Half-Sisters

by Steve Ott

A Child of Peace

“Back then, Equestria was much different from what it is today. It was a much more dangerous time. For hundreds of years, Equestria was at war with one or more of its neighbors. As you may know, we won most of our conflicts due to our superior magic skills. At this time, I was only a child as my parents ruled Equestria. Their names were King Orion and Queen Faust. Under their leadership, Equestria grew from a tiny principality to an Empire. Eventually, my parents were able to establish peace across the continent of Eques. Then the changelings appeared.

“For much of their history prior, the changelings had been a tribal society. That was until all changeling tribes were united under King Carduus. However, changelings were not meant to be lead by a male, and their new hive suffered greatly. Instead of abdicating, he declared war on Equestria, beginning the Twenty Years War.

“I don’t remember much about the war as most of the records have been lost to history. I do remember that the changelings were severely outmatched. From what my sister and my parents have told me, Carduus’ wife tried to knock some sense into her husband. For her troubles, she was imprisoned. Not long after, Carduus was murdered by his own guards and they installed his wife as Queen. Her name was Sapphire.

“Once she became Queen, she immediately wanted to broker peace between our two nations. Unfortunately, many ponies despised the changelings after the needless war they had caused. Thankfully, my parents were more than willing to establish peace between our nations, but they were unconvinced that ponies and changelings could ever be at peace ever again. And that was when Queen Sapphire had an idea.”

“What was her idea Princess?”, Twilight asked curiously.

Celestia paused for a moment as if she was thinking of what she should say. “Her idea was for my father and Sapphire to have a foal together”, Celestia responded finally.

“But, that can’t be possible!”, Twilight exclaimed as she waved her forehooves in the air.

“It is in fact possible”, Celestia stated. “To get back on track, Sapphire’s idea was rather simple. They would create a halfblood, one part would be changeling, the other part alicorn. This halfling would be raised as a sign of peace between the two species. Despite having some reservations, my parents agreed. It took many tries, but eventually Sapphire became pregnant.

“Sapphire began to spend more and more time at the castle in order to ensure the foal’s health. For the last month, she and her convoy stayed exclusively at our castle. This was because the natural birth mortality rate was very high for changelings, and we needed to be sure of the foals safety. During this last month, she decided to bring her daughter as well. Her name was Chrysalis, though me and my sister called her Chryssy.

“Wait you were friends with that changeling that we just blasted off a few hours ago?”, Applejack questioned.

“Unfortunately yes, she was. Time has not been kind to our friendship”, Celestia answered. Aftera few tense moments, she continued, “She was younger than me by around eleven years, however she was the same age physically due to how slow natural alicorns grow. I remember Chryssy being so nervous when we first met that she nearly cried when she was left alone with me. However, once she warmed up to me, we became almost like sisters. I taught her games like hopscotch and various card games, while she taught me chess and an early version of hoofball. That month was one of funniest that I have ever had.

“At the time, I didn’t know that I was going to be a sister. I only knew that Queen Sapphire was going to have a foal in our castle. However, when I was talking with Chryssy one day, she accidently let it slip that the unborn foal's father was in fact my dad. I was understandably miffed at my parents from withholding information from me. I just couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t tell me. Now that I am older, I now know why they didn’t tell. They had wanted to protect me if the foal didn’t survive.

“After discovering that the foal was fathered by my dad, I went straight to my mom as she was much more approachable. She was clearly startled that I had found out about the origins of Sapphire unborn foal. In order to appease me, she promised me this, “When the foal is born, you get to name it.” My mom later talked to Queen Sapphire about it, and she too consented to the idea. I was overjoyed.

“Around a week later, Chryssy and I were playing in the gardens when suddenly she collapsed in pain before shooting up and running towards Sapphire’s room. I followed her to the room, only to discover that Sapphire was delivering the foal. Thankfully for my eyes, I didn’t see the birth though Chryssy said it was the most horrifying thing she had ever witnessed. Soon after the birth was complete, my parents invited me into the room.

“There wrapped in blankets, was my little sister. She had a blue carapace, a jagged blue horn, tiny fangs, and holes in her legs. However, she also had a pony like face as well as beautiful blue eyes. Most strikingly, she had a sparkling blue mane, almost identical to my father.”

“What are you going to name her?”, Sapphire asked as her newborn foal cooed.

After a moment of thought, I responded, “How about . . . Luna?”

Sapphire gave me a small smile, before replying, “Luna, yes perfect for my little ‘ling.”

“And that was the day my little sister Luna, was born”, Celestia finished with a tear slowly rolling down her face.

“Is that it?”, Rainbow Dash asked.

Celestia politely shook her head before responding, “No my little pony, there is so much more to tell. I’m just getting a little choked up.”

Instinctively, Fluttershy wrapped her wing around Princess Celestia. Looking down at the yellow pegasus, Celestia gave an approving smile.

“So why is none of this in any textbooks? Why would they ignore something so important to pony history?”, Twilight asked.

“Many of the things that I have told have been lost to time. Queen Sapphire, while important in changeling history, didn’t affect much of anything in pony history outside of this event. She focused much more on rebuilding the hive then affairs with us outside of her daughter. As for the war, historians chose not to teach it in the past because of its subject matter and the fact that nopony knows enough to teach anything about it anyways. Once Luna became a Princess, the populace began to see her as a pony and not a hybrid. Eventually her changeling status was reduced to a mere rumor. By the time I was forced to banished her to the moon, very few ponies believed that she was a changeling. It was unintended, but I believed it to be for the best, as I did not want my sister to be become more of a villain. Changelings were still seen as evil despite our best efforts”, Celestia answered.

“But how could they forget something that big?”, Rarity asked.

“I don’t have an answer, but I suspect that my ponies didn’t feel comfortable with a changeling holding equal power to myself, so they simply chose to see her only as a alicorn”, Celestia replied.

“But what about Chrysalis? You claimed to have once been friends with her, then why did she attack Canterlot?”, Shining Armor asked.

“This is what truly bothers me about the recent attack. The last time I had seen her, she had been defeated by our forces for the third time in a century. I once again tried to broker peace, but she stubbornly refused and disappeared soon after. For over 800 years I thought that not only was she dead, but her entire species save Luna”, Celestia responded.

“Is that why you didn’t discover that she replaced me?”, Cadence demanded.

Celestia sighed before responding, “Yes, I simply assumed that all of the changeling magic was from Luna. Her magical signature is nearly identical to Chrysalis which didn’t help matters.”

Cadence looked at her aunt, disappointment plastered upon her face. Shining Armor attempted to comfort his ailing fiance but to no avail. Cadence’s scowl began to burrow deep inside Celestia’s heart.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Celestia said, “Alright, I still have a story to finish now don’t I.” After receiving a round of nods from around the room, she glanced at Luna’s still form before saying, “Okay then, once Sapphire recovered from the birthing process, she took her newborn daughter back with her to the hive.”

“Wait, why did she do that?”, Twilight questioned.

“When a changeling queen is born, it needs to be taken care of by the entire hive. While this causes a strain on resources, it is necessary if the newborn queen is to survive”, Celestia stated simply.

“So when did you get to see Luna again”, asked the strangely quiet Pinkie Pie.

“It was around a year when I finally got to see her again. I remember being so excited to see my little sister once again that I was literally bouncing off the walls. Once she did arrive, I was shocked to discover that she was scared of me. For days after her arrival, she couldn’t be in the same room as me. Soon I was starting to get angry, but I knew better than to yell at a foal. So one day I asked her why she was scared of me. She told me that she was scared because she didn’t know who I was. I felt so stupid when she told me that. How was I supposed to suspect a one-year old to remember somepony that last met her when she was born.”

“So what did you tell her?”, asked Cadence, her scowl almost completely gone.

“I told her the truth”, Celestia replied. “I told her that I was her big sister.”

“Well, what did she respond with”, Cadence pressed.

“She told me that Chryssy was her big sister not me”, Celestia laughed. “She denied it for weeks so I had to take matters into my own hooves. I took her on walks in the gardens, we went on a pranking spree, I read old pony tales, and we simply had fun together. On the night before she was supposed to leave, we decided to gaze up at the night sky. It was while we were lying on our backs under the night sky that Luna finally called me sister.

“I was so happy that I nearly crushed her with one of my infamous bear hugs. I officially had a younger sibling. What I didn’t know at the time was that moment of Luna calling me sister would be the last genuinely happy moment we would share for over a millennia.”