Siblings, or Strangers? [private]

[Radiant Star]

Year 4, Dec 12
12:45 AM

Radiant wore a content smile on her face as she made her way through the dimly-lit shop she owned and cared for so dearly. Some items had come in from her recent trip out to see a client, and she needed to put them into the proper cases for display and sale. A quiet swear left the slender mare's mouth as a statuette fell down to the floor with a heavy thump that could be heard throughout the shop as well as the living areas right above her.

Picking up the item again with a careful forehoof, she looked it over and sighed in relief when it was perfectly unharmed. The earth pony mare her way towards one of the cases meant for items of its kind and placed it inside before closing the case up and locking it once more.

She always did prefer to do her organization during the late night when her shop was closed. No customers to make a bad impression on with fumbles like the one she had just made.

[Pike Vanguard]

Pike jolted awake, the thumping from below startled the earth pony as he shot out of bed. Taking care of the shop when Radiant was gone to meet clients was a chore he'd rather not have but was necessary. Dealing with customers was tough and certainly he wasn't getting into the swing of things yet.

"Raddie?" he whispered around the bedroom hoping to spot his friend and lover. Shaking his head, he proceeded downstairs to the shop front, wrapped in an old cotton robe. He spotted the creamy mare down below and gave her a soft smile.

"Honey, you gave me a scare. I thought there was a robber or worse..." Yawning deeply, Pike scratched his mane with a forehoof and relaxed against a counter. "Why are you up in the middle of the night, my love?" asked the light tan stallion. "Are you doing work?" his voice was loud enough to be heard upstairs, not hiding his tiredness with loud yawns.

[Dawn Star]

Dawn slept peacefully in the up stairs guest bedroom dreaming about how her life would of been if there was no attack on Equestria if her service was not to prevent a invading army from taking her home but to protect ponies from smaller threats and to help them with there problems ..she saw ..a very peaceful environment ..in ...fillydelphia the sun was shining, birds where chirping no destruction or death anywhere ...there was more ..ponies ..everywhere all kinds. Ponies she knew from heart and memory ..she saw ..a Pegasus ..her mother to her right and ...a earth pony ...her father to her left they both smiled at her and hugged their daughter ..there were other ponies including Aunts and Uncles ..Grandmas and Grandpas..Cousins and another pony that she never met before but she felt like she would do anything for .. but the pony she wanted to meet again was her brother Comet which she thought he was lost.. but yet there he was standing right in front of her ..she ran up and gave him a big hug ..then she tired to ask him some questions ..but as soon as she could she anything there was large explosion off in the distance ..followed by warning sirens and screaming ..before she knew it the happy place she was in turned into panic and chaos ..canons blasted as flams started blazing in houses and trees ..the ponies that were present fled or tried to as the shells fell from the sky ..Dawn ran with the retreating group but stomped when she saw a pony calling for help she rushed to aid but she was to late as another shell struck and another and another ..she was so scared and looked at the sky for the sunshine she saw earlier but she saw a shell that headed straight for her instead...and then she woke up in the safety of the guest room.

Dawn breathed heavily in her bed looking around rapidly at the environment she got up and rushed to the window ,she pulled back the curtains and gave a sigh of relief "Still ..in manehattan" she said in a exhausted tone even though this is not where she really wanted to be but nothing had changed she was still in a world occupied by the griffons. Dawn headed back to her bed but heard a thumping noise from down stairs like something fell ..or someone knocked it over "that didn't sound good" she whispered as she went to investigate.

As she went down the stairs cautiously to go see who or what made the thump noise she heard pike's voices ..it sounded like he was excited ..another costumer she thought.Dawn dropped her guard and continued her way down the steps to meet up with the Earth pony and the late night costumer that was preventing her from sleeping. She walked in "Pike its the middle of the night why are you up..making so much noise ?" she yawned and looked over to see a cream colored mare "who's this? "she pointed out still half a sleep.

[Radiant Star]

Radiant turned to Pike and gave the stallion one of her usual soft chuckles, moving up to him to place a quick peck on his lips. Smiling with her eyes half-lidded, she moved back away from her lover. "Sorry for waking you, love, but I got quite a few more items from a seller and had to put them out on display before heading to bed."

The taller mare paused in place as a familiar voice hit her, causing her ears to perk up on her head. Slowly turning to face the source of the voice, Radiant's violate eyes grew wide before the mare they belonged to approached the blue pegasus with the soft jingling of her silver bangle around her right hind leg serving as the only noise in the room.

After a few short moments of staring, she finally spoke up. "Dawn...? Little Dawny, is it really you?" She asked, raising a hoof towards the other mare while forgetting that she probably wouldn't be recognized by the pony. "I was so worried about you fighting in those battles..."

[Pike Vanguard]

"Dawn. Dawny?" Pike wondered at the familial name and then his eyes lit up as well. He followed Radiant's hoofsteps over to the blue pegasus and greeted her for the second time. "I should have known when you came into this house! I hardly could recognize you all grown up!" The stallion walked in between the two of them and looked at Radiant.

"It's Dawny, Raddie! She's grown up and apparently went off to war and back from the worst of it." In a sense of awe, Pike's mouth went slack. "When I left for the guard you didn't even have your cutie mark yet!" he exclaimed to his now more familiar guest and friend.

[Dawn Star]

Dawn looked around in confusion she knew pike a nice acquaintance but by her surprise he apparently knew her first which was weird to her but seemed kind of familiar until He addressed her to the cream colored mare "huh?"  she said "But you and I just met ..a day ago Pike ..how do you know about ..my cutie mark and my military carrier ?" she asked trying so hard to put everything together.

[Radiant Star]

Radiant took a deep breath when the reaction she had forgotten about came back to her, knocking her back to reality. Closing her eyes and allowing her mane to cover half of her face, she began to speak. "I'm not surprised you don't remember Pike, you two never interacted too much... But as for me..." She trailed off, opening her eyes to point her gaze directly towards Dawn's. "This is going to sound unbelievable at first, but I assure you that all of my words ring true... You remember your older brother Comet Streak, don't you...?"

Falling silent once more, Radiant turned to the side to show the pegasus the cutie mark she hoped she would remember. "Dawn...it's me."

[Pike Vanguard]

Pike approached Dawn even closer, the mare looking more familiar to him with each passing second of observing her. "Amazing... You must have been really young not to remember me at all, Dawny."

The stallion moved back over to Raddie and wrapped a foreleg around her barrel. He nodded to every single word his marefriend said and added at the end of it, "Raddie, er... Radiant Star was Comet Streak and now she's... well, Radiant!" Pike squeezed her a little tighter. We were always hanging out with each other when we were little, just so turns out that she spotted me and invited me for coffee. I wouldn't have recognized her otherwise." Finishing his sentence with a quick peck to her cheek, Pike looked in the pegasus' direction. "This is amazing. Siblings reunited in our own shop!" he beamed.

[Dawn Star]

Dawn sat there motionless looking at them both observing their faces and features that felt sort of familiar but questionable as her tiredness started to fade "your ..pike.. vanguard? and your ..comet Streak?" she said slowly approaching them "is it really you comet?..is ..it ..really you ?" she questioned trying to understand the situation.

[Radiant Star]

Radiant turned to slowly face Dawn, closing her eyes once more as a calm smile crossed her muzzle. "Yes Dawny, it's me, your brother. Or...I should say your sister now." She replied in a confident tone of voice. "It's a long story of how I ended up in this form you see now, but the important parts are as follows... Growing up, I always felt something was wrong with me...my body. I never felt comfortable in my own skin, not once. But...when this war happened...the shock threw open the doors of my realization... I wanted to be a mare more than anything..."

[Pike Vanguard]

Pike nuzzled his face into Radiant's and closed his eyes. "She came to me with this realization as well. I would never have guessed, but she caught my attention after explaining all of this." His hoof graced her chin gently, brushing against it with tender care. "She was special to me as a foal and I to her it seems. I'm just so glad that I survived the war to see my friend again." He opened his eyes and looked at Dawn. "I'm glad we all did."

[Dawn Star]

Dawn said nothing, her action were enough to understand as she ran up to Radiant with out thought or hesitation once she got close to her sister she jumped to her extending her arms and wings hoping Radiant would get the message.

[Radiant Star]

Radiant caught her sister in her forelegs, holding her close as a soft laughter escaped her. Gently rubbing the blue and yellow mare's back, a few tears of joy rolled down the taller mare's cheeks. "I was so worried about you being out there...fighting... I always hoped I'd get to see you again...but when the nation fell, I got scared that you had been lost forever..." She said quietly, burying her face into her sister's shoulder. "But now...you're back...and I won't let you leave again."

[Pike Vanguard]

Pike turned his head away and began to tear up as well. His eyes gave the city outside a softened look before he moved in closer to his love and her sister. Now very close to the two mares, the stallion rested both forehooves on their shoulders, one on Radiant and the other on Dawn. "This is truly amazing, having you both here is something that I could never forget. Surviving the war was a blessing in itself, but both of us alive..." He nuzzled Dawn's face to emphasize his point. "Radiant and I won't bear to lose you, or myself like that again. Promise us you'll stay here and be safe."

[Dawn Star]

Dawn felt the loving hug and back rubs from her older sister and the gentle nuzzles from pike telling her that she finally after leaving them behind, Fighting to protect them and then realizing that they were lost to fate that they and others didn't deserve ..she finally found them again ..her family she looked up at Radiant and Pike and smiled answering pike's question "I Promise" she replied with some tears rolling down her face ...It was truly a joyous homecoming.

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