//------------------------------// // Sister // Story: The Last One // by computerneek //------------------------------// She’s not sure what just happened. She has a pretty good idea, though.  She’d touched the aqua pony, while the worst of the aquamarine pony’s dangerous pains went away.  At the same time, the aqua pony hugged the aquamarine pony. She’d ignored the strange tingling building up in herself; she could deal with it later. That tingling, though, seems to have had other plans.  It peaked during that touch- she’s pretty sure it’s an unrelated event- and now, it’s gone down to nothing, and starting to build up again. She doesn’t abandon the two injured ponies.  She can still feel their pains; while the aqua one is still standing, she won’t be for long, unless a good number of her pains go away.  She does, though, examine her new surroundings. It’s…  a little strange.  It makes her shiver; all this mist would be an excellent hiding place for danger.  She remembers that. Even though it doesn’t feel bad.  It feels happy, somehow, even with the two ponies with her- one unconscious, the other crying. The ground she stands upon is very smooth.  At first glance, it looks like more clouds of mist; however, she can see the solid, translucent surface she’s actually standing on, hidden within it.  The mist is merely rolling overtop of it. She waits.  She will heal these two ponies to the best of her ability before she seeks cover, or food.  Before she makes them aware of their current surroundings. The tingling peaks again.  She’s touching both ponies this time; if physical contact was a factor, she wants it to stay a factor.  This also has the effect of keeping her feeling of their pains at full strength. She thinks she sees something white appearing before everything changes again.  There wasn’t enough time, unfortunately, for her eyes to focus. She examines her new surroundings again.  Back in the woods. The wooden monsters’ panicked yipping can still be heard in the distance. Meaning they can be ignored.  However… She seems to have changed.  She feels the difference; she feels it in both ponies, as well.  But she’s seen it before; she recognizes it. She doesn’t know how a pony could be changed like that, but this difference is no less a part of a pony than her wings; she dare not fight it.  It’s not a pain. …  Funny.  Their pains are going away faster than they were before. But the tingling is gone, and is not returning.  She need not worry about the strange, mist-filled place anymore; this forest is even easier to hide danger in. She curls up against the two ponies, very carefully, to wait. If danger appears, she will fight. But other than that, she will wait.  She will heal. …  Huh.  Some of the pains the two ponies had simply disappeared on the return- like the lack of the red stuff.  She’s confident they’ll both survive; all the dangerous pains are gone. The aquamarine one will probably be resuming normal operation soon, as well. So she waits. All of their bone pains, save the missing wing, are gone by the time the aquamarine pony resumes normal operation by taking in a sudden, deep breath. The aqua pony lets out a yelp.  “Sis! You’re alive!” She hugs even tighter than before, her wings joining in the effort. “Yech!” the aquamarine one yelps, causing the other to recoil.  “Watch the horn, sis!” “Oh, sorry.”  She resumes the hug, though with her head at a different angle that doesn’t thrust her new pointy thing- horn- into the side of the aquamarine pony’s neck. Then both of them stop moving. “Wait,” they state together, the aqua pony lifting her head straight up in the air.  “Horn?” They look at each other. …  their heads suspend normal functioning. She looks over, positioning her head to be in both of their fields of view.  “Something wrong?” she asks. Their heads both simultaneously resume normal operation, and they look at her, speaking in tandem.  “No, we’re just…” They look at each other, and smirk- then stop, and both look quickly back at her. “What-?” the aquamarine one asks. “You’re an alicorn?” the aqua one asks. She tilts her head.  “What’s an alicorn?” “Uhh…” is her answer. Then the aquamarine one looks up at the other.  “Hey, sis?” “Mm?” “Can you get off me?  I can’t feel my wing.” “Oh, sorry.”  The aqua one clambers off of the other, moving to help her stand up. “Thanks,” the aquamarine one states. “It’ll…  It’ll come back,” she states. They both look at her.  “Huh?” “What will?” the aqua one asks, while her sis looks at her own side…  where the missing wing should be. “Aaaah!  What happened to my wing!?” “The monsters got it before I got here,” she states.  “But don’t worry, it’ll come back.” “Monst-?  Oh, the timberwolves,” the aqua one states.   “Timberwolves?” the aquamarine one states, looking around frantically, lone wing priming as if to take off. “Gone now,” she states.  “I scared them away.” “They…  They got the jump on us,” the aqua one informs the other.  “We didn’t realize they were there until after they’d already broken my right wing, so we couldn’t run.”  She hugs her sis once again. “I was sure we were done for, especially once they got to rip your wing off.  I… I don’t know how you survived losing that much blood.” Blink.  “I’m not…  feeling faint or anything.” “Huh…  maybe that was a side effect of the ascension?” “Asc-?”  She lifts a hoof to her own horn.  “Oh… I probably should have seen that coming.  But… what caused it?” Shrug.  “Donno. It might have been…  whats-her-name here, pulling off a triple-rainboom to scare off the timberwolves.”  She glances down. “Pretty sure she was a pegasus before, as well.” “Last One.” They both look at her.  “What?” “That’s my name,” she states, looking back up at them.  “Last One.” “So,” the aqua pony begins, “you mean to tell me, your name is ‘Last One’.” “Yes.” “Who gave you that name?” She shakes her head.  “I don’t know.” “Where are your parents?” “I don’t have any.” “...  Guardian?” She only shakes her head. “Whoever you’ve been living with?” Another shake. “Your home?”  The pony’s tone has long since gone from angry to surprised, and has now become sad for some reason. She shakes her head one last time. Neither pony says anything this time, either.  The aquamarine one trots over next to her… then seems to change her mind, switching to her other side, before laying a wing over her back.  “Would you like to live with us?” She blinks.  “Um… sure?” “Then it’s settled,” the aqua pony states, trotting over to her other side and laying a wing across her back as well- right overtop her sis’ wing.  “From now on, you’re our daughter.” “Daughter?” the aquamarine one asks. She nods.  “Why not?” Shrug.  “I don’t have a problem with it.  I mean, she does know who we are, right?” “Um…  no, I must have missed that.” “What-?  … Okay.”  She crouches down next to her, not removing her wing.  “So, Last One… are you sure you want to live with us, without even knowing who we are?” She looks back up at the pony.  “Why not?” The aqua one responds first, kneeling like her sis.  “That’s… one way to look at it, I suppose. Whelp… I’m Flutter, and my sister over there is Flitter.” “Over there?” Flitter asks.  She doesn’t sound happy. Flutter shrugs.  “What?” Flitter sighs.  “Let’s just…” She pauses, looking at her side- at the missing wing.  “Uhh, figure out how we’re going to get home?” “Oh, that’s easy,” Flutter states.  “I’m strong enough to carry another pegasus, you know that.” “What about…  I refuse to refer to her by that name.  It needs to go, now.” “I couldn’t agree with you more.  And given that she managed to produce not just a rainboom but a triple rainboom when she chased the wolves away, I daresay she can fly on her own.” “Where is home?” she asks. Both ponies look at her, and speak simultaneously.  “Cloudsdale.”