//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Not in the Everfree Anymore Part 1 // Story: Three Sisters // by Cryohawk //------------------------------// Twilight's entire body ached. Ugh, wherefore doest everything hurt. It felt like she hadn't moved in years. She also felt something strangely soft underneath her and next to her was a muffled noise. She couldn't tell what it was but it sounded strangely familiar. Wait, was it a... voice? Yes, it was. Why did it sound so familiar? Unfortunately, she couldn't do much in her current state, she couldn't even move. Twilight quickly became annoyed at her inability to do anything and in her frustration she weakly growled. This is so aggravating, we can not doth anything! We can do not but hear this infernal noi-... wait doth the voice nuzzle us? There are only two other ponies that would nuzzle us. Twilight first attempted to see what was going on but she couldn't see anything. So she then gathered as much strength as she could muster and asked. “Sister, is art thee?” it was barely audible, but it was all she could muster. Twilight waited with bated breath for the pony's response. “Yes, Twilight. Yes, it's me,” came the voice of her oldest sister, Celestia. Twilight was overjoyed to hear her sister’s voice. Oh! Thank the gods there safe, we did think both of ye were hit too. Just as Twilight finished that thought she felt something latch onto her, shortly followed by whimpers and something wet hitting her coat. She quickly realized that it was her sister’s tears. “Oh, Twilight. I’m so so so sorry! I let this happen to you! If I had just tried harder, you wouldn't have had to sacrifice yourself and be trapped in that infernal prison! I’m a terrible sister! I'm s-so sor-” before Celestia could continue her hysterical speech she was stopped by Twilight when she squeezed her forearms around her big sister, or at least as much as she could in her current state. “Sister, we may not knoweth what is going on or what exactly ye art declaring. But there is one thing we knoweth for certain and that is ye art the most wondrous sister a mare couldst asketh for. So cease this right now,” even though her voice was only just a whisper, it had enough strength to end her sister's hysterics. The two sisters held each other in a tight embrace, neither was willing to let go as they wanted to let this moment last just a bit longer. But slowly the two eventually loosened their grip on each other and when Twilight looked at her sister she could hazily make her out. “Tia, I'm so joyous ye art alright. And *yawn* we would love evermore to continue. Though we *yawn* art suddenly quite tire, mine most humble apologies. Goodnight sister, we love thou,” Twilight said as a sudden wave of exhaustion came over her. Celestia leaned down and lightly kissed Twilight on the forehead under her horn. Before she got up with a smile on her face and walked to the door with a spring in her step. “Oh. And bringeth Luna next time. We miss her too,” Twilight barely asked before she entered the dream realm. What Twilight didn't see was Celestia suddenly halt and for all of her previous joy to be sucked out. It was replaced with a massive pang of guilt that pierced her heart at the unintentional reminder of Luna's fate. But it also planted another thought in her mind, she would have to tell Twilight about what happened to Luna. Celestia slowly made her way to the door and quietly left the room for her blissfully ignorant sister to rest.   -{<()>}-   The next couple of days were a mess for Twilight, because she found out one outstanding fact... how long she was truly gone for. For a totally unrelated reason, on the same day, all the windows in the castle were shattered systematically and the floor was covered in hundreds of unrelated shards of glass. After a day where the castle staff cleaned up all the broken glass, Twilight began to have doctors do checkups on her. They even began physical therapy on her legs and wings to try and test how well they worked after their thousand-year nap, unfortunately, it was a slow progress. Twilight meanwhile began to use all of her free time to try and catch up on the new modern world, which also included changing her outdated dialect which was one of her main focuses. But soon everything began to become monotonous for Twilight as every day she would do the same thing: Wake up, eat breakfast, read a bit, do physical therapy, have lunch, read some more, do magic exercises, read even more, get ready for dinner, squeeze in a bit of pre-bed reading, and finally sleep. Luckily, for Twilight this monotony was occasionally broken when her sister decided to visit her, but this upcoming visit was going to be the most different out of them all. -{<()>}-   Today is going to be the best day ever! Cadence squealed in her head. She was currently walking beside Auntie Celestia to finally properly meet her new Aunt Twilight. Cadence had a spring in her step, she was so happy to finally meet Auntie Celestia's sister... while she was conscious. Her aunt had raved about her for the last few days straight. Ooo... I wonder what she's like? Does she love cake as much as Celestia? Or maybe she'd like to go to the spa with me? Or may-. Before Cadence could continue her internal tirade, she was stopped by her auntie. As she looked up at her auntie she saw that she was looking at her sternly. Cadence began to get worried but before she could ask her if there was anything wrong, she spoke. “Now Cadence, please remember that my sister hasn't fully recovered yet from her... incident. She's still trying to adapt to the modern world... as well as working on modernizing her dialect. So, she may be a bit hard to understand. Just, please don't ask too many questions too fast," Celestia asked, Cadence was relieved that she didn't do anything wrong and happily agreed to Auntie Celestia. With her acknowledgment, the two of them walked up to the pair of doors that led to Twilight’s room. Celestia knocked on the door and called out to Twilight, they didn't have to wait long as they heard a faint “Come in!” from the other side of the door. Celestia lit her horn and enveloped the doors with her magic and pushed them open. As Cadence walked inside the room she was shocked. Now Cadence knew that Twilight liked books, her auntie had made that very clear, but even she didn't expect to see books piled in stacks around the room and lining the walls like bricks, it was more like a library than a hospital room. But by far the largest congregation of books in the booktopia was around a familiar lavender alicorn. Sat there was her newest aunt, Twilight the Alicorn of Magic. And in her hooves was a book titled “Emerald’s Guide to Modern Equish”. “Hello, sister. It's good to see you again. I’ve brought a guest this time, I'm sure you two will love each other,” Celestia said as she maneuvered her way to the side of Twilight's bed and sat down. Twilight meanwhile reluctantly put down her book and looked over at Celestia with a curious expression. “And who pray tell art they?” Twilight asked as she raised an eyebrow. “Sister, you're falling back into old equish again - ” Twilight only humphed at Celestia when they saw her cheeky expression “ - but that isn't important right now.” Celestia cleared her throat before she continued, “Sister, I would like to introduce to you a very special pony… my-our niece, Cadence,” Twilight looked over at her, apparently only having just noticed her. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open as she saw her. “H-Hello Pri-um… Twilight, it's good to finally meet you,” Cadence mumbled as she was suddenly overtaken by a wave of nervousness. Come on, Cadence. You wanted to meet, Twilight. Don’t embarrass yourself now!  “ *Ahem* Sorry about that. I just can’t wait to finally get to know you. I… hope we can be best friends,” Cadence finished with the brightest smile she could muster, unfortunately, it faltered a bit when Twilight’s expression didn't change. This continued for a few moments before Twilight shook her head and seemed to regain control of herself, she then looked her up and down like she was examining her. Cadence tried to stay firm during her new aunt’s inspection, but she couldn't help but get a tad nervous. Once Twilight stopped she looked back at Celestia with a thoughtful look. “We-I see thee hath found another… alicorn, we art shocked ye had found one after the many time we had tryeth to look for others. *cough* Anyways, I assume thee adopted her?” Twilight wondered before she grinned. “Unless there is something thee hath been hiding from us?” she finished. Celestia looked at Twilight with a deadpan expression, “No I haven’t been hiding anything,” Celestia then rolled her eyes while Twilight giggled, she then continued.  “Anyways to answer your question. I’ve had Cadence with me for the last couple of years. I found her right after she ascended and gained her cutie mark. After her ascension, I wanted to see her in person… I don’t think I need to tell you why, sister. Anyways, it was there that I learned Cadence was an orphan and after I got to know this bundle of joy” - Cadence couldn't help but blush at Celestia’s words - “I knew I just had to adopt her as my niece,” Celestia said before she looked over at her with a wide smile. “Ever since then she’s been the brightest and most incredible pony an aunt could ask for. I know one day you’ll be a wonderful princess,” Cadence’s blush intensified at the bombardment of praise her auntie gave her.  Twilight seemed to mull over Celestia’s story until she finally looked over at her and smiled. “Well, then this is most wondrous news. Tis wonderful to meeteth my new niece. I hope I can be a good aunt to thee,” Twilight said before her smile quickly became inquisitive and she asked her a question. “Cadence, if it isn't too forthcoming to asketh. How did thou becometh an alicorn,” Cadence blinked, surprised at Twilight’s sudden question. Cadence bit her lip, “Ohh… that’s a good question. Well you see, before I ascended I was a pegasus, and well… '' Cadence paused as she let out a sigh, from the corner of her eye she saw a worried Twilight look at her. “Ok, let’s get this over with,” Cadence mumbled before she straightened herself up and began.  “When I was still in the orphanage a strange and frankly creepy mare would come every now and again. At first, I thought maybe she was adopting some of us… but then she would always come back for more and more. This went on for a couple of weeks, I can’t remember how long exactly. I didn't know at the time but apparently, she was friends with the owner, so she never bothered to check where we were going. Not that she’d care anyway. “Anyways, one day as she took another one of us I had enough of the constant fear of being next and decided to sneak out and follow her. You may think it was stupid, but I wanted to know where she was taking everypony, to see if they were ok. “It took a few hours to get to where she was taking everypony. It was some word cave in the middle of nowhere. When I entered her lair I was honestly shocked. The entire cavern was full of alchemical equipment and concoctions, at the center of the room was an operating table with a strange glistening stone on top of it. “A few moments later she ordered the orphan to sit in front of the stone and to not take their eyes off the stone. She then grabbed a nearby potion that had a strange dark pink smokey liquid? Anyways she opened the orphan’s mouth and forced them to drink it. I didn't know at the time but she used a vile form of magic known as love poison. Once they were forced to drink it they were obsessed with the rock and refused to let it go. “Even though I didn't completely understand what was going on I was disgusted at what she did to them. Now you may think this was… well, even more, stupid but I just felt like I had to stop her… so I rushed inside. At first, she was surprised, but then a horrible smile spread across her muzzle as she stared at me. Then I tried to s-stop h-her,” before Cadence was overwhelmed by those memories she felt the comforting presence of her Auntie Celestia. Cadence looked at her auntie and saw her reassuring smile. Cadence calmed down before she looked back at an increasingly worried Twilight. “I’m sorry, but I don’t really remember the battle very well, it’s all just kind of a blur. But what I do remember is that I was losing, hard. Even though she was older she was stronger than me, luckily she wasn't faster. But eventually, she got a knife and… and threatened that if I didn't give up she would k-kill the orphan. Even though I was terrified, I was so angry at what thi-this witch was doing to that orphan. It was at that moment that I felt something strange in my chest. I wasn't able to think about that anymore as the entire room was enveloped with light blue and pink magic. “When I woke up I was in a strange place with glowing floating orbs everywhere. I now know that I had managed to enter the Aether or the realm of magic. That was also where I finally met, Auntie Celestia,” Cadence said as she subconsciously moved over to nuzzle the aforementioned Auntie Celestia. She then looked back over at Twilight where she looked like she was… disturbed. Before she could ask Twilight if she was alright, she looked over at Celestia. “As much as it was good to knoweth how young Cadence did meet thee. What did ye do to thy witch and the poor orphan?” Twilight asked as she said witch with clear disgust, Celestia then continued the story. Well, when I felt Cadence enter the Aether during her ascension I was… shocked, to say the least. I still remember when I first met her, she was so adorable I could have… Oh! Uh, sorry I got lost in thought. Anyways, after a little while, I asked her where she was and that was when she told me what happened. I… tried to comfort her before I left. “After her ascension, I gathered as many guards as I could and teleported to the cave she told me about. Luckily, Cadence’s ascension caused a massive spike of magic, so it was quite easy to pinpoint where it was. When we arrived everypony was unconscious, during which we locked up that witch and I purged the curse from the orphan. After everything was taken care of I was finally able to meet Cadence… properly. I initially asked her where she lived and where her parents were, but when I found out she was an orphan I decided to adopt this adorable filly as my niece. That was one of the best decisions in my entire life,” Celestia said as she finished her tale, Cadence meanwhile blushed. Cadence got over her embarrassment and looked over at Twilight. She seemed like she was in thought as she stared at a nearby wall, at least that was until she began to get out of bed. Both she and Celestia’s eyes widened as they tried to stop her from getting out of bed. But they were stopped when she raised a hoof to stop them, she then gingerly got out of bed and onto unsteady hooves. She then shakily walked toward her and wrapped her wings and arms around her into a hug. “I am so sorry that thee had to go through that, especially for one so young. I wilt try to be the most wondrous of aunt’s or at least as much as this old mare couldst be,” Twilight said as she gave her a weak but gentle smile. Cadence returned the favor with one of her own. The next few hours were filled with laughter, joy, and wonderful memories from everypony involved, there were also many stories exchanged. A story that Celestia told was the time Twilight accidentally turned her man and coat neon pink and so was forced to go to the royal court as a pink monstrosity for a week until she was able to fix it. Twilight, in response, told another story where she found Celestia flat out drunk and kissing a five-tier cake she just married, which she later “divorced” by way of her stomach. Before long things began to calm down, after a ton of wonderful stories from her aunties. Cadence sat next to her aunties, extremely happy at how everything went and that she finally got to meet Twilight. Twilight meanwhile laughed after one of Auntie Celestia’s stories, “Oh, sister. This wast truly wonderful, thee must bringeth Luna next time -” Twilight’s smile diminished a bit “- I miss her. I knoweth she’s been busy, but I wish she would at least visit,” Cadence noticed from the corner of her eye that Celestia visibly stiffened and somehow managed to get her white coat to become paler. Cadence was confused why Twilight would ask something like that. What does she mean by “Luna coming to visit”? Cadence then realized something, Wait! Did she not… “Twilight, you do know what happened to Luna, right?” Cadence saw Twilight’s face become one of confusion as she looked over at Celestia, presumably for answers. But when Cadence looked over at Celestia she saw she began to sweat and shake slightly. Oh no! Auntie Celestia, why didn't you tell her?         -{<()>}-   Twilight continued to stare at her new niece in confusion. What doest she mean? She then looked over at her sister for answers but she was surprised to see her shaking slightly and covered in sweat. Slowly worry and dread began to fill Twilight as she narrowed her eyes at her sisters. Her words also gained a slight edge. “Sister, what doest our niece mean? What has happened to Luna?” right as Twilight finished Celestia shaking increased and tears began to fall down her cheeks. Twilight’s glare softened when she saw the state her sister was in, she felt guilty for doing this to her sister. But before she could apologize, Celestia looked up at her and the only thing she could see was intense guilt, sadness, and regret. “Tw-Twilight, I-I made a horrible mistake. Luna she, she’s…” whatever Celestia said became an incoherent mess. Twilight was now even more worried about Luna. “Tia, what happened to Luna,” Twilight impatiently and firmly asked. But she almost dreaded her question as it left her lips. Celestia meanwhile seemed to have refocused and took a deep breath as she looked at her. “I-I was forced to… banish Luna to the moon for a thousand years. It was all my fault,” Celestia shakily said as the words looked like it physically hurt her to say. Twilight paled at what her sister said as she finally began to understand why Luna never visited her. She couldn't. A thousand different thoughts and feelings swirled inside of her as her mind tried to comprehend what had happened. Part of her was furious at what her sister did to Luna and wanted to get revenge. Another side of her refused to accept reality and purge what Celestia said. One part of her even wanted to go back to that infernal crystal tomb and never come out. But before Twilight could act on any of those thoughts she looked up at Celestia and saw so much pain, sadness, and regret on her face. At that moment all those thoughts were abandoned, as tears began to rapidly roll down her cheeks. Not long after Twilight felt a pair of legs and wings wrap around her. She also began to vividly hear the voice of her sister trying to comfort her, unfortunately, it had little effect. During this time, the sisters failed to notice the absence of a certain pink alicorn as she quietly left the room. To let the two grieving sisters mourn the loss of a wonderful mare. -{<()>}-   After Twilight learned of the horrible tragedy that befell Luna she became more reclusive and unmotivated. Even to the point where the doctors had a hard time getting her to do the tests they needed her to do. Luckily, after a couple of weeks with Celestia and Cadence, Twilight began to come to terms with the Nightmare Incident. Soon after, the routine that Twilight had become accustomed to had returned, with more reading, medical tests, and the now traditional visits from her sister and niece, which she looked forward to every day. It all helped liven up her time in the RMW. During another one of Twilight’s magic tests, she once again tried to fully access her magic. But after repeated failure, it began to grate on her more and more…  -{<()>}-   Come on, Twilight. Thee can doth it! Just a little MORE! Twilight mentally screamed as she pushed herself as much as possible. Her horn glowed a lukewarm purple as sweat poured down her face and onto the floor. “That’s enough, your highness,” A blue-furred unicorn stallion said as he pulled off the magic reader that was on her horn. Twilight meanwhile was annoyed briefly by the doctor before she huffed from exhaustion, closed her eyes, and sat down on the tiled floor. She then brought her hooves up to her head and massaged her quickly approaching headache. God’s, why must I always receiveth a headache after this… Twilight thought before she frowned, it used to beest so easy. After that thought, Twilight heard the sound of approaching hooves behind her and shortly after felt two wings wrap around her. As Twilight opened her eyes she saw the familiar sight of Celestia’s magenta eyes looking back at her. She gave her a comforting smile before she nuzzled her. Twilight weakly smirked before she returned the favor. “It’s okay, sister. You’ll get better in no time. Let’s remember you were gone for a thousand years. Your body simply isn't ready yet. Also, your magic has been returning at an amazing rate. And let’s not even start at how fast you’ve been able to modernize your language. I'm even surprised at how fast you’ve been able to adapt!” Celestia praised her in a vain attempt to cheer her up. Twilight though was still a bit skeptical about her progress, but she did feel a bit better. The sister’s musings were interrupted when they heard the doctor cough in front of them. As Twilight looked over at the unicorn doctor she saw that he held his clipboard in his magic cyan aura in front of him. As the stallion approached she decided to look over him again, she noted that he had the aforementioned blue coat with a slick black mane and tail. He also had dull grey eyes and a typical white doctor’s coat that concealed his cutie mark. “Well, your highness. As far as I can tell your magic reserves have increased as well as your output. And from the results from your physical therapy, I have little doubt that you’ll be able to leave in a few weeks’ time,” he finished with a slight smile, Twilight though took the news with some doubt.  She knew something was wrong with her magic. She should have been able to output two times her current magic flow by now. It wasn't like this was the first time she had ever been petrified, please don’t ask, and before it didn't take nearly as long. Maybe her sister was right though, maybe it was because she was imprisoned for so long… but still… Twilight looked back over at her sister and saw how excited she was about the doctor's good news. At that moment, Twilight decided to let go of her anxieties and worries and accept what they told her. Mine sister is right. It must just be for how long I wast in there. Soon everything wilt be back to normal. Twilight told herself as she hugged her big sister with a hopeful smile on her muzzle. But in the back of her mind, she still felt like something was wrong, very wrong…                  -{<()>}-   After the tests were finished the two sisters returned to Twilight’s room and for the rest of the day they talked about the past from when they were younger, from all the adventures they went on. Celestia then told Twilight what she had done while Twilight was gone and even answered some of the questions that Twilight had about events that happened during her absence. Eventually, though, that time came to an end. The two alicorns wished each other goodnight before Celestia left the room.   -{<()>}-   “Good night, sister. Sweet dreams,” Celestia said softly before she quietly closed the doors behind her. She faintly heard a muffled “good night” from her sister which brought a smile to her muzzle. Even after all this time, it’s still heartwarming to hear her voice. I’m so glad you're back, Twilight. Celestia thought as her smile grew from all the memories she and her sister had been able to make. With that wonderful thought, she turned to head back to her chambers with a spring in her step. But she stopped when she saw the head doctor, Gusty Shine, walk around the corner. He was the pony who was in charge of taking care of Twilight. Celestia also noticed that he was distracted with his clipboard and by the time he noticed her he nearly walked into her. “Hello, Doctor Gusty. How are you doing on this wonderful night?” Celestia asked as she put on her “princess mask”. “Oh! Um, your highness -” Gusty quickly did a bow as he shook off his surprise “- I’m doing fine. Actually, I was just about to come and see you. There’s… something we need to discuss,” that caught Celestia’s attention. “Oh! What would that be doctor?” on the inside she began to feel worried, she had a feeling that this wasn't to be good news. “It relates to Princess Twilight and her… condition. Unfortunately, there’s bad news,” Why did I have to be right, Celestia thought as she prepared herself for more bad news. “From what we’ve found from our scans on the princess. There seems to be some kind of magical presence inside of Princess Twilight that has something to do with her condition. It seems to be “blocking” her magic somehow. To be a bit more specific it’s impeding her magic from fully restoring. “We’ve done everything in our power to remove it and while we have been able to purge some of it, there’s still so much inside her. Unfortunately, most of the magic is too “deep” inside her, too ingrained. And if we attempt to remove anymore we fear we could permanently damage her layways. Crippling her ability to use all but the most basic forms of magic.” As the doctor explained the true magnitude of the situation, Celestia’s eyes widened in shock as she began to feel terror well up inside her for the wellbeing of her sister. At least that was until that terror was replaced with hatred. Before long, Celestia began to hatefully glare and bare her teeth, if anypony listened closely they could hear her growl. Of course, that monster couldn't leave my family alone! He continues to torment us, even past the void! Celestia’s thoughts then started to turn darker. I should’ve killed him! incinerated him with the SUN! Make him see how it FEELS TO BE ALONE FOR A THOUS-  “Y-Your Highness, are *gulp* are you alright?” Celestia looked down at the shivering form of Doctor Gusty. This snapped her out of her rage and allowed her to regain control over herself. She shook her head as she tried to regain her composure. What the princess didn't notice was that her eyes had become that of a demon’s. Her scleras turned into a shade of dark red, her irises meanwhile changed into an intense orange, and the bottom of her pupils forked in half.  “I’m sorry, doctor. That just brought back some… unpleasant memories,” the doctor seemed to have calmed down a bit, but he still looked wary at her as if she was about to explode again. This caused her heart to hurt a little but she pushed past that for the moment, “Is there anything else that I should know about my sister’s condition?” Celestia tentatively asked as she gave him an, albeit strained, smile. “That’s about everything, your highness! Now, I really must go! Many other patients still need my help! Goodbye!” Gusty announced as he gave her a sloppy bow and quickly trotted away before he disappeared around a corner. Celestia sighed, she felt awful at how she scared the doctor… it felt even worse that he was now wary of her. But then she remembered who caused that and her glare returned with a vengeance. I won’t let you take her from me again, tyrant. I will save my sister from whatever curse you placed on her and so help me if you ever return. I’ll make you wish you died all those years ago. With that declaration, Celestia made her way to her room with a newfound resolve to protect her baby sister.