Mysterious Arrival

" Those are Royal Guards! " Spike whispered,as they silently walked up the stairs.

" I know, Spike! " Twilight whispered in responce.

" What are we going to do? "  Fiery wondered, again whispering.

" We're certainly not going to open. " the alicorn replied.

" So what? They are going to break the door! " Spike exclaimed.

Twilight hadn't thought of that yet. The Royal Guards were trained and could easily break the door. They needed another plan, a better one. After one minute of concidering the purple mare came up with it:

" You and Fiery go hide in the bedroom. I meet with the Princess outside and make up a story. " she told the dragon.

" You were never good making up stories! " Spike protested.

" Just go! " Twilight ordered him and the baby dragon decided to listen to her. Together with Fiery he went upstairs, while Twilight headed for the entrance. The Guards were still knocking and soon they would have started trying to break through. Twilight certainly wasn't going to let them break her door, who had fatefuly served her as a begining of her adventures for years. So she took a deep breathe and opened the door.

She expected to see Celestia or Luna with their respective guards. For a minute she even thought of Vortex or Primal Shine. Spike was right. None of those 4 royalties would have believed to a made- up story, and they had their ways to find out if she is lying or not.

So she was somehow relieved, when she saw, that on her door there were handsome male changelings with light green armour, and behind them there was the magnificent Queen Chrysalis. Few mares could match her beauty after her curse and the one of her folk were broken by the Princesses, who promised to help them find their spot in the society.

Queen Chrysalis was revealed to be more liberal than Celestia and Luna in some ways, so Twilight was even glad it was her she met in front of her door.

" Queen Chrysalis! So nice to see you! How are you doing? " Twilight tried to be nice, but Chrysalis's stern expression suggested she awaited answers.

" Do you... do you want to know about the blast? " Twilight asked shyly. The changeling queen nodded.

" Well, ... it was a hydra.... and I was training! Yes, that's it! I was just quietly training near the Everfree Forest when that giant hydra just jumped out of the forest. I had no choice but to fight her. However, accidentally my magic set off the fiery liquid hydras use to breathe out fire upon ponies and the hydra exploded! " her explanation sounded quite convincing, at least to Twilight, but Chrysalis just smiled. So did the guards. Their smiles became wider and wider, until finally they laughed loudly, revaling, that they didn't believe a word in the alicorn's story.

After they laughter ended, with a smile on her face Chrysalis replied:

" First, hydras don't breathe out fire, Twilight. Dragons do. I appreciate your concern about your friend, but I really need to see Fiery and speak with her... and with you also. "

" You... you.. you know her name? " Twilight hadn't got a single reason why would the Baroness of the West know her friend's name.

" It will all become very clear to you very soon, I promise. I won't do Fiery any harm. May I come in? " the queen asked, and Twilight nodded in agreement. Chrysalis entered, but before she closed the door, she ordered her guards:

" Don't let anypony inside. "

That also riddled Twilight. Obviously the Queen didn't wish for any visitors too. But why? Obviously she would find out only if she let Chrysalis speak with her pegasus friend.

As she went up the stairs, Twilight looked at Chrysalis. The queen seemed happy, and not worried as she should have been, if Fiery had caused a problem. The lavender mare, more confused than ever, walked to her bedroom and opened the door.

Spike was sitting on the bed, while Fiery was nowhere to be seen. For a moment the alicorn got afraid she had flown away, but the orange- maned pegasus came out from bellow the bed.

" Did it work? " she asked. Twilight shook her head in responce and answered her friend:

" No, it didn't. Queen Chrysalis is downstairs. I don't know how or why, but she knows your name and wants to speak with you. "

" She knows my name and wants to speak with me? " Fiery didn't seem to believe her friend, so Twilight asked her to follow her downstairs. Curious, Spike also followed the two mares.

Twilight's words were true and that made Spike wonder what was the Queen doing here. Did she come to arrest Fiery or something?

Spike immeadietly rejected that thought. Twilight would never ask Fiery to follow her if she wasn't sure Chrysalis wouldn't do anything to Fiery, and besides Chrysalis only had the right to arrest ponies in her zone, he remembered that part of her baroness contract pretty clear. So it was better, that Chrysalis had came before Luna or Celestia, but the reasons why she did so were still unclear to the dragon.

As the two mares and the dragon came downstairs, Chrysalis smiled honestly. It wasn't an evil grin, just a simple, warm smile.

" Sit, please. " she told them and Twilight and Fiery sat in the sofa, while Chrysalis was sitting in the hoofchair.

For the first several moments there was an awkward silence. Chrysalis kept on smiling, Fiery was very confused, since the Queen was looking at nopony else but her, and Twilight had no more patience left to see what would happen. Spike was just sitting on the carpet and wondering who would dare to speak first. It was the Queen:

" Fiery, what do you know about your past? "

" What should I know? " the pegasus replied, using a question herself, her lips forming a playful grin, and her brows lowered a bit, which made her expression clever. Chrysalis' s muzzle took the same expression and suddenly Twilight noticed something peculiar: their expressions were much alike. And suddenly an idea came to her mind. This should have been impossible! It should have, it was impossible. Twilight couldn't imagine what would happen if what she was thinking was true, so she decided to ask:

" Queen... " Twilight began.

" Let's speak the way a royalty speaks to a royalty, Twilight. " the changeling queen told her.

" OK, Chrysalis, let me remind you something, something from the past. may I? " the changeling replied her with a nod.

" You once said, that Hase is your only foal, am I right? " the alicorn asked, hoping that the queen's reply would make her pesky thoughts go away.

" You've had a good memory there, Twilight, but I said he's my only son, if you remember. " Chrysalis evaded her catch swiftly, so Twilight was left wondering if what she was thinking was right or wrong.

" Either way, it's wrong. "

Now that was something Twilight didn't expect to hear. Not only it confirmed her fears... but it made them worse. She started frantically looking first at Fiery, than at Chrysalis, and than again, noticing more and more common traits in their expression, until finally she faded out.

Luckly, her loyal Spike was there to save her. The dragon bravely ran to the kitchen, where he filled a glass with water and than returned, lettting the liquid, that carries life, flow over her face.

The purple alicorn opened her eyes and the final conclusion came to her mind. She looked at Chrysalis with a questioning glare, not sure if it's true or not. Perhaps her other foals were changelings?

Chrysalis's expression changed to the clever one again and she nodded.

" Twilight... are you OK? What is wrong? " the orange-maned pegasus still didn't get what was happening with her friend.

" Fiery.... I think Sunset Shimmer isn't your real sister. " Twilight replied.

" Why do you think so? " the mare with the yellow coat was glad, that the unicorn was probably not her real sister, but she still wondered what did the alicorn mean by that.

" Because... Chrysalis is your true mother. " Twilight revealed the truth to her pegasus friend.

Fiery's expression revealed mostly confusion and disbelief, but there was something else - deep shock.

She looked at the queen of the changelings and asked:

" Is... is any of this true? "

" It is. " Chrysalis had her warm smile again

" Do you want me to tell you who you really are? "

" I wish nothing more than that. Please, tell me. " the pegasus still thought this was a kind of dream.

And so Chrysalis began telling her story:

" As you know, Twilight, Hase is the son of me and Vortex. However, he isn't the only foal, nor is he the only son.

I was deeply concerned and  heartbroken when Hase was taken away from us forever, and Vortex was turned to stone. Luckily, this time his imprisonment lasted no more than a month. The power of love from the inside broke his prison. He returned to the hives without that anypony knew about it. Nopony but me and Sombra.

Long days after that we kept thinking why did our plan fail, and how would we repay the Princesses. The thought of vengeance never left our minds, until last summer.

However, those plans were left behind, because I was madly in love in your father, Fiery. Our love was stronger than our vengeance. I was so happy to know he was alive, that I literally met him on the door of the hives, ignoring all the threats of spies or simillar. We loved eachother more than ever, but we knew that this time our love shouldn't have resulted in anything, since the alignment of the stars was past and our foal wouldn't be able to live a normal life.

And than Sombra found out something: the stars would remain in that alignment for two years.  9 months after that you, together with your twin sister, came to the world, blessed by the power of the stars to be a pegasus, who would live freely in the real world and not spend her foalhood in the dark caves of the hives. Some said I was reckless and didn't think of the consequences. Some said I'd better stopped after our plan with Hase failed. Some said, that it is irresponsible to have foals you can't take care of.

But love has it's own ways, and I also knew, that though all of the problems you'll have and all the pain you will suffer, eventually, we will be together again.

However, before that we had another plan. it wasn't called " Dark Mist " anymore, but " The Dark Siblings" . Do not dare to think you only exist because of our plan. No! The plan exists because of you. It was ment to protect you all, to protect you from the outside world.

It was a plan how you, together with your sister and your two brothers, would end the rule of Celestia and Luna once and for all. You were all given specific gifts to help you in your conquest. And all of you can use normal magic as well.

Hase, the eldest sibling, got his father's control over the Void and the full power of darkness, together with the gift of telepathy. Since he was the eldest sibling, he was the most gifted of you all. He was made brave, strong, loyal, so that he could lead the army and never wonder what would happen if he didn't do so. He is a pony, who never abandons his friends,as neither of you wouldn't do, and most importrantly, a pony, whose decision is not easily changed. With his powers he would have guarded the rest of you from the forces of the regal sisters and leaded you and the army to success and victory over Celestia and Luna.  His telepathy and his mind control would have helped him gather an army so great, that the royals would have had no choice, but to retreat.

You and your twin sister are the second of age. One year younger than Hase, but one year older than your other brother. Since we knew the ponies would stand up against those, who wanted to destroy their beloved rulers, we also needed a story, that we could tell the ponies after we took the throne. Hase would have easily erased their memories and we would have been able to convince them in our story: " Celestia and Luna suffered a horrible fate by falling down from a cliff, while going out for a walk, and now their places would be taken by their younger cousins from the pegasi race - Fiery Incendia,(  " That's your full name, by the way, so don't get surprised if I call you Cendi sometimes. " Chrysalis smiled to her daughter. )

" , and Stella Galaxia. In your true form, you both will find out you share some resemblance to them. However, you are totally different ponies. You would have ruled Equestria instead of them.

Fiery, your powers origin from the sun. But not quite the same way as it is with Celestia. Celestia has the ability to move the sun, is proficient in magic, and has immense powers connected with light. But she can't wield the true potential of the sun, the power that feeds it and makes it be. Such power is barely wielded by her father, and believe me, when you realize your true power you will be able to perform the Solar Extermination spell on your own... and much, much more. After i think of it, the regal sisters are more like the Princesses of the Day and the Night, and not of the Sun and the Moon, or even the stars. Their powers are connected to the different aspects of day and night. Celestia... she is the beatiful, sunny day everypony loves. Primal Shine... his power is more immense, so I would say his power over the day is more like the hot summer day, when everypony tries to find a shadow ( or water, though in such days it is rare). As you see, being the ruler of the day doesn't give you such power over the sun itself as you have. I'm not sure when, but one day you will see what I'm talking about right now. "

" Won't... won't Celestia get afraid for her throne? Won't she try to inprison me? " Fiery got a bit worried.

" As soon as she learns who you are, I very much doubt she would do so. She certainly wouldn't want to have your brother with the whole Moon army to support him, or your father, as enemies. " the pegasus' s mother smiled warmly.

" And what do my powers to turn, for an example, a fork to gold or a hoofchair to jelly, have to do with it? " the orange- maned mare was confused. What was the relation between that and her sun powers?

" Each one of you was also given a specific power, not related to his other power in any way, which were ment to help you in the conquer. Hase's mental power and the ability to easily manipulate the simple ponies - and by simple I mean those, who aren't proficient enough in magic to guard their mind - would first gather your army and later erase the ponies' memories of that war, so that they could accept our version of the story. Your power, Fiery, although it's quite interesting you're also able to make jelly, was ment to turn other materials to iron... "

" Iron? Seriously? My powers were ment to create iron? My brother gets to mind wash the army and I create iron? " Fiery interrupted her mother, speaking sarcasticaly and shaking her head in disbelief.

" Iron is a lot more precious metal than most ponies think it is. From what do you forge swords? What material do you use for armours? An army without weapons is nothing but failure, my dear. You see, all of you were ment to be together. Alone you would have failed... as it happened with your brother. Two times he tried to smite them... and he failed. "

Speaking of Hase brought another question to the pegasus mare's mind:

" Wait... so you're telling me I am one year younger than Hase? "

" Yes. " Chrysalis confirmed.

" Than... how do I feel as if I was born, like , 20 years ago? " Fiery's question made perfect sence. How did she only remember the last part of her life?

" Unlike we did with Hase, with the rest of you we knew we had to stay away from you . Some of our servants silently took you to all different and far away from eachother cities: Canterlot, Baltimare, Las Pegasus. Because if you accidentally met... you might have spoiled your secret. However, though we tried, we couldn't fully conceal your powers. In a result, many ponies left you back on the street where they found you. So we made another spell: none of you grew, unless he or she stayed in the same home for more than a month. This way you remained babies for a very long time and my poor servants constantly had to bring you from house to house. Sometimes we even changed the cities, still not leaving anypony of you in the same town. And luckily, about 20 years ago all of you finally found your homes. I don't know if Shinestar Shimmer, your stepmother, kept you from love or greed for fame, but I know one thing: you never have to see her or your stepsister ever again if you don't want to.

Foalhood memories is something a few remember, and with some magic, you never remembered the almost 1000 years, in which you were constantly carried from home to home."

" It is a sad story, I know. " Chrysalis lowered her head and Twilight saw some teardrops falling down.

" It was a cruel methode... but it was the only one. Could you forgive me, Fiery? " she looked at her daughter and the purple alicorn saw, that she was really crying.

For a moment Twilight thought Fiery wouldn't forgive her mother.  But eventually the pegasus jumped in her mother's grip and said her:

" I have nothing to forgive you for. "

It was a beatiful moment of silence. The yellow coat of the mare with the orange mane next to the completely white coat of the changeling queen. Only the fire was heard and Twilight thought, that this was one of the wonders, that only happened near Heart's Warming Eve.