Half-Sisters

by Steve Ott

Send the Pain Below

It had been an sleepless night for Twilight Sparkle. She had tried to fall asleep, only to be prevented by the memories of the events of yesterday. Her mind still couldn't accept what her mentor was telling her, that Princess Luna, of all ponies, was a changeling. Well, technically a half-ling. Twilight paced around the guest bedroom pondering on yesterday's events when she suddenly realized something. If Luna was a half-ling, how does she eat? How did she acquire her cutie mark? What happened to her relationship with Chrysalis? As more and more questions filled her mind, she gathered a quill and some parchment and began to furiously jot down her questions.

She only was able to write down a few of her questions when she heard a knock at her door. "You can come in!" she hollered to the pony on the other side of the door.

The door opened, revealing one of the castle's many butlers. "Breakfast is to be served in the Royal Dining Hall in five minutes. Your Majesties are expecting you and your friends to be present very soon," the butler said with a deep Trottingham accent.

"Yes, I'll be there as soon as I can," Twilight responded quickly, already gathering up her belongings. The butler gave a polite nod before exiting, leaving Twilight be.

Soon Twilight was out the door and heading towards the Dining Hall. All the while she thought about Luna. The last she saw her, she was still out cold and there was an underlying fear she wouldn't wake up again. Twilight shook those thoughts out of her head, pessimism will do her no good right now. She continued to trot down the hallway until she arrived at her destination. One of the guards nodded to her before opening the door. Twilight muttered a thank you before trotting inside.

Sat at the table was her five friends, Spike, who had been sleeping in Rarity's room last night, Shining Armor, his soon-to-be wife Cadence, and surprisingly Blueblood. She could tell Rarity's blood was boiling just at the sight of him. Strangely, Princess Celestia wasn't present as of yet.

"Morning Twi," her older brother greeted, sleepiness lacing his voice.

"Morning to you too, BBBFF," Twilight greeted back, lacking any energy to do anything more. Usually she would be panicking about being late, but right now the issue seemed so small. Twilight glanced at her meal, taking in the fresh ingredients that the chefs prepared. It was an egg soufflé along with an assortment of vegetables. Glancing around she saw that both Rainbow Dash and Cadence had salmon on their plates. From what she could tell, Shining Armor was just a little uncomfortable about it. Swiveling her head to the left, she spotted Pinkie Pie toying with her food. Ever since their trip to the dungeons, Pinkie had been relatively quiet. The thought perturbed Twilight, but she pushed it to the back of her mind.

Twilight began to poke at her food, slowly eating only for substance and not taste. There was a underlying tension all around. Even the servants were nervous. Several times Blueblood seemed he was about to begin a conversation only to either receive a death stare from Rarity or he would think better of it. Twilight looked across from her seat at the two empty ones. Unlike the seat everypony else was sat in, these were grandiose, built for a Princess.

"Or a changeling," Twilight thought.

Things stayed the same for a while before suddenly a large set of double doors opened. Everypony swiveled their heads in the direction of the sound only to be shocked by the sight they saw. Princess Celestia looked completely haggard, her mane sticking out in several places. She wore no makeup, and her eyes were droopy, likely from staying up for most of the night. However, the shocking sight was the pony next to her, Princess Luna.

She no longer was in her changeling form, but rather in her pony one. Even so, there were some minute differences. Her coat was slightly darker than it normally was, and most strikingly, she sported her long fangs. Her mane hung limply to the side of her muzzle, lacking much of the sparkle it normally had. Her midsection was bandaged as well as her hind right leg. As she slowly limped to her seat, she used one of her wings to place on her elder sister in order to leverage herself. Slowly but surely, she made it and sat down in her opulent seat, giving Princess Celestia a small smile. In front of her on the table was a small serving of salmon along with some legumes. Using her magic, she levitated her fork, cutting into the cut of fish before taking a small bite. After some chewing and swallowing, she looked up at the collection of ponies staring at her.

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie quickly looked straight back down at their hooves, while everypony else looked upon Princess Luna with sorrowful gazes. Surprising to everypony present, Blueblood didn't up and scream bloody murder at the sight of Luna, in fact his cool composer held, giving his aunt a small reassuring smile. Luna cleared her throat before saying, "So, I guess we have a story to finish, or would you rather have me answer some of your questions."

Taking this as her cue, Twilight cleared her throat as she pulled out a scroll she was writing on earlier. "Well, to start off with Princess, I would like to know how you have your cutie mark?" Twilight asked.

Luna could almost feel Tia tense up at the question. It was understandable really, it had come almost right after a particularly dark period in both of their lives. Before she answered, Celestia motioned for the remaining servants to leave the room, giving the ponies still present some much needed privacy. "While I'm only half-pony, so I can assure you I was always capable of receiving a cutie mark. Though, I must admit, that it wasn't always for certain. There was a brief period of time when I didn't want one in fact," Luna responded.

"Well then, can you tell us how you acquired one then," Twilight inquired further.

Celestia tensed further, wanting to end the conversation before it got a chance to get started. Thankfully, Luna knew what to say. "I'm sorry Twilight Sparkle, but that story is personal. Perhaps another time when everypony is ready."

Twilight nodded before progressing to her next question, "Can you eat emotions like other changeling's?"

"Yes, but it isn't an effective food source, though it does heal me up faster than it normally will. Regular food like this fish is better not only for my stomach, but changelings in general. When emotions run low, there is always another protein source as a back up. Which is what most bothers me about my sister's invasion," Luna responded curtly.

"What about your relationship with your sister, Chrysalis I mean," Twilight quickly asked. Inside, Twilight worried that her question would incite some unwanted memories. However, it was Celestia that was getting more and more tense. Twilight couldn't fathom why her mentor was acting like this.

Luna gave a soft smile, as if she was reminiscing about things that passed long ago. Finally, she answered, "I'm sure Tia can attest to this, but I was closer to Chryssy than any pony else at one time. She was always there for me whenever I fell down. It wasn't until she became Queen that we began to grow apart. As for recently, I thought she was deceased, our species extinct with me just being a relic of he past. An endling if you will. But now that she is alive, I feel a responsibility for my little 'lings, as well as for our ponies."

Celestia suddenly piped up saying, "We will cross that bridge when we get there, but for now you need to heal up little sister. As for the story, I think we know enough about it without getting to personal. All we need to know is that Luna is the Princess of the Night and she is here to stay."

That effectively ended any conversation and everypony resumed eating. In the back of Twilight's mind, he was trying to figure out what suddenly changed for her mentor since last night. Yesterday, she was willingly divulging details of her past but now was shutting them down before they could questioned. This was beginning to make her head spin. After the previous one ended, other conversations popped up, and soon everypony was comfortably talking with the exception of Princess Celestia, Blueblood, and herself. Every once in a while, she looked across at Luna and began to see her slowly change. It was gradual, but she could see that Luna looked healthier and healthier as breakfast trudged on. By the end, her mane had once again begun to flow with Celestia.

***

"We need to inform the general populace on the situation with Princess Luna," Blueblood stated in his posh voice.

"I know, rumors have been running rampant. However, I fear telling the truth is only going to make things worse, especially after yesterday," Celestia responded with a defeated sigh. Celestia was right, rumors had been spreading all around Canterlot and Equestria. Theories ranged from an inside job to legitimize Princess Cadence to a plot by the mysterious New World Order. However, the most concerning rumor was about the return of Nightmare Moon. Unfortunately, this seemed to be the most popular theory and the most damaging.

"Yes, but the longer we wait, the more antsy the citizens will become. Plus, we can't risk the public finding out on there own or else Luna would have to flee from a certain riot," Blueblood replied.

Celestia thought for a moment, weighing her options delicately. Finally she responded, "I agree, but this ultimately falls upon Luna. We can not force this upon her. We must let her make the final decision. I will talk to her after Day Court concludes. Thank you, Blueblood."

And with that, Princess Celestia headed off to the throne room where hundreds of terrified residents were waiting. For some the waited for reassurance, and other waited for the possibility for revenge. Elsewhere, Twilight and her friends were beginning the task of planning the wedding along with Shining Armor and Cadence, and Luna sought comfort in her sleeping quarters.

***

Luna was happy. Happy that everypony accepted who she really was. Happy that everything seemed to turn out okay in the end. But then there was the matter of her older sister, Chrysalis. Luna no longer had any connection to the hive mind, so unfortunately that meant no connection to her sister. She hoped that she was okay, but there was a familiar pit in her stomach. It was something she only felt once before. The day her parents died.

Her musing were cut short by a swift knock on her door. Groaning, she slightly limped her way to her bedroom door before opening it. To her shock, it was Blueblood on the other side.

"Blueblood, what a surprise," Luna gleefully said. Truthfully, Blueblood wasn't the insufferable twat most ponies perceived him as. In fact, he was a coltcuddler, and a rather flamboyant one at that. That was why he acted the way he did at the most recent Gala, and she had to admit it was pretty funny when she first heard about it. Ever since then, they had become sort of friends. Well, as much of friends distant relatives with two different personalities could be. However, that didn't mean he wasn't great fun to be around.

However, Blueblood didn't respond. Luna was about to question him when she saw his eyes. His sickly, green eyes.

She glanced around, making sure no guards were present before pulling Blueblood into her sleeping quarters. "Reveal yourself changeling, tell me why you're here."

Green fire erupted around the form of Blueblood, revealing a typical changeling drone. They stared at each other for a brief moment before the drone bowed to Luna and said, "We need your help, our Queen is dying."