//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Those Distant Sisters 
// by Rettro 
//------------------------------//

Thick dark clouds spread in every direction around the airborne sisters, carrying political edicts from their leaders to the far reaches of the Hearth’s empire. Or, at least, that’s what they thought they were doing. The younger unicorn sister stood at a systems console onboard the HCC Thunder Hawk, her older earth pony sister’s ship. She practically hid behind the readout, having grown tired of staring at miles and miles of dark cloud in every possible direction. 

“Come on, Resonance.” The older sister’s voice rang into her ears, forcing her to look up and acknowledge the lone golden iris peeking out from behind her sister’s azure mane. “I know it’s a little bleak, but that doesn’t mean we’re lost.” The older sister raised a steel gray hoof, pulling her mane from in front of her eyes and put on an award winning smile. The effect was not immediate after years of use, but not long after the oppositely colored sister let out a soft chuckle. 

“That’s not fair, Evanescence.” The azure unicorn reached up to toss her sister’s mane back into its place. “You know I’m a hopeless pessimist and you know I can’t stand that little smile of yours.” What little bit of happiness that had crept its way onto her face disappeared as she continued. “We’ve been flying over the ocean for flames know how long and we’ve turned around some dozen times. We’ve been flying long enough to get past our landing zone four times already. How much fuel do we even have?” 

The azure mare paced the cockpit during her tirade, eventually turning back to her sister. She was expecting the same patient smile she had turned away from, but instead practically trotted face-first into her sister’s flank. 

“Jeeze Evvy, that’s your thing not mine.” She laughed openly, somewhat wondering if her sister set herself up for a joke just to lift her spirits. Resonance put a hoof on her sister’s winged heart cutie mark and pushed it aside, forcing her sister to turn around. 

“Doesn’t matter anymore Resonance. I see land.” The earth pony’s smile lit up the cockpit of the cargo vessel just long enough before she added “and do NOT call me Evvy. You know I hate that.” Evanescence punctuated her point with a quick jab at her sister’s chest, then another that pushed her to the floor of the ship. 

“Hey! No need to be so rough sis!” Resonance looked up and noticed her sister had joined her on the floor, looking quite confused. Before she could add another comment, the ship shook again with a low loud rumble. Both sisters scrambled to their hooves and ran to consoles, desperate to find the source of their troubles. 

“Core engine offline, looks like we sprung a leak in the main fuel line. Tertiary engines can only keep us up for about 5 minutes. Call the landing site, we need to get priority on that strip.” Resonance turned away from the readout to see her sister abandon her post and slide a headset over her slick mane. 

“This is the HCC Thunder Hawk flying over… wait, what? Where’s the strip?” Resonance joined her sister at the front window, and was greeted by miles and miles of rolling hills, marred only by a small town underneath and another larger town seemingly built out of a nearby cliff side. Evanescence pushed the communications controls again and began a different message. 

“Mayday, mayday, come in Hearth’s Core, this is the HCC Thunder Hawk going down over an unknown population center. We have less than 5 minutes to find a suitable landing zone or this bird’s going down with a year’s worth of the president’s personal political stockpile on board! Code four-eight-six-three-delta.” Both sisters stood in the window, waiting for a reply. None came. 

“Resonance, where are we?” The two sisters stared out into the pristine rolling hills, looking for any landmark they could identify. “I’ve flown every inch of Hearth a dozen times. I have never seen this place before.” The older sister’s voice faltered a bit at the revelation.

“Want me to go zap things out there and find out where we are, Evvy?” The younger sister asked, poking at her horn. 

“Okay, Resonance, I was like, 5. I know how magic works now. And stop calling me Evvy. I swear this whole trip has been one big excuse for you to poke fun at me. I mean, we’re crashing, sis. Be serious.” Another rumble shook the ship, prompting a response from the younger sister. 

“Hey, I’m supposed to be the pessimist here. You’re supposed to fly the ship. Wanna try that some?” Both sisters knew the effort was useless. There was no landing strip in view any direction, and the rolling hills would destroy any airplane foolish enough to try and land on them. The older sister let out a sigh as more and more lights began to blink on the front console. Four minutes down, one to go; time to abandon ship. Both sisters trotted to the only door on the plane that would open while in flight, and the steel gray sister began to help her younger counterpart into a parachute. 

“I can put on a parachute, Evanescence. It’s like the first thing you ever taught me how to do with a plane.” The older sister didn’t stop, instead tugging each of the limb-straps tighter before standing back to admire her work. Resonance began to search the shelves, her hooves moving more and more franticly. “I don’t get it, where’s the other chute? Don’t we have two parachutes for a two-mare crew?” Evanescence smiled at her sister.

“I’m a pilot, Resonance. You’re a musician. You’re only up there because I need your help. Now, it’s my turn to help you. Don’t try to stop me.” With that, Evanescence stepped out of the plane. 

She’s always been so strong for me, it’s finally my turn to do something right for her. Sure, she’s gonna be mad. I can deal with that, because she’s gonna be alive.

I can hear her behind me, sounds like the chute unfolded right. I got her in there so tight she can’t get loose if she wants to. Probably does, silly pony. She’s tugging at me with her magic. I know she can’t stop me, she’s only ever had to lift a few bows at once. 

It’s fitting actually, falling like this. I’m finally flying all on my own.

They said I wasn’t meant to fly. That if I was, I’d have been born with wings. But that’s silly. Nopony’s born with wings. Wings are for angels. 

I wonder if I’ll get a pair of my own when I hit the ground? Shouldn’t be long now. I can watch over my little Resonance from up on high, warm in hearth’s glow.

Stop yelling sis, I can’t hear a word you’re saying. The wind is too loud. 

Here comes the ground, let’s count it down… 10, 9, 8, 7…