Three Sisters

by Cryohawk

Chapter 1: The Return of a Sister

When Canterlot Castle was completely renovated it was redesigned to be a perfect mixture of utility and luxury.

The castle had many different features throughout it, such as the many luxurious rooms for important individuals of the crown. The castle also had an up-to-date spa, that was recently added by a certain white princess. There were also the world-famous royal gardens which housed some of the most exotic flora and fauna in the world.

Besides the more extravagant parts of the castle, there were also some more utilitarian sections. Such as the Royal Medical Wing, or RMW for short. The RMW held some of the most advanced healthcare equipment in Equestria. There was also a small section of the RMW reserved for royalty, as well as a private medical room for Celestia.

Now, today like most days in the RMW was slow and boring. Not much happened in the RMW and any time a pony actually got hurt it was only minor cuts, bruises, or maybe at worst a broken bone from a few overzealous recruits. So a bored receptionist sat at her desk as she absentmindedly picked through a few papers. The receptionist was a unicorn with a light blue coat, a mane and tail with multiple shades of green, blue eyes, and a white overcoat with a blue undershirt.

This peace was quickly shattered when a bright flash of light engulfed the main lobby, which caused the previously bored receptionist to almost fall out of her chair. After a few short moments, the receptionist got out of her chair as she tried to get the spots out of her vision. When she tried to look at what caused the flash, she was instead met with a large white tuff fur.

As the receptionist looked up her eyes widened as she retreated in shock when she saw the frantic form of Princess Celestia. The princess's horn shimmered in her infamous golden hue and next to the princess floated a slightly larger-sized mare.

The mare had a purple coat, a pink, purple, and dark blue mane and tail, and a star-themed cutie mark with three smaller white stars around the large magenta one. But what caused the receptionist's mind to short circuit was that the pony had BOTH wings and a horn!

Before she could comprehend the possible existence of another alicorn she suddenly felt herself wrapped in an alicorn's aura. She was then pulled up in front of a certain panicked princess's face.

“I NEED EVERY DOCTOR IN THE WARD TO COME HERE RIGHT NOW! MY LITTLE SISTER NEEDS HELP! TAKE HER TO MY MEDICAL ROOM THIS INSTANT! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!!” Celestia screamed out in the Royal Canterlot Voice, directly into the receptionist’s face.

Celestia then hastily released the mare, the receptionist meanwhile had practically gone limp during the princesses orders as she now laid on the floor overwhelmed. At least that was until she heard the word emergency, which allowed the receptionist to shake off her shock.

After a few moments, where the receptionist desperately tried to get up and failed a few times, until she finally got up and quickly made her way to her desk. She then opened the cover for the RMW's panic button and preceded to slam it. Suddenly around the RMW alarm and red light runes began to go off as the RMW began to awaken with activity.

Moments later, the doors on either side of the receptionist's desk flung opened as a plethora of medical staff rushed through the doors, not far behind them was a stretcher. Celestia quickly placed Twilight on the stretcher, the medical staff then began to rush her to the medical room. But as Celestia began to follow them through the door she was stopped when a matching pair of brown-haired stallions stopped her.

“Your Highness, please you can’t come with us. You need to stay out here in the lobby until the patient's stabili-” the doctor on the left tried to say until he was interrupted by a furious Celestia.

“YOU WILL LET ME THROUGH RIGHT NOW! SO I CAN SEE MY SISTER! NOW MOVE!” Celestia yelled at the impudent doctor.

Her horn began to glow a dark yellow as small bits of bright orange began to flake off. Celestia was about to force her way through the idiotic stallions that blocked her way to her sister. But before she could do anything the doctor on the right side of the door quickly used his magic to levitate her head towards his.

“Princess Celestia, you must trust us to care for the patient. Please, wait here. Because if you come with us you could hinder our ability to help her and possibly even harm her. So please, your highness. Stay here!” The doctor sternly told the princess before he let her head go.

The room was silent as everypony, even Celestia was shocked that some doctor would order, Princess Celestia, to wait in the room. After a tense silence, with everypony waiting with bated breath for the Princess to eviscerate the foolish pony, Celestia snapped out of her shock before she began to do her breathing exercise. Once Celestia was sure she was calm she looked at the doctors with much more control over herself.

“Yes, my apologies doctor for my… *sigh* for that. I'm just worried about my sister, I want her to be well. I... understand that I need to stay here, but tell me the moment her condition changes,” Celestia replied as she forced herself to remain calm.

“Of-f course, your Majesty. We'll tell you the moment if anything changes,” the doctor on the right replied as he gave a small bow before he turned to leave, with a little shake in his step.

His partner on the other hoof still shook like a leaf and took an extra second to catch up to the other doctor. As Celestia made her way back to the lobby, where she looked for a place to rest, she caught one of the doctors say something just out of earshot.

"I ca-n’t b-beliv-e you sto-od up to Pri-ncess Celest-ia,” when she heard that, her ears flattened to her skull as she hung her head low in shame.

-{<()>}-

As the night dragged on the medical staff worked hard to improve Twilight's condition, meanwhile, the rest of the castle was a mess as the news of the incident in the RMW quickly spread through the grapevine, and soon most of the castle heard about the event. Luckily, Celestia was able to contain the rumors to the castle for now, and not long after she planned a quick announcement, with the help of Raven.

In the announcement, Celestia was able to rectify some of the more... outlandish rumors and alleviate some of the fears ponies had. Celestia then announced that she would cancel all court sessions and take a temporary leave of absence from governance for the next couple of days. This came much to the shock of the staff and Raven, who had frantically started to rework Celestia's entire schedule.

Celestia then made her way back to the RMW and made herself a place to rest for the night in the lobby. When Celestia finished she decided that she would try to get some rest after her incredibly stressful day, unfortunately just as she closed her eyes she felt a very familiar feeling in her. It was time to set the moon and raise the sun.

-{<()>}-

Celestia sat in a chair with glazed-over eyes as she was stuck in her own mind, her mind had decided to replay the events of that horrible day. The day that everything changed… “We art almost there sisters. We can free the crystal empire and cease this tyra-” “SISTERS WATCH OUT!” “TWIIIILLLIIIGGGHHHT!”…

Celestia was suddenly jolted out of her current state when she felt somepony prod her shoulder. She shook her head to clear her mind from those terrible memories.

When she looked over at who helped her she saw that it was her dear niece, Cadence. Celestia couldn't help but look over the cute little pink alicorn with her lovely pink, purple, and yellow mane and tail that naturally curled up at the ends. She also seemed to have decided to tie her mane into a ponytail with an adorable blue bow tied around her ponytail and tail. Then as she looked into her niece's eyes she saw her beautiful amethyst eyes as they looked at her. Finally, Celestia looked down at her flank and at the crystal heart that had interested Celestia since she met her. If only you knew how truly special your mark was, Cadence.

“Hello, Cadence. I’m sorry, I didn't see you there. How are you?” Celestia asked as she tried to put on a motherly smile.

“Auntie, are you alright? You're crying?” Cadence asked as she looked at her with palpable concern.

Celestia’s smile fell as she blinked a few times and brought a hoof up to wipe her eyes and as she looked down at her hoof she saw a few teardrops. She then proceeded to clear her eyes from any remaining tears before she looked back over at her concerned niece with a much more genuine and slightly tired smile.

“ *sigh* Thank you, Cadence. But I'm fine. Nothing to worry about," before Cadence could respond they heard the doors to the RMW open.

Celestia saw that the same brave doctor from before had come through. I should give him a raise for his help last night... and an apology, Celestia thought as he approached.

When the doctor got close Celestia dawned her infamous smile as she hoped for some good news. Cadence looked at her aunt for a few more moments longer before she also looked over at the doctor with a smile, she also shifted next to Celestia.

“Hello again, doctor. I would once again like to apologize for how I acted earlier. I can see now that my actions were... quite rash,” Celestia apologized with a bow, the doctor was shocked by the princess as he took a few steps back.

“I-It’s al-alright *cough*, your highness. It was late and everypony was stressed,” the doctor quickly stammered as he tried to regain his composure.

“Yes, well thank you for accepting my apology… -” Celestia racked her brain for the doctor's name “- …Doctor Gusty Shine is it not?” Celestia asked.

The now named Gusty seemed quite surprised that she recalled his name.

“Yes, Princess. That’s my name. I’m honestly surprised that you know me,” Gusty said under his breath.

“I take it upon myself to know as many of my little ponies as I can. Now, why are you here... is she alright?” Celestia asked as she grew deeply concerned for her sister's wellbeing.

“Oh, Um yes, I’m sorry... I got distracted. Ahem, Princess Celestia, we have done everything we can for the patent you've brought us,” as the doctor spoke he motioned for the two alicorns to follow him to the RMW.

“We've been able to stabilize her condition, but there seems to be some sort of dark magic embedded deep inside her. Unfortunately, the magic is too deep inside of her body for us to properly scan, and any spells we've tried to use to purge it have failed. One final note is that the patient seems to be in some kind of coma. We don't know exactly when she'll wake up, but from our estimates, we believe a week at most.”

When Gusty finished they had arrived at her sister's room. The doors to the hospital room were ornate with gold trimmings on the edge of the doors and imprinted at the center was her cutie mark, it was her room after all. On either side of the doors were solar guards, standing stoically like her guard seemed to love to do. They both had on the guards iconic gold armor they also both had snow-white fur and a blue mane and tail, just like how the enchantments on the armor were supposed to work.

Celestia knew she was stalling so she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and then made her way to the door. But right before her hoof touched the door handle she froze as she started to have doubt. She couldn't help but worry about the situation.

What if she blames me?! What if she doesn't wake up?! Can I take that? What if... What if she-. No. she would not allow her fear to control her. She let out a determined huff before she looked back at the doors with narrowed eyes and with a sudden wave of determination she pushed open the doors.

The medical room was larger than a normal patient's room, roughly double the size. On the left side of the room was a large window that gave a perfect view of the royal gardens. There was also a plethora of medical equipment and the largest congregation of equipment was around a bed at the back of the room, attached to a pony that Celestia hadn't seen in over a millennium.

Celestia saw her younger sister, Twilight laid in bed with a myriad of bandages wrapped around her. Also attached to her were IVs, there were also a few IV bags around her. Finally, the only noise at that moment was the subtle beat of a rune heart monitor.

Celestia quickly rushed over to her sister, Cadence following shortly after. Behind the princesses Gusty silently closed the doors, leaving the two alicorns in the room. Cadence soon came to the side of Celestia and sat next to her.

Celestia sat there as she looked at the slumbering form of her sister. She laid motionless on the bed with the only indication that she was alive was the slow rise and fall of her chest. Celestia watched the horrible state that her sister was in for what felt like hours, she would have watched her longer if it weren't for Cadence's intervention. When she looked over to her niece she felt something wet on her face and as she wiped her face she saw that she had begun to cry again.

"Ha, *sniff* I think this is the most I've cried in years," Celestia tried to make light of the situation, but she was starting to lose control.

“Auntie, who is she?” Celestia looked over at Cadence and saw the overwhelming worry on her face, Celestia knew she had to tell her.

Celestia looked back over to Twilight, a strand of her hair covered her face. She brought out one of her wings and pushed it out of her face, There perfect.

She knew she was stalling so she steeled her resolve, “Cadence, this is a very special pony. In my opinion one of the best ponies I've ever met. A pony that this world was unfortunately starved from for over a thousand years. -" Celestia looked over at Cadence as she kept her voice as steady as possible. "- Cadence, this is my dear sister, Twilight," Celestia finally finished.

Cadence was absolutely stunned as her mouth hung open and her eyes widened. Celestia couldn't help but smile at her niece's reaction, despite her internal emotions.

“WHAT!? YOU HAVE A SISTER!” Cadence screeched.

Celestia put her hoof on her niece, to calm her. This lucky, seemed to have help as Cadence stopped and looked at her, incredibly shocked and confused.

“I know you probably have many questions, but please calm yourself. You may disrupt other ponies. Yes, Twilight is my sister. She's been..." Celestia's already wavering smile died away as memories of her failure began to flood her mind. "Gone for some time and had only just returned from her... crystal tomb," at that moment Celestia thought of something, what if Twilight remembered her imprisonment.

Celestia had believed, not with any want, that Twilight had... died after the creature's spell. But the thought that she could have lived for over a millennium alone... she wasn't sure what was worse. It would be another one of her failures, she would have hurt the ones she loved again. The thought brought another flood of guilt and nearly turned her into a sobbing mess.

Before her mind could think on the horrible idea anymore she heard her niece, "Auntie! Are you alright?! Your starting to worry me!" Celestia was snapped out of her thoughts when she looked over at Cadence.

Celestia shook her head and brought her hooves to wipe her eyes from the many tears she had made. She then began her breathing exercise in an attempt to regain control of her emotions, it didn't work very well.

Cadence sadly looked at her, "Auntie, you don't have to talk about this if you don't want to. I don't want you to force yourself to do this," Cadence pledged, Celestia looked over at her niece before she frowned and then sighed.

"I'm sorry, Cadence. It's just this is a... tough subject to talk about. But you should know about this. Especially if... When she wakes up," Celestia tried to reassure her.

"But I don't want you to have to go through this pa-" Celestia interrupted Cadence when she extended one of her wings and put a feather over her muzzle.

"No, you should know what happened that dark day. Out of anypony, you deserve to know," Celestia said as she attempted to give a motherly smile, though in her opinion it felt far too broken.

Celestia took in a deep breath before she began, “As you know, the early days of Equestria were far more... chaotic. Me and my sis-" Celestia shortly paused as she realized she hadn't told Cadence about Luna, She only needs to know about one tragedy today. "-ter once again went to stop an evil force that wished to destroy Equestria. That threat was the Vile Tyrant Sombra," venom practically dripped out of her mouth when she uttered that monster's name.

“The tyrant murdered the previous ruler of the ancient Crystal Empire, Princess Amore. She-" Celestia's eyes began to moisturize at ancient memories before she steeled herself and continued, "-was a personal friend of ours and we couldn't, wouldn't let her innocent ponies wither under his iron hoof. So we prepared to fight the tyrant and flew to the Crystal Empire as fast as possible.

"Once we arrived at the Crystal Empire, it was a shadow of its former self. The entire empire was in a massive state of disrepair and dark magic permeated through everything. After a couple of days of dealing with mind-controlled ponies and deadly traps, we had finally made it to the Tyrant. A fierce battle ensued."

As Celestia continued she didn't notice the seamlessly endless stream of tears that went down her face, "The fight was far harder than we thought it would be. The entire empire was tainted with the tyrant's dark magic and they were more prepared for us than we expected. The battle was long and grueling... and right before we were about to defeat them... th-they set off their last trap."

Celestia looked over at her sister again and moved closer to her before she began to pet her with her hooves. Cadence was nearly forgotten by Celestia as she was consumed by her memories. How could I have not seen that trap... I should have been more focused. I should have-.

Celestia then continued the story, "The... spell they used on our friend... entombed its target in a c-crystal tomb. We-I was meant to be h-hit by that spell but T-Twilight she... sacrificed herself instead. She... she," Celestia finally broke as she planted her face on her Twilight's chest and tightened her grip on her.

Celestia spoke shakily through the purple fur, "I-I'm so so-sorry, T-Twilight. If it w-weren't for me you would b-be... free. I'm a terrible sister! I-" Celestia felt another pony hug her.

She heard the faint voice of her niece, "Auntie, I'm so sorry for what happened to you. But you are the best pony I've ever met. So please don't blame yourself," Celestia didn't reply but she opened up one of her wings and brought in Cadence.

So the two alicorns stayed like this for what felt like hours, one attempted to consoled her aunt while the other let out a millennia worth of emotions that she built up for so long. After some time, Celestia was finally able to regain some of her composure and release her sister. She then looked over at Cadence, which was still clung to her; the display of love warmed her heart.

"Cadence," her niece looked up at her with slightly bloodshot eyes, she attempted to give her a smile. "Thank you, I needed that. I believe that's enough for today. I promise that I'll tell you more later. Ok?" Celestia asked as she looked at her with tired eyes.

"Ok, it can wait. I... can see how hard it is for you... " Cadence then wiped her eyes, but as she was doing this she seemed to realize something. "I guess I have another aunt now," Cadence said as a smile formed on her muzzle and she looked over at the sleeping form of Twilight.

Celestia let out a little laugh, Of course, Cadence would find a way to spin this optimistically. She then looked over at her sister and a smile also grew on her muzzle.

"Yes, I suppose she would be your aunt. Knowing her, she'll be overjoyed to have more family... and likely freak out a little. But I have no doubt you two will become best friends in no time," Celestia said as she wrapped one of her wings
around Cadence and pulled her close.

“What is she like?” Cadence asked

“ *sigh* She's a wonderful mare. She's by far the smartest pony I've ever met and one of the most powerful mages in Equis. She's also one of the most dedicated ponies in Equestria and will stop at nothing until she's fixed your problem. She has such a kind heart, just like you. I know you'll love her," Celestia reminisced as she tightened her hold over her niece.

As Celestia looked at her sister the smile on her muzzle grew, "The best sister you could ask for."

-{<()>}-

As the days passed by in the RMW Celestia continued to visit her sister, even late into the night. Celestia also discovered where Twilight's armor was, she had unintentionally teleported it to her room. But anyways as each day passed Celestia was forced to spend less and less time with her sister.

Unfortunately, even after her declaration, she knew her ponies needed her so she was forced back to her duties. Luckily, the seventh day was when everything changed.

-{<()>}-

Celestia sat at her normal spot next to her sister's bed. She was relieved that the doctors had taken off many of the bandages and removed the IV's a few days ago. It allowed her to see her sister's beautiful coat again, unblemished. But even still she couldn't help but worry about her sister's well-being.

"Please be okay, Twilight. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you again," Celestia leaned down to nuzzle her sister softly before she let out a sigh.

As she brought her head back up she looked over at the window and saw that it was time to accomplish her celestial duties.

Celestia looked down at her sister one last time before she got up and made her way to the exit. At least that was until she heard a soft noise and she quickly realized what it was, mumbling. Celestia froze as a thousand different thoughts swirled through her mind. Was, was that... before she could finish that thought she found her answer.

“Sister, is art thee?” came barely a whisper.

As Celestia slowly looked over her shoulder she saw something she hadn't seen in over a thousand years, the purple eyes of her sister. Celestia's eyes were locked with those purple jewels and as she turned around joyful tears began to roll down her cheeks as well as a smile that nearly engulfed her face. There was only one thing she could say.

“Yes, Twilight. Yes, it's me,” tears now began to freely flow down her face and at that moment Celestia was certain of one thing.

This was one of the happiest moments of her entire life.

Author's Note:

It seems that Twilight has finally woken up from her extended nap, I wonder how she will react to this new Equestria well I guess well find out. Anyway just wanted to say hi and see what you think so far from the story also if you see any errors that I missed could you tell me. Well bye, have a nice day. (If you notice anything different it's because I've edited this chapter)

Comments

[kuriboh1233]

Seems legit so far, let's see where this goes. Also TwilightXCadance OTP!!!!!

[Doctor_Den]

Why does Celestia blame herself for what happened to Twilight? Personally, I see no reason for self-flagellation when, technically, in this case, Celestia is not to blame.
(which cannot be said about what happened to Luna. Although it is still too early to assert this, since I still do not know how things are in this AU)

[Bhals4]

10860610
I think it's more just self blame probably amplified by what happened to luna. Although in this case it's not her fault it doesn't stop her from blaming herself