The Last Agate

by Bluetree650

Chapter 2

“That’s kidnapping, Princess!”

Celestia had just woken up from her early evening nap, something the nobles absolutely looth, but respect. Celestia is the ruler, she rules how she sees fit, and unless there’s a revolution over the horizon, she’s doing a fine job. She had none of her royal garbs on: the golden breast plate with its amethyst crystal, the set of four golden slippers and her golden crown were all neatly placed on the ground near the bed. Twilight, who came just as requested, rested on a plush purple mat, one the princess got specifically for her. She had gotten one for all her past students, but kept the others in a closet as a memento of what had once been.

“I have no choice, Twilight,” Celestia said, her voice calm and even. After a nap, her pokerface was running at full capacity again. She was as cool as a cucumber.

“How!” Twilight on the other hoof was kind of flipping out, much to both Celestia’s enjoyment and concern. “Kidnapping is illegal for a reason.”

The two had been discussing the matter of acquiring Crystal Agate. Twilight said to go through the proper procedure, contact Child Protective Services and have them bring her, but Celestia disagreed.

Earlier, Celestia had checked the attendance sheet at her hospital, the one where Crystal’s mother headed, and learned that she was home. This made things… complicated, to say the least. Sterile, if anything, is a very protective mother. She’ll beat anyone that touched either of her daughters, no questions asked, and Celestia didn’t want this to get in the news, not at all.

It’s kind of funny. The one day Celestia wanted Sterile at work, she was at home. Out of the hundred times she told her to take some time off for her children, the one time she did it had to be when Cheery showed up with her campaign of justice. To put things in perspective, Sterile hasn’t taken a day off in six years. The act in itself was fine, Celestia liked a hard worker, but when you run up enough paid vacation time to last until your dead, there’s a problem. And the entire thing could have easily been avoided if Sterile just went with Celestia’s suggestion of working from 8am to 3pm! It’s not that hard!

“Yes, I agree with you, Twilight, kidnapping is bad,” the princess paused, “but I'm afraid it’s the only option available to me.”

“Celestia, listen to me,” Twilight said in a low voice. Celestia heard her students strain to keep herself in check. “This can’t be your only option, what if you get caught? It’ll look really bad if the Canterlot Express’s front page article showed you with a foal in your mouth. I can see it now, Celestia, Princess of the Sun and Moon, kidnaps young filly from her home. Think about it!”

“I have, and my answer is this.” Twilight waited, hooves tapping on the floor like a mother waiting for her filly to choose a flavor of soda. “I have diplomatic immunity.”

She saw Twilight’s eyes widen as her mouth dropped. “WHAT!” she shouted, causing a stir from outside. “You… you… What?”

Celestia watched her student squirm for a few minutes, almost enjoying it. “That’s my answer, Twilight, and whether you like it or not, I am going to bring Crystal here.” Without another word, Celestia left the room, locking it to make sure Twilight didn’t leave.

2

---

That had been an hour ago, and Celestia felt more than a little guilty for strong arming her own student. Now she flew across the fields of Canterlot, calming herself before going to retrieve Crystal.

Celestia used a camouflage spell on herself so she wouldn’t be seen from either above or below. It wasn’t because she didn’t want her subjects to see her out, in fact she loved talking to them. It made her feel more connected to the common folk she lead, no, the reason she hid herself was because she wanted no one seeing her cry.

Ever since she left the castle, thoughts of that time two hundred years ago came back, a lingering soul of a long, lost time. She’d see the green grass turn brown, all of the farmers that tended to it dead. She’d hear ponies coughing up their own organs, hear those screams. What, has it been five years since she did this with Cross? Ten? Possibly, she remembered spotting the dragon Twilight grew from an egg afterwards, but even that was the blink of an eye in her two thousand five hundred year life.

Celestia turned and finally flew towards her goal, Crystal’s house, about a mile outside the royalty district. A great green grassy knoll overlooking the rest of Canterlot. It wasn’t as prestigious as most of the homes in the royalty district, it only having two stories, but there was space to grow in peace. The ten foot wall surrounding the entire complex helped with the peace part.

3

---

Crystal sat in her tree, three stories off the ground. She had Starters of Fire open in her lap and was reading peacefully, enjoying the thought of having her mother home for the first time in months, maybe even years. She felt the indescribable urge to rush down and spend every waking moment with her, but Mom was God and whenever God asked for time alone, you gave it to her. It was just time enough to make lunch, and she’s got all day to spend with her mother.

“Ohh, I'm just so excited,” she stretched her limbs, not noticing the faint glimmer in the sky, then gasped as she almost fell, “woah! Gotta calm down,” she took a deep breath then giggled, “back to reading.”

Crystal opened her book up to page 53, before leaning back in her favorite branch and sighing. The tree itself was an apple tree, the tallest around, just below the hight limit of four stories. It swayed back and forth in the gentle wind, rocking just enough to lull a particular filly to sleep. Crystal had once unwillingly spent the night in her tree a few months back and woke to the first glint of the sun. That moment had been the closest thing to peace she’d felt since, Cross left.

A little niggling of worry crawled up Crystal’s back, like the feeling you get when you think you’re being watched, and she looked up from her book. She expected it to be nothing, just her mind playing tricks on her again, but when she looked down, it was something. Something big.

Celestia, the Celestia, princess of the land and ruler of both day and night, walked up the path that lead from the gate to the house. It really was something big as Celestia could easily tower over her or her mother, but, something was off? Great big white body, check, giant wings and horn, check, what was missing? As she crept closer, Crystal figured it out. She didn’t have her royal garbs on, had she lost them somewhere?

Crystal started to move down the branches. Celestia looked so, small without her attire, more, normal, and approachable. Something dawned on her. In one of the psychology books she read, it told how most social workers got the child to come with them. They looked small and harmless and have the gentlest of smiles when they first see the child, that way they can reduce the amount of resistance and help the filly or colt feel safer.

“No,” Crystal said, freezing in place. Her heart thumped at the thought, “Mom hasn’t treated me bad? Yes she isn’t around all the time, but I’m always safe and have plenty of food and books in the house, even if I have to buy it, Mom gives me the money I need.”

“Hello Crystal,”

She didn’t even have time to scream before she lost her footing and tumbled down the tree, except, she didn’t tumble. Opening her eyes, Crystal found herself being held aloft by a light yellow aura. She looked up to see Celestia flying above her, horn lit in the same yellow aura.”I need you to come with me.” she said in a sweet tone. Celestia pulled the filly closer and kissed her forehead. “Have a nice nap.“

It happened so fast, aches, Crystal didn’t know she had pulsed over her entire body, she tried to fight whatever Celestia did to her, but it was futile. Before falling asleep, she uttered one word that made Celestia’s throat close. “M-Mommy”

4

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It had been quick and painless. It was a sleep spell, one Celestia freely used when she needed a break from Twilight, or Twilight stayed up too long. It also doubled as a sleep aid, although there is a side effect, a small one. When you wake up, you really have to go to the bathroom. Celestia meant to take care of it, but has put it off for over a century now.

Another side effect, well, not exactly, was that the user could be asleep for as long as seven hours or as short as ten minutes. Normally it’s about two hours, but she didn’t want to chance it. Back to the castle she went. Or that’s where she would have gone if she hadn’t remembered Twilight.

If there was one thing she hated about her most faithful student, it’s that she held grudges. One time, in the first year or so, after the seven year old got more accustomed to living with royalty, Celestia had taken one of her books without asking. It hadn’t ended well and Celestia had to buy her ice cream from PennyWise once a month for the rest of the year.

She tried to imagine how mad Twilight would be after using the diplomatic immunity card? Or as she felt it as, the “do as I say or I kick you out” card. Celestia winced at the thought and headed to PennyWise, just to be safe.

PennyWise herself was a young unicorn mare with brown fur and a red mane and tail. Her cutie mark was of two pennies, some kind of foreign currency, and she was great with money, but ran an ice cream shop? Celestia didn’t get it, nor did she care. The ice cream was great.

PennyWise herself was a mare of many talents though, during birthdays, she’d dress up in a white suit with orange puffball buttons, put on a bright red nose and made the birthday girl or boy laugh up a storm. She’d never get angry and made great conversation, no matter the topic.

Celestia gently placed Crystal on her back and quickly flew to PennyWIse’s little corner shop.

Ten minutes later she arrived at the brick building and strode in, more than a little frantic now.

The shop itself had a warm smell, and despite being cramped, felt roomy. There was a magic driven air conditioning unit behind the cash register blowing cool air throughout the store.

“Hello and welcome to… Celestia!” PennyWise had come through the door, spouting her usual mantra when she spotted the giant mare. “Did you get in another fight with Twilight?” she asked, knowingly.

Celestia didn’t say anything; she just sat a pouch filled with bits onto the table, “The usual…” she paused, remembering the filly on her back, “and a chocolate fudge twist… two scoops.”

“Coming right up, Princess,” PennyWise shuffled over to the display, where flavors like Lemon berry swirl and bubblegum pop sat ready and waiting.

Celestia waited, panicking. She had to get back to the caste as soon as possible. She knew, ever since Cheery came in with her complaint, she knew that she’d been acting different, that Twilight knew she’d been acting different, and had to correct her mistake before her shamble of a plan fell apart at the seams.

Twilight has got to care about Crystal, or… or… Celestia didn’t want to think about it.

“Here you go, Princess,” PennyWise said, holding out three cups of ice cream. “That’ll be ten bits…”

“Just take it from the pouch!” Celestia said, taking the ice cream in her magic, putting a frost spell on each so they didn’t melt on the way back, and bolted, leaving the entire pouch of five hundred bits on the counter.

5

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After tucking Crystal in, in a room with a private bathroom, Celestia rushed back to her bedroom, knowing Twilight stood, angry… oh so angry.

“Twilight told us to tell you that she left,” one of the guards said as Celestia reached her room. “She’s in the kitchen getting lunch.”

“And you let her out!” Celestia’s guards, all wearing golden armor, or depending on rank, blue or purple armor, were imbeciles. Celestia tried to be trusting, and understanding, but after the fiasco with the Saddle Arabian filly, all hope seemed to be lost.

“Well…” one of her best guards said, “You never ordered us to keep Twilight in your room.”

“And she can teleport!” the other guard chimed in.

Celestia took a deep shuddering breath, almost dropping her ice cream cups. She reenacted her frost spell. “If I lock the door, you should know to keep whatever is inside, inside! And Twilight isn’t physically fit enough to run away from two stallions such as yourselves, yes she can teleport, but not that far, maybe ten feet, and that takes a lot of energy.” She glared at her guard, “as my personal guards I expect you to know this kind of stuff.”

“B-But,” The guard was cut off by a slap to the face.

Both guards recoiled, even the one that wasn’t slapped. Celestia hasn’t hit a guard for ten years, and that was when that strange white filly roamed the halls, looking way too mature for her age.

Celestia left, her guard watching with mouths agape.

6

---

On the way to the kitchen, Celestia passed Cheery. She gave the pink mare the room number to where Crystal slept with the order to bring her to the throne room after she used the restroom, and watched her rush off.

Twilight sat in the far corner of the mess hall, a hay burger with fries lying uneaten. When Celestia got close, she looked up- glared up- at her, but sighed and took a bite. Celestia waited patiently for her student to swallow.

“Can I take my food with me?” Twilight said, grumbling.

“I have ice cream back in my room,” Celestia replied. She focused, lighting her horn. Twilight calmly set her burger down and dabbed her cheeks with a napkin.

Then they disappeared.

7

---

Celestia’s bedroom sat still in the mid evening light. It was almost time to lower the sun.

The bed was unmade, there were jumbled papers on Celestia’s desk; the fireplace was filled with carbon and the chimney desperately needed to be swept. All and all a model of disorganization, but Celestia didn’t mind, she could flick her horn and put the whole place right again at any time. Sometimes, on those rare rare days when she felt bored, she’d make the room as messy as she could before cleaning it. A good test of her magic ability and attention to detail if there ever was one.

With a flash, Celestia and Twilight magically appeared in the room. Twilight quietly sat on her mat, grabbing the mint chocolate brownie fudge from the desk and dug in, letting a brief smile escape her at the always great PennyWIse ice cream, before glaring at Celestia again.

“Are you going to explain why you called diplomatic immunity?” Twilight said, setting the ice cream aside after a few bites, never a good sign.

“That and more, Twilight.” Celestia lit her horn and cast the same sound proof spell she had in the throne room. “But I need you to be open minded.”

Twilight just glared, then eyed the ice cream, then took a bite. “Okay, you took your time to get me PennyWise so I’ll be open minded for you.”

Celestia gave a huge sigh, then realized she’d left her entire weekly allowance of bits on PennyWise’s counter. It was an odd feeling of relief and distress. “How would you feel about being a big sister?”

“Huh?”

Celestia sat down, and explained as much as she thought Twilight could take. Why she’d called diplomatic immunity, why she’s been acting the way she had, and, to her credit, Twilight stayed open minded.

By the end, Twilight stopped being angry. She started to worry, but for whom she didn’t know.

8

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Twilight sat on the floor of the throne room. Celestia had just lowered the sun and the cool night air flowed through the windows. Celestia had forgone the throne, since she didn’t want to seem above Crystal when she showed up. That could scare her.

The thought of being a sister buzzed around Twilight’s head. She never really put any thought into it, never needed to. Twilight knew that her parents weren’t having anymore kids, but when Celestia told her that she might, she didn’t know how to respond.

My question is why me? Twilight thought, wouldn’t a trained nanny be more helpful in this situation? She turned to Celestia, who despite her years of practice, shuffled nervously on her red pillow. She constantly looked left and right, as if someone would pop out and slice her throat if she didn’t, and there were little groans. Twilight knew why she was like this, but couldn’t really believe it. A little filly under the influence of… some kind of dark magic shouldn’t, couldn’t, make her this stressed.

What was the name of the spell, Celestia used? Mind Meld? Twilight sighed, she’d have a lot to research when this was over, and that meant no sleep.

Causally, as if drawn by a magnet, Twilight let her body fall. She landed on Celestia’s thigh with a meaty slap, jolting her out whatever kind of daze she’d been in.

“Don’t do that!” Celestia complained, turning to Twilight, “it’s rude…” she trailed off. Twilight was nuzzling her like a cat, and when she finished, she looked up at her, a gentle smile plastered on her face. “Is it that obvious?”

“Day and night, Princess,” Twilight said, resting her head on Celestia’s thunder thigh. “If Crystal’s as smart as you say, she’ll catch on as well”

“Well having to tell someone their sibling died isn’t a walk in the park for the nerves you know.”

“I have an idea, but what worries me is how close you say the two were. What was it, mother and daughter, not sister and sister?”

Celestia sighed, doing her best to relax. “Yes, her real mother chose work over raising her, so Cross became her mother.”

“It’ll hurt. I wonder if she’ll be the same filly when you’re done.”

Celestia didn’t respond, she just willed her heart to slow and hoped for the best. That’s all she could do.

A few minutes later there was the faint sound of hooves running across the hallway.

“Show time,” Twilight said, sitting up. She gave Celestia another once over and found that her little stunt helped her bring herself together.

“I know,” Celestia replied, “I do have ears.”

Twilight focused on the giant mahogany doors, twenty feet tall and one foot thick, they were the only thing between them and some kind of an abomination. A filly that supposedly wasn’t a filly, and Twilight could feel her own trepidation bubble up from that place just below her gut. It was the first time she’d witnessed any form of dark magic. Celestia kept it out of her reach for a reason.

As she watched the door, that same thought nagged at her, why me? It ate away at her like a voracious worm. Why me, why me?

The sound of hooves hitting the door, then, by some magical feat, one side opened to reveal a single filly.

Members of the three races had specific magic, earth ponies had strength magic, which is why the earth pony guard carried the heavy set weapons, hammers and two hooved axes. Pegasi had spears because like a spear, they were aerodynamic and could move at lightning speeds. Unicorns, which are, bias or not, the best of the three races wielded swords because, with magic, they could easily manipulate the blades with fine precision, make a dance if you will.

Every type has a second ability, pegasi being able to control weather, earth ponies being able to talk with the earth, find places to plant food and what not, but unicorn’s had none, they can just control the raw magic in their world through the horn on their heads, a conduit so to say.

Crystal was an earth pony, and by the looks of it a very powerful one. The little white filly with blue curls had pushed what could only be two hundred pounds with her bare hooves.

“Cross!” Crystal shouted, looking left and right for her sister.

Twilight felt Celestia tense, this was clearly not what she wanted to hear. Somehow her hopes were raised, and the higher you are the harder you fall.

“Cross! Where are you?”

Looking her over, Twilight couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary about her. Crystal looked like every other six year old filly she’d seen, white fur, blue curls, blue eyes, No deformities, no extra limbs or snout that got longer everytime she lied, completely normal.

Crystal spotted Celestia on her pillow, “Celestia, where’s my sister?” She took a step forward, the sound of hooves running echoed around them. Eventually, Cheery came through the wooden doors, panting. “Celestia, where’s my sister?”

Twilight could see her mentor steel herself. It’s now or never. “Crystal Agate, your sister, Cross Agate… is... dead”

Twilight glared at Crystal, not menacingly, but unwaveringly. She could see the color drain from the little filly’s coat, her eyes went wide and she gritted her teeth. “No!” her voice squeaked, but it froze everyone. “How dare you say that!” Crystal moved to run, but Celestia broke out of the haze and closed the door. “She’s not dead! Cross is too strong to be dead!” The little filly reared up and smacked the door with her back hooves.

There was a loud crack. All three unicorns gaped breathlessly. One of the twenty foot pillars that made up the door unhinged and started to fall. It was caught before it did any damage, but Crystal had gotten out and was running down the hallway.

There was a moment of silence, all three with their jaws unhinged. “Did she just…” Twilight mumbled.

“I think so…” Cheery added, unable to look away from the nine inch nails that protruded from the top of the pillar.

“GUARDS!” Celestia literally screamed. The two guards clad in golden armor that had simply watched the filly escape rushed in, spears at the ready.

“Your highness?”

“I want you to mobilize everyone, find the filly that just ran off.”

The guards saluted, “We’ll tell lieutenant Armor right away.”

“Find her,” Celestia hissed.

The guards flinched then ran off in separate directions.

A few seconds later, Twilight turned to see her mentor visibly shaken. She thought of falling on her leg again, but with Cheery here, it seemed inappropriate.

“Cheery Smiles,” Celestia boomed. “You are to return to your room, immediately.”

Cheery, who had been the last to snap out of her awe, turned, “b-but shouldn’t I help…”

“Now!”

Flinching, Cheery ran out of the room, slowing only when she passed three royal guards.

To Twilight, everything was moving too fast. The whole event took a total of three minutes, but felt like seconds. She’d blink and another pony would disappear. And why was Celestia so worried? Crystal was just a filly with a big brain, right?

“Twilight,” Celestia commanded, dragging her from her thoughts.

“Y-Yes, Your Highness?” Why was she scared?

“I need you to go back to your room and make space for Crystal.” Celestia turned to her student, flashing what could only be a motherly smile, “and make sure to remove any sharp or dangerous objects. Even quills.”

“B-But…” she paused, realization striking her like a sledgehammer. “Yes, Your Majesty.” Twilight bowed before heading off to the tallest tower of Canterlot Castle.

Alone with her thoughts, Celestia closed and locked the mahogany door, forcing the loosened pillar back into place with her magic. She had to think, to focus.

Closing her eyes, Celestia’s horn lit, but instead of one layer of yellow aura, there were two. She manipulated the magic around her, molden it into little sensers, about the size of a pin head, that could detect everything in a specific area. A third layer glowed around the second and three hundred thousand of these little sensors floated off into the castle, creating a visual map of every possible action going on in the entire area.

It was a fail safe. She’d find Crystal hiding in a hallway, and mark her. If she did anything to bring harm to herself, Celestia would know. Crystal needed time to digest what had been said, to either confirm or deny the accusation, and with the EN spell, Celestia could give her that time with the security of knowing she could teleport the filly to her location on a whim.

Now, she waited.

9

---

Celestia’s soldiers were imbeciles, maybe even incompetent, but they weren’t stupid. They had found Crystal in under ten minutes, and had the common sense to keep their distance. The two soldiers had reported the young filly’s incredible strength, and now the entire company knew of the dangers. They saw how unstable she was and waited for Lieutenant Armor’s orders.

Lieutenant Armor, or Shining Armor, was one of the best cadets from Canterlot, climbing the ladder faster than anyone ever had. He had great strength for a unicorn, easily beating some of the earth pony cadets in a battle of shear strength, and had brains to boot. But that should be expected. He was Twilight’s brother after all, and Twilight’s family as a whole were book worms. Whenever Shining wasn’t on duty he’d have his nose stuck in some dusty book.

Celestia watched as Shining calmly approached Crystal. Some of the more timid guards tried to tell him not to, but he ignored them. Celestia could sense Crystal’s distress as the stallion in blue armor came close, and then her confusion as he sat down across the hallway.

She couldn’t hear their conversation, but figured he was trying to comfort her. It didn’t go well, and Crystal stood up. She didn’t get far before bumping into something. Shining trapped her.

Guards cheered as Crystal was surrounded by a magical sphere. Shining’s specialty, a shield spell that, at its current level, can protect a single pony Celestia’s size from anything. An earth pony hammer couldn’t break it, nor two, or three; the pony inside would be safe no matter what, but Shining didn’t need to worry about Crystal’s safety. It was the safety of his men that he cared about.

Crystal thrashed about in the sphere, she screamed, threw herself at the tiny walls, baffled that they didn’t give. She panted, legs giving out from under her, exhausted, then, glaring at the stallion, she fell to her stomach.

Captured, Celestia thought.

Her soldiers weren’t stupid, and the proof is in the tired filly slowly making her way back to the throne room, unharmed.

10

---

“Ah, you’re up,” Celestia said.

Crystal opened her eyes, everything was hazy. She could make out a giant white blur across a table of colors, but not much more. Groaning, she sat up, realizing she rested on a plush pink pillow. “Where am I?” she mumbled, scratching her head. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, then saw Celestia clearly from across the table of food.

“You are in my throne room,” Celestia said, smiling warmly. “You fell asleep after Shining trapped you in his shield.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember now,” Crystal said, looking at the table.

The short legged table that sat between the two housed all sorts of comfort foods, stuff Crystal has never seen in her life, from hay burgers to macaroni and cheese there was everything a sad filly would need to ease the pain of loss.

“Feel free to dig in, Crystal,” Celestia used a wing to direct her attention to the food. “You must be hungry.”

Crystal looked throughout the throne room, no one in sight, just vast empty space. A shiver went up her back, the cold air tickling her fur. She looked at one of the windows and saw black. It was nighttime, Crystal realized that the day was over. Her day with her mother, over.

Crystal glared at Celestia. There was no reaction. “It’s not the salads I’m used to, Princess,” Crystal said, not breaking her stare, “maybe I should go home and get some food there.”

Celestia sipped her tea, opening one of her giant white wings. It was an invitation to sit next to her… for comfort. Why would Celestia want to comfort…. Crystal blinked, a rope attaching to her heart strings and tugging ever so lightly.

Celestia watched Crystal go silent, hard contemplation etched into her face. She was thinking very hard about something, and the answer wasn’t that difficult to figure out.

“She died in a dragon attack up in Cloudsdale,” Celestia said, refurling her wing until it sat at her side.

Again she watched Crystal go into deep thought, then her eyes widened, a realization striking her. She looked up, that little tug turning into a hard yank, eyes begging Celestia for this to be a lie.

“I-I saw the…” Crystal froze, words too heavy to let fly.

“Newspaper,” Celestia finished, “Yes, Cross passed during the unexpected second attack, my team found her in the basement of a small cloud building, there were three other fillies, from what we could tell, all hugging your sister.” she looked at Crystal, her white fur turned gunmetal gray, a silent color that molds you into the background, and with its arrival, Crystal’s heartstrings snapped in two, yet, she didn’t cry. “Crystal, your sister died protecting children, what she always dreamed of doing.”

“She was!” Crystal shouted, she stood up, sagged a little in the plush pillow, and shouted at the ruler of her world for a second time. “She was protecting me! Those other fillies are nothing compared to me!” She looked down, body shaking with what could only be anger. “She was supposed to be protecting me,” the shaking stopped, and Crystal looked down at the floor, down trodden. “She hurt my mom, she was supposed to protect me, but she died… in vain!”

Looking up, she saw Celestia’s wing once more unfurled, another invitation for comfort, but Crystal didn’t budge. Once more her wing went back to her side and one of the hay burgers floated to Crystal’s mouth.

“Eat, you’ll feel better with a full belly.”

Crystal eyed the grease dripping from what looked like a hay patty, then gulped and took it in her hooves. “Y-You… sure? It doesn’t look… healthy.”

“You’re six, stop worrying about stuff adults do, just eat.”

Crystal flinched, something she hated to do, then looked at the burger, and took a bite.

Before she knew it she had polished off three hay burgers, almost a pound of macaroni and cheese, and two more honey and daisy sandwiches.

“It’s like you haven’t eaten in days,” Celestia said, chuckling, “are you feeding yourself properly?”

Crystal twitched, something snapped in her mind. “No, I haven’t eaten since this morning. You took me when my Mom was making lunch!” She stood up and ran to Celestia, across the table. Plates of hayburgers topped with pickles, ketchup, mustard, the whole nine yards, flew to the ground. She pounced, biting into Celestia’s neck. “Why couldn’t I learn this from my MOMMY!” Crystal bit right where Celestia's jugular was as hard as she could.

The sharp taste of blood filled Crystal’s mouth. The sheer volume forced her to back off. She watched Celestia fall, blood pooling around her as the life faded from her eyes.

“Well that was just rude,” Celestia, looking no worse for wear, sighed. She quietly picked up one of that napkins and started to clean the blood off her throne.

“but… but”

“Crystal, there’s a reason ponies call me the immortal god.” Celestia sighed, unaffected by Crystal’s rather powerful bite. “You want to know why I didn’t tell your mother?” Crystal nodded, blankly registering the question. “Because she’d never believe me, just like you didn’t. If I told your mother, Crystal, the news would never have reached you.”

Crystal glared, teeth grinding, “Well, being with my mother and not knowing that my sister is dead would be a much better prospect right now. Have you once considered that me not knowing would be better?”

Celestia was unfazed, she pulled Crystal in with her wing, pressing her against her side, trapping her. She gave a soft, warm smile to the filly futilely trying to escape. “I did, but who would you rather learn it from? Me or the stallion that stumbled across the information? Me, with a warm wing and plenty of comfort food, or the stallion that would kick you to the ground afterwards?”

Crystal’s struggles stopped, she looked up, tears glistening, but not falling.”Lair…” she weakly said, herself not convinced.

Celestia leaned down, opening her wing more to completely hide Crystal from the world. “You can cry, no one will judge you here,” she closed her wing, she knew the Agate family pride, crying is the ultimate humiliation. She grabbed some of the leftover macaroni and cheese and began eating. After a few bites, sniffles broke into sobs and Celestia’s side grew damp.

Celestia rubbed Crystal’s side with her wing and gently rocked back and forth, but nothing else. No words of comfort or kisses, just time to let it all out in what could only be the safest place in the world.

11

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Twilight finally laid down. She had been suicide prospect proofing her room for the past thirty minutes, magicking pillows to put on the hard edges of the wall and furniture so she couldn’t bash her head in. Taking all of the quills, letter openers, and the entire silverware drawer to a higher place so she didn’t stab herself to death, and putting up a barrier on the second floor so she didn’t jump off.

FInally, she was done. Levitating a checklist, she brought up the last quill she’d use. “Pillows, check, sharp object removal, check, bed, check, Spike sleeping in Celestia’s room, check, ear plugs, check,” she levitated the checklist down and pulled up a pair of pink ear plugs, “I’ve prepared every just like Celestia asked,” she sighed then opened her book. One from a new fiction writer, King Stephen, and it was called Starters of Fire.

About twenty minutes later, there was a knock at the door, “Come in,” Twilight said, putting the book under her covers.

The door opened to reveal Celestia. Twilight saw a small gray filly clinging to her front left leg. It was a far cry from the Crystal that fearlessly bucked a twenty foot wooden beam and loosen two nine inch nails. It was pitiful, and Twilight saw reason for Celestia’s worry.

“She’s very tired,” Celestia said, and some color came into Crystal’s cheeks. “Where’s the bed you prepared.”

“Oh,” Twilight looked away from Crystal, “Over here, Princess.” She hopped up off her bed and lead the two, Crystal clutching Celestia’s leg as she moved, to Spike’s small basket bed. The sheets had been changed and the whole thing disinfected. Twilight took no chances.

“You’ll sleep here, tonight,” Celestia said, pulling Crystal off her leg and tucking her in. Crystal looked up, teary eyed and stretched out her hooves. “No, sweetie,” Celestia kissed Crystal on the forehead, ignoring the hooved that pawed weakly at her neck. “Twilight will take care of you now.”

Twilight only looked in awe, once the proudest filly she’d ever met, Crystal was so different. Celestia really broke her. “Of course, “she said, unaware that her lips had moved, “I’ll just be reading downstairs if you need anything.”

“Do you want me to read you a bedtime story?” Celestia asked.

Crystal turned, her body facing away, a barely audible, “no,” came from the other side.

“Then I must return to my quarters, I have an early day tomorrow.” Celestia walked back to the door. “I’ll see you later Crystal, take good care of her Twilight, I’m trusting you.”

Twilight blinked, Celestia said that like a mother would to her… oh right, she wanted her to become Crystal’s second sister… “Okay, Princess,” Twilight returned, kissing Crystal on the side of her head, something a sister would do she hoped, then headed back to her book.

12

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Crystal’s sleep deepened, and soon she started to dream.

She was in a long dark tunnel, at the end was an immaculate light, pulling her towards it. She started to run, hooves clacking on the damp stone floor. At the end was a single pony illuminated by the daylight.

“Come here, Crystal,” Cross said, her soft smile glowing as she outstretched her hooves.

“Big Sister!” Crystal shouted, running faster than ever. But, the more she ran the farther Cross became, “Cross,” she whimpered, a sound that usually made Cross run to her. It didn’t this time.

Suddenly the light died, and a huge roar shook the cave. Cross turned and protected three fillies. “No! Protect me, Big Sister! Protect me!” A gale of fire tore through the cave, nearly melting the fur off Crystal. Four screams echoed briefly, striking the chord of death as their bodies burned to ash.

Crystal screamed, eyes ripping open to the black room. It was a nightmare, one that scared her so much she wet the bed. Crystal groaned, the second most humiliating thing to happen, then fell into tears.

“Crystal?” came a voice from downstairs. A candle flickered in the darkness, an island of light in the sea of black. “Are you alright?”

Crystal froze as a soft purple head poked out from the bottom of the stairs. It was the unicorn from earlier, the one that sat next to Celestia. Is she going to hurt me? Punish me for soiling her linen? No, Celestia said this pony would take care of her, and a someone Celestia trusts should understand her situation, maybe even make it so she didn’t have to wash the sheets. That’d be really nice.

Nice, this pony is nice, Crystal slipped out of bed, shivering as cool wind danced over her bottom. The tears still fell down her cheeks, but a light formed at the end of the tunnel. She trotted down the stairs to the purple head, slowly, carefully, just to be safe.

Twilight moved away, back to her bed when she saw the filly make her way down the stairs. It was a game of follow the leader, and when she got to her bed, she turned to find Crystal silently looking at her from the bottom of the stairs hooves leaning against the pillows.

“Come on, I won’t bite you,” Twilight said, noticing how the filly shook. She relaxed on the bed, spreading her legs, just like Celestia had, to make room for her. Then she waited.

Slowly, Crystal made her way across the room, the candle flickering from a bedside table, illuminating the free space. Plenty for a filly her size. Hoping she wasn’t invading some privacy law, she climbed up onto the bed and rested her head on Twilight shoulder.

Twilight noticed the dampness on Crystal’s bottom first, but made no mention. She looked at the filly, body quivering as she silently whimpered, eyes closed tightly, as if expecting a blow to the head.

Suddenly Twilight saw herself. Back when she’d just showed up as Celestia’s private student, in fact, it was the first night she’d spent, Twilight had a nightmare in her four poster bed. She’d gotten up crying, feeling so alone in the strange new world of the castle. She cried, much like Crystal had, and ten minutes later, the door opened and Celestia popped in. Twilight remembered how she apologized for waking her, scared on top of being homesick, but Celestia didn’t mind. She sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her, just like Twilight did to Crystal, and sung her a lullaby. Twilight had fallen right back to sleep afterwards, so maybe Crystal would too.

Twilight wondered if this was what it’s like to be a big sister, protecting her little sister from the scares of the dark. She started to hum a tune, just realizing that she’d forgotten the words, and felt Crystal’s body relax almost immediately. Did Celestia feel me relax? She thought before pulling the blanket over her.

Author's Note:

If you find any grammar or plot errors don't be afraid to tell me.
BlueTree