“So... you’re Twi’s older brother, huh?” I asked with intrugue as we trotted our way back down the long hallway.

“That I am,” the burly unicorn guard proudly, yet humbly stated.

“Hm… Forgive me for this, but you two don’t exactly uh… look alike,” I observed.

“Yeah, we get that a lot. Twiley looks more like our mom, except her colors are a mix of both of our parents. I, on the other hand, look more like our dad, but I have our mom’s coat color. I also have dad's mane color with just a touch of mom's style... See the light blue stripes?"

"Indeed I do..."

"Yeah... Oh, and I grew to be much bigger than all of them. I'm one of the tallest in our immediate family.”

“I see…" I said, although I couldn't exactly gain a definitive image of what their parents looked like.

"I know, kind of a boring explanation. Plus, it's one of those things you'd have to see to believe."

"Oh, I believe you. I'ss jus' that I'm not good at picturin' parents... Heh heh."

"Well, if you're in Equestria for a good enough amount of time, maybe Twiley can introduce you to them. They always did want to make sure their little filly's being watched over by a big, strong stallion... Other than me, of course," he joked with a wink, which took me by complete surprise.

"O-oh! Uh... I..." I stammered, at a sudden loss for words and instantly short of breath at Armor's quip. This was Twilight's older brother of all ponies... "*whistle* Wow, um..."

"Shit..."

"Hahah, sorry... Couldn't resist. The guards that brought you here said I might've gotten a funny reaction out of you," he laughingly apologized. At that, I laughed with him, still very unsettled by the joke. Spike of course, had no problem with the joke, cracking up at me like he had been.

"Nice one, Shining!" the dragon complimented.

"I try, I try..." he humorously responded.

"Ah, screw this. I'm changin' the subject..."

"Soooo... How long have you been part of the Royal Guard here?” I asked, recovering from the embarrassing preemptive blow to my composure.

“Since I was a colt. I’d always dreamed of being a big, strong, tough guard who kept the Princess and all the citizens of Canterlot safe. I admired the sheer unfaltering dedication these guys have towards keeping Canterlot and Princess Celestia safe. I love this job almost as much as I love the ponies who helped in motivating me to do it. You could imagine my surprise when they asked me to become captain… They said it should've taken me at least thirty years! I set the record for being the youngest appointed captain yet.”

“Is that so?” I asked. “You mus' be quite the talented guardsman. You’re not afraid that the lives of ponies all over this city depend on your ability to lead, not t’ mention yours and all the other guards’ abilities t’ fight for your land and leader? Not t’ sound negative or nothin’, but man does that sound scary…”

“I’ll admit that at first, it had me a little rattled because of the possibility that I and all the other guards would be faced with situations where we’d have to lay our lives on the line… But after I realized how much of an impact I’d be making on other ponies’ lives, whether they acknowledge it or not, I cast aside my fears and worked towards becoming the best guard I could be… Not just for me, but for the sake of protecting other ponies. Plus, this is my dream job! And I've got a lot to show for it...” he answered with a chuckle. “My little sis is the most powerful unicorn in Equestria— second only to the Princesses themselves—, I’m a captain in Celestia’s Royal Guard, AND I’m married to the most beautiful, kind, gentle, loving mare in existence… man, life is good.”

“Wow, y'all got it made out here, huh? And Twi’s THAT strong…???” At this point, all doubts in my mind about Twilight’s importance in this world were cast aside. Twilight Sparkle, the most powerful unicorn in Equestria, sister to Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, who was a captain of an elite military regiment, niece-in-law AND protégé to this all-powerful Princess Celestia… And she managed to find and make friends with some random run-of-the-mill person like me of all the billions of people in a totally different world, by complete accident… If I didn’t feel like the luckiest person/pony in existence right then, I don’t know WHO would…

“Yeah… what can I say? We work hard at what we do, and love doing it… Our Cutie Marks are reminders of that.”

“I understand the Cutie Mark thing. But you, your sister, and your wife are all so modest about talents… I honestly would've expected some amount of bragging. I’ve never experienced such respectable individuals of power in my world… you all have my utmost admiration. I gotta let you know that.”

“Well, thanks!"

"Wait a second... I jus' realized somethin'..."

"What's up, Ty?"

"You're... married to a Princess, no?"

"Yes, indeed. I suppose you're wondering if that makes ME a Prince, huh?"

"You jus' read my mind."

"Hah. Well, to answer your question, yes I technically am. I say 'technically' because Cadence and I don't necessarily have a kingdom of our own to look over just yet. So, until we're assigned a place to rule over, we help Aunt Celestia with her duties while I resume my line of duty."

"Interestin'..."

"Yeah... Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?” Armor suggested.

“Uh, sure… well, as you know, I’m from a different world than this one. In that world, the rules work WAY different than here. There’s no such things as pegasi or unicorns, we have much more advanced technology in place of magic, and generally… my world ain't quite as bright as this one seems t' be... But tha'ss my own perspective. Other than those differences, our worlds are just about the same. Tha’ss the gist of it."

“Whoa… insane… I couldn’t imagine how I’d blend in if I went there… Say, how did Twiley handle herself there?”

“Oh, she was cool, calm, and collected most o’ the time! She kept a level head an’ showed such a strong interest in learnin’ about me an’ my world. Hell, she got us out of a huge jam we got caught in when I couldn’t do so myself when we took a bit of a field trip together. An’ on top o’ that, I made an awesome new friend in her. Man, I can tell ya one thing: she is FULL of surprises. Twilight sure is one amazing unicorn…” I said, looking at the ground as we continued journeying through the castle. So many thoughts about the lavender unicorn were racing through my head. Talking about Twilight suddenly made me feel warm inside... like I’d been wrapped in a blanket that was fresh out of a dryer. I wanted to crack a smile, but I resisted it for fear of her older brother’s reaction.

“You’re telling me! I’ve known her all her life, and even now, she still amazes me! I mean, you should’ve been there during my wedding! If it wasn’t for Twiley and her friends, Cadence and I would never have been married… Hay, I would’ve wound up marrying some parasitic imposter who feeds off of love like how a mosquito sucks blood."

"What??"

"Yeah, I almost wound up being hypnotized into marrying the queen of this race of parasites called the Changelings. Her true form was as hideous as could be. The real love of my life would’ve rotted away and perished in some deserted underground mines without me even knowing… while Twiley, her friends, the Princesses, and everypony in Equestria would’ve been…" He faltered as he brought his gaze to the ground. "...I don’t even know, but it would’ve been absolutely horrible. Just thinking about those rotten Changelings makes me angry…” I noticed his horn flickering with magic as he stared at the ground with a furrowed brow.

“Yo, relax. At least I’ss over now, right?” He snapped out of his daydream and looked at me with a sense of remorse.

“Y-yeah… it’s just that I still owe Twiley an apology for how I treated her during preparation for the ceremony…"

"What for?"

"When she and her friends came up here, she was the only one to notice right away that the Cadence I was about to marry wasn’t the real Cadence at all… or at the very least, she suspected that Cadence was evil… yet, time and time again, her warnings were ignored like she was crying 'wolf' and disregarded as her just being jealous of another mare in my life. Not to mention I was getting these awful migraines from putting up a force field around Canterlot, which the impostor used to her advantage when she took the form of my wife and began placing a hypnotizing spell on me that blinded me from my sense of reason."

"How stressful..."

"Yeah. Consequently, it made me become increasingly frustrated with Twiley’s attempts to expose Cadence as evil. It got to the point where she got fed up and outright accused the imposter of being evil in front of everypony. The fake Cadence put on some waterworks, and just like that, everyone, including myself and Princess Celestia, abandoned poor little Twiley… I was so upset with her that I told her that she shouldn’t even show up to the wedding, even after I told her wanted her as my best mare. I nearly disowned my only little sister in my blind devotion to that disgusting Queen Chrysalis…"

"Ouch..."

"Poor Twilight..."

"She must’ve been devastated at the sight of all those closest to her just callously turning their backs on her like that… I never looked back at my little sis or saw her again until she and the ACTUAL Cadence barged into the ceremony in the nick of time. Man, did I feel like a dummy once we finally defeated Chrysalis and her Changeling army… Twiley let everything that happened become water under the bridge and so did everyone else…"

"Well, that's good... right?"

"I... I guess, but the guilt eats at me to this day… I still think back and ask myself, ‘How could I accuse my own little sister of simply being jealous and spiteful when she was actually looking out for me like we’d done for each other countless times over the years?’ My anger at her was completely unjustified, and I haven’t found a way to properly apologize to her for it…” He seemed to be on the brink of shedding a tear as he squeezed his eyes shut. I couldn’t help but place a hoof on his shoulder.

“Yo… if Twi was able t’ get over that, I’m sure she’d want you to as well. The past is already said an’ done, but you can’t let it keep beatin’ you up like this. Learn from your mistakes, don’t kill yaself over ‘em. It makes you a better pony. An’ given that you was hypnotized by a fake Cadence into treatin’ Twi the way you did, your behavior doesn’t seem to be all your fault. I get that it ain’t easy t’ forget somethin’ as emotional as lashin’ out at a family member, but in the end, y’all still family. I know Twi knows that. Tha’ss why she chose to forgive you without needin’ an apology from you. You’re her family, an’ she loves you unconditionally. I mean, ask Spike. He knows.”

“Yeah,” Spike continued. “I’ve done a lot of dumb things in my time with Twilight… and yes, she’s gotten mad at me for some of the things I did… but in the end, she always finds a way to forgive me before I even get a chance to say ‘sorry.’ She loves me, Shining Armor. And I’m just her assistant. You’re her B.B.B.F.F., so you KNOW she loves you, too.” The white unicorn brightened up and smiled.

“You know what…? You guys are right,” he said, seeming relieved by the advice given to him by Spike and me. “I shouldn't let my guilt blind me to the fact that Twiley and I are family… That doesn’t go to say I don’t feel like I should talk to her about it, though…”

“Tha’ss perfectly fine,” I assured. “Jus’ don’t let somethin’ like a disagreement tear the two o’ you apart or let your resultin’ guilty feelin’s tear you apart. I’m sure you been together too long t’ let that happen.”

“That we have… Do you have any siblings back in your world?”

“Yea, one. But she’s MUCH younger than I am. Still a chi— err, foal. Much too young to understand the stuff we’re talkin’ about.” I chuckled a little.

“I hope your relationship with her turns out similarly to Twiley’s and mine… y’know, minus the disagreements.” he said as we reached the end of the hallway and found ourselves back at the stairwell. Down at the bottom, we noticed Twilight and Cadence, casually conversing with one another and laughing. “Hey, girls!” Both unicorns turned their heads and put on gleeful smiles as they saw us.

“Honey!” Cadence called to Shining Armor. We quickly made our way down the stairs to regroup. The unicorn guard captain and his Princess wife were quick to embrace one another as if they’d not seen each other in weeks; kissing and hugging each other tightly for a prolonged amount of time. I let out a chuckle and averted my gaze, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable. To my surprise, Twilight wrapped her forelegs around my neck and pulled me close.

“Hi, Ty,” she happily greeted as she held me firmly. If I didn’t know better, I’d say I felt the purple unicorn even nuzzling me... but that could just be me.

“Uh, hey Twi! I um… missed you, too,” I said with uncertainty as I rubbed a hoof on her back.

“Hey, don’t forget about me!” Spike complained as he hopped off of my back.

“How could I forget my #1 assistant?” asked Twilight as she let go of me and hugged the little dragon.

“You got enough for me over there, Twiley?” Shining Armor joked. The suddenly-excited unicorn mare said nothing as she practically tackled her brother in a loving embrace. The two siblings hugged tightly for a bit, and before they separated, he lovingly rubbed his hoof on her head, frazzling her mane, eliciting a childlike-- er FOAL-like giggle from his younger sister.

“You seem happier than usual…” I said, a little confused by her newly ecstatic mood. “What gives?”

“Oh, nothing…” she dreamily responded. “I’m just… suddenly in a really good mood,” she added as she cast her gaze at me with half-open eyes and a smile that would’ve made my heart melt, had it not been for the wave of awkwardness I was feeling in reaction to her sudden change in demeanor.

“Alright then…?” I looked at Spike on my right, who looked back at me and shrugged in an equal amount of confusion as I. My eyes shifted up to Cadence, who stood there smiling at me like I’d just given her a present. “So… how’d you girls enjoy your alone time?”

“We didn’t do much…” Cadence answered, still smiling that same sweet smile at me that was honestly starting to weird me out.

"Oookay...? Why the hell is she starin' at me like that...?"

“We just talked,” continued Twilight. “How’d you and Spike like your walk around the castle?”

“We ain’t get very far, but we definitely got along well,” I answered with a smile. “Spike’s awesome!”

“Yeah, Ty’s a pretty cool guy himself!” Spike complimented back.

“Oh, and we ran into Shinin’ Armor here. I gotta tell ya, Twi; you got one real good brother here. Don’t let ‘im go for anything.”

“I wouldn’t DREAM of letting my B.B.B.F.F. go, no matter what!” Twi proudly informed. I looked at Shining Armor and saw him smiling wide as if Twilight had just given him the highest praise imaginable.

“You don’t know how much that means to me, Twiley,” he said as he pulled her into another heartfelt hug. Suddenly, a *BURP* accompanied by a burst of green fire emitted from Spike. A second later, a scroll materialized in the air. Twilight broke her hug with her Big Brother Best Friend Forever, grabbed the scroll, opened it and read it:

My Most Faithful Student,

You may now visit me. I am in the throne room.

Princess Celestia

“Well, looks like this is finally it…” Twilight said. “The moment of truth is here… The moment you finally get to meet the most powerful pony in all the land, Ty.”

“As if I wasn’t nervous enough…” I joked.

“Don’t worry; she’s magnanimous and absolutely kindhearted. You’ll love her, I promise!” Twilight assured me with a smile as she placed a hoof on my back and kept it there. As much as I enjoyed Twilight’s company (and I REALLY enjoyed her company), I was confused as to why she was suddenly so gleeful and touchy-feely. I wondered if it had something to do with that talk she and Cadence had or the fact that she was now with her brother and sister-in-law for, from what I understand, the first time in a while. Nonetheless, I smiled back at her.

“You sure you guys are just friends?” Shining Armor jokingly asked. “You seem awfully close…” This prompted Twilight to realize that she still had her hoof on my back. She quickly removed it and let out a small, shy titter. I wasn’t quite as flustered as my lavender companion, given how many times we'd already been the butt of the 'dating' joke, but I was close. Shining Armor and Cadence shared a good laugh at our expense. Twi and I could only force awkward chortles to lighten our mounting discomfort.

“What was that about Celestia being magnets?” Spike asked in bewilderment. He succeeded in calming Twilight down with his question, since it prompted a much-needed subject change.

“Not magnets; magnanimous. You know… benevolent? Compassionate? Empathetic?” Spike stared blankly at her as if she were speaking in a completely different language. “Nice, Spike. She’s nice.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Well, let’s get going! We’ve waited long enough, don’tcha think?”

“You sure got that right…” I answered, now completely on-edge about meeting Princess Celestia. With that, Twi, Spike and I bid our farewells to Shining Armor and Princess Cadence as we trotted all the way up the extensive staircase. We came up to some HUGE, decorative double doors, manned by two more pegasus guards.

“You may enter.” One of them simply stated as the doors opened, seemingly on their own. We took no time to hesitate as we walked into the room…