The Tale of Two Sisters

by Underwood

Chapter 15: Within Me, Without You

“Hello, my little ponies!” Discord called out joyously, clearly pleased with himself for having found the unicorn trio as he hovered high above the ground. “You wouldn't believe the number of brains I had to pick just to learn about you three; and then the old one teleports right onto my doorstep like a basket of exotic butters!” He pointed to Starswirl, a wicked grin curling his lip. “I must thank you for making my search so much easier.”

“Discord!” the wizard snarled back, spreading his legs into a prone stance, which the sisters followed suit.

“And could these be the two fabled sisters, destined to rid this land of the menace that is Yours Truly?” He teleported to within a few hooves of the group to give them a thorough looking-over. “I was told you were barely out of the crib—though it's hard to be surprised when magic is in the mix.” He leaned back, smiling smugly. “Not that it will change anything.”

“We'll get you for what you've done,” Celestia growled, her horn pre-emptively glowing.

“Oh yes, I suppose you would have a chip on your shoulder about your pops.” With a flash, an oversized chunk of cooked potato appeared on the elder sister, flattening her under its weight. “And just what are you going to do about it, hm?”

“Leave her alone!” Luna shouted, haphazardly firing a blue blast from her horn, which was caught mid-air by Discord and used nonchalantly as a toothpick.

“Steady yourself, girls,” Starswirl quietly urged. “We may only have one shot to strike while his defences are down. Be patient and work together.”

Celestia levitated the giant foodstuff off herself and flung it back at the draconequus, who inflated his head to devour it on impact.

“Let's wrap this up, shall we? I've got a lot of chaos to get back to.” Dabbing at the corner of his mouth with a napkin, Discord floated back from the group and hunched himself into a truly menacing stance, his red eyes glowing with dark intent. Around him, a couple of houses flashed, becoming intricate balloon sculptures of themselves as they slowly rose into the sky.

Starswirl's blood ran cold as he realised the impact this battle would have on the ponies of South Sea Post—ponies he had come to care for in his short time in the town, which had only grown with nostalgia within the time-bubble. “Wait!” he shouted, sweat already beading on his brow. “Not here! These ponies did nothing wrong. Your animus is with us; leave them out of this.”

“Oh?” Discord straightened up and sneered, snapping his fingers to teleport Goldcrest Finch before him, paralysed with fear at what he was seeing. Without a second thought, he plucked the wings clean off the pegasi, which flapped away on their own like a butterfly. “Oops.”

Released from Discord's control, Finch screamed as he realised what had been taken from him, unable to stop himself from falling to the ground and tumbling down the hill towards the town centre. The ex-court wizard couldn't let this continue, lest the entire town be razed along with every pony in it. He had to think fast.

“Stop! You- You won't enjoy any of the chaos you cause in this crossfire. What's the point in causing chaos if you're not there to enjoy it?”

“I'm sorry, are you trying to make sense of chaos?” The draconequus seemed genuinely insulted, folding his arms in disappointment. “I'm starting to think that you ponies don't get me.”

“Why waste good chaos now when you can take your time and enjoy it later?”

Discord raised a freshly interested eyebrow at the pony's rebuttal.

“What are you saying?!” Celestia screamed at the wizard, who chose not to face her.

“If he wins, he'll have free rein of Equestria anyway. These are the stakes of our success.”

Luna looked up at her mentor with quivering eyes. “If we lose, he'll destroy the town?”

“I suppose you have a point,” Discord thought aloud, stroking his long chin-hair. “There is only so much order you can corrupt. Fine, then where would you have us settle this?”

“The middle of nowhere, where no ponies will get hurt.”

“As you wish.”

With a snap of his taloned fingers, the whole group disappeared from the quaint trading post and reappeared in a vast, brown wasteland devoid of life. While Starswirl had never been here before himself, he recognised the geography as being somewhere in the San Palomino Desert, some ways north of the village. True to his word, this was indeed 'the middle of nowhere'.

“There, happy?” Discord re-folded his arms and tapped his cloven hoof impatiently. “Let's hurry this up, my throne is getting cold.”

“Our throne!” Luna shouted, aiming her horn at the enemy, which Celestia mirrored, followed by Starswirl—their horns all aglow.

“Finally.”

The draconequus hunched back over, readopting his fighting stance as the two sides faced down. Without moving a muscle, the ground beneath Discord began to transform as a green and purple chequered pattern spread out from him like living oil, while rock formations began to levitate around them, turning the desert into a circus-themed waking nightmare. A tumbleweed passed just outside the current range of the chaos magic, brought by a small gust of bronze dust against the backdrop of the sun and moon sharing the sky; a celestial stand-off of light and dark framing this battle of good versus evil. The ever-growing pied wave reached the tumbleweed, causing it to flash into a multicoloured beach ball and signal the duel's commencement. The sisters lunged forward, ahead of Starswirl and on the attack, charging their horns for a magical blast. In response, Discord snapped his fingers, turning both sisters into solid stone statues. The fighting spirit immediately drained from the wizard as he watched his prodigies hit the ground with a thud—defeated in a heartbeat before his eyes.

“No,” he muttered under his breath, feeling his knees weaken under his weight.

The Lord of Chaos straightened up, smiling in assured self-satisfaction. “So much for the 'alicorn princesses'. These things never do live up to the hype.”

“They were no alicorns.” The wizard dropped to his knees, his belled hat falling to the floor. “They did not even have their cutie marks yet. What was I thinking, bringing two young fillies to fight a monster? I am no warrior, I cannot teach the skills they needed…”

Discord's victory was beginning to feel hollow, draining the fun out of his moment. “What do you mean?”

“They were but babies when we fled the palace. I turned what few days we had into years of training, but no amount of time would have been enough against these odds. Had they received the proper tutoring, the proper upbringing…” He looked up at the serpentine creature, tears glistening in his eyes. “You would not stand a chance against a real alicorn. A real Princess.”

Discord scowled, his good mood thoroughly ruined. “And just what would it take to see one of these so-called 'real alicorns'?”

“I don't know.” The bearded unicorn looked down, tears silently hitting the multicoloured corruption below, becoming paper confetti on impact. “But I do know it takes time, and cannot be achieved in a vacuum.” Another tumbleweed lazily approached, transforming into an orange basketball as it hit the chequerboard. Starswirl looked back up at the creature, his glare conveying the silent tempest within him. “But I know it can be done. I know we can defeat you.”

Discord snorted. “'Time', you say.” Discord nonchalantly walked over to the petrified sisters, picking up one in each hand as though they weighed nothing. “Fine, you'll get your time, but I'm already bored of these two. So anticlimactic.” He put the sisters back down on freshly gained stone bases, keeping them upright in their mid-action poses. “I'll give you ten moons to bring me a real alicorn worth their salt, and you'd best hope they're more entertaining than these two—though if your supposed royals were the golden standard, I won't be holding my breath.” The creature disappeared in a flash, reappearing over the unicorn's shoulder to whisper in his ear, turning his blood cold. “And I certainly wouldn't want to be you if you were to disappoint me again, little pony,” he snarled. “I'll take all ten moons to come up with a fitting punishment—chaos knows there's little more to do in this painfully dreary world of yours—so believe me when I say that you'll wish you had become the centrepiece of this triumvirate of failure when you could.”

Starswirl remained silent, unable to speak even if he had wanted to. A warm breeze blew past, gently ratting the bells of his garb to mask the shaking of his legs. He was a scholar, and a reclusive one at that—he was not built for encounters like these. The draconequus teleported again, this time appearing between the two statues, leaning with one under each arm as though they were the best of friends.

“Well, it's been fun. Toodles!”

With a wave of his fingers, Discord disappeared for the last time, leaving the old unicorn alone in the desert sun and sprawling chequered panels. As painful as it was, he couldn't help but look up at his two precious wards, frozen in time as stone effigies of hopelessness. They had trusted him. They had believed that this could be done—a thought he had dared hope was possible himself—and they had paid the price for his naïveté. First the King, and now both Princesses, fallen to his folly. Why had he alone survived another encounter with that beast—that grotesque? Why were others always punished for his missteps and not him? No punishment would be as torturous as living at this point; his every thought and action burdened by these chains of self-hated. It was too much. Every fibre of his body screamed at him to roll over and let the dust take him—to just disappear from this world like every other pony that had mattered to him.

And yet… there were still more, weren't there? Ustiarius, the noble and righteous guardspony, still willing to fight against unfathomable odds to protect those unknown to him. Bluebeak, the selfless and misunderstood griffon, left bitter from losing his son, yet still living among the kind that had taken him. The griffons were no safer from Discord than ponykind, meaning the losses would grow exponentially as his influence spread, and there had already been so much loss in this world… Was this to be their legacy? Did the Princesses deserve to be remembered as mere monuments to failure?

No, this calamity was bigger than him, bigger than the sisters, and it always had been. He owed every pony—neigh, every creature—the right to continue their lives without even more pain caused by his mistakes. Starswirl took to his hooves and replaced the fallen hat on his head, letting the settled sand blow off around him. This was not simply revenge for the last twelve years of his life, nor was it revenge for the fallen royal family; this was a battle for Equestria—a crusade for the normal lives of normal ponies. This was for Meadow Flower and all the ponies of South Sea Post; this was for Little Cobb and all the farmers of Ponydale; this was for every maid and butler in Canterlot Palace, and every townspony of Canterlot Town; and yes, this was even for Stargazer the Spectacled, wherever he was right now—cowering under a desk somewhere, no doubt. This was for every pony he had never met before, and every pony that had yet to be born. This was so the world would see the sun rise again, regardless of race, location, or past mistakes. It was not a task he could achieve alone, but he knew just where to start looking for a team to unite against Discord. They might not be alicorns, but with the right composition of exceptional members, maybe they could delay that monster long enough for a true hero to emerge. Whatever the outcome, he would give everything he had to defeat this menace he had brought into the world, or his name was not Starswirl the Bearded.

---

“Sister? Sister, where are you?” Luna called out to the pitch black surrounding her. “This isn't funny, Celestia. Where are you?”

“I'm right here, Luna, where I've always been—right by your side.”

“I can't see you!”

Celestia's familiar frame stepped from the inky void, though remained heavily obscured by shadow.

“Oh, there you are. Where are we?”

“'Where are we?' This is Equestria, of course.”

“Equestria? I don't understand.” She attempted to move towards the faint outline of her sister, though the distance between them never changed.

“Yes, this is Equestria after you failed to protect it from Discord.”

“Failed?”

“Yes. You failed to stop Discord, just like you've failed at everything else your entire life; always second-best, never truly making any progress as you stumble blindly forward. You're no different from the useless filly you were before Starswirl began wasting his time on you.”

“Sishter, I don't undershtand!” She looked down, realising that she had reverted to a much younger version of herself—her shorter legs only emphasising Celestia's already looming silhouette. “Why are you shaying thesh thingsh?”

A spotlight snapped on from an unknown source overhead, blinding the filly that now sat in the centre of its gaze.

“You've only ever been a stupid little pony that never knew what she was doing. You killed your own mother, spent your entire life locked in a house with your betters, and when it truly mattered, immediately failed the singular purpose of your existence. What could have possibly made you think you could save Equestria?”

“You're not my sishter,” she hissed behind a stream of silent tears.

“No, I'm not.”

The figure stepped out from the shadows, exposing its true form; something far more sinister and intimidating than she could have imagined. Breaching the cone of light around her, the creature before her was even taller than her sister, with a black coat and voluminous, flowing hair like a starry sky. From the length of her spiked horn to her dusky-blue armour cladding, there wasn't a thing about this mare that didn't scream 'danger'. Trembling under the imposing glare of this stranger, Luna was barely able to speak through her clenched throat.

“W-Who aw you?”

“I'm you.”

The small filly backed up, struggling to return to her hooves, though failing to move from the eye of the spotlight. Barely finding strength in her legs to stand, she arched her back to seem as intimidating as possible, despite her diminutive stature.

“E-Expwane yourshewf!” she boomed in the Royal Canterlot Voice, though the technique had little effect coming from one so young.

The black figure cackled, showing her razor-sharp fangs and opening her vast, bat-like wings. A tar-like substance spread from behind her, encasing the two in an opaque, claustrophobic bubble, lit only by the starry blue glow from the terrifying mare's mane. There was a low-pitched throbbing throughout the heavy atmosphere of the sphere, forcing Luna to clasp her pounding head with both hooves—closed eyes still wet with tears.

“I represent the darkness within you, Luna.” Her voice was as clear and dominating within the filly's mind as it had been outside the bubble. “The resentment of your sister, the shackles of your imprisoned life, the burden of expectations to become an alicorn, the guilt of killing your mother-”

“No! I dont-! I didn't!”

“It's time for you to grow up, little Luna; to take control of your life, and your destiny!”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” she screamed, garnering only a cruel, shark-like grin from her persecutor.

“What are you going to do about it, child?”

“You're not real! You're not real!” she shook her head vigorously, eyes and ears still held tight.

The shadowy mare laughed again. “Do you see how useless you are? Useless! How could you stand against a monster like Discord, when you cannot even stand against your own thoughts?”

The princess let out a guttural scream, serving only to delight the dark alicorn—at first. As she continued to scream, white electricity began to crackle and spark from horn, then across her entire body as she floated up from her cowering form on the ground.

“What-?!”

The filly's eyes shot open, emitting pure-white energy as she continued to scream. Much like her dark counterpart, a sphere of the same white energy encompassed her entire body, glowing with the light of a thousand moons. The embodiment of her negativity winced under the light, forcing it to lift a hoof to shield its eyes as the glow only intensified. From outside the black bubble that had encased them, white light began to crack its surface, spreading out until the entire globe burst like glass in all directions. Where the cowering infant had once been, Luna's true form now floated, eyes still glowing and radiating swirling, light-blue magic around her body as the black alicorn cowered in fear.

“What- What is this? You do not possess such power!” she shrieked, shrinking away like a wild animal backed into a corner.

“It is true I have fears and self-doubt, just as any pony does,” Luna boomed with calm authority, “but you are not a true representation of my innermost feelings. You are a nightmare, and nothing more.”

“No! NO!” the black mare screamed as glowing white cracks formed across her body, causing her entire body to shake with energy.

“This is my mind, and I am in control here.”

“NO!” she wailed one last time as her body shattered, leaving her cry to echo into the fathoms of the endless void around them.

“A nightmare no longer.” The Princess gently lowered herself to the transparent floor, letting her magical aura dissipate. “And if this truly is a dream, then I shall have it as I see fit.”

Closing her eyes, a ripple of magic burst from her hooves, sprouting lush vegetation out of thin-air in every direction. Opening her eyes once more, Luna found herself in the picturesque, grassy, moon-dappled hills she could only dream about before, though this time they felt so much more real—the fresh alpine air, the cool embrace of a real night, the fluffy, dew-speckled blades of grass beneath her hooves. This was the pure freedom and blissful nocturnal peace that she had ached for her entire life; everything that she could not have in their isolated house under the frozen, binary sky. Her imagination had brought to life the stories she had read in books and encyclopedias; a bittersweet moment, as it confirmed that this was indeed a dream, and thus ephemeral.

“True peace,” she whispered to herself, delighted to catch sight of her own breath in the bracing country air. “But I wonder, what of my real sister in all this? The last thing I recall is charging at Discord…” She trailed off, turning her attention to the impossibly large moon dominating the sky. “Is she sleeping, too?”

Closing her eyes once more, Luna's horn lit up, spreading from its base and up the spiral indent. Unlike her usual magical aura, this energy seemed almost tangible as it extended from her horn's tip like a sentient, glowing tether. While this was her own dream, residing entirely within her own mind, she could still sense a vague external presence—something she felt compelled to reach out to. Her magical tether snaked its way up to the colossal moon and pierced its centre, causing waves to ripple across its surface. There was something there—somepony there—in the midst of what felt like a nightmare of their own. There was no decision to be made. Opening her eyes, she spread her freshly imagined wings and took towards the celestial body, following the glowing thread straight into it like a pool of water. Releasing her breath on the other side, Luna found herself in the middle of what looked like a full-blown aerial war, silhouetted against the giant ball of fire she had just emerged from. A dark pony-like creature shot past her, flying towards a small mass of similar beings bundled together. With a sudden flash of light the group were forcefully expelled, revealing a familiar mare at its core.

“Sister!” Luna exclaimed, immediately taking flight to her location.

“Luna? Is that really you?” The white pony had clearly taken a beating up to this point, her normally flawless coat now covered in scuffs and scrapes, and her long, pink hair a ruffled mess. “Your eyes are blue, so you must be... But why do you have wings?” As a new enemy approached her from behind, she performed an impressive spinning kick, sending it plummeting downward.

“These wings are but a figment of my imagination, as this battle is of yours. This is a dream, dear sister, is that not apparent?”

“'A dream?' What are you talking about? This is as real as you or I, can't you see that?!” Scowling at another assailant approaching from Luna's rear, Celestia charged up her orange magic and released a blast, swatting it out of the sky.

The blue, winged unicorn smirked with a huff. “Sister, if I am not mistaken, these creatures are Salamancers; an ancient foe of Equestria, to be sure, but only seen in the last hundred years as a recurring antagonist in Summer Twinkle books.”

“So? What of it?” Celestia charged up another beam of magic, cutting an arc across the sky to repel a new wave of enemies.

“Sister, Salamancers do not have wings; they cannot fly.”

“What?” The war-worn mare finally gave her sister her full attention for the first time since her arrival. “Really?”

As the mental correction that her enemies had no wings sunk in, the reptilian shapeshifters began to fall from the sky, clawing desperately at thin air before plummeting into the sky-blue void below.

“And for that matter, neither do you,” Luna continued, eyebrows raised in anticipation.

Celestia looked over her shoulder, never expecting to see wings, but suddenly realising that she was flying without any. Flailing wildly just like her adversaries, she too dropped like a brick, casually followed down by her sister. Luna caught the frantic unicorn with her magic just before she hit the grassy plains that had materialised below—lush and green against the blazing sun that dominated the sky here, much as Luna's moon had in her mindscape. The elder sister straightened up now that her hooves were firmly back on terra firma, dusting herself off with a look of embarrassed annoyance towards her sister's last-minute rescue. Luna landed softly beside her, allowing her wings to dissipate like cloud.

“Do you know why we are sleeping?” the younger princess asked, her head tilted to see around her sister's annoyed fussing. “The last thing I recall was charging toward Discord, and then I was in my dreamscape.”

“Discord?” The pink-maned mare ceased her preening, as though reminded of something important. “Come to think of it, I do remember that. He dropped a giant chip onto me, then the floor changed, and we charged… Are you certain that wasn't a dream, too?”

“Quite certain. I cannot explain the feeling well, but I am acutely aware that we are currently asleep, though something about it does feel… unnatural.”

“Do you always know you're dreaming?”

“Do you not?”

Celestia took a moment to face her sister. “And if you really are the real Luna, how are you in my dream?”

“I…” She paused, looking away in thought. “I do not know. I simply followed my heart, and it led me to you. I felt a calling, like… like it was my-” A sudden glow in her peripheral vision caused her to stop and turn, realising that it was emanating from her haunches.

“Is that-?” Celestia was cut off as the glow spread, enveloping both ponies and the landscape around them.

A familiar dusty breeze rolled across the San Palomino Desert, shifting the light dusting that covered the tiled floor below, accompanied by a stampede multicoloured gophers. The statues of the two sisters remained idle, collecting pockets of sand along their ridges and partially obscuring the bases. Without warning, a white crack suddenly appeared in Luna's frozen pose, as though a magic within had become too powerful to contain. The crack spread and webbed, loosening shards from the stone effigy before exploding in a burst of energy, releasing the pony trapped within.

Luna fell to the sandy, chequered floor, exhausted and gasping for air. She looked around the best she could, blinded by the overbearing sun and dryness of the air. Pushing herself from the floor with weak knees, she turned to find her sister's lifeless form still petrified in place, mid-leap.

“Sister!” Concern gave her the strength to reach the figure, pawing at it desperately to find a seam or a pulse. “You must wake up—please.”

With tears streaming down her cheeks, Luna leaned in and closed her eyes, placing her forehead against the cold stone that was her sister's. The wheezy silence of the desert lingered for a sombre moment before another guttural crack rang out, accompanied by a glowing fissure crossing the petrified unicorn's face, prompting her sister to step back. Just as before, the statue's glowing crack spread, criss-crossing across its vibrating mass like a weak sheet of winter ice—or at least how she imagined that looked from her books. As the exposed energy peaked and the statue burst in a blinding light, Celestia fell to the floor—weak, but alive. Jumping to her side, the dusky-blue princess knelt down, tending to her sister the best she could.

“I'm so glad you awoke. I was afraid what I would do without you.”

“Luna?” the weary unicorn groaned, struggling to open her eyes.

“Shh, shh. Take your time, sister.”

“Luna, you-” As the world slowly shifted into focus, the young mare's eyes widened, now able to properly distinguish the dark blur leaning over her. “You're—!”

“I'm fine, do not worry about me,” she insisted, despite still being weary from her own escape.

“No, you're— you're—!”

Luna assisted her struggling sister to stand, somewhat concerned by the look she was giving her. “What?”

“Y—You're an alicorn!” Her mouth was agape, backing off just far enough to point a trembling hoof towards her sister's flank.

“What?” Dumbfounded, Luna looked over her shoulder to find something pressed against her back. She naturally spread her new wings in panic at what they could be, causing her to tumble over in shock and attempt to scurry away from her own plumage. Momentarily rolling around on the ground while trying to escape the foreign entity clinging to her back, she caught sight of her rump and froze, wide-eyed. “Wha- C-Cutie mark?! I- I have a cutie mark!” She shrieked in excitement, now flailing her limbs joyously on the chequered floor.

“How— W-What happened?” Celestia mumbled in shock, still trying to come to terms with the world around her. She cast a cautiously hopeful look back at her own flank, but it remained as blank as she was wingless.

“This is incredible!” the new alicorn gushed, for once thinking more about herself than her sister. “It must have been the dream! My cutie mark must be in dreaming! What does that even mean?” she beamed, not actually caring about the greater meaning behind her mark right now.

“What dream? What happened to us?” The elder sister grimaced, putting a hoof to her temple as she felt a headache coming on.

“You don't remember?” Still smiling, the new Princess of Dreams arose and dusted the sand off her shoulders, wanting to listen to her sister, though still greatly preoccupied by her new acquisitions. “We were sleeping. Discord must have turned us to stone when we attacked, but I woke us up—I came into your dream and woke you up! Isn't that cool?” Having practised spreading her new wings a few times, she turned to face her sister properly, beaming with pride.

“No, I don't remember.” Mildly frustrated at everything around her, she turned to look at the two stone bases beside her, starkly devoid of any statues they might have once held aloft. Had they really been turned to stone? For how long? And where was Starswirl?

“I wonder where Uncle Starswirl is,” Luna asked aloud, seemingly sharing the thought. “I must show him my new cutie mark! And wings! And cutie mark! And wings!” She pranced excitedly on the spot again, having waited twelve long years for this moment.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” her sister replied, continuing in a mumble, “some of it, anyway.”

Ignoring Luna's giddiness, Celestia squinted at the sun and moon overhead, then at the surrounding landscape. “Where are we, anyway?”

Luna paused her excitement for a moment to think and reply. “Well, Uncle Starswirl did ask to be taken to 'the middle of nowhere'… Do you think we're still in Equestria?”

“I… think so? If Discord has been living in our palace, then he's likely only seen the Equestrian map. He doesn't seem much like the literary type.”

The elder princess began to trot across the unnatural flooring beneath their hooves, hoping to get a better look at the natural geometry of the area, followed unquestioningly by her sister. Reaching the edge of the pied corruption, Celestia stamped at the natural, cracked earth of the area to test its composition.

“Well, it's not just sand, so that rules out the Arid Sea, and we're not surrounded by mountains, so it's not the Badlands. Assuming we're still in Equestria, I'd say we're in the San Palomino Desert.”

“And what does that mean for us?”

“It means that we truly are in the middle of nowhere.” She turned back to her younger sister, neutral in the face of adversity.

“Perhaps I could fly us to a village?” the newly fledged alicorn grinned, flexing her wings despite having no idea how to use them.

“No.” The last thing she needed right now was her ineptitude paraded in front of their subjects, assuming they could even find civilisation in the first place. Sure, there should be a coastline west of here, which they could follow back down to South Sea Post—what little good that would do them—but with the sun and moon frozen in place, there was no way to determine the cardinal directions, let alone the risks of traversing a desert with no supplies. The two pondered in silence for a moment before she continued. “The first rule of wilderness survival is to get your bearings,” she quoted from one of the more useful myriad books she had memorised, before raising her hoof skyward. “But-”

Luna looked up, squinting behind the shadow of her foreleg. “I don't suppose you remember the direction it last rose from?” she asked jokingly, having never seen the sky any other way but in her dreams.

Celestia grumbled in response, surveying the horizon in hopes of spotting a landmark.

“Desert, desert, everywhere; and not a drop to drink,” the younger sister mused.

“That's not how that goes.”

“So, what, do we just pick a direction and go?”

“Don't be ridiculous. Without a plan we'd definitely starve or dehydrate before ever leaving the desert, assuming a Tatzlwurm doesn't find us first.”

“T-Tatzlwurm?” The alicorn's ears perked up. “But- that's just a monster in Summer Twinkle, right? Y-You're just trying to scare me.”

“Nope, it was in Starswirl's bestiary. They love dry terrain, and can hear the heartbeats of scared fillies through the ground.” She smiled to herself, only lying about that last part. It's not like any of the creatures listed in that dumb old book were real—as if something like a 'bug-bear' actually existed.

“Sh-Shut up! They do not!” Luna reflexively lifted two of her hooves off the ground, anxiously looking around for signs of underground movement. “L-Let's go already. If we stand around here all day, we're no better off than when we were statues.”

“There.” Celestia pointed to a green haze in the distance, having almost made a full circle while scanning the horizon.

Her sister squinted, barely able to discern a difference with the heat's water-like distortion. “What if it's a mirage?”

It was a valid question, but one she didn't have an answer to. “Only one way to find out.”

With a determined stride, the unicorn made her way down the remaining length of the corruption and began their long trek through the scorching wastes, her sister not far behind.

Time began to lose meaning as they dragged their hooves across the barren landscape, pushing small mounds of sand apart in their wake while brittle platelets of earth cracked under their weight. Luna wiped yet another browful of sweat across her foreleg as she marched on, a short distance behind her sister, who appeared to be flagging under the heat even worse than her.

“Do- Do you think that Uncle Starswirl came this way?”

Celestia grunted. “Why do you keep calling him that? You know he isn't really your uncle, right?”

“Well- Well yes, I know that… But he raised us! Doesn't that make him family?”

The elder princess snorted, her head now parallel with her body, seeming about ready to collapse. “Family. Would family leave you in the middle of a desert? Would family lock you up your entire life, taunting you with books celebrating the outside world?”

“Sister! That's not fair, Un- Starswirl did not do these things out of spite or by choice. I'm sure he did not leave us here by his own free will.”

“Choice? He had a choice- He chose- Did this to us-” Celestia fell forward, hitting the ground face-first.

“Sister!” Luna rushed forward, stumbling under her own exhaustion. Rolling the white unicorn on her side, she cradled Celestia's head under her shadow. “Sister, we can do this, do not give up!”

The pink-maned mare slowly opened her eyes, though her gaze was unfocused and her panting rapid and raspy.

“Please, Sister, you cannot give up! I know we can do this; we must!”

Her brow furrowed with concern, Luna suddenly had the idea to use her new plumage as a fan. Mustering what little magic she could, she began to beat her wings, cooling the shaded air with a spell she had only used before to ice her drinks. A few draining minutes later, Celestia's eyes began to focus on her sister's face, attempting to swallow despite its dryness. With a sigh of relief, Luna helped her sister to her hooves, her wings falling weak by her sides.

“Thank you,” she wheezed, still somewhat delirious, but at least conscious.

“I, too, am finding it hard to breathe in these conditions. I wish you would have told me sooner. As your sister, I'm here to share your burden.”

“I'm the older sister,” she replied with difficulty, looking toward the hazy line of green ahead of them. It was still far, but definitely closer than it was before. It couldn't still be a mirage at this point, surely? “It's my job to look after you. Even if I don't make it-”

“Don't say that! We will both make it, I know we will!”

“Luna-”

“Starswirl's magic bubble, for leaving the house- That helped you breathe, right?”

“Yes, but-” She stopped, actually considering the suggestion for a moment. It was no water spell, but improved oxygen intake could bolster their stamina in this situation. They would die out here if they did nothing, so while expending magic might tire them faster, better circulation could help them keep a better pace and potentially get out of this heat quicker. “That's- That's actually a good idea.” She closed her eyes, focusing on the wisp of magic that remained in her horn, and cast the spell, creating a blurry halo around her head. Already she felt like she could take a deep breath for the first time in hours. “Do you know the spell?”

“No, but, I'll be fine,” she smiled weakly. Maybe it was her smaller stature or slightly darker coat, but she did seem to be lasting longer than her sister, if only slightly. She would be fine; she had to be—she refused to be a burden, especially now that she had become an alicorn.

“Ok… But let me know if things get worse; I can try to cast the spell on us both. But, until then, let's try not to talk, it will only exhaust us faster.”

“Yes, Sister.”

Despite the unnatural duality of the sky, the desert remained as stiflingly hot and draining as one would imagine, with the occasional breeze somehow managing to blow even warmer air at them. It was hard to say how much time had passed at this point, surrounded by an endless sea of beige, broken only by the odd hoodoo or butte in the far distance. With their tongues dry and hooves chipped, the wall of green ahead had finally grown large enough to not be dismissed as a mere illusion, though its existence remained just as unbelievable. There was an almost sheer divide between the arid wasteland behind them and the lush, tropical jungle before them—brimming with palm trees, vines, and exotic succulents. The sisters might have pondered on the magic behind such an occurrence, were they not so blinded by dehydration and exhaustion. Only one thing mattered to them, and that was where there were plants, there was water. Gaining a second-wind from the promise of that cooling nectar of the earth, the two picked up their pace for the final stretch, stumbling toward the verdant wall with almost manic fervour.

The first step from dusty rock to soft grass was almost enough to throw them off balance, while the sudden shock of shade gifted to them by the canopy almost took their breath away. Too desperate to hold out for a body of water, the two dropped to their knees and began devouring the nearby flora, sucking the juices from nearby aloe-vera-like plants. Panting, both ponies eventually rolled onto their backs, basking in the generosity of Mother Nature and the brief respite from their suffering. Neither had intended to fall asleep right there on the jungle floor, but the moment their hooves had been released from the burden of their weight, their fates were sealed.

“¿Tlein chiua tinemili Cihuātlahtoāni Chicomecōātl chiuas ika inin ome? (What do you think Queen hicomecōātl will do with these two?)” an unfamiliar voice spoke in an unfamiliar language; though it was not the question that woke Celestia, but her head being dragged over an errant stone.

“Noyuuankeh pitztic nik kichiua ilhuilti tlamanalistin. Iuil liketika kaua intin nik popoyotia iko in tetlallancaltzacualoyan uikpa panahuia ipan toland, (They are too lean to make worthy sacrifices. She will likely leave them to rot in the dungeon for trespassing on our land,)” another replied—a mere string of hisses and tuts to the Princess's untrained ears.

“What are you doing?” she groaned, met with a brief pause in their movement and a sudden kick to the face.

Author's Note:

1st Edition - 17th November, 2020 (Released) (6,536 words)
1.1 Edit - 27th March, 2023 (Minor edits) (6,571 words)