I opened my eyes to stare at the stony ceiling. How long was I asleep for? I moved my eyes before turning my head from side to side to look at the bedroom in better detail. There was a small wooden table next to the bed I was lying in. The walls were made of stone and didn’t look like they would come tumbling down anytime soon. Opposite the door, on the other side of the room, was a window looking out over the surrounding forest.
“Are you awake yet, Chryssie?” Luna asked quietly as the door to my room slowly opened a crack.
“Somewhat,” I told her with a stretch before I looked at her. Luna had a worried look on her face and I rubbed my eyes to get rid of my sleepiness.
“You had mom worried until I told her you were waking up,” Luna said as she entered the room. This got questions zipping around my mind before I actually sat up on my haunches.
“How long was I out?” I asked her cautiously.
“About three days,” Luna said shyly. My eyes widened as I stared at her. Three days!? How did I manage to sleep for three entire days!?
“Th-Three days?” I repeated out loud in disbelief.
“Mmhm, I raised the moon twice while you were asleep and Celestia raised the sun three times since the morning we met,” Luna affirmed. I stepped off the bed and gave myself a shake before trotting closer to her.
“Three days is not enough time for your parents to adopt me, especially if they’re the rulers,” I told her quietly. I guess it was the grief combined with my incessant night walking that made me sleep for three days.
“Dad hasn’t returned quite yet, but mom’s got everything ready for when he does, or so she told me. She came in here and nuzzled you every now and then while you were asleep before just watching you sleep with a warm smile on her muzzle,” Luna explained.
“It’s a high possibility then,” I told myself as I thought about what her mother did for me. “Why did she? She could’ve just as easily let me be.”
“When I asked her she said that you didn’t seem like you were eating properly, but she never brought you any food so I got really confused and she just giggled before smiling at me,” Luna answered.
“Ah, right,” I said sheepishly. I hadn’t realized that she knew how my kind ate so that was a nice gesture on her part. “Can I meet your mom or Celestia, or are they both busy?”
“I may be busy, but I have enough time to come check up on you, Chrysalis,” Luna’s mother said as she walked into the room. Their mom was a black coated mare with a brilliant green mane and tail that seemed to be blown, but I felt no wind in the room. Her cutie mark was obscured by her wings, but it was her deep blue eyes that seemed to draw my attention.
“Hello, ma’am,” I squeaked politely when I saw her and couldn’t help but feel small in her presence.
“No need for such formality, Chrysalis. We are mother and daughter now after all,” Luna’s mother said with a kind smile.
“S-So I actually a-a-am adopted now?” I asked in a stammer.
“Yes, Morning came back just now and we finalized the procedure. Welcome to our family, Chrysalis,” Luna’s mother said as she knelt down and smiled at me. That did it. That broke me. I teared up and gave a sob before tightly hugging her. Luna’s mother wrapped her wings around me held me close as she nuzzled me and let me cry. Time seemed to slip by as I sobbed but when I quieted down, I let go of her and gave her a watery smile.
“Th-Thank you for t-taking me in,” I said tearfully.
“You’re welcome, my daughter. Would you like to meet your other sister now?” Luna’s mother asked.
“Mhm,” I nodded before wiping my tears with a hoof.
“Then come this way. Celestia is practicing in the courtyard right now,” Luna’s mother said as she stood up and began to slowly lead the way.
“Practicing what? Raising the sun?” I asked curiously as I walked beside Luna. I beamed at her when I noticed this.
“No, she’s already done that for today and the sun is in its proper position. She’s practicing her fighting skills with Morning,” Luna’s mother said with a smile.
“You got horns so why do you need fighting skills?” I questioned as I looked around the walls, which were a far cry from the hive. There appeared to be paintings of ponies I had never heard of nor seen. What are they? Distant family relatives or something?
“Tell me, Chrysalis. Do you know of any race that is either resistant or immune to magic?” Luna’s mother asked. This snapped me out of my thoughts and I turned my attention to her.
“Not really,” I admitted quietly with my ears flat against my head.
“There are two that we know of so far. Dragons and Ursas. Both grow more resistant to magic as they age. So, we practice more than magic for when we meet them and for when magic isn’t the best solution,” Luna’s mother said in a sage-like tone.
“You won’t need fighting skills if you’re stealthy enough, though,” I told her with a hard stare. So what if they don’t agree? I still think stealth will be the way to go if you want to avoid a fight.
“Stealth is a great asset, but what do you do if you are caught and can’t get away?” Luna’s mother said with a smile as she looked over her shoulder at me.
“You lie, deceive and bluff your way out of trouble,” I replied immediately.
“And if those don’t work?” Luna’s mother wondered.
“Then you hit them with a blast of magic and hope it works?” I guessed.
“That is one solution, Chrysalis. Another is to hit them and then run away while they are recovering if you truly can’t beat them. This is especially true if you have one of these on your horn,” Luna’s mother said before levitating a metal ring over for me to see.
“That’s a magic nullifier,” I said in a small voice as I stared at the ring. It’s usually used to stop Unicorn’s horns from working and to not let them have access to their magic.
“That’s right. This one is a dummy, though,” Luna’s mother said reassuringly.
“What do you mean?” I asked fearfully as I continued to stare at the ring.
“This one is just an educational aid and won’t block your magic if placed on your horn. We use it and others like it to teach the girls how much magic will be blocked by the ring if placed on their horn,” Luna’s mother explained as the clings and clangs of metal on metal began to be heard. I tilted my head in the direction of the new sound.
“It’s an educational ring … okay, I can deal with that. The metallic pinging noises is something new for me, though,” I told her as I involuntarily shied away from the ring.
“That’s Sister training with Father,” Luna said as she stayed by my side.
“What are they training with that’s making that racket?” I asked before we got to the courtyard itself. I saw another white Alicorn with a mane and tail made up of green, blue and pink hues. This must have been Celestia because I already knew what her father looked like. They were both hitting metal sticks together before I noticed the courtyard itself and how there were various nicks and scratches in the masonry.
“It must be an easy day if they aren’t using blunted weapons,” Luna commented from beside me.
“Easy?” I said in surprise.
“Mmm, they are usually using weapons that don’t have an edge while they train. The damage around the courtyard is from those days,” Luna explained.
“So it’s an easy day if they’re using sharp weapons but it’s not if they’re using blunt weapons?” I didn’t get the logic behind that. Usually, it’s the other way around.
“Oops, got that mixed up, but they tend to get more injuries when using the blunt weapons. They aren’t as careful with them as they are now,” Luna said with a blush.
“I suppose that makes sense,” I murmured and sat beside Luna. The training seemed intense even if they were using sharp weapons.
“Dear, would you mind taking a break so Celestia can meet her new sister?” Luna’s mother asked over the clang of the training.
“Okay, Night. We’ll take a break,” Morning said before Celestia took one last swing and cut his beard in half.
“Any closer and he’d have more than a beard trim,” I commented and began to quietly study Celestia.
“Nonsense, my blade was a good inch or two from cutting Father. That’s perfectly safe since he has been training me since I hit one century in age, dear sister,” Celestia said as she put away her sword and trotted over to me. She must have been referring to the metal stick when she said ‘blade’.
“Not from where I’m sitting,” I told her calmly.
“Mm, the angle it is witnessed from can change how it is perceived. Are you feeling better now, Chrysalis?” Celestia said.
“After my three-day coma? Yeah, I’m fine,” I replied and smiled at Celestia. “So you’re the oldest, are you?”
“Unless you are older than nine hundred,” Celestia said.
“I’m not, I’m two hundred,” I corrected her and rubbed the back of my neck.
“Then you’re only two hundred years younger than I am, Chryssie,” Luna said with a smile. I smiled back at her and looked back out to the courtyard.
“With the way you act sometimes, I thought you would have been younger than me,” I admitted.
“Yes, she does like her play time and being silly,” Celestia said with a giggle.
“That brings up a question. Why … don’t you play with Luna a lot?” I asked hesitantly and was unsure if it was my place to ask or not.
“Sadly, my studies keep me from being with her. There are many more things I need to learn about than she does at this time,” Celestia answered. So she blames her studies. Okay, I guess I can see that happening but that still doesn’t excuse her for not at least making time to play.
“What things would those be? Ruling a kingdom effectively?” I asked quietly.
“And with that irrigation, economics, personal relations, farming techniques, swordsmanship, magic, flying, controlling my strength, and those last four are in both of my forms,” Celestia replied. Those last few words got my attention more than the others.
“You have two forms? I thought Alicorns only had one form,” I said in an interested tone.
“The forms you see are our base forms. We spend most of our time in them and do basically everything in them. Our true forms are different from these and are to be used if we need more strength and power than our base forms have,” Morning explained.
“Isn’t that a bit overpowered if you use your true forms against an ordinary opponent?” I wondered.
“It is. The last time an Alicorn’s true form was used in a fight it was against an entire army after our own had already fought off another,” Night answered. My jaw dropped at this and I struggled to pick it back up. Luna giggled at my reaction and kindly picked my jaw up before closing it for me.
“Dad was pretty angry when that happened or so I’m told by mother. He normally doesn’t get mad at all,” Luna said with a smile. I stayed silent as I tried to process this and stared blankly at the wall for a long while.
“Would you like to see what they are like? Normally we keep them secret, but you’re family now and you’re going to see them eventually anyway,” Morning said.
“Um, sure. It could be an interesting thing to look at,” I said uncertainly as I looked at Luna’s father nervously.
“Since we don’t want to make you too nervous we’ll have Celestia and Luna show you theirs and show you ours at a later date, okay?” Night said.
“Okay,” I said in a small voice as I nodded in agreement.
“Then I will go first. So, hold onto Luna if you become too scared or nervous,” Celestia said as her fur began to smoke. Her body then caught fire and quickly spread to cover her as her wings, mane, and tail became pure fire and her body turned black. Once her body was fully black lines of red that made it look as though lava was beneath her skin and was trying to get out, formed along her body as golden armor covered her legs, chest, head, and the upper half of her neck. There were spikes along her neck armor and helmet while and eagle’s head was on each shoulder and her cutie mark of the sun was upon her flank in black metal.
When her transformation finished, I immediately cowered behind Luna with a small yelp. “Wh-What is that!?”
“This is my true form, sister. I can understand why you’re afraid. It is quite intimidating and fear inducing. You are the first besides those you can now call family to have seen me like this,” Celestia said with a hollow metallic sound to her voice due to her helmet covering her mouth.
“I can see why,” I muttered as a small quiver ran through me at the sight.
“When you are ready, I’ll show you mine,” Luna said kindly. I quickly nodded in agreement. Seeing one was enough for me for today.
“Luna’s is nowhere near as frightening as Celestia’s, honey,” Night said as she trotted over and hugged me comfortingly. Despite the comfort I felt, I still shivered and looked at Celestia’s true form more closely.
“It, um, looks like you have lava running throughout your body, Celestia,” I commented in a soft tone.
“That lava is what some of my veins look like due to being hotter than the rest. So far as I’ve figured out. I tend to spend as little time like this as possible for obvious reasons,” Celestia said as she examined herself.
“I don’t mean to sound obvious, but you look extremely scary,” I told her as I let go of her mother.
“Yes, it took Luna a little while to get used to seeing me like this,” Celestia said as she changed back to her normal self.
“I think it’ll take me a bit to get used to it as well,” I said with a nervous laugh. “How, um, how did you get your true form?”
“I got it after I had seen father’s true form and I'd gotten so mad I exploded, literally, when a noble insulted Luna and wouldn’t take it back,” Celestia said as she rubbed her foreleg.
“How did the noble take it? Did he scream with fright?” I tried to guess at how the noble reacted but I could easily imagine her protecting her sister like that.
“He silently screamed as he wet himself in fright. He still hasn’t taken it back to this day, actually,” Celestia said.
“Even after you exploded at him?” I asked in disbelief and shook my head before standing up.
“We haven’t heard him speak while Celestia is present since that day, but he has apologized to Morning and I,” Night said. While the topic was interesting, I was getting a bit tired of talking about it and wanted to have a look around the castle. After rubbing one of my forelegs I looked at the four of them.
“Can you take me on a tour, please?” I asked them kindly.
“Of course, we wouldn’t want you getting more lost than necessary,” Night said as she stood up.
“I would love to join you, but I must get back to my studies, unfortunately,” Celestia said. I thought it was a good thing but my brain obviously had other ideas.
“Of course. You could probably teach me how to fight if you have time later,” I told her and wondered where that politeness came from.
“I would love to. Would you like to learn with or without weaponry?” Celestia said with a smile.
“Without. I don’t really trust those metal sticks,” I answered with a soft smile.
“Hoof to hoof it is then. Weapons aren’t for everypony after all,” Celestia said.
“Can’t wait for it,” I said and rubbed the back of my neck before looking at the long corridor. “I’m going to get so lost here,” I groaned and hung my head low as the length and size of the hallway reminded me somewhat of my old hive.
“No, you won’t because I’m going to help you learn the castle’s layout,” Luna said.
“Then lead the way please,” I said and gestured with a hoof.