> Lost Twins > by PhoelynFabulous > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > I'm Done Hiding > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The alicorn returned from a section in the cave where there was enough sunlight and space to grow two apple trees underground. She entered another, and another, until she reached the location of her sister. She lay on the stone floor, away from any holes where sunlight could get through, in fear somepony would find them. "Are you okay, Sizzle?" she asked. Sizzling Ember was an orange and white alicorn, just like her twin sister, except her hair was shorter, so in case they chose to leave, ponies would be able to tell them apart. Though they were sure they would be able to tell them apart anyway. With scars in different places, and the fact that Sizzle's left wing was shattered to pieces, they were sure ponies would be able to tell the difference, unless they had healing magic strong enough to fix their wounds and broken wing. "There is no such thing as 'okay', Shimmer." Sizzle responded to her younger sister, Shimmering Ember,"But i'll say 'yes' for now." "Good, you passed the test again. No such thing as okay with our issue here." Shimmer responded, holding up an apple she had picked off of one of the trees. "Here, have some lunch." "Thanks." said Sizzle, as Shimmer stepped on the apple and crushed it. She then picked it up with her magic, and gave it to Sizzle. They wouldn't eat an apple normally. For them, crushing it then eating it was better. Shimmer took a deep breath while Sizzle ate her apple. She was about to make Sizzle very mad, or confused, or something. "Sizzle, I can't hide like this anymore. We need to go." Sizzle almost spat out the apple in her mouth with surprise. Her eyes had widened in shock. She chewed a little bit more of her apple, swallowed, and yelled "What?!" "We just can't stay. There hasn't been a trigger on my magic telling me that something was nearby for however-many-years-we've-been-here. There is no way that the war is still happening. We need to leave this silly hiding spot before we go insane." Sizzle still seemed surprised. She barely moved. "I... but... Shimmer... my wing... your scar!" "I know Sizzle. But maybe somepony out there will help us. Maybe they even have strong enough magic to fix your wing! And my scar!" Shimmer had two terrible scars that showed what they had done to get down there, along with Sizzle's wing. They had fallen through the ground, and fell an incredibly long way down into the cave they were now hiding in. Sizzle's wing had been crushed by the largest boulder from the hole they made and fell down. Shimmer's magic wasn't quite strong enough to lift the boulder off, so they waited about ten years before Shimmer had the strength to lift the boulder. They were both five years old when they had fallen, and Shimmer had to turn fifteen to lift the rock. Shimmer's scars were gained when she cut herself on two sharp rocks as they fell, one of them nearly killing her. One cut was a long gash on her cheek, not quite deep enough to see the inside of her mouth. The second was on her chest, a cut that nearly sliced her heart. They normally only mention one scar if they talk about it. The one that could have killed Shimmer. "There is no way that there is somepony who can fix my wing. Maybe your scar, but never my wing." "Well, at the very least they can put it in a healthy position and get a cast for it." Sizzle still seemed scared about the idea to leave their hiding spot. It had been where they lived for almost their entire lives. Five years at their home, then they watched it get destroyed and burned with their parents still inside it, then they had no idea how long it was, but they have been sitting in a cave ever since. Sizzle sighed. "We can stay in here just a bit longer. I... I just don't feel safe out there. I may never feel safe out there." "But it must be safe! We've waited for who-knows-how-long just to ask eachother if we should leave, then have you say 'No, let's stay for another who-knows-how-many-years!' I just can't stay in here like this anymore!" Shimmer yelled angrily. She took a deep breath, and said,"I'm sorry. This just shows you how much we need to go. We're going to go crazy down here. I... if you don't want to go right now... then i'll go take a peek outside and see if everything's alright. You can't follow me without my magic anyway, with your broken wing you won't be able to fly up there. Please, just let me look." When Shimmer finished speaking, she left the section of the cave they called 'Sizzle's Bedroom', and went to find the length of cave they fell into a long, long time ago. "No, wait! Don't leave yet, Shimmer! Shimmer!" Sizzle called after her, but Sizzle barely walked so she could recover. She almost never left her room, and when she did, she wasn't very good at remembering where things were, especially since they were in a big, maze-like cave. So, she only managed to walk out the 'doorway', before sighing and going back into her room, muttering "I hope she doesn't get hurt. Please, please don't hurt yourself Shimmer." > Cave In > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shimmer half-galloped half-glided to the spot where they had fell down into this cave so long ago. She saw the sunlight pouring in from the hole in the ceiling, and the boulder that she had levitated aside, off of Sizzle's wing. She saw old, old bloodstains on the center of the floor. They seemed to be ancient. There were even still a few stains on the bottom of the boulder. She shivered. Shimmer didn't like remembering that awful time when they had fallen. Neither did Sizzle, so much that even if she did walk around freely through the cave, she never wanted to enter this room until they decided it was time to escape. Shimmer didn't complain. In fact, she sort of agreed with her, though she needed to enter this room to get to other important places, like their 'fridge'. They had a cold cave section that was deeper in the ground than the rest of the cave, and they kept apples that they harvested off the trees that they weren't going to eat immediately in there. Shimmer walked over to where the sunshine shined through, and looked up. She saw blue sky and a part of a cloud. She took another deep breath - the third she had to breathe in that day - and fluttered her wings as she flew up and used her hooves to climb. It was taking a while to climb up. She hadn't even gotten to a quarter way up when disaster struck. Her hoof slid off a small ledge she was holding on to, and she yelped in fear. It had fallen from it's place, making a small sound as it hit the ground below. Shimmer lost her grip on the rocks, but she was flying, so she was safe, but quickly she realized neither her, nor her sister were safe. The ledge's movement began a cave in. ----- Sizzle was laying down in her bedroom like normal. She wanted to fall asleep, but at the same time, she wanted to be as awake as possible. Her sister had gone to see what the world outside was currently like, to see if they could leave. Sizzle wanted to be safe, but she was getting bored of her bedroom that was this section of cave. Suddenly, a loud sound like rocks falling onto rocks echoed across the caves. Pebbles began to fall from the roof of the cave, and Sizzle's eyes widened as a larger rock fell across the room. A boulder. Ten years worth of pain and nightmares and terror flashed across Sizzle's face, and the worst part was she knew it was a memory, not a nightmare. Sizzle wasted no more time, instantly on her hooves and running through the entrance, or, now, exit to her room. On her way to the place she had fallen with a boulder on her wing, she almost crashed into Shimmer. "We have to go!" Shimmer said faster than lightning, terror in her voice."We need to go, we have to go, NOW!" ----- They ran together, right to the place where they fell, their exit to the falling cave. "Next to me, Sizzle!" Shimmer demanded. Sizzle quickly moved next to her sister, as Shimmer created a magic shield around them. She picked up Sizzle using her magic, and flew up the now larger hole to freedom. She flew as fast as her wings would let her, trying desperately to escape the cave. A large chunk of rock prepared to fall on top of them and crush them. Sizzle screamed. The rock fell onto the shield, which was bending in like it couldn't hold the boulder. Shimmer's horn sparked and lit up with tons of power, as she controlled the shield and forced the rock off, throwing it backwards onto the wall, which crumbled as the cave collapsed faster. They finally flew free, out of the cave. They quickly spotted beautiful mountains, and a lovely pine forest beneath them. Also beneath them, was a large potion of the ground, crumbling into a now very large hole that was their home once. They could never go back to their hiding place again. They landed down, away from the large hole that had finally stopped crumbling the land around it, and caught their breath. They were gasping for air like they were under water for an hour, terror on their faces. Silence. Neither sister spoke. "Well," Shimmer finally broke the silence,"No chaos, except for that hole, which wasn't started by Discord. Everything is fine!" They both fainted together on the soft grass of the pine woods. > The Last Alicorns > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shimmer woke up first, enjoying waking up to something that wasn't a grey cave. She saw a beautiful blue sky, with fluffy white clouds drifting into view, and a few pine trees at the corners of her vision. She smiled. They were free from chaos and hiding, and would soon attempt to find civilization. She got up onto her hooves, and nudged Sizzle awake. "Wha- The cave... our hiding spot... No chaos!" Sizzle mumbled as she woke up. She was remembering everything that had happened. "Yeah. Come on Sizzle, we have to find other ponies so we can fix our wounds here." She pointed to her scars, and then to Sizzle's wing. "Um, okay." Sizzle said as she got up, cringing at the permanent pain in her wing. "Okay, I think I might know a good spot for a village to be." Shimmer said,"Valleys are good, right? Maybe there's a village over that mountain!" Shimmer pointed to the mountain that they landed near. They even recognized it slightly from the time where they fell down. "Good idea! Can you carry me with you? If you fly it'll be faster." Shimmer didn't need to respond. She picked up Sizzle with her magic and flew over to the mountain, near the top. "There, with this ledge here, we'll be able to see-" She interrupted herself with a gasp. "What? What is it?" Sizzle was placed down, and she galloped to where Shimmer was standing. She too gasped in awe. Below them, in a valley, was a village. But it seemed way to incredible to be a simple village. Below, there were shops and houses and unicorns roaming the streets, wearing fancy clothing and amazing manestyles. But that wasn't exactly what they were gasping at. The entire village was in a beautiful castle, with gold and purple roofs and white bricks for the walls. A waterfall went down the mountain into a pond on a ledge, which created more waterfalls and fountains. It was breathtaking. "A kingdom..." Shimmer said finally,"Incredible..." "We need to get down there and talk to those ponies! Maybe they know when the war ended, or... or where all the alicorns are..." Sizzle said as she realized that there were no alicorns in sight. Shimmer realized this too, and became worried. "Yes, lets go..." Shimmer lifted her sister again, and flew down to the kingdom. As they got closer, ponies began to notice them, pointing and gasping. Some wore incredibly confused expressions. Others looked as if they would faint. Shimmer wondered whether it was their injuries, or... No, Shimmer would not let the thought of alicorns being extinct enter her mind. Though it would be a good explanation for all the looks... Perhaps it was both. They landed, and many ponies ran up to them, saying things like "Who the hay are you? What happened to you?! You two need to get to the hospital right away!" "I'm not answering any questions right now!" said Shimmer, "You are going to be the ones answering questions. So here is my first: Where are all the alicorns?!" The ponies seemed to give each other slightly confused looks. "Princess Twilight is in Ponyville, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is in The Crystal Empire, and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are here in Canterlot." one of the ponies finally answered. Shimmer could feel her heart sinking. She did not want to ask, or say, what she was about to say. "Only... four?" "Six now, counting you two. What happened to you?!" Shimmer and Sizzle felt like somepony had ripped out their hearts, torn them to pieces, and burned them. "I... have one more question... or... two... Can we see them, and... When did the Discord war end, if.. if anypony knows..." Shimmer felt like she was going to burst into tears. Six alicorns. Only six alicorns, in the whole universe. Shimmer was speaking for Sizzle, so she didn't have to waste energy. Shimmer didn't fell very much pain from her scars, but Sizzle had been feeling horrible pain for as long as they were in the cave. This meant that she lost her energy faster, and didn't talk too much to waste it. Again, with the confused and concerned looks. "Over a thousand years ago." Sizzle and Shimmers jaws dropped. Shimmer had begun to cry. "Over.. a thousand... years...? Sizzle said. This meant that Sizzle and Shimmer could have left their silly hiding spot and gotten help, over a thousand years ago. Sizzle fell down onto her knees, making all the ponies worried, so they picked them up carefully and brought them to the hospital in a serious hurry. The alicorns were a little less extinct, and the doctors would help them immediately, with the rareness of alicorns. While some ponies got the alicorns to the doctors, some ponies called all four princesses, and said they needed to be at Canterlot Hospital ASAP. > Letters From Canterlot > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia watched as a letter magically teleported itself to her. She would always be very proud of that magical messaging system. She assumed it was from Twilight, though Twilight didn't need to send her friendship letters as a princess. Suddenly another scroll appeared. Then another. Celestia wondered whether Spike had gotten the hiccups again. She unrolled the first scroll. Princess Celestia, We need your help! Everything was fine, ponies were walking down streets, buying things, all the usual things, when suddenly two heavily-wounded alicorns flew in! They seem to be confused, or don't know the time, because they asked where all the alicorns were, and when we said there were four, they practically fainted! And the also asked 'when the Discord war ended' and when we said a thousand years, one of them actually DID faint! Please get to Canterlot Hospital ASAP! Celestia was shocked. Two alicorns? The Discord War?! Celestia remembered the war too well. It wasn't pretty. Did these alicorns escape discord? Celestia opened another scroll. There were now nine on the floor. Princess Celestia, There are two alicorns that need your help! You probably don't know who I am or what I'm talking about, but please! These alicorns are hurt! One of them has a wing so broken, It may never be fixed! Please hurry to the hospital in Canterlot! This message was a lot shorter, but it was almost the same message at the same time. Celestia assumed all the letters were telling her to go to Canterlot Hospital to see these alicorns, and that was exactly what she did. She entered Luna's room to tell her what was going on and where she was going, and saw her sister on a mountain of letters, reading one. "I have a feeling we need to go to Canterlot Hospital." Luna said with her eyes wide. ----- "So, are they good Twilight? Are they? Are they? Are they?" Pinkie said happily, eating one of her cupcakes herself. Twilight laughed. "Yes Pinkie, these cupcakes are delicious as always." Twilight smiled, taking another bite of the pastry. "What do you think, Spike?" Spike took another cupcake, and shoved the whole thing in his mouth. Suddenly, he looked as if he were about to throw up. Twilight frowned. "Spike? Is the cupcake-" She didn't have time to finish saying 'bad', when Spike burped out a large amount of flame. A letter. "Hmm, a letter from Princess Celestia?" Twilight wondered. "She doesn't normally send me letters... I hope nothing bad has happened." Spike burped out flame once more, this time two letters appearing. Twilight began to get worried, and unwrapped the scroll. Princess Twilight Sparkle, WE NEED HELP! Two alicorns flew into Canterlot this evening, and they look seriously hurt! One of them has a shattered wing, and the other has a HUGE scar on her chest! It looks like it could've hit her heart! PLEASE HELP! Come to Canterlot Hospital! Twilight dropped the scroll. Spike had just delivered twelve more. "Ughh... it's like Celestia's friendship-letter sending spree when Discord tried invading all over again!" Spike said as he burped another. Twilight picked up another, and checked for the words 'alicorns', 'wounded' and 'Canterlot Hospital'. All three words were in it. She did the same with another. Once again, all three words. "Come on, Spike, we need to get to Canterlot immediately!" ----- Cadence was just having some late lunch, when a letter arrived. She didn't normally get letters. She wondered if it was Twilight. She unrolled the scroll as another arrived. "Huh? Why in equestria..." she said as another appeared. She read the letter. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, We need you in Canterlot immediately! Normally a pony in Canterlot wouldn't order the princess around, but two hurt alicorns flew in asking about you and the other princesses, and something about Discord! They are in the hospital now, but we need you! Cadence was very confused. She placed the letter on the table. "Is something wrong, honey?" said Shining Armor as he came down the stairs. He noticed the letters, and started to ask what they were, when Cadence interrupted. "I don't know. But I have a feeling they're all asking me to go to Canterlot." > The Hospital > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All four princesses arrived at different, yet, similar times. It took Cadence the longest to get there, but she made it in one quick flight. Celestia and Luna got there first. Twilight flew in just in time to see the end of Luna's tail as she entered the door. Twilight landed and entered. Cadence, though a bit out of practice with her flying like Twilight, made it a few minutes afterwards. The three princesses sat in the waiting room until the fourth arrived. "Cadence!" Twilight said happily. Together, they did their cute little greeting. "Sunshine sunshine, lady bugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" They said together. Cadence's tone suddenly changed from happy to worried. "Were... you guys getting the letters too?" They all nodded. "About hurt alicorns flying into Canterlot? Spike nearly got too sick to walk again!" said Twilight. A nurse walked in. She nearly had a heart attack seeing all the royalty. She bowed, and said "You... you don't need to tell me who you're visiting, Princesses. I... I saw all the ponies writing letters. I hope you weren't overwhelmed with them." Twilight was so tempted to go outside and tell all of Canterlot to never send her that many letters again. Cadence seemed to notice how close Twilight was to doing this, so she said "It's fine. I can deal with letters, especially important ones. Can you show us their rooms?" The nurse trotted over to a door, and opened it. Inside two alicorns lay unconscious in the beds, many magical and non-magical machines hooked up to their bodies. They were orange, with white manes and a stripe of orange mixed in. Their wings were mostly orange, but faded to white at the ends of their feathers, like Cadence's wings. However, there were a few things they noticed before they even saw the colors of the alicorns. One was that they were as tall as Cadence: maybe taller by an inch or two. The second thing, was their injuries. "Oh... my..." said Twilight, terrified that they hadn't died from whatever they had gone through. Twilight wasn't used to blood and bad wounds. Not even the villains they defeated shed any blood. But this... This was awful. Terrible. The alicorn on the left had a broken wing. But it was so terrible, that no amount of magic seemed to be able to fix it. The wing was bent the wrong way, and it seemed like it would never fold without horrifyingly bad pain. It had cuts and bruises and lost feathers. The alicorn on the right seemed just as bad, but had no wing injuries. Instead, she had small cuts and bruises on her that seemed like they wouldn't go away without healing magic. But, there were two worse injuries. One of them was a long cut on her cheek, that was almost deep enough to see the inside of her mouth. The other, was a wound that would've killed her, if it didn't miss by less-than-an-inch. It was a slash across her chest, and it barely missed her heart. Suddenly, the alicorn on the left started to wake up. ----- Sizzle groaned, and began to open her eyes. She was laying on a white bed, with many machines attached to her. She saw her sister in the bed next to her, asleep. The walls were white, the floors were white, the ceiling was white. She had a feeling this was a hospital. There was a pony wearing hospital equipment next to her, and four other ponies. She noticed something similar about these four ponies. They all had wings and horns. The four alicorns. "Hello?" she said, worried that they might freak out about her health and trying to speak while injured like this. "Hello!" the purple alicorn said with a bit of a gasp. She said it about as worriedly as Sizzle had said it. She kept on glancing at her wounded wing and back to her face. Sizzle noticed how she was the shortest there. Most likely the youngest. Though she would have said it would be impossible if she was younger than Sizzle was, she knew that turning ponies into alicorns existed. She even remembered - barely - that her father said he was originally a pegasus, and was turned into an alicorn. "Are you the four alicorns we heard about?" Sizzle said painfully. She knew the answer must be yes, but it hurt her heart to say that these few ponies were the last of her kind. The tallest one nodded. She was white, with a magically-flowing multi-color mane. Sizzle noticed how she was wearing a crown, and royal slippers, while the purple one wasn't. "What's your name?" The pink alicorn asked. "I'm Sizzling Ember, but you can call me Sizzle." Sizzle said, then she added "What were your names again? I can't remember what that other pony said they were." "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, but you can call me Twilight." said the purple one. She still seemed a bit worried about her injuries, glancing at them repeatedly. "I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but you can call me Cadence. Nice to meet you, Sizzle!" said the pink alicorn. Sizzle quickly translated the name in her head. "Princess I Love Cadence?" she asked. Cadence blushed. "My parents named me that as a joke. They really loved the name Cadence, so they called me I love Cadence." "I am Princess Luna." said the dark alicorn. She had a beautiful night-sky mane, that Sizzle would never forget. "And I am Princess Celestia." said the tall white alicorn. Her voice sounded the most royal. "Hello!" Sizzle said to all of them happily. She was hoping that she would get to be their friends. Friends. A word that Sizzle liked the meaning of. Her sister was good company, but she really needed a good friend. She quickly noticed her sister make a noise. She was waking up. Shimmer woke up quickly, and was introduced to everypony. Everypony seemed truly friendly to both of them. Sizzle smiled. For the first time in over a thousand years, Shimmer and Sizzle truly felt safe and happy.