Title:           Captain Anonymous - Chapter 15 - Oh Brother
Author:          somewritefag
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/r2dNR90Z
First Edit:      Sunday 9th of August 2015 10:35:47 AM CDT
Last Edit:       Last edit on: Sunday 9th of August 2015 12:19:23 PM CDT

                                        Captain Anonymous - Chapter 15 - Oh Brother
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>You and Shining Armor walk side by side back to Twilight’s castle, making idle small talk, though he avoids the subject of his early arrival. You can sense something’s up, but you try not to worry about it too much. He’s friendly to you, you even joke around with each other a bit until you arrive at the castle. He leads you to one of the smaller rooms in the castle, to a table with only two chairs.
 
>”Have a seat, Anon,” he smiles before slamming the door shut behind himself and locking it, the smile instantly vanishing. “I insist.”
 
>You feel a magical aura surround you, forcefully sitting you down in the chair across from Shining Armor.
 
“Shiny? What’s this all about?” You ask innocently, feeling your heart start to race, though fear hasn’t quite started to set in yet.
 
>Shining Armor takes his seat and looks directly into your eyes, his expression indecipherable, though he seems rather calm. You begin to wonder if there might have been an incident of some kind that you hadn’t been able to account for in your plan.
 
“Is this about the plan? Is everything still proceeding according to schedule?” you ask in genuine curiosity and concern. “We weren’t expecting you until midday tomorrow – not that it’s not nice to see you - but what’s up?”
 
>”Nothing’s wrong with the plan, Anon,” Shining replies calmly, “everything’s proceeding as it should. That’s not why I’m here.”
 
>You just give him a curious glance, not saying anything.
 
>”I’m here early regarding a matter of a more… personal nature.”
 
“Personal nature? Of what sort? I haven’t offended you in some way, have I?”
 
>Shining just shakes his head, giving a sigh, standing up and beginning to pace.
 
>”You know, Anon, regardless of my military history, I’ve never considered myself a violent stallion,” he begins, “you’ve experienced my mercy first-hand. You know I’m not such a bad guy.”
 
“Of course not, Shiny, what’s wrong buddy? Are you having second thoughts about all of this? Come on, we can talk this out, whatever it is…”
 
>You start to get up but feel yourself forced back into your seat.
 
>“You’ve been around Cadance and I enough times to know us fairly well at this point, would you agree?”
 
>You nod, still not sure what he’s getting at.
 
>“And I’m sure you’re well aware of what my wife’s special talent is.”
 
>You nod once again obliviously.
 
>Shining returns to his seat, crossing his forehooves on the table as he looks directly into your eyes.
 
>”I’m going to give you one chance to answer me honestly, Anon, so choose your next words wisely.”
 
>You gulp as a somewhat fierce look falls over his face, you’re locked in place in the chair now, unable to move.
 
>”What, exactly, is the nature of your relationship with my sister? I’m going to warn you again Anon not to lie to me. I want the truth, and I want it right now,” he says with a snort as your eyes go wide. “Don’t try to play stupid either, you really don’t want to test my patience right now. So, answer me.”
 
>You start to shake a little in fear. You don’t really believe he’ll hurt you, at least not seriously, but he does seem sort of pissed off right now. You inhale deeply, deciding it’s best to be bluntly honest, the last thing you need to do right now is create another rift between the two of you. You let out a sigh as you explain, avoiding eye contact.
 
“Shining, I know you’re a good brother to Twilight, she looks up to you and really loves you a lot, and I’m sure you love her just as much and want to protect her, as any big brother would,” you begin. Shining simply nods, waiting for you to continue. “I want you to know right now though, you’re not the only one that cares deeply for her. I don’t want you to hate me for this, or to be upset with her, for what I’m about to tell you. Please try to be level-headed, even if you’re enraged by what I have to say, because it’s the honest truth.”
 
>You make eye contact with him and lock it before continuing
 
“I’m in love with your sister, Shining. Deep, romantic love. Deeper love than any I’ve ever felt in my entire lifetime. She feels the same way about me. We’re madly in love with each other, and before you beat me to a pulp I just want you to know that I worship that mare, she’s my everything, and I would die for her. I’d never do a damn thing to hurt her.” A tear streams down your cheek as you speak, which you quickly wipe away. “Nobody in my life has ever made me as happy as she does, nobody has ever made me feel so loved, needed, and wanted. I know, I know, we’re different species, but that doesn’t matter to me at all. It doesn’t matter to her either. Our love is real, it’s genuine, and it’s stronger than anything in the world. What I want to know from you, is how did you figure it out? We’ve been careful to avoid being too affectionate in public, we know our love is controversial, or at least we believed it would be to most ponies. What tipped you off?”
 
>Shining’s expression doesn’t change as he replies.
 
>”Like I said, you know my wife’s special talent. As we were working on our project, she sensed it any time the two of you were near to one another. She said the feeling that she got from the two of you was nearly overwhelming for her. She wasn’t sure she was reading into things correctly the first couple times, but each successive experience further confirmed what she was sensing – the romantic attraction between the two of you.”
 
>You close your eyes, half-expecting a hoof to slam into your face at any moment.
 
>”She also told me this, Anon,” Shining says as his tone of voice becomes even more serious than it already is. “She said that she sensed nothing but genuine love and the purest of intentions from you every single time. She emphasized that repeatedly when I told her I was coming here to confront you about it. So, now that I know for sure…” he says.
 
>Shining dives across the table, tackling you to the floor and sending your chair flying across the room, hugging you and roughly rubbing a hoof on your head.
 
>”HAH! My baby sister is finally in love! After all these years, she’s finally found someone to make her happy,” he says, hugging you again. You’re absolutely stunned by his reaction.
 
“Uh…” you stammer out in confusion.
 
>”What, did you really think I was going to hurt you or something? Anon, I’m ecstatic! You have no idea how lonely she’s been all these years. Whenever I talked with her about a particular colt or stallion that she liked or that rejected her in some way, she would simply hang her head and sigh, and say things like ‘maybe some ponies just aren’t meant to be loved,’ and as her big brother it broke my heart every time to see her like that, to hear her say those kinds of things about herself. It absolutely crushed me. Even with everything else that’s happened in her life, I know that that particular flavor of pain has been her constant, unwelcome companion throughout her entire life. I also know she dwelled on it a lot more than she ever let show.”
 
>Shining squeezes you a bit tighter.
 
>”HAH! I’m going to have a brother in law!” he says, gently rapping a hoof on your head. You’ve never seen this side of him, he’s acting like a young colt roughhousing with his best friend.
 
“And it doesn’t bother you that I’m not a pony?”
 
>He rolls his eyes with a loud PFFFT!
 
>”Anon, you’ve been here long enough you might as well be a pony.”
 
>He jumps up and starts prancing around the room in giddy laughter.
 
>”My little Twily’s in love! My little Twily’s in love! HAHA! My baby sister doesn’t have to hurt anymore! She’s finally found somepony to make her happy! That hole in her heart is gone forever now! Oh sweet Celestia wait until mom and dad find out!”
 
>Your heart skips a beat.
 
“Whoa whoa whoa, wait a sec, mom and dad? I’d love to meet your parents, but Twilight seemed terrified when I brought up that prospect to her. Honestly I’m flabbergasted and completely blown away by YOUR reaction. I half expected you to beat me within an inch of my life.”
 
>Shining tackle-hugs you once again
 
>”For Celestia’s sake, Anon, how could ANY of us hate you for making Twily happy!? If Cadance says your love is pure and that you’re not taking advantage of her, then I believe her. I trust my wife’s judgement one hundred percent when she says you’re not going to hurt Twily, and I also believe everything you just told me is sincere and straight from the heart.”
 
>You hug Shining Armor back, still unsure how to react.
 
>”If it will make you feel better, Anon, me and Cadance can be there when you and Twilight decide it’s time to tell our parents. Knowing that we support you one hundred percent might go a long way in smoothing things over with them.”
 
“I don’t know what to say,” you stammer. “You have no idea what this means to me, Shining, to have this kind of validation from a member of her family. I wish I could express what I’m feeling right now in words. I was definitely not expecting anything like this to happen today. Her friends reacted quite negatively when they all found out at first… though by now I think most of them have started to come to terms with it at least. I really thought you’d react the same way when you finally found out. I’m relieved that I was wrong.”
 
>Shining stands up, peeking out the door down both sides of the adjoining corridor to make sure you’re both still alone. He approaches you again and leans in to whisper in your ear.
 
>”So when are you going to propose?”
 
>You jump back like you’d just been thrown a red hot coal.
 
>”Pfft, oh, come on, Anon, we both know you’re going to. I know you’re probably going to want our parents’ blessing first though, being the gentlecolt you are. When you start planning to pop the question, I wanna know, buddy. If me and Cadance can do anything to make it more exciting, emotional, and memorable for the two of you, don’t hesitate to let us know.”
 
>Your cheeks are bright red with embarrassment.
 
“You’re right… I DO want to marry her someday,” you stutter, feeling light headed as you sit back in the chair. “I brought the subject up to her once and she just squirmed and shook and hesitated, she was completely flustered, so we changed the subject. Do you think… do you think she’ll say yes? I mean the mere mention of it made her nearly have a panic attack.”
 
>”When the time is right, Anon, there’s no doubt in my mind she’ll say yes. I hope you realize that now that she’s got you, she’s never going to let you go, hah.”
 
“And I don’t plan to ever let HER go, either,” you reply sincerely.
 
>”Sweet Celestia I’m just so darn pumped up right now! I need to burn off some of this energy, whaddya say, you wanna go get some exercise with me?”
 
“What did you have in mind?”
 
>”Hmm,” he replies as he rubs his chin with a hoof.
 
>“Well, you’re kind of a military guy just like me, how would you feel about a little sparring?” he asks with a mischievous grin on his muzzle.
 
“I’m afraid you’d have me at a disadvantage there,” you reply, tapping on his horn.
 
>”Oh, well we can have a no-magic rule if you want, I’m fine with that.”
 
>It HAS been a while since you’ve put your physical combat skills to the test. This might be fun as long as things don’t go too far. Finally you nod your head with a smile.
 
“I’m game. Where should we go?”
 
>”Let’s go back outside somewhere, where the ground is softer,” he says as he opens the door and proceeds through it. You walk side-by-side until you find a nice little clearing nearby with a patch of soft dirt about a hundred feet or so in diameter. You both look around and take in your surroundings. Definitely much less of a chance of getting seriously hurt here than anywhere else.
 
>”This seem like a good spot?”
 
“Yeah, this will do. Rules? How hard do you want to go at it? I have a pretty high tolerance for pain.”
 
>”Me too. No holds-barred, don’t hold anything back. Sound good?” he asks, taking a position in front of you.
 
“I’m down, as long as we agree to take none of this personally.”
 
>”Agreed, nothing personal.”
 
“How are we to decide who wins?”
 
>”Hmm….” He says, “I think I have an idea.”
 
>He levitates a stick and draws a large circle in the soft dirt around you, though it doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for maneuvering.
 
>“Whichever one of us forces the other of this circle the most times wins. If you step outside of the circle on purpose or on accident you lose the round too. Best of 7?”
 
”Best of 9,” you smile as you begin to crack your knuckles.
 
>”Deal,” he says, returning your smile. “Shame we don’t have a referee though.”
 
“Who needs a referee? We’re both honest enough. Now, if there’s nothing further, let’s get it on, Shiny!” you say, crouching slightly and assuming a slightly defensive position, your weight mostly on your back foot. “I’ll try not to get that beautiful pristine white coat of yours too bloody,” you say, provoking him to charge you, both of you laughing as he does so.
 
>At the last moment just as he’s about to make contact you spin around, catching him by his horn and forcing him to the ground. You use your other arm to lock up his forelegs, which he’s fiercely trying to kick out at you, as you push against the ground with your feet. Just as you’re about to reach the edge of the circle Shining catches you off guard with a swift kick to the stomach with his hind legs, not relenting afterwards as he tackles you at your midsection, pushing with all of his might causing you to stumble even further backwards.
 
>It’s difficult to fight back having the air knocked out of you like that, and you feel yourself slowly sliding backwards despite your best efforts to brace yourself. Shining continues pushing with all of his might, ignoring your attempts to push him away by grabbing his horn, his face, pushing on his shoulders. Seconds later your left leg slides out of the circle and Shining releases you, proudly proclaiming victory.
 
“You’re a hell of a lot stronger than you look, you know that?” you gasp, still trying to catch your breath, crouched over a bit. “Gimme a sec here.”
 
>Shining Armor struts around in front of you with a smug look on his face.
 
>”That’s 1-0 in my favor, Captain,” he says with a wink. “You can still surrender you know, there’s no shame in admitting when you’ve been defeated by a superior opponent,” he says, mocking you, clearly enjoying himself.
 
“No holds barred?”
 
>”No holds barred.”
 
“Nothing personal?”
 
>”Nothing personal. You ready for round 2?” he asks, pawing at the dirt, that smug grin still plastered on his muzzle. You smile back at him.
 
“Bring it on,” you say, gesturing for him to advance on you as you extend your arm and flex your fingers toward yourself.
 
>The two of you circle around, sizing each other up, trying to make note of any weaknesses, each waiting for the other to attack or drop his guard.
 
>You seize a momentary lapse in Shining’s attention and rapidly advance on him, balling up a fist and swinging upward. He whimpers for a fraction of a second as he reels from the punch, blood immediately starting to dribble from his busted lip. He doesn’t give you the chance to come in for a second, spinning around and kicking you as hard as he can in the chest with his hind legs. You come back at him with a fake uppercut, grabbing him when he evades just as you’d expected, striking him hard in the side of his head with the palm of your hand as you pull his left foreleg out from under him with the other.
 
>You force him to the ground and get on top of him, your knee digging into his back, forcing his foreleg into a stress position and his face in the dirt, you hear him grunting and grumbling as he tries to fight back, his hind hooves leaving deep ruts in the ground as he tries to escape your grasp.
 
“Hmm, I like it up here. Maybe after I win I’ll give you the privilege of letting me ride you back to the castle,” you tease.
 
>He makes the mistake of trying to bring both hind hooves up to you as he struggles to roll over onto his side, giving you the opportunity to seize them both with your free arm, picking him up and tossing him with just enough force to throw him out of the circle, landing face-first in the dirt.
 
“One-all Shining my friend,” you gloat.
 
>He wipes the dirt and blood from his face as he re-enters the circle, still smiling.
 
>”So you got lucky once,” he says, rolling his eyes, “but I’m afraid you won’t be taking another round off me, Anon.”
 
“Ready for round three?”
 
>Shining gives a quick nod, and the two of you posture up again. He fakes a charge toward you, stopping just short of you as you fall for it and evade, attempting to grab where his horn would have been, instead spinning around and kicking you right in the knee, causing you to fall into a kneeling position where a front hoof immediately makes contact with your face, blood immediately flowing from your nose. You mentally curse at yourself for letting him get the best of you. Another blow to the face to further stun you, and he grabs your shirt in his teeth, dragging you to the edge of the circle.
 
>You slip out of your shirt causing Shining to lose his balance for a moment, while simultaneously sweep-kicking him off his hooves, jumping onto his side, grabbing both sets of his legs and holding them as tightly as you can, sweat starting to pour off of you as blood drips down onto Shining’s coat. Once again you force him into a stress position to weaken him. He grits his teeth and pushes back against you with all of his might, but you have the upper hand, having much better leverage over him. >For a split second you lean too far forward and he bites into your forearm as hard as he can, catching you by surprise as you reel from the sudden pain, letting go just enough that he’s able to escape and administer another painful full-force hindleg kick to your side as you try to regain your footing, knocking you flat on your back. Shining uses the opportunity to put distance between the two of you rather than attempting to take advantage of your position for fear it might backfire on him.
 
>You very slowly begin to scramble back to your feet, holding your side and groaning as you do so.
 
“You are one tough little pony,” You mutter, “I definitely made a mistake in underestimating you. You aren’t quite the easy prey I was expecting coming into this,” you smile widely, wiping blood and dirt from your face, “so much the better.”
 
>Shining also has a huge grin on his muzzle, flicking his tail a few times, daring you to come after him. You charge at him, stopping, juking, faking, but he’s with you the whole way. A swing, and a miss. Fake left hook into an attempted kick to the midsection, deflected. He’s got your number now and you know it.
 
>Shit.
 
>Another kick to the midsection and you’re on your knees yet again. You backhand him as he attempts to grab your shoulder in his teeth, getting in a decent punch to his stomach, but he’s right back on you, forcing you onto your back, stomping hard on your right arm at the crease of your elbow, a blow painful enough to take your breath away and make that arm go numb, before you feel his teeth dig into your shoulder, dragging you and throwing you out of the circle, leaving deep teethmarks on your shoulder that begin to bleed.
 
“Well played, well played,” you gasp, wiping sweat from your brow.
 
>“2-1. You sure you’re okay to continue?” Shining asks.
 
>You roll your head, cracking our neck as you step back into the circle.
 
“Continue? HAH. I’ve only just begun. This is the most fun I’ve had in years.”
 
>You grab your shirt, using it to wipe the blood, sweat, and dirt from your face.
 
>”You’re playing from behind now, Anon. It’s not looking too good for you. Maybe you’ll be the one carrying ME back to the castle on your back, HAH!”
 
“Could you imagine the look on Twilight’s face if she saw that?”
 
>You both burst into hysterical laughter, taking a very short break before continuing, shaking his hoof and patting him on the shoulder before beginning the next round, a reassuring gesture to affirm that there’s still no malice involved here, that your sparring is still nothing more than a friendly contest of skill.
 
>As the next round begins you immediately rush him as if you’re going to throw your whole weight behind a punch, instead stopping and immediately shifting your weight in the opposite direction when he attempts to evade it, delivering a swift kick to his stomach, stumbling away from you. You don’t give him a chance to recover, delivering a series of punches to his face and sides until he falls to the ground. When you go to grab a hind leg to drag him out of the circle, he rolls out of the way and you catch a hoof to the eye and another to the nose. The intense pain immediately tells you your nose is broken, your eyes immediately watering and obfuscating your view. Another hard kick to the face lays you flat out on your back outside of the circle.
 
>You groan, coughing up blood that’s pouring down the back of your throat from your broken nose.
 
>“That’s 3-1 now, in case you lost count.”
 
“Damn Shiny,” you gasp, still spitting out blood, your eye beginning to swell shut as you slowly get back to your feet, “you’re doing a hell of a job of making me look bad.”
 
>He levitates your shirt over and wipes your face, letting you lean on him and helping you back to your feet. Shining is still bleeding from that cut on his lip, but you’re clearly in worse shape than he is.
 
“I must’ve gone soft over the years,” you gasp, still leaning against him, his coat soaked with sweat and spattered with blood.
 
>”You make it sound like it’s been easy for me,” he replies, panting heavily, “you might be losing but you’re really agile and quite cunning. Very much a worthy opponent, don’t sell yourself short, Anon.”
 
>He stands firmly in place, allowing you to rest your entire body weight on him, supporting you when you begin to fall. He doesn’t bother asking if you want to quit, sure that your pride won’t allow you to concede quite yet. Instead he patiently lets you take your time to recover, momentarily going into “big brother” mode. Despite the ferocity of his combat, he makes it clear that you can still lean on him, literally in this case. You eventually make it back to your feet, resting a hand on his back to steady yourself. The bleeding has subsided a little but you’re still in pretty bad shape. Your right arm is still pretty numb from that stomp and you can’t see out of one eye.
 
>”Ready?”
 
>You nod.
 
>Shining immediately rushes you, lowering his head and diving between your legs, lifting you completely off the ground before you can react, coming to an abrupt stop at the edge of the circle, throwing you out of it once again. You hit the ground hard, and get the wind knocked out of you badly. Shining approaches you when he sees you’re not attempting to get up.
 
>”Hey, Anon, we’re done here buddy,” he says, levitating you and draping your torso over his back.
 
>You’re in no condition to protest. Your bare chest rests against the slippery sweaty stallion’s back as he carries you, using his magic to keep you from falling when necessary, your feet dragging the ground behind him.
 
“Remind me… to never piss you off…” you cough and sputter, trying to laugh as blood drains from your nose and mouth. You feel more than a little embarrassed that he managed to clean your clock, but that’s all you feel. There’s not a hint of anger or malice, from either of you. In a strange this was a bonding experience for the two of you.
 
>Once he gets you back inside, he starts tending to your injuries, which are much worse than his. You absolutely refuse to go to the clinic or the hospital, insisting you’re fine and that whatever first aid he administers will be sufficient.
 
>“I’m going to try to reset your broken nose. Hold your breath and bite down on this, Anon,” he says, putting a folded towel into your mouth, “this is going to be extremely painful,” he says.
 
>”On the count of three. Ready? One tw-“
 
>You feel your nasal bones violently forced back into place, the unexpected agony causing you to gasp and bite down extremely hard on the towel, screaming into it, your body tensing up and rocking with pain for several seconds.
 
“You said the count of three, dammit…” you complain.
 
>”You’re not the first wounded soldier I’ve tended to, Anon. It’s always best if they don’t see it coming. Bracing yourself for the pain could have screwed things up, and I might have had to try again,” he says, holding an ice pack against your swollen eye. The two of you are still completely soaked in each other’s sweat and blood. ”We gotta get you cleaned up and get that swelling down before Twilight gets home. She’ll skin both of us alive if she sees you like this.”
 
>You stare past him with an “oh shit” look on your face as he says this. He immediately mimics your expression.
 
>”She’s right behind me, isn’t she?”