"Whooo." An owl hooted, but somehow, the sound carried much more meaning. One time, I have asked you to look after my little sister. Somehow, she knew the bird was not talking to her.
"Your Grey's little sister? Well, welcome aboard then." The other voice that sounded so much like her own addressed her.
"Aboard?" She timidly asked. This was not the Princess's study, but this other voice knew her big sister, so things could not be all that bad.
'Why are you a bird' she wanted to ask, but one of the others spoke first.
"Well, we are currently operating in the same body. I'm One, and this is Two."
"We are both, Little Star. I just was turned up second." Two said.
"How? And that's my name…"
"I used some magic to split my mind to get stuff done faster, and even though the spell ended, Two stayed around," One said.
Two hummed. "If you have the same name, does not make you Three?"
"I would prefer not to be a number…"
"What's wrong with numbers?"
"Nothing… I like numbers. I just would rather not be one."
Three scrolls popped into existence, held in Grey's aura.
"Are you really my big sister?"
The owl nodded. "Three things must be done to save the day."
"What happened?" One asked.
"Mummy's in trouble!" Two answered. "We have to save her. What about Shinny and Caddy, too? Are they ok?"
"Whoo," Grey called loudly, then clicked her wooden beak. "Twilight Velvet is well, and we will be seeing Cadance and Shining Armor soon."
Relief flowed through her. It was not her mother in danger. Then she felt horrible, these two new ponies-with-her-voice's mother was in trouble. "That's good… so, One, Two. Are we saving your mummy? What can I do?"
"That is correct, her and many more," Grey answered.
She glanced over the scrolls. Two were some sort of complex astral magic, and the third was simple mana folding. "I can do this one."
One and Two each grabbed one of the more complex spells.
One nodded firmly. "So, we're bringing mummy here?"
"Mummy Twilight has four hundred and forty-two protective wards on the castle… so why are we teleporting away?" Two asked. "And where does this even go?"
"One who we can not trust had a hoof in the construction of the castle… so any protection here must be considered suspect."
"We're in a castle?" Little Star not a number, asked, looking around at the crystal walls. "Is it a fairytale castle?"
"There will be time for answers and stories later. For now, though, seconds are important. Whatever you see, you must cast the spells as quickly as possible with as much power as you can."
'Why?' She wanted to ask, but her sound-a-likes' mother was in danger, and Grey told them to do it, so that was more than enough. Not Three buckled down and put her own horn to task. Everything might be confusing, but she was a good pony, and good ponies get good grades, do their homework right away, eat their greens, went to bed on time and helped others.
Grey lit her own horn, preparing her own spell.
She focused on her part. Even though nothing made sense, her big sister said this was to save lives, and she trusted her. She just hoped she was careful. This part seemed like it could explode if handled roughly.