A/N: I finally got around to writing another chapter for this story, sorry it took so long, hope you all enjoy.

Shadows of the Past: chapter 2: visiting old friends

It was a bright and sunny day over the town of PonyVille, many ponies were hard at work doing their daily jobs, other were enjoying a simple walk through the streets, but one particular family, was hard at work.

Once again it was cleaning time for the residents of the PonyVille public library, and they were hard at work, even if they didn't enjoy it much.

"Flame, can you come and help me, sort these books" Twilight said, while levitating a large amount of books, she smiled as her husband walked over and sat next to her, and levitated a set of books, groaning as he did.

"Twilight I really do love you, but you drive me insane" he said with a slight chuckle, Twilight just chuckled back, "yeah, well that's what wives are for, now stop your complaining, I need some help" she said as they began putting books into shelves, once every few weeks, Twilight and Flame would move around some books, Flame could not understand why, but he felt he should have expected that, being married to a bookworm, but he still enjoyed it.

Only this time they weren't alone, only a month ago, Night Gale and Star Dust went on their summer break, and they had travelled back to their home town to spend most of their time there, and they would go back a few days before school would start again, what was more exciting, was that with her parents' permission, Crystal had agreed to come out to PonyVille and stay for a few weeks, this only made Night Gale excited, and was upstairs cleaning his room, as well as Star Dust.

During the past few months, Night Gale and Crystal's parents had become well acquainted, much to the younger ones relief, Crystal's parents had been very accepting of Night Gale to date their daughter, not only was a hero, he was also a very bright and caring gentlecolt.

As they were sitting and going through books, Flame saw a particular book; he lifted it up with his magic, and opened it and began looking through the pages, when Twilight noticed that he stopped working, "what are you looking at?" she asked, as she walked behind him, and peered over his shoulder.

"I think this is the picture album, oh look here's the pictures we took while on out vacation to Manehatten" he said flipping through the pages, when a particular picture caught his eye, one he wasn't familiar with, Twilight noticed him looking at one specific picture, and her eyes widened in shock.

"hey, give me that one, that's not supposed to be in there" she said but Flame levitated it out of her reach, "yeah, I don't remember this one, I like it, you look really nice" he said looking it over, "that's not fair, you know I hated that picture give it here" she said reached out for it, but Flame got up and walked away from her.

"Oh really, maybe I'll go and show to Night Gale and Star Dust, see what they have to say" he said as he began walking away, "oh no you don't" she said as she pounced at him, he just dodged out of the way, and began running, laughing, Twilight began chasing after him trying to get the picture back.

Soon they were running circles around the room; Twilight was getting tired, but got an idea, Flame kept running, laughing and not paying attention to what was in front of him.

The next thing he knew he felt a heavy sting in his face, and fell on to his back, he shook it off and looked up to see a piece of brick wall that had magically appeared, he rubbed his head, and said back to Twilight, "okay, not cool" he said but the next thing he knew was that he was pushed to the side by an unknown force that pushed him on to his back.

He looked up and saw a laughing Twilight standing above him, she had his hooves pinned, "ha, got you now" she said as she levitated the picture up, and put it back into the album, Flame stopped struggling and began laughing, "alright Twi, you got me, can you let me up now?" he asked but Twilight kept her firm grip on him, he looked up and saw a smile on her face.

"oh no, you're getting a punishment for that" she said, as she smiled at him, Flame knew what she was talking about, but he wasn't complaining, he smiled, as Twilight leaned down and connected their lips together in a passionate kiss, one that never seemed to end.

Their lips disconnected, and they stared into each other's eyes, they were about to kiss again, but they heard hooves coming down the stairs, they both panicked and climbed on to their hooves, both blushing heavily, the two coming down the stairs turned out to be none other than their two foals, both with confused looks on their faces, Twilight and Flame did their best to smile and pretend nothing happened.

"Um, what are you two doing down here?" Night Gale asked, Twilight and Flame just blushed, "oh nothing son, your mom and I were just messing around" he said with a smile, a confused look appeared on Night Gale's face, but just as they did, they heard a knock on the door, they all sighed, "can't people read a 'closed' sign, I'll get it" Night Gale said as he walked up to the door.

The other resumed their previous activities, just as Night Gale opened the door, he saw a very familiar group of ponies standing outside, and he only smiled.

"Hey Night Gale, long time no see, how have you been?" Comet asked as he stood in the doorway, Night Gale smiled again, "Comet, good to see you, come on in" he said as he stepped to the side, Comet, Meadow Dawn and Aurora walked in, Night Gale ran in front of them, "mom, dad, we have some surprise visitors" he said as he walked into the main library room, they all turned to look, shocked expression turned to happy ones.

"well, well, well, to what do we owe this surprise visit general" Flame said with a chuckle, as he gave a salute, Comet only chuckled, "there's no need for that, just here for a friendly visit" he said Flame brought his hoof down and shacked Comet's, Twilight gave Meadow a big welcoming hug, Night Gale and Star Dust began talking to Aurora.

They began talking for a while, when comet realized he had walked on them being busy, "oh, I guess we came at a bad time, are you rearranging the library?" Comet asked in a surprised tone, Flame looked down at Twilight and chuckled, "yeah, it was her idea" he said gesturing to his wife, Twilight shot him an annoyed look, and he just chuckled nervously.

Twilight turned to their friends, "actually, we were just about to stop and have lunch, care to join us?" she asked with a smile, Comet was about to say something, but he felt his stomach rumble, he just looked up and chuckled nervously, Twilight smiled and began walking in to the kitchen with Star Dust following her, while the others went to the living room.

(Later…)

After they had sat down, Twilight and Star Dust walked out, levitating trays of tea and hay sandwiches, they all had sat down and began chatting, catching up on other events.

"So Comet, tell us, how are things in Canterlot?" Flame asked, Comet just smiled, "well Canterlot is Canterlot, busy as usual, oh and Shining Armor and Cadence send their hello's" he said with a smile, "isn't that nice, I'm sure they are both busy, soon it will be time for our monthly visit" Twilight said taking a sip of her tea.

As they continued talking, they did not realize as the time had gone by so fast and soon it was almost sundown, Comet realized this, and began to panic.

"Wow, look at the time, I guess we should go, we'll stop by tomorrow, maybe we can all get lunch" he said as the three of them made their way to the door.

As Comet opened the door with his magic, he stopped and closed and turned around to face Flame, "oh Flame, I forgot to tell you, about two days ago, the three of us were walking through Canterlot, when we met this rather mysterious stallion, he said he knew you, said he was a family friend" he said, this comment caught Flame's attention almost immediately, "really, well, it's possible, my mom and dad did have quite a few friends, what did he look like?" Flame asked.

Comet brought his hoof up to his chin, as if he were thinking about it, and then he put it down, "that's what was weird, I never got a good look at his face, he had his hood up most of the time, but from what I remember, he actually looked a lot like you, just a little older" he said, now it was Flame's turned to be confused.

"hmm, a family friend that looks like me only older…I can't seem to remember anypony like that, did he give you a name or anything?" Flame asked, and once again, Comet brought his hoof up to his chin, "um, he did mention a name, but I can't quite remember it…" he said, as he thought for a minute, and then smiled.

"Oh yeah, I think he said his name was…Flare, something along those lines" he said, and the room fell dead silent, Flame's smile disappeared completely from his face, his eyes widened, in shock, surprising them all.

They all stared at him, waiting for him to respond, "um dad, hello anypony home?" Night Gale said waving his hoof in front of his dad's face, this seemed to snap him out of it, he looked around in all directions, and then back at Comet, who had a confused and worried look on his face, "hey Flame, are you alright, you don't look so good?" Comet said, Flame didn't find the right words to answer, he tried anyway, "I…I um, if you'll excuse me, I need to splash some water in my face, I'm suddenly not feeling to well" he said as he practically ran up the stairs, leaving them all confused and worried, especially Twilight.

They remained quiet, until Comet spoke up, "um, was it something I said?" he asked looking towards Twilight, "no, but he did act strange all of a sudden" she said looking back at him, "well, make sure you check on him, that's not like him to act so strange, we got to go, see you tomorrow" he said as the three of the walked out the door.

Although Twilight heard his goodbye, she was too focused on Flame, she began walking up to the stairs, "mom?" she heard her son say, she turned back to him, "it's alright, I'll go check on your father, stay down here, and…sorts some more books" she said as she finished walking up the stairs.

(Twilight and Flame's bedroom)

Flame stood in front of the mirror of their bathroom, he leaned down and turned on the water, and he put some in his hooves, and brought it up to his face, and splashed himself.

After he did that he lowered his hooves and stared at his reflection, "come on, and pull yourself together Flame, it has to be a coincidence, it has to be, can it?" he asked as he grabbed a towel and wiped the water falling from his face, he walked out to the bathroom, and over to their bed.

He sighed and sat on the end, and put his head in his hooves and rubbed them across his mane, just as he did; he heard the sound of approaching hooves, he already knew who they belonged too, but he got his answer none the less when his wife opened up the door, and walked in.

"Flame, are you in here?" she asked as she looked towards the bed, he didn't answer, he just looked down, she sighed and walked up to him, and took a seat next to him on the bed.

"Flame, what happened, you just acted like you saw a ghost or something, are you okay, were all worried about you" she said, Flame turned to her and saw her kind smile, he couldn't help but feel happier when he saw her smile.

"it…it's nothing Twi, I just…" he tried saying but failed, Twilight frowned and placed a hoof on his shoulder, " Flame, you know that you can tell me anything, it's okay" she said in a comforting tone, Flame sighed, and looked up at her, "alright, it's just…that name, that Comet said, that was the name of my older brother, his name was Flare" he said, Twilight was shocked but still listened, "it might just be a coincidence" she said, but Flame had other ideas, "that's not the only thing, just like Comet said, we both looked like each other, we had some differences, mainly that he was older than me, a lot of ponies thought that he was just an older version of me, I thought it was a coincidence as well, but the more I think about it…" he said as a tear fell from one his eyes.

Twilight looked down for a minute, in shock, but she tried her best to stay clam for him, "well, is there any way possible, that they might have survived, you said yourself that you never say them die" she said, Flame turned to her, "I was a young colt, who just watched his parents die, going to see if they survived wasn't my first thought, I was going too, but then Skyfall came and took me with him, and you already know the rest of that story" he said with a sad sigh.

Twilight looked at him, and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Flame, if your brother somehow survived, than maybe your parents did as well, wouldn't that be a good thing" she said trying to lighten the mood, but Flame still had a saddened expression on his face, as he turned up to look into Twilight's eyes.

"if they did, they've been around this whole time, why didn't they come to find me, where have they been, would they have any idea, about how miserable I was, blindly following Skyfall, doing his dirty work for him" he said getting angry, at the mention of his former master, but he managed to calm himself down, for Twilight's sake.

"Maybe they have a good reason, if this is all true, you might be able to find out the truth" she said still trying to cheer him up, but to little success.

"if they have been around all these years, they missed out on everything good, our marriage, Night Gale and Star Dust being born, they missed it all…" he said, Twilight turned his face to hers, "everything's going to be fine, you listen to me, it's going to be okay" she said as she pushed her lips up to his, they stayed like that for a few minutes, before they separated, and Twilight rested her head against his chest, Flame just sighed and kissed the tip of her horn.

If what they thought was true, they would be in for a big day tomorrow.

A/N: well that was surely interesting, tune in next time, for the truth about what really happened the night Flame lost his family, peace out.