//------------------------------// // Before Show - Chapter 1 // Story: Lysithea and Twilight: The Twin Sisters of Magic // by Lusaminia //------------------------------// Lysithea twitched slightly, a groan escaping her as she pulled the bedsheets to her side of the bed. She might have not been completely awake yet, but it didn’t change the fact that she was cold. Someone had moved the sheets almost completely off of her, and her half-awake brain couldn’t figure out who. All she could think about was how cold she was, and the fact that right after moving them towards her side of the bed, they had been moved off her again. So, with what energy she could muster, she moved them back to her once again. This time, she had the idea of clutching them in order to keep them in place. It worked at first, though the constant tugging of whoever she was in bed with didn’t help her fall back asleep. In fact, it woke her up more, allowing her to view the room around her and the pink hoof in her vision. If she wanted to ask about it, all of that was immediately forgotten as she looked at the sheets she had clutched. Suddenly, everything, including where the sheets came from, came back to her. “Thea,” A voice whined, no doubt coming from the per– pony, she corrected herself, on the other side of the bed. “Stop hogging all the blankets.” “Wait a minute Twilight,” She said as she turned to face the lavender foal she had come to know as her sister. “These blankets aren- oof!” Her attempts at reasoning with said sister were ended with a well placed, if accidental, hoof to her muzzle. Lysithea grabbed her muzzle, wincing in pain as Twilight used the opportunity to take the blankets back. Without a second thought, Lysithea reached her own hooves down to Twilight’s tail and gave a small yank, causing her sister to yelp. “Don’t do that!” Twilight said, facing her sister with a rather large scowl. “Then don’t punch me, idiot!” Lysithea shot back. She watched as the scowl on her sister’s face turned to a sly grin and she booped the pink foal’s muzzle. “You didn’t.” “Oh, but I just did,” Twilight said, booping her sister again, causing Lysithea to scrunch up her muzzle in reflex. “Twice.” Lysithea narrowed her eyes, knowing well that this meant war. With no remorse, she booped her sister back, watching as Twilight crossed her eyes in response. Her satisfaction was short-lived as Twilight returned the boop, which in turn got her booped as well. This continued until, after booping each other more frequently, Twilight jumped on her sister, causing the two unicorn foals to roll across the bed and onto the floor. No longer did the fight with boops, but instead flailed their hooves at each other. Despite having been the one initially knocked to the ground, Lysithea managed to turn the tides pin her sister instead. With the same sly smile her sister had on her earlier, Lysithea reached her hooves to Twilight’s belly and tickled her sister. Twilight kicked and kicked, the tickles causing her to laugh uncontrollably. “I concede! I concede!” Twilight finally said after much tickling, and Lysithea stopped. Another satisfying victory. “Seriously though, why were you hogging them this morning?” “Twi, you mean to tell me you didn’t notice,” Lysithea said, her horn giving a light violet hue as she tried to grasp the blankets in her magic. After much failure, she resorted to throwing them on her sisters face with her hooves instead. Despite the fact that her voice was muffled, Twilight’s next two words rang through the entire Sparkle household. “Shining!” With those words, Twilight bursted out of the covers and ran out of their bedroom, leaving Lysithea to stifle a giggle. Some eight to nine years ago, she would have never thought she would be doing this. Eight to nine years ago, she believed that her duel crests would be the absolute end to her life. That was before she had been reborn in a land full of colorful horses. She looked at her hooves, covered in the same pink fur that it had been for the past eight years of her new life. She remembered how confused she was the first time she opened her eyes, and how strange it felt to have all her memories as a newborn foal. Why whatever divine being let her keep those, she would probably never know. Yet, she remembered all of it, from those torturous days of being a blood experiment for those who slither in the dark to joining the Golden Deer at Garreg Mach Academy. All of it was there… … Even how none of her classmates had ever managed to find a way to cure her shortened life. The crest she had gained from the blood experiments couldn’t be removed, and even now was still in her blood. She could feel them both, the Crest of Charon, her family crest, and the Crest of Glousester, in her blood still. She still had no pigment in her mane or tail, both being as white as they had been for most of her life. All the doctors knew was that they were enhancing her magic in strange ways and that, for some strange reason, they no longer harmed her lifespan. She had no idea why they no longer were of any harm to her, but she decided not to think about that. In the end, she didn’t need to think about rushing everything now, and that meant she could have something she was never truly able to have in Fodlan: a childhood, or foalhood as they called it here in Equestria. These past eight years had to be the best years of her life for that reason alone. She no longer had to worry about her life ending too soon. She could play, laugh, and enjoy all the sweets she wanted while taking the time to enjoy life. Even if she was now a talking magical horse, that wouldn’t stop her from having the best time in her life. Getting up and walking to the door, leading out of the room Twilight shared with her, she was also reminded of how strange it was to have siblings now. The fact she and Twilight were twins didn’t really mean much, but having been the only daughter of house Ordelia, she had never gotten to have the joy of living with a sister or brother. Now, she had both, one of which was no doubt been rudely interrupted by Twilight levitating her. Looking to the door knob, Lysithea did the best she could to grasp it with her new unicorn magic. She remembered what both Twilight and herself learned during magic kindergarten, urging for her magic violet glow to grasp much like a human would a hand. Her magic, however, refused to obey her, the violet glowi refusing to surround the knob. Such was the story of Lysithea’s luck. Lysithea von Ordelia, whose name had been feared by soldiers on the battlefield her magic’s strength, couldn’t even do a simple unicorn spell right. With a sigh, she instead resorted to the means pegasi and earth ponies used: turning it with her mouth. Part of her couldn’t help but scream at the unsanitary nature of such an action, but after four years of it she had learned to deal with it. She made her way to the dining room where her father, Night Light, was currently finishing up breakfast. “Morning dad,” She called to him, hopping up in an attempt to see what he was making. Just like in Fodlan, however, her small stature left her having to ask. “What are you making?” “Twilight’s favorite,” He replied, looking down at Lysithea. “You ready for another day of school Valentine?” “Dad, I told you I don’t like my name,” Lysithea complained, her ears folded. “And as your mother and I have said, you can change it when you get your cutie mark,” Night Light replied. “Now, go get ready and I’ll call when breakfast is ready.” Lysithea sighed as she walked out of the room, unable to count how many times she has had that conversation with her new mom and dad. Valentine Velvet, that was the name they had given her at birth, and she hated it. Part of it was simply the idea of not having the same name she had originally been born with, and the one that Twilight was nice enough to call her by. That and Valentine Velvet sound so childish, and Lysithea still hated being treated like she didn’t know anything. She was, after all, still a prodigy in Equestria. Her magic, despite how potent she had been told it was, might have held her back a bit, but she was still easily one of the most knowledgeable foals at school. While certain things did prove slightly frustrating, having to constantly remind herself of how different technology and culture was from here to Fodlan, it didn’t stop her from acing nearly every test that came her way. Twilight, in that regard, was actually identical, just with magic as compared to everything else. That wasn’t to say that Twilight had a hard time with other subjects, as she was still easily passing all her classes, but the title Lysithea had once held in Fodlan now more fittingly seemed to belong to her sister. Twilight Sparkle, eight years old, and already a magical prodigy in every sense of the word. Thus many had referred to them as the “Twin Prodigies”. -- -- The rest of the morning passed without much worth noting. Her mom, Twilight Velvet, had to leave for work early as usual, and thus breakfast was between Lysithea, her sister, her brother Shining Armor, and her father. After that, she and Twilight headed to school, which Lysithea had learned was actually a lot more rigorous at younger levels than during middle or high school. Their father, as usual, walked with them both for a good portion of the way, but was distracted by a colleague from his work. Lysithea had stayed with her father, having been paying more attention to him than Twilight had. It wasn’t long, however, until she noticed that Twilight wasn’t with them anymore. Lysithea held in the urge to panic, looking to see that her father was still distracted before wandering down the street. She knew exactly why her sister had wandered off, and should have known better. A ways down the street, Lysithea finally found a clue as to where Twilight was, but not Twilight herself. It was a book, a textbook at that, which was only something Twilight would ever willingly read for fun. Seeing it without her sister put a lump in her throat, and she scanned around her for any sign of Twilight. Then she heard a scream for the nearby alley. Without thinking, Lysithea turned towards the alley and galloped towards the origin of the scream. She didn’t know why, but she was certain it belonged to Twilight, and she was currently in danger. After following the narrow walls for some way, she looked to see Twilight running towards her, a bad bruise on her face. Without even waiting, Twilight jumped to her sister and gripped her in a big hug. “Twilight, are you okay?” Lysithea asked. “Lysithea, we have to get out of here. Th-they tried to kill me,” Twilight replied, her words slurred from crying. Those few words were enough to make Lysithea scared. “Who did? Who tried to hurt you?” “There she is!” Lysithea looked in the direction of the voice, finding three full grown, rather angry looking stallions standing in front of them. Two had knifes, the other looking at her with a look of dissatisfaction. “Look at the boys, both of them in the same place. The boss will be rather pleased.” “What did you do to my sister?” Lysithea asked, doing her best to sound threatening. The stallions just laughed at her. “Aw, look at the little foal trying to be all tough,” Said one of the stallions weilding a knife. “Look, kid, come with us and we promise not to hurt you. The kid just fell on her face is all.” “You’re lying!” Twilight shouted. “You tried to kill me! You said someone wanted me dead and then tried to kill me.” “Ah, your sis is just over reacting. We’re not bad ponies,” The lead stallion replied, giving Twilight a look that caused the filly to close her eyes in fear. “Now, how about you both come with us, or we’ll make this even more difficult!” Lysithea, knowing that the stallions meant nothing but trouble motioned for Twilight to get behind her. She didn’t know exactly what she would do, but she had to protect her sister. The Stallions, in turn, laughed at her. “What are you gonna do kid, hug us to death?” The lead stallion said. “I am not a kid!” Lysithea shouted. “My name is Lysithea von Ordelia, and you will not harm my sister!” Lysithea started to however off the ground slightly, her vision so focused on the stallions that she was unaware of what she was actually doing. Twilight, on the other hoof, could see exactly what was happening, looking to the sky in awe as several rather nasty looking spikes appeared out of thin air. The spikes, in turn, had cast a shadow over the three stallions, leading everyone's attention away from Lysithea, who was now glowing, and to the sky.  With a battlecry, Lysithea let loose the spikes, their sudden drop sending the stallions fleeing for their lives. They barely managed to get away, not caring to go back in fear of the little foal that they had greatly underestimated. With her anger fading, Lysithea was lowered back to the ground, the glow from her body fading away. Her worry for Twilight was overridden as she realized what she had just done. That… that was Dark Spikes! She thought to herself. I did it! I finally cast something! “T-t-t-thea?” Lysithea turned around, finding Twilight staring at her, or her flank to be more correct. Curious, as well as slightly uncomfortable, as to what her sister was looking at, she turned her attention to her flank. What she in turn caused her sister to cheer for her in joy, but left her stomach suddenly sick. She had her cutie mark, which would have been good, if it wasn’t that of her two crests.