only a small portion of it had been eaten.

Dayspring was eating just enough to stay alive, but that was it.

“You think this is a game, don’t you?” Taz asked his brother.

There was no reply, there was never a reply. Dayspring had not said a word to him in the last two weeks, “Luna damn you to Tartarus, Dayspring.”

Taz banged his head on the bars. It was the same thing every single day, he would come down here to give his brother food and water, he would curse his name, get pissed, and walk up stairs in a foul mood. He was sick of it, he was sick of hating his brother, he was sick of hating this place, but mostly he was sick of hating himself for feeling so crappy about everything.

It had been almost two weeks since he last felt like smiling.

“I’m tired of this, brother,” Taz said as he watched his brother’s breathing. It was the only sign he had that Dayspring was still alive, “Tell me what to do, tell me anything at all,” there were tears in his eyes now, “Do you want me to help you escape? I will, I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Please… please… I don’t know what to do,” he fell to the ground, utterly lost at what he should do next.

“I’m bucking thirteen years old, this is too big. I can’t do this, I can’t make decisions like this, I… I can’t.”

There was no response, there was never a response.

Taz got back to his hooves, “Tell me what to do!” He shouted at the top of his lungs as his anger took hold. “TELL ME!” He bucked the bars as hard as he could. Dayspring had been his mentor for the past eight years, he always knew what to do, he always steered Taz down the right path. He was his center, his rock. Taz found himself lost without him.

The loud ringing that echoed all throughout the room was his only reply.

“Timespire said you wouldn’t talk to me, he said you’d never talk to me. I thought he was lying, looks like I was wrong,” Taz said as he stormed out of the cell.

Unbeknownst to Taz, Dayspring started crying. He never talked, he never moved, because he could not. Mindsink implanted a suggestion in his mind that would not let him. The pegasus only allowed him to eat enough to keep himself alive; anything extra and he would be too big of a threat.

The older brother had promised Taz that he would live, but living is a broad term. Dayspring suspected that this was his true punishment for daring to defy them. They kept him alive, conscious, and aware so he could listen to the suffering his brother had to go through alone.

He should not have been able to cry, but not even a Demigod was powerful enough to hold back those tears.

…

Taz ran back up the stairs with tears in his eyes. He paused before going back into the throne room to compose himself. It would not due for them to see him in such a state. After a few minutes he felt like he was ready. Taz walked into the room with his head held high, “Hey Red, what’s up?” Taz asked the red unicorn sitting at the throne. Timespire was sitting across from him, of Mindsink and Nighttide there was no sign.

Timespire smirked at that nickname. He knew that ‘Red’ hated it, but that just made it more hilarious to him.

Red took it in stride, on the outside at least, “I take it our guest is comfortable?”

“Dayspring, yeah,” Taz looked down at that, “He’s barely eating though.”

“He is eating though?” Red asked.

“Yes,” Taz conformed.

“Then all is well,” Red said with a smile.

“Yeah, I don’t bucking think so,” Taz glared at him, “He’s not doing well, and you need to do something.”

“Oh, well I’m sure that Mindsink would love to pay him a visit when he gets back.”

The look on Taz’s face told Red ‘that’ was not an option Taz would agree with, “Very well, I’ll return Dayspring to your family after I get the key, does that sound like a fair trade?”

“Alive?”

“Of course, that was our arrangement, no?”

Taz nodded at that, although he did have another question, “What is this ‘Key of Ages’ anyway?” Taz asked.

“I didn’t think you cared.”

“What can I say; two weeks of waiting have caused me to become curious.”

Red smiled, “Curiosity killed the cat, you know.”

“Shut up and tell me.”

“Very well, first you must understand something; there are things in this universe that are absolute. Like your power, Taz. These things exist according to their own set of rules; they supersede anything else in existence. Much like our banishment to the moon, even with all of our power, we could not escape. Only when the moon broke where we set free. The key, well, that’s the gateway to one of these things. Our ultimate objective, sort of speak. We need the key to get to the sands.”

“Sands?” Taz pounced on the slip of the tongue remark.

“That I will not tell you about,” Red said matter-of-factly.

Taz knew that was the end of the questioning, Red was very open, very honest, save for things that might prevent him from achieving his goals. Taz largely suspected they were just his goals too, that the unicorn could not give a buck about either of his brothers. They seemed to know it too, which gave him a few ideas that might come in to play later.

Ideas that were interrupted when a pegasus walked into the room. Taz glanced at the newcomer for only a second before looking away in disgust. Nighttide’s heart sank when she saw that look on his face, “Hey Taz,” she said hopefully.

It was a fool’s hope, she knew it and so did he. Taz had not said a word to the pegasus in two weeks’ time. Regardless of what she said or did to try and bridge that gap. Nevertheless, she could not stop trying. It hurt her so much to see him at times, she longed simply to feel his coat pressed up against her own one more time. They were living under the same roof, they were on the same side, yet she never felt further from him in all her life.

Red smiled at the obvious discomfort she felt, “Were you two successful?” He asked his daughter.

“Yes, father,” Nighttide said with a snarl.

“Good job, my daughter.”

“Successful with what?” Taz asked, unsure about this new development.

Red smiled at him, “At your gift, of course.”

“Gift? I didn’t ask for a gift,” he glared at Nighttide with an expression that all but said, ‘What did you do?’

She shrunk down at that, this was not her idea. The necklace she now wore cut into her fur with its moon crescent shape. “This was my idea, Taz. Not hers,” Red said, “Although she did help me put all the pieces together.”

“What. Did. You. Do?” Taz repeated every word of his question, one syllable at a time.

“Oh, you seem to be ungrateful and you don’t even know what I got you.”

“I never asked you for anything.”

“Know the value of a thing before you refuse it,” Red said.

Taz did not want to know, but he suspected that ignorance would not be bliss in this case. Whatever it was he doubted it would be good. Nothing had qualified as good in quite some time, “Fine, let’s see what you got me.”

“It’s three things actually,” Red gestured over to the wall. A door appeared and Mindsink walked out with a silver plate held in his mouth, after placing it down on the floor Taz saw that there were two bracelets with a dark gem set in the center of each laying on the plate, “I need you to put these on. This part is non-negotiable.”

Taz looked down at them, “What are they, and if you don’t tell me I won’t do it.”

The unicorn smiled, “They’re essence stones, don’t worry they couldn’t hurt you even if they were dangerous. Rather, they absorb the power of their wielder and radiate it outwards for some time after. They should be enough to work on a pony, sadly, nothing bigger.”

Taz picked on up in his hooves before dropping it, “You want to use these against my moms!” It did not take a genius to figure out that much.

“Yes, yes I do.”

“No!”

“This is part of the deal, Taz. You want me to not kill them then I need to find another non-fatal solution.”

“So don’t work for you and you’ll kill my moms, then don’t let you use my power against them and you’ll kill my moms. What’s next, don’t brush my teeth and you’ll kill my moms?”

“Listen you little shi-” Timespire tried to say, Red shot him across the room with a wave of his magic. The earth pony hit the back wall with a sickening thud.

It only lasted for a second, but that caused a noticeable grin on Nighttide’s face.

“Taz,” the unicorn got up and walked over to him, “I’m doing my best to come up with these solutions. There is no point in me holding to my word if it doesn’t achieve my aim. This is a win-win for both of us. Your parents are powerful, very powerful, and they will find us sooner or later. These essence stones lock to the bearer’s hooves for six months. Of course they won’t work on you, but they will disable your parent’s power. I need you to wear these for one days’ time. After that you can take them off and you never have to think about them again.”

“This isn’t really a gift then.”

“It’s the gift of knowing that I don’t have to kill Rainbow or Twilight.”

Taz picked up one of them, “Understand something Red, if you ever mention or even hint at killing my parents again, or you use this threat against me again, consequences be damned, I’m done with you,” Taz snapped the first bracelet around his hoof.

No pony saw it, but Nighttide perked up at that statement.

“What’s your next so-called gift?” Taz asked. He wore the bracelets now, to him they felt like nothing more than lumps of metal, he had a bad feeling it would feel very different around somepony else’s hoof though.

“Mindsink,” Red said.

“As you know we’ve been keeping you up to tabs with the comings and goings of your family. Well, we’ve found ourselves with a very unusual development.”

“What’s that?” Taz asked, unsure where this line of questioning was going.

“Aurora and Icarus have left the castle to go personally check in on Night and Ataxia.”

“So?”

Red sat back down at the throne, “So we thought we’d give you a gift, Taz. It took some work on Mindsink’s part, but he was able to implant a suggestion in the two from far enough away where they would not notice him and where Twilight’s spell would not detect him.”

“What are you getting at?” Taz asked.

“What happened between Night and you two weeks ago?” It was a rhetorical question, they both knew the answer.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Let’s go watch and see for ourselves,” Red said with a smile as he opened a portal for the two to Night’s location.

Reluctantly, Taz went with him. Something told him not to, that this was not something he wanted to see. However, whatever would happen would happen regardless if he went or not. Mindsink had seen to that much.

…

He noticed the forest first. The fresh air hitting his fur was like a gift from above; Taz paused as he breathed in deep. The air was always so stale in the castle; this… this was anything but. This is what he missed, what he longed for.

He looked around, it was almost sundown. The noises of the forest rang in his ears like nothing else. That was something else he had to get used too. The castle made no noise, for lack of a better term; it was almost as if it were dead.

He closed his eyes and took another deep breath. Upon opening them again he saw a sight he had not seen in two weeks: Canterlot.

‘Run,’ his thoughts told him, ‘Run as far and as fast as you can, he can’t take you back, he can’t teleport you, you can get away.’

“You can run if you want, but then I’d have no use for Dayspring anymore.”

Taz glared at him.

“I didn’t say anything about your parents.”

Taz realized Red was right, he did not. So Taz silenced those thoughts. He did not ask how Red knew what he was thinking; in truth Taz suspected it was kind of obvious. “What are we doing here?” Taz asked him.

“We’re here for your gift,” Red stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“What gift?”

“That’s coming soon, do stay within five hooves of me though,” Red said as Taz was about to leave him behind.

“Why?”

“I created a magical barrier that blocks us from being seen or noticed, however it won’t work if you leave the circle.”

“And I need to stay hidden because?”

“Because we’re going to see your family,” Red said with a smile.

Taz perked up at that, “Really?!”

“Yes, of course you cannot talk to them, they cannot know that you’re here.”

Taz did the one thing he never thought he would do, he hugged Red, “Thank you.”

“That’s just the first part of your gift.”

“There’s more?”

“Wait and see,” Red said with a smile, one that killed the little bit of joy Taz felt. Something was going on that he would not like.

‘It doesn’t matter, I’ll just stay close by and if he tries something, I’ll take away his power.’ Somehow, his thoughts did little to crush the doubt he felt at this whole situation.

The two trekked through the woods; Taz took this small time to enjoy the feeling of grass beneath his hooves, the wind flowing through his mane, and the sounds of the forest. He never imagined he would miss all the little things this much, but he did. It was these small things he had always taken for granted; these things that he never would have noticed until he had to live without them.

He missed them; he missed them so much it hurt.

A tear fell from his eye when he realized that he was not thinking about the forest anymore. It did not matter what he wanted to do, that ship had sailed. If he left they would kill his brother. While Dayspring might be in a physical prison, Taz’s was just as real; it just had a different set of bars on it.

Sure, they gave him options, let him move around on his own, but it was all for show. He had a choice, but only the choices they let him have. It was a sick and twisted game they were playing with him.

The worst part was; he knew it.

“Come Taz, our destination is right up the hill,” Red said as he paused to look at the young stallion. Taz was almost outside of his bubble.

“Can we just go home?” Taz asked. He hated referring to ‘that’ place as home, but it was the truth. It was his home now, regardless of what he wanted.

“No, we’ve gone out of our way to get you this little gift; I want you to see it.”

“You’re not going to hurt them, are you?”

“No, this will be anything but painful,” Red said with a smile, “Let’s go.”

Taz swallowed the lump in his throat and followed. ‘Like I ever had a choice’, he thought.

They crested the hill and arrived on top of it. When they looked down Taz saw a small camp set up in the middle of the woods. ‘Whitetail Woods’, he realized he knew these woods. His sister took him camping here when he was younger. It was so much fun then.

The camp was amazing. It had a huge tent set up with a fire going in the center of the camp. Taz’s heart almost jumped for joy when he saw Ataxia walk outside. She looked worse for wear but still strong and healthy.

He wanted to cry at that. He knew they were all alright, he had been told as much, but seeing it was totally different. He had to check his instinct to run to her and hug her with all his might.

“You should know time moves a little different where we are.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s been three months for them.”

Taz made to respond but the lump in his throat returned when he saw a purple alicorn with a rainbow mane walk outside after Ataxia, “Night,” Taz said without meaning too. Last time he saw his sister it had not ended well. A large part of him never thought he would see her again, it thought that she was gone from his life forever. Seeing her here and now, it brought up a whole different swell of emotions.

Oddly, none of them were that negative. Sure there was still some hatred for the things she said and did, but after everything he had been through, everything he had seen, he did not care about that anymore. He just… he just wanted her back.

He watched as they hugged and Night followed Ataxia into the woods.

“The final two players are arriving now,” Red said as he gestured into the sky. Taz followed his hoof and his heart really did skip a beat as he looked at the two newcomers. Aurora and Icarus were both arriving by flight. He smiled as he saw his oldest sister, even after everything that had happened; she was still so beautiful to him.

His smile faded as he realized that they did something to her. That led to another question altogether, “How did Mindsink use his power against her? I thought you told me mom cast a spell preventing that.”

“She did, Mindsink cannot use his power to change anyone’s memories without being detected.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Indeed. Mindsink can do more than simply change memories, he can also, how do I put this, remove inhibitions.”

“What?”

Red laughed, “Your parents drink, no?”

“Yeah, Rainbow loves apple cider. She won’t let me have any though.”

“Is it normally foamed over when she drinks it?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s because there is alcohol in it.”

“And?”

“Alcohol removes your normal inhibitions. Inhibitions are those little voices in your head that checks your desires, your wants. It makes you stop and consider the consequences before you do something that might be a bad idea later on.”

“Mindsink messed with that?”

“He… turned it off in those two for the rest of the day,” Red pointed at the pegasus and griffin that landed in camp.

“Why?”

“Everyone has secret desires Taz; everyone has little things they’ve always wanted to do, that they just couldn’t bring themselves to do. Your sisters are no different.”

“I don’t want revenge on my sister,” Taz said as he realized something, it was the truth. He really did not want revenge.

“Who said anything about revenge? This is justice. Now, do keep up,” Red said as he started walking to the tent. Taz had no choice but to go along, whatever would happen he was forced to watch and do nothing.

“If I’m right, you’re in for quite the show,” Red said as Ataxia and Night arrived back at the camp and greeted the two newcomers. Aurora and Icarus both returned their hugs with equal gusto, “You should enjoy it too.”

Taz suspected that no, he would not enjoy it.

……………………………..

Ana found that time away from the library actually did do her some good. Starlight and Ana actually managed to put it behind them for now and enjoy themselves for the first time in what felt like forever. That realization caused her to lose the fun; Ana’s smile soon went with it.

“What’s wrong now?” Starlight asked, she noticed the look on her sister’s face.

“I… nothing, it’s stupid.”

“Ana, just tell me.”

“No, it’s dumb.”

“If it were dumb it wouldn’t be affecting you like this.”

“…” There were times when Ana really hated her sister’s logic. She was far, far too much like Night for Ana’s liking, “Is it wrong to have fun right now?” Ana asked.

“What?” Starlight said, taken aback by that question.

“Well… you know, with everything going on, it doesn’t feel right to have fun, to laugh,” Ana looked down at that.

“Ana, we’re looking; we’re all looking for him. We’ve scoured most of this continent and the next, it’s wrong to give up, but not to have a little fun.”

“What about…” Ana did not finish that sentence; they both knew who she was referring too. Lately, Blaze had only gotten worse. He would break out into a crying fit every other hour, regardless of what was going on. Flash, he… he just seemed cold and aloof.

Starlight suspected that Flash was that way because of his brother and his brother was that way because of Flash. At a time when they should have come closer together, they could not be more far apart. It was heartbreaking to watch.

Starlight had tried everything she could think of, everything anyone could think of. Starlight, Ana, Vela, and even little Dayspring did everything in their power to try and cheer them up. It was all for naught. Flash was simply out of bucks to give, about anything.

Radiant and Cadance did their best but they were suffering just as much. ‘It must be hard being an adult’, Starlight realized. Radiant was in just as much pain, if not more than his sons were in. Yet he could not break down, not in front of them anyway. He was the adult, the one the others had to rely on. That did not stop Starlight from hearing his cries when he thought he was alone.

“If we could find Taz he’d know what to do,” Starlight said the words without thinking; it was like they simply wanted her to say them.

“You think so?” Ana perked up at that.

“I know so,” Starlight said with conviction in her voice.

“I-” The ringing of the bell over the door interrupted what Ana was about to say. She looked over Starlight’s shoulders and saw two pegasus walk in. They were chatting with each other, and loudly.

“Man I tell you, it was the strangest thing!” The dark red pegasus shouted.

“You sure you weren’t just drunk?” the light blue pegasus asked.

“Dude, I’ve been drunk. This was not that. I was flying over the Crystal Empire, minding my own business, when suddenly, bam! Just like that I start falling out of the sky.”

“I think you were just drunk.”

“Dude, I wasn’t drunk, it happened right over the northern border to the frozen north, just yesterday.”

“What were you doing all the way up there anyway?”

“What, I can’t go for a flight?”

“You were trying to impress a mare, weren’t you?”

Just then a flash of magic singled the departure of two unicorns from the shop. The two pegasus grinned at each other and took their seats for themselves.

“That was almost too easy, Fire,” the dark red pegasus said.

“Like taking candy from a baby, Ice. Or in this case, milkshakes from some dumb mares,” the light blue pegasus replied as he picked up their unfinished shake and started drinking it.

They both started laughing.

Author's Notes:

There's a fine line between revenge and justice that everyone tries to walk. Yet forgiveness is often the only thing we truly need.