//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Pain 
// Story: Music in the Skies 
// by Lightningstorm8991 
//------------------------------//

Sky woke slowly, only hearing the works of ponies slowly drift to her ears in hushed tones.

"She is still alive-"

"I collected some-"

"Little fighter she-"

"Yes, I ran the tests-"

"She's waking up!"

Sky felt pain everywhere. Her senses returning as a snail's pace. She opened her eyes and only saw blurry objects, her eyes still adjusting to the light. She made a groan and her throat felt like sandpaper.

Shining fell into focus slowly," How you feeling?"

"Like the moon fell on me, then the sun"

She tasted dry blood on her lips and her throat felt like she swallowed a desert. She coughed and cracked a painful smile.

One of the nurses, Nurse Redheart if she recalled, came to focus with some water. Sky drank some and coughed a little more and slowly sat up. Pain shot up her spine and she let out a wince. Shining placed a hoof at her back but she swatted it away, leaning forward with a grunt.

"You can start back at training tomorrow, today you rest", Nurse Redheart said.

Sky nodded and blacked out.

She woke in her bed. Her neck felt sore but she didn't feel any other pain when she sat up. She scanned the room to see Twilight sitting in her favorite bean bag chair. It was dark blue and was the only thing in the room that didn't have stars or moons printed all over it. Twilight stared at her with intent.

She coughed,"Yes Princess Twilight?"

Twilight shook her head as if stirred from sleep and looked at her,"She awakens", she chuckled.

Sky coughed again and levitated over a glass of water by her bed.

Twilight didn't waste time,"I want you in my quarters in an hour, no questions."

Sky coughed from surprise, water spraying her bed,"W-wait, I'm supposed to rest today. Nurse Redheart-"

"Said it was alright. I said no questions. My quarters. One hour."

With that Twilight left, the crescent doors shutting soundlessly behind her. Sky looked at her cup. A silver star seemingly frozen in glass looked back at her from it's bottom.

She got dressed and headed to Twilight's room.

The guards looked at her with a pitiful gaze as she approached. She sighed,"Be prepared."

They nodded and she went inside.

Twilight looked worse in the poor light of her bedroom. Dark circles under her eyes looked darker. She looked at the foot of her bed and almost gasped. The bed of her former, now long dead assistant, Spike, was destroyed and was in smoldering shreds. This was BAD. Twilight on the other hand was sitting at her table that had her cutie mark on it, sipping tea nonchalantly. Sky knew this was gonna be bad. Twilight's horn glowed and the doors behind Sky shut and locked with a simple click. Sky was breathing hard. She didn't know what was happening when Twilight arose and Sky lifted into the air.

Sky screamed but her voice didn't carry as an orb of Twilight's magic surrounded her. Her magic grew dark and the bright violet turned a Royal Purple as Twilight slowly walked towards her.

"You think you can replace me, don't you little filly?", Twilight said but her voice wasn't hers, it was deep and dark, with malice she had never heard before.

The orb changed to shackles and Sky was slammed to the floor. A band of magic pinned her on every leg and even her muzzle down to the black granite floor. Twilight's eyes flowed deep purple and mist of the same color radiated from them. Sky twisted and turned to no avail.

"Fight all you want Sky Note. You cannot win."

Then, the door busted open and Shining Armor ran into the room and froze.

Everything froze.

Time froze.

Not-Twilight looked annoyed as she released Sky and picked up her knife at the table. Shining stood frozen, unaware of his sister. the air was still as Sky got up and backed into the corner of the room. Twilight slammed a hoof onto her neck and Sky couldn't breathe. Twilight took the knife and slowly reopened Sky's wounds with it's deadly edge. Blood ran down Sky's legs as she screamed silently. When Twilight was finished, she forced Sky into the air with her magic and slammed her down with the snapping of two ribs back to where she lay before. The then pinned Sky there with her dark magic as she cleaned the blood on the floor and her knife. She replaced the knife on the table and cleaned the rag she used off. She dried it and placed it back on the table as well. Then something changed. Her eyes went back to normal, the mist went away and so did the magic pinning Sky down. Time unfroze as Twilight looked at her as if for the first time. Shining skidded to a halt and looked at Sky.

"What happened?!", shouted Shining.

Sky couldn't speak, her neck still in pain from when Twilight slammed it.

"I don't know! Sky, you reopened your wounds!", Twilight shouted, concern in her voice, unknowing of what she just did.

Sky made a strangled wheeze as Shining picked her up.

"I'll take her to the infirmary. Twilight, tell the rest of the guard that it's okay."

Twilight nodded, surveying the room for the first time as if she didn't know what happened.

Sky blacked out.

**********************

Sky felt even worse this time than last. Shining stared at her. He saw something in her eyes. Fear? Pain? Anger? Sorrow? This confirmed a suspicion he had. Sky didn't reopen her wounds, she was attacked. Sky stared at Shining with her morning light eyes. He saw much pain in them.

"You are a royal guard now", he said almost casually.

Sky stared back at him with blank eyes.

"W-what?", she croaked.

"I said", Shining repeated, levitating over a glass of water to her,"You are a royal guard. You showed valor and strength with that dragon. But don't worry, your shifts are at the same times we hold practice so the don't interfere  with training."

Sky took the glass and coughed a little to clear her throat.

"Twilight did it."

"I know. I see it in your eyes."

Hot tears streaked Sky's face and her body shook. Shining sat on her little hospital bed and curled her up in his arms. She sobbed into them and he felt her pain.

************************

Year 7 Day 123

Queen Celestia is dead.

Sky looked at the words on the page with new fear. Twilight was Queen. She was dead. Shining was dead too. Not actually dead but they both were gonna be. Twilight had  maimed Sky countless times since that fateful night, all with the same dark magic. Shining was planning, or she hoped he was planning to leave. Celestia was murdered by a rebel group of ponies that were through with the famine that Celestia brought upon the land and yet she never was hungry, nor was Twilight. The guard suffered without food, that also meant Sky went without as well. Sky put away her journal in the same place it had been for all her years here. She got up and crossed the room to one of the corners. She levitated over a violin and approached a turntable. She felt pain and sorrow in her heart, but also the vigor of happiness and belonging when she played. The violin was a gift on her fifth birthday from her mother's coworker, Octavia. The turntable was another birthday gift from Queen Celestia on her seventh. The first birthday among many spent here. She felt her emotions flow out into song as she played a song that her mother and Octavia made together, Crystallize.



***************

Music, slow and sorrowful at first but picking up in speed and intensity. Shining Armor knew the song from an old album of Vinyl Scratch's. He sighed. The song meant that Sky was upset. He trotted over the familiar crescent moon doors and listened. The music was beautiful and the other guard in the hallway stopped to listen. It was truly beautiful in its power and sound. Shining Armor sat down and rested his head on Sky's door. He felt something like a cool winter night wash over him and he closed his eyes happily. Sky always felt happier as she played. The music picked up more into more of her mother's style than Octavia's. The music felt like warm fire in a hearth, curled up beside Cadence on their couch. His thoughts turned sour then because he remembered that Cadence was dead. He opened his eyes and sighed. He then heard a scream and a crash, the music abruptly stopping inside and jumped back. He burst into the room to see Sky with burn marks and wounds all over her body. She stood with wide eyes, frozen in fear. Dark purple mist clung to the air before dissipating. Shining ran forward. The turntable he knew to be there was in shreds: Records shattered, some embedded into the wall and some in Sky's pelt; the actual setup looked like a giant, Pinkie-Pie sized hammer was brought down upon it; the speakers making a mix of electrical zapping and a low humming/buzzing sound. Even the solid, black granite was chipped and broken. Sky was still holding a broken and smoldering violin, splintered wood was also embedded into her pelt. He looked closer and saw red blood slowly dripping out of not only the embedded objects in her pelt, but also from deep burns that would leave permanent scars. He could barely see the true colors of her fur over the dark, black ash.

"T-t.....", Sky spoke through trembling lips.

"Shh....I know it was her. We'll get out of here soon. I'm taking you to the infirmary. They'll fix you up. I'm gonna have a little chat with my sister...", Shining cut off.

Sky nodded shakily.

******************

"Just what the HELL do you think you're doing Twilight Magenta Sparkle?!", Shining shouted as he entered Twilight's room and slammed the previously thought as unable to be slammed doors.

Twilight looked up suddenly from where she sat, drinking tea in her room's small chair and table, never having heard her full name used in such a tone before. She smiled a cruel smile.

"Whatever do you mean darling brother?", she replied.

"I think you very well know what I mean"

The smile deepened in malice,"Oh, the traitor! I almost forgot."

Shining's face was a wall,"Why?"

"Why? I dont know why. I feel like it? Oh yes, I almost forgot. BECAUSE SHE'S GONNA REPLACE ME!"

"Twi-"

"No, don't Twily, me, Shiny", she said with more malice and hatred than he'd have though possible as she paced the room," I am QUEEN of the Equestrian Empire."

"You sound like Chrysalis."

Twilight whipped around and snarled at Shining,"I bet Cadence would hate for me to sound like her. Oh, wait, she's-"

Shining hit her in her jaw with such force that she fell back into the tea table, hot tea flinging up into the air and spattering her with its scalding heat. She roared and stood, deep purple magic matching the tea stains on her once beautiful lavender pelt. He heard the door lock. She staggered over to her brother and whispered through gritted teeth, cool breath like ice tickling his ear,"You shouldn't have done that. Watch. Your. Back. Brother."

Shining felt chills run down his spine as the words hit his heart. Twilight stepped back with a face that looked more like a wolf's than her own. He was promptly thrown out of the dark and cold room by his own sister's magic. The doors closed in eerie silence and locked once more.