Half-Sisters

by Steve Ott

The Lies We Tell To Foals

She had won. Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, had just successfully taken Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. Despite this success, it nearly came crashing down when that lavender unicorn accused her of brainwashing Shining Armor. Thankfully for Chrysalis, the unicorn’s friends and her teacher were more blind than she thought. Once they had left, Chrysalis had imprisoned her in the crystal caverns with the real Princess Cadence. In hindsight, that was probably a bad idea since they both were able to escape. However, that no longer mattered as her changelings had captured the Elements of Harmony, Shining Armor was still under her spell, and their beloved Princess of the Sun was currently trapped in a cocoon. But Chrysalis felt that she was missing something.

That was something that had been eating at her for sometime now. Chrysalis was never one to forget something, especially on this magnitude. However, no matter where she went, it always felt as if she was being watched. She had heard that Celestia’s “sister” had returned from her exile. To Chrysalis, that moon princess was nothing but a traitor. Though deep down, she new her reasons for not joining her all those years ago. Maybe that’s why she sought her out at first? But not only was the moon princess not present, but neither was her personal guard. The only inkling she got of her presence was the fact she was raising the moon. She wondered why the moon princess hadn’t interfered with the invasion. Maybe she was truly on her side after all? That hope was smashed when a changeling was launched across the throne room by a blast of blue magic.

Chrysalis whipped her head around as Twilight gasped, “Princess Luna!”. There, at the west entrance to the throne room was Princess Luna. Chrysalis was hit with a wave of emotions ranging from relief and fear. But most notably was the anger that radiated off of Princess Luna.

Chrysalis muzzle formed into a devilish smirk before sneering, “Ah, Princess Luna, how nice of you to finally join us.”

Luna just continued to glare at Chrysalis with her piercing blue eyes. Her own smirk began to form across her own muzzle. “Queen Chrysalis, long time no see”, Luna greeted. From what the other ponies emotions told her, they were confused by Luna’s rather calm greeting of the Queen who had just taken over Canterlot.

“Indeed, old friend”, Chrysalis responded. Six high more high pitched gasps could be heard from her right. She continued, “I take it that you have come to confront me and banish me from your lovely capital, but let me tell you something. No one here in Canterlot or in all of Equestria truly cares about you like I do. I have heard their thoughts about you, and trust me they are not nice. These ponies still think of you as Nightmare Moon. You know that you don’t belong here, and you weren’t even going to stay here if you hadn’t gotten that mark on your flank.”

“You know better than to try to deceive me Chryssy”, Luna sneered causing Chrysalis to wince at the mention of her old nickname. “And yes, I have come to get rid of you from my capital. You don’t belong here and neither do your soldiers. So why don’t you just leave while you still can before I splatter your guts on the castle walls”, Luna threatened.

Instead of intimidating the Queen, it only made her belt out a hearty, devilish laugh. Still grinning, Chrysalis retorted, “If we are to fight, I must remove that facade of yours.” Before Princess Luna had any time to react, green energy launched from Chrysalis’s jagged horn, straight to Luna.

“Princess, look out!”, Twilight shouted out towards Princess Luna. But instead of heeding her warning, she remained steadfast and let the green magic hit her. Almost instantly, Luna felt her disguise being ripped off of her exoskeleton, her horn morphed into a jagged horn similar to Chrysalis’s, her legs now holes adorning them, as well as her still flowing mane. The most startling change was the fact that Princess Luna now sported two impressive canines, which were even longer that Chrysalis’s. Where a princess once stood, now stood a second changeling queen.

What was once Princess Luna opened her piercing blue eyes with a small, toothy smirk. “May the best changeling win”, “Luna” sneered before flapping her now see-through wings, gaining lift off. Her horn crackled with blue energy before launching a spell into the direction of the other changeling.

***

If you were to ask Twilight Sparkle that morning that changelings would take over Canterlot and that the Queen of said changelings would be fighting another changeling that was masquerading as Princess Luna she would’ve thought you were crazy. Now here she was, watching two changelings battle to the death. Scorch marks were littered everywhere, several of the bricks in the walls were now cracked from the force of their magical blasts. Despite this, Twilight couldn’t help but notice the changelings differences.

While Queen Chrysalis looked like the prototypical changeling queen that she had seen in old books, the one that was Princess Luna looked quite different. Instead of a black exoskeleton, hers was a dark blue, similar to Luna’s. Not only that but her mane still had the everlasting breeze flowing through it. Twilight could almost see stars in her mane as well. “Why does she look so similar to Princess Luna”, Twilight thought to herself.

As the two changelings fought, Twilight found herself rooting for the dark blue changeling. However, it became apparent to her that the blue changeling was losing. She was huffing and puffing, while Chrysalis was still more than fresh. The love she had gathered from Shining Armor was proving too much for the other changeling. “Shining Armor? That’s it!”, Twilight thought. She quickly made her way over to a dejected Princess Cadence saying, “Cadence, while they are distracted, you can go over to my brother and break the spell on him.”

Cadence’s eyes lit up, she quickly nodded to Twilight before trotting her way through the changelings carnage. Once she got to her fiance, she saw the extent of Chrysalis’s spell. Throwing caution to the wind, she kissed her fiance straight on the lips. Immediately, the green in Shining’s eyes faded away, returning to it’s natural color. “Is the wedding over”, Shining groaned. He glanced up seeing the devastation in the throne room, including the two changelings locked in combat. “What in Celestia’s name happened?”, Shining asked in disbelief. He then felt a horn touch his own. Looking up, he locked eyes with the love of his life. He didn’t know how long they stared at each other before a bubble of pink magic began to expand around him.

The changeling that was once Princess Luna knew she was outmatched. Her only hope was she could distract Chryssy long enough for the others to defeat her. After dodging another spell sent by Chrysalis, she looked over to find a bubble of pink magic beginning to expand, with Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. Positioning herself in front of one of the many stained glass windows she yelled, “It’s over Chryssy, Equestria has won.”

“Nonsense”, Chrysalis scoffed whilst rolling her eyes, She looked up to see “Luna” pointing behind her with a sly grin plastered on her face. She glanced back, her eyes widening in horror. The pink shield began to rapidly expand towards them. Chrysalis felt the pure emotion exuding from the magic shield, swiftly overriding her senses. The next thing she felt was the feeling of total weightlessness as the shield picked her off her hooves. As the shield slingshotted her through the window, she heard the pained cries from her soldiers as they too were launched out of Canterlot. “I’m so sorry my children, I have failed you”, she apologized across the hive mind.

As Chrysalis was flying through the window above her, “Luna” was at peace. She may have lost her disguise, but they had beaten the changelings. Despite this, she felt a pang in her stomach, something that her sister must have felt when she banished her to the moon an eon ago. Instead of flying through the open window, she was flung into the cobblestone wall at such force that it could’ve killed a mortal pony. Thankfully for “Luna”, she was immortal. Her body smashed into the wall, nearly going straight through it. And that was when the world went black.

***

Twilight’s eyes suddenly snapped open. Her eyes darted from side to side, scanning the destruction. Her five friends were both also just getting up as well, her brother and Cadence both still had their horns locked together, Celestia was still out cold, and the throne room was covered in scorch marks. It looked like the wedding would have to wait.

“That was so awesome!”, Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “It almost makes me want to do a Sonic Rainboom right now.”

“Hold your horses sugarcube”, Applejack interjected. “I think we have bigger issues to take care of first.” Applejack pointed her hoof to the mess that was once a throne room.

Rainbow’s eyes widened slightly upon examining the devastation. “Yeah, I guess you’re right AJ. But once we’re finished you going to witness the best Sonic Rainboom you’ve ever seen”, Rainbow Dash responded.
Applejack simply rolled her eyes, trotting her way to Princess Cadence. “Are you okay Princess?”, the apple farmer asked.

Cadence gave a small smile before responding, “Yes, and thank you Applejack. Now once Auntie wakes up, the wedding will once again be back on track. Hopefully there are no interruptions this time around.”

“What about her?”, Fluttershy asked, speaking louder than usual. Every other pony swiveled their head to the direction that Fluttershy was pointing at. There, in the corner of the throne room, was the prone form of the changeling that was posing as Princess Luna. Her mane hanged limply against her neck, she had a black eye, and she was covered horn to hoof with cuts and bruises.

Twilight scrambled to her hooves and began to run to the injured changeling. Just as she reached the changeling Shining Armor boomed, “Twilight, get away from it. I don’t want to lose you again!”

“Big Brother, without her help, the changelings would have won. The least we could do is help her”, Twilight huffed.

“I’m sorry Twilight, but we have to play it safe”, Shining responded softly. Just then, around ten Royal Guards trotted in. “Hey you guys”, Shining bellowed, “I need half of you to take Princess Celestia to the infirmary, and I need the other half to take this changeling down into the dungeon.” The ten guards nodded, doing as they were told. “Once this changeling wakes up, we should be able to get answers out of her. Okay Twilight?”, Shining Armor said as he nuzzled his younger sibling.

***

When Celestia’s eyes opened later that day, she found herself in the infirmary. While not her first trip, it was her first one not involving her being sick. She had underestimated the power that Queen Chrysalis was able to wield against her. Despite this, she was pleased to discover that it was Shining and Cadence that ultimately defeated the changelings. However, she felt that there was something that she was not being told.

Her horn spark with magic, as she levitated the last spoonful of the soup she had been given. After, a dainty sip of the lukewarm soup, she gently set it back down into her bowl. She the magicked her bowl and the tray over to her nightstand. Silently she wondered what had become of her sister. Had she been hurt, or had she seen this coming? Something in her mind hoped that it was the former despite the implications. She just hoped she was okay.

A few moments later, her Captain of the Royal Guard Shining Armor trotted in with a slightly irked expression on his face. As he opened the door with his magic, he greeted, “Good afternoon Your Majesty, I trust that you are recovering swiftly as usual?” Celestia gave a small nod before he continued, “You’ll be pleased to hear that the wedding is scheduled to take place in two days.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow before responding, “Captain Shining Armor, are you sure that you will be recovered in two days? From what I’ve heard, you’ve been through quite the ordeal.”

Shining sighed before replying, “Yes, I’m confident Your Majesty. I just don’t want anymore delays, especially because of the fight that destroyed the throne room.”

Celestia frowned. This was the first time she had been informed of this. “Captain, what fight in the throne room, and why wasn’t I briefed before this?”

Shining gulped before shakily responding, “Before me and Cadence banished the changelings out of Canterlot, another changeling confronted their Queen. This changeling was pretending to be another pony before the Queen undisguised her. Unlike the Queen she was much more pony like.”

“Who was she masquerading as Captain Armor”, Celestia demanded, her typically soft eyes burrowing into Captain Armor’s soul.

After taking a deep breath, Armor responded, “She was pretending to be your sister Luna.”

Celestia’s eyes widened before quickly asking with a hint of fear laced in her tone. “What did she look like and where is she being held?”

“She’s being held in the dungeon right now. And now that I think about it, she did look somewhat like Luna”, Shining quickly responded.

Without a second thought, Celestia dashed off her hospital bed, swiftly heading for the door. Shining Armor protested but he was simply shoved aside. “Princess, where are you going?”, Shining pleaded.

Celestia paused as if she was deep in thought. She took a deep breath before replying, “I’m going to see my sister in the dungeons.”